Foodie Fridays: The Best Chicken Marinade EVER!

We eat a lot of chicken in our house. And since I've been implementing a "cleaner diet" lately, we've also been eating a lot of salads, as well. This is, by far, the BEST chicken marinade I have ever used.

 

I just simply pour everything (including the chicken breasts) in a plastic bag, toss, and store in the fridge for a few hours - making sure to swish the bag around every hour or so to make sure the chicken breasts stay coated.

 

Then, we grill the chicken and put it atop a bed of lettuce, or just cut into bite-size pieces for the kiddos.

 

Seriously, this chicken is TO DIE FOR!

 

 

 

 

Ingredients for the marinade

Dijon Balsamic Grilled Chicken

(adapted from Plain Chicken)

 

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1-1.5 pounds of boneless chicken breasts.

 

Place ALL ingredients in a plastic, zip lock type bag.

Place in refrigerator and allow to marinate 3-4 hours.

Grill chicken.

 

Marinating the chicken

End result after chicken has been grilled

I use the grilled chicken for a salad - but the possibilities are endless.

You have to try this next time you need a variation to your normal, boring chicken dinner. I promise you will love this. :)

Enjoy!

Foodie Fridays: Ain't No Tuna Helper Casserole

Growing up as a child, I ate my share of Tuna Helper & Hamburger Helper meals. This was before my parents realized that all of this processed food was going to make us grow 3 heads and kill us in our sleep. :)

In our family, we don't eat boxed food. But I understand the convenience of having those type meals when you're a busy mom of children. I am always looking for quick dinners that will please my picky husband and our kids while not containing too many unhealthy ingredients or coming straight from a box.

Mr. Fix-it has absolutely fallen in love with this tuna casserole recipe. So much so that he actually requests this meal for special occasions like his birthday or Father's Day. This is a dish that all of the kiddos also devour. Win-win for Mommy!

 

 

Ain't No Tuna Helper Casserole

4 cups of egg noodles, cooked

6 ounces of shredded Swiss cheese

1 cup of Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil

2 cans of tuna, drained & flaked

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

In a large bowl, combine egg noodles, Swiss cheese, mayo and tuna. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the Italian bread crumbs on the bottom of a 9 inch dish. Spread the noodle mixture over the crumbs. Sprinkle with the remaining bread crumbs.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.

 

 

(I usually double this recipe for a 9x13 inch dish. Use more or less mayo depending on how creamy you like your casseroles. We tend to like it less-creamy so we use a little less mayo. Make it your own!)

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted & modified from Taste of Home: 5-Ingredient Cookbook

 

 

Foodie Fridays: Chicken & Spinach Burgers

This week's recipe is a creation of my own. I tend to tweak every recipe I make and this one is a compilation of several different chicken burgers I've made over the years. The fresh spinach is so much tastier in the burgers than other recipes I've seen which calls for thawed, frozen spinach. That stuff is disgusting.

My kids don't necessarily love the spinach in the burgers but they've sort of gotten use to Mommy's weird food creations and they tend to roll with the punches. :)

Chicken & Spinach Burgers

Serves: 4

1 pack of ground chicken

2 cups of fresh spinach leaves, chopped

1/4 cup of Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp + 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 

2 Tbsp of Montreal Chicken seasoning

4 slices of baby Swiss cheese

1 pack of baby Bella mushrooms 

1/2 cup of sweet onion slices

A pack of your favorite hamburger buns

First, chop the spinach and use your hands to mix the first 3 ingredients in a bowl. (Your hands are your best utensils as Paula Deen always says!) 

Add approximately 2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce to the chicken mixture and mix well. Add more if you need to, it's all about preference. In my ingredient picture, I forgot to grab the Worcestershire bottle out if the fridge. Oops.

Divide the chicken mixture into 4 equal hamburger size patties (I often make larger burgers for me & Mr. Fix-it while making smaller burgers for the kiddos; therefore, I end up with more than 4 burgers)

You can either grill or pan fry your burgers. Mr. Fix-it is typically always at work when I'm making dinner so I just choose to use the good 'ole stove top method. He has this rule against me using a grill without his supervision...something about burning the house down. Whatever. ;)

While the burgers are cooking, saute the mushrooms, sliced sweet onions, and 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce in another pan. This mixture will adorn the tops of your burgers. 

Here are the steps in photos: 

When the burgers are done,  melt a slice of Swiss cheese on top of each burger and place them on a toasted hamburger bun. (This really is key here, buns are so much better toasted!) Then divide the sauteed mushroom & onion mixture on top of the melted cheese. 

This is what the finished product should look like.

These things are delish! And it's perfect as-is, it doesn't even need condiments. But feel free to add mustard, ketchup, or lettuce if you wish. Make it your own!

(note: if you're doing the low-carb, low-fat eating plan like I am right now, just omit the cheese & hamburger bun and add a nice big salad on the side.)

Let me know if you like 'em! 

Foodie Fridays: Tilapia with Garlic Cream Sauce & Asparagus

In an effort not to bore you with only stories of my crazy kiddos (though, I am sure I could fill a book with those!) I thought I would dedicate one day of the week to some of my tried & true recipe staples.

It's no mystery that I love food. I may not be athletic or coordinated and although I've tried, I just can't sew. I'm totally not crafty, can't sing or play an instrument...but man, do I love to cook, bake, and try new recipes. It's a trial & error process in my kitchen and on Fridays I'll share some of the recipes we've grown to love in our family.

Lately, because of Mission Lose Baby Weight I have been trying to stick to mostly clean-eating recipes. I say mostly clean rather loosely because, let's be honest, I have 4 little kids and one VERY picky husband. So I do what I can to cook as clean and as lean as they will allow me to without grumbling too much & threatening to order pizza instead. :)

Today's Foodie Friday recipe is a tried & true crock pot recipe that has Mr. Fix-It's stamp of approval. And that's saying a lot, actually. Granted, he does love fish and this is one of the easiest fish recipes I have found so far. It's a go-to staple in our home. (and the kiddos love it, too) 

Here are the ingredients: (bare with me here, I am no Pioneer Woman and my photos are quick shots with my phone while my kids scream "Mah-MEE" in the background)

Tilapia with Garlic Cream Sauce & Asparagus

To begin, mince 2 garlic cloves (or more, we tend to like garlic around our house...wards off all those vampires) and mix the minced garlic with 1/2 cup Mayo (we use the kind with Olive Oil and to be honest, I probably use closer to a cup of the stuff because Mr. Fix-It loves an extra helping of the garlic cream sauce) 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and about 4 tablespoons of lemon juice. 

(note: fresh lemons would work best but when you're in a pinch and running to the grocery store would literally mean 2 kids fighting over the front seat of the buggy, 1 squealer in the back, 1 baby on your hip drooling, and 3 meltdowns over candy in the check-out lane, then please feel free to make do with bottled lemon juice. No judgements here!) 

Your mixture should look like this:

Trust me, it tastes WAY better than it looks!

Next, take your frozen tilapia fillet and place it on a large piece of aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray. Chop a bundle of asparagus into bite-size pieces and place a handful of asparagus on top of each tilapia fillet. Like this:

I buy a bag of frozen tilapia and just use them as needed. Typically for this recipe, I use 3 total fillets and we split them amongst ourselves. :)

Then, you take the garlic cream sauce as shown in the bowl above and dollop it on top of the tilapia & asparagus like so...

This is Mr. Fix-It's portion, and he tends to like it heavy on the garlic cream sauce. (I go a little bit lighter for me and the kiddos)

Then you fold up the edges of the foil to make packets and place them in the crock pot on the Low setting for about 4-6 hours. Or whenever your fish is flaky & done.

It's totally okay to stack them on top of each other. Mr. Fix-It likes his fish only lightly cooked so his goes on top.

This is truly our favorite way to eat tilapia and it's just so easy, which makes this busy Mama very happy! I would typically serve this with brown rice and rolls. Because no dinner is complete in Mr. Fix-It's eyes without some type of bread. ;) Here is the link to the full recipe. Hope you try it!

Tilapia with Garlic Cream Sauce & Asparagus (Crockin' Girls)

Bon Appetite!