Buffalo Ranch Chicken Casserole

So last nights dinner was great and after cooking all 5lbs of chicken in the ranch and taco mix you should have somewhere around  2lbs of chicken left for tonight.

I started out today sautéing 2 onions, 1 green pepper and a couple small red and yellow peppers with 3 cloves of minced garlic. Talk about a heavenly aroma!  After I got those nice and soft I removed half and put it in a container for another meal.

I love a one dish meal.Also it didn’t have as many veggies in it for my liking…. However my kids always like something on the side. So I decided to try my hand at making spinach stuffing balls to go with this meal. That recipe will be next.

Buffalo Ranch Chicken Casserole Recipe

2-3 lbs. of shredded pre-cooked chicken
2-4 tbls. of hot sauce
1 bag of herb stuffing (crushed)
2 cups of Colby and Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup of cheese is to mix in with the chicken other cup is for topping.

Pre-heat oven at 350
Coat bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish
Mix shredded chicken (if starting from scratch add ranch dressing mix) with diced onion and pepper mix and 2-4 tbls. of your favorite hot sauce and 1 cup of cheese.
Put chicken into casserole dish.
Crush the stuffing and layer it on top of the chicken.
Top with 1 cup of your favorite shredded cheese (we love Colby and Monterey Jack).
Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Kids loved it! I thought it needed more hot sauce

 

Spinach Stuffing Balls

2 small onions (diced really fine)

24 oz. bag of frozen spinach (thawed, washed, and drained)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 bag of herb stuffing

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup of Colby and Monterey Jack (finely shredded)

And finally 6 beaten eggs.

 

Lightly grease your baking sheet.

 

I mixed it all together and rolled out around 60 spinach balls.

 

I love cheese so before I put them in the oven I had to sprinkle a bit more cheese on top of them. But they will be healthier without the added cheese.

 

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Everyone loved them!! We used ranch dressing to dip them in but next time I think I will make an actual dipping sauce for them.

 

Ranch Chicken Burrito’s ~ Crock pot style

 I used 5 pounds of chicken in this because I will be getting 2 meals out of the chicken. The Ranch Chicken Burrito’s for tonight and Buffalo Ranch Chicken for tomorrow. My kids can never get enough of anything with ranch flavor.

* 5 lbs. of Chicken

* 1 packet of Ranch Dressing Mix

* 1 packet of Taco Seasoning

* 1 can of Chicken Broth (or one cup of water and 2 Tbsp. of chicken broth granules)

* burritos shells

 

 

 

Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the crock pot and then place the chicken into the broth. Next sprinkle 1/2 of the packet of ranch and 1/2 of the packet of taco seasoning onto the chicken. You can cook for 6 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

 *Time will vary depending on the size of crock pot. With any poultry or meat always be safe and check with a meat thermometer.

Once the chicken is done take 2 forks and pull all of the chicken apart. The liquid will absorb into the shredded chicken. Next take the rest of the ranch and taco seasoning and mix it into the chicken. Place the lid back onto the crock pot for 30 min. to allow the chicken to absorb all the wonderful flavors. During the last 10 minutes put your tortilla shells inside of aluminum foil and put them in the oven at 325 to warm them up. Next place your shredded chicken onto the tortilla and top with shredded cheese and shredded lettuce. So simple but so yummy!

Check back tomorrow to see what you can do with the other half of the shredded ranch chicken.

 

Feeding teenagers is not an easy task……

Cooking use to be simple for me. My kids always loved eating healthy when they were little. They loved it when I would make fruit kabobs or a spinach Quiche. Now at 9 and 13 they have become very picky and I really have to work hard at finding healthy food that they enjoy. I have found some wonderful recipes through social media sites, so I decided that I would try some new recipes and share with the world my experiences and hopefully your preteens and teens will enjoy them too.

I ask in advance for your patience and kindness. I am new to the world of blogging and I am nowhere near the world’s greatest cook either! But I want to share my experiences so hopefully other mothers in my situation will know they are not alone. I know most teenagers would prefer a burger or chips but I am hoping together we can find some healthy alternatives that they will love. Please feel free to comment and share your recipes or experiences. Also please feel free to share my blog with anyone you know who has teens or tweens of their own. Just please keep this site kid friendly. Please also remember I am just starting out so I may be slow to start and changing stuff around a lot but hopefully I will get the hang of this soon and we can have a place for mom’s of teenagers to share whatever we find that our kids like or at least will eat without to many complaints!  🙂  Also, if you have a food blog of your own please feel free to share your blog info. on my page! If I can help in anyway please don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks and have a wonderful day!