50+ Lifestyles

Orange Chicken

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 jar orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives or the greens of green onions

Cut chicken into cubes and place in crock pot. Mix together other ingredients and pour over the chicken. Cook on high for 2 – 3 hours or on low for 4 – 5 hours.

Vegetables that you could add for the last hour of cooking time include grated carrots, snow peas, broccoli, bok choy, cabbage, sliced water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts – even peanuts or cashews.

Serve over a bed of rice or chow mein noodles.

Creamy Ranch Chicken

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 can cream of chicken soup*
• 1 packet ranch dressing mix
• 1 packet Italian seasoning mix
• 1 1/2 cups frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup frozen lima beans
• 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped chives
• 2 teaspoons fresh chopped parsley
• 1 package cream cheese (8 ounces)

Mix together the cream soup, ranch and Italian seasonings. Place chicken in crock pot. Add the cream mixture. Cook on high for 2 – 3 hours or on low for 4 – 5 hours. Half way through cooking time add the peas and lima beans. When done, remove chicken from the pot and shred with forks. Put shredded chicken back in pot. Add cream cheese (cut in chunks) and chives and parsley. Stir together and cook for about 15 more minutes. Serve over a bed of rice or noodles. Serve with a green salad or fresh fruit.

*I used a can of cream of chicken and mushroom soup because that was what I had in my pantry. You could also use cream of celery, cream of asparagus or cream of cheese broccoli soup. Don’t rush out to the store just for a can of soup if you have an alternative on hand.

Salsa Chicken

• 3-4 Chicken breasts
• 1 jar of salsa
• 1 can black beans

Mix all ingredients together and put in crock-pot. Cook High: 2-3 hours or Low 4-5 hours. Shred with fork. Serve over rice, use as filling for burritos, throw it on top of lettuce for a fun taco salad….

Ian’s Southwestern Spinach Salad

• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1 can pitted black olives, sliced or chopped
• 1 can fiesta corn, drained
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used 1/2 sharp chedar and 1/2 mozzarella)
• 1 cup crushed Doritos
• Ranch or Southwestern salad dressing

Toss spinach with olives, corn and cheese. This can be prepared earlier. Right before serving , toss in the Doritos and dressing of choice.

BBQ Chicken

• 3-4 Chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
• 16 oz bottle of BBQ Sauce
• 1/2 cup Zesty Italian Dressing

Mix together ingredients. Put in crock-pot. Cook High: 2-3 hours on Low 4-5 hours Shred with a fork and serve on buns for yummy BBQ chicken sandwiches. Or leave them whole and serve with some garlic mashed potatoes and veggies.

Easy Six Bean Salad

• 1 can cut green beans, drained
• 1 can cut wax or yellow beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly
• 1 can large dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can lima beans, drained*
• 1 bottle of Wishbone Italian dressing

Mix all of the beans together. Pour salad dressing over beans and stir. This will last up to five days in the refrigerator .

*I prefer frozen lima beans to canned. But the frozen beans need to be blanched and heated through so that they are tender.