Homemade Chicken Chimichangas
Chicken Chimichangas are a favorite from the frozen food isle but the frozen variety has a lot of extra fat and preservatives that you do not want. These homemade chicken chimichangas are super simple to make and can be created to fit your family’s tastes. This easy mexican recipe can be frozen so you have it on hand for a quick weeknight dinner. While the ingredients in these may be simple but the flavor combination is fantastic. The mouth watering smell alone is enough to bring the whole family to the table.
Chicken and Cream Cheese Pockets
I like to try new recipes but my family has a few favorites that we make on a regular basis because they are either easy or tasty. These chicken and cream cheese pockets are both. This simple recipe can be adapted to fit your family’s food preferences and changed to add variety to your menu plan.
Chicken Marsala
This chicken marsala recipe is the one I’ve been asked for the most and for the longest time, going on nearly a decade. It’s a deceptively easy chicken dish to make, though time consuming, and very much worth the effort. This is not your cafeteria chicken marsala. For starters, marsala sauce isn’t a cream sauce. It’s a wine sauce with butter and mushrooms that elevates meer chicken breast to something absolutely decadent. This makes for a fabulous dish for entertaining but also one that’s easy enough to make that it is a great Sunday dinner dish as well. Serve this on a platter covered in mushrooms and sauce and no one will even remember that it’s a holiday centered around a different bird.
Crock Pot Chicken Paprikash
As the weather cools our tastebuds year for soups and stews and all the warm goodness that they bring. This version of chicken paprikash is super easy, smells wonderful as it cooks and can take advantage of the often very cheap boneless skinless chicken thighs. The darker meat brings an incredible flavor boost to this dish without adding too much heaviness or nutritional tradeoffs as long as you trim it and skim it. The meltingly tender chicken swimming in pink-tinged gravy enriched by sour cream and served on a bed of egg noodles is entirely worth the minimal effort that this meal takes to put together.
Grilled Chicken Fajitas
In my family there are a few dishes we fall back on when nothing else sounds good, it’s hot, or we don’t think my dad would be happy with anything else. Fajitas is one dish that satisfies when little else will and has the added bonus of being adaptable to just about any dietary restrictions that we might be dealing with at the time. There is an alchemy inherent in grilled chicken or beef and vegetables wrapped in a warm tortilla that makes the whole far greater than the sum of its parts and thus generally appealing in nearly any form. This simple marinade takes grilled chicken breast from plain to shining and balances very well with the flavors of the grilled veggies it accompanies.
Chicken and Artichoke Whole Grain Casserole
Casseroles. They very rarely photograph well, but they are the backbone of the comfort food family. Just about everyone I know grew up with some form of a creamy chicken and rice casserole, usually made with canned mushroom soup and covered in cheese or crumbs or both and equally usually devoid of vegetable contributions. There’s nothing wrong with those, and they certainly are good, but this version takes the idea a little further with the inclusion of brown rice, millet and lentils instead of plain white rice, a rich-tasting sauce made of nutrional yeast and artichokes and finished with perfectly cooked chicken and a crispy crumb layer. It’s creamy, crunchy, rich and light at the same time, comforting and easily adapted to several variations depending on what’s available.
Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and dumplings is a classic comfort food and this version benefits from the slow, even heat and hands off nature of crock pot cooking. This comes together easily and makes a huge batch with leftovers that take well to freezing, assuming you have any after a day or two. Whenever I make this for my family it tends to be the leftovers that disappear before they make it to the freezer. Falling apart chicken in a stew with tender dumplings–what’s not to like?
Homemade Chicken Nuggets
Chicken nuggets are a kid staple. Most of the fast food and store bought versions contain a lot of added fat and extra preservatives that kids do not need. Kids can easily make their own chicken nuggets at home with this simple and fun recipe.
Thai Chicken Wraps
This was posted over at An Ordinary Mom and they are fabulous. My 4 year old has been a very picky eater lately so I didn’t think there was a chance that he would eat it but I just let him fill his own tortilla and gave him the option of ranch or “peanut butter sauce” and he picked the peanut sauce and ate every last bit.
Peanut Chicken with Linguini
This recipe is really easy to make and makes a wonderful, quick dinner. If you aren’t used to cooking with garlic and ginger I highly recommend giving it a try. It isn’t as scary as you look. You can just use a cheese grater to grate the ginger or you can chop it by hand. Garlic can be easily peeled and chopped or placed in a garlic press. Both of them stay fresh for a long time in the fridge so you can have them on hand when you need them.
