Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole

1/2 onion diced

1 lb of boneless skinless chicken (breasts or tenders)

Salt & Pepper

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 1/3 cups water

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 can of milk (using the empty cheddar cheese soup can)

1 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

1/2 small bag of frozen broccoli

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (Mild)

Preheat the oven to 375. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and cook them in a skillet with the diced onion in a little bit of water with the lid on (to make the chicken really tender). When the chicken is cooked through, take it out and let it rest. (You can either add the onions to the soup mixture of discard them -- depending on how strong you want the onion flavor to be; i discarded them).

Mix the two cans of soup, water, and milk together until smooth. Dice the chicken into small cubes. Into the soup mixture, fold in the chicken, broccoli, and rice together and add in more salt & pepper. Pour into 9 x 13 x 2 pan that had been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 45 minutes. At the end of 45 minutes, sprinkle the top with the shredded cheddar cheese and bake for a few more minutes until melted and bubbly.

Juretta's Oregano Chicken

Juretta's Oregano Chicken

Olive Oil spray 

2 cups of water

1 whole chicken

1 pack of sweet italian sausage

EVOO

Lawry's Garlic Salt 

Oregano

8-10 red potatoes (quartered)

1 large vidalia onion (cut into half moons)

1 stick of butter

This is my version of Juretta's Oregano Chicken: 

Spray your insert of your crockpot with olive oil and dump in two cups of cold water. Place in your whole chicken and rub it down with olive oil and sprinkle it with garlic salt, oregano, and salt & pepper.  Cut your red potatoes into large chunks (all relatively the same size). Take onions and potatoes and toss them in EVOO & garlic and oregano and salt and pepper.  I did mine in a gallon size bag to make sure they were all coated evenly.  Dump bag of vegetables on top of the chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hrs.  (I added in my italian sausage with the chicken on the bottom but when we went to eat, the sausage was over-done.  So i'd either add it later on top of the vegetables or precook it and lay it in at the very end - i know thats an extra step, but I would rather do that than to have over-cooked sausage in my dish)  

Juretta's original recipe was done in a cast-iron skillet in a fire pit.  Since we dont have one of those at my house, we just used the crock pot.  I also changed russet potatoes to red potatoes because they are more waxy and would hold up through the cooking process and not turn into mush since it'd be cooking for at least 8 hrs on low in crock pot. 

Original recipe: 

1 whole chicken

1 pack of sweet italian sausage

EVOO

Lawry's Garlic Salt 

Oregano

8-10 russet potatoes (quartered)

1 large vidalia onion (cut into half moons)

Cook in cast iron dutch oven in fire pit or in oven until chicken is done and vegetables are tender.

Chicken & Stuffing Casserole

Chicken & Stuffing Casserole:

• 1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stove Top Stuffing Mix (Savory herbs is the one I used)
• 1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream

1 pkg. (16 oz.) steam in bag frozen mixed vegetables, steamed. Preheat oven to 400°F. Brown chicken, onion and garlic together. Cook through. When chicken is done or even slightly golden brown, drain. Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and vegetables. Pour into greased casserole dish. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package (dont forget to fluff it). Top the soup/chicken layer with stuffing. Bake 30 mins until nice and bubbly and the top is a little crunchy.

thanks to kraft foods for the picture - although i modified the recipe to fit my family's taste.

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad:

3 leg quarters (Baked plain - with no seasonings; Skin removed)
1/4 cup miracle whip or mayo
1/4 cup chicken broth or stock from chicken noodle soup
1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash (original blend)
1/4 tsp Lemon Pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 cup Vidalia Onion minced
1 celery stalk, minced
4 boiled eggs (peeled)

In a mixing bowl, mix together the miracle whip or mayo with the chicken broth, seasonings, onion, and celery. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and fold into the dressing. Rough chop the boiled eggs and fold them in as well.

Enjoy on saltine crackers, Ritz crackers, or as a sandwich!~

Cheesy Chicken Crescent Casserole

3 pieces of chicken (boiled with salt/pepper + 2 tbsp butter and shredded)
1 can (8 oz size) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F

Separate crescent dough into triangles. Place about 3 Tbsp chicken on wide end of each triangle and roll to opposite point. Place all 8 spaced evenly in the bottom of a baking dish (either a 9 x 9 dish or a glass casserole dish) sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the crescents start to turn golden brown.

In a bowl, mix the soup and milk together until creamy. (You may need to microwave for up to 1 minute to make it pourable). Pour the soup mixture over the crescents stuffed with chicken and bake for 30 minutes.

During the last five minutes, remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle with cheese. Pull out whenever the cheese is JUST melted and enjoy!

Mexican Chicken Pasta

• 3 cups bow tie pasta, uncooked
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/4 lb.), cut into strips
• 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) Velveeta cheese, cut up
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup Thick 'N Chunky Salsa
• 1/4 cup milk

1. COOK pasta in large saucepan as directed on package; drain. Return to saucepan.
2. SPRAY large skillet with cooking spray. Add chicken; cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes or until cooked through.
3. ADD to pasta in saucepan along with the remaining ingredients; cook on low heat until VELVEETA is melted, stirring occasionally.
   

Homemade Chicken Alfredo

• 1 (8 ounce) box of fettuccine
• 1 package of non-breaded chicken tenders or boneless skinless breasts
• 1 tbsp of olive oil (used only if cooking chicken in a skillet on the stove)
• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 + 1/2 cups grated/shredded Parmesan cheese.
• 1 cup of motzerella cheese
• 1 tub of cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper (I would NOT use fresh cracked for this recipe)
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional) - (Garnish with FRESH herbs ONLY. DO NOT garnish with dried. The flavor would be too overbearing to use dried parsley flakes)

1. Cook fettuccine according to directions on the package.
2. Brown chicken (cut into bite-sized pieces) in the olive oil OR grill them on an indoor grill (i.e. George Foreman grill). After they're done, let them rest for a few minutes before you slice them into bite-sized pieces to keep them juicy.
3. While fettuccine is cooking, add in the heavy cream and butter into a sauce pan and stir until its hot and bubbly and the butter has completely melted. Add in the salt & pepper and the cheeses and stir until completely melted. This part may take a while - but be patient, its well worth the wait!
4. Cook pasta until its tender and drain.
5. Pour cooked pasta and chicken into a bowl and drizzle over it the white sauce and fold thoroughly until every tender morsel is coated in this YUMMY sauce!
6. Garnish with parsley if you feel its completely necessary. Usually the only garnish I need is some extra parmesan cheese on top! Enjoy!

Okay okay..... I know this is an incredibly sinful recipe, so I put a less guilty version. Replace the five purple ingredients above with these five purple ingredients below. The method is the same.

1/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
3/4 cup grated reduced-fat Parmesan cheese blend
3/4 cup of reduced fat motz. cheese
1 canister of fat free cream cheese

This is a very versatile recipe. Feel free to add peas or broccoli, substitute the chicken with shrimp or a mixture of both, and you can also switch up the type of pasta you use, from fettuccini to rotini, penne, or whatever you like!   

BBQ Chicken

• 1 package of boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 bottle of "Honey" flavored BBQ sauce
• 1/2 of a sweet onion (chopped to your preference)

1. Salt and pepper raw chicken to taste.
2. Place into crockpot with onions and BBQ sauce.
3. Put on the lid and cook on HIGH setting 1-2 hours and then turn down on LOW setting until ready to eat.

**PLEASE NOTE**

White meat cooks quicker than dark meat.

Boneless meat cooks quicker than bone-in meat.

The same with pork ~ Bone-in takes takes longer to cook than boneless.

White meat: Wings & Breasts

Dark meat: Legs & Thighs

For example: A bone-in thigh would take longer to cook than a bone-in breast even though its smaller.

If you choose to use dark meat instead of white meat, or bone-in instead of boneless, you'll need to cook your chicken on HIGH setting longer than 1-2 hours. Instead, your cooking time will need to be 2-3 hours on HIGH or 5-6 hours on LOW setting.

Here is the general rule for crockpots as far as the age-old question:

To preheat or NOT to preheat?

You put COLD food into a COLD crockpot.
You put HOT food into a HOT crockpot.