Chicken Bruschetta Pasta

Ingredients:
Your favorite type of pasta
Chicken Breast Tenderloins
Basil
Tomatoes
Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
Crushed Garlic
Shaved Parmesan Cheese


Cooking Info:
1. Marinate chicken in balsamic vinaigrette dressing for at least an hour. Grill or bake chicken.
2. While chicken is cooking, make your pasta.
3. While chicken and pasta are cooking, cut tomatoes and basil.  Mix together with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette dressing, 1/2 tablespoon of crushed garlic and some Parmesan cheese.
4. Mix pasta and bruschetta topping.  Add chicken.  Top with cheese.

Serve With: Texas Toast

Mediterranean Couscous

Ingredients:
1/2 cup couscous
1 large zucchini, diced
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup reduced fat feta cheese crumbles

1/4 cup dried cranberries

2 tbsp Raspberry Vinagrette

olive oilsalt + pepper 


Cooking Info: 

1. Cook the couscous according to package instructions. (Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Stir in the couscous and turn off the stove. Cover for 5 minutes.)
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped zucchini and cook for 3-5 minutes, until they are golden brown and slightly soft. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a serving dish or large bowl, toss together the cooked couscous, zucchini, walnuts, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and raspberry vinagrette. Serve.

Serve With: A great side dish for anything off the grill or out of the oven!

Sweet and Spicy Chops

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 boneless pork loin chops, about 1-inch thick
1/2 teaspoon corriander power
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup mango, cubed 
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
1 lime


Cooking Info: 
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a large non-stick pot or skillet over medium-high heat.  Season both sides of the pork chops with corriander, red pepper, and salt.  Cook the pork chops for 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Transfer the pork chops to a dish, and allow them to rest for at least 3 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, mango and cranberries, and cook until soft and light brown, about 5 minutes.
3. Take about 1 teaspoon of lime zest from the lime, then cut the lime into wedges. Top the chops with the chutney, lime zest, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. 

Serve With:


Mediterranean Couscous 

Spicy Sausage Pasta

I stole this recipe from another blog and tried it tonight.  It was really good!  I didn't have the Ro-Tel tomatoes, so I used regular diced tomatoes and added a few diced up jalapeno slices.  I used half and half instead of heavy cream, and the spiral pasta instead of penne.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb smoked sausage
1.5 cups diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies, Mild
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz penne pasta
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions

Cooking Info:
1. Add olive oil to an oven-safe skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly

Serve With: Salad or cooked veggies

oil, onions, garlic and sausage

Added tomatoes, broth and cream

after pasta is cooked, stirred in cheese then added cheese on top.

Beer Can Chicken

Ingredients: 
 Rub: 
    2 tblsp garlic powder
    1 tblsp cumin
    1 tblsp corriander
    1 tblsp paprika
    1 tblsp salt
    1 tblsp pepper
    1 tsp cayenne pepper
    1/2 cup olive oil
    Juice and zest from 1/2 a lemon
 1 12 oz can of beer
 1 Chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)


Cooking Info: 

Heat a gas or charcoal grill with a lid big enough to accommodate the bird. Put a drip pan below the grates. (The chicken can also be cooked in a 350 degrees F oven. Just stand the beer can in a shallow roasting pan and cook about 1 hour or until juices run clear.)

Mix the ingredients for the Spice Rub until they are well blended. Rub it all over the chicken, inside and out.

Open the beer and drink a little less than half.  I suppose you could poor it out, but that would be wasting beer... 

Sit the chicken on the beer can so the legs are at the bottom and the wings are at the top. Stand the beer can on the grates over the drip pan. Put the cover on and cook over indirect heat until the juices run clear, about 1 hour. (We have an older grill and have to go about an hour and a half.)

Serve With: We usually serve with corn on the cob, biscuits or cornbread, and tomato slices or fruit salad.

Beer can chicken cookers can be purchased for $10 or less at Target or Walmart in the camping section.  I've also seen them at amazon.com, Cabela's, and REI.

Italian Pasta Salad

Super easy pasta salad - and very flexible on the ingredients.  I've done all kinds of variations.

Ingredients: 

1 box tri-color rotini
Sliced veggies
Cubed cheese
1 large bottle Italian dressing (I usually use low- or no-fat)

Cooking Info: 

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and rinse in cold water.  Chop veggies into bite-sized pieces.  I use a variety - we like it with sliced baby cucumbers, grape tomatoes, chopped bell pepper, sliced black olives.  Cube cheese (I usually use mozzarella).  Pour half the cooled pasta into a large bowl, layer half your veggies (NOT the cheese), rest of pasta, rest of veggies.  Pour 3/4 of the dressing over the salad and mix lightly.  Refrigerate until chilled - I don't put the lid on right away if the pasta is still hot - and I stir it every couple of hours.

Add cheese when salad has chilled.  Add more dressing if needed right before serving.

Serve With:

This is awesome as a dish itself (sometimes I chop up ham or use mini pepperonis) or with any barbeque fare.

Mexican Chicken Ring

Excellent quick meal!  Kids love it.  Except Ethan LOL.  OK, I'm not sure he even tried it when I made it :-)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb chicken, cut into 1/2" chunks (I don't always use this much chicken, more like 1/2 a pound)
• 1 Packet El Paso Taco Seasoning 
• 1/3 cup water 
• 1 cup corn with peppers (you can buy this canned, corn with red and green peppers) 
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (1.5 cups is better but calories are calculated using 1 cup)
• 2 tubes Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (I use low fat)

Cooking Info:
Cook chicken in a little bit of oil. Once cooked, add 1/3 cup water and the taco seasoning. Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the corn and the cheese and stir until cheese is melted. 

On a cookie sheet, arrange crescent roll triangles around an approximately 6" circle. The flat side opposite the point should be in the middle. You will have to overlap them. Basically, it should end up looking like a sun. 

Spoon chicken mixture onto the crescent roll ring. Then, take the points of the crescent rolls and wrap them over the chicken mixture and pressing down the ends. Once you're done, you should have a ring. The filling WILL show through the crescent rolls, possible quite a bit. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until the crescent rolls are golden brown. 

Serve With: Again, with casserole type things we usually just do a salad!

Nutritional Info Per Serving:
8 Servings
Calories:  315
Total Fat: 12.3 g
Saturated Fat: 5 g
Cholesterol: 37.4 mg
Sodium: 972.2 mg
Potassium: 179.1 mg
Total Carbs: 34.2 g
Fiber: .5 g
Sugars: 9.5 g
Protein: 17.6 g

Chicken Mixture:

Completed Crescent Roll Ring:

With Chicken Mixture:

Ready for the oven:

Sorry, I forgot to get a picture of it cooked!

White Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

10 soft taco shells (I can sometimes get 11 or 12 enchiladas out of this)

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (I buy a $5 rotisserie chicken from Kroger)

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

3 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream (I tried fat free and it was OK, light is better)

1 (4 oz) can diced green chillies

Cooking Info:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan

2. Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese.  Roll up in tortillas and place in pan.

3. In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute.  Add broth and whisk until smooth.  Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.  

4. Stir in sour cream and chilies.  Do not bring to boil, you don't want curdled sour cream.

5. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

6. Bake 22 min and then under high broil for 3 min to brown the cheese.

Serve With: We usually just do a salad!

Nutrition Info Per Serving:

11 servings (using 11 taco shells)

Calories: 273

Total Fat: 10.4 g

Saturated Fat: 4.9 g

Cholesterol: 52.5 mg

Sodium: 643.7 mg

Potassium: 93 mg

Total Carbs: 25.1 g

Fiber: 3.4 g

Sugars: 1.5 g

Protein: 18.8 g

Mix of Chicken and Cheese:

Some assembly required:

Ingredients for sauce:

Butter & Flour:

Bubbling with broth:

After mixing in chilis and sour cream:

Ready for the oven:

Time for dinner!







Tomato Cucumber Onion Salad

Ingredients:

1 med. cucumber, peeled and sliced thin
2 tomatoes, peeled and sliced thick (I don't peel them, and I cut thin wedges instead of slices)
1 lg. mild sweet onion, sliced very thin
1 tbsp. snipped fresh dill or 1 tsp. dill weed
2 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
Parsley

Cooking Info:

Alternate cucumber, tomato and onion slices decoratively in shallow
glass serving dish. Combine remaining ingredients, except parsley.
Pour over salad. Chill 2 hours before serving to allow flavors to blend.
Garnish with parsley. 6 servings.

Chicken Legs with Rice

My mom used to make this all the time when I was growing up.  It's quick and easy to throw together - and usually stuff that I have in my pantry/freezer.  I've done it with chicken breasts and it turns out fine.  You could probably throw some chopped broccoli or peas right into it to make it 1-dish, but my kids don't like "sauce" on their broccoli so I haven't.

Ingredients: 

Chicken legs (or other parts)

cream of mushroom soup                    Cup water

cream of celery soup                           Cup rice

Package onion soup mix

Paprika

Cooking Info: 

Mix soup together in casserole dish. Add rice and stir well. Lay raw chicken legs on top. Sprinkle with ½ package onion soup mix. Bake covered 2-2 ½ hours at 350°

Serve With:

Steamed broccoli (love that SteamFresh!), Tomato Cucumber Onion Salad

<I'll add a photo if I ever make this again - my kids aren't huge fans>