Classic Repeat: Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas

I guess I just have really been on a Mexican kick lately. I am glad my husband doesn't mind! This is another classic that we love around here! And it is SUPER easy to make! Don't you just love super easy recipes? I sure do!

http://shaylaskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/oven-fried-chicken-chimichangas-spanish.html

Chicken Fajitas!

If you haven't figured out that we love Mexican food by now, you must not have been paying much attention! And let's talk about cheap and easy! The seasoning and veggies I needed for this recipe were cheaper than getting hot dogs and buns! I already had the other ingredients, so although ultimately it is more expensive than hot dogs... wouldn't you want to make the change for a little bit more money? I know we sure would!

CHICKEN FAJITAS

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small strips
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 onion of choice (red, sweet, yellow, or white), sliced
1 packet of fajita seasoning
Tortillas
Cheese, Sour Cream, Guacomole, or whatever you prefer

These are the directions from the back of the fajita seasoning packet (Western Family brand):

1. In large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. vegetalbe oil; saute 1 onion sliced and 1 green bell pepper cut into thin strips until tender. Remove from skillet and set aside.
2. In the same skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. oil; brown chicken strips.
3. Add fajita seasoning mix and 1/4 cup water; blend well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Return vegetables to skillet to heat.
5. Use fresh, warm flour tortilla (8-10"). Place 1/2 cup filling on each tortilla. Serve with fresh salsa, sour cream, and guacomole.

*NOTE: We only used cheese for toppings. The mix is SOOO flavorful, you really don't need much else. If you don't like things to be very strong I would recommend sour cream.

Can of Awesomeness!

If you haven't discovered the simplicity and inexpensiveness of Premium Canned Chicken - discover it! You can buy great chicken at Costco - 6 cans for $10! And the amount of things you can do with it is unbelievable! Here are some of the things we like to do around our house:

BARBECUE CHICKEN SANDWICHES - All you do is mix the chicken with your favorite bbq sauce, a little bit of salt and pepper and WAH-LAH! You have wonderful barbecue chicken to put on bread for sandwiches.

FIESTA CHICKEN  - This is perfect for using up leftovers. I mixed the chicken with a can of green enchilada sauce and the leftover spanish rice (about 1 cup) and corn (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked) we had in our refrigerator. You come up with a great and flavorful Mexican chicken that you can use on top of chips for nachos or wrapped into a tortilla. This made enough that we had it for dinner TWICE in a week.

CHICKEN SALAD - Go simple and mix the chicken with mayonnaise and salt and pepper, or get fancy and cut up some grapes, celery, and slivered almonds in there. Serve on bread, croissants, on top of crackers, or whatever!

These are just a few suggestions for using thissimple chicken. What creative and tasty ways can you come up with?

Classic Repeat - Skillet Enchiladas

We love Mexican food around here! This is a classic dish from Real Mom Kitchen. She has so many great recipes! If you haven't checked out her blog yet make sure you stop by! I have her link on the side of my blog.

SKILLET ENCHILADAS
From Real Mom Kitchen

1/2 to 1 pound ground beef (I use the 1 lb)
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce (red or green)
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons canned chopped green chilies (Sometimes I don't have these and leave them out)
Vegetable oil (I use canola)
8 - 10 corn tortillas
2-1/2 to 3 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the soup, enchilada sauce, milk and chilies. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, in another skillet, heat 1/4 in. of oil. Dip each tortilla in hot oil for 3 seconds on each side or just until limp; drain on paper towels. When meat mixture has simmered for 20 minutes, top each tortilla with 1/4 cup cheese. Roll up and place over beef mixture, spooning some of mixture over the enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and cook until heated through and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Yield: 8- 10 enchiladas.

*I use flour tortillas, cut in ½ instead of corn tortillas. And I used ¼ tsp. of cayenne pepper instead of the chopped green chilies.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This picture is not the pizza I made. It was gone too fast to take a picture of, plus I was not at home when I made this pizza. The picture is what inspired our creation, is courtesy of Allrecipes.com, and can be found here.

My sister and I spend Wednesday evenings together while our husbands are at work and school. Her husband doesn't like very many things (no creams, for example) so I have had to expand my recipes to fit his taste buds. I had a premade pizza crust sitting in my pantry and so we decided to put together our own BBQ Chicken Pizza. If you are like us, you don't want to spend the money to get specialty cheeses a lot of the time - and gouda fits under the category of a specialty cheese. This was our simple version of a FANTASTIC BBQ Chicken pizza, invented by us. It was super good and was a huge hit with the husbands! Took less than a half hour from start to finish!

BBQ CHICKEN PIZZA

2 chicken breasts, cut into small strips
¼ cup + 2 TBSP Favorite BBQ Sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s)
½ - ¾ red pepper, sliced into thin strips
3 green onions, sliced
2 cups American cheese
1 premade pizza crust

In a large frying pan, heat oil on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces. Saute until cooked (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and mix in a bowl with 2 T barbecue sauce. Set aside.

Spread ¼ cup barbecue sauce on surface of premade pizza crust. Distribute cheese over the sauce and the chicken over the cheese. Place pepper strips and green onions over the chicken pieces. Top with a little bit more cheese.

Bake at 450 for 8 – 10 minutes.

Korean Candy Chicken

This recipe was a huge hit with Jake! He spent the whole meal complimenting my culinary abilities and had two big helpings! It was so delicious and probably the easiest Asian meal I have ever made. I found this new blog (White Lotus Cooks) because of one of my already favorite sites (Mindika Moments). The picture and recipe are courtesy of White Lotus Cooks and can be found here.

Korean Candy Chicken
From http://www.whitelotuscooks.com/
serves 6

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 fillets)
2 eggs
2 cups flour

sweet candy sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
toasted sesame seeds

cooked rice
sliced scallions (optional)

In a pan, pour about two inches of oil and heat on medium heat till hot. Cut chicken on the diagonal into thick strips, about two inches wide. In a bowl, beat eggs. In another container, place flour.

Coat chicken strips in egg mixture first, then generously pat with flour, covering all sides. (I will often give it a couple of coatings) There should be a thick layer of batter on the chicken pieces.

When oil is hot, fry chicken pieces (about 3 minutes on each side) till golden brown. Remove chicken, and let rest on a paper towel to drain the oil.

To make candy sauce, place soy sauce and sugar in a bowl and mix together, about 30 seconds. The sugar will not completely dissolve, but the mixture should be thick, and not grainy. Add sesame seeds and mix to incorporate.

Dip chicken in sauce, covering all sides. Repeat, till all pieces are covered. Serve with rice, drizzle remain sauce over chicken. Garnish with sliced scallions.

Bridal Shower Recipes

This past week I had the honor to throw my best girlfriend, Ashley Crapo, a bridal shower! We had LOTS of delicious food, fun games, and friends and it was just a wonderful time! If you want to throw a party, these are the recipes to use! Everyone was just RAVING about the food and, to be honest, I put VERY little time into making them! Those are the best kinds of recipes! Enjoy!

EASY CHEESY ARTICHOKE BREAD
Linked here.

My bread didn't have such large pieces of artichoke in it because I diced mine really well. Unless you are taking this to a large party of people that are just crazy about artichokes, I would dice them finely because then they aren't so overwhelming.

1-14 oz. can artichoke hearts in water, diced
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese (not the powder)
1 clove garlic (spoonful of fresh, refrigerated minced)
1 loaf French bread, cut in half

Mix together all ingredients and spread evenly on halves of French bread. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Slice in to pieces and serve.

FRIENDSHIP DIP
Linked here.
 
This is another great recipe from Real Mom Kitchen! My great friend, Cassandra Adams, was in charge of the dips and she did a marvelous job. I actually liked this dip better than the 7 layer dip because it was hot and cheesy.
 
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened
1 (15 oz) can of chili
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
Lots of shredded cheddar cheese
sliced olives
diced green onion (optional)

In a large pie plate (or a pizza pan will work) spread cream cheese. Then layer on top of cream cheese in this order: chili, green chilies, shredded cheddar cheese, and sliced olives. Bake at 350 degrees until hot and melted (approximately 20-25 minutes). Garnish with green onion and serve with tortilla chips.

*NOTE: I always double the recipe because it goes fast.

7 LAYER BEAN DIP
Linked here.

Ironically, this is a classic Ashley dish! We always request that she bring it to our parties and get togethers. So this time we got to make it for her! Again, Cassy did a fantastic job and there wasn't any of this left by the end of the party!

Layer 1: 10 oz. Bean dip mixed with 16 oz. Canned refried beans
Layer 2: 1 c. mayo mixed with 1 c. sour cream and 1 pkg. Taco mix
Layer 3: 2 lg. Avocados mixed with ½ tsp. Lemon juice and salt
Layer 4: Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Layer 5: Tomatoes, diced
Layer 6: Olives, sliced
Layer 7: Green Onions, slices

BETTER-THAN-ALMOST-ANYTHING CAKE
Linked here.

This is a must-have for a bridal shower! This classic cake is moist and rich and will send your taste buds twirling. Be warned, though. It is not very good as left overs, which you probably won't have anyways, and requires more time and ingredients than I would normally post about!

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® German chocolate cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 jar (16 to 17 oz) caramel, butterscotch or fudge topping
1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 bag (8 oz) toffee chips or bits

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Bake cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan.
2. Poke top of warm cake every 1/2 inch with handle of wooden spoon. Drizzle milk evenly over top of cake; let stand until milk has been absorbed into cake. Drizzle with caramel topping. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.
3. Spread whipped topping over top of cake. Sprinkle with toffee chips. Store covered in refrigerator.

JELLO CAKE
Linked here.

This cake has become a staple in our family. I am always asked to bring it to parties of all kinds is SUPER fast with very few ingredients and tastes DELICIOUS! Got to love it!

1 box yellow cake mix
6 oz box strawberry jello
3.4 oz box vanilla instant pudding
1 –  16 oz. container cool whip

Bake cake mix in 13x9 inch baking dish according to box directions. Pull out of oven and poke holes into the top of the cake. Combine strawberry jello with 2 cups BOILING water. Mix well, then pour over hot cake. Refrigerate over night. (I only refrigerated for about 4 hours and it was fine). Mix packet of instant pudding with container of cool whip and spread over cake. Enjoy!