Soy Balsamic Chicken

I found this recipe in Real Simple magazine. I get really bored of chicken so I have been trying to find new recipes to make it more appealing lately.

Serves 4

Ingredients

 4 small chicken breasts
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves or 1 tbsp dried rosemary leaves
1/4 cup honey
Half an onion sliced
1 tbsp olive oil

 Instructions

 Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, rosemary, and honey. Pour into a shallow baking dish.

I only did 3 chicken breasts, but the recipe is for 4. Add chicken to baking dish and turn to coat, placing skin side down. Toss onions in olive oil and then scatter on top of chicken. Roast the chicken for 30 minutes.

 Turn the chicken pieces over and create a loose tent with foil over the chicken. Roast another 15 minutes.

I served my chicken with rice and asparagus. It was really flavorful!

From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Mediterranean Skillet

I found a similar recipe in Food & Wine magazine, and tweaked it to my liking. It was really unique, and delicious. Didn't taste too great reheated as leftovers though so I would make as much as you need for one sitting.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients 

 Apple Chicken Sausage, 3 links sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup scallions chopped
3 apricots, dried, finely chopped
1/2 lb asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces (not pictured here)
2 cups minute white rice, cooked
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp dried parsley
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tbsp dried basil
1/4 cup slivered almonds


Instructions

Saute the scallions in olive oil until browned in a large skillet.

  Add chicken, apricots, and asparagus to skillet. Saute for 5 minutes.

 Add cooked rice and chicken broth. Simmer 1 minute.

Add parsley and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

 Add basil and greek yogurt. Mixx around and heat for 1 to 2 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper. Place in large serving dish and top with almonds. Serve warm or cold.




From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Chicken Amandine

I got this recipe from my mom, and I don't remember what cookbook she found it in, sorry! This is one of my husband's absolute favorites.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 8 oz can sliced water chestnuts
 2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sour cream
1 pkg crescent roll dough
2/3 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cup silvered almonds
2 tbsp melted butter


Instructions

 Cube and cook chicken breasts in a large skillet until browned.

 Add the first eight ingredients to the skillet and combine. Cook until heated through. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 Pour contents into a rectangular baking dish.

 Unroll crescent dough and spread over top of the mixture in the baking dish.

 Combine the swiss cheese, slivered almonds, and melted butter. Spread evenly over the top of the crescent dough.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes uncovered. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve.


From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Chicken Spaghetti Sauce

This is a spaghetti sauce you can make in the slow cooker or you can add more chicken to even out the ratio of sauce to chicken, and put it on bread to make somewhat of a meatball sub type sandwich. I made a large pot of the sauce and froze half of it to reheat another time.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients 

29 oz tomato sauce or your favorite spaghetti sauce
14.5 oz canned petite diced tomatoes
12 oz canned tomato paste
1/4 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
shredded mozzarella cheese


Instructions

Turn slow cooker on to low heat. add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. Stir to combine.

Dice onion and add to slow cooker. Stir into sauce.

Add garlic, parsley, oregano, and basil. Stir into sauce.

Place chicken breasts on top of sauce and cover. Cook on low for 6 hours.

Shred cooked chicken and stir into sauce.

Serve over whole wheat pasta and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Mexican Casserole

This is a Weight Watchers recipe I found on www.food.com. It was pretty good. I think it would be better over tortilla chips or in a tortilla as a taco. Nonetheless it was good.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

 Diced tomatoes, drained (14.5 oz can)
Black Beans, drained and rinsed (15 oz can)
Whole kernel corn, drained (15 oz can)
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Half onion chopped
1 cup sour cream

Instructions

In a large skillet, cook the ground turkey and chopped onion until browned over high heat.

Add tomatoes, corn, and black beans and simmer on low for 10 minutes.

Add sour cream, mix around, simmer for 10 minutes on low.

Cover in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.



From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Turkey Burger Sliders

I love sliders of all different kinds. These are a little healthier version than you're typical sliders and just as tasty. I think the key ingredient to the perfect sliders is always Hawaiian Sweet Rolls for the buns. So delicious!

Serves 2

Ingredients

Hamburger Seasoning to taste
Worcestershire Sauce to taste
Ground Turkey 1/2 lb
Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
Toppings of your choosing



Instructions

Add as much hamburger seasoning and Worcestershire sauce as you would like to the turkey meat and mash with your hands. I was very liberal with my seasoning.

On a plate, form into a large rectangle patty, about a 1/2 inch thick. Cut in half to have two squares.

Cook in skillet till both sides are browned.

Put the patties on the four pack of Hawaiian Sweet Rolls and add toppings as you would like. We did cheddar cheese, lettuce, and ketchup.



Serve with sweet potato fries and eat up!
From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Two Bean Chicken

I found this recipe through Pinterest, on www.thegraciouspantry.com. It is a slow cooker recipe, and ridiculously easy to prepare, so it is great for when you know you have a really busy day ahead of you. I changed it up a bit since I used less chicken breasts than the original recipe. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this recipe since I am not a huge fan of beans. It was really good!

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients 

 2 chicken breasts
1 cup black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 cup can pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
1 15 oz can of whole kernel corn (drained)
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 12 oz jar of salsa

Instructions

Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock-pot.
Layer on the ingredients in this order:
Salsa, tomatoes, black beans, pinto beans, and corn.

Don't stir the ingredients, just let them cook in those layers on low for 5 to 7 hours.

Take a fork and shred the chicken in the crock-pot and stir all the ingredients together. You can eat it in a bowl like a stew sort-of, or you can eat the mixture on tortillas like a taco. We did a little bit of both last night and both were delicious!

From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Okay, so I have to be completely honest. Originally I had found some recipes for pumpkin spice cookies. I had intended to make those for our bible study last night. In those recipes you just take spice cake mix, a can of pumpkin, and chocolate chips, mix them together and it makes dough. Well, since I am a newbie in the kitchen, especially when it comes to baking, I made the cake batter according to the spice cake mix box and then added in the pumpkin. I realized after this mistake that it was far too runny to be cookie dough. I ran with it though and make a pumpkin spice cake instead. Long story short, forget the chocolate chips you see in the ingredients picture.

Ingredients

 Spice cake mix box
Vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 15oz can of pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
Cream Cheese icing


Instructions

Prepare Spice cake mix as the directions on the box say, with the vegetable oil and eggs. Mix in the entire can of pumpkin. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease the entire inside of a 13 x 9 baking dish. Pour batter into the middle and let it spread out to all sides of the dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Poke the middle with a toothpick and if it comes out clean then the cake is done.

Let cool completely before icing with cream cheese icing.





This was a hit at my bible study after all. I was nervous that it would come out too moist but it was great! Extremely easy to make!
From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay

Spinach and Sausage Pasta

I found this recipe through Pinterest on www.budgetbytes.com. I changed it a little bit, so the recipe here is with my changes.

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

 6 oz Chicken Sausage
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 a Medium Onion
1 (14.5oz) can Diced Tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chicken broth
8 oz Pasta (I used Farfalle)
3 cups fresh Spinach
1 cup Monterrey Jack Cheese


Instructions

Slice the sausage into pieces and cook in a skillet with the olive oil about 5 minutes.

Chop the onion and add to skillet, saute about 5 minutes.

Add can of diced tomatoes and the chicken broth. Stir to combine. Add in the minced garlic.

Add the uncooked pasta and try to submerge as much of it as you can. Cover the skillet and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Stir a couple times while it is simmering.

Stir in the spinach leaves one cup at a time, and wait till the leaves wilt to add the next cup. Keep the heat on while adding the spinach.

Sprinkle the cheese on top and let sit for a few minutes while the cheese melts. Serve hot.



My husband and I really enjoyed this meal! He especially liked the chicken sausage, which I was certain would be what he would want to change. I guess I was wrong!
From one newbie to another, enjoy!
Lindsay