BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

Right after I got married I started making awesome quesadillas, if I do say so myself.  Along with the cheese, I'd add some sort of meat, chopped tomatoes, and pickled jalapeno peppers.  My husband was in heaven.  Then, when I was at my sister's house, she said that she usually used BBQ chicken as her meat.  I'd never used that before, so I tried it.  YUM!  I think it's my new favorite.

You can definitely change this around, but this is how I make BBQ chicken quesadillas:  

Ingredients:
chicken
BBQ sauce
burrito-sized tortillas
cheese
other fillings of your choice  (tomatoes, peppers, etc)


First, I cook a couple of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts.  I then shred them and mix them with BBQ sauce.  I place one tortilla on a skillet over low to medium-low heat.  I then cover the top of it with cheddar or mexican-style cheese, (whatever cheese you think sounds good would work) followed by some of the BBQ chicken, jalapeno peppers, and chopped tomatoes.  Once the cheese has started to melt pretty nicely, I add another tortilla to the top of it and flip the whole thing over.  (Make sure the cheese has started melting or else when you flip it over the cheese and other toppings might fly out!)  I let that sit for another minute and then pull the whole thing out.  Then I cut it up like a pizza and serve.  Repeat for more quesadillas.

Delicious!  I haven't found any at our grocery store, but if you happen to find tortillas that you cook yourself, (SUPER easy to do) get those.  They make the quesadillas even better.

Southwest Spaghetti

I don't eat normal spaghetti unless there are lots and lots of meatballs.  For me, spaghetti should never just be noodles and sauce.  Sooo, when a friend recommended this recipe to me, (thanks Dana!) I knew I'd probably love it.  It's like spaghetti on steroids.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
12 oz uncooked spaghetti 
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 jar(26 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 can ripe olives, drained and sliced
2 cups shredded colby jack cheese
shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream and salsa

Directions:
cook spaghetti according to package directions. meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook turkey and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
stir in the taco seasoning, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and olives. 
drain spaghetti and stir into the turkey mixture.

transfer to a greased 9 by 13 in baking dish; sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered, at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with the lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa.

Totally loved this!  Before I made this, I had only cooked with ground turkey one other time and there wasn't much flavor in that dish, so I've been waiting for another recipe that uses ground turkey so I could give it another try.  And this dish has SO much flavor.  It made me love ground turkey so much more.

I accidentally forgot to buy lettuce so I didn't add that at the end, but I added everything else and it was perfect.  My husband (and baby!) were both fans as well.  I will definitely be making this again.

Rainbow Rotini Pasta Salad

I ate this dish at a big ward party and thought it was delicious.  I came home and tried to find a recipe online, but couldn't find the exact one.  (I'm sure this is because the lady who made it didn't actually use a recipe).  :-)  Anyway, this one's kind of close, so I used it as a guide:

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package colored rotini pasta
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large cucumber, chopped
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle Italian-style salad dressing
• 1 cup black olives, pitted and sliced

Directions

1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a rapid boil (2 teaspoons of salt can be added, optional). Add rotini. Return water to rapid boil and cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain. Rinse in cold water.
2. Combine cooked pasta with tomatoes, green bell pepper, onion, cucumber, broccoli, mushrooms, olives and Italian salad dressing. Cover and chill. Toss salad before serving.

I basically just cooked the pasta and then threw in pepperoni, olives, tomatoes, and the Italian dressing.  I also added some feta at the end, although that's not in the picture.  Most recipes call for broccoli, mushrooms, etc.... but none of those things appealed to me. 

My only mistake was serving this as a main dish.  It's definitely a side dish.  :-)  It's pretty good though, and great for big parties.

BBQ Chicken Salad

I actually really like salads, but as I've mentioned before, it's hard to get my husband to eat them unless they're really, really hearty.  So, I was browsing online for a new salad recipe and found this one.  I definitely didn't follow it exactly, but it was my inspiration for this meal.

Ingredients

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 head red leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn
• 1 head green leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn
• 1 fresh tomato, chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (2.8 ounce) can French fried onions
• 1/2 cup Ranch dressing
• 1/2 cup barbeque sauce

Directions

1. Preheat the grill for high heat.
2. Lightly oil the grill grate. Place chicken on the grill, and cook 6 minutes per side, or until juices run clear. Remove from heat, cool, and slice.
3. In a large bowl, mix the red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, tomato, cilantro, corn, and black beans. Top with the grilled chicken slices and French fried onions.
4. In a small bowl, mix the Ranch dressing and barbeque sauce. Serve on the side as a dipping sauce, or toss with the salad to coat.

Basically, I just cooked a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts in BBQ sauce and put it on top of romaine lettuce along with chopped tomatoes, black beans, olives, and rice.  Some cheese would have been good too, but I left it off this time.  I also used a little bit of Ranch dressing.  The recipe calls for corn, but I thought that sounded gross.  It also calls for french fried onions, which sounds like it could be good, but I didn't have any.

This meal was good!  Not the best salad ever, (I like the Cafe Rio pork salad better, although that one is much more time consuming) but still really good.  It's a good way to mix up your usual salads, and it's definitely man-friendly.

Turkey Burgers

Okay, this isn't really a recipe.  It's more like a recommendation. 

Can you believe I've never had a turkey burger before this meal?  I was browsing through Trader Joe's and saw these, and thought I'd give them a try.  It's hard for me to make good normal burgers because of a lack of a grill, and these are made on a skillet.  Win! 

I had no idea how they would taste, but they were pretty dang good!!  Healthier than your normal burger as well.  I added a little bit of mayo, ketchup, lettuce, and avocado to it.  Delicious.

Sooo, until we get an awesome grill (and maybe even a few times after we do) we're going to be eating these.  Feel free to try them!  Cheap, easy, fun, and yummy!