Cilantro Chicken

Wanted to share a really delicious recipe we tried over the weekend. Loved the marinade!  I served with twice baked potatoes and a green salad, but rice would be great with this too.

Cilantro Chicken

Ingredients

2 or so lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro (a big handful, just cut stems off)
3/4 to 1 cup sweet chili sauce


Directions
Place chicken in a large zip baggie.

Place olive oil, garlic and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Process until the mixture is combined and smooth. Scoop the marinade into the bag with the chicken, press the air out of the bag and zip it closed. Knead the marinade into the chicken until it is evenly distributed. Marinate overnight or all day long.

Preheat the grill to medium heat and coat with oil or grill spray. Remove chicken from the bag and grill 4 to 5 minutes on the first side, until good grill marks are showing. Flip and grill an additional 3 to 4 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove chicken to a platter and brush the sweet chili sauce on top.

Jesus loves me

Hadley started singing Jesus Loves Me after I put her to sleep last night...such a sweet sound to my ears when I heard her sing this unprompted. I caught it on the baby monitor after she had already started...

Meal Planning Monday

What's cooking this week at the Skeen's?  My goal is to only cook 2-3 times a week - love me some leftovers since I'm a working momma!

Sunday - Filet, Asparagus, Summer Salad
Monday - Chicken, Spinach and Cannellini Bean Quesadillas
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - Honey Garlic Pork Chops with Broccoli-Quinoa casserole
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - Out

Chicken, Spinach and Cannellini Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients
1 1/2 -2 cups seasoned, cooked and diced chicken breast meat
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1 banana pepper, diced
a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (heaping) tbsp all purpose flour (I use Gluten-free all purpose flour)
3/4 cup chicken broth
4 cups fresh baby spinach, stems removed, coarsely chopped
1 (15.5 ounce) can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Flour tortillas (I use corn since I'm Gluten-free)
Shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar or a combination of the two works well here)
Avocados, diced
Reduced fat sour cream

Directions
In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, red bell pepper and banana peppers. Season with the crushed red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. Saute until veggies have soften, 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute or two. Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir to combine. Cook while stirring for several minutes so that the flour loses it's raw taste. Whisk in the chicken broth and stir until bubbly and smooth. Add the baby spinach and continue cooking for another minute or two or until spinach has wilted. Stir in the cooked chicken and cannellini beans and remove from heat.

Spray a large skillet or griddle with cooking spray. Heat over medium to medium-high heat. Place one tortilla on griddle and spread cheese over tortilla. Spread chicken, bean and spinach mixture over one half of the tortilla. Check underside of tortilla and when browned a bit, flip the half with just cheese over the half with the chicken. Remove from heat and cut into slices. Top with diced avocado and sour cream, if desired.



Beth Moore: Living Proof

This weekend I attended my first Beth Moore event - Living Proof here in Knoxville, along with about 14,000 other lovely ladies (including Pat Summitt)!  I went with my mom and we had a wonderful time!  I've been wanting to try some of Beth Moore's bible studies/devotionals so this was a perfect introduction to her teaching style.  She was a hoot and I really enjoyed her message this weekend.  She focused the 2-day event on 2 Corinthians 6 and also the idea of credibility - "The gospel can't be spread if you ain't got no cred!"  I sometimes have a hard time reading scripture and figuring out how it applies to my life, but she explained it in such a way that made it really easy.

Travis Cottrell travels with Beth Moore and led the worship music at the event.  Umm, wow.  He was amazing!  He is Worship Pastor at a church in Nashville - if you are in the area I would check him out! 

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Crispy Baked Buffalo Tenders - delish! Made these over the weekend and they were a big hit!  

Definitely loving this white and orange chevron top - especially with football season right around the corner. This one has been out of stock for weeks though - boo.

I think this would look so cute Hadley's playroom!

Loving some inspiration I found for Hadley's upcoming 2nd birthday - You are my sunshine theme!

I realize it's just August, but how cute is this? A felt tree and ornaments that kiddies can decorate over and over. I can't wait to make one of these this Christmas!

Absolutely need one for the front door! 

Loving my sweet, sweet girl!

A few new faves...

Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

Ingredients:
One 10 oz can condensed Cream of Broccoli soup

1/3 cup reduced fat mayonnaise (original called for 1 full cup. WOW.)
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/4 cups reduced fat shredded cheese (cheddar, colby-jack, etc)
1/2 teaspoon Splenda/sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups cooked broccoli
1 1/2 cups COOKED quinoa
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a shallow (8×8 casserole dish – or individual ramekins) with cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine the soup, mayonnaise, milk, shredded cheese, Splenda, pepper, and nutmeg until well mixed. Stir in the quinoa and broccoli.

Spoon mixture into casserole dish.  Sprinkle on a couple tablespoons of Parmesan and bake for 35-40 minutes (20-25 minutes for ramekins) or until bubbly on the edges and golden. Makes 8 generous 1/2-cup servings.

This was really good and made great leftovers!

Avocado Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
Chicken, cooked and shredded

Avocado
Reduced fat mayo, just  maybe a tablespoon or so
Green onion, sliced
Cilantro
Lime juice to taste
Salt/pepper to taste

Directions:
Sorry there aren't any measurements. Probably had 2 cups of chicken and then just threw the rest in until it tasted good. I used 2 avocados but if you really love avocados. I loved the lime juice, so I kept adding more of it little by little. You definitely need a little salt, but the pepper is just if you want to. I used a lot of cilantro and a moderate amount of green onion. Probably 2-3 of them. You can serve this in pitas or just eat it with chips. We loved it and it was really good leftover, too!