Polynesian Sauced & Grilled Chicken

We LOVE Chick-Fil-A's Polynesian Sauce. Anytime we go to Chick-Fil-A, we ask for extra packets, so we can use them for our cooking. Try it, sometime, or any other restaurant sauces you like!

Ryan brought home all natural, hormone-free chicken breasts from The Choppin Block. He liberally sprinkled some Tony Chachere's More Spice Seasoning over each piece of chicken, placed them in a bowl and poured four packets of Polynesian Sauce over them, stirring to make sure the sauce was distributed evenly. He set the bowl aside until the grill was ready (about 30-45 minutes). Then grilled them for about 15-20 minutes.

Our sides were cinnamon brown sugar pears and loaded mashed potatoes.
PEARS:
Empty 1 can of pear halves (in 100% juice) into a glass baking dish, after draining about 1/2 of the juice. Cut very thin slivers of real butter and place the slivers onto each pear. Then, sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar over each pear. (I normally sprinkle the cinnamon pretty liberally and go light on the brown sugar.) Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes - until soft.
POTATOES:
Peel, cube and boil two medium potatoes until very soft, drain. Add one tablespoon of light sour cream, 1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar and tablespoon of butter. Stir to get everything evenly distributed. Then, add dried chives, garlic powder, salt and black pepper (all to taste) and mash.

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Another EASY and delicious chicken meal. :) Try chicken with your favorite sauces and let us know how it turns out!

Artichoke Garlic Chicken

YOU'LL NEED...

* 4 4oz Boneless chicken breasts, trimmed
* 6oz Jar of marinated artichoke hearts (or canned artichoke hearts are fine, too)
* 1/3 Cup light mayo
* 1/2 Cup part-skim mozzarella, shredded
* 2/3 Tbsp minced garlic
* Grated parmesan
* Salt and black pepper to taste
* 2 Tbsp olive oil

STEPS...

1. Use a tenderizer/kitchen mallet to thin out the chicken
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; when hot, put chicken in the skillet
3. Cook chicken over medium-low to medium heat, flipping once, for about 8 to 10 minutes - until it is cooked through, being careful not to overcook
4. When chicken is done, set it aside
5. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine mayo, mozzarella, artichokes (drained and broken up into small pieces), garlic and s&p til evenly mixed together
6. Place chicken in a baking dish and evenly spread artichoke mixture over each breast and very lightly sprinkle grated parmesan over the top (Parm cheese helps with the browning on the top)
7. Put in the oven and broil on low until cheese is melted and the tops are golden brown

Our sides were fresh, braised broccoli and mashed potatoes. The only thing I added to the broccoli was salt when serving. For the potatoes, I peeled and diced them and boiled til soft. Then, before mashing, I drained them and added a splash of chicken stock, a dash of garlic powder, a small "pad" of butter (less than a Tbsp), and salt and pepper to taste.

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I will make this chicken again, for sure! It almost melts in your mouth. It sort of taste like artichoke dip with chicken instead of tortilla chips...LOVED it!

This meal served two, with two chicken breasts leftover, and I brought those for my lunch today. :)

STEAK!

Since Ryan works at The Choppin' Block, we get some really good food. However, steaks are normally reserved for special occasions, but he said when he cut into this meat yesterday, he decided we had to have some of those beautiful ribeyes.

He marinated the steaks in Dale's Reduced Sodium Seasoning and grilled them to medium rare. They were DELICIOUS...to say the least.

Our side was Bird's Eye Steamables Lightly Sauced Creamed Spinach. After it steamed in the microwave, I added about a Tbsp of grated parmesan cheese, a light sprinkling of red pepper flakes and a dash of garlic powder and salt to the bag and stirred.

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This tasty meal was a special treat on a random weeknight, and yes, that's right...I used a butter knife to cut the steak. :)

Salmon Patties and White Beans

SALMON PATTIES:
3 5oz Cans of Chicken of the Sea boneless and skinless salmon in water, drained
1/2 Cup Panko bread crumbs
1/4 Cup Italian-style bread crumbs
1 Tbsp Mayo or Sour Cream
1/2 of small yellow onion, diced
Garlic powder, salt and black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp of Canola or Olive oil

Put all ingredients - except for the Panko and oil - in a large bowl and mix with your hands. Pack into patties. You can do them however large or small you want them.
Next, add oil to a skillet over medium heat, and when the oil warms up, place the patties in the skillet. Cook until both sides are browned to your liking.

WHITE BEANS:
1 Bag of dry white beans
1 Small ham hock
Salt and black pepper to taste

Put beans (serving size suggested on the bag) into water in a small pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Then, take them off the heat and let them sit for an hour. Put the pot back on the stove to simmer for an hour and a half with the ham hock. Salt and pepper when the beans are ready to serve.

Our other side was leftover spinach from Easter dinner, and no, I did not eat any of the beans. These were cooked by Ryan for Ryan, and he said they were awesome. ;-)

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I love Grilled Chicken

I could live on charcoal grilled chicken breasts! I even like them as leftovers and can eat them cold. This chicken is, of course, from the Choppin' Block - all natural, no hormones, no anything except healthy, trimmed chicken.

The chicken was marinated in Hawaiian 30-Minute Marinade, which is, currently, my FAVORITE flavor for chicken. Ryan grilled it for about 10-15 minutes.

Our sides were brown rice and grilled veggies. The rice is Uncle Ben's Whole Grain Brown Rice, and I cooked it according to the directions. The only difference is that I substituted vegetable broth for water. The veggies were sliced baby sweet bell peppers (yellow, orange and red), whole baby bella mushrooms and chopped onions. A few dashes of worchestershire sauce and about 1/2 Tbsp of minced garlic were added the veggies and they were grilled in a foil packet for about 30 minutes.

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Holiday/Special Occasion Potatoes

This potato recipe comes from my aunt and my mom. It is delicious, but not the most healthy dish, so it is reserved for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. However, this weekend I decided to make it (for the first time ever) for Ryan's family's Easter lunch. It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.

INGREDIENTS:
10-12 Large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1.5 sticks of real butter, softened
2 blocks of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1 16 oz Light sour cream
1-2 tsp Dry chives
Salt, Black Pepper, Garlic Powder to taste
Paprika

DIRECTIONS:
1. Boil potatoes til soft in salted water, drain
2. Cut up a stick of butter and add to potatoes, combine using electric mixer
3. Add cream cheese - one block at a time - combine using mixer
4. Add sour cream, combine using mixer
5. Add chives and fold into potato mixture with spatula
6. Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic pepper - taste test til you have the flavor you like
7. Pour into a glass baking dish (treated lightly with non-stick spray) and spread evenly
8. Melt 1/2 stick of butter and pour over potatoes
9. Sprinkle the top of the potatoes with paprika (amount is up to you)

At this point, you can bake it covered at 350 for about 30 minutes, and then, uncover and bake 15-30 more minutes - until the middle of the potatoes is warm. You can also refrigerate over night and bake the next day. (I think this is the best way.)

When it's ready, take it out and let it set for about 5-10 minutes. I stir it up before serving, too, but below is the picture of it right out of the oven.

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More Pork Tenderloin...

The pork tenderloin from Choppin' Block comes in a package with two. So, we made the second one this weekend for supper. I wasn't going to post it again, but it was a little different and so good, I had to post.

Ryan marinated the loin in Dale's Reduced Sodium Seasoning in the refrigerator for about 4 days. Then he grilled it over medium heat coals for about 15-20 minutes (to 145 degrees). He basted it with Chick-Fil-A's Polynesian sauce while grilling. This sauce sort of gave it a "crust" - very good!

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And, our side was Bird's Eye Steamfresh Creamed Spinach. After steaming in the microwave, I added some grated parmesan, garlic powder and salt and stirred well. Easy peasy.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

PORK TENDERLOIN:

1 1.5 pork tenderloin
Dale's Seasoning Reduced Sodium
Worchestershire sauce

Cover tenderloin in Dale's. Grill til meat is at 145 degrees, turning over periodically and add small dashes of worchestershire during cooking. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for ours to cook because it wasn't completely thawed out.

Our sides were asparagus marinated in Lawry's Lemon Pepper 30-Minute Marinade, grilled in foil on the top rack and Green Giant Sweet Yellow and White Corn (canned).

The tenderloin was delicious! I love Dale's, and the meat was very, very tender. I would've been happy just eating it with no sides.

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There was no garlic in this meal, but I had to share it anyway! :)

Crock Pot Ranch Pork Roast with Peppers, Onions and Mushrooms

PORK ROAST:

2.5 Lb boneless pork loin roast
Tony Chachere's More Spice Seasoning
Garlic powder
Cilantro

Sprinkle all of the spices over the "fat side" of the roast and let it set for an hour or so. Amount of everything is up to you. I used more Chachere's than garlic powder and only a couple of small dashes if cilantro.

SAUCE/GRAVY:

1 Can cream of chicken
1 Can chicken stock
2-3 Yellow baby sweet bell peppers, cut into rings
(same amount of red and orange, too)
1/2 Medium yellow onion, chopped
1 6.5 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 packet of dry ranch dressing mix

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl.

Place roast in crock pot with seasoned side up. Pour sauce over the roast. Cook on high for 4 hours.

Break up the roast into smaller pieces and cook on low for another hour. Shred the meat up, periodically, throughout the hour.

Serve. :-)

I made cinnamon brown sugar pears and garlic mashed potatoes as our sides. And...the sauce was good with the potatoes, too!

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