Spice Rubbed Chicken with Tropical Salsa and Rice

In third and fourth grade I had a friend named Emily. We would play all sorts of little girl games, but one of our favorites was "cooking." Emily had the most amazing TOY food, and I loved to play with it. Little did I know at that time, that I would be browsing her recipe blog eleven years later for amazing REAL food (especially since we had lost touch with the many times each of our families moved)! Her blog is one of my favorites for grabbing dinner ideas. I have never tried one of her recipes and not enjoyed it. She has excellent taste and uses a lot of fruits and vegetables...I'm fond of this. I doubt you will be able to look over her recipes without having to try at least one.
This recipe I'm about to share is hers. I LOVED this dish. As I mentioned before, with the weather changing I am definitely getting out of my soup kick. The colorful salsa in this recipe, along with the grilled chicken was shouting at my taste buds and matched the warming up weather perfectly. Try it. You will love it.

Side note: In Emily's recipe, she made coconut rice, but I just did regular rice.
Chicken Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. chicken breasts., pounded to 3/4" thickness


• 1/4 cup sugar


• 1/2 tsp. chili powder


• 1 1/2 tsp. paprika


• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder


• 1/8 tsp. onion powder


• 1/8 tsp. dry mustard

Salsa Ingredients:

• 5 roma tomatoes, diced


• 2 mangos, diced


• 1 avacado, diced


• juice of 2 limes


• 1/4 cup cilantro


• 4 scallions, diced


• 1 tsp. vinegar


• pinch salt and pepper


• 1 jalapeno, diced with seeds and ribs removed

Rice:

• 2 cups white rice, prepared according to package directions
  

Directions:

For chicken:

In a bowl, combine sugar, salt, and all spices. Rub mixture onto both sides of chicken breasts. Allow to rest 30 minutes to absorb flavors. Grill or pan-fry till done. Chicken will develop a crust from the rub. Let chicken rest 1-2 minutes to allow juices to redistribute, then slice into strips right before serving.

For Salsa:

Combine tomatoes, mango, avocado, cilantro, onion, jalapeno, lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve chicken and salsa over the cooked rice.

Serves 8.

Minestrone Soup

We ate this soup at a church activity and so I have to give tribute to Marina Rice for this recipe. I like to serve it with garlic breadsticks and salad.

• 3 chicken breasts (cooked in chicken broth) cubed
• 6 cups of chicken broth
• 1 lb. Italian sausage - cooked, drained
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 3 Tbsp. parsley
• 2 cups carrots, diced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 4 small or 2 large cans crushed tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. basil
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 oz. pasta, cooked and added to soup as needed

Combine all ingredients and let simmer all day in crockpot on low heat.

This recipe makes a lot of soup. So much in fact, that it doesn't fit in my crockpot so I just do it in a big pot over the stove. It tastes just as good...I just make it in the early afternoon instead so it can simmer and blend the flavors until dinner.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

I've been looking for a good chicken noodle soup recipe for quite some time. I haven't found anything that really strikes my fancy. It was a very "cold and blustery" day today. The kind of day where I didn't even step outside long enough to get the mail. My husband had to go out in it though. He's also in the middle of tests at school, and we haven't seen each other much in the past two weeks. So, considering these two factors, I wanted to make something for dinner that was "warm and togethery."

I decided to combine my favorite ideas from the chicken noodle soup recipes I've been looking at, and boy am I glad I did! YUM! The perfect comfort food on this not so comfortable day.

• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/4 cup green pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 tsp. crushed dried marjoram leaves
• 1 chicken boullion cube
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 chicken breast, cooked and cubed
• 6 oz. bow-tie noodles
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

In a large pot, melt butter. Add carrot, celery, green pepper, onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are slightly tender, but still a little crisp. Add chicken broth and 1 cup of the milk. Stir in marjoram, boullion cube and salt and pepper.

Add noodles and chicken. Cook until noodles are almost done.

In a cup, stir together remaining milk and the flour until smooth. Add to soup. Stirring over medium-high heat, bring soup to a boil and boil for three minutes.

Green Enchiladas

The yummiest enchiladas EVER!

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 2 cans green chilies
• 1 8oz. package cream cheese cut into strips
• 1 jar salsa verde
• 1/2 can black beans
• 1 can refried beans
• 6 flour tortillas
• mozzarella cheese, grated

1. In large skillet, warm shredded chicken and cream cheese until cheese is melted. Add green chilies and salsa verde until desired consistency and heat (you will need more salsa verde later in the recipe, so don't go too crazy).
2. In another pan, warm beans combines and a little salsa verde ("Little"is the key word here!).
3. Pour a little bit of salsa verde on bottom of a 9-x13- inch pan.
4. Place a little chicken and bean mixture in each tortilla. Roll up. Place seam side down on baking dish. Cover with salsa verde and grated cheese.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and heated through.

Chicken Enchiladas

• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 pint sour cream
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 8 flour tortillas
• 3 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken

1. Mix chicken soup, sour cream, and onion.
2. Spread 1/4 cup sour cream mixture into each tortilla and top with 1/2 cup chicken and 1/4 cup cheese.
3. Roll up and place in 9x13 inch pan (I put a little of the sour cream suace on the bottom to prevent sticking). Spread remaining sauce over top of tortillas. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
   

Chicken Broccoli Braid

Yummy recipe from my sis-in-law, Cassie!

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
• 1 cup of blanched broccoli (should measure a cup after it's been cooked)
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• grated cheese (as much as you want...I use about a cup)

1. Mix all the ingredients (except the crescent rolls) in a bowl.


2. Spray a cookie sheet with PAM or somethings similar and lay out rolls with pointy end out and big edges overlapping to create a base.
   
3. Spoon chicken/broccoli mixture onto middle of dough. Fold the pointed edges over the top and try to tuck them in so it stays better.


4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 2o minutes, just until the bread is golden brown.

Chicken Parmesan

• 4 chicken breasts
• mozzarella cheese
• spaghetti sauce
• italian bread crumbs
• egg
• flour

Pound down your chicken until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Then get 3 bowls and fill 1 with flour, 1 with 2 eggs (more if needed) just a little bit beaten, and then the other with bread crumbs. Salt and pepper your chicken and then dip it in each bowl, beginning with the flour then the egg then the bread crumbs. Be sure the chicken is completely coated with the bread crumbs. Then place these on a greased 9x12 pan. Cover the pan with foil and cook at 350 degrees for about 30 or 40 minutes. Then, when the chicken is almost completely done in the oven, take the foil off and put spaghetti sauce and moz. cheese on each piece. Leave in over for a few more minutes so the chicken can finish up and the cheese will melt.

Chicken Stuffing Skillet

• 1 Tbsp butter or margarine
• 4 boneless chicken bre ast (halves)
• 1 box chicken flavored stuffing mix
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat butter in skillet. Add chicken and cook 12 to 15 minutes or until done. Remove chicken. Prepare stuffing in skillet according to package directions, let stand two minutes. Top stuffing with chicken. Mix soup and milk and pour over chicken and suffing. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and heat through.

Serves 4

Chicken Roll-ups

Made famous by Mom Nelson!

• 4 cups boiled chicken breast, cubed or shredded
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• onion salt to taste
• 2 packages crescent rolls
• 1/4 cup melted butter/margarine
• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
• 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup thinned with milk to gravy consistency

Mix cream cheese and seasoning, add chicken. Put a small amount of chicken mixture in crescent roll dough. Roll up and seal edges. Roll each roll-up in maragarine /butter and bread crumbs. Place in cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Heat up cream of chicken/milk mixture and serve as gravy over roll-ups.

Penne Pasta

This recipe is from Julie Freeman, my young women's president when I was in high school.

• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped ham
• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 1/2 cup white grape juice
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 small can sliced black olives
• 1 Tbsp. chopped gresh parsley
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 lb (16 oz.) penne pasta
• 2 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

Heat butter and oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Saute garlic and onion in butter and olive oil mixture. Stir in ham and chicken. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is brown. Stir in grape juice. Heat over high heat until hot. Stir in whipping cream, olives, parsley, and papper. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened. Cook penne as directed on package. Mix penne and cream mixture; top with cheese.

Crock Pot Chicken Enchiladas

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, Cassie. It's so easy and yummy!

• 2-4 chicken breasts (I usually go by one breast per person eating)
• 1 large bottle salsa
• 1/4-3/4 cup sour cream
• soft tortillas
• cheddar cheese

Place chicken breasts in crock pot. Pour bottle of salsa on top of chicken, just so it's barely covered. Cook on med./lo for 6-8 hours or on high for about 3 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in a separate bowl and shred. Mix in sour cream and some of the salsa from the crock pot (you decide). Place some of the chicken mixture into a tortilla, sprinkle some cheese on top and fold up. Place in baking dish folded side down so that it won't unfold. Continue until mixture is gone. Pour some of the salsa/sauce over the tortillas, sprinkle top with cheese. Cook in oven for 10 minutes!