Italian Chicken & Potatoes

I came across this recipe years ago on one of the end caps at my local Albertsons. I am a sucker for anything Italian so having that word in the title intrigued me. As far as Italian recipes go, there are better tasting ones but this will do in a pinch and is so easy that it trumps the better tasting ones on a day when you are just too busy to put in the time for something better. This recipe is designed to be cooked on an outdoor grill as well so is great for those summer days when it's hot and you don't want to fire up your oven and cook dinner along with everyone with the misfortune of being in close proximity to your kitchen. And for those of you poor unfortunate souls like me who don't own a barbecue grill and must do all your cooking indoors, the recipe can be done in a traditional oven as well. I'm going to type the recipe just like its written and add my own personal insights down below.

1 large size Reynolds Foil Bag
4 medium potatoes, cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, divided
1/2 tsp garlic salt
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 to 2 lbs)
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp flour
salt and pepper


Preheat grill to medium high. Open foil bag. Spray inside of foil bag with nonstick cooking spray. Combine potatoes, 1 tsp Italian seasoning and garlic salt. Arrange potatoes on one side of foil bag in an even layer. Sprinkle chicken with remaining Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Arrange chicken in an even layer on other side of foil bag. Combine Italian salad dressing, parmesan cheese and flour; spoon over chicken. To seal, double fold open end of foil bag. To cook, slide foil bag onto grill. Grill 20 to 25 minutes in covered grill. Use oven mitts and cut open foil bag with a sharp knife. Carefully fold back top of foil bag, allowing steam to escape. Spoon sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese, if desired.

All that being said, here is how I made this recipe. I was certain that I had some foil bags in my cupboard and had everything out to begin making this recipe when I discovered that what I had thought were foil bags were instead crock pot liners. Oops. So I improvised. I went ahead and peeled and chopped my potatoes. Peeling wouldn't be necessary but my children have an aversion to anything that appears to be a peel left on their potatoes, so I peeled mine so I wouldn't have to hear the complaints. I always like to do my potatoes when I have a free minute during the day and then put them in a container large enough to hold them plus cover them with water. So long as they are covered, they won't turn brown or red on you and will patiently wait for you all day, if necessary, until such time as you have the time to use them.

When I was ready to assemble everything in preparation for dinner, I washed my chicken (I prefer to use chicken tenders here since they are more reasonably sized portions for my small eaters), peeled off the yucky parts and tossed these in a dish with the italian seasoning and salt and pepper, trying to coat everything as evenly as possible. I then laid them out in a 9x13 baking dish.

Mix together the dressing, cheese, and flour and then spoon it over the top of each chicken piece.
 

I then went ahead and drained the water from the potatoes and then tossed in the italian seasoning and garlic salt and tossed them together so everything got coated pretty evenly.

I forgot to take a picture but at this point, I dumped the potatoes across the top of the chicken.  In hindsight, it probably makes more sense to have put the potatoes on the bottom and the chicken on top.  Oh well, no harm done.  I covered my pan with foil before baking. The night I made this turned out to be a night of multiple miscommunications when one or more persons were missing for various spans of time during the time I was hoping to have dinner ready to eat. So this is how I improvised my cooking schedule first to speed it up and then to slow it back down when I realized that another wrinkle in my immaculate time management had arisen. I baked mine for 40 min. at 425F, then turned the oven down to 350F and cooked for another 20 min. then turned it down yet again, this time to 300F for another 15 minutes. Each time I messed with the temperature, I would also spoon it around so I suppose eventually the chicken did end up on top with the potatoes underneath.  Finally, by then, everyone was home and we hastily ate our meal before the next batch of disappearances began. I don't think it needed this much time to bake but it didn't ruin it. It was actually nice and tender despite it's super long convoluted journey through my ovens various temperature scales. Certainly, cooking it on the grill, as advertised, would have been way easier. There you have it folks... improvisation at it's finest!  And of course, I forgot to take a picture of the final product so you'll just have to take my word for it that they turned out yummy and delicious (and looked nice too).

Bakers Dozen Rolls

If you haven't entered our birthday giveaway for a $30 Amazon gift card be sure to click HERE.  Its the last day to enter.  We only have 24 entries so your odds of winning are great.  Remember that amazon sells everything from diapers to TVs.   Now onto our yummy recipe from Andrea...

I can't remember where I came across this recipe so I can't really give credit where it is due. I was intrigued by this recipe because of the cheese. Who wouldn't love a roll with cheese cooked right into it, right? After making these many times, I would now have to say that my favorite thing about this recipe is how fast and easy they are to make. Want rolls for dinner but don't think you have time to pull it off? Try these babies! Fast and easy and really rather tasty!  Here is the recipe:

2 to 2 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 pkg yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp if you don't have the packages)
1/2 tsp salt (I always double the salt because I am a NaCl junkie, but you don't have to if you feel salt is an issue)
3/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I never measure this and I'm sure I usually put gobs more than this amount in there - who's ever heard of too much cheese?)
2 tsp honey
4 tsp butter, melted (I usually use closer to 2 tbsp here - anything swaddled in butter is sure to taste good)
1/8 tsp garlic salt (I also double this - I mean garlic + salt, how can you go wrong here?)

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt.  Add water and 2 tbsp butter; mix until smooth.  Stir in cheese and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  Divide into 13 pieces.  Shape each into a ball.  Place in a greased 9-in. round baking pan.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.  Bake at 375 F for 11-14 minutes or until lightly browned.  Combine the honey, garlic salt, and remaining melted butter; brush over the rolls and serve.

For those who are visual people, here are some pictures of the process.  First the ingredients for the dough:

Put all the above ingredients in your bowl, then add your water and butter and mix till smooth.  The actual recipe suggests beating this with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes.  Every time I have tried to do it this way, my mixer starts to smell like an ozone factory.  A wooden spoon and a few strokes works just fine without that end-of-the-world burning smell.  Add your cheese (as you can see from the picture, that is way more than 3/4 cup of cheese) and a bit more flour.  Some days I need to add the whole extra cup of flour and some days less is more.  My suggestion, add a bit at a time rather than just dumping in the whole extra cup all at once (yes, I have made that mistake, but it's not fatal, so no worries).

 After letting your dough rest for 10 minutes, the hardest part of the whole recipe is dividing it into 13 balls.  Some will be big and some will be smaller.  Hey, people come in different shapes and sizes too!

I threw this picture in here to show where I usually stick my covered rolls to raise.  That pot in the background was busy boiling some potatoes for dinner and I figured my contribution to the environment on this earth day weekend would be to utilize the heat coming off of the potatoes to coax these rolls along.  On top of the dishwasher or on a sunny counter will also work.  An oven heated to about 200 F and then turned off will also rise things nice and quick.

 Here these babies are raised and ready for baking:

 Here are the ingredients for your topping and the end result after mixing these three goodies together:

After your rolls come out of the oven, nice and browned, brush the above concoction over the top of each roll.  The original recipe suggests taking the rolls out at this point and cooling them on a cooling rack but my family prefers them right out of the pan, hot and delicious. 

 Use a fork to coax the first two or three out of there and enjoy!

Honey Butter

I got this recipe from a good friend one year when we went camping together. This friend is so amazing that she made homemade scones while we were out camping in the wilderness and she served up this amazing homemade honey butter to go with them. So delicious! I mean scones and honey butter are quite a treat when you're enjoying all the creature comforts of home, but out camping in a tent in the middle of nowhere, they taste like heaven itself. Seriously, you should try it. Here is her very simple yet amazingly tasty recipe. I threw all of the ingredients in my Bosch and mixed away. The recipe makes a TON but I believe it would freeze sort of OK or keep for a few weeks stored in your fridge.

Honey Butter

6 cubes butter, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk (chilled)
2 tsp corn syrup
2-3 tsp cinnamon (to taste)


Mix all together and serve with something warm, doughy, and homemade. Hope you go camping soon and enjoy this straight-from-heaven-to-your-mouth deliciousness!

Baked Mac & Cheese

A shout out to Charissa who provided the family this little gem. I must caveat by saying that growing up I liked it when mom made mac and cheese. She put in just the right amount of milk and cheese to make it taste delicious. I have never, ever liked the mac and cheese from a box - DISGUSTING! I have to wear a blindfold and mask if my kids ask me to make some for them. I do not like to eat things that are fake and that would definitely include fake cheese. Awful stuff. To add to the mix of mac & cheese recipes I don't like, my husbands family's secret recipe is a mac & cheese that they add copious amounts of canned milk to which makes it for all intents and purposes a soupy mass. Occasionally, if you're lucky, you may find some evidence that cheese was included but that is a rare event and a cause for celebration. Since I don't care much for milk, eating a bowl full of pasta swimming in milk has never been my favorite thing either. With that being said, I have recently acquired several very delicious baked mac and cheese recipes which remind me of those bygone days when my loving mother served up mac and cheese with just the right amount of this and the right amount of that. Without further adieu, the recipe:

2 1/2 cups macaroni noodles
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or Colby Jack)
12 oz small curd cottage cheese
8 oz sour cream
1/4 cup parmesan
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
salt and pepper

Cook noodles and drain.  In 9x13 pan, stir together the noodles, cheeses, sour cream, and salt and pepper.  In another bowl, mix bread crumbs and butter.  Sprinkle topping over macaroni.  Bake 30-35 min. or till golden.

Recipes really don't get much easier than this so I feel the pictures below are pretty self-explanatory.  If you want something quick, easy, and delicious, this is a good recipe to have on hand.  Enjoy!

Molten Chocolate Brownies

I don't remember where I came across this recipe. It's one of those that is scribbled on the back of an envelope and stuffed into my recipe drawer. Well, I came across it the other day while hunting for something else and decided this one was worthy of sharing.

Molten Chocolate Brownies
1 pkg fudge brownie mix (19-21 oz) [plus ingredients to make cake-like version]
1 jar (12 oz) chocolate fudge ice cream topping
vanilla ice cream
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 pan. Prepare brownie mix according to directions for cake-like brownies. Spread batter in the 9x13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter. Combine water and ice cream topping. Whisk until well blended. Microwave mixture covered on high for 5-6 minutes or till mixture comes to full boil. Whisk until blended. Stir in vanilla (mixture will be thin). Carefully pour ice cream topping mixture over brownie batter in circular pattern. Bake uncovered 35-40 minutes or till sauce is bubbling around edges (top of brownie will appear very saucy but will thicken as it cools). Lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with ice cream.

This recipe is pretty easy.  Just make sure you buy the family size brownie mix and that you use the cake version of the recipe.  Here are pictures of the mixing of the brownies:

Pour your brownie batter into your 9x13, then sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top:

Next, mix your ice cream topping with the water. I know this seems weird but somehow it works out. Just trust me, here:

Pour your very thin sauce over the brownie mix, then bake and savor.  If you like ooey-gooey chocolatey goodness, you'll enjoy this recipe!

Chicken Toes

A recipe that my whole family loves is one from Rachael Ray called Chicken Toes.  These are just glorified chicken nuggets but they are actually tasty and composed of real chicken rather than whatever that is you can buy at a restaurant or at the store.  My kids ask for these all the time.  Throw these on the table with a spinach smoothie as a drink and you almost have a healthy meal.

Chicken Toes
In a shallow dish, mix together:
1 cup corn flakes, crushed
1 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground allspice

Drizzle about 3 tbsp vegetable oil evenly over breading, tossing and turning to mix oil through mixture.  Cut chicken into 2 inch pieces.  Turn chicken in 1/3 cup flour, 2 beaten eggs, and then in breading.  Arrange toes on nonstick baking sheet.  Bake at 375 F for 15 min. till crisp and brown all over.

Dipping sauce idea:
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream

Now for the deets:  I always use panko bread crumbs instead of plain bread crumbs.  If you haven't tried panko before, they're a real treat and they add a nice crunch to your breading.  The allspice is the secret ingredient.  Don't leave it out - it makes these taste so yummy and refined.

Instead of vegetable oil, I use olive oil (not really for health reasons but because I bought a huge jug of it at Sam's and it's closer to my stove than the vegetable oil is.

Also, if you make these by yourself, plan on it taking some time and making your fingers a disastrous mess.  Assembly line style is the only way to go.  I always have one kid on flour duty, one on egg, and me on the breading.  It goes so much faster this way and makes so much less mess.

It can be done solo but it is a pain and I don't enjoy suffering by myself.  And the 15 minutes makes these perfect every time.  At least in my oven.  Just be warned that once you start making these, the kids will ask for these repeatedly.  I do feel way better about serving these up than those overprocessed bits and pieces of something or other you get at the store.  Enjoy!

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Bread Sticks

OK, I admit it... I love bread in any form.  Sure the health food people these days will tell us that it's not good for us but my philosophy is that if it's mentioned in the Bible, then it's on the list of things that are good.  Let's see, should I side with the health food opinions of the day which change on a weekly basis or should I go with the fact that Jesus was willing to call Himself the Bread of Life?  I'll go with Jesus on this one.  Sacrilege and blasphemy aside, here is a recipe I got from my beloved sister Heidi that my family loves and that we eat almost as often as we read the scriptures.

Bread Sticks
1 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 c warm water
1/2 tsp salt
Mix, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes.  Add 3 1/2 c flour, knead for 3 min. and set aside covered until it is double in size.  Roll out onto a greased cookie sheet.

1/4 c melted butter
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1/4 c mayo
1/4 c mozzarella cheese
garlic salt
parsley
Mix together and spread on rolled out dough.  Slice and bake at 350 F for 18 minutes.

I love this recipe because you can whip it up relatively quickly when you just feel like your meal is going to need a little somethin', somethin'.  I only wish that the recipe called for a specific amount of garlic salt.  Sometimes I get it too light because you don't want to make the mistake of getting it too heavy, if you get my drift.  You can't mess up the parsley, it's just there for the aesthetics, but the salt can ruin a good breadstick.  I just give several good shakes of the bottle, give it a mix and a little finger taste test to make sure I'm in the ballpark.

A few pictures to get you more interested:
First mix your dough together.  I am old fashioned and just use my trusty wooden spoon.  It works just fine and doesn't dirty 17 different little gadgets and gizmos that need to be taken apart with a fine tooth comb and washed by hand (or you might could say that I'm lazy and don't want to take the time to drag the machine out, plug it in, and have dishes that need handwashing when my trusty wooden spoon is just right there).  This particular batch of dough is not pretty, but it's okay.  Jesus said that it's what's inside that matters, after all.

 After it has doubled in size, grease your cookie sheet, plop the dough on the pan, and roll it out.  This is why it doesn't matter what it looks like after the first step because you're just going to smush it flat.

 Mix your topping ingredients together and spread on top of the rolled out dough.  I usually just do this with the spoon I used to mix it together with.

 Don't forget to slice it after you've put on the spread.  Much easier to do this before you bake then it will be after, trust me. 

 I usually cut it into 8-9 across, and then 3 rows, as shown below. 

  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the final product.  They disappeared too rapidly.  Hope you enjoy!

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Chicken Pot Pie

A few years ago, a niece lived with us for awhile and she would take turns doing some of the cooking.  She made this recipe for us one night and it has been a family staple ever since.  We all love this recipe and it is relatively easy to make and can be done quite quickly.  It sure beats those frozen pot pies you buy in the store.  And it's just good comfort food, especially on a cold winter night, or any night for that matter.  We enjoy this one year round...

Chicken Pot Pie

Cooked, chopped up chicken (whatever you feel is necessary)
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 small potato, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup flour
1 cup half and half
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Pie crust (homemade or 1/2 of a 15 oz pkg refrigerated piecrusts)

Melt butter in a large skillet.  Add onion, celery, carrots, potato, and peas.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until veggies are tender.  Add flour, stirring until smooth.  Gradually add broth and half and half, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly.  Stir in chopped chicken, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.  Pour into a 9x13 baking dish.  Set aside.

Roll out pie crust and place over filling.  Fold edges under and crimp.  Cut slits in top to allow steam to escape.

Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes or until golden brown, covering edges with aluminum foil after 20 minutes to prevent excess browning, if necessary.

Super Easy Pie Crust Recipe
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
4 to 5 tbsp cold water

In a medium bowl, stir together flour and salt.  Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size.  Sprinkle 1 tbsp of the water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork.  Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl.  Repeat moistening flour mixture, using 1 tbsp of the water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened.  Form dough into a ball.  On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough.  Roll dough from center to edges to the desired shape.  To transfer the dough, wrap it around the rolling pin and unroll it over the surface to be covered.


Now for the deets:  the real recipe calls for boiling a whole chicken and reserving the broth and yada yada yada.  I like to keep some already cooked, chopped up chicken packaged away in my freezer to pull out on a night when I want to make something like this so I can skip the boiling and picking apart and all that nastiness.  But to each his own.  With that in mind, I skip right to the melting of the butter and the adding of the chopped veggies shown here:

I will often stick a lid on my skillet, turn the heat down to medium-ish, and while it is working its magic, I mix up my pie dough.  Don't completely forget about the veggies - they will still need a stir here and there to keep them from scorching but they'll be okay if you divide your attention somewhat.  Now I did title the pie dough recipe as super easy because it is.  It is not, however, no fail.  I have managed to make it fail.  Do not add more shortening than it calls for - big mistake.  And don't overdo it on the water - 1 tbsp at a time is good advice.  Once it gets to the point where you think to yourself, boy, I bet if I grabbed that with my hands and started smooshing it, it would come together nicely, then by all means, stop adding water.  Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything - purely hypothetical...

Here's a picture of using the pastry blender to cut in the shortening

 And here's about what it should look like by the time it's ready to move on...

 And here is a nice round ball of pie dough that is ready to roll.

 At this point, I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the steps but needless to say they are not tricky or difficult.  Add the flour to your veggie mixture and give it a quick stir through.  Then add in a can of broth (one will do it but I often add just a little bit of water into the can, swish it around, and toss that in too) and your half and half.  I have been at this point before when I realized I did not have half and half - surprise!  Regular old milk works just fine too and you can't tell the difference (well, maybe if you were using that skim stuff you'd notice).  Actually tonight is one of those times when I realized that I did not have the required stuff.  I found a carton of heavy whipping cream in the fridge and used that instead, the whole pint as well which is twice as much as it calls for.  This recipe is very forgiving and can be increased or decreased to suit your needs or tastes.  But the pie with the cream was super delicious, not going to lie... 
But I digress...  So cook your creamy mixture till it thickens a tad and starts to bubble.  Then toss in your chopped chicken (tonight the family got some leftover Christmas turkey tossed into the pie instead of chicken - it was just as good) and whatever you do, don't forget the salt and pepper, not that you can't make up for that later but it will be perfect if you remember it here.  Let that heat through for just a minute and then pour it into your baking dish.  I like the 9x13 size but you can use smaller if you desire and haven't added twice as much of everything like I usually do.  A caveat here on the crust:  this recipe doesn't call for a bottom crust but you could double the pie crust recipe and put one in there before pouring in the mixture.  You may need to cook it just a bit longer to make sure that bottom one gets cooked through.  Once the mixture is in there, you can lay your top crust over the top, fold the edges over and crimp around the sides.  Be sure to cut some slits in the crust to vent so it doesn't bubble up in a crazy way.  The tradition in our family is to make the slits say something.  The kids love to see the final product on the table and read the message.  Here is a picture of the one we made when Dad requested this meal for his Father's Day meal:

 And here is a picture of how I go about covering the edges so they don't overbrown but this step isn't always necessary.  Peek in there after about 20 minutes of cooking and use your judgment as to whether it will be necessary or not.

 Happy eating!

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