Ritz Chicken

The whole family loves this chicken! And it's so easy!

Ritz Chicken

Ingredients
6 large chicken breasts
2 tubes Ritz crackers
1 to 2 cups fat-free sour cream or fat-free plain yogurt

Directions
Put Ritz crackers in a gallon Ziploc bag and smash with rolling pin until crushed into crumbs. Coat chicken with sour cream or yogurt, then roll chicken in Ritz cracker mixture and place in a suitable baking dish (9x13). Bake uncovered in oven for 60-90 minutes at 350 or until chicken is cooked through.

Pasta Perfect

This was originally in one of the free Kraft magazines.

Ingredients
3 cups farfalle (bow-tie pasta), uncooked
4 cups broccoli florets (chopped)
3 tbs Kraft roasted red pepper Italian with parmesan dressing (optional, I really think with only 3 tbs, you can live without it, maybe substitute a splash of fat-free italian dressing)
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 ½ pounds)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups tomato-basil spaghetti sauce
4 ounces cubed cream cheese (**I used fat-free)
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli to the cooking water for the last 3 minutes of the pasta cooking time. (or steam broccoli separately). Meanwhile, heat dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken and garlic. Cook 5 minutes, turn chicken over; continue cooking 4-5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Drain pasta, return pasta to pan and set aside. Add pasta sauce and cream cheese to chicken in skillet; cook on medium-low heat 2-3 minutes, or until cream cheese is completely melted, mixture is well blended and chicken is coated with sauce, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm. Add sauce mixture to pasta mixture; mix well. Transfer to 6 serving bowls.

Cut chicken crosswise into thick slices. Fan out chicken over pasta mixture in each bowl. Sprinkle evenly with parmesan cheese.

Makes 6 servings, about 1 ½ cups each.

**I cooked two regular breasts of chicken. When it was cooked through, I cut it into bite-sized pieces, smaller would have also worked. I only then added it to the pan and began to cook it up with the dressing and garlic. Also, to serve, I mixed the entire mixture together instead of removing the chicken and fanning it out pretty on top, which would have also been nice.

Summer Kabobs

I'm kind of on the fence on the healthy nature of these, considering the marinade has sugar and soy sauce, but so much of the sugar drains off and it goes a long way with only 1/4 cup for the entire meal, so...

It is officially summertime! I found (and slightly modified) this recipe that I found online. It was awesome and we're doing it again super soon! If you smell somone grillin' it's probably us!!

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
1-2 red, orange, or yellow peppers, cut into 1-2 inch pieces.
1 fresh pineapple cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1 onion, cut into 1-2 inch pieces

DIRECTIONS
Mix first five ingredients. Pour half of mixture over onions, peppers, and pineapple. Stir very well. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, stir well again. Drain/strain marinade back into original container. Pour almost all of remaining marinade (remember to keep some out for basting later!!!) into a bowl with the chicken. (If you don't do this, the pineapple will soak up too much of the marinade). Stir well, refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Start soaking skewers in water.

When ready to grill, thread veggies and pineapple on separate skewers from meat. Cook chicken kabobs 10 minutes on one side; turn, baste with additional sauce and cook for additional 10-15 minutes, turning and basting occasionally until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Grill vegetables 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally until peppers look soft. Onions may get crispy edges, but they don't seem to soften on the grill much, so they aren't a great indicator.

Grain and Vegetable Casserole

I usually stay as far away as possible from casseroles but... sans cream of ______(fill in the blank) soup the word caserrole takes on a whole new meaning!

This is super easy and with barley, bulgur, and veggies has to qualify for this blog. (I've been replacing the shrooms with brocolli and chopped spinach to add more green).

Grain and Vegetable Casserole

2 medium carrots, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced or stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained, rinsed
1cup frozen whole kernel corn
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup uncooked bulgur
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired
Sliced green onions

Heat oven to 350ºF. In ungreased 2-quart casserole or 13x9-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish, mix all ingredients except cheese and green onions.

Cover with foil; bake 30 minutes. Stir. Cover and bake 30 to 35 minutes longer or until barley and bulgur are tender and liquid is absorbed.

To serve, sprinkle with cheese and green onions. From eatbetteramerica. com