Costa Vida Chicken (copy cat)

I needed a chicken taco recipe for an office potluck the other day. After some searching on the Internet, I came across this copy cat recipe for Costa Vida Chicken. The chicken was a hit at the office and will be on our family menu in the near future.

Ingredients:
1 bottle (16 oz) Zesty Italian Dressing
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 skinless, boneless chicken breast

Directions:
1) Mix dressing, spices, and garlic together.
2) Place chicken breasts in crock pot, cover with dressing mixture
3) Cook on low for 4 hours
4) Shred chicken and cook for an additional hour

* This makes a lot of food. You can freeze or refrigerate any leftovers.
** I found the flavor to be a little strong. Next time I'm going to try a light dressing to see if that helps.

Grilled Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich

This recipe is easy and delicious. I love the flavor of pineapple with the teriyaki. I'm sure this would be good with other cheeses, or other toppings. I like to filet the chicken breasts before marinating them, but you could also pound them flat. Anything to get the chicken a more even thickness. I've used the La Choy teriyaki sacue and it seems to be pretty good. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Thank you Cheri and Braden for teaching me how to grill the pineapple.



Ingredients
boneless, skinless chicken breasts
teriyaki sauce
pineapple slices
brown sugar
hamburger buns
swiss cheese

Procedure
1. Marinate chicken breasts in teriyaki sauce.

2. Toss pineapple slices with brown sugar and let rest a few minutes.

3. Cook (medium heat) chicken and pineapple slices on heated grill until done.

4. Serve grilled chicken on hamburger buns topped with swiss cheese and pineapple slices.

Tuscan Garlic Chicken

Another favorite from Olive Garden. This recipe can actually be found on the Olive Garden website and they even have a video with Chef Paolo Lafata showing how to make this wonderful dish.



Ingredients
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 lb fettuccine pasta
5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp roasted garlic, chopped
1 red pepper, julienne cut
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 lb whole leaf spinach, stemmed
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Procedure
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F

2. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in the mixture, shaking off any excess.

3. Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet. Cook chicken breasts 2 at a time over medium-high heat until golden brown and crisp (2-3 min each side). Add more oil for each batch as necessary.

4. Place cooked chicken breasts on a baking sheet and transfer to preheated oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165F.

5. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

6. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a sauce pan. Add garlic and red pepper and cook for approximately 1 minute. Stir in 1 Tbsp flour, white wine, spinach and heavy cream and bring to a boil. Sauce is done when spinach becomes wilted. Complete by stirring in parmesan cheese.

7. Coat pasta with sauce, then top with chicken and remaining sauce. Garnish with extra Parmesan cheese.

Dutch Oven: 7UP Chicken

This is a really easy dutch oven recipe that tastes great. Last time I made this, I didn't listen to Sarah and didn't add enough seasoning, so make sure you add enough seasonings. Also, make sure you have enough heat under your dutch oven so it doesn't take all night to cook.

This is just a basic recipe, and I'm sure you can expand on it. I'm thinking it would be good to saute the onions, garlic, carrots, and maybe some peppers. Maybe even brown the chicken breasts before adding all the ingredients. Go ahead, be creative and let me know how it turns out.



Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 min
Yield: 6+ servings

Ingredients
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 large carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large onion, quartered
3 lbs russet potatoes
2 cans 7UP
seasoned salt
coarse ground black pepper
Tony's Creole Seasoning

Procedure
1. Slice carrots, onion, and potatoes and place in dutch oven with garlic.

2. Add chicken breasts. Add a generous amount of seasoning salt, pepper, and Tony's Creole seasoning. Pour 7UP oven ingredients.

3. Place dutch oven over hot charcoal briquettes.

4. Cook for 1 hour 30 min or until potatoes are done.

Won-Ton Chicken Salad

I'm not exactly sure where Sarah go this recipe, but I absolutely love it. This is one of my favorite salads, and it's not that hard to make. Now this recipe makes quite a large salad, so you better share it because it does not keep very well. Also, if you like more chicken, just serve everyone else first. You should then have plenty of chicken, as most of the chicken tends to hide at the bottom of the bowl.



Ingredients

2 heads of lettuce
6 grilled boneless/skinless chicken breasts
6 small green onions
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1 can Mandarin oranges
6 oz won-ton wrappers

Dressing

1/2 cup vinegar
1/8 cup sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 tsp salt
3 tsp pepper

Procedure

1. Fry won-ton wrappers in oil so they are golden brown when done ( Remove from oil before turning brown and they will brown up without being over cooked)
2. Grill chicken breasts brushed with olive oil. Cut cooked chicken breasts into bit size chunks and set aside.
3. For dressing, heat vinegar and sugar until dissolved. ( Don't boil ). Remove from heat and add canola oil, salt and pepper.
4. Mix all ingredients except dressing together in a large bowl.
5. Just before serving, add dressing to salad and toss.

Speedy Chicken Stir-Fry

I received this wonderful recipe in the Kraft food & family magazine (Fall 2007). It's really easy to make and tastes great. The roasted peanuts really add the final touch, so make sure that you don't skip those.

Yield: 4 servings
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 25 min

Ingredients
8 oz Angel hair pasta (capellini), uncooked
2 cups broccoli florets
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/3 cup chopped Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts

Procedure
1. Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 6 to 8 minutes
or until cooked through, stirring occasionally. Stir in dressing, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and crushed red
pepper; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
2. Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli to the boiling water for the last 3 minutes of the pasta
cooking time.
3. Drain pasta mixture; place in large bowl. Add chicken mixture; mix lightly. Spoon evenly into serving
bowls; sprinkle with the peanuts.
***Substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand, such as snow peas, sliced bell peppers, sliced
carrots or chopped red onions, instead of the broccoli.
*** Original recipe from Kraft Food & Family magazine Fall 2007 ( kraftfoods.com )