Monday Morning Mmmm: Chipotle Barbecue Chicken

October 3, 2011 By 10 Comments

Sometimes it’s really hard to get a good photo of a dish – even when the dish turned out perfectly! This is one of those dishes. I’ve made it twice now – and taken photos twice. And I probably would have tried a third time before posting, but I don’t have any other new recipes to share with you this week!

I found this recipe in Every Day with Rachael Ray, tore it out and put it in the pile that lives – and breeds – on my desk. Lucky for me (and my family), I found the same recipe online and remembered how much I wanted to make it. The first time I made it, I served it with oven-roasted potatoes and green beans. The second time, which I enjoyed much more, I served it with salad, mashed potatoes and sweet chile cheese cornbread.

As a side note, I’d like to let you know that those mashed potatoes were awesome. I used red potatoes and left most the skin on, then added lots of butter and sour cream. Delicious. Unfortunately, my husband was brave and finally informed me that he doesn’t actually care for sour cream in his mashed potatoes. I told him he has bad taste, but that I [kind of] appreciated his honesty. So much for my awesome potatoes. *sigh*

Back to the chicken. It is spicy and smoky, and I think leftovers would be good in tacos or a salad. Or served with a side of sour cream mashed potatoes that you made for yourself.

Chipotle Barbecue Chicken

6 tbsp butter
6 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
3/4 cup ketchup
3 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 lbs. chicken breast (boneless, skinless)

Preheat the oven to 425. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and then saute the onion and garlic. In a small bowl, whisk together the chiles, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Add it to the onion and garlic mixture and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until it thickens. Place chicken in 9×13 pan and pour the sauce over it. Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve with whatever kind of potatoes you like.

Do you like spicy food? Do you ever pull or bookmark a recipe – and forget about it? And how about sour cream in your mashed potatoes – yay or nay?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green and Foodie Friday.

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Monday Morning Mmmm: Chicken Nachos, part deux

May 2, 2011 By 7 Comments

I know that, this being a Mexican dish, it would make more sense to say “part dos.” But while three years (high school) and three semesters (college) of French classes didn’t exactly leave me fluent en francais, it does mean that out of the foreign languages I could cleverly use to title a blog post, French is the one that comes to mind.

It also means that I occasionally find myself singing the Sesame Street counting song in French. I have no explanation for that, but for some reason, I blame Smitty.

Anyway. I’ve written a post before about making chicken nachos, but this time I did things a little differently. It was the last week of the month, and I did not want to go to the store before refilling my cash envelope. I was saving my last can of black beans to make a pot of chicken enchilada soup, but I had leftover chicken and pico de gallo from our taco dinner at small group.

Clearly, the solution was nachos.

Chicken Nachos (yes, another version)

2 cups (or overflowing handfuls) of tortilla chips
1/2 cup fat-free refried beans
1/2 cup cooked chicken, seasoned and shredded
1/2 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup pico de gallo
1/2 cup light sour cream
sliced jalapenos

Place chips on oven-safe dish. Heat up beans and add water to thin out a bit. Stir well, then spoon onto chips. Sprinkle chicken and cheese on top. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Top with lettuce, pico, sour cream and jalapenos. Devour! Enjoy!

I’m not going to pretend like this dish is super healthy. (Especially if your husband has decided he hates all things chicken and your daughter literally – I’m not even kidding here – spit a chip back onto her plate because you had the nerve to hand her a nacho with a tomato hidden in the sour cream. Because in that case, you are totally justified in eating the whole darn plate yourself. Right? RIGHT.) But ohhh, is it good!

How do you like your nachos? And how do you get creative at the end of the month and grocery budget?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green, Foodie Friday, Friday Firsts, Sweet Tooth Friday and Food on Fridays.

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Monday Morning Mmmm: Using Leftover Chicken

March 7, 2011 By 24 Comments

Last weekend, I got out a bag of frozen chicken, but when it came time for dinner, we ended up eating out. (Even our favorite chicken dish doesn’t stand a chance against the offer of Five Guys.)

A day [or so] later, I remembered that the thawed chicken was still sitting in our fridge and that I needed to cook it – and soon. I tried to come up with something delicious, but ended up punting. I just covered the chicken in Italian seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic, basil, parsley) and baked it. It wasn’t exciting, but it did the trick. (If, by “trick,” we can agree that I meant, “Don’t let the chicken go bad and provide a nourishing, if not dazzling, meal for my family.”)

I knew we didn’t want to eat another bland meal of baked chicken, so I decided to get creative in how I used the leftovers. Unfortunately, my first attempt did not work out.

Inspired by some of my more talented cooking friends, I decided it was time to learn how to make homemade pizza dough . . . with yeast. Yeah, I was going to make something that had to RISE. Specifically, I was hoping to make this yummy looking beer batter pizza dough. I bought a packet of yeast and everything.

But then I realized that I had to make it with plenty of time for that rising. AND it makes a TON. I just wasn’t ready for all that. So, I pulled out my regular pizza crust recipe and set out to make chicken pizza. I even added mushrooms, because that’s the way my husband likes it.

Apparently, though, he has decided that he does not like chicken pizza at all – mushrooms or no mushrooms. And I learned this when he said, while watching me make the pizza, “Ummm . . . would you be upset if I just made a frozen pizza?”

Yes. My answer was most definitely YES.

And then when he told me in front of Annalyn that she might not like it because she might not like the red onions? (Which, I’m sure you know means she refused to eat any of it.) To my credit, I did not explode. But I did a bit of seething, that is for sure.

The kicker of the whole thing, though? The pizza really wasn’t that good.

Thankfully, I still had a couple pieces left of the baked chicken, so I had a chance to redeem myself. So the following day, I made the best salad I have had in a long time. It was SO good! Nothing fancy, but if you want a formula for a good salad, here you go:

Easy Chicken Caesar Salad
1-2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
3 oz. grilled or otherwise cooked chicken, chopped
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/8 cup shredded cheese
2 tablespoons croutons
2 tablespoons Caesar dressing

Tips: You can buy a bag of already-chopped romaine, although I actually chopped mine this time. And I prefer Italian blend cheese, partly because it’s so tasty and Italian-y and partly because it’s only two points on the new Weight Watchers system. But of course you can use whatever cheese you like; parmesan is always a good choice for a Caesar salad.

And last but not least, I highly suggest trying Kraft’s Caesar Vinaigrette if you like bottled dressings. It’s been a couple months since I’ve eaten at Olive Garden, but I swear this dressing tastes just like theirs. Tangy and delicious.

Another thing I considered doing with my leftover chicken was making enchiladas. But other than that, I came up empty. So, help me out! What do YOU do with leftover chicken?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green and Foodie Friday.

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Family Recipe Fridays: Cheesy Chicken

June 5, 2009 By 10 Comments

I would really like to have a photo for you. But as I’m sure you know, sometimes things just don’t work out like you want. After all, I also really wanted to post this recipe the last two weeks.

I was waiting for a photo. Hmm. Okay, then.

When Smitty, my maid of honor, planned a wedding shower for me, we decided that our moms should be invited to the party. I’m not sure what prompted this, but the result was my mom, Mark’s mom and Sandi’s mom joining my girlfriends from high school at a sweet reception in the church fellowship hall.

Without looking it up, I don’t remember any specific gifts I received that afternoon. Except one. Well, two, actually.

Mark’s mom gave me a flannel nightgown and a cookbook.

See, Marilyn was cold-blooded. Not in the heartless sense, but in the it’s July but I still need a sweater in the shade sense. And so her gift of a flannel nightgown was a kind gesture, meant only to help me deal with my upcoming life with a hot-blooded man.

I suppose you can take that however you want.

I never wore that long-sleeved flannel nightgown. But the cookbook? Oh, it’s a treasure. It was a compilation of recipes from Marilyn and her friends at church. At the time, it wasn’t very interesting, but I have come to really love that book. While it’s been so comforting to have some of Marilyn’s recipes (she died in 2001), our favorite dish is actually one that someone else shared in the cookbook.

So, now that I think about it, this isn’t even a family recipe. Well, whatever. It’s our family’s recipe. And I’m sure I’ll pass it on to someone.

Cheesy Chicken

  • 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups cheddar
  • Some chopped onion (no, I don’t know how much)
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • Splash of milk (yep, I said a “splash”)
  • Black pepper
  • Rice (I use two bags of boil-in-bag rice)

Bake the chicken for 30 minutes at 350 degrees (or until cooked through). Drain water and any fat. Mix cheddar, onion, soup and milk. Season with pepper. Spoon mixture over chicken. Bake for another 15 minutes (or until cheese is melted). Serve over rice.

I used to serve it with Lipton’s mushroom rice, but that makes it awfully salty. Sometimes I cut the chicken breasts in half, to make smaller serving sizes. But really, no matter how you change it up, Cheesy Chicken is mighty good.

For more (actual) Family Recipes, head over to the Vanderbilt Wife. And for some mouthwatering recipes, check out A Southern Fairytale.

Do you have a favorite family recipe? How do you feel about flannel?

UPDATE: On August 30, 2010, this post will be linked to Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Food on Fridays.

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