All-In-One Chicken Bake

This recipe is easy, simple, and delicious.  It was a huge hit with my husband, so this will definitely be something we make again.  

4-6 trimmed chicken breasts (I used 3 large breasts)

new potatoes, or small red potatoes

fresh green beans (or any green veggie, really)

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 package dry Italian dressing mix

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut your potatoes and green beans, and arrange along each of the long sides of your 13x9" baking dish.  Arrange the chicken breasts down the middle.  Sprinkle the dressing mix evenly over everything, then pour the butter evenly over everything.  I knew from this recipe that the Italian dressing mix would be salty, so I made sure to use unsalted butter.)  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for one hour.

Super easy, right?  It only dirties the one baking dish, a knife and a cutting board, then you get to ignore it for an hour, AND everything comes out tender and tasty.  Love it!

Cheesy Enchilada Casserole

photo from the six sisters original post.

This is another one that I found on Pinterest.  The pin came from Six Sisters Stuff, and they got the recipe from Get Off Your Butt and Bake.  We made some guacamole to go with it, and it was delicious!  We will be making this one again--with a few alterations.  We had a lot of the meat mixture left over, so next time I'll use my 3 qt baking dish, instead of the 2 qt dish recommended in the recipe.  We're also going to skip the tortilla layers in the casserole, because they just got soggy.  Perhaps next time, we will serve it in the tortillas, burrito style.  Here's what we did:

Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
1 large red onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups salsa
1 can (15 ounces) black beans or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup (reduced-fat) Italian salad dressing
2 tablespoons (reduced-sodium) taco seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
6 flour tortillas (8 inches)
1 small can of drained corn (or about 1 1/4 cups of frozen corn)
3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped

Directions
In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the salsa, beans, dressing, sour cream, corn, taco seasoning and cumin.
Spoon a generous, even layer of the meat mixture on the bottom of your 3 quart baking dish, sprinkle with grated cheese, top with a flour or corn tortilla.  Repeat until you've filled your dish (or run out of meat).

The last & final layer should be a healthy dose of grated cheese.
Cover with foil that has been sprayed with pam or other and bake at 400° for 25 minutes, or until hot & bubbly.
Let stand for 5 minutes before topping with lettuce and tomato.  Guacamole is strongly recommended.

Yield: 8 servings. 

Feta-Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf with Tzatziki Sauce

photo from All Day I Dream About Food

My sister-in-law found this recipe, made it and raved about it, so of course I had to try it.  The original recipe suggests using coconut flour in place of bread crumbs to make it low-carb, but I just used the bread crumbs. Here is how I made mine:

Tzatziki Sauce:

1 cup yogurt

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 medium cucumber, seeds removed, and shredded

1 tsp chopped, fresh dill

1/4 tsp salt

Meatloaf: 

  

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained

2 lbs ground turkey

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup chicken stock

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

For the sauce, mix all ingredients in a medium bowl and chill until serving.

For the meatloaf, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 325°F. (I didn't have any parchment paper, so I skipped that part and it was fine.)  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, salt and pepper and saute until onions are translucent but not browned, about 15 minutes. Add in spinach and stir until heated through.

In a large mixing bowl, combine onion mixture, turkey, bread crumbs, chicken stock, egg and worcestershire sauce. Mix until very well combined.

Place half of the turkey mixture on prepared baking sheet and shape into a flat rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Cover with feta cheese, pressing on feta to adhere to meatloaf. Place remaining turkey mixture overtop of feta and shape the whole thing into a rough loaf.

Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until internatl temperature reaches 160F on an instant read thermometer.

Cut into slices and drizzle with tzatziki sauce, passing remaining sauce at the table.

Serves 6.

I absolutely loved it, but my husband wasn't such a fan.  (He said the tzatziki sauce was great, and he probably would have liked it a whole lot better had it been made with beef instead of turkey.)

Mediterranean White Pizza

Brandon has fallen in love with the Alexander the Greek pizza from Chanello's, a local pizza chain here in Virginia.  It's a Mediterranean style white pizza with, among other things, calamata olives and feta cheese.  It's delicious.  This time, instead of ordering out, I decided to make my own.

You will need: 

fresh pizza dough (1 ball = 1 pizza)

olive oil

minced garlic (I got a jar of it, rather than mincing my own)

fresh basil

 fresh spinach

shredded mozzarella

chopped roma tomatoes (1 per pizza)

chopped calamata olives

chopped white onion

feta cheese, crumbled

I didn't measure anything out, I just kind of gauged by what looked right. If any of these ingredients don't sound good to you, don't put it on the pizza!  I skipped the onion, though it was more by accident than by design.  Just remember, the more ingredients you have to put on it, the less of each you will need.

Preheat oven to 375°F and get your pizza dough thinned out and spread on your pan.  (I wasn't sure whether to oil my pan or not, so I did one with and one with out.  The pizza came easily off of the un-oiled pan, but stuck to the oiled one.)  Mix olive oil, basil, and garlic in a small dish and use your fingers to spread it out on the prepared pizza dough as the "sauce".  Grab a handful of the spinach, break it up a bit, and sprinkle it on.  Add the mozzarella, tomatoes, olives, onion and feta.  (Brandon had me add more mozzarella on top, after that photo was taken.)  Bake at 375°F for 25 or 30 minutes, or until cheese just begins to brown and the crust is golden.  (I let my first one over-brown, and then I took the second one out a bit too soon.)

Let it cool a bit after you take it out, and enjoy!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

 This is a recipe that I've made up as I went after Thanksgiving several years ago.  It's a good way to use up left overs.  A rotisserie cooked chicken from the grocery store or a crock-pot-cooked chicken works really well for this.  I'll serve the chicken for dinner one night, then clean the left-overs off the bones and use those in my pot pie the next night.  If you have any suggestions on how to improve this recipe, please share them in the comments!!!!

4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter
salt & pepper to taste
2 14.5 oz cans chicken broth
1/2 of a whole chicken, cooked, picked off the bones, and cut into small pieces*
sm can corn, drained
sm can mixed peas & carrots, drained
1 box Pillsbury frozen rolled pie crusts, thawed (2 crusts)

Pre heat your oven to 350°F.  Make the gravy:  Melt butter, sprinkled with salt and pepper, in a large sauce pan over med-low to medium heat.  Add flour and stir with a whisk until well mixed.  Add broth a little at a time as the gravy thickens, stirring frequently with the whisk.  When the gravy has reached the desired consistency, reduce heat to low and stir in the chicken and vegetables. 

Line a 9" glass pie plate with the first pie crust, pressing the crust all the way into the plate.   Pour the filling into the crust, and place the second crust over the top.  Tuck or trim the edges, and press together with the tines of a fork.  Cut 2 or 3 slits in the middle to allow the pie to vent.

Bake in the center of the oven for 60 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.  If the edges brown too quickly, cover them with foil after 20 or 30 minutes.  It isn't a bad idea to place a cookie sheet under the pie to catch nay drips; it's easier to wash the cookie sheet than to scrub out the oven.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.