Dinner for Real: Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Last week I made a dinner for my family that was so simple, it seemed almost too good to be true. But it was true, and it was delicious. Here's how I made super-simple Barbecue Chicken Pizzas.

Early in the day, place boneless skinless chicken breasts (or whatever chicken you like) in the crock-pot. Stir together a sauce made of half barbecue sauce and half vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar; use whatever you like). Cook for several hours, until chicken is very tender.

Remove chicken from crock pot. Pull meat apart using two forks. Stop at this point and taste your chicken--you'll be amazed at how tender, juicy, and flavorful it is. The yummy barbecue flavor will be completely infused throughout the meat.

Just before dinnertime, preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place whatever you'd like to use for pizza crust on a lightly greased baking sheet. I used naan (Indian flatbread). You could use flour tortillas, crusty bread, or whatever you like. The naan worked very well, and we made one pizza for each family member. Next time I might make an extra pizza or two, just because everyone liked them so much!

Spread barbecue sauce evenly over your flatbread.

Top the barbecue sauce with as much of the barbecue chicken as you like. Sprinkle cheese atop the meat (I used half smoked gouda and half mozzarella). Then add any other toppings you'd like, such as red onion or scallions. Most of my family members just wanted meat and cheese

Bake for a few minutes, just long enough to melt the cheeses.

If you like, sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro.

Here's how it looks just before you gobble it up:

Enjoy!

Dinner for Real: It's back!

Earlier this year I started a series called "Dinner for Real," wherein I published real-life, tried-and-true recipes that any family cook could prepare on an average Tuesday. I liked it, and many of you liked it, too.

Then I had a big dose of "Life for Real": my husband had to undergo major open-heart surgery, followed three weeks later by a dangerous episode of atrial flutter. So for awhile around here, we were having "Unreal Dinners"--dear friends were bringing us wonderful meals. What a ministry! We were so grateful. That time was followed by a round of celebrations and parties as our middle son graduated from high school.

Now Jack is back at work, the kids are out of school, and I'm back in the kitchen, trying to put together a workable dinner each night. So I'm in need of a Dinner for Real re-start, and I thought you might be, too!

One super-simple dinner I make sometimes is quesadillas. They're tasty and couldn't be easier.

Quesadillas

• flour tortillas
• shredded cheese (Cheddar, mozzarella, Monterrey Jack, whatever)
• cooked meat, such as shredded chicken (optional)

Heat a large griddle. Spray with non-stick cooking spray (or use the fat of your choice). Place flour tortillas on the griddle. Sprinkle each tortilla with cheese. Cover with a second tortilla. Cook until bottom is browned, then flip and cook other side. Remove from griddle. Cut into wedges with a pizza cutter.

These are quick, delicious, and almost universally liked. My picky 14-year-old likes his completely plain. The rest of us like to add embellishments to ours, such as sour cream, black beans, etc. And my favorite topping of all is my homemade salsa. You really should give this a try.

Fresh Salsa

• approximately 2 lb. tomatoes, fresh or canned

• 1 clove garlic

• 1/2 small onion (I like Vidalias)

• a few slices jalapeno pepper

• juice of one lime

• 8 oz. tomato sauce

• 1/2 to 1 bunch fresh cilantro (I like a lot)

• salt and pepper 

Using a food processor, chop garlic, onion, and jalapeno very fine, then scrape into a medium-sized bowl. Chop tomatoes as chunky as you like them. (I process the tomatoes a couple at a time, just using the "pulse" button, so that they're pretty chunky.) Add the chopped tomatoes to the bowl. Stir in lime juice and tomato sauce. Chop cilantro and stir into tomato mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

 
 **Click here for a printable copy of this recipe.** 

This salsa is absolutely delicious. Because of the lime juice and the fresh cilantro, the salsa is incredibly fresh-tasting, even if you used canned tomatoes (which I usually do!). It's a great topping for quesadillas (or fajitas or enchiladas or just about any other Mexican food). It's also wonderful to serve as a dip for tortilla chips. And if you want killer guacamole, all you have to do is peel and mash an avocado (simply place an avocado in a pie plate and mash using a potato masher) and stir in a heaping spoonful of this salsa. Divine!

Do YOU have a great Dinner for Real recipe? I'm going to start running this series on Tuesdays again, beginning next week. If you have a recipe you'd like to share, please leave me a comment! I'd like to line up guest posters for this series. I want us all to learn from one another!

Dinner for Real: Heather's Pasta Carbonara

Hello! If you're here visiting from Beneath My Heart, welcome! I'm so glad to have you here at Imparting Grace. If you're a regular here at Imparting Grace, I'd love for you to visit me at Beneath My Heart and see my new kitchen window treatment.

Tuesdays around here are devoted to gaining ideas for real-life dinners over which I do not have to slave and which my family will actually eat. I'm amazed at how my family wants to eat dinner every night. Every night! They're always hungry, it seems. That fact prompted me to start my Dinner for Real series, and I hope you'll get some good ideas of real-life, kid-approved recipes that are both practical and tasty.

Today we have a special treat--a guest post from my blogging buddy Heathahlee. You may know her from her beautiful blog, Butterfly Genes, or from the Etsy Shop where she sells her gorgeous handmade tassels. If you don't already know her, this is your lucky day! Read on to meet Heathahlee and learn how she makes one of her family's favorite recipes.

Straight from Heathahlee:

One of our favorite meals is called Pasta Carbonara. It's really not a Carbonara, I guess, since it doesn't have eggs in it (I've seen other "Carbonara" dishes and they've all had eggs in them). But, it is one fine and tasty recipe my friend Jennifer gave me several years ago. She also called it Sausage Spaghetti, but I think that makes it sound too much like normal spaghetti.

Okay, here's the recipe:

Take one pound bulk breakfast sausage and brown with 5 to 7 pieces of bacon that you've diced. You can also use bulk Italian Sausage, too, and if you do, you can leave out the next step. See the stuff on the wooden spoon? When I use regular sausage, I put in about a scant teaspoon each of oregano and basil. Makes it more Italian-y. As that mixture is browning, add one minced clove of garlic and stir it in really well.

Whilst that is browning, boil some Angel Hair pasta.

We use whole wheat pasta, 'cause that's how we roll. Or maybe it's so we won't roll so much. I don't even know what that means. Anyway, it's really good and good for you, too. I usually use about 12 ounces, but I don't have a set amount, just use as much as you want to. How's that for precise measuring?

When you put your water on to boil, throw some salt in the water so that you have already salted your pasta and you won't have to salt the finished product. I think you consume less sodium that way, but how should I know? Man, I'm really sarcastic today, aren't I? Anyway, I think I use probably a tablespoon in my water. I know that sounds like a lot, but remember, this the water we're salting, not the pasta itself.

Back to the task at hand. While your meat is browning and your pasta is boiling, go ahead and grate some Parmesan cheese. DO NOT USE POWDER. Come on, people, get the real stuff! It tastes SO much better than the round box stuff.

This is me grating cheese in my beloved Pampered Chef cheese grater. Only, the handle is broken so I'm having to hold it funny. And hold it I will until I can afford another Pampered Chef cheese grater. It's that good. Okay...grate about a cup.

Then open up one of these.

After your pasta is cooked, your meat is no longer pink, your cheese is grated and your can is opened (Wait...what?), you're ready to assemble. Drain your pasta and dump the drained pasta into your meat mixture, followed by your cheese...

...and evaporated milk. Now just let it simmer, stirring it all really well to get it all mixed in. Simmer and stir until the liquid is reduced and the mixture is almost creamy...about 5 minutes or so. Don't over cook it or it will not be creamy, it will be sort of sticky. Still delicious, but not as nice a presentation.

And here you go. Finished product. I don't think I can convey how good this stuff is. My Kiddo regularly asks for it, and that's saying something. I mean, he's not a picky eater, but he'd rather request McDonald's than something I make. So I know something's a hit when he asks for it.

Here's the recipe fo' realz.

Pasta Carbonara

1 lb. bulk sausage, either breakfast or Italian

1 tsp each basil, oregano (if using regular breakfast sausage...if using Italian, omit)

5 to 7 pieces bacon, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

Angel hair pasta (amount depends on you)

salt for pasta (amount depends on how much you want)

In a skillet brown sausage with bacon, spices, and garlic until sausage and bacon are no longer pink. If there is a lot of grease after you're done browning, drain some off. Leave enough to just barely coat the bottom of the skillet. While the meat is browning, boil pasta, adding salt before boiling. Drain boiled pasta. Combine meat mixture, pasta, cheese, and evaporated milk and mix well. Simmer until liquid is reduced and mixture is creamy, 5 to 7 minutes, stirring well.

That's it! It's super, super easy, fast, and delicious to boot.

**********

Thank you so much, Heathahlee! Now to all you other wonderful cooks: if you have a recipe you'd like to share in the Dinner for Real series, please let me know!

Dinner for Real: Crockpot Barbecue

Another weekday; another need for a simple dinner recipe. Today I'll share with you one of the easiest things I make: Crockpot Barbecue.

This is so simple you don't even need a recipe. All you do is to place a piece of pork (Boston butt, pork loin, or pork tenderloin--your choice) in a Crock Pot. Mix together a generous amount of barbecue sauce and vinegar (I use half barbecue sauce and half apple cider vinegar for a total of about 2 cups). Pour over meat. Cook for hours--probably 3-4 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low, until meat is very tender. Using two forks, pull meat apart (thereby creating "pulled pork"). Serve on buns to make delicious barbecue sandwiches, adding additional barbecue sauce if desired.

Believe me, this makes a tender, juicy, delicious barbecue. We like Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce; you can use whatever barbecue sauce strikes your fancy. And if you need a good side dish, try this recipe for Crunchy Salad. I think this is technically an "Asian" salad, but I think it is wonderful with barbecue--and besides, I'm not a big fan of traditional cole slaw.

Crunchy salad

Ingredients:

Vegetables

16 oz. cole slaw mix or chopped cabbage

3-6 green onions

Crunchies

1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds

1 package Ramen noodles (chicken or Oriental flavor)

Dressing

1/2 cup oil (I use canola)

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons sugar (or 3 packets artificial sweetener)

1/2 teaspoon salt

seasoning packet from Ramen noodles

Roast almonds and Ramen noodles at 350 degrees until light brown (about 5-7 minutes). Set aside.

Chop green onions. Stir into cabbage.

Whisk dressing ingredients together well.

Toss vegetables, crunchies, and dressing together just before serving.

I hope you're enjoying this Dinner for Real series! Right now I'm looking for volunteers to share their recipes here; please let me know if you have an easy, tried-and-true recipe you'd like to see featured here. And soon I think we'll have a linky party so that we can collect a bunch of recipes.

What's for dinner at your house tonight??

Dinner for Real: Super-Easy Parmesan Chicken

Hello friends! I hope you're enjoying this Dinner for Real series. In the coming weeks, I plan to feature some recipes from friends. For today, I'll share with you one of the simplest recipes in my file box: Baked Parmesan Chicken.

I'm a sucker for anything tasty that can be made from boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I always have some of these in my fridge or freezer. If there's a way to make this convenient meat tasty, I'm all for it! Here's a recipe that I developed myself after reading the description of a yummy dish in a restaurant.

Super-Easy Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:

• boneless-skinless chicken breasts
• bottled creamy Caesar salad dressing
• bread crumbs
• grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat broiler. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying with non-stick cooking spray or lining with parchment paper.

Place chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound with mallet until fairly thin. (I often use the breast tenderloins and pound each until it's about the size of my hand.)

Pour some some Caesar dressing onto a dinner plate. On another plate, bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese to create enough coating for your chicken.

Dredge each breast in Caesar dressing, then coat with bread crumb/cheese mixture. Place chicken under broiler. Broil until coating is golden brown. Carefully flip chicken pieces; broil the other side until chicken is thoroughly cooked and coating is golden brown. (Broiling time will vary depending in the thickness of your chicken pieces and the strength of your broiler. I usually start by broiling mine about 5 minutes per size.)

That's it! You've got delicious, juicy, flavorful chicken ready to go. This is great to serve along with pasta and your favorite tomato-based sauce (my kids' favorite) or atop Caesar salad (my husband's favorite). Either way, it's a winner!

Please let me know if you'd like to submit a recipe to be featured here at Dinner for Real. Bon appetit!

Dinner for Real: Savory Shrimp and Grits

Are you enticed or repulsed by the title of today's post? If you're not a grits person, I urge you to try them. Yes, they're Southern, but they're so delicious. And if you just can't get past the idea of cooking something so Southern, try thinking in terms of polenta. Did you know grits and polenta are the same thing?

One staple I always have in my freezer is a bag of frozen shrimp. I buy two-pound bags of raw shrimp in the shell. I like the 21-30 count shrimp: that is, each pound includes 21-30 shrimp. They're a nice size and very versatile for recipes. And my local supermarket often has them on sale; I usually pay less than $10 per bag.

Crook's Corner, a famous little restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (just a few miles from me) claims to have originated the dish called Shrimp and Grits. Theirs is delicious--the shrimp are sauteed with bacon, scallions, and mushrooms. But I have a feeling that people have been serving shrimp and grits together for hundreds of years.

Here's the way I prepare shrimp--simple enough for every day; tasty enough for special occasions. (Note: This recipe is derived from the recipe called "Beach Shrimp" that was once published in Southern Living magazine. My sister shared it with me, and I tailored it for our tastes.)

Oven-Prepared Shrimp

2 to 4 pounds frozen shrimp

2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped

1 16-ounce bottle Italian dressing

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

juice of 2 lemons

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into small chunks

Thaw shrimp according to package directions. Peel shrimp.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Place shrimp in pan.

Mix together Italian dressing, chopped garlic, pepper, and the lemon juice. Pour over shrimp and toss to coat. Dot with butter.

Bake about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.

When I'm cooking for the four of us who are usually at home for dinner these days, I prepare 1 2 lb. bag of shrimp, but this recipe could easily accommodate a second 2 lb. bag. The recipe makes lots of yummy sauce.

Spoon shrimp atop your favorite grits, adding sauce as desired.

I like my grits nice and simple. If you don't already have a recipe for grits, here's how I prepare them. (If you do a search I'm sure you can find lots of good recipes for fancy grits. I've heard that Paula Deen's cheese grits casserole is good.)

Stovetop Grits

2 cups water

2 cups milk

1 cup stone-ground grits (I use half yellow, half white. If you can't find stone-ground grits, look for stone-ground polenta. Same thing.)

Pour water and milk into saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add grits to liquid, stirring thoroughly. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or so, until liquid is absorbed and grits are the consistency you like. Salt and pepper to taste; add butter if you like. (Note: Eating grits without salt would be like eating popcorn without salt. Yuck. They need salt. Just so you know.)

Enjoy! And for more real-life dinner recipes, click on "Dinner for Real" link in my sidebar. I hope to feature a down-to-earth dinner recipe every Tuesday. If you have a recipe you'd like to have highlighted here, please email me at RichellaP (at) Gmail (dot) com. I'd love to feature you!

**I'm joining Jen for Tasty Tuesday**

Dinner for Real: Crustless Quiche

I hope you're enjoying the Dinner for Real series. I've had several people contact me and tell me that they've tried one of the recipes and liked them. This makes me so happy!

Today's recipe is one that I've pulled out many times when I've waited too long to think about dinner--those days when I forget to get something out of the freezer, or I've been away from home all day and didn't have time to put something in the CrockPot. You know the kind of day I'm talking about, don't you? Please tell me I'm not the only one who has days like that!

I'll be completely honest here. My children are not fans of quiche. I think that's because what's billed as quiche at restaurants is usually full of things like broccoli or spinach--more green than anything else!

My kids wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole, let alone a fork. So when I make quiche, it's a much simpler affair. And while I love quiche in a pastry shell, I usually make mine crustless, which cuts out a measurable number of calories, fat grams, and carbohydrate grams.

Crustless Quiche
Ingredients:
8 whole eggs
2 cups cheese, grated (I use half cheddar and half Swiss or Gruyere--use whatever you like!)
1 cup milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
salt and pepper to taste
bacon, ham, or sausage, or any combination thereof

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare pan (I use an 8 inch square Pyrex dish) by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
Cook meat of your choice and drain fat. Cut or crumble into small pieces.
Beat eggs. Add cheese, milk, and baking powder. Mix well. Stir in meat. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick insert in center comes out fairly clean. Do not overbake--the quiche will continue to cook some from residual heat after you remove it from the oven.

We like to have this with grits and fruit or green salad. Or sometimes I prepare broccoli or asparagus for my husband and fruit for the rest of us. I'm sure you could add veggies to the quiche if you like--we prefer to have a meat and cheese pie and keep the veggies on the side.
What do you make on those days when you have to come up with dinner on one of those days?

Dinner for Real

Last week I asked if anyone would be interested in an ongoing series devoted to real dinners for everyday life. Lots of people said they would be interested. To be honest, I was surprised that there were so many people who share my difficulty in coming up with dinner ideas. I've always felt terribly deficient in the area of meal planning and execution, but maybe it's a more common hardship than I thought!

This series will be dedicated to sharing real recipes for real dinners for real people in real life. Nothing fancy, nothing prize-winning. . . but also nothing that hasn't been taste-tested by real people.

We'll start with one of our favorite kinds of food: Mexican.  I'm not sure that what we call "Mexican" is particularly authentic, but we like it--simple fare that's not too expensive.  Maybe it's more Tex-Mex than Mexican.  Or maybe it's just what we like since it usually involves meat and cheese.  Anyway, here's one of our favorites:  simple enchiladas.

You can cook meat specifically to use in enchiladas, but this also a great way to use up leftover chicken or beef.  We especially like chicken enchiladas, and I simply pull chicken apart with two forks to stuff the enchiladas.  Here's how to make them: 

Simple Enchiladas

First, spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour some canned or bottled enchilada sauce (I use store brand red sauce) into the pan.

In the microwave, warm some tortillas. We prefer flour tortillas, although I think corn tortillas are often preferred for enchiladas. Use whatever you like.

Wet the warm tortillas a bit with the enchilada sauce. That way they won't tear when you roll them.  (See how the tops and bottoms of the tortillas are cut off?  That's because my tortillas were a little too big for my baking pan!)

Place some of the chicken, a bit of the enchilada sauce, and some cheese inside each tortilla.  
Roll up.

Place rolled tortillas, seam side down, into prepared pan.  Pour remainder of enchilada sauce across top of tortillas. Sprinkle with more cheese if you like (I always do).

Bake 30 minutes or more, until everything is hot and melty and yummy.

My kids love these, and I have to admit that I really like them, too. They're not fancy, but they taste really good. We like to have rice and beans with them, and my husband usually likes to have some salad as well.

Now, what do you think? Is this a recipe you think you could use? Do you have a recipe you'd like to contribute? I'd really like this series to be a collaborative effort. Would you like to write a guest post for this series? Or would you prefer that we do a recipe linky party? Please let me know! And may your dinnertime be blessed!

Dinner for Real: A new series? Please vote!

I'm betting I'm not the only person in the world who likes to read cookbooks as if they were novels. Or who loves to collect recipes for yummy things like appetizers and elaborate desserts. Give me an ingredient list that includes sour cream or cream cheese, and I'm a happy girl.

But while I LIKE to read recipes for yummy foods that I'll make only a few times a year, what I NEED to read are recipes for what to fix for dinner. Just for my family. On any given Tuesday.

I've been thinking, "I wish somebody would post recipes for good, dependable, weeknight meals--dishes that are picky-eater tested and that don't require exotic ingredients. Just plain old normal food." And then it occurred to me that--well, what do you know?--I am somebody. I could do it!

So I'm proposing a new series: Dinner for Real. Every Tuesday.

What do you think? Would you read it? Would you want to contribute to it? Would you want an occasional linky party for it?

I'll go first by reprising the recipe one of our favorite foods, something that's good enough for company but also simple enough for every day.

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin

1 teaspoon, more or less, steak seasoning such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning

(Note: I don't actually measure; I just sprinkle it all over.)

Bacon slices

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle seasoning over pork.

Wrap in bacon and secure with toothpicks.

Place pork on lightly greased wire rack in an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes. Then broil about 5 minutes or until bacon is crisp. (Pork is ready when meat thermometer registers 155 degrees. Do not overcook!)

I didn't get a photo of the pork after it was sliced because we ate it all up right away!

If you're watching your fat intake, you don't have to eat the bacon. My boys always eat the bacon, but I usually don't eat mine. But wrapping the tenderloin in the bacon really makes a difference in how the tenderloin cooks--it comes out juicy and wonderfully flavorful.

Now what do you think? Does a Dinner for Real series sound like something you'd be interested in? Please leave a comment and let me know!