Stuff Parents Need

Even though my family has branched out over the past 2 years and been willing to try different types of meat, chicken is still by far our favorite, and specifically, chicken breasts. They are low in fat, they cook quickly and they are extremely versatile.

But in all honesty, they can also be a little bit bland, especially if you don’t take the time to add some great seasonings to them prior to cooking. And while I am quite comfortable in the kitchen since my family eats at home about 90% of the time, that doesn’t mean that I have endless recipe ideas floating around in my head. Sometimes the only thing I can think to do to a piece of chicken is sprinkle it with garlic salt and put it on the George Foreman. Nothing wrong with that, but my goodness, it gets BORING!!!

Over the past 2 days, I have been trying a brand new product, Tyson Individual Frozen Chicken Breasts in two flavors, Smokey Steakhouse and Southwest Pepper Trio. When they arrived at my doorstep, my mother-in-law (who is visiting me now) and I sat and stared at the bags for about 15 minutes, trying to come up with ideas for how to use them.

Finally, mom said something very smart: “I think we need to try them just as they are first, and see what they taste like. That will help us know how to use them in recipes.” Good idea!

We thawed out one breast from each bag, then put them on the George Foreman (which really is one of the best ways to grill up some chicken in a hurry). We were rather impressed with the flavor intensity that each breast had, even while still frozen. The smells alone started giving us ideas!

After sampling both pieces, we had some concrete plans, and we headed to Walmart to get what we would need to make several delicous meals. To see my full shopping trip, check out my Google+ album.

We have already made a recipe that I am LOVING. I love it because I would call it a “non-recipe” recipe. Here’s the basic idea:

“No Recipe Needed” Southwest Pepper Chicken Nachos

• 2 Tyson Individual Chicken Breasts in Southwest Pepper Trio
• tortilla chips
• toppings of your choice (we used black beans, diced tomatoes, diced olives, green chiles and cheese)

You can place your frozen chicken breasts directly into the oven to cook for about 45 minutes. I LOVE this. No need to thaw first! Since they do take a while to cook from their frozen state, I recommend that you prepare the chicken in the morning, perhaps while you are getting ready for work. Then after work or close to dinner time, you can put the whole meal together with ease.

I cut the cooked chicken into chunks, and then pulsed it a few times in the food processor to make shredded chicken. Then I simply built the nachos on a baking sheet to my liking and popped them in the oven at 450 for about 10 minutes. I had guacamole, sour cream and salsa available on the table for whoever wanted it.

It was absolutely delicious and what I loved the most is that it is highly customizable, so it really comes together without the need for any sort of recipe.

Here’s what my plate looked like 5 minutes after dinner was served.

Yeah, it was that good! The chicken is VERY flavorful. I have to say that I actually prefer it as a component of a recipe more than I liked it on its own, although I did like it both ways. But adding this chicken to the nachos really pulled the whole dish together, and gave it a really great taste. This is going to be one of our new go-to weeknight meals.

While I haven’t yet made anything else with the Smokey Steakhouse dinner, let me tell you what I have planned for it this next week.

Chickey Philly Sandwiches

I purchased some hoagie buns, some sliced provolone cheese, some onions and some beautiful orange and yellow peppers. I am planning on slicing up an onion and half of each pepper, and then sauteeing those together on the stove with a bit of olive oil. I’ll add to it some cooked and diced Smokey Steakhouse chicken, add a slice of cheese, and then toast them, open-face on the hoagie buns, in the toaster oven. This is another “no recipe needed” recipe. And I’m a BIG fan of those. Since my husband and my oldest are both home for lunch, this is going to be a really hearty but really easy lunch option for us.

And here’s my other idea that we’ll make for dinner some time next week:

Smokey Chicken Alfredo

All you need to do for this is grill up your Tyson Smokey Steakhouse Chicken and cut it into bite-size chunks. Then make the pasta noodles of your choice (for me it will be fettucine). Add some delicious jarred alfredo sauce. Dinner is sreved! That’s right, folks, a 3 ingredient dinner. SO easy! And that smokey flavor will be such a great compliment to the mild afredo. I can’t wait for this meal!

I love that the Tyson Individual Frozen marinated chicken breasts can really help you put together fast dinner recipes that you don’t have to track down a recipe to make and that your family will love.

These great new flavors are going to hit Walmart stores on April 9th. I’ll be picking up some more, and want to recommend you try them, too! You can also get some great recipe ideas and learn about coupons by following Tyson on Twitter and Facebook.

What about you? Do you have any “non recipe” recipes that you love to make? Do you have any ideas for how you would use the Smokey Steakhouse or Southwest Pepper Trio chicken from Tyson? 

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Tyson Foods #cbias #SocialFabric. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.