Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots

Tonight I made the juiciest chicken ever. I constantly complain that my chicken always comes out too dry, but not tonight.

Today was rainy and cold and gross. And, it's the end of April. It should be warm. I'll take rainy, but no more cold! Roasting just seemed like a good idea. I got the idea from a roast chicken recipe I saw on Foodgawker. I glanced at it and saw some roasted veggies that then had chicken placed on top and roasted a little longer. I decided I could wing tonight's recipe. I'm glad I attempted it, because it came out great. Next time, I want more flavor, so I may add a rub to the chicken and some more seasoning to the veggies next time around.

But seriously, this was the juiciest chicken I've ever made....and maybe had...!!!
Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, rinsed and trimmed of visible fat
1/2 bottle of Italian dressing
4 red potatoes, scrubbed, you can leave the skin on if you want
1 bag of baby carrots
1/2 packet Italian dressing/seasoning mix
olive oil

1. Marinate chicken breast in Italian dressing for as long as you'd like. I marinated mine for about an hour and a half.
2. Preheat oven to 350. Chop the potatoes and add to a baking dish. Add the carrots. Drizzle some olive oil over the veggies and sprinkle 1/2 packet of Italian seasoning over them. Stir to coat.
3. Cover with foil and roast for 1 hour.
4. Uncover and place marinated chicken breasts on top. Return to oven for 30-40 minutes.

 

I'm a total freak about cooking meat/poultry. I cut into my chicken to make sure it's done. Doesn't do much for presentation, but it allays my fears that I'm going to food-poison Dan and I....

Crock Pot Lemon Pepper Chicken

Today is the last day of April vacation. Tomorrow I head back to my classroom and to my kiddos. I attempted to bake cupcakes last Monday and failed. After that, I didn't attempt any new recipes all week. I prepare my vacations for nothing but cooking and then never do any of it. I put off all of my grocery shopping until today as well. I did enjoy my vacation, however, so that's all that matters.

I spent today planning a presentation, cleaning and doing massive amounts of laundry. A crock pot meal was exactly what I needed.

Crock Pot Lemon Pepper Chicken
from The Recipe Critic

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 packet Italian dressing/seasoning
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken broth

1. Rinse chicken breasts and trim of visible fat.
2. Combine flour and pepper in a shallow dish. Coat chicken breasts with the flour mix.
3. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and brown chicken on all sides.
4. Place browned chicken in your crock pot. Sprinkle Italian dressing mix on top.
5. Combine the lemon juice and broth and pour over the chicken breasts.
6. Cook on low for 3-4 hours. (Mine was ready after 2.5 hours)

I served my chicken with rice. I spooned a little of the lemon broth over my chicken to keep it moist.

Almost Poutine Grilled Cheese

Mind blown.

Life complete.

Seriously.

Back in June of 2003, I was freshly 18 and freshly graduated from high school. One of my best friends had moved here from Ottawa our sophomore year. We decided to go to Montreal, with her as our guide, and experience all it had to offer. By that, I mean the drinking age was 18, so we went to go legally drink in bars.

Our trip was great. We did some drinking (or a lot), shopping, and a lot of eating. That trip was my introduction to Poutine, one of the greatest dishes ever made. Now, I love fancy food and restaurants that eat up half my paycheck, but when it comes down to it, most of the food I love it so simple. And usually unhealthy.

Poutine is french fries, brown gravy and cheese curds. That's it. French fries with melted cheese curds and brown gravy on top. It's magical.

This month is National Grilled Cheese month, and I've been seeing grilled cheese recipes left and right. It reminds me of my hunt for the Grilled Cheese Truck last time I went to L.A. to see my brother. If you happen to be out that way, find out where they are and get a grilled cheese. Get the Cheesy Mac & Rib while you're at it, it's heaven. It's mac and cheese and pulled pork in a sandwich.

I saw the grilled cheese featured today on Foodgawker and knew I had to make it, and soon. One thing about poutine is, to have real poutine you must have cheese curds. Cheese curds are a staple in markets in Canada, but not as easily found out my way. I do know they sell them at a store a town over, but it's in a big shopping complex, with a Walmart and parking is terrible. And, it's Sunday, so the plaza will be even more crowded. I opted to substitute my cheese curds with mozzarella for today. When I get a chance, I will get cheese curds and make actual poutine, not a sandwich with it. Hence, this is almost poutine grilled cheese.

Almost Poutine Grilled Cheese
adapted from BS in the Kitchen 
makes 1 sandwich

2 slices bread
1 packet brown gravy (like McCormick's)
Frozen french fries (you only use 6-8 in the sandwich)
a handful of fresh mozzarella chunks
butter

1. Cook french fries according to package.
2. While fries are cooking, make the gravy according to the package.
3. Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread.
4. Spread mozzarella chunks out evenly on a plate and microwave for 30 seconds. This warms them up and pre-melts them slightly. Mozzarella can be watery when packaged, so if they are watery after melting, apt them dry with a paper towel.
5. Spread some brown gravy on the other side of each bread slice. Top one gravy slice with french fries and mozzarella. Spoon a little more gravy on top. Place the other slice, gravy side down, on top.
6. Cook over medium heat in a skillet, butter sides to the pan, until golden and cooked.

One more time.

Homemade Egg McMuffin Sandwiches

I used to be a chronic Dunkin Donuts customer. Every morning before work, I would stop in and get my medium coffee and usually a breakfast sandwich of some sort. Before Christmas, I told myself I would stop going to Dunks every morning after the winter break. I have a Keurig in my classroom, so I can make coffee there. I ordered some k-cup packs on Amazon that were delivered over break to bring back to work. I saw this recipe/idea on Pinterest and figured it would be a great option for breakfast. I hate skipping breakfast, and I'm fortunate that my classroom is the old home economics room, so I have a kitchen right in the classroom. It makes it easier to bring breakfast items to work, such as milk for my cereal, fruit, oatmeal that I can heat in the microwave.

I haven't tried one of these sandwiches yet, I'll bring one with me to work tomorrow. Making them was so easy. The original site I got them from recommended using ramekins or a whoopie pie pan to bake the eggs in to help them fit on the English muffins better, but for starters I went with a regular muffin tin. I have ramekins, but didn't have room in the dishwasher for 6 ramekins and didn't want anymore dishes in the sink after I loaded up the washer. Next time, I'll use the ramekins for better size, because the eggs do come out smaller and thicker from the muffin tin. The original site also calls for making 12 at a time. I only made 6 for the week.

Homemade Egg McMuffin Sandwiches
from The Yummy Life

6 eggs
6 English muffins
6 pieces of Canadian bacon
6 slices cheese (I used the pre-sliced American that's individually wrapped...and super processed)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 6 muffin tin cups (or ramekins or whoopie pie tins)
2. Crack an egg into each cup and add salt and pepper if desired. I chose to break the yolks, but you don't have to.
3.  Bake for 20 minutes. You can bake them for a shorter amount of time if you like your eggs a little less cooked, but 20 minutes cooks them thoroughly.
4. While baking, separate your English muffins. Top each muffin with a slice of cheese and a piece of Canadian bacon. I folded in the corner of the cheese to fit on the muffin so it didn't get squished when wrapping them.
5. Top with eggs when done and wrap. I used press and seal wrap, but you can use wax paper deli sheets or the individual pieces of foil wrap as well. Then place them in a freezer storage bag.
6. To re-heat, cook in the microwave on 1/2 power for 3 minutes, flipping over halfway through. Or, place in the oven for 30-40 minutes until heated through.

I've read many variations of this that you could add. You can also toast your English muffins before freezing. They will re-heat softer but have that toasted taste. I would also use better sliced cheese next time, but the processed kind was all I had for now.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

As much as I love to cook, and as excited as I was to make this, I was more excited that Dan offered to make it. I haven't been in a class and haven't had homework in almost 4 years. I am currently taking a course in my district that is required by your third year teaching in the district. While I am learning many things and enjoy getting the opportunity to discuss things with colleagues in the district, homework still bites the big one. I sat down today, after I went to the grocery store, to go over my chapter and start writing a paper. Dan came home right as I realized I forgot to buy cheese for dinner. He was kind enough to go back to the grocery store and get the cheese. Then, I asked him to throw some water on the stove so I could boil the chicken soon. Before I knew it, he asked for the recipe and said he'd make it while I wrote my paper. That's true love right there folks, because I know Dan wanted to relax as much as I wanted to relax and he offered to make dinner.

This. Was. Fan. Tas. Tic. I'm always looking for casseroles that don't have mayo, because I think mayo is gross and that don't have too many veggies, because Dan thinks veggies are gross. I had this recipe up one time (from Pinterest of course) and Dan saw it and said "Umm, YES!". Well, today was the day his dream came true...and he even made it. This is definitely going to become a regular dish in our kitchen!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
from Six Sisters' Stuff

3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I boiled them)
1 pkg. chicken stuffing, prepared according to box directions
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 cups cooked, chopped ham
6 slices of extra thin Swiss cheese ( we used provolone)

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. 
2. Mix soup and mustard in medium bowl; stir in chicken, broccoli and ham.
3. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with cheese slices and stuffing. 
4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until heated through.

Cadbury Cupcakes

The other day I realized that I couldn't even remember the last time I made cupcakes. The last documented time in this blog was November...that's 4 months ago! With Easter coming, I decided I'd make an Easter themed cupcakes. As a kid, I always loved Cadbury Creme Eggs. As an adult...not so much. Well, it's not that I don't like them, but I tried a bit of the filling as I was making them today, and it was just so sugary. Makes sense that the filling was used in the frosting...

Today was a half day at work. I had the chance to grab lunch with my parents, take the dog out for a serious run, and then do some baking. When I saw this recipe I knew the recipe for the cake looked familiar. I did not, however, realize that it's a recipe I've used 6 times....and failed 6 times. Seriously, this recipe (well not this one posted, but the original) does not work for me, and I don't know why. Luckily I had a boxed mix in my cabinet that I doctored a bit. I'm always very disappointed when a boxed mix needs to be used. The recipe below is for my version of the cake, you don't use the ingredients on the box, you substitute the water for milk and the oil for butter. Not healthier by any means, but definitely gives it a more homemade from scratch flavor and it makes the cake a little denser. I read a tip about adding 2 extra egg yolks to get a nice dense cake, I'll have to try that sometime. Oh, and the frosting recipe is the original and made for 10 cupcakes. I added another 1/2 stick of butter (not listed below) to be sure to cover my 12 cupcakes. I threw away half the cake batter to only make 12, so sad. You could double the recipe below to frost 24 cupcakes from the box mix.

Cadbury Cupcakes
adapted from Erica's Sweet Tooth

For the cake:
1 box chocolate mix
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup melted butter

For the frosting:
10 Cadbury Creme Eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp. vanilla
2 tbsp milk
yellow food coloring

To make the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a cupcake tin (I only made 12, so half the batter was wasted, but oh well).
2. Mix the box mix, milk, eggs and butter together for 2 minutes.
3. Fill cupcakes liners about 2/3 full and bake for 20-23 minutes.

To make the frosting:
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy and smooth.
2. Add in half of the powdered sugar slowly.
3. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.
4. Add in the rest of the powdered sugar and beat until fully combined.
5. Add milk, 1 tbsp at a time until desired consistency.
6. Carefully cut the Cadbury eggs in half and scoop out the creme filling into the frosting mix. Save the shells for decorating! Beat on low speed until combined.
7. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring and fold in with a spatula for a streaky look. Mix with the mixer for a plain yellow frosting.
8.  Frost cupcakes and top with an egg shell.

Failed cupcakes.

You can sort of see the streaks in the frosting

Cowboy Meatloaf

Every day this week has felt like it should be the day ahead. All day Tuesday I thought it was Wednesday. Each morning I wake up disappointed that it's the day it is. This week is crawling. I don't know what it is it, but every minute that goes by feels like 10. Maybe I'm feeling impatient about the whole buying a house thing? Who knows...

Anyways. When I got home from work, it was around 2:25 and I figured I'd start dinner around 4:30. We are going to visit our friends who just welcomed a baby into the world. Welcome baby Jake! I wanted something quick and easy. Well, 4:00 rolled around and I felt like I had been waiting 4 hours to start dinner. I decided I'd just start it at 4 and it would be ready for when Dan got home from work. Early dinners never hurt anyone, right?

Well it was even quicker than I thought. It's 4:17 as I start this post, and dinner is in the oven and will be ready in the next 20 minutes or so. Dinner before 5?

Again, this is a Pinterest find. I'm always looking for meaty things to eat that Dan will enjoy, which means no veggies other than corn, carrots or broccoli, no Mexican-style dishes (although this ones got a little heat), and no "weird stuff". Weird stuff would be quinoa, spaghetti squash, things with weird textures, green vegetables, mushrooms, etc. If I have picky eaters for kids someday I will not be pleased....

This recipe seemed pretty simple, I especially liked how I didn't have to brown the ground beef first. I originally thought of this as more like a shepherd's pie, but the meat it pressed into the dish like a meatloaf. Hopefully it's tasty, I actually don't like standard meatloaf.. I'll update this further once I actually eat it...

Update: It's delicious! I couldn't find the garlic mashed potatoes, so I just added in some minced and powdered garlic to them. They were perfect!

Cowboy Meatloaf
from Key Ingredient

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 small onion, minced
1 egg
1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 barbecue sauce
2 tsp. chili powder
1 pkg. Ore Ida Steam n Mash Garlic Seasoned Potatoes
2/3 cup evaporated milk (more if needed)
1 tbsp. butter
1 cup cooked and crumbled bacon
1 cup Mexican style shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9x9 baking dish.
2. Mix together the beef, onion, egg, breadcrumbs, barbecue sauce and chili powder.
3. Press into the baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.
4. In the meantime, cook the potatoes according to the package.
5. Mash with the milk and butter, adding more milk if you want to thin them out a bit (I added another 1/4 cup)
6. Remove beef from oven when done and switch to broil with the rack 6-8 inches away from the broiler.
7. Cover with mashed potatoes, then sprinkle with bacon and cheese.
8. Broil for 3-5 minutes until cheese is browned.

 

 

Also, as I mentioned before, we are heading over to meet baby Jake. I'd also like to give a shout out to baby Ben, who also came into this world a little under a week ago!