Chicken & Salsa Burritos

I was bored with my typical chicken dinners and decided to browse www.myrecipes.com for a new idea.  I found this Chicken & Salsa Bake video and thought heck, I could throw this together quickly.  It came out AMAZING, full of flavor and one of the easiest meals Ive found in a long time.  Below is the recipe but here is the video link:  http://www.myrecipes.com/quick-and-easy/dinner-tonight/how-to-cook-baked-chicken-tortillas-10000001853215/

Ingredients
1 cup bottled salsa (I used chunky salsa for chip dipping)

1 (8-ounce) sour cream
6 (10-inch) flour tortillas
3 cooked chicken breast (I cubed the chicken and pan cooked in olive oil)
1/3 cup chopped tomato
1/3 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
Cooking spray
Shredded Mexican Blend cheese


Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°.


Combine salsa and sour cream in a small bowl, and spread evenly over each tortilla. Divide chicken, tomato, bell pepper, and onion evenly down center of each tortilla, and roll up like a burrito. Place rolls, seam sides down, in a large baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with with a little salsa & cheese. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.  Serve with Spanish Rice on the side and Avocado as a topper!!! 


* I did one thing different than the video, I sauteed the onion and green pepper with a little olive oil to soften before placing it in the burrito. 

Pizza Pizza!!!

What family doesn't LOVE pizza!!!  We have this amazing pizza place here in Boise called the Flying Pie and man oh man it is amazing.  There is a Chicken Garlic pizza that is out of this world and considering how much it costs to have it ... I tried my hardest to duplicate it at home.  It was a hit!!! 

Ingredients

Pizza Dough (You can make your own or buy Thick Pillsbury Pizza dough in the biscuit section)

Oven or BBQ'd Chicken chopped up (Season with S&P or Garlic Salt & P)

Alfredo Sauce (My fave is Bertolli)

Minced Garlic

Green Onion

White Mushrooms (the darker mushrooms have a strong flavor so I go with the white)

Shredded Mozarella

Put as much of everything as you want, there's no set amount per ingredient.  I prefer to cook on a Pizza Stone but you can do it on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick. Cook @ 425 for 18 min.

My Chicken Enchiladas!

If there is any dish I get asked to make over and over again, its this one!  These are so simple to throw together & I think my little added touches are what makes them so darn tasty. The ingredients I'm listing, since I wing this, is enough for 4 people + leftovers (approx 20 enchiladas). 



4 Large Chicken Breasts
1 Large can Las Palmas Green Sauce or La Victoria Red Sauce - Only sauce's I use. (With any Red Sauce you have to poor EXTRA over the top of the enchiladas since red sauce dries out easily in the oven)
Corn Tortillas
Extra virgin olive oil or Vegetable Oil 
Mexican Blend cheese - Shredded
1 Chicken Bullion Cube (or 1 tspn of Chkn Bull Pwdr)
Garlic Salt
Pepper



Preheat Oven to 350


- I start by boiling the chicken with 1 bullion cube, S&P for seasoning.  Once its cooked, shred it and put in a bowl. I then add leftover broth from the boiling process to the bowl of shredded chicken that way it soaks in the broth while I start making the tortillas. If you want to make this dish QUICK, buy a Rotisserie Chicken & shred it up. 


- In a small pan heat up oil, whichever oil you prefer. If the oil sizzles but does not pop when you put in a tortilla then its perfect! I put a cutting board next to the pan, cook one tortilla at a time until its almost crisp but still bendable then transfer to cutting board and make a stack. Set up your shredded cheese in a bowl.  Coat bottom of baking dishes with a little sauce first before putting the enchiladas in. Then start making the enchiladas ... I put a lot of chicken in mine and sprinkle very little cheese on the inside. Some people add olives and such, I like mine pretty simple.


- After you rolled up all your enchiladas cover the tops of them with the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle a bunch of shredded cheese on top then put in the oven 12 minutes at 350 then Broil on Low 5 min or until it gets that crisp cheese look on top.

Chicken Caeser Wraps

So I got a tid bit addicted (obsessed) with Blimpie's Chicken Caesar wraps! I LOVE Blimpie and there are a ton out here. Anyhow, these wraps are about $5 a pop so I decided to get all the ingredients and do it myself. I now make a healthier version at home & save money!

Spinach Tortilla

Grilled Chicken chopped

Fresh Parmesan (optional)

Romaine lettuce

Tomatoes

Girards Light Caesar Dressing (the BEST dressing ever)

Warm up the chicken then warm the tortilla then throw it all together! Pretty darn easy & healthy.

*** You can probably tell from my recipes, 90% of what I eat is chicken. I buy about 18 breasts every 2 weeks. I throw a bunch on the BBQ or boil in a pot with garlic salt, pepper & a bullion cube and package them up so I can just pull out chicken for whatever I need. If I'm running late getting home for dinner I always know I have chicken cooked & ready to make Quesadillas, Burritos, Wraps etc. ***

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

I get quite a few people that call me up for this recipe so its about time I post it! Its easy, cheap & very filling ... just like all my other recipes :) I eyeball this one when it comes to how much of everything so I will post the recipe but put to the side what I do differently.

1 Box of Pillsbury Pie Crust (found in the section with the rolls/biscuits)

1/3 cup Butter (I have used "I cant believe its not butter" but real butter is always tasty!)

1/3 cup Flour

1/2 tspn Salt (I do 3 pinches)

1/4 tspn Pepper (I do 4 pinches)

1 cup Chicken Broth

1/2 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1/2 cup Milk

2 Chicken Breasts boiled & shredded

(I boil my chicken with a bullion cube, garlic salt & pepper or if I'm pressed for time I will shred up a rotisserie from the store)

2 cups of frozen mixed veggies (the carrot, corn, green bean & peas blend)

1/2 large onion chopped

Heat oven to 425

Pull out pie crust - set packages out so they get to room temp

Get out a big pot

In the pot melt the butter then add the onion, stir until onions are soft.

Add Chicken Broth, Milk, Salt & Pepper, Flour, Cream of Mushroom until thick & bubbly. Throw in Veggies & Chicken, stir. Do NOT keep cooking. Pull pot off the heat. Lay out pie dough in the pie dish, fill it up leaving 1 inch from the top. Cover with other pie dough mushing the corners all together so there are no holes. Do NOT poke a hole in the top of the pie or you will have a messy oven! Bake 35 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, this is a must.

If you have extra filling I always save it & the kids have it for lunch the next day! If you have a baby who eats mushy foods, I use to puree this filling and spoon feed it to my kids - They LOVED it!

*** This is what I do differently ... the milk/broth/crm of mshrm combo is what makes the consistency of the filling. If you like it runny then add a little more of each liquid. If you like it thicker then add a little more crm of mshrm & flour. I start adding a little of everything until I get the consistency I like. After I add more, if it looks like I need more chicken or veggies I will eyeball it until theres equal parts of everything. You CANNOT mess up the flavor at all by doing this. If it tastes a little too rich then add some more milk! ***

Protein Burrito's & Quesadillas

HUGE shout out to whomever came up with the idea of sun-dried tomatoe & spinach flavored tortillas. I mean seriously, I cant get enough of them. I make this AMAZING spinach chicken ceaser wrap for lunch about 5x a week ... but I can post that recipe later! These two recipes in this post have got to be the easiest and I mean easiest recipes EVER that are both filling & healthy. Not to mention very cost effective and can be readily available in your pantry! Each takes about 10 min to throw together from start to finish.





Here's the mix (base) I use for both the burrito and quesadilla:
1 can Black beans
1 can Corn
1 can Diced Tomatoes & Green Chili's
(if you don't like chili's, use plain diced tomatoes)
1 lime squeezed
* You can always add cilantro, I do this when I just eat it with chips!


Drain all cans and dump into microwave safe bowl (or pot) squeeze lime in there and heat up! Lime takes the edge off "hot" flavors and I love the flavor it gives this mix.



Protein Burritos :
Grab a Tortilla (I use flavored ones), heat up and add mix, cheese, lettuce. You can of coarse add Chicken, Steak, Fish or shrimp to this. Its very filling either way!


Protein Quesadillas :
Tortilla (flavored of coarse!) Add Mix, Mexican cheese blend (meat optional)

Chinese Chicken Salad

2 large Chicken Breasts - Boil with garlic salt/pepper/1 bullion cube (Shred)

Green Onion - As much as you like

Slivered Almonds - Toast in the oven, Broil on Low for 3min

1 head of Cabbage chopped up

Dressing:

2/3 Cup of Seasoned Rice Vinegar (I use Nakano - original)

1/3 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or oil of your preference)

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Sugar

2 Pinches of Pepper

Mix all together and there you have it! Some people put top ramen noodles in this, I choose not to because I eat this salad over the coarse of a few days and if the noodles are in there it gets very soggy. Lightly drizzle in the Dressing and taste test as you add more to see how much you would like.