Tag Archives: chicken

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

5 Feb

A while back, I saw a pin on Pinterest of a shredded buffalo chicken sandwich, and the chicken had been cooked in the slow cooker.  A friend had recently made it too, so I know it was something to try out.  It also reminded me of a Buffalo Chicken Pizza that I haven’t made in a while.  I also had a loaf of ciabatta bread in my freezer still, so it was a tough choice to make pizza or to make sandwiches.  So, I made both!

 

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
Based on recipe here

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 1 – 1.5 lbs)
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot Sauce)
2 Tbsp butter

How to make it:

Place chicken and onions in slow cooker.  Pour in hot sauce.  Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Remove chicken and shred.  Return shredded chicken to the slow cooker.  Stir in 2 Tbsp butter.  Cook on low for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.    Serve on pizza or sandwiches (see below).

 

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

What you need:

1 12-16″ pizza crust, either pre-made, a pouch mix, or your favorite recipe for pizza crust
1/2 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing
1 cup shredded buffalo chicken (either as made above or 1 cup cooked chicken mixed with 1/4 cup hot sauce)
1 Tbsp greens from top of green onion
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

How to make it:

Spread ranch dressing on pizza crust.  Next, spread chicken, then green onion tops, then cheese.  Bake according to the directions for your pizza crust, in general, 425 F for 10-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

What you need:

Shredded buffalo chicken (from recipe at top)
Bread of your choice (I used ciabatta bread from Bountiful Baskets)
Cheese of your choice (I used swiss)
Ranch or blue cheese dressing
Other sandwich toppings, like lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion, green peppers (I used just lettuce)

How to make it:

Lightly toast the bread.  On the bottom half, place the amount of chicken that you want.  Add ranch or blue cheese dressing, cheese, and sandwich toppings.

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Lemon Chicken and Vegetables over Rice

1 Feb

Looks a lot like the Orange Chicken from last week doesn’t it?  That’s because that sauce is the same, except for the Orange Chicken uses a can of frozen orange juice concentrate and this Lemon Chicken uses a can of frozen lemonade concentrate.   I did not use the slow cooker to cook the chicken this time, I just cooked it on the stove top in my wok.  This was fantastic, I think I might prefer it a little more than the Orange Chicken, but both are very good.  Tonight, the stir fry veggies were carrots, bok choy, green onion, asparagus, water chestnuts and snow peas, all from Bountiful Baskets from this past weekend.  And I really meant to add in some grated ginger, but I forgot, so maybe next time!

 

Lemon Chicken and Vegetables over Rice
Based on recipes here

What you need:

Lemon Sauce: (I made this twice, once for the chicken, once for the vegetables)
– 3/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed (this is 1/2 can)
– 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
– 1 Tbsp soy sauce
– 1 Tbsp ketchup
– 2 Tbsp brown sugar (use 3 Tbsp sugar if you want it to be sweeter)
– 1/2 tsp sesame oil

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/4 cup flour
Vegetable oil
Vegetables to stir fry (I used carrots, water chestnuts, green onion, bok choy stems and leaves, snow peas, and asparagus)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
Cooked rice

How to make it:

Dredge chicken in flour.  Heat some vegetable oil in a wok, and cook chicken until no longer pink.

Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for the lemon sauce in a bowl.  Pour over chicken in the wok and stir.  Cook on medium heat for 15 – 20 minutes to allow sauce to thicken and chicken to absorb the sauce.

Once sauce has thickened, add veggies that take longer to cook (in my case, the carrots, asparagus, water chestnuts, and bok choy stems), let them cook for a few minutes, then add the veggies that take shorter to cook (in my case, green onions, snow peas and bok choy leaves).

Meanwhile, again, combine all ingredients for the lemon sauce and the 1 Tbsp cornstarch in a bowl.  Once veggies are all tender, pour in the second batch of lemon sauce and stir to coat evenly.  Cook for a few more minutes to allow sauce to thicken.  Serve over the cooked rice.

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Slow Cooker Chicken and Noodles

29 Jan

This is something I haven’t made in quite a while.  Since I got celery and carrots this week with Bountiful Baskets, I decided to make it.  I made it a little differently than I have in the past, and I was very pleased with the results.  I made it with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you could also use 2 pounds of chicken breasts with bones or 2 pounds of thigh and drumstick pieces with bones.  You just need to make sure that you get all the bones out since the chicken will be very tender after cooking in the slow cooker.   Also, I made this with egg noodles, but you could use homemade noodles, or some other kind of pasta, or even rice.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Noodles
Serves 6

What you need:

2 cups sliced carrots
1 1/2 cups diced onions
1 cup celery
1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or 2 lbs chicken with bones, skins removed
1 tsp poultry seasoning
5 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
2 cups cooked egg noodles, pasta, or rice

How to make it:

Place carrots, onions, and celery in the slow cooker.  Place chicken on top of vegetables, sprinkle with poultry seasoning.  Pour in chicken broth and water.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours.

After finished cooking, remove chicken.  If using boneless chicken, cut or shred chicken into bite size pieces.  If using chicken with bones, remove chicken from bones and cut or shred into bite size pieces.  Discard bones.  Return chicken pieces to slow cooker.  Stir in cooked noodles, pasta, or rice.  Serve.

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Orange Chicken

26 Jan

 

While I was working on my meal plan for this week, I posted on Facebook that I was having trouble deciding what to make.  A friend of mine, CrunchyMetroMom, said she was working on a dish with chicken and orange juice.  Since I am getting a little burned out on making Sesame Chicken, Orange Chicken popped into my mind, like the Orange Chicken at Panda Express.  So, I went in search of recipes online and then ended up doing something in between 2 recipes.  Then, since I got part of my friend’s Asian themed veggie pack, I had vegetables to stir fry to go along with the chicken.  The chicken I did in the slow cooker, but I think next time, I might do it like I do Sesame Chicken, cook the chicken, mix the sauce, then add the chicken and vegetables.  One advantage to using the slow cooker is that the chicken really absorbs the sauce well, but with my slow cooker, it didn’t leave a lot leftover for the vegetables.  I could have added the vegetables to the slow cooker, but I was worried about them being too mushy, but would have saved me some time.  Anyway, I’ll walk you through how I did it, and you can decide if you want to the same, do all in the slow cooker, or all in a wok.  Also, if you would like to add some heat to this, add some crushed red pepper flakes.

 

Orange Chicken and Vegetables over Rice
Based on recipes here and here

What you need:

Orange Sauce: (I made this twice, once for the chicken, once for the vegetables)
– 3/4 cup pulp free frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (this is 1/2 can)
– 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
– 1 Tbsp soy sauce
– 1 Tbsp ketchup
– 3 Tbsp brown sugar
– 1/2 tsp sesame oil

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/4 cup flour
Vegetable oil
Vegetables to stir fry (I used carrots, water chestnuts, green onion, bok choy stems and leaves, and broccoli)
Cooked rice

How to make it:

Dredge chicken in flour.  Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet, and brown chicken just enough to get the flour to stay on the chicken.  Place chicken in slow cooker.

Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for the orange sauce in a bowl.  Pour over chicken in the slow cooker to evenly coat.  Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

Once you are ready to serve, heat some vegetable oil in a wok.  Start with veggies that take longer to cook (in my case, the carrots, broccoli, water chestnuts, and bok choy stems), then add the veggies that take shorter to cook (in my case, green onions and bok choy leaves).

Meanwhile, again, combine all ingredients for the orange sauce in a bowl.  Once veggies are all tender, pour in orange sauce and stir to coat evenly.  Add in the chicken from the slow cooker.  Cook until all heated through.  Serve over the cooked rice.

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Balsamic Bruschetta and Garlic Herb Chicken with Broccoli and Cauliflower

23 Jan

We are big fans of Olive Garden restaurant, and we don’t get to go too often.  So, I decided I would try to make a couple of my favorites at home.  It worked out perfectly with some of the things I had gotten from Bountiful Baskets recently.  For the bruschetta, I used the Italian olive oil bread that my friend gave me this week, plus tomatoes from this week, then fresh garlic, fresh basil, and fresh parsley from the Italian themed veggie pack the week before.  For the chicken, I used part broccoli, part cauliflower from this week’s basket.  I wasn’t able to find the exact kind of pasta they use at Olive Garden, so I used medium shells.  I think that next time I will only use half a box of pasta instead of a whole box or double the sauce, because I felt like there wasn’t enough of the sauce to really get the full taste.  However, it still was very good.

Balsamic Bruschetta
Based on recipes here and here

 What you need:

4 tomatoes, seeds removed and diced
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 loaf Bountiful Baskets Italian olive oil bread, or french baguette, sliced
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dries parsley

How to make it:

Toss together the tomatoes, basil, mozzarella cheese, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.

When ready to serve, preheat oven to 450 F.  Combine Parmesan cheese and parsley.  Place bread slices on a baking sheet and pinch some of the Parmesan cheese mixture over each slice. Toast in oven for 5 minutes or until bread starts to crisp.

Spoon some of the tomato mixture over each slice to serve.

Garlic Herb Chicken with Broccoli and Cauliflower
Based on recipe here.

What you need:

Spice Mixture for chicken
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash Garlic Herb seasoning
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded to 1/2 inch thickness)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 box medium shell pasta
1 pint half and half
4 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons cornstarch
3 cups broccoli and cauliflower florets
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese

How to make it:

Combine ingredients from spice mixture. Rub onto the chicken breasts. Cook chicken in the olive oil until browned, set aside and keep warm.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Add broccoli and cauliflower for the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Drain, return to pot.

Melt butter in a sauté pan and add garlic. Cook until garlic starts to brown, then stir in the half and half and cornstarch.   Simmer for 3-4 minutes over medium heat, until it thickens to a sauce.  Add additional salt, if necessary.  Pour over pasta and vegetable mix in pot, coat evenly.  Remove from heat.

To serve, place pasta and vegetable mixture on a plate, then place a chicken breast on top.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

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Chicken Enchilada Soup

20 Jan

If you have had Chili’s Chicken Enchilada Soup, this tastes pretty similar to that.  There is one ingredient that is not real common, masa harina, which is corn flour used to make tortillas.  You need to make sure you get the right thing, corn meal is not the same and will make the texture off.  Made that mistake before.  I found the masa harina in the baking aisle with the rest of the flour at my grocery store.  If not, you may also check the organic/natural section because it may be there with the different types of flours.  Anyway, this is a thick, filling soup that is very tasty!  To serve, I crushed some tortilla chips, you could also add some sour cream and/or pico de gallo.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or, I just use chicken from a rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken to save on time)
1 tbsp olive oil
½ cup diced onion
1 clove garlic
1 quart chicken broth
1 cup masa harina (corn flour)
3 cups water, divided
1 cup enchilada sauce, or 1 cup salsa, or 1 cup diced tomatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or shredded Mexican blend cheese)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground cumin
*Note: If you use 1 cup diced tomatoes, you may wish to increase the chili powder  to 1 tablespoon.

In large pot over medium heat, cook chicken in oil until well browned on all sides. Remove, shred, and set aside.  (This step is skipped if you already have cooked chicken)

Cook onion and garlic together in remaining oil until onions are translucent. Pour in chicken broth.

In a bowl, whisk together masa harina and 2 cups water until well blended. This step is important, if you just put the masa harina right in the pot, it won’t blend in as well, making it gritty.  Pour into pot with remaining 1 cup water, enchilada sauce, cheese, salt, chili powder and cumin. Bring to a boil.

Add chicken. Reduce heat and simmer 30-40 minutes, until thickened.

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Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken) and Broccoli Rabe

19 Jan

First, another great recipe from Cyndy at Daily Cynema, Kotopoulo Lemonato.  I love lemon chicken, and this is an AMAZING dish.  And yes, in the picture, that is a whole onion and lemon rinds in the cavity of the chicken.  Trust me, it works. The chicken was moist and flavorful.  My potatoes did get a little crunchy, I probably should have stirred them more, but I like crunchy roasted potatoes.  If they are mushy, then what was the point of roasting them, right?  For this dish, I used the red onion, a yellow onion, 3 lemons, fresh rosemary, and fresh oregano from the Italian themed veggie pack.

For full instructions on how to make this, please visit Daily Cynema: Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken).  She does a great job walking your through making this with great pictures.

I made this at a friend’s house tonight, and she was in charge of a veggie side.  She got the organic basket from Bountiful Baskets this week, and one of the things she got was broccoli rabe (rabe is apparently pronounced like the word “rob”).  I had never heard of this before, but we decided to give it a go in cooking it.  My friend did all the work on this one, following this recipe.  The taste is a mix of a broccoli taste and a leafy vegetable taste like spinach.  It is a tad bitter, but I still really enjoyed it.  I didn’t get a picture of all of it before we ate, my phone was not cooperating, but here is some of it so you can see how it turned out:

This dinner was a great success!

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Copycat Fiesta Lime Chicken

9 Jan

Fiesta Lime Chicken at Applebee’s is my favorite dish to order there.  A while back when I had gotten a bunch of limes from Bountiful Baskets, I decided I would look up how to make this dish online, and found this recipe.  It really tastes very similar, and with a few tweaks to that recipe, it’s fairly easy to make.   The original recipe uses tequila and liquid smoke, but I omit those 2 ingredients.  Tequila isn’t something I have on hand, and I’m not going to get it just for this recipe.  I grill the chicken, so the liquid smoke isn’t necessary.  If you broil the chicken, you may want to add the liquid smoke to get more of a grilled flavor.  Also, the original recipe makes the Mexi-Ranch sauce from scratch, but I cheat and just mix salsa and ranch dressing together to get the same result.  The first time I made this, I used fresh salsa that I had made, but this time used a jar of salsa from the store.  I did find the multi-colored tortilla strips at the grocery store, but I’m too cheap to buy a small bag of them for $2.99, so I just crumbled regular tortilla chips.  Not as pretty as the restaurant version, but tastes just the same!  Tonight, I served it with Spanish rice and black beans.  Some day I’ll get around to making Spanish rice instead of from a package.

Copycat Fiesta Lime Chicken
Serves 4

What you need:

1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon tequila, optional
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Crumbled tortilla chips

How to make it:

In a small bowl, combine chicken broth, teriyaki sauce, lime juice, garlic, salt, ginger, and tequila.  Place chicken in a gallon size zipper bag or large baking dish and pour the marinade over chicken.  Fully coat the chicken in the marinade, seal bag or cover the baking dish, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Remove chicken from marinade, and discard any remaining marinade.  Grill chicken until cooked through juices run clear.  Place cooked chicken in a broiler-safe 9×13 baking dish.

Combine ranch dressing and salsa.  Spoon the ranch/salsa mixture over each piece of chicken.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded cheese on each piece of chicken.

Broil on low heat setting for 2 to 3 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

To serve, spread crumbled tortilla chips on each plate, then place a chicken breast onto the chips.

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Chicken Enchiladas

16 Dec

This is my go-to enchilada recipe.  I love that the sauce is made from scratch, not from a jar or a can.  If you don’t want to make the sauce, you could use a jar or can of sauce, but I really like the way this is made.  It’s a creamy red sauce, and it’s delicious.  This was also a nice way to use up some of the Hatch green chiles I had in the freezer.

Chicken Enchiladas

What you need:

1 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (I use a rotisserie chicken from the store)
4 oz can diced green chiles, or 1 cup diced fresh roasted, peeled green chiles
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 T chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided
12 small corn tortillas

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9×13 pan.

In a medium skillet, melt the 1 Tbsp butter and cook onions until softened.  Remove to a bowl.  Stir in chicken and green chiles.

Meanwhile, melt the 1/4 cup butter.  Blend in flour and seasonings, and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Whisk in chicken broth and tomato sauce, making sure there are no lumps.  Cook, stirring until sauce boils thickens.  Remove from heat.  Stir in sour cream and ½ cup cheese.  Stir ½ cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture.

Heat a small skillet over medium low heat.  Place a tortilla in skillet and heat on each side for a few seconds to make tortilla easier to roll.  Spoon about 2 Tbsp of the chicken and sauce mixture onto one end of the tortilla and roll up.  Place in 9×13 pan.  Repeat for remaining tortillas.  Pour remaining sauce over the rolled tortillas, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheese.

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool and serve.

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Chicken Taquitos

16 Dec

Oh, these are yummy!  They are pretty easy to put together, just takes some time to get them all fried.  I considered baking them this time instead of frying them, but my oven already had enchiladas cooking, so I decided to stick with frying them.   Maybe next time I will bake them.

Chicken Taquitos
Makes 18-24 taquitos 

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups Salsa Verde
1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
2 dozen 6 inch corn tortillas
Oil for frying

How to make it:

Place chicken in slow cooker and pour salsa verde over chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4.  If you don’t have a slow cooker, cook chicken by your preferred method and mix with salsa verde.  You could even buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and shred it.  Next, mix cheese in with the chicken and salsa mixture.

Heat oil in deep fryer or a large, heavy pot.  Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

Heat a small skillet over medium low heat.  Place a tortilla in the skillet and heat for a few seconds on each side to make it easier to roll. Put about 2 Tbsp of filling at one end of the tortilla and roll tightly.  Use a toothpick in the center to keep them rolled.  Repeat for remaining tortillas.

Place 5-6 in oil at a time.  Cook for a few minutes, or until golden brown.  I don’t have a deep fryer, so I fry mine in a large pot.  And, of course, I didn’t have enough oil on hand to fully cover the taquitos, so I had to flip them halfway through cooking.

Once they have cooked, remove taquitos from oil and onto the paper towel lined baking sheet.  Allow to cool, then serve.

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