Chicken Parmesan (Crockpot)

Thanks to "A year of slow cooking" for this Chicken Parmesan recipe.

The Ingredients:
--2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

--1/2 cup bread crumbs

--1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

--1/2 t Italian Seasoning

--1/4 t black pepper

--1/4 t kosher salt

--1 T olive oil

--1 beaten egg

--sliced mozzarella cheese

--favorite jarred marinara sauce
(we used Paul Newman's marinara sauce which was really nice)

The Directions:

--spread the 1 T of olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot stoneware insert

--whip the egg with a fork in a separate bowl

--mix bread crumbs, seasonings and Parmesan cheese in a separate dish

--dip the chicken into the egg, then bread crumbs, coating both sides

--place the chicken breast pieces in the bottom of the crock

--layer slices of mozzarella cheese on top

--cover with entire jar of marinara sauce

--close lid and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4.
If your chicken is still frozen, it will take longer.

Serve over your favorite pasta. Also served with steamed carrots.

The Verdict.

This tasted great, was really easy, and presented well. This is definitely a dish you can serve to company without hesitation.

Breaded Chicken

We started a hump day family dinner night. I had leftover chicken, and by pounding it and breading it, the chicken stretched to feed all of us. And yummy. Even the girls liked it.

Ingredients
Skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 egg
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Italian-style bread crumbs (bread crumbs, oregano, basil, black pepper)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried onions

Directions
Preheat over to 375F and spray baking dish.
Pound chicken breast.
Beat egg and add a little water.
Mix dry ingredients together.
Dip chicken in egg mix, then dip in crumb mixture until well covered.
Bake about 20 - 30 minutes until cooked thoroughly.

Serve with spaghetti and sauce. Sprinkle top with Parmesan.

From the recipe Spark Recipes for Breaded Chicken Parmesan

Creamy Italian Chicken (aka Bay of Chicken)

Fam over for dinner so I thought I'd do a crockpot so that we could spend more time together and less in the kitchen. It was a HOT day so I tried something new and put the crockpot outside. When I say hot, it was already reaching the 90s at 9am. This worked out brilliant and I'll do it again. Yes, I know the crockpot doesn't radiate a lot of heat but even a little bit helps when it's a 104 degrees outside.

Creamy Italian Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
bag of brocolli and cauliflower
1 envelope Italina salad dressing mix*
1/4 water
1 pkg 8oz cream cheese
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
a little milk to make sauce less thick if needed
1 cup mushrooms
hot cooked rice or noodles (like bowtie, penne, etc...)

*homemade seasonings: 1/3 cup Parmasan cheese, 1 Tbl garlic powder (or crushed garlic), 1 Tbl onion powder, 1 Tbl paprika, 1 Tbl Italian seasonings, 1 Tbl basil, 1 Tbl oregeno, 1 Tbl crushed black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt

1. place chicken and veggies in crockpot
2. combine seasonin mix and water; pour over chicken
3. cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.
4. In small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and soup until blended; stir in mushrooms
5. pour over chicken and cook another hour
6. server over rice or noodles

So this recipe got it alias "Bay of Chicken" because in my overzealousness to make the seasonings myself I confused fresh dried bay leaves for basil leaves. They both start with b but only one can be eaten while the other is strictly adds flavor and should be pulled out prior to eating. It tasted wonderfully but we had to pick out the pieces of bay leaves that I managed to crush really, realy small. Note to self for next time.

Campbell's Chicken & Rice Casserole

Easy to make and feeds a family. Campbell's, mmm mmm good.

Ingredients
1 can Campbell's creame of... soup (I prefer mushroom)
1-1/2 cup water
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cup fresh or frozen vegetables (brocolli, cauliflower, peas, diced carrots, etc...)
4 skinless, boneless chiicken breast halves
1/2 cup shredded cheese (horseradish cheddar is wonderful)
1/3 cup French's fried onions

Steps
1. Preheat oven 375.
2. Stir soup, water, rice, onion powder, pepper and veggies in an 11"x8"shallow baking dish.
3. Flatten chicken a bit to help it cooken evenly.
4. Top with chicken. Season chicken as desired.
5. Cover with foil and bake 45-50 minutes or unitl chicken and rice are done.
6. Uncover, top with fried onions and bake for another 5 minutes.
7. Top with cheese and let stand 10 min. Stir rice before serving.

Chicken Fajita Enchiladas

I'd been hankering enchiladas for awhile and having some left over bell peppers in the house from a fabulous stir fry Marc made the other night I decided to try make Chicken Fajita Enchiladas. If you haven't noticed "left overs" is how my dishes get created. Have I mentioned yet how Marc will say "Wow, this one is fantastic... only we'll never have it again will we?"

What I love about enchiladas, which ponders the question why I haven't made them, is that they're simple and a change from what we're usually have. Growing up, Mom made these - although ours were cheese enchiladas since we were picky-eaters. I ran across a great story on the Internet that brought back memories of her making them with me standing by her helping (or getting in the way depending on who you ask). Although we're Jewish she took the time to pre-cook the tortillas just like the Mother below.

Enchiladas were a family staple growing up, though thankfully this cheese enchilada recipe has much less fat in it these days. Mom tells the story about how in the Sixties my Aunt Josephine went out to eat at a new supposedly Mexican food restaurant in Boston, only to be fed enchiladas where the corn tortillas had been taken out of a package and had not been fried before being cooked with cheese and sauce. (You have to pre-cook the tortillas to soften them up and give them more flavor.) She then went into the restaurant's kitchen and taught the chef how to properly make an enchilada. My aunt and my mother, both fifth generation Hispanic Arizonians, learned this recipe from my grandmother.

Ingredients
Cooking spray
12 whole wheat tortillas
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 cup of salsa
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1 14.5-oz can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup water
cooked shredded chicken
bell peppers (red, yellow and green), diced
small eggplant, bite size pieces
1 lb of fat-fat cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup fat-free mozzarella cheese
fat-fat sour cream

Steps
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
2. Spray a large pan and at high heat add a tortilla. Cook 2-3 seconds, lift up the tortilla with a fork and add another tortilla underneath. Cook 2-3 seconds, lift again both tortillas and add another tortilla underneath. Repeat the process with all the tortillas, adding a little more oil as needed. As the tortillas brown a little, remove from the pan one by one. This allows the tortillas to brown and soften, developing the flavor of the tortillas without adding fat.
3. Sauté the chopped onion and garlic in a medium size pot. Lower heat to medium and add salsa, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and water.
4. In the pan used for pre-heating the tortillas, sauté the peppers and eggplant until tender. Add chicken and cook another7 minutes.
5. Spray the bottom of a large casserole pan. Take a tortilla, lightly cover with chicken mix then cheddar cheese. Roll up tortilla and place in casserole pan, seem side down. Continue until all the tortillas are filled and rolled. Add sauce to the top of the tortillas in the the casserole pan, making sure all are covered. Cover enchilada with the mozzarella cheese.
6. Put the casserole in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.
7. Garnish with sour cream.

Preparation time: 30 minutes. Serves 4.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Using a Crockpot slow cooks the ingredients, making it very tender. A Crockpot also makes a big pot for serving a lot of people, or leftovers another day. And speaking of leftovers, we made some tasty 'Sweet & Sour Chicken' bagel pizzas with the ingredients accompanied with the sauce which made an excellent tomato-like soup.

Ingredients
2/3 chicken breast, 1/3 chicken thigh - browned
carrots, onions and celery
can vegetable broth
can stewed tomatoes
4 T soy sauce
2 T all spice
2 T pepper
chopped ginger
pineapple
red pepper

Steps
1. Place chicken on bottom of crockpot and top with carrots, onions and celery.
2. Top with broth, tomatoes, soy sauce, all spice, pepper and ginger.
3. Cook on low 8 hours, high 4 hours.
4. When ready, add cut up pineapple and red peppers and cook another 15 minutes.
5. Server over rice.