Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 pint sour cream
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 (10 inch) flour tortillas or gluten free
• 1 (12 ounce) jar taco sauce
• 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
 
Directions


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium, non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook chicken until no longer pink and juices run clear. Drain excess fat. Cube the chicken and return it to the skillet. Add the onion, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano and ground black pepper. Heat until cheese melts. Stir in salt, tomato sauce, water, chili powder, green pepper and garlic.
3. Roll even amounts of the mixture in the tortillas. Arrange in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with taco sauce and 3/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
Kitchen-Friendly View

• PREP 30 mins
• COOK 30 mins
• READY IN 1 hr 30 mins

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients

2 peppers -sliced

1 onion - sliced

1.5lbs chicken breast, boneless, skinless

1/2c. chicken broth

Taco Seasoning (either a packet or see below for homemade taco seasoning)

1 tsp salt

Mix everything into a freezer bag, make sure everything is coated evenly with seasonings before freezing.  NO NEED TO THAW…..Run the chicken mixture bag under running water until it thaws just enough to separate from the bag, place the frozen chicken mixture into the crockpot, cook on low for 4 hours. Shred chicken, serve in warm tortilla with cheese and sour cream.

White Chicken Chili

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can (14.5 oz) Great Northern beans

1 can (14.5 oz) Pinto beans

1 can (4.5 oz) green chilies

2 cups frozen corn

2 tsps cumin

1 tsp chipotle chili powder

1 tsp garlic spread (garlic cloves already prepared in a tube)

2 cups chicken broth

To prepare this meal without freezing it:

1.     Cut up chicken breasts into bite size pieces and place in crock pot.

2.    Add the remaining ingredients to the crock pot and cook on HIGH for 6-8 hours.

To prepare this meal as a freezer meal:

1.     Cook chicken breasts and then cut into bite size pieces. Allow the chicken to cool completely.

2.    Add ingredients to a gallon size bag.

3.    Add the cooked chicken to the gallon size bag. Make sure the chicken is cooled!

4.    Using a spoon stir the ingredients and seal the bag.

*Garnishes can include: grated cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips and/or tortillas.

*If you wish to thicken the chili you can do so by adding some flour or mashing some beans up and placing them in the crock pot. The flour and/or beans will cause the chili to thicken.

Parmesan Garlic Chicken

Source:  RecipeZaar.com
SERVES 6
Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated (I used Kraft Parmesan)
2/3 ounce italian salad dressing mix
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
Directions:
1.  Cooking Day:  Mix together cheese, garlic and italian dressing mix.  Dip chicken breasts into olive oil, then coat with cheese mixture.  Wrap each coated chicken breast individually, then place in freezer bag.  Seal, date, label and freeze.
2.  Serving Day:  Thaw completely.  Unwrap desired number of chicken breasts and place in greased baking dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes until chicken is tender and no longer pink.  Or grill.

Lentil Stew with Chicken Sausages

a family tradition, I don't really have or follow a recipe, so adjust as suits your family.

• 3 chicken sausages or one half Kielbasa
• 1 med onion
• 2 Carrots
• 3 celery stalks
• 3 cloves garlic
• 5 med potatoes
• 1 cup green lentils
• 4 cups chicken broth 
• Worcestershire/Tamari/Braggs/Fish Sauce to taste -- I usually use a few dashes of each

1. Cook your sausage of choice for a few minutes until brown, then remove 2. Dice onions, celery, carrots and saute in sausage grease, adding additional fat if needed, until soft. 3. Add garlic and cook one or two more minutes. 4. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the lentils and potatoes are tender 5. Return sausages to soup; add water to soup if thinning is needed. 6. Add umami seasonings to taste.

Note: I use a few different fermented sauces to help get a little deeper flavor in the stew. They add umami, which is one of the 5 basic tastes like sweet, sour, salty, bitter. Umami is the savory flavor you find in tomatoes, roasted meats, sausages and such.

Worcestershire is a fermented sauce made from anchovies, malt vinegar, molasses and a host of other goodies. Lea and Perrin's is the original, and in my mind, the best.

Tamari is a slightly different way of brewing soy sauce, which is fermented soybeans. I usully buy San-J.

Braggs Liquid Amino Acids is another soy based sauce. You can find it at most health food stores.

Fish Sauce is just what it sounds like - a fermented fish sauce. This is a key flavor and ingredient in Thai cooking. I don't use any particular brand, but check the Thai section at Wegmans or a health food store for a decent good one. Mine's all in Thai so I can't read it. A few dashes goes a LOOOOONG way, so a small bottle is a good pace to start.

Indian Chicken Curry

8 bone-in chicken breast halves, skinless salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 onions, peeled and quartered 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger root 1 teaspoon crushed garlic 1. Rinse chicken and pat dry; season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, then saute chicken until browned. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside. 2. Saute onions in skillet until translucent; add ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, then stir in curry powder. 3. Return chicken to skillet and add tomato sauce, coconut milk, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Season with salt to taste and stir all together. 4. Reduce heat to low and simmer until chicken is tender and cooked through (no longer pink inside), about 20 to 25 minutes.

1 tablespoon hot (Madras) curry powder 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce 1 (10 ounce) can coconut milk 4 whole cloves 4 pods cardamom 1 cinnamon stick salt to taste  This recipe comes from Allrecipes.com

Mary's Chicken Soup

I generally don’t follow a recipe for chicken soup.  I wrote down the amounts I used to make seven batches of it and divided the totals by seven...this is my best estimation.  I made the soup a little more brothy this time to compensate for the broth the noodles will take out when they cook.  This is a recipe in which you can really add any amount of veggies, broth, etc that you wish and season to taste, what I put is just general amounts.  I usually put a few strands of saffron in my soup as well as it adds a wonderful flavor that really brings everything together, but I did omit it this time as it’s an incredibly expensive ingredient.

9 cups chicken stock (“recipe” for stock is below soup recipe)
3+ chicken thighs, bones and skin removed and cut into pieces
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup celery
1.5 cups carrots, peeled and sliced
½ tsp+ Goya adobo (I used the kind with pepper.  If you don’t have this spice blend, salt works fine too)
¾ cup frozen corn
½ cup frozen peas
¼ tsp dried Rosemary
~2 cups dried egg noodles ( or use a gluten free noodle)

Pour stock in stockpot.  Add chicken, onion, celery, carrots, adobo and rosemary and simmer until carrots are soft.  Add frozen corn, peas, and egg noodles and cook additional 10 minutes or so.  Serve.


Stock:
Use the chicken bones from the chicken thighs, as well as any meaty/fatty bits you cut off of the thighs.  Don’t use the skin in your stock or it will make your stock too greasy.  Add the ends and peels from the onions and carrots, as well as the ends and leaves from your celery.  Add salt, bay leaf, peppercorns, etc.  Simmer for an hour or three and press and strain – I strain first with a colander, then strain that with a fine mesh colander. 
When cooking, I always save my onion butts, vegetable peels, leftover herbs, meat bones etc and put them in a baggie in my freezer – one for meat and one for veggies.  When they are full I make stock and freeze it in Ziploc plastic containers.  It’s a great way to add a nice boost of flavor to most recipes that call for water, and much cheaper than buying it in the store.