Ritz Chicken

This is my family's FAVORITE chicken dish. They beg for it (even the kids)! It combines 2 stapels of southern comfort food...ritz crackers and butter. How can you go wrong?

Ingredients:
5 Chicken tenders
Ritz Crackers (crushed)
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 375F. Dip chicken in egg, then coat with Ritz crackers. Place in baking dish and pour melted butter over. Cook for 25 minutes or until done.

Yup...it's that simple. You can also dap it with the butter instead of melting it. Also, it helps to double coat the chicken in order to get a better coating of the Ritz. To do this simply dip the chicken in the egg again and then re-coat with Ritz. Enjoy!

Skillet Chicken

First of all, allow me to apologize for my serious neglect of this blog. I've been so swamped by life in general that I have failed to update this. That being said, I have discovered a super yummy way to cook chicken :) I'm sure I'm not the first person to cook chicken this way, but I love it! It is quick, easy, and best of all it's versatile. This recipe can easily be modified to fit your taste preferences. So, without further ado, here it is:

Ingredients:
Chicken Tenders
1/3 c. flour
Italian Seasoning
1 stick butter
2 TBSP chicken broth

Melt 1 stick butter in a skillet (I prefer an iron skillet) over medium heat. Pound chicken tenders 2 or 3 times with a meat mallet. Lightly coat chicken with flour. Place in pan and sprinkle with seasoning. Cook 5-6 minutes then turn. Cook another 5-6 minutes. Turn heat to low, add broth, cover, and cook 1-2 minutes.

See...super simple. Now here's some variations:

Lemon-Pepper Chicken-use lemon pepper instead of Italian seasoning and use lemon juice instead of broth.
Use water, lemon juice, or lime juice in place of broth.

There are many other ways to change up this recipe. Just play around with it and most of all, have fun!

Chicken Noodle Cassarole

This is a quick and easy dish. I love taking this to potluck (and it usually goes pretty quickly).

1 (16 oz.) container of sour cream
2 (10 1/4 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup
4 cooked chicken breasts, diced
1 (16 oz.) package wide egg noodles, cooked
salt and pepper
2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crushed
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix the sour cream and soup. Add the diced chicken and cooked noodles. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Place in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Top with the Ritz crackers and butter. Cook for 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

P.S. I sometime add steamed broccoli for a little variety. Feel free to add any other veggies that peak your taste buds :)

Chicken and Dressing Cassarole

This is a yummy cassarole that is perfect for potluck. It's a bit labor intensive, but well worth the effort.

1 whole chicken

½ c. (1 stick) butter

1 med. onion, chopped

1 (7 oz.) package dry dressing mix

1 (10 ¾ oz.) can cream of chicken soup

1 (10 ¾ oz.) can cream of celery soup 

Boil the chicken and set aside to cool, reserving the broth. Remove the chicken from the bones. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. In a large skillet on med. heat melt the butter. Sauté the onion in the butter. Stir in the dressing mix. In a bowl combine the cream of chicken soup, cream of celery soup, and 1 c. of the reserved chicken broth. In a 3 quart casserole dish layer the ingredients in the following order: chicken, dressing mix, soup mixture, chicken, dressing mix, soup mixture. Top with the remaining dressing mix. Bake for 35 minutes.

Oven Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken is a staple of good Southern cooking. This is a bit healthier of a recipe. It gives you the taste of fried chicken without all the fat (beware...it STILL has some fat in it).

2 Tbsp. butter

¾ c. all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. parsley flakes

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. thyme or oregano

1 whole chicken cut into pieces (or just use boneless skinless breasts)

Pre-heat the oven to 425ºF. Melt the butter in a 9x13 baking dish. In a med. bowl mix the flour with the parsley flakes, paprika, salt, and thyme. Dredge the chicken pieces in the mixture. Place in the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 35 minutes. Turn and cook for about 15 minutes or so until fork tender.

Useful tip: I always line my baking sheets with foil...makes clean-up oh so easy :)