Tostada Pizza...

A few disclaimers.... it was late, I was in a cooking funk, I didn't want to eat what was on the meal plan.... so I got a bug up my nose to try to re-create a pizza I from CPK- thanks to Vali Nemetz. I pulled some ingredients together and wha-la! It turned out pretty good, in fact, my non-enthusiastic husband exclaimed "This is the best non-pizza tasting pizza I've ever had!" That's a compliment right?? Give it a whirl, tweak it, and enjoy!

Ingredients:
Pizza Dough (bobli, trader joe's, homemade, Papa Murphy's... you chose)
Shredded Chicken (cooked)
Salsa
black beans, 1/2 can
shredded cheese, you choose the flavor, about 1 cup
lettuce, thinly chopped, I used about 1 cup
tomatoes, dices, I used 1/4
green onions, chopped, I used 2 stalks
avocado, sliced, I used 1/2
sour cream, I used a few blobs
tortilla strips or chips

Directions
So simple! It is a great thing to make with left over chicken. I had made some shredded chicken in the crock pot with a jar of salsa (for a different recipe) and thought I'd use the leftovers here.

SO.... back to the recipe... take your cooked dough (like Bobli... if your dough is uncooked, cook it first without any toppings), mix your salsa and shredded chicken together, put the chicken and some black beans on top of the pizza and pop it in the oven for about 5-7 minutes to heat it up. Once it's warm, start adding the toppings, as much or as little of each that you like. First I put on the sour cream and smeared it around, then I put the tomatoes, avocado, cheese, lettuce, green onions, and then crunched some tortilla chips on top. That's it! Simple as pie... pizza pie! :)

Serve with: a green salad or by itself! I think CPK drizzles a little ranch dressing on it too, if you're a fan of ranch you could give that a whirl!

Onion Chicken in Balsamic Sauce

OK, I hate to overwhelm you, but two yummy chicken recipes in a row? What could be better? Here we go, this one will leave you feeling like you just left a classy, upscale restaurant- but really, your still in your own kitchen...

 

Ingredients:

1 TBSP olive oil

1 sweet onion, chopped

4 chicken breasts

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes

S & P to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. In a large skillet over the stove, heat your oil and add your chopped onion and garlic and saute over med.-high heat for a few minutes until the onions are tender. Put washed chicken breasts in skillet and brown for a few minutes on each side. (NOTE: I cut my chicken breasts into halves, or thirds if they are huge, so that they soak up more of the goodness, I mean juices.)  After it is browned on the stove, place the chicken & onions in a 9x13 baking dish. Heat the balsamic and chicken broth in the same skillet until it boils, let is simmer for a few, it will thicken some. Pour this mixture in your baking dish over your chicken, cut up your sun dried tomatoes and put them in (if they are whole, I cut then in half or thirds with kitchen scissors), then cover it with foil and pop it in the oven for 20- 30 minutes.

Serve with: it is almost a MUST to serve this dish with some sort of pasta/rice because it has so much wonderful juice, it really is great over a bed of pasta. I use the whole wheat pasta from Trader Joe's and I make a green to go along side. ** This dish has been known to be a big hit with company- great to make for guests!

Teryaki Glazed Chicken Thighs

I originally got this recipe from my sister Danika and I know she won't mind if I share. Prepare yourself for its mouth-watering-goodness. Another perk- thighs are cheaper than breasts and a nice change up if I don't say so myself :)

Ingredients:

1-2 packages of chicken thighs

Glaze:

1 TBSP cornstarch

1 TBSP cold water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions:

Whisk these ingredients together over low heat in an small saucepan until it begins to bubble. Preheat your oven to 425. Lightly grease a pyrex dish, wash chicken thighs and cut off excess fat (warning, thighs are fattier than breasts so be prepared to trim them up a bit). After the thighs are prepped and in the dish, brush on the glaze, stick in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, turn them all over, brush on more glaze and cook for another 30 minutes (watch for them to get that yummy, dark glazed look and then they are done and ready to pull out!) You can also glaze the chicken at the 15 minute mark on each side to give them more flavor.

Serve with:

I love to serve this over a serving of chewy brown rice, the thighs are always really juicy and it's a nice compliment to the rice.