I just had to find a new recipe for pre-cooked chicken.  I recently roasted 5 lbs of leg quarters and I didn’t want to make the same old same old with the meat.  So I made a huge pot of Chicken Noodle Soup with part of it. I froze a couple bags, made chicken salad for lunches and had one dinners worth left. I went through all my recipes I’ve been meaning to try and I came across a recipe for Chicken Ala King.

Now I’ve never made it before nor have I ever eaten it before, but the idea of a Chicken gravy with veggies sounded especially good that day.

The recipe I had called for 1/2 cup of flour (yikes), frozen corn and peas and a jar of pimentos.  But I thought I could do better and I did. I didn’t have any pimentos, not that that sounded very good to me anyway.

This is what I came up with and everyone loved it.

• 1/4 med. onion very finely chopped, nearly a mince
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 1/2 green pepper chopped small
• 1 cup chopped mushroom
• 1 1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
• 1 bag frozen broccoli stir fry veggies (mine are Walmart brand)
• 1/2 can water chestnuts
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp. carbquik or other low carb thickener
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla if using carbquik *optional
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1-2 cups chicken stock ( was out of homemade had to use store bought)
• water as needed
• 2 cups pre-cooked chicken, I left mine in kind of big pieces.

1. Heat oil (I used just less than a tbsp. coconut oil) or your favorite form of fat in a Dutch oven or other large pan add veggies in order listed giving each a minute or two to cook before adding the next.
2. Season with salt and pepper
3. Sprinkle with carbquik if using and let cook a minute or so.
4. Stir in all coconut milk, cream and stock until just barely covering the veggies.  Add a little water if needed. * add in vanilla if using.
5. Add in chicken and heat through.  If not using carbquik now is the time to add whatever thickening agent you like, I'd have used Jennifer Eloff's thickening agent if I wasn't trying to use up the last little bit of Carbquik.
6. When it's hot serve over Spaghetti squash, Dreamfields, zucchini ribbons, shirataki noodles, or cauli-rice.  I went with  spaghetti squash sauteed in butter with garlic!

This made a huge potful I could have easily frozen half before adding the cream and had another time.  Instead we had it for dinner, and lunch the next day plus I ate the last of it cold out of the fridge for lunch the day after that...giggle Hey it was good!

This is a new recipe for me. I've never made Tetrazzini before. But I came across a recipe on Low Carbs Friends forum that got me to thinking that it might be perfect for precooked chicken. I love mushrooms but Mom doesn't and Cindy's not always a big fan. I have learned that if I cut them small enough and don't use too many I can get by with putting them in a few recipes. If I had been making this just for me, I would have added more mushrooms. So if you're a mushroom lover by all means add more and don't bother chopping them, let them shine in all their warm earthy goodness.

You could easily substitute Shirataki noodles or Dreamfields for the Spaghetti squash. I'm not sure about your area, but spaghetti squash are only available here during the fall, so I will not be able to use it all year long.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Ingredients:

• 3-4 cups Spaghetti squash
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• ½ medium onion, finely minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups chopped mushrooms, could slice if you prefer bigger pieces
• 2 cups precooked chicken
• ½ cup white wine
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ -1 cup Hood calorie count down milk
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• 2 tbsp. up to ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. Mural of Flavors (Penzey's) could use Italian Seasoning
• Salt & Pepper
• Thickening agent of choice, I used gaur cum
• Parm/bread mix
• Butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Add olive oil to a large, hot skillet
3. Add garlic, sauté a minute before adding onions
4. Sprinkle seasoning over onions and garlic
5. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender
6. Pour in wine and simmer another minute or two
7. Add heavy cream, milk and cream cheese. Simmer until cheese is melted and everything is well blended.
8. Season to taste
9. Sprinkle on thickening agent of choice, let simmer until thick enough to leave a hollow when a spoon is pulled through
10. Season spaghetti squash with salt and pepper
11. Dot with butter and pour chicken mixture over squash
12. Top with parm mix and bake until brown about 20 minutes.

Let set a few minutes before serving.

One of my favorite convenience frozen foods has always been potpies. We'd make a little rice (ok a lot of rice) place it on a plate and dump the potpie over the rice. The rice mixed with the gravy in the potpie was the best part.

I made a homemade potpie once but it was a bit wet for my taste, of course, I think I was in junior high. The problem was the results didn't balance out with the amount of work that went into that first potpie, so I never tried again. Why go to that much trouble when I could get a frozen one at the grocery store?

Chicken potpie is one of those things I have been missing, and while I know it would be easy to just make the filling and forget the crust, that ideal just didn't appeal to me at all.

So being the internet fiend that I am I goggled low carb chicken pot pies and found several promising recipes, but none I was fully sold on. I checked my Bisquick cookbook and decided my best bet was to combine the better part of several recipes. The final product was the best chicken potpie I had ever had!

So let me share my recipe so you can glean from it the parts you like and create your very own fantastic low carb chicken potpie.

Vikki's Home-style Chicken Potpie

Ingredients:

Filling

• ½ medium onion
• 1 bag stir-fry veggies, I used broccoli stir-fry veggies
• Salt & fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp. flour ( I knew the flour would work, next time I'll use "ThickenThin" I'm thinking about 1 tsp should work)
• 1 cup chicken stock (homemade if you have it)
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp. ground thyme (rub between fingers as you add)
• 2 cups pre-cooked chicken (I roasted mine)
• 2 oz. cream cheese

Biscuit topping

• 1 cup Carbquik or one of Jennifer Eloff's Low carb baking mixes
• 1 egg
• ¾ cups Hood calorie countdown
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. sweetener of choice ( I used 1 drop of Sweetzfree)

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. Sauté onions until just tender
3. Add bag of frozen stir-fry veggies continue to sauté until thawed and tender
4. Season with salt and pepper (omit salt if using stock with salt)
5. Sprinkle with flour or thickener of choice, stir well and cook a few minutes
6. Stir in chicken stock, cream and thyme
7. Once heated and thickened as much as it's going too add cream cheese
8. Let simmer about 3-5 minutes or until creamy and heated through
9. Spoon into well-sprayed backing dish ( I made 3)
10. Mix all ingredients for the biscuit topping until smooth
11. Pour over chicken filling and bake for 30 minutes or until a golden brown.

We had this with a side of green beans and we absolutely loved this. It will definitely be a regular at my house. Next time I will make a double recipe and freeze before adding the biscuit crust. Then I can simply pull them out, thaw, add the biscuit topping and bake. This will definitely be a regular at my house.

Since I've been trying to double cook at night, while everyone else is asleep I've come up with a few new recipes. Monday night was chicken night and I have already posted my Mellow Chicken Chili recipe. Cooking two different recipes at one time, means 2 different dishes on the table this week and there is no wasted time waiting for one dish to cook. While this one is doing a quick chill, I can be working on the next, or while this one simmers, I can be cutting veggies for the next. Simply said, it works for me.

This is the second recipe from Chicken Night.

Roasted Romano Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3 med. to lg. pieces of chicken, I used b/l, s/l chicken breast but I think it would work just as well with leg quarters
• ¼ cup of mayo
• 1 tsp. Penzey's Garden Salad Seasoning (Or you can mix your own with Ramona cheese, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, sesame and poppy seeds. This is great sprinkled over a salad so mix up a jar full. )

Method:

1. Wash chicken well and pat dry
2. Lay chicken out on a foil covered cookie sheet (easy clean up) that you've sprayed generously.
3. In a small bowl mix mayo and seasoning; mix well
4. Spoon a dollop of mayo mix on each chicken breast and massage in.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and pop in the fridge for an hour or so.
6. Preheat oven to 375
7. Remove chicken from fridge and let come to room temperature.
8. Remove plastic wrap and slide in the oven for 20 minutes
9. Turn and roast an additional 5 minutes
10. Check for doneness and let rest a minute or two before serving, in my case I took them out at 160*, but in a bowl and poured the drippings over them. I didn't cook them fully so they wouldn't dry out when reheated, which would finish cooking.

It's just that simple. You could mix anything you liked in with the mayo before smearing over the chicken, so it would be very, very simple to change this up anyway you like.

Hope you enjoy!

It is simply to hot to use the oven, but I've been so hungry for my Mexicali chicken. So today, I decided to find a way to make it without the oven. Finally, it came to me that I could finish cooking and melt the cheese in nonstick skillet with a lid. I would just add some of the jalapeño pepper juice to the skillet to keep them from drying out. It worked wonderfully!

Vikki's Mexicali Chicken stovetop version

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken breast ( 1 per person)
• Taco seasoning, fajita seasoning or whatever Mexican seasoning you like
• Salt and pepper
• Jalapenos, amount is dependent on your tastes
• Cheese of choice, I like pepper jack, Mexican blend, Cotija, or Monterey Jack
• Optional* tomato slices, mushrooms or bacon pieces (fry your own not the fake stuff)

Method:

1. Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper and taco seasoning
2. Place on a sheet of plastic wrap, fold plastic over the chicken and pound with a meat mallet to flatten chicken.*
3. Grill chicken, browning both sides. If chicken doesn't cook through, it's ok, it will cook more in pan. If you don't have a grill pan or would rather not use two pans, just sear in a hot skillet.**
4. Place chicken breast in hot non-stick skillet. Pour a tbsp or two of the juice from your jalapenos over chicken; top each chicken breast with sliced jalapenos. Cover and cook until chicken reaches 175 degrees. Top chicken with toppings if using, top with shredded cheese, cover and melt cheese.

*Note* Normally I don't add anything but jalapenos and cheese. But, diced tomatoes, bacon or mushrooms are all wonderful on top. Top off with cheese.

* Flatten chicken so it cooks quickly and evenly. The easiest way for me to flatten is to place chicken breast smooth side up, on a sheet of plastic wrap, fold the wrap over the chicken and then using a meat mallet to flatten. Let the mallet hit in the center and slide to the edge.

** I like to cook a head of time. So at this point, I put in fridge and finish off on the day we are having them. This way I can grill chicken for two dinners at once and hold half until another day.

Then just enjoy!

I spent a couple of days this week doing mass cooking and prep work. We found ground chucks on sale for less than $2.00 lb and bought a couple of the roasts and had about 8-10 lbs ground. If you're a regular reader you know I did a massive ground meat work up before the hot weather set in.

Well I inventoried and rearranged my freezer earlier this week and I was good on meatloaves (18 mini loaves) but was completely out of bacon burgers, hamburger steaks and taco meat.

I'm happy to say we now have 6 dinners worth of bacon burgers, 3 dinners of taco meat and hamburger steaks now snuggly packed in my freezer. I have a roast (cooked) and taco meat in my fridge to dinners this weekend. I also have chicken fajita meat marinating in the fridge right now for tonight's dinner.

It's not really a recipe per se more a technique but I thought I would share how I make chicken fajitas with you.

Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients:

• Boneless skinless chicken breast – I find one per person is usually more than enough
• White onion, sliced into strips
• Green peppers, sliced into strips
• Taco or fajita seasoning of your choice (I use cumin, chili powder, Mexican oregano and garlic for mine)
• 1 well seasoned cast iron skillet
• Small amount of coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Optional toppings* shredded cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, guacamole, avocado slices, salsa or low carb tortillas.

Method:

1. Cut chicken into strips, season liberally and pop in the fridge to marinade
2. Slice peppers and onions, drizzle with a little oil, I like olive oil for this, season with salt and pepper and pop in the fridge.
3. When ready to cook melt just a little coconut oil in your cast iron pan, let it heat over med high until it's smoking hot. Add meat and stir. When the meat is cooked through, (only a couple of minutes), remove and add peppers and onions. Remember to scrap up any little brown bits from the bottom of the pan as you stir fry the veggies.
4. Return meat back to pan and serve immediately.

I prefer mine with sour cream, guacamole and salsa. All mixed up and spooned over a nice fresh bed of lettuce then sprinkled with the shredded cheese. It's looks less than appetizing that way, but it tastes delish!!!

Fajitas are basically stir-fried. While you don't have to have cast iron to make them, I think it gives the fajitas a good flavor. If you don't have one, you might consider it. They are inexpensive and if well taken care of they will last forever. I have my grandmother's chicken fryer, my mom's 14' and 12' skillets and then I have a double burner grill/griddle, a grill pan and a huge Dutch oven. I adore them all. Cast iron does take a little care, but in return, you get a pan that gives you excellent heat dispersal, will last for generations to come, sears meat better than anything you have ever seen before and holds heat for a long time.

I wanted something different for breakfast this morning. I just didn’t want eggs, I didn’t want a smoothie, besides I need to make more yogurt. I wanted flavor and spiciness.

What I had on hand was some chicken (leg quarters)I had thrown in the Crockpot yesterday. I had seasoned it with my signature taco seasoning, along with the usually salt and pepper. For the liquid, I had used about half a cup of salsa. I’d just let it cook until it was falling off the bone, then de-boned it and popped in the fridge.

Then it hit me, what I wanted was some of Jamie’s Cup of Tacos . Mine was more like nachos so I’m calling them Nacho bowls. I started digging in the fridge. I came up with shredded cheese, half a zucchini, some romaine to shred, a little onion and red pepper and of course sour cream. Ok I know right now all you squeamish breakfast eaters are about to loose what little breakfast you were able to down, but me, I’m hungry Mongery when I wake up. I don’t want some wimpy protein shake I want food, good food, full of spice and flavor. I thought I would share my version of Jamie’s yummy concoction.

As you probably know, I tend to cook with what I have. No running to the store for me. I just add in what I have. I didn’t have the same ingredients Jamie used, but I had some wonderful fresh foods right there in my fridge, so that’s what I used.

Here’s what I did.

· Cooked chicken shredded or cubed

· Taco seasoning

· Chopped onion

· Chopped red pepper

· Thinly sliced zucchini

· A spoonful of Rotel tomatoes, an extra spoon of the juices

· Shredded cheese

· Sour cream for garnish

· Shredded lettuce, I used romaine

Just layer everything but the sour cream, in a small bowl, Hey this is a really good use for those cereal bowls you don’t use any more…giggle.

Microwave until everything is hot and cheese is gooey. Top with sour cream and serve along side some shredded lettuce.

It was yummy gooey goodness in a bowl. The perfect breakfast! And yes, I did eat the whole thing all by my little lonesome. I didn’t eat dinner last night and I was famished!

I get so hungry for Wendy's  chicken nuggets sometimes it's hard to not cheat.  Since I belong to a freezer group, I know you can make your own frozen chicken nuggets.  But can you make low carb chicken nuggets?  Well I am going to find out.

I made up a batch today and I'm going to give them the 2 week test.  I'm so hopeful that it will work.  How lovely would it be to go to the freezer and pull out chicken nuggets for dinner?  Throw them in a salad, or make up some mac & cheese to go with them.  I'm so ready!

I dipped them in coconut oil instead of an egg wash because I wanted them to oven fry. 

I did cook six of them to make sure they were good...giggle.  They were every bit as crisp as store bought chicken nuggets that have been baked in the oven.  yeah!  Now the test is, will they still be good after freezing and will the breading stay on? 

Ingredients:

• boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into "nuggets"
• coconut oil
• 1 slice Nature's Own Double Fiber Bread
• handful of hot and spicy pork skins
• Parmesan cheese, cheap pre-grated stuff

Preparations:

1. wash and cut chicken breasts into nuggets.
2. grind 1 slice of bread ( I use mini chopper) pour into a zip bag.
3. grind pork skins and add to zip bag
4. add parmesan cheese to the bag ( bread + pork skins = parmesan cheese).  Shake well to mix. +
5. Dip each piece of chicken into melted coconut oil, roll into breading. 
6. Place on a foil covered packing sheet that's been well sprayed.  Place in freezer and flash freeze.
7. Once frozen pack in freezer bag.

To cook, place on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 30 minutes* from frozen.

* The time is a guess I haven't baked them  yet.  I baked the ones I made from for about 15 minutes.  I'm guessing that when baking from frozen it will take about double that.

I will update when I know it it works or not.

*** I did freeze them for two weeks and they turned out well.  My only regret is I didn’t bake them on foil and they stuck pretty badly.  So next time FOIL!

No one and I mean NO ONE can fry chicken like my mom.  It is legendary!  Therefore, trying to come up with a low carb version that my family would like, when they are accustomed to the best wasn't an easy task.

If I do say myself, I did come up with a pretty darn good fried chicken.  Not my mama's, but mines low carb!

Ingredients:

• Chicken pieces, I used leg quarters, can use whatever you have 
• 2 eggs, beaten
• splash of cream,  mixed with water
• 1/3 cup of my parm/bread crumb mix
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp. Carbquik
• seasoning of choice, I used 2 tbsp. Mural of flavor  and salt and pepper
• coconut oil for frying

Method:

1. Wash chicken well
2. Beat eggs, cream and water together
3. Mix all the breading
4. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium.
5. Dip chicken in the egg wash then the breading and carefully place in the hot oil.
6. Cover with a lid and let brown.
7. Remove lid and turn the heat up under your pan when you turn over to let the crust crisp up.
8. When the internal temperature reaches 170 the chicken is done.
9. Drain on paper toweling.

I served this with Broccoli Pasta Salad and sliced cucumbers and onions. Wonderful summer dinner.

* Note: I had left overs for dinner tonight, if you like cold chicken as much as I do, you'll love it!

*Always, remember to use special care when handling chicken. I add a couple tbsp. of bleach to my dishwater when preparing chicken so I make sure all countertops and my sink

are sanitized.

I've added spinach to my normal lasagna for a long time. But I wanted something a little different.  We love grilled chicken and fettuccini Alfredo too.  I decided that I could get the same flavors and still keep it low carb.  Since no one in my family likes the shirataki noodles but me, I went for Dream Field Lasagna noodles.   I used the fewest number of noodles as possible. To keep it as low carb as possible, and because mom sometimes get blood sugar spikes from the Dream Fields.

Ingredients:

• Boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1 16 oz jar of Alfredo Sauce*
• 1/2 Hood Calorie Down Milk
• 1/4 chopped red onion
• 1  16 oz bag of frozen broccoli
• 2 oz. cream cheese ( yes again I like cream cheese...giggle)
• 1/2 freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• Mozzarella cheese, grate ( amount is a personal choice) I think I used about 2 cups.
• 6 Dreamfield's lasagna noodles
• Optional: pepperoni

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.  Gently brown in a bit of coconut oil.  Drain.
3. Add 1/3 jar Alfredo Sauce thin with hood.
4. Add onions and let simmer.
5. Cook broccoli by your favorite method.  I microwave mine without any added water.
6. Put cream cheese and Parmesan cheese in a bowl.  Add hot broccoli and mix well breaking up any large pieces of broccoli.
7. Add egg and combine well.
8. Put a large dollops of Alfredo in the bottom of a well sprayed 9x11 baking dish.  Thin will a tbsp or 2 of hood.  Spread over bottom of the pan
9. Place first layer of  noodles in the bottom of the pan.
10. Spread 1/2 Chicken mixture over noodles.
11. Spread 1/2 the broccoli mixture over chicken
12. Sprinkle with 1/2 the mozzarella cheese.
13. Repeat layers ending with mozzarella
14. Mix a little more Alfredo and hood and spoon over the whole lasagna until moist.
15. Top with a couple rolls of pepperoni if using.  I think it will add a spicy kick.
16. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes.
17. Let set 5-10 minutes before cutting if you can...giggle
18. If freezing place in freezer before baking.
19. When ready to use thaw and bake 30 minutes covered with foil and then another 15 with foil removed.

* Note:  It was a little bland for my taste even with the pepperoni, so next time I will add some garlic and maybe some Italian seasoning to the chicken and broccoli mixes.  But over all it was really good and very filling with all that cheese.

Another quick note.  As long as you make the sauces thin enough you do not have to precook the noodles.  I never do.  But if you prefer them boiled cut back on the amount of milk, so your sauce will be thicker.

This was slap your mama good.  I sure hope you give it a try.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Teriyaki Dump Chicken

• 1 pkg Teriyaki Dump Chicken
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 lg carrot
• 1/2 lg. onion
• Salt & pepper
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. sherry
• 2 tbsp. fish sauce
• sweeten to taste ( I used 5 drops of sweetzfree) Remember as this cooks the veggies and chicken will create a fair amount of juice.

Preparation:

1. Chop veggies into large pieces and place in crockpot. Lightly season with salt & pepper
2. Place chicken on top of veggies.
3. Cover and cook until done...( mine cooks hot and I cooked at lowest temp. for 2.5 hours.
4. Remove chicken and turn crockpot up to hottest temp and let the sauce cook down or pour in a sauce pan to cook down.
5. Serve over chicken.

Pre-heat oven to 350

Ingredients

• 1 package of shirataki noodles ( I use odd sized for this)
• 1 cup cooked shredded chicken ( I used can this time because I was out of pre-cooked chicken in my freezer)
• can rotel tomatoes ( I used mild this time because it's what I had)
• 4 small pats butter
• 1/2 yellow squash, chopped small
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour, divided
• 1/4 cup hood milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese ( I prefer pepper jack for this but I was out when I took pictures)

  PREPARATION:

1. wash and rinse noodles
2. place in mini chopper and chop to desired size
3. sprinkle in bottom of baking dish top with pats of butter
4. spread chicken over top of noodles
5. Beat eggs, 1/2 the sour cream, milk salt and pepper add a couple spoons of rotel tomatoes, set aside
6. top noodles with chopped veggies
7. sprinkle shredded cheese
8. pour on egg mixture
9. dollop remaining sour cream
10. top with cotija cheese
11. Bake at 350 for 30-50 minutes.
12. let set 5 minutes before cutting.