Here chickie, chickie, chickie

The Main Event!

Now for the recipes!

The key to these recipes is keeping them simple: simple to cook and simple to eat. Part of keeping them simple is having a great deal of flexibility in the recipes. The following set features chicken--you pick what pieces you like. I make them with boneless chicken breast--which I stock up on when there is a good sale! But you do not have to. You may choose to use dark meat, mixed white and dark meat or pieces with the bone. It is up to you. I do suggest you remove the skin, though, to cut down on the grease in the sauce when you are done.

Keep in mind though, the cooking time may have to change a bit, depending on the meat you use. Cook it 10-15 minutes longer if you use pieces with bones in them. Make sure you cook the meat through, but just barely, that way it will reheat well. The first time you do these, watch them closely then, write down the amount of time you cooked the meals. That way you do not have to reinvent the wheel next time you cook. The first time is always a little experimental, it gets easy after that.

O.K., enough talk already, how about some food! Start with 5 lbs of boneless chicken breast, or enough of your favorite chicken pieces for 5 meals. If you are cooking more than 1 lb. of mean per recipe, increase the sauces accordingly.

Preheat the oven to 350F, then:


1. Oven Fried Chicken
Brush chicken pieces lightly with mayonnaise. {Note here: Do not stick the brush in the jar or you will risk contaminating your mayo with chicken juice…bad idea! Put a spoonful in a dish and go from there. Throw out any that is left in the dish after you finish the next recipe, don’t put it back in the jar} Coat with seasoned bread crumbs. Spray an 8x8 baking pan with Pam and place 4-6 pieces of chicken in it.

2. Honey Crunch Chicken
Brush chicken pieces lightly with mayonnaise. {Note here: Do not stick the brush in the jar or you will risk contaminating your mayo with chicken juice…bad idea! Put a spoonful in a dish and go from there. Throw out any that is left in the dish, don’t put it back in the jar} Spray an 8x8 baking pan with Pam and place 4-6 pieces of chicken in it. Over top of the chicken, sprinkle about 1/2 c of Grapenuts cereal. Drizzle honey lightly over top of the cereal.

3. Lazy Day Chicken
Mix 8 oz tomato sauce (or puree) with 2 T dry minced onion, 1 tsp (or 1 cube) beef bouillon and 1/4 c water. (I heat it a little in the micro to dissolve the bouillon). Spray an 8x8 baking pan with Pam and place 4-6 pieces of chicken in it. Pour sauce over top.

4. Rotisserie-taste chicken
Place 4-6 pieces of chicken in a sprayed 8x8 baking pan. Lightly spray chicken with Pam. Sprinkle heavily with McCormick rotisserie chicken seasoning.

5. Lemon-garlic Chicken
Mix the juice of one lemon (2-3T juice), 1/2 tsp thyme and 1 clove crushed garlic (about 1 tsp) Spray an 8x8 baking pan with Pam and place 4-6 pieces of chicken in it. Pour sauce over top.


Now that you've finished all that. bake everything for 25-30 minutes, depending on the pieces of chicken you are using. If they are not cooked through after thirty minutes, check them at 5 minute intervals, and remove them when they are just barely cooked through. Depending on the size of your oven, you may need to do it in two batches.

After the chicken is cooked, let it cool enough so you will not melt the ziplock bags. Label the bags before you fill them. Then place the chicken and the sauce into the smallest freezer type ziplock that it will fit into. I usually use quart size.If you used the disposable pans, they can be washed in the dishwasher and reused several times, if you want.

You've just made the major part of dinner for 5 nights in under 1 hour! Not a bad return on your time.

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The Shopping List
--print this out and cross off whatever you already have

• 5 lbs or 5 meals worth of chicken pieces
• 5 Aluminum 8x8 square pans (if you do not have enough regular ones)
• 1 box quart size, freezer style zip lock bags
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 small jar mayonnaise (low fat is fine)
• 1 small bottle honey
• 8 oz tomato sauce (or puree)
• 1 lemon OR small bottle lemon juice
• 1 small box Grapenuts cereal
• 1 small container seasoned or plain bread crumbs
• thyme
• 1 clove crushed garlic (about 1 tsp or 1/16 tsp garlic powder)
• 2 T dry minced onions
• beef bouillon (1 tsp or 1 cube)
• McCormick rotisserie chicken seasoning.