Plan Ahead Meals- Chicken 3 Ways

This weekend I decided to try planning ahead a little and make chicken 3 ways. Here's what I did. Cooked 7-8 chicken breasts in the crock pot covered in canned enchilada sauce and a little cumin, and a can of chopped green chiles. Cooked on low for 5- 6 hours and  when it was done I shredded the meat and used some of it for chicken tacos/burritos for that night's dinner. With the remainder I made a Tortilla chicken casserole and a Brunswick stew.

Tortilla Chicken Casserole
This can be made ahead.  Serve with sour cream, salsa, guacamole or fresh avocado diced.  


3 T. veg. oil
1 c. minced bell pepper(red or green) whatever you have
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
2 T. minced garlic
1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 t. cumin
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 c. sour cream(or you could use the garlic flavored Philadelphia cooking creme)
5 c. cooked chicken
12 corn tortillas
3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese




Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot and then add the bell pepper, onion,garlic and salt. Cook 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Stir in the cumin and cook for 1 minute.  Add the flour and cook for 3 minutes.  Then add the broth and sour cream and simmer for 5 minutes stirring often.  Add chicken, and stir to blend. 


Soften the tortillas in the microwave by layering them between damp paper towels and heat in batches for 30 seconds.  


Arrange 4 tortillas in a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish.  Top with 1/3 of the chicken mixture and sprinkle with 1 c. cheese.   Cover with 4 more tortillas.  Repeat the layers with another 1/3 of chicken and 1 cup of cheese.  Add the last 4 tortillas, chicken mixture and cheese.  Can cover with foil and refrigerate for up to 2 days at this point.  


Bake uncovered at 350 for 35-45 minutes until it is bubbling and slightly browned.  If you did not refrigerate it and are baking right after assembling it will not take as long to cook, and I would check it after about 25 minutes.  


You can also freeze this casserole.  Follow the directions but freeze after preparing it.  When ready to cook, bake the foil covered  frozen casserole at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.  I remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking.  






Brunswick Stew

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds ground pork(or can use Kielbasa type sausage cut into bite size pieces, or leftover BBQ)
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 (3 pound) whole cooked chicken, deboned and shredded
• 3 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with liquid
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup hickory flavored barbeque sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• hot sauce to taste (optional)
• 1 green bell pepper diced
• 2(14.75 ounce) cans cream style corn
• 1 can of lima beans

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and saute the onions and celery until soft. Mix in the pork and beef, and cook until evenly browned. Do not drain.
2. Transfer the pork and beef mixture to a large stock pot over low heat.  Could also add it to the crock pot at this point. Stir in the shredded chicken, tomatoes and their liquid, ketchup, and barbeque sauce. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Place the green pepper into the mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 hours, or until thickened.
3. Stir the cream style corn into the stew mixture. Continue cooking 1 hour, or to desired consistency. 
4. If you decide to use the crock pot I just cook it on low all day.  I usually assemble the night before and then plug it in the next day.

Pork Tenderloin

Here is my best pork tenderloin recipe.  I would love to hear some of yours!
1 pork tenderloin
3/4 stick butter
salt and pepper
3/4 jar apricot preserves
I packet Mushroom Gravy mix(sometimes called Hunter's sauce)

Salt and pepper the pork, melt 1/2 stick  butter in a frying pan and brown each loin on all sides for about 2 minutes per side.  Preheat oven to 350 and take loins out of frying pan and put into a 9x13 pan.  In the frying pan, add the 3/4 jar of apricot preserves and the rest of the butter, stir and heat over medium low heat until smooth.  While heating the preserves, prepare the mushroom gravy in a saucepan according to the packet directions.   When done, pour the preserves and the mushroom gravy over the tenderloins and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, baste once halfway through.  Let stand 10 minutes in pan, then slice and serve.  You have to make something to eat with the gravy, because it is the best part of the dish.  The tenderloins are wonderfully moist!

Pork Tenderloin

Buffalo Chicken With Blue Cheese 

( can make in crock pot or oven)

4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 Bottle Buffalo Sauce-save a little for a drizzle or dipping at the end of cooking(I use Moore's Buffalo Wing Sauce)
Blue Cheese crumbles
Ranch dressing

For the crock pot-spray crock pot with pam and place the chicken breasts in and cover with almost the whole bottle of the sauce. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high for 4-6. When the breasts have finished cooking, place on a tinfoil lined cookie sheet and add a drizzle of ranch dressing to each breast and then sprinkle with the desired amount of blue cheese and put under the broiler for a minute or two or until the cheese melts. I like to serve this with celery sticks and some starch and a salad. 
Oven-You can also cook this in the oven- marinate and defrost the breasts in a ziploc bag with the buffalo sauce all day, put each breast on a foil lined sprayed cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Add the blue cheese crumbles and put under the broiler for a minute or two or until cheese melts. Before serving add a drizzle of ranch dressing to each breast.

5 Ingredients or Less Dinner- Sausage and Saffron Rice

I Came up with this recipe over the summer when I was trying to use some Mahatma rice packets that I bought at the grocery store that I did not know what to do with. It has turned into a family favorite, even approved by my pickiest eater!! Gotta love a recipe with 5 ingredients or less!! Hope you like it. Let me know. 

The ingredients

Sausage and Saffron Rice

                                                

Sausage and Saffron Rice

Olive oil for the bottom of pan
1/2 onion diced
1 lb. Kielbasa sausage cut into bite size pieces
1 10 oz. package of Mahatma Yellow Saffron Rice( or 2 of the smaller packs)
1 can of black beans rinsed and drained

Put the oil in a frying pan and heat the onions over medium heat until clear, then add the sausage and lightly brown. Turn the heat off and in a separate saucepan cook the rice according to the directions on the package omitting the butter. Bring the rice and water to a boil and cover over low heat for 15 minutes. Then add the black beans and the onions and sausage and mix with the rice and cover and let cook an additional 5-10 minutes.

This makes 5-6 dinner size portions. I served with a salad.

I am definitely going to share some more pumpkin recipes and want to get some of your favorites as well. But in the meantime I thought I would share with you the Chicken Curry we had for dinner last night since it was so well received by all the family(even my son the picky eater) and really easy to make.   I am always looking for good crock pot recipes and I think this one is a keeper.

Crock Pot Chicken Curry 

1 bottle prepared curry sauce(I used Trader Joe's Thai Yellow curry Sauce 11 0z) but any kind would work
Chicken-( I used leg pieces because that was what I had in the freezer, but breasts would probably work better because then you could shred it at the end)
1 can of  diced pineapple with the juices not drained-the size does not matter, use what you have. I used a large can
1/2 cup white wine 
Diced celery and onions


Add all to  the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours or increase it to high if you are pushed for time.  I started mine on high for 4 hours and then turned it to low for the last 4.  If you used the breasts shred it after cooking and mix back in with the sauce and serve over Jasmine rice with  chopped peanuts, shredded coconut, and chopped parsley for garnishes.  If I had some raisins I probably would have boiled them in a little white wine and served with it as well.  I hope you like it as much as our family did!

Chicken Curry

Curry condiments