Italian Parmesan Chicken

OK, so Dan and I started a Boot Camp on Sunday. I have to say, I was certainly sore until today, but not as sore as I thought I would be. They have a session Sunday at 8am and Wednesday at 6pm. So there's another one in 20 minutes...

I willingly and openly admit that we're not going tonight, and yes, we're sort of wusses. But, hear me out. Dan got home 5 minutes ago. At 5:35. He debated, do I not eat and try and go and pass out. Or, do I eat and go and puke. I debated the same, but I more so debated that it's going to be May tomorrow and it's 40 degrees out and raining. The boot camp is rain or shine. Yes, outdoors. So, yes, I already feel like a mini failure, but we will attend again on Sunday. And seriously, me getting up on a Sunday at 8am is an accomplishment on its own, so me getting up that early to exercise?!

Now that that's off my chest I can talk about some more exciting stuff. I got a new phone. No more iPhone for me, I have moved on to the Galaxy S5. It's already way better than the iPhone ever was. Not only did I upgrade and renew my contract, but my new plan is saving me over $20 a month than I was paying (score) AND I got a free tablet (double score). It's a pretty decent basic tablet too. Adding the tablet to my plan left me STILL saving money (triple score), AND my mom can get a free tablet too on the plan and it will still be cheaper (quadruple score).

It's a constant struggle for me to both find new recipes to make and to stick to a tight budget. Everything I want to make ends up costing way more than I want it to. I need to start setting aside some time to really plan my meals out along with my budget. But not worries, I will not become an extreme couponer. Does that even exist in a state where everything costs an arm and a leg??

This recipe might be one of my new favorite chicken recipes. It had more flavor than I expected and was cooked PERFECTLY. It's not always easy to get chicken nice and juicy and not overly cooked and dry. But not this time. The best part is, it's the easiest chicken recipe I've ever made. I also came up with it on my own!

Italian Parmesan Chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 bottle of Italian dressing
about 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place chicken and Italian dressing in a large Ziploc bag and let marinate for at least one hour in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 450 and grease a baking dish large enough to fit your chicken.
3. Pour cheese onto a plate. Dredge chicken through the cheese coating both sides. Place in baking dish.
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes until cooked through.

I served mine with garlic butter corn and a microwave steamer side.

Banana Butterscotch Cream Pie

Happy National Pretzel Day! A while back (like a couple years), I had stumbled on a website that listed food holidays. I was tempted to try and make a recipe for each of the holidays, but let's face it, that takes some serious time, planning and money to try and make something every day. I made a few things here and there. Well, as I was looking back through my blog I had seen that April is National Grilled Cheese month. I got a little inspired to look back at that site and see what other days were coming up. A few recent ones I realized were easy foods that I had tons of recipes for. I even had a couple where I had everything I needed except for a couple of things. Since I'm on vacation this week, I figured why not try and make some fun food for it's national holiday. The first was the Mini Cherry Cheesecakes. I stocked up on cream cheese a while back when it was on sale just waiting for the perfect cheesecake recipe to come up. Well this wasn't exactly the cheesecake I was waiting for, but the holiday came up and I knew I had the ingredients for mini cheesecakes, so it worked out.
Same with pretzels. OK, well not really the same. I had the graham crackers and pudding, but I did have to buy the pretzels, bananas and Cool Whip.

You can't go wrong with a cream pie. It's basically pudding in a pie shell topped with Cool Whip. It's the easiest of all pies (in my opinion) and the most demanded in my family. Well, at least my mum's chocolate cream pies are. I get a little anxious when I look at "real" pie recipes. The thought of making dough from scratch freaks me out. I am not a dough person. Making a graham cracker crust from scratch is no problem. Add some pretzels to that crust and you're getting fancy! The pretzels add a nice saltiness to the sweetness of this pie. They also add a great texture to the crust since the crumbs weren't as small as the graham cracker crumbs. This pie is great, but my recommendation is bigger. Add a thicker layer of bananas, and maybe double the pudding. It ends up a little on the thin end when made the way described below. I just placed 3 full graham crackers in a Ziploc and smashed them with the flat side of my meat tenderizer. Same with the pretzels. I threw a few pretzel rods into a bag and smashed them into crumbs. Making about a cup of each crumb.

Banana Butterscotch Cream Pie
adapted from the Jell-O Butterscotch Pudding Box

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup pretzel crumbs
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp. sugar
1 box Butterscotch Pudding mix
2 cups cold milk
2 bananas
1 container whipped topping

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine crumbs, butter and sugar in a bowl and mix until moist. Press into a 9-inch pie plate and up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.
2. In a medium saucepan, mix the milk and pudding mix and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. remove from heat.
3. Slice the bananas and layer over the bottom of the crust. I drizzled mine with some caramel sauce.
4. Pour the pudding mix over the bananas and refrigerate at least 4 hours until set. Topped with whipped topping and serve!

You could also put some chocolate ganache on the crust under the bananas as well for another variation.

Party Cheesecakes

Happy National Cherry Cheesecake Day!

It's hard not to make cheesecakes on cheesecake day, especially when I had everything to make them except the cherry pie topping. Oh and the vanilla wafers. Now I have a whole box of wafers to deal with...

Cheesecake has always been my favorite dessert and when I was a kid, I was always overjoyed whenever I went to a party or event and someone made these mini cheesecakes. I thought they were the best and fanciest dessert ever.

Turns out they're the easiest dessert ever.

Since it's almost 10 at night, this post is short.  The recipe is one I thought of in my head, basing it off of what I remembered. I looked up how much sugar to add to the cheesecake mix though, because I wasn't quite sure. Go make yourself some mini cheesecakes to celebrate National Cherry Cheesecake Day!

Party Cheesecakes
from me

2 pkgs. cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. vanilla extract
12 vanilla wafer cookies
toppings of your choice, I used cherry pie filling and dark chocolate pudding with strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and extracts and beat on medium until smooth.
3. Line a muffin tin with liners and place a wafer in the bottom of each tin flat side down. Spoon cheesecake mix into the muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 22 minutes.
4. Let cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Top with toppings and serve!

* Cheesecakes will fall in the center as they cool. This is fine since you will be filling them!

Why are you sideways?

Sausage and Ravioli Lasagna

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store twice. Well not the same one, but two different ones. The first store didn't have ground sausage, which I needed, I stopped at another on the way home. I also grabbed a couple of things I forgot about. Oh wait, I did go to the same one twice. In all, I made three grocery trips yesterday. After my morning shopping, I got home only to realize I forgot to buy ricotta cheese. Who plans a lasagna and forgets the ricotta? In two different grocery stores? I do. So, after a three mile walk last night I stopped, yet again, to get the much needed ricotta so I could make last night's dinner today. I of course planned another recipe while I was at the store, so I got more than ricotta, which at least made the trip well worth it.

Since it's vacation week, I was able to make this ahead of time today. An early dinner was needed so Dan could eat before going to a side job. Early dinners aren't so great for me though, because then I'll be hungry in a few hours. That's ok though, I can always eat some Crème Brulee Muffins, or what's currently chilling in my fridge...

What's chilling in my fridge? Some mini cheesecakes! Didn't you know? It's National Cherry Cheesecake day! Okay, so maybe I'm the only person who knows that, well aside from other bakers and food bloggers. That post will come later once they are fully assembled.

Back to lasagna though. Not only did the first store not have ground sausage (which I have to use because breaking up regular sausage leaves it too chunky for me) (I know, I'm picky), but the next one only had ground hot Italian sausage. I wanted mild, not too much a fan of the hot. But, the good news is that the hot worked really well in this recipe. Since it was ground and broken up, it was decently spread out throughout the lasagna and not too overpowering. It gave a different element to the flavor that was surprisingly (to me) great. If I had read a recipe that called for hot Italian sausage, it would make sense, but I probably would have skipped over it. I'm glad I opted for the hot version.

Sausage and Ravioli Lasagna
adapted from Taste of Home

1 pkg. frozen cheese ravioli
1 pkg. ground sausage
1 (15 oz) container part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. dried basil
1 jar marinara sauce (or any sauce you like)
2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare ravioli according to package directions and drain. Cook sausage until browned and longer pink, drain.
2. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, egg and seasonings.
3. Spread about a cup of sauce in the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan. Place a layer of ravioli on top of the sauce. Spread half the sausage over the ravioli.
4. Spread all of the ricotta mixture over the sausage and spread 1 cup of sauce over the ricotta.
5. Repeat with another layer of ravioli, remaining sausage and sauce. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Creme Brulee Stout Muffins

I am no beer connoisseur. I like really light beer as my standard drink. I am more than happy to try new beers, but it's not something I seek out. So when it comes to cooking with beer, I either tend to look for exactly the type the recipe calls for or do some research first. I don't tend to just guess what beer will do well.

Except when it comes to stouts. I'm not one for dark beers usually. Every now and then I like myself a Guinness or Smithwick's (most for car bombs, which is a rare occasion). However, when it comes to cooking or baking with stout, I like to go into it blindly. I'll go down to my local packie and see what stouts they have. They always have new and seasonal stouts, and I've almost never used the same stout twice. I needed stout for 2 recipes this week, so I was pretty excited to try yet another 2 new types of stout.

The one for this recipe is a Crème Brulee flavored stout.

Yes. Crème Brulee. As a stout. It's a real thing. I almost drank this whole bottle by myself before adding it to the recipe. It's like dessert in a bottle. A stout brewed with vanilla beans?! Genius! This is a baker's kind of stout. I'm not going to go into trying to describe this stout, I will do it no justice. But it's a stout that tastes like crème brulee. And not just sort of vanilla-ish, I mean it tastes like crème brulee. This stout is super flavor-infused.

First of all, Guinness is great, but with all the more interesting flavored stouts out there, I knew I was going to adapt the recipe. This works great in a sweet muffin like these!

Crème Brulee Stout Muffins
adapted from Shall We Cook

1.5 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp.salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce (I used one single serving pack, plain)
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp. flavorless oil (such as vegetable or canola)
1/2 cup stout
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease or line one muffin tin (makes 12).
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, salt and baking powder.
3. Add the egg, applesauce, milk and oil and stir until just combined.
4. Add the stout and cinnamon and mix until well combined.
5. Fill muffin tins equally with batter (about 2/3 full).
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

 

 

 



 



Garlic Tex-Mex Shredded Beef

This is a recipe I made last week. I wasn't going to post it because I wasn't fully happy with it. It was sort of a spin-off of a recipe I saw in a magazine. The original was a spicier Tex-Mex beef, which I knew Dan wouldn't eat. So, I figured when I was at the store, I'd figure out some sort of seasoning mix that would work. In the aisle of the seasoning packets, amongst the masses of McCormick's items, there was this garlicky shrimp taco seasoning packet. Now, I just spent to some time Googling this to find out the exact name of what I bought, but couldn't find it. Therefore, my recipe below isn't 100% precise, but I think it should be tweaked anyways. That gives you the pleasure of hunting down your own seasoning for this.

The recipe is pretty basic. Toss everything in the crock pot in the morning, then eat it when you come home at night. Other than shredding the beef, there's no work needed. I cooked my peppers and onions separately, because I knew Dan wouldn't want to pick them all out of his. If you want to cook them with the beef in the crock pot just throw some sliced green (or any color) peppers and a sliced onion around the roast and cook with it.

Garlic Tex-Mex Shredded Beef
based off of a recipe seen in Better Homes and Garden (maybe?)

1 (3lb) beef roast, I had a top round roast
1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup beef broth
1 envelope of seasoning (taco, fajita, burrito, the mysterious garlic shrimp taco seasoning...?)

for serving:
tortillas or rolls
shredded Mexican-style cheese
any additional toppings you'd like

1. Rub the seasoning over the roast and place in a crock pot. Surround with veggies if desired.
2. Combine the ketchup and broth and pour over roast.
3. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Shred and serve!

I had mine with shredded cheese, peppers and onions and wrapped in a tortilla.

Alfredo Chicken Pot Pie

Just like when I was a student, now as a teacher, I still count down the days until vacation. Three and a half to go!

The two weeks leading up to vacation (especially April vacation) are always hellish. Between massive boatloads of school work to do (Progress Reports, Re-Evaluation Reports, and testing), I now have my Educator Evaluation Portfolio to submit. I used to think it was great that Massachusetts was ahead of the curve with education, and that my school especially was at the top, but now, not so sure. There are so many mandated things in place, I'm not sure the students are actually learning anything, or that I'm actually teaching anything.

BUT, this blog is not to rant about work. It's to rant about food, or rave about food, or at least be food-related. Sometimes, yes, I go on tangents. And sometimes, the tangents are okay. Work tangents are not okay. But the tangent I'm about to go on might be...

I have come to the conclusion that I have leisure-based ADHD. My free time activities include multi-tasking. Like right now for example. I am blogging, Pinterest-ing, and watching Django Unchained. All at the same time. Leisure-based ADHD. Self-diagnosed.

And I'm also waiting for my house to blow away in this crazy wind we're getting. Good thing Dan was able to grill dinner before it got crazy. What did he grill? Good question. No, he didn't grill a chicken pot pie. This recipe is last night's dinner. He grilled V-E-N-I-S-O-N. Yes, venison. Venison tenderloin, shaved venison steak, and we still have some venison sausage to cook at a later date. Served up with some vermicelli-rice mix and my tummy is one happy tummy. My tummy was happy last night with the pot pie. And the best part? DAN LIKES THIS POT PIE. He loved it, and...IT EVEN HAD PEAS IN IT. I can now make a pot pie that Dan will eat, which is a good thing, because I love me some pot pie. I even more so love a pot pie that can be made in under an hour. Well, if you have pre-cooked chicken.

Alfredo Chicken Pot Pie
adapted from Better Homes and Garden

1 and 1/4 cup Alfredo or cheese sauce (I had a Parmesan cheese sauce)
1 (9 oz) pkg frozen mixed vegetables
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
canned pizza dough
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Grease a 2-qt square baking dish. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, stir together the Alfredo sauce, vegetables and thyme. Heat and stir until just boiling. Add in the chicken and shredded Italian cheeses; heat through. Transfer to the baking dish.
3. Stretch the canned pizza dough over the dish. Remove excess dough and push edges into the dish.
4. Brush dough with milk and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for about 20 minutes before serving.

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

I enjoy when I can find a nice hearty meal, but a lightened up version of it. Dan makes a killer chicken, broccoli and rice casserole. but it's loaded with mayo and cheese. When I saw this in a recent issue of Cooking Light I got in the mail, I knew I had to try it.

Here's the catch, it's definitely healthier than our version of the casserole, but it tastes healthier. And not in that "this tastes fresh and good for me" way, but in that "this needs more seasoning, cheese, unhealthiness" kind of way. Overall, it seemed a little bland. Next time, I'll add some seasonings to it to give it a little more flavor. It wasn't bad, but just bland and left me wanting more flavor to it.

This was last night's dinner. I needed something simple because I had already stayed after work late to finish up the MCAS binder that gets submitted to the state on Thursday (see ya later, binder!). Sometimes I go off on tangents in my blog posts, but I will not allow myself to go off on a tangent about my thoughts on the MCAS. I promise! Or the new PARCC assessment....

Need to redirect my thoughts and focus back on food. My brain is now just wracked with thoughts of public education. Gahhhh! Ok...food, food, food. Oh yeah, so this was last night's dinner. A nice easy one so I could throw some dinner in before getting to work on some classroom planning. My night tonight consisted of a quick stir-fry dinner, baking my cake for cake class, baking one set of cupcakes (one more to go), and making two batches of Wilton buttercream. One batch for cake class and the other I played around with for cupcakes I'm making. Their buttercream, which is butter-less, doesn't hold up to a traditional buttercream. I now kind of wish I had made a traditional buttercream, but experimenting is always fun! More on that to come...

The following is the original recipe. In my recipe I omitted the mushrooms or else Dan would have starved...

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
from January/February 2014 Cooking Light

1 (12 oz) pkg. steam-in-bag broccoli florets, prepare according to package.
1 tbsp. canola oil
1 cup pre-chopped onion (I used frozen)
2 (8 oz) pkgs. pre-sliced mushrooms
3 tbsp. flour
1.5 cups fat-free milk
12 oz. chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken (about 3 cups)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp.salt
2 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)
1 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 cup)

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Heat a large, oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to pan and swirl to coat. Add onions and mushroom and cook about 10-12 minutes, or until mushrooms brown and liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.
3. Sprinkle mushroom mixture with flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk and bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes or until thick and bubbly.
4. Stir in broccoli and chicken. Cook for one minute then remove from heat.
5. Stir in the yogurt, mayo, salt and pepper. Top evenly with cheeses and broil for 2 minutes until cheese melted.
6. Serve. I served mine over white rice to add a little more to it.