Baked Chicken Panzanella

Have you ever had a panzanella salad?  You know, the Italian bread salad with tons of fresh bread and tomatoes tossed with leafy lettuce?  Well, this quick and easy casserole is a warm spin on said salad. 

The combination of flavors is subtle and amazing - diced chicken with seasoned diced tomatoes, seasoned croutons, and Italian dressing.  Nothing more than that.  Layered and baked, then topped with shredded parmesan, though I bet this would be just as good with an Italian blend or even shredded mozzarella (mom!).  Top it off with some fresh basil and you're good to go.

The croutons might be throwing you off a little, but the combination of some crunchy, some a little soggy really makes for an interesting twist.  I know, just give it a try!

Baked Chicken Panzanella

Baked Chicken Panzanella

What You Need:

• 2 c chopped cooked chicken
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with garlic, onion and oregano, drained
• 1 package (5 oz) Italian-seasoned croutons
• 1/4 c Italian dressing
• 3/4 c shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 c sliced fresh basil leaves

How You Do It:

1. In a square baking dish, layer chicken, tomatoes,  and croutons. Drizzle with Italian dressing. 
2. Cover and bake 350* 20 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered additional 10 minutes or until cheese melts.
4. Sprinkle with basil

Baked Chicken Panzanella recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.

Skillet Chicken Manicotti

Usually manicotti recipes usually call for some ricotta,  but the hubs is anti-ricotta and interestingly enough, this recipe didn't call for any.  A win for him, for sure.  And usually you have to boil the pasta, combine all the filling, stuff the shells, and bake.

Tonight's dinner, however, is another one of those simple meals made in one skillet.  Granted, you need two small bowls do some mixing and get your hands pretty messy, this is as easy as mix-stuff-boil.

Taking some help from store-bought sauce and dressing, combined with cooked chicken and a couple pantry staples and you have a simple meal in 30 minutes... again.

Top it with a little cheese and away you go!

Skillet Chicken Manicotti

Skillet Chicken Manicotti

What You Need:

• 1 1/2 c spaghetti sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 c water
• 2 c diced cooked chicken
• 1/4 c Italian dressing (I used this)
• 1/4 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1 c shredded Italian blend cheese (I used this)
• 8 manicotti shells, uncooked

How You Do It:

1. Combine sauce, tomatoes, and water.
2. In separate bowl, combine 3/4 c sauce mixture, chicken, basil, dressing, and 1/2 c cheese.  Stuff into manicotti shells and place in rimmed skillet.
3. Top with remaining sauce and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer 8 minutes.
4. Turn, recover, and simmer an additional 8 minutes.
   Top with remaining cheese and let stand until melted.

Skillet Chicken Manicotti recipe adapted from Kraft.

Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella

I have come to really love meatballs.  And this week, I will try not one, but two new meatball recipes.  Tonight's recipe I found just a few days ago on Pinterest and it went right into rotation.  I had to try it - maybe because the photos on the blog where it was originally posted showed the melted cheese or maybe the red sauce or maybe, just maybe, the combination of all three.  Either way, I took to it tonight.

Let me start with the meatballs themselves.  I almost always use ground turkey when making my own meatballs.  Just healthier.  The uniqueness of these turkey meatballs comes in the seasonings - there is a distinct cumin flavor that really shines, and surprisingly makes the dish.  Don't skip the cumin.

Then there's the sauce.  Simple, five-ingredient sauce:  garlic (of course), red pepper flakes, a touch of oil, tomato sauce, and a little sugar to cut the acid.  Top it off with fresh mozzarella and fresh basil, and you've got yourself an awesome meatball dish, super easy to make in under 30 minutes, to satisfy your Italian/meatball fix.

Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella

Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato
Basil Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella

What You Need for the Meatballs:

• 1 package ground turkey
• 2 eggs (I used the equivalent of two egg whites)
• 1/4 c seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, minced
• 1 tsp cumin (the secret ingredient!)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

What You Need for the Sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 8-oz cans tomato sauce (I used no-salt added)
• 1 healthy pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp sugar (I used one packet of Splenda)
• Salt, to taste
• 6 oz fresh Bocconcini
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade

How You Do It:

1. Combine all ingredients for meatballs.  Using a 1-inch scooper, form meatballs and place on rimmed baking tray.  Bake 15 minutes at 400*.
2. While the meatballs are baking, add oil to a large saute pan.  Saute garlic and red pepper flakes until fragrant, but without browning the garlic.  Add tomato sauce, sugar, and salt.  Turn heat to medium-low and simmer until meatballs are cooked.
3. Once meatballs are fully-cooked, add to sauce pan and turn to coat.  Scatter bocconcini throughout and cover until cheese is slightly melted.
4. Top with fresh basil.

Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella recipe adapted from Alaska from Scratch.

Chicken Parm Meatballs

Tonight's recipe was a winner.  How do I know?  It was the first time our friends' son tried my cooking and all he kept saying was "these are really good!"  He at three.  THREE!

I, too was happy.  I'd been meaning to try an adapted version of this one since I tore the page out of an old issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine (RIP), and was not disappointed.  While the original recipe requires frying the meatballs, I opted for baking them instead.  To achieve the crispiness, I simply lightly sprayed the meatballs with cooking spray - worked like a charm.

Cutting into the cooked meatballs, we were greeted with oozing cheese - what could be wrong?!  Top a pile of noodles with some sauce, a couple meatballs, and a sprinkle of parmesan, and you're good to go!

Thank you, Everyday Food, you will be missed...

Chicken Parm Meatballs

Chicken Parm Meatballs

What You Need:

• 2 lb ground chicken (I used turkey)
• 1 c. seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 c milk
• 25 bite-size balls fresh mozzarella
• 1 c panko breadcrumbs

How You Do It:

1. Combine ground chicken, breadcrumbs, egg, and milk in large bowl.
2. Separate into 25 balls.
3. Press mozzarella ball in middle and roll to cover.
4. Roll in panko and place on baking sheet.
5. Once all meatballs are stuffed and covered in panko, lightly spray with cooking spray.
6. Bake 25 minutes at 400* or until chicken is cooked through.

Chicken Parm Meatballs recipe adapted from Everyday Food Magazine.

Stuffed Chicken Parmesan

When I got home from work tonight, I wanted nothing more than to sit on the couch and close my eyes... so tired!  I had something a little more putzy to put together tonight, but instead, I opted for a 5-minute prep dinner.  And for not wanting to do much of anything, this one came out pretty well.

You might remember the concept from when I made Cheesy Salsa Chicken a while back by stuffing a chicken breast with a wedge of Laughing Cow - this was made the same way.  This time, however, I went for the flavors of Chicken Parmesan.

5 minutes to prep, 30 minutes in the oven... even on the tired-est of nights, you can pull this one off!

Stuffed Chicken Parmesan

Stuffed Chicken Parmesan

What You Need:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 wedges, Light Swiss Laughing Cow Cheese
• 2 tbsp spaghetti sauce
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
• Cooking spray

How You Do It:

1. Carefully split the chicken breasts in half, careful not to cut all the way through.
2. Spread one wedge of cheese inside each chicken breast.  Top with one tablespoon spaghetti sauce and place in shallow baking dish.
3. Combine parmesan and panko.  Top each chicken breast with topping and spray with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 375* for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Homemade Pizza Rolls

What a relaxing weekend.  It’s been two crazy long weeks and no real end in site, so we took it easy this weekend.  And as usual, Sunday = Football.  We had some friends over to watch the games all day, but nothing really out of control or that needed much to-do.  I made a vat of my infamous chili (I’ll save that for another post), but have no shame and tried one new recipe:  Homemade Pizza Rolls.

You never know what will happen when you try a new recipe, especially when you have people over, but I took the chance.  Why not, right?  Right!  These were a hit.  So easy, so hot and gooey, so delicious.  No need for those boxed ones… try these!

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Homemade Pizza Rolls

What You Need:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced fine
• 1 small onion, diced fine
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 c shredded mozzarella
• Cooking spray
• 1 package wonton wrappers (about 48 wraps)

How You Do It:

1. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add in garlic, green pepper and onion. Cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in marinara and mozzarella.
2. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling into the middle of each wonton wrapper. Using a finger dipped in water, run along the edge of each wrapper and then fold wrapper in half and press down to seal. Continue until baking sheet is filled with pizza rolls (spaced about 1" apart).
3. Spray tops with cooking spray and bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes or until rolls are golden and crispy.
4. Let cool 5-10 minutes before serving (filling will be hot).

Homemade Pizza Rolls adapted from BackToHerRoots.com

 

Crock-Pot Chicken Parm

This recipe has been on my Pinterest board to try for a while now and this was the perfect night to do so.   You see, tonight the Packers take on the Bears.  And a good friend of ours, a Bears fan even, was coming over to watch the game - he's lucky I let him in, being a Bears fan and all.  (To those of you who are unaware, I'm a proud Cheesehead and Packer fan having been born and raised in the great cheese state of Wisconsin.)

Said friend is a big Italian food fan, so I knew tonight was a good time to pop in some chicken topped with cheese and sauce into the crock-pot, let 'er go all day, and boiled some noodles when I got home.  A great success!  Five minutes in the morning, 7 hours on its own... come home and dinner's ready.  Gotta love that!

To top it off, let's hope for a Green Bay WIN!

Crock-Pot Chicken Parm

Crock-Pot Chicken Parm

What You Need:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 c shredded mozzarella
• 1 28-oz jar of your favorite marinara sauce (I used Prego Roasted Garlic and Herb)

How You Do It:

1. Spray bottom of your crock-pot insert with cooking spray.  Place chicken on the bottom.
2. Top chicken with cheese.
3. Top cheese with sauce.
4. Cook on low 6-7 hours.

Crock-Pot Chicken Parm adapted from Full Bellies, Happy Kids.