Five Easy Chicken Dinners

These five chicken dinners are easy to make, very inexpensive, and are either fast or can be done in a crock pot. They all call for staple ingredients you are likely to have on hand, so these are good Desperation Dinners. Not only that, they could be made ahead of time and frozen for those nights you just don't feel like cooking!

#1 - Mushroom Gravy Chicken
#2 - Oniony Legs
#3 - Crock-Pot Couscous Chicken
#4 - Chicken Soup
#5 - Chicken Parmesan

#1 Mushroom Gravy Chicken

Ingredients (can be doubled)
- 1lb diced chicken
- 2 cups white rice (If using basmati, rinse well first)
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 3 1/2 cups water or chicken broth.
- 1/2 package frozen peas or other frozen vegetable
- salt, pepper, sage, thyme (or any other spices you like)

Directions
Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray (or use a disposable foil pan). Rice goes in the bottom, layer chicken and frozen peas on top, then spices. Dollop the mushroom soup on top. Add the water or chicken broth. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until rice is soft and chicken is cooked. Can be fully cooked in advance and frozen for several weeks. To prepare, remove from freezer the night before and thaw in refrigerator. When fully thawed, bake for 25-40 minutes (until piping hot).

#2 Oniony Legs with Potatoes and Veggies

Ingredients
- Large Package of Chicken Legs
- Onion Soup Mix
- French Fries or Tater Tots
- Package of FROZEN mixed stir-fry vegetables
- Shredded Cheese (optional)

Directions
You'll need two 9x13 pans (stoneware works well) and a large plastic zipper-type bag. Spray one of the pans with non-stick spray. Rinse the chicken thoroughly. Dump a package of onion soup mix in the plastic bag. Add a piece of chicken, shake, and remove. Place the chicken in greased pan, and repeat until all of the chicken legs are done. Place the french fries and frozen vegetables in the same pan. Bake the chicken legs for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Add the potatoes, and adjust the temperature to whatever package directions say they should be cooked at. Finish baking for another 20 minutes. Watch that the potatoes don't burn, and the chicken gets done! Add cheese during the last minute or two of cooking. If you have extra chicken, shred it to make sandwiches, save for chicken soup (below) or freeze for a midnight snack!

#3 Crock-Pot Chicken Stew

Ingredients
- 5 or 6 chicken thighs
- Any frozen vegetable
- Onion (if you don't want to chop, add 1/4 to 1/2 package of frozen onions)
- Can of Mushrooms
- Chicken Broth
- Water
- Couscous (how much will depend on your crockpot/# of chicken pieces)
- Seasonings

Directions
Rinse chicken thighs. Place in crockpot with a package of frozen vegetables, onion, a can of mushrooms, and a can of chicken broth. Depending on size of your crockpot, you may need to add a little water. Season to taste - I use tumeric and cumin, but sometimes I like sage and parsley! Cook on high for 4+ hours or low all day. Half an hour before eating, turn off the crockpot and add couscous until there's only a little bit of liquid left. Stir well, and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork, and serve.

#4 - Chicken Soup

Ingredients
- Chicken Pieces
- Any frozen vegetable
- Onions, Peppers, Mushrooms
- Egg Noodles
- Chicken Broth or Boullion Cube (optional, see below)
- Water
- Crackers

Directions

There are two ways to do this. The easy way is to simply cut chicken meat from the bones, toss the bones, and add a can of broth or boullion cube to the water. The hard but more frugal way is to take chicken bones that still have meat on them and boil them for a few hours. Toss in some onion skins, garlic, and tomatoes for GREAT flavor. Strain, reserving the broth, and pick the meat from the bones.

You're going to need a big pot for this, and it should be about 3/4 full of liquid and meat. Once you've got the meat in the pot, add either broth or water + boullion cube, or a combination of both until it's 3/4 full. Then add the vegetables. Let it cook for half an hour on medium-high heat. Add the egg noodles and cook according to package directions.

Chicken Soup can be frozen for several weeks. It's especially good if frozen in individual servings!

#5 - Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients
- 6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts OR 6 breaded chicken-breast patties
- Pasta Sauce
- Parmesan Cheese
- Other cheeses, if you like
- Cooked Pasta

Directions
Bake chicken breasts for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until they read 165 degrees on a meat thermometer. (If using patties, cook according to package directions). While they're cooking, prepare whatever pasta you like. Spaghetti, macaroni, or bow-ties are all excellent. When the breasts are done, add a can (or more) of pasta sauce. Top with cheese(s) and cook another 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and sauce is heated through. Serve over pasta.

I hope you enjoy these recipes! Please try them out, and then comment so I know if you liked them!


By Kathi

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Easy Appetizers for Festive Entertaining

Today's busy lifestyles mean that playing host or hostess to guests is sometimes trying. If giving a dinner or party, you don't have to break the bank with a caterer, or spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Instead of fretting over your party or sweating over the small stuff, make sure you have a collection of easy recipes to make and serve.

If your party is themed, it's easy to tailor your appetizer menu to your dinner menu. For something new, try a tapas, or appetizer party or dinner. Offer several different cold and hot items, many of which can be made days in advance. For the sake of simplicity, these recipes are from an appetizer-type dinner that I have served several times.

Cheese - you can provide a traditional cheese tray and accompanying crackers and flatbread, with a showcase of something out of the ordinary. To take your cheese appetizer to another level, consider a warm cheese presentation. Many great artisan cheeses do well as a baked appetizer, such as brie, Camenbert, or Humboldt Fog. Bake the cheese in a small, oven-safe dish at low temperature, approximately 325 degrees. Before serving, dust with bread crumbs, sliced saut?ed mushrooms or strawberry jam.

Meatballs - everyone loves meatballs, and here you can take pre-made frozen meatballs and dress them up to fit your dinner menu or mood. Meatballs can be heated in a crockpot or slow cooking oven. The only thing you have to decide is what sauce to put on them. The choices include brown gravy, teriyaki sauce, sweet and sour sauce, spaghetti sauce, or others. My favorite sauce is a combination of grape jelly and chili sauce, giving both a sweet and tangy flavor.

Bruschetta - these small toast points topped with a variety of ingredients are a bit more time consuming to produce, but you'll wow your guests. Take a loaf of crusty French bread and cut into thin slices. Common toppings include basil, garlic and tomato in olive oil, saut?ed mushrooms, olive tapenade (chopped olives and garlic), artichokes, and even roast beef. Before popping under the broiler (takes only a minute or so), sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. These can be served hot or cold.

Cerviche - if serving a menu from south of the border, consider making and serving a cerviche in addition to the usual chips and salsa or cheese. Cerviche is like salsa with an addition of seafood. Usually the seafood is raw, as marinating in the tomatoes and lime juice is enough to cook the raw seafood. However, if you feel queasy about serving raw fish, parboil the seafood for a minute or two before adding to the rest of the cerviche.

Seafood - of course, it's very festive to serve a cold seafood platter. If you want to venture into serving something a little different, make small, bite sized crab cakes. The actual crab cakes can be made the day before, and kept chilled until party day. When serving crab cakes as an appetizer, make them very small, using a teaspoon to measure them out. Crab cakes can be fried, or for ease, put them on a greased baking sheet and bake for about ten minutes.

Grilled meats and vegetables - the great thing about serving grilled vegetables is that you can do the prep work and cooking a couple of days in advance. Grilled vegetables are great even when cold. Vegetables to consider include, Portobello mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, onions, potatoes, asparagus and Brussels sprouts. Serve grilled vegetables with ranch dressing. The same preparation goes for grilled meats. For appetizer portions, use small wooden skewers. Good meats to use include beef, chicken and pork, but you can also use shrimp. Leave without sauce, or grill with teriyaki or barbecue sauce.
One of my favorite appetizers to make is a crab stuffed mushroom. Take small medium sized button or Crimini mushrooms; remove the stems and wash. If you have a favorite crab cake recipe, use that as your stuffing. Spoon a bit of the stuffing onto your mushrooms. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and bake in a 350 degree oven for about ten minutes.

It takes a little forethought, but very little work to offer your guests an amazing an festive appetizer array.



By Joanne Huspek

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Easy Recipes for the Holidays

The holidays are a wonderful time of year. Theyre a time to share with family and friends and of course a time to eat. All families have wonderful recipes that are shared and passed on from generation to generation. Here are a couple of recipes that my family always makes during the holidays.

The first recipe is for Corn Casserole. If you like corn but are sick of the plain old way of making it, this recipe is for you. Plus, its extremely simple to make. The ingredients are: 1 can cream style corn 1 can whole kernel corn (with liquid) 2 eggs 1 box of Jiffy cornmeal muffin mix 1 stick of margarine 1 cup of sour cream Mix all of the ingredients together and bake in a greased 8 ? x 11 dish at 350 degrees for 40 minutes to an hour. At 40 minutes take the corn casserole out of the oven and stick a toothpick in the center. Pull the toothpick out and check to see if its clean. If some corn casserole comes off on the toothpick, then stick it back in the over for another 5 minutes. Keep checking the casserole until the toothpick comes out clean. This is a great way to tell when youre food is ready to be taken out of the oven. You can also use this tip while baking a cake. A couple of hints for making this recipe even easier, if thats at all possible, are to melt the butter and beat the eggs before adding them to all of the other ingredients. You can either melt the butter on the stove in a sauce pan or put it in the microwave. I prefer the microwave. Its a lot easier and faster. Be sure to cut the butter into little squares before putting it in the sauce pan or the microwave. This way it melts a lot faster. To serve your corn casserole all you need to do is spoon it onto your plate. It is extremely easy to serve and excellent to eat. If youre lucky enough to have any leftovers, just put a piece into the microwave with a little bit of squeezed or spray butter on the top and cook for your desired amount of time. I think the leftovers are just as good as the fresh corn casserole.

The second recipe is for Yam Souffl?. This is an excellent dish to serve at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some people get sick of the same old sweet potatoes year after year. This year you can spice up the dish a little by making this wonderful souffl?. The ingredients are: 3 lbs. of yams 3 eggs ? cup brown sugar ? cup melted butter 2 tablespoons orange juice 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon Pecans First thing you need to do is peel and cut the yams into chunks. Once that is done, mix the yams in a mixer. Next take the two eggs and beat them. Next mix a ? cup of the brown sugar, a ? cup of the melted butter, yams, eggs, orange juice, salt, and cinnamon together. Arrange the pecans on top of the souffl?. We just lay them on until they are nicely spaced out across the whole top. If you have kids, this is a fun way to get them involved in cooking. They could spell out their name or even make a little design with the pecans. Sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar on the top and pour the rest of the butter on. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Once the yam souffl? is done, serve it the same way as the corn casserole, with a spoon. You can also warm up the leftovers in the microwave. I hope you enjoy these two recipes. Theyre great during the holidays, but remember, you can have them anytime of year.

By Kristine Hendershot

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