Spicy Sweet Chicken

We recently moved to another home, and I gave most of my cookbooks away.  Because there are so many good recipes on the internet, my cookbooks were hardly ever used any more and were just taking up space.  Here is a recipe for Spicy Sweet Bacon Chicken that I found on Pinterest.  It was a home run at the dinner table tonight!

You'll need the following ingredients:

chicken breasts (thin pieces or pound them out)

bacon

salt and pepper to taste

chili powder

garlic powder

brown sugar

Wrap each piece of chicken with a piece of bacon.  If you can get two slices on each, go ahead.  The more bacon the better.  

Generously sprinkle chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper on both sides of each chicken piece.

Roll each piece of meat in brown sugar.

You can bake this recipe in the oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, but we grilled ours outside instead.  It was delish!  Let me know if you try this recipe and like it.  

Salsa Chicken

If I had more time, I could spend hours browsing Pinterest.  Thankfully, it doesn't take very long to find something interesting to save to try later.  Take this recipe, for example...Salsa Chicken.  I whipped it together very quickly after work one day, and we had a delicious meal in no time at all.  Let me show you how to make it.  Here are the ingredients needed:

Four boneless skinless chicken breasts (No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.  I only used three.)

Cream of Chicken Soup

Packet of Taco Seasoning

1 cup Salsa

1/2 cup sour cream

If you've been following my blog very long, you know that the crock pot and I don't get along very well.  This recipe can be made in the crock pot in four hours, but I opted to bake it in the oven instead.  Place chicken in a baking dish that has first been sprayed with non-stick spray.  

In a separate bowl, mix all other ingredients EXCEPT sour cream.  

Pour that mixture over the chicken.  

Cover and bake at 350 degrees until fork tender.  I cooked mine for a little over an hour.

Take the chicken pieces out of the liquid and...

shred it.

Return the chicken to the baking dish and mix with liquid.  

Add 1/2 cup of sour cream.  This would be great served over rice just like it is.  

This time, though, I spread some of the meat mixture in a warmed up tortilla and topped it with a sprinkle of monterey jack cheese.  

Serve with a green salad, and you've got dinner!  

I couldn't find the original person to give credit to for this recipe, but we certainly appreciate having this wonderful dish.  

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  Let me know if you have any questions.  

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings is one of the meals that my mom made when my brothers and I were little that continues to be one of my favorites.  When my own son was much younger and quite a picky eater, I got him to taste dumplings by asking him if he wanted to know what a cloud tasted like.  He tried them, liked them, and has been eating dumplings ever since.

To make this tasty dish,  I put a whole clean chicken in a deep pot.  You can also use chicken pieces if you prefer.  I then add water to barely cover the meat.  Next I throw in a palmful of dried parsley flakes and sprinkle celery flakes in, too.  (You could also add chopped onion, carrots, and any other vegetable you have on hand and like to use to make a broth.  We've just always kept it simple to keep particular eaters happy.)  I then plop in two chicken bouillon cubes and pepper to taste.  Bring this to a boil.  Boil the chicken gently for about an hour and fifteen minutes or until the chicken is fork tender.

After the meat is cooked, take it out of the pot to cool before deboning it.  Some of the liquid will have probably cooked off.  In that event, you'll need to add more water or some chicken broth to cook the dumplings in. Your pot should be 1/3 to 1/2 full.  I always taste a spoonful of broth at this point to see if I need to add more seasonings.  The dumplings will only taste as good as the broth.

To make the dumplings, add two ingredients together:  2 cups of Bisquick and 2/3 cup of milk.  (This is the perfect amount for our small family of three, but I have doubled and tripled it for larger crowds!)  This will make a sticky dough.  Drop it by spoonfuls in the broth that has been brought to a boil.  Lower the heat and cook 10 minutes uncovered.  Then, cover and cook an additional 10 minutes.

You can then add the chicken to the dumplings or serve them separately as we usually do. 

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make these tasty and fluffy chicken and dumplings!  Let me know if you have any questions.