chicken

2/5/18 Meal Plan Monday

Abby H.

dsc07997The next few weeks will feature a lot of meals with chicken. Vons and Albertsons had Boneless, Skinless chicken breasts on sale for .99/lb (limit 10 lbs) on Friday. Of course, I picked up 10 lbs. I then spent an hour cutting up the meat, as it was whole breasts. I prepped 10 ziploc freezer bags, some with spices or marinade. We’ve now got 10 meals worth of meat prepped! Yes, I did use the kitchen scale to make sure that each bag was as close to 1 lb. as I could get.

I’m just posting dinners for our meal plan. The kiddos lately have been having protein pancakes (I like Kodiak Cakes mix- it’s yummy and very versatile) with butter and Peanut butter. Hubs likes Oatmeal (my recipe for an easy almost instant oatmeal mix can be found here) if he’s got time, otherwise he and I have protein shakes. We mix it up, and have different flavors and mix in all kinds of stuff into our shakes, so as not to get bored. Here area few of our favorite recipes.

Lunches for Lil’ Man are usually Peanut butter and crackers, fruit, milk, a protein muffin (aka a kid cupcake), and applesauce cup. He takes his lunch every day! Hubs usually has a protein shake or I pack him leftovers or a frozen entree.

Bitty Bird and I usually have leftovers from the night before, or soup, sandwiches, quesadillas. She eats almost anything!

Monday:

  • D: Salsa Chicken- It’ll be going into the crockpot in a bit!

Tuesday:

  • D: Cheese Enchiladas, Beans & Rice

Weds:

  • D: Chef Salad

Thursday:

  • D: Chicken Divan (recipe will be posted tomorrow)

Friday:

  • D: Leftovers (I will be at the Influential Summit for the day, so I’ll pull together some leftovers when I get home)

Saturday:

  • D: I’m not sure- We’ll be out of town for an event during the day, and I don’t know when we’ll be home.

Sunday:

The menu may change, as  I pull stuff out of the pantry to rotate what we’ve got (I am trying to cut down on waste, and put the older stuff up front to get eaten first). My birthday is this weekend, so we may be using up a lot of my birthday freebies as we are in the vicinity of deals.

Buffalo Chicken Cheesy Monkey Bread

Abby H.

Sunday was the closing night of my husband’s production of To Kill A Mockingbird, and the end of a run means CAST PARTY!!

I wanted to make something that most everyone would enjoy. After watching countless Tasty Videos on Facebook and scouring our pantry and fridge, I came up with a modified version of this Cheesy Bacon Monkey bread.IMG_1833.jpg

We are currently without bacon (I know a high crime!), so I opted to modify the recipe and use Oscar Mayer Carving Board Buffalo Chicken instead. IMG_1821.jpg

Buffalo Chicken Cheesy Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

  • 2 tubes biscuit dough (10-12 biscuits per tube) rolled out
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
  • 12 slices Muenster cheese, cubed and separated
  • 1 Package Oscar Mayer Carving Board Buffalo Chicken, chopped
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1 clove garlic, minced (or use the preminced garlic in a tube)
  • 1 Tablespoon dehyrdated onion
  • black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Spray a pie plate with Pam or your favorite spray release, set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

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Mix the melted butter, garlic, onions, and pepper in a small bowl, set aside.

 

 

 

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Open the rolls of biscuit dough, separate and roll out the dough.

 

 

 

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In the middle of each biscuit, drop 1T of cheese and 1 T of the chopped meat.

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Roll and pinch the dough into a ball keeping the cheese and meat in the middle of the ball.

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Dip the ball of dough into the melted butter, and place into the pie plate. balls should touch each other.

Repeat until all of the dough has made into balls.

Pour 2-3 Tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the balls.

IMG_1832.jpgTop with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Serve hot with extra buffalo sauce and ranch dressing.

Try really hard not to eat all of the yummy little balls before serving at your party. It was really hard, those things are crazy delicious.

 

Crockpot Chicken Stock recipe!

Abby H.

Wondering what to do with the carcass of the rotisserie chicken from last nights dinner? Got in the fridge, with a little meat clinging to the bones? Here is an easy recipe that makes delish stock and a great bowl of soup!

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No rotisserie chicken? You can use your thanksgiving leftovers! Just save the bones and make sure they have SOME meat on them!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter, or olive oil, your choice
Two onions peeled and chopped
Four cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
Five stocks of celery cleaned and chopped
2 cups carrots chopped
4 bay leaves
One chicken carcass with at least 2 cups of meat still on the bone (chicken needs to be cooked, they were rotisserie chicken is perfect for this.)
10 cups of water
salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. In a large sauce pan or skillet melt butter or poor oil. Add all chopped vegetables except garlic.
  2. Sauté on low for approximately 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
  3. Once onions are translucent, add garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 10 minutes.
  4. Pork cooked veggies into slow cooker, top with chicken carcass, Bailey’s, salt and pepper, and water.
  5. Place lid on slow cooker, and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours.
  6. Turn slow cooker off, and allow to cool to room temperature.
  7. Strain solids off, using a colander or assistive. Discard the solids, leaving behind rich, fragrant, delicious, homemade chicken stock.
  8. Stock will need to be seasoned, most likely with additional salt and pepper, and any other spices you would like. I like additional spices like Rosemary, and basil.

To turn into delicious homemade chicken soup, add 1 to 2 cups additional chopped cooked chicken (or turkey) meat, any veggies you would like, and 1 cup uncooked noodles.

Cook on low to medium for 20 minutes to half hour, or until pasta is cooked to your liking. This makes approximately 8 cups of broth, and approximately 6 to 8 servings of soup.img_9953

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Bay Leaves!

Recipe: Crockpot Shredded Chicken

Abby H.1 Comment

Screen Shot 2016-09-02 at 1.51.25 PMThis is a total time saver! I do this twice a month. It really saves time when it’s time to cook dinner. And on those days when you are just going going going, it’s nice to know that you’ve got something easy and tasty waiting for you!

It’s so easy, All you need is a crockpot, a food scale, and two forks!

Ingredients:

  • 3 lbs of chicken, whatever is on sale (I used chicken breasts- bone-in with skin)
  • 1 c. broth or water
  • Seasoning to taste- I use a little dehydrated onion ( I like this one from Penzey’s), a little garlic powder, and a little pepper.

Directions:

  1. Cook in the crockpot on low 6-8 hours. Allow to cool.
  2. Shred it with a fork (removing bones and skin).
  3. Grab ziploc bags (I like the snack size ones), our Digital Kitchen Scale, and a glass bowl. I use a measuring cup to scoop the meat (and juices) into the glass bowl, but I am measuring by weight.  The measuring cup is just my scooping tool of choice.
  4. Place the glass bowl on the scale, then turn the scale on- I only want to weight the food, not the glass bowl.
  5. After I weigh the chicken (into 4 ounce portions), I pour it into a snack size ziploc bag, seal it (and squeeze out the air), and put them in the freezer.

Screen Shot 2016-09-02 at 1.55.43 PM Screen Shot 2016-09-02 at 1.55.58 PMThen when it’s time to make quesadillas, chef salad, or pretty much any time we want chicken (Hubs like to top his frozen entrees, like this one with a little bit of chicken for added protein), just grab a bag and defrost it in the microwave!

Frequently, I’ll get a larger Ziploc bag and measure out 2 cups- this is just enough for a casserole. Just defrost, mix in the other ingredients and cook!

I also like to make and portion out ground turkey cooked with black beans and fajita blend frozen veggies flavored with Taco Seasoning. It’s great on salads, quesadillas, or in chicken broth for a quick tortilla soup!

 

Easy One Pot Meal: Salsa Chicken

Abby H.3 Comments

01128This is one of the most popular recipes that I’ve ever cooked! It is a family favorite and is very popular for meal trains and freezer meal swaps!

I’m constantly tweaking and improving my recipe, so I wanted to share this recipe with you. I cook this all day in the crockpot and it makes the house smell sooooo good!

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 lbs of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (rule of thumb for this recipe 1/4 lb of meat per person, plus an extra 1/4 lb of meat for leftovers or seconds)
  • 3 cups of your favorite salsa
  • 1 bag frozen tri colored peppers and onions

Optional ingredients:

  • 1/2c. chicken broth
  • 1 cup rice or 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 1/2 C shredded cheese

Directions:

  1. In a crockpot, place the first four ingredients.
  2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  3. (If you opt to add the last two ingredients) About an hour before serving add rice or quinoa to the crockpot along with the broth and turn crockpot up to medium or high. Meal is done once grain is done to your liking.
  4. Stir before serving.
  5. Ladle into bowls.
  6. Top with cheese (optional, but tasty) and serve.

Makes 6-8 servings. Sometimes I turn leftovers into quesadillas, or add more broth and some C&W Southwest veggie blend and it transforms into a hearty soup! It’s so versatile and easy to make!