Chicken recipes kids love to eat will keep you happy. I have included some of our family favorites as well as those that are found on the internet. Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoy them all!
Chicken Recipes
**NEW** Recipe – Fiesta Baked Chicken & Rice
Came home from church tonight and didn’t have any idea what to make. David came upstairs from the basement with Chicken Breasts. Now the decision as to what to make it into was a puzzle. Opening the cupboard and found some staple items and created…a New Masterpiece! While pairing it with one of our Premium White Wines made it even better! Check out this new recipe!
Shredded Chicken – Crock Pot
Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts – 1-2 lbs – boneless is the easiest way, but bone-in is many times more affordable
Taco Seasoning Mix
Salsa – 8 oz for 1 lb, 15-16 oz for 2 lbs
Water
If you have a Crock Pot liner, place it in the Crock Pot. Then place the chicken breasts. Pour Salsa over the chicken. Next sprinkle the taco seasoning over the chicken. Now add enough water to cover the bottom of the crock pot. You do not need a lot. Program your Crock Pot. I typically use Low and have it cook for 6-8 hours while at work. Don’t worry about stirring. Just put the cover on and forget it. When chicken easily pulls apart, take 2 forks and tear the chicken into shredded pieces. If you use bone-in chicken, chicken is done when it easily falls off the bone. Remove the bones.
The shredded chicken is versatile because you can make a salad, tacos, burritos. What ever you and your family prefers. This is a great sit down family meal or wrap in tortillas with lettuce, cheese and any other toppings your family prefers, wrap those in tinfoil and have them in the car or at the ball field. Better than walking tacos!
Southwest Chicken Hotdish
First I need to mention that this is not a casserole, but this is called a Hotdish. What is a Hotdish? Well hotdish is a terminology that came from Mankato, Minnesota in 1930 (my hometown). Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid first used the term in their cookbook that year. What goes in a Hotdish? While the original recipe called for hamburger, onions, celery, canned peas, canned tomato soup and Creamette (Minnesotan Macaroni). Now it typically, it has a meat (most likely hamburger), a starch (rice, pasta, or tator tots) and a soup (tomato or cream of “something”) and veggies and maybe even Cheese. The varieties are endless (and famous).
Now for the recipe – make sure I have all the ingredients.
Boneless Chicken breast – we use 1.5 lbs for our family of 4 – cut into bite size chunks
Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice (Minute Rice could be used too) We use enough for 4-5 servings.
Can of Black Beans
Can of Corn
Jar of Salsa
Taco Cheese
Soft Tortillas
Additional Taco sauce if wanted
Insert your Crock Pot liner if you are going to use one. Place first 5 ingredients in the above order into the Crock Pot. Add water to moisten the layers and keep the rice from getting crunchy. Program on Low for 6-8 hours, High for 4 hours.
Serve in tortilla shells with taco cheese and enjoy! While still healthy it is also filling. The whole family may argue over who GETS to eat the left overs!
Dishing on Hotdish
The history of hotdish can get to be contentious. In the early 1900’s, casseroles were known around the USA, but in Minnesota, we call them Hotdishes. There have been many news articles on hotdishes over the years. We seem to grow in notoriety every year, especially since the Minnesota Congressional Hotdish Competition is held annually and the media loves to give it extra attention.
While growing up in southern Minnesota, a very agricultural area, every family gathering and church function had hotdishes served at them. Funerals were the biggest location for variety as most funerals in the area had a large turnout. The ladies take their hotdishes very seriously. To this day, I have not been able to “recreate” my mom’s recipe and I am digging through her many recipe boxes hoping she had written it down – Bless her soul. The main purpose of hotdishes were to be able to stretch the use of meat and still provide a filling meal. You know, the stick to your ribs kind of meal that keeps you warm in winter. We are in Minnesota after all “don’t ya know”!
You will find chicken recipes as well as ground beef recipes when it comes to hotdishes.
A family favorite in our house is TatorTot Hotdish. It isn’t the most healthy and it isn’t the quickest meal, but it is comfort food! Now our sons, having recently gotten out of the military, request this as one of their first meals. Another favorite they asked for that is also very Minnesotan is Spamburgers. Because it is very popular, I am sharing that recipe too. Be sure to keep coming back in to check on us as we add more chicken recipes!
For more recipes:
Response Magic