Chicken Dijonnise #3

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. chopped green onions
1/3 cup whipping cream
3 Tbsp. chicken broth
3 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

Place each chicken breast half between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, lightly pound chicken to 1/4- to 1/8-inch thickness. Discard plastic wrap. In a shallow dish combine flour and pepper. Coat chicken pieces with flour mixture.  In a 12-inch skillet melt butter over medium heat. Add chicken to skillet. Cook about 6 minutes or until no pink remains in the chicken, turning once. Transfer chicken to a platter, reserving drippings in skillet. Cover to keep warm. 

For sauce, add green onion to the drippings in the skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until tender. Stir in whipping cream, white wine, and mustard. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth and slightly thickened. Spoon sauce over chicken.

Martha:  OH MY GOODNESS!  This is delicious!  I was surfing the internet looking for healthy dishes and ran across this one on a diabetic site.  Wasn't sure I would really like it and almost wished I wouldn't so as not to be tempted to eat more than I was supposed to.  Well, I had to give the rest it away to my food testers to keep myself out of it.  I didn't change a thing in their recipe either.  But... I want to try this with pork chops.  I know that is going to be just as good.  Yes, the food testers loved it just as much as I did.  I did serve it over wild rice blend which completed the meal for me.

Cheeze Chicken Pasta Casserole

1 pkg. (8 oz.) pasta noodles (of your choice)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1 can (10.75 oz.) Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 soup can of milk
1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp. Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning (more or less to taste)
1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded

French Fried Onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook the noodles according to the packaging.  Drain.  In that same pot, mix in the chicken, mushroom soup, milk, Ricotta and Mozzarella cheeses. Add Steak seasoning to taste.  Transfer mixture to a 3 qt. baking dish sprayed with non-stick. Bake covered for 45 minutes.  Remove cover, sprinkle with 1/4 cup Mozzarella and French Fried Onions, enough to lightly cover dish.   Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until cheese has melted.

Martha:  This has to be one of the best chicken pasta dishes I've ever made.  I used the gluten free pasta which to me has a little firmer texture.  The chicken I baked in my toaster oven until done.  From there on I decided to "Think With My Taste Buds" to come up with the rest of the dish, tasting as I went along.  The real winning addition was the Montreal Steak seasoning and the French fried onions on top.  It's full of flavor and far from being bland like so many chicken pasta dishes.  This is also a dish you can play with.  You might try adding black olives, mushrooms, and/or some almond slivers.  My Food Testers sure loved this one.

Cheese Nip Chicken Strips

1/2  lb. chicken tenderloins or breasts cut into strips (1" wide)

1/2 stick butter or margarine, melted

1 cup Cheese Nips

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a baking dish large enough to hold all strips without them touching.  Crush the Cheese Nips.  Blend in the garlic salt and pepper.  Melt the butter and pour over the chicken, tossing to coat.  Add the Cheese Nips and mix to coat.  Place the chicken strips in the baking dish, sprinkle with any leftover Cheese Nip crumbs.  Bake 15-20 minutes depending upon the size of the strips, until done and the crumbs are crispy.  Serves 2-4 depending upon how hungry you might be.

Martha:  I found a recipe for a dish that used Ritz Crackers crushed and a couple of herbs added to the crumbs.  When I went to get my Ritz from the pantry I spotted a box of Cheese Nips and decided to give them a try instead of the Ritz.  After crushing the Nips in my processor I decided I wanted the cheese taste so I used the pepper and added the garlic salt and eliminated any other herbs.  I also poured the crumbs over the chicken instead of dipping them in them.  Make sure you add the crumbs while the butter is still melted or the coldness of the chicken will firm it back up.  If you're a cheese lover, this is a recipe you must try.  The kids will go wild over this.  

Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

1 (10 3/4 oz.) can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 (8 oz.) can sliced water chestnuts

1 (8 oz.) container sour cream

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped

1 box (1 lb.) spaghetti

1 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
French Fried Onions, crushed

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook spaghetti according to directions, drain and set aside.  Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix soup, water chestnuts,  sour cream and milk until blended. Stir in chicken, cheese and bell pepper.   Bake 30-40 minutes or until bubbly in the center.  Sprinkle with French Fried onions and bake another 5-10 minutes allowing the onions to brown slightly.  Serve on top of spaghetti.  Sprinkle with a little cheese (optional).

Martha:  This dish was originally a recipe for a Chicken Tortillas Casserole but as I started putting it together I decided to make a couple changes.  I added the chestnuts for their texture.  The chicken breasts were sprinkled with Greek seasoning to give added flavor and baked.  I actually decreased the cheese to 1 cup instead of 1 1/2 (yeah, can you believe I did that!).  Instead of using broken tortillas I decided to use spaghetti.  I was afraid the tortillas would become soggy.  And last I added the crushed French Fried onions.  I've heard so many raves on those who had the joy of trying this one.  It is simply delicious!  The only change I can think of would be to add celery.  It's actually perfect the way it is.

Food Tester Carol:  Hi Martha, that was one delicious dish you made!  We had it last night and yummed our way through it! It was light and fresh tasting, I'm sure, partly because of the water-chestnuts, tender, moist chicken and sauce.

Ritzy Chicken Casserole

3 small sleeves Ritz Everything crackers
1/2 cup French fried onions, crushed

1 can Cream of Chicken or Mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

¾ cup chicken broth

Chopped chicken

4 oz melted butter

1 cup cooked rice

Crumble one sleeve of Ritz crackers in the bottom of a 2 ½ quart casserole dish.  Drizzle half of the melted butter over crackers.  Mix chicken with soup, sour cream, broth and rice.  Pour over crackers.  Crush the other sleeve of crackers over mixture.  Drizzle with remaining butter.  Bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Martha:  This is a remake of a recipe that's been around for a while.  I made a couple of changes, of course.  The original called for 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers, I used the Ritz 'Everything' crackers which have onion, poppy seeds, garlic and sea salt but used only 3 of the short sleeves.  I also added the French fried onions to the Ritz.  That was it.  No more changes but the 2 that I did make gave this dish a taste that is so good!  My food testers all loved and raved about it.  This will feed 6-8.  You can make a few of your own changes if you want.  You could make this into a 'pot pie' by adding a few cooked carrots and English peas.  That too would be good additions.

Parmesan Chicken Breast Tenders

1/2 cup gluten free flour
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
10-12 chicken breast tenders (about 1 1/2 lbs.)
1/4 cup canola oil
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine flour, cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and salt in a medium shallow dish.  Combine buttermilk and egg in another shallow dish.  Warm oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Dip chicken tenders in buttermilk mixture and then dredge in flour mix.  Add chicken pieces to the oil and cook about 3 minutes on each side or until brown.  Don't allow them to touch while cooking.  Spray a large baking dish, cookie sheet with edges works great, with non-stick spray.  Add browned chicken pieces not allowing them to touch.  Bake about 5 minutes or until chicken is done.

Martha:  Finally I've found a recipe for fried chicken that is actually crispy and delicious.  And it has so many possibilities for changes in flavor.  You can add seasonings like oregano for a totally different taste.  This chicken is well worth making!

Mediterranean Chicken & Potatoes

4-5 medium potatoes, cubed
2 chicken breasts, cubed

1 head broccoli, cut into large chunks

2 Tbsp. olive oil - divided

2 Tbsp. butter, melted - divided

2 Tbsp. Greek seasoning - divided
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Dash garlic seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl toss potatoes with 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. butter, melted, and 1 Tbsp. Greek seasoning.  Pour into a 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray and bake 30 minutes turn occasionally.  In the same bowl toss together chicken breast and broccoli with 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. butter, melted, and 1 Tbsp. Greek seasoning.  Add this to the potatoes and bake another 20-25 minutes or until potatoes and chicken are done and slightly browned, tossing occasionally.  While all is still hot, sprinkle with cheese and toss to mix.  Serves 6.

Martha:  I found a recipe for the potatoes but decided to give this dish a try adding chicken and broccoli.  This turned out really good.  The cooking time will vary depending on how large you cut up your potatoes and chicken.  I used an Italian blend cheese which worked deliciously.  I also topped mine with a little sour cream.