BBQ Chicken Salad

The name of the blog where I got this recipe kind of says it all! :) Here is the link - BBQ Chicken Salad.

Rusty and I love salads! Surprisingly, so does Rylan. We always seem to get in a salad rut, though, so I love finding new salad recipes to try, and I love it even more when they are, um, damn delicious. ;) This recipe is very easy! It was perfect to put together on a week night after work.

Ingredients:
*1 tblsp of olive oil
*2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
*Salt & Pepper
*Romaine lettuce
*1 can of corn, drained
*1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
*diced tomatoes
*Tortilla strips
*Grated cheddar cheese
*Your favorite BBQ sauce
*Your favorite ranch dressing

One ingredient not listed above that I will add next time is avocado. I LOVE avocado slices on a salad, and they would've gone well this one.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. While the oil is heating, lightly salt and pepper the thinly sliced chicken breasts. Once the oil is hot, add chicken to the pan and cook 3-5 minutes on each side, or until no longer pink. Remove chicken from pan and dice. Serve over romaine lettuce, and top with as much or as little of the remaining ingredients as you desire!

Chicken Lo Mein

This is another one pan recipe. While I do use a few other items, I love only having one pan to hand wash at the end of the night. Rusty and I recently discovered how much we really do like Asian food. The journey is slow, but we are branching out. This recipe for Chicken Lo Mein is a really good recipe that everyone in our house loves!

Ingredients:
*2 chicken breasts
*16 oz box of linguini or fettuccini
*4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in half length wise, and then cut into 2 inch pieces
*1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
*4 garlic cloves, minced
*1/4 cup of soy sauce
*1 tsp garlic powder
*1 tsp corn starch
*1 tblsp sugar
*1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
*4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
*2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Cut the chicken breast into small pieces, and put into a large pot. Break pasta pieces in half, and place them on top of the chicken. Continue to add remaining ingredients, in the order listed above. Gently stir ingredients to allow spices added on top to disburse through pan. Cook over high heat, until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Stir the ingredients well, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for about 15-18 minutes, stirring half way through cooking time. Most of the liquid will cook into the meal, so don't be surprised by the reduced amount of liquid. If you find your finished product to be too dry, it was probably cooked just a few minutes too long (I did this the first time... oops!!) Maybe add just a little bit of water, to thin it back out. Allow the dish to cool for just a couple of minutes prior to serving. Enjoy!

I usually add more vegetables than stated in the ingredients. I like to add snap peas or broccoli as well. It's up to your preferences!

TTFN!

Tortellini Pasta Salad

This recipe is a relatively easy and quick fix! Both of the boys liked it, as did I. It made a big enough portion to allow for plenty of leftovers, which was nice when I was looking for something last minute to take to work for lunch.

Here is the original recipe I used - Tortellini Salad.

Ingredients:
*20 oz package of refrigerated cheese tortellini
*1 cup of fresh mozzarella, cubed
*1 cup of pepperoni, chopped
*1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
*1/3 cup of fresh basil
*2/3 cup of Caesar salad or Italian dressing

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Rinse thoroughly with cold water, and drain. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Enjoy!

I found this recipe because I had a package of pepperoni on hand to use up... I thought it was good, but I would rather have chicken with it. Next time we make this, I'm going to either cube up a baked chicken breast or use canned chicken breast. I'll report back and let you know the results!

TTFN

Recipe #32: Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

The other day I was really craving something buffalo-y. I also wanted something that was relatively easy to make. Enter this recipe. Sorry, I don't have a picture. :(

Ingredients:
*1/4 cup cooked shredded chicken, warm
*1 tblsp hot sauce (like Frank's)
*1/2 tblsp ranch dressing (more or less, to taste)
*1 tblsp grated carrot (optional)
*1 tblsp sliced celery (optional)
*1 tblsp green or red onion, sliced (optional)
*1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
*sliced bread
*butter

Butter one side of each bread slice. Place buttered side down in pan, over medium-high heat. Spoon chicken mixture onto bread. Top with another slice of bread, butter side up. Carefully flip sandwich, when bottom slice of bread is cooked. Once both sides are golden brown, the sandwich is done!

Since I wanted easy, I did not use/shred a freshly cooked chicken breast. I used a 10 oz can of chicken, so the work was already done for me. That 10 oz can was about 1 cup of chicken, so I adapted the recipe accordingly. This ultimately made about 4 pretty full sandwiches. I thought it was the perfect amount to serve both dinner, and then have just a little bit left over. For the record, the chicken mixture also tasted great as a dip for pretzels. :)

Enjoy - TTFN!

Recipe #31: Bubble Up Pizza

This recipe was soooo easy! I wasn't sure what to expect, because of the biscuits. But, I thought it was great! I'm actually making it again tomorrow night for our pizza and movie Friday night family date. Here is where I found the recipe originally.

Ingredients:
*2 cans (12 oz each) biscuits
*1 jar (15 oz) pizza sauce
*2 cups mozzarella cheese
*favorite pizza toppings

Preheat the oven to 375*. Cut biscuits into quarters and put them in a large mixing bowl. Toss biscuit pieces with pizza sauce. Once coated, add pizza toppings and half of the cheese. Mix well. Grease a 9x13 pan, and pour biscuit mixture into the pan. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, or until biscuits are done.

My notes - 1) The original recipe calls for it to bake for 25-30 minutes. I found it cooked a little faster than I expected, but that could just be my oven. 2) Rusty and I do not like a lot of sauce on our pizza, and I was nervous about this dish being too saucy for our preferences. I used a little less than half of the jar of pizza sauce. The end result was a little dry. Next time, I'll use more. I do think, though, that the entire jar would've been too much. 3) I didn't exactly follow the measurements on the cheese and toppings. I mixed in until I was satisfied with the amount of toppings there seemed to be. The cheese probably worked out to be somewhere around the 2 cups that are called for.

Another note - I really want to try making this in cupcake/muffin liners for a party or something. I think that it would be a great little snack, and that a small cupcake/muffin sized portion would be just perfect. If/when I get a chance to test that out, I'll follow up on this post. Until then, enjoy!!

TTFN!