Mom on the Make

Finding fun amidst the chaos of Motherhood

Easy Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry

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My 11 year old had dinner at a friend’s house last night and came home saying that I needed to find out the recipe for the meal her friend’s Mom made STAT!

I’m sure some of you have noticed this too ……….kids are more excited about meals prepared at their friends’ houses.  Even if the meal is the exact same, something about the ambiance of a friend’s home just makes it better.

Luckily, this time, the recipe was simple and healthy.

This is a such a basic dinner, but for some reason, its easy to forget the basic dinner ideas.  This is why this meal is being recorded forever more in the MOTM archives, so I can access the idea electronically rather than store in my brain.

Here’s the dets……

easy chicken stir fry

Easy ingredients to gather…..peppers, broccoli, chicken, teriyaki sauce and rice. Yes, your kids will eat broccoli in this stir fry. The teriyaki sauce makes everything delish.

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easy chicken teriyaki stir fry

The final product. All three of mine (ages 11, 9 and 5) loved this! Sometimes the very simple is best.

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Easy Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry
 
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Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds chicken breast
  • bunch of fresh broccoli
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 bottle of teriyaki sauce
  • 1 cup of uncooked rice (brown or white)
  • Olive Oil
Instructions
  1. Use olive oil to stir fry chicken breast. Cut up into pieces and cook until browned.
  2. Chop up peppers and broccoli and stir fry in olive oil.
  3. Once veggies have started to soften, throw cooked chicken back in with teriyaki sauce and saute together.
  4. Serve mixture over freshly prepared rice.
  5. Enjoy!

What’s For Dinner Tonight?

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israeli couscous and chicken skillet dinner

Its that time of day.

My two older ones are going to be running through the front door at any moment, and I still do not have a clue what we will be having for dinner tonight.

I think deciding what to make every day is the most difficult part.

I decided to consult my vault of recipes on this blog to get inspired, instead of resorting to my freezer for a frozen Trader Joe’s dinner.

Rotisserie chicken was sounding really good to me earlier today, so I am opting for the Chicken and Israeli Couscous dinner tonight.

Protein, veggies, couscous, its all good.

Hope you’ve decided on your dinner for tonight.  If not, check out my recipes for some ideas.

If you have a great last minute dinner idea to share, please share in the comments below.

 

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

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I wanted to make my Mom’s recipe for Chicken Tortilla Casserole tonight, so I brought up my blog’s recipe category.  Much to my surprise, the recipe was not there!

This is one of my favorite go-to casseroles that I have been enjoying for decades, and am shocked I have not shared this one with you all.

So, for a Valentine’s Day treat, you will now have access to the world’s best Chicken Tortilla Casserole recipe.  🙂

This casserole is what I was making yesterday when I mentioned my kitchen time in the lego post yesterday.

The layers of corn tortillas, fresh baked chicken, cream of chicken and mushroom soups mixed with fresh salsa, and fresh grated cheddar cheese is the perfect comfort food and a great family dinner.

One of the keys to this recipe is squeezing lots of lemon juice onto the chicken breasts and wrapping in aluminum foil before baking in a 400 degree oven for one hour.  The lemon juice really makes the chicken moist.  I know this is the best way, because I have tried to use shortcuts like boiling the chicken.  Definitely not as good.  Make time for the one hour baking time – its worth it!

baked chicken

Chopped Baked Chicken……

chopped baked chicken

Start layering tortillas, chicken, soup mix, grated cheddar cheese, then repeat.

chicken tortilla casserole

 

chicken tortilla casserole recipe

Top off the second layer with tortillas, then grated cheese on top.  This is such a great touch.  Its like mini cheese crisps on top of your casserole.

chicken tortilla casserole recipe

chicken tortilla casserole

chicken tortilla casserole

5.0 from 1 reviews
Chicken Tortilla Casserole
 
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Recipe type: Dinner
Ingredients
  • 12 Tortillas
  • 1½ pounds chicken breasts
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 2 cups fresh mild salsa
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2-3 cups grated cheddar cheese or mexican mix cheese
Instructions
  1. Squeeze fresh lemon juice on chicken breasts.
  2. Wrap chicken breasts in aluminum foil and bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 1 hour.
  3. Cut baked chicken into bite size pieces.
  4. Put cooking spray on a 9x13 pan.
  5. Mix the soups, milk and salsa in a medium bowl.
  6. Cut tortillas into 4 sections, creating triangles.
  7. Place a layer of tortilla triangles on sprayed dish for first layer.
  8. Place half of chopped chicken onto tortillas.
  9. Cover chicken with half of soup mix.
  10. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on soup mix.
  11. Repeat Layer.
  12. Place extra layer of tortilla triangles on top layer and sprinkle cheese on tortillas for mini cheese crisps.

You are going to love this one!  ENJOY!!

Easy Breaded Chicken Recipe

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Ok, you guys, I have a really easy chicken recipe today that you can use as a base for all sorts of chicken dishes.

I love the taste of homemade breaded chicken.

You know, the kind where you dip the chicken breast manually into flour, then egg, then italian bread crumbs, then you bake it in the oven for awhile until the perfect crispiness is achieved.  The taste comes out quite different than my frozen breaded chicken breasts from Trader Joe’s.

And, that’s saying something.

Because we love our Trader Joe’s frozen breaded chicken a lot.  However, the homemade stuff is just better, as per usual.

With this easy homemade recipe, you can easily make it into chicken parmesan by adding mozzarella cheese on top with marinara sauce.  You can eat it with a side dish of brown rice and veggies.  Or with biscuits and gravy.  The options are endless.

When I made this recipe a few days ago, we enjoyed it with brown rice and carrots.

The key to the flavor of this dish is the addition of a 1/2 cup of canola oil at the bottom of the pan.  It makes the chicken taste not just breaded, but borderline fried.  Think a healthier version of fried chicken.  Really good.

breaded chicken recipe

Set up your three bowls of flour, eggs and Italian bread crumbs. I just poured a bit of flour, a bit of bread crumbs and stirred up three eggs in the bowls. I did not measure the flour and bread crumbs.

breaded chicken

Dip chicken breast in flour. Roll it around until covered.

After dipping in the eggs, roll chicken breast in the bread crumbs for a nice coating.

After dipping in the eggs, roll chicken breast in the bread crumbs for a nice coating.

chicken breast breaded

After pouring half a cup of canola or vegetable oil in the bottom of a 13×9 baking dish, place in the oven set at 375 for 50 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts over after 25 minutes.

Breaded Chicken

All crispy and ready to enjoy!

easy breaded chicken

Easy Breaded Chicken Recipe
 
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Ingredients
  • 5 Chicken Breasts
  • Canola or Vegetable Oil
  • All purpose flour
  • Italian bread crumbs
  • 3 eggs
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Pour ½ cup of canola oil into 13x9 baking dish.
  3. Set up three bowls with flour, 3 eggs, Italian Bread crumbs.
  4. Blend the eggs together.
  5. With tongs, place first chicken breast in flour and roll around until covered.
  6. Then place in eggs until covered.
  7. Finally, place the chicken breast in the bread crumbs and roll around until fully covered.
  8. Repeat with each chicken breast.
  9. Place the chicken breasts into prepared baking dish.
  10. Cook in oven for 50 minutes. Remember to set a timer for 25 minutes to turn the breast over, then cook for remaining 25 minutes.
  11. Enjoy!

This is a recipe that I always forget about.  Its so easy, and I should utilize this more.  Hopefully this triggers some ideas for you and your menu plans.

What’s for Dinner Tonight?

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Today was the first day back to school for the kiddos.

For some reason, this Christmas break seemed longer than others.  We stayed home for the most part with a few local getaways thrown in, so that might have contributed to it, or maybe because Christmas day was at the beginning of the break , or maybe because having the position of Director of Entertainment for my three little ones every day, all day, is a bit daunting after 14 days.  Whatever it was, it seemed long.

So, this morning, the school morning rush began once again.

We started by not being able to locate Bam Bam’s Darth Vader lunch box for at least 15 minutes.

Until we realized, we had never removed it from his backpack TWO weeks ago when Christmas break started.  Oops.

At least, there was not any chicken or mayonnaise left in the box.  Only one z bar wrapper.  Phew.

Then I had to remember which of my three have hot lunch at our school on Mondays.  Only one of them. So that meant, I needed to whip up two lunches and one snack.

Anyway, we finally pulled ourselves together and arrived early to school.

Wow, the house was quiet.  So nice to hit the blog with sheer quiet.  I was supposed to go do a three mile walk, but the force  of my peaceful home would not let me put my sneakers on to brave the cold walking path.

I decided that I deserved to be in my quiet home today. 🙂

During my quiet time, I realized that I needed to get back into my meal planning routine for the week.  The planning kind of  (ok, completely) fell to the wayside in these past two weeks.

So, I decided to go with one of my favorites.  Easy peasy, healthy, warm, and the whole family loves it…….recipe is here…..

White Chicken Chili

It is on the stove now, and it smells so yummy.  Both of my girls have basketball practice tonight, so this is perfect, as it just sits warming on the stove as people come in and out of the house.

white bean chicken chili

Scoop of deliciousness!

 

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