Making Your Left-Overs Go Further: Chicken Quesadillas

Remember the Crockpot Salsa Chicken we made in May? Well, we made it again recently. I had forgotten exactly how much of this stuff it makes! We had it for dinner 2 nights in a row with a TON still left over! We are getting ready to go on a trip soon, and I hate to let such a good recipe go to waste. So what is a girl to do? Well, enter my amazing fiance, J and his ability to whip up anything at a moment's notice. Little T has become obsessed with all things Mexican food, hence the salsa chicken. So, enter J's quick thinking: salsa chicken quesadillas. It's a super easy, quick meal to make and when there's a starving 4 year old screaming at your feet, it's quite the answer!

Salsa Chicken Quesadillas:

1 bag soft taco shells or tortillas
Butter (I would use a half a stick)
Left over salsa chicken
Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
Guacamole (my recent obsession is with Yucatan Organic Guacamole - amazing. Got it at Sam's).
Shredded Lettuce, Tomatoes (Optional)

1. On medium heat, start warming a cast-iron skillet.
2. Rub the entire skillet down with butter once warm. J generally just takes the stick and rubs it directly on the pan.
3. Lightly brown the soft taco/tortilla on both sides.
4. Add lots of cheese on one side and let melt (J puts enough on that it squishes out the sides when he folds it together).
5. While the cheese is melting, pop some salsa chicken into the microwave to warm (generally 20-30 seconds, but will depend on amount of chicken you are reheating).
6. Once the cheese has melted, place salsa chicken on one-half of the tortilla. Fold tortilla in half.
7. Brown evenly on both sides so that the tortilla is a golden brown color (ok to have darker brown spots).
8. Open briefly and add lettuce and tomato (optional).
9. Cut into thirds or halves (whatever you desire) and serve with a dollop of guacamole.
10. ENJOY!

Marinated Chicken

J and I have recently fallen in love with a new Lawry's marinade: Herb and Garlic.  It's amazing, to put it quite simply. If you want to plan ahead, take a gallon size freezer plastic bag, toss your chicken breasts, thighs, etc. in and drown it in marinade! If you are scrambling to get something put together for dinner, then just slather the marinade on the chicken as you grill it! Totally just as delicious! Can you tell by now that I love items and recipes that provide options?!

J and I prefer to marinate the chicken overnight at minimum, sometimes even marinating the chicken for 48 hours (even better for those of you that plan way ahead!). So, here's how we do it.  Thaw out one pack of chicken breasts (3-4 breasts), thighs, etc. Once thawed out, go ahead and toss the chicken into a plastic bag.  I use a gallon-sized freezer bag.  Drown it in the marinade. I mark the time that I put everything in the bag so that the chicken can marinate for at least 22-24 hours. Pop it in the fridge for the night/following day (or 2 days as we do sometimes!). Make sure to lay it flat on the fridge shelf so that the chicken is not getting marinated unevenly! If you remember, flip over the following morning to make sure that every part of the chicken gets equal cover time!

Once the chicken has marinated for long enough, we grill it (best way to cook it, in my opinion). J loves to grill so that there is a bit of char on the meat. At first, I was a little turned off by it because I thought he was intentionally burning the meat.  Then I realized, he's just adding a little extra crisp and flavor, and I came to love it.  I mean, how good does this look?:

The best part of this marinade is that the chicken will go with essentially anything.  We ate it with spinach ravioli and marinara sauce (Check it out here!) a few weeks ago.  Tonight, we experimented and ate it with coleslaw - a summer staple for us. It was equally as amazing! Of course, I ate my signature dessert as a side, but who's keep track right?! ;)

Want to spice this recipe up? Why not toss some shrimp into the marinade bag, as well?! Quarter some red potatoes, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and rosemary and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes (Depends on how crispy you like your taters!). Now that's a meal!

Homemade Chicken Salad

Summer is the perfect time for salads: spring salad, fruit salad, tuna salad, and chicken salad (my favorite!).  I could go on and on, but you get the idea! With so many fresh fruits and veggies available at the local grocery stores, plus all the farmer's markets open - your choices are endless!  J and I personally are HUGE fans of making chicken or tuna salad during the summer.  The chicken salad is my favorite of all just because it is SUCH a good blend of so many different flavors!  It's great because you can use all that left over chicken from last nights' dinner, use a Rotisserie chicken, OR the canned chicken/salmon/tuna is always an option as well! Right from the start there are SO many options, and that's exactly what I love about this recipe!

I'm going to be totally honest (let's face it - I usually am!): This is actually MY recipe that I came up with.  It's actually inspired by Folk's (aka Po'folks back in the day). It's not quite the Folk's recipe, and it's actually taken on a life of its own (and kind of moved away from the Folk's recipe).

Close up of the yumminess that is chicken salad!

Ingredients:
Chicken (Duh! The amount is totally dependent on how much you want to make.  We generally use left over rotisserie chicken - all of it)
Mayo (this is also not measured as it is to your personal taste)
1/8 tsp Garlic
1/4-1/2 Cup grapes, sliced in half
1/4-1/2 Cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1/8 tsp cracked black pepper

Directions:
1. Take 2 forks and shred the chicken REALLY well - no chunks in this chicken salad!
2. Add mayo to taste (Again - no real measurement as this is totally based on personal preference).

How can you NOT fall in love with
that cheesy goodness???

3. Toss in garlic and pepper.  Mix well.
4. Add in grapes and shredded cheese.  Mix well.

Now, you can enjoy that deliciousness with a fork (which if it's your first time, I highly recommend).  OR if you want to take it a step further, you can eat it on crackers.  If you're a connoisseur, like me, then you may want to take it to the last step: Chicken. Salad. Melt. Yes, you read that right, my friends!

After you make the chicken salad, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Take 2 slices of bread, add mayo to one side of each piece.  Top one slice with shredded cheese (or a slice of cheese) of your choice, and on the other slice, pile on the chicken salad. Yes - pile it on.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes.  Put slices together as a sandwich and put back in the oven for another 3-5 minutes (depends on how toasted you like your bread!).  Flip the sandwich over, and put back in the oven another 2-3 minutes.  Take out of the oven and enjoy! J likes his with Wickles, but I just like my chicken salad piled on with no other flavors added. :)

J's favorite way to eat his chicken salad melt!

The Evolution of Buffalo Chicken Pizza

The "Original" (taken from http://allrecipes.com/Cook/
grumpys_honeybunch/Photo.aspx?photoID=419038)  

I found this recipe on Pinterest when J and I started dating about 2 years ago.  It was actually the second recipe that we cooked together (Cue chorus of "Awwwww"s).  Our first meal we made together was curry, which I am hoping to share the recipe soon as it has become a staple in our household! Moving on...I found the original recipe for Buffalo Chicken Pizza on Pinterest and felt like I HAD to make it.  I mean, I am a connoisseur of Buffalo Chicken Dip (well, all things Buffalo chicken for that matter).  I may not like the "tongue torch" heat (I actually lean more towards the mild side - don't hate), but I do like a slight kick with mine! This pizza recipe provides the perfect blend of pizza and buffalo chicken!

I must admit we started eating this on a rather regular basis - probably once, if not twice, a month. So we decided to have a little fun with it. Certain things I'm a stickler for the "original is best" or "oldie but goodie."  Not this! And I am SO glad I haven't followed my usual mindset.  First, we threw on a little bit of chopped bacon (No - not bacon bits. Don't cheat!).  That was a HUGE step towards perfection with this recipe (not that it wasn't already stellar!).  Our next step was (after we went gluten free) buffalo chicken pizza with bacon and extra blue cheese crumbles (I believe we used ranch dressing as the base this time, rather than blue cheese) on a gluten free pizza crust (Pilsbury actually makes a decent one!).  How delicious does this look?

Courtesy of my Instagram!

Recently, our newest addition was diced tomatoes.  SO - we had "Gluten Free Buffalo Chicken Pizza with chopped bacon and diced tomatoes."  It gets even better - can you believe it?! While eating this:

Mouth-watering twist on a classic Buffalo
Chicken Pizza!

we were discussing further updates or modifications we could make to the recipe: chopped mushrooms, diced celery...the possibilities are endless! I love recipes like this - where you can add so many different things, and it has such good roots that it continues to be amazing!  So while you ponder what YOU would add to YOUR Buffalo Chicken Pizza, I will leave you with a few mouth-watering, thought-provoking images!  I really encourage you to give it a shot! It is definitely a crowd-pleaser, and will certainly lead to you making it often! 

Did you try it? What did YOU think?! Leave a comment below! :)

A "Pinterest"-ing Life: Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken

We have T, J's son, here with us this weekend.  We have discovered, quite by accident, that T LOVES Mexican food. Particularly, Mexican-style chicken.  I am addicted to Pinterest.  Well, let me correct that.  I WAS addicted to Pinterest until I found a fabulous group of like-minded, fun-loving, hilarious, organized women on Facebook (Hello again, ladies!).  Now, Pinterest has taken a back seat.  MOVING ON...Ahem...

When I discovered this recipe on Pinterest, little did I know what a gem it truly was! The original source was Mostly Homemade Mom, but I was lucky enough to stumble upon it through Pinterest - like most good things I find.  I was trying to build up my recipe stockpile of Crockpot (Slow cooker for those of you that aren't Southern...and we will most certainly forgive you for that! Hehe.) recipes.  When we have T here on the weekends, I try to minimize the time in the kitchen preparing, cooking, stirring, etc..  I pick things (well, try to) that you can just throw together and walk away, increasing the amount of quality time we get with T.  Unfortunately, finding a gluten-free, not-super-fattening crockpot recipe is NEARLY impossible.  Enter Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken.

Please forgive me for my rather un-artistic picture.  By the time I realized
I needed to take a picture, we had all cleaned our plates (except Little T)!

Without further ado, the recipe you've all been waiting for: Crockpot Salsa Chicken!

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup salsa (I used mild simply because T hates anything super hot. This is where you can have some fun!)

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (my least favorite thing about this recipe, but hey - at least it's only one can!

1 packet taco seasoning

1/2 cup sour cream

6 tortillas (J & T like the extra fluffy, and I'm all over here like "I'll have a corn one, please.")

Directions:

1. Place the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot (The beauty of this - we dumped in the chicken still completely frozen). 

2. Sprinkle taco seasoning on chicken breasts. 

3. In a separate bowl, combine soup and salsa.  Pour over chicken.  

4. Cook on high for 4 hours.  

5. Shred chicken (I use the 2 fork method) and stir in sour cream. Serve on tortillas.

I asked Little T what he thought of dinner. Here's the response I got:

Coming from the world's pickiest little man, I'll take it!  I love how customizable/modifiable (are those even real words?!) this recipe is! We added some shredded "Mexican Cheese," and beans (The Musical Fruit, anyone?!).  J and I watched this little munchkin shovel away TWO full helpings of chicken! We even watched him "double fist" with the fork and his hand! He couldn't eat it fast enough, which is confirmation for me that this recipe is as good as I thought it was.

Oh - and adult reviews are just as high as T's. J & I loved the recipe, and we especially love how good it tastes with so little effort! J literally spent 15-20 minutes in the kitchen for dinner. In my opinion, the 4 hours the chicken was cooking, without babysitting, and allowing J to play with T was totally worth it!

I hope you and your family enjoy as much as we did! Oh - and it makes a TON!  We all had our fill - J and T BOTH had seconds - and there was still PLENTY left!  We had enough left overs to put some in the fridge and some in the freezer! For when we have one of those nights we don't want to cook - at all!