Cinnamon and Lime Chicken Fajitas

This was a delicious dinner. The aroma the chicken produces while baking is mouth watering... and when adding it to the skillet with everything else... wow. This is simply delicious when adding cheese and sour cream. Delish!

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (2 whole breasts)
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon (I used extra cinnamon)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/4 c canola oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 large garlic cloved, peeled and minced
• 1 tbsp chopped jalapeno peppers
• 1 lime, juiced
• Tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F


Place potatoes in a shallow baking dish. Drizzly with about 1/2 the oil the recipe calls for and season with a touch of salt. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, season the chicken with cinnamon, salt and pepper. Arrange in a separate baking dish and back about 30 minutes or until no longer pink and juices run clear (I cooked the chicken and potatoes at the same time on the same oven rack). When chicken is done allow it to cool enough to handle it and then shred it (I use 2 forks to shred).

In a skillet, heat remaining oil over medium heat and saute onion and garlic until tender. (I cooked the jalapeno with the onion and garlic, I don't think it made a difference)

After the onion and garlic is cooked, add in the shredded chicken, jalapeno and lime juice and cook until heated through.

The recipe called for corn tortillas, but I am not a huge fan of them so I used flower tortillas. Heat the tortillas and spoon the chicken mixture into them. I added sour cream and cheese to mine and it was heavenly. I also made homemade Mexican rice to serve on the side.

Balsamic Chicken and Vegetables

Weight Watchers Points: 6pts per serving

This was an absolutely delicious New Recipe Friday recipe. I actually cannot wait to make this again it was that good. A bit too much though. I took the smallest chicken breast and it was still too much to eat, so I gave it to Robin to finish off. I served this with fresh French bread and an Olive Oil Balsamic dip, oh and herbed couscous! Now, the points above are for the chicken and vegetables, not the couscous... I threw the box away (the couscous is Far East brand).

This recipe is a Better Homes and Garden recipe...

ingredients

• 1/4 cup bottled Italian salad dressing
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound chicken breast tenderloins
• 10 ounces fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces, or one 10-ounce package frozen cut asparagus, thawed and well drained
• 1 cup purchased shredded carrot
• 1 small tomato, seeded and chopped

directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together salad dressing, balsamic vinegar, honey, and crushed red pepper. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink, turning once. Add half of the dressing mixture to skillet; turn chicken to coat. Transfer chicken to a serving platter; cover and keep warm.

3. Add asparagus and carrot to skillet. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender; transfer to serving platter.

4. Stir remaining dressing mixture; add to skillet. Cook and stir for 1 minute, scraping up browned bits from bottom of skillet. Drizzle the dressing mixture over chicken and vegetables. Sprinkle with tomato. Makes 4 servings.

nutrition facts

• Servings Per Recipe 4 servings
• Calories 269,
• Total Fat (g) 12,
• Saturated Fat (g) 2,
• Cholesterol (mg) 66,
• Sodium (mg) 323,
• Carbohydrate (g) 12,
• Fiber (g) 2,
• Protein (g) 27,
• Vitamin A (DV%) 0,
• Vitamin C (DV%) 0,
• Calcium (DV%) 0,
• Iron (DV%) 0,

Lebanese Chicken with Curry Couscous

OMG... this was absolutely the most fantastic chicken dish I have made in a really long time! I am stuffed, but still drooling at the thought of making this again. Rob thinks that it needs some spice to it, but I found it to be just perfect. I cheated with the couscous and got Far East Curry Couscous... perfect substitute and much quicker to make than curry couscous from scratch.

Please, if you are reading this... you absolutely must try this recipe... I want to make it again tomorrow!!! LOL

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken breast (I made 2, recipe calls for 4)
• 1/3c chopped onion (I used white onion)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2tsp finely shredded orange peel
• 1/2c orange juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice (I added a dash extra because I love the allspice)
• 2 tbsp honey
• Orange wedge and mint leaf (optional)

Directions:

• In large skillet cook chicken, onion, garlic and butter over medium heat for about 6 minutes or until chicken is brown, turning once. Add orange peel, orange juice and salt to the skillet, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon and allspice onto chicken and add some to the juice mixture, drizzle honey over chicken and into juice. Simmer on medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, uncovered, until chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced to a glaze type consistency.
• Make couscous while chicken cooks
• Serve a small mound of couscous with chicken breast on top and drizzle with extra sauce (I made enough sauce for the full recipe and Rob and I ate every bit of it... if you like saucier chicken then maybe add a touch more orange juice, honey and spices).

Shelly's Hot Mess Chicken and Famous Potatoes w/ Spinach Salad

I decided to put together this dinner together tonight because I have been so engrossed with my invitation business this past week that I have been sort of ignoring my poor husband. I felt so bad about so I put together a delicious dinner at the table complete with wine and water served in our pretty crystal we got for our wedding...I was also able to use our pretty silver serving platter and fancy serving utensils and placemats, napkins and napkin rings...ok, ok, so I wanted an excuse to actually use all this stuff...LOL.

I made Shelly's famous potatoes and her hot mess chicken (see nomnomnom in my favorites). Along with the hot mess and famous taters I made my famous spinach salad with homemade lemon olive oil dressing. I also made a loaf of homemade italian bread with italian spices in my bread maker (and I am happy to report actually doing a good job at it!). I have to say, I was very intimidated by the chicken recipe, but it was really super easy!

Excuse the jacked up walls in the background...we're in the middle of demoing our kitchen.

Hot Mess Chicken (recipe copy/pasted from Shelly's blog)

Hot Mess ChickenServes: However many you can fit on the pan
-Large skinless boneless chicken breast (I filleted it then pounded it)

-Thick sliced bacon (I used thick pepper crusted bacon..mmmm...)

-Red Onion

-Fresh Leaf Basil (we grow basil in our garden, so it was super fresh! fresher the better)

-Small can petite diced tomatoes

-Provolone Cheese

-Toothpicks

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Yup.

2. Get a baking sheet that has edges and line it with foil (easier clean up!). Then take a rack from your toaster oven and put that on top of the foil so there is a gap. Or if you wanna be all 'top chef'... just use a broiler pan =)

3. Take a chicken breast and put it between some plastic wrap and pound it with a meat mallet. Or a big can of beans will work! Not too thin... maybe like an even half inch. Or if you wanna get crazy and skip the next step... pound it out into a really big flat piece that is about a quarter inch thick.

4. If you stuck with the half inch option, take a knife and slit the chicken open (parallel with the countertop) and open it like a book. Don't cut it all the way open.

5. Lay in some provolone, a handful of diced red onion, a couple spoonfuls of tomato, and a few leaves of basil.

6. Fold up the chicken. Now lay out 3-4 slices of thick sliced bacon and put the chicken in the middle. Wrap the ends of bacon up over the chicken and overlap them. Secure with a toothpick. Try and cover most of the open seam to keep the goodies in.

7. Place on the rack or broiler pan. I like to pour some italian dressing all over it, but that's up to you. Put in the oven for about 30-35 minutes. The bacon should be pretty crisped and the chicken cooked thru. Yummm.

Shelly's Famous Potatoes

-5 cups chopped red potatoes (about 5 large) (I used idaho potatoes cuz I'm not a fan of reds)

-1/2 cup diced red bell pepper (I skipped the red cuz we don't really like it)

-1/3 cup diced green bell pepper

-1/2 cup diced sweet onion

-1 teaspoon garlic salt

-1/2 tablespoon montreal steak seasoning

-4+ tablespoons butter or margarine

-Foil

1. Lay out about 2 feet of non-stick foil or non-stick sprayed regular foil.

2. Wash & scrub red potatoes clean. Chop up potatoes into bite sized pieces and place in single layer onto center of foil.

3. Dice peppers and onion and sprinkle onto potatoes, toss with hands if necessary.

4. Place little chunks of butter or margarine over top, space out as necessary.

5. Sprinkle garlic salt and steak seasoning evenly over mixture (amount may be adjusted to taste). We are not shy with either of them in my house!!

6. Fold foil up over the mixture, covering everything. Take another piece of foil and wrap in opposite direction to make sure the packet is leak-proof.

7. Place on grill at medium heat (about 350-400 degrees) for 35-45 minutes (flip over packet halfway through cooking), depending on your grill and your potato firmness preference.

8. Cut open foil pouch and serve, careful of the steam!

Lemon/Olive Oil Dressing

- 1 large lemon

- 1 tbsp fresh garlic

- 1/2 c olive oil (the darker the better)

Zest part of the lemon, cut it in half and juice the heck out of it. Add the garlic and the olive oil and wisk together. Serve over a bed of baby spinach with bacon bits, tomatoes and shaved Parmesan cheese...delish!

Chicken Kabobs and "Special" Crescent Rolls

We made some super fantastic chicken kabobs last night with these most delicious crescent rolls using a recipe of my best friends MIL! I'll call them Mrs. T's Famous Crescent Rolls!!! The kabobs were pretty standards, chicken, green pepper, white onion, 1 can white potatoes, and mushrooms. Rob put some curry seasoning on them with some extra red pepper powder and a little brush of olive oil. I made the Indian Rice that I blogged below with the kabobs. Now, on to the delicious crescent rolls!

Ingredients
1 tube crescent rolls (Pillsbury or store brand)
4 oz of cream cheese softened in the microwave to make it spoonable
Honey

Directions
Roll out the rolls as you normally would then add a spoon full (tsp) of cream cheese to the large end of the crescent roll. Roll them up and kinda pinch the ends so the cream cheese doesn't ooze when you bake them. Bake according to the package instructions (no extra time needed). Pull them out and put some honey on top of them and spread it around. Let them sit for about 5 minutes.

I suggest eating them with a fork! They are so freaking good! Its like a dinner roll and dessert in one!