Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

• 1 box lasagna noodles
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 4 cups tomato sauce
• 2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 6 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water.
3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 2 minutes. Add ground chicken and cook 5 to 7 minutes more, stirring to break up any large chunks of meat. Stir in tomato sauce, mushrooms, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and garlic powder. Simmer for 2 minutes and season to taste.
4. Combine spinach, ricotta, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
5. To assemble, arrange 3 noodles lengthwise in the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch baking dish. Spread with 1/3 the ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the turkey mixture, and 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat layers, ending with remaining mozzarella. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

I have also made this with rotisserie chicken or ground turkey.

This is a keeper – Slow Cooker Latin Chicken

You know you have a winner when your hubby says this is a keeper.

Latin Chicken

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 pounds skinless chicken thighs
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
• 1 cup hot salsa
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3 large cloves garlic, chopped
• lime wedges, for garnish

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet; season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cilantro over the chicken thighs; brown the chicken in the frying pan, 3 to 5 minutes each side.
2. Arrange the chicken in the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, and black beans on top of the chicken. Mix together the chicken broth, 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, salsa, cumin, allspice, and garlic together in a bowl; pour into the slow cooker. Set slow cooker to LOW and cook for 4 hours. Garnish with lime wedges to serve.  Served over brown rice.

Chichen Paprikash with Grocchi

Not to many recipes I follow without making any changes, but this one I did.  The recipe came from the Rachael Ray Show, it’s one of those recipes that the leftovers were even better.

Hey, look my chicken has three legs.

BBQ Chicken Tenders – Eating Well

I made these for Super Bowl Sunday and they were pretty tasty. The recipe came from Eating Well magazine. The only thing different I will do next time is leave out the honey and add hot sauce.

Click here for recipe

Honey Balsamic Chicken

We love this chicken and I bet it would be good with pork chops or salmon.

4 Tablespoons Honey

2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 Teaspoons Olive Oil                       

Juice from on lemon

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

4 boneless and skinless chicken breast

Directions:

Mix all marinade ingredients together and I like using a large ziploc bag.

Add the chicken breast to ziploc back and marinade for at least one hour turning from time to time.

Simmer the chicken and marinade slowly in a skillet until chicken is done. I like to cook until marinade glazes the chicken.

Great served with roasted potatoes or rice.

Chicken Marsala – Simply Delicious!

Really, so simple and simply delicious.

Sweet Marsala and mushroom sauce topped over a herbed chicken breast.

1/4 cup of all  purpose flour for coating chicken breast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning

4 skinless boneless chicken breast pounded to about 1/4 inch thick

6 Tablespoons of light Olive Oil

1 cup of sliced mushrooms (I like to use baby Portabello mushrooms)

1/2 chopped onion

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

1 cup of Marsala Wine

1/2 cup of chicken stock

1 Tablespoon of chopped Italian flat parsley

Combine flour, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and coat chicken breast.

In a large skillet (you will need a lid) medium heat, add olive oil and brown coated chicken breast. Turn over chicken breast and add mushrooms, onions, garlic, wine and chicken stock. Cover skillet and simmer chicken 10 – 12 minutes, turning once, cook until no longer pink and juices are clear. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

Chicken Cacciatore with Steamed Kale

Ingredients:

2 cups flour for coating chicken add salt, pepper and garlic powder to flour

1 4 pound chicken cut up. (can use chicken breast)

1 link of spicy Italian sausage

2 Tablespoons oil

1 medium onion chopped

1 bell pepper chopped

3 stalks of celery chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 20 ounce can of diced tomatoes

1 Tablespoon of Italian seasoning

1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth

2 cups fresh mushrooms, quartered

2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley (1 teaspoon dried)

1/4 cup chopped green onions (optional)

Put seasoned flour in a plastic bag, shake chicken pieces until coated. In dutch over or deep skillet (you’ll need a lid) brown chicken on both sides. Remove chicken from pan.

Take sausage out of casing and crumble in the pan that you took the chicken out of until brown. De-glaze pan with wine or chicken broth add onions, bell peppers and celery cook until vegetables are tender.  Return chicken to pan and add diced tomatoes cook for about 30 minutes. (salt & pepper to taste)Add mushrooms, parsley and green onions. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

I served it with whole wheat gnocchi and steamed kale. Also great served over pasta.

I used one of those all ready cleaned and chopped bags of kale and steamed it in 2 cups of chicken broth and one sliced onion. Cooked covered for about 20 minutes. (salt & pepper to taste)

How many dots in this picture?

Shrimp & Chicken Gumbo

What could be better then a pot of Gumbo on a cold winter day?

 

 

The most important part of Gumbo is making the roux take your time and let the roux get a dark chocolate brown color.

 

In a large HEAVY stock/soup pot (I use cast iron) heat 1  cup oil and 1  cup flour stirring constantly, until roux is a dark chocolate brown color.

 

Ingredients for Gumbo

 

2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast cut into one inch chucks

2 pounds of peeled and deveined shrimp

1 pound of smoked sausage Andouille or another kick-up sausage cut in ¼ slices.

1 medium chopped onion

1 medium chopped bell pepper

2 stalks of chopped celery

2 toes of garlic chopped

1 to 2 teaspoons of Creole seasoning (careful you will get some heat from the sausage)

8 cups chicken stock

2 cups sliced fresh or frozen okra (optional)

2 Tablespoons of chopped green onions

2 Tablespoons of chopped parsley  

 

In a large skillet brown sausage add chicken, onions, celery, peppers garlic and 1 teaspoon of Creole seasoning. Continue cooking until chicken and veggies are tender about 5 minutes.

 

Add skillet of chicken and veggies to roux with chicken stock and simmer at least one hour.  Right before serving add shrimp & okra bring to a full heat. Add parsley and green onions and serve. Can be served over rice.