Easy Shredded BBQ chicken

It's always good to have very simple go to recipes that can be versatile, prepped quick, and served without a fuss.  This is one of those recipes.  Here is a recipe that is equally as yummy but is not quite as easy and the 3 ingredient recipe.


1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
3/4 cup store bought BBQ sauce
1 onion, chopped

Place chicken, BBQ sauce, and onion in the crockpot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred chicken.  Use chicken for BBQ sandwiches, calzones, or Stromboli.

Easy Chicken Tortellini Parmesan

The chicken tortellini Parmesan was born because I had 2 packages of cheese tortellini that needed to get eaten.  I thought I'd spice it up and use chicken instead of ground beef or turkey.  This tasted a lot like chicken Parmesan even without the extra cheese on top.  We all liked it. 

2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 packages refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 jar of spaghetti sauce or 2 cups of homemade sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan

In a skillet, heat oil.  Add diced chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Cook tortellini according to package directions.  When chicken and tortellini are done, combine in skillet.  Cover with sauce.  Cook until sauce is heated through.  Add Parmesan as desired.

Jessica Simpson's chicken and dumplings

I love being part of a church that helps others in need.  A few years back I was in a situation where I needed a little bit of help and my church friends stepped up to the plate.  One of the meals that was brought to me during this time were these Jessica Simpson's Chicken dumplings.  Who knew Jessica Simpson could even cook?  I mean if you ever watched the her Newlywed show, many, many moons ago you would know that she didn't know the difference between chicken and tuna.  Any who, thanks to my friend Julie who introduced me to this recipe.  Although that "season" has since passed in my life, making these reminds of love and compassion.  I really connect food a lot with emotions and past experiences, weird, I know.  Usually, I follow this recipe pretty exact but I decided to omit a few steps just because I can.

2 cans crescent rolls
3 cups of chicken (I used the chicken rib meat-it was on sale again for $.99 a pound bone in breasts)
2 cans cream of chicken soup (I used 98% Fat Free)
1 cup of chicken broth (homemade from the chicken bones)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Roll out the cans of crescent roll sheets and separate into diamond shaped sections. Place a small handful of chicken on each diamond, fold dough over and press ends together to create dumplings. 

Line a 9x13" baking dish with one layer of dumplings. Mix cream of chicken soups and broth together.  Pour over the layer of dumplings.  Season dish with salt and ground black pepper and bake until the dumplings are tender and cooked through and the top is bubbly and brown, about 30 minutes.

Chicken Mexicali

The idea from this recipe came from crockpot chicken Mexicali.  Most of the recipe is the same with the exception of the cooking cream.  I actually served this for lunch on a day when I had several errands planned.  It worked out perfect for us and it allowed us to eat a lighter dinner.  This would be great as a dinner served with fruit, veggies, and rice. 

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed
1 cup salsa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
1 container Philadelphia cooking cream, santa fe blend
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 tortilla shells

Place chicken breasts and salsa in the crockpot on high.  Leave the house to take your son to get a wart removed and pick up your daughter from her overnight sleepover. After about 2 hours, shred the chicken.  Add the black beans, frozen corn, and cooking cream.  Leave the house to take your daughter and y ourself for a super cheap, yet amazing, haircut at the beauty school.About 2 hours later, place the mixture on a tortilla shells and sprinkle with cheese.  I love my crockpot! Serve with fruit.

My Secret Way to Bake Chicken Breasts

For Christmas 2010 my sister gave my a new cookbook The Cooking Mom by Amy Hanten, oh my, how I have loved this cookbook.  I have found so many recipes that have hit the spot and fed my hungry, picky family.  This recipe for chicken breasts is by far the best, better than grilling, frying, or just baking them, try this you won't be disappointed.  When you score a sweet deal or decide to debone the chicken, give this recipe a try.

4 to 12 or even more boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
A couple tablespoons of olive oil
Garlic salt and pepper
Large sheet of heavy duty foil (not the cheap stuff)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line up the chicken in a row on the foil.  Drizzle each piece with a little olive oil.  Season each piece with some salt and pepper.  Wrap up the foil (not too tight) to make a packet.  Place packet on a jelly roll pan.  Bake for 40 to 55 minutes depending on your oven and how many pieces you're cooking.  Remove from the oven and let cool for about ten minutes.  Carefully open the foil packet.  there you go, lots of chicken for the whole week.

The chicken's breast

For starters, I want to say I had my way with a chicken breast this week.  It sounds sick and wrong, but the truth is I have been wanting to try out deboning a chicken breast for some time.  About 9 years ago I worked with a woman who constantly talked about doing crazy things to these poor breasts, this was back when my idea of dinner was dine in or carry out, so the thought of playing around with the chicken was not thrilling.  Since then I have gotten my feet wet in many chicken experiences such as cooking whole chicken (I have a fab crockpot recipe I should post soon) and making stock from the bones, deboning is not something I have done until this particular day.  It's easy.  Why did I wait so long?  Since I have more time in the summer, I thought I'd have my go at a little couponing, not EXTREME COUPONING, just normal, mother of 2 crying and screaming frolicking through the store couponing.  Chicken was not part of my original plan but since it was on sale for $.99 a pound, I picked up 2 packages of about 2.5 pounds each...I would have bought more but the limit was 1 per transaction. I'm not going to go into detail since Krista has given you the information. 

This is if you really want to get intimately involved in a chicken...how to cut a whole chicken.  I'm going to keep that on my list of things to consider but I am not running out to buy a whole chicken anytime soon.

My kitchen scale was very helpful with the task of packaging the breasts.  I used my scale to measure out 1 pound packages of the chicken.  I ended up with about 3 pounds of chicken breasts from the 5 pounds of boned chicken. 

After I deboned, I boiled the breasts with onions and carrots to make some broth, about 12 cups. 

Once the broth was done, I picked the rib meat off.   I ended up with about 3/4 pound of this type of meat.  My plan is to make BBQ chicken sandwiches.  Overall, I ended up with  3 3/4 pounds of actual meat from the $5.00 worth of chicken, if I was a math teacher I would calculate my actual pound cost but since I'm not, I won't. All that matters is that it was cheaper than I would pay for the boneless skinless breast processed at the store.  Oh and I am sure you want to know about the skin...well, I put it in the garbage but Vinnie didn't think that was a good idea and he stole it when I wasn't looking.  Guess how I know he stole it?  Nope.  Nope.  OK I'll spill the beans, he vomited it up in the living room and then vomited more skin up in Camden's room.  Thank goodness his stomach didn't process it, it came out in one big chunk.  It was pretty easy clean up, yet quite disgusting. 

So aside from that if you have an opportunity to have your way with a boned chicken breast, I say "Go for it!  It's as easy as it looks."

Creamy Chicken with pasta

The idea of this recipe comes from Easy Philly Cream Cheese Recipes.  I followed many of the steps but I omitted a few things to simplify for my picky eater (my husband).  I was heading out for a Mexican Fiesta at a local Mexican joint for dinner with my girlfriends.  Of course, mommy still needs to feed the family and sending them to McDonald's seems like a good plan, however, Grandma was over the day before and fed them Mc Donald's.  I am a way better mom than raising my kids on fast food, they deserve some good old home cooking or at least my wallet does.  Plus I need stuff to blog about... The highlight of this recipe is this...

I picked this up on sale for 2 for $5 with an additional coupon for $1 off.  I also purchased another kind of cooking cream the Santa Fe style...I'm not sure what I'll make with that one but if you're interested my friend Krista at Krista's Kitchen tried the santa-fe-chicken-casserole.  It looks good but I might try something different...of course, so I can blog about it.

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast defrosted
1 tub of (10 oz.)PHILADELPHIA Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
2 cups of cooked any type of pasta (I used spaghetti noodles)
1 tsp garlic salt
2-3 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese

Cook chicken in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5 to 6 min. or until chicken is done. Drain all but 1 Tbsp. liquid.   Add cooking creme; cook and stir 3 min.  Stir in pasta.  Sprinkle with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese.  When I was cooking it the cooking cream was creamy almost like an Alfredo sauce.  I did not eat any since I was going to save every single calorie for my yummy Mexican food.  When I did eat this as a leftover, the cooking cream did not melt even when warmed.  It was kind of weird...just saying.  The taste was right on but the texture was more like Parmesan cheese. 

I would make it again but if I was going to be home for this meal, I would have added the peppers, spinach, and probably an onion.  I would have skipped the pine nuts just because it's not my thing.

Orange Marmalade Glazed Chicken Over Rice

Whenever I hear the word "marmalade" I think of Paddington Bear.  One of my must watch cartoons from a million years ago.  Anyone else remember Paddington Bear wearing his rain coat.  It makes me smile.  This recipe does not come from Paddington but from Cheap. Fast. Good by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross. 

3 chicken bullion cubes
1 1/3 long grain rice (or whatever amount your type of rice requires for 4 servings.  I used Jasmine rice and used 1 cup rice...read the package)
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 Tablespoon oil
1 large onion, chopped
1/3 cup fruit only marmalade
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup dry white white (I used cooking wine)

1.  Place the bullion cubes in 2 2/3 cups water (or the amount needed to make your rice) in a covered medium-size saucepan and bring to a boil.  When the water boils, add the rice, stir, and reduce the heat to low.  Cover pan and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

2.  While chicken defrosts, heat the oil in an extra-deep skillet over medium heat.  Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the skillet as you chop.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes.

3.  Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, adding them to the skillet as you cut.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is no longer pink about 5 to 6 minutes.

4.  Meanwhile, stir the marmalade and mustard together in a small bowl and set aside.

5.  As soon as the chicken is done, add the wine to the skillet and raise the heat to medium-high.  Boil, stirring to loosen any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, until the wine evaporates slightly, about 2 minutes.  Then reduce the heat to medium and add the marmalade-mustard mixture.  Stir until the ingredients are well mixed and the chicken is coated with sauce.  Serve the chicken over the hot rice.