Category: Chicken

Chicken Leg Quarters with Potatoes and Green Beans

Chicken

Happy Monday! This time change has really thrown me for a loop this year. We had a really gross and cold morning; then the sun came out but the wind was really bad! Hopefully Spring is right around the corner, because I am missing nice nights out in the yard and watching practice without freezing to the bone!

I have not really been meal planning recently. We only have 2 nights a week without practice; Mondays and Fridays. I try to have a good pantry and fridge full of staples so I can throw together dinner when needed. Tonight I decided to cook a nice meal with some chicken I defrosted last night. I got these chicken quarters (legs and thighs) for $3.83 at Publix!

Chicken Leg Quarters with Potatoes and Green Beans

Ingredients

3 chicken quarters (legs and thighs connected)
1 onion, sliced in thin strips on its sides
3/4 pound of mini red and gold potatoes cut in half (some were really small so I kept them whole)
1 pound of green beans
salt, pepper, a bit of Mrs. Dash, olive oil, and LOTS OF BUTTER- I lost track on how much I used..sorry, not sorry

Directions

Heat your oven to 375

Brown your SEASONED chicken on both sides in a cast iron skillet on HIGH heat with a couple tablespoons of butter and olive oil (about 6 minutes on each side). I like using both. The flavor together is HEAVEN!You are going to have some smoke, but it is fine.

Now here is the weird part. While your chicken is cooking, heat a large dutch oven on med. high heat. You are going to use the cast iron to cook your beans later, plus you need more space. Trust me.

Now you are going to start cooking your onions and potatoes down a bit in the dutch oven until the chicken is browned on both sides, about 5 more minutes. Make sure to add more olive oil and butter as you see fit. Once the chicken is done, add it to the dutch oven. Add a splash of white wine, chicken stock, or water. Also add all the chicken juice from the cast iron pan. More butter is better, too.

Cook it all in the oven together for about an hour. The thermometer should read about 165. While the chicken is finishing, cook the beans in the cast iron skillet you browned the chicken in plus more butter. Cook for about 20 minutes.

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Chicken and Ricotta Lasagna

Chicken, Crockpot /Make Ahead Meals, Pasta

Happy hump day! This is a semi crockpot meal that I am super excited about and has given me a few ideas for future meals. It was SUPER easy…all I did was cook 3 chicken breasts in a crockpot with a jar of tomato basil sauce (use your favorite or what you have on hand) and a can of diced tomatoes. When I got home from work, I layered no bake noodles with the final chicken product (shredded) with ricotta and shredded mozzarella and cooked at 375 for 40 minutes. The chicken was so tender and that ricotta made the dish! Happy cooking!

Creamy Tomato Vodka Chicken Spagetti

Chicken, Pasta

Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue,
I have been in bed for 2 days,
Because of the Flu.

But the good news is that I am beginning to feel better and on a few drugs that are helping (Tami-flu, antibiotics, Day Quill, Nigh Quill).

I made this dish a few days ago before the sickness, and it turned out super yummy. I have made home made vodka sauce on the blog before. It was super easy, but I recently bought some jarred sauces that were on sale and one of them was a vodka tomato sauce. I also had a can of diced tomatoes that I decided to add in to the mix. Here is how it all came together.

Ingredients

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 pound of spaghetti (or whatever pasta you have)
1/2 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar of tomato vodka sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

Salt and pepper the chicken and cook quickly on high heat, about 3 minutes each side. Removed from pan. Cut in sliced or cubes. Chicken is not done yet…

Turn down the heat to medium- medium high. Add chopped onion in a bit of olive oil and cook down for a couple of minutes. Add in the garlic. Saute both together. Then add in your sauce and tomatoes. Mix well.

Add back in your chicken. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook pasta until al dente.

Add your butter and heavy cream to the sauce. Mix well, then add in your pasta to combine. Serve with some crusty buttered bread. Enjoy!

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Wings 2 Ways and Thyme Potatoes

Chicken, Dips, Dressings, and Spreads, potatoes

Hey guys! Wing night was a hit per usual! I typically separate the wings myself or have the hubby do it, but this time I made the butcher do it. That is the hardest part. I like to try new concoctions with my wing sauce, so here is what I made this time…

Buffalo Sauce- 1 stick of butter melted, an entire bottle of hot sauce (mine was not full, so I added a bit of the Piri-Piri sauce), a few squirts of honey, and a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I dipped mine in some blue cheese at the end. Classic combo to me, but if you prefer Ranch, I guess that is ok =)

Teriyaki-Sesame- I didn’t measure. I sort of just used up a little bit of this and that from my Asian pantry plus some honey to add a touch of sweetness. The only extra thing I put in the sauce that is not pictured was the last of the hoisin that I had already rinsed out and recycled. I added a bit of minced garlic as well.

Some people brush the chicken with the sauce, but I just cook mine plain with olive oil and season them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I prepare the sauces while I am cooking the chicken and then when they are done, I coat them in the sauce. I always leave a few plain ones for the girls, although Becca really liked the Teriyaki-Sesame flavoring.  They cooked at 400 for about 50 minutes.  Only 3 wings were left. 

As I was making the wings it dawned on me that we needed something else to go with them, so I  found some red potatoes in the pantry. I cut them in thin slices, coated them with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and  fresh thyme. I put a few pats of butter in my cast iron and a bit more oil and fried up them up until browned and crispy on the outside and cooked through on the inside, about 20 minutes. There were no leftovers…

Marinated Paprika Chicken and Veggies

Chicken, Side dishes...veggies, potatoes, grains

How is today only Wednesday? The days seem slow and the evenings seem too fast! I guess that is how it always is, though. I haven’t really had a chance to sit down until now to do some blogging, so I figured I would do a little catch-up.

Monday night I made this yummy chicken and veggie dinner. We eat chicken a lot, so I love playing around with spice combinations and cooking techniques. You could add some heat to this by adding in some chili powder or red pepper flakes if you wanted to, but since my girls are not yet spicy fans, I omitted those.

Here is how it went down…

I first started out by marinating my chicken in olive oil and some spices.  I kind of just eyeballed everything, but for 5 boneless skinless chicken thighs I used about 1 heaping tablespoon paprika, 1 1/2 teaspoons each of garlic powder, onion powder, 3 stems of fresh thyme, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. I let that marinate for about 30 minutes.

While I was waiting on the chicken, I chopped up all my veggies; broccoli, purple cauliflower, and small yellow potatoes. I rubbed them all in olive oil and salt and pepper. I roasted them all on a sheet pan at 400 for about 40 minutes. I did take the broccoli out earlier, because it was pretty thin and cooked faster. Just keep your eyes on them every once in a while.

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While the veggies roasted, I heated up my cast iron pan to high. I cooked my chicken on each side until brown and the inside temperature came to 165. It turned out moist and full of flavor.img_1045