Romaine and Chicken Salad

We love fresh salads. My husband and I fell in love over the salads I made while we were dating. We try to have a salad at almost every meal. We also like having salads as the meal.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 heads of romaine lettuce hearts, broken up for salad
1 C blackberries, whole
1 large apple, sliced
1 medium pear, sliced
1 15-oz. can of cooked chicken breast, drained

Combine all ingredients except the chicken in your favorite salad bowl. Using a fork, break up the chicken while still in the can until it is completely shredded. Cover salad with chicken.

Serve with your favorite dressing.

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Russian Cranberry Chicken

I'm republishing this recipe because I didn't include pictures last time. We love it. It's easy. It's fast. And it's delicious.

Ingredients:

6-8 pieces of skinless chicken
1 C Russian salad dressing
1 pgk dry onion soup mix
1 can whole cranberry sauce

Place chicken in oven-safe casserole dish. Mix all other ingredients together.

Pour over chicken.

Bake for one hour at 325F degrees.

Serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

One Crazy Girl's notes: I prefer skinless thighs that have not been boned. They are amazingly juicy and taste wonderful. Also, if you would rather use breasts, they don't dry out as much if they are slightly frozen when they go in the oven.

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Russian Cranberry Chicken

Chicken Tikka Masala

A few years ago, I was part of a group at work who would bring in ingredients and start making Masala in the break room at 9:00 am so that it would be all nice and blended by lunch time. Two people were always tasked with bringing in the spices (not me), so I've been on the lookout for a good Masala for a while. If you like yourself some good Masala, give this a try. I didn't mix the Masala spices (just used the prepared Garam Masala you can get at any grocery store), but it sure tasted like what we made for lunch. Good memories. Now I just need to find me a good Garam Masala recipe so I can make that up myself.

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken tenders
salt
ground coriander
cumin
1/2 C plain yogurt
6 Tbs butter
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 2" piece fresh ginger root, pealed and finely grated
3 Tbs Garam Masala
28 oz. canned diced tomatoes
1 Tbs sugar
1-1/2 C heavy cream
2 C Basmati or Jasmine rice
1 Tbs ground turmeric
4 C water
1 C frozen peas

Line a baking sheet with foil and place a large, oven-safe cooling rack in it that will hold all of the chicken. Season the chicken with some salt. Sprinkle on all sides with coriander and cumin. Coat the chicken completely with the yogurt. Place chicken on the cooling rack.

Place under the oven broiler on high about 10-12 inched below the heating element. Broil for 5-7 minutes per side. Watch carefully so the chicken doesn't completely char. Some blackening on the edges is normal. Chop chicken into chunks.

In a large skillet, melt 2 Tbs of the butter over medium-high heat. Toss in the onions and sauté until they are slightly browned. Add garlic, ginger, and 1 Tbs salt to the onions. Next, add the Garam Masala and tomatoes. Continue cooking and stirring, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it.

Add sugar. Let mixture simmer on medium for about 5 minutes.

In a medium sauce pan, mix rice, 4 Tbs butter, 1 tsp salt, turmeric, and water. Cook as you normally cook rice. You can also use a rice cooker.

After the sauce has simmered for 5 minutes, add the heavy cream and chicken. Stir until the chicken is thoroughly coated with the sauce. Continue simmering while the rice cooks.

Once the rice is cooked, remove it from the heating element and add frozen peas. Cover again. The steam from the rice will cook the peas.

Serve the chicken and sauce over the rice.

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Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken

From the kitchen of Carol Berlin

This is a quick, easy, delicious crock pot chicken recipe that is sure to please your family. And I'd like to thank my sister, Carol, for introducing me to it. Thanks!

Ingredients:
8 chicken breasts or 10 thighs and legs chicken pieces
Lemon pepper
Your favorite barbecue sauce

Cover the bottom of your crock pot with a layer of chicken. Sprinkle liberally with lemon pepper.

Cover with barbecue sauce.

Repeat until crock pot is full, but not too full.

Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

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Parmesan & Tomato Chicken

This year, we had a bumper tomato crop. I'm not complaining. I love fresh tomatoes for cooking and just eating. So we've had bowls of tomatoes sitting on the kitchen counters for a week, making me feel guilty about not thinking of something to make with them. Until last night.

Ingredients:
1 lb uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast strips
5-6 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 C shredded Parmesan cheese (the good stuff)
1/4 C butter
3 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbs dried, minced onions
4 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Your favorite pasta, cooked

In a large skillet, saute garlic in oil. Add chicken, onions, and tomatoes. Add seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add butter and cook on medium heat until chicken is done. Sprinkle in cheese and stir until melted.

Serve over your favorite pasta.

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Chicken Velvet Soup

This soup is so creamy. I'm really happy to finally be blogging one of my favorite things in the world to make. This soup is relatively easy, and you can whip it up in a relatively short amount of time. Yes, everything about this soup is relative. I even got the recipe from a relative: my brother, Terry. Thanks, Terry! He makes it better than I do, but this isn't his blog.

Prep time is 15-20 minutes, once you have the stock prepared and the chicken ready. Though I sometimes use canned chicken, this is especially tasty with grilled chicken.

Ingredients:
1/3 C butter
3/4 C flour
6 C chicken stock (can use bouillon)
2 C cream (or milk/cream combination of your choice)
1-1/2 C chicken, cooked and diced or shredded
1/2 tsp salt
white pepper

Melt butter.

Add flour. Stir until blended.

Add 2 C hot stock and cream. Cook slowly until thick, stirring continuously.

Add remaining stock and chicken.

Season with salt and pepper.

Serves about 6.

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Chicken Enchiladas

From the kitchen of Carol Berlin

Whether you call them chicken enchiladas or enchilada casserole, this seems to be a favorite of many people. My husband has been asking me to make this dish for a while, and I finally had the ingredients to do it.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breast
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pt sour cream
3-1/2 C shredded cheddar or Monterery Jack cheese
12 tortilla shells, flour or corn
1/2 C onion, chopped

Grill chicken. Shred or dice.

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease large baking dish.

Set some cheese aside for top. Mix chicken, soup, sour cream, cheese, and onions in large bowl.

Heat tortillas until flexible. Place 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of mix in each tortilla. Roll filled tortillas and place in baking dish.

Pour remaining mix over tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Top with sour cream and fresh salsa.

Variations:

• Cooked broccoli
• Green onions

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Tuna Casserole, minus the Tuna

From the kitchen of Pati Osterstock

Don't get me wrong; I love a really good tuna casserole. And this recipe, made with tuna, is a really good tuna casserole. But it is also an AMAZING chicken casserole. I realize that one problem some might have with this recipe is that I don't use a lot of actual amounts. It's really just some of this, and enough of that.

Ingredients:
Egg noodles
2-12.5 oz cans cooked chicken
1 12 oz. pkg of frozen peas
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
A little milk
Shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cook and drain the noodles. Put in oven-safe casserole dish.

In a bowl, combine chicken, soups, milk, and peas.

Pour over noodles. Mix thoroughly.

Cover with cheese.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

We like it sprinkled with lemon pepper.

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Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots

I've been experimenting with different herbs and spices, and I'm now ready to declare my favorite method of roasting chicken in a covered roaster.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

6 potatoes, cut

6 carrots, cut

6-8 cloves of garlic

3-4 Tbl crushed rosemary

1-2 Tbl fresh thyme

1/4 C lemon juice

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375F.

Remove the giblets and neck from inside the chicken and rinse the chicken inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towel.

Mince or crush 3 cloves of garlic. In a small bowl, combine minced garlic, thyme, 2 Tbl rosemary, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Pour mixture into the chicken cavity. I didn't have string to truss up the chicken, but you can do that if you want. Put chicken breast side down in your roasting pan. This makes the chicken breast amazingly moist and tender.

Peel the remaining garlic gloves and cut them in half (if large enough). Carefully cut slits in the loose parts of the skin, and put the remaining garlic under the skin.

Cover the chicken with the potatoes and carrots. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary and more salt and pepper (if desired).

Cover and bake for 1-1/2 hours. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before carving. There should be enough juice to make a very tasty gravy.

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Chicken Salad

We love good chicken salad. And this is good chicken salad.

Ingredients:

1 12.5 oz can of cooked chicken breast

2 apples, cut up

2 large pears, cut up

2 C black grapes, halved

1 large medium onion, chopped

6 almonds, chopped

1 C mayonaisse

2 Tbs brown (deli) mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix mayo and mustard to make dressing. Add salt and pepper to the mix. Set aside.

 

Cut up fruit and onion and put in bowl.

Drain chicken and separate with a fork. Add to fruit and onion.

Pour dressing over fruit and chicken mixture. Mix well. 

Shell and chop almonds.

Add almonds to salad.

If needed, add more salt and pepper to taste.

Chill. Serve on bread or with crackers. However you like chicken salad.

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