Jalapeno Kettle Chip Crusted Chicken with Jalapeno Ranch

Via Pinterest {My Life as a Mrs.}

This recipe is something I've been wanting to try for a long time. Here's what I have concluded. yum. The sauce makes the recipe. So in case you're thinking about skipping that part and just using ranch or something, don't. This is so not ranch and so very good! Make it. Love it. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the Jalapeno Ranch Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup lowfat sour cream
1/4 cup (plus 2 tablespoons) lowfat buttermilk
1 tablespoon Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (the powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
dash of cayenne
5-6 hot pickles jalapeno slices, finely chopped

For the Chicken:
4 chicken breasts (about 1 3/4 - 2 pounds total)
1 bag Jalapeno Kettle Chips, crushed
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne

Instructions:

For the Jalapeno Ranch Dipping Sauce:
Mix ingredients together (adding additional buttermilk until desired consistency). Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Chicken:
Preheat oven to 375º. Place an oven safe cooling rack in a large jelly roll pan and spray with non-cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk together buttermilk, salt, and cayenne. Pound out chicken breasts to roughly 1/2" thickness and add to buttermilk mixture (toss to coat well).
Place crushed Kettle chips in a shallow baking dish. Pull one piece of chicken at a time out of the buttermilk and gently shake to remove some of the excess. Dip into the chips and coat thoroughly on both sides. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken breast are thoroughly coated.
Place into oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, until cooked through (cooking times vary based on chicken thickness and actual oven temperature). Serve hot with jalapeno ranch dipping sauce.

Kitty Chow

{picture here}

I found this website and recipe through Pinterest (Have I mentioned that I have more than 350 food & drink pins?? This could go on for a very long time!). I wanted to try it out because it claims to be a "skinny" version of puppy chow.

The first issue was that I was unable to find the reduced fat version of the chocolate almond bark... I'm thinking that probably causes a bit of a problem in the "skinny" part of the recipe.

The second issue was that I loved the cereal so much that I almost ate all of it before trying the recipe!

The third issue (personal issue,  but probably wouldn't be a problem for most people) is that it was a little bit too sweet for me. And I left out the Truvia (which was an accident, but that stuff is SUPER sweet!). I think the sweet cereal with all that chocolate and the vanilla pudding mix (I'm wondering if that added to the sweet effect).

I would like to try it with chex to see how that works.

I LOVED that it made a small portion - comparatively with a traditional puppy chow. This in itself will save me... a lot of puppy chow eating. You can't eat it if it's not there! Smaller portions are helpful for those of use with a huge lack of self-control... {who, me?}

And now, on to the recipe...

Ingredients:
2 Cups Fiber one Honey Squares
4 Tablespoons “I can’t believe it’s not butter”
2 Tablespoons Creamy All Natural Peanut Butter
2 Servings Truvia all Natural Sweetener.
1 Package of Fat Free Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Mix
2 Squares of Reduced Fat Chocolate Almond Bark

Instructions:
In a large mixing bowl melt butter, chocolate almond bark and  peanut butter. (I used the microwave)
After melted pour cereal into mixture. Stir gently.

Let the mixture cool for a good 20 minutes.

After mixture has hardened pour the mix into a large zip lock bag, add the box of pudding mix and shake gently until coated.

My Suggestions:
*I don't see the need for the Truvia. You can try it, but I seriously can't understand why you'd want it to be sweeter...
*I'm going to try with chex to see if it works. I'll report back (hoping this will cut down a bit on the sweet)
*I did not use the "I can't believe..." ... because I can believe it's not butter. I don't like it. At all. So I use an olive oil spread - which is what I used instead.

Balsamic and Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

This recipe was... interesting. I should start by saying that we (I made it with a friend) did this a bit wrong... We mixed all of the ingredients together and put them on the cauliflower prior to baking... which is not exactly as the recipe said to do it... We also weren't completely sure how we felt about the Parmesan and balsamic flavors together... Just something to think about. The pieces with just a little bit of the mixture were better than the pieces with lots on them. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 head(s) cauliflower, large, (8 cups 1-inch-thick slices), florets
2 tablespoon oil, olive, extra-virgin
1 teaspoon marjoram, dried
1/4 teaspoon salt
pepper, black ground, freshly ground, to taste
2 tablespoon vinegar balsamic
1/2 cup(s) cheese, Parmesan, finely shredded

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Toss cauliflower, oil, marjoram, salt and pepper. Roast on a large rimmed baking sheet until starting to soften and brown on the bottom, 15 to 20 minutes.

Toss the cauliflower with vinegar and sprinkle with cheese. Return to the oven and roast until the cheese is melted and any moisture has evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes more.

Frozen Peanut Butter Banana Treats

Can I just say - YUM!!! This was a bit of an impromptu... semi-healthy dessert with a friend. AND. it. is. fabulous. and simple.

Found on this website through pinterest (I'm really getting good use of that lovely website lately!)... Here it is!

Ingredients:
2 bananas
peanut butter
1 c chocolate chips

Instructions:
Melt the chocolate chips (in the microwave or on the stove, or whatever works best for you).

Cut the bananas into round slices (mine were about 1/2 an inch thick) and top with peanut butter.

Put a banana on top of a fork, and then use a spoon to drizzle or pour chocolate over. (repeat for all bananas - or as many as possible. I ran out of chocolate, so I just drizzled it over the remaining ones). --there is a picture showing how to do this on the blog linked above.

Place the covered bananas on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet and freeze. They last over night in the freezer, but they become very frozen that way... They were fantastic after frozen about an hour or an hour and a half.

**If I was making this just for me, I would only make one banana. Two bananas was more than enough for two of us.

Homemade Granola

My mother has made granola for as long as I can remember. On a recent trip to visit family, I learned that a cousin of mine has been making granola as well. And I was thrilled to find that she made it with ingredients that I LOVED! My mom's granola had raisins, which I did not love... this had almonds and cranberries... and, I learned, whatever I wanted! So, with a bit of guidance from her on the ingredients, and some guidance from here on the amounts. Here's what I came out with:

Ingredients:
5c rolled oats
1/4c honey
1/2c sliced almonds
1/2c shredded coconut
1/2c-1c dried cranberries
1/3c coconut oil
1T ground cinnamon
1/2c brown sugar

Instructions:
Mix all dry ingredients (all except oil and honey) in a large bowl. Mix in the honey and oil. Spread on parchment paper on a rimmed cookie sheet (or two). Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Stir, and then bake for another 15-20 minutes (or until golden brown).

No-Bake Energy Bites

I found this fantastic little recipe on Pinterest (of course). It came from the GimmeSome website. She's got lots of good stuff on there, but when I saw this one, I knew it looked like something I would like!

{I would love to post a picture or two for you... but apparently I'm out of space. Thanks a lot google! I'll figure it out and get some uploaded later}

Ingredients
1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1" in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Makes about 20-25 balls.

Baked Cinnamon Tortilla

I should start by saying that you probably already know about this. My mom has been making this for us for years, either with left over dough (she makes the best bread/roll/pizza/any-kind-of dough) or with a tortilla.

You will need:
*tortillas (as many as you want to make)
*butter/margarine
*cinnamon & sugar

You will:
*Preheat the oven or turn on the broiler (either would work).
*Butter and cinnamon&sugar the tortilla

*Put in the oven (on a pan) for 5 or so minutes (depending on how you cook it, it may take longer or a little shorter - keep an eye on it and wait for the butter to melt and for some browning around the edges)

*Take it out, let it cool just a bit, and enjoy!

Easy Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas

The other day, I made the yummy Easy Chicken Tacos. Today, using the chicken taco meat, I made....

Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas!

Simply and Oh-So-Tasty!

1) Shred some cheese.
2) In a skillet, spread shredded cheese and chicken (wasn't warm, it had been in the refrigerator) on one tortilla.
3) Top with another tortilla,  and turn the burner on (med-hi).
4) Flip the quesadilla once. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn, but does get warm and crispy.
5) Remove from the skillet, cut (I used a pizza cutter), and serve!

Those steps made it sound more complicated than it is. For the chicken part of the recipe, just click on the link at the top of the post.

Blueberry Banana Cream Slushy

This recipe came from the same place as the strawberry banana slushy from the other day, but I'll give you the link to the blog anyway. I found this after I found the strawberry banana one, which I liked so much I wanted to try another. I will say that I didn't LOVE this one quite as much as the strawberry banana, but it was still quite tasty.

In a blender, blend:
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
1 can of diet cream soda

She also gives the option of adding sweetener, which I feel is unnecessary. BUT if you make it and it's just not doing it for you, try adding a little sweetener.

I look forward to making this more in the summer and to trying more of her slushies... she has a pretty good flavor-mixing thing going on! (and the best part is that they're super low-cal, tasty without the cost!)

Easy Chicken Tacos

The first time I ever had these chicken tacos was about a year ago (last Thanksgiving, actually), whcn my cousin made them for me. I loved them and decided that I just had to make them... it only took me a year!

This recipe was found on Pinterest (from this blog), but when I told one of my friends what I was making, she told me that she'd been making it for years and that it was wonderful! I was very excited to try it.

Here are the basics:

*6 chicken breasts
*1 packet taco seasoning
*1 jar of salsa
*Crock Pot

Seriously, that's it!

Put all together in the crock pot (I mixed the salsa and taco seasoning, but I'm not sure that you need to), and cook on high for 4-6hrs or on low for 6-8hrs.

My friend even told me that you can put the chicken in there frozen... which I did and it still worked! Here's a little photo tour of what I did:

All 3 ingredients - wowza!

Probably not the most appetizing picture, but I wanted to show that they were, in fact, very frozen when I started.

 

This is actually the next day after it was refrigerated. It looks mostly the same anyway. I'd also shredded some parts already by then.

No extra toppings, just chicken and tortilla.

I have to tell you that I've been ordering chicken tacos from Mexican restaurants for several years now, and I love them. I did not imagine that I'd be able to make them at home. These are very similar in taste, juicy, and downright fabulous.

My lovely friend also gave me some other ideas of how to use the chicken... which will be blogged very soon...

French Bread Pizza

I decided to put the Jalapeno Chicken on hold, hoping that a certain friend (you know who you are) will come make and eat it with me... but I do have a couple of other recipes for you! I'll do one today and one tomorrow.

I had the brilliant idea this evening to make french bread pizza, which I've made several times and was sure I'd blogged. When I looked back and found that I had neglected it, I decided that it was finally the time!

This is a quick and simple recipe that can be easily tailored to different tastes. This makes it fantastic (and fun) to make with friends, but also good for just one or two because you only have to make as much as you'll eat. I'll keep the rest of the bread around for a couple of days, and then freeze it for later use. I've found that bread freezes and recovers pretty well - especially when toasted (or baked).

Start to finish (including clean up), this took me about 20 minutes.

First, I should admit that I love the salad bar at my local grocery store... not so much for the salads (they're good too), but for the already chopped, fresh veggies. I use them for stir-fry meals and pretty much any recipe that does not involve using a whole vegetable (bell pepper, broccoli, etc). Today, I even found a few pepperoni in there - which I was wanting, but not wanting to buy an entire package of 100 (or whatever a package of pepperoni contains). This in inexpensive and cuts down on prep time and waste of unused veggies (today's container cost me a whopping $0.75).

Cut your bread into manageable pieces, and then in half lengthwise. I like to cut mine into four pieces, and then make a total of 8.

I wasn't going to put a shot of this until I had it all together and ready (next picture), but in case you are under the false impression that things are neat and clean when I cook/bake, I wanted to set your mind at rest. This was today's oops!

Once all pieces are cut, you'll want to prepare each piece with as much sauce, cheese, and additional toppings as you like - this is where it's fun to let other people prepare their own. Also, I prepped these on the cutting board and then moved them to the pan for less mess. I also like to put foil down most of the time to help with cleanup... it's so much easier to throw away foil than to scrape off baked on cheese and sauce and toppings...

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes (I got that from somewhere on the internet... I actually baked mine for about 18 minutes, and it was fine. If you're making the whole loaf, you'd probably need the full time).

Plate and enjoy! I like to top mine with a little Parmesan Cheese and Red Pepper Flakes. And, I just like this picture. It turned out so much nicer than the others!

Strawberry Banana Slushy

Ingredients:
1c ice
1c strawberries
2 bananas
1/2 can diet 7up

Instructions: 
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend away!


This simple and tasty recipe comes from the StilettosandLegos.com

'Tis very tasty and refreshing... and it makes about 2-3 times this much. I put the leftovers in the freezer and am going to try thawing and re-blending it later.

Coming Soon... {November Edition}

Would anyone like to guess how the last two weeks have gone? They've been a little crazy, and I've barely cooked anything since my last post - sad, but true. I did, however, have enough left over from the last few recipes that I didn't have to cook for about a week. So, now that those crazy two weeks are over, and before the next crazy one begins, I'm going to do a little cooking...


The two big tries of the week are going to be:


Jalapeno Kettle Chip Crusted Chicken {thank you Pinterest} from this blog.

and

Zero Calorie Strawberry Banana Slushi from this blog {also found via Pinterest}

Have I ever told you how much I love Pinterest! While I know it's a time-sucker for most people (and for me, I'll admit it), it has been so useful to me! I get ideas for food and crafts and work that I actually use - on a regular basis! I will never use everything I pin... but it has definitely been a fantastic way to try things! :)

Cha Cha's White Chicken Chili

I tried this recipe a couple of weeks ago with my friend, and wanted more of it, so I made my own tonight! We originally got it from here. When we read the comments, we noticed that many people said that it was REALLY HOT, but we followed the recipe... and it was pretty spicy. :) I like spicy, but I found myself choking quite a bit... so it was spicy. Tonight I put a little less cayenne pepper. Just a thought... consider the spicy. Here it is!

Ingredients:

1 T vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped (made me cry like a baby today)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (4oz) can diced jalapeno  peppers
1 (4oz) can chopped green chili peppers
2 t cumin
1 t dried oregano
1 t ground cayenne pepper
2 (14.5oz) cans chicken broth
3 c chopped chicken breast
3 (15oz) cans white beans (we pureed one of the cans of beans)
1 c Monterey Jack cheese


Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Serve warm.

The only other thing to consider is that I didn't add the cheese until served...  It's yummy and pretty easy - just watch out for those onions! :)

Pumpkin Choclate Chip Scones

I am pleased to report that I am no longer a scone failure! My friend and I made scones this weekend honor of fall - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip scones... YUM! We  got the original recipe from here. We followed the recipe pretty closely, but learned from our previous mistakes and added the chocolate chips - because... well pumpkin and chocolate chips are FANTASTIC together! I'll share the recipe, then share with you what we did:

Ingredients

Scones:

• 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold butter
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/4 cups canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup milk, divided 

Glaze:

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin and 1/2 cup milk. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times. Divide dough in half. Pat each portion into an 8-in. circle; cut each into eight wedges. Separate wedges and place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Brush with remaining milk.
• Bake at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks; cool for 10 minutes. Combine the glaze ingredients; drizzle over scones. Serve warm. Yield: 16 scones.

Nutritional Facts 1 serving (1 each) equals 338 calories, 13 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 59 mg cholesterol, 348 mg sodium, 51 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 5 g protein. 

*** 
(and just to warn you, the rest of these pictures were taken with my computer.. so the quality is not stellar, but you'll get the point!)

We were kind of scared after last time, we were just hoping things would go better...

We mixed the dry ingredients...

Cut in the butter...

Mixed the wet ingredients, and then slowly added them to the dry (last time, we learned (too late) that it's best not to add all of the wet ingredients at once... and also a little trick about measuring the milk with the egg already in the measuring cup. It seemed to work much better this time. Once we'd mixed them completely, we added the chocolate chips.

Because we were actually able to create something that resembled a circle and didn't just stick completely to our hands... this is so much better!

Then we cut it...

and put the first half on a pan (we're so excited that they look so normal!)

While they were baking we made a little of the glaze, and glazed half of them when they came out of the oven - the glaze is yummy. We sugared the second half with sugar in the raw before baking them - they were wonderful as well!

Scones: Take 2!These are the "oh my goodness, we actually made normal-looking scones!" faces.  Hooray!

The scones were very tasty... you should try them - but not without reading up on scones... we did that too late the last time and this is what we ended up with...

this...

and this...

tasty, but an atrocious mess and not very pretty to look at...

Chicken Florentine Pasta

{The Pioneer Woman}
Start to Finish: about 30 minutes
Serves: she says 10... I got about 8...

This recipe comes from the wonderful Pioneer Woman! Here's the post if you want to check it out - her's is way prettier than mine! I have copied her ingredients and instructions verbatim because... she already wrote it... and I don't feel like re-typing it!

Ingredients

• 1 pound Penne
• 4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 3/4 cups Dry White Wine
• 3/4 cups Low-sodium Broth, More If Needed
• 1 bag Baby Spinach
• 2 cups Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
• 4 ounces, weight Parmesan Cheese, Shaved With Vegetable Peeler

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside.
Cut chicken breasts into chunks and sprinkle on salt and pepper.
Heat butter and olive oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken chunks in a single layer and do not stir for a minute or two in order to allow the chicken to brown on the first side {I didn't do this... which is probably why her chicken was so much golder and prettier than mine...}. Turn the chicken and brown on the other side. Cook until done, then remove chicken from the skillet.

Turn heat to medium. Add garlic and quickly stir to avoid burning.

After about 30 seconds, pour in wine and broth {I did all broth... no wine - she said that you could just replace the wine with more broth if you wanted to, and I didn't have wine}, stirring to deglaze the pan. Allow the liquid to bubble up, then continue cooking until it's reduced by at least half (most of the surface of the liquid should be bubbling at this point.)
Turn off the heat. Add spinach,

tomatoes,

chicken,

and cooked pasta to the skillet.

Toss to combine; the spinach will wilt as you toss everything. Add plenty of Parmesan shavings and toss to combine. {I also added more pepper... because I love pepper!}

Serve with extra Parmesan shavings. {First of all... I'm a little annoyed with the focus of this picture... It did not do what I wanted. I also added some more Parmesan and pepper after this photo}

***

This was pretty easy, and pretty tasty. It's not so good for the "cooking for 1... or 2" part of it, unless you're looking for quite a bit of leftovers. I put a little bit in the freezer - I always like to see how that works out! And I've got more left over to feed me for the rest of the week!

On a personal note... I hate cooking with oil... I very much dislike getting burned... so I may have put a long sleeved sweatshirt on just to cook this... and got really hot over the stove, but only got burned once! So... I did cook the chicken with the oil... and I probably would the next time too (because it's also a part of the "sauce" and I think it would change the flavor), but I so don't want to... stinking popping oil!

Chili-Lime Pork Chops

{Pillsbury Fast & Healthy Cookbook}

Start to finish: 15 min
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
Seasoning:
1 t chili powder
1/2 t garlic salt
1/8 t cayenne pepper / ground red pepper
1 T lime juice
1 t canola oil

Pork:
4 boneless pork loin chops 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick (1 lb)

If Desired:
Chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges


Instructions:
Heat closed contact grill for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in  a small bowl, mix all seasoning ingredients. Brush mixture evenly on both sides of each pork chop.

When grill is heated, place pork chops on the bottom grill surface. Close grill; cook 5 to 7 minutes or until pork is no longer pink in center.

  

 **I flipped them over half-way through, even though the directions did not say to... I thought that would be in the best interest of the meat***

Sprinkle pork with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

***

This recipe was my first attempt at pork, incredibly simple, and so yummy!! This was sparked by my trying to save money for my Argentina trip, looking at the grocery ads before going to the grocery store, and seeing that pork chops were on sale... I have been wanting to try new things with my grill, and get as much use out of it during this nice weather. This was the perfect opportunity to try something new! Little did I know that the pork chops would come in a package of 10(?)! I knew that it was not in my best (money-saving, food-not-wasting) interest to cook them all... so I took out the four that the recipe called for and froze the rest.

Honestly, I used to think that I hated pork, so I would never make it... but I have found in the last year or so that it's not so bad, and not always as fatty as I remembered (I do not like fatty meat).

This recipe was so quick and easy! And now I'm looking forward to some lunches and dinners this week!

1 Serving: 190 calories; 10g fat; 170mg sodium; 0g carbohydrates; 0g fiber