Wednesday's Dairy Wrap

Barbecue chicken is perfect for wrapping up these  crazy days of summer down on the dairy farm.  I'm wrapping up my week with  BBQ Chicken and Cheddar Foil Packet Dinner  from the Dairy Makes Sense recipe collection. 

BBQ Chicken and Cheddar Foil Packet Dinner

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons barbecue sauce

4 boneless,skinless chicken breasts 

2 small unpeeled red potatoes,thinly sliced

1 green onion,finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar Cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place a foil sheet, approximately 12x12 inches, on a work surface. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the barbecue sauce in the center of the foil. Place one chicken breast half over barbecue sauce and spread another teaspoon of sauce over chicken. Top with quarter of the potato,bell pepper and onion.

Fold foil in half to cover contents; make narrow folds along edges to seat. Repeat with remaining ingredients to assemble three more packets. Place the four packets on a baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes.

Open foil packets with scissors and carefully pull back edges as contents may be very hot. Sprinkle a quarter of the cheese over the top of each chicken breast and return to oven, unsealed for two minutes or until cheese is melted. With a spatula, transfer the contents of each packet onto individual serving plates. 

Crazy Day Recipe

 I'm not sure what possessed me to try a new recipe when my friends from church were coming to my house for our December Christmas potluck, but I'll just say I was crazy. I  found Creamy Italian Chicken   in Ecclesiastical Cuisine, a cookbook I purchased last year from the Central Presbyterian church Women's Association in Fort Smith,Arkansas.Whether you're having a crazy busy day during this holiday season or just feeling crazy--here's a recipe you may want to try!


Creamy Italian Chicken

Ingredients:
4 bonesless,skinless chicken breast halves
1 envelope Italian dressing mix
1/4 cup water
8 oz.cream cheese,softened
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 oz. can mushroom pieces,drained
Dash garlic powder

Put chicken in slow cooker. Combine dressing mix and water; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. Mix cream cheese,soup,and mushrooms. Add garlic powder and pour over chicken. Cover and cook 1 hour longer.

Creamy Italian Chicken turned out to be very tasty and a great success measured by clean plates and everyone requested   a copy of the recipe!

Dairymom's Sunday Dinner Special

Blue Plate Specials are usually the economic favorite meal choices in the local cafe but I'm developing my own list of Blue Plate Dairymom  Specials that can be easily prepared for a busy Sunday schedule. The criteria for a Dairymom Dinner Special is that it's easy to assemble, can be prepared ahead and ready to eat within 30 minutes of arriving home from church, and the farmers love it enough that they look forward to eating any leftovers! I'm adding Chicken and Dressing Casserole (Jim Graham's Farm Family Cookbook) to the Dairymom Dinner Special  list after a successful trial this week.

Chicken and  Dressing Casserole


1 package Pepperidge Farm Herb Dressing
1 stick butter,melted
4 chicken breasts,boiled,and cut into chunks
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth retained from boiling chicken

Add butter to stuffing mix. Put half of stuffing mix in 9x13-inch baking dish. Add layer of chicken. Mix retained warm chicken broth with the cans of soup. Pour over chicken. Add other half of stuffing mix. Bake in 400 degrees F. oven until stuffing browns. Serves 12.

                                                                               
                                                                       Happy Sunday!

Wednesday's One-Dish Meal

Christmas in January is what we're celebrating tomorrow night when my church friends (my sons call us the "Blue Hairs") gather at my house for supper and Bible study. We usually just have dessert but since we canceled our annual potluck Christmas dinner in December, I'm hosting and preparing the main dish tonight. I find that I enjoy making Chicken Tetrazzini for my family or guests because it is simple,can be prepared in advance, and is a great dish to share with others.  It is also an easy recipe that can be prepared and frozen.

Chicken Tetrazzini

12 oz spaghetti,uncooked
4 Tablespoons butter
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
5 Tablespoons water
1 cup + 3 Tablespoons sharp cheddar cheese,shredded
1/2 to 3/4 cup pepper-jack cheese, shredded
4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite size pieces

Cook spaghetti until tender,drain and mix with one tablespoon melted butter.
Place spaghetti in bottom of greased 13x9 inch baking pan. In skillet, melt 3 tablespoons butter; add soup and water. Stir until smooth. Reserve 3 tablespoons cheddar cheese. Add all other cheese into soup and cook over low heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Fold in chicken. Pour soup and chicken mixture over spaghetti; sprinke with reserved cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly.

                  When I add a tossed green salad and homemade rolls--I'll call this the Blue Hair Special!

Cranky Cook's Recipe

With the added activities of crop planting and hay baling, supper time meals are often late in the evening on the dairy farm and that makes the cook (that's me) a little cranky because I don't like cleaning up the kitchen at bedtime! To celebrate June Dairy Month and less time in the kitchen, I plan to try this recipe this weekend.

BBQ Chicken and Cheddar Foil Packet Dinner

Ingredients

3 tablespoons barbeque sauce

4 small boneless,skinless chicken breast haves(1pound)

2 small unpeeled red potatoes,thinly sliced

1 red or green bell peppers,seeded and sliced

1 green onion,finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place a foil sheet, approximately 12x12 inches,on a work surface. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the barbeque sauce in the center of the foil. Place one chicken breast half over barbeque sauce and spread another teaspoon of sauce over chicken. Top with quarter of the potato,bell pepper and onion. Sprinkle with a little of the salt and pepper. Fold foil in half to cover contents; make narrow folds along edges to seal. Repeat with remaining ingredients to assemble three more packets. Place the four packets on a baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes.

Open foil packets with scissors and carefully pull back edges as contents may be very hot. Sprinkle a quarter of the cheese over the top of each chicken breast and return to oven, unsealed for two minutes or until cheese is melted. With a spatula, transfer the contents of each packet onto individual serving plates.

Substitution Idea: One cost savings tip is to buy bone-in chicken breasts and remove the skin.

Servings:4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 37 minutes

You can find this and other great recipes at http://www.dairymakessense.com/.

I'm feeling less cranky just thinking about this easy recipe!