Chicken

I baked a whole chicken.  Stuffed it with half a small Gala apple, half an onion, and half a lemon.  Rubbed it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary.  Baked it in the oven at 425? until the thermometer read 165 degrees.  Best chicken I've ever baked!  I baked it uncovered and there was no "steam" from another pan of water underneath.  The skin really kept the chicken tender.

Super moist piece of flavorful chicken!

I used the carcass to make stock.  Simmered the carcass with carrots, celery, onion, for about 4 hours.  All the chicken from the baked chicken disappeared fast.  I needed more chicken for the soup so I poached two chicken breasts in some chicken stock and then shredded it for my Chicken Noodle Soup.  Delicious with parmesan.

Baked Taquitos

Baked Beef Taquitos

This recipe was based largely on a recipe I found here:
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/09/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos.html

Essentially I put a dollop of filling in tortillas, rolled them up, and baked them on parchment paper in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes when they were well browned on the edges.  They stayed together nicely when I took them out.

Filling:
1)  Ground beef (sauteed with green onions and Nuevo Cocina taco seasoning that has raisins and olives in it)
2)  A mixture of Neufchatel cheese, salsa, olive slices, freshly squeezed lime juice, cumin, chili, onion, garlic, and cilantro.
3)  A bit of grated cheese - I used raw smoked goat cheddar cheese.

To serve:
1)  I served them with fresh avocado.
2)  For a dipping/drizzling sauce, a combo of salsa and ranch dressing.

Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti

Italicized ingredients are not optional
1.  Cook noodles
2.  Cook ground beef or other protein with onions and garlic.  Cook broccoli florets.
3.  Mix beef and broccoli with ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, tomato sauce, peas, kalamata olives, parsley.  Mix with the pasta.
4.  Grate cheese - I used mozzarella, cheddar, and jack.
5.  Layer noodle mixture and cheese, with cheese on top, and bake in the oven.

The second photo was of the leftovers.  I froze the remaining ziti.  After defrosting it, I mixed in quartered turkey meatballs and more tomato sauce and then topped it with grated smoked cheddar cheese before rebaking the ziti.

Chicken Fingers

Chicken Fingers

This is also the same recipe to use for Fish Sticks.

1.  Cut your protein to the correct size (pound/cut chicken, cut fish, etc.)

2.  Coat in flour, dip in egg, coat in herbed/spiced breadcrumbs.
(I used ground cereal instead of bread this time around).

3.  Bake in oven until done; serve with your favorite dipping sauce!

Mac & Cheese Casserole

Pictured above is a Mac & Cheese Casserole with whole wheat noodles, ground bison, peas, and four cheeses:  cheddar, mozzarella, colby, and feta.

I grew up eating Tuna Casserole.  This is an adaptable recipe that is delicious.  It's also the best way, in my opinion, to make Mac & Cheese (if you leave out the other ingredients), better than the cheese sauce method.

Layer the ingredients in a baking pan. Cooked noodles, shredded/grated/cut cheese, a protein like canned tuna or ground beef, vegetables like peas and corn, spices/herbs like minced onion, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper, mustard, paprika, etc.  Adding a little bit of tomato sauce is optional.  Finally, bake and serve - for a special treat, crumble potato chips on top.

Baked Chicken

Baking chicken requires little prep time and but cook time with bones is not too quick.

The chicken here was baked with some herbs and barbecue sauce.

Pizza

I made pizza using Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough.  Anyone else have any favorite whole grain pizza doughs (pre-made or simple recipes)?

This particular pizza has tomato sauce, spinach, kalamata olives, red pepper, Applegate pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, smoked cheddar cheese, and feta cheese.