Pesto Chicken

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. I'm always mentally planning my next trip, the international one we'll take much later on with vacation time that hasn't yet been accrued, and scheming ways to squeeze in additional stops to Pittsburgh and Disneyland. Travel is one of life's greatest pleasures, although returning to your own home can be, too! My own bed, pillow, shower, pet, and kitchen are all things I find myself missing after just a few days away.

After our vacation to California [which I still owe you several posts from] Bryce and I needed to get back in the habit of eating just 3 meals a day - ha! - and return to a real food eating plan. After a Saturday morning trip to my favorite Farmer's Market, a $200 haul at Sam's Club, and one more stop at a "regular" store, we were enjoying a home made meal in the comfort of our own apartment.

This pesto chicken was made with basil and parsley that I actually planted, grew, and kept alive for a short period of time! The tomatoes are from the Farmer's Market, the spinach is surprisingly organic and from Sam's Club (which you can't say about many things), and the pasta is whole wheat.

Easy Paprika Chicken

So now we're home from vacation and back to real life - which also means an empty fridge & pantry. I managed to scrounge dinner together with the following items: 2 frozen chicken breasts, a can of green beans, and some egg noodles (leftover from the Potato and Egg Casserole). 

Oddly enough, that sounds like the typical dinner of my childhood! My (skinny and very healthy) parents eat chicken, green beans, and a potato/pasta on a regular basis. Healthy but BOR-ING.

One of my most favorite food bloggers - Erika of In Erika's Kitchen - posted this recipe for Paprika Chicken a while back and I made it shortly after. It was another night like tonight where I was low on ingredients and/or pressed for time and the paprika chicken totally rocked my socks off! I knew the next time this scrumptious recipe graced my kitchen I'd have to share it.

Tonight I made a smaller batch using chicken breasts and used just "Paprika" vs Smoked Paprika. Is there a difference?

Easy Paprika Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 teaspoons garlic salt

6 teaspoons paprika

  Use a 2:3 ratio of garlic salt to paprika, as needed, I happened to have a clean teaspoon nearby!

Preheat your broiler to high. Line a baking sheet with foil. Since we only had 2 pieces of chicken I used the pan from the toaster oven and it was perfect! 

For our 3 year anniversary back in August, Bryce bought me the Le Creuset mortar & pestle! I didn't and still don't know exactly what to use it for, sadly. I used it tonight to mush up and mix the garlic salt & paprika. Can anyone help with that one, too?

Cover the chicken completely with the mixture. Pop that funky chicken into the broiler for 7 minutes on each side.

 

You'll know it's finished when the chicken gets a nice crusty exterior, yum!

I served it with aforementioned green beans and noodles, such a quick and healthy dinner!

Thanks for the great recipe, Erika. This will be my go-to meal for dinner in a hurry or an empty kitchen from now on!

Slow Cooker Chicken with Mushroom Stuffing

Let's talk about Sam's Club for just a moment... I love Sam's! I can go in there for one thing and walk out with a cart full of stuff and end up spending $120. The only issue is that I can't eat the produce fast enough and some of it usually ends up rotting away in the bottom drawers of the fridge.  Not. Cool. HAHA fridge joke!

Last week I bought a huge container of mushrooms and wanted to find a way to use them all before we had any mushroom casualties. I consulted my sous chef, Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, and she suggested I make Chicken with Mushroom Stuffing in the slow cooker.  

Disclaimer: This recipe is not one of those quick crock-pot recipes, there's a lot of prep involved before it goes into the cooker so make sure you have some time!

Slow Cooker Chicken with Mushroom Stuffing

from BH&G Cook Book with many adaptations of my own 

Ingredients:

1 crock pot liner 

     I love these things and once you use them you can never go back to living without!

2 tablespoons finely shredded lemon peel

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

     I'd recommend using more chicken, our stuffing to chicken ratio was way off.

8 ounces quartered button mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 cup butter

1 sourdough baguette, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups shredded carrot (2 large carrots)

1 can of chicken broth (15 or 16 ounces)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley

Never before have I used a food processor to shred anything, it's great! The 2 ginormous carrots were shredded in no time and none of my fingers were injured.

Start by putting the slow cooker liner inside the pot.  Combine half of the lemon peel with the poultry seasoning, seasoned salt, and pepper. 

Use 3/4 of this mixture (reserving the other 1/4 for later) to rub on the chicken.  Then place it in the cooker.

Now, take your shrooms...

...and cook them in a large skillet over medium along with the butter and garlic.

Do this for about 5 minutes until they're just tender.  Stir in the remaining mixture of poultry seasoning/seasoned salt/pepper/lemon.

Now that baguette - cutting into pieces is pretty tedious but it needs to be done! 

Despite the adorable-ness of that cutting board, it makes a blood curdling noise when a knife touches it and it made the process even worse.

Take your baguette pieces and mix together with the... 

...mushroom mixture...

...and the carrots.  Oops, that bowl is way too small!

Put the mixture back into the pan and mix there, where there's more space :) Drizzle with broth and toss to combine.

Pack the stuffing on top of the chicken in the cooker and turn that baby on!  The recipe calls for 4 to 5 hours of cooking on high, but surely you can turn it on low for a longer period of time if that's what your schedule allows. I cooked ours on high for 4 hours.

 But wait, you're not done yet... I warned you! You need to toast the walnuts. [Spread them on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 5 - 7 minutes. Keep your eye on them, they'll burn quickly and can't be salvaged.] Then, mix the walnuts, the remaining lemon peel, and parsley. The warm, toasty walnuts wake up the lemon peel and parsley and this little mixture really smells amazing.

Now, go about your day in peace knowing that dinner's waiting for you at home.

When it's go time, top the dish with the nut mixture and serve!

This dish has a very comforting and cozy feeling to it and it tastes great. Our baguette pieces could have been a little bit smaller and this would be a great way to use up any type of stale bread since the broth moistens the stuffing. The chicken was tender and very flavorful.

This dish is pretty intense compared to most slow cooker recipes. I'd say use a slow cooker liner and serve it on paper plates and you have 0 cleanup work to do! Or, just kindly ask your boyfriend do the dishes since you cooked :)

I bet making this with turkey and adding dried cranberries would be like a mini-Thanksgiving dinner! I'll let you know if I try that, you promise to let me know if you beat me to it?

Favorite: Broccoli, Chicken, Cheddar Braid

A few years ago my Mom and I went to a cooking class in Bloomfield - Pittsburgh's "little Italy" - for our birthday gifts, thanks Dad! The class was put on by Maria, the owner of our favorite Italian gift shop. (Dominic the Donkey visits there every Christmas, but that's a another story for a different day!) We gathered around a big dining room table in the apartment above the store while Maria got cookin'. She taught us how to make soups, homemade stock, biscotti, etc, while we took notes and eventually ate all of the delicious food she made. We ate, and ate, and ate.

Everything was so good, but the BEST thing she made that day was what she called a "broccoli, chicken, cheddar braid." As you might guess, the ingredients include broccoli, chicken, and cheddar cheese, plus mayonnaise, dill, red peppers which I replace with red onion (note: I HATE peppers and remove them from every and all recipes.) and garlic. You mix all of those together, then put the mixture into the center of crescent roll dough that's been laid flat. You cut a billion little diagonal lines into the sides of the dough and then "braid" the dough over the top of the mixture, which is much easier said than done! Finish it off with an egg wash and either pine nuts or slivered almonds on top and bake it in the oven. It turns out to be flaky and buttery on the outside and cheesy and delicious on the inside. My favorite part is the slight flavor from the dill. MMMMMMM!

In Maria's class I remember her saying more than once that she likes to eat the filling alone. Every time I make it there seems to be just a litttttttttle bit too much filling, so I save some and eat it while the rest is baking ;)

I've made this recipe at least 10 times now, and it is definitely a favorite! I made it for my roommates my senior year of college - it lasted only a day or 2 in a fridge belonging to 5 women, for pumpkin carving parties, birthday parties, and sometimes just for myself! My friend Allison suggested I blog about it since she liked it so much, although I don't know how much she got to eat since the #1 fan of the recipe EVER was her boyfriend's Dad who ate 90% of it before noon one Saturday! Thanks Ali :)

In other related food news, I LOVE Hungry Girl - Lisa Lillen, google her. She brought it to my attention that Pillsbury now makes seamless dough, which I just found in a Hawaii grocery store this week! (Hawaii lags in getting new products, music, everything...) This can potentially save tons of time and sticky fingers from pressing the crescent roll dough together for the Broc, chix, cheddar braid! Did I forget to mention that ANNOYING step?! OOPS! So I have the dough but didn't know what to make with it but now it seems so obvious...

This is Maria's creation and the first time I ever tried the glorious, glorious recipe.

Here's one that I made, using almonds instead of pine nuts.

Bryce makes them, too!

Broccoli Chicken Cheddar Braid
adapted from Maria's (of Merante Gifts in Bloomfield, PA) recipe

2 cups of cooked, chopped chicken
2 crowns of broccoli, chopped
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of mayonnaise (I use light mayo)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a red onion, finely chopped
Dill to taste
2 packages crescent roll dough (seamless if possible)

To make the filling, mix together the chicken, broccoli, red onion, cheese, garlic, dill, and mayo. (If preparing in advance, cover and chill overnight.)

Lay each package of dough flat on a greased cookie sheet. If you can't find the seamless dough, press the seams of the triangular crescent rolls together. Spoon half of the chicken mixture onto each.

With a sharp knife or scissors, cut the dough into one inch wide strips around the edges. Bring the strips up over the top of the filling, rotating sides to get a braided effect. Repeat for the second braid.

OPTIONAL: Brush each braid with egg white wash and sprinkle with sliced almonds or pine nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, or until the dough is firm and golden brown. Allow to cool before cutting.

UPDATE!!

I got a brilliant idea to turn this braid into individual cups made in cupcake/muffin tins! What took me so long to think of that?

To make this recipe into cups:

 Cut the flattened dough sheets into 12 squares each (3 wide by 4 high worked best for me). Spray 2 cupcake/muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray. Place one square inside each compartment, then spoon equal amounts of the chicken mixture into each. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 18 - 20 minutes.

This is so much easier and tastes just as good!