Mexican Chicken Bake

Tags

casserole, chicken, cooking, easy, food, mexican, poultry, recipe

I’ll be honest with you.

I have not had much desire to cook lately. I cooked twice last week. One meal was a one pot chicken curry meal (delicious by the way if you haven’t made that one yet). The other was your standard pizza (made with homemade pizza dough that I froze a few weeks ago.) I’m getting pretty resourceful this month and out of sheer busy-ness, I’ve been basically using up my pantry and freezer staples.

So was pretty jolly when I found this meal. It’s super pantry staple friendly. If you stock your cabinets with beans and salsa, and your freezer with chicken and frozen veggies, you can make this meal any gosh darn diddily day you want.

(By the way, how did people live without the internet? I have an entire bookcase full of cookbooks, yet often when I need a recipe, I type in the ingredients I have into Google and “bam”, we have a winner. Searching indexes? Flipping through pages? Not ever in the mood.)

Speaking of which, how do I index all of my cookbooks online?

That’s actually exactly what I need.

Anyway, back to the recipe.

I was very happy when I made this recipe.

• Um, getting married in less than two months = utter happiness
• Chris is home before 10:30 every night now!
• The sun is out until 8 pm every day!
• And more!

And I think my happiness made it taste better.

But even if you had just an OK day, trust me, this will still taste good.

Mexican Chicken Bake (Adapted from Kraft)
Serves 5-6
>> Click here for printable recipe 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning (homemade or packaged)
• 2 tbsp Italian dressing (I used Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 (16 oz) jar of your favorite salsa
• 3/4 cup mozzarella, cheddar, or Monterrey jack cheese (or combo of all 3)
• 5-6 servings of cooked brown rice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Add taco seasoning to the chicken in a medium bowl; toss to evenly coat.
3. Heat the dressing in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until it’s browned. Spoon into a casserole dish (I used 9 x 13, which was a little too large, but got the job done), and cover with layers of beans, corn, peas, onions, and salsa.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Top with the cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Spoon over rice to serve.

My Two Cents: This had some zip, some tang, a whip, and a zang. Make it with chicken breasts to be even healthier. (I had chicken thighs in my freezer because they were on sale last week — thighs also have a richer, moister taste to them.) And the layers can be a free-for-all, really. Add some peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, etc. to make it even more Mexican. Use what you have on hand. Get creative. Be joyous.

And also, try to walk 10,000 steps a day (about 5 miles), drink lots of water, and go  outside during your lunch break. You will feel so much happier! (not to mention — healthier!)

Chicken Mango Chutney Stir Fry

Tags

chicken, cooking, easy, food, quick meals, recipe, stir-fry

How many times have you opened the fridge, sighed, grumbled, growled, and said, “There’s noooooothing to make for dinner.”

I do it a lot, especially when at the grocery store I decide that I don’t need certain things because I’m already spending money on other things — then I’m left with odds and ends in my cabinets that don’t seem to mesh. (Yeah, I’ll admit, for a food blogger, I sure am not the best planner.)

So this past week I opened up my cupboard and saw a jar of mango chutney from Trader Joe’s.

It has been sitting there for months, hidden in the back. I had to brush off some dust.

And I figured, hey. I might as well use this. But with what?

Then I remembered that chicken is super splendid with any fruity combo. I made this blueberry ginger chutney once last year to go with some chicken, and it was finger lickin’ good.

So I had my answer! I had some rice. I had some chicken. I had some chutney. Dinner was on its way.

Chicken Mango Chutney Stir Fry
Serves 4
>> Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken, cut into cubes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 (9 – 10 oz) jar mango chutney (I used Trader Joe’s)
• 1 cup basmati or brown rice

Directions:

1. Cook the rice according to the package directions — either on the stove or in your rice cooker.
2.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, add the chicken. Cook until the chicken is lightly browned and no longer pink in the middle.
3. Stir the chutney into the chicken and warm through for 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately over the rice.

My Two Cents: The moral of this story is to always have a jar of some sort of chutney in your cupboard. Pour it over some cooked cubed chicken. Serve over rice. Cook up some of your favorite green veggies on the side, or serve with a salad.

You have a meal.

And it always takes under 30 minutes to make.

Apricot Chicken Drumsticks

Tags

chicken, cooking, easy, easy meals, food, poultry, quick, recipes

 

The day after I purchased my new camera, I was determined to make a recipe I hadn’t made before so I could take oodles of pictures.

Drumsticks were perfect.

a.) I’ve never made a drumstick recipe that didn’t taste good
b.) They photograph well

Apricot Chicken Drumsticks (Adapted from Family Fun)
Serves 2-3
>> Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken drumsticks (5-6 legs)
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 6 oz apricot jam or preserves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup chicken broth

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Remove skin from drumsticks if desired. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the chicken in the skillet on all sides. Then transfer to a 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
3. Whisk together the apricot jam, ginger, garlic, and broth. Pour evenly over the chicken.
4. Bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes or until the juices run clear.
5. Serve with a starch and veggies. I chose orzo and Brussels sprouts.

My Two Cents: This recipe is incredibly easy to make. I love keeping a few packages of drumsticks in the freezer because they are so versatile, so quick, so easy, and so tasty. Plus, I love to cook them with the skin on — it gives you and the other people eating it the option of eating it, or taking it off before you eat it. Sometimes I indulge, other times I don’t

Chris ate this after a very very long day of studying, and besides being just what he needed, he loved the gingery/fruity flavors that coated the chicken. And I did, too.

And I’m certain you will!

Honey Sesame Chicken

Tags

chicken, cooking, easy meals, food, honey, poultry, quick meals, recipe, recipes

I got a frozen package of chicken breasts from Trader Joe’s the other week. It was a steal of a deal. And the sodium levels were quite low. I couldn’t resist, as is usually the case when I step into Trader Joe’s. (“I definitely need 3 bags of chocolate covered pretzels, as well as chocolate covered edamame, a giant package of string cheese, and let’s just throw those chocolate covered potato chips in there, too”)

Well, the low-sodium frozen chicken made up for all that chocolate (maybe — though they’re saying that chocolate is good for you now — which I’m beginning to think is the reason I’m not a complete whale at this point in my life).

Let me get back to what I was really saying.

I used this recipe with frozen chicken, which is 100% totally fine to do, just as long as you defrost it before you bake it.

The Trader Joe’s package might tell you that you don’t have to defrost the chicken before you use it, and I should’ve listened to my inner brain smarts that said, “um, Megan, this is a lie. You are going to be waiting around for this chicken to be done if you don’t defrost it. It will take longer than 30 minutes. This actually has happened to you before. So this is sort of a no-brainer. Will you just listen to yourself for once? Your instincts are usually right, yet sometimes you completely ignore yourself, which can, and frequently does end poorly.”

So what did I do? I prepared the chicken, frozen, and sure enough, cooked it for an extra 15 minutes to make sure it was done.

Which is fine, if you aren’t starving.

If you’re using chicken that hasn’t been frozen into a big ice block yet, then you reading this lead-up to the recipe was completely unnecessary, but hopefully entertaining. Because even 2 + years after I’ve been screwing things up in the kitchen, I’m still far far far away from the term “pro” or “just like grandma” material.

Despite ALL THAT, this chicken tasted good.

Honey Sesame Chicken (adapted from The Healthy College Cookbook)
Serves 4
>> Click here for printable recipe 

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 5-6 pieces of frozen chicken breasts — which are usually smaller than the packages that aren’t frozen in the meat section)
• 4 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (400 if using partially frozen chicken).
2. Spray a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the dish. Warm the honey for 15-20 seconds in the microwave and brush evenly over the chicken.
3. In a small bowl, combine the sesame seeds, garlic powder, and pepper, and sprinkle evenly over chicken. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through (juices run clear when pricked with a fork).
4. Serve over rice or couscous with a side of your favorite greens.

My Two Cents: Okay, so after waiting around for an extra mere 15 minutes for this chicken to cook, it was PHENOMENAL. Honey works magic on chicken every single time. And the sesame seeds add a nice pop of flavor.

The leftovers are great hot or cold. I sliced mine up, tossed it in with a salad the next night, and tossed in some feta cheese to top it all off.

Enjoy!

Secret Recipe Club: Honey Baked Chicken

Tags

chicken, chicken drumsticks, chicken legs, cooking, food, honey, recipes, secret recipe club

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I was ecstatic to be assigned to The Gingered Whisk. I’ve been following Jenni’s blog for months now. First, her blog and her pictures are beautiful, and I’m always salivating at her posts. I knew I’d have a bounty of wonderful recipes to choose from!

And it was extremely difficult to decide what to make (as is usually the case with SRC blog posts). Should I make a dinner dish? Dessert? Bread? Appetizer?

In the end I was in the mood for a chicken dish. I happened to have some drumsticks in the freezer, and when I found myself drooling over Jenni’s Honey Baked Chicken, I knew I had a winner.

Honey Baked Chicken (From The Gingered Whisk)
Makes 4-6 servings
>> Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter. melted
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 tbsp spicy brown mustard (I used Gulden’s)
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 3 lb chicken (legs, thighs, or a combo of both — with the skin and bone on. I used just legs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, honey, mustard, and curry.
3. Grease a 9×13 baking dish. Place the chicken in the dish in a single layer. Pour the sauce over the chicken and place the dish in the oven.
4. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, basting the chicken 2-3 times throughout the cooking time.
5. Serve with your favorite green vegetables and starch. I chose roasted Brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes.

My Two Cents: When I pulled this out of the oven I said breathlessly, “Wow, these are beautiful.” Not only did the chicken come out a luscious golden brown, the smell that filled my kitchen was magical. Honey and butter? Oh. Oh my. The chicken fell off the bone. It was moist. And the curry shined through perfectly, subtly.

Chris licked every bone clean.

Which, as we all know, means it was damn good.

Enjoy! And thanks to Jenni for such a splendid recipe!

Click below to view all of the recipes in today’s secret recipe club reveal:

Whip it up Wednesday: Soy-Glazed Cashew Chicken Wraps

Tags

chicken, cooking, food, poultry, quick dishes, recipe, recipes, skillet meal, stir-fry, whip it up wednesday

When you want to fancy up your standard chicken stir-fry, use this recipe.

My friends Rachel (from BostoNite) and Fran and I frequently get together for dinner dates. And usually we opt for some sort of pasta dish because it’s quick and easy to make. But last time we got together we wanted something different, yet still quick and easy to throw together. They spotted this recipe on Pinterest. We all split up the ingredients to bring, cracked open a bottle of wine, and got to work. In no time we were chowing down on this healthy chicken wrap, polishing off the wine, and watching some trashy mid-week TV.

What could be better?

Soy-Glazed Cashew Chicken Wraps (Adapted from She Wears Many Hats)
Makes 4 servings
>> Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (3/4 – 1 lb), diced
• 8 big leaves of iceberg lettuce
• 2-3 tbsp canola or olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/4 cup cashews, crushed
• 1/3 cup prepared ginger soy stir fry sauce

Directions:

1.  Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan over medium heat. Add chicken and brown until no longer pink.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat the other tbsp of oil. Add the onions, garlic, and 1 tsp of soy sauce to the pan; brown.
3. When the onions and garlic are browned, add to the chicken and also add in the cashews, crushed red pepper, and ginger stir fry sauce. Heat through.
4. Spoon chicken mixture onto lettuce leaves. Top with additional hot sauce and cashews if desired.

My Two Cents: A great meal overall — and better with wine and friends.

Enjoy!