Left-Over Wednesdays: Chicken Pitas with Hummus and Spinach

So it's been a while since I've done a recipe! I was wandering around the store Monday in search of something cool, light and healthy for dinner, and this is what I came up with!! Hope you try it, and add some other fun ingredients to make it your own! Be sure to come back and let me know what you think and what you added to this! Bon Appetit!

Chicken Pitas with Hummus and Spinach

I did this two ways: baked open-faced like pizza and cold like a pita sandwich! Both ways were great!

Medium pitas

Chicken strips, baked with Cavendar's Greek seasoning

Hummus, store bought or homemade (I used a good store bought brand that had garlic and pine nuts)

Fresh baby spinach, lightly steamed, but not wilty

Goat cheese

1. Bake the seasoned chicken strips in a 375 degree oven until cooked through. Dice chicken strips once cooked.

2. If you choose to bake them, place pitas on baking sheet; or place on a serving tray if leaving cold. Spread about 1-2 tablespoons of hummus on each pita.

3. Place spinach in pot with about 1/2 cup water and place over medium-low heat. Toss spinach constantly until lightly steamed, or just beginning to wilt. Drain well.

4. Layer spinach, chicken and cheese on pitas.

5. If baking, place in 375 degree oven for 5-10 minutes until warmed through.

After the fact, I wished for some roasted red peppers or maybe sun-dried tomatoes to add a little color and flavor, but everyone agreed this was a yummy experiment!

Nutrition Info: I figured that one pita had 280-300 calories!

Left-Over Wednesday: Parmesean-crusted Chicken with White Wine Sauce

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted a recipe, so here's a quickie that I tested this past week! The results were great, although the breading of the chicken needs some work, so I'm sure that I'll tweak this one. Y'all don't mind if I post imperfect recipes do you? Didn't think so! Feel free to alter as you will, just let me know how it turns out!

Parmesan-Crusted Chicken with White Wine Pan Sauce

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, dried well
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 tsp. dried basil
5 TBL butter
1 cup dry white wine (I used "Goats Do Roam" White)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
angel hair pasta, cooked and drained

1. Bread the chicken: Combine Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and basil. Dip each chicken breast into the egg, then into the Parmesan mixture. Option: cut chicken breasts into strips before breading.

2. Melt 4 TBL of butter in pan over med-high heat. Place chicken in pan and cook on all sides until brown and crispy. Be careful of breading sticking to pan instead of chicken! When chicken is cooked through, place on a baking sheet and place in low-temp oven to keep warm and crispy.

The cooked chicken, going into the oven to keep warm. Did perfect on my baking stone.

3. Heat pan back up on medium heat with the butter and juices that remained behind from cooking the chicken. Deglaze pan with the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to get any residual pieces. Add garlic, reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer.

The sauce cooking, before the finishing butter

4. While sauce is cooking, boil water and cook pasta. The sauce will be done when pasta is cooked, approximately 10-15 minutes.

5. Finish sauce: remove from heat and whisk in remaining tablespoon of butter until melted.

6. Serve chicken over angel hair pasta, spooning sauce over everything.

Left-Over Wednesdays: Angel Chicken

Angel Chicken

I bummed this recipe off a friend I worked with when I was a chef at Saks Inc. I Tweaked a bit, and here it is. Not sure why its named "Angel", that's what Kelly called it...enjoy!

boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 stick butter, melted

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Mix the cracker crumbs and cheese together in a medium bowl. Set up a standard breading line: butter, cracker crumbs, baking dish. Be careful of cross contamination and food safety!

2. Dip each chicken breast in butter, then coat in cracker crumb mixture. Place in shallow baking dish. Sprinkle extra cracker crumbs on top of each breast. The more crispies, the better, as Scott would say!

3. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until done.

Left-Over Wednesdays: Cajun Chicken Pasta

This week's recipe is something that I adopted from a dish that my friend, Janet Revel, made one time. It's really easy, using store-bought sauces, and can be multiplied to feed lots of people (like hungry college students!).

Cajun Chicken Pasta

4 Chicken Breasts
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Cajun seasoning
1 jar 'Classico Spicy Tomato Basil' sauce
1 jar Alfredo sauce
1 box/bag of bow tie pasta

1. Pan fry chicken breasts until cooked through. Chop into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
2. Saute bell peppers, onion and garlic in olive oil. When vegetables are almost cooked, add a teaspoon (more or less to taste) of Cajun seasoning and finish cooking.
3. Add both jars of sauces and cover. Let simmer for 15 minutes to meld flavors.
4. Add chicken back to sauce and continue simmering.
5. Cook pasta according to box.
6. Serve sauce over pasta. Garlic bread goes well with this too!