Chicken

Basic Chicken Salad

Lately, I’ve been keeping convenient foods in the fridge for quick and easy snacking. I haven’t been wanting to eat large meals, just more small meals throughout the day. Because of this, I’ve been making salads and cutting up fruit to keep in the fridge for a quick bite. Chicken salad has been a staple for me lately. I like to have mine in half of a low carb pita pocket with cheese, lettuce and tomato. It’s a quick thing to put together when I’m feeling hungry that will fill me up for a couple hours. This is the basic recipe, I’ve added other things like onion, peppers, and pickles when I’m looking for extra crunch.

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Chicken Broccoli Casserole

I had been looking for a chicken broccoli casserole that doesn’t use any canned soup which typically contains starches that aren’t appropriate for a lower carb diet. This recipe was adapted from a fairly old cookbook that I stumbled upon. I added some parmesan cheese because I like the flavor it brings to both chicken and broccoli. Next time, I may sprinkle some crushed pork rinds on top to give it a little crusty topping.

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Cheddar Bacon Chicken

This month has had the most snow on record where we live. Last count it was about four feet and we are supposed to get another foot today through tomorrow morning. The huge snow mountains from the plows may not completely thaw until April. If the snowstorms don’t stop coming, I’m not sure where they will put all the snow from the roads.

Today is my husband’s 37th birthday. I left work four hours early both because of the snow and also because I wanted to have some time to get a cake and make dinner. My husband was planning to go out for his birthday dinner, but with the meteorologists predicting 8-12 inches of snow, he thought it would be safer to stay home. Luckily, I had taken out some chicken breasts from the freezer and had them thawing in the fridge. I also had some cooked bacon left over.

I found a recipe in my file for baked chicken with bacon and cheddar. The original recipe called for more teriyaki and ranch dressing, but I cut the amounts back to save carbs. The carb amount in teriyaki sauces vary greatly, but I always buy a brand that lists 2g per tablespoon. Most are loaded with sugar so be careful which one you choose.

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Crockpot Pizza Chicken

Last year, I got a select-a-size type crockpot as a Christmas gift. It’s great because it can be used with either a 2, 4, or 6 quart crock. I absolutely love it, especially when I only want to make a small dish. This past weekend, after finishing breakfast, I thought I’d cook something simple in the crockpot for lunch. I was spending the morning taking down Christmas decorations and wanted to have a hot meal ready for lunch without much preparation. I found a quick chicken recipe that could be cooked with tomato sauce in the crockpot. Because it’s served topped with mozzarella cheese, it tasted just like a chicken pizza without the crust. The recipe can be doubled or tripled for use in a larger crockpot.

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Stir Fry Chicken with Bok Choy and Mushroom

I’ve been affected by the widespread Comcast internet outage this week that spanned from Boston to Washington, D.C. Prior to the outage, I had some internet trouble because a file didn’t reach my modem correctly so I just assumed it was another problem like that. This morning was the first day I’ve had time to look into it and was able to grab a solution through the internet service on my cell phone. I didn’t realize how dependent I was on the internet until it no longer worked, especially since we use a free voice over IP phone service which only works with a solid internet connection. Now that I’ve changed the DNS settings on my router I am back in business again. My husband is also happy to have his computer back.

For some reason, I’ve been craving Chinese food so I picked up a bunch of bok choy which is a vegetable I rarely buy. I love stir fry dishes because they are another dish that is quick to put together. The ingredients can also be varied to what vegetables are on hand. The amount of meat is also arbitrary and seasonings can be adjusted to taste.

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Low Carb Mexican Chicken Lasagna

It’s been a really busy week for me. Things are picking up at work and I’ve had a lot of things to catch up on at home since I was away last week. Fridays are typically when I run all my errands. While at the bank yesterday, I noticed a sign advertising mortgages. I’ve been in a 30 year mortgage with a 10 year adjustable rate for a little over 6 years. We weren’t able to get a fixed rate because we built our house under a construction loan and the bank we were dealing with didn’t offer that for homes under construction. We also couldn’t get the best rate for the same reason and are currently at 6% which can change up to 2% every ten years. We are getting closer to that ten years so I’ve been thinking about refinancing. The current mortgage rates are almost half of what we are paying so I met with the bank manager to discuss my options. Turns out that I’ll save almost $100 off what I’m currently paying a month and shave nearly 10 years off our loan term so I spent most of my Friday this week dealing with mortgage paperwork.

The other thing that kept me busy this Friday was backing up my MacBook and installing Windows on the hard drive using Apple’s Boot Camp software. I ended up taking two laptops with me on my trip last week. One was my MacBook for personal stuff and another was a Windows laptop to log into the network at work. It was really a pain having to use two separate computers so I decided to install a Windows partition on my Mac. The company is sending me away for two more trips in December and bringing just one laptop will make things much easier for me.

I picked up some low carb tortillas last weekend that are 5g carbs each with 12g fiber and 8g protein. Earlier this week, I used them to make a Mexican lasagna. Most recipes call for 8 tortillas, but I chose to use only 4 to keep the carb count down. I also threw in a hot chili pepper because I had one that I wanted to use up. That addition brings the carbs up as well. I didn’t have any black olives, but that would have been a nice addition to sprinkle on top. My husband and daughter really liked the dish and it fed them for most of the week. I ended up eating two pieces. They finished up the rest.

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Quick and Easy Chicken Florentine Casserole

I’ve been away this week on a business trip. I was lucky enough to get a hotel suite that has a full kitchen including stove with oven, full refrigerator and dishwasher. I booked a one bedroom suite, but those must have gotten overbooked because I ended up in a two bedroom suite. I’m not big into eating out at restaurants, even though the company I work for is paying for my meals while I’m away from home. I prefer eating meals that I prepare because I know exactly what’s in it. So, it was a real treat having the bigger suite with an oven in the kitchen.

Casseroles are simple to prepare and can be thrown together on the spur of the moment, as long as you have the basic ingredients. Since I was cooking away from home, I needed a simple recipe that was going to be quick and easy. For this Chicken Florentine casserole recipe, I only needed to buy five ingredients plus a cheap baking pan at the local grocery store near the hotel. The casserole was enough to feed me for two dinners and one lunch. This is the first time I’ve ever made this chicken casserole and you can bet that I will be making it again.

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Chicken with Green Beans and Tomato

I love one skillet dishes that contain both meat and vegetables. This is quick and easy and can be made on the fly. I work 10 hour days so I rarely cook a meal that requires a lot of preparation on work nights. We are still getting tomatoes out of the garden and I prefer using them fresh rather than canned or frozen. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did after a long day of work.

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Chicken with Zucchini and Tomato

I’ve always liked the taste of zucchini with tomato. I usually fry the chicken separately and serve the vegetables on the side. This time I decided to combine them together and put some melted mozzarella cheese on top.

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Skillet Chicken with Summer Squash

It’s been a very good year for summer squash. We planted the Zephyr variety of summer squash which has a yellow stem and a pale green base. Our zucchini haven’t been doing as well. You can use both zucchini and summer squash in this recipe if you want, just substitute half the squash with zucchini.

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