Chicken Spinach Alfredo Pockets

I made this recipe a few weeks ago from A Chef in Training, it was delish, even my husband thought so. Brent does not like chicken pizza, a he really liked it.

SPINACH CHICKEN ALFREDO POCKETS

• 2-3 cups cooked chicken-shredded (I used a rotisserie chicken just to save on time)
• 1 (16oz) jar Alfredo sauce
• 1 (10 oz) bag fresh spinach
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 (8 oz) bag shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mushrooms (optional) - I didn't use this because my hubby doesn't really like them
• I threw in about a 1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes for more flavor, but it is completely optional
• 3 (13.8 oz) cans refrigerated pizza dough*

*I don't know that I'd use the pizza dough cans again, I think next time I'd use the homemade pizza dough recipe I like from Allrecipes.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix shredded chicken, alfredo sauce, spinach, salt, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and mushrooms together by hand in a large bowl.

I rolled out the dough and cut to make rectangles for pockets. Place some of chicken mixture on one half of the rectangle dough leavining a 1 inch border. Fold the other half of dough over and press edges together until sealed.

After stuffing and folding each pocket, place on baking sheet. Whisk egg and 1 Tbsp. water together and brush over the top of each pocket. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes or until very golden brown on top. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you don't want little pockets, another option you could do is:

Unfold one can of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Gently stretch or roll into an 11-inch square; cut in half diagonally, forming two triangles. Place about 1 1/2 cups chicken mixture in the center of the triangle, leaving a 1 inch border on each side. Fold 1 side of triangle over filling, rolling up edges of dough to seal. Cut a small slit in top of calzone to allow steam to escape. Repeat with remaining dough and check mixture. Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes or until Golden Brown.

Comfort food- Chicken Zucchini Casserole

I originally found this recipe on Allrecipes and I LOVE it! It tastes like thanksgiving and its a fabulous way to use up your zucchini!

Ingredients

• 1 (6 ounce) package stuffing mix
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups diced zucchini*
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup sour cream

*I usually use 2 C. shredded zucchini instead

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine stuffing mix and butter. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping. Add the zucchini, chicken, soup, carrot, onion and sour cream to the remaining stuffing mixture. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved stuffing mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Creamy Lemony Chicken

I found a new recipe to try this week, simple, easy and I had all the ingredients on hand, now that is my kind of meal! I also like any crockpot chicken meal that allows me to throw my meat in frozen; because A) I'm lazy and B) I am forgetful I can NEVER remember to thaw my chicken!

The recipe was posted by Crafting Chicks, a craft blog I follow and it looked good and was simple so I thought why not. You can go here to try it. The only thing I would do differently would be to shred the chicken before serving and then serve it over the rice. It had a WONDERFUL flavor, but I thought the chicken was a little dry, this could be due to the fact that I cooked it on high for 4 hours (remember I am lazy and forget to thaw my meat and sometimes I just plain forget to start dinner) all I had was full size chicken breasts and thought I should give them an extra hour.

So go check out this super easy yummy recipe, that your whole family will eat.

Chicken Burritos in the Crockpot

YUM! I love these easy burritos and so does my whole family. This is a super great meal for when I wake up and realize I didn't thaw the meat the night before, whoops! I am really good at that. We started making these about a year ago, I combined a recipe I found online called Salsa Chicken and a friends Burrito recipe. I haven't tried this with any meat other than chicken, but the chicken is fab. It makes enough to feed our family with leftovers.

3 large chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning ( or homemade, whatever you prefer)
1 jar salsa
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can refried beans
Mexican shredded cheese blend
large burrito shells

Put chicken in your crockpot (frozen or thawed) and sprinkle with taco seasoning, pour in salsa and cream of mushroom soup. Let cook on low 6-8 hours .

Remove chicken and shred it with fork. Now here you can go one of two ways, I will tell you the way I usually do it first. I spoon a little of the sauce from the crockpot into the bottom of a casserole dish. Next take your burrito shell and spoon some of the refried beans into it, top with chicken, Mexican cheese, and more of your salsa mixture. Roll up your burrito and place seam down and repeat with remaining burrito's you can make these as full as you like. It will just change the amount you make. Lastly spoon the rest of the salsa mixture over the top of your burritos and sprinkle with cheese.

The other way to do this would be to add the chicken back into your salsa mixture and spoon it into your burritos at the same time. And then top it with your salsa/ chicken mixture. The reason I don't usually do it this way is because I like to pour the salsa mixture alone on top, but you could also just reserve some for later too. Just do whatever floats your boat.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until completely heated through.

Top with sour cream, or more salsa and enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Tuna Casserole

Super easy tuna casserole, my kids don't even complain about it. We had this meal last night and will be having left overs tonight. We swiched things up this time and made it with canned chicken instead of tuna.

Tuna Casserole:

1 box Mac and cheese
1/4 c. butter
3/4 C. milk
1 can cream of celery soup
2 C. frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans tuna fish (or sometimes we mix it up and use 2 large cans of shredded chicken)
ritz crackers or potato chips (optional)


Directions:
1. Bring water for macaroni to a boil.
2. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Pour in your noodles and mixed vegetables and boil for 8 minutes
4. Drain your noodles and vegetables and return to pan.
5. Add cheese sauce mix, butter, milk, cream of celery soup and tuna or chicken. Mix until combined.
6. Put mixture in a small 2 quart casserole dish and put in the oven for twenty minutes or until heated through.
7. As an option before placing casserole in the oven your can crumble ritz crackers or potato chips on top. You can also heat and serve from the stove too.

I usually serve this meal with a green salad as well.

Happy Eating.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Oven Fries...

YUM YUM YUM!!! You have to try this recipe from Smashed Peas and Carrots. It is a must on your menu for this week. Hubby LOVED the BBQ and the whole family LOVED the non greasy fries. I am already thinking that Ava and I will be eating these fries again for lunch some days :)

http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/01/crockpot-barbecue-chicken-and-oven.html

GO GO GO, right now get the recipe, go to the store, feed it to your family. Trust me they will love you for it!

Happy Eating!

Chicken Zucchini Casserole

We have so much zucchini from our garden that I am having to search for many yummy new recipes, and this one is a keeper.

This is one of those great comfort casserole's for a cold winter day.

Chicken Zucchini Casserole

1 (6 oz) pkg of stuffing
3/4 C. butter, melted
3 C. diced zucchini (this amount is probably okay when shredded, but is quite a bit when diced)
2 C. cubed chicken breast

1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/2 C. chopped onion

1/2 C. sour cream

In a large bowl, combine stuffing mix and butter. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping. Add the zucchini, chicken, soup, carrot, onion and sour cream to the remaining stuffing mixture. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved stuffing mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Orange Chicken (tastes like Panda Express, only the meat is better)

We made this for dinner Monday night, took a little work but was delicious. Katrena was in heaven as Orange Chicken is her favorite. I have decided whether she likes dinner or not has nothing to do with dinner its self, half the time its all in the name. She has her mind made up before the first bite, so I am going to have to work on renaming everything I make for dinner. The difference lies in how much she likes it.

So with out further ado, Orange yummy yummy Chicken:

2 lbs boneless chicken pieces, skinned
1 egg beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. flour
orange sauce recipe (to follow)
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp minced ginger root
1 tsp minced garlic
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 c. chopped green onions
1 Tbsp rice wine
1/4 c. water
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 to 1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp oil for frying

Cut chicken pieces into 2 inch squares; place in a large bowl. In separate bowl stir egg, salt, white pepper, and 1 Tbsp oil and mix well.

Mix together 1/2 c. cornstarch and the flour; and add to egg mixture.

Add chicken to mixture and stir to coat.

Heat oil in fryer or wok to 350 degrees. Add chicken pieces, a few at a time, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Do not overcook or the chicken will be tough. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. set aside

Make orange sauce by combine following ingredients and set aside
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp water
5 Tbsp sugar
5 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 c. orange juice
grated zest of one orange


Clean wok and heat 15 seconds over high heat. Add 1 Tbsp of oil, add ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.

Add and stir-fry red pepper flakes and green onions.

Add rice wine and stir for 3 seconds.

Add the orange sauce and bring to a boil.

Add the cooked chicken, stirring until well mixed.

Stir 1 Tbsp cornstarch and water and mix until smooth. Add to the chicken and heat until sauce is thickened.

Stir in sesame oil and serve at once.


Delicious.

Russian apricot chicken

Found a simple new easy chicken recipe that we had for dinner tonight. Its one of those great no prepare meals that you just throw together, love those on a crazy day. I served it with Jasmine rice and carrots, and we poured the extra sauce over the rice. This chicken was a hit with everyone from the 18month old on up. (oh and I am really bad about remembering to take photos before we dig in so I will try to do better next time.)

6-8 chicken breasts
1 8oz bottle of Russian salad dressing
1 c. apricot jam
1 envelope onion soup mix

wash and trim fat from chicken breasts and lay in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Mix salad dressing, jam and soup mix and pour evenly over chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Enjoy!