Last Friday for "Italian Night" my bestie Christy cooked an amazing Baked Chicken Ziti.  Even with my Dad's Mississippi Spaghetti there, I still ate more of the Ziti than anything else.  It was a noodly, cheesy delight!

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts cubed small

1 jar of spaghetti sauce

1 jar of alfredo sauce

1 ½ c small curd cottage cheese

2 large eggs

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

2 cups mozarella cheese

4 cups of ziti (measure uncooked)

salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano to taste

Directions:

Coat a large baking dish with plenty of cooking spray.  Saute chicken with spices.  Mix in spaghetti and alfredo sauces and simmer on low for an hour to get chicken well flavored.  In a separate bowl mix cottage cheese, eggs, parmesan cheese, garlic, and oregano.  Boil and drain pasta.  Layer pasta, cheese mixture, chicken mixture, and mozarella cheese.  Finish with any leftover mozarella on top.  Bake  uncovered for one hour at 350*.  Then Broil for 5 minutes to golden the top.

Everyone at the dinner loved this meal - we polished off over half even with two complete other dishes there.  It was a huge hit even with the kiddos as young as 2 years old since it was easy (and I am sure fun!) to eat with her fingers.

 

 

Mike LOVES pizza.  The man practically survived on it before I came along.  He honestly would eat pizza every single day if I would let him.   I on the other hand am happy to eat pizza once or twice a YEAR.  I am just not a big fan.  Since I don't like any meat or sauce on my pizza, I end up basically with cheese and bread... and hungry an hour later. 

Last week I was making out our grocery list, and started surfing the internet to find something new and different to make.  I am tired of the same things over and over.  When I saw this recipe for a Chicken Club Pizza, I knew I had found something good... but it wasnt until we tested it that I truly hit the jackpot.  I changed it up a bit, so here is my version:

Chicken Club Pizza

Ingredients:

• canned Pizza dough
• fresh-made Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
• chicken
• bacon
• Package Kraft shredded cheese - I used the Triple Cheese with Philadelphia - divided

We first cooked the chicken on the George Foreman Grill with zero seasoning.   I had cut every tiny little bit of fat and skin to make it as lean as I could get it.   Once the chicken cooled I cut it into little bite size pieces and set aside. Then cook the bacon until it is crispy.  Once cooled, crumble and set aside with chicken. Lay out canned pizza dough on a cookie sheet (I used my Pampered Chef Pizza Stone) and cook for 10 minutes at 400*.   Smear Ranch Dressing on the mostly-cooked dough and top with a layer of chicken, cheese, bacon, and the rest of the  cheese. Cook for another 5 minutes or until crust is brown and all cheese is melted. Top with lettuce.

Voila!

We ate every. single. crumb of this pizza.  I had left some grilled chicken for me to eat (the non-pizza eater) but I ended up sticking it in the fridge and indulging in a piece!  Even the girls loved every single bite.  It was absolutely better than I could put into words, or these pictures will show.  You just simply have to try it!

I am no great chef.  In fact I totally cracked up just typing that.

I remember being 17 and my mother and I living in a little 2 bedroom townhouse with very little storage room.  We used the OVEN to store our sweaters... that is how often we turned it on.   But there were a few things I did learn to cook well.  This one by far is my favorite.

Potato Salad:

Ingredients (yes, brand specific):

• red potatoes
• eggs
• Vlasic Snackumms Dill Pickles
• Kraft Mayo
• French's Mustard

First of all, for any good potato salad you must use the little red potatoes... they are SO much better than brown ones.  I also like to leave the skins on.  Cube up your potatoes and cover them with water.  Add whole eggs to the pot and boil all together until potatoes are tender.  Drain.  Peel the eggs and remove the yolks.  (Trash them or feed them to the dogs like I do) Cut up the eggs and add to the potatoes.  Dice up the little pickles and add to the potatoes and egg.  Then add mayo and mustard to taste.  Voila!  (I told you this was simple right!?!)

 

Fried Chicken:

Ingredients:

• boneless, skinless, fatless (I cut EVERYTHING white off) chicken breasts
• eggs
• Bisquick
• Vegetable or Peanut oil

I had no idea that frying chicken was a talent... I have tons of friends who say they can not fry chicken (must be a Southern thing) so I am going to break it down easy for you.  First trim your chicken to be as lean as you can possibly get it.  You are going to add enough calories by frying it, no need to have more.  Scramble your raw eggs and dip the chicken in to coat.  Then coat with Bisquick and put into deep frying pan heated to medium high.  Then just let it sit for about 7 minutes or so, depending on how thick your chicken is.   Use tongs to gently flip over for another 7 minutes or so. And then for good measure I flip one more time - to get the outside good and crispy. The less you move the chicken, the better it will fry.  Gently remove each piece and lay on a plate covered in paper towels to absorb the excess grease.  Voila!

The end result is perfectly fried chicken!

The perfect Super Simple Southern Supper - in under an hour!