Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts

This another Sister's Cafe recipe! Can you tell I recently went through their archives? They have lots of wonderful recipes, so you should check them out. This marinade can be used on chicken, fish, or beef. I marinated these chicken breasts for 8 hours and they were loaded with flavor. It is a little on the saltier side as far as flavor, but my kids and I love salt so we loved this! Super simple meal and great for not heating up the house.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (I used vegetable)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons mustard ( I used dijon)
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic (I used one small clove)

Directions:

Mix well. Pour over meat, then let marinate for 6-8 hours in the fridge.

Southwestern Chicken Nachos

I found this recipe on the Sister's Cafe and switched it up a little. The original recipe has you cook the chicken in Pace Picante sauce, but I chose to use homemade salsa. The toppings you could add on this are endless. I think next time I'll add black olives and green onion too. Super simple and great for a busy day meal.

Ingredients:

1 small bag frozen corn
1 can black beans
2 large frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 16-oz jar medium salsa, such as Pace medium picante sauce (I used homemade salsa, recipe here)
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips
sour cream
chopped cilantro
diced avocado

(I also added lettuce and salsa, but I would recommend black olives and green onions too.)

Directions:
Pour bag of frozen corn in bottom of crockpot. Place frozen chicken breasts on top of corn and cover with rinsed and drained black beans and jar of medium salsa. Cook on high for 1 hour, and then on low for 4 hours. Shred chicken with forks. Serve with tortilla chips and add toppings to individual servings.

Grilled Cheese Supreme

So I saw an article in Better Homes and Garden magazine for variations of a grilled cheese sandwich and they looked so good, why hadn't I ever thought of it? I altered one of the recipes to my family's liking and it turned out really good. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

french bread, thinly sliced

monterey jack cheese

crispy bacon

sliced avacado

sliced tomato

1 Tb. mayo mixed with1 tsp. honey

butter

Directions:

Butter one side of each slice of bread. On the unbuttered side add the mayo/honey spread and top with cheese and remaining filling. In a skillet or griddle cook for 3-4 minutes per side over medium heat or until toasted to your liking and cheese is melted. 

Chicken Poppy Seed Salad

I found this recipe at the Sister's Cafe and adapted it slightly to our liking. This is a wonderful summer meal. It was very flavorful and filling and you don't have to heat up the house to make it! Probably not going to be a salad the kiddos will like but I just threw some hot dogs on the grill while I had it fired up.

Ingredients: (use the following to your liking)

chopped hearts of romaine

sliced grilled chicken, (grill with lots of lemon pepper seasoning)

sliced red onion

crumbled crispy bacon

shredded mozarella cheese

candied almonds, (heat sugar over medium heat till turns to liquid, then add sliced almonds and toss till coated, cool on wax paper)

the dressing: (I halved this recipe and I had tons left over)

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. dry mustard

2/3 cup red wine vinegar

3 Tb. vidalia onion, chopped

2 cups canola oil

3 Tb. poppy seeds

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a blender, then slowly add the oil. Blend until thick. Stir in poppy seeds. Top over the above salad and enjoy!

Questions Answered....

While I have not fallen off the face of the earth like some of you might think, I am just wrapping up the summer and adjusting back into a real schedule again. The summer was fun and very busy. I think we were either out of town or had family in town for the entire month of July. It's now August and school is back in session. I am hoping to catch back up to blogging again. My camera cord has been missing and I finally gave up looking and ordered a new one so hopefully my next post will be soon! And yes, I did remove the comments from my blog, only because I have a hard time getting back to your blogs to return the comment. You can always e-mail though if you have any questions. Thanks for sticking with me! Be back soon....

California Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

So before you think, gross veggie sandwich, (at least that's what I was thinking), you have to give this one a try! I promise you will not miss the meat, it has so much flavor, and GOOD flavor! I loved these so much that I served them at my 4th of July BBQ too. Oh yeah, and did I mention, super quick and super simple to make? Great summer time meal.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup mayonnaise 

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/8 cup olive oil

1 cup sliced red bell pepper

1 small zucchini, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

1 small yellow squash, sliced

ciabatta bread

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Mix mayo, garlic, and lemon juice together. Chill in refrigerator.

2. Brush veggies with olive oil and grill for about 3 minutes, turn and grill for an additional 3 minuted. (If you have a grill basket it is super handy for this meal.)

3. Spread mayo mixture on cut sides of bread and top with feta. Grill bread, cheese side up, until lightly toasted and cheese melts, BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN THEM!

4. Remove bread from grill and top with grilled veggies. These can be open faced or as a normal sandwich. Enjoy!

Marinated Grilled Shrimp

Some of you may or may not know my husband is doing P90X right now and there is a nutrition plan that goes along with it. If you've spent anytime on my blog then you know I am NOT a healthy cook! My husband has been after me to cook a few healthy meals a week for him and this is when this recipe came into play. He asked me to cook fish...well this is about as close to fish as it gets in my house. I don't eat sea creatures. They stink and they still look like the original creature when you buy them! I will however eat shrimp. It doesn't stink or have eyes looking at me when I buy it. Anyways, we grilled these up the other night and man were they good! Even my kids devoured them. These are definitely worth trying.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar 

2 Tbsp. fresh chopped basil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 lbs. shrimp, peeled and de-veined

Directions:

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Add shrimp, cover and refrigerate for an hour. Preheat grill to medium heat. Thread shrimp on skewers, piercing once near the tail and once near the head. Discard marinade. Lightly oil grill grate. Cook shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

We love buffalo chicken at our house, so when I ran across this recipes at allrecipes.com, I knew it was a must try. It's was a great busy day meal because it cooks in the crock pot. It was definitely too spicy for the kiddos but my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts

1 bottle of Frank's Red Hot BUFFALO Wing Sauce

1-2 Tbsp. dry Hidden Valley Ranch mix

2 Tbsp. butter

6 hoagie rolls

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker, and pour 3/4 of the wing sauce and the ranch dressing mix over top. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

Once the chicken has cooked, add the butter, then shred the meat with two forks. Pile the meat onto the hoagie rolls and add a splash of remaining sauce if desired.

*I topped ours with lettuce, tomato, mozzarella cheese and drizzled ranch dressing over each one. Yummo!

Yummy Fruit Dip

This is another dessert I made for the baby shower I threw a week or so ago. Super simple, only two ingredients!

                              

Ingredients:

1 7oz. container of marshmallow creme

1 8oz. container cream cheese, (I used plain, but you can use strawberry too)

Directions:

Using a hand mixer beat the two ingredients together until well combined. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Southwestern Rice Bowls

I found a recipe on favfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com for Southwestern Rice Bowls and I made my own variation of them. These were super good! Everyone in the family enjoyed them. I will definitely be making these again.

Ingredients:
Spanish Rice, prepared (click here for my recipe)
2 chicken breasts, cooked (cook in taco seasoning and chicken broth for about 4 hours in the crock pot, then dice or shred)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
shredded lettuce
shredded cheddar cheese
sliced black olives
tortilla chips, crumbled

Dressing:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. Hidden Valley Ranch mix
(mix above ingredients and chill)
Just prior to serving, add 1/3 cup homemade salsa (click here for my recipe) and mix till combined.

Directions:
1. Heat corn and black beans.
2. Layer the following in 3-4 bowls:
Spanish rice
black beans
corn
chicken
cheese
lettuce
olives
drizzle dressing over top and garnish with crushed tortilla chips, enjoy!