Oven Baked Pesto Chicken

Not only did The Maifan-San like this... he LOVED it, ate it all up and kept saying "Wow! This is really good!"

Finally he amended the comment to "you normally make good food, but this is GREAT!"

I liked it too, partly because it was yummy, partly because it was super easy.

Oven Baked Pesto Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or 5 breast tenders)

1 container Pesto w/ Basil (found in the part of the store that sells all the fridge pasta stuff) 

shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cover cookie sheet with foil.
2. Put pesto and chicken in bowl. Toss until chicken is covered.  (this is messy, but sort of fun)
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
4. Sprinkle cheese on top..
5. Bake another 3-5 minutes.

Serve with a box of angel hair pasta and French bread. (I put a bit of the shredded cheese in the pasta as soon as it is done... just a few sprinkles to add a bit to it.  I also cook my noodles with a few drops of oil and some salt and pepper.)

 I don't have any photos because it was eaten so fast.  Nest time for sure....

Tuna Noodle Casserole

For the adventure part of this... visit this blog post.

Kaylia's Version of Tuna Noodle Casserole

Ingredients:

2 cups elbow pasta
1 can Campbell's Cream of Celery Soup
1 can tuna (small)
1 small package cream cheese (8 oz)
½  teaspoon garlic salt
½  teaspoon dry mustard
¼  cup milk
¼ cup minced onions
½  cup slivered almonds
2 Tablespoons butter

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 375. Cook pasta.

2.    Mix cream of celery, softened cream cheese, and milk until smooth. (Feel no shame in using a mixer)

3.    Add drained tuna, garlic, dry mustard and onion.

4.    Place pasta in casserole dish and then add mixture. Mix well and flatten.

5.    Melt butter and mix almonds into the butter. Spread mixture over top of casserole. 

6.    Bake for 45 minutes. Goes well with steamed veggies.

Poulet Doux

I decided to try this recipe yesterday.

Unfortunately, after visiting four stores I wasn’t able to find Russian salad dressing. A quick conference with my former roommate and I decided to replace the Russian dressing with Catalina dressing.

However, this also proved impossible to find… so I ended up using French dressing. This meant that I had made the recipe mine and thus I renamed it: Poulet Doux, which means Sweet Chicken in French.

Just a review:

1 bottle French Dressing
1 jar Apricot Preserves
4 large boneless chicken filets
1 package onion soup mix. (dry)

Preheat the oven to 435.
Spray a shallow small baking dish.

Mix the dressing, apricot preserves and onion soup mix. It will look slightly disgusting. Take heart.

Roll the chicken fillets in the mixture and then plop into the baking sheet. Pour remaining mixture over the chicken and bake for 25 minutes.




I served it over noodles… but I think it will be better over rice. There is a fair bit of liquid left over after you remove the chicken for serving. This could be drizzled over the rice.

As it was, it was a hit. The gals I made it for seemed to really like it… either that or they were just starving. Regardless, I am putting it down as a success.

Time: Just about half an hour.

Corn Flake Chicken

This one looks easy... a bit time intensive but you can't go more simple wiht the number of items needed and prep work.

Corn Flake Chicken

6 to 8 chicken cutlets
Bottle of fat free Italian dressing
Corn Flakes crumbs

Prehat oven to 325.

Marinate 6 or 8 chicken cutlets in fat free, Italian dressing for an hour and a half.

Heavily coat both sides of the cutlets in Corn Flake crumbs.
Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with Pam (or whatever).
Place cutlets on cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes... to an hour depending on your oven.

Nutty Green Beans

I made these last night and they were a hit!

Need:
1 pound of green beans (fresh)
3-5 cloves of garlic (cloves being the little parts not the big things –I think- hmmm, well buy the big thing then take the outer layer off an then pull out the little bulbs and skin ‘em. Chop 3-5 of these in half… the more you use the more garlic-y the beans will be)
1 Big Handful of halved walnuts (chop these up as well… I think about ¼ cup of chopped nuts is a good guide, but change for your own discretion.
Oil (I used Peanut oil)

Rinse and snap the green beans.
Place green beans in pan (large… I used my wok) and cover just barely with water.
Cook on high until beans are BRIGHT GREEN! (about 6-7 minutes(
Drain
Rinse with cold water and plop the whole strainer into cold water. (I filled my sink up about 1/3 of the way and added ice cubes.) I have no idea why this I important, but I followed the directions.
Let them cool while you heat a healthy dose (cover the bottom of the pan) of oil in the pan.
When the oil is hot add the garlic, cook on high for 5 minutes
After five minutes add the green beans and the nuts… sprinkle a bit of minced onions, salt to taste.
Cook for another 5 minutes or until you can’t stand it (They are going to smell soooo good!)

(Depending on your group.. you might want to remove the big chunks of garlic before you serve.)

Serve and enjoy!

Time: Less than 20 minutes.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients
1 cup butter (soft)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 and ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick cooking oats (Like the Quaker kind, in the cylinder container)
1 cup chocolate chips.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Cream the butter and sugars until smooth (I use a fork). Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix. In separate container combine the flour, soda, and salt. Stir it in slowly until blended. (Still using the fork works best)

Add the oats, stir well. Add the chocolate chips and stir.

Use a regular spoon to scoop out bits and bake on an ungreased* sheet for 12 minutes.
When you take them out of the oven, let the pan sit for about 5 minutes before sliding them off. You don’t need a wire rack, a plate works just fine.


(*Note: when I say ungreased, I mean it. Despite the fact that my mother told me to always grease my pans… cooking spray, butter, foil, and any combination of such things only result in badly burned and oddly tasting cookies. Don’t Grease That Pan.)

(Another note: why is “ungreased” not a word? Microsoft Word needs to be updated.)

Time: Give yourself an hour and a half and you should be fine.

Recommended music would be KT Oslin’s Sounds from an Aging Sex Bomb, and Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits.

Simple Chicken Tenders

Simple Chicken Tenders

Ingredients

Canola oil cooking spray
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 egg whites
1 pound chicken tenders

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Set a wire rack on a foil-lined baking sheet and coat with cooking spray.
Place almonds, flour, paprika, garlic powder, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a food processor; process until the almonds are finely chopped and the paprika is mixed throughout, about 1 minute. With the motor running, drizzle in oil; process until combined. Transfer the mixture to a shallow dish.
Whisk egg whites in a second shallow dish. Add chicken tenders and turn to coat. Transfer each tender to the almond mixture; turn to coat evenly. (Discard any remaining egg white and almond mixture.) Place the tenders on the prepared rack and coat with cooking spray; turn and spray the other side.
Bake the chicken fingers until golden brown, crispy and no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings

I haven’t made this yet… because honestly it was billed as “Simple Chicken Fingers” and in my book anything with more than 10 ingrediants (including egg whites) isn’t “Simple” at all.
But I plan on attempting this (with possible variations) in the next week or so.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.