Chicken Marbella

We got a new dining set recently from Rooms to Go, and I absolutely love it. It seats 6 and it's very modern and contemporary. I was very excited to host a dinner party with my new table, so we invited a few friends over and I decided to cook a dinner from my friend Lani's blog because she is an amazing cook and I had this meal at her house recently and loved it.

It was easy to make and everyone liked it. I used chicken quarters but you can basically use any type of bone-in chicken I think. The dried fruit gives the chicken a sweetness in every bite. I served this with smashed potatoes (see my next post).

Chicken Marbella
from Lani's blog

Several pieces of chicken, I used 1/4 chickens (this dish really needs skin-on chicken to keep the meat moist)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup Italian seasoning
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup dried apples
1/2 cup craisins
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine
1 bag carrots, peeled and julienned (I used pre-cut carrots)

Combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, garlic and dried fruit in a bowl. Place the chicken in a large bowl with lid. Pour olive oil mixture on top of the chicken, and let marinate in fridge overnight.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375. Arrange carrots on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Place chicken and marinade with fruit on top. Sprinkle with brown sugar, and pour wine around chicken. Cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes, occasionally basting with juices. Remove foil and cook for 10 more minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Mexican Chicken

This meal came together completely on a whim, and it rocked! I saw some yummy looking avocados at the grocery store so I thought I would make a salad or something with them. Brett had wanted to grill up some chicken so he spiced it up with his favorite chicken rubs -- Emmeril's Chicken Rub and Everglades Seasoning.
I decided to use the avocado to make something Mexican-inspired, because Mexican food is definitely my favorite ethnic food. My mom says I love it because when I was a little baby in her belly, she used to eat nachos at T.G.I.Friday's literally every day because she worked there. And this dish kind of ended up being like Friday's chicken nachos, without the chips! :)

















Mexican Chicken

Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Breasts
Your favorite seasonings
1 avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Chopped fresh cilantro (I only use 2 leaves because it is a strong herb)
Mexican shredded cheese
Reduced Fat Sour Cream

Directions
Chop up avocado and tomatoes into small pieces. Chop up cilantro and add to mixture. Toss mixture in bowl so they slightly combine.
Grill chicken (or bake) with your favorite spices. While chicken is still hot, immediately sprinkle Mexican cheese on top, then add salsa mixture. Top with 1 dollop of sour cream.

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

I own a crock pot and rarely get use out of it except sometimes when I make meatballs during football season. So right before school went back in session, when I was home for a few more long summer days, I decided to utilize my crock pot and make some bbq pulled chicken! It came out SO delicious and it was so easy to make. I'm definitely going to make them again very soon.
The recipe was kind of a compilation of several recipes I found online where I could use things I already had in the house. It seems like the kind of recipe where you could add in whatever you wanted to your liking. Here is what I used:

Ingredients
3 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ketchup
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (I used a honey BBQ sauce)
2 tbs of brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 package of Hawaiian rolls or regular sized rolls

Directions
Place all ingredients in crock pot and mix around with spoon. Make sure chicken is covered by the liquid. If not, you can add some more water until chicken is immersed.
Cook on low for 5 1/2 hours
Take chicken out of crock pot and shred/pull apart with 2 forks
Put pulled chicken back in crock pot and re-warm for about 10 minutes
Serve on rolls!

Martha's Chicken Marsala

So this weekend my family came in town to visit and we had a wonderful time. We celebrated my dad's 60th birthday, so we had a lot of extended family and friends over at our house throughout the weekend. As much as I love having company over, and love love love my parents, it is always a little bit of a relief to have the house back to ourselves when everyone leaves. Since my husband was such a good sport about the whole family weekend deal, I decided I wanted to cook him something delicious tonight (well isn't cooking something delicious always my goal...?).

Anyway... one of our absolute favorite restaurants is Bella's in South Tampa. It is a chic and funky Italian restaurant with the best food, and my aunt's best friend owns it so we go often. They have this amazing chicken marsala there so I scoured the web to see if I could find something similar. The chicken marsala I have made in the past had a beef broth base but this one is more creamy, so I found this recipe on MarthaStewart.com and hoped it would come out close to Bella's. Success! It was SO delicious and easy, too! Brett loved it and said it really did taste like Bella's. The fresh sage smelled so good - I love using fresh herbs. I paired this with a side of roasted garlic red potatoes which is also similar to what we get at Bella's. This meal is great, I highly recommend it!
Some of my alterations - I forgot to put salt and pepper on the chicken.. didn't seem to make a difference. Also, I used baby bella mushrooms because they were on sale and I also omitted the shallot. I prefer leaner meat so I used chicken cutlets instead of breasts, which also cuts down on the cook time. The total time for this recipe took about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Creamy Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each) (I used cutlets)
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Place flour in a shallow bowl; season generously with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off excess.
2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add chicken, and cook until golden on the outside and opaque throughout, 8 to 10 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm (reserve skillet).
3. Add mushrooms, shallot, sage, and 1/4 cup water to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until mushrooms are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add wine and cream; simmer over medium-high until slightly thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in butter; season with salt and pepper.
4. Top chicken with mushroom sauce, and garnish with sage.

Side Dish














Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes

Ingredients
4 red potatoes, sliced
3 tbsps of bottled minced garlic
salt and pepper
3 tbsps olive oil

Directions
Toss sliced potatoes in the garlic and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (I used very little salt). Bake in shallow pan at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are browned.

Orange-Glazed Chicken

I saw this recipe first on Loves2eat's blog, which originally came from a Martha Stewart recipe, so I made it the other night and it turned out pretty good. It was very simple, it was fast, and it was tasty. Can you believe I had never cooked bone-in chicken before? That shows you how much of a rookie cook I am. I just always use boneless.. so this was a new experience for me but it went well. I made a side of instant mashed potatoes to go with it because we had a softball game to get to. I prefer Diner's Choice instant mashed potatoes.. and they are a good staple to keep in the fridge if you ever need a quick side and want some carbs. I am not an anti-carb person by any means.. potatoes are my absolute favorite side. :)
Anyway, here is the orange chicken and the recipe from Martha Stewart. I did, however, omit the salt because I try not to use a lot of salt when I'm cooking.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 8 chicken drumsticks (about 3 pounds total)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, arrange chicken in a single layer; season with salt and pepper. Roast 10 minutes. Brush with half the marmalade, and rotate sheet. Continue to roast, brushing once more with marmalade, until chicken is browned and cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Quick Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

When we have parties I love to make the Buffalo Chicken Dip from Kelly's blog (My Sweet Life) and it is always a hit. Brett is seriously obsessed with this dip and wants me to make it all the time. But since it's not really dinner-ish for your normal weeknight meal, I decided to make a quesadilla version of it which turned out pretty good! I've made it a bunch of times now and it's an easy meal to throw together when I'm having one of those busy nights. Sorry, they really didn't photograph very well, but they taste great!
























Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

ingredients

1 can of Tyson shredded white chicken
2 tbs hot sauce (I prefer Texas Pete.. and you can add more or less depending on how spicy you like things)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 carton cherry tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1 tbs cream cheese
Tortillas
Ranch dressing for dipping

Directions

Add drained can of chicken, hot sauce, and cream cheese to a pan on medium heat. Stir for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, on another medium heat pan, place tortilla and cover with cheese. Add chopped tomatoes to half of the tortilla. When chicken mixture is warm, add that to cheese and tomato side of tortilla. Then fold empty tortilla side over mixture side and flatten with spatula. When bottom is slightly brown/golden, flip carefully to other side until golden. Makes 2 quesadillas.

Chicken Gyros

I was inspired by seeing some greek food on someone's blog (probably Ellysaysopa since I'm very into her stuff lately) and I wanted something quick and easy since Brett had a softball game later in the night.
I went over to Whole Foods which is right behind my school to see if they had pre-made tzatziki sauce and low and behold, they did! So this was a simple recipe -


Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into small pieces
Oregano
Juice from 1 lemon
Olive Oil
Cherry tomatoes
Red onion sliced
Tzatziki sauce
Naan (the thick pita things)

Cut chicken into small pieces and sautee in pan on medium-high heat with some olive oil. After chicken is almost cooked, pour in juice of one lemon. Sprinkle with oregano and any other spices of your choice.
Spread sauce on pita and add chicken, onion, and tomatoes. Enjoy!

Sweet Blackberry Chicken

B and I just got back from a cruise this morning and we definitely brought back a few pounds from all of those buffets. I decided this week I would cook some lighter foods and try to be a bit healthier since both of us started working out again and are trying to get back in shape. I was inspired by this dish from Ellysaysopa's blog - although I altered it a little as I usually do to most recipes I make.
I have to say it came out pretty good. It was different and at first B wasn't sure if he liked it... but 4 pieces of chicken later I think he decided he did! I added the goat cheese because I love cheese, and I especially love cheese mixed with fruit. The sweetness of the sauce is offset by the saltiness of the cheese. If you don't like goat cheese it can definitely be left out of the recipe. I actually did not use it on my husband's chicken because he won't even try goat cheese (he is a very picky eater). But the picture shown is my piece which obviously is covered in it.

















Blackberry Chicken

Ingredients
4-6 chicken filet cutlets
dry thyme, salt, and pepper for seasoning
2 tbsp's balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp's blackberry preserves
sliced goat cheese

Directions
There are two methods - in the inspiration blog, the chef sauteed her chicken in olive oil after coating with the spices. My husband is really into grilling so in our recipe, we grilled the chicken after coating in the spices. I'm sure either way is fine!

Sauce:
In a low heat saucepan, mix the balsamic vinegar with the blackberry preserves. Do not overheat or you will burn the sauce. When chicken is done cooking, top with sauce and slices of goat cheese.

Chicken Piccata

I found a new blog to steal recipes from called Just2Good... and I already made two. The first one is this chicken piccata dish which was fairly easy. My breading didn't seem to want to stick and I used chicken tenderloins as she suggested but I think next time I would use chicken cutlets because they are thinner and usually more tender. In my constant quest to use as few ingredients as possible (yes, I'm that lazy of a cooker), I omitted the garlic/shallot ingredient and the parsley and thought it still came out very tasty, but I will leave it in the directions in case you want to use it. I also did not use any salt because I try to void salt when possible. Other than that, this was a good recipe and I loved the lemon flavor.

Chicken Piccata
Ingredients:
2 large lemons
6-8 chicken breast tenderloins
salt & pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small shallot, minced or 1 small garlic clove, minced
1 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp small capers, drained
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp minched fresh parsley leaves

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, set large heatproof plate on rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees.

Halve one lemon pole to pole. Trim ends from one half and cut crosswise into slices 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick; set aside. Juice remaining half and whole lemon to obtain 1/4 cup juice, reserve.

Sprinkle both sides of cutlets generously with salt and pepper. Measure flour into pie tin or shallow baking dish. Working with one cutlet at a timme, coat with flour, and shake to remove excess.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add 2 Tbsp of oil and swirl to coat pan. Lay half of chicken pieces in skillet (or all if you can fit them). Saute chicken without moving them, until lightly browned on the first side, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Turn cutlets and cook until second side is lightly browned, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and transfer chicken to the plate in the oven. Add remaining tablespoons oil to the now-empty skillet and heat until simmering. Add remaining chicken and repeat.

Add shallot or garlic to the empty skillet and return skillet to medium heat. Saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds for the shallot or 10 seconds for garlic. Add stock and lemon slices, increase heat to high, and scrape skillet bottom with wooden spoon or spatula to loosen browned bits. Simmer until liquid reduces to about 1/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Add lemon juice and capers and simmer until sauce reduces again to 1/3 cup, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter until it melts and thickens sauce. Add parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately

More Panko... Chicken Pasta

I told you I love Panko.. I was not kidding. This is another recipe that is similar to my 3P chicken but it is a pasta dish and also very easy. Do we notice a theme here? When I make this meal, I usually do two version - one with Alfredo sauce and one with tomato sauce because I prefer Alfredo but my husband prefers the latter. It's pretty easy to customize it with whatever sauce you like. Recently a friend came over and when I made this and he made a sauce with 1 part Alfredo, 1 part Tomato, and about a half a shot of vodka. So it's pretty open to your interpretation!













































Ingredients

1 box of Angel Hair or Thing Spaghetti Pasta
1 carton of cherry tomatoes
Appx 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
1 pkg chicken filets or boneless breasts
Alfredo sauce OR Tomato Sauce -- your preference
olive oil

Boil water in pot and cook pasta according to directions on box.

While pasta is cooking - Heat pan over medium-high heat, add a few tsps of olive oil to coat pan. Wash cherry tomatoes and put in pan, turning over frequently so all sides get heat. Cut chicken filets or breasts into small bite-sized pieces and sautee in pan, flipping over until both sides are lightly browned and chicken is cooked all the way through. Add a bit more oil to pan and pour panko breadcrumbs into pan. Using wood spoon, mix ingredients in pan and allow breadcrumbs to turn a golden color.

Drain pasta. Put pasta on plate and spoon chicken and tomato breadcrumb mixture over pasta. Pour sauce of choice over pasta.

This meal takes appx. 30 minutes from start to finish.

3P Chicken

I am really trying to add more to my food blog to help myself keep track of my recipes AND to inspire other lazy cookers like me. :) If I can do it, so can you! So I've made a few things lately but just didn't get around to blogging them until now. Here we go..........


I am obsessed with Panko breadcrumbs.. I will admit it right now. I try to use them in every dish I possibly can. They are amazing. If you haven't tried them, go to the store and get them - they are usually right next to the regular breadcrumbs. They are bigger, crunchier, and just better overall in my opinion!
So this chicken is my invention based on some chicken dishes I have had at restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and BJ's Brewery that use similar ingredients. My husband and I love this chicken dish and it is SO easy to make.
I named it 3P Chicken because it's basically Panko, Parmesan, and Pesto.

Ingredients -
Chicken cutlets
olive oil
1 egg
Appx 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
Appx 1 cup parmesan and romano shredded cheese
Alfredo Sauce
1 spoonfull of premade pesto sauce

Directions
Heat pan on medium-high burner, coat pan with olive oil.
Put chicken cutlets between to sheets of wax paper or saran wrap and pound thin. Whisk egg in shallow bowl. Mix panko and cheese in another shallow bowl or plate. Dip chicken in egg first, then coat both sides with breadcrumb cheese mixture. Put chicken in pan. Flip when bottom side is golden brown.
In a small microwaveable bowl, pour appx. 1 cup of alfredo sauce and add about a spoonfull of pesto. Mix and cover with saran wrap. Heat in microwave for about 30 seconds or until hot. Do not overheat.
When both sides of chicken are gold brown, cut into chicken to make sure there is no pink remaining. Pour sauce on chicken.

I typically serve these with a side of potatos. I love Diner's Choice refridgerated garlic mashed potatos.. it's an easy side dish and delicious. Enjoy!