Recipes: Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken
Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken
This recipe is an altered and lighter version of the Chicken Tomato Pasta Recipe. The Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken recipe is a lower carb version, but is still tasty and healthy. It is basically baked boneless skinless chicken breast topped with spinach, bok choy, mushrooms, and cheese. If you are trying to cut out dairy you can eliminate the cheese and it is still a great main dish.
Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken
The Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken recipe is a low carb, but is still tasty and healthy. It brings baked boneless skinless chicken breast together with a topping of spinach, bok choy, mushrooms, and cheese.Servings: 2 peopleIngredients
- 1 lb Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts cooked, seasoned, and drained
- 1 cup Fresh Spinach
- 1 cup Fresh Bok Choy
- 1/2 cup Fresh Mushrooms
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/2 tsp Minced Garlic
- Sliced or Shredded Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a broiler pan and put the chicken breast on it (this allows the extra fat and/or juices to drain down and away from the chickens). Sprinkle lightly with seasoning – salt, pepper, and/or chicken seasoning. Bake until cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking. Slice up the vegetables into about 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces (spinach, bok choy, mushrooms). Heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and minced garlic in a pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook them for about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and bok choy, cooking for an additional 3 minutes or until the leaves are starting to wilt.
- Place your baked chicken breasts on the plates. Top with the vegetable mixture. Optional: Garnish tomatoes and sliced or a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken sitting on a layer for diced tomatoes (optional)
Recipes: Campfire Toasted Portobello Mushrooms & Cinnamon Apples
Food is prepped and ready to be cooked for dinner over the campfire
First we shared our Campfire Steak & Kielbasa main dish. Last week we shared with you our Campfire Garlic Bread. Now this week we get to do another side dish – Portobello Mushrooms as well as desert – Cinnamon Apples.
Are you seeing a theme this month? Maybe I am gearing up for a another fun family camping trip!? The only probably is figuring out when to fit it in with all the other fun stuff going on! Our family really does enjoy a good camping trip or fire pit meal! It is fun to try new things or take items we used to only do on the grill and make them over a fire. By the way, all of these recipes work beautifully on a grill too so feel free to cook up these goodies on it instead.
Campfire Toasted Portobello Mushrooms & Cinnamon Apples
A campfire is not the same without desert. While we do really enjoy the sweet chocolate goodness of toasted marshmallows and s’mores this time around we tried something new. Campfire Toasted Cinnamon Apples and they turned out crispy, sweet, and delicious!Servings: 4Ingredients
- 2 Portobello Mushroom Tops
- 1 tbsp Italian Salad Dressing
- 2 Sliced Apples Granny Smith or other Baking Apple
- 1 tbsp Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- Wooden or Metal Skewers
Instructions
- Soak the wooden skewers in water for about 5 to 10 minutes. This allows them to not burn up once over the campfire. If you have metal skewers these can be used immediately.
- While the skewers are soaking in water. Drizzle a touch of the Italian Salad Dressing over the outside of the portobello mushroom and the remaining tablespoon amount on the inside of the mushroom and allow to sit inside the cap to marinate it until it goes onto the campfire.
- Stick the skewers through the portobello mushroom. Two skewers per piece works a little better when turning over the fire, but 1 will work too.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon & sugar mixture over the outside of the apple slices.
- Stick the skewers through the apple slices. We put 2 slices on each skewer.
- Place the portobello mushroom (do the top side of the mushroom first so the bowl with the extra Italian Salad Dressing is facing up and continuing to season the mushroom as it cooks) on the campfire. Cook until slight lines start appearing on the mushroom and flip once. Depending on how hot the fire is it should only take 1 to 3 minutes per side when you see the Italian Salad Dressing start to boil or bubble inside the mushroom cap it is time to flip it.
- Place the apple slices on the campfire. Cook until the apple juices start bubbling and flip once. Depending on how hot the fire is it should only take 1 to 3 minutes per side
Mushroom seasoned with Italian Salad Dressing is ready to go onto the fire
Cooking the portobello mushroom and cinnamon apple slices together
Almost done, both have been flipped and about ready to come off the fire! Smells wonderful!
Recipes: Chicken Tomato Pasta
Chicken Tomato Pasta Dish
Another great meal made by my awesome husband. He came up with this pasta recipe one Sunday for lunch. The base is animal shaped pasta noodles (can you guess who picked out the noodles)?! Topped with chicken, tomatoes, bok choy, spinach, and mushrooms. It was a fresh and tasty combination perfect for dinner out on the deck with the family on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Chicken Tomato Pasta Recipe:
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts (sliced, cooked, seasoned, and drained)
- 12 oz Pasta (we used Organic Vegetable Pasta in the shape of Animals)
- 1 large Tomato (or can of diced tomatoes)
- 1 cup Fresh Spinach
- 1 cup Fresh Bok Choy
- 1/2 cup Fresh Mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Minced Garlic
- Optional – 1/2 small Onion
- Optional – 1/4 cup shredded Cheese
1. Slice the chicken in about 1 inch strips. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of Olive Oil in a frying pans on medium heat and add the minced garlic (and onion if using it). Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the chicken and stir gently as every couple minutes while working on the other steps.
2. Add water to a pot and turn it on medium-high until it is at a rolling boil and add the pasta. Cook the pasta per the directions on the package.
3. Slice up the vegetables into about 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces (tomatoes, spinach, bok choy, mushrooms). Heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes cooking them for about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and bok choy, cooking for an additional 3 minutes or until the leaves are starting to wilt.
4. Scoop some pasta onto your plate. Top with the tomato and vegetable mixture. Add the chicken and a little more of the tomato and vegetable mixture. Optional: Garnish with sauteed bok choy centers and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
Chicken Tomato Pasta with a Bok Choy garnish!
Fresh Vegetable & Pasta Soup
Recently I put together a soup with some items I had already in the refrigerator. We were going out of town and I needed to use up some of the fresh vegetables already in the fridge. This was super easy and everyone enjoyed it.
Fresh Vegetable & Pasta Soup
- 1 carton Tomato Juice
- 1 small Zucchini
- 1 small Summer Squash
- 2 medium Carrots
- 1 cup sliced Mushrooms
- 2 cups Elbow Noodles
Add all the items to the crockpot. Stir until it is mixed together and put the crockpot on low for 6 hours.
Phillycheese Steak Sandwich
Jake made this meal for us a little while ago. I love his Phillycheese steak sandwiches. They are delicious! This time around he did a Phillycheese steak sandwich with a side of freshly sauteed vegetables. Do I need to mention how much I love it when he cooks? 🙂
Phillycheese Steak Sandwich
- 1 pound thinly slice Beef Steak
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 medium Onion (thinly sliced)
- 8 ounces Fresh Mushrooms (thinly sliced)
- 1/2 cup shredded or 4 slices Provolone Cheese
- 4 Hoagie Buns
Trim off any extra fat from the beef and cut the meat into thin slices. Set aside. Heat oil on medium-to-high in a large frying pan. Add onion and season with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally. In a few minute (about 5) once the onions have softened and started turning brown add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until they are slightly browned.
Move all the vegetables to one side of the pan and add in the meat and cook for a few minutes until it is no longer pink. Divide the meat and vegetables into 4 equal piles. Spread the cheese evenly across the 4 piles of meat and let set aside for a moment.
Slice each hoagie bun and set on a plate. Transfer a pile of meat with a spatula to each hoagie bun and serve immediately.
Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4
School is continuing at full throttle and we are finding ways to stay busy, ha! I was able to get some great items on clearance and stock up on some lunch box items. Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.
Groceries from Aldi's and Walgreens Aldi Groceries:- $48.39 at Aldi’s for 4 boxes Macaroni & Cheese, 1 bag Cinnamon Bagels, 2 boxes Moo Tube Yogurts, 1 box refrigerator Pie Crusts, 4 bags Cheese Sticks, 2 boxes Seasoned Potatoes, 1 three pound bag Chicken, 1 bag White Tortilla Chips, 1 bag Sugar Wafers, 1 bag Cheddar Nuggets, 1 box Oatmeal, 2 packs Taco Seasoning, 1 box Butter, 2 blocks Cheddar Cheese, 4 boxes Vanilla Pudding, 1 container Light Sour Cream, 1 bag Granulated Sugar, 2 Blueberry Pancake Mixes, 5 boxes Tropical Fruit Rolls, 1 bag Carrots, and 2 containers fresh Mushrooms (I was able to get several of these items marked down at Ali’s, which is rare for me, yay!)
Walgreen Groceries:
- $1.21 at Walmart for 4 boxes Baking Soda, 3 bags Disney Car Marshmallows, 1 two liter Lemon Lime and 2 gallons Milk (the Baking Soda & Milk was on sale and the Marshmallows & Lemon Lime was on clearance. I used a couple Register Rewards towards the purchase.)
This week I spent $49.60 on groceries. Even though I was only a little over on my budgeted amount for the week I was able to stock up on several items. Thankfully I had extra in the grocery wallet to cover the expense. I hope that next week is an even better week and we can come under budget for the week.
It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks! As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me. I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too. The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.
Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances. Life doesn’t always go as planned. We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given. Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life. A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others. There is so much more to life than having all the stuff. We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.
Recipe: Broccoli Rice Hot Dish
I made a new recipe this past weekend from one of Taste of Home’s “Guilt Free Cooking” Cookbooks and the entire family loved it. I received thumbs up from everyone, several please make this again, and the kids even asked for seconds. What was leftover of the casserole was eaten the next day so it didn’t go to waste either. The best part is it was a “healthier” dish and was easy to make. I am not a huge egg person so I had a little hesitation in trying it because I didn’t want something that had a heavy egg flavor. In the end I was super happy I tried it because I couldn’t even taste the eggs because it had so much flavor in the dish. As I am trying to eat healthier and cook better food for my family (not that we don’t have a couple of pizza nights a month) I am looking for new, easy, inexpensive and tasty recipes to try. I bought this cookbook when it was on clearance for $2.50 before Christmas and this weekend as I was sitting on the front porch glider leafing through it while watching the kids play in the yard this recipe jump off the page begging for me to try it out, glad I did too. It was a hit with the family and it included ingredients that I can easily have on hand. I used it as our main meal but since it is meatless you could have it as a side as well.Broccoli Rice Hot Dish
- 2 cups hot cooked Rice
- 3/4 cup shredded reduced fat Cheddar Cheese
- 1/2 cup Egg Substitute OR (1 egg)
- 3/4 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Filling
- 1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped Broccoli, thawed
- 4 oz chopped fresh Mushrooms
- 1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper (we choose to not add the red pepper)
- 1/2 medium Onion, chopped
- 1 cup Egg Substitute OR (2 Eggs)
- 1/2 cup Fat Free Milk
- 1/2 teaspoon Onion Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 cup (4 oz) shredded reduced fat Cheddar Cheese
In a large bowl, combine the rice, cheese, egg, and garlic salt. Press firmly into a 2 quart baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper, onion in a steamer basket over 1 inch of boiling water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and steam for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, onion salt, and pepper; stir in vegetables. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
Do you have easy, inexpensive and tasty recipes to try? Send me an email and I may post it on my blog or put a link to your blog in your comment. As a family of 4 with a busy schedule having a stash of great healthy recipes on hand is very beneficial!
Photo by Taste of Home
