Saucy Drumsticks and Thighs

I'm back with a new recipe!  I won't go into the details of why I haven't posted lately, let's just say that life can get a little hectic!  I think I'm trying to balance quite a few things in my life right now and something had to give!  I will have to say though, that during this time I have made a lot of progress on our 2010 family digital scrapbook...it's one of my goals to finish it before the summer!  Between that, chasing Little Man every where, being sick, doing two Beth Moore Bible Studies at one time, my Thirty-One business, and basically keeping up with the house...I've been one busy momma!  I have still taken the time to make nutritious, delicious food for my family so I thought I would spend a little time today sharing one with all of you!  This one is from one of my favorite slow cooker cookbooks, it's called "Southern Living Slow Cooker Cookbook."  I highly recommend it if you love your crock pot.  I received it as a Christmas present while I was in college and use it so much that the pages are falling out of it! :)  So let's get right to it!

Saucy Drumsticks and Thighs
6 chicken drumsticks (about 1 1/2 lbs.), skinned
6 chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs.), skinned
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes with roasted garlic, undrained
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons chicken-flavored bouillon granules
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper *add this at the very end, if at all!  Red Pepper Flakes have a tendency to get extra "flavorful" when stewing in a crockpot all day.  Trust me on this one!

Place chicken in slow cooker.  Combine tomatoes and remaining ingredients; stir well.  Pour over chicken.  Cover; cook on high-heat setting 1 hour.  Reduce to low-heat and cook 4-5 hours until chicken is tender.   Serve over cooked egg noodles or rice!
So, I didn't realize until I started to post this how much I deviate from the recommended cooking times.  Typically when I am using my crock pot, it's because I have a lot going on that day and don't have time to babysit dinner!  So I rarely put something in for one hour and then change the temperature after that!  For this recipe, I typically throw it all together and leave it on low for about 6-7 hours until it just falls apart!  Also, I prefer to use all boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  It seems a little healthier to me and I don't have to sift through dinner trying to make sure I remove all of the bones.  Oh, and sometimes you can't find just the right can of tomatoes (the ones with just garlic), so if I can't I usually get anything that sounds Italian...basil, oregano, garlic..you get the idea!
This is a family favorite and depending on how many pounds of chicken you use, you can usually get a good couple of days worth of meals out of it.  We usually pile it on top of some egg noodles and eat it with a big salad!  Voila...dinner is done.  Hope you enjoy it!

Sausage and Rice Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Hallelujah, I'm feeling well enough to start experimenting in the kitchen again!  The first one out of the gate is a winner, winner!  We found some really great poblano peppers at a local farm and I couldn't wait to get them cooking.  I knew I wanted stuffed peppers, but I wasn't sure what to do.  And then, as if someone was reading my mind, I was walking through the meat department at HEB and stumbled upon "Poblano, Cheddar, Chicken Sausage."  What?  That's exactly what I needed!  How fitting.  I have to be honest and say that I've never stuffed a pepper (except my bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos, but that's a little different).  I always saw photos in cookbooks with the bell pepper stuffed with rice and tomatoes and other various foods.  To me they just weren't appetizing, but these bad boys changed my mind!  So let's get started.  You'll need the following:

Poblano Peppers, Your Favorite Rice, Chicken Sausage (I used the Poblano, Cheddar that I gushed about above, but you could do just about anything here), some cheddar cheese and a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Chipotle Southwest Seasoning.  And that's it, nothing fancy here...just good, simple ingredients.
Start by cooking your rice according to the package directions.  C and I bought a rice cooker over the holidays to speed up his sushi making process.  I must say I always thought they were a useless, waste of counter/cabinet space appliance, but this little guy has changed my mind.  I love being able to throw the rice in there and let it work it's magic.  The one we have knows when the rice is done.  Can you believe that, I can't!  We've made many different types and they all come out perfect, how does it do that?  Anyway, I made two servings of rice and I added a sprinkle (maybe a teaspoon full) of the Mrs. Dash Chipotle Seasoning to the rice as it was cooking.  While that was cooking, I removed the chicken sausage from it's casing and started cooking it in a skillet over medium-high heat.  I find it easiest to break the sausage apart by using a potato masher, unconventional yes, but it works like a charm.  Thanks for the tip Rachael Ray!  Anyway, brown the sausage and then toss in the rice and about a cup full of cheddar!  That's it, really it sounds so simple and it is.  When you have a really great flavored sausage, you don't have to add much else to the mix.  Here's the stuffing in all it's cheesy, gooey glory!  Oh my...perfection!

While your stuffing is melting together, wash the peppers and slice a great big "T" in them.   Scoop out the innards *why does that word make me laugh?*, leave a few seeds if you like it spicy!  Oh, and don't touch your eyes after you touch the pepper insides, these little dudes are worse than jalapenos!  Next, take a giant spoon and start stuffing the peppers.  Don't worry if you make a mess, it adds to the dish!  Here's what you'll have:

Make sure you stuff them to the top, you wouldn't want any of that stuffing to go to waste!  If you have some rice and sausage mixture that won't stuff into the peppers, then by all means go at it with a spoon.  I wish I had taken a picture of C and I with our faces over the pan, shoveling the leftover stuffing into our mouths as if we hadn't eaten all day!  Yes, it was that good!

I tossed them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Long enough for the peppers to soften up, the stuffing to get a little crunchy on top and the skin of the pepper to char a little.  After a little time in the oven, you're going to end up with this:

Look at it, it's so...what's the work I'm looking for?  It's so amazing, fantastic, wonderful, superb, splendid...yes that's it!  Can you see the charred skin and the crunchy stuffing top?  Just looking at these pictures again makes me want to get in the kitchen and cook them up right now!  I know I'm going on and on about these peppers, but I have to say it was a pretty brilliant creation!  It's a Rachael Raves original, I can't say that about too many of my posts, YET!  Serve it up with some corn on the side, if you must!  We did that so that Little Man would eat more (we mixed the stuffing and the corn together for him, tricky, tricky)! 

I'm already scheming other pepper/stuffing combos.  After all, this is just a method and you can do just about whatever floats your boat, within reason of course.  Be sure to check out the pre-flavored sausages at your local store, they really are great.  You could even do a beef mixture, or a pork, or...anyway you get the idea.  Or you could make it just like I did and stick with perfection!  I kid...I'm not perfect, nor or my experiments, but I am very proud of this one if you couldn't tell!

Pretzel Crusted Chicken

Where have I been?  I wish I knew...I feel like the first part of this year has just flown by.  Between the strep throat/restricted airways incident in January and the flu outbreak a few weeks ago, I just can't seem to stay healthy!  Things are changing soon, I can feel it!  C and I have made a plan to ease back into working out and eating healthier.  I know that not all of my flu and strep throat is related to these things, but it can't hurt right?  Anyway, before we get into the full swing of "healthier eating," I thought I would share a family "not so healthy" favorite!  It's chicken coated in pretzels then smothered in a cheesy mustard sauce, what's not to love?

Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breasts with Cheddar Mustard Sauce
from: Rachael Ray

4 quart-size plastic food storage bags

4 small, boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 5-ounce bag of salted pretzels, any shape

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 eggs

Vegetable oil, for frying

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

3/4 pound, about 2 1/2 cups, sharp yellow cheddar cheese, shredded

2 heaping tablespoons spicy brown mustard

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley leaves, a generous handful, chopped

1/4 small yellow onion, finely chopped

1 large sour dill pickle, finely chopped

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat a large non-stick skillet with a 1/4-inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
Sprinkle a little water into four medium food storage baggies. Place 1 chicken breast in each bag and seal it up, pushing out excess air. Use the bottom of a heavy pot or pan and pound each breast until flat, just shy of busting out of the bag. Repeat with the other 3 chicken breasts.

Place the pretzels in a food processor or blender and grind until fine. Transfer the ground pretzels to a shallow dish, add the thyme and some salt and pepper. Crack and beat 2 eggs in a second shallow dish with a splash of water. One at a time, coat each chicken breast in the egg and then the ground pretzels.

Add the pretzel-coated chicken breast to the hot oil. Cook in a single layer, in 2 batches if necessary, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side, until the juices run clear and breading is evenly browned.
While the chicken is frying, in a medium saucepot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the flour to it. Cook flour and butter for 1 minute and then whisk in the milk. When the milk comes to a bubble, stir in the cheese and mustard with a wooden spoon. Season with a little salt and pepper, and remove cheese sauce from the heat.

Transfer the fried pretzel-crusted chicken breast to a serving plate, drizzle with the mustard cheddar sauce, then sprinkle with a little parsley, finely chopped onion and sour dill pickle. Serve lemon wedges alongside.

My notes on the recipe:  I omit the lemon wedges, the onion and the dill pickle.  I'm not a fan of garnishes on top of my dishes, it just doesn't float my boat!  I love having the crunchy pretzel coating surrounding the super moist chicken!  And the cheesy mustard sauce is really good.  It does make way too much though, so I try to halve the recipe when I remember.  I like this dish, it's not one of C's favorites though.  He doesn't care for the mustard in the cheesy sauce, to each his own.

It has been SOOOOOO long since I have blogged, I almost feel like I forgot how!  :)  I promise that this blog is going back on my high priority list.  For the last few weeks the only things on that list have been laying on the couch, drinking Gatorade and trying not to cough up a lung!  I've got so many things to catch up on, but I promise there will be more posts!

Let the cooking experiments commence.  I added Peanut Butter Extract to my pantry today, now I'm just trying to figure out what to do with it! :)  Suggestions?  C already claimed it for buttercream icing...what else?  Stay tuned, I know it's going to be fantastic!

Rachael Ray's Chicken with Wild Mushroom and Balsamic Cream Sauce

This is one of my favorite weeknight meals.  It comes together so quickly and has such a wonderful flavor - like you have been slaving all day to make it!  I'm a big fan of Rachael Ray and this was one of the first recipes that I tried.  I was hooked, and I've been making at least once a month since then.  Don't let the Wild Mushroom and Balsamic Cream Sauce deter you from making this wonderful dish.  The balsamic vinegar gives it a nice hint of something different, it's not over the top.  And the wild mushrooms aren't very wild at our house, I usually end up just using baby portobellos or white mushrooms.  I used to make a dish with Chicken and Cream of Mushroom Soup, but this has since replaced it!  Here's what you need:

Chicken with Wild Mushroom and Balsamic Cream Sauce

adapted from: Rachael Ray

Salt

1/2 pound orzo pasta

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces 

Pepper

2 tablespoons butter

12 cremini or baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

12 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

12 white mushrooms, sliced

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon thyme leaves, a couple of sprigs, chopped

2 large shallots, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons heavy cream or half-and-half

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

To cook:  Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add orzo pasta. Cook to al dente.  Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add extra-virgin olive oil.  Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper and add to the hot skillet. Cook the chicken. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover with foil to keep warm.
Return the skillet to the heat, turn heat back a bit, and add the butter. Once the butter melts add the mushrooms and brown stirring occasionally for about 4 to 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms are brown season with salt and pepper then add the garlic, thyme and shallots. Cook stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes or until the shallots are wilted. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and cook 2 minutes more. Whisk in the stock, balsamic vinegar and the cream. Turn the heat up to high and simmer for about 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the parsley and the chicken back to the skillet to heat up, about 1 minute.
To serve, pile orzo on dinner plates and top with the sliced chicken and sauce.

Delicious!  Just a few notes, I usually use one type of mushroom (whatever looks good the day I'm at the store), I rarely use fresh herbs in this recipe, and I don't add the parsley at the end.  It tastes great even with my modifications - I'm sure it tastes better her way, but I just don't buy fresh herbs very often!  What can I say?  Spices in a jar are so much easier!

I hope you guys are ready for Christmas.  I know I am!  I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Chicken Enchiladas

We love Mexican food in our house.  I think C would choose it everyday if I was game for that.  I'm not though, but I do love it every now and then.  One of my favorite weeknight meals is Chicken Enchiladas.  A friend gave me this recipe a few years ago.  I've adapted it a little and been making it ever since.  It has very few ingredients, but those few ingredients pack a nice punch.  I used to make this with pre-cooked fajita chicken strips, but now that I've had my Chicken *WOW* Moment I will only be using chicken cooked in a crockpot.  If you don't have time to cook the whole chicken, feel free to substitute pre-cooked strips or cooked chicken breast.
Chicken Enchiladas
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast
1 package cream cheese, (8 oz.)
Tortillas
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 package Monterrey Jack cheese (10 oz.)

Heat the chicken and cream cheese thoroughly.  In an 11x7x1/2 inch pan, pour enough green enchilada sauce to lightly cover the bottom.  (Do you like my obscure pan size?  I have no clue where that pan came from, I just know it's great for enchiladas.  If you don't have that size, which I'm guessing most people wouldn't, use whatever you have.)  Place approximately 1/3 of a cup of cream cheese/chicken mixture in each tortilla and roll up.  Place the tortilla seam side down, repeating until you fill the pan, run out of tortillas, run out of chicken, or just get tired of rolling. ;)  Cover the enchiladas with the remaining green sauce and the Monterrey Jack cheese.  Make sure you cover the ends of the tortillas with sauce so they don't get too crunchy and dried out.  Unless you like crunchy ends of tortillas, some people in our house don't so we cover everything with sauce.  Cook them for 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree oven until the cheese on top is melted and bubbly.  Serve them piping hot with a nice Spanish style rice, some refried black beans and some guacamole that you whipped up while the enchiladas were cooking.  Enjoy!  I usually get eight enchiladas out of the recipe.  The last ones that I roll are significantly larger than the first ones.  Once I see I'm running out of space in the pan, those last ones get a lot of chicken and cream cheese stuffed in them.  I mark the larger ones with a toothpick and serve them up to C. :)  I'm not exact when it comes to cooking and I like it that way!

My Chicken *WOW* Moment

So I mentioned last weekend that I was *thinking* about cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot.  There is one thing that you need to know about me before you read this...I can't stand raw chicken.  I despise handling raw chicken.  I've mustered up the courage to cut it into pieces for dinners, but it still makes me a little squeamish to handle.  I know it's weird.  As much as I love to cook, I should be over this irrational fear of raw chicken, but I'm not.  Whew, that feels better.  Back to our regularly scheduled post...
So I finally did it, I cooked a chicken in the crockpot!  Yay me!  I started by unwrapping the bad boy, hoping that the insides would be nicely packaged in a bag to pull out.  Nope wrong, I had to fish them out myself.  Nothing like doing that before you eat breakfast, gross!  So after being grossed out enough for one week, I rinsed the chicken and put it in the crockpot.  I seasoned it up with a generous amount of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning.  I know you have all seen the HV Ranch packets, but did you know that you can buy it in a shaker to sprinkle on everything.  Yes, I mean everything.  I found this tasty tidbit over at the Picky Palate and have used it multiple times already.  Run out and buy it today.  By the way, I am loving the recipes I'm finding there!  Stop by and check them out.  Back to the chicken (I'm definitely diverting today, sorry about that).  I let it cook for 8 hours on low and by the time hour seven rolled around you could see the chicken falling away from the bone.  Yum, Yum!
Next I de-boned the chicken.  This is not a fun task either.  Make sure that you have plenty of time to devote to sorting chicken from bones.  These little chickens have what seem like a thousand bones.  It's something you definitely want to spend time on, especially if you have Little Ones who will be eating it.  So I'm making cooking a chicken sound like a horrific task, right? Yes, but now it's time for the *WOW* moment.  Ready?
The moment we sunk our teeth into that chicken, we knew we would never go back to frozen, pre-cooked or any other forms of chicken.  This chicken was out of this world tender and had the most amazing flavor.  I can't say it enough, the best chicken ever.  This makes so much chicken, I had enough to make the following:
Chicken Enchiladas (recipe to come soon) - this chicken made a world of difference in the taste of my go-to Enchilada recipe.  C and I took our first bite and we were sold on the chicken.  Our enchiladas will never be the same!
Salsa Chicken and Ranch Florentine Tostadas - a Picky Palate find that I am now in love with.  It was Soooo good!  What little leftovers I had, I put on top of a spinach salad the next day - oh my!
Cajun Chicken Pasta - Pioneer Woman Style.  Very tasty, not as good looking as PW's though.  She has mad skills though, and I sadly do not.  I'm working on them! :)
Chicken and Artichoke and Garlic Cream Pasta - a tasty concoction that I threw together using a Nutcracker Market find.  It's an Artichoke and Garlic Cream sauce.  I tossed it with a can of chopped artichoke hearts, a little chicken and some thin spaghetti.  I'm working on recreating this cream sauce, it's on my massive to-do list.  Maybe in January I'll cross that off my list!
That's more chicken dinners than we normally eat in a week.  I usually try to have a nice variety of beef, seafood or chicken.  I wanted to give this a try and see how it worked out though.  Next time I'll plan to make a couple of chicken dinners and freeze the rest for future dinners.
So all my squeamishness and being grossed out by the chicken in the beginning was totally worth the results.  Something that had me so intimidated in the kitchen turned out to be something great!  I'm sure I'll have a whole chicken on my grocery list at least twice a month now.  Hopefully I've encouraged you to get in the kitchen and try something that makes you nervous!  What intimidates you the most in the kitchen?