One Pot, Meal in a Skillet

Hello, everyone.  I'd like to start this evening by introducing myself.  My name is Jessica, and I am a fan of one-pot dishes.

I know that they are uninspired, and generally predictable.  In fact, even Thomas was unimpressed by this meal.  Not because it wasn't enjoyable, mind you, but because it was everything in a pot all at the same time, and he's used to seeing these meals come out of my kitchen.  (hehe, my kitchen...  I couldn't even pretend to hold that title in our house!)

Regardless, I always look for a flavorful recipe when doing a one-pot dish.  Otherwise, you could be burdened with a whole pot of bland.  Also?  As an added bonus?  You can usually score tons of leftovers with a one pot dish, so you don't want to be riddled with bland lunches for the week.

The Recipe: Cheddar Broccoli Chicken Skillet

The Tweaks: 

* I didn't have any Cheddar soup, so I used cream of chicken.

* Also, I added bell peppers and a can of Rotel (with the juice), both of which I had on hand.

* I replaced the instant rice with Jasmine rice, which we always have in the house.  This changed my timing because it wasn't instant rice, so I had to add water twice to ensure that the rice was cooked through.  If I had broth, I would have used that instead.  Oh well.  I'm a firm believer in going with what's on hand whenever possible.

* I probably also used way more cheese than the recipe called for due to 1) lack of cheddar soup, 2) I'm from the Midwest... extra cheese is a given

* The other given - fajita seasoning.  It's a great, all around flavor for chicken.  As of late, if there's any chicken to be prepped in the house, it has fajita seasoning thrown in for good measure.

The Verdict:  

This was an extremely easy week night meal to make.  I would have taken more pictures, but it was truly so easy that I forgot to take photos along the way.  Don't let the lack of pretty pictures, or the idea of a one-pot dish scare you.  I'd definitely give this one a thumbs up, and Thomas agreed, too. That being said, as a follow up to my broccoli chicken braid, it was unimpressive in its presentation.  It's a little give and take, they can't all be braided nights, but we can always have good food!

Reading Comprehension

Reading strategies?  Sure thing.  How to comprehend what you're reading?  You betcha!  Blazing scores on standardized tests?  Say ya to da UP, eh!  Me following directions?  Yeah...  not so much.

I've made the taco ring.  That was pretty straight up.  I get it: make a sun and tuck it in.  No big whoop.  However, when I read the directions for the Chicken & Broccoli Braid, I seriously scratched my head.  I kept reading and re-reading the recipe thinking that I had surely missed something.  Then, I thought to get my cookbook with the photos in it.  Fair enough.  Generally, I can get the jist from a picture and not worry too much about it.

Even an image search with other make at home types wan't cutting it.  In the end, I just had to fake it. I rolled it out, cut it, re-rolled the middle, stuffed and braided.
 The stuffing itself was an easy mash up.  I added more chicken, broccoli, and cheese.  No dill in the house, but used some Fajita Seasoning since we do have that (in abundance). 

As you can see, I used way more stuffing than was physically possible for a pretty braid.  Didn't stop me from trying.  (Oh, and as a random side note, I stopped and gave pause to all of the crescent roll containers I have been going through as of late.  Maybe it's due to my recent trip?)

Or maybe it's because they're buttery goodness makes everything taste better!

Regardless, it's been a blast using crescent rolls in so many recipes as of late.  I even have more that I might try this week.  I like how versitile they are. 

The "braiding" was the easy part, just pull the dough half way, twisting somewhere before they ends meet each other in the middle.  Alternate sides to make it look authentic.  As I once described braiding in college (to a boy, of course) it's kind of like playing double dutch, just keep moving end over end!  Anyway, I braided up, baked, and this was awesome even as leftovers, and believe me (even though I had to fight my husband for them), there were leftovers! 



added bonus: even though the broccoli wasn't pre-cooked, it didn't taste too "raw."  LOVED IT!  Oh, and perhaps I omitted the almonds because we didn't have any in the house... 

You gotta fake it until you make it!

Bon Appetit!



New Orleans Fare

I was fortunate enough to spend five days in New Orleans for my cousin's wedding last weekend.  I had so much amazing food from so many different places, it's hard to pinpoint what my favorite foodie moment was, but I can tell you the one I had to work the hardest for...  Cafe du Monde.

While I only wanted coffee and beignets, the line to get in was atrocious.  While I didn't think to take a picture, I found one.  The line was like this for four straight days, and I went by at least twice each day.  It was a little disheartening. 

I did enjoy many places in New Orleans, and most of it was due to my awesome family (and their new in-laws) picking great places for the wedding festivities: Pat O'Briens, Antoine's,  and even the NO Board of Trade!

We tried to go to Port of Call, but there was a similar line out the door, and a lightening storm that made my mother threaten to leave, and then freak out when she had to walk down an unknown street.  (True story, she freaked out on a street corner and demanded a cab.  Meanwhile, she was on the corner of Bourbon Street!)

Luckily, we took the cab a wholesome three blocks to Snug Harbor, an awesome little jazz spot.  Dinner was good, and we cabbed it home through the pouring rain.

We crammed exploring, shopping, feasting, festivities, city, cemetery, and swamp tours, and copious sweating all within four jam packed days.

Finally, on our fifth day, with only 10 hours to spare, we were able to get a seat at Cafe du Monde.  Sure, it was 12:30 in the morning, but we procured a table before a line started to form again. (yes, there were people in line even at 1am.)

So, my lovely cousin Stephanie and I finally ordered beignets.   Granted, we still had our Long Islands in go cups to drink with them instead of coffee, but at that point, who cares?  Those little donuts were everything I could have hoped for, especially after longing waiting for them all weekend.  Of course, we were both covered in powdered sugar by the time we left, and we ended up sharing our tiny table with five other people, but it was completely worth it.  I even picked up a box of the mix on my way home through the airport.  I couldn't resist!

Happy Thirsty Thursday, everyone!

Work week got you down?  Thinking that the three day weekend we had only three days ago is now just a figment of your imagination?  Ready to kick off the weekend grad school style?  (I have to say grad school instead of college, since I think the college weekend began on Wednesday.)

Well, have no fear: Thirsty Thursday is here!!  It's almost time to kick off from work for the day (although you lucky East Coasters may already be on your way), so let's have a virtual sip with an awesome summer beverage that is easy to make, and quite simply refreshing...

The Sparkling Sangria!

Ingredients for fun!

I have to admit, this recipe took me a little longer to make than necessary, because I was trying to preserve my manicure, which made peeling the fruits difficult.  However, the fruits of my labor (haha) were well worth it.

The recipe calls for non-alcoholic red wine.  I went fully loaded (the Barefoot Sweet Red is on sale at the Jewels/Albertsons), and threw in an extra orange for good measure.  I also used the Splenda Sugar Blend equivalent (2 TBS) instead of sugar (1/4 C), and Sprite Zero.  This doesn't make this a diet drink by any stretch of the imagination, especially when two people drink the whole batch, but I have to imagine that it helps a little.

Also, you're supposed to let the fruit sit in the alcohol for 3-4 hours, but dinner only took an hour to create.  I'm sure it would be even more impressive if I didn't have the patience of a two year old crack baby.

That's all I have for this week, but I have a few other drink recipes I'm dying to try out.  Until then,

Cheers!

A cool summer pizza

I had an awesome recipe planned for tonight's dinner.  As part of my triumphant return from New Orleans (look for the food post later), I told Thomas I would make dinner.  He only had one requirement: something light.  Now the recipe I had in mind was from June's Everyday Food magazine.  I get in on my Nook and figured it was worth a try.  (No, I'm not revealing what it was until I actually get the chance to try it out. Well, I knew today was going to be a busy one, so I left my reader at home, and subsequently enough information that I couldn't find the recipe online.  Of course, I turned to Pampered Chef to see what I could find.  Luckily, I found this.  Thomas is not such a fan of a protein-less meal, so I did add some chicken to my shopping list.

I was able to use one of my new favorite toys - the garlic press.  It's so easy to use, it has a huge hopper to fit multiple cloves, and it comes with a little Barbie-brush looking cleaner that helps clear out the little holes when you're done.  No peeling necessary, just pop it in and squeeze it out!

I also was able to use my PC huller to gut the tomatoes.  I'm not going to lie, I hate tomatoes.  However, it's not for the taste, it's for the goopy insides.  With my huller, I can clear it out without any real touching or goop-related incident.  Score!  The recipe was remarkably easy to follow, and other than adding some slightly warned (pre-cooked) chicken, I pretty much did everything it told me to.  I mean, they told me to have cream cheese on a croissant crust.  

Who would I be to argue with that kind of yumminess??                                                                                                   

It didn't take too long to put together, and it was just as refreshing as I could hope.  Thomas loved it, so this is going to be put on the "let's try that again" pile.  (and I can't wait!!)

On a completely unrelated note...

I had Thomas pull out my lone, remaining carrot from the garden yesterday.  I didn't think it would be any good because it's left over from my late winter planting.  All of the white and purple ones are still coming up, but this was the last of the orange danvers.

Yes, my husband has a good sized paw, and yes, that carrot is truly thicker than the sweet corn we had with dinner.  And, surprisingly, the carrot worked really well with some early zucchini as a stir-fried side.

A Walk on the Wild Side

I do not do complicated.  I like things easy-peasy, and enjoy simple successes.  While I can follow multi-step directions, I try not to when it comes to a recipe.  The more steps there are, the more ways I can mess up dinner.  I avoid things that I think won’t be successful  because there is nothing worse than feeling that you have to have a pizza for dinner after you’ve worked for the past two hours to make a not-pizza.
Regardless, I have had a lot of success with Pampered Chef recipes.  I might be feeling a little cocky, but I feel like there aren’t a lot of PC recipes that are vindictively hard, or that you have to worry at every step of the process that you’re about to mess things up.  After my Chicken Napoleon success, I’ve been feeling more on top of my game and ready for a little step up in the challenge department.  Now, that doesn’t mean that you’ll read this recipe and think it’s difficult, I’m just saying that it was intimidating to me.
Little did I know, before starting this evening, that Phyllo dough is such a pain ...




Truly.  The first roll I opened was so dry it just flaked into a million pieces.  Once I got the hang of that roll, it was done, of course.  Fortunately, the second roll unrolled much more nicely and was much easier to work with.  I moved quickly, but the Gruyere Chicken en Croute looked like this on the way in and out of the oven...

Thomas claims the meal was fabulous.  I, personally, believe that Phyllo dough is not tasty enough to warrant that much work to assemble this.  Thomas packed the extras up for lunch (this made a lot of food!), and I'm keeping the veggies for my lunches.  For a fancier dinner where I know I'll be putting in more time than I'd like in the kitchen, these aren't so bad, but for a Monday night dinner...  thumbs down on my behalf.  (I know I'm the only one who felt that way, but I'm entitled to vote my own way.)

I did also make the steamed broccoli and sweet maple carrots.  Loved the veg.  Oh, and while I was busy making these items, Thomas and the pups were making trip all over the kitchen because he was making some traditional South African biltong (aka jerky).  Luckily, we've got the system pretty much down so this rig only dominates my kitchen table for about three days.  Of course, given Desilu's height and curiousity, she may have them all down by tomorrow afternoon!

And now, while you're reading this, I'm off to New Orleans for a weekend with my Mom and family for my cousin's wedding.  I'll be back by the middle of next week, so enjoy some time away from me, and maybe I'll find a new recipe for everyone to enjoy!  (At the very least, I hope to sell some PC products to my family.  HINT HINT!)

 

Happy Six Month Birthday, Desilu!

(please don't eat papa's biltong!)

Differing Opinions, or why this would never be an Italian Food blog…

I’ve been meaning to make this “lasagna” recipe for a while.  In fact, I made a similar one about a year ago, with spinach, but it wasn’t as nice because I didn’t know what I was doing.  However, I found a great Pampered Chef recipe that dropped the spinach, and I was sold.

Thomas is not a fan of marinara sauce, whereas I LOVE red sauce dishes.  It’s hard to make Italian in our house because of the Northern Italy vs. Southern Italy mentality.
Usually, I’m able to connive Thomas to eat some form of Bolognese, with its hearty meat and red wine taste.  I usually start with a chunky garden vegetable sauce from a jar, add two cans of diced, roasted tomatoes, 2 lbs of browned ground beef, two bell peppers, and whatever various spices/garlic/onions/red wine that I can find in the house.  It all starts with the meat (and my beloved PC Mix and Chop) and ends in a lot of simmering, if I have a good hour or two to spare.

It’s not fancy, but by the time I’m done, there’s relatively little marinara flavor, or even sauce, left in the gravy, and Thomas can stomach it.
Now, my mother has a phenomenal recipe for lasagna, and if I had the patience, I would type it up for you.  However, A) I’m trying to only link recipes here since nothing comes from my own head, and B) only my mother can make that recipe.  No one else is allowed (unless related, of course)!    ;) 
Lasagna takes a lot of work.  While my mother has the patience to make up one or two lasagnas at a time, freeze them, and enjoy them at will, I can barely stretch my patience long enough to watch an hour of TV.  (Seriously, how did I ever watch TV without a phone or internet linked device in my hand?)

Lasagna roll ups, however, are a different story.  You can use whatever sauce you’d like, you make up your noodles and the filling, then distribute.  

 Roll them up, place them in 1/2 of your sauce.

Bake, make some cheesy garlic bread, salad, or whatever sides you’d like, and enjoy within the hour.

They’re pockets of yummy goodness.  Thomas liked them, and they made four really hearty leftover lunches. 

On a scale of apples to unicorns, I’d rate them as awesome!  I may never be able to convince Thomas that we should eat more red sauce, but I’ll take the little wins whenever I can.