Oriental Chicken Salad

Since I am afflicted and needy, let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God. Psalm 17

I am a big fan of the oriental chicken salad at Applebee's. (My mom and her friends eat there all the time and I join them on occasion.) Although not much about the salad tastes oriental. I got this recipe for the Applebee's dressing from a copycat website. It is not as sweet as the one at the restaurant and has a more oriental kick to it from the sesame oil. I actually like it a lot better than the one there. Anyway, this is an example of a meal I serve my family in an attempt for it to seem like I cooked but really it involved no cooking. You can do grilled chicken to make it more healthy but for ease, I picked up chicken fingers at Publix. (Photo is Anne Rainey's new silly face she makes!)

Dressing:

3 T. honey

1.5 T. rice wine vinegar

1/4 C. mayo

1 tsp. Grey Poupon Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp. sesame oil

Lettuce

Chicken Fingers (chopped)

Craisons

Feta

Mandarin Oranges

Can of crunchy Chow Mein noodles

Sliced almonds, toasted

Mix up dressing with a whisk. Cover and chill in the fridge. Toast and cool almonds. Then just toss everything together in a big salad bowl. You really can use whatever additions to the salad you like and as much or as little of each ingredient. I just tossed in handfuls of a bunch of things that I already had. I like feta on anything even though it may not sound like it goes with this salad. I doubled the dressing when I made it and it was enough for salad for 6-8 adults.

Tips:

My kids do not eat salad so their dinner this night was: chopped up chicken fingers, mandarin oranges and some of the crunchies and nuts... the parts of the salad minus the lettuce and dressing. Easy enough. Sesame oil is in the ethnic food section with the chinese stuff.

Fiesta Chicken Casserole (old recipe)

“This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” John 1:7-8

This dish comes to us from the kitchen of Laura Carlson. It was so fresh and delicious! Other than cooking the chicken, it took about 7 minutes to cut the veggies and mix together… you can’t beat that for a fast, healthy and yummy dinner.

3-4 C. cooked chicken, diced

1 can black beans, drained

1 can Ro-tel (original)

1 onion, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 C. fiesta blend shredded cheese

Mix all ingredients in an 8 x 8 dish and top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serves 4-6.

Tips:

We ate this like a normal casserole one night. Then we ate it wrapped up in a flour tortilla with a dollop of sour cream, like a burrito. Both ways were great!

Chicken Spinach Lasagna (old recipe)

"Arise, cry aloud in the night at the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him for the life of your little ones…” Lamentations 2:19

This recipe comes compliments of Shelli Allen. Don’t be thrown off by “lasagna” in the name of it... it is not an Italian tomato-based lasagna. It is more like a chicken casserole that uses lasagna noodles. This dish is VERY VERY rich and filling. This is one of my "go-to" meals when I need to cook for another family...people go crazy over it.

LASAGNA:
16 lasagna noodles, cooked
1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and
drained well
4 Cups diced chicken

4 Cups shredded cheddar cheese

2/3 Cups finely diced onion
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2T. Flour
1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2T. soy sauce

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

16 oz. sour cream

9 oz. jar sliced mushrooms, drained

2/3 Cup mayo

TOPPING:

2 cups grated parmesan

4T. butter

2 cups chopped pecans (or sliced almonds)

Combine all ingredients in very large bowl. In a large and deep baking dish (I have a deep 10x14 baking dish that works well but I generally divide it among a few dishes), layer chicken mixture, noodles, chicken mixture, noodles, chicken mixture. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Melt butter in skillet on stove. Add chopped pecans to lightly toast and sprinkle pecans over cheese. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

(I have no idea why the spacing is acting crazy on this part and I can't seem to fix it!! Sorry that it looks so bad! )

Serves 10-12

Tips: Make it earlier in the day or the day before and cook later. Great dish to divide between serving dishes and freeze one or take a meal to a friend. (You can divide between 3, 8x8 baking dishes.) It makes a TON! We have enough to eat, give meals to 2 families, and still freeze some leftovers. I just serve it with a fruit salad since it is such a heavy dish! I left out the mushrooms because I don’t really like them. You can also omit the salt from the recipe and just let people salt their food.

Chicken & Potato Pancakes (with Gutherie's Sauce)

You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.  Praise be to God!  Psalm 68:35

This may sound like a strange recipe but we (kids included) loved it.  The only way I can think to describe the taste is similar to a cheese biscuit.  It is an easy dish to get the kids to help you mix up, which I have found helps my kids want to try it.  Other than cooking the chicken, it takes maybe 10 minutes to mix up the batter.  Super easy!  

2 C. instant pancake mix

2 C. milk

2 C. shredded cooked chicken

1.5 C. (6 oz.) shredded Colby-Jack cheese

1 C. refrigerated shredded hash browns

4 green onions, finely chopped

2 T. butter, melted

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Gutherie's Sauce (optional)

Whisk together pancake mix and milk in a large bowl.  Stir in chicken and next 6 ingredients, stirring just until blended.  Cook like you normally cook pancakes (lightly greased griddle or nonstick skillet.)  Cook about 3 minutes in first side (until a little bubbly) and flip to other side.  Cook 5 more minutes or until golden on both sides.  

Serves 8 

Southern Living (January 2009)

Tips:

You can mix this up earlier in the day and make the pancakes at dinner time.  I cut this in half for my family of 4 and still have leftovers.  (Kids each eat one and Derek and I eat too many!)  The recipe also had a quick gravy recipe with it in Southern Living.  I made it but we found it to be nasty.  That was when we discovered how yummy it was with a little Gutherie's sauce.  You can get 6 little things of it for a dollar something.    Sorry to out-of-town folks who cannot buy it.  Any other favorite sauce of yours will work.  Or you can mix up something similar with ketchup, mayo, seasoning salt, garlic salt and/or horseradish... just tasting as you mix!