Bruschetta Chicken Bake

YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY! This recipe was delicious. We all pigged out on it and probably don’t have enough for leftovers tomorrow. We are going to have to make this often! Another great one from the Lancaster Family Recipe book and from Zach’s aunt Donna. It’s quick, easy, and so good!

Zach: “Two thumbs up”

JT: “I really like the tomatoes”

14 ½ oz can diced tomatoes, undrained                      

1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken, breasts cut into pieces

1- 16 oz. pkg. Stove Top Stuffing Mix, for chicken               

1 tsp. dried basil

½ cup water                                                                

1 cup shredded Mozarella cheese

2 cloves garlic (of course)

Preheat oven to 375.  Place tomatoes with their liquid in a medium bowl.  Add stuffing mix, water and garlic; stir just until stuffing mix is moistened.  Set aside.  Place chicken in 9 x 13 baking dish; sprinkle with the basil and cheese.  Top with the stuffing mixture.  Bake 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Makes 6 servings.

For sides I heated some French style green beans and made some instant mashed potatoes. Talk about easy! I also bought the wrong tomatoes for this recipe so I used rotel instead, which turned out great because we all enjoy a little spicy in our meals! :)

Crock Pot: Chicken ala Sunday

Another great recipe from the Lancaster Family Recipe book! I realized last night after cooking this that most of the recipes in the book are “chicken” recipes. I love chicken!

Zach: “Very good” (He had 2 huge helpings of it!)

JT: “It’s yummy.”

Chicken ala Sunday

5 chicken breasts

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix

1 pkg cream cheese

Line outer edge of crock-pot with chicken breasts. Put soup in the middle. Break up the cream cheese into about 8 pieces and put on the soup. Sprinkle Italian dressing mix over all. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours. Serve with rice.

This was a great day to make this recipe. Will has been sick and requires a lot of attention right now. So this was quick and easy to make for last night! I did put the rice in about 15 mins before it was finished and Zach actually liked that better. We used the minute rice. The chicken shreds apart very easily after it is cooked, so JT didn’t even need his cut up! Here is the final picture before the chicken was shred.

Hope you all enjoy as much as we did!

Chicken Spaghetti

We have used the same chicken spaghetti recipe in my family for years now. My mom and I LOVE it, but it is very unhealthy and has TONS of cheese. Zach doesn't like that much cheese so I thought I would try this Chicken Spaghetti recipe out from the "Lancaster Family Recipe" book. It was delicious!

Zach: "Way better than the cheesy version."

JT: "It is really good!"

CHICKEN  SPAGHETTI          

10 chicken thighs  OR    

       6 large chicken breast halves                             

12 oz. pkg. thin spaghetti

 1 ½  Tablespoon Chili powder

1 (10 oz) can Tomato Soup, undiluted

2/3 cup chopped onion                                  

 1 (10 oz) can Cr. of Chicken soup, undiluted

1/3 cup green pepper, chopped                       

1 ½  cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 stick margarine                                            

2 to 2 ½ cups broth (from cooking)

Wash chicken, put in med. saucepan.  Add water to just cover chicken.  Add ½ teaspoon salt.  Boil for 1 hour.  Remove chicken from broth (save broth).  Let chicken cool 15 minutes.  Debone & cut up.  In a large 4 quart saucepan, saute onion & green pepper in margarine.  Add all ingredients to pan, except spaghetti.  Mix well.  Should be a little soupy.

Cook 12 oz  package of thin spaghetti noodles, lightly salted.  Mix one-half  of the above sauce with noodles.  Pour in a 9 x 13 sprayed dish.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees until hot – about 25 to 30 minutes.

(FREEZE THE REMAINING SAUCE FOR UP TO 4 MONTHS.)

This does make double the amount of sauce you need, so if you don't like to freeze things and use them later, just cut the recipe in half! We went ahead and froze our extra and got an extra pkg of noodles for next time! :)

Chili

I promise I have been cooking! I just have not had much spare time to post the recipes here. :) So tonight, I will try to catch up. We had Chili tonight. It was great! I went ahead and made the chili recipe in the "Lancaster Family Recipe" cookbook, then made frito Chili Pies. Yummy!

The Verdict:

Zach: "Thumbs Up! Needed a little more spice." 

JT: "Very Good, it makes me strong." 

Chili

1 ¼ to 1 ½ lbs. ground round or chuck                     

 1-15 oz. can pinto beans (optional)

1/3 cup chopped onion                                               

1 pkg. McCormick Original Chili Seasoning

1-15 oz. can diced tomatoes                                     

 1-64 oz. can tomato juice (set aside 1 ½ cups)       

Crumble meat in skillet, sprinkle with ¼ t. salt.  Add onion and cook until done.  Drain well.  In 3 quart saucepan, mix all ingredients except the  1 ½ cups tomato juice.  If you want more liquid, add some of the reserved tomato juice.  Bring to a boil, turn heat down and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Good over cooked macaroni.

Can also put in the crock pot and cook on low for 4 hours.

I followed the recipe exactly this time... and added the fritos and Cheddar Cheese to make our pies. It was very good. We will make this again soon!

I LOVE CHEESE!