Lemon Pepper Chicken Sandwiches

I so wished I had made more of the lemon pepper chicken so I could have made more of these sandwiches. I didn't know I could love lemon pepper chicken any more than I already did. The key to these sandwiches, other than the mouth-watering chicken, is the Italian seasoned canned tomatoes. Normally I'd used fresh tomatoes on a sandwich, but I didn't have any, and there were some leftover canned tomatoes in the fridge so I just went with it. Oh so good.

Ingredients:
3 lemon pepper chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (recipe 1, recipe 2--I used recipe 2)
8 pieces of sandwich bread
1 14.5-ounce can Italian seasoned canned tomatoes, drained
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Mayo, optional
Onion, optional
Cucumber, optional

Directions:
Set oven to broil. Lightly grease baking sheet with cooking spray.

Shred the chicken breasts. Divide chicken, tomatoes, and cheese evenly among 4 slices of bread. Places the sandwiches open-faced on the baking sheet. Place the remaining 4 slices of bread on the baking sheet as well and broil until bread is toasted and cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove from oven and add mayo, onions, or cucumber as desired.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes:
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Captain Morgan Chicken with Ginger Rice
Chicken Enchiladas with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
Chicken Patties
Chicken Stuffed with Ricotta, Pesto, and Sun-dried Tomatoes 
Chicken with a Honey Mustard Sauce 

Sausage and Apples

Last autumn I made apples stuffed with sausage and herbs. It turned into one of Eric's all time favorite dishes despite his initial reluctance to the combination. Even though this recipe screams fall, I made it again for him the other day. But I didn't feel like stuffing apples so I deconstructed it. This similar recipe is quicker and easier to make, but not nearly as festive or pretty to look at.

Ingredients:
1 pound spicy pork sausage
2 large tart apples (I used Granny Smith)
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons yellow onion, minced
2 teaspoons ground sage
2 teaspoons dried thyme

Directions:
Dice the apples (you can skin them first if you prefer, I leave the skin on), discarding the core and seeds.

In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Add apples and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, roughly 8 to 10 minutes. Once apples are tender, add onions and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove apples and onions from pan and into a bowl. Cover to keep warm.

Add sausage to skillet. Break up meat and cook until it's no longer pink in the center, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in sage and thyme. Add apples and onions to the skillet. Stir and remove from heat. Serve.

Enjoy!

Krissy

More Sausage Recipes:
Black Bean and Sausage Stovetop Casserole
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Casserole
Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Sausage
Spicy Parmesan Sausage Meatballs with a Whiskey Barbecue Sauce 
The Tale of Two Quiches: Spicy Sausage and Spinach Quiche 

Chickpea Veggie Burgers

I've made quite a few veggie burgers over the years, searching for that one I'd want to eat over and  over again. Well, I think I've finally found it. And it's incredibly simple: chickpeas, stuffing mix, onion, and lemon juice.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and dried
1 cup herbed stuffing mix (I used Stouffers)
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Coarsely mash the chickpeas with a potato masher so you have a paste with some chickpea chunks in it. Stir in stuffing mix and onions. Add lemon juice a tablespoon at a time until the mixture holds together. Salt and pepper to taste. Shape into patties (I made five).

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, flip burgers, (add cheddar cheese if you want--I did and it's delicious), and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes.

Dress your veggie burger up however you'd like--cheese, tomatoes, lettuce bun.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Healthy Recipes:
Yogurt-Covered Blueberries
Zucchini Chips 2.0
Baked Apple Chips
Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies
Black Bean Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Skinny Peanut Butter Brownies 

Ranch, Cheddar, and Bacon Potatoes

Potatoes are a pretty basic side dish for us. Usually mashed potatoes or roasted potatoes. This time I thought I'd change it up with this ranch, cheddar, and bacon potato dish. I mean, look at the title, everything in it sounds delicious--ranch, cheddar, bacon. It turned out so well (I don't know if I've ever had potatoes come out so fork-tender), it might just make it into our normal rotation of potato dishes.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 large white potatoes, diced into bite-size pieces
1/3 cup ranch dressing (the bottle, not the powder)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded*
3 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used turkey bacon)**
1/2 tablespoon dried dill weed
1 green onion, chopped***
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Season potatoes with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, combine the ranch dressing, dill, cheese, and bacon. Add potatoes and toss until evenly coated.

Pour into an 9x9 casserole dish. Cover with tin foil and back for 60 minutes. Stir the potatoes halfway through.

After 60 minutes, remove the tin foil, stir, increase temperature to 400 degrees, and bake for another 15 minutes.

So I have a few of confessions to make about this recipe:
*After removing the foil, I sprinkled another handful of cheese (maybe 1/2 cup?) on top of the potatoes. We love our cheese.
**Like we love our cheese, we love our bacon. If you don't hold bacon dear to your heart like us, you could certainly only use 2 pieces of crumbled bacon. 
***I didn't have green onions on hand so I used yellow onion. However, I'd still recommend the green onion. They go so great with the ingredients in this recipe and really give it an appealing pop of color.

Eric and I made the last dinner of our honey moon together

Served with Parmesan-seared chicken

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Roasted Stuffed Onions

There are three roasted stuffed onion recipes I've been dying to try. This is the first and probably the most time-consuming recipe. We're talking almost three hours worth of prepping and basting and cooking. Oh, but the time is worth it. The onions come out so tender, sweet, and delicious. The recipe comes from the Food Network Kitchen, but I made a few changes to their Baked Stuffed Onions based on preferences and what I had in the kitchen.

Roasted Stuffed Onion

Ingredients:
4 large Vidalia onions
7 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sourdough breadcrumbs
3/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon dried thyme, plus 2 teaspoon thyme
kosher salt
black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cut off the ends of the onions, peel skins off, and then cut them in half horizontally. Place the onions cut-side up in a baking dish. Drizzle them with 3 tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of thyme over top of them, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour 2 cups of water into the bottom of the baking dish, cover with tin coil, and bake for 1 hour. 

Remove the tin foil and continue to bake for another hour or until the edges brown, basting the onions with the pan juices every 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the onions to cool.

Roasted

While the onions cool, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet and saute the garlic over medium-high heat until it's a golden brown. Remove the garlic from the pan and reserve. Add the spinach to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Stirring, cook spinach until it crisps, 2-3 minutes, and remove from pan.

Adjust the oven to 350 degrees.

Scoop out the middle of each onion, leaving a 2 or 3 rings of outer layers.

Onion Bowls

Chop 1/3 cup of the onion centers. Store the remaining onion for another use. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chopped onion, spinach, lemon zest, sauted garlic, eggs, cayenne pepper, breadcrumbs, 2 teaspoon thyme, and blue cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the stuffing evenly among the onion bowls. Drizzle with the last 2 tablespoon of olive oil and bake for another 30 minutes.

Stuffed Onion served with Tomato and Artichoke Chicken

Enjoy!

~Krissy