Pesto & Chicken Calzone

Pesto

Ingredients:

2 Cups fresh basil leaves

1/2 Cup parmesan cheese

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

2 Tsp Minced garlic or 1 garlic clove

Put all ingredients in the blender (or magic bullet :))

To make individual serving sizes I froze the Pesto in an ice tray.
For the calzone use the recipe found on the previous post here.

For the ingredients inside the calzone, I just grilled some chicken and added pepper and garlic salt.
Put together the calzones, spread the pesto
tasty chicken & cheese (I only had Monterey Jack and it tasted great)

Then after you pinch the edges glaze the top of the calzones with egg whites and add some grated parmesan cheese on top.
Bake at 350 until the top is golden brown.

These were very delicious. Jeff and I loved them!! They are pretty easy, especially if you already have the pesto made up. The dough is wonderful and is easy to make. We highly recommend them!!

The Best Chicken Fajitas

This hot summer weather put me in the mood for something fresh and light. These fajitas hit the spot. I LOVED them ... and so did the kids - amazing! My personal variations include using whole wheat tortillas, fresh avocados (vs. guacamole), smaller cut mushrooms - for the kids sake, reduced sodium soy sauce (pointless because you add salt anyway), and chicken breast tenderloins. Anyway, give it a try, it's delicious!

The Best Chicken Fajitas (courtesy of www.melskitchencafe.com)

Printable Version

Printable Version with Picture

*Serves 4-5

*Note: liquid smoke may seem like an unnecessary, optional ingredient but I promise it adds an irreplaceable flavor and smokiness – I keep a bottle of liquid smoke on hand in the refrigerator just to make these fajitas.

Marinade:

¼ cup fresh lime juice (about 3-4 limes)

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons apple cider or red wine vinegar

2 easpoons soy sauce

½ teaspoons chili powder

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon liquid smoke

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Fajitas:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts (about 3 large chicken breasts)

1 yellow onion, cut into thin strips

1 green pepper, cut into thin strips

1 red (or orange) pepper, cut into thin strips

8 ounces fresh mushrooms, quartered

1 teaspoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons water

½ teaspoon fresh lime juice (a quick squeeze of a cut lime)

dash of salt and pepper

Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Place chicken in a ziploc bag and pour the marinade ingredients over the top. Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator and let marinate for 2-3 hours.

After marinading, take chicken out of the bag and discard the marinade. Grill or broil the chicken 4-5 minutes per side (I use my indoor grill pan usually). Remove from pan and tent with foil to keep warm.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat and add the onion, mushrooms and peppers. Stir fry until softened but still crisp tender. Add soy sauce, water, lime juice and salt and pepper. Cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Slice chicken thinly on the diagonal and toss with the vegetables in the skillet. Serve immediately with flour tortillas and top with tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, cheese, sour cream…the options are endless!

Crisp and Creamy Baked Chicken

Ingredients:
4 Small Boneless skinless chicken breast halves
6 TBS (1/2 of 1 pouch) SHAKE 'N BAKE Extra Crispy Seasoned Coating mix
2/3 cup Condenseed cream of celery soup
1/4 cup milk
1 cup Shredded Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheese

Heat over to 400

Coat chicken with coating mix as directed on package; place in greased 9X13 baking dish.

Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

Mix soup and milk until well blended; pour over chicken. Top with cheese. Bake 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

** I used chicken tenderloins and they cooked very fast! it was awesome. You could really just use bread crumbs, I don't think SHAKE 'N BAKE is necessary. Although the extra crispy did make the chicken very crispy.

I have become a fan of Kraft Foods Recipes. There are a lot of easy meals on there, and with my schedule I am very fond of easy, and inexpensive meals. I tried this recipe last night and I think it was delicious and took no time at all to make! Anyways, Jeff and I thought these were very good and we recommend it!

Chimichangas

Yield: About 4 large Chimis

• 6 Chicken Tenderloins, or 2 cups shredded chicken
• 1-2 cups Salsa of choice (the spicier the better)
• Cumin
• Oregano
• Lots of shredded cheddar cheese
• 4-6 flour tortillas
• Sour cream/guacamole/salsa for toppings

First put the chicken and salsa in crock pot. Once chicken is done, shred it up! Make sure the salsa and the chicken is good and mixed together. Then add the Cumin and Oregano to taste. I used about 1 tsp Cumin and about half tsp Oregano. Mix it up GOOD. Let the Herbs cook in for about 5 more minutes. Next take your tortillas and put as much chicken as you want in them, topped with lots of cheese. Fold in the ends and then wrap up the chimi.

Next you have the option of a little more healthy, or a little more tasty, whichever you prefer... I wanted mine more tasty. Either deep fry your chimi's or spray them with Pam and bake them at 350* for about 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and tortilla is a little golden.

ENJOY!!

Spinach Lasagna

Yield 6 servings or more

Time 1 hour, with prepared pasta and sauce

Ingredients

12 to 16 dried or fresh lasagna noodles

3 to 4 cups tomato sauce

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cups cooked spinach, squeezed dry and chopped

1 1/2 cups ricotta

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella

2 cups grated Parmesan

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• 1. If you're using dried pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If you're using fresh pasta sheets, cut them into long wide noodles approximately 3 inches by 13 inches, or a size that will fit into your lasagna dish. Cook the noodles (6 at a time for dried noodles) until they are tender but still underdone (they will finish cooking as the lasagna bakes); fresh pasta will take only a minute. Drain and then lay the noodles flat on a towel so they won't stick.
  
• 2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a rectangular baking dish with the olive oil, add a large dollop of tomato sauce and spread it around. Put a layer of noodles (use four) in the dish, trimming any overhanging edges; top with a layer of tomato sauce, one-third of the spinach, and one-fourth of the ricotta (use your fingers to spread it evenly) , the mozzarella and the Parmesan. Sprinkle some salt and pepper between the layers of tomato sauce and spinach if desired.
  
  
• 3. Repeat the layers twice, and top with the remaining noodles, tomato sauce, ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan; the top should be covered with cheese; add more ricotta and Parmesan as needed. (The lasagna may be made ahead to this point, wrapped tightly and refrigerated for up to a day or frozen. Bring to room temperature before proceeding.)
  
  
• 4. Bake until the lasagna is bubbling and the cheese is melted and lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest a few minutes before serving, or cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze.

Recipe taken from the New York Times

Chicken Strips

So this is a great, in-a-pinch, super easy, and delicious dinner idea. Technically the recipe calls for 6 chicken breasts, but all we had were chicken breast strips. These were a HUGE hit ... I should have at least doubled the recipe for our family.Ingredients:

1 packet Onion Soup Mix (any brand will do ... I usually buy generic)

2 TBS bread crumbs

Olive Oil

Chicken Breasts

Preheat oven to 400*. Combine bread crumbs and soup mix in shallow dish. Dip chicken in olive oil, then in soup mixture. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, until cooked.

And viola! There you have it. We dipped ours in honey ... and it was like dessert! Enjoy!!!

(sorry for no good pictures ... I took pics of before they were baked, but they got eaten up so quickly I didn't have time to take pictures of the finished product)

Jamaican Beef Patties

PASTRY

2 cups Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 cup Solid shortening
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine
1/3 cup Cold water

Sift the flour, curry powder and salt into a large bowl. Cut in the shortening and margarine until crumbly. Add the cold water to make a stiff dough. Lightly flour a wooden cutting board and roll out the dough until about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out 8-inch circles. Cover with wax paper or damp cloth until ready to use. You can place the dough in the refrigerator overnight. If you do refrigerate, remove the dough at least 15 minutes before using.

MEAT FILLING

2 tablespoon oil
1 Small white onion, Finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon Chopped Scotch Bonnet pepper
1/2 lb. Lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Curry powder
1/2 teaspoon Dried thyme
1/4 cup Breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Beef or chicken stock
1 Egg, beaten
1/4 cup Water

In a heavy skillet, melt the margarine and sauté the onion and Scotch Bonnet Pepper until they become limp. Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, curry powder and thyme and mix well. Brown the meat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the breadcrumbs and stock and combine all the ingredients well. Cover the skillet and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When all the liquids have been absorbed, the filling is ready. It should be moist but not watery. Remove the skillet from the stove and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Uncover the dough circles and place 2 to 3 tablespoons of filling on half of each. Moisten the edges of the dough with water and fold the dough circle over the meat filling. Pinch the edges closed with a fork. Lightly brush the pastry with a mixture of the egg and water. Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet for 30 to 40 minutes or until the pastry are golden brown.

Serves: 10 Patties

So I only made my pastry circles 4 inches in diameter and thought they were still great. I since have learned that Scotch Bonnett Peppers are an extremely hot Caribbean pepper. Typically you would substitute it with jalapenos or habaneros, but double it. I substituted it with 1/4 tsp of ground cayenne red pepper. We thought it had just the right amount of kick to it. It ended up made 12 patties, but I did throw some dough away because I already had to roll out the dough too many times and I knew it was getting too tough. Anyway, these were fun to make for me ... probably more because of the sentimentality for Chris. Needless to say, they were definitely a hit in our home.

Easy Calzones

Easy Pizza Calzones
1 package yeast
1 cup warm water (105-115?F)
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups flour (to 3 1/4 c.)
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup mushrooms -- thinly sliced
1 pound sausage -- cooked
1 cup pepperoni sausage -- thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 cups mozzarella cheese -- finely grated



For dough, dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in sugar, oil, salt and 1 c. of flour. Can add Essence spice, garlic powder, cracked black pepper, dill weed or grated Parmesan as desired to taste. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle (can do in food processor). Turn tough onto lightly floured surface and gently roll in flour to coat. Knead about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Cover with bowl and let rest for 5 minutes.



Roll into four 10" circles. Place sauce and topping mix over half of dough. Add 1/2 c. cheese. Fold over and crimp edge shut. Place on foiled and greased cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter after 15 minutes of cooking. Cook for a total of 25 - 30 minutes in a 375ºF oven or until golden brown. Makes 4.



**I know the recipe doesn't tell you to let the dough rise, but I let it raise until it was double in size, then I punched it down and then cut it into 4 sections.



**** We loved these. I really thought the dough was delicious. I was a little worried about it since the recipe almost seemed choppy or like something was missing. I chose to leave out the mushrooms and I didn't add Italian seasoning either because I used Italian sausage. I absolutely LOVED how easy these were. The dough took me about 5 minutes to make and then putting the calzones together took about another 10 minutes (including sausage-browning time). I recommend these for a quick, easy, weeknight meal :) ****

Cheesy Chicken Flautas

Cheesy Chicken Flautas-- taken from Lawrys.
Prep time: about 15 minutes
Ease: If I can do it then your dog can too.
Makes: Supposedly the recipe said 16, but ours only made about 10.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Lawry's Mexican Chile & Lime Marinade with Lime Juice
1 pound boneless skinless chicken, cooked and shredded.
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese.
Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:
1. Mix sour cream and 2 tablespoons of the marinade in a small bowl. Mix chicken and remaining marinade in medium bowl. Set Aside.

2. Microwave tortillas, several at a time, on HIGH for about 20 seconds or until softened.. Spoon about 2 table spoons chicken mixture onto each tortilla. Top each with 1 tablespoon of the cheese. Roll up tightly. Secure with toothpick.

3. Pour oil to 1-inch deep in large skillet. Heat oil lto 375 on medium heat. Fry flautas, several at a time, 3 minutes or until crisp, turning occasionally. Drain on paper towels. Remove toothpicks. Serve with sour cream sauce and, if desired, guacamole and salsa.

I slow cooked my chicken all day with the marinade. The chicken was really moist and the flavor was throughout. I recommend doing this for sure!

Other than that I followed the directions.

They turned out delicious. In Jeff's words "it's a miracle" Meaning I actually made something that was good. He even ran some up to his parents. We loved these!!! So yeah. We definaly recommend this recipe. It seems like it could be more of an appetizer, but served with spanish rice and some corn bread (Jeff didnt think corn bread went with flautas, I beg to differ. I don't know of one thing that corn bread DOESN'T go well with.) it would be a great mexican dinner. Don't forget to buy Jarritos to drink with it though :) I bought Watermelon and Guava flavors. :)