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Cracker Barrel Chicken n’ Dumplings

I love Cracker Barrel. Always have. The first time I remember eating there was in Tyler, Texas off the loop and I-20 with my grandfather Poppy. Poppy lived in Tyler and would always meet us at Cracker Barrel on our way into Tyler from Dallas or as we were leaving Tyler to go back home to Dallas.

As I kid I loved playing with the little triangle peg game at the table, and you can’t beat Cracker Barrel’s county store with stuffed animals and candy!

Even though my grandfather is no longer with us, we still visit Cracker Barrel regularly with my in-laws Tony and Paula. They have a lake house on Cedar Creek Lake, so we always stop at the Cracker Barrel on Interstate 635 on our way back home to Dallas.

Even though I’ve never had their Chicken n’ Dumplings, I’ve heard they are amazing and found this recipe on Pinterest. Honestly I don’t even remember eating chicken n’ dumplings as a kids growing up, but when I was pregnant I craved it like no other. Something about comfort food when you’re pregnant sounds amazing!

While I love to cook, I love easy-to-make, ready in 30 minute meals. I think everyone can agree whether you’re working full-time and don’t get home from work until late, or have an active baby or toddler running around, it’s nice to have a home cooked meal that’s quick.

What’s great about this recipe is the easy prep time. I made, rolled out, and cut the dumplings all while Harper was taking a nap. It took no more than 15 minutes to prepare, and once she was awake, I simply boiled some chicken stock, tossed in the dumplings to simmer, and added shredded rotisserie chicken once the dumplings were no longer doughy.

cracker barrel chicken n' dumplings

So simple and so good! The Cracker Barrel recipe didn’t call for celery, but I like a little green on my plate, and I probably would have added diced carrots if I had any for more color and nutrition.

By the way, can you believe this little one is already 9 months old! Time sure does fly. 🙂

Enjoy!

Cracker Barrel Chicken n’ Dumplings

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 Tbsp. butter
1 cup buttermilk, a bit less than a full cup (I used skim milk)
2 quarts chicken broth
3 cups cooked chicken
1 cup celery, diced

Instructions

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry blender. Stir in the milk, mixing with a fork until the dough forms a ball.
Heavily flour a work surface. Roll the dough out thin with a heavily floured rolling pin. Dip a biscuit cutter in flour and cut the dumplings in squares about 2″x2″. It’s okay for them not to be exact.
Transfer cut dumplings to a floured plate. Keep flouring between layers of dumplings.
To cook them, bring the broth to a boil. Drop the dumplings in one at a time, stirring while you add them. The extra flour on them will help thicken the broth. I also added the diced celery at this time. Cook the dumplings for about 15-20 minutes or until they are not doughy. Add the cooked chicken to the pot and you’re done.

Stovetop Chicken Spaghetti

The first Aggie football game against the South Carolina Gamecocks was this past Thursday, and we couldn’t have been any more pumped!

Since Matt’s dad and uncle were coming over to watch the game at our house, I figured I’d make them a tasty and not necessarily healthy meal. 🙂

Chicken spaghetti is one of those comfort foods that is a crowd pleaser. I’ve made the Pioneer Woman’s chicken spaghetti before, but wanted something a little different this time.

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and liked how only one pot was needed to make this meal, and it didn’t involve the oven. It was absolutely delicious and made a ton!

Matt, his dad Tony, and his uncle Rusty filled their plates completely with the chicken spaghetti, and even after going back for seconds, we STILL had tons of leftovers. I put one small dish of leftovers in the fridge to eat for the rest of this week, and a larger dish in the freezer for a meal to have later on.

Serve the chicken spaghetti with crusty bread and a salad, and you’ve got yourself a meal! Plus, how could you forget dessert? I made Matt’s all-time favorite 4-Layer Pudding Dessert.

Yum!! Can’t wait for more football and good food to come this fall season!

Stovetop Chicken Spaghetti — Saute onion, bell pepper and butter in a large pan.

Enjoy!

Stovetop Chicken Spaghetti

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

2 – 2 1/2 cups cooked, cubed
1 lb velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel, original
1 lb spaghetti pasta
1 stick butter
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used 98% fat free)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used 98% fat free)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Boil spaghetti pasta in water according to package directions. Drain pasta after done and discard water. Set aside the pasta. Do not rinse.
Melt the butter in the same (empty) pot and sauté the onion and bell pepper.
Add Rotel, soups, cooked chicken, and spaghetti to the sautéed onion mixture, one at at time, and gently mix together.
Add velveeta and stir together, mixing well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Heat until cheese in melted thoroughly, stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.
Serve immediately.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

I can’t think of a better, more satisfying comfort meal than this classic poppy seed chicken casserole. While it is NOT low-calorie, it’s definitely great for feeding a crowd and using up leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken.

My original intent when making this casserole was to go with my mom’s recipe that she got from a friend many years ago called Poppy Seed Chicken (please excuse the pictures. I hadn’t quite mastered my picture-taking skills back in 2010). My mom’s recipe has egg noodles baked in with the poppy seeds, chicken, soups and Ritz crackers, but I had seen recipes WITHOUT the egg noodles and wanted to give it a try.

“But you have egg noodles included in your pictures!!!”, you say.

Yes, that is true. BUT, I cooked the egg noodles separately for my husband Matt. I ate my poppy seed chicken sans the noodles, and just with fresh veggies. I wasn’t craving all those extra carbs!

Anyways, this recipe was a total hit with Matt…. he LOVED it! I think it reminded him of his mom’s old-fashioned southern cooking. I’m more of a healthy cook and don’t use a lot of butter. This recipe originally called for a whole stick of butter melted in with the crackers, but I just used half a stick. Butter is good, but a whole stick along with the already buttery Ritz crackers is overkill, in my opinion.

Enjoy! I’ve never met a single person who didn’t like this… kids included!

Add melted butter and stir until completely incorporated.

Mix together chicken, soup and sour cream. Add in Worcestershire sauce, garlic and lemon juice. Spread into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan.

Cover and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Serve over cooked egg noodles, if desired.

Obviously, this pretty picture is Matt’s plate. 🙂

Close up and served with mixed veggies and Ranch Style beans in the background.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients

2 cups chicken, cooked and shredded
2 cups Ritz crackers, crushed
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 (10.75 oz) can cream of chicken and herb soup
8 oz sour cream
1/4 cup butter melted
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 clove minced garlic
2 tsp. lemon juice
Egg noodles, optional – to serve with

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together chicken, soup and sour cream in a large bowl. Add in Worcestershire sauce, garlic and lemon juice. In another bowl, mix together crushed crackers, poppy seeds, and melted butter and stir until butter is completely incorporated.
Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Spread chicken mixture on the bottom and sprinkle with cracker mixture.
Cover pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and baker for 15 more minutes.
Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

Lighter Chicken Enchiladas

Homemade enchiladas are one of my favorite dinners. Up until now, my go-to recipe has been aunt Jolene’s sour cream chicken enchiladas, which are outstanding. However, flour tortillas, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese, sour cream, and butter aren’t exactly calorie friendly.

A few weeks ago my sister and mom discovered a new, lightened-up chicken enchiladas recipe that I just had to try.

While there’s no butter or sour cream in these, they definitely do NOT lack flavor. Two tablespoons of chipotles in adobo (dried chiles from smoked jalapeños) don’t sound like much, you’d be surprised! If you’re not very tolerant of spicy foods, you might want to scrape out the ribs and seeds. With that said, the chipotles in adobo add a wonderfully rich smokey flavor that create an authentic-tasting Tex-Mex chicken enchilada dish.

If you have a Central Market anywhere near you, you MUST try their homemade corn tortillas for these enchiladas. I’m not a huge fan of corn tortillas (I’d take flour over corn any day of the week), but Central Market’s corn tortillas blew me away! Not only are they fresh out of the oven, they are slightly larger than your typical corn tortilla and they don’t crack like the regular pre-packaged ones. I really think these tortillas “made” the dish for me!

Matt loved these lightened-up enchiladas and even liked them better than the sour cream enchiladas I always have made. This recipe tastes more authentic, like something you’d expect from a Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant, sans the grease. 🙂

Enjoy!

Lighter Chicken Enchiladas

Serves: 4

Source: Martha Stewart

Ingredients

Course salt and ground pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6-8 ounces each)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cumin
1-2 Tbsp. minced canned chipotles in adobo
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
8 corn tortillas (6-inch) from Central Market
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese (2 ounces)

Instructions

In a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid, bring 1 inch salted water to a boil. Add chicken. Cover; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 5 minutes; remove skillet from heat. Let chicken steam, covered, until opaque throughout, 12-14 minutes. Transfer chicken to a medium bowl; shred with two forks. Set aside.
While chicken is cooking, make sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add flour, cumin, and chipotles in adobo; cook, whisking 1 minute.
Whisk in broth and 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, whisking occasionally, until sauce has thickened slightly, 5-8 minutes; season with salt and pepper.
Transfer 1 cup sauce to bowl with chicken; toss to combine.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Pour 1/4 cup sauce into bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish; set aside.
Stack tortillas, and wrap in a double layer of damp paper towels; microwave until hot, about 1 minute.
Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture; roll up tightly, and arrange, seam-side down, in baking dish. Cover with remaining sauce, and top with cheese. Bake until hot and bubbling, 15-20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

Chipotles in adobo (smoked, dried jalapeños in sauce) are spicy – for less heat, scrape out the ribs and seeds. You’ll find them in the international aisle.

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie. The ULTIMATE comfort food!

Surprisingly, my mom never made chicken pot pie from scratch. Mom – if you did make it, sorry because I don’t remember. 🙂

Instead, ever week or so we would eat individual Marie Callender’s chicken pot pies. We absolutely loved them!

As a kid, I had a method to eating my chicken pot pie. First, instead of eating the pie pie right side up, I would eat it upside down. If you’ve ever made a Marie Callender’s pot pie, you bake it in a cardboard container for 50 minutes or so. When it was done, we just flipped it out of its container on our plate, and never thought to turn it right side up!

Each member of our family ate our pot pies in a special way. I would cut a circle in the top of the pot pie, carefully remove the crust and eat it first. I would then eat the rest of the pot pie going in a circle, making sure I got a bite of flakey crust with eat bite!

My dad would pile his pot pie with a ginormous amount of green peas. My mom ate hers normal, of course, and my sister…we’ll I can’t remember how she ate hers. All I know is that she had leftover crust, while mine was pretty much gone!

As mentioned before, I am the resident recipe columnist for our monthly neighborhood magazine. For the month of June I interviewed one of my neighbors, Mary Ann, a retired nurse who has a passion for cooking.

Not only was Mary Ann willing to be a part of the magazine, but she was gracious and sweet enough to cook me an entire chicken pot pie to take home after I completed her photo shoot for the magazine.

Since I had a 10-inch wide, 2 to 3-inch deep chicken pot pie all for myself and Matt, I thought it fitting to invite our entire family over for dinner to share. It was neat to have my parents and Matt parents all around the same dining table for some well-needed family time. If you know me, I LOVE family and enjoy ever moment I can get with them.

For those that don’t live in my neighborhood and therefore don’t get our magazine, I’m sharing with you this delicious pot pie recipe and an excerpt from my article:

If you’re looking for old-fashioned, ultimate comfort food, then search no more. Resident Mary Ann, a retired nurse and freestyle cook, makes you feel right at home with her delicious deep dish chicken pot pie. Overflowing with fresh veggies, savory chicken and topped with a lid of golden-brown, flaky crust, this pot pie is the quintessential supper food sure to bring the family together.

As a freestyle cook, Mary Ann encourages you to add or substitute your favorite kind of soup, leftover ham, turkey, and/or your choice vegetable favorites. “This is comfort food, so the process should be personal,” she says. Enjoy!

Enjoy your family time and I hope this chicken pot pie brings back happy memories to you as much as it did me!

Chicken Pot Pie

Serves: 6

Ingredients

10-inch baking dish, 2 ½ to 3 inch deep
2 refrigerated piecrusts or 2 large frozen puff pastries, thawed
2 cups chopped chicken, poached; or leftover rotisserie chicken
1 can cream of onion soup
1 can potato soup
2 cups vegetable mixture (1 red onion, 1/2 cup celery, 1 chopped red pepper, 1/2 cup chopped mushroom, 2 Tbsp. olive oil)
2 cups of cooked or leftover carrots, asparagus, peas and/or green beans
1 Tbsp. fresh or freeze-dried poultry herbs, chives, pepper, & garlic
1 beaten egg

Instructions

Preheat convection oven to 375 degrees F. If using a conventional oven, preheat to 400 degrees F.
Sauté veggies in oil until lightly browned; turn out in bowl.
Add the chicken and soup, and mix together. (If the mixture seems dry, add a little more soup of your choice).
Place bottom crust in baking dish and spoon chicken mixture inside.
Top with herbs and pepper by recipe and to taste.
Place top crust on top, seal, and cut a few slits into the pie crust.
Brush top crust with egg wash.
Place pie in oven and cook for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes

Source: my neighbor, Mary Ann

Riso alla Pitocca (Traditional Chicken and Rice)

Like chicken? Check.

Like risotto? Check.

Like Italian food? Check.

Then you should really like Riso alla Pitocca, Italian for traditional chicken and rice and from Lidia Matticchio Bastianich’s cookbook, Lidia’s Favorite Recipes. If you’re looking for foolproof Italian dishes, you’re might want to buy her book!

I love this recipe because while it sounds simple, the combination of fresh ingredients create an irresistible and authentic Italian dish.

Chopped onions, carrots and celery create bold and bright colors to this dish. The chicken makes this dish savory, and the wine, chicken broth and cheeses create a unique complexity of flavors that cannot be beat.

Once you get your pestata (crushed onion, carrot, celery and garlic) and chicken cooked, add the liquid ingredients and rice and bring to a boil. Then let is cook for 14 minutes and you’re pretty much done.

All that’s left is to stir in the butter, parsley and my favorite ingredient… Parmigiano-Reggiano!

Did I mention my parents’ cat likes this dish? Their cat is kind of weird…. she actually likes people food! I’ve never seen a cat that acts as much like a dog as this one does. Its actually kind of cute and makes me love her even more.

Enjoy!

Riso alla Pitocca (Traditional Chicken and Rice)

Recipe Type: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (we used chicken breasts)
1 cup onion cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup carrot cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup celery, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 plump cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 fresh bay leaf
1 cup dry white wine
5 cups hot chicken or turkey stock, plus more if needed
2 cups Italian short-grain rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
2 Tbsp. butter, cut into pieces
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for passing

Instructions

Trim any excess fat from the chicken thighs, and cut the thighs into 1-inch chunks. Use a food processor to mince the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic into a fine textured pestata (means “to crush” or “to grind” in Italian).
Pour the olive oil into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the pestata, and season with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the pestata has dried. Toss in the chicken pieces and the bay leaf, and sprinkle with remaining salt. Tumble the chicken in the pan until browned and caramelized all over, about 4 minutes.
Raise the heat, pour in the white wine, and cook, stirring and scraping up the browned bits in the pan, until the wine has almost completely evaporated. Pour in the hot stock, stirring, and add the rice.
Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce the heat to keep the riso bubbling gently. Cook for about 14 minutes, or until both the rice and the chicken chunks are fully cooked and the consistency is creamy.
Turn off the heat, drop in the butter pieces, and stir vigorously until thoroughly combined; then stir in the parsley and 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Spoon the riso into warm pasta bowls, and serve immediately, passing additional grated cheese at the table.

Notes

Source: Lidia’s Favorite Recipes by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Two thumbs up are in order for my FIRST-EVER crock pot meal!

Hard to believe, right? Growing up my mom never used or even owned a crock pot. Now that I have a crock pot (“thanks Paula for the wonderful Christmas gift!”), I’ll be slow cooking all time!

I will admit, I was a little scared prior to using the crockpot. I’m a little fearful of fire . In my younger days I caught salmon on fire while broiling it in the oven. Actually it was the excess olive oil on the foil that caught on fire.

That being said, that’s nothing compared to the Easy Mac I caught on fire in the microwave when I was in eighth grade… not so easy now is it?? How did it it catch on fire you ask? I forgot to add water.

Last but not least, my CHI flat iron caught on fire two years ago. Black smoke starting coming out of the on/off switch. When I took it back to Ulta, the sales associate said, “What, you don’t want to look smokin’ hot!!” I had to laugh at that one.

Lucky for me, no fires were were started with this slow cooker. I was extra careful to watch it, just in case something were to happen. 🙂

This meal doesn’t get any easier. Simply throw your chicken breasts into the pot. Add the taco seasoning. Add the salsa. Turn on the heat. And wait…..

In the meantime, you could go for a nice run, work from home, run some errands, eat a a snack, get on Facebook…. 🙂 After a few hours, you can check on the chicken. When it is done, shred it with two forks and return it to the pot. I found that the chicken got even more tender when I returned it to the slow cooker. Meanwhile, preheat your oven. Get the taco shells ready, your tomatoes, green onions and other toppings chopped, and set your table because dinner is about to be served.

Super easy, right? Matt even gave his approval!

QUESTION TIME:

Have you ever caught food on fire? If so, what was it?

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

2 lbs. chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning
16 ounce jar salsa (I used Tostitos)
Corn taco shells
Taco toppings: shredded cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, green onions, lettuce

Instructions

Lay chicken breasts in a single layer in bottom of crock pot. Sprinkle on taco seasoning then pour in salsa. Lift chicken breast halves to get salsa underneath. Cook on low for 4-5 hours, or high for 2-3 hours, or until chicken breasts are tender. Shred then mix with some or all of the cooking liquid.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add shredded chicken in the bottom of tacos shells then top with cheese. Bake on a foiled-lined baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Top with desired toppings.
Serve with Spanish rice and refried beans.

Notes

Source: Iowa Girl Eats

Spicy Chicken Cakes

If you like crab cakes, you’ll LOVE these spicy chicken cakes from Cooking Light! I’m not saying they taste like crab cakes, but they sure do look like them. The cakes were super easy to make, inexpensive (especially when compared to crab meat), and my husband and I both gave them two thumbs up.

Unlike the name, I don’t recall the chicken cakes being too spicy. They were well seasoned, flavorful, and the aioli sauce brought an “elegance” to the dish that gave me the feeling I was eating in a 5-star steak and seafood restaurant.

Serve the chicken cakes over a bed of arugula, top with a dollop of aioli, and you’ve got yourself a healthy, protein-packed meal that is under 300 calories and less than 10 grams of fat. This is truly one of my new “favorites”. Enjoy!

Combine chicken mixture in a medium-sized bowl.

Over medium heat, cook chicken patties for 7 minutes.

Flip and cook for another 7 minutes, or until done.

Serve over a bed of arugula and a dollop of aioli.

Spicy Chicken Cakes
Ingredients
CAKES:
2 (1 1/2-ounce) slices whole wheat bread
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
3 Tbsp. low-fat mayonnaise
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large egg whites
2 tsp. canola oill

AIOLI:
2 Tbsp. low-fat mayonnaise
2 tsp. prepared horseradish
1 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions
1. To prepare cakes, place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 cup (discard remaining breadcrumbs). Set breadcrumbs aside.
2. Place chicken in food processor; pulse until ground. Combine chicken, chives, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon salt, egg whites and breadcrumbs in a medium bowl; mix well (mixture will be wet). Divide mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each into 1/2-inch-thick patty.
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add patties; cook 7 minutes on each side or until done.
4. To prepare aioli, combine 2 tablespoons mayonnaise and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Serve with cakes.

Recipe from: Cooking Light
Serves: 4 (serving size: 2 chicken cakes and about 1 1/2 teaspoons aioli)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: 242 Calories | 7.1g Fat | 0.5g Fiber | 749mg Sodium | 29.5g Protein

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Medallions with Tomato-Corn Salsa

As I’ve mentioned before, I write a “Resident Recipe” column in our monthly neighborhood magazine. The following recipe is featured is this month’s issue for June 2012.

After interviewing and snapping photos with Brian and Kristin, I went home and immediately recreated this recipe. “Wow” is all I can say! The tomato-corn salsa is light, flavorful and out-of-this world! It especially pairs nicely with grilled chicken, which is what I made, since I did not have any pork on hand at the time. I can’t wait to grill the tenderloin next!

Now for the blurb I wrote in the magazine:

Summer is finally here! If you haven’t already, it’s time to fire up the grill, have your friends over, and impress them with these delectable bacon-wrapped pork medallions and tomato-corn salsa. With Kristin preparing the food and setting the table, and Brian hard at work at the grill; it’s obvious that this couple makes quite the team. “Great food and entertaining is about making memories with friends and family,” Kristin quotes; and I would have to agree.

Brian at the grill.

Brian and Kristin show off their grilled pork medallion recipe.

A close up.

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Medallions with Tomato-Corn Salsa
Ingredients
TENDERLOIN
3 pork tenderloins
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. ancho chili powder
1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
8 thick-cut bacon slices (Matador’s has great smoked bacon)

TOMATO-CORN SALSA
4 ears fresh corn, husks removed
2 tsp. olive oil
1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in quarters
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions:
FOR THE TENDERLOIN:
1. Whisk together olive oil and next three ingredients. Rub mixture over pork; place pork in ziplock bags with remainder of rub mixture. Chill for at least 2 hours. (Freezes well at this point, too.)
2. Cut pork into eight 3-inch slices. Place meat, cut sides up, between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and flatten to 2-inch thickness, using the flat side of a meat mallet.
3. Microwave bacon until partially cooked. Wrap sides of each pork slice with 1 bacon slice, and secure with a wooden pick.
4. Light one side of grill, heating to medium-high heat (350-400 degrees F); leave other side unlit. Arrange pork over lit side; grill, covered with grill lid, 30-35 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees F. Let stand 10 minutes.

FOR THE TOMATO-CORN SALSA
1. Brush corn with oil. Grill, covered with grill lid, over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, turning ever couple minutes. Let stand 10 minutes and cut kernels from cobs.
2. Combine corn, tomatoes, and next 5 ingredients. Toss together. Serve over pork.

Yield: 8 servings
Recipe from: Kristin and Brian, who got this from Southern Living

Lemon Chicken

Here’s a healthy chicken recipe that my mom and I made a while ago for a “girls night”dinner while my dad and husband, Matt, were at a baseball game. The chicken is less than 200 calories, has only 6 grams of fat, and packs 27 grams of protein.

Dried tarragon, dijon mustard, olive oil and lemon juice create a delicious combination of flavors in this quick and easy poultry dish. The lemon juice can be a little tart, but is very refreshing, especially if you make this dish in the spring or summer. Serve the chicken over rice, pasta or potatoes, and drizzle with extra sauce. Enjoy!

Pound chicken into thin cutlets and place in a shallow glass baking pan.

Whisk together the olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, and tarragon

Pour mixture over chicken.

Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Serve over rice and drizzle with remaining sauce.

Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp dried tarragon, basil or oregano

Directions
1. Wash the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Put the chicken between sheets of wax paper and pound with mallet or rolling pin until even thickness. Place chicken in a shallow glass-baking pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, and tarragon (or basil or oregano). Pour it over chicken and bake uncovered 40 to 45 minutes.
3. Slice the cooked chicken on the diagonal and serve one chicken breast or 4 ounces per person. Serve over pasta, rice, or potatoes and spoon some of the sauce over each serving.

Yield: 4 servings
Recipe from: Best Bites From the Wellness Kitchen by the Seretean Wellness Center at Oklahoma State University

Nutritional Information
Calories: 175
Protein: 27 g
Carbohydrate: 1 g
Total Fat: 6 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 65 mg
Fiber: 1 g
Sodium: 115 g