Chicken with Lemon Sauce

This was another meal that me and my mom put together for a get together at my parent's house. My mom did most of the work, but I provided the recipe from Delectable Dining.
This dish turned out amazing and was so creamy. My only advice would be... make sure that you cool the sauce a bit before you taste it. I tasted the sauce and couldn't taste the lemon so I added more and it was a bit overpowering. I will definitely make this again!

CHICKEN WITH LEMON SAUCE
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup all purpose flour, divided
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 teaspoons salt, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper, divided
2 eggs
5 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups apple juice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Flatten chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. In a shallow bowl, combine 3/4 cup flour, Parmesan cheese, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Dip chicken into eggs and coat with flour mixture. In a large skillet, cook chicken in 2 tablespoons butter and oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove and keep warm. In a small bowl, combine the remaining flour, salt and pepper; stir in broth until smooth. Add apple juice to the skillet, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Stir broth mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Stir in lemon juice; cook for 1 minute. Add parsley and remaining butter; cook and stir until butter is melted. Serve over chicken.

Source: Delectable Dining

Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Roll-Ups

I've made this recipe one other time for my Mom's birthday last year. We really enjoyed it so I thought I'd make it again and include a picture. It turned out great! This looks like a really fancy dish, but I assure you it is quick and easy to throw together... anyone can do it.

I usually have a hard time with chicken breasts that are cooked in the oven coming out dry. It isn't the case with these roll-ups. They always come out nice and moist. I did, however, cook my chicken for about 35 minutes. I love the flavor from the sun-dried tomatoes in this dish and I actually hate sun-dried tomatoes... go figure.

Don't you love that I put things in my food that I hate? I just love experimenting and seeing if I like things different ways... and "they" say that your tastes change every 7 years so its good to always give things a try again.

I served this with Penne Pasta tossed with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Parsley.

SUN-DRIED TOMATO CHICKEN ROLL-UPS
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
8 chicken breast cutlets (1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 lb. deli-sliced provolone cheese
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease the foil.
Place the beaten eggs and bread crumbs into separate shallow bowls. In another bowl, mix the ricotta and sun-dried tomatoes. Dip the chicken cutlets into the egg, then coat with the bread crumbs and place on a work surface. Place a slice of provolone and a heaping tbsp. of ricotta mixture on each cutlet. Roll up and secure with toothpicks.
Place the chicken roll-ups side by side on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake until the chicken is golden and the cheese is bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Source: Sugar & Spice

Crockpot: Orange Chicken

My husband loves almost every recipe that I make. He loves them so much that recently he has began getting upset after a particularly good meal because he doesn't know when he is going to have it again. :-D So I've decided that now at least once a month I will cook something old in with all the new. This month, however, I decided that I wanted to do a whole month of recipes we've ate before... but I just couldn't take it so I did add in 3 new ones. So, you will get a couple of recipes that I have posted about before refreshed in your memory, as well as pictures to go along with them to entice you to try them.
I have been making this dish for about a year and a half now. It is really easy and one of the reasons I like it so much is it is done in the crockpot. This is also a low-cal recipe which makes it extra nice. It's a fantastic dish, so you should definitely give it a try. This dish is from Fix It and Forget It Lightly by Phyllis Pelman Good. I use my rice cooker to make rice while I am mixing up the mandarin sauce so it all goes together so nicely.

ORANGE CHICKEN LEG QUARTERS
170 calories per serving.

4 chicken drumsticks, skin removed*
4 chicken thighs, skin removed
1 c. strips of green and red bell peppers (I just use green)
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. prepared orange juice
1/2 c. ketchup
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. molasses
1 T. prepared mustard
1/2 t. garlic salt
11-oz can mandarin oranges
2 t. cornstarch
1 c. frozen peas
2 green onions, sliced

1. Place chicken in slow cooker. Top with pepper strips.
2. Combine broth, juice, ketchup, soy sauce, molasses, mustard, and garlic salt. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on low 5-6 hours.
4. Remove chicken and vegetables from slow cooker into a ovensafe pan. Heat broiler to high and broil for 4 minutes. Keep warm. (The broiling part is optional, Emi and I just like our chicken's outside to be a bit crispy.)
5. Measure out 1 cup of cooking sauce. Put in saucepan and bring to boil.
6. Drain oranges, reserving 1 Tbsp. juice. Stir cornstarch into reserved juice. Add to boiling sauce in pan.
7. Add peas to sauce and cook, stirring 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens and peas are warm. Stir in oranges.
8. Arrange chicken pieces on platter of cooked white rice, fried cellophane noodles, or lo mein noodles. Pour orange sauce over chicken and rice or noodles. Top with sliced green onions.

Chicken Barbeque Pizza

I made this on Saturday night as an impromptu visit from my parents. I knew Emi wasn't going to be home when I got home from work so I gave them a call and bribed them with food.
I have been planning to make BBQ pizza for the last 3 months and have just never gotten around to it. I've been trying to find a recipe that I thought would be amazing since I love BBQ chicken, but I was afraid that on a pizza it would just be too strong of a taste. I came up with this concoction myself. :-D This is the best BBQ pizza I have ever had. Emi and my parents would agree with me.
You can find the original pizza dough recipe here, but I've made a few changes.

PIZZA DOUGH
1 pkg. Dry yeast (2 tsp. = 1 pkg.)
2 Tbsp. Lukewarm water
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
1 egg
1 tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Shortening or oil
1 cup boiling water
3 cups flour
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. parsley flakes

Beat egg, add shortening, salt, sugar. Slowly stir in boiling water. Cool to lukewarm and add yeast mixture. Add ½ flour, italian seasoning, and parsley; stir (or beat with electric mixer) until smooth. Add remaining flour. Knead to soft dough. Roll to fit pan. Spread light coating of oil over dough on pan. Let rise 15 minutes. (You can spread on sauce and toppings while waiting for dough to rise.)

Cook at 425 for 15 - 20 minutes. (Check at 15 minutes.)

HINT WHILE BAKING: Turn oven to BROIL for one minute at the very end of pizza cooking time. This gives the cheese a nice brown that is so delicious!

BARBEQUE CHICKEN PIZZA
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed
Italian seasoning
Parsley flakes
Worchestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (or your preferred)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 red onion, sliced
Mozzarella cheese
1 T. olive oil
1 T. fresh cilantro chopped

Cube chicken breasts and saute over medium-high heat seasoning with italian seasoning, parsley flakes, worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Mix BBQ sauce and cream together and spread over crust. Top with chicken, then cheese, then red onion slices.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

Yesterday was mine and my husband's 2-year anniversary. We had a really great night watching our wedding video and just remembering April 26, 2007. It was just a small celebration, nothing too fancy because we're going to be going out to dinner later in the week. Emi and I both love enchiladas! I have two other enchilada recipes that I swear by and now I'm going to have to add these to the list.
I was very intrigued by this recipe because I just couldn't imagine eating an enchilada with ranch and I was a little scared to even try it, but that is why I ended up trying it anyway! :-D I definitely reccomend these. I made a couple of small changes, which I'll include below. Yum!
I found these on another blog that I found recently (don't you just LOVE finding new food blogs???) called Annie's Eats. I have over 30 recipes marked to try from this blog so be sure to check it out here.

CREAMY RANCH CHICKEN ENCHILADAS
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 2 bone-in chicken breasts and had more than enough to fill 10 tortillas.)
8 oz. reduced fat sour cream
8 oz. Ranch salad dressing
2 stalks green onions
1- 7 oz can green chiles
flour tortillas (10-15)
shredded mexican cheese

Directions:
Cook chicken breasts by preferred cooking method until cooked through. Set aside to cool a bit. (I cooked mine by throwing them in the crockpot for 6 hours with the green chiles, salt, and pepper. I love cooking chicken this way for anything I need shredded chicken for. It's much easier to shred than baking, grilling, or boiling.)

While chicken is cooling, mix up the sauce. In a large mixing bowl, combine half of the sour cream and half of the Ranch dressing. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the sour cream and Ranch dressing. Stir both until well combined. Shred or chop the cooked chicken and add to the large mixing bowl. Mix well with sauce.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 9 x 13″ pan (and possibly another, smaller pan if needed). Add some of the chicken mixture to the center of the each tortilla. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, to taste. Roll up tortilla and place, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish. Use the sauce in the small bowl to top enchiladas, spreading well. Sprinkle on cheese to taste.

Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (30 for a crispier tortilla). Allow to cool a few minutes before serving.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

This dish turned out amazing! I was a little worried about it since I am not a huge fan of cream of chicken. In fact, I almost used cream of mushroom instead, but I am very glad that I didn't! My husband and his friend Cody said that this dish was better than anything you could ever get at Olive Garden and said that I need to make this again. To me, the chicken actually took a back seat to the sauce this time which is weird in this family of meat lovers. I made a couple of changes to the recipe, which I'll include below. I want to make this again and next time I think I will skip the bacon wrapped chicken all together and do something a little more like this, but definitely keep the same sauce recipe.
One little piece of advice to those who want to try this recipe with the bacon wrapped chicken, you might want to slightly cook the bacon in the microwave or very briefly over the stove. Since the bacon in covered by the sauce, it cooks but it is still really soft when it comes out of the oven.

BACON WRAPPED CHICKEN
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, sliced
1 pkg bacon
3 stalks green onions
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pound wide egg noodles

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Pound the chicken breasts until flat. Put a slice of cream cheese, 1 teaspoon chopped green onions, and 1 teaspoon minced garlic in the middle of each breast and roll up. Wrap each rolled breast with 2 slices of bacon and secure with toothpicks. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In a medium bowl, combine cream of chicken, mayonnaise, heavy cream, lemon juice, leftover green onions, 2 Tablespoons of garlic, pepper and salt. Mix until smooth, then pour over chicken (I also added the cream cheese I had leftover from the slices for the chicken).
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until no longer pink and juices run clear. Turn on broiler for 4 minutes to get a nice crispy top.
5. Serve chicken and sauce over egg noodles.

Flautas

You will have to excuse me for my lack of updating and commenting lately. I just recently started a new job and I will need a little while to get used to the change. Speaking of jobs... I wouldn't usually do this, but I really dislike the place that I am currently working, mostly because I just graduated from a school and I'm not even doing what I went there for. If any of the people that read this site have any connections with Medical Transcription, I'd really appreciate any help that I can get. I have been trying to find a job in that field (since I went to school for it) but it is tough right now because of a lot of graduates and companies aren't hiring because of the economy. Any help/advice would be much appreciated.
Anyway! Back to food. When I saw Real Mom Kitchen's recipe for Chicken Flautas, I knew I needed to give it a try. I hit one little snag in that my deep fryer is too small for the tortillas. I remembered seeing on For the love of cooking that she baked her taquitos in the oven so I combined these forces :-D and came out with an awesome meal!
Immediately following my husband's first bite, he explained to me that he didn't expect to like these, but that he ended up LOVING them and told me I could make them anytime! :-D

FLAUTAS
Please click on the above links to check out the original recipes
3 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp. Fajitas Seasoning
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 small can chopped green chiles
10 flour tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese (whatever you like, I used cheddar)
toppings of your choice to dip them in such as salsa, guacamole, etc. (I used the green enchilada sauce mixed with sour cream. Next time I'd like to dip them in this.)

Place your chicken in a crock pot with the fajita seasoning and garlic salt and cook on low for at least 6 hours. About 1 hour before you want to eat, remove chicken from the crock pot. Shred the chicken and allow to cool for about 30 minutes. Then mix in shredded cheese.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put flour tortillas for 1-2 minutes in the microwave to soften. Place a bit shredded chicken on the side of the tortilla then roll. Place, seam side down, on a baking sheet that's been coated with cooking spray. Finish rolling the rest of the flautas, then spray each of them with cooking spray and bake for 5-6 minutes then turn over and cook for an additional 5-6 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

I served this with sour cream rice. This ended up being REALLY good! I changed it slightly to make it a little more tasty. I will definately make it again!

SOUR CREAM RICE
2 cups rice, cooked
1 tsp salt
1/2 T. garlic powder
2 cups sour cream
1 cup grated monterey jack cheese or any soft white cheese
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, no seeds or 1/2 cup chopped fresh chili pepper, no seeds

While cooking rice, season with salt and garlic powder. Mix cooked rice, sour cream and green chiles. Mix grated cheeses together and reserve 1 cup for topping. Stir in cheeses with rice/sour cream mixture. Pour rice mixture into a lightly greased casserole dish. Top with reserved 1 cup grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Crispy Herb Baked Chicken

I made this easy dish last night for Emi and I. It was a quick put together, but tantalizing wait while the smell of the chicken drifted through the house. I added a few things to the original recipe and I'm glad I did. After coating the chicken, I sprinkled the rest of the breadcrumb/potato flake mixture over the top of the chicken for extra crispyness. This was very crispy and the taste was fantastic, almost like fried chicken. Yum.
The only thing I would do differently is next time I will flip the chicken over halfway through the cooking. The bottom of the chicken had a nice crust while the top was still a little flaky. Emi loved this dish and told me I could make it again... anytime.
I chose to serve this with vermicelli and marinara sauce, kind of like a chicken parmesan thing. Like I've said before... I have never made my own marinara sauce and I am SURE that I am missing out. I (guiltily) use the jars from the store, but I usually add additional spices to make it WABAM a little better. Last night I used Prego Roasted Parmesan and to that I added some sugar, italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and little bit of red pepper flakes. Emi likes his sauces creamy so I also added a can of cream of mushroom to the sauce. Yum.

CRISPY HERB BAKED CHICKEN
4-6 bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks
2/3 cup dry potato flakes
1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease or line with foil a baking sheet or a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine potato flakes, Parmesan cheese, and garlic salt. Stir until well mixed.
3. Dip chicken pieces into melted butter or margarine, and roll in potato flake mixture to coat. Place in prepared pan.
4. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until chicken is tender and golden brown.

Lemon Cream Pasta & Roasted Parmesan Asparagus

I think this is my favorite dish that I have ever made. I am not a huge fan of pasta, but rather a huge fan of pasta with sauce. This just turned out so amazing. It had the exact right consistency and flavor. It turned out to be a very creamy pasta with just a little hint of lemon.
I did things a bit differently than the original recipe and I'll include my changes here. As always these measurements serve as a guide rather than what I actually put in.

LEMON CREAM PASTA WITH CHICKEN
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 lemon, quartered
2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth (or 4 chicken cubes with boiling water)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 (16 ounce) package rotelle pasta
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan. Cut chicken into cubes and sautee over medium-high heat. Squeeze lemon over chicken and season with 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder and 3/4 teaspoon pepper.
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat until done. Drain, reserving a small amount of liquid.
3. Add cream, lemon zest, and parmesan cheese and cook until cheese has melted and cream has thickened.

I served this with asparagus. This was mine and Emi's first encounter with asparagus other than at a restaurant. Afterwards, Emi told me that if I had told him we were going to have asparagus that he probably wouldn't have eaten it. However, he really liked it and requested that I make more as long as I don't make it any other way. I told him that if he liked it one way that I would definitely try other ways.

ROASTED PARMESAN ASPARAGUS
1/2 - 1 lb asparagus spears
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray cooking spray on a tinfoil lined baking sheet. Trim bottoms from asparagus spears & rinse. Place asparagus on baking sheet, salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with olive oil. Top with shredded Parmesan cheese and roast for about 5 minutes until fork tender. Serve & enjoy.

Lime Chicken Soft Tacos

My camera's batteries have died again and we're in the works of buying some rechargeable ones so bear with me the next little while. I've been using my cell phone for the last couple of posts but when I went to mail the picture to the computer it decided not to work.
This was a really good meal and I did a couple of things to make it a little easier for me. I painted my office with my mom yesterday so I needed to have a simple meal. I'll include what I did for the instructions because to me, it is much easier. It wasn't your usual taco flavor so it was a nice change!

LIME CHICKEN SOFT TACOS
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast meat, shredded
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
10 (6 inch) flour tortillas
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream

1. Put chicken in crockpot (I put them in frozen). Season with salt and pepper. Add water, chicken broth, or white wine to keep the chicken from burning. Cook for 5-6 hours on low.
2. Saute chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for an extra 10 minutes.
3. Heat an iron skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve lime chicken mixture in warm tortillas topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese, salsa, and sour cream.

I served this with a recipe for Cafe Rio's Cilantro Lime rice. The two flavors combined so well!

CILANTRO-LIME RICE
1 c. uncooked rice (long-grain, white rice)
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In rice cooker combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Let the rice cooker do it's thing. :-D Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.

Also! I received my second award the other day from Nett's Nook! Thank you SOOO much!!!

Along with the award came this little quote:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."

It also says : "Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I'd like to give this to:
Lauren at Mixing Bowls and Spatulas
Donna at My Tasty Treasures
Teresa at A Blog About Food
Eniko at It's all about FOOD!

Honey Mustard Chicken

Here is another great recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. It does take a little while to cook, but its all done in the oven while you could be off saving the world, or painting your living room like I was doing. The flavor was fantastic even though it was a pretty simple dish. The only recommendation that I would make is to turn your chicken over half way through baking. The bottom part of the chicken that had sat in the sauce was much more flavorful and tender than the top. Next week I will be trying this same recipe with some Tilapia that I bought and I'll be sure to let you know how it turned out. I served this with a baked potato and some green beans. The baked potato was an awesome easy choice since I just coated it in olive oil, salt, and pepper before wrapping it and throwing it in the oven for an hour. They were both done at the same time. Talk about EASY.

HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed and tenderized slightly (if they are overly thick, slice them in half)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
2 Tablespoons mustard (I used the basic yellow mustard since my husband is not a fan of Dijon mustard, but I bet it would be tasty with either)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 350. Place chicken in shallow baking pan. In a small bowl, combine butter, honey, mustard and salt and whisk well. Pour over chicken. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, basting every 15 minutes.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Pasta

From În Restaurantul Gianinei

I pulled this out of my archives to add a picture to it. But I thought I'd leave my brother's orginal comment on here to convince you all that you should try it. :-D

"Mad props to your ill cookin' skills." -Eric (My Brother)

This was a relatively quick recipe. It had a lot of flavor and had a taste that I can't quite explain. This time around I did things a little differently since I didn't have very much sauce last time. I grabbed two packets of the dry salad mix and used about a pack and a half. I also used 1/2 cup half and half because I wanted the sauce a bit creamier. The result was fantastic and I was rewarded with another. "Woman, this is the best food you've ever made." :-D

CREAMY RANCH CHICKEN PASTA
6 slices bacon
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons ranch dry salad dressing mix
1 cup milk
1/2 cup half and half
3 cups egg noodles or fettucini
3 tablespoon finely shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Start your water for your pasta. Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. Cut bacon into narrow strips, then again into tiny pieces. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels.
3. In the same skillet, cook chicken until no longer pink, turning to brown evenly. 4. Mix flour, salad dressing mix, and milk in a small bowl. Move chicken into saucepan. Pour flour mixture over chicken. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in bacon. Serve over noodles.

Pasta With Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce

Sorry it has been so long since I posted last. I really haven't been doing a ton of cooking lately (besides good ol' Mac & Cheese), but I'll make up for it this week. We had this meal tonight and it was delicious. I kept the chicken separate rather than mixing it in with the pasta because I was too lazy to de-bone it before I stuck it in the oven. I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and drizzled it with Olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. Yum! I didn't really make too many changes because it was really good the way it was. I do, however, think that next time I will add some green onions to the sauce for that little extra punch of flavor. (Can you tell I LOVE green onions?) I had a little bit of trouble with the sauce being a bit too thick but I think that's because I was trying to do too many things at once and let it boil a bit too long. I just added a bit more milk and we were good to go. I also roasted my garlic different than the original recipe. I'll include the instructions, but I got them here.

Here is my altered recipe:

PASTA WITH ROASTED GARLIC CREAM SAUCE
1 head garlic, roasted
Olive oil
1 cup cream or half & half
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks green onion, chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more at the table
Red pepper flakes, optional
2 broccoli crowns cut into bite-sized pieces (I used frozen broccoli)
2 chicken thighs
1 lb pasta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the top of the head off so every clove of garlic is exposed. Place on a small square of tinfoil (easy clean up). Drizzle with olive oil and salt to taste. Fold edges of tinfoil together and twist to make a sealed bundle (See a picture here). Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the garlic. Remove from oven, let sit about 5 minutes, and then open the tin foil to let the garlic cool. Squeeze to remove the roasted cloves.

In a medium pot over medium-high heat, add butter and once melted, add flour and cook 1 minute. Add cream and milk, whisking to break up any lumps. Add minced garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to just boiling, then reduce heat to low. Add cheese and whisk until smooth.

Once the roasted garlic is cool, squeeze the garlic out of the papery skin. Mash with a fork and add to the cream sauce and whisk together. Add chopped green onions. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta according to package directions. About 4 minutes before the pasta is done, add the broccoli. Once cooked, drain and set aside.

Remove skin from chicken thighs. Put in a 9X13 baking dish and drizzle some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar over the top. Season with salt and pepper. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 min -1 hour.

Toss the pasta and broccoli with the sauce. Add more cheese just before serving.

Roast Chicken with Rosemary & Lemon

I made this dinner last Sunday when we had my mom and dad over, as well as Emi's sister and her husband. I was very impressed with how well this turned out and am just so surprised at how easy it is to make a whole chicken. I always thought it would be hard and time consuming but this one cooked faster than the recipe said and was so tender and flavorful! After it reached the desired internal temperature I flipped on the broiler for 2 minutes to make the skin nice and crispy. It turned out wonderful! Also, I am not a big fan of potatoes, but these were very good! This recipe is modified from one I found on allrecipes.com. The cooking times are relative to the size of chicken you use. If you use a bigger or smaller chicken you'll need to adjust the time accordingly until it reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees when you place a thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh. I used the leftovers for BBQ sandwiches the next day. I would like to try this same recipe in the crockpot. I will let you know how it goes.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH ROSEMARY & LEMON
1 (5 pound) whole chicken, rinsed
2 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, quartered
1 lemon
1 garlic clove
4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Garlic Powder, to taste
1/4 cup fresh chopped rosemary
4-5 potatoes, cut into 1 inch sections

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place potatoes in a 9 X 13 baking pan. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
3. Place chicken on top of potatoes. Pour chicken broth and juice from lemon over chicken and potatoes.
4. Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and 1/4 cup fresh rosemary.
5. Stuff chicken cavity with onion, lemon halves, garlic clove, and 4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary.
6. Cook for approximately 2 hours or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 180 degress when taken in the thickest part of the thigh.
7. Turn broiler on for 2 minutes to make the skin extra crisp.

Chicken Cacciatore

This was a good meal and Emi said it reminded him of something that his mom used to cook at home. His only complaint was that I didn't add enough salt, but that is what he usually says. He can add more salt while my arteries don't shrivel up because I don't use so much salt. I skipped the step where it told me to brown the outsides of the chicken and it still turned out great. The recipe calls for crushed tomatoes, but I couldn't find any so I used 2 cans of italian diced tomatoes. It gave it an excellent flavor. I used 2 cans because I actually had 4 pounds of chicken legs. I also only used green bell peppers since the red ones are so expensive. I didn't use instant rice, but I used my good ol' rice cooker to make regular rice instead. Overall, very easy and the house smelled delicious all day!
Sorry (again!) no picture. My excuse this time is that I was babysitting a friend's children, a 7 month old and a 3 year old to be exact, so I can't say my brain was completely normal by dinner time. Check out the link for a picture.
Haha! Really I think my brain has gone but I can't blame it on the babysitting. It looks like when I made the food in the morning - I completely left out the Italian Dressing, so if you try this let me know how it is with the Italian Dressing added!

Here is the unaltered recipe:

Chicken Cacciatore
1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
3 lb. chicken thighs and drumsticks
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms (about 10 medium), sliced (about 2 cups)
1-1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup each: red and green pepper strips
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
3 cups instant white rice, uncooked

DIRECTIONS
1. HEAT dressing in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken, in batches; cook 2 to 3 min. on each side or until browned on both sides.
2. PLACE mushrooms, onions, peppers and garlic in slow cooker; top with the chicken. Combine tomatoes, salt and thyme; pour over ingredients in slow cooker. Cover with lid. Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours (or on HIGH for 5 hours).
3. COOK rice as directed on package. Serve chicken mixture over the rice.

Kraft Kitchens Tips: Taking the lid off your slow cooker for even just a minute reduces the heat and extends the cooking time. Lift the lid only if instructed to do so in the recipe.

Chicken, Tortellini, & Spinach in a Balsamic Cream Sauce

When I made my shopping list for this months' dinners, my plan was to make this recipe from Kraft Foods. Unfortunately I couldn't find all of the ingredients that I needed so I just decided to wing it. I really didn't worry about it until this morning when I realized what was on the menu for tonight. My inspiration was the dressing so I started thinking about the dressings I have in the fridge and landed on my favorite balsamic vinegarette. I did a quick search and instead decided on just balsamic vinegar, which led me to this recipe. I kind of threw the first recipe out the window and did a little bit of my own take on the second. What resulted was amazing! I received another "this is the best food you've ever made" from Emi. I think this would go even better tied with steak for the meat, but it worked well with the chicken.

Chicken, Tortellini, & Spinach in a Balsamic Cream Sauce

3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into cubes
1 pkg mixed cheese tortellini
2 T. olive oil
2 T. butter
1/4 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 c. heavy cream
2 T. dried rosemary leaves
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 bag baby spinach leaves

1. Cook pasta per package instructions.
2. Cook chicken over skillet in a little bit of oil. Season with salt and pepper. (I'm going to cook my chicken in the oven for 20-25 minutes.)
3. Heat olive oil and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until the onion has carmelized to a dark golden brown (approximately 15 minutes).
4. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and cook for 1 minute before adding the cream, dried rosemary, and parmesan cheese.
5. Once the cheese has melted, stir in the baby spinach leaves and cook until wilted, about 1-2 minutes.
6. Stir in chicken and tortellini.

Chicken Enchiladas

I am pulling this one out of my archives to add a picture of it. This enchilada recipe is wonderful and by far my favorite. It is a little bit sweet and generally just has a good flavor overall. If you are looking for something a little bit more spicy, add some cayenne pepper. I have been making this recipe for the (almost) 2 years that Emi and I have been married.

My recipe differs from the original one with the addition of the tomato sauce. I also recommend making more sauce so you can put a significant amount on the bottom, inside, and on top of the enchiladas.

To make this a little less intense, cook the chicken in the crockpot or use leftover chicken. Cooking it in the crockpot makes it much easier to shred and come dinner time all you need to get ready is the sauce.

Chicken Enchiladas
1 T. butter
3 stalks chopped green onion
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles
2 (10.75 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato sauce*
3/4 c. sour cream
4 shredded cooked chicken breasts
1 c. shredding Cheddar cheese, divided
10 flour tortillas
1/4 cup milk
1 tomato for garnish

(*To make it the way it was originally don't add the tomato sauce and it will leave you with just a creamy sauce. Emi and I liked the taste without the tomato, but not as much as with it. The tomato sauce is what gives it a little bit of sweetness.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking dish.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium het, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 -4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles, cream of mushroom soup, tomato soup, and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 1/2 of this sauce and set aside. Take 1/4 of sauce and spread on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.
3. Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
4. In a small bowl, combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredding Cheddar cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 - 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

Chicken Garlic Pizza

Last night we had a little change of plans. Originally I was going to make some BBQ pizza, but I just really didn't feel up to BBQ pizza so I went on the search instead. Where I live, we have an AWESOME pizza chain called Papa Murphy's. They make the pizza for you and then you take it home and bake it. It is a little bit less expensive than the regular pizza chains. I was trying to find a recipe that was like their Chicken Garlic Pizza and I found a couple of different ones, but this one sounded the yummiest so I chose it. It didn't taste exactly like Papa Murphy's but it was close and very good! I only differed from the original recipe in that I used green onions instead of red, more garlic, and more tomatoes.

I used the pizza dough recipe found here. I made one change to the pizza dough. I added Italian Seasoning and some dried Rosemary. I think next time I will add some garlic salt to the olive oil when I brush the crust to add some extra flavor. I always have a hard time eating crust because the lack of flavor.

Chicken Garlic Pizza

Ingredients
4 ounces light cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup nonfat sour cream
6 cloves garlic, mashed
1 cup cooked chicken, diced
3 stalks green onion
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup mushroom, sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, part skim milk,shredded
1 pizza dough
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the cream cheese, sour cream and mashed garlic until smooth.
3. Spread on the pizza crust.
4. Top with the chicken, onion, tomato, mushrooms and cheese.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until the crust is done and the cheese is melted.
6. Top with parmesan cheese.

Ranch Chicken Pizza

Last night I made some more Homemade Pizza. While Emi liked the kind I made last time, he thought the dough was a little bit too crunchy so he wasn't too excited that I wanted to make Homemade Pizza again. This dough came out with a little bit of a crunch to it, but for the most part it was soft. This will be my standard go to Pizza Dough recipe from now on.

Emi LOVED the flavor of this pizza and ending up eating most of the pizza himself. The only change I wanted to make was to add some green onions to the topping, but then I found out that I didn't have any. Next time I will try that for sure. I LOVE green onions. (Side note on the picture: I thought I picked up sliced olives, but instead they were chopped, so that is what those weird clumps of black on the picture are.)

I found both the pizza dough recipe and the sauce and toppings recipe at Shayla's Kitchen (as linked in the recipe title).

Pizza Dough

1 pkg. Dry yeast (2 tsp. = 1 pkg.)
2 Tbsp. Lukewarm water
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
1 egg
1 tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Shortening or oil
1 cup boiling water
3 cups flour

Beat egg, add shortening, salt, sugar. Slowly stir in boiling water. Cool to lukewarm and add yeast mixture. Add ½ flour; stir (or beat with electric mixer) until smooth. Add remaining flour. Knead to soft dough. Roll to fit pan. Spread light coating of oil over dough on pan. Let rise 15 minutes. (You can spread on sauce and toppings while waiting for dough to rise.)

Cook at 425 for 15 - 20 minutes. (Check at 15 minutes.) HINT WHILE BAKING: Turn oven to BROIL for one minute at the very end of pizza cooking time. This gives the cheese a nice brown that is so delicious!

Ranch Chicken Pizza

1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
*2 chicken breasts, cooked, and cut into strips
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 can olives, sliced
2 stalks green onions

Blend together dressing, cream cheese, and tomato paste. Stir in cooked chicken. Spread on pizza crust. Top with mozzarella cheese and olives.

Chicken & Spinach Stuffed Shells

I don't know how many times my husband is going to tell me "This is the best food you've ever made." but I have to admit, I really LOVE how much he loves my cooking. He is constantly bragging about it to all of his friends and even new people that he just randomly meets. He is so funny. He also wants me to send pictures of my food to his mom and dad in Romania.
These were amazing, and apparently the best food I've ever made... so I definitely reccomend them. My one complaint is that they are a little time consuming but definitely worth it in the end. I ended up making two 9X13 pans and one 8X8 pan. So that is a lot for just Emi and me, but it would be great for guests or for a party.
I'm sorry I haven't been doing so well with pictures lately. My camera's batteries are dead and my old camera is on the fritz, but I promise to take pictures and repost next time I make this. For a picture just check out the link!

Chicken & Spinach Stuffed Shells

44 uncooked jumbo pasta shells (That’s about one and one-half 12-oz boxes)
2 c chopped cooked chicken
2 c fresh chopped spinach
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15oz) container ricotta cheese
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (5oz) package shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1 2/3 c.)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tb dried parsley flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (26oz) jar prepared spaghetti sauce

Cook shells according to package directions (be sure to stir every once in awhile so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan and tear apart); drain and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease 2 13x9x2inch baking dishes.
In a large bowl, combine chicken and all the rest of the ingredients except mozzarella and spaghetti sauce. Stir in 1 cup mozzarella. Spoon into shells.
Spread half of spaghetti sauce into prepared baking dishes. Arrange shells over sauce; top with remaining sauce. Cover tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Bake for 5 to 10 more minutes.
Makes 8-10 servings.