BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and the DCB

I was fortunate enough to receive an e-cookbook for my Deep Covered Baker this week. I always kind of write off the baker, unless I have a really good recipe - like the Rocky Road brownies. However, I've decided to try more recipes in there, since it is considered the "magic" baker, and see how it goes.

Starting off, I was looking to do something with chicken.  I found this incredible deal last week on obviously hormone injected chicken breasts. They were around a half a pound a piece, and only two fit comfortably in my baker at a time...  So, I put some fajita seasoning on them, as well as some garlic powder, and popped them in the microwave (with the lid on) for 8 minutes.  I flipped them over, re-seasoned as necessary, and went for about 8 more minutes.  Usually, you can do a breast in about 8 minutes total, but these were horkers and needed a lot of time due to thickness.

While that was going on, I sauteed a small red onion (from my garden) in a pan.  Then, as the chicken was finished, I chopped it up in my food chopper (of course) and threw it into the pan as well. I also took all of the pre-made BBQ sauce I had and added it to the pan to let the chicken simmer.

I then started the other two chicken breasts on the same 8/8 minute rotation.  As they were finished, I also added them to the pot.

There are recipes for BBQ sauce that I've found, but I didn't want to bother when we had an exorbitant amount of sauce already in the house from our last BBQ meatball dish. 

Finally, we stacked the meat high on some sweet King's Hawaiian rolls, served with chips, and enjoyed on the patio.  All in all, I was done in about a half hour, and the clean up was only my baker (piece of cake), and the stir-fry pan.  Amazing...  and these are the reasons why I love summer!

Ode to Summer

If I could encapsulate everything I hold dear about summer, it would be this:

That's right.  A whole bowl of strawberries (2 pints), cut neatly and sprinkled with some Splenda Blend for an extra oomph.  Straight out of the fridge, nicely chilled, after a long day out on the beach.

Ahhhhh...  Love the beach!

But, if you really want to make it taste like a dessert, then you have to add some whipped cream!

Or A LOT of cream, and then call it a day!  Happy Summer, everyone!!

Now THAT'S the ticket!!

Recipe to Share

For my mom's Pampered Chef party, we made A LOT of food.  My mother has seven siblings, and I think she still cooks for a family of 10, laying heavily on boys at a 6 to 4 ratio.  We prepared food for 12 guests, but probably could have easily served 25.    My mother also has a plethora of cookbooks.  Every year she gets rid of a bunch, but they multiply like rabbits left to their own devices.  She's currently into smaller cookbooks, like the yearly magazine sized ones.  Unfortunately, the one I took this recipe from doesn't seem to have an online equivalent, so, thanks for the patience!

I wasn't in the room when she was prepping this dish, since I had my own to make, however I can tell you she did add extra salt and pepper to make it to my taste, and the parsley was far more chopped in her dish than in the cook book's picture!  For the chicken, mom just bought a roaster from the grocery store and chopped it up.  Delish!!

As you can see, it's served in one of mom's (and dad's least) favorite "cabbage leaf" bowls.

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.