West by Midwest

Recipes and thoughts from the West by Midwest kitchen

Easy Chicken Recipes

 

Someone just asked me to do a little cooking demonstration for a sorority. They have a small house but great kitchen so I put together some quick and easy recipes to teach them some basics and show them how to change it up a little to make a healthy dinner for the eight of them.

Easy Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:

  • Flour, Salt and PepperBoneless Chicken Breasts
  • Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil
  • Pasta Sauce (your favorite jarred sauce)
  • Mozzarella and Parmesan shredded cheese mixture

Steps:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. Cut the chicken in half lengthwise to make a thinner piece of chicken to cook. That way it won’t take so long to prepare.
  3. Lightly salt and pepper the pieces of chicken then lightly flour the chicken on both sides. (You can do this in a plastic bag, using a pie plate or regular plate.  Shake off excess so you just have a little flour covering all of the chicken)
  4. Heat a medium frying pan to medium, put in 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, let heat and then add the chicken breasts. (Don’t let the chicken touch each other in the pan.  If you have more pieces, cook a few at a time and then set them aside.)
  5. Cook the chicken until lightly brown on each side, just about 3-5 minutes on each side.  Put on a cookie sheet or other pan for oven.  (Line the pan with foil to help with clean up!)
  6. When you are finished sautéing the chicken, add the pasta sauce in the hot pan to get up the bits off the bottom of the pan and to heat the sauce.  Stir for about a minute or two to heat.
  7. Spread a few Tablespoons of sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with cheese mixture over the sauce and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, just to melt the cheese and warm the chicken up a little more.

You can serve this over pasta that has been mixed with more of the sauce or with steamed or sautéed vegetables. In the photo you can see where I mixed some kale and sliced carrots with a little olive oil and salt, then put them in the oven with the chicken while it was cooking…saves a step and keeps clean up easy.

NOTE: Cook more chicken while you are making this dinner and use it for other meals during the week.

 

I didn’t put amounts on the recipe.  If you are cooking for 8 of you, 4 chickens breasts could be enough, cut in half. Then you would probably use the entire jar of pasta sauce and a whole bag of the cheese.  But you can make this for just one or 2 by using one chicken breast and a little of the sauce and cheese.

Stacked Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

  • 2 Cups shredded or chopped cooked Chicken
  • 1 large can Green Enchilada sauce
  • Corn Tortillas
  • Shredded Jack or Mexican Cheese

Steps:

  1. In a casserole dish, spread about ½ cup of the green sauce in the pan and then line with the corn tortillas.
  2. Sprinkle ½ of the chicken, 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 of the remaining green sauce.
  3. Repeat with by layering more tortillas, ½ the chicken, 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 of the sauce.
  4. Cover with one more layer of tortillas, the rest of the sauce and the remaining chicken.
  5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and dish is bubbling.
  6. OPTIONAL: ADD SOME VEGGIES! Sliced or chopped onions and peppers can be sautéed and then added with the chicken, thaw out some frozen corn and add black beans too! If you like cilantro, chop some and add at the end.

NOTE: You can make this and put it in the fridge (covered with foil) to cook the next day or two…just add a little more cooking time if needed to heat through.

Easy Asian Chicken Salad

Salad Ingredients:

  • 2 Cups Chopped or shredded chicken
  • 4 Cups Shredded Cole Slaw or Chopped lettuce
  • 2 Cups Shredded Carrots
  • 2 stalks Sliced Celery
  • 1 Sliced Red Peppers
  • 1 Cup Shelled Edamame and or sliced cucumber
  • 2 diced green onions
  • ½ Cup chopped Peanuts
  • OR a smashed bag of Ramen noodles
  • Cilantro if you like it.
  • Asian bottle dressing like Chinese Chicken Salad or Miso

Steps:

  1. Mix everything together in a bowl. Add dressing to taste (some like more, some like less)
  2. OR you can put a little dressing in the BOTTOM of a glass jar, layer the rest of the ingredients and put in the fridge for lunch or dinner the next day. Just shake and eat.  PS: if you make ahead of time, don’t add the nuts or ramen noodles until you are ready to dress and eat.

Homemade Dressing:

  1. ¼ C honey
  2. ¼ C Vegetable oil
  3. ¼ C rice vinegar
  4. 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  5. 1 teaspoon Asian Sesame Oil
  6. 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
  7. ½ teaspoon salt
  8. ½ teaspoon Sriracha sauce
  9. 1 Tablespoon minced ginger
  10. 1 garlic cloved, minced

NOTE: I keep a few washed jars from pasta sauce to use to make salads or store extra sauces or soups I make…or to store a salad.

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