Alice Springs Chicken

Marinade:
1 cup dijon mustard
1 cup honey
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp lemon juice

Chicken:
2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
paprika
6 slices bacon, cooked
2 cups shredded cheese (I prefer sharp cheddar, but pick your favorite)
2 tsp parsley (I leave this out)

Combine marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Pour about half over the chicken and marinate about 2 hours. Chill remaining marinade until later.

Preheat oven to 375. Heat oil in a pan. Sear chicken 4-5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. In another small skillet, saute mushrooms in butter.

Brush each seared chicken breast with reserved marinade. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Stack 2 pieces of bacon, crosswise, on each chicken breast. Spoon mushrooms over each breast and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve remaining marinade on the side.

Chicken Gyros

From Proceed With Caution

For Tzatki sauce:
32 oz yogurt (Greek yogurt works best)
1 hothouse/seedless cucumber
3-5 cloves garlic
1-2 tsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper
lemon juice
olive oil

For Gyros:
approx 1 lb of chicken
4 cloves garlic, smashed
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp yogurt (again, Greek yogurt works best)
1 tbsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
sliced tomato
diced red onion
4 pitas

To make sauce:
Peel, seed and dice cucumber. Mix together yogurt, cucumber, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice. Salt to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

To make gyros:
Whisk together garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, yogurt and oregano. Add chicken and rub marinade in. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat a pan. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Cook and the slice into strips.

Meanwhile, heat pitas (directions should be on the bag). Top pita with chicken, tzatki, tomatoes and onions.

Comments: I love gyros. Greek/Meditterranean food is probably my favorite. I've always been so scared to try gyros. For good reason, I've realized. The tzatki, which is the KEY to a good gyro, is hard to get right. Mine had a little too much vinegar in it. They were still good, but not like some of my favorite restaurants.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

3-4 chicken breasts

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 can rotel

1 onion, chopped
tablespoon of cumin

12 oz. package spaghetti

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
half block of velvetta, cubed

butter

Preheat oven to 350

Cook your chicken and spaghetti to your liking. Saute onion in butter.

Mix together cream of mushroom, sauted onion, cumin, chicken, and velveeta cubes.

Drain spaghetti and place in a prepared casserole dish. Pour soup mixture on top. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Cook at 350 for 25 minutes.

When removed from oven stir together and serve.

Comments: I love chicken spaghetti. It could be one of my favorite dishes. I like it so much it was served at my wedding. I've tried many, many chicken spaghetti recipes. This is the conglomeration of my two favorites. It comes from my friend, Meredith, and my Mother-in-law. I love how cheesy and creamy combining the two recipes have made it. J and C both love this recipe just as much as I do. I like to use the Hot Rotel to add a little spice. Other veggies could always be added to up the nutritional value.

Easy Posole Skillet

From Pampered Chef Season's Best Spring/Summer 2005

4 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp masa harina (all purpose flour can be substitued)
1 can hominy (white or golden), drained and rinsed
2 cups shredded chicken
2 cups shredded chihuahua cheese (I substituted mexican blend)

Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove, drain drippings (reserve 1 tbsp in skillet). Crumble bacon and set aside.

Place bell pepper, jalapenos, onion and garlic into skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and masa harina (flour) and cook 1 minute while stirring. Add hominy, chicken, and zucchini. Cook for 3 minutes until mixture is slightly thickened, stir occassionally.

Reduce heat to low, stir in half the cheese. Top with bacon, cilantro and remaining cheese. Cover and cook 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Comments: As I got into making this I started becoming very skeptical of how it was going to taste. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. It is perfect for summer. All the veggies tasted like summer to me. There are some hard to find ingredients. Masa Harina is a finely ground cornmeal. My grocery has a GREAT latin foods section and I couldn't even find it. Same with the chihuahue cheese. I think those would have to be found at a specialty grocer. I think the substitues worked just as well though. I also tagged this as vegetarian because I think you could take away the bacon and chicken and not miss any of the flavor. If you don't like hominy (why would you not, though?!?) I think corn would also be a good substitute.

One Skillet Chili Bake with Mexi Ranch Sauce

1 lb ground beef
1 can red kidney beans
1 can rotel
1/2 cup uncooked rice
2 tbsp chili powder
1 cup shredded cheese
1 cup water (if needed)

Brown beef in a large skillet and drain

Add beans, rotel, rice, and chili powder to beef. (Also add the water if needed, I did.)

Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Uncover and top with the cheese. Cook until it melts.

Serve over tostada shells. Drizzle Mexi Ranch sauce over top.

Mexi Ranch:

1 cup ranch
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin

Mix together

Comments: I've had this recipe in my file for a lone time and I was really looking for something easy for this week. This turned out so good. I messed up a little and used the hot Rotel I had for another recipe, rather than the regular Rotel. Hot Rotel isn't kidding around, so Miss C didn't get to test this one out. It was far too spicy for her. J, surprisingly, really enjoyed the heat. The Mexi-Ranch was a late addition because I thought it needed something to counteract the heat. It was a great addition. Again, another easy recipe that will definitely get added to the rotation.

Neopolitan Baked Ziti

From Rachael Ray

1 lb ziti
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz can whole plum tomatoes
4-5 basil leaves, torn
salt and pepper
3 tbsp butter
2 cups milk
1 bay leaf
nutmeg
mozzarella
1/4 parmigiano reggiano

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cook pasta to just shy of al dente according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, start the red sauce: In a medium sized pot over medium-high heat place 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the onion and garlic, and cook, stirring every now and then until the onions start to get tender (about 3-4 minutes).

Add the tomatoes and smash them up into small pieces. Add the basil and season with some salt and pepper. Bring up to a bubble and simmer for 15 minutes.

To make white sauce: Heat medium sized sauce pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the flour, stir to combine and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the milk and add the bay leaf. Season with some salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a bubble, turn the heat down to low and gently simmer, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Don't forget to remove the bay leaf.

Combine the cooked ziti with the red sauce in the pot the pasta was cooked in and then transfer into a prepared baking dish. Top with the white sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano over the top. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Comments: I felt big time with three pots going on the stove at the same time. It sounds like a lot, and I was afraid I might get overwhelmed. It really wasn't as bad as I thought. So this obviously isn't the most simple recipe. And I'm not sure it was really worth the effort. I wasn't overly impressed with it. I expected more flavor with both a white and a red sauce. Maybe I wasn't heavy handed enough with the seasoning. I would like to give it another try because I feel like it should have been better than it was.

Chicken Azteca

From Favorite Family Recipes

15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn (I used mexi corn)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 cup salsa
hot sauce *optional*
4 chicken breasts
8 oz cream cheese, cubed
Spanish rice, orzo, rice, whatever you would like

Combine beans, corn, garlic, cumin and half of the salsa in the slow cooker. Arrange chicken on top.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours

Remove chicken and cut into bite sized pieces. Return chicken to the crock pot and stir in cream cheese and remaining salsa. Cook on high until completely melted.

Spoon chicken and sauce over rice and sprinkle with cheese.


Comments: J was much more of a fan of this than I was. I served it over Spanish rice, and if I was to make it again I might just choose orzo or regular rice. I think it was a little too much with the Spanish rice. I also might add a little bit more cream cheese next time. I liked that element of it and would like to taste more of it. I tend to go pretty easy on judging crock pot meals just because I like to keep as many as possible in my repertoire.