Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

I have been wanting to try cashew chicken in the crockpot for a long time and I finally found this recipe on Pinterest from www.sixsistersstuff.com.  I actually doubled the sauce part of the recipe because we like ours saucy.  Loved this recipe!!!  I forgot to take a picture so I am including the one from the original recipe.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders or chicken breast tenders
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 T. canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar
2 T ketchup
1 T brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (I didn't have this so did 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup cashews

Directions:
Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag.  Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture.  Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side.  Place chicken in slow cooker.  Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken.  Cook on LOW for 3-4 hours.  Add cashews and stir.  Serve over rice.

Makes 4-6 servings

Slow-Cooker Cranberry Chicken

So Recipe.com gets my vote this week on quick, easy kid-friendly meals.  Tonight we had this recipe and again this new recipe got a thumbs-up from the kids.  You have to understand that I do not put recipes on this blog that my kids don't approve of or that are too hard to do for a working mom. 

Ingredients:
2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken thighs and/or drimsticks, skinned (I used boneless/skinless)
1 16 oz can whole cranberry sauce (I made fresh cranberry sauce)
2 T dry onion soup mix
2 T quick-cooking tapioca
3 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:
Place chicken pieces in a slow cooker.  in a small bowl, stir together cranberry sauce, dry soup mix, and tapioca.  Pour over chicken.

Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 1/2-3 hours.  Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked rice. Makes 6 servings.

If you want to make fresh cranberry sauce (super easy and yummy):

Ingredients:
12 oz bag of cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Directions:
Rinse cranberries and pick out bad cranberries.  Bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add cranberries and return to a boil.  Boil for 3-5 minutes, stirring the whole time. 

Chicken Tetrazzini

Tried a new recipe...it was a toss up on whether or not the kids liked it or not, but it came to that they liked it after they picked out the peppers and mushrooms.  I concluded I would cook it with them still (this is where all of the taste comes from) and will strain out the veggies for them and just add them back into the adults portions.  Overall, I LOVED this recipe!  I found this recipe at Recipe.com.

Ingredients:

6 oz cooked spaghetti

1-1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

3/4 cup chopped red or green sweet pepper

1/2 cup cold water

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 12oz can evaporated milk

1 tsp chicken boullion

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup cooked chicken or turkey

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

2 T milk

1 T sliced almonds

Directions:

In a large covered saucepan cook the mushrooms and sweet pepper in a small amount of boiling water about 3 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Drain well; return to saucepan.

In a screw-top jar combine 1/2 cup cold water and flour; cover and shake well.  Stir into the vegetable mixture in saucepan.  Stir in the evaporated milk, bouillon, black pepper and salt.  Cook until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in the cooked spaghetti, chicken, parmesan cheese and 2 T. milk.

Lightly coat a 2-quart square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Spoon spaghetti mixture into dish.  Sprinkle with almonds.  Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree oven about 10 minutes or until heated through and nuts are lightly toasted.  Makes 4 servings.

Mom's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I have been sick all weekend and I feel like I had been run over by a bus!  So, what is better when you are sick than some homemade chicken noodle soup?  NOTHING!  Luckily this is even easy enough to fix when you are sick.  It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients :

5 chicken breasts, diced

1 small bag of mini carrots, diced

6 celery stalks, diced

¼ cup chicken bouillon

1 small onion, diced

¼ tsp. garlic salt

Water, enough to cover all ingredients in pan by 2”

1 pkg egg noodles

Directions:

Dice all veggies and chicken and add to large stock pot. Add chicken bouillon and garlic salt and cover with water by 2”. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil until chicken is cooked and carrots are tender. Add noodles and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Serve with rolls or croissants.

Chicken and Rice Soup

This recipe is so good...it is one of my favorites!  I added thyme this time because I have seen quite a few recipes that had thyme in them.  It definately added a great flavor.  This one is easy and yummy!

Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 medium carrots chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2 quarts chicken broth
3 cup of water
3 cup long grain white rice
5 cans chicken breasts

In a pot over medium heat add the olive oil and vegetables and thyme.  Cook over medium heat for 6 minutes or until veggies are tender.  Add chicken broth and water and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil then add the rice and chicken.  Turn to low and cook for an hour.  Enjoy!

Macaroni Grill Chicken Cannelloni

I actually ate this at Macaroni Grill a few weeks ago and I am telling you, this copy cat recipe is so close it is amazing!  You have got to try this.  Allyson doesn't like Alfredo sauce, but she loved this!  I served it with Olive Garden's Bruschetta al Pomodoro (recipe below).

Cannelloni Filling

8 ounces chicken breast (about 2), cooked thoroughly

1 ounce fresh spinach, chopped

1 ounce sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

16 ounces ricotta cheese

3 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 teaspoon table-ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

12 lasagna pasta sheets, approximate size of 5 x 6 inches

Cannelloni Sauce

16 ounces Asiago cream sauce, or your favorite Alfredo sauce

16 ounces Macaroni Grill tomato sauce, or your favorite tomato-based pasta sauce

3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated

Once the chicken breast has been cooked thoroughly, allow it to cool to an internal temperature of 45 degrees F.

Dice the cooled chicken breast into 1/2-inch pieces and place into a large mixing bowl. Add spinach, tomatoes, ricotta, mozzarella, pepper and salt, and mix thoroughly.

Arrange precooked pasta sheets on a cutting board and place two or three rounded tablespoons of filling mixture down the center of each pasta sheet and carefully roll pasta around filling in a cigar fashion. Place the rolled cannelloni, side by side, into an ovenproof shallow baking dish. Place Asiago sauce (or Alfredo sauce) and tomato sauce in bowl and mix until well incorporated. Pour sauce over cannelloni covering completely. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over top of sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes.

Remove foil and continue to bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until an internal temperature of 165 degrees F is reached. Remove from oven and serve family style or on individual plates garnished with fresh diced tomatoes, and basil or Italian parsley.

Serves 6.

Italian Chicken and Pasta

This is a great fall-back recipe when you are in a hurry or just don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  My kids love this recipe and never complain when we have it.  I used rotisserie chicken, but you can just boil chicken and shred it if you want.

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded

2 pkg pasta, cooked (I have used all kinds of pasta)

Italian dressing

Cook pasta, according to directions.  Add chicken and Italian dressing and toss.  Serve with bread, if you want. 

It is as easy as that. . .Enjoy!

Grandma's Chicken Curry

This is a recipe that my kids beg grandma for.  They absolutely love it!

Ingredients:

Cooked, diced chicken
1 batch cooked brown rice, (white will work if you don't)

2 stalks diced celery

1 small diced onion

1 1/2 tsp. curry powder

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can cream of mushroom

1 can cream of celery soup

Saltine crackers or potato chips, crumbled

butter

Cook the chicken until no longer pink inside.  Dice up chicken and set aside.  Saute celery and onion in three tablespoons butter.  When vegetables are tender add curry powder, garlic, cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup. Stir and heat. Add chicken and rice and stir. Put in casserole dish and top with cracker crumbs dotted with butter, or crushed potato chips. Bake on 350 degrees until bubbly or crackers are slightly browned.  If the chicken and or rice are cooked with salt don't add salt to casserole. The cream soups also have plenty of salt.

Chili Relleno Casserole

A recipe I found at Pantry Friendly Cooking.  You should really check out this website.  There is a book for sale on her webite for a Mexican Cookbook.  I cannot wait until mine comes.  Her recipes look so good!  And her recipe for Chili Relleno Casserole did not dissapoint!  I fixed spanish rice from scratch to go with it (not a recipe from this website), but it was not very good.

1 lb. or 2 cups shredded chicken (I used canned chicken)

1 large onion

1 lb. cheddar cheese (chopped into cubes) divided

3 small cans green chiles

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup flour

pinch of salt and pepper

Cook onion until it is tender.  Mix onion with chicken.  Place chiles, chicken, and cheese in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Reserve some of cheese to spread on top.  Mix together eggs, milk, flour, and seasonings and pour over the top of the chicken mixture.  Top with the extra cheese.  Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Until the egg mixture is set.  Serves 8-10

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

I found this is a recipe at www.copykat.com  So good! The kids even loved it. And it tasted VERY close to the real deal. I served it with baguettes and salad with Olive Garden dressing (I have to admit I have made this dressing too, but it takes a ton of time.  I now just buy it from Olive Garden.  Price is worth it).  Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I used a rotisserie chicken).

4 T. butter

4 T. flour

1 quart half and half

1-14 oz can chicken broth

1/2 cup celery, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup carrots, finely shredded

1 cup onion, finely diced

1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. parsley

1 lb gnocchi (you can buy this in the pasta section)

Preparation:

I started out by chopping the onion up in my food processor.  Then I dumped into a bowl and pressed the garlic through my garlic press and adding it to the onion.  I then cut the carrot and celery into big chunks and then chopped it in the food processor.  I then dumped it into another small bowl.  After that I chopped the rotisserie chicken in the food processor.  Last, I chopped the spinach. 

Directions:

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter, when the onion becomes translucent, add the flour and make a roux.  Let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding the half and half and stir until clumps are gone.

 

After adding the half and half, start the gnocchi, cooking according to the package directions.

Into the roux add in the carrots, celery, and chicken.  Once the mixture become thick add the chicken broth and olive oil.  Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings

I hope you will try this recipe.  This is my favorite soup to get when we go to the Olive garden, and now I don't have to wait for date night to have some.  This is by far the easiest from-scratch soup (or scratch soup as Gabe calls it) I have EVER made.

Biggest Loser's Grilled Chicken with Warm Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
Pam Spray
4 large boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 1 1/2 pounds
Salt and Pepper to taste
Medium red onion, diced small
Small jalapeno, chopped fine
Medium tomato, diced small
Large mango, diced small
juice and zest of 2 limes
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

Preheat grill or grill pan over high heat.  Spray chicken thighs lightly with Pam and season with salt and pepper.  Grill about 4 minutes per side, or until just cooked through. 

Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick pan over med-high heat.  Spray with Pam and add onions.  Season onions with salt and pepper and cook until almost tender.  Add jalapeno, tomato and mango to the pan.  Cook tossing often, until just heated through.  Add lime juice and zest and cilantro. 

Serve chicken with warm salsa. 

We also had it with noodles that we had just a little butter and Parmesan cheese on.  This recipe got mixed reviews from my family.  We had everything from a 2 (on a scale from 1-5) to a 5.  Some thought there was too much lime, so you may want to adjust that if you don't like a lot of lime.

Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

Okay, so for the past 10 years I have made my same chicken enchilada recipe.  I used to bribe my dad with it (until he finally go sick of them), but now I have a new recipe to bribe him with. These are some enchiladas that we made last night.  They were so good!  We just wanted to try something new so we made up this recipe.  We had mexican rice with it which the kids LOVED!

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts or thighs

Mrs. Dash Southwest Seasoning

Sour Cream

Tortillas

Enchilada Sauce

Cheese

Directions:

Grill the chicken with the Southwest Seasoning on it.  When chicken is done, transfer it to a food processor to chop (or just shred it).  Add sour cream (the amount depends on what you like).  Roll in the tortillas and cover with the enchilada sauce and cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enchilada Chicken

Yet another Biggest Loser Family Cookbook recipe.  As you can see we are trying to eat more healthy and I am finding that healthy doesn't always mean it has to taste like the cardboard box it came in (well, in this case it doesn't because it is all from scratch).  You definately need to try this one.

Ingredients:
4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp. salt-free Mexican or Southwest seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle)
Olive oil spray
4 T. medium, mild, or hot enchilada sauce
2 oz. finely shredded light cheddar cheese
2 T. finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.

Place a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over high heat.  When hot, lightly mist witht he olive oil spray and add the chicken.  Cook, turning once, for 1 to 2 minutes per side, or just until the chicken is golden brown on the outsides.

Remove the pan from the heat and top each chicken breast with 1 T. of the enchilada sauce, followed by one-fourth of the cheese and one-fourth of the cilantro.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink inside and the cheese is melted.  Serve over rice.

Orange Chicken Wings

We bought some Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce and tried it out on wings.  We served it with rice.  It was SO good!  I forgot to get a picture before we ate, so this isn't the best pic, but it shows just how yummy they look.

Ingredients:
Chicken Wings
Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce


Directions:
Thaw wings and spread them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  Bake in 350 degree oven for approximately 35 minutes.  Drain juice off pan and cook again for 15 more minutes.  Take out of oven and transfer to a tupperware type bowl with a lid.  Pour the amount of sauce you would like on them, put the lid on and shake the bowl.  Transfer chicken back to the cookie sheet and cook for 15 more minutes.

Grilled Chicken Parmesan from The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook

I didn't eat this one because I was not feeling well, but I also didn't get a picture of it because before I could dish some up to take a picture, the kids had devoured it.   I am taking it that this is a "keeper" recipe.  As the title says, I got the recipe out of my Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.  It has some really good recipes that I plan on trying.  For the sauce, I made a quadrupal batch last week and froze it in 4 different containers.  This way, when I need the sauce, I just put it in a pan and thaw it.  It is yummy too.  Hope you enjoy it.  I served it with Pasta but you can also serve with salad.

Grilled Chicken Parmesan
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Olive oil
2 cups Main Event Marinara (recipe below)
1/2 c. shredded mozzerella cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 and preheat a grill to high heat.

Lightly brush both sides of the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill the chicken, turning once, for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until it is no longer pink inside and juices run clear.  Transfer to a baking dish.

Heat the sauce on low in the microwave until warm.  Top each breast with 4 T. marinara sauce, followed by 1/4 of the mozzarella cheese.  Bake the chicken for 3 to 5 minutes, or just until the cheese is melted.


Main Event Marinara Sauce
1 cup minced yellow or white onion
2 T. freshly minced garlic
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup water
2 T. no-salt-added tomato paste
2 tsp. honey
2 T dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt, to taste

Spray a medium nonstick saucepan with olive oil spray and place over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook until just becoming tender (they should not brown), 4 to 6 minutes.  Reduce the tomato paste, honey, oregano, basil, and pepper flakes until well combined.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for at least 1 hour.  Season with salt, if needed.

Chicken Fettecinni or Italian Chicken

1 stick butter
1 packet Italian seasoning
2 chicken breasts
1 can cream chicken soup
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup water

put chicken, butter and Italian seasoning in slow cooker on low for 3 hours (if chicken is frozen a little longer).
Take chicken out, cut in cubes and put back in.
Add water, soup, cream cheese stir.
Cook just until it's hot again - about 1/2 hour.
Serve over cooked noodles or rice (I like egg noodles best with it)

Salsa Chicken

My friend Kristie told me about this recipe yesterday and so I decided to try it tonight for dinner.  I didn't write it down, so this is my own version out of my head plus an extra ingredient.  We really liked it (well, except two of the kids).  The amount of each ingredient is versatile.

Ingredients:
Chicken
Black Beans
Frozen Corn
Salsa
Cream Cheese

Directions:
Put the chicken in the crockpot and cook for 4 hours.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook for another 2 hours.  Serve over rice.

Black Beans, Chicken and Rice

This is another new recipe we have tried.  Everyone loved it and the kids even wanted to take the leftovers for lunch.  We doubled it and it was perfect for us to be filled up and then we had enough leftovers for all of the kids.  The recipe says it is 4 servings.  This is also another fast meal to fix.  Very good!

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

2 cups frozen bell pepper and onion stir-gry, coursely chopped

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained, rinsed

1 3/4 cups porogresso chicken broth

2 T water

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

In 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Cook and stir rice, cumin and chili powder in oil 1 minute.  Stir in all remaining ingredients except cheese.  Heat to boiling, reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 to 18 minutes, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Remove skillet from heat.  Uncover; fluff mixture with fork.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Cover; let stand 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is melted before serving.