Creamy Italian Noodles

I get in a side dish rut. My "go to" is always instant brown rice cooked in chicken broth. It is good, but it gets boring after a while. So, I found this recipe and adapted it a little bit. All three of my little boys LOVED it and asked for seconds. You could add cooked chicken to it and make it a main dish.

Ingredients

1 (8 oz.) package of whole wheat pasta (the original recipe called for wide egg noodles, but I used whole wheat penne pasta)

1 package of dry Italian salad dressing mix

1/2 cup of milk (I used whole milk but you could use whipping cream or fat free milk)

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook noodles according to package direction and drain. I didn't rinse mine ... just drained it.

2. Cut the butter into chunks so it melts easier. Stir that up in the hot noodles. Add the remaining ingredients and stir.

3. Serve hot.

Crockpot Thai Chicken

Here is a new recipe I tried today, and my family loved it. It was easy and different than the usual, and I was getting stuck in a rut!

Ingredients

6 chicken breast halves
1/4 C. of smooth peanut butter
1 C. of hot salsa (I used 3/4 of mild picante sauce and 1/4 cup of Thai Garlic Pepper Sauce)
2 T. of lime juice (I had lemon juice, so that is what I used)
3 T. of lite soy sauce (it called for one, but it needed more)
1/4 c. of lite corn syrup
2 T. of chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)

1. Put chicken in a cooking sprayed crockpot. I put mine in frozen.

2. Mix together salsa, peanut butter, lime or lemon juice, soy sauce and corn syrup. (Note: if you are using just plain salsa you may add a little extra garlic ... I got that taste in the Garlic Pepper sauce)

3. Pour the sauce over the chicken.

4. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

5. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro if you would like. My kids don't like cilantro, so I left it off of theirs but added it to mine and my husband's.

Easy & Fast Chicken & Dumplings

Since cold weather has arrived in Texas, here is a super easy recipe I've adapted for my family. You can have this yummy, comfort food ready for your family in 30 minutes or less. This is my 5 year old's favorite dish, and he asks for it often.

Ingredients

2 large cans of chicken breasts (you can cook your own chicken breast and cut it up, but I like using the canned because it is so easy)

2 cans of 98% fat free cream of chicken soup

2 teaspoons of chicken base (or chicken bouillon)

2 cups of water

1/2 teaspoon of black ground pepper

2 cups of Bisquick mix

2/3 cup of milk

1/2 tsp. of thyme

In a large pot, put the chicken (and the broth included), the two cans of soup, the pepper, the chicken base or bouillon) and water. Stir and bring that to a boil. In the meantime, mix the Bisquick, milk and thyme together. Once the soup mixture has come to a boil, make little balls of dough (a little larger than a marble) and drop them one by one into the soup mixture. Stir as necessary. This will make a lot of dumplings but they are our favorite part (especially my 5 year old's). Once you have dropped all of the dumplings, stir good, cover and turn the fire down to simmer. Let simmer ten minutes, stir again and serve. Be careful serving this to little ones right out of the pot ... it is SUPER hot and especially the dumplings (even if the soup part is cool enough to eat, the dumplings usually stay hot in the middle for quite a while ... I usually cut up the dumplings and serve just a shallow serving to my littlest ones ... it cools off quicker that way).

Marsala Ranch Chicken

If this looks mysteriously like the Creamy Italian Chicken that I posted last week, there's a reason. The five year old asked for it for dinner. Since you never know what a preschooler is going to like from day to day, I jumped at the chance to make something he wanted. I normally have the ingredients to make the CIC because it is one of their favorites. Well, when I went to make it right at the last possible minute, I didn't have the dry Italian dressing mix, so I improvised and came up with this. The five year old liked it as did my hubby and baby (the three year old doesn't want to eat anything but candy and bread these days ... although he did eat an apple today and even requested more).

Back to the recipe, this may be a recipe of someone's, but I've never looked for it or seen it. Here's my "what I had on hand" version of Creamy Italian Chicken that I have named Marsala Ranch Chicken.

INGREDIENTS

4 Chicken Breast Halves
1 can of 98% FF cream of chicken soup
1 package of dry ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
1/4 cup of marsala cooking wine (a white wine would work, too ... don't know what Marsala wine is classified as, but I had Marsala cooking wine in the pantry so that is what I used)
1 package of low fat cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the soup, cream cheese, garlic powder, ranch dressing mix and wine together. Spray a small casserole dish, place the chicken in the bottom and pour the soup/dressing mix over the chicken. Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes.

I served this over whole wheat pasta spirals with a broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots vegetable mix (from the frozen food section) and some WONDERFUL bread my husband's sister-in-law introduced me to ... you can get it at Sam's and have hot, fresh baked, crusty bread in on TEN minutes! It is in the frozen food section at Sam's and is Member's Mark Organic Tuscan Artisan Bread. I know I serve a lot of prepared, frozen stuff like the veggies and the bread ... I really can bake homemade bread (and sometimes do ... I'll post a recipe for that tomorrow) ... but with three preschool age boys, I do good to keep the laundry washed and put away and the floors relatively clean much less cooking a full meal from scratch! Anyway, hope you enjoy this version.

If you have a recipe to post on Wednesday, send an e-mail to the Fairy Blogmother at fairyblogmother@sympatico.ca and she'll link back to you for "What's Cooking Wednesday". She has a collection of lots of YUMMY looking recipes linked on her blog.

Creamy Italian Chicken

This is an old tried and true recipe that can be done in the crock pot or the oven. I did it in the oven Monday night, because I didn't have time to do it in the crock pot by the time I thought about getting dinner going. I'll give both versions. This is one of the few meals that EVERY kid in my family AND my husband likes. As some of you know, that's a HUGE deal!

Ingredients

1 Pkg of Good Seasonings Dry Italian Dressing Mix
1/2 cup of water (or white wine)
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces (halves) - enough for 8 people
1 package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 can of 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
1 small cooked package of noodles of your choice (I used whole wheat spiral pasta on this night)

TO DO IN OVEN:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Lay the chicken in the bottom of the pan. Mix together the cream cheese (may want to soften it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up to make it easier to stir in), soup, dressing mix, and water or wine (as I've said, we don't have wine around the house so I just pick up some cooking wine that can usually be found near the salad dressing mixes, condiments, croutons, etc. ... I'm sure a good drinking wine would taste even better). Pour the soup and cream cheese mixture over the chicken and bake for about an hour. Serve over cooked noodles.

TO DO IN CROCKPOT:
Plan to put this in about 4 hours before you need it. Spray the crock with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the bottom. Mix together the dressing mix and the water or wine. Pour it over the chicken. Let it cook on high for about 3 hours. Mix the soup and cream cheese together. Pour it over the chicken and let it cook for another hour. Serve over cooked noodles.

Cranberry Chicken

This is an old recipe, but this is my version. I made it last night for dinner, because it is one of the few things that BOTH my older boys love (for the moment ... you never know from meal to meal with preschoolers). I didn't have exactly everything the original recipe called for, and I added a little something extra. This version turned out much better than the original version, I think. I'll make it like this from now on.

Ingredients

6 to 8 chicken breast halves (can be boneless skinless ... that's what I used, or bone in like thighs, leg quarters, breasts etc. The chicken with the bone in it will take longer to cook and if the skin is on, it won't be low fat. :o)
1 bottle of Catalina dressing (I used the store brand Russian and it was GREAT)
1 package of onion soup mix (I didn't use a whole one ... probably 2/3 of one ... it was too strong and saltly using a whole package last time I made this)
1 can of jellied cranberry sauce
1 Tbsp (or to taste) of General Tso's Chicken Seasoning Mix (this gives it a little spicy kick - the original recipe called for dry mustard and that sounded boring and I'm not a big fan of that flavor) - I used Sun Bird brand General Tso's Seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the chicken in a sprayed 9x13 dish. Mix the dressing, soup mix, cranberry sauce, and General Tso's together and pour it over the chicken. Put it in the oven uncovered for about 30 to 45 minutes until the chicken is done. I served this over brown rice with plenty of sauce ladled over the chicken and rice. I also served it with some WONDERFUL green beans based on a Paula Deen recipe ... but that's a different recipe for another time.

The boys loved this chicken. I thought I would have plenty for dinner the next night, too ... but they each ate three helpings ... probably a whole half breast each! This will definitely become a family staple.

Chicken Breasts with Bacon

Okay, there is nothing low fat about this, but it is really good. If you are doing Atkins' diet, it would work great. You could make it lower fat and I'll give tips for that. This is an easy and quick dish but is impressive served. It makes a BUNCH, so you could half this recipe and have plenty for a large family for one meal. As a note, this can be made ahead and refrigerated until time to bake.

Ingredients

12 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 eight oz. package of cream cheese (you can use the 1/3 fat version)
10-12 green onions chopped fine
A couple of dashes of garlic powder to taste
24 slices of bacon (you could use center cut bacon or probably even turkey bacon)
12 - 24 toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350. Combine softened cream cheese (you can soften in the microwave for a few seconds), onions, and garlic powder. Form into 12 walnut sized balls. Wrap half a chicken breast around each cream cheese ball. Then wrap 2 slices of bacon around the chicken, covering as much of the chicken as possible. Secure with toothpicks, which can be removed before serving. Tip: Do this whole process one at a time. Wrap the chicken around the cream cheese ball and then wrap the bacon and toothpick it right away. Bake uncovered for an hour or until the chicken is tender. The original recipe says that this serves SIX! But, that would be if your family or guests ate TWO each. So, use your judgment about how much your guests will eat and how many this will serve.

Chicken & Rice Casserole

This is often the dish I cook when I want to take a meal to someone. It is one of my kids' favorites, and you can make it low fat if you want. It is easy and you have your protein and your starch cooked in one dish. You just have to add a vegetable on the side or a salad. It is an old recipe, but this is my version of it.

Ingredients

2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8 pieces of chicken breast)
1 cup of uncooked rice (I haven't used brown rice with this, but if you do and it works well, let me know)
1 package of dry onion soup mix
1 can of cream of chicken soup (I use the 98% fat free, but you don't have to)
2 dashes of celery powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 dish with nonstick spray. Sprinkle the uncooked rice evenly across the bottom of the pan. (This won't look like much, but it it cooks up to make plenty of rice) Put the chicken on top of the dry rice. Sprinkle with the dry onion soup mix. Mix the soup with two cans of water and add the celery powder. Pour over the top of the chicken. Bake covered for about an hour or an hour and a half (depending on how large your chicken breasts are).

Tip: Make sure your chicken is thawed for this recipe. I tried doing it with partially frozen chicken breasts one time, and it took FOREVER to cook. It did not turn out well.

Marinated Chicken

This isn't so much of a recipe as it is a meal idea. We are going to have this tonight, so I thought I would post it here.

Ingredients

KC Masterpiece 30 minute Marinade in Honey Teriyaki
Chicken - I use boneless skinless breasts

I put the chicken and marinade (enough to coat the chicken) in a ziploc bag and marinate it for 30 minutes and then grill. It is WONDERFUL and so easy. Just serve it with veggies and rice or potatoes or something like that. It also doesn't heat up the kitchen on hot summer days. You can get a bottle for about $3 and I can usually do 2 or 3 meals out of it.

Tip: If you buy chicken from Sam's and break up the large packages, you can pour some marinade into the freezer ziplocs and freeze them. Then the day before you want to grill, take out a package and thaw it in the fridge. It can be marinading while it is thawing.