White Bean Chili

Yeah, I know, it's been a long time coming. :P This will probably be the best dang chili you have EVER had. I can almost promise it.

Yield: Approximately 7 servings

1 lb. Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 T. oil
2 cans (15.5 oz each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed & drained
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
2 cans (4 oz each) chopped green chilies
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp/ cayenne pepper
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
1/2 pint whipping cream

1. Cut up chicken into small pieces and cook.
2. Separately, saute onion in oil.
3. When onion is almost done add garlic powder and cooked chicken.
4. Add beans, broth, chilies, and seasonings.
5. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or so.
7. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and whipping cream.
8. Feast!!!

Chicken, Cheddar, and Bacon Casserole

Click the picture to go to the Allrecipes.com page with this recipe. Some of the people's comments might be useful to you.


Some pre-notes about this recipe:
I ended up using a lot less cheese than this recipe calls for. I put in about 2/3 of what it called for and it already looked like a ton, so I didn't put in the rest.

I'm not positive about this, but I think if you want to make the recipe a little bit more healthful, you could substitute the bacon grease and the butter that you fry the chicken in with canola oil. But I'm making that up, so I don't know if it'll work.

Also, be aware that one of the ingredients it calls for is chicken bouillon, but then it never tells you to put it in in the instructions. You want to put either the 1/2 cup chicken broth or extra 1/2 cup of milk at the same time you put in the 1 1/2 cups of milk.

One last thing: you probably won't need as much of the bread crumb mixture as it says, but since bread crumbs are pretty cheap I wouldn't worry about it too much.

What you need:

• 8 ounces mini penne pasta or elbow macaroni
• 6 to 8 slices bacon
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound chicken breasts or chicken tenders, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth or more milk
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
• 8 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 4 ounces American cheese, shreds or chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

What you need to do:

• Cook the pasta in boiling salted water following package directions

• Grease a 2 1/2- to 3-quart baking dish. Heat oven to 350°

• In a large skillet or saucepan, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towels; crumble. Pour off grease in the skillet, leaving about 1 or 2 teaspoons

• Add butter to the skillet and cook the chicken over medium-low heat until cooked through

• Add green onions and cook for 1 minute longer

• Add flour and stir until blended into the fat. Gradually stir in the milk, cooking and stirring until slightly thickened. Stir in salt, pepper, and thyme. Add the cheeses and thawed peas, along with crumbled bacon. Spoon into the prepared baking dish

• Combine bread crumbs with 1 tablespoon melted butter; sprinkle over the casserole. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until topping is browned and casserole is bubbly

Serves 6

Cuban Chicken

{This recipe is from the cookbook my sister made me for Christmas. For dinner group, I basically quadrupled the recipe, but these are the original measurements.}

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup lime juice

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

2 chicken breasts

Combine juices and spices for marinade and pour over chicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day heat a skillet over medium heat. Place set marinade aside and then put chicken breasts in a skillet and cook until done. Remove from pan and set aside, keeping warm. Add marinade to pan and bring to a boil. Add a little more orange juice and lime juice to increase the amount of sauce. Serve chicken with sauce.

Chicken Feta Bake

(This one's from Tyler too)

Chicken Feta Bake

- Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a glass pan
- Place your boneless, skinless chicken breasts the pan
- Salt and pepper the chicken breasts, then sprinkle lemon juice over the tops of them to your liking
- Top with "Athenos" dried tomato and basil(?) feta cheese - it comes in a round container and is reddish in color
- Place in the oven at 375 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes (until the chicken is done)
- Top with diced red pepper and parsley
- Serve with couscous and a Cesar salad or hummus and pita chips in keeping with the Mediterranean theme

Southwest Chicken Salad

It was really just a made-up thing, so I couldn't really tell you proportions, but here's the "recipe" anyway and you can figure out how you like it best.

Salad

• Cook breaded chicken strips in the oven as directed on the bag. (Kroger brand "Crispy chicken breast strips: fritter style" are better than Tyson brand). Cut into bite-sized pieces.
  
• Chop Romaine lettuce (or whatever kind you prefer, although iceberg would probably not be a good choice) and place in a bowl.
• Drain (and I rinsed, but I don't know if that made it better or worse) black beans. I also heated them up afterward. (You know, now that I think of it, it would have worked better to heat the beans with all the juice from the can, then just scoop out the beans when adding them to the salad. That's probably what you should do...). Add beans to lettuce.
  
• Heat up corn.
• Add the chicken, corn, and beans at the end just before serving.

Winger's-like Sauce

• Heat up 1 part Frank's Red Hot Sauce
• Add 3 parts golden or dark brown sugar
• Stir until sugar is dissolved

A few extra notes:

This sauce is amazing, albeit on the spicy side (more so than the real Winger's sauce). However, a few cautions about the sauce:

• Do not sniff it directly, as it will burn your nose. (It won't damage you, but it sure is strong and stings a bit.)
• DO NOT use any white cooking materials (spoons, bowls, etc.) when preparing or storing this sauce, unless you've always wished those white cooking materials were orange.
  

I would HIGHLY recommend using this sauce on the crispy chicken strips by themselves (without cutting them into bite-sized pieces). The best way to coat them in the sauce is to put the cooked chicken in a bowl with a lid, pour the sauce (warm) liberally over the chicken, cover, and shake. Looks beautiful at the end! Have some Kleenex ready, because your nose will run.

Ranch seemed to work pretty well for those with more sensitive taste buds. Ranch mixed with the sauce was even better.

And I'm done.

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb. Great Northern white beans (3 normal-sized cans)
2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast (the frozen chicken breasts are fine)
Olive oil
2 large onions
Garlic, minced
1 4-oz can chopped green chilies (chopped/diced jalapenos work too)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder
Optional: cilantro leaves, sour cream


Directions:

Beans

• If using canned beans:
• Drain beans and place in a pot.
• If using real beans
• Rise beans well, pour into a bowl, cover them with water and soak overnight
• Drain and rinse beans
• Place beans in a pot and cover with water.
• Add 2 Tbs olive oil and 4 whole garlic cloves. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook until tender (about 1 hour).
• Remove garlic, drain beans, and place in a pot.

Chicken

• Put chicken breasts in a pot and fill water to the top of the chicken
• Boil chicken breasts for 15 minutes (until cooked through), remove from pan and cool.
• Save 6 cups of the water you boiled it in for broth. Add 1 or 2 chicken bouillon cubes to the broth while still hot. 
• Make sure to take out all the gross chicken floaties. Add this to the beans in the pot
  
• Cut off any extra fat or other gross parts from the chicken. Tear the chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Onions and spices

• Chop onions. Mince 4 large garlic cloves (or just use minced garlic - I'm not sure how much, just make it up.
• Heat 4-6 Tbs olive oil in pan and add onions. Sauté for 10 minutes
• Stir in garlic, chilis, cumin, oregano, cayenne and chili powder and cook two minutes
• Add to beans and chicken in the pot.

Bring the chili to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until beans are tender. Sprinkle cilantro leaves and add sour cream on top of each serving as desired.

A few notes:

• It's hard to put in too much cumin, so don't worry about adding a little extra if you want to.
• I doubled the recipe when we ate it for dinner group and there was still probably half left after everyone finished. The chili freezes really well, too.
• If you use the frozen chicken breasts it may take a little longer to boil (I'm not sure).
• Club crackers are delicious.
  

Chicken Salad Veronique

This is directly from the Dassler-Coalwell Family Recipe Book with my notes in {}:

3 cups chicken, cooked and cubed {I used canned chicken, 2 large cans}
1 cup grapes, seedless, halved (red or green)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted {I omitted these}
1/2 cup celery, chopped {ditto}
3 T. onion, chopped or 1 tsp. onion powder {I used onion powder}
1/2 tsp. celery salt or Beau Monde
1/3 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/3 cup lemon yogurt
1/2 tsp. prepared mustard (I use Dijon) {so do I}

In a medium bowl, mix chicken, grapes, almonds, celery, onion or powder, and celery salt. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, yogurt and mustard. Fold mayonnaise mixture into chicken mixture and refrigerate. Serve on lettuce or croissant. {I served these on pitas}

Serves 6.