Week 1: Salsa Chicken

I'm determined to add some new recipes to my arsenal during 2010! Every week I am going to experiment with something new; it might be a main dish, a side dish, dessert, a cocktail ... who knows :)

Dominic also wants to rate each recipe, because let's face it ... not every one will be a keeper. I'll give my two cents as well.

I found this recipe for Salsa Chicken in the magazine All You. Their tagline is "Enjoy Life for Less" which sounded like a good way to kick off the New Year. All You mentioned that you could use pepperjack instead of cheddar and/or tomatillo or mango instead of plain salsa.

SALSA CHICKEN

Prep: 5 min. Cook 25 min.

Serves: 4

Cost per serving: $1.72

Ingredients

- 1/2 oz. taco seasoning mix

- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb.)

- 1 cup salsa

- 1 cup shredded cheddar

- 2 T sour cream

Steps

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mist a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Place taco seasoning mix and chicken in a ziplock bag and shake to coat, then place chicken in baking dish. Pour salsa over top.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 min., or until chicken is tender and cooked through.

Remove foil, sprinkle chicken with cheese and continue baking until cheese is melted, another 3-5 min. Top with sour cream and serve hot.

My 2 Cents

Bottomline, I would definitely recommend the recipe ... very easy to prepare. My hinderance comes from my own mistake ... when I am in a hurry at the grocery store sometimes I get the wrong thing. In this case ... chicken breast with skin AND bone. That's right ... I had to de-skin and de-bone what felt like a ton of chicken. That then turned my appetite and I actually ate this as a leftover instead of when it was hot.

Dominic's Rating

As is normal, Dominic felt this recipe would be better without the salsa. "WHAT!?!?!" was my response, "That's the whole point of this recipe, a Mexican twist on regular chicken." He was impressed with my de-boning and skinning job (I also expertly removed every ounce of fat) ... he said I was a spittin' image of Ma Ingalls. After his feedback I would guess we'll re-visit this recipe every 6 months or so.