Easy Weeknight Dinner~Chicken Sausage Subs

During this time of year our girls have activities 5 nights a week.  Three nights a week we have a normal family dinner but the other two nights a week my oldest daughter and  husband have Lacrosse practice for an hour and a half- right at dinner time.  I need something that is easy and quick for those nights rather than ordering takeout for dinner.   During our last trip to the grocery store we came across these chicken sausages. Since they are precooked they make for a quick, easy, and very tasty dinner.

We tried a flavor totally new to us -a sweet chicken sausage made with apples and maple syrup.  

(I never thought sausage in a package looked very appetizing)

     We decided to pan fry them with peppers and onions.  Super quick, super simple.  

The only preparation required with this meal was slicing my veggies. And I did slice each sausage in half long ways so they would brown a bit easier.    

We threw some fries in the oven and baked those while the sausage and veggies were cooking.   I also toasted a couple of crusty hoagie rolls in the oven for a few minutes.

Somewhere under all those veggies is a piece of the sausage.  What can I say- I love my veggies!

I filled mine with sauteed veggies and some lettuce. It was filling, but not overly so.  I wasn't sure what to expect from the sweet sausage, but I really did like it.  It had such a mild flavor and  was not greasy at all. If you eat meat, these are a great thing to keep on hand for a quick weeknight dinner. 

We had leftovers since I cooked up the whole package so my husband used them in scrambled eggs they next morning.  They made a very tasty breakfast!  

**I was not paid for this blog post.  I just wanted to share a new dairy free find**

What is something you keep on hand for a quick dinner?

Dairy Free Buffalo Chicken Dip

Yes, you read that right- DAIRY FREE Buffalo Chicken Dip. When I started my search for this dish, I came across a lot of variations. This recipe is the one that was the most like the original recipe. I found it at Adventures of a Minnesota Girl written by Melissa. This dip is cheesy, gooey, indulgent... everything a dairy free person misses. It tasted just like the original dairy full dish- just with a lot less grease and oil.

I first made this for our New Year's Eve party. The dip was a huge hit with everyone- and they were all dairy eaters except me. In fact, we finished off two of them! The ingredient list is short, the method is super easy, and it comes together beautifully.

Ingredients:
~Cooked and shredded *chicken. You can use leftover rotisserie or boil up a couple chicken breasts. I boil up two breasts for 1 dip.

~4 oz.of your favorite dairy free cheese plus a little more for the top. You can use cheddar or mozzarella- I used cheddar. I use Veggie Shreds because I do not have a casein allergy. I suggests using Daiya if you have an allergy instead of an intolerance.

~8 oz.dairy free cream cheese. I used Trader Joes brand.

~1/3 cup *mayo

~1/3 cup Franks Red Hot sauce. More if you want it hotter.

~1 Tablespoon lemon juice

~Salt and pepper to taste.


Directions:
1.If cooking the chicken, boil it until it is cooked through and easy to shred.

2.While the chicken is cooking mix up the Mayo, lemon juice, cheese, and salt and pepper.


Add the cream cheese, then the chicken and hot sauce.


3.I sprinkle the top with extra cheese as well.This is optional

4.Bake at 350F for about 15-20 minutes or until hot.


Melissa told me that you can also do this in a slow cooker. I have not tried it that way myself though. But I plan on trying it soon!

**You can make this Vegan by using tofu instead of chicken, and Veganese instead of mayo.

A HUGE thank you to Melissa at Adventures of a Minnesota Girl for sharing this recipe on her blog, and for allowing me to share it on mine. You should definitely head over to her blog and check it out!

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

If you've been following previous posts or my Facebook page, you know that earlier this week my slow cooker died on me, in the middle of making dinner! My husband knows that it is my favorite kitchen appliance (aside from my coffee/cappuccino maker) and that I needed a new one ASAP. A busy Mom of 3 cannot live without a slow cooker (at least this one can't!) I use it at least once a week, especially in the Fall and Winter months.

Since I had this shiny new Crock Pot to try out, I decided to try out a brand new recipe in it for dinner the other night. (After all, who can resist trying out a brand new kitchen gadget?)
I am always on the search for new slow cooker recipes, and came across this site in my search. From here I found a recipe for a super easy BBQ chicken. The only problem, I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. So I decided to use what I did have, items that I felt were similar and would have the same results.

Ingredients:
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups Barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Rays because it's the best!)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp.smoked sea salt
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder


Directions:
Wash the chicken. I ALWAYS wash chicken before I use it.
Mix together the barbecue sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, sea salt, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.


Place the chicken in the slow cooker and pour the barbecue sauce mixture over it.


Set the slow cooker on low for 4-5 hours and let it cook.

I served this with my (Almost) homemade baked beans and Trader Joes Organic Foursome vegetable medley. Next time I might make up a skillet cornbread to go with it too!

I actually left this in the slow cooker for longer than intended. We had to run out to do a couple very quick errands last night before dinner and got stuck in traffic for an hour! But I am happy to say it was still very good, and had not dried out at all. It just didn't leave me any extra time to take a good picture of the finished product.

So this is what you get. I had cut my daughters' meat on my plate first, not thinking about needing to take a picture. So it's an embarrassingly bad photo, but I promise it was DELICIOUS!


Here are a couple of my other slow cooker recipes with many more to come soon!:
Slow Cooker Cinnamon Applesauce

Coffee Braised Pot Roast

Who Needs Fast Food?~Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Tenders

My kids LOVE chicken nuggets. My middle daughter would eat them for every meal if we let her. I have bought the Purdue premaid ones for them (I buy very few premaid items- this happens to be one of them because they are dairy free.) We also take them to Chick-fil-A for a treat now and then. But I'm tired of feeding them junk, even in the very small amounts that we actually buy. So the other night when they were asking for Chick-fil-A, I decided to make it for them instead. They were fine with this compromise because they happen to love these chicken tenders. I found the recipe in one of my "Eating Well" magazines a while ago and have made it several times. These chicken fingers, paired with Trader Joe's new fries, and fresh veggies made up a very kid friendly dinner. (And Mom and Dad friendly too!)

There are 3 steps: Marinate, bread, bake.

Ingredients:
1 cup barbecue sauce- I used Sweet Baby Rays
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey


1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders (I used chicken breasts and just sliced them)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups coarse Panko breadcrumbs,
Olive oil cooking spray




Prep Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 1/2 hours (including 30 minutes for marinating)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 450F. Line rimmed cookie sheets with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray.

1.Combine BBQ sauce, mustard and honey in a measuring cup. Cut any large chicken tenders in half lengthwise or if using chicken breasts, cut them into strips. Place chicken in large dish and add the sauce, tossing to coat evenly. Marinate covered in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.


2.Combine flour, salt and pepper in one shallow dish, lightly beaten eggs in another, and put breadcrumbs in a third dish. Coat each tender in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip in egg and let any excess drip off. Then roll in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess.

Place the tenders on the prepared baking sheet. Spray both sides of each piece of chicken with cooking spray

4.Bake for 10 minutes. Turn each tender over and continue baking until the outside is crisp and the tenders are cooked through, about 10 minutes more.


We served it with Trader Joes Fries:

So so good!

We also cut up some fresh veggies- cucumbers and carrots- to serve with it. Kids love finger foods, and my kids especially love fresh veggies. They had Ranch dressing with theirs, I had garlic hummus.




We turned the leftovers into sandwiches the next day.


Happy Cooking!

From EatingWell: January/February 2010

2 Quick and Easy Chicken Dinners

Since I haven't posted a recipe or meal idea in a few days, I thought I would give you 2 at once today to make up for it. One thing I always have on hand in my freezer is chicken. I usually have boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs, and a couple of whole chickens as well. There is so much you can do with chicken- bake, grill ( inside or outside), saute, add to pasta, make into salad, put it in a soup... the list is endless. I mentioned before that the past week has been hectic and I needed quick, easy (but HEALTHY) meals for my family. Here are two meals I kind of threw together on two separate nights. Both take very little time and prep, make for minimal cleanup (I'm all for that since "A good cook is a clean cook"- Thanks Mom!) And I used what I had on hand- no extra trips to the store.

#1:Easy Italian Chicken- In our house we love chicken with tomatoes. It's so easy, and the kids love it. (Kid friendly is a must in this house!) It's a basic comfort food for us. And it only takes one pot to make this meal. It does need to simmer until the chicken is cooked through- but once the sauces are added you can put the lid on and let it cook until you are ready to eat.

Serves 4, takes about 3o minutes of active cooking, 1 hour till done- can cook as long as you need it to.

Ingredients:
1-2 tablespoons Olive Oil
4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (I buy HarvestLand from BJ's)
Green Pepper- sliced
Onion- sliced
Dried Garlic
Bertolli Olive Oil and Garlic sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can plain sauce (if needed)
Oregano
Basil
Thyme
Freshly Ground Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
I always wash my chicken first. Meanwhile heat the oil in the pot. Add chicken to the heated oil. Sprinkle with the dried garlic, salt, and pepper.
Let chicken brown on both sides.



While the chicken is browning, I sliced my veggies. For this I kept them bigger so the 4 year old could pick them out- she is not a fan of peppers and onions.

Once the chicken is browned slightly, add the peppers and onions to the pot. Let cook until the onions soften a bit, making sure to move them around and turn the chicken ( so it doesn't burn).



Add your sauces and spices. There are no measurements for the spices because I use my palm to measure, or I just eyeball it. I add about a Tablespoon of each I would guess. You can add more or less to your taste.



Let simmer for about an hour

I served this over Angel Hair pasta- you could use any sort of pasta you have on hand, or rice.

*If you would like you can top with a dairy free cheese like Daiya or Veggie Shreds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#2: Chicken Garden Saute
Last night we had the girls' music lessons at 5, and I wanted to go for a jog at the same time. We got home at about 6:15. Before I left I put the chicken out to defrost so it would be ready to cook when I got home.
I had this meal in mind all day and couldn't wait to try it- I sauteed chicken with peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach, shredded carrots, and tomatoes. I used chipotle chili powder and smoked paprika as the seasonings to give it a slight smokey flavor. It had just a little bit of spice- not enough to bother the kids.

Total cooking time was about 35 minutes. We got home at 6:15 and I was loading the dishwasher by 7:15.

Ingredients:
4 Boneless skinless Chicken Breasts- sliced
1 Green Pepper- sliced
1 Red Onion- halved then sliced
4 baby portabello mushrooms- sliced
Handful or two shredded carrots
2 Roma tomatoes- quartered then sliced
Handful or two fresh baby spinach
1/2 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
1/2 Tablespoon Chipotle Chili Powder
Shake or two of Garlic Salt (or you can use garlic power to omit the sodium)

Directions:
Wash chicken (Of course! ) and slice it into whatever size chunks you like.
Spray large saute pan with cooking spray of your choice- make sure it's covered well.
Heat pan, add chicken. At this point I also added the veggies that took a while to cook- the pepper, onion, carrots.



Add the smoked paprika, chili powder, and garlic at this point as well. Cover and let cook for a few minutes on medium heat.
Once the chicken starts to cook through, add the mushrooms. Stir well and cover. Keep the heat on medium.
**I have a flat top electric stove so you may need to adjust your heat settings to accommodate the type of range you have**
When the chicken is completely cooked through, add the tomatoes and cook for another couple minutes, until the tomatoes soften.
Just before you are ready to take the pan off the heat, stir in the spinach. It will cook down very quickly- takes about 2-3 minutes.



I served this with Trader Joe's Quinoa Duo and organic steamed broccoli. The girls cleaned their plates!



It also made great leftovers- I heated it up and used it in a wrap for lunch today.

First Time Recipe-Spiced Braised Chicken with Red Wine and Tomato

I love my Food and Wine Magazine- I get so excited when I open my mailbox and there is a brand new issue in there full of new recipes to try. I mainly look at the recipes, the hubby likes to look at the wines and try to find them at the stores.
The first recipes I always look at are the dairy free ones. And in my last magazine I came across this delicious looking chicken recipe that I knew I had to try. It had all our favorite things in it- chicken, red wine, onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes. It just looked too good to pass up. So I added it to our menu for this week. I was supposed to make it last night but I made a last minute adjustment to our menu and saved it for tonight. In other words- I didn't feel like cooking last night and made something easy *GASP!

This was not a hard recipe but it was a little time consuming and had several steps. I will definitely make it again, but with a couple changes that I will add at the end.
Active cooking time: 30 minutes Total cook time: 1 hr. 40 minutes.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Canola Oil
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs (** The recipe actually calls for chicken legs, but I do not like chicken legs so I used thighs instead**)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 large onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, smashed
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
One 3-inch cinnamon stick, broken in half (**I didn't have any cinnamon sticks- thought I did but I did not, so I used 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
1 cup dry red wine (We used Sterling Vintner's Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2008)
1 cup chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth
One 28oz can whole tomatoes, chopped with their juices. ( I left them whole because I like them better that way)



Directions:
1. In a large, deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil until it is shimmering. Season with chicken with salt and pepper and add to the skillet. Cook over medium high heat until browned.


Transfer the browned chicken to a plate. Pour off fat in skillet.


2. ( I used a clean pot for this step, but you don't have too.). Add the remaining 1 Tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the cumin seeds and cook over moderately high heat for 10 seconds or until fragrant. Add the onions and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened- about 5 minutes.


Add the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, crushed red pepper, and bay leaves and cook, stirring, until the garlic is golden, about 3 minutes.



Add the wine and simmer over moderately low heat for 5 minutes.


Add the stock and the tomatoes with their juices and simmer for 10 minutes.



3. Add the chicken to the sauce along with any accumulated juices and simmer over low heat, turning a few times, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is flavorful, about 50 minutes.

Right when chicken is added


50 minutes later- it absorbs the sauce.
Discard cinnamon stick ( if used) and bay leaves, season with salt and pepper, and serve over white rice.


Next time I will add some baby portobello mushrooms during the last 20 minutes of cooking.

This is not really a kid friendly recipe but you can easily save a couple pieces of chicken for them and let them have the plain chicken with the rice and veggie. Or in a small pan you could simmer the chicken with some diced tomatoes or tomato sauce instead- omitting all the "adult" flavors.

Recipe from Food and Wine Magazine
Happy Cooking!

Thai Chicken & Coconut Soup

Being dairy free means giving up a lot of foods that have that creamy goodness we all love. I haven't had chowder, fettuccine Alfredo, or cream of, well... anything, soup in at least 3 years. And I would be lying if I said I didn't miss it. I do! I thought I was done with creamy soups until the day my Mother in Law made this soup for us. I must have asked her a hundred times if she was sure there was no dairy in it because it was so good I was convinced there had to be. She showed me the recipe and sure enough, there was only coconut milk. The flavors that really make up this soup are ginger and lemongrass. The coconut milk is what gives it the creaminess, and the lime juice added at the end gives it a little tang.
My Mother in Law was kind enough to share the recipe with me, and I have made it quite a few times for my family. Even my 4 year old loves it. That says a lot, because she can be very picky about certain foods. According to both kids and the husband this dish gets the highest rating- 2 thumbs up and "do-over" status ( which is what my kids say when they want me to make it again). Hope you enjoy it!




Ingredients:
3 pieces dried lemongrass
6 coin sized slices fresh ginger, unpeeled
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
handful crushed pepper flakes ( or you can also use 2 fresh Serrano or jalapeno peppers)
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus sliced lime for garnish
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 scallions, sliced
fresh cilantro leaves (for garnish)
Fettuccine noodles ( or noodles of your choice)- based on 4 servings

Directions:
Prepare pasta while the soup is cooking
Smash each lemongrass stalk with chef's knife and place in large soup pot
Slice ginger and crush ginger and garlic with chef's knife. Add to soup pot, along with red pepper flakes.
Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Add chicken breasts to the broth. Cover and simmer gently over low heat until chicken is cooked through. About 10 minute or more, depending on the thickness of each piece.
Remove chicken from broth, and set aside.
Bring broth to a rolling boil and let boil for about 5 minutes. If some of the broth evaporated, you can add more chicken stock.
Strain broth into a saucepan, press on the solids to get all the flavors and juices into the broth. Stir in the coconut milk and heat through.
In a small bowl or measuring cup stir together the cornstarch, 3 tablespoons water, lime juice, and soy sauce with whisk. Add to the soup, stirring until the broth thickens slightly.
Slice the chicken and add to the soup. Let simmer for a couple minutes to reheat chicken and let all the flavors mingle.

Season with additional lime juice if desired

Serve soup over fettuccine noodles, garnish with cilantro and scallions
(This time I chose to serve it over penne pasta. Just as good!)



Original Recipe courtesy of Deborah McWee ( with some alterations made by me)

South African Sweet and Sour Chicken

We have recently been introduced to South African food, thanks to our friends who just recently moved here from South Africa. It's been a lot of fun learning about different styles of cooking and new ingredients that I've never used before. We've had several dinners together at each other's homes- we've made typical American food for them, and they have made typical South African food for us. She taught me how to make a traditional Sunday meal of roasted leg of lamb, potato crisps, and a green bean and potato mash (soooo good!) I made my BBQ, homemade baked beans, and coleslaw. They taught us about Braai's, we've had them over for a cookout. (basically the same thing). But one of my favorite dishes has to be the Sweet and Sour Chicken. It's just so good!

1 cup Mrs. Balls Chutney
1 Cup ( or a little less) mayonnaise
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4-6 potatoes, peeled and cut in half

Preheat oven to 350.
Place chicken and potatoes in baking dish.
Mix mayo and chutney together, pour over chicken and potatoes.
Place in oven for an hour or so, until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thinned.
Spoon onto serving platter. Skim fat off top of the sauce if you would like to use the sauce as a gravy.



I served it with a green vegetable on the side.

Recipe courtesy of Rochelle Vermeulen