Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich…

One of my favorite nights of the week is leftovers/feed yourself. There are two reasons I like this night, A. I don’t have to cook and plan a meal and B. this gives the kids a chance to be creative.

Usually though on feed yourself nights there are two givens. 1. The daughter will make a baked potato topped with Ranch Style Beans. 2. Someone always make something better than what you have… usually me. I don’t know how many times, I have given up a creation to one of the kids (usually my daughter!)

This sandwich is a gooey, spicy combination that has become a favorite in our house. You can try any combination of cheese you prefer. We like the cool creaminess of the American cheese in contrast to the hot sauce. For those who like tangy bite of Blue Cheese, try mixing it with the American cheese.

When I make buffalo chicken sauce, I use two sticks of butter or margarine (1 cup) to one bottle of Franks Red Hot Sauce. Melt the butter in a pan then add the Frank’s Red Hot, stir on low heat until they are combined. Remove from heat, set aside until cool. You can store in the fridge for a week, before spoiling.

To make two sandwiches you will need the following ingredients:

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Southwestern Chicken & Bean Salad

This recipe is simple and healthy dish you can eat either as a side dish, salad, or as a meal. I like it with chicken, but feel free to use turkey breast if you prefer.

Ingredients:

1 can red kidney beans

1 can corn

1 small carrot, chopped

1 small red pepper, chopped

½ cup celery, chopped

2 green onions, chopped

1 cup cooked chicken breast, chopped

Dressing:

1 teaspoon dried parsley

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Hot sauce to taste

Directions:

 In serving bowl, gently toss salad ingredients together.

 In separate small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Pour over salad and toss gently to combine.

 Chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour, occasionally stirring lightly.

Chipotle-Cinnamon Chicken

My brother-in-law and his family came over for dinner last night. It was the first time since Easter we have shared a meal. With my husband working out of town during the week and my sister-in-law working strange, shift hours we do not get much time with each other. 

When I did the marketing the day before, I bought a seven and half pound whole frying chicken. It was actually bigger and cheaper than buying a roasting chicken.

What is the difference between a roaster and fryer? Not much, a fryer is younger and weights less. Most frying chickens are 7 to 13 weeks old. A roasting chicken is 3 to 5 months old, and given the time to pack on more weight. In chicken terms, I would be a roaster. *smile*

Last night, I roasted my frying chicken. I used a combination of several recipes to make chipotle-cinnamon chicken rub. It turned out to be one the best-roasted chickens I have cooked in a long time.

 I use a stand up roaster and cooked the bird for twenty minutes a pound at 400°F. Make sure you use a meat thermometer and the temperature of the breast meat is at least 160°F. I rubbed garlic, olive oil on the chicken before coating it with seasonings. The chicken turned out a little sweet with a little bite of spice as an after taste.

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 Tablespoons dried parsley

¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper, or half a Knoor brand mini chipotle cube
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon garlic powder

Cindy’s Crock-Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Cindy posted this recipe on Face Book, and it is truly as simple as opening cans. Some of the best recipes are mixing canned goods together. These are quick, super simple and tasty to make recipes that can be thrown into a crock-pot while you are flying out the door to work. When you return not only dinner is ready, but clean up will be quick as well.

Here is the recipe as I got it. It is a true, "I make it so much, I just use eyeball it" recipe.

Chicken breast
cream of chicken soup (big family can)
readymade biscuits (like Pillsbury)
celery
carrots
peas
chicken broth

In a crock pot mix the box of chicken broth with the large can of cream of chicken soup. Season. Put in chicken breasts. Cook on low until chicken is really tender. About an hour or so before you are ready to eat put in vegetables and take biscuits and pinch off small amounts and put in crock pot. Put as many in as you like. Sometimes I cut them in small squares, but I am usually rushing so there is not time for that.

When I made the recipe, I did not have a large family can of soup or chicken broth. I do believe I achieved a close knock off. I do have one suggestion, if you can find the heart healthy or low salt versions of the soup use them. If not, add a raw potato to the pot when you add the biscuits. Using canned soup and vegetables can be a bit salty for those on a restriction diet.

4 frozen chicken breasts

1 10 3/4 ounce can Campbell’s Cream of Celery soup

1 10 3/4 ounce can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup

2 10 3/4 ounce can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken with herbs soup

Pillsbury flaky home-style Grand’s Biscuits

½ cup minced onions

½ cup of peas and carrots (frozen or drained can)

4 cups of water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

Paprika

Directions:

Place bouillon cubes and water in glass measuring cup, in microwave heat to a boil

 Place frozen chicken breast, soups and chicken bouillon in Crock-pot, cook on low for 6 to 8 hours

Remove chicken from broth and shred, return to pot with peas, carrots and minced onion

Cut raw biscuits into small pieces, I cut mine into 8 small pieces, as if I was slicing a pizza

Add cut up biscuits to pot and sprinkle with paprika lightly over the entire top.

Cook for one hour.

Low Fat, Hungarian Chicken, with Cheddar Buttered Pan Biscuits

If you have read my profile, you would've read about my mother winning the Pillsbury bake off contest. Both my mother and my aunt competed in cooking contests. Even though I don't think personally I'm a good cook, I come by it honestly.
 The recipe today is Hungarian chicken. My aunt, took second place in the West Virginia state competition with this recipe in 1974. In order to reach the state level competition, she had to win three preliminary cooking competitions. The winner of the state competition was awarded $100, and an all expense paid trip to the national poultry cook-off in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
 One of the judges at the state competition, was the chef at the governor's house of West Virginia. After this competition was over, he approached my aunt, and asked if he could have a copy of the recipe. The judge enjoyed this recipe so much, he wanted to cook it for Governor, Arch A. Moore, Jr. Of course, my aunt could not refuse this request! A while after the competition was over she received a letter from Gov. Moore, expressing how much he enjoyed her Hungarian chicken recipe.
My husband loved this recipe. When he finished eating, he immediately called my aunt. I did screw this recipe up, when I made it. I did not reduce the liquid enough, even though I thought I had. If this happens to you don’t stress, it is fixable!
Pour half cup of liquid from pan into a bowl; add two heaping serving teaspoons of cornstarch to the bowl. Mix until smooth, return liquid to your pot and bring to a boil. This will thicken up the liquid; serve as suggested.
I did not have any egg noodles. I served ours, over half cup portions of steamed white rice. I also had made cheddar buttered pan biscuits.  These were great for soaking up any liquid/gravy on your plate.

The original recipe goes as follows:
1 chicken fryer cut into four to six pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups Mazola oil
6 cups chicken bouillon or chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons Ac-cent
1 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste


This is how I made this recipe:
5 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 medium onion chopped
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
6 cups water, boiled with three Chicken bouillon cubes, disolved
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup Daisy sour cream, a nonfat
Salt, black pepper to taste.
*I did not use Ac-cent because it is MSG, there is enough MSG in the bouillon cubes*
Directions:
Sauté onion and garlic in oil in a large skillet. Salt-and-pepper chicken; brown in skillet. Add bay leaves and bouillon water; cover tightly and simmer for one hour. Remove chicken, be sure to keep it warm. Cook liquid down to half the amount; stir in sour cream. Serve over cooked noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.
*Recipe suggestion: Try replacing the chicken with turkey or pork chops*

Cheddar Buttered Pan Biscuits
These are a quick and simple, addition you can make to most meals. You can change the variety of cheese depending on the type of dish you are serving. If you are going to serve enchilada lasagna, you might consider using a pepper Jack cheese. If you're going to you serve a tomato Italian-based meal, consider using Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons grated Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon white sugar
3 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon basil leaves, fresh preferred
1 tablespoon parsley, fresh preferred
1 cup milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F. In 9 in. glass-baking pan melt butter in oven.
Meanwhile in medium bowl combine all ingredients except the milk.
Slowly add milk until just moist, turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead 10 times or until smooth.
Roll dough into a 12 x 4" rectangle. Cut into 12 one-inch strips.
Remove pan from oven and roll each strip into the melted butter. Place in same pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 min. or until lightly browned.

Crock-pot Sweet and Spicy Chicken

I have to be honest; I do not remember who gave me this recipe. I am sorry, I cannot give the credit it is due. I have added to this recipe, to make a satisfying one-pot meal. With all my chicken in the crock-pot recipes, I add the meat in frozen. It is a crock-pot and most of us will throw everything in the pot while running out the door for work.

This is a great for wrangling a Chinese food craving. I served this in a bowl with each person getting a half-cup of steamed white rice and one cup of chicken mixture. The recipe states it serves six, I was able to get five servings with my measurements.

Ingredients:

6 small boneless skinless chicken breast

1 cup chicken broth

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (can reduce, if you do not like spicy food)

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ packed brown sugar

1 cup low sodium soy sauce

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ cup cornstarch

½ cup water

1 bag frozen stir fry vegetables (style your choice, I used frozen sugar pea pods)

Directions:

Place chicken in crock-pot, sprinkle with pepper.

Mix all ingredients, except the last three. Pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours or 3-4 hours on high.

Remove chicken

Mix cornstarch and water together and add to sauce mixture, add frozen vegetables. Cook on high until sauce is thickened. Shred chicken and return to pot and mix well.

Serve over steamed rice.

Pot Roast Soup

 Have you ever noticed that pot roast and roast chicken are exactly perfect bases for soup? Think about a pot roast: meat, potatoes, carrots, onion and celery.

I make my pot roast in the crock-pot and it turns out perfect every time. If I cook pot roast in the oven well, I get boot leather. So what do you with boot leather? Make soup!

As I stated above, I make my pot roast in the crock-pot. It is simple, quick and the meat can go in frozen. I usually get a roast big enough to make a few meals out of. The kids and I don’t really care to eat roast as leftovers. So why get a big piece of meat? I will slice it for fajitas, enchiladas, smother it in barbeque sauce or make soup.

Pot Roast Soup:
If you know you are going to make soup with your leftovers, return everything to your crock-pot and place in the refrigerator. The next day, I will lift out the solid fat crust and discard. Remove the vegetables and roast, leaving a gelatin broth with onions and celery in your pot.

Chop your vegetables into bite size pieces, adding more carrots and potatoes as necessary. Slice the roast into bite size pieces, remove all fat. Return meat and vegetables to pot, add a bay leave, two cups of beef broth or 2 cups of water and two bouillon cubes. Cook on low heat for 6 hours.

Chicken Soup:

Fifteen years ago, I watched Emeril Lagasse make his chicken noodle soup. After he striped a roast chicken carcass of meat, Emeril took the entire carcass and placed in a soup pot. Emeril made soup with the bones and skin, stating it gave the broth wonderful flavor. It did! 

I made chicken soup that way a few times, but this is not exactly smart. Since Emeril did not remove the skin and bones when he served the soup, it is not exactly child friendly. The young ones do not understand the concept of don’t swallow the bones. I had to come up with a new way to make chicken noodle soup where you get flavor, but not the bones.

I usually find the largest roasting chicken I can find (between 7 to 9 pounds), so we only eat half the bird. I follow the same rules for the pot roast soup with a few exceptions. Do not remove the fat; pull the meat from the bone and chop into bite size pieces. If you do this right between the breast, leg and thigh there should be plenty for soup. (Pickoff the back and remaining rib meat from the bones and save for Chicken Potpie.) Chop carrots, onion, celery, and place in pot with chicken. I also will add frozen peas and corn… about ¼ to ½ cup of each. Add pepper and garlic to taste. If need be, add fat free, low sodium chicken broth and cook on low four to five hours. Add in approximately 2 cups of dry yoke free, egg noodles an hour before consuming.

Time saving and last minute meal fixes to eat within an hour or two:
Crock-pot:
 Turn the crock-pot on high, place raw vegetables in an 8-cup Pyrex measuring bowl with four cups of water and bouillon cube. Cook on high in your microwave for ten to fifteen minutes. Pour into crock-pot add noodles.

Stove top method:
Place two boneless skinless chicken breast cubed, chopped vegetables, chicken broth, and seasonings in stew pot and bring to a boil for five minutes then reduce to a simmer. 15 minutes before serving add in noodles.

Cleaning tip for the day: To clean you grill and oven racks and grates. On a warm day, place racks and grates in a black trash bag, pour in a bottle of ammonia, tie shut and set outside flat in the sun for three hours. Flip after three hours for another two hours.(You might have to move the bag to keep it in the sun.) Remove grates from bag and wash them off with soap and water. Most of all the stuck and burnt chard should just wipe off.

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Crock-pot Chicken Fajitas

I have been making this recipe for close to thirteen years. When I came up with the idea for this recipe “it was let me throw all of these ingredients into the bowl and see what comes out.” This is quick, versatile, simple, tasty, and most off all inexpensive to make

Ingredients:

1 can of Rotel (heat and style is up to you)

2 cans of Black Beans, undrained (we like Ranch Style Brand)

Onion, small and chopped

2 boneless skinless frozen Chicken Breasts

1 clove Garlic, minced

Cumin, ground to taste

1 bunch of Cilantro

Place chicken in bottom of pot.  My family does not care for cilantro chopped up in their food so I lay the entire bunch on top of the chicken. Pour black beans, onion, garlic and Rotel over chicken, lightly dust with cumin. Cover cook on low for 6-8 hours.

When done gently push back beans and Rotel, lift out and discard cilantro. Carefully lift out the chicken, which will be very tender, slice or shred into preferred size.

Serve a variety of ways: over rice, tortilla chips or in tortillas (wheat, flour or corn.) I will usually serve with spanish rice, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, and sliced avocado in tortillas

Serves 4 people

So you have roasted a whole chicken for dinner, what do you with the leftovers?

We all have a million and one recipes for chicken, it is so adaptable. When I roast a whole chicken, I pick every tinny tiny bit of meat off the bone I can. I might seem time consuming but between the wings, back, and those bits of the breastbones, you can gather almost a cup of meat. Why throw away enough food for another meal? Why throw away money?

You have played vulture and stripped the meat from the bones, now what? You can always use it in a salad, but have you thought about making a warm, fork licking, savory potpie? Now do not cringe and say "no, too much work" or "I don’t have time to make a potpie!" Ah but you do, and I promise it is easy to make. You can make it when you get home from work today if you have the ingredients.

I never made a potpie before because:

A.      I thought it was difficult and it intimidated me.

B.      I cannot make a beautiful piecrust to save my life. I keep trying, but it just is not blue ribbon, fair pretty.

C.      Always went to the store and bought frozen ones, not any more!

One day last winter, I sat and looked at recipes for Chicken Potpie. I then printed out my four favorite recipes, combined what I liked best about each to make one recipe.

Next came the piecrust. I can make a crust scratch, and do not even mind doing it. But what about when I am short on time or do not want to tackle making a piecrust? No problem, I cheat and go buy the dough already made. Mine still is not pretty, but I will only improve with practice.

My family loves this recipe and usually gorge themselves to the point there are no leftovers... pitty

Chicken potpie

Ingredients:

1 double piecrust dough for 9 inch pie (I used a Food Lion Brand)

1 cup boneless skinless chicken (you can use a breast, cut into small bite size pieces)

1 cup sliced carrots

1 small potato, peeled and cubed into bite size pieces

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup of butter (yes-real butter, unsalted would be best)

1/3 cup of all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon of salt*

2 teaspoon of pepper*

1 teaspoon of garlic* or one fresh minced clove

* I usually just eyeball and go by shakes of container, but those should be good estimates

2/3 cup of milk (1%)

2  chicken bouillon cubes (I use Knorr)

1 3/4 water drained from vegetables

1 can of Campbell’s cream of chicken soup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In saucepan, combine carrots, peas, potato, celery, salt, garlic and 1 teaspoon of pepper. (If using uncooked chicken add to pot) Add enough water to cover vegetables, add bouillon boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In skillet over medium heat, melt butter and cook onions until soft and translucent.

 Drain off 1 ¾ cup of broth from the vegetables and reserve. Drain any remaining liquid from vegetables and set aside.

To your skillet, stir in flour and pepper then slowly stir in milk, cream of chicken soup then the reserved broth until well-blended making thick gravy.

Place bottom piecrust in pie plate; add chicken and vegetables making sure bottom is well covered. Pour hot liquid over mixture. (Depending on your pie plate you might have extra vegetables and gravy mixture. Reserve them, and pour over a baked potato the next day for a hearty lunch!)

 Place top crust over mixture, seal edges, and trim any excess. Make several slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Wrap edges of pie with foil to prevent burning.

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.