Spicy Bacon Chicken Bowtie Pasta

Remember the Amazing Spicy Chicken Farfelle? It is amazing...but loaded with butter and cream. My main complaint was that I never have cream on hand. Then I decided to "lighten" it up a bit, so here goes!

Spicy Bacon Chicken Bowtie Pasta

Ingredients:
12 oz Farfalle Pasta
1 c. skim milk
3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) (still frozen is fine)
2-3 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Pepper
1/4 c. butter
1/2 lb bacon, crumpled*
1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese (not grated)
12 ounce Lawry's Lime Mesquite Marinade

*I found already cooked and crumbled bacon at the grocery store that worked perfect!

Directions:

Place frozen chicken in crock pot with bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred. Set this aside.

Boil the pasta. While pasta is boiling, in a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter, adding garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine cooked, drained pasta with sauce, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.

Serves: 8

Freezer:
Cook as normal, freeze. When pulling from the freezer, allow to thaw and then heat in microwave until warm.

Calories: 485

Chicken Cordon Bleu {the easy way}

I had been going through a funk where I just didn't want to cook. We moved houses, everything was unorganized, and I just thought I had better things to do with my time! Last night I finally decided to cook a good supper, and found this recipe...FANTASTIC!

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Source: slightly modified from Mel's Kitchen

Ingredients:

For the Cordon Bleu:
3 large, thick boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise (to make two thinner chicken breast cutlets; you will have 6 total thin chicken breasts)
12 slices good quality deli ham
1/2 cup bread crumbs (preferably fresh)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese (I used 6 slices)

For the Parmesan-Dijon Cream Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (or 1 bouillon cube, crushed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:

Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs and melted butter. Set aside.

Lay the cut chicken breasts in a single layer in the 9X13-inch dish. Layer each chicken breast with two slices of ham and top with slices of Swiss cheese, layering across the chicken breast to make sure the entire chicken breast is covered with ham and cheese. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top of the chicken.

Bake the chicken for 30-35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through completely, the cheese is bubbling and the bread crumbs are golden.

When the chicken is almost done, in a medium saucepan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly. Cook the flour/butter mixture for 1-2 minutes. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking quickly. Stir in the chicken bouillon granules and salt. Whisk mixture constantly over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer and thicken, about 3-5 minutes.

Once the sauce has bubbled and thickened, remove from heat and stir in the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Keep the sauce warm until the chicken is finished baking. If your sauce is too thick, whisk in some more milk. If it's too thin, simmer longer.

Serve each chicken cordon bleu portion with warm sauce. Makes 6 servings.

 

Serves: 6

Freezer: You can easily make the chicken ahead and freeze. Parmesan-Dijon Cream Sauce should be made fresh. If you choose, you can skip this when serving (however I strongly recommend making it!)


Nutrition: 550 calories each

Mexican Chicken

Mexican Chicken


Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds chicken (or you can substitute any meat - pork, boneless round steak, etc)
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 can black beans, drained
1 (20 ounce) jar of Salsa
1/2 cup beef broth

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in crockpot and mix with all other ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with rice.
Serves: 4-6

Freezer:
No prep necessary prior to freezing. Place all ingredients in a freezer bag and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw, and place in crockpot for 6-8 hours on low.

Nutrition: 6 servings is 423 calories (depending on salsa used)

Cheesey Chicken Lasagna

Picture Source: What's for Dinner?

Cheesey Chicken Lasagna

Source: adapted from What's for Dinner?

Ingredients:

3 cups skim milk
1 (1 oz) pkg. dry Ranch dressing mix
3 C. cubed, cooked, chicken
1/8 tsp pepper
1 (16oz) lasagna noodles, cooked
1 1/2 C cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 C mozzarella cheese, grated

Directions:

Boil chicken for 20 minutes, or until done. Prepare noodles, rince under cold water when finished.
Simmer 3 cup milk and ranch dressing over low heat for 20 minutes. Stir in the Chicken and pepper. Layer half of lasagna noodles, sauce, and cheese in a well buttered pan. Repeat layers. Bake covered at 350 for 40 minutes then uncovered for 20 minutes.

Serves: 1 9x13 pan or 2 8x8 pans

Freezer:
This is perfect to split into 2 8x8 pans. Complete recipe as stated above until the lasagna is assembled. Then freeze. When ready to eat, thaw and bake covered at 350 for 40 minutes then uncovered for 20 minutes.

Nutrition: 12 slices = 286 calories each

* I only had 8 ounce oven ready lasagna noodles, this does make for a "light" lasagna, I think it would be better with more noodles!

Burlattas

Burlattas

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice
3 cups shredded chicken (approximately 2 large chicken breasts)
2.5 cups shredded Mexican Cheese, divided
2 (14 ounce) cans red enchilada sauce
1 can (15 ounce) black beans, rinsed
1/2 yellow onion, diced (if desired)
10 flour toritillas

Directions:

Boil a large pot of water, once water is boiling place chicken breasts inside and cook for 20 minutes, or until done. Use a fork to shred.

Cook Brown Rice.

After chicken is shredded and rice is cooked, place both in a large bowl with 1 can of enchilada sauce, 2 cups of cheese,black beans and the diced onion. Mix Well. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Fill 10 tortillas with mixture rolling them and place in the 9x13 baking dish. I like to split mine amongst two 8x8 baking dishes. Pour 2nd can of Enchilada Sauce and remaining cheese over top of Burlattas.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Delicious served with Sour Cream or plain Greek yogurt.

Serves: 10

Freezer:
Once prepared, cover and freeze until ready to use. To serve, thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes, or until warmed through.

Nutrition: 646 calories each

Sweet N Spicy Beef w/Noodles

Anyone ever eat at Hu Hot? It's a favorite in my house, and sorely missed since we moved! Even my kids loved it there and beg to go back! You create your own Asian stir fry and watch as it's cooked on our grill.  Delicious Mongolian stir fry! This meal was compared to our experience there by my munchkins.

Sweet N Spicy Beef w/Noodles
Source: adapted from OAMM

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean flank steak, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 medium jalapeno pepper, diced
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 cup baby carrots
8 oz. pasta noodles
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
4 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

(All veggies are optional and can be changed out to any of your liking!)

Directions:

Boil water for pasta, and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat to saute onion, garlic, peppers, carrots, and peas just until they start to get brown and tender. Remove veggies from heat and set aside. Season steak with salt and pepper, then cook in same skillet until meat has reached desired doneness. (Veggies and steak can be cooked together if you would like to save on time).

Add soy sauce, honey, and red pepper flakes to skillet, and saute to cover meat. Turn heat down to medium, and add in veggies and cooked pasta noodles. Stir to saute another 4-5 minutes.

Serves: 4

Freezer:
Package the cooked pasta in a quart-size freezer bag and seal. Pour sauce ingredients, uncooked veggies, and uncooked chopped steak into a gallon-size freezer bag and seal. Place both bags inside another gallon-size freezer bag; label and freeze. To serve, thaw in refrigerator, then cook meat and veggie portion, adding noodles just before serving.
Calories: 439

Spicy Chicken Farfelle

This is my new favorite...yum, I'm drooling as I type it! I've now made this several times for entertaining, and it gets rave reviews every time! Even my 4 and 6 year old ask for seconds on this one!

Spicy Chicken Farfalle
Source: adapted from Becky Higgins

Ingredients:

16 oz. Farfalle pasta
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) (still frozen is fine)
2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed OR garlic salt (I use 2 tsp crushed garlic)
2 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. butter
1 lb. bacon, crumpled*
1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese (not grated)
1 (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice

*I found already cooked and crumbled bacon at the grocery store that worked perfect :)

Directions:

Place frozen chicken in crock pot with bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred. Set this aside.

Boil the pasta. While pasta is boiling, in a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter, adding garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine cooked, drained pasta with sauce, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.

Serves: 8-12

Freezer:
Cook as normal, freeze. When pulling from the freezer, allow to thaw and then heat in microwave until warm.

Calories: 780