~Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata~

So, am I the only dummy who didn't know that you don't just have to use breadcrumbs to bread and saute chicken?  I mean, I know about panko and your normal egg and flour coatings--but potato chips, cereal and Ritz crackers?  This recipe called for crackers.  Since our commissary (which is about a ten minute walk from our house) closed before I even started making dinner (yes, we eat late dinners), we settled for the walk to the shoppette to get any kind of cracker we could find--normal saltines.

This recipe also called for 3 huge lemons and the dish, was a tad bit more lemony than I would have liked.  Still, it tasted great and the hubs and I enjoyed it with some asparagus and cherry tomatoes.  Definitely...if you're looking for something quick, tasty and different to do with your chicken, this is it.  Plus, it's quite spring-y with all its lemony goodness.

Easy Lemon Chicken Piccata

by Kraft Foods (April 2011)

3 large lemons, divided

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb)

1/4 cup Kraft May with Olive Oil Reduced Fat Mayo

22 Ritz Crackers, finely crushed (1 cup)

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup chicken broth

1Tbsp butter

1.  Cut 4 thin lemon slices from half of 1 lemon; squeeze juice from remaining lemons.  Coat chicken with mayo then cracker crumbs.

2.  Heat oil in large skillet on medium high heat.  Add chicken; cook 5 min.  Turn; cook on medium heat 5 min or until chicken is golden brown on both sides and done.  Transfer chicken to platter; sprinkle with parsley.  Cover to keep warm.  Carefully wipe any crumbs from skillet with paper towel.

3.  Add lemon juice and broth to skillet; cook on medium high heat 6 to 8 min or until slightly reduced; stirring occasionally.  Add butter and lemon slices; cook and stir on low heat 3 to 4 min or until butter is melted and lemons are heated through.  Serve over chicken.

Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

I don't know why I never thought to pull recipes from the Cooking Light website a long time ago.  Everything I've tried so far in the last week or so has been fantastic.  Seriously. 

I would never have thought to use pecans as a base for pasta sauce.  Ever.  I was a bit concerned making the sauce as I'd over-toasted the pecans before putting them in my food processor.

By the way, I just got a Cuisinart food processor the other day at JC Penney's.  It was on sale for $99.99.  I've been dying to get one and finally broke down.  So I thought it would get it's debut helping me make this dish.  When I smelled the pecan puree, I worried that the dish would taste burned, but it didn't.  And then adding the mushrooms to the sauce?  It was fabulous--I mean FABULOUS!!!   

Both my husband and I devoured this dish.  I really had to try hard to leave some leftovers to take for lunch today.  And today, I couldn't wait for lunchtime.  Now I'm sad it's all gone.

Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

by Cooking Light

3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup water

1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided

6 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

4 cups cooked egg noodles

Chopped parsley (optional)

 

1. Place pecans in a food processor; process until smooth (about 1 minute), scraping sides of bowl once. With processor on, add water and 3/4 teaspoon salt; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once.

2.  Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.

3.  Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

4.  Add shallots and mushrooms to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Stir in pecan cream; bring to a boil. Cook 1 1/2 minutes. Place 2/3 cup noodles on each of 6 plates. Top each serving with 1 chicken breast half and 1/3 cup sauce. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

I will, without a doubt, be making this pasta dish again and I want to try variations of the recipe...perhaps try a different nut (walnut maybe?) and pair it with rice. Delicious!

Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken & Cucumber

Because I'm trying to shed some of this postpartum weight, I've been pulling our weekly meals from the Cooking Light website and I've been finding some really cool ones--like this recipe for Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken & Cucumber. 

My husband eats nothing but chicken so I've been aiming for a lot of chicken dishes.  He was as pleased with this dish as I was.  Although the dish isn't visually appealing, it is cool and refreshing and quite tasty.  I especially love the taste of sesame oil...in any Asian dish. 

I love this dish of my hubby trying to devour his plate.  So give it a whirl. You will be so happy with the results!

Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken & Cucumber

by Cooking Light

8 ounces uncooked dried udon noodles

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons sambal oelek or chile paste with garlic

1/2 teaspoon bottled ground fresh ginger

2 cups shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast

2 medium cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced

6 tablespoons chopped green onions

3 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts

 

1. Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain.

 

2. Combine rice vinegar and the next 5 ingredients (through ginger) in a large bowl, and stir with a whisk. Add noodles, chicken, and cucumbers to bowl; toss gently to coat. Top with green onions and peanuts.

See how easy it is?  Enjoy!

~Chicken Chili Recipe: Ina Garten~

Back in May, I went to Fort Bliss' Armed Forces Day Celebration and they were holding a chili cook-off.  I went crazy trying out all kinds of chili.  I think I'd have to rank chili up there with my top 5 comfort foods. 

So like I said before, with Malu home, we're doing a lot more cooking in the house.  A few weeks ago, I had a mad craving for Ina Garten's Chicken Chili.  I've made it several times before and it's just delicious--especially for those of you that like another twist on chili. 

It's packed with delicious chunks of chicken breast, has no beans, but has sweet red and yellow bell peppers in it.  It's literally to die for.  It takes a while to make, but it's well worth it!

Chicken Chili
by Ina Garten

4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 onions)
1/8 cup good olive oil, plus extra for chicken

1/8 cup minced garlic (2 cloves)
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for chicken

2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled plum tomatoes in puree, undrained

1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves

4 split chicken breasts, bone in, skin on

Freshly ground black pepper


For serving:


Chopped onions, corn chips, grated cheddar, sour cream


1.  Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 1 minute. Crush the tomatoes by hand or in batches in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (pulse 6 to 8 times). Add to the pot with the basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

adding the peppers after sauteing the onions

don't you just love the colors?  it smells great too!

2.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3.  Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked. Let cool slightly. Separate the meat from the bones and skin and cut it into 3/4-inch chunks. Add to the chili and simmer, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. Serve with the toppings, or refrigerate and reheat gently before serving.

yum!  chicken!

Some of my notes:

I don't know about you guys, but I like my chili to have a sweetness to it.  So I added two tablespoons of sugar to the sauce in step 1.

If you're looking to cut down on time for this one--which I've had to do before--I use an already-prepared rotisserie chicken from Walmart or any grocery store, chop it up, and put it right in the pot!  Good thing I had a worker bee to help me do the messy work!

The recipe already suggests eating the chili with corn chips, but I highly recommend the Tostitos Scoop chips...they're great for getting the right amount of chili all into one bite!

And this chili is even better as leftover!  Enjoy!

Mexican Chicken Soup

I had to back out of Barefoot Bloggers for a little bit because I wasn't keeping up as well as I would have liked with everything I had going on. The group was challenged with this recipe (by Ina Garten) last month and since I still had the recipe on hand, I decided to make it last week. I made it on one particularly cold day and it was perfect after walking the dogs out on the trails and in the snow!

I used fresh veggies for this soup--carrots, onions and celery--and added some herbs and spices to include fresh cilantro, cumin and crushed coriander seeds. It was quite fragrant and delicious, especially with the chicken breast I shredded and threw into the pot. What was cool about this soup was that Ina had me cutting flour tortillas into 1/2 inch strips and adding them to the soup to act as noodles. I thought they were going to get all soggy, but they didn't. I served the soup with a dollop of sour cream, some shredded mozarella cheese (since it's the only cheese I had on-hand) and some tortilla scoop chips. Yum-o! The soup is even more delicious as leftover. It was enough to feed me for about three days straight! If you want the recipe, please click here. Forgive me, I'm too lazy to type out the entire recipe myself!

Barefoot Bloggers: Vegetable Pot Pie

JUST IN TIME!!! I was finally able to make Ina's Vegetable Pot Pie, as selected by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. She has a wonderful blog, complete with gorgeous pictures and yummy recipes; not to mention I'm a big fan on the basis of her being from Hawaii! I did a lot of growing up there and my mom's side of the family is from there. Anyway, I actually waited until today to make the pie since I had company coming over. There's nothing like some good comfort food to indulge in on a beautiful, fall Halloween evening, and I'm sure my Uncle Raymond and Anna would agree!

Okay, so I'm guilty....I snuck chicken into the recipe (like many other BB-ers). I simply couldn't have it any other way. I also did away with the fennel, the small onions, asparagus and butternut squash and substituted the Pernod with some brandy (only because I couldn't find any Pernod), since some people made the recommendation. However, what scared me most about the entire recipe was making the pie crust. I'd honestly never made pie crust by hand before, nor have I ever made a pie without the ready-made pie crust already in the pie pan! Well ladies and gents, I finally broke out of my comfort zone and made it all happen. And let me just say that it was delicious! The crust was perfectly done, and the filling was so hearty and seasoned to perfection!

I used small baking dish, since I wasn't expecting too much company. I had so much filling left over, I was able to create another pie, which I put in the freezer for another evening.

Now, don't laugh! The only cookie cutter I have is of a small dog bone and I wanted to make it look nice. I thought it was appropriate seeing how I had my own dog and Anna's dog over. Let's just say it was tribute to the fur-babies! Not too bad for my very first pie crust, huh?

Ta-da! The finished product. I had so much fun making this and am so glad that it turned out so well. I am definitely going to make this again and try to play around with the fillings.

If my husband were here, he would have enjoyed this. He loves anything and everything with chicken in it. He's checking on this blog from time to time, so here's a bowl of the good stuff for you baby!

Should you want to try this upscale version of your frozen-aisle favorite (that version doesn't even compare!), then scoot on over to Deb's blog for the full recipe. And Deb...Mahalo! For choosing a great recipe! Stay tuned for tomorrow, I'll be posting the recipe for a Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake I made today.