Chicken, Chicken, Chicken...

So, ever since Keith ordered 60 chicken breasts from Omaha Steaks, I've been experimenting with some new recipes. Of course, he was really hoping for my famous Mediterranean Grilled Chicken, but....hopefully we'll get to that before he packs up and moves out. Anyway, my problem with chicken is that I tend to dry it out. It's kind of a family curse.

*****Ryan, don't read beyond this so as not to spoil your initial approval of these recipes.*****

First I made this Buttery Garlic Chicken. It was my first attempt at broiling, and I only had a makeshift broiler. My mistake was leaving it in too long, as they were using bone-in chicken and I was using boneless. Anyway, the recipe for those interested:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 C butter or margerine, softened
3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1.5 t minced garlic)
1 t dried parsley
1/4 t dried rosemary
1/4 t dried thyme

Excellent spices, just cooked a little too long and dried out.

Then, I decided to make Zesty Broiled Chicken. Another broiling recipe, again meant for bone-in chicken. Well, I didn't do terrible, as it wasn't as dry as the other. However, it was still a little dry. Very good, though. The recipe makes a triple batch:

1/4 C garlic powder
1 T ground cumin
1 T paprika
1 T seasoned salt
1 T lemon pepper or black pepper

I am assuming you could grill this recipe as well. Take 1 T vegetable oil and mix with 1 T of the seasoning mix, and then brush it on your chicken breasts. I needed double oil and mix, and that was enough for 10 chicken breasts, but I only did 1 side on about 4 of them. Yummy, yummy!

The last recipe I made was for Cheesy Slower Cooker Chicken. How can you dry out chicken in a crock pot? Just trust me, it can be done. My crock pot is a powerhouse, and I'm going to have to start cooking for less time than the directions call for. However, besides the chicken being a bit dry, this was an awesome recipe. The kids loved it, and Ryan even said the cheesy pasta was better than Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (and if you know Ryan, you'll know that is a major compliment).

6 bonless, skinless chicken breasts
salt/black pepper/garlic powder to taste
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
parsley
hot cooked rotini pasta

Place chicken breasts in crock pot and sprinkle with seasonings to taste. Combine soups in bowl and dump on chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or until chicken is tender. I dug the chicken out and put it on a plate and sprinkled it with parsley. Then I put the cooked pasta in a bowl and dumped the soup mixture in it and made kind of a macaroni and cheese. It was awesome.

And, for kicks, I'll include my Mediterranean Grilled Chicken recipe. We have been making this since 2000, and everyone who has had it at our house has loved it, and we've served it to a lot of guests:

1 C Italian salad dressing (or about 1/2 bottle)
1/2 can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 t salt
4-8 bonless, skinless chicken breasts

Marinate for about 4-6 hours. If you do it longer, it will pick up more of the fruity flavor, but we don't like too much of it. Excellent grilling recipe.