Italian Chicken and Vegetables

Recently, as I've been browsing Pinterest, I've come across several pins of a one pan dinner of chicken, green beans and potatoes (I'm linking to the one from Hearty-home.com).  One pan for dinner?  I'm in!

Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts, thawed
Green Beans
Cubed Potatoes
1 Stick Butter
Italian Seasoning

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put green beans along one side of baking dish and potatoes on opposite side.  Put chicken breasts down the middle.  Evenly lay butter across chicken and veggies.  Sprinkly Italian seasoning on top.  Bake for 1 hour. 

So easy!  And delicious!

Baked Chicken Parmesan

Hello, everyone!  I hope everyone is having a great start to the week.  In observance of Martin Luther King Day, my office was closed yesterday.  I was fortunate to be able to spent the day with my mom shopping for wedding related items such as a veil, shoes, jewelry, mother of the bride outfit, etc.  We found a lot of great things while shopping around.  I get more excited for the wedding every day!  After a long day of shopping, my mom and I met T and my grandparents for dinner before I headed back home for the night.

Since we ate out last night, I wanted to have a quiet dinner in.  T had to work late, so I had an hour or so to prep and cook dinner.  I decided on Baked Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti and Garlic Bread.

Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
1 Jar Pasta Sauce, brand and style of your choice
Onion, I used minced but should have used fresh
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Pepperoni, 15-20 pieces
Chives
Spaghetti Noodles or pasta of your choice
Bread
Butter
Oregano
Parmesan or Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake chicken for half hour or until done.  While chicken is baking, chop onion, chives and pepperoni and place in skillet. 

 

 

Sautee for 2-3 minutes.  Add pasta sauce and mix together.  Add garlic powder, oregano, and pepper to taste. 

 

Boil noodles according to package directions.

 

Once chicken is done, move chicken to alternate pan free of fat.  Cover chicken with pasta sauce.  Bake for 7 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese across the top.  Bake additional 2-3 minutes before removing from oven.

 

While chicken parmesan is baking, butter bread and sprinkle garlic powder on top.  Bake until bread is baked to desired crispness.

 

 

 

Remove chicken and bread from oven and drain pasta.  You're now ready to serve.

 

 

 

Next time, I will definitely use fresh onion.  The pasta sauce didn't taste much different with the added pepperoni, but it did add a different texture and a nice surprise in each bite.  Overall, pretty successful!

 

 

 

Garlic Parm Chicken with Mashed-Baked Potatoes

Good evening!  I hope everyone's week is going well! 

Tonight's dinner was delicious!  We made Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken following a recipe from Momswhothink.com and a take on The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes.

First up: Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package Italian dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
chicken breasts - we actually ended up using frozen chicken tenderloins

Directions:
First, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix cheese, dressing mix and garlic powder into bowl.  Coat chicken breasts with mixture (The original recipe recommends using water to bind the mixture to the chicken.  Egg would also work).  Bake 20-25 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.

Next up: Mashed-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:
red potatoes, quantity is your choice
olive oil
garlic salt
pepper
fresh chives, chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Add in as many potatoes as you'd like and cook until they are tender.  Coat a sheet pan with olive oil.  Once potatoes are tender, place on sheet pan and mash.  Brush the tops of the potatoes with olive oil then sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper and chives.  Bake 20-25 minutes.

The original recipe called for rosemary, but also advises an herb can be used according to your tastes.  Next time we make this, we'll probably want to soften the chives by putting them into olive oil and microwaving them for 10 seconds or so.  This time round they became dried.  I didn't mind the text, but T said he prefers them more soft.  Also, instead of mashing each potato into individual potato cakes, we simply mashed them to cover the sheet pan.  Next time, we'll mash the potatoes more and mix the ingredients more to create a more flavorful side dish. 

Overall, our dinner was delicious! 

Zesty Barbecue Chicken and Baked Beans

Happy Monday!  Today was a super busy day between work and appointments, so we opted to to use one of the best inventions every: a slow cooker!  We've made this great Barbecue Chicken before and love it!  Its super easy to make and requires very few ingredients.

Zesty Barbecue Chicken Ingredients:
1 bottle of barbecue sauce - I like to use a honey barbecue flavor
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar - We use Splenda
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
frozen, skinless chicken - 6 breasts or 10-12 tenderloins

Directions:
Place chicken in the slow cooker.  In a separate bowl, mix barbecue sauce, dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce together.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.  About an hour before serving, I shred the chicken and place back in the slow cooker to absorb more of the juices.  Delish!

I've been testing possible side options for this great chicken and decided to try a new Baked Beans recipe.  I came across two recipes here and here that had ingredients I liked, so I opted to mix and match. 

Baked Beans Ingredients:
1 can kidney beans
1 can butter beans
1 can lima beans
1 can grillin' beans
bacon pieces - I used 1 package, but you can use however much you want
onion - I used about a 1/4 cup fresh and 1/4 cup minced
1/1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
2-4 tablespoons brown sugar - I used Splenda
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Simmer brown sugar, onion, barbecue sauce and other seasonings for about ten minutes.  Drain butter beans, kidney beans and lima beans and mix with grillin' beans and bacon pieces in a separate bowl.  Add in barbecue sauce mixture and mix well.  Pour into greased pan and bake for one hour. 

I'm happy with how this turned out!  And my fiance loved it!  There was the kick he loves, but it wasn't too spicy for my palate.  Next time, I may skip the minced onion and opt for all fresh.  Otherwise, great complement to the barbecue chicken.  Dinner is served!

 

 

Update: Since we had more than half a pan of baked beans left, we decided to add ground beef and make a meal of it!  It was delicious! 

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Bake

My future husband loves rice, and I love Mexican food.  When I came across this recipe from TastyKitchen.com I knew it was perfect for us! 

Ingredients:
4 cups brown rice, cooked
2 cups cooked chicken - we like Tyson's grilled chicken strips that are precooked as it saves time when we're in a rush
1 1/2 cup frozen corn
1 can black beans
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 can green chilis, juice only
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese plus additional for for topping

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together, then transfer to oven safe bowl.  Top with cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

We've made this a few of times and haven't felt the need to make many changes from the original. We've increased the corn and decided we like chunkier salsa. We've been throwing around the idea of adding onions, increasing the amount of black beans, or forgoing chicken to change it up a little.  With or without the changes, this is a super easy and tasty recipe!

Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Kansas is crazy.  We've had such a weird winter without snow and mostly semi-warm temperatures.  Its been delightful!  Last week the weather decided to break its streak and brought some pretty cold temperatures.  To fight the cold, I decided to make Chicken Noodle Soup in the slow cooker.  I came across a delicious looking recipe here at the Creatively Domestic website and decided to alter it slightly. 

Ingredients:

5 cans of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken
1/2 cup white onion
5 celery ribs
5 carrots
1/2 cup green onions
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 package frozen peas
3 packages Ream's egg noodles
2 cans cooked chicken, drained
1 tbsp parsley flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leafs
1 tbsp poultry seasoning

Directions:
First, chop the white onion, green onions, celery and carrots.  Put them into the slow cooker.  Add peas, corn, cream of chicken, chicken broth, and seasonings to pot. 

Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  An hour or so before eating, added chicken and noodles.  Turn temperature to high.  Once your soup is ready, remove the bay leaves and serve. 

You can certainly cook chicken instead of using canned.  I like to set up my slow cooker during my lunch hour, so I opted for canned chicken to save time.  Also, feel free to add extra vegetables and seasonings - whatever works for you and your family. 

Enjoy!