Crunchy Oven-Baked Chicken Toes

This is probably one of Matt's favorite meals. The good news is your kids will love it too. This is a Rachael Ray recipe that I got from a Parents magazine.

Ingredients:

1 cup cornflakes cereal, crushed

1 cup plain bread crumbs

2 Tbs. brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. all spice

3 Tbs. vegetable oil

1/3 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 lbs chicken-breast, cut into 20 pieces (I use 2-3 chicken breasts)

directions:

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl combine crushed cornflakes, bread crumbs, brown sugar, salt, pepper and allspice.

2. drizzle the vegetable oil evenly over the mixture and mix well. In separate bowls place flour and beaten eggs.

3. dredge the chicken toes first in flour, then eggs, and then mixture.

4. place chicken on cookie sheet and bake until crisp and brown, about 15-20 minutes.

I served with sweet potato fries, courtesy of Trader Joes, and carrot sticks.

Taco Soup

So I am sure everyone knows this recipe, but I thought I would throw it out there anyway. Looking for something good, easy, with ingredients you likely have in food storage, then Taco Soup is your answer.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground beef

1 package taco seasoning

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can corn

1 can kidney beans

directions:

brown meat in skillet with taco seasoning. Put in pot and add cans (with liquids). Heat through. Serve with grated cheese, tortilla strips, and sour cream.

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken

This comes from My Kitchen Cafe.

3 cups shredded or cubed Lemon Garlic Chicken (see below)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth (I used chicken boullion)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
1 (16 ounce) package tube pasta (I used whole grain penne)
2 cups heavy cream (I used half and half because I couldn't bring myself to buy heavy cream)
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the garlic powder and pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.Stir chicken into cooked pasta, along with the cream, parmesan cheese and lemon zest. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly before serving.

The liquid in my pasta was not entirely absorbed after 25 minutes, but I decided to stop cooking so pasta did not get overcooked. I didn't drain it thinking it would be more flavorful to leave in the juices, but it did end up a little saucy...but this might also be because I used half and half and not heavy cream. Next time I might drain some of the liquid.

Lemon and Garlic Grilled Chicken

Juice of 1 lemon, approximately 3 tablespoons
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic, about 2 medium cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano1
pound chicken breasts (I usually cut really thick chicken breasts down to thin them out and make the pieces a little smaller so they absorb the marinade better)

Combine all marinade ingredients. Place chicken in a ziploc bag and pour marinade over chicken. Seal bag and place in fridge overnight. Grill (or cook in frying pan). Serve with sides of your choice or cut into bite sized pieces and add to desired recipe (I'll be sharing a few with you soon). Note: If you cut your chicken into smaller, bite-sized pieces and then marinate it, you can get away with only letting it marinate for 5 or 6 hours instead of overnight.

I am sure the above way of cooking it tastes great, but I am lazy and hate cooking chicken (and didn't want to grill), and since I take any chance to use my crockpot, I did. I just put 2 chicken breasts in the crockpot in the morning, poured the marinade on top of it, let it cook about 6 hours and then shredded chicken and put it back in to absorb all of the marinade. It tasted great.

ham & cheese sliders

kelly tried this one first off of just cook already and recommended them to me. They were a good, quick and easy meal. Although I think I bought the wrong rolls. I just picked up some at the bakery that looked good, but I think they were too crusty and didn't absorb the sauce enough. Next time I will have to buy some softer rolls.

I cut this recipe in half (more like 1/3). Also, I didn't add miracle whip or poppyseeds, just because I didn't have them and didn't want to buy them. still tasted good.

24 good white rolls
24 pieces good honey ham
24 small slices swiss cheese
1/3 mayo
1/3 cup miracle whip
{poppy seed sauce}
1 1/2 TBSP poppy seeds
1 1/2 TBSP yellow mustard
1 stick butter, melted
1 TBSP minced onion
1/2 tsp. worschestershire sauce

in a small bowl, mix together mayo & miracle whip. spread into both sides of the center of each roll. place a slice of ham & a slice of swiss inside of each roll. close rolls & place into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. place very close together.

in a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. let sit 10 minutes, or until butter sets slightly. cover with foil & bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. uncover & cook for 2 additional minutes. serve warm

Potato, Broccoli and Cheese Soup

This recipe is super easy and my kids (minus Drew again) love it. Wade force fed Drew a bite and he cried the whole time. Maybe someday he'll eat dinner if it's not spaghetti. I got this one from All Recipes.com and I've made it bunches of times.

2 cups chopped onion (I usually use minced onion and just use however much I feel like)

2 T. margarine

2 1/2 lbs. potatoes peeled and cubed

5 cups boiling water

4 chicken bouillion cubes

3 cups fresh broccoli

salt and pepper to taste

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

In a large stock pot, saute onion in butter. Add potatoes, broccoli, water and bouillion cubes. Cover, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. (When I made this tonight, I didn't cover it. I guess I forgot. I just boiled it until the potatoes were done.)

In a blender, puree half of the soup and return to stock pot. Season with salt and pepper.

Add cheese and heat soup through until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

I usually add some sour cream too since this recipe doesn't call for any milk. I just like making it a little creamy. You could probably add some milk too instead of water. And sometimes if I'm making it for more people, I just add more water and bouillion cubes.

mandarin chicken

I too hadn't been to the store yet, so this is another recipe with most ingredients on hand. This is the second time I made this, and for some reason I feel like I liked it better the first time. Matt really liked it both times, and Chase ate it. This is also from Just Cook Already.

4 chicken breast halves, skinned and boned
Vegetable cooking spray
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 (11 oz.) can unsweetened mandarin oranges
2 tbsp. brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. prepared mustard
3 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. each ground cinnamon and ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Trim excess fat from chicken; then wash and pat dry. Coat large skillet with cooking spray. Put on medium high heat until skillet is hot and add vegetable oil.
Add chicken and lightly brown on both sides. Drain mandarin oranges, reserving juice. Set oranges aside. Combine juice with remaining ingredients and pour over chicken in skillet. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add reserved oranges and simmer an additional 5 minutes, or until chicken is tender. Serve with plain white rice or chinese noodles.

Both times I served with noodles, although if I make again I think I will do rice - even though Matt said he loved the noodles.

Easy Chicken Bake

So I'm trying to hold out on going to the grocery store until Thursday when it's my kids' school PTA day, so tonight it was Easy Chicken Bake from Just Cook Already. It was a similar idea to the Parmesan Chicken that I made last week. Easy, moist and really good. Everyone liked it, except Drew who wouldn't even sit at the table and later fell asleep naked in his room post-bath. Here's the easy recipe:

(From “Lion House Recipes” cookbook)

Salt

Garlic salt

Paprika

1 fryer, cut up or 6 good-sized pieces of chicken (I used 4 chicken breasts.)

1 (10 ½ oz.) can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup cream or ¾ cup evaporated milk (I used milk because that's all I had.)

Chopped parsley

Mix* salt, garlic salt, and paprika. Thoroughly rub mixture into chicken pieces. Spread chicken in one layer in a shallow baking dish or pan. Dilute the soup with cream and pour over the chicken; sprinkle with parsley. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours. Makes 6 servings.

*(I sprinkle the seasonings right onto the chicken and then rub it in, instead of mixing the seasonings first.)

I served this over white rice and used some of the "gravy" on top of the white rice.