Chicken Bacon and Ranch Tacos

Chicken Bacon and Ranch Tacos

I started off with the notion that I was going to have beef tacos for dinner tonight. I bought a 5 lb value pack of beef on Sunday and forgot to divide it and freeze it. I got it out tonight and it had already turned brown. Yuck! So, off to the trash it went. Luckily I had chicken so I just used that instead.

For this dish I used:

Approximately 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
Tastefully Simple Fiesta Party Dip Mix
Tastefully Simple Bacon Ranch Dip Mix
12 pack Taco Shells
Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Lettuce, shredded
Tomatoes, diced
Sour cream



In a pan heat some olive oil over Medium heat. When the pan gets hot, add your chicken. While your chicken is cooking throw in some Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt. If you don't have any Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt, use what you have. Also add your Tastefully Simple Fiesta Party Dip Mix. This is what you will use in place of a Taco Seasoning Mix. Very little of this goes a long way so it is a much better value then buying those taco seasoning packs in the grocery store. I probably only used about 1/2 Tbsp of it. I then added Tastefully Simple Bacon Ranch Dip Mix. Since this was a seasonal item we no longer have it available unless it is on limited supply. You could also use those packages of ranch mix and some Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon or some other type of bacon bits. Cook your chicken until the juices run clear. Be sure not to over cook or your chicken will become tough.

While your chicken is cooking heat your taco shells and get all your desired toppings together. Like I said in previous post, I prefer to shred my own cheese from the blocks. It always taste much fresher to me. Sometimes you can get the cheese blocks for less expensive then the pre-shredded cheese but a lot of the times it is about the same cost.

When your chicken is done cooking, top your taco as you wish.

Garlic Gourmet Chicken Breast

Garlic Gourmet Chicken Breast
Submitted by Debbie Carson (MD)

Ingredients
4 tsp. Garlic Garlic™
1 tsp. Seasoned Salt
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups crushed herb-seasoned stuffing
3 Tbsp. melted butter

Directions
Combine first 4 ingredients. Add chicken to sour cream mixture; coat each piece well. Cover; refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours. Remove chicken from sour cream mixture; roll in stuffing. Place in ungreased baking dish; drizzle with butter. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 4 servings.

http://www.tastefullysimple.com/tryourrecipes/recipes.aspx?rid=3277&src=s

Salsa Chicken and Rice

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 Cups uncooked white rice
3 Cups water
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 Cups shredded Montery Jack Cheese
2 Cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 cans Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cans Rotel (drained) or 1 1/2 cups Mild Salsa

Added Ingredients....
Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
A few Tablespoons of butter


I was preparing this for 3 families at once, so I had quiet the production line.


Cook 1 1/2 cups rice in the 3 cups of water. While the rice is cooking I add a few Tablespoons of butter and a Tablespoon or two of Tastefully Simple Onion Onion. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish and add rice.


Rinse your chicken then cut up into thin strips or bite size pieces. Add Olive oil or cooking oil to a large pan and cook your chicken. I add Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt to my chicken while it is cooking. After the chicken is finished cooking put on top of the rice.


I then added the cream of chicken soup. Normally I would combine the cream of chicken soup and Rotel together but my bowl wasn't large enough since I was preparing 3 dishes.


Add the Rotel and Salsa. Since I was making more then one dish I bought one of those large cans of Rotel plus a small one. When I got home I realized that wasn't enough, so I just added a little bit of salsa to it as well.


I forgot to take a picture of it topped with cheese before going into the oven. I like to shred my cheese from the blocks. It doesn't add that much time to the preparation and you don't have that powdery stuff on the cheese either. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy!

Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Chicken

Tonight for dinner I cooked Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Chicken, Broccoli with cheese and oven baked french fries.

The recipe for the Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Chicken is as follows:

Amazing Zesty Peppercorn Chicken Nuggets
Submitted by Jami Jann (SC)

Ingredients
3 Tbsp. melted butter
5 Tbsp. Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Sauce
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 sleeves butter-flavored crackers, crushed
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Combine first 2 ingredients in small bowl; mix well. Coat chicken in this mixture. Combine crackers and cheese in a large resealable bag. Place 4-6 chicken nuggets in resealable bag and shake in bag until well coated. Place chicken on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400° for 7-9 minutes or until cooked through. Makes 6-8 servings.

I decided to use some Garlic & Herb crackers and liked how it turned out.


This is the ingredients that you need. Since I didn't use the plain butter-flavored crackers, they didn't come in sleeves. So, I just eyeballed it and I had plenty.


I like to use a meat mallet to crush the crackers with.


That looks pretty good now.


Zesty Cracked Peppercorn Sauce with the melted butter. Love the smell of this stuff!


The chicken hanging out in the sauce/butter mixture.


All ready to go in the oven


Nice and golden brown and ready to be eaten. :) This was my first time making these and they were very tasty!

Dinner tonight

This morning I took my kids to a Children's day camp at a church where they attended Vacation Bible School. I'm hoping maybe we could do something like this at our church in the future. It is only one day a week for the month of July from 9:00-11:30. We didn't get there this morning until after 9:30. For some reason I was thinking it started at 11:00. The kids seemed to have a good time though.

I have dinner in the slow cooker ready to be served tonight. I also made some for a friend who just had surgery. I love slow cooker recipes because you just put it in there and walk away. Easy peasey. I also made some bread which is already ready. Both of these are Tastefully Simple recipes.

Creamy Artichoke Chicken
Submitted by Rosemary (MN) HQ Resident Chef

Ingredients
1 packet Artichoke & Spinach Warm Dip Mix
8 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
Prepared baked potatoes, pasta or rice

Directions
Combine first 4 ingredients in a greased slow cooker. Cover, cook on low for 3-4 hours. During last 30 minutes of cooking, stir in Swiss cheese. Serve over hot baked potatoes, pasta or rice. Makes about 6 servings.

Simply Herb Bread with Herb Butter Spread
Submitted by Kimberly Wright (CO) Ingredients
Bountiful Beer Bread Mix^®
1 Tbsp. Garlic Garlic™
1 Tbsp. Onion Onion™
1 Tbsp. Spinach & Herb Dip Mix
12 oz. beer
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
5 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. Garlic Garlic™
1 Tbsp. Spinach & Herb Dip Mix

Directions
Combine the first 4 ingredients together. Add the mixture to the beer in a large bowl. Mix as directed on package. Pour dough into greased 9 x 5 loaf pan. Pour the 4 tablespoons of melted butter on top. Bake at 375° for 50-55 minutes until loaf is golden brown and pulls away from sides. Remove from pan and cool on rack for 30 minutes before slicing. Makes about 14 servings.

Herb Butter Spread:

In a small bowl, combine the last 3 ingredients; chill. Serve on warm bread.