I was in need of a way to use up an extra container of yogurt and thought what better way to use it than chicken salad.  I love chicken salad, but hate mayonaise so I am always trying new recipes that do not involve mayonaise.  I saw a recipe for a Margarita Chicken Salad and thought, that sounds delicous!  It had a lot of ingredients and used mayonaise… but I had a bag of tequila lime chicken in my freezer so why not?

Served on a sandwich thin with lettuce and fresh cremini mushrooms, it was the perfect lunch.

Ingredients:

• Tequila Lime Chicken, grilled and shredded
• Plain, nonfat yogurt

Mix ingredients together and enjoy!

Ever since I learned about Freezer Marinating… I am totally in love with the idea and save every marinade recipe I find!  I am all about bulk shopping and Kroger has these amazing deals on HUGE packages of chicken (we can get 3-4 meals out of one $7 pack).  We don’t want to eat all 4 meals of chicken 4 days in a row, and as a general rule Kyle is anti-frozen chicken.  BUT this freezer marinating idea has really allowed us to compromise, I buy the big packs of chicken and we use it for one fresh meal and divide it into three seperate freezer bags with three seperate marinades.  We have yet to be disappointed.  You just make the marinade, stick the entire thing in the freezer, take it out and put it in the fride the night before…. and voila by the time you are ready to cook you have perfectly marinated chicken!

I cut the recipe way down as I was only doing enough for the two of us; we grilled the marinated chicken and it was super flavorful and moist! We will definitely be using this marinade again!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 oz. Margarita Mix
• 1 tbsp Tequila
• 1 tbsp Lime Juice
• 1 tsp. minced garlic

The title alone says it all, 3 of my favorite ingredients… and as I read the ingredient list it continued to list all of my favorite things.  Needless to say this was a must try, and it did not disappoint!  Again, check out Annie’s Eats for a picture!

Chicken and Artichokes in a White Wine Sauce
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Ingredients:
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. herbes de provence (or a combination of other dried herbs such as basil, parsley, oregano, thyme)
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (2 chicken breasts total)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
2 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 (14 oz.) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Minced fresh parsley, for serving

Directions:
In a pie plate or shallow dish, combine the flour, dried herbs, salt and pepper and stir with a fork to blend.  Reserve 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture.  Using tongs, coat the chicken breast halves in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken to the pan and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 8-10 minutes, turning halfway through cooking.  Remove the chicken to a plate; cover and keep warm.

Add the butter to the pan and warm until melted.  Add the mushrooms and artichokes to the pan and cook until most of the liquid is released from the mushrooms and the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.

In a liquid measuring cup, combine the white wine, chicken broth, and reserved tablespoon of flour; whisk until smooth.  Add the mixture to the skillet, cooking until it is warm and slightly thickened.  Return the chicken to the pan to warm through and cover with sauce.  Serve the chicken with sauce spooned over the top, and garnish with grated Parmesan and fresh parsley as desired.

These were delish! I especially loved the pineapple salsa; they were super easy and a great alternative to the traditional taco/fajita. 

This pasta was DELICIOUS!! You have to try it as soon as you get the chance, it was great left over and super easy to make! I loved how full of flavor it was!

Garden Rotini with Grilled Zucchini and Chicken

Picture courtesy of Eat at Home.

We used tilapia for this meal and it was delicious!  We also grilled ours in a foil packet rather than baking it in the oven.  I absolutely love fruit salsas; any time I see a recipe with a fruit salsa it gets put on the menu!  I have seriously been slacking on taking pictures of our dinners… I promise to do better (but I am approximately a month behind on updating recipes, so it may be a while before you see progress).  My goal is to get caught up on posts so I can start doing them daily.  Now on to the recipe!

Baked Halibut with Tropical Salsa

4 (5-6 ounce) halibut fillets (or any white fish)
1 orange, juiced
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Tropical Salsa

1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded, and diced
½ cup honeydew melon, diced
½ cup diced fresh pineapple
¼ cup minced red onions
¼ cup minced red bell peppers
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (we didn’t have any)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

To make salsa, combine all ingredients and let sit for 30 minutes.  (the longer the better… we let ours sit overnight) For fish, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (we grilled ours because it is summer and we love grilled fish) Mix orange juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Coat fish in mixture and place on an olive oil coated, rimmed baking sheet.  Bake for approximately 12 minutes.  (we wrapped ours in foil and cooked for approx. 8 mins – again ours was tilapia) Fish should be opaque in the center and slightly firm.  Be careful not to overcook or it will be dry.  Serve with coconut rice and tropical salsa.

We love muffins… usually I buy the Martha White packets that you add milk and bake, but I am trying to use less prepackaged foods and do more from scratch (time permitting).  These muffins were super easy and made from ingredients I usually have on hand.  Kyle said they tasted “too healthy” and only ate A bite, I on the other hand loved them.  The recipe makes 12 muffins so I froze two batches of 4 and reheated them in the microwave for 15 seconds daily as my breakfast.  I think somehow they got better in the freezer, I thought the leftovers were better than the original – shocking.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. white flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk (or regular milk that you’ve added 1 tbsp. vinegar to)
• 3 tbs. oil

Mix the dry ingredients.  Add in the wet ingredients and stir only unitl blended.  Put the batter in greased muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  (I sprinkled the top with a small amount of granulated sugar before baking)

note: check out Eat @ Home for a picture of the muffins!

DELISH!  I loved this! I don’t think I’ve met a pork recipe yet that I don’t like, but hey I thought it was definitey worthy of a repeat!

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup dried Italian-Style bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 4 pork chops
• salt & pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:

Whisk the eggs in a bowl to blend.  Place the bread crumbs in another bowl.  Place the Parmesan in a third bowl.  Sprinkle the pork chops generously with salt and pepper.  Coat the pork chops completely with the cheese, patting to adhere.  Dip the chops into the egg, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, patting to adhere.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the pork chops, in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown.  Time varies depending on thickness of pork chops.

Note:  I cannot find where I got this recipe, I did not invent it but do not know who to give credit to.

Mac & Cheese could have been its own food group in my opinion up until recently – don’t get me wrong I still love a good bowl of Mac & Cheese, but no longer could I live off of just Mac & Cheese.  That being said, my idea of comfort food is smoked sausage cooked in the oven, Mac & Cheese, and green beans – that is the meal I want whenever I go home to eat with my parents.  BUT since Kyle is being a good sport about this 300 recipe thing and I am in charge of planning all meals, we had my comfort food meal at home.  Kyle loved this Mac & Cheese… I liked it, but something about the texture left me longing.  This recipe makes a GINORMOUS amount… I should have quatered it at least, except kyle ate ALL of the leftovers haha (it made an entire 13X9 baking dish full).  I would recommend it, but I am still in search of the perfect homemade Mac & Cheese.

Baked Mac & Cheese
Ingredients:

4 cups Dried Macaroni (I used Rotini bc that’s what I had in the pantry)
1 whole Egg Beaten
¼ cups (1/2 Stick Or 4 Tablespoons) Butter
¼ cups All-purpose Flour
2-½ cups Whole Milk
2 teaspoons Dry Mustard
1 pound Cheese, Grated (I used 3 Cheddars – Sharp, White and Mild) (I used Kerry Gold Dubliner Cheese instead of mild cheddar)
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Seasoned Salt (We use Fiesta Brand Steak Seasoning in place of Seasoning Salt)
½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
¼ - ½ teaspoons of any optional spices such as: Cayenne Pepper, Paprika, Thyme, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder (I used 1/4 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp onion powder, and 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and topped it with bread crumbs)

 
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cook macaroni according to package directions until slightly firm.  Drain and set aside.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Whisk in the flour and cook the mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly and being careful not to burn.  Add the milk to the pot, stir in the dry mustard, and whisk until smooth.  Cook the mixture for five minutes until very thick.  Reduce the heat to low.  In a small bowl, beat the egg.  Take 1/4 cup of the warm sauce and slowly pour it into the beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid scrambling the egg.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the sauce, whisking constantly.  Stir until smooth.  Mix in the cheese, reserving about half a cup for topping, and stir until completely melted.  Add in seasonings.  Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly.  Add the drained cooked macaroni to the pot and mix well. Pour the mixture into a 3 qt baking dish, top with reserved cheese, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and bubbly on top. Note – if you prepare it in advance you might want to cover with foil and bake 30-40 minutes, removing the foil at about 20 minutes so it doesn’t dry out.