Giardiniera Stuffed BBQ Chicken Breasts

Who ever has enough chicken recipes?  Here's a simple, zesty and tasty recipe the next time you have some chicken breasts to make.

Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
BBQ seasoning
Hot Giardiniera 
BBQ Sauce

Butterfly the chicken breasts.  Spoon some of the giardiniera along with the oil it is in into the opened chicken breasts.  Close the breasts and coat liberally with your favorite BBQ seasoning.  Place the chicken onto a medium high heat grill and cook until done.  Coat with BBQ sauce and enjoy!

Grilled Ham

With spring on the horizon and the grill waiting to go, consider a different type of ham for this Easter this year.

I used a bone in shank ham for this.  Place the ham on a cutting board and score the top of the ham on the diagonal and then on a 90 degree angle about 1/2 inch deep.  This gets through the fat on the ham and lets the flavors get deeper inside during the cooking process.  Very rarely do I use salt to season the ham as it is usually brined in a salt solution.  A touch of pepper or similar is typically enough here.

Set the grill up for indirect heat and place the ham into the grate.  If you desire, you can use a drip pan to catch anything that falls.  This was a 11 pound ham and took about 3 hours to cook through.  After the first hour, I took a mixture of 1/3 yellow mustard and 2/3 apple butter mixed together and began to lightly glaze the ham.  Periodically over the next 2 hours, I added glaze to the ham as needed.

Remove the ham from the heat, let it rest and then carve and serve.  A nice change for your dinner table.

Mac and Queso

Oh no!  Not Mac and Cheese again.   Here is a variation that might just get your family excited.  With a few simple ingredients, we had around the house turned this into a nice wow dish.

Ingredients:
1 lb       hot breakfast sausage
1 cup    sweet pepper slices
2 cups  pasta
1 can   diced tomatoes with green chilies
1/2 package processed cheese loaf
1 tsp    garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground hot peppers
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Brown the sausage in s skillet.  Remove the sausage leaving any drippings in the pan.  Add the sweet pepper slices to the skillet and saute until soft, stirring frequently.  Add the tomatoes and spices along with the sausage.  Slice the cheese and add to the pan.  Stir to keep the cheese from burning.  Place the cooked pasta into a casserole dish and add the cheese mixture.  Combine and place into a preheated oven at 350 degrees.  Bake  for about 20 minutes and then broil on high for an additional 3 to give the top a browned coating.

Serve and enjoy!

Grilled Peach Salsa Chicken Breasts

Looking for a new way to serve your chicken breasts?  Here is a quick and simple way that works on the grill as well as in the oven.

These were boneless, skinless chicken breasts seasoned with Adobo Seasonings.  They were placed on a medium hot grill until the bottoms were done.  When they were turned, I added a liberal amount of Peach Salsa to them and grilled until complete.

Enchilada Casserole

Here is an easy and flexible recipe that you can customize to fit your family's tastes.  It is numerous layers of precooked ingredients.

Start with a layer of tortillas in a 9x13 pan.  We use corn tortillas as they tend to hold up better, but flour would be fine. The next layer was refried beans spread over the tortillas.  More tortillas, browned seasoned ground beef and shredded cheddar cheese.  More tortillas, refried beans and green chile peppers.  Another layer of tortillas, browned ground beef, enchilada sauce and topped with shredded cheddar.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted, about 25-30 minutes.  Serve with sour cream on top and enjoy!

Grilled Seasoned Chicken Wings

I was able to light the grill for the first time this spring.  Easy to make seasoned Chicken Wings are always a hit at our house.  These were seasoned with equal amounts of salt, black pepper, paprika and cumin.

Toss the wings in the seasonings to coat thoroughly.   Place onto a medium high heat grill and cook for about 25 minutes.  Time will vary with the size of the wings.

Saturday Morning Wake Up!

Here's a simple way to brighten up your breakfast.  A simple fried egg sandwich on toast, a slice of cheese and topped with habanero salsa.