Foil pack taco chicken

This Kraft recipe is always in the back of my mind when I am trying to come up with something new to make with chicken. For one reason or another I have never gotten around to making it. It is really pretty good. It is a simple recipe, uses very few ingredients, and dirties VERY few dishes! If you are looking for a light and simple chicken meal I would give this a shot!

As always, I halved this recipe. I did use 1/3 cup of salsa in each chicken packet though, which is slightly more then they call for.

Ingredients:

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
4 tsp. taco seasoning mix
1/2 lb. red potatoes, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream (omitted)

Directions:

HEAT oven to 400°F. Sprinkle chicken with seasoning mix. Place 1/2 cup potatoes on center of each of four large sheets of heavy-duty foil; top with chicken, cheese and salsa.

BRING up foil sides. Double fold top and both ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Place in 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165°F). Cool 5 min. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening. Top with sour cream.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

This recipe is from Kraft and has been bookmarked on my computer for months. I finally put in on the menu this week and was pleased with it. If you are looking for something simple and easy but tasty and not high in calories or fat, this is a good choice.

I halved this recipe and it was perfect for the two of us:

Ingredients:
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:
HEAT oven to 400°F. Mix tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic just until stuffing mix is moistened.

LAYER chicken, basil, cheese and stuffing in 3-qt. or 13x9-inch baking dish.

BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Enjoy now or cover and refrigerate. To reheat, microwave each serving on HIGH 2 to 3 min.

Chocolate Pudding Pie

Tonight we are celebrating Thanksgiving with some friends and I volunteered to bring some desserts. One of the desserts I am bringing is this pie. Something about it is just so good! Now I am not saying this recipe is fancy, but the results will not disappoint! I found this recipe on Kraft's website and decided to give it a try. It reminds me of Hershey's chocolate pie. Very yummy and very simple!

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided

Directions:
Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Spoon half of the pudding into crust.

Gently stir 1 cup of the whipped topping into remaining pudding; spoon over pudding layer in crust.

Top with the remaining 1 cup whipped topping. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Store any leftover pie in refrigerator.

Oreo Truffles

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will be making 3 different dessert recipes for Thanksgiving, one for the actual day (tomorrow) and two for a celebration on Saturday. The first one that I made was oreo truffles. This recipe is so easy and simple. However, people will think it is fancy and that you spent a lot of time making it (win win in my book!) I had heard rave reviews about these Oreo Truffles for awhile now. I believe the recipe originates from Kraft. However, I used the recipe from this blog as a guide as I made them. As I googled this recipe, I found tons of different advice on the best way to make them. The following is what I did. The end results are a very chocolatey, fudgy, delicious truffle. ENJOY!



Ingredients:
1 package of Oreo cookies
1 8oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 8 oz boxes of Semi-Sweet Bakers Chocolate

Directions:

1- Take 5 Oreos and set them aside. Using the remainder, crush them in either a food processor or a ziplock bag (with a rolling pin or by hand) until the cookies are broken into small pieces.
2- In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and Oreo crumbs until there is no more white clumps.
3- Roll the mix into balls (I got about 40 out of this mix... some people get less, some get more... I guess it depends on the size you want).
4- Place the balls on 2 cookie sheets covered in wax paper- refrigerate for one hour.
5- Melt the chocolate, dip each ball into the chocolate. Use two forks to lift the balls out of the chocolate and remove excess chocolate. Return to cookie sheets.
6- Using the 5 reserved cookies, smash them until they form a fine powder of cookie crumbs. Sprinkle the truffles with cookie crumbs before the chocolate sets.
7- Refrigerate until serving.

Chicken and Biscuits- YUM!

Ok, tonight's dinner was GREAT! When I got the Kraft Food and Family Fall 2008 magazine I knew I had to make this recipe for John. His favorite food is chicken pot pie. I had never had it before (I know... I live under a rock) so I wasn't sure if I would like this at all. As the sole cook in our house I don't often make things that I assume I won't like at all... but this was shockingly good. John actually kept saying things like "This is amazing" and "MMMMMM." I have to agree- it was great. Now I did make some changes and I put them in bold. After eating this the one thing I might change in the future is less sour cream in the chicken mix. BUT I don't love sour cream, if you do- keep it there! The best part of this was the biscuits. I make Bisquick drop biscuits often, but the addition of sour cream made them so moist and yummy. So make this recipe, make it soon! It's goooooood and perfect for this Fall weather!



Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used 98% fat free)
3/4 cup sour cream (I used reduced fat)
2 cups cooked chopped chicken (I seasoned my chicken with garlic powder and cracked black pepper and grilled it)
1 pkg (16oz.) frozen mixed vegetables (I used sliced potatoes and sliced carrots)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup baking mix (I used Bisquick)
3 TBSP milk

Directions:
- Heat oven to 375. Mix soup and 1/2 cup sour cream in 8 inch square baking dish. Add chicken, vegetables, and cheese. Mix.
- Place baking mix in medium bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup sour cream and milk. Stir until stiff dough forms.
- Drop by heaping spoons into 6 mounds over chicken mixture. Bake 35 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. (I cooked it on the bottom rack of the oven. The biscuits would have definitely burnt before the rest of the food cooked on a higher rack.)

Shrimp Pomodoro Pasta

Yay! First real entry! Ok so if you don't get Kraft's Food and Family magazine, you should. It comes for free to your house each season. The recipes are easy and normally pretty good. Tonight we tried out a shrimp and pasta recipe. We both really liked it! It was a little too much sauce for us so if I was to make this again I would either make more pasta or less sauce.

1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I used the light version)
1 onion, finely chopped (we don't like onions so I used onion powder- I didn't measure, a few shakes)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained (we don't like chunky sauces so I used crushed tomatoes)
2 cups penne pasta, uncooked
1 lb cooked cleaned shrimp
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1- Heat skillet. Add dressing, onions, garlic; cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes; cook 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed.
2- Add shrimp to sauce; cook 2 minutes or until heated.
3- Add drained pasta, toss with shrimp and sauce. Sprinkle with cheese