Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

It's been a long time since I have posted a recipe, but I hope this one will make up for it. There's two ways I make it, and one way is kid (or me, lol) friendly, and the other is husband (traditional) friendly.

Every once in a while David decides we need something hearty like Chicken and biscuits and starts pestering me to make something like that. This time I didn't mind at all because I had been thinking what he was thinking. You can't beat chicken and buttermilk biscuits. It is just one of those meals that feels extra appropriate to say the blessing over because you're truly thankful for all you have.

You'll need-
1 9" pie plate OR an 8x8 baking dish
3-4 chicken breasts
1 TBS Margarine (or butter if you light)
Self-rising flour
Pepper
Salt
Buttermilk
Shortening (Crisco)
1 can of English (green) peas
1 can of sliced carrots

First get a large boiling pot and set your chicken in some water to boil. Add butter, a dash of salt, and plenty plenty, plenty of pepper. When you think you've got enough, add a little more for my sake. I mean don't go crazy or anything, but maybe just shake it like a salt shaker - or I don't know. How 'bout a tablespoon? Keep an eye on your chicken while it's boiling and add more water as needed because you don't want it to boil out, you'll be needing it as a broth gravy. When the chicken starts to fall apart (you can hurry this along by grabbing a pair of tongs and twisting the well-cooked chicken apart, but be careful not to get burned by the steam!), add another tablespoon of margarine and three tablespoons of flour, whisking them in one at a time as you go to make sure they're evenly distributed and dissolving. If you have little bits of flour floating around, don't be too distressed, that sort of thing will work itself out before dinnertime. Lower heat gradually to let the sauce get thicker ONLY if you want one pie that has no vegetables. If that is the case, you'll let the sauce thicken on a lower heat and ladle your chicken and broth sauce into a sprayed pie plate or baking dish and set aside. Now, if you're not doing that or you're wanting to use what's leftover to make one with veggies, you'll grab a can of green peas and carrots and drain them before pouring them into the pot with your chicken and broth gravy. Let that bubble and cook for a bit before you add it to it's own baking dish. (Note: if you don't set one part of this aside to make one with no veggies, you'll be needing two pans to make it with vegetables.)

Now for the biscuits:

It's a beautiful day when you learn that biscuits only need three ingredients. I spent a lot of time pouring over recipes and trying things out before I realized why my grandmother has always favored self-rising flour over all-purpose for baking. Self-rising has all the extra powdery ingredients like baking soda and powder and what not so you don't have to fool with it! Oh happy day!

Homemade biscuits, I hear is a touchy subject with folks, so I'm going to adopt Christy Jordan's approach and say that your mama's way is the right way. This is how I make biscuits, and it's right on the back of White Lily Self-rising Flour.

Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup of shortening
1/2 cup of buttermilk (I sometimes use more if my dough looks too dry)

I really love making biscuits for two reasons
1. I love biscuits (by birthright. My grandmother said she's never met a Childers that didn't love a biscuit and I was born a Childers, so you know...)
2. I love the taste of biscuit dough. (Gag away, more for me!)
Nanny used to have to leave me just a bite when she made them and let me clean the bowl like a NORMAL child would a cake bowl. I use this odd preference to my favor though when cooking biscuits. Just by tasting of them, I can tell if everything's just right for baking.

Any, I digress. Combine your three little ingredients into the bowl and stir well making sure all of the ingredients are incorporated. (Note: If you are not wanting to put in the elbow grease, you can use a pastry cutter to cut the shortening into the flour before adding buttermilk. I typically skip this step, but it's a good idea if you're nervous about getting the shortening mixed up). You want your dough to be slightly sticky, or at least that's how I like it. With your mixing spoon, gently drop the dough on top of your chicken and broth gravy in the pan. Do your best to to evenly distribute over the top.

If you make the full recipe above you'll need two batches of biscuit dough unless you want less biscuits, in which case you would simply divide this dough between your two pans.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes (or until the bread on top looks fully cooked) at 425 degrees. Please keep an eye on your biscuits. There's nothing worse than burning a pretty biscuit!

Here's mine done and served with bacon-wrapped asparagus, baked squash, and a sweet potato.

Hope you enjoy!

Love,
Casey

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

I've flirted with the idea of making enchiladas for probably longer than the hubs and I have been married. I've always wanted to do it, but I've also been intimidated by the idea. I wanted them to be good! So tonight, I made the commitment - we were having enchiladas, it was necessary, and I was going to make them semi-healthy. (Healthy went pretty much out the window with the cheese I used, but I get a point or two for good intentions, right?)

In any case, I did a little research about what enchiladas actually were, and how they were assembled. I went ahead and had my own way with this. This recipe is super Americanized (sorry!) and I didn't use corn tortillas - I just don't like soft corn tortillas, they have an odd after taste to me! I used Fat free Flour Tortillas. They're my absolute favorite and I found I actually like them better as tortillas go than regular ones. How often do you find lighter fare that actually tastes better than the original? Not often. The only drawback to these tortillas is that they're really soft and thin, and so when you pull them out of the package you have to separate them carefully or else you will end up ripping them apart. And they're so good, that would be such a shame!

Anyway, when hubby came home tonight, his reaction to what I had in the oven was visible. He said to me, "If what you have in there tastes as good as it smells, I'm kissing you...then you're going to explain why you've never made it before." Cute. But I was nervous until the first bite was taken. I'd never made this before! I'd also had a ruined Mexican inspired dinner memory that had weakened my confidence in this arena. I didn't relax until I had my first bite. It was so so good! Yum is not even the word. So, I immediately scooted over here to write it down before I forgot what I did.

Now, it's confession time. I am not at all a technical cook. I'm a technical baker, but when it comes to spicing something, it's a shake or two here and three shakes there. I know a lot of people like written in stone measurements, so I've guessed on some of it below. The thing with cooking is that all you're doing is adding flavor. So if you like a lot of flavor add more, if you don't like as much of this or that, add less. I'm relatively hippie-like with my seasonings. It's all free-love with my spice cabinets. :) 

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

For the chicken:
2 chicken breasts fully cooked and shredded
1 cup of chicken broth (I used the broth the chicken had cooked in)
1/2 can of rotel
1 tsp of minced garlic (I used it from the jar)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp of salt
3-4 jalepeno slices from the jar along with a little of the juice poured in
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 tsp garlic pepper
1/4 red pepper
1 pinch of dried cilantro 
4 shakes of Franks red hot

For the sauce:
1 T of Vegetable oil
1 T flour
2 cups of Chicken broth*
2/3 jar of Trader joe's salsa
1/2 cup of Kroger's mild Taco sauce
1 8 oz. can of Kroger's Tomato sauce
1 pinch of Cilantro 

*chicken broth comes from the cooked chicken. I always add salt and Country Crock light margarine to mine to give it a little more flavor)

Tortillas:
6 fat free tortillas lightly toasted for 30 seconds in a 500 degree oven

Cheese:
2 cups of Kraft's Triple Cheese blend
1 cups of Kroger's Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Woops! Forgot a picture of the Cilantro. I swear by this freeze-dried stuff!

 Okay, so I began with cooking my chicken breasts. I put them in a pot with water, two spoonfuls of light margarine, and about a teaspoon of salt. Again, I'm not very technical. There are times when I forget to actually use the broth I make when I boil my chicken, and then there are other times when I'm a little smarter, like today, and actually remember that there's no need to get the processed stuff out of the can (Not that I don't use it as much as the next person, it's just awesome to realize that you've got the real thing in front of you and there's no need to open any cans or spend any more money on it if you don't already have it).

Ahem...ANYWAY.

Next, I removed the fully cooked chicken breasts and shredded them (As yet another aside, if you happen to have a KitchenAid mixer, you can use the whisk attachment to shred your chicken and it is glorious. All my food processors do is make contemptible chicken crumbs. J/S). In a large pan I threw in all of the ingredients listed above: broth, cilantro, rotel, minced garlic, garlic powder, garlic pepper, salt, pepper, red pepper, Frank's, jalepenos and their juice, etc. And then I sauteed the mix until all of the liquid had cooked out of it. When the liquid's gone, your chicken is done (and delicious).  This is evidenced in my smokey picture below.

In the same saucepan I used to boil the chicken, I put in my vegetable oil, flour, and chicken broth and stirred until the flour dissolved into the broth. I then poured in my salsa, taco sauce, and tomato sauce. When the sauce was steamy and bubbly, I spooned a just little of the sauce into my sauteed chicken mixture. Why not? :)

While everything was cooking, I set my oven at 500 degrees and placed my tortillas on a pan (On a big pan I could put about three at a time) and let them cook for about 30 seconds each. The point is to get them a little toasty without making them hard, so don't leave them in the oven any longer than that.

Here we are pre-cheese and sauce.

When everything was ready to go, I sprayed a 9x13 dish and coated the bottom of the dish with the sauce mixture. Then I dipped and coated each tortilla into the sauce pan and filled them one at a time with the chicken and topped with cheese before rolling them up and placing them seam side down in the baking dish. Once the dish was full, I topped the enchiladas with the rest of the triple cheese (there wasn't enough to keep), then ladled some of the sauce over each enchilada. I topped it all off with the sharp cheddar cheese and put it in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. The goal here is to allow the cheese to melt.





When they were done, I sprinkled a little parsley flakes over top for color and added a spoonful of fat-free sour cream on top.

This recipe may have a lot of steps, but it definitely does not take very long to make. My husband ran out to wash and vacuum his car, and by the time he got back they were in the oven with less than ten minutes to go. I can even begin to express how good these were. The chicken and the tortillas were really flavorful and tender and didn't pack too much heat (If you want more heat, I'd suggest upping the jalepenos and/or red pepper). We were really pleased with this dish and it is definitely something I'll be making again. Maybe next time, however, I will take the time to buy some fat free cheddar and won't have to take my dogs on a walk around the entire neighborhood so I won't feel as guilty!

Hope you enjoyed your dinner tonight as much as we did!

God Bless!

Healthy Garlic Parmesan Chicken

So this week I am reembarking on a quest to be healthier and make healthier choices at meal times. But I also know that my sweet husband will never go for lighter fare unless it's plenty flavorful and plenty filling. So when I cook healthy, I've got a big challenge ahead of me - especially when he is begging for something like crispy cheddar chicken, and I am wanting something that isn't bad for us! I made this a little nervously, knowing that if we didn't like it, we'd be eating sandwiches for dinner. Yet, when we sat down, said grace, and dug in, my response that it was good wasn't only one of relief, but it was also paired with a resounding "Mmmm!" from the both of us.

Because there is only two of us, I try to stretch out meat as far as it will go at dinner times. It's expensive! So for us I usually only cook two chicken breasts for dinner, but you could easily use this recipe with four. I used 1 large pan and a pair of tongs (I just think they're easier to use than spatulas), a gallon zip-lock bag, and a rolling pin (or some other stress relieving device).

Sorry about the blurry picture. I didn't realize it was blurry until I had thoroughly enjoyed my meal, so it was much too late to retake the photo! I'll try to get a better picture the next time I make this, because I am sure I'm going to end up making this a weekly staple!



Healthy Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts (butterflied* and flattened), salt and peppered and cut in half
1/4 cup of flour
3 T of light butter
1 T of minced garlic 
1 T of lemon (or more depending on how much you like lemon)
1 T of parmesan cheese
1 tsp sage
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 shake parsley
1 shake cilantro

*When I say butterflied, it's because I don't know what else to call it. With meat scissors, I cut through the chicken breast without cutting in it half, then over left and right. Essentially cutting the chicken breast like a shrimp. My goal is to aid the endeavor of flattening the chicken breasts.

On your stove-top, spray a large pan with cooking spray and set it on medium heat. In a gallon zip-lock bag place the chicken and zip it up, releasing all the air from the bag (you don't want to pop the bag when you flatten the chicken). Put flour in a plate.  Take a rolling pin and flatten the chicken until they're 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Cut each breast in half. Salt and pepper the chicken breast and coat them lightly in flour. Place them in the warmed pan, alternate cooking them on each side for four minutes until chicken is fully cooked (I'm a stickler about meat temperatures, and so I always use a meat thermometer. Chicken is fully cooked at 168 degrees, but I like to get it to at least 171 before I'm satisfied that it's done).

When chicken is fully cooked, remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan melt the butter. Add minced garlic (I used the kind from a jar), and saute with sage, poultry seasoning, parsley and cilantro for about thirty seconds. Add lemon and saute 30 more seconds. Using the tongs, place the chicken breasts one at a time back into the pan and coat them on both sides with the butter mixture. Once out of the pan sprinkle parmesan cheese over both sides of the chicken.

This chicken was so savory and delicious. The husband has a this tick where he thinks he needs to put either hot sauce or ranch dressing on everything. I'm pleased to say that he thinks that this needs neither. It stands all on it's own. This dish would be delicious also with some sauteed mushrooms and would be good with vegetables or pasta. Since we're trying to be healthy, we're going to stick with veggies. Thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoy and God bless! 

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

Let me preface this post by saying that this is NOT my recipe. The picture above is, however, my recreation of it. Doesn't it look delicious?

This is a recipe review for Jamie Cooks it Up! I found this one on Pinterest and have been wanting to try it for a while. Tonight was the night. Cheese and chicken are usually right down our alley when it comes to dinner time, and this recipe really hit the spot.

I'm excited to share this one because it turned out just perfect for me, and I didn't have to do anything to make her recipe better. I knew this recipe was going to be special when it smelled good before I even put it in the oven. It made me think of Red Lobster's cheddar biscuits. It turned out just like she said it would, and it was done just when she said it would be. Every recipe seeker on the internet knows how rare that is!
 

Anyway, I served this with red potatoes (I had a five pound bag, so we were eating through those this week), and fresh boiled corn. Hubby said the only thing missing was some biscuits to eat with everything (everybody's a critic!).

Get the recipe. 

Bruschetta Chicken

I have to blog about this one because this chicken was so good, my husband and I thought we had gone out to eat at a restaurant. The best part was that it was, you guessed it, really easy (healthy too!). I am always looking for ways to spice up chicken breast. Scarcely a week passes that we aren't eating some kind of chicken breast meal. Naturally, that gets really old, so anything that I can do to liven up a weekly staple, I look for it. This recipe, if you can even call it that, was born of me wanting to prepare something ahead of time so I wasn't sitting there at five o'clock searching for something to do. I was looking for a Crock-pot recipe that didn't require an instant ranch or Italian dressing packet, and when that didn't happen, had begun digging through my fridge trying to find something to marinate my chicken breast in. Fortunately, I found a jar of Trader Joe's bruschetta tomatoes. Eureka!

Bruschetta Chicken 

Ingredients
1 jar of Trader Giotto's (Trader Joe's) Bruschetta
2 large chicken breasts, cut into four chicken pieces
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
1 T of Parmesan Cheese
1 T of Litehouse Italian Seasoning

To make:

Cut two large chicken breasts into four smaller breasts and place inside a gallon sized zip-lock bag with half of the jar of Bruschetta. Allow to marinate for at least four hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour contents of the bag of marinated chicken into a greased baking dish. Pour the remaining Bruschetta over the top of the chicken, top with Parmesan and Italian seasoning, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake for 45 minutes, or until chicken is done.

This is a versatile dish that can be served with a variety of sides. It will be tasty with vegetables or pasta, depending on your mood or what you have available.We had plenty of red potatoes and broccoli so that's what I served. It turned out great and hubby said I needed to go rummaging through the fridge more often, haha.

Enjoy!