Chicken Cordon Bleu Wraps

So here's the deal with cooking new things. Sometimes you find something awesome, like these chicken cordon bleu wraps. Sometimes you serve your family food that you don't even want to eat, even though the pinterest picture looked delicious. (I'm looking at you, Honey Curry Chicken.) The goal in my life is to have more of the former meals than the latter. We make a lot of things that we know and love, and by trying new things a couple of times a week, I'm slowly adding to that list. This meal is definitely going into the rotation. And as long as you have the ingredients on hand (swiss cheese and ham aren't things I always have) this is a super quick fix for a delicious dinner!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Wraps
Source: Taste and Tell

Ingredients:
½ cup miracle whip
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon honey
3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
6 (6-8 inch) flour tortillas
9-12 slices Swiss cheese
6 oz deli sliced ham

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard and honey. Stir together and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add in the chicken and stir to coat.
Heat an electric skillet to medium heat. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Heat the tortillas in the microwave for 10 seconds or until pliable. Place 1 to 1½ slices of cheese down the center of each tortilla, followed by 1 oz of ham. Add about ½ cup of the chicken mixture, then roll up the tortilla.
Grill the wraps, seam side down until warm and until it has light to medium grill marks. Flip over and cook the second side until the wrap is warmed through and the cheese is melted.
Serve warm.

Italian BMT (Subway)

The Italian BMT is one of my favorite sandwiches to get when eating at Subway (right below the Grilled Chicken with Ranch dressing). This Italian classic is filled with salami, spicy pepperoni, and ham. As I was making this recipe to post, I searched out what BMT actually stands for. Turns out that the acronym BMT stands for Biggest, Meatiest, and Tastiest. (lame!) However, in the early days of Subway restaurant history, it was a promotion that was based on the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit system in New York City that went along with the subway theme. (I love things like that.) 

If you are looking for a spicy, hearty sandwich, this fits the bill!

Italian BMT

Source: Subway Restaurant Knock-off

Ingredients:

4, 6-8" loaf soft sandwich bread, like this Italian Sandwich Bread
4-6 ounces sliced sandwich pepperoni
4-6 ounces salami
4-6 ounces sliced Ham
8 slices provolone cheese
1 tomato, sliced thin
4-8 leaves green leaf lettuce

Dressing of choice

Directions:
Slice the bread in half length-wise. Add the meats, cheeses, tomato, and lettuce. Top with dressing of choice. Secure the bread with toothpicks and cut into eight equally-sized sandwiches.

Italian Sandwich Bread

The recipe for this said it was a French Bread recipe but turned out to be more like a delicious loaf of Italian Bread perfect for sandwiches. I made some yummy Italian BMT sandwiches and felt like we were eating at Subway. The bread was the perfect addition.  

*Note: The rising time for this is SO long. I pretty much halved all of the rising times because I was in a hurry. The loaves turned out pretty heavy, but still tasty. If you plan the time to let everything rise I'm sure it would be lovely and fluffy. But if you don't have the time, know that you can shorten rising time and it will still turn out decent. 

Italian Sandwich Bread
Source: Food.com

Ingredients:
1⁄4ounce dry active yeast(1 packet)
1⁄4cup warm water
1⁄4teaspoon sugar
1cup hot water
1 1⁄2tablespoons granulated sugar
1⁄2tablespoon salt
1⁄4cup oil
2 1⁄2-3cups all-purpose flour


Directions:
Dissolve yeast, warm water, and sugar in a small bowl.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine hot water, granulated sugar, salt, and oil. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour to the mixture in the large bowl/mixer and mix well. Stir in yeast mixture.
Add 1 – 1 1/2 cups more flour and mix until well blended. (At this point your dough will still be quite sticky). Leave in bowl and let rise for 1 hour, mixing a few strokes a couple of times during the hour.
Divide dough into 2 (or 3 if you want smaller loaves) pieces. Roll out each piece on a floured surface into the length desired then roll up length wise like a jelly roll.
Put on a greased cookie sheet, sealed side down, and tuck the ends under. Slash the top diagonally across the top every couple of inches with a sharp knife. Brush with egg white. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Let loaves rise 30 more minutes.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

Anyone who knows me really well knows that my mom's chicken enchiladas are pretty much my favorite food in existence. Covered in white creamy goodness and loads of cheese... mmmm.  I usually scoff at all other enchilada recipes, because hello - if I'm going to make enchilada's, I'm going to make those ones. However, I came across this recipe and thought they looked delicious. They have a yummy flavor combination and in all honesty - are much healthier than my favorite enchiladas (stuffed with cream of chicken soup and sour cream). I'll definitely make them again! (I also like that you can cook the chicken in a crock pot, or you can use pre-shredded chicken to make this really fast! Plus I always have these ingredients in my house.



Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

Source: The Recipe Critic

Ingredients:

3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Chicken taco seasoning (2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion salt, 1 tsp cumin)
1 package ranch dry salad dressing
½ cup bottled ranch
½ cup salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can chicken broth
1 package white flour tortillas

Instructions
Prepare chicken.  Option 1: Cook in the slow cooker with the ranch packet, taco seasoning and, chicken broth on low for about 3-4 hours. Option 2: Combine seasonings with already cooked and shredded chicken, omitting chicken broth. 

Mix the ½ cup of ranch and ½ salsa in a bowl. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread a very thin layer of the mixture on the bottom.
Assemble the enchiladas by putting 2 Tbs of the ranch and salsa mixture on the bottom of tortilla, and layering shredded chicken and sprinkling with cheese before rolling it up.
Line up the enchiladas in the 9x13 pan and top heavily with the cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and enchiladas are heated through.
Drizzle the top with ranch and enjoy!

Greek Chicken Gyros

I was feeling adventurous and wanted to try some different flavors than I normally do. I really liked this, although the tzatziki sauce was a bit much for the kids (and David doesn't like red onions). I subbed HVRanch for the sauce for them and they liked it much better after that. I like having some different recipes up my sleeve and really liked the flavor of the chicken.
















Greek Chicken Gyro 
Source: Le Creme De La Crumb
Greek Seasoning Blend: All Recipes-Misty Jane Pilgrim


Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, pounded to ½ inch thickness
1 tablespoon mediterranean/greek seasoning (you can substitute Italian seasoning in a pinch)
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
½ red onion, thinly sliced
4 pitas (this is a Greek-style flatbread you can find at almost any grocery store near the bread and tortillas or in the bakery)
optional: lettuce, feta cheese crumbles

Seasoning:
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoons dried Greek oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Tzatziki Sauce:
½ English cucumber, peeled and diced
2 cups cold plain Greek yogurt
4 teaspoons minced garlic
⅓ cup chopped dill, fresh or frozen (may sub 2 tablespoons dried dill)
1½ Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (juice of ½ medium lemon)
½ tsp salt, or to taste
⅛ tsp black pepper

Directions:
Puree all Tzatziki Sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor making sure to get as much moisture out of the diced cucumber as possible (use a paper towel to blot it out). Cover and chill until ready to serve. Making this the night before is ideal as it gives the flavors time to marinate.

Season chicken breasts with mediterranean/greek seasoning on both sides. Cook in a large skillet over medium heat 5-6 minutes on each side until cooked through. Cut into strips.

Lay pitas on a clean surface. Add lettuce (if desired, chicken, red pepper strips, and onions. Top with tzatziki sauce. Fold pita in half or roll it into a burrito shape.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake in a Mug

I've always liked the idea of cake/muffins/brownies/cookies in a mug in the microwave. Mostly, because if I make a whole pan of brownies or such... I'll eat them all. So it's nice to be able to have a treat without having all of the tempting leftovers. Lately, Lydia's really been interested in helping me cook in the kitchen, so we've been doing a lot of these little recipes because she can help me measure all of the ingredients - she doesn't have to wait for a long time for the end result - and it doesn't make a huge mess in the kitchen. We had some leftover maraschino cherries and some pineapple rings in the pantry and this cake was SO good. We may have made it 3-4 days in a row. I have a big soup-mug that I used because the pineapple ring fit perfectly in the bottom, but if I was using a regular mug, I'd just slice the ring on one side and wrap it to fit. 

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in a Mug

Source: Crouton Crackerjacks

Ingredients:
1 canned pineapple slice
1 maraschino cherry
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose or plain flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp pineapple juice (reserved from the can of pineapple slices)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp beaten egg
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
In a 12oz glass coffee mug, layer the brown sugar, pineapple slice and place a maraschino cherry in the center of the pineapple ring. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients and pour on top of pineapple slice. Microwave on 50% power for 2 1/2 minutes. Let sit 30 seconds, run a knife around the outside of the cake and then turn out onto a plate. Scrape all the syrup from the bottom of the mug onto the cake.

Tetrazzini

This is a great way to use leftover turkey from Thanksgiving but can also be made with shredded chicken. David doesn't like mushrooms, so I cooked everything then added mine at the end. So good.

Tetrazzini
Source: Adaped from Ready Set Eat

Ingredients:
8 ounces dry spaghetti pasta (or linguine/fettuccine)
vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups chopped cooked turkey/shredded chicken
1 can Diced Tomatoes, undrained

4 oz green chilies

1 can Cream of Chicken soup
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt. Meanwhile, add oil to a large skillet; heat over medium-high heat.
Add onion; cook 3 minutes or until softened. Add mushrooms; cook 5 minutes more or until mushrooms are tender and lightly browned.
Add turkey, undrained tomatoes, chilies, soup, water and half of cheese to skillet; stir to combine. Stir in cooked pasta; heat until mixture is hot and pasta is coated. Top with remaining cheese.