Tag Archives: Chicken

Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup

9 May

My coffee maker broke on Friday morning- I know a bad omen for sure. However, I convinced myself the day would be fabulous and it initially was!  I had a wonderful day working out and running around with Amanda. I felt so great after returning home I popped open  a cervesa and sat in the back yard to enjoy the evening with my wonderful Husband and dog Bailey. Then, the dog spotted a goose (which there was no way he could ever get to), knocks me off my chair sending my beer flying and my bottom to the ground. Major party foul Bailey. I know you shouldn’t cry over spilled milk but what about spilled beer!? After that, I began to feel under the weather and spent the rest of the weekend sleeping, blowing my nose and eating PB&J sandwiches. To make matters WORSE, I couldn’t talk to my mom (talking to your mom is essential for a “I do not feel good pity party”) She and my Dad were traipsing around France (allow yourself a few seconds to be jealous of them, I sure am).

Back to business. It is now Wednesday and I feel like I am finally coming out of my zombie like snotty state. I feel like a new woman, and it is in part to this FABULOUS and EASY soup (easy is essential when you are a crazy congestion induced overly emotional cough machine).

I patted myself on the back for saving a chicken carcass (I hate the word carcass too, reminds me of vultures- ew!) and ends of lots of onions, carrots and celery. Threw all of that in a large pot, covered it with water, added unpeeled smashed garlic cloves, some herbs, black pepper and salt and magically three hours of simmering later, I had homemade chicken stock to make the perfect chicken soup.

This recipe, for lemon chicken noodle soup, is from a friend of mine over at The GD Kitchen. It is perfect for when you are feeling under the weather, or craving a comforting meal. I had a bunch of vegetables pre-chopped in the freezer because sometimes I buy too much produce or my husband works late and I don’t make dinner because I am lazy and do not want veggies to go to waste. Seriously, you can chop up anything and freeze it – start doing this, you will be glad you did if you end up in a cold coma like I was! I used zucchini, carrots and onions that had been frozen.

Yep, these veggies were frozen!

Check out her site and this recipe you will be so glad you did!

Side note 1:  That is my sweet little beer spiller in the background

Side note 2: I plan on making the GD Kitchen’s strawberry basil ice cream to go with these strawberry basil martinis :)

Side note 3: I think I like adding side notes too much!

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Thai Chicken Enchiladas

24 Apr

I am not good at remembering, saving or making a meal I liked more than once. I constantly want to try new recipes or dishes, much to my husbands chagrin. This recipe changes things. I literally made it again the next day (which is the opposite of the extreme I was following, never making the same thing twice and now eating the same thing all week?! I have issues :) )

These are so surprisingly good. Nothing like a Mexican enchilada that can be heavy and laden with cheese (although my husband thought they could use guacamole, he is CRAZY). They are light and slightly spicy/sweet and PERFECT to whip up when you are having guests over with a side of edamame (Served restaurant style lightly salted in their pods)!

This recipe is from one of my favorite food blogs, How Sweet It Is, she is always coming up with great new recipe ideas! You MUST try this!

Image from http://www.howsweeteats.com/

Image from http://www.howsweeteats.com/

Don’t be surprised that you will want to eat your leftovers for breakfast the next day.

Get the recipe here!

 

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Christmas Eve Dinner: Verde Chicken Enchiladas

23 Dec

Feliz Navidad!

Growing up in Texas my family (non native Texans) found out early on many families have tamales on Christmas eve, FANTASTIC IDEA. Who doesn’t love tamales? Then I researched the process to make tamales, and while I find them to be extremely delicious they are NOT an easy “make at home” dinner! So, let me introduce you to this winner winner chicken dinner. Not too sure what the actually means, but this EASY and tasty chicken dish is a crowd pleaser (can easily be doubled or if you are really hungry tripled!) and follows the lovely mexicana theme for a spicy Christmas eve!

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

Slightly adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chopped onion ( 1 medium onion)
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (about one bunch of cilantro)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 (7-ounce) bottle salsa verde*
  • 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
  • 8oz 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
  • Cooking spray
  • 1/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese (really any shredded cheese will work!)
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 4 lime wedges
  • Cilantro sprigs (optional)

*Verde means green en español and salsa verde is a salsa made of tomatillos like this delicious one made by Amanda. To make this dinner, buying a bottled sauce makes it much easier and gives you more time to be drinking peppermint mochas or spiked eggnog!

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 425°.
  2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a blender; process until smooth. Combine chicken and cream cheese in a large bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup salsa mixture. Reserve remaining salsa mixture.
  3. Bring broth to a simmer in a medium skillet. Working with one tortilla at a time, add tortilla to pan; cook 20 seconds or until moist, turning once. Remove tortilla; drain on paper towels. Spoon about 1/4 cup chicken mixture down center of tortilla; roll up. Place tortilla, seam-side down, in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, broth, and chicken mixture.
  4. Pour remaining salsa mixture over enchiladas; sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese and chili powder. Bake at 425° for 18 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve with lime wedges. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

I like to serve this with black beans and cilantro lime rice and of course some chips and salsa!

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Crispy Chicken Strips and Crispy Chicken Pizza!

18 Apr

I was inspired to make my own chicken strips after seeing all the yummy variations on How Sweet It Is blog. I might have gone a little crazy!

I marinated enough chicken to feed a small army in coconut milk, and tried two different types of breading! One was barbecue and the other a curry coconut cashew!

I served the coconut cashew with a green curry dip and asparagus, then I cut up the barbecue ones and put them on a pizza!

INGREDIENTS

4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips

For The Coconut Cashew Chicken finger breading:

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/2  cup  roasted, salted cashews

1/2  cup coconut flakes

1/2  cup  cornflakes

1/2  cup  panko

For the BBQ Chicken fingers

I tablespoon BBQ Seasoning

1 cup panko

1/2 cup cornflakes

2 tablespoons wheat flour

DIRECTIONS

Marinate the chicken in a baking dish with one can of coconut milk for 2-12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a large baking rack.

For the coconut mixture: In a food processor, pulse together the cashews and coconut until finely chopped (make sure this is very finely chopped or the pieces will not stick to the chicken). Add the cornflakes and pulse until coarse. Transfer the mixture to a wide, shallow bowl.

For the BBQ mixture: In food processor pulse corn flakes until finely chopped. Transfer to a wide shallow bowl and mix with panko, BBQ seasoning and wheat flour.

One by one, take the chicken strips from the coconut milk marinade, letting the excess drip back into the baking dish. Place the chicken in the breading mixture and turn to coat evenly. Transfer each chicken finger to the prepared baking sheet. Spray the chicken strips with cooking spray (it will help them crisp).

Bake the chicken fingers in the oven, turning once halfway through (10 minutes in), until they are golden all over, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy those tasty chicken fingers as is… OR add them to a pizza!

I made the easiest pizza dough, used barbecue sauce as the “pizza sauce” covered it in mozzarella, red onions, crispy chicken strips, and then drizzled it with more bbq sauce! When it is out of the oven, sprinkle on chopped cilantro.

These chicken fingers are too easy and too tasty not to make!

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National Turkey Neck Day

30 Mar

Ok, so turkey neck… Not something that makes me say, “Mmm let me whip up some fried turkey neck!”.  Also, who eats turkey in any month other than November? So, I tried to get creative with this national holiday and instead made chicken stock and included the little chicken neck. (smaller but equally as creepy as a turkey neck)

One of my go to easy weeknight meals is roasted chicken. It is easy to prepare, hard to mess up (unless you are me, who accidentally cooked mine breast side down, a no no, and it took twice as long to cook since it was still raw when I tried to carve it). Everyone has a kitchen disaster every once in a while, right!? Normally, this is an easy meal and costs between $4-$6 bucks for a 5lb chicken! This is plenty for two meals! And another bonus, using the leftover bones to make your own chicken stock.

Here is how I see it, 32oz of chicken broth is an average of $4 I calculate I spent $5 for the chicken and I have been saving ends of onions, carrots for the broth and grow herbs to throw in there, making my own broth cost $6 and I got 72oz of broth and meat for two meals!! If I was better at math, I’d break down the savings, but I’m not :)

Can I get a whoop for those savings! That money is much better spent on wine!

Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from Food Network

-Your leftover chicken carcass, including neck and back
-1 large onion, quartered (or leftover onion pieces you have been saving! NO need to remove the ends or spend a lot of time taking the skins off)
- 4 carrots, cut in ½ (or leftover pieces of carrots so you don’t have to bother peeling!)
- 4 ribs celery, cut in ½ (use the top leafy parts they are the most flavorful)
- 1 leek, cut in 1/2 lengthwise (don’t worry if you don’t have a leek, it is not necessary, if I don’t have one, I add an additional onion)
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 to 10 peppercorns
- 2 whole cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 gallons cold water

Place chicken, vegetables, herbs and spices in a large stockpot. Pour water over the vegetables and chicken until they are fully submerged. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Simmer for 6 to 8 hours.

Strain stock into a large heatproof bowl, discarding the solids. Cool immediately by placing in the refrigerator. Make sure to keep it in there overnight. Remove from the refrigerator and strain, using a fine mesh sieve, to catch all the solid fat/ Discard the fat and pour your broth into plastic freezable storage containers or gallon plastic seal-able bags. You can store this broth in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. I go ahead and freeze all of mine, because it is so easy to defrost!

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How to Roast a Chicken

4 Mar

I was initially intimidated by the thought of cooking a whole chicken. But, it’s cheap, easy and can make enough meat for two meals, so I had to try! It is now one of my go to weeknight meals! You can change the flavor combinations and even cooking method to keep this fresh! It is EASY (emphasizing the easiness to squelch your fears of a whole chicken)!

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350°
  • Unwrap the chicken and make sure the neck and other chicken bits are no longer inside of the cavity (you can buy it without this “stuff” in there).
  • Pat the chicken dry and  stuff the cavity with 2 lemon halves, 3-4 garlic cloves and your herbs of choice. I used a few sprigs of rosemary- Feel free to use whatever fresh herbs or spices you have on hand!
  • Combine 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic (Garlic peeling trick: shake them vigorously in a metal bowl!), chopped rosemary, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Rub this mixture underneath and over the skin. Then, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Bake the chicken for 60 minutes. 30 minutes in, throw in the veggies! I used a combination of broccoli, cauliflower, sliced onion and carrots. Drizzle  1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over the veggies and top with lemon slices.
  • While your dinner is cooking enjoy a good book, time with your family and a glass of wine!
  • Remove the chicken from the oven, it should be 160°, and let it rest 10 minutes before carving to allow the juices to redistribute!

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