Sun-dried Tomato Chicken & Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes

We had this for dinner tonight and it turned out great! The chicken was juicy and flavorful. I liked that there were so few ingredients to make the chicken too. I have never been good about making mashed potatoes from scratch, but these were so easy! My husband couldn't stop raving about the meal. These two recipes definitely made into the recipe book. :)

Sun-dried Tomato Chicken
From:myrecipes.com
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1 (4-lb.) package chicken pieces (3 breasts, 4 thighs, 3 legs) (I used drumsticks)
1 cup sun-dried tomato vinaigrette
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
Toppings: chopped sun-dried tomatoes, sliced fresh basil (I omitted)

Arrange chicken pieces in a single layer in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Pour dressing evenly over chicken pieces, and sprinkle with ground pepper.

Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 1 hour or until done, basting every 15 minutes. Sprinkle baked chicken with desired toppings.

*Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Breasts: Substitute 6 skinned and boned chicken breasts for chicken pieces. Prepare recipe as directed, decreasing bake time to 30 minutes.

** Looking back on the recipe, I didn't measure out the salad dressing and probably used more than a cup.


Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes
From: Weight Watchers website
3 pts per serving
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
8 uncooked red potatoes, cut into 2 inch segments
4 medium garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 cup fat free milk
2 Tbsp chives, fresh, minced
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Combine potatoes and garlic cloves in a saucepan and pour in enough water to cover; set pan over high heat and bring to boil. reduce heat slightly and boil until potatoes are fork tender, about 8 minutes; drain water from saucepan

Add sour cream, milk, and chives to pan (and butter if you use it); mix until combined. Mash mixture with potato masher (or electric mixer) until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Yields 1/2 cup per serving.

Asian Beef & Noodles

I found this recipe on the WW community board and it looked great! We buy our ground beef at Sam's club in bulk and I have a hard time coming up with different ideas on what to make with it. I thought I would give this one a try. We both loved it and I will be making it again!

Asian Beef and Noodles
From: WW Community Board

Serves 4
~10pts

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey

2 packages (3 ounces each) Oriental ramen noodles, crumbled

2 ½ cups water

2 cups frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetables

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 Tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (I omitted)

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until no longer pink; drain. Add the contents of one ramen noodle flavoring packet; stir until dissolved. Remove beef and keep warm.

In the same skillet, combine the water, vegetables, ginger noodles, soy sauce and the remaining flavoring packet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Return beef to the pan; cook for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Stir in green onions.

Foil Pack Chicken

This is one of my go to meals. I like it for several reasons. One it is delicious and healthy. The clean up is minimal and pretty much a full meal in one packet!

FOIL-PACK TACO CHICKEN
From: Kraftfoods.com
6 ww points
4 servings, one packet each

Ingredients
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
4 tsp. Taco Seasoning Mix
1/2 lb. red potatoes, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup Salsa
3/4 cup 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Four Cheese Mexican Style Cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Sprinkle chicken with seasoning mix. Place 1/2 cup of the potatoes on center of each of four large sheets of heavy-duty foil; top each with chicken, salsa and cheese.

Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and both ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Place in 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake 30 to 35 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165°F). Remove packets from oven. Let stand 5 min. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening. Serve with sour cream (optional-extra points)

Cooking Know-How: If the chicken breast halves in your market are larger than 4 oz., they will take longer to cook. Be sure to cook them long enough so that they are cooked through (170°F).Cooking Know-How: To prevent potatoes from sticking to foil, spray foil with cooking spray or use nonstick foil.

Cajin Chicken Pasta

This was a meal that I just kind of threw together. I think it turned out well and can definitely be made a little lighter. The store didn't have a light Alfredo sauce so we went for the full fat kind! I think I will definitely make this one again. I love quick, yummy meals! I am not 100% on the exact ingredients-sorry about that. I just eyeballed it.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Ingredients

Frozen Grill precooked chicken strips

Jar of Alfredo Sauce

Pasta (I used bow tie)

Cajun seasoning of your choice

Heat the chicken strips in a skillet adding the seasoning to your liking. Boil water and cook pasta according to directions on packet. Drain. Add cooked pasta with Alfredo sauce and a dash of Cajun seasoning to warm.

Serve pasta with chicken strips on top!

Now, how easy is that!

Hearty Chicken and Noodle Casserole

When I saw this recipe, it looked like a great weeknight meal. It was simple to put together and only took 25min to bake. Next time I might even make it the night before to have ready to pop in the oven. Even less work after a long day at work. :)

(Sorry about the fuzzy picture, I took it with my phone.)

Hearty Chicken and Noodle Casserole

From: sisterstuff.blogspot.com

Approx: 8pts.

Ingredients

1 Can mushroom soup

1/2 C. milk

1/4 Tsp. ground pepper

1/4 C. Parmesan cheese

1 C. frozen mixed veg.

2 C. cooked cubed chicken

2 C. cooked egg noddles

1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Stir soup, milk, black pepper, Parmesan cheese, vegetables, chicken, and noddles in 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until hot. Stir and then top with cheddar cheese.

A couple of Sides

Here are a couple of sides that I made awhile back and have forgotten to post. My sister is the one who gave me the recipes and they all turned out great!



SWEET POTATOE CASSEROLE
Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
4 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Preparation
Bake sweet potatoes at 400° for about 1 hour or until tender. Let cool to touch; peel and mash sweet potatoes.
Beat mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, and next 5 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Spoon potato mixture into a greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.
Combine cornflakes cereal and next 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle diagonally over casserole in rows 2 inches apart.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle alternate rows with marshmallows; bake 10 additional minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


You'll love the ease of this casserole. You can make it ahead of time, refrigerate it, and then bake it while the turkey rests. It's smart to let chilled casseroles come to room temperature before you bake them.

AU GRATIN POTATOE CASSEROLE
Prep: 10 min.; Bake: 1 hr., 20 min.

Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings
Ingredients
1 (32-ounce) package frozen Southern-style hash browns
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups crushed cornflakes cereal
1/4 cup melted butter

Preparation
Stir together first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.
Spoon potato mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with crushed cornflakes, and drizzle evenly with butter.
Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until bubbly.


OVEN ROASTED ASPARAGUS
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients
3 pounds fresh asparagus
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Preparation
Snap off and discard tough ends of asparagus; place asparagus on a lightly greased baking sheet. Drizzle evenly with olive oil; sprinkle evenly with garlic, salt, and pepper.
Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or to desired degree of tenderness. Transfer asparagus to a serving dish; sprinkle with almonds.

Salisbury Steak

Although this one isn't the most pretty to look at, it definitely packs alot of flavor. My husband loves this one and has already started to request it again for dinner! It does take some time to bake, but the assembly is fairly easy.

Salisbury Steak
approx 8pts
(Half recipe, but make 4 patties, 6pts if make 5 patties)
From: http://marinscreations.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten1 small onion, minced
1 26 oz. OR 2 10.75 oz. cans of cream of mushroom
1 envelope onion soup mix

In a bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, and onion.

Form into 5-6 patties.

In a separate bowl, combine cream of mushroom and onion soup mix.

Place patties in a lightly greased 9X13 pan and pour soup mixture over patties.

Place foil over pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. Remove foil the last 30 minutes.