Crumby Baked Chicken

Wow. Has it really been more than two months since I last posted? I guess things have been busy.

Well, time to get back on track with some good, simple recipes. Here's one that will help you make use of something you probably have in your kitchen that you don't know what to do with.

Admit it, you have somewhere a bag of chips or box of crackers that is approaching or already become stale. Well, you don't have to throw them away. Use them to make dinner.

Ingredients
1-2 cups of chip/cracker crumbs
bread crumbs (optional)
4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Directions
Crush up the chips/crackers. You can do it by hand, or put them in a food processor and pulse a few times. Put the crumbs in a shallow dish. Add in some bread crumbs if you think you don't have enough chip/cracker crumbs.

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Coat with mayo. Roll chicken in crumbs to evenly coat.

Place breaded chicken in a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

This goes great with vegetables and a potato.

You can use any kind of chip/cracker you'd lip. I used an aging box of Cheese Nips. You can use potato chips, tortilla chips, Ritz, saltines, Doritos, whatever! And of course, you don't have to use ones that are stale. Fresh works just fine, too. The idea behind the stale ones is just to use

Intermediate Italian cooking: Chicken/Veal Parmagiana

I promised early on in this blog that I would share some of what I've learned about Italian cooking, as it's what I'm asked about the most. A few months ago, I shared a very easy started recipe in Baked Ziti. I've also shared Chicken Lombardi, Veggie & Turkey Sausage Lasagna, Chicken Cacciatore and even Pepperoni Rolls. Now, though, it's time to share another staple of Italian restaurants: Chicken/Veal Parmagiana. In this instance, I'm gonna give you the recipe based on chicken, because that's what I just made, but it works just the same veal.

Now one thing I've learned the last few years is an amazing bit of culinary magic. If you want to take a small amount of food and make it look like a big amount of food, change the form is some way of a chicken breast. Dice it, shred it, flatten it, slice it. Whatever you do, you'll probably be amazed how much chicken you actually have in the end, and this recipe for Chicken Parmagiana proves it.

To make this dish, you'll need to pound chicken breasts flat. This accomplishes a couple of things. Most importantly it helps ensure even cooking, which is very important with chicken. It also helps stretch what you have.

There are a couple of ways to flatten out the chicken. First, lay out a boneless, skinless chicken breast on a cutting board and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap that is at least three times the size as the pieces of meat. I use the flat side of a meat hammer/tenderizer to gently pound out the chicken to about a half-inch thick. If you don't have a meat hammer, you can use a rolling pin to roll it out under the plastic wrap. When you flatten them out, the chicken breasts will be quite large. I recommend cutting each in half, giving you eight pieces in all.

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts, rolled to about 1/2-inch thick
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
1-2 cups Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
2 jars spaghetti sauce, divided
2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian mix cheese
Oregano
1 lb pasta of your choice

Directions
Pound chicken out and cut into eight pieces as described above. Season each piece with salt and pepper on both sides.

Set up a breading station using three shallow dishes. The first dish has the flour, the second the beaten eggs, the third the bread crumbs.

Working in batches, bread the chicken by coating with flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. Make sure in each step to get full coverage and too shake off the excess.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat some of the olive oil (enough to coat the pan) and place the breaded chicken in the skillet. You should be able to do half the chicken in each batch. Cook for about three minutes on each side until you have a golden brown crust. Keep in mind, you do not have to cook the chicken completely in this step. The goal is to sear in the juices and get the crust just right.

Using one of the jars of spaghetti sauce, spread a little of it across the bottom of a large baking dish. Layer the dish with the fried chicken cutlets. If your dish is large enough, you can make two layers, which is preferable. Mine was not, so I made two layers. Spread some of the sauce on top of each cutlet (using the entire jar by the time you're done), then top with the shredded cheese. Sprinkle with some oregano and/or other Italian spices.

Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starts to brown. Make sure the chicken is cooked inside, which it should be.

While the chicken is baking, make the pasta as directed and heat up the other jar of sauce. Serve the pasta (I used rigatoni) along side the chicken. I suggest some garlic bread and a salad, too!

It may seem like a lot, but this is really a very simple recipe, and it's well worth the effort. Try this, and you'll probably never bother getting chicken (or veal) parm in a restaurant again, because you can do it just as well at home.

Unless you're having a lot of people over for dinner, you'll probably have a lot of leftovers, so you can certainly cut this recipe in half if you'd like. Of course, Italian leftovers are the best, so enjoy for a few days. You can even make a chicken parm sandwich!

Game Day Eats: Kickin' Chicken Philly

We're getting close to kick-off for the Super Bowl, so it's time for another game day idea. Of course, chicken wings are popular dish. So are sandwiches. So try out this recipe that combines the best of both worlds.

The very first recipe I posted on this blog was a copycat of one of my favorite sandwiches at a restaurant here called Two Guys Grille. Well, since then I've found a new favorite at Two Guys called the Kickin' Chicken Philly, so I decided to try my own version.

Now as you may know, as a native of the Philadelphia area, I'm something of a cheesesteak purist. The cheesesteaks/chicken cheesesteaks at Two Guys typically include green peppers, but green peppers are not a traditional ingredient in a cheesesteak (You can usually find a pepper steak on the menu at real cheesesteak places, but it's usually at the bottom of the menu. Bottom line is that green peppers are NOT a staple ingredient.), so I leave them out. The Two Guys sandwich also calls for jalapenos, and I've just never been the biggest fan, so I left them out. You, of course, are welcome to add back in the peppers as you wish.

Ingredients (per sandwich)
1 chicken breast, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Chopped onion
Sliced mushrooms
Hot sauce/Buffalo wing sauce to taste
2 slices white American cheese
1 hoagie roll

Directions
Slice a chicken breast as thinly as you can. The thinner the better. Marinate the chicken in the hot/wing sauce.

On a hot griddle or frying pan, heat up a little olive oil. When it's hot, add the onions and cook a little. Push them out to the edge and add the chicken. Turn over the sliced chicken and add the mushrooms. Mix the chicken, mushrooms and onions together until the chicken and mushrooms are cooked. Top with cheese slices and continue to heat until the cheese starts to melt. Pile everything into a hoagie roll.

You can top your sandwich with what you'd like. In this case, I added some ketchup and tomato slices. If I'd had some lettuce, I would've added that, as well.

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

My father is Italian. My mother is Irish. When they were dating, the first meal she made for him was chicken cacciatore. That was bold. But she forgot the spaghetti. That was a little embarrassing, and a cute story she's told many times, which makes a dish a sentimental favorite for me.

Now silly family stories aside, chicken cacciatore is a truly classic Italian dish. Translated, it means hunter chicken, and alla cacciatora means a dish prepared hunter-style. Now real chicken cacciatore involves braising the chicken slowly in wine, etc. But we don't have time for that in our busy lives, right? Of course not. But we do have a Crock Pot that will let us make a simplified yet delicious facsimile of the classic recipe.

Ingredients1 lb chicken
1 onion cut into eight pieces
1 green pepper cut into strips
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 lb pasta of your choice

DirectionsFirst a word about the chicken. Traditionally, you should use a cut up chicken still with the bones in. I find that a little more difficult to eat, especially when you're feeding it to children, so I prefer to use boneless chicken. When I made this the other day, I used breasts, but you can use whatever pieces of the chicken you'd like, including boneless thighs, which are readily available in your grocery store's meat department.

OK. Now that we have our chicken, put it in a Crock Pot. I like to put it in when the meat is still at least partly frozen so that it hold together a little better during a full-day's stewing. Next add in the onion and green pepper. Dump in the spaghetti sauce and the tomato paste. (I added this ingredient to the recipe even though I didn't use it myself the other day, because I found the sauce to be a little thin in the end, and I think the paste will help thicken it. I will update the recipe the next time I try it.)

Turn the Crock Pot on low, put on the lid and go to work. Dinner will be pretty much ready when you get home. All you'll have to do it make the pasta (I used rigatoni) when you get home.

Sorry for the bad photo. I'll update this, as well, the next time I make this.

The chicken will be fork tender. Serve it over pasta with some garlic bread and a side salad. It doesn't get much easier than this, and is perfect for a chilly day.

Cheesy Chicken Rolls

Full disclosure right off the top: This is not my recipe, and I don't know whose it is.

My Aunt RoseMary made this years ago during a trip I made to Illinois when I was in college, and I've always loved it. It does take a little time, which means it's nice for a Sunday afternoon, when you have a little extra time to cook. Believe me, it is worth the wait.

Ingredients
6 chicken breast halves, boned
garlic salt and onion salt to taste
1 small jar button mushrooms, drained (Per Aunt RoseMary's preference, I use regular mushrooms)
1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese, cut into cubes
1/2 c. melted butter
1 1/2 c. cracker crumbs (saltines)
2 tsp dried parsley flakes

DirectionsPound breast halves until flat. Sprinkle with garlic and onion salts. Place one mushroom and one cube of cheese in center of breast and roll tightly. Hold it together with toothpicks. Dip chicken roll in melted butter. Mix cracker crumbs with parsley; roll chicken in crumb mixture. Place in buttered casserole. Cover. Bake at 300 for 1hr 30 min. Remove cover, Pour cream of chicken soup over rolls and bake 30 more minutes uncovered.

As you can see, it makes a great, creamy, cheesy sauce, which goes very well over egg noodles. It goes nicely with a green veggie on the side.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't forget to take out the toothpicks, especially if you're serving it to children. I make sure to use two toothpicks in each so that I know exactly how many to take out.

Chicken Kinda Bleu

If you're like me, there is not always time to make exactly the dish you may be craving. So sometimes we need some shortcuts.

For example, Chicken Cordon Bleu is a tremendous treat, but it's a little labor intensive if you want to get it exactly right. So I came up with my own version I dubbed Chicken Kinda Bleu. It has all the basic elements of the original, just not some of the time-consuming assembly.

Ingredients
A boneless, skinless chicken breast for each person

Sliced deli ham
Swiss cheese (or whatever cheese you have/like)
Bread crumbs


DirectionsUse a filet knife to butterfly each chicken breast. That means cut a slit at its thickest part, but don't cut it all the way in half. Open the chicken up as if there was a hinge. On one side, place some ham and cheese. Close the other side back over. You may want to use two or three toothpicks to hold it closed. Just remember to take them all out before serving.


Put some bread crumbs in a shallow bowl or pan, and roll each filled chicken breast in it to get a light coating. Place the chicken in a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350-375 for 30-45 minutes, or until the chicken is done and the cheese is melty.

We served it with some broccoli, rice and a roll (yes, a pretzel roll in this case).

Again, don't forget to take out all the toothpick before serving! You don't want anyone to get hurt.

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

If you haven't figured it out by now, the Crock Pot is perhaps the ultimate cooking vessel for easy-to-make comfort food. And by easy, I mean typically a one-pot meal. Thus is the case with the Crock Pot version of Chicken and Dumplings, which is based on a recipe I found doing a simple search online.

Ingredients
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper
1 (10 ounce) package refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

Directions
Put all the ingredients except biscuits into the Crock Pot and cook. At least 30 minutes to an hour before serving, put torn up biscuits on top of everything. Replace lid and continue to cook until biscuits are cooked.

When the biscuits are cooked, use two forks to shred the chicken a bit and serve.

Cranberry Ranch Chicken

Now that we're closing in on fall, it's time for some yummy and easy comfort food!

When my friend Marcy first told me about this recipe six year ago, I thought it sounded kinda gross, but the Mrs. (who wasn't yet the Mrs.) thought it sounded good, so I made it. She was right, and this one-pot dish has become a staple of our dinner table, especially in the fall and winter.

This is one of those recipes anyone can make, because all it requires is dumping four ingredients in a dish, stirring and cooking. One tip, though, the better the quality of Ranch dressing you use, the better. When Marcy gave me the recipe she said to use the jarred Ranch you find in the refrigerated area of the produce section of the grocery store, like Marzetti or Marianne's. I've used regular bottled Ranch, and I've found the cheap store brand leaves things a little oily. Name brand (e.g. Kraft, Hidden Valley) work fine.

Ingredients
1 lb chicken cut into bite-size pieces
8-10 oz Ranch dressing (see note above)
1 can WHOLE BERRY cranberry sauce (NOT the jelly kind)
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 lb egg noodles (cooked as directed)


Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray (makes clean-up a little easier). Mix the chicken, Ranch, cranberry sauce and onion soup mix in the casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Serve over egg noodles. For a little more balance and color, serve with a green veggie. I've found steamed broccoli is the perfect pairing.

Give this recipe a try. I'm pretty sure you and your family will like it as much as we do!

Chicken & Vegetables in White Wine Sauce

Here's another easy and tasty recipe that's sure to please. As is often the case with my recipes, feel free to change the ingredients to suit your taste.

Before you get started, there's an important tip about cooking with wine. In the grocery store you can find what's called cooking wine. DO NOT BUY IT! Any chef will tell you this simple rule: If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it. That does not mean you have to be a wine connoisseur. Just use what you like. If you're not a wine drinker, just ask a friend or someone at the store. I used Barefoot Chardonnay with this. And of course, if you use a wine you like to drink, it makes it very easy to find the right wine to pair with the meal!

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 pound chicken cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 gloves garlic chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 cup white wine
2 cups cooked rice (I used Jasmine rice, which adds a nice aromatic flavor, but use whatever you have/like)

Directions
Cook rice according to directions.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Brown chicken until almost done. Add carrots, onions and garlic and cook until veggies start to soften. Add mushrooms and cook another minute or two. Slowly add wine and scrape bits off bottom of pan. Stir in onion soup mix. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 5-10 minutes. Serve over rice.

As you can see, I served it with a side of broccoli to add a little more color to the dish. The kids should love it, too!

Gold Medal Meals: Teriyaki Bowls

Last week I mentioned to my wife that for dinner Friday night, in honor of the Olympics, we should have something British. Unfortunately, I didn't find a recipe in time that I liked, so we wound up having Chicken Tacos. That led to another idea, though. I decided for the duration of the Olympics, we would have a dish inspired by a different country each night. Check off Mexico.

Of course, there is no shortage of international cuisine to choose from, but the theme of this blog is to focus on stuff that's not crazy hard to make. So for night No. 2, I thought long and hard. Finally I decided on something Japanese: Teriyaki Bowls. This is something I fell in love with when I lived in California near a restaurant called Yoshinoya. Basically, it was a bowl of steamed rice with Teriyaki chicken (or beef) and steamed veggies. When I moved to Gainesville, FL, there was a place called Maui Teriyaki that served something similar. All in all, it's a tasty dish that's pretty healthy.

Ingredients
2 cups rice (Whatever kind you like. I used brown rice to make it a little healthier)
1 bottle Teriyaki sauce (I used low sodium)
2 chicken breasts sliced into thin strips
1 bag frozen cauliflower, carrot, broccoli mix (the store here calls it California mix)
1/2 an onion sliced thin
1/2 a head of cabbage sliced thin

Directions
-Cook rice according to its directions.
-In a medium saucepan, bring one cup of water to a boil. Add the frozen veggies. Return to boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid.
-In a large saucepan, heat the Teriyaki sauce and onions over medium-high heat. When it starts to boil add the chicken. Put the California mix veggies on top of the chicken and the sliced cabbage on top of the veggies. Pour some of the hot water from the veggies over the cabbage. Cover with a lid.
-When the sauce starts to boil, reduce heat to medium, and let cook for 10-15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked and all the veggies, especially the cabbage, are tender.
-Put rice in a bowl and top with cabbage, veggies and chicken. Add more sauce if desired. (I remember extra sauce being one of the best parts at Maui Teriyaki)

That's it. Like I said. It's pretty simply, and really yummy. I like to add some hot Chinese mustard to mine.

So two nights down, and a couple more weeks to go. It looks like a sudden strong thunderstorm kept my wife from getting to the grocery store, so we'll honor Team USA with some authentic American southern BBQ (take out).

It's Greek to me: Souvlaki & Greek Potatoes

Sorry the blog has been so quiet lately. As you might imagine, with our new addition, there's little time for things like this. Plus, we've had some great friends who have spoiled us with meals, so there hasn't been a whole lot of cooking. Nevertheless, I have a couple more recipes ready to go, including this one.

It's Greek Festival weekend in Wilmington, but with a couple of little kids, we decided not to try to navigate the event and make our own Greek dinner. The idea is inspired by my favorite dish at a great restaurant back home in South Carolina: Zorba's. Anyone who has grown up in or around Irmo knows Zorba's, and the Souvlaki Platter there has long been my standard order. You can serve this up with beef or chicken. We made chicken last night, so that's what you'll see in this recipe.

Ingredients

Chicken breasts and/or beef tips/steak (really any cut will do)
Greek/Souvlaki seasoning (I use Cavender's Greek Seasoning)
Olive oil
Balsamic or red wine vinegar
Potatoes
Stewed tomatoes
Oregano
Basil
Mint
Tzatziki sauce (recipe below)
Pita bread

For Souvlaki
Cut meat into bite-sized pieces. In zip top bag combine about 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup vinegar, Souvlaki seasoning (at least a couple tablespoons) and mix together. Add meat, a spring of fresh mint, fresh basil and oregano and marinate at least 30 minutes. Place on hot grill (I use my George Foreman Grill), sprinkle with more seasoning if desired and cook until done.

For potatoes
Cut peeled potatoes in half. In medium pot, cover with cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Boil for four minutes. Remove most of the water and add in a can of stewed tomatoes, some oregano, mint, basil and Greek seasoning. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until fork tender.

Tzatziki Sauce

 

2 cups Plain yogurt (Greek yogurt is even better)

1 Cucumber

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt
1 tsp chopped fresh mint
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano

Peel cucumber. Cut in half and scoop out seeds with a spoon.

Chop cucumber as finely as possible. Place chopped cucumber on thick layer of paper towels and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Mix in small bowl with rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Serve Souvlaki and potatoes with sauce and warm pita.

I also made a side of spinach by heating a little olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add crushed garlic and cook until it's almost brown. Add in a bunch of spinach leaves. Turn to coat and heat until done. Remember, spinach cooks down a great deal, so a full bunch will only give you about a small bowl full.

Creamy Mushroom Chicken

Here's a recipe pulled straight out of the pantry. Every so often it's a good idea to see what you have sitting around and make something from it. In this case, the jumping off point was a can of Cream of Mushroom soup. The only thing I did not already have was the mushrooms. This whole thing should take about 30 minutes.

Here's what you'll need:

1 cup sliced mushrooms (or more depending on if you like mushrooms)

2 tbsp butter

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

4 chicken breasts

Salt & pepper

1/4 cup flour

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup chicken broth

In a skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Saute mushrooms until soft. Move to a bowl and save for later.

In same skillet, heat olive oil. Pound chicken breasts to about 1/8 inch thick. Season on each side with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour. Brown in oil about 4-5 minutes on each side. Move chicken to a plate.

Add chicken broth to skillet and scrape up drippings and other bits in skillet. Add mushrooms back in along with Cream of Mushroom soup. Mix everything together over medium heat. Add in chicken and coat with soup mixture. Cover and simmer about 8-10 minutes or until chicken is done, turning chicken half way through.

 

Top with mushroom sauce to serve.

This would go great with some rice or egg noodles and a veggie. In the picture above, I served it with Au Gratin Potatoes (recipe to come), but the combo of creamy chicken and cheesy potatoes was a little heavy.

Chicken Lombardi

Tuesday (if she doesn't decide to arrive before the scheduled C-section) my wife and I will welcome our second child, a girl. As the big day approaches, I've put together some meals in the freezer so we won't have to worry about cooking in the coming weeks when we are exhausted beyond belief. Of course, there are batches of Baked Ziti of various sizes, but we decided to see if I could duplicate another great fix-ahead meal.

In my wife's hometown of Salisbury, NC, a family friend has a catering company/restaurant called L.A. Murph's. Among other things, it has take-and-bake meals that our in-laws often bring when they come to visit, including when our son was born a couple years ago. One of our favorites is the Chicken Lombardi (or Lombardy, but I'm going with the Italian spelling). We've been thinking for a while that we need to make our own, so I decided to make it the other night and put a batch aside for after the baby comes.

Having never made this before, I searched for a simple recipe that looked like it would be good. I found one on food.com, and it turned out pretty well, though I made a few tweaks. So having given full credit to the original, here's my version:

Ingredients1-2 cups sliced mushrooms
4-5 tbsp butter, divided
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
flour
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese

Preheat the oven to 450.

Before you get cooking, you need to get the chicken breasts nice and thin. The best way is to cover them with a sheet of plastic wrap and pound them until about 1/4-inch thick. If you don't have a meat hammer/tenderizer, I've heard you can also roll them thin with a rolling pin.

Heat up a skillet over medium/high heat, melt 2 tbsp butter and saute the mushrooms. When they're tender, set them aside in a bowl.

Melt the rest of the butter in the skillet. Dredge the chicken in flour and brown (about 3-4 minutes on each side). Put the chicken in a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with the cooked mushrooms.

Keep the skillet on the heat. Add the garlic and brown a bit. Pour in the wine and broth slowly (it'll steam, splatter and hiss). Scrape the pan to loosen up all the drippings, garlic and bits o' chicken, etc. Season with a little salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium/low and simmer for about five minutes. Pour over the chicken and mushrooms. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese starts to brown.

The picture below shows the dish before it's topped with cheese and baked. Some how I forgot to take a picture afterward. Next time I make it, I'll try to remedy that.

 

We like it with some rice (like a boxed rice mix) and veggies. You could also do mashed potatoes.

Like I said, I made a batch (and later another) to freeze for another night. Instead of using a baking dish, I used an 8x8 aluminum pan. I bought three of these for about $2 at the grocery store.

I suggest letting it cool a bit, then putting the shredded cheese on top. Wrap it up with a few layers of plastic wrap. Let it cool completely in the refrigerator, then put it in the freezer.

To serve it later, you're best off defrosting it completely, then following the normal bake instructions. If not, you can bake it longer and lower. Try 400 for about 45 minutes.

Taco Night

History tells us that back in the Dark Ages, families would gather each Wednesday for a special event called Il Giorno del Spaghetti Principe. Obviously times change. And nowadays, in many families, there is excitement about Taco Night!

Now, this isn't much of a recipe. In fact, I'm not gonna give you specific measurements at all. But Taco Night is always a win in our house, because it's tasty and it's quick and easy. Who can beat that?

Our Taco Night typically involves chicken tacos (ground beef or turkey also work). I cut up a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cook it in a pan in a little olive oil. Usually I add some chopped onion and garlic as well. Once the chicken is browned, I throw in some mushrooms and add my favorite seasonings to taste. The great part about this is you can put in whatever you want. I typically use (a lot of) ground cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Mix it together first or add one at a time. If you like other stuff or don't like some of those, that's fine. Again, use what you like. Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water and simmer till the chicken is cooked and the spices are evenly distributed. You can also add a little corn starch to the mix to thicken it all up.

You can cut corners a bit by buying a packaged taco seasoning mix. Beware, though, that they have a lot of sodium. Alton Brown, one of my favorite cooking personalities (he's really not a chef) has a great recipe for a taco seasoning mix called Taco Potion #19 that I've used and liked a lot.

Once the mix is done, we serve it on some warmed tortillas with guacamole, cheese, salsa, black beans or whatever toppings you like.

One variation I like from time to time is shredded chicken. I've done this a couple of ways. One way is to put the chicken breasts in a pot of boiling water. When they're cooked, drain most of the water, shred them with a couple of forks, return the meat to the little bit of water in the pot, add your spices and cook until evenly seasoned. You can also add in a little cheese and some milk to help it melt. Or before you go to work in the morning, put the chicken breasts in a Crock Pot. Add a can of Mexican stewed or diced tomatoes and some spices to taste and let it cook all day. Then just shred, stir and serve.

Even though it's just a chicken breast per person, we always find it makes a very filling meal, even with a little extra.

KID REVIEW: Our 19-month-old isn't too big on meat yet, but he LOVES black beans and guacamole. He will eat every bit he can get and wear much of it. So Taco Night is also bath night at our house.

Black & Bleu Chicken Sandwiches, Baked Sweet Potato "Fries"

We will start with something really simple... and what I made for dinner tonight.

You surely have had something delicious at a restaurant and thought, "Boy, it would be great if I could make this at home." I've been trying to do that a little more often to help save a little money and enjoy some good eats. Tonight's recipe is one of my favorites from Two Guys Grille here in North Carolina.

Because of cook time, start with the sweet potato "fries." Plan on one potato for each person at most. I used two, and had plenty for me, my wife, our 19-month-old son and a decent handful leftover. Pre-heat oven to 400. Rinse and dry the sweet potatoes and cut into strips (leave skin on). Mine are cut like decent sized steak fries. Put cut sweet potatoes in a big bowl, drizzle with some olive oil and mix. Sprinkle with salt or seasoning salt and cinnamon (trust me on this) and mix again. Spread cut potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until done. Two Guys serves its sweet potato fries with cinnamon butter. It's pretty tasty. I just go with ketchup.


For each sandwich, pound a boneless, skinless chicken breast to an even thickness (about a 1/4 of an inch). Rub both sides with your favorite blackening season. I used Old Bay Blackened Seasoning. Grill until done. I did mine on a Foreman Grill, and when the chicken was cooked, I topped it with bleu cheese and closed the lid for a minute or so until it was all melty. Serve on a Kaiser toll. Top with lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon, whatever you like. I also put a little Ken's Steakhouse Chunky Bleu Cheese dressing on mine. Throw in a side salad, and you have a tasty meal!