Chicken Lazone

Our neighbors have raved about a shrimp lazone recipe.  Since my husband is deathly allergic to shellfish, it was not a recipe we could make.  I found a chicken version of one on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.  The chicken was delicious.  Just delicious.  The sauce was good, but I made some "what I would do next times" in the directions below.  Let me know if you make this, and any changes to make to it.  Would love to know what you think of it!  (Oh, here is the link to the original recipe if you want it: http://www.plainchicken.com/2013/05/chicken-lazone.html#_a5y_p=1148476)

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsps chili powder
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
2 tsps garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1-2 lbs chicken tenders (I did one package of them at about 1 lbs)
1/4 cup butter (1/2 a stick)
2 Cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

Directions:
* Boil a pot of water.  When the water boils, begin to cook your pasta (any kind you want).  Make the following recipe directions/steps while the pasta is cooking.  Cook it slow so it isn't done too much before the chicken is finished cooking.

* In a small bowl, mix the salt, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne powder together.

*Remove any of the tendons (or gross pieces) to your chicken tenders.

* Sprinkle some of the spice onto a plate.  Place the chicken tenders on top of the spices.  Sprinkle the rest of the spices onto the tops of the chicken.

* In a large pan, melt half the butter over medium heat (be careful not to burn it).

* Place the chicken into the melted butter and cook until chicken is done.  (The website I got this recipe off of said it would take about 8 minutes.  I always worry chicken won't be cooked all the way through, so I'm sure I doubled the time on this.)

* Once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken from the pan and set on a plate.

* In the pan you cooked the chicken in, place the remaining butter and cream.

* Lower the heat to a simmer, and cook until the sauce thickens.  My sauce did not thicken.  The next time I make this, I will add a flour mixture to it to thicken it up.  Simply put a tablespoon of flour into a cup.  Add just enough water so you can mix the flour into a watery mixture without it being too thin.  Add a bit of water, mix, a bit more water, mix some more, etc...

* Once the sauce is thick, serve up your dish.  Place the noodles onto a plate.  Pour the sauce over the pasta.  Place the chicken pieces onto the top of the chicken.  Sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top too if you'd like!

(I LOVED the chicken.  It was DELICIOUS!!!  The sauce is basic.  If you are expecting something grandios, you might want to add a few dashes of spices to it.  It was really yummy and a new change to "pasta.")

Chicken Parmesan With Croutons

I LOVE delicous food.  What I love more than delicious food, is easy to make delicious food.  With two crazy boys who never stop I don't have time to make luxurious meals every single night.  This recipe was both easy, and delicious.  It seriously took less than ten minutes to throw together, and then about 40 minutes to cook.  This is a dish everyone should try!  I truly hit the jackpot with this one!  Oh, there is a video on how to make it at the website I found it on if you are interested: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/02/end-of-chicken-parmesan-as-you-know-it.html

Ingredients:
1-2 Tbsp Olive oil (I used 3 HUGE chicken breasts.  You can use up to about 5 for this dish though)
2 Cloves fresh garlic, minched/chopped/made super small
Dash red pepper flakes
3-5 Chicken breasts
2-3 Cups marinara sauce (aka spaghetti sauce)
1/4 Cup chopped basil.  Fresh is best, but you can just sprinkle dried if you don't have fresh.
2 Cups shredded mozzerella (or any cheese really)
1/2-1 Cup Parmesan cheese
1 (5 oz) Package croutons (I used Garlic and Cheese flavored ones)

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350*F

*Spray down a baking dish with PAM or any kind of non stick spray.

*Put our oil and garlic into your pan and mix.

*Sprinkle red pepper flakes on top of the garlic.

*Place chicken breasts on top.

*Pour marinara sauce on top of the chicken and spread evenly overtop to cover.

*Sprinkle all of the basil on top of the marinara sauce.

*Put half of each of the cheeses on top of the basil.

*Place all of the croutons on top of the cheese.

*Cover the croutons with the rest of the cheeses.

*Bake for 40 mins or so until the chicken is fully cooked.  Let stand 10 mins to finish cooking fully before serving.

Mini Pot Pies

Here is a really easy and super yummy recipe from Bettycrocker.com that I found.  It had many different versions of this recipe, but I did the basic chicken pot pie.  SO good!

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb Chicken breasts
1/2 Cup chopped up onion
1/2 Cup chicken broth
1 Cup frozen vegetable mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

Topping Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Bisquik mix
1/2 Cup milk
2 Eggs

Directions:
*Pre-heat oven to 375*F.

*Spray a pan of 12 muffins down with baking spray.

*In a skillet, heat your oil.

*Add chicken and cook.  (Note: I cooked mine on the grill outside first.  So cook your chicken however you want too).

*Once the chicken is cooked, chop it up into small bite sized pieces.

*Add the onion and chicken broth to the chicken.  Heat to simmering.

*Add frozen vegetables and spices.  Mix well.

*Cook until all liquid is almost gone.  Remove from heat, set aside for 5 minutes.

*In a medium bowl, stir baking ingredients together.

*Pour 1 tablespoon into each of the bottoms of the muffin trays (not much at all).

*Stir the cheese into the chicken mixture.

*Pour about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture on top of the baking mixture in the muffin pans.

*Pour 1 more tablespoon of the baking mixture onto the tops of the chicken mixture.

*Bake 25-30 minutes in the oven (until toothpick in center comes out clean).

*Cool for 5 minutes before using a knife to go around the edges of the muffin tin and loosening up the sides.

Cool a few minutes longer before serving.

BBQ Cheddar Bacon Chicken

Um, could this recipe's title be any longer?  WOW.  I wish I could shorten it, but I don't know what I would call it.  So we are stuck with the ridiculous long name.  Its good though, so I'm sure you will all forgive me.  AND...it's easy!

Ingredients:
3-4 Chicken breasts (I used small one's, but big one's would be so much better!)
3/4 Cup BBQ sauce
6-8 strips of bacon (2 per chicken breast)
3-4 Slices of Cheddar cheese

Directions:
*Cook your chicken breasts.  You can cook them in a pan on the stove with a bit of oil covered for 20 or so mins (flipping a couple of times), or on the barbeque.  We did ours on the bbq.  Okay, Nick did.

*Line a microwave safe place with a few sheets of paper towels (like 6-8 of them).

*Line your bacon slices up beside each other on the paper towel.

*Cover the bacon with one sheet of paper towel.

*Cook them in the microwave for 9-11 minutes.  I'm  serious, this way makes them SO crunchy for this meal.  You could cook them another way, but I promise it won't be as good.)

*After the bacon is cooked it is 100% crunchy, see:

*Once your chicken breasts are cooked (or baked, or grilled, or pan fried...) rub bbq sauce all over them.  Just drench the chicken!

*Once your chicken is covered in the bbq sauce, put 2 slices of bacon on top of each chicken breast.

*Cover the bacon with a slice of cheddar.

*Pre-heat your oven to broil and cook the cheese/chicken until the cheese melts, or place it back on the bbq for a minute until the cheese melts.

SO EASY!

Chicken Pot Pie in Pastry Puffs

I LOVE those small Puff Pastry things.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry...I'll post a picture of them in a minute.  Anyways, they are sooooooo good!  I had a box of them in the freezer and wanted something fun and easy for dinner.  I looked at the box and there was a chicken pot pie recipe on it.  I changed it a little, so here is how I made mine.

Ingredients:
1 Box puff pastries
1 Big chicken breast, or 2 small one's
1 Can of Cream of chicken or mushroom soup
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Bag frozen vegetables
drop of oil to cook the chicken in
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
*Cook the pastries according to package (mine took 20 minutes to cook)

*Take the tops out of your pastries.

*Cut up your chicken into small bite sized pieces.

*Put a drop of oil into a large pan and place the pieces of chicken.

*Cook the chicken until well done.

*Cook your veggies in the microwave until cooked.  Drain the excess water from them.

*Pour your veggies, milk, and soup into the pan with the chicken pieces.

*Cook until warm.

*Add some salt and pepper to the chicken mixture.

*I thought about throwing some shredded cheese into the mixture, but didn't.  If you want to, do that now.

*Pour the chicken mixture into the pastries.  Eat it up!

Stuffed Chicken with Goat Cheese and Basil

Here is another amazing recipe, courtesy of my hubby.  When he makes dinner you KNOW its going to be good!  I know many of you might look at the ingredients and go "um, I don't think so."  Honestly, you will be sorry. The jalepeno's add a mild heat, the goat cheese (which is SO creamy and a very mild cheese) is amazing, and the basil is so sweet.  Oh, its to die for.  This has just made it to the top of my favorite things I have ever eaten in my whole entire life list.  Its up there, amazing.

Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken Breasts (small one's, or 1 huge one)
6-8 Strips of bacon
1 Pkg fresh basil (must be fresh)
1/2 Pkg goat cheese (you could use other cheese but  I don't recommend it)
2 Shallots (yes, those small onion things)
1/2 Large jalapeno

Directions:
*Cut your shallots into small pieces.

*Put a tablespoon or two of oil into a saucepan and turn on medium heat for a minute or so until it warms up a bit.

*Put your shallots into the pan and cook until they are translucent (about 5 minutes or so).

*When they are done cooking, put them in a bowl off to the side.

*If your chicken breasts are big/thick (ours were, we buy them at Albertsons in the meat section and they are HUGE), slice them in half.  If you used those bagged chicken breasts from Walmart of such (in the frozen section) no need to slice in half.  Put a piece of saran wrap on a cutting board and then place the thin chicken breast onto it.  POUND it with anything you have (meat beater or hammer...).

(See, HUGE)

(We cut it directly down the middle so we had 2 thin pieces)

(Pound it down thin)

(ta-da)

*Line a baking sheet with tinfoil.  Spray it down with baking spray.  (Or use parchment paper like we did)

*Take all of your chicken (once they are nice and beaten down thin), and place them on the tinfoil/parchment paper.

*Here is what your next ingredients look like:

*Take your goat cheese (or another cheese if you prefer) and cut it into small pieces.  Lay it on the chicken.

*Slice you jalapeno into thin slices

*Take your jalapeno slices and place them on top of the cheese.

*Now place the basil leaves on top of the jalapeno slices.

*Place your shallots on top of the basil leaves.

*Get some toothpicks ready.

*Take your bacon strips and lay one out.

*Roll your chicken up.

*Take your rolled up chicken and roll it onto the bacon stips so that the bacon runs around the chicken.

*Secure the bacon with toothpicks. (This picture is of one of the tiny chicken pieces we used for the kids chicken.  You can see how nice it is rolled though)

*Do this to all of the chicken pieces.

*Take your bacon wrapped chicken and brown it a bit in your pot of grease from the shallots.

*You only want to brown it up a bit.  (2-3 mins or so, flipping them)

*Do each of the chicken pieces, then place them back onto the parchment paper baking dish or tin foil baking dish.

*Pre-heat your oven to 350*F.

*Put your chicken into the oven and bake for 20 minutes until fully cooked through.

*We served ours with rice and broccoli.  It was delicious!!!!!!!!!!

It was a huge hit with the kids too!  We did not put shallots or jalapeno's into their small one's however.