Lazy Gal's Chicken and Jalapeno Dressing

Cleaning Out the Freezer - the adventures and new discoveries that it can bring!

I am on a mission to clean out my freezer, partly because I know there are things in there old enough to eat me (or at least hurt me) and partly because it needs to be defrosted badly! So for the last several days I have been making a point of eating all things frozen! For the record, southwest eggs rolls are just not good after two years no matter what the box says!

This morning I woke up with a craving for chicken and dressing, that quickly was amended with the thought of Jalapeño Dressing! Relax if you have never heard of it, I kinda think my mom made the recipe up by just adding jalapeños to her regular cornbread dressing. Since she came up with it, we eat dressing year round! Normally she bakes a chicken or a Cornish hen to go with it, unfortunately I wanted to eat this today and it takes a while to thaw a chicken so that you can bake it........BUT......Hallelujah! I remembered that I had chicken fajita meat in the freezer that was just going to ruin because I don't like chicken fajitas. You are probably asking yourself why in the heck does she have it then? Good reason, it was in one of those grocery store bonus packs, I got two helpings of beef and the helping of chicken for the price of the beef...........I had planned to give the chicken to my daughter who LIKES chicken fajitas, but I kept forgetting!

I always keep cornbread in the freezer, since I am usually cooking for just me a pan is WAY MORE than I will eat. Between cooking times I just get a slice or two out whenever I want cornbread and it's handy for making dressing. Let's just jump to everything being thawed...........

Put your meat in large pan, add water and seasoning, then boil..........it took mine about 15 minutes for me to be sure all of the chicken was done! Save chicken AND water/broth, you will use it all later!

The next step is to make your dressing. I crumbled my cornbread in the bag it was in, I have a food sealer that I LOVE but prior to that I used a large ziploc to store and crumble it in. You can use your hands or a rolling pin, which ever is easier for you. Pour it all in a large bowl, or if you are cooking it in a roaster pan you can do it there...........one note, if you are using the roaster spray it with cooking spray first.

Add your seasonings here, one note of caution I would hold off on the salt for right now. The chicken, the broth, and the cornbread are going to have salt already in them and it may be enough for you.

Sauté onions, celery, and jalapeños in the butter until the onions are clear. Add to the dry mix and STIR!

Next add your egg, I usually mix mine slightly before adding. Guess what? Time to STIR again. Then add your broth (hold off on the water at this point, you just want to get everything mixed well at this point).

Now it is time to taste! You may want to add more salt at this time, or if your more like me a LOT more Sage!

Now here is where you are going to have to judge, but believe me – you want a mixture that looks more like a soup because the cornbread mix is going to soak up a LOT of that liquid and cooked dry dressing is just not good! In fact I usually wait a few minutes and give it another stir before I decide to add more liquid or pop it into the oven!

Add your chicken, since I was using fajita meat I did chop it some because I didn't want big pieces of meat to deal with. This recipe fits a 9X13 pan, but since I forgot until time to pour it in the pan that my good glass one is on loan..........I used two dishes!

Now if the finished product looks a little “green” it is because I LOVE Sage and you can't really add it later, so what I made has a LOT more Sage in it then the recipe below.

Add some green beans, a hot roll ( I cheat and use the Sisters frozen hot rolls and heat 1 or 2 at a time for just me) and you have an awesome meal!

Hope you enjoy my Lazy Gal's Chicken and Jalapeño Dressing, all in all I think it turned out pretty good for an experiment and I did clear some space in the freezer. I would love to hear your comments!

Lazy Gal's Chicken and Jalapeño Dressing

Chicken

1 ½ lbs chicken fajita meat (mine had onions and peppers already in it)

1 tsp poultry seasoning

Just enough water to boil

Meat in pan, add water and seasoning, boil..........it took about 15 minutes for me to be sure all of the chicken was done! Save chicken AND water!

Dressing Mix

(note: I am not sure about subbing in stove top or some pre-made mix like that but heck if you want I guess you can try!)

2 cups of Cornbread – crumbled fine

1 cup of Dressing mix – I use the unseasoned that comes in a bag, simply because I think even the best cornbread dressing needs a little regular bread crumbs in it.

Medium onion – chopped

3-4 stalks of celery – chopped

3-4 jalapeños - chopped

½ stick of butter

1 tsp of poultry seasoning

2 tsp of sage – this is what I use when I am serving to others

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 raw eggs

4 cups of Chicken broth – I started with the broth water from boiling my chicken fajita meat, then went to canned but be sure to heat the canned before you put it in.

Water – depending on how much chicken flavor you like, you may want to add some water.

Strain your chicken but catch the broth in a cup. Sauté onions, celery, and jalapeños in the butter. While this is cooking mix the crumbled cornbread, dry dressing mix, and seasonings together. Pour the veggie and butter into the dry and mix, add egg (I usually beat the egg a little before I do this) – Mix well and quickly! Add saved broth, mix again. Then add your chicken and pour it into the pan.

Bake at 350 for about 30, minutes in a sprayed pan, or until slightly brown on top.............I also usually stir the mix about halfway through the cooking time.