Holiday Potluck #4 - Chicken Wing Dip

A big hit on game days - play with the ingredients to suit your tastes - bleu cheese instead of ranch dressing, jack instead of cheddar, etc., just keep the proportions about the same:


Chicken Wing Dip

Ingredients

* 2 chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded (canned chicken is ok too)

* 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

* 3/4 cup buffalo wing sauce or Red Hot sauce (more if you like it spicy)

* 3/4 cup ranch dressing (or bleu cheese, or half ranch and half bleu)

* 1-1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or cheese blend

Directions

Mix ingredients together with fork, place in a large, microwave-safe bowl and heat on medium-high (70% power), in one minute increments, until heated through, smooth, and creamy. Place in a crock pot or fondue pot on low to keep warm. Serve with celery cut in one inch pieces, tortilla chips or even better, toasted cocktail bread rounds or bagel chips.

For you low-carbers trying to fulfill your upcoming New Year's Resolution while enjoying the playoffs, this is actually an Atkins-friendly experience if eaten with celery (2 g. carbs per large stalk).

Chicken with lemon pasta and asparagus

Another family favorite - just got some wonderfully thin, baby asparagus at the store....yummy yummy yummy!

Doesn't it look gorgeous?

Ingredients:

* 3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or equivalent in breast "tenders") cut into bite-size strips

* 1 bunch asparagus - thin is best, but if you love asparagus like we do, it matters not - rinsed and cut into 1" pieces

* 1 bag tri-color rotini (corkscrew) pasta

* 1 lemon, cut into quarters, squeezed (save the juice!), and peel reserved

* olive oil - plain, or lemon-flavored is nice

* salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400* and start pot of water to boil for pasta, and start chopping up your chicken pieces, asparagus, and prepare your lemon: chop, squeeze, remove remaining flesh and seeds, and ZEST the lemon (see tip below).

2. Place asparagus pieces in 13x9 glass (or similar) pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and roast for 10 minutes in oven; start cooking pasta.

3. Heat 2-3 Tb. olive oil in large skillet, add chicken and brown, adding seasonings to taste. When it is fully cooked, remove to bowl, reserving all the drippings and oil. Return pan to stove - do not rinse it out.

4. Your asparagus and pasta should be done just about now - remove asparagus from oven and drain pasta, returning it to pot or large serving bowl. Using a spatula, scrape all contents (oil included) of asparagus pan into pasta, and do the same with your bowl of chicken. Set aside.

5. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to pan and warm it over low heat, scraping and reserving the browned bits from just having cooked your chicken. Add fresh lemon zest and gently cook to a light-golden brown. Remove from heat, then pour in lemon juice and whisk mixture together. This is your sauce.

6. Pour sauce over contents of pasta/chicken/asparagus mixture and toss together - add more olive oil if need be, but you should have enough.

Options: if you want a creamy sauce, add a can of cream of asparagus or cream of mushroom soup to your lemon juice/zest mixture before pouring over the pasta mixture; consider seasoning your chicken with lemon pepper for a little extra flavor.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese, Italian bread, and a nice fruity white wine, and enjoy!

Behold the lemon zester - this is the one I own, courtesy of "The Pampered Chef" ($9.95), and I got it specifically to make this recipe.

The "zest" of the lemon is the white stringy stuff on the inside of the peel. After you juice the lemon, peel away the fiber and flesh (like peeling an orange) and then use your zester to scrape away at the white zest, until you've nearly scraped through to the yellow rind. A good size lemon will yield a few tablespoons of zest. You can also use a traditional grater to zest the lemon, just be careful not to get your fingers or knuckles!

Crockpot Chicken & Chicken Pastina

Oh, it is that lovely time of year again...Michaelmas is today, Fall is officially here! So crack out the slow-cooker and try this one:

Ingredients:

* 1 whole fresh chicken, skin on and bones in, with organs (or baggie thereof) removed from body cavity

* 1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix, split in thirds

* Pepper, Poultry Seasoning to taste

* 1 can cream of mushroom soup

Directions: (NB: start right after breakfast!)

1. Pour 1/3 of soup mix on bottom of pot, sprinkle 1/3 into body cavity of chicken, then place chicken in pot.

2. Using a sharp knife, carefully slit and gently separate skin on top (breast side) of chicken and pat final third of soup mix under skin, pressing skin back down when finished.

3. Set crock pot on low setting, cover and cook all day (at least 8 hours), without removing lid. About 2-3 hours before cooking time is done, stir in cream of mushroom soup and replace cover.

4. When ready to serve, carefully remove chicken from pot (it will be drippy, so hold it over the pot for a minute or so) and serve on a platter - reserve the juices and drippings! (See below...)

This chicken is so good and juicy! It should disjoint and be falling apart when done.

Some practical tips and options:

• Slow cookers differ! If yours tends to cook quickly, reduce time by an hour or so and pour a bit of white wine or water into the bottom of the pot to prevent any sticking or drying out - this has never been a problem for me, but keep an eye on things if you can when you try this one for the first time.


• Got a few extra eaters? Depending on the size of your pot AND of your crowd, you can easily throw in some extra legs and thighs around the edges of the whole chicken. Add more soup mix and liquid if needed.


• For some extra flavor, put a few stalks of celery (greens included) in the body cavity of the chicken.


• Goes GREAT with Pane Toscana (or any nice, crusty bread and butter)


• Leftovers? DON'T chuck the contents of your pot! You can make a gravy from the juice or do our favorite recycling project....


• This recipe makes a GREAT stock for soup, as follows:

Chicken Pastina

Ingredients:

* All the juices and bits of chicken leftover from your delicious crockpot chicken (see above)

* 1-2 cans - or a carton - of chicken broth, or equivalent in bouillon cubes if need be***

* salt and pepper to taste

* 1/2 box of Pastina (tiny star-shaped pasta - I use Barilla)

* chopped fresh veggies - carrots, peas, green pepper, sweet corn - lightly pre-steamed, OR (much easier!) a 1/2 bag of your favorite frozen mixed veggies

Directions:

1. Carefully pour reserved juices from crockpot into a cover-able pan, amply-sized storage container, or even a large, gallon-size ziploc baggie, straining out any bones but reserving any other bits of meat and skin that might still be lurking in the juice!

2. Strip all remaining meat (skin too) from chicken carcass, shredding with fingers into bite-size pieces.

3. Place meat and skin into juice from pot, cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. About 30 minutes prior to your planned lunch or dinner time, take chicken/juice out of the fridge and skim off as much fat (white-ish stuff, Kasia!) as you can to prevent your soup from being "greasy"

5. In large saucepan or stock pot (depending on the amount of leftovers), slowly warm mixture, gradually pouring in your broth or bouillon and seasoning to taste. If it's too salty, add in water, 1/2 c. at a time, testing before and after each addition - don't over-dilute! You can pick out excess skin now as you see fit (Wiley and our other furry friends love this part!) but we leave a little bit in because we like it that way.

6. Bring mixture to a gentle boil, add pastina and bring back to a slow boil for 5 minutes.

7. Add veggies, cover, turn heat to lowest setting and simmer for 10-15 minutes, serve in bowls and enjoy this yummy, filling soup as a hearty lunch or a full-on dinner with a nice salad and/or Pane Toscana on the side!

***Note that the pastina will thicken substantially after the veggie-simmering process - this will make your soup more substance than liquid, so if you like a lot of broth, add extra. We like the thicker consistency - it is a very filling mixture either way.

As always - enjoy!

Chicken-Spinach-Rice Salad

This is another simple meal or side dish - great in the summertime, easy-to-multiply recipe, always a hit at parties. My beloved likes it better the second day, my brother-in-law actually heats up the leftovers (if you have any) in the microwave.

INGREDIENTS:

*1 bottle Italian dressing (non-creamy), with 1 cup reserved (a bit more is ok)

*12-16 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloin pieces (or the equivalent in breasts, but the tenderloin pieces are quicker)

* 1 bunch fresh spinach, well rinsed and allowed to dry, rolled and chopped in long strips (ok to cheat and use a bag of prepared salad-style, too)

* 2-3 medium celery stalks, thinly sliced

* 2 cups cooked rice (use any kind you like, the original recipe calls for plain white, but I was out once and used a box of Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild instead - MUCH tastier!)

* 1 Tb. sugar

*1.5 Tb. soy sauce

Optional add-ins: 3-4 slices crumbled bacon, 1-2 thinly chopped green onions, crumbly bleu or feta on top

PREPARATION:

After reserving dressing, pour the rest over chicken and bake, covered, in 9x13 pan until done (30 min. or so at 375*F if fresh, 40 min. if frozen).

While chicken is baking, prepare rice, set aside in a large salad or mixing bowl, and allow to cool to room temperature (or at least not nuclear-hot, anyway). Then chop up spinach (long, thin strips look best) and celery (and green onion/bacon if you so desire) and set aside.

When chicken is done and cool enough to handle, drain off excess dressing and slice into bite-size strips

Pour sugar and soy sauce into reserved dressing and stir briskly with fork. When well-mixed, stir into rice. You should have enough dressing to make rice appear rather shiny and sticky, but not at all runny or soupy.

Fold in remaining ingredients in order: chicken - drippings/a little extra dressing is fine, celery and optional ingredients, then spinach.*

Mix well, cover loosely, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to ensure it is well-chilled. Easily serves 4 as a meal, 8 as a side. Top with crumbly bleu, feta, bacon crumbles if desired.

*Depending on your preference when it comes to the spinach, you may also wait to fold in the spinach until just before serving. We like it a bit wilted, which the warm rice does nicely, so I do it all at once.

Enjoy!

Chicken & Black Bean Burritos

This is a light and easy dinner - great in summer, stores well, portable, can be easily doubled, quintupled, whatever...of course the "light" factor disappears once you add the after-ingredients, but that's the joy of "optional." Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3-4 med. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or the equivalent in "tenderloin" pieces), fresh or thawed, cut into bite-size strips or pieces

1-2 Tb olive oil

2 tsp cumin

salt/pepper

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 med. jar salsa in whatever level of "hot" you prefer

1/2 c. frozen white corn (I round way up on this), or 1 small, drained can

1 pkg. (8) tortillas (homemade are best, but I lack the necessary skills and get them from a local restaurant, store-bought are a last resort)

Optional add-ins: shredded lettuce, fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, Spanish/Mexican style rice, etc.

PREPARATION:

Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste while heating olive oil in large, deep-sided skillet.

When oil is warmed (drop of water skips around on surface), thoroughly cook chicken on medium heat, stirring frequently, adding cumin as soon as outside of chicken pieces are white.

Once the chicken is cooked through, drain off excess oil - you'll want some of the drippings reserved for flavor, but not so much that your chicken is "swimming" in it

Stir in your jar of salsa and let it begin to simmer with chicken while you drain and rinse your black beans

Gently fold black beans into salsa mixture (don't smash them!), bring back to a simmer, then add corn, simmer entire mixture for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, while you set the table (or yell at your kids to come and set it) and get your tortillas* and add-ins ready.

Serve with fresh fruit on the side and enjoy!

*If you are like most people who don't live in the Southwest and don't have a tortilla warmer, use 2 dinner plates - one to hold the tortillas and one to cover them - and zap in the microwave for 30 seconds, flip the plates over, and repeat. Warm and moist, as opposed to warm and a bit dried out in the regular oven.

Or cheat and call my dear, dear friend Diane...a fellow (now retired) 110% Tex-Mex Jarhead's wife we met in '95 at El Toro...she makes her own flour tortillas and there's NOTHING like them in this world. We have imported her from VA a few times and will be going down to see her in a few weeks to make this dinner for our combined families and, of course, will slug back some Finger Lakes wine together. :)