Quick and Easy Broccoli Chicken Divan

So we are leaving for a week's vacation and I am trying to use everything fresh in the fridge that I need to cook. I still had a good bit of fresh broccoli from on on the large Costco bags that I buy, and I had some rotisserie chicken strips that needed to be used as well, and I ran across this recipe. Must say that it took me all of about 10 minutes to prepare and we were eating about 20 minutes after that - not too bad! It was really, really good too, so even after we get back this may have to go into rotation. It's a little more rich that I prefer to cook currently, but with reduced fat ingredients, it really isn't so bad! I am giving my slightly tweaked version of the recipe, but the original can be found here. Served it with a salad, of course, and I'm really looking forward to my leftovers.

Quick and Easy Broccoli Chicken Divan

• 1 pound chopped fresh broccoli (I used a couple of ounces more to finish off what I had)
  
• 1 1/2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup - Campbell's Healthy Request
  
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
  
• 3/4 cup 2% shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
  
• Garlic powder
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Mrs Dash, Original blend
  
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
• 3 tablespoons dried seasoned bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Steam broccoli in microwave (I use chicken broth, but if you use water, I suggest seasoning the water a little), for 5 minutes, or until tender. Drain.
3. Place the cooked broccoli in an 8" square casserole dish. Top with the chicken. In a bowl, mix the soup, sour cream and milk, 1/2 of cheese, garlic and pepper and pour over the chicken. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Mix the melted butter with the bread crumbs, and sprinkle over the cheese.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly brown.

Mexican fiesta! Old faves and new friends!

So it was my turn for supper club and I've been craving my cheesy chicken enchiladas. Not that they are really MY chicken enchiladas, because I got the recipe from Vanessa from bunko around 10 years ago. I do have to say that I've been making them ever since and they are always good and I can't count how many people have asked for the recipe. So anyway, when we do supper club, the host does all the food, so we keep it simple. And what is easier than Mexican? I can get make and assemble the enchiladas ahead of time, so all I have to do is bake while the beans and rice are cooking. The rice recipe is just really basic and I'm guessing on the amounts. The black beans were really good (I love cilantro), and will definitely keep this combination of dishes together. A little guacamole and homemade salsa and voila (or "Ole", or something like that).

Mexican Rice

• 1 c chicken broth
• 1 ½ c of salsa (or rotel) and tomato sauce (basically, I put the tomato sauce in the measuring cup first and then pour in the salsa or rotel until it measures 1 ½ c total)
• 2 tbs cumin or taco seasoning (if you use the taco seasoning you won’t need to add salt, but if you use the cumin, you will probably need to add salt before serving)
• 2 c rice
• 1 small can of corn (drained)

1. Bring chicken chicken broth and tomato mixture to a boil.
2. Add the rice and seasoning and follow the cooking time on the bag of rice (different rice varies)
3. In the last few minutes of cooking, add the corn.

Best Black Beans

• 1 (16 ounce) can black beans
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• 2 tbs (approximate) fresh lime juice

1. In a medium saucepan, combine beans, onion, and garlic, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low.
2. Season with cilantro, cayenne, and salt.
3. Simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

• 2 ( 10 oz. ) cans diced tomato and green chilies, undrained
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken, I usually put in twice that much
• 1 ( 8 oz. ) package cream cheese, softened
• 5 green onions, chopped
• 1 ( 8 oz. ) container sour cream (I tend to use more, probably more like 12 oz)
• 8 ( 12 inch ) flour tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese

1. Stir together 1/4 cup diced tomato and green chilies, chicken, cream cheese, and green onions.
2. Stir together remaining diced tomato and green chilies and sour cream; set aside
3. Arrange chicken mixture evenly down center of tortillas; roll up, and place, seam side down in a lightly greased 13 X 9 inch baking dish.
4. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Pour sour cream mixture over enchiladas and top with cheese.
5. Bake 10 more minutes; let stand 15 minutes.

I'm Baaaaack...

OK, it's been a LOOOOONG time, so you would think this would be a witty, life-changing blog post, but alas (I love when I can use that word), it is not. Just a yummy non-holiday recipe. Is anyone completely sick of holiday food, or just me. Anyway, here goes. This is our dinner tonight...

This came from The Domestic Diva. It is her Creamy Crockpot Chicken and Potato Soup that she came up with by combining two recipes. I made a couple of very minor alterations

Creamy Crockpot Chicken and Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts (I used leftover turkey and just chopped it)
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth (depending on how thick you want the soup)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 8oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
  
• salt & pepper to taste
• garlic powder
  
• 1 tsp. poultry seasoning (I didn't use this since my turkey was smoked and already quite flavorful)
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 12-15 small red potatoes, cut into quarters
  

Directions:
Coat bottom of crock pot with cooking spray. Add carrots to bottom if using. Place chicken on top, and add remaining veggies. Mix together chicken stock, soup, and cream cheese and pour over top. Add seasonings.
Cook on Low for 5-6 hours. Shred chicken with forks before serving!
**I added my turkey 2/3 of the way through since it was already cooked and I just wanted the flavor.

A twist on Chicken Divan

OK, as you all know, I'm on a tight budget and am trying to keep staples that I can do varying things with. It's almost like a game to see what all I can make without having to buy anything! One of my new favorite staples is the HUGE bag of frozen veggies from Costco - the Costco/Kirkland's brand "Normandy Style Vegetable Mix". It's not a big block of veggie mush, each individual piece is individually frozen, so it's easy to take out what you need and zip up the rest in the resealable bag. It contains broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots and yellow carrots cut on the diagonal. I personally had never heard of "yellow carrots", but I'm a fan. They remind me a little of yellow bell pepper because they are sweet and yummy. Because of my 6lbs of frozen veggie bounty, I figured I'd do a Chicken Divan-esque dish. I cannot even tell you how much better it was with all of these extra veggies. I would probably be more likely to call if a Curry Chicken Primavera, but who am I to rename a dish? Oh, and by the way, this was soooo cheap and easy to make! Unfortunately, I'm getting over some type of crud-du-jour and don't feel like putting in all of the ingredients to the nutrition calculator, but you are welcome to.
Here goes...

A Twist on Chicken Divan or maybe Curry Chicken Primevera :-)

• 4-6 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves cooked (I chopped and then sauteed with garlic salt and pepper)
• 4 cups Normandy vegetable mix, thawed
• 3 cans reduced fat, low sodium cream of chicken soup (If you don't like as much "sauce" as us, reduce to 2 cans)
• 1/2 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
• 2.5 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• shredded cheddar (2%, of course)
• seasoned bread crumbs (I just blend stale sandwich bread with garlic salt, pepper and a bit of parmesan, transfer to a ziplock and throw it in the freezer for future use, instead of throwing the stale bread away)
• melted butter
• prepared brown rice (I also think this would be fabulous tossed with pasta as well if you aren't big on rice)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine soup, mayo, curry & mustard powders, and lemon juice in bowl. Add chunked (or shredded) cooked chicken to soup mixture until well distributed. Gently fold in veggies. Transfer mixture to lightly greased 9x11 casserole dish and spread evenly. Top with shredded cheddar. Top cheese with bread crumbs, and evenly distribute melted butter over top of bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for approximately 35 minutes, until top is bubbly and browned. Serve over rice. Since the rice takes about 35 minutes to cook, it is perfectly timed!

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

Very easy, very Yummy - enough said. This is another one of those "don't judge before you've tried".
(...Sorry Leslie, this one isn't new to you.)

Crock Pot Chicken Stroganoff

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 1/8 cup margarine
• 1 package dry Italian salad dressing mix
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (I prefer to use the reduced fat, or nufatchel cheese, but NEVER EVER fat free)
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can reduced fat/healthy requests condensed cream of chicken soup

Put chicken, margarine and dressing mix in slow cooker; mix together and cook on low for 5 to 7 hours. *The chicken will be golden brown and have a roasted taste and appearance - something that wouldn't happen if soup was added at the beginning. Add cream cheese and soup, mix together and cook on high for another 1/2 hour or until heated through and warm. Serve with no-yolks egg noodles or pasta of your choice.

Since I there are a lot of variables (like how many ounces of chicken you use, what kind and how much pasta you pick), I don't feel comfortable giving you nutrition info since it could vary so much. But I can tell you that this is a pretty healthy recipe to taste so rich and yummy. Give it a try and enjoy!

Brown Sugar! (Sung like the Stones, of course)

Good song, good ingredient! I love brown sugar. It has lots of moisture in it and keeps cookies soft and makes good, yummy sauces. Since I'm a big fan, anything that has the ingredient in the title gets a try by me and oh so rarely rarely disappoints, today's recipe is no exception. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to "Brown Sugar Chicken"!

Seriously though, it is rare that I find a "basic" chicken crock pot recipe that excites me that doesn't have cheese and cream and stuff in it, and this one is pretty darn healthy! Before adding rice or veggies, about 284 calories per serving (if you make 4 servings out of it, but I personally think 6 servings is more like it). It is kind of carb heavy, but ultra low fat, and high in protein. I think that I'm going to try to start giving the nutritional breakdown of the recipes as often as I can now and I KNOW, I need to start adding pictures, but come on people, I DO have a life and don't really have time to plate my food in a pleasing manner and then have a mini photo shoot. Anyway, if you ever want to figure your recipes yourself, I would suggest the one at Sparkpeople. There are several out there on the internet, but I like this one the best. I digress though, onto the recipe!

Brown Sugar Chicken

• 2 lbs. boneless chicken pieces (I use breasts of course, but who am I to judge)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup vinegar (I use balsamic, but I like the strong taste, so I leave it up to you – you may HATE it with balsamic)
• 1/4 cup lemon -lime soda
• 2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
  

Place chicken pieces in your slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the top of chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours depending on the size of the chicken pieces.
Serve with brown rice (none of that white stuff folks), and frozen oriental type veggies (nuke them first, of course).


Here's the nutritional breakdown of the entire recipe, so divide it by however many servings...
Calories
1,136.4
Total Fat
1.8 g
Saturated Fat
0.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat
0.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat
0.4 g
Cholesterol
82.4 mg
Sodium
1,146.8 mg
Potassium
1,158.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate
245.7 g
Dietary Fiber
0.1 g
Sugars
30.5 g
Protein
33.8 g

Tasty Tuesday (in honor of Leslie's posting hiatus)

So, although I am a creature of habit, something I really get tired of the same ol', same ol'. And even though I have a husband who swears he'll eat anything I put in front of him, he is a little less than adventurous when it comes to food. So this leaves me trying to think of something different and yummy that he won't hate, and all of a sudden it hit me! Chicken Tikka Masala! It is to Indian food, what the California roll is to sushi - kind of the "gateway" food, if you will. Anybody who eats it likes it.

I figured I could "deheat" it a little by omitting the really hot stuff and give it a try. I also wasn't sure how it was going to taste without grilling the chicken, but I just broiled it on a broiler pan (lined the bottom with foil for easy cleanup) and it was a snap. And a plus is that I was only in the kitchen on an off for about 30 minutes. It is just as good as any Indian restaurant and just has fabulous flavor. Richard loved it too and that was a plus. I will list the recipe as it should be made, and I've noted my small changes as well. We at it with a salad and served it over rice. If you want to be really authentic, buy some naan and have that too - YUMM!!!!

Chicken Tikka Masala

1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
salt to taste (I just put one little pinch of sea salt)
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces (I use 4)
4 long skewers (I didn't use skewers - just put atop a broiler pan)
_________________________________________________________

1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (Omitted this one totally for the less hot version)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste (just a pinch or in my opinion it is too salty)
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half because it is what I had on hand and then added a little yogurt to thicken the sauce since half and half doesn't thicken quite like cream)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (omitted this because I just didn't want to buy it just for this)

1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour (or up to 24)
2. Preheat a grill for high heat, lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side (it was nasty and cold last night, so I just put my oven rack in the middle and broiled the chicken for about 8-10 minutes)
4. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.

I really urge you to try it, it is quite yummy and really easy. I'm really looking into a way of doing this in the crock pot, but I'm afraid it's just not a "crock pot" kinda recipe. :-(