Tag Archives: cooking

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto and Goat Cheese (aka looks gross, but tastes good)

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Quick Post: I assure you this tastes much better than it looks! I could not get a decent picture of this because it was raining the night I made it, so no natural light! I’m also not fond of my flash mode – blah! I’m a little embarrassed to show the picture because pictures “sell” recipes – but this one has  great flavor and I would make it again. Thanks for reading, enjoy!
Stuffed Chicken Breast with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto and Goat Cheese –
  1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray an oven-safe saute pan with olive oil or cooking spray and heat over medium-high.
  2. Using a pairing knife, cut a pocket in each chicken breast, cutting as close as possible to the edges but taking care not to puncture all the way through.
  3. Mix the sun dried tomato pesto and goat cheese together in a small bowl then stuff each chicken breast generously with the mixture. I used toothpicks to secure the opening as much as possible.
  4. Season the tops with salt and pepper. Place top down in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes, until nicely seared.
  5. Flip chicken, remove from heat, and pop into the oven for 15 – 18 minutes to finish cooking through. Chicken is done when it reaches 160 degrees (*155 is good because of the carry over cooking*)

Roasted Garlic Bread

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Quick Post: This is so darn good – it’s dangerous! The last time I mentioned it, I didn’t get a chance to photograph it cause it disappeared before I was able to. I figured that I would make this again really soon so I could share it with you 😉 I saved up carbs so I was able to eat this pasta with Italian chicken sausage and at least two pieces of the garlic bread. This dinner is definitely a carb overload, but totally worth it! Thanks for reading, enjoy 🙂

Roasted Garlic Bread –

  • 1 loaf of french bread
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • 6 TBSP of butter
  • 2 – 3 TBSP of olive oil
  • kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper (to taste, optional)
  • dried herbs – I used parsley (optional)
  • Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheeses
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the bulb of garlic in half and place it on a square of foil, large enough that you can make a little package for roasting. Place the cut garlic into the center of the foil and drizzle with a little olive oil. Close the package up and roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.
2. Squeeze the cloves into a small bowl to smash up with the butter, olive oil and seasonings. Blend well and set aside. Cut your french bread in half and then take the two halves and split those down the middle lengthwise. Spread the butter mixture generously over each piece. Place your bread on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes – take the bread out and sprinkle your grated cheese over top each piece. Place back in the oven until the cheese melts and is nicely browned – about 3-5 minutes. Cut into slices and enjoy!

Twice Baked Potatoes

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I was inspired to make these while watching The Pioneer Woman’s show on Food Network yesterday. Now, I wouldn’t mind trying her recipe, but I’d rather stay away from all those extra goodies and try to make these a little more healthy for my family. I’m adding broccoli and cooked chicken to mine, while my husband will have lots of cheese, butter and sour cream on his to go along with his rib eye steak tonight. I’m serving mine with a green salad. The kids aren’t fans of mashed or baked potatoes (cause they’re a little weird – I still love them, though) so hopefully the leftovers will heat up nicely for a quick dinner later on this week.
Verdict: These were so tasty and well worth the wait. I have all kinds of add in ideas now that I will have to try soon. My favorite thing about this is the skin on the bottom of the potato. It became crisp almost like a chip because of the olive oil – it was perfect!  Thanks for reading, enjoy!
Twice Baked Potatoes – adapted from Natalie’s Killer Cuisine
  • 4 large Russet Potatoes
  • Olive Oil to coat (*and kosher salt if you’d like)
  • 4 TBSP Butter
  • a splash of half and half
  • Heaping spoon of Sour Cream
  • Paprika to taste
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded – plus more for top
  • 2 cups cooked Broccoli Florets
  • 1 cup cooked chicken
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, scrub the potatoes well and poke a several holes in the potato with a fork. Coat in olive oil and bake uncovered for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool at least 30 minutes before handling.
2. Slice off top quarter of potato. Scoop out as much of the potato as you can without breaking the skin and place in a bowl.
3. Add the butter, sour cream, half and half, broccoli, chicken, and cheese to the mashed potato, and mash until everything is melted, and smooth. Add the paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Spoon your mashed potato mixture into the potato skin – be really generous here. Sprinkle the tops with extra cheese if desired.
4. Bake for 3o minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melted.  I turned on my broiler for a few minutes after they were finished baking, just to brown the tops a little – keep a close eye on them. Enjoy!

Honey Chipotle Barbeque Sauce

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I decided to make this because I thought my husband would appreciate a spicy barbecue sauce to go along with these chicken strips. Woo – this was spicy! Not so much that it cleared our sinuses, but it has a kick to it. The future chili head, Little Boy didn’t break a sweat. Sometimes I wonder if he’s covering it up, but he didn’t even flinch! I guess it has something to do with his love of all things spicy for the past 5 years of his 8! 😉 Next time I would cut down on the amount of chipotles, maybe two instead of the three large ones I used. I love that I have such a wide variety of spices in my cupboard 🙂 Ancho and smoked paprika are hard to find so I end up purchasing them online. I love online shopping because it’s always a treat to get a package in the mail 😉 Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Honey Chipotle Barbecue Sauce – adapted from Crumb

  • 1 cup finely diced onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp unsulfured molasses
  • 3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
  • 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tsp ancho chile powder
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Directions –
1. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil for 8-10 minutes, or until onions are very soft and lightly golden. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes to blend the flavours.
2. Using an immersion blender or food processor, puree the mixture until very smooth. If the sauce is too thick or chunky, add a little water (a tablespoon or two at a time), until the desired consistency has been reached.

Soft Garlic Knots

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Soup needs bread! 😉 I didn’t have a couple of the ingredients that these knots required, but thankfully my improvisations didn’t ruin these. The dough improver is a necessary ingredient though with all the shaping these required. It prevents the dough from snapping back easily and rolling these out and tying them up would have been a pain with out it. These were fun to shape, but I didn’t roll them out like in the directions. I made sure that all my 16 pieces were at least 1.5 ounces each before shaping so I could make sure that they would all bake evenly. I took each ball and rolled it into about 11 inches (think of Play Doh snakes!) and made the knot, then tucked in the ends per the instructions. I baked off all 16 but only buttered half of them so I could store or freeze the rest. My family enjoyed these and they were a perfect accompaniment to our chicken noodle soup. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Soft Garlic Knots – adapted from King Arthur Flour

Dough:

  • 3 1/4 cups (13 3/4 ounces) Mellow Pastry Blend or 3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/4 cup (1 ounce) Baker’s Special Dry Milk
  • 3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) potato flour (*I used a couple TBSP of potato flakes)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 3 tablespoons King Arthur Easy-Roll Dough Improver (optional)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor (*I didn’t use this)
  • 2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) olive oil
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water*

*Add an additional 2 tablespoons water in the winter, or if you live in a very dry climate.

Glaze:

  • 2 to 6 cloves peeled, crushed garlic
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon Pizza Seasoning or Italian seasoning, optional (*I used parsley flakes)

Directions: 

Dough: Whisk the dry ingredients together to prevent the potato flour from clumping when liquid is added. Stir in the olive oil and water, then mix and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to form a smooth, elastic dough, adding additional water or flour as needed. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and allow it to rise for about 1 hour, until it’s doubled in bulk.

Shaping: Divide the dough into 16 pieces, and roll each into a rope about 11 inches long; tie each rope into a knot, tucking the loose ends into the center. Place the knots on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for 45 minutes to about an hour, until very puffy looking.

Glaze: Whisk together the melted butter and garlic. Set it aside.

Baking: Bake the knots in a preheated 350°F oven for 15 to 18 minutes. They should be set, but only very lightly browned. Remove the knots from the oven, and brush or drizzle them with the garlic butter. Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and pizza seasoning or Italian seasoning, if desired. Eat the knots warm. Yield: 16 garlic knots.

Chicken Noodle Soup

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It’s officially Fall which means I get to make pot roast, chicken pot pie and other belly warming dinners again. It hasn’t exactly started cooling down here yet, but I was craving a rich chicken noodle soup. This wasn’t quick by any means, but the flavor that the three hour simmering  created was well worth it. I also have three quarts of flavorful chicken stock stashed in the freezer! Thanks for reading, enjoy!
Cooking the Chicken – 
  • 1  4 – 5 pound whole chicken (rinsed and dried)
  • 1 box of chicken stock
  • 2 – 4 carrots cut in half
  • 2 – 4 stalk celery, roughly chopped *make sure you put lots of leafy tops in too*
  • 1 large onion, quartered
  • 5 – 6 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1 TBSP peppercorns
  • 3 -4 bay leaves
  • 1/2 tsp dried sage
  • 1 TBSP dried parsley
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 3 sprigs lemon thyme
  • kosher salt and pepper
  • enough cold water to cover the chicken
Directions:
1. Place all the ingredients in a large stock pot, bring to a boil then lower to a simmer for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Carefully pull the chicken out of the pot and set it aside to cool – about 40 minutes. Once it’s cooled, shred – place pulled chicken in a container and place the carcass back into the stock pot.
Chicken Stock –
  • two chicken carcasses (* I had one in the freezer from this)
  • reserved cooking water
Directions:
1. Simmer the contents of the stock pot for at least three hours. Carefully strain the finished stock over a fine mesh strainer into a large container. Discard the bones and vegetables. Set the stock aside to cool. Skim as much fat off the top or place in the refrigerator for the fat to solidify. Store in air tight containers and place in the freezer.
Chicken Noodle Soup –
  • 2 quarts chicken stock (*more or less depending on how “soupy” you like it)
  • 2 cups shredded chicken
  • 4 cups total of chopped carrots, celery and onion
  • 2 TBSP olive oil
  • 2 cups egg noodles (*I used No Yolks)
  • lemon thyme
  • lemon zest
  • kosher salt and pepper
Directions –
1. Heat a large soup pot to medium and add olive oil. Once the oil is warmed, add all your diced veggies to the pan. Saute for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, place a soup pot with the chicken stock to simmer and add the cooked vegetables and shredded chicken to the soup pot. Bring to boil, season to taste and add the egg noodles and peas. Cook until the egg noodles are tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Taste again, season if needed – enjoy the soup with a crusty loaf of bread…yum!

Kid Friendly Dinner – Baked Chicken Strips

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This is a perfect meal for our busy Wednesday nights and the kids love foods like these, and I doubled the recipe so we would have plenty of leftovers. I used three chicken breasts that were 9 ounces each, which I pounded and cut into roughly 3 ounce strips. You could buy chicken tenders, but those are so expensive. The other day my buttermilk expired so I substituted by taking one cup of milk and adding one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. It curdles and thickens really quickly – it’s pretty cool how it looks so much like the real thing. I’ll keep this in mind if I don’t feel like spending the extra money for the buttermilk later.

The kids loved these and my daughter even said she’d eat these for breakfast – I’m pretty sure she meant she’d eat the leftovers. Hubby M reminded me “Well, there are Corn Flakes on them.” 😉 The faux buttermilk tenderized the chicken so well we could cut the meat with a fork – no knife necessary! Next time I’ll season the crumbs and maybe try some other seasonings in the marinade. Hot sauce in the buttermilk would be a good addition, but Little Girl wouldn’t be too happy if I did that. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Baked Chicken Strips – adapted from Simple Bites

  • 1 lb chicken tenders
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (* I substituted 1 cup milk + 1 TBSP lemon juice)
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1 cup corn flakes, crushed into fine crumbs
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs
  • salt & pepper

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix buttermilk, salt, pepper and paprika. Add in fillets and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Mix corn flakes and panko together on a plate, season with salt & pepper.
4. Place one or two pieces of chicken at a time on plate, thoroughly coating each piece in crumbs.
5. For best results, bake on a greased metal cooling rack set atop a baking sheet. This allows the hot air to crisp all sides of the strips, instead of just one side. If you cannot get this set up, simply spray a baking sheet with baking spray and place strips directly on sheet.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. (*Mine were finished in 20 minutes because I didn’t use chicken tenders*)

Roasted Garlic Pesto Pizza

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This pizza was garlicky, oily and so tasty. It wasn’t “swimming” in oil, but it seeped through to the bottom crust which made it even more crispy, reminiscent of my favorite garlic bread. I meant to add grilled chicken to this, but last night was crazy and this morning my mind was somewhere else; so I completely forgot. Thankfully my disappointment only lasted a for a minute. I made up for the lack of chicken and added another layer of flavor by using sun dried tomatoes to the top of this which ended up being a perfect addition to this pizza. I had to stop myself from eating too much! I’m looking forward to these leftovers 😉 Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Roasted Garlic Pesto Pizza – Sugar Cooking

  • 1 – 10 ball of pizza dough 
  • 1/2 cup prepared pesto
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • 5 sun dried tomatoes, sliced
  • 5 ounces Mozzarella cheese
  • Pecorino Romano cheese (grated over top)
  • Parmesan cheese (grated over top)
  • Red chili flakes

Directions:

1. To roast the garlic: Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Remove garlic gloves and smash with a fork.

2. Spread roasted garlic over pizza dough, then top with your pesto, mozzarella and the grated cheeses. Add your sun dried tomatoes and chili flakes then bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a 475 degree oven. I love using my pizza stone which always sits on the lowest level of my oven.

Citrus Salmon

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Quick Post: Coho salmon was on sale at Publix so I had to pick some up. Wild salmon is a healthy treat for us – all except my daughter – she has an aversion to fish (she’s my picky eater). I baked the salmon in foil again – it is a fool proof method. Maybe one day I’ll try something new, but when it comes to using an expensive food like this, I go with what I am most comfortable with. This time I used orange and lemon slices to season my fish along with some cilantro that I had leftover from making this to give it an herby kick. We enjoyed this with this garlic rice pilaf and a green salad. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Citrus Salmon –

  • 1 – 6 ounce piece of Coho salmon
  • 2 slices lemon
  • 2 slices orange
  • cilantro leaves
  • kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
  • 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Ready a piece of foil on a baking sheet.
2. Place the salmon on the foil, season with salt and pepper and lay the citrus slices across the top of the fish. Place dots of butter on top and lay the cilantro leaves over all. Gather the sides of the foil to create a package – don’t seal too tightly or you may tear the foil. Place on top of a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes (depending on the size and thickness).

Tuscan Chicken Sandwich

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This sandwich was amazing – and I’m not ashamed to admit that! 😉 I was inspired by a sandwich that I love to order – something I have never done before. I like the idea of recreating and improving on a favorite meal and this was a successful first attempt. Thankfully the menu listed all ingredients that this sandwich requires so there was no guessing involved. I changed up some of the ingredients to accommodate what I had in my fridge. I didn’t make the ciabatta rolls at home, but these are bakery fresh and full of ingredients I can pronounce. I also didn’t make the cream cheese spread, but I bought it at my favorite specialty food market where they make so much on site. It’s a garlic and herb cheese spread that has cream cheese, basil, parsley and garlic – so it’s easy enough to make if you chose to. It’s basically a Boursin cheese spread, but I checked the ingredients on that and it’s not made with fresh herbs or garlic – pass! It’s not worth 5 plus dollars in my opinion…The basil pesto mayonnaise was super easy to make especially because I had about a cup of this pesto in my freezer.

Tuscan Chicken Sandwich – inspired by Common Grounds Cafe

For the marinade:

  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded to an even thickness
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
  • Italian seasoning
  • kosher salt
For the Sandwich:
  • basil mayo
  • garlic and herb cheese spread
  • sun dried tomatoes
  • salad greens or baby spinach
  • baby swiss
  • 4 ciabatta rolls, brushed lightly with olive oil for toasting on the grill
Directions:
1. Place your pounded chicken in a zip top bag. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and pour over top the chicken. Mush the bag to disperse the marinade, place the bag in a container and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
2. Preheat your grill to 350 – 400 degrees. Grill the chicken for 7 to 8 minutes a side and at about 5 minutes before the chicken is cooked through, toast your ciabatta rolls if desired. Take the rolls and the chicken off the grill and place a piece of baby swiss on each chicken breast (my slices are super thin so they melt quickly).
3. On one half of the roll, slather on a good amount of the garlic and herb cheese spread and place a piece of chicken on top. On top of the chicken, top with salad greens and sun dried tomatoes. Spread the pesto mayo on the top bun and place it on top of the sandwich – enjoy!