Cheater's Chicken Noodle Soup

Why is chicken noodle soup so good?  Growing up, I never had it while sick, so I don't associate it with it making me feel better, but I do really like it.  It's so homey and warming and delicious.  My favorite is chicken soup made with both the chicken broth and noodles made from scratch, but that takes quite a bit of time and work.  This recipe is pretty low maintenance and still very good.

  

This is sort of a copycat Campbell's chicken noodle soup recipe, except it has veggies because veggies are great!  I always make canned chicken noodle soup with half the amount of water because I like the broth being really rich and savory, so I added chicken soup base (Better Than Bouillon brand) and some cornstarch.  The cornstarch does not make it thick, it just gives it a tiny bit more substance.  It doesn't register as, "Wow, this sure is thick!" or anything.  It's also pretty heavy on the noodles, which works for me, because the noodles are the best part!

  

You can add more carrots if you want.  I love carrots, but feel like they make broth very sweet so don't add many.  If you don't mind it being a tiny bit sweet, double the carrots.

  

Quick Note:  This recipe makes a lot of soup.  I made such a large batch because I wanted to freeze it for lunches.  You can halve the recipe if you'd like, but since it's almost as easy to make the full recipe and it freezes well, why not make the whole gallon?
   

Also, I know it's a weird step, but please do strain out the noodles (any chicken or veggies that come out with them is fine as well) before refrigerating, unless you like soggy noodles and not much broth.  Just refrigerate the noodles separately from the liquid.  When you're ready to reheat leftovers, you can scoop some noodles and some broth into your bowl and then reheat, no problem.
   

If you decide to freeze some soup, let it cool completely overnight in the fridge with the noodles separate, then recombine, portion out the soup into freezer containers, and freeze it immediately.  Reheat the soup from frozen and it will be just fine.  If you want to let the soup thaw before you reheat it,  you'll need to freeze the noodles and liquid separately to avoid soggy noodles.

Cheater's Chicken Noodle Soup

4 Tbsp butter

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 large carrot, peeled and sliced

2 onions, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 quarts chicken broth

1 lb fettuccine or linguine noodles, broken into 1 inch pieces

2 chicken breasts, cleaned and chopped fairly small

chicken soup base to taste (I used 3 tablespoons)

1/2 tsp pepper

4 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 C water

Melt butter in a very large pot over medium, add all veggies except garlic and saute until they begin to soften.  Add garlic and saute another minute.  Add chicken broth.  Cover.  Simmer on medium for 30 minutes, until veggies are completely tender.  Add chicken and cook 10 minutes.  Taste and add chicken soup base if it needs to be saltier, as well as pepper.  Add noodles, cover pot, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer until cooked through , stirring occasionally.  Make slurry with cornstarch and water, pour into simmering soup and stir and cook for a couple of minutes.

If you have leftovers (and you probably will), strain out the noodles before refrigerating and store the noodles and liquid separately so the noodles don't get soggy.

Yield: About a gallon of soup (8 or so large servings)

Green Chile Chicken

I made this chicken tonight and my husband and I both loved it.  A little spicy from the cajun seasoning, a little creamy and tangy from the sour cream, and the chicken is nice and tender.  It's based on the recipe over at Wildflour's Kitchen, but I changed it significantly.  This is one I will be making a lot!

 

Note that the amount of cajun seasoning you use will entirely depend on the brand and your own tastes, since there's a range of heat levels.  

 

Green Chile Chicken

 

4 large chicken breasts, cleaned and each sliced into two cutlets

3 Tbsp butter

cajun seasoning to taste

2 C water

1 Tbsp chicken bouillon base (Better Than Bouillon)

7 oz can diced green chiles

3 Tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 C cold water

1 C sour cream

 

Melt butter over medium in a large nonstick skillet.  Sprinkle cajun seasoning to taste on both sides of the chicken cutlets.  Cook chicken until golden on both sides.  Add water, chicken bouillon base, and green chiles, and bring to a simmer.  Stir around a bit gently with tongs to disperse the chicken bouillon base.  Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes.

 

Remove chicken to a plate, and increase heat to medium-high.  When liquid is simmering nicely, pour in the cornstarch-water slurry in a thin stream while stirring constantly.  Simmer until sauce has thickened.  Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in sour cream until smooth.  Taste the sauce and add salt or more cajun seasoning if needed.  Add chicken back to skillet, turn to coat, and warm through.

 

Yield: 4-6 servings

Lemony Hummus Chicken

This sounds weird as anything, and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but my husband and I both loved it.  I don't think I've ever eaten a piece of chicken so quickly!  It's very moist and has a lot of lemon flavor.  Who would have thought hummus and chicken would go together so well?  Some of the hummus slides off the chicken and mixes with the lemon juice and makes a pan sauce.  You will probably like this if you love hummus and lemon like we do!

  

The original recipe is from AllRecipes.  I just changed it up a bit, most significantly by seasoning the chicken first and using more hummus and lemon juice.

  

I didn't measure the spices, just use your own judgment.  The hummus I used is Lilly brand, it's in the organic refrigerated section at the grocery store we shop at.  It's good for this because it's thicker than most packaged hummus so it stays on top of the chicken better, and it has less oil/tahini than most so the finished dish isn't heavy.  Each chicken breast has a quarter of the tub of hummus (about 3 servings), so it's good to use a hummus that isn't too rich.  You could also definitely use the same amount of homemade hummus!  I do make hummus often (and it freezes well), but made this rather impromptu for dinner one night and didn't want to take the time to make hummus from scratch first.

  

Lemony Hummus Chicken

  

4 large chicken breasts (2 to 2 1/2 lbs total)

salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste

12 oz tub of hummus (I used roasted garlic Lilly brand)

juice of 1 lemon

paprika to taste

  

Preheat oven to 450 and line a baking dish with foil.  Grease the foil.  Sprinkle both sides of the chicken generously with salt, pepper, and onion powder, and put in the baking dish.  Spread the hummus evenly over the top of the chicken breasts, then squirt the lemon juice on top.  Sprinkle with paprika to give it a little color.

   

Bake until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, about 30 minutes.  Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving with the pan sauce spooned on top.

   

Yield: 4 servings

Chicken Scratch Seasoning & "Rotisserie" Baked Chicken Breasts

This is one of our favorite and most commonly made chicken dishes.  It really could not be any simpler to make and is shockingly delicious, considering how easy it is.  Surely there are even easier chicken recipes out there, but I don't bother making something easy if we don't also enjoy it.  I'm not sure why exactly the chicken is so good.  The seasoning blend doesn't look particularly awe inspiring and the cooking method is very basic, but it really is very good.  The paprika gives boring old boneless, skinless chicken breasts a nice color, and the seasoning blend tastes makes the chicken taste like somewhat spicy rotisserie chicken.

  

The cooking method is my own (if I can even call "bake with butter" my own method!), but the Chicken Scratch recipe comes from the blog South Your Mouth.  I changed it by using more black pepper, leaving out the white pepper (I hate white pepper), and leaving out the cayenne (didn't want it that spicy).  I would like to experiment sometime with smoked paprika in place of regular paprika, and adding a tablespoon of chili powder.  For now, I've always just made it as written below!

  

Chicken Scratch Seasoning:

1 1/2 Tbsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp paprika

1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp pepper

1/2 Tbsp thyme

1/2 Tbsp onion powder

  

Put everything in a jar, shake to mix, and store in the pantry.

   

Chicken Scratch Chicken:

  

cleaned boneless, skinless chicken breasts or boneless, skinless thighs

butter (1 tablespoon per chicken breast/1 tablespoon per 2 chicken thighs)

chicken scratch seasoning to taste

  

Pick a metal baking dish big enough to hold all your chicken.  Put in the butter.  Place the pan in oven and preheat to 350.  As soon as the butter has melted, remove the pan from the oven and swirl around to coat the pan.  Coat chicken breasts on both sides with butter, and sprinkle both sides generously with chicken scratch. Rub the seasoning in a little bit.  Arrange chicken evenly in pan.  Bake until chicken is cooked through, between 20 and about 40 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken pieces.  Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve.

Grilled Ginger Ale Chicken

Ooh, this is good chicken!  I came up with the recipe on the fly based on ingredients I had on hand and was rather impressed with myself because it turned out so nicely.  The real key here is to a) not cook the chicken at too high a temperature so it cooks evenly and doesn't dry out, and b) use a really good, very gingery ginger ale.  I used Reed's Ginger Ale, it is very potent and delicious if you are fond of ginger.  Seagram's or Canada Dry will probably result in something tasty, but it also probably will not taste like ginger.  You are warned.
 
Grilled Ginger Ale Chicken
  
1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts (probably 3)

6 oz good quality ginger ale

4 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt

 

Clean chicken breasts and each cut in half horizontally to make thinner pieces.  You can cut bigger breasts into more than 2 pieces.  Consider how many people you are wanting to serve and adjust accordingly.

 

Place the chicken pieces a in doubled gallon Ziploc bag.  Add marinade ingredients, seal bag, and squish to coat.  Place bag in a bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours.  

  

When you're ready to cook the chicken, preheat your grill to medium low (or whatever temperature you know from experience will cook the chicken slowly enough so it can be cooked through and have grill marks without entering the Earth's atmosphere), do whatever pre-grilling tasks are required for your specific grill, and oil the grate.  Grill the chicken for 10 minutes without disturbing it, flip it over, and grill 10 minutes on the other side, or until cooked through.

  

Serve immediately.

  

Yield: However many pieces of chicken you end up with, probably 6.

Chicken & Veggie Fajitas

This is just a nice chicken fajita recipe, complete with lots of veggies.  It seems that most recipes like this use lime juice, which is of course good, but the lemon juice here is a tasty change.

 

The recipe is from Taste of Home.  I changed it quite a bit and added a lot more vegetables.

  

Chicken & Veggie Fajitas

for marinade:

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp canola oil

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp paprika

  

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cleaned and sliced

canola oil

2 onions, halved and sliced

2 bell peppers, cut into strips

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

pint cherry tomatoes

  

for serving:

tortillas

desired toppings (cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, etc)

 

Stir together marinade ingredients, add to sliced chicken and refrigerate 1-6 hours.

 

Heat 2 tbsp canola oil over medium in large skillet and add onions.  Saute 2 minutes.  Add bell peppers and mushrooms, saute until veggies are cooked to desired tenderness.  Remove to large bowl and keep warm.

 

Add an additional tablespoon of oil to skillet.  Add chicken and marinade.  Cook until chicken is cooked through.  Add tomatoes and cook until about half of the tomato skins have popped open.  Add reserved veggies back to skillet and heat through.  Serve in tortillas with desired toppings.

Slow Cooker Mississippi Chicken

This is a super easy, super quick to assemble recipe that uses a couple of packets.  It's not even remotely fancy, and decidedly unbeautiful, but tastes pretty good.  Herby from the ranch, savory from the gravy mix, and with a tiny bit of heat and tang from the peperoncinis.  I found it on the Recipes that Crock blog and had to make it because I was so curious about what the odd ingredients would taste like together!  It's kind of funny that I managed to make a couple of changes to a 5 ingredient recipe, but I did.  Namely, I used chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs and thickened the sauce.  Also, we didn't shred the chicken for chicken sandwiches, but my husband and I agreed it would be really good that way.

 

Mississippi Chicken

 

3 lbs chicken breasts

1 packet ranch dressing mix

1 packet brown gravy mix

6 peperoncinis (I used the approximate equivalent of sliced)

1/2 stick butter, cut into pats

 

Grease slow cooker and evenly arrange chicken breasts inside.  Sprinkle with ranch and gravy packets, top with peperoncinis, and arrange butter pats over top.  Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through (low maybe 6 hours, high maybe 4, this will depend entirely on your slow cooker), then break the chicken into serving pieces and stir thoroughly so sauce evenly coats everything.  You can either serve as is, or thicken the sauce.

 

To thicken the sauce, remove the chicken and place in a bowl.  Pour sauce through a strainer into a sauce pan, and heat over medium-high.  While it heats, stir together 1 Tbsp water and 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch.  When sauce is boiling, pour cornstarch mixture into the pan in a thin stream while stirring.  Continue to cook for a minute or two.  Remove from heat, pour back into slow cooker, add chicken, and stir to coat.

 

If you want to make this into shredded chicken for chicken sandwiches, just pull out the cooked chicken (don't add cornstarch), shred it, return it to the slow cooker, stir, and turn to high.  Leave the lid off so excess liquid can cook off.  Cook on high for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes so it doesn't burn.  Serve on buns.

  

Yield: 8 servings

Ultimate Chicken Strips

This is a recipe that my friend makes frequently and comes from Betty Crocker.  I'm so glad I finally got around to trying it myself, because these are the best chicken strips I've ever had.  Better than this one that's breaded in crushed crackers (though we still love that one and will continue to make it), better than the Honey Chicken Nuggets, better than a buffalo chicken strip recipe I haven't posted yet.  Better than any I've had in restaurants, too, but that's not too much of an accomplishment.  They're so good!  Lots of flavor, crunchy, very moist, and just great.  My husband dipped his in barbecue sauce, but I thought they were good enough to eat plain.  I served the nuggets with Cheesy Ranch potatoes and a fresh fruit salad, what a yummy dinner.

 

Quick Note:  I make my own Bisquick mix using this recipe.  It's very quick and easy and cheaper than the purchased kind, tastes better, too.

 

Ultimate Chicken Strips

 

2 large chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lb)

2/3 C Bisquick

1/2 C grated parmesan

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 egg

3 Tbsp butter

 

Preheat oven to 450 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Lightly grease the parchment paper, and set aside.

 

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, place Bisquick, parmesan, salt, paprika, and garlic powder, seal the bag, and shake to combine.  Beat the egg in a bowl.

 

Clean chicken breasts and cut into 1/2 inch thick strips.  Dunk half of the strips in the beaten egg, then place in the bag with the Bisquick mix.  Seal and shake well, until chicken is coated.  Arrange chicken on baking sheet, and repeat with the rest of the chicken strips.

 

Melt butter and spoon a little over every piece of chicken.

 

Bake until chicken is golden, crunchy, and cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.

 

Yield: 4 servings

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

My friend recently made these enchiladas and told me how good they were.  She found the recipe here, on Cookpad.  My husband loves creamy enchiladas and I decided to make them right away (with a couple of changes) because I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand except for the chicken and red enchilada sauce.  For the chicken, I just used a rotisserie chicken from the store.  They only cost $4 at Sam's Club and have quite a bit of meat on them.  About 1/3 of the meat went into the enchiladas and the rest will go into chicken soup I made from cooking the bones with water, garlic, and bay leaves in my Instant Pot.

 

As predicted, my husband loved these.  He adores anything sorta Mexican food-ish, and cream cheese, so I knew they'd be right up his alley.  He liked them so much that he requested that I make a new tag on my blog for 10/10 rated recipes.

 

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

 

4 C cooked, shredded chicken

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I do this in the microwave)

5 oz plain greek yogurt (not vanilla flavored!)

2 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese, divided

28 oz can red enchilada sauce, divided

10 oz can green enchilada sauce (I used 10 oz salsa verde)

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 Tbsp chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

12 large tortillas

 

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and an 8 by 8 dish.  Spread 1 C of the red enchilada sauce in the bottom of the larger pan, and 1/2 C in the bottom of the smaller pan, then set them aside.

 

Stir together all ingredients except 1 1/2 C of the cheddar cheese, 1 1/2 C of the red enchilada sauce, and the tortillas.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Spread filling evenly down the middle of tortillas, roll them up, and arrange in the prepared baking dishes, with 8 in the larger pan and 4 in the smaller.  Spread reserved red enchilada sauce on top, with 1 C on the larger pan and 1/2 C on the smaller pan.  Bake for 30 minutes, sprinkle the larger pan with 1 C of the reserved cheddar and the smaller pan with 1/2 C of the reserved cheddar, then return to oven for 10 more minutes.  The smaller pan may not need to bake as long as the larger one, just pull it out when it's bubbling.

 

Yield: 12 servings

Hasselback Chicken aka Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Holy cannoli, this is a good recipe!  I saw it on Tasty's Facebook page yesterday and made it tonight.  I could tell from looking at it that it would be good, but how good really surprised me.  My husband and I were both crazy about it, we agreed it's something we'd be happy to be served in a restaurant.  It's also quite easy to make, but looks rather fancy.  This is definitely something I would make for guests!

  

As is the norm for me, I made a couple of changes.  The original recipe didn't call for garlic or salt in the spinach mixture, and you were supposed to add salt and pepper to the chicken after stuffing it.  The recipe is very simple and I thought correctly that garlic would be a really good addition.  I also chose to use both mozzarella and cheddar because I had both, and why not?  One or the other individually would be great, too!

  

 

Hasselback Chicken aka Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

  

4 chicken breasts

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

3 oz fresh spinach (by weight)

1 C ricotta cheese

3/4 C grated mozzarella, or to taste

1/4 C grated cheddar, or to taste

spanish style paprika to taste

  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and use aluminum foil to line a baking dish that has sides.  Lightly grease the foil.  

  

Clean the chicken breasts and make several deep cuts (not all the way through!) 1 centimeter apart on top of the chicken breasts, accordion style.  Place the chicken breasts in the baking dish.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium and add garlic, saute until it begins to turn golden.  Add spinach and saute until it wilts.  Add ricotta and stir until well combined with the spinach.  Add salt to taste.

  

Spoon the spinach ricotta mixture into the cuts on the chicken breasts.  Top with the mozzarella and cheddar, then sprinkle with a bit of paprika.

  

Bake chicken until a thermometer inserted into the center of the largest piece registers 160 degrees.  Let chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving.

  

Yield: 4 servings

Monterey Chicken

My husband has declared this to be the best chicken he's ever had.  I really like it, too!  In spite of the rather long directions, this is a really easy recipe.  I originally found it over on the Real Housemoms blog a few months ago and have made it twice.  I added dijon mustard to the marinade and cut out the barbecue sauce you're supposed to brush on the chicken at the end.  I made it with the barbecue sauce the first time and it was great, but the marinade itself is so flavorful that I decided to try it on its own.  My suspicions were correct, it's just as good/maybe better without the barbecue sauce, which just covers the flavor of the marinade.  If I ever decide to make this last minute, I'll just skip the marinade completely, sprinkle the chicken with seasoned salt and garlic powder, then brush it with barbecue sauce before adding the chicken and bacon.

 

Quick Note:  How many this will serve really is up to you.  My 2 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts were just two enormous ones, and I cut them in half right down the middle to make two thinner pieces, so we ended up with 4 large servings.  If you have smaller chicken breasts and end up with 5 or 6 serving pieces, that's fine as well, just make sure they all get covered properly with cheese and bacon!

 

If you accidentally cook your bacon a little too long during the first round and worry about it burning if it spends any more time in the oven, you can either try putting the bacon under the cheese before baking it again, or stick the bacon on top of the melted cheese as soon as the finished chicken comes out of the oven.

 

 
Monterey Chicken

 

2 to 2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (this was 2 very large breasts cut down the middle for me), cleaned of excess gunk

3 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 lb bacon

4-6 slices of pepper jack cheese

 

Place chicken breasts in a gallon ziploc bag.  Stir together remaining ingredients except bacon and cheese, and pour over chicken in bag.  Seal bag and squish it around so the chicken is coated.  Refrigerate for 4 to 12 hours.

 

When you're ready to cook the chicken, arrange 2 racks in the oven so that they're more or less centered in the middle.  Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and arrange the chicken breasts in the dish, then pour the marinade from the bag on top.  Place this on the lower rack in the oven.  Line a large baking pan with foil and fold the edges up to contain the bacon grease, then evenly arrange the bacon on the foil.  Place the bacon in the oven on the upper rack.

 

Bake chicken and bacon until bacon is cooked almost as much as you like, about 15-25 minutes depending on your preferences and the thickness of the bacon.  Carefully remove both pans from the oven and rearrange the baking racks so one is in the middle.  Return the chicken to this rack and continue to bake until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of one of the breasts registers 165.  Meanwhile, remove the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate and dab off the excess grease.

 

When the chicken is cooked through, remove the pan from the oven and top the chicken with the sliced cheese, tearing the slices to fit.  Top the cheese evenly with the bacon, tearing it into pieces.  Return the pan to the oven and cook until the cheese is melted and the bacon is cooked to your desired doneness, about 5 minutes more.

 

Yield: 4-6 servings

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

My husband is crazy about casseroles, and I hadn't made one for a while, so decided to go with this one when I saw it on the Macaroni and Cheesecake blog.  This is a very simple casserole, but proves how nicely things can turn out if you use decent ingredients.  I'm quite certain that the same casserole made with canned chicken, cream of blank soup (which I do use sometimes, no regrets!), and frozen veggies would have landed several rungs lower on the casserole tasty-meter.  this is just a nice cozy casserole, nothing fancy, but great on a cold night and pretty quick to prepare!

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

10 oz mix of fresh, chopped broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots

2 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

3/4 C milk

3/4 C chicken broth

1/2 C sour cream

5 oz container plain (NOT vanilla!) greek yogurt

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

1 tsp Montreal chicken seasoning (I used Montreal steak seasoning)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
  

for topping:

1 Tbsp butter

12 Ritz crackers, crushed
  

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 2 quart baking dish.
  

Microwave vegetables in a covered bowl until barely beginning to turn tender, about 5 minutes.
  

In a large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium-high.  Whisk in flour until smooth, then cook for one minute, whisking constantly.  Whisk in milk a little at a time, making sure it's completely smooth before adding more.  Whisk in the chicken broth in the same fashion.  Bring to a boil and simmer, whisking constantly, for another minute or two.  Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and greek yogurt, then seasonings.  Stir in chicken and veggies.
  

Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish.  Melt butter and toss with the crushed crackers, then spoon the crumbs evenly over the casserole dish.
  

Bake until bubbling around the edges and crackers are golden, about 20 minutes.
  

Yield: 6 main dish servings

Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels

This is another recipe from Macaroni and Cheesecake.  We love buffalo chicken, so of course it caught my eye.  I've had bad luck in the past with refrigerated tortilla rolls getting soggy, but these ones were fine.  I used a mixture of new tortillas and slightly stale ones.  The stale ones softened perfectly and the fresh ones were a little softer than that, but still okay.  This is an appetizer recipe, but we actually had them for dinner and loved them!  When I make them for dinner next time, I'm going to cut the cream cheese in half.  They were fine this way, but a bit richer than I would prefer for a main dish.

Quick Note:  I used my food processor to grate the cheddar, chop the green onions, and shred the chicken.

Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I used the breasts from a rotisserie chicken)
2 green onions, finely chopped
8 oz soft style cream cheese, softened briefly in the microwave (this is the cream cheese in a little tub)
1 1/4 C finely grated cheddar cheese
1/2 C Frank's Red Hot Sauce
2 tablespoons dry ranch dressing mix (I used my own)
8 six inch flour tortillas

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except flour tortillas.  Stir until well combined.  Place 1/8 of mixture on each tortilla and spread evenly to the edges with a spatula.  Roll tortillas up tightly, place on a plate, and keep covered in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.  To serve, slice rolls into 3/4 inch wide pinwheels and arrange on a plate.

The pinwheels keep nicely in the refrigerator for a few days.  I experimented with placing two of the rolls in the freezer and will update after they've thawed.

Yield: 8 servings as a main dish and probably about 25 as an appetizer.

Colombian Chicken Stew

This is my adaptation of the Kenji Lopez-Alt's Colombian Chicken Stew recipe from the Serious Eats blog.  It's a very simple stew, with only a few ingredients and no liquid added.  It's made in a pressure cooker (I used my Instant Pot) and the tomatoes, onion, and chicken make a good amount of very flavorful broth, without needing to add any liquid.  It's pretty cool and very, very yummy with simple, but really good flavors.  I should note that while this is called a stew, it's almost more like a soup because the broth is not thick at all.  You can get a slightly thicker stew if you cut your potatoes smaller because they will break up and thicken the liquid a bit when you stir it up at the end.

I made the stew once according to the original directions (except wasn't able to fit all the vegetables into my Instant Pot), then made it this way.  The original method is very tasty, but the broth is quite greasy and it requires a lot of careful sifting and straining to get all the bits of bone and skin out of the stew.  This time, I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and put them in a soup sock.  Everything turned out just as delicious, but it was even easier to make.  I'm sick with a pretty bad cold at the moment and was craving this stew, so it being easy to make was a definite perk!

Colombian Chicken Stew

 
2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 large tomatoes, diced large

1 large onion, diced

1 large russet potato, peeled and diced large

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Place chicken breasts in the bottom of an Instant Pot and top with all vegetables.  Add the bay leaves and sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper.  Plug in Instant Pot, put on and close the lid, make sure it's set to sealing, and cook on manual for 30 minutes.  It will take a while for enough pressure to build up to seal the pot, so don't worry!

After the 30 minutes are up, release the pressure by pushing the little lever on top with the end of a long handled spoon.  Let the pressure completely release, then remove the lid.  Discard the bay leaves.  Pull out the chicken breasts, chop/shred them however you like, and add them back to the pot.  Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

Alternate Prep:  I haven't actually tried it this way, but you could probably put all the ingredients in a greased slow cooker and cook on low until the chicken is cooked through, then proceed with the recipe.  How long it will take completely depends on the slow cooker.

Yield:  About 6 servings

Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

This is one of the best chicken recipes I've ever made OR tasted!  It's from AllRecipes and is definitely a winner.  My husband and I both agreed it's something we'd order repeatedly in a favorite restaurant.  I chose it just because it's fairly healthy and looked easy enough for a weeknight dinner.  While I expected it to be good, I didn't think it would be THIS good.  It reminds me of a good Chicken Marsala.  The flavors all marry together perfectly.  It tastes rich, savory, and bright, with a great tang from the vinegar, but it isn't sour.  Whoever created this recipe knew what they were doing!  My only change was to increase the flour to 4 Tbsp so I'd have enough to evenly coat the chicken, and I think that was a good call.  Regardless, I will make this recipe again and again.

 

 

Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

 

4 chicken breast cutlets (you can cut 2 large chicken breasts in half down the middle), about 1 1/2 lbs

1/4 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

3/4 lbs mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini)

6 cloves garlic, sliced

1/4 C balsamic vinegar

3/4 C chicken broth

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp butter
 

In a gallon Ziploc bag, mix together flour, salt, and pepper.  Set aside.  Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste on both sides of the chicken cutlets.  Add to the bag, seal it, and shake to coat evenly.
  

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet.  Add chicken cutlets (discard extra flour) and cook until golden and beginning to brown on the bottom, then turn them over.  Add garlic and mushrooms to the spaces around the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to shrink and soften, about 5 minutes.  Add vinegar, broth, thyme, and bay leaf to skillet, cover, and reduce heat to low.  Simmer 10 minutes.
  

Remove chicken from skillet, cover with foil, and place in an oven set to warm.  Raise heat of stove to medium-high and cook until the sauce has reduced nicely, about 7 minutes.  Stir in the tablespoon of butter.  Serve sauce and mushrooms over chicken.
  

Yield: 4 servings

Honey Lemon Pepper Chicken & Pasta

This is a recipe I found on the Averie Cooks blog, and had to make it right away because it looked so unique.  For some reason I haven't seen honey feature prominently in many pasta dishes.  I made a few tweaks, like usual, and the main one was that I cut back on the honey significantly.  It was a good call, because we thought it had the perfect amount of sweetness.  This is a great recipe if you need something really quick and yummy for dinner!

 

 

Honey Lemon Pepper Chicken & Pasta

 

2 lbs chicken breasts, cut into 6 cutlets

lemon pepper to sprinkle

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1/3 C honey

1/2 C lemon juice

1 Tbsp lemon pepper (I used Lawry's)

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

1/2 tsp dried thyme

13 oz box whole grain angel hair pasta (I used Barilla)
 

Cook the pasta in salted water while you cook the chicken, then strain and set aside.

 

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Sprinkle chicken generously with lemon pepper on both sides, then place in skillet. Brown on both sides.
 

While chicken browns, make the sauce.  Stir together 1 Tbsp olive oil, the honey, lemon juice, 1 Tbsp lemon pepper, rice vinegar, and dried thyme in a small bowl.  When chicken has browned, reduce heat to medium and pour in sauce.  Cook until it has thickened slightly and chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.  The sauce will only thicken a small amount and will remain fairly runny, so don't worry!
 

Remove chicken to a plate and add the cooked pasta.  Mix thoroughly and heat through, then serve on plates next to the chicken.
 

Yield:  6 servings