BBQ-Cheddar-Crusted Chicken

Hellmann's Mayonnaise web site has a ton of recipes to choose from.   They also have a pinterest page showing off their favorites.  This recipe combines juicy chicken breasts with cheddar cheese, mayo and barbecue sauce.  Little different than just topping your chicken with cheese and BBQ.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbs. barbecue sauce
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
4 tsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs




Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425
• Combine Mayonnaise, cheese and barbecue sauce in medium bowl
• Arrange chicken on baking sheet and evenly top mayonnaise mixture, then sprinkle with bread crumbs
• Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked

Tupps Tidbits:   to make sure the chicken is cook thoroughly, it is best to use portions of similar size. 

The chicken was mushy,  flavorless and boring....we will not put up with boring breasts in our house. This is definitely NOT A KEEPER in our house!

Where did we find this one??  www.hellmanns.com

Spicy Beef Taquitos

A taquito is a rolled taco.  A Mexican dish that consists of a small rolled-up tortilla shell with some type of filling including beef, chicken or cheese.  They are usually served as an appetizer or finger food.

 1 Tbs. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tap. onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 cup salsa
3 oz. reduced fat Pepper Jack cheese
16 - 6 inch corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400.  Line baking sheet with foil and then lightly mist it with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Combine all the first 9 spices in a dish and stir together to make your own taco seasoning. Set aside.
3. Bring a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the ground beef.  Cook while breaking up with wooden spoon until beef is completely browned and broken.  Drain grease from pan.  Add the taco seasoning from step 2 and the salsa and stir together.  Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and add the shredded cheese.  Stir to combine.
4. Place about half the tortillas between two paper towels and microwave them for 30-60 seconds until they are warm and pliable.  Place them on a clean dry work surface and then scoop 2 rounded Tbs. of beer filling onto the bottom third of the tortilla.  Roll the tortilla up and place it on the prepared baking sheet, seam side down.  Repeat steps with remaining ingredients.  When all the taquitos are rolled and on the baking sheet, mist the tops of the taquitos with cooking spray.
5. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until tortillas start to get golden and crispy.

Tupps Tidbits:  you can make up the beef mixture the day before and store in refrigerator

Surprisingly, without frying in oil, these turned out crispy! We added salsa and sour cream for dipping. They were very tasty and would be easy and quick to make for an appetizer for guests.  We would like to try them with chicken sometime.  KEEPER in our house!

Where did we find this one?  emilybites.com

Crispy Cheddar Chicken-Baked

The recipe states you may never "fry" chicken again...after tasting this "baked"  crispy chicken recipe. That titled, got us interested!  It also looked very simple and inexpensive to make.  It might become a regular at our house. We made mashed potatoes as the side dish.

Ingredients:

2 lb chicken tenders or 4 large chicken breasts

2 sleeves Ritz crackers

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 cup whole milk

3 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1 tsp dried parsley

Directions:

• Crush crackers.  If using chicken breasts and not tenders, cut each chicken breast into 3 large pieces.  Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans.  Toss the salt and pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine. 
• Dip each piece of chicken  into the milk and then the cheese.  Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers.  Then press the cheesy coated chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in.  spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan.
• Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken.  Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.  Remove the tin foil, bake for additional 10 -15 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.
• In a medium size sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream  and butter with a whisk.  Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken.

Tupps Tidbits:  FOIL line the pan!!! Or you will spend the rest of your night scrubbing.

We both loved this dish.  The Ritz crackers made this pretty salty.  If you are not a big salt fan you should try making it with the low sodium or "hint of salt"  type of Ritz.  My husband said this was incredible and I have to agree.  This recipe is DEFINITELY A KEEPER!

Where did we find this one?  justapinch.com

Family-Favorite Cheeseburger Pasta

This recipe looks simple and easy to make. Should be a good healthy alternative for Hamburger Helper night. We found this one at Taste of Home's web site. Taste of home is one of America's #1 cooking magazine's sharing best loved recipes from cooks just like us. We usually find pretty good recipes with Taste of home.  Sorry about the amateur "final" shaded picture.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat penne pasta
3/4 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
2 TB finely chopped onion
1 can (14-1/2 oz) no-salt-added diced tomatoes
2 TB dill pickle relish
2 TB prepared mustard
2 TB Ketchup
1 tsp steak seasoning
1/4 seasoned salt
3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions, optional

Method of Preparation:

• Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, drain. Drain pasta add to meat mixture.
• Stir in the tomatoes, relish, mustard, ketchup, steak seasoning and seasoned salt.  Bring to a boil. simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle with cheese. Removed from the heat; cover and let stand until cheese is melted. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Tupps Tidbits:  simple and easy to make, you could brown the meat ahead of time to save on time

Surprisingly we were not fond of the flavor of this dish.  It was not bad but not great.  We are not really sure it tasted like a cheeseburger!  Taste of home failed us this time.  This is NOT A KEEPER in our house. 

Where did we find this one?  www.tasteofhome.com

Spaghetti & Meatball Soup

I  was looking forward to try this one.  It is made of lean turkey meatballs  are cooked in a light tomato sauce with a cup of spaghetti. The final picture does not do this one justice.

INGREDIENTS:
6 oz extra lean ground turkey
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs. grated Parmesan
2 Tbs. plain breadcrumbs
1 1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning, divided
1 egg white
1 Tbs. skim milk
1 Tbs. olive oil, divided
2 medium carrots, grated
1 small zucchini, grated
1/2 medium onion, diced small
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper
32 oz. fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth
24 oz. jar of marinara sauce
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup uncooked broken wheat spaghetti pieces (1 inch sticks)
1 oz. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

DIRECTIONS:

• In large bowl, combine the ground turkey, garlic powder, tablespoon of grated Parmesan, breadcrumbs, 3/4 tsp of the Italian seasoning, egg white and milk. Using your hands, mush all together until well combined. Roll into 30 separate mini meatballs.
• In a large stock pot, add  2 tsps.of the oil and heat to medium. Add the meatballs to the oil and cook them, stirring occasionally until all sides are browned.  Remove meatballs to a dish and set aside.
• Add remaining teaspoon of oil to the pot and continue to heat to medium.Add carrots, zucchini, onion and garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until veggies are softened.
• Add the meatballs, chicken broth, marinara sauce, red-pepper flakes and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning to the pot with the veggies.  Stir together and cover.  Bring the mixture to a boil, uncover and lower the heat to a simmer.  Add the spaghetti pieces and simmer for 12 -15 minutes or until the pasta and the meatballs are cooked through.  Add the Parmesan cheese in the last couple  minutes of the simmer and stir in.

Tupps Tidbits:  even with the oil, our meatballs stuck to the bottom of the stock pot, you might want to them in a separate non stick pan or skillet

The soup was great and very flavorful.  Perfect for a cold winter night. It made excellent leftovers for lunch. It is very healthy, low in calories and low in weight watcher points ( for those out there counting)! You could probably add carrots, celery or frozen spinach to this as well.  But as is, it was very good.  KEEPER in our House!

Where did we find this one?     emilybites.com