Week 12: Cheeeeeeese - Spinach & cheese stuffed chicken breasts

Cheese isn't our favorite ingredient so while I wanted to make a cheese encased grilled cheese (a la The Sporkful - see video here), I knew neither of us really wanted to eat that much cheese so I found a recipe for stuffed chicken breasts in Cooks Illustrated (recreated here).  

As usual I took several liberties with the recipe the two big ones being I only used two chicken breasts, but I thinned them out by slicing them lengthwise, and then I also swapped the ham it calls for with spinach.  Below are the two chicken breasts I started with.

Here you can see I'd sliced them lengthwise then pounded them out so they were an even thickness.

I used cheddar and havarti cheeses because I had them and more cheese means more better.

I sauteed up some onions and garlic...

 ... and added them, along with the cheddar and havarti to come whipped cream cheese to make this: 

I put spinach down then a glob of the cheesy goodness on each chicken breast.

I rolled each one, dredged it first in flour, then in an egg wash, then finally in panko crumbs.  Sadly, there are no pictures of that part of the process because my hands were covered in chicken, but here is the final product of that process:

In two tablespoons of hot oil, I browned the outsides of them, turning every minute or two to get an even crisp.

Once browned, they went onto a foil-lined baking sheet and were baked till the internal temp registered 155 degrees. While they baked, I steamed up some brussel sprouts (obviously, right?  we eat them non-stop!).

And, here we have our final product!

They were fantastic.  They could have used a bit more salt and pepper, perhaps added to the panko for some external flavor, but needless to say, we managed to choke down this dinner in record time. 

Week 7: Love Inspired Dish - Chicken & Dumplings

When I think about love and showing love, food is one of my favorite ways to show my love.  I so enjoy cooking and cooking for other people is top of my list of satisfying ways to spend my time and energy.  Watching someone I love eat delicious things I've made is just the best! 

Chicken and dumplings is one of those stick to your ribs, warm in your tummy, love filled foods that just make you feel all snuggly.  My dear friend Carolyn was visiting from LA and came up to visit with my sister.  My birthday was on Sunday and they came to help us celebrate and to ring in my last year in my twenties. 

We wanted to go out for most of the day (hiking, touring, havocing, etc.) so the crock pot was the way to make this delicious meal.  Four skin-on chicken thighs and a chicken breast went in on the bottom.

1 can cream of mushroom and 1 cup chopped onion went in next.

1 cup chopped celery and 1 cup chopped carrots added some amazing color and flavor. About 3 cups of chicken broth, and if you have it, a chicken bullion cube are crucial for the rich chicken flavor. 

Mix it all up and cook on high for 6 hours.

It was so pretty cooking there.  I love my crock pot and Andrew and I use it regularly.  It makes the whole house smell good and it is a breeze for cleaning up. 

It cooked down quite a bit and the chicken thighs fell off the bone.  I turned off the crock pot and removed the bones and the skin from the mix.  Once it had cooled a bit, I skimmed off some of the fat.   

The dumpling mix included an egg white which Cooks Illustrated says helps hold the dumplings together.

In order to get the dumplings to cook, the broth should be simmering.  Rather than waiting for the soupy stuff to re-warm in the crock pot, I threw it in a pan and cranked it up.  So pretty!

The dumplings took longer to cook up than I thought, and the waiting was near painful, but man oh man was it worth it.  After a day of rock clamoring and walking against the wind, this was perfect.  It was a wonderful birthday dinner and I was most certainly surrounded by love.

Week 5 - Alcohol - Tequila Lime Grilled Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

This week's cooking challenge was alcohol.  There as so many ways to incorporate alcohol into cooking that I thought I would tackle a type of alcohol I never use - tequila.  Now, I love to drink the stuff, but when it comes to cooking I usually find myself using a red or white wine. These recipes are all over the internet but I found it on the Smitten Kitchen.

This recipe called for marinating chicken in a tequila and lime marinade before grilling it so I decided to go for it. I found someone else who'd paired this recipe with the cabbage slaw recipe (which uses red wine so this is a double boozy dinner) and I was ready to go. 

I was supposed to marinate the chicken over night but I am an impatient cook with little foresight so I adapted.  Instead of full chicken breasts, I nuggeted (I know that is not a word, but I want it to be so I am using it) up my chicken and pierced each piece many times with a fork to allow the marinade to get in there as fast as possible. I dumped the marinade and the chicken into a freezer bag and then refrigerated it for just under and hour. I heated up the grill and threw my nuggets on.  I basted them a few times while cooking with the delicious marinade and cooked them 'till there were nice grill lines on each side. 

While the marinating was taking place, I sliced up my cabbage - I used green instead of red since we already had it in the fridge - and onions.  I emulisified the dressing in my totally awesome bullet blender and basically waited to dress the slaw until we were ready to eat.

Andrew cut up a tomato that needed eating and not only did it add some color to our plates, but also fit really nicely with the flavors of lime and hot peppers. The chicken had a really nice lime flavor and I imagine with a longer marinade the tequila might have come through more. 

The slaw was AMAZING.  This will most definitely become a regular rotation. It was so easy and it had such a nice mix of tang (due to the red wine vinegar) and spice (due to the serrano peppers).  Really yummy stuff. 

It needed to be paired with a margarita. Duh. 

Week 2 - Chinese - Sweet, Sour & Spicy Orange Chicken with Cashews and Broccoli

Andrew was the mastermind and expert chef this week for our second challenge. He scoured cookbooks and we talked about what to make for days.  He was off at a work retreat for a few days so the cooking had to wait and when he returned and we tackled both challenges in one night.  

The process was elaborate and Andrew remarked more than once how ridiculous this recipe was for needing 12 different bowls ready to give and receive a variety of parts of the ingredients.  Bowls for sauces, bowls for cooked things to be added to the mix again later, bowls for everything; basically, lots and lots of prep and it truly required finesse (which A has is spades).  Andrew is a seasoned chef having cooked in all sorts of environments, from fine dining to burger flipping, so there was no question he could pull off this complicated dish.

 

As you can see above, while cooking Andrew had a beer in his (or my?) favorite coozy!

Here is the finished dish.  It was certainly sweet and sour but we decided that perhaps next time to cut some of the vinegar as we both were a bit puckered due to the sour.  Next time we would also add more red pepper.  We like spicy food and the amount required by the recipe was not nearly enough for our tastes. 

The chicken was juicy, the broccoli cooked perfectly, and the cashews really made the dish complete. 

As you can see, it was disgusting and we could barely choke it down :)