Tex-Mex Farmhouse Chicken

One of my favorite recipes to make is Farmhouse Chicken from Tammy's Recipes. I make it regularly for dinner, since everyone in the family loves it, and it's super easy to throw together. But Texas girl that I am, of course I had to think of how I could add a Tex-Mex twist to it. Not to take its place, because we all love the original and I will continue to make it, but just for something... different. I had visions of cornbread, cumin, and peppers dancing in my head, and here is what I came up with.

Main ingredients: Cornbread stuffing mix, butter, corn, green chilies, jalapeno, green onions, yellow onion, chicken, cilantro.

 

Only spices needed: salt, pepper, and cumin!

After preparing stuffing on the stovetop, mix in corn, green chilies, jalapeno, green onions, cilantro, and cumin.

 Make a basic white sauce with cubed chicken and diced onion, and pour into casserole dish...

TIP for making white sauce with chicken: Cube raw chicken breasts while partially frozen - it makes the job so easy!

 

Spoon stuffing mix on top and bake.

 

Yum! Southwest stuffing with a creamy chicken gravy!

 Ingredients:

• 1 package (12 ounces) cornbread stuffing mix
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cups milk
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 can (7 ounces) chopped green chilies, undrained
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 can (16 ounces) corn, drained, or 2 cups frozen corn, thawed and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 
 

Directions: 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

2. Prepare stuffing mix according to package directions for the stove top. Stir in chopped green chilies, sliced green onions, chopped jalapeno, corn, cumin, and chopped cilantro. Set aside.

3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan and add the chopped yellow onion. Cook and stir over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add flour, reduce heat to medium, and cook and stir for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk and stir until well-combined. Add cubed chicken, salt and pepper. Bring to a slow boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Pour chicken mixture into prepared dish. Top with stuffing. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbly around edges.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for my family, for my husband, and each one of my kids. I am thankful for friends and neighbors. I am thankful for an abundance of food, for this wonderful country we live in, for our beautiful state of Washington, and for my goofy dog.

This was our attempt to sort of recreate the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving painting.

The tablesetting before we all sat down to eat. 

 

Each person had a pumpkin and a tealight candle at their place (except the 4yo and 2yo!).

The centerpiece. I wanted to create something festive looking, but not too tall, so we would be able to look at each other across the table!

 

The drink table included iced tea, water, white zinfandel, and sparkling apple cider.

 

On our menu: Turkey (of course!), homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, Southwest cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, steamed broccoli, homemade dinner rolls.

 

This is the only way I will eat sweet potatoes. It is more like a dessert. The potatoes are creamed with sugar and butter, and the crunchy topping is made of flour, more butter, brown sugar, pecans, ginger, and nutmeg. Soooo good!

 

The Southwest stuffing was just a box of cornbread stuffing mix, and I added corn and canned green chilies to it.

 

 After our first picture, we took a silly one. This one actually reflects our family more accurately!

 

I didn't get any pictures of the pies, but I made pecan and pumpkin. A couple hours after eating, we had some neighbors over for pie, and they also brought red velvet cake. We had no shortage of sweets! After dessert and a nice visit, the kids spread out on the living room floor to play Apples to Apples. And now, I am going to bed! I am so exhausted. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Another Low-Calorie Lunch

I'm getting pretty good at putting together 300-calorie lunches for my husband. This one is actually under 300 calories!  Recently I discovered Sara Lee 45 Calories & Delightful bread, which the whole family loves. At only 45 calories per slice, I can really cut back on calories when making sandwiches. Compare that to regular sandwich bread, which is about 70-80 calories per slice.

Deli lunch meat is surprisingly low-calorie, and using mustard as a spread instead of mayonnaise also help cut way back on the calories. Simple sides of fresh fruit and some whole-wheat pretzel sticks with Light Laughing Cow cheese round out this low-calorie, portable lunch.