Sweet & Savory ~~ Individual Chicken Pot Pies

What's for dinner?  How about individual chicken pot pies? This is a great recipe for leftover chicken which can be doubled or tripled with the additional pot pies being frozen if you would like to cook them at a later time.  It happens to be one of our family favorites which we've enjoyed for over a decade.  So, here goes:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 1 - 14 oz. can cut green beans or vegetable of your choice or 1 - 10 oz. bag of frozen, cooked vegetable
• 1 - 10.5 oz. can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• A few drops of hot sauce (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1 cup of Bisquick mix
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Place diced chicken, vegetable of your choice, undiluted soup, poultry seasoning and hot sauce inside bowl and mix well.
• Spray individual baking containers with vegetable or olive oil spray to prevent sticking during cooking.
• Divide mixture into individual baking containers.
• Thoroughly blend Bisquick mix, milk, egg and Parmesan cheese using mixer at lower speed for about 2 minutes.  Make sure batter is not lumpy.
• Spoon Bisquick mixture over the top of the chicken and vegetable mixture inside the baking containers.  Make sure to spread the liquid mixture so that the chicken mixture is thoroughly covered.
• Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
• Rest for 5 minutes after removing from oven, invert onto dinner plates, and enjoy!

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

• I have served these pot pies during all four seasons of the year.
• For summertime dining, you could pair with a nice ear of corn on the cob.
• A tossed green salad with additional veggies is a nice accompaniment year round as well.

Happy dining & enjoy.

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Sweet & Savory ~~ Creamy Chicken Penne Pasta

Here's another full guest table entree pleaser for your holiday meal planning which will serve a dozen people, if need be.

INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS FOR STEP 1:

• 4 large chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp. diced garlic
• Olive oil
• Garlic Pepper
• Parmesan cheese

• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Saute garlic in olive oil until tender. 
• Lightly brown chicken breasts on both sides, sprinkling with Garlic Pepper during process.  
• Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on both sides.
•  Let chicken rest and cool for 10 minutes.
• Cut into bite size pieces.

INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS FOR STEP 2:

• 2 cans Cream of Celery Soup
• Milk or water
• 1 Tbsp. diced garlic
• 1 small jar diced Pimentos
• 2 Tbsp. hot sauce (I used Cajun Sunsine)
• 2  small cans sliced water chestnuts
• Garlic Herb bread crumbs or flavor of your choice
• 2 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
• 2 cups dried Penne pasta noodles, cooked according to package directions, and thoroughly drained

• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• In a mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the soup with 2 soup cans of milk or water, whatever you choose to use.
• Add the garlic, hot sauce, pimentos, and water chestnuts.
• Stir until combined.

ASSEMBLY & COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

• Place one-half of cooked chicken into bottom of greased 9 x 13 baking pan.  (I prefer to use a glass pan for this recipe).
• Add one half of cooked Penne pasta noodles
• Pour one half of soup mixture over top.
• Sprinkle one cup of Cheddar cheese on top.
• Sprinkle bread crumbs over mixture.
• Repeat above steps.
• Place sheet of aluminum foil lightly over entree, but do not fold foil down onto the sides of the baking pan. This will prevent noodles from drying out during the initial baking stage.
• Bake for 35-35 minutes in 350 degree oven.
• Remove foil for the last 10-15 minutes.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

• Serve with bread, rolls, or crackers.
• A garden salad is a nice accompaniment.
• Consider pairing this recipe with a little cup of soup.  My Broccoli Cheddar Soup would be a great suggestion. Stay tuned as I plan on floating out this recipe later in the month.

Bravo to all of my fellow cooks and chefs out there in Holiday Land.  Cook on! Your friends, family, and comrades will love you all the more.  

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Sweet & Savory Thursday ~~ Italian Chicken Tenderloins

If you enjoy easy meal preparation and a scrumptious finished product, then this is the recipe for you!  It's been around for years and whoever dreamed up the idea deserves a medal or something.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 - 16 oz. bottle Fat Free Italian Dressing (I used the Kraft brand, but you can use the variety of your choice)
• 1 - 2 lb. bag frozen chicken tenderloins

DIRECTIONS:

• Dump the entire bottle of salad dressing inside the plastic bag with chicken tenderloins inside.
• Marinate for 6 hours, turning the bag every hour or so.
• Cook on gas grill or cooking method of your choice until tenderloins are thoroughly cooked.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

• In the plated display above, I used:
• Baby leaf spinach
• Steamed & lightly buttered yellow crookneck squash dusted with garlic pepper
• Petite Jimmy Lee Bob cukes
• Red seedless grapes
• Smoked Gouda cheese

You can use your leftover tenderloins in other recipes if you have any left over!

Happy Dining & Enjoy!

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Sweet & Savory Thursday ~~ Crockpot Chicken Comfort Dinner

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 - 10.5 ounce cans Cream of Chicken soup
• 2/3 cup milk or water
• 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp. Poultry Seasoning
• Salt and/or pepper, optional
• 1 - 6 oz. pkg. stuffing mix
• 1 2/3 cup water 

DIRECTIONS:

• Stir together soup and milk or water (whichever one you choose to dilute the soup) in the bottom of Crockpot.
• Place chicken breasts in bottom of Crockpot.
• Sprinkle Poultry Seasoning over chicken breasts.
• Sprinkle Salt/Pepper over chicken breasts (optional).
• Combine the water with stuffing mix in separate bowl and stir to blend together.
• Spoon the stuffing over chicken breasts.
• Cover and cook on low setting for 6 hours.

(The above photo depicts what your mixture will look like after all ingredients are placed inside Crockpot)

Serve with vegetable of your choice, dinner rolls, fruit, or other comfort foods your family enjoys.

This is a delicious chicken recipe and so easy to prepare. You just fix it and forget it! 

Happy cooking, eating & reading!

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Sweet & Savory Thursday - Sheila's Super Bowl Wings

No Super Bowl Spread (not the football game point spread) is complete without some scrumptious chicken wings which seem to disappear faster than chips, dips, or a platter of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies!

Without exaggeration, my husband and I polished off the above platter of wings in about ten minutes flat when watching a prior Super Bowl, so trust me when I tell you that these are beyond finger lickin’ good!

Since the Super Bowl game is not played until the afternoon, you will have plenty of time to prepare the marinade and marry it up with the plain chicken wings in your refrigerator for about 3 hours prior to cooking them.

Sheila's Super Bowl Chicken Wings

The following recipe is for a 3 lb bag of plain chicken wings:

• 6  Tbsp. olive oil
• 2  Tsp. chili powder
• 1  Tbsp. hot sauce (I prefer Cajun Sunshine brand)
• ¼ - ½  Tsp. cayenne pepper (depending upon how hot you like your wings!)
• 2  Tbsp. honey
• 4  Tbsp. fresh lime juice  (save zest from limes to sprinkle onto cooked wings, if desired)
• 8  cloves of minced garlic
• 2  Tsp. kosher salt, optional
• 3/4  cup flour
• 3  cups plain panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Mix together in a bowl:  only 5 tbsp. of the olive oil, only 1 tsp. of the chili powder, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, honey, lime juice, garlic, and only 1 tsp. of the salt.

Place chicken wings in a glass container and cover with the well mixed marinade.  Cover pan with lid or plastic food wrap. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, place a cooling rack on top of baking sheet, and spray with cooking spray.

Optional method – use a meatball cooking pan.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, bread crumbs, and remaining salt and chili powder.

Coat the chicken wings completely in the mixture and place on top of cooling rack or meatball cooking rack.

Drizzle remaining olive oil over top of wings.

Bake wings for 20 minutes.  Turn and bake for another 15 minutes or until wings are cooked completely and turn golden brown.

Place on serving platter and sprinkle with lime zest if desired.

***** As I have experimented with this recipe in the past, I came to the conclusion that if I did not sprinkle the cooked wings with lime zest or drizzle additional lime juice over them, I could taste the garlic and cayenne flavors.  Too much lime can overpower the taste of everything which is not a problem if you are a big lime fan.

Enjoy!  J

If you do happen to prepare this recipe for your Super Bowl Sunday, I would love to hear back from you as to any suggestions that you might have.

Happy Reading, Cooking & Eating!

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