Chef Lisa

This took me about 15 minutes to put together, including gathering all the equipment, ingredients and cutting up the ham and chicken. I love meals like this. It was a hit with the family too.

Ham & Chicken Marinara

 
Serves 6

3/4 pound cooked chicken — diced small
1/4 pound Canadian bacon — diced small
28 ounces marinara sauce
1/2 cup alfredo sauce
4 ounces cream cheese
2 cups egg noodles, medium, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 2 quart casserole (with a lid) with non-stick cooking spray. (Don’t spray the lid.)

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir until well combined. Pour into the casserole and bake, covered, for 55 minutes or until pasta is cooked.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 309 Calories; 18g Fat (42.5% calories from fat); 28g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 112mg Cholesterol; 1026mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Fat.

With the weather getting hot here (high of 91 F today), I’m searching for dishes that don’t involve a lot of cooking, or can be cooked on the grill. This dish certainly fit the bill. It’s based on the Cajun Chicken Salad recipe from 500 Low Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender. It’s ideal, I think, for a picnic or other summer meal, as it’s got an oil and vinegar dressing, rather than mayo, so you don’t have to be quite as concerned abuot it sitting out.

The recipe as I have it below makes the perfect amount for a single meal for my family – two adults and two monkeys children. It tastes great with the chicken fresh off the grill, but we suspect it will be even better if made in the morning and then allowed to chill in the fridge until supper.

Summer Chicken Salad

 
Serves 2 adults and 2 kids

3 chicken breast halves
your favorite grill seasoning
1 green bell pepper, sliced thin
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 a small red onion, sliced thin
2 tbsp dijon mustard
4 tbsp wine vinegar (I used half white wine, half red wine)
2 heaping tsp minced garlic
2 tsp dried tarragon
1/3 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Season the chicken breast halves with your favorite grill seasoning and grill, broil or saute the chicken until cooked through.

Put the bell peppers and onion in a large bowl.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the mustard, vinegar, garlic and tarragon. Add the oil, whisking so that everything combines.

Slice the chicken into 1/4″ strips and add to the bell peppers and onion. Pour the dressing over everything and mix well.

The menu for yesterday had “grilled chicken and salad” for supper. So informative and helpful, I know. The salad was easy, as I had a Caesar salad kit in the fridge (got those on sale for half price). I had several different kinds of chicken in the freezer, but I decided to go with the drumsticks. When they were thawed, I sprinkled jerk seasoning on it and let it sit at room temperature for half an hour. That acted as both a quick marinade, plus getting the meat to room temp makes it cook more evenly.

I’ve also kind of been craving potato salad, but I was feeling too lazy to make any. I decided to grill the potatoes instead. I took the potatoes (Klondike Rose – the red skinned yellow-fleshed potatoes) and sliced them about 1/4″ thick. I tossed them in a bowl with a bit of oil, salt and pepper. Then I sliced up a Vidalia onion (those were on sale too last week) into thick rings.

To cook, I just put everything on the grill at high to medium high heat. (This is a brand new grill, and we’re still learning its quirks.) By the time the chicken was cooked, the potatoes and onions were done.

Everything turned out well. I won’t get that brand of jerk seasoning again, as I feel it was more hot than flavorful (and the first ingredient on the list was sugar, which I didn’t realize until I looked to see why the chicken was charring so quickly). I’m also going to put garlic powder in with the potatoes next time, and drizzle a bit of oil on the onions, as they really stuck to the grill.

And there will be a next time for both the onions and the potatoes, and the monkeys gave them two thumbs up.

After some experimentation, I’ve come up with a recipe that I like. I started with the Best Ever Muffins recipe, and added diced cooked chicken, cheese crumbles, and bacon. The basic batter is sweet, rather than savory, so I added some garlic powder. They turned out pretty good, and Matt takes one with him to work.

This recipe makes 6 jumbo sized muffins.

Chicken & Cheese Breakfast Muffins

 
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup diced cooked chicken
1 cup cheese crumbles
1/2 cup bacon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and spray the jumbo muffin tin with no-stick cooking spray.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until about half mixed.

Add in chicken, bacon and cheese and stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy.

Divide the batter equally between the six jumbo muffin cups and abke for about 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

We had these for supper on Wednesday night. I wasn’t sure they were going to work out because the batter was just so soupy. It looked rather unappetizing too. And you know what? I just realized I forgot to put the salt and pepper in. I used Jiffy mix, as it was on sale, instead of Bisquick. The biscuits turned out very soft, more like a dumpling than a biscuit. Next time, I will use Bisquick to see if the mix makes a difference, or if I need to cut back on the amount of milk being used.

Chicken Honey Mustard Biscuits

 
Serves 4

3 cups baking mix, such as Bisquick
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded carrots
3-4 scallions, thinly sliced on a bias
1 small zucchini, shredded
1 1/2 cups shredded chicken
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Salt and ground black pepper

Pre-heat oven to 425ºF.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the baking mix and milk until almost completely mixed. Add the carrot, scallions, zucchini, chicken, honey, mustard, half of the cheese, some salt and pepper, and continue mixing until evenly combined.

Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, deposit the mixture into 2-inch rounds (just eyeball it) onto two greased baking sheets. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the biscuits and bake until golden brown and the cheese has melted, 15-18 minutes.