Herb Stuffed Chicken Filet

For a quick and easy dinner, this is great to have on hand!

1 chicken filet

1 tbs chopped chives

3 basil leaves chiffoned

1/2 clove garlic minced

1/4 tsp olive oil

Slice a "pocket" into your chicken filet. Mix your herbs and olive oil together. Het your pan with olive oil to medium. Stuff your filet with your herb mixture.

Once your pan is hot, place the chicken In the pan and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side.

Top with Parmesan cheese.

Serve and enjoy the fresh deliciousness!

Other Options:

For a spicy version, add some chili peppers to your herb mixture

Parmesan cheese isn't necessary, add a different cheese or none if you'd like

Love oregano? Thyme? Or any other herb? Stick it in instead! 

Spicy Shrimp Tacos

This is my version of the spicy shrimp tacos from Chilis... Not quite the same, but still REALLY DELICIOUS!

1 2/3 cup shrimp (I used 31/40 lb) defrosted, deveined, and fully peeled

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning. I use Weber's.

3 tbs sweet chili sauce

3 small tortilla shells

For the coleslaw:

2 cups thinly shredded cabbage

1/4 small onion thinly sliced

1 tbs mayonnaise 

1/4 tsp vinegar

Pinch of pepper

1.5 tsp sugar

In a bowl, put your shrimp and sprinkle your seasonings on, mix with a spoon though because the spices will stick to your hand and you'll lose a lot. Pour your sauce on and stir. Marinate for at least one hour.

While your shrimp is marinating, prepare the coleslaw. Mix all the ingredients together and let sit.

Pour your shrimp and sauce in a medium high heated pan. Cook on one side for about a minute, or until pink. Flip over and cook for another minute. 

Warm tortillas with damp towel in microwave. Add cherimoya and coleslaw to shell.

Enjoy!

Other Options/ICE:

For a spicier treat, add Franks hot sauce to your shrimp...you'll get more sauce too!

Use whatever you like for coleslaw, if you have a favorite, add that!

A slice of avocado on this would be great, too.

Hawaiian Chicken

Yum! Yum! Yum!

9 oz your favorite BBQ sauce (about half of larger bottle) I use Sweet Baby Rays

8 oz peach preserves or orange marmalade

1 tsp soy sauce

1/3 medium onion thickly sliced 

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 chicken breasts (skinned, boneless, bone-in, however you have them)

Feeds 3

In a medium pan cover the bottom of your pan with oil and heat to medium high. Pour your flour, salt, and pepper into a ziploc bag. Place your breasts in the bag and shake until fully covered. Once your oil is joy, add chicken. Cook about 3-5 minutes on each side, it doesn't have to be cooked fully, just get a nice golden brown all around.

In a medium bowl, add your barbecue sauce, onion, soy sauce, and jelly/preserve/marmalade. Stir until the soy sauce, jelly, and barbecue are blended (it doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to begin to break up the jelly and mix the soy sauce). 

When your chicken is ready, add to a crockpot or medium to large pan, whichever you prefer. Pour your sauce mixture over and cover. For a crockpot cook on high for about 1.5 hours. For a pot, cook on medium low for the same amount of time.

*sorry for not taking a lot of photos this time, completely forgot!*

If you're like me and are too busy to eat in an hour and a half, let it cook longer - no worries there!

Serve and enjoy!

Other Options/In Case of Emergency:

You can use any kind of chicken you have, thighs, breasts with skins, anything will work, you may just have to adjust the cooking.

Use peach jelly, peach preserves, orange marmalade, or apricot jelly if that's what you have!

No soy sauce? Add about 1/4 tsp salt

Add some garlic powder to the flour mixture! And some garlic to the sauce

Use whatever kind of barbecue sauce you have...even mix a few bottles if you've got a mixture of bottles with just a little in them!

Add some fresh pineapple to the sauce if you're feeling adventurous!

Chicken and Rice Soup

This is a great recipe if you're going to be home all day or work from home. Not much watching, so you can get plenty of done while it cooks! 

A crockpot works great for this, too, if you want to leave it at home.

8 cups of water, plus one later

One 6.5 lb chicken leftovers

2 carrots - chopped in half

2 celery stalks - chopped in half

1/2 medium onion 

1/4 tsp. salt 

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/3 cup rice

Unfortunately this only made 3 servings because this chicken was DESTROYED, but if there's a lot on your chicken, you should be able to get more!!mjust add a few mor cups of water. 

Pick as much of the chicken off as you'd like to be in the soup, I had about a 2/3 cup. Add your bones and anything you don't want to a large pot (including the things you stuffed it with, unless it's bread stuffing or citrus - I took the half a lemon out we used). Add your 8 cups of water, an 1/8 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of pepper, your peeled carrots, onion, and celery. Cook on medium.

After one hour add the last cup of water. 3 hours later turn down the heat to low and cook for one more hour. 

Pull out the carrots, onion, and celery (if you want - I don't like cooked celery so I just use it to add flavor) and dice - these are HOT so be careful! Use however much you like in your soup. Chop up the chicken you pulled off. 

Strain the ingredients from the pot into a bowl, to get rid of the bones, fat, etc.  Pour the liquid back into the pot, add your chopped ingredients, the rest of your salt and pepper, and your rice. Cook for about 25 minutes (until your rice is cooked). 

Serve and enjoy!!! 

Baked Chicken and Veggies

Another super easy meal because it takes one dish, a little prep time, and then leave it in the oven until it's done! 

2 chicken breasts

1 potatoe 

1 sweet potatoe

2 carrots

1 beet

1 - 2 garlic cloves, depending on size

2 tbs. olive oil

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

1 1/2 tbs. of your favorite poultry seasoning (I like Tastefully Simple's Rustic Herb blend) 

Preheat oven to 375. Peel, wash, and chunk your potatoes and place in bowl or baking dish. Peel, wash, and cut your carrots into 1/2-1 in. chunks. Peel, wash, and slice beet into 1/4 in. thick pieces. 

Place all your vegetables in a bowl or the baking dish you'll be using (go ahead and save some dishes). Drizzle with 2 tbs. of olive oil and sprinkle spices and garlic on. Mix up so that everything gets an even amount. Place in baking dish with a whole in the middle for your chicken. 

Generously cover you chicken with your favorite poultry seasoning and then place in the middle of your dish. Cook for 1 hour.

Serve and Enjoy!!!

What a great fall meal with all of these root vegetables :) and it makes the house smell yummmyyyyy

Other Options/In Case of Emergency:

You can use salt, pepper, and garlic powder of you don't have a favorite poultry seasoning. Or make up something - thyme, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, basil, crushed red pepper- any combination of those or whatever you like

Use other vegetables than what I used, too. Any root vegetables (turnips, parsnip, etc) will work.. And non-root vegetables, too.

Peach Mint Iced Tea

This is so refreshing and easy!

2 black tea bags (I used Lipton black)
6 - 7 peach slices (frozen work great!)
6 fresh mint leaves
1/2 tsp honey
water

Serves: 3

Fill a medium sauce pan with water and bring to a boil. Add your tea bags to let steep. Once that lovely dark brown, remove the tea bags, lower the heat to low, and add the rest of the ingredients.
Let simmer for about 10 minutes and remove your mint leaves (unless you like a lot of mint, then leave them in). Let simmer for another 10 minutes. Chill.

Serve over ice.

Feel free to strain if you like.

Delicious :)

BBQ Chicken Pockets

I love this recipe because it's so easy - little prep, not much to watch, and few dishes!

2 chicken fillets
1 large potato
1 small onion
2 carrots (or 8-10 baby carrots)
About 1 1/2 cups of your choice of barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Rays, but you can even use a mixture of sauces you have on hand if you'd like)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of garlic powder
2 large sheets of aluminum foil

Serves: 2

Peel, wash, a chunk your potatoes. Peel, wash, and slice your carrots into circles about 1/4 in. thick. Remove onion skin and cut into wedges (cut into eighths).

On aluminum foil, squirt some barbecue sauce (about 2 tbs., but don't get too hung up on measurements on this one - just have fun with it!) and then place half of your potato chunks and one chicken fillet.



Sprinkle on spices and add more sauce. Then add half of your onions and then half of the carrots - you want the items that will take the longest (i.e. carrots and potatoes) on the outside, towards the heat. Sprinkle some more spices and top with more sauce.


Then wrap up your pocket. Take the long edges and pull them up toward the ceiling, touch them together and then roll them down. Roll the other two ends in towards the ingredients and Viola! Pockets!

Follow the same instructions for the second one.

Place on a high heated grill. After about 10 minutes, flip pockets and lower heat to medium. In total these will take about an hour to cook - about 30 minutes after the first flip, flip again and leave heat at same temperature.

By squeezing the pockets with gloves you should be able to get a feel for if they're done by how squishy it is, if it's super squishy it's done. This can be hard to tell though, so unroll and poke the potatoes and chicken to see if they're done. Potatoes will be soft all the way through and chicken will be while all the way through.

Serve.

Yum!! Food Play On!

Other Options/In Case of Emergency:
If you don't have potatoes, you can use sweet potatoes, instead.
Don't have carrots? Swap out for another veggie (or just have fun with it and mix it up!) Use zucchini, squash, corn, or whatever you like! You can try peppers, but they tend to be a strong flavor once cooked, so beware the flavor may spread to the other food.
Use any kind of barbecue sauce - and if you really like sauce, add some more! If you don't like it that much, just be sure there is enough to cook fully. If you take out too much things will begin to stick to the foil, but no huge issues.