Dinner: Chicken Packets as seen on Kevin & Amanda

Tonight's dinner adventure was inspired by the blog Kevin & Amanda.

If you haven't visited their blog, please head over there right away!  

Amanda posts on everything from photography, travel, dogs and recipes.  

What else could a girl ask for?

Follow this button to their website...

Tonight I was starting to get worried about dinner.  I had worked all day and by the time I got home, got the kids settled in and MoDaddy made it home it was nearly 7pm.  

And... I still had no idea what was for dinner.  Nice job Mom.

Luckily, BabyMo decided to be awesome and took this fantastic nap on the couch so I could make dinner.  He's such a good baby.

KidMo was entertained by an episode of Blues Clues. 

Ok... I had 5 minutes to decide what was for dinner.
I had remembered a recipe that I'd seen online.
I was off and running.
Here is a photo of the ingredients for tonight's dinner.

 

 Click HERE to view the original recipe this was based off of on Kevin & Amanda.

Step 1.  Create seasoned bread crumbs from 1/4 bag of croutons.

You could pour these in a ziploc bag and smash them. 

Or, pop em in a quick food processor for a couple spins. 

Instant bread crumbs.

 Step 2: Saute mushrooms.

I felt a little like Paula Deen here.... too much butter!

While the mushrooms are sauteing shred your mozzarella cheese
(I used about 3/4 of a block)

Step 3:  Get your ingredients together.
Combine your shredded cheese with about a 1/4 block of cream cheese.
You can use more, but our family likes to go light on the cream cheese.

For my chicken packets we had chopped ham (left), sliced mushrooms (center) and shredded chicken (right).
The chicken was leftover from the other night's meal.  If you'd like to make some "bulk" shredded chicken, just pop some chicken breasts in your crock pot on low for 8 hours. Combine with some chicken broth, or as I did, put 1 package taco seasoning and 1 can rotel tomatoes and chillies).

Combine your meat and veggies with your cream cheese mixture.

 Step 4. Roll out your crescent rolls.  (Use just 1 tube of crescent rolls)

Keep 2 crescent roll triangles together in a rectangle shape and press together where the seams are.

Place toppings on top.

 Step 5: Open your second tube of crescent rolls.

Place another rectangle on top, again pressing where the seams are.

 Step 6: Microwave your 2 tbs of butter.

Brush butter on top of sealed chicken packages and then lightly dust with seasoned bread crumbs.

 Step 7: Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 until toasty brown on top.

 Enjoy!

The FEEDBACK:  8 out of 10!  woohoo

Even KidMo really enjoyed this dinner.  I made his "custom" without mushrooms because I knew he wouldn't appreciate the musrhooms.

I think next time we'll make some that are "pizza" style with a little pizza sauce, pepperoni, ham and black olives.
Now, that sounds delicious!

Thanks to Kevin & Amanda for inspiring our yummy dinner!

linking up to:

Whipper Berry

Katie's Nesting Spot
Its A Hodgepodge Life
KoJo Designs
Paisley Passions
Design It chic

Dinner: Chicken, Cheese & Leek Jalousie

This week for dinner I made a Chicken, Cheese and Leek Jalousie.

If you are like me I had never heard of a Jalousie before. But ... it sure looked good in my recipe book!

This recipe is from: The Every Day CHICKEN Cookbook.

Here's a photo of the end product! Yummy

Okay, first thing's first. Get out the puff pastry (start defrosting), recipe book and your leeks.


Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 chicken roasted and chopped (or 2-3 chicken breasts)
2 large leeks, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves crushed
3 tbs butter
1 1/2 cups button mushrooms
1 cup cream cheese
1 rind of lemon
3 tbs parsley
1 package puff pastry (2 blocks)
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper

Step 1: Saute' leeks and garlic in butter for 10 minutes

-For a great "how to" video on how to clean and chop leeks go HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm6XGDwjJQA

I had never cooked with leeks before and I was surprised at how easy it was to clean and prepare them!

Step 2: Stack the unrolled blocks of pastry on top of each other and roll out on a floured work surface. They should roll out to approximately 14x10 inches.

TIP- Try to roll out the right size! I could have rolled mine out a little more than they are pictured below.

Step 3: Combine a cooled leek, garlic and mushroom mixture to the chicken. Add cream cheese, lemon rind, parsley and salt and pepper

Step 4: Spoon the filling onto the pastry, leaving a generous 3-4 inches on each side as well as the top and bottom.



Step 5: Cut the pastry diagonally upwards at 3/4 inch intervals at the sides of the filling like this.




Step 6: Brush the edges of pastry with the beaten egg. Pull pastry strips across the chicken mixture and braid the pastry by alternating sides. Seal the top and bottom edges.


Step 7: Glaze the top with beaten egg. Allow to rest a few minutes while the oven heats to 400 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes. Then, reduce temperature to 375 and bake for another 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.



Allow pastry to sit for about 10 minutes and then slice and serve!


THE FEEDBACK: 8 out of 10!


Tips: We really enjoyed this but would tweak the ingredients a bit next time.

First, the recipe called for mushrooms which I did not have on hand. I would include mushrooms next time for sure.
Second, I would go easy on both the leeks and the cream cheese next time. The cream cheese flavor seemed to overpower the other ingredients so I would probably use only 1/4 block or none at all. The leeks could also be cut down significantly.
Third, I think we would experiment with a number of "pizza" types of ingredients and cheese!

Linking up:
I Heart Naptime

Dinner: Chicken Enchiladas Verde

These are Tomatillos....

Have you ever seen them before? I hadn't until now. Weird little green things.

This was my first attempt at cooking with Tomatillos.
I found an easy recipe for Tomatillo Salsa Verde online HERE.

I used the Tomatillo Salsa Verde salsa in making Chicken Enchiladas and Spinach Enchiladas.
Mo-Momma is a fan of Chicken Enchiladas and Mo-Daddy is a fan of Spinach Enchiladas.

The result was great!

You can find the recipe for Chicken Enchiladas Verde HERE.

You can also find the recipe for Spinach Enchiladas HERE.



THE FEEDBACK: 8 out of 10



Tips: 1. Use corn tortillas, not flour. 2. Use more sauce to cover enchiladas while baking

Happy: Without Giblets or Neck

Wow.
A chicken without giblets or neck. This just makes me happy.

This little chicken is from Target.

Just the thought of not having to dig out the neck makes me so Happy!
I cooking a whole chicken is in your future.... totally check it out.

Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie & Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

For tonight's Dinner adventure we had homemade Chicken Pot Pie.

I promise you once you make it from scratch you will never want to eat one of those frozen meals again! This one is SO easy!

Click HERE for the recipe, or read below for the exact steps I took.
(PS- If you have a box of Bisquick - it's on the back of the box!)

For the pot-pie mixture:
1/2 bag frozen Peas & Carrots mixture (thawed)
1 Can Cream of Chicken Campbell's soup
1-2 cups cut up cooked Chicken (ours was from the previous night's recipe leftovers!)
1 cup milk

For the crust topping:
1 Cup Bisquick
1/2 Cup milk
1 Egg

Step 1: Place pot pie mixture in bottom of pie plate or similar 9 inch size baking plate.
Step 2: In separate bowl, mix three ingredients for crust topping until combined. Then, pour over pot pie mixture
Step 3: Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered.




THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10 - WOHOO!

KID FEEDBACK: 2 out of 10
We had to fight with "Kid-MO" a little to eat his dinner. He did like the Bisquick topping as well as the chicken inside. He didn't appreciate the "sauce" or the veggies that were touching his meat (he's four - what do you expect). We got him to to try it, and he ate enough to get full. That is success for us!

ESTIMATED COST OF DINNER: $2.00
$1.00 Cream of Chicken
.25 Chicken (leftovers)
.50 Frozen veggies- 1/2 bag
.25 Bisquick, eggs, milk

For Desert: Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

This Cookie recipe came out of the 101 Gourmet Cookies Cookbook.
I got this for Christmas. Yummy cookie ideas!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 4oz package vanilla pudding (mine was 3.5 oz and worked fine)
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream butter and sugars together
3. Add vanilla and eggs along with pudding mix
4. In separate bowl, mix together baking soda and flour
5. Slowly add in flour mixture until well combined
6. Drop small 1 inch balls of cookie dough onto cookie sheets
7. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until edges are just browned.

Enjoy!

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10 - for sure.
The cookies were really yummy. The pudding makes them a little softer and sweeter than a normal chocolate chip cookie (which is fine by me - Bring on the sweet!).

Here is a photo of the Cookbook. I highly recommend it.
The yummy Cupcake to the left is my cookie jar :) SO cute.

Pressure Cooker Meal Adventure: Chicken Noodle Soup

Tonight's dinner adventure is Pressure Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup featuring yesterday's chicken (see post below).

Here are the steps I took to make it...

Step 1. Set pressure cooker to BROWN and brown 2 tablespoons oil with about half of a chopped onion

Step 2: Add some cut carrots.
I used the last 1/4 package of baby carrots I had left over from last night's meal. It was about 24 baby carrots.

Step 3. Add your broth. About 5 cups should do the trick

This is a photo of my chicken bones cooking in a pot of water. I saved all the bones, skins and leftover meat from the "chicken carcas" the night before. I threw them all in a pot, covered with water (about 10 cups of water). Cook on high until a rapid boil and then simmer for 1-2 hours. Then pour through a strainer. Discard chicken carcas miscelaneous and keep the yummy broth.



Step 4: Add Pasta (about half a box)

*Special Note: While taking self portrait of the famous "pouring of the pasta" I poured in TOO MUCH pasta. I actually used the whole box. Oops. To avoid my blunder, please pay attention and only add half this amount. Thank you *


Step 5: Add Chicken (about 2 cups), 1 can cream of chicken Campbells Soup and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir together.


Step 6: Close pressure cooker and put on 15 high PSI for 12 minutes.

The result: Chicken Noodle Soup!

Or, in my case, DOUBLE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP!



I actually made up a second batch of chicken broth and added it into the soup. The result was pretty yummy!

Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Crackers.


THE FEEDBACK: 7 stars out of 10!

KID FEEDBACK: 0 out of 10. "Kid-MO" did not like the "mushy" noodles. He did however really like the soup broth!

APPROXIMATE COST: $2.50
$0 - Chicken
$1 - Campbell's soup
$1 - Noodles
$.25 - Onion
$.25 - Carrots

NOTES: Be cautious of your broth to noodle ratio. I clearly put in way too many noodles and had to add broth after the fact just to even it out.

Also, I'd experiement by adding in some extra veggies such as celery and peas.

TIPS: Cook your broth in advance. You can even freeze extra broth and store it for later. One easy way to store the broth is to freeze it in ice cube trays then store the broth-cubes in freezer bags. When the time comes to use them just take out what you need.

Did I mention that we love this pressure cooker?

Up Tomorrow: Chicken Pot Pies for Lunch! (Featuring chicken from our roast chicken yesterday!!)

Pressure Cookers Are Awesome: Roast Chicken and Veggies

Tonight's Dinner adventure features a chicken and a pressure cooker.
These two things are new to me.

First of all I need to say a big THANK YOU to my fantastic parents who gave us THIS pressure cooker for Christmas! You can go to QVC to purchase your own HERE.

Secondly, I need to let you know I've never touched a raw chicken in my life.

I've been nervous about this ALL day! I know it's something people do all the time, but the thought of touching a raw whole Chicken (Or Turkey) just totally groses me out!

I actually used some tongs to "fish" out the giblets from the inside of the chicken. One of the grosest things I've ever done. YUCK!

Nevertheless, I've overcome my fear in the persuit of DINNER!

Here is the result......



Can you say YUMMMMMMMMMM.

Ok, here are my ingredients:

1 whole fryer chicken
1 can chicken broth (I used about 3/4 of the can)
4 large potatoes
1 small bag baby carrots
1 onion (I used about 1/2 the onion)

I modified a recipe that came with the pressure cooker.
Here are my directions (modify as you wish)

1. Season Chicken (salt and pepper) I used McCormick Rotisserie Chicken seasoning! Turned out great.
2. Brown the chicken either on the stove top or in the pressure cooker (mine has a browning function so I used that).
3. Remove chicken from pressure cooker and add chopped onion to liquid (add garlic if you wish) Saute for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add chicken back to pressure cooker and add largely cut potatoes and carrots around the chicken.
5. Close and cook for 25 minutes on the highest pressure setting (mine is 15 psi).

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10! WAHOOOOO!

KID FEEDBACK: 8 of 10. "Kid-MO" really likes meat. He gobbled up the chicken. He wouldn' touch the potatoes or carrots, but he never eats those so that is not a surprise.

NOTES: I also cooked up some rice and served the chicken and veggies over rice! ForYummy.

UP TOMORROW: I'm going to use the leftover broth and some of the chicken to make chicken noodle soup tomorrow! Come back to see how that adventure goes!

Your Thoughts? :)

Recipe: Fiesta Chicken *

I have to admit, I do LOVE to cook.
I love to BAKE even more. But, more about that later.

One of my 2011 resolutions is to PLAN better. For me that means planning ahead for meals and making less trips to the Drive-thru.

I'm still in my planning phase but my ultimate goal is to have 1-2 weeks of meals planned ahead with all of the ingredients on hand.

What is at stake? TIME, MONEY, FAMILY & HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

This will take me a while to build my "supply" of meat and ingredients that I have on hand but in the long run the TIME I will save from running to the grocery store will really pay off. I will also save my family a lot of MONEY by cooking at home more during the week. We will also eat a lot more HEALTHIER and enjoy FAMILY time together at the table.

Along the way I'll share my recipes and my family's feedback.

Up this week: Fiesta Chicken

I found the recipe online HERE


(photo by Amy)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
8 chicken drumsticks or thighs (8 drumsticks = about 2-1/2 lb) (I used 6)
1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
2 cans (10 oz each) Ro*Tel® Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained
1 can (8 oz each) Hunt's® Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions, divided
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook until golden brown on all sides, turning occasionally. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.

2. Add rice to drippings in skillet; stir to coat. Cook over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes or until rice browns a bit, stirring occasionally. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, water and about half of the onions; blend well. Bring to a boil. Top with chicken; cover. Reduce heat to low; simmer 20 minutes or until drumsticks are no longer pink in center and juices run clear (180°F).
3. Sprinkle chicken with cheese and the remaining onions; cover. Cook an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts, liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

THE FEEDBACK: Too Spicy! Rating 2 out of 10

NOTES: I think that the Ro-Tel "original" with green chilies was what made this too spicy for us. If we make this again, I will tone down the recipe by using just one can of Rotel Mild mix.

TIPS: When making this meal, I found that my Chicken Drumsticks were bleeding during the browning stage! YUCK! I did a quick GOOGLE search and found that if you soak the chicken drumsticks in Salted Water prior to cooking you can avoid this! WOOHOO

HERE is a link to more ideas to stop the chicken from bleeding via Yahoo Answers.