Buffalo Chicken in the Crock

What You'll Need:

• 4-5 Chicken Breasts
• 1 Package Dry Ranch Mix
• 3/4 - 1 Jar Buffalo Wing Sauce

What You Do:

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. 

I served this as an open-faced sandwich, topped with whatever fixings you like... tomato, lettuce, pickles, red onions... I went with just cheese for mine.  After a few bites, I decided that it needed something more, so I added pickles.  It added that extra crunch I was looking for.

The second time around, I thought it might be interesting to mix it up and serve on top of a baked potato.  I actually think I liked it better this way! 

Spicy Chicken Strips

What You'll Need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons Chipotle Tabasco sauce
• 1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

What You Do:

Preaheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Combine milk and Tabasco sauce in a bowl.  Add chicken and let sit for 30 minutes.

Combine bread crumbs and dry seasonings in a bowl.  Bread chicken and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. 

Bake chicken for 30-45 minutes, or until browned and crispy.

Drowned Chicken Roll Ups

A co-worker of mine has been making all sorts of stuff with crescent rolls recently and I thought I'd jump on the band wagon.  This wasn't my favorite meal of all time, but the Hubby gave it a B, said it was man-pleasing food.  Of course what isn't man-pleasing when it's smothered in gravy?

What You'll Need
Approx. 2 cups of Chopped Cooked Chicken
1/2 block of Cream Cheese
1/2 cup of Sour Cream
4 tablespoons of Butter, plus 2 more for coating or an egg
1/2 Chopped Onion
1/4 Chopped Green Pepper
2 cans Crescent Rolls
2/3 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
Gravy (I prefer white, but you may use whatever you wish)

What You Do
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cook chicken however you prefer - grill, bake, etc.
Combine cream cheese, sour cream, butter, onions and green peppers until smooth.
Add cooked chicken.
Seperate crescent rolls.  I did individual rolls as well as leaving 2 triangles together to make more of a pouch than a roll.  Either is fine.
Melt the remaining butter (or beat egg).
Place bread crumbs in a seperate bowl.
Roll the chicken pouches in the butter and then in the crumbs.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, prepare gravy.
Smother the chicken roll ups with gravy when served.

*For this batch I threw the raw onions and peppers in with the cream cheese mixture.  They were still slightly crunchy when done baking.  If you don't like the crunch, then saute first.  I will saute first next time I make it.

Smothered Ranch Chicken and Taters

I'm hungry. 

I had a an apple for breakfast and it just didn't satisfy me for long.  So I'm waiting for the clock to keep turning so I can go meet a wonderful friend for lunch.  Josh doesn't ever read my blog, actually I doubt he even knows that I have one.  So I can say all sorts of terrible things about him and he'd never even know, but I won't. 

This time.

Instead, since I'm so hungry I'll share a recipe that I made not long ago.  It wasn't the prettiest food on the plate, but my oh my it was yummy.  Classic feel good comfort food.  I called it Smothered Ranch Chicken and Taters, you can call it whatever you wish.

You'll need:

4 chicken breasts
6 tablespoons spicy ranch dressing
1 medium onion
1 small can of mushrooms
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons butter
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Splash of beer
4 large potatoes
4 slices of bacon
½ a bag of Monterey jack cheese
Salt, pepper and seasoning salt
EVOO

It's really quite easy to make, a little time consuming, but easy.  Just follow these steps:

Marinate chicken in dressing for a few hours, the longer the better.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Sauté chopped onion, garlic and mushrooms in butter over low heat. Add a few dashes of Worcestershire and seasoning salt and a splash or two of beer.
While mushrooms are sautéing, chop potatoes. Place in dish and microwave for 4-5 minutes.
Pour a little EVOO over potatoes, salt and pepper and toss to coat.
Sauté chicken on each side for 1 to 2 minutes, do not cook through, just enough to brown up.
Place the chicken on top of the potatoes.
Drizzle spicy ranch dressing on top of chicken and potatoes.
Smother chicken with mushroom topping.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for another 20 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, fry up the bacon.
Add bacon and bake for another 5 minutes.

**I would normally use fresh mushrooms but didn’t have any on hand; canned work just fine, but I would recommend fresh.

**Chopped scallions would be a good garnish as well, but I didn’t have any. Try it! 

And now I'm even hungrier than I was before I wrote this.

Oh Yum. White Chicken Chili

Hello, my name is Becky and I’m addicted to food.

There, I’ve said it. I’m in love with food. All kinds of it. I love eating it but even more, I love cooking it. I look forward to trying new recipes and better yet, making up my own.

So I thought from time to time maybe I could share a few with you. Here is one that I made last weekend for family and it was a hit!


White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
Salt and pepper
1 medium yellow or white onion
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 cup of mild or hot (depending on your taste buds) tomatillo salsa
4 cups chicken stock
1 can (15 oz) Great Northern white beans
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
Juice of one lime
Shredded Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack cheese
1 bag uncooked instant white rice
A few shakes of Chipotle Tabasco Sauce

Directions:
Heat medium soup pot over medium-high heat with the vegetable oil.
Add the chicken to the hot oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.Cook 2 or 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, cumin and coriander and cook for 3 or 4 minutes.
Continue to stir.
Add the tomatillo salsa, Tabasco sauce and the chicken stock.
Bring the chili up to a simmer and add the beans.
Simmer the chili for 20 minutes, add uncooked rice and simmer for another 20 minutes, this will thicken up the chili.**
Remove from heat and add the cilantro and lime juice.
Serve with shredded cheese on top.

**If you don’t like rice, you can add one more can of white beans to thicken up the chili. With a fork, thoroughly mash the second can of beans and add to the pot. I personally prefer the rice, but you do as you wish!