Monterey Chicken

Chicken is one of the staples in our house for dinner.  We probably have it at least twice each week, if not more.  One of the great things about Pinterest is that it helps me come up with other ideas so I don't feel bored eating the same old same old, week after week.  I found this one, and you know it had me at bacon!  I have to say, this was quite delicious!  The picture I took really doesn't do it justice.

• 3 Tbsp. honey 
• 3 Tbsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into tenders
• 1 cup shredded cheddar or jack cheese
• 8 slices bacon, cut in half and fried
• 8 Tbsp. barbecue sauce
  (I used Wegmans brown sugar BBQ sauce)

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix the honey, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic together in a large gallon-sized plastic bag. 
2. Cut chicken breasts in about four strips making them into tenders. 
3. Marinate the chicken in the sauce for at least an hour, but as long as overnight. 
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
5. Place the chicken in a casserole dish lightly greased with cooking spray. 
6. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 25 minutes.  Make sure center is no longer pink and juices run clear.
7. While chicken is cooking, fry up the bacon and set aside. 
8. When chicken is cooked, lightly spread the chicken with the BBQ sauce, top with bacon and cheese. 
9. Increase oven to temperature to 450 degrees and cook about another 5-10 minutes, until cheese is bubbly.

Adapted from The Recipe Critic blog
Serves Approximately 7 Nutritional Data:
(click to enlarge image)

Banana Cream Pie

Since we had a bunch of bananas that went from totally green to overripe virtually overnight, today was a day to go bananas.  In addition to the Banana Bread that we made, Catherine also wanted to make a Banana Cream Pie.  I have always wanted to make a Banana Cream Pie, but Catherine beat me to it.  She surfed around and found this recipe.  I have to say, it came out OH-SO-GOOOOOOOD!

• 9” pie shell, prepared
  (We used a graham cracker crust pie shell)
• 3 cups whole milk 
• ¾ cup white sugar 
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 
• ¼ tsp. salt 
• 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten 
• 2 Tbsp. butter 
• 1 tsp. vanilla 
• 3 bananas

DIRECTIONS

1. Have baked 9-inch pie shell ready. 
2. In a large saucepan, scald the milk
   Heat the milk to 180 degrees. At this temperature, the milk should just begin to come to a light froth:  you will see around the edges of the pan, where tiny bubbles will form. This point can be determined visually or with a thermometer and can be done in a double boiler or, if you pay close attention, over direct heat.  To prevent scorching, be sure to stir the milk as it heats.
3. In another saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt; gradually stir in the scalded milk.
4. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened. 
5. Cover and, stirring occasionally, cook for two minutes longer. 
6. In a small bowl, have the 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, ready; stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks; when thoroughly combined, stir yolks into hot mixture. 
7. Cook for one minute longer, stirring constantly. 
8. Remove from heat and blend in the butter and vanilla. 
9. Let sit until lukewarm. 
10. When ready to pour, slice bananas and layer half of them in the bottom of the pie shell
11. Pour half of the warm custard mixture over bananas.
12. Repeat with Steps 10 and 11 with the remaining bananas and warm custard.
     
13. Top with either homemade whipped cream or a meringue (you'll have 3 leftover egg whites) to top the pie, or just let the pie cool until serving.

Adapted from Food.com's website

Nutella Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My poor husband got such a gift for his birthday this year -- the flu.  ACK!  So, we declared it birthday week and have been doing little things throughout the week to try and celebrate even though he still feels icky.  He got one present two days before his birthday, and the rest on his birthday; and now as he's feeling a little more like himself, and it's the weekend, Catherine and I made today a baking day.  Since we had bananas that went directly from green to brown, Jim said he wanted chocolate chip banana bread.  I went on Pinterest and found this recipe.  The family appears to give it thumbs up!

• ¾ cup sugar 
• ½ cup vegetable oil 
• ½ cup Nutella
• 2 overripe bananas
• 2 eggs 
• ½ cup buttermilk
  (I did not have buttermilk, so I used regular milk, and it seemed to be ok)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  (I did not have milk chocolate so I used dark chocolate chips)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Prepare two loaf dishes by lining with parchment paper and greasing lightly with a nonstick cooking spray.
   (I used four mini-loaf pans, and only used the cooking spray)
3. Mix oil, Nutella, and sugar in a large bowl with a stand mixer.
4. Add the bananas, eggs, buttermilk, and baking soda to the Nutella mixture. Mix well.
5. Slowly add flour and chocolate chips, until just combined. Try not to overmix!
6. Divide the batter evenly between the loaf pans.
7. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
   (Even with the mini-loaf pans, I still needed close to the 45 minutes.  I suggest setting the timer for 30 minutes and check if it needs additional time.)

 Adapted from Something Swanky blog

Nutritional Data:
(click to enlarge image)

 

Crockpot Asian Chicken

Cold, cold day working from home.  What to have for dinner?  I surfed through Pinterest for "healthy crock pot chicken" recipes and came up with this one.  I had all of the ingredients to throw this in the crock pot.  The original blogger stated that she put it under the broiler before serving; I tried this and it really didn't do anything other than start to dry out the chicken; however mine also didn't come out as "saucy" looking as the picture that was posted.  But, I did use some of the extra sauce from the crockpot to spoon over the chicken.  I served the chicken with some jasmine rice that I made, with some peas and sauteed onions mixed in.  A little bit of the sauce mixed into the rice, and the meal was delicious -- got thumbs up from the hubs!

• 1 cup pineapple juice
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup light soy sauce
  (I only had regular so I used that, and the nutritional information below is based on that)
• 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook in crock pot on low 6-8 hours and it should just fall apart.
2. Serve

Adapted from Life in My Empty Nest blog

Serves Approximately 8
Nutritional Data:
(click to enlarge image)