BBQ Chicken Tostada

This was a happy accident the other night for supper.

I had some ingredients on hand, but no plan.  Typical, right?

I threw what I had on hand together and Viola`!  BBQ chicken Toastadas were born.  Actually, they weren't born.  A quick Google search proved that I am not the inventor of these.  But, I did not know about them before I made them.  So that should count for something.

Moving on.

These are supper easy and fast, so it has weeknight dinner written all over it.

Here is what you need.

Ingredients
6 Corn Tortillas
A few tablespoons of oil for frying
1 package of Butterball Oven Roasted Chicken Strips - found in the meat section of the grocery store.
1/3 cup BBQ sauce, or more or less to taste.
2 cups of cooked rice.
Toppings suggestions:  Shredded cheese, we used Mozzarella, but Monterrey Jack would be great.
Cilantro

Directions
Heat up a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan.  Fry the corn tortillas for a few minutes on each side.  Drain on a paper towel.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and saute the chicken strips until they are heated up.  Add the BBQ sauce and heat and stir until the chicken is covered.

Put a Corn tortilla on a plate and top with a scoop of rice.  Top with some of the chicken strips.  Sprinkle some of the cheese on top and let the heat from the chicken/BBQ sauce melt it up.  Sprinkle with some Cilantro and serve!

This was a fast and delicious meal, even though I did not really invent it.

 

I am linking up at Metamorphosis Monday, Allergy Free Wednesday and these other Awesome Parties! 

Have a great week!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

My mom is a blessing to our family.  She lives about two miles away and she sees the little Beanes all the time.  They love her.

That being said, she is not without flaws.  She loves pizza, but she only loves "real pizza".  She likes her pizza to have a crispy  thin crust, pepperoni, and 'white' cheese.  By 'white' cheese, she means a package of mozzarella cheese. 

I like to be a little more adventurous with food.  I like to order food in a restaurant that is a little different and I like to make food at home that is a little more adventurous than my mom likes. 

One night, we invited her over for pizza.  She was so excited to come.  She left a little upset with me. 

I made BBQ Chicken pizza, which is delicious.  She was expecting 'regular' pizza.  When she saw the pizza was not loaded down with pepperoni, she was confused. 

I tried to explain that BBQ Chicken Pizza was not all that unusual and that most people have eaten it and loved it. 

She ate some.  She liked it.  She ate another piece.  She liked it. 

She said that it was good but it was not pizza. 

Lesson learned:  When you invite my mom over for BBQ Chicken Pizza, call it a sandwich or something. 

Ingredients
One batch of Beer Batter Pizza Dough, or your favorite pizza dough.
One bottle of BBQ sauce, I used Kraft with honey
One package of Purdue Shortcuts chicken.
3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
5-6 slices of bacon, fried crisp
1/2 cup chopped or red onion
1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
Make your pizza crust, roll it out and get it in your pan. 
Prick the pizza dough with a fork several times, so it won't bubble up while it is baking.
Bake the pizza crust 10 minutes.
Take the pizza crust out of the oven and let it rest until you are ready to dress it up.



Use some kitchen sheers and cut the chicken up into cubes.

Pour the bottle of BBQ sauce over the chicken.

Give it a little stir.

Spread it over the pizza crust.  Now it is time to dress it up!

Sprinkle the cheese over the top.  Sprinkle the onion, cilantro, and bacon over the top of the cheese.

Bake the whole thing at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown a little.

Let is rest just a few minutes and then slice it up and serve!  This is so good.  Just don't tell my mom it is pizza.

I am linking up with Metamorphosis Monday, Allergy Free Wednesday, and these other Awesome Parties!



BBQ Chicken Pizza Soup

I have been on a bit of a cilantro kick lately. 

It is really a delicious addition to a lot of recipes.

I bought a bunch of cilantro when I tried making Thai Chicken Pizza, which was beyond yummy!, and I did not want to waste what I had left, so I tried some other recipes that called for cilantro.  I am really falling in love with the stuff.

One of the recipes I tried was BBQ Chicken Pizza soup.  When I found this recipe, I thought is sounded sort of intriguing and good at the same time.  I am so glad I tried it.  Our whole group liked it.

It was really good.  I mean really good.  I scooped out mostly "the stuff" for my little beanes and they all liked it.  Even String beane at it, which was nothing short of a miracle. 



I found the original recipe here, and altered it just a tad.

You should really make this for yourself.  It is so good!

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

11 oz can corn with peppers, drained

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded.  I baked mine in the oven.

1 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth

1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Garlic Salt

1/2 Cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Directions

Heat oil into a medium pot over medium heat.  When hot, saute onions for 5 minutes or until softened.  Stir in garlic, corn and chicken breast; mix to combine.  Pour in chicken broth, BBQ sauce, salt, pepper, garlic salt and cilantro leaves.   Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes or until ready to serve.  Garnish each bowl with a fresh sprig of cilantro.

This serves 4-6 people. 

Here is a picture a little bit closer up. 

This soup is also pretty low fat and calories.  All in all, a great soup for those of  us not doing so good on our New Year's resolutions! KWIM?

I am linking up at Metamorphosis Monday and these other Awesome Parties!

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I love casseroles.  They are just comfort food.  Casseroles are warm and yummy and delicious.  My favorite casserole is this Chicken and Wild Rice. 

It has a warm and creamy inside and a crunchy top.  It is full of yummy goodness.  And, believe it or not, I can make it milk/dairy free for my sweet String Beane.  We all love eating this meal.  All the little beanes eat it up and, like I said, it is my favorite casserole.  That lands it a spot in the family favorite recipe section! 

I originally found this recipe in a copy of Southern Living.  I will list the recipe the original way and put in parenthesis how I made it milk free.

Ingredients

1 (3lbs) whole chicken

1/2 c water

1/2 dry sherry (I have always just used chicken broth because I don't have dry sherry)

1 celery stalk

1/2 onion quartered

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 (6oz) package Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice mix

1/4 c butter (Flieshmann's unsalted margarine)

1 (8oz) package sliced mushrooms

1/2 c green onions chopped

1/2 c sour cream (Toufutti "sour cream")

half can of cream of mushroom soup (homemade concoction of faux cream of chicken soup)

1/2 sleeve Ritz crackers

1/2 of a 6 oz can of French's Fried onions

2 T butter melted (Flieshmann's unsalted margarine)

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions

Bring the first nine ingredients to a boil in a large Dutch Oven.  Reduce heat and cover.  Simmer for 1 hour or until chicken is done.  Remove chicken, reserving broth.  Strain broth into a 4 cup measuring cup.  Discard solids.  Cook rice according to package directions, substituting 2 1/8 cup reserved chicken broth for water and omitting butter. 

Bone and chop the chicken (remove skin). 

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in dutch oven and add mushrooms and green onions.  Saute` 10 minutes.  Stir in rice, chicken, sour cream, and soup.  Spoon into casserole dish. 

Stir together crushed crackers and fried onions.  Stir in 2 T melted butter, paprika, and garlic powder. Sprinkle over casserole mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes or until bubbly.

 It comes out looking like this.

Spoon it onto the plates and serve it up with some broccoli. 

This is such a good dish for cold nights.  Or any night for that matter. 

I am linking up with Metamorphasis Monday
and these other awesome parties!

Semi Homemade Strawberry Balsamic Chicken Pizza



Sometimes you run across a recipe that you just know will be a winner.  That is the case with this one.  I found this recipe for Balsamic Strawberry Pizza with Chicken and bacon and could tell that it was going to become a fast favorite of mine.

I was right!  This is a wonderful recipe.  I have made it twice now.  Both times I had to tweek the recipe.  Not because the recipe needed tweeking  but because I had some ingredients on hand to use and my time played a factor too.  So I changed up the original recipe to a Semi-Homemade version.  I pretended to be Sandra from Semi Homemade with Sandra.  I felt like a celeb.  I am sure that if you follow the original recipe it would be incredible.  I just had to make the following changes due to time and ingredients on hand.

Ingredients

One recipe for Beer Batter Pizza Dough

I already had some of this in the freezer so I just let her thaw and rolled her out.

For the Sauce:

1/2 cup Smuckers Strawberry Syrup

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1t Sweet Chili Sauce

Pizza:

1 package of Perdue Shortcuts carved chicken Breast

1/2 cup thinly sliced sweet onion

12 ounces shreaded Italian Blend Cheese

1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced

1/4 - 1/2 cup Hormel Real bacon bits

Directions

Roll our pizza dough on lightly floured surface.  Move to pizza pan and bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 12 miuntes.  Remove from oven. 

Place balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 4-5 minutes, or until reduced to half the original volume and the mixture is thick and syrupy. Add strawberry syrup and sweet chili sauce and mix well. Set aside to cool.

Combine chicken with 2 tablespoons of the balsamic-strawberry mixture and mix to coat all chicken with sauce. Pour rest of sauce onto pizza dough and spread to cover. Leave a 1 inch border all around the edge.

Place about 3/4 of the cheese on top of dough and spread to cover sauce evenly. Scatter chicken, bacon and sweet onion over cheese to distribute evenly. Scatter remaining cheese over this layer.

Bake the pizza at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  When the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden brown it is ready.  Watch it closely so it does not burn.

 Remove from oven and let cool slightly, 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and fresh diced strawberries.

Take a look at this bad boy up close.

It truly is a wonderful dinner!  I think you should make it tonight. 

I am linking up with metamorphasis monday

and these awsome Link Parties.