Herbed Chicken En Croute

Fancy, huh?

It is.

Or at least, it looks fancy.

And it definitely sounds fancy.

I mean we are talking impress your guests, get that girl to fall in love with you or get your boyfriend to propose fancy.

Yeah, it's that good.

So take my advice and RUN, don't walk, RUN to the store.

Or you know what, take a car.

That would be much faster.

Oh so I guess you are wondering what this deliciousness is, right? And you probably might be wondering what the heck "en croute" means... Well basically it is French for "in a crust".

One of my favorite things in the world is Brie En Croute... Which is where you take a delicious wheel of Brie cheese and wrap it in a puff pastry (and if you are like me you also slather some peppered jelly or raspberry jalapeño compote before the pastry) then bake it until it is fluffy and golden and delicious. So good...

SO, I figured why not give that same flaky deliciousness to some boring old chicken...

And since feeding my kid vegetables turns into WWIII, I figured I would sneak some of those in there too...

And why not top it all off with some cheese. Swiss cheese, and some herbed spread cheese to. That oughtta do it...

And it did. Oh it SO did.

Here is how you can do it, too!

Herbed Chicken En Croute

1 sheet puff pastry
2 chicken breasts (cut in half so they are about 3-4 inches long and 3 inches wide)
salt and pepper
some butter
a bunch fresh spinach
a container of herbed cheese (i got the allouette stuff...)
2 slices swiss cheese
1 egg

Start about an hour and a half or so before you want to serve dinner. Sprinkle your chicken with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat and cook the chicken until nice and golden brown (and mostly cooked all the way through). Then put on a plate and cover with foil and let rest in the fridge until you need them.

Then add the spinach (wash first and remove stems.. or if you are like me just rip the leafy green part off of the bunch and rinse and pat it dry) to the skillet with a little more butter. Saute until it wilts and turns deep green... You will know, don't worry. Set aside.

About 30 minutes before you want to serve dinner, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Flour your work surface lightly and roll out the sheet of puff pastry until it is big enough to cut in to 4 good sized squares.

Place one half of a slice of Swiss cheese on each square, followed by a generous heap of herbed cheese, then by 1/4 of the spinach. Place one chicken breast on top of each square.

Beat the egg with a splash of water, then brush the edges of each pastry with the mixture. Bring the ends of the pastry to the center and press until sealed. Next place each chicken pastry seam side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I HIGHLY recommend the parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper, grease the cookie sheet well.

Brush each pastry all over with the remaining egg mixture. Bake for 25 minutes until nice and flaky and golden.


Look at all that juicy, melty, cheesy deliciousness... I was so excited I couldn't even wait to put it on a plate before cutting in to it!

Enjoy your amazingly impressive dinner.... Serve with some crisp white wine, a side salad, and finish the night with this dessert, and you have yourself a superb gourmet meal. Way to go!

You can thank me later.

And oh, you will.... trust me... :)

Happy eating!

Cheese Sauce, and Many Ways to Use it!!!

Ok so in case you didn't know... We recently found out that I am pregnant!!!!!!

Well so far this baby has been very... hmmm... let's just say picky. Very, very picky.... And by picky I mean that if this baby doesn't get exactly what he or she wants, mama gets very VERY sick... Needless to say, this is a hard task to accomplish, so I am sick a lot...

But there has been one thing that I have been craving nonstop, and that I have managed to keep down about 50% of the time (that is actually a really big deal right now, believe it or not!).

Cheese sauce... Yes, you read right: cheese sauce.... on EVERYTHING!!!!

The first time I made the sauce it was to make a homemade au gratin potatoes for my husband's birthday dinner... It was so tasty and I liked it so much I made it again a few nights later and steamed some broccoli and some rice and then mixed it all together to make homemade cheesy broccoli rice (I used to love the stuff in a bag, but that is sooooo not good for you... so this is a good alternative).

Then I made pasta the next night, steamed some more broccoli, and cut up some cooked chicken into chunks and tossed it all in cheese sauce...

Oh and if those three ideas weren't enough, I made another recipe involving crescent roll dough stuffed with chicken and cheese, topped with a cheese sauce (to which I added a can of cream of chicken and mushroom soup) then baked in the oven... super yum...

Okay so anyway... Cheese sauce...

Start with 1/4 c butter and a few tablespoons flour. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then stir in the flour and mix well. Add about a cup and a half of milk, stirring well. After the mixture bubbles, add 1 cup of cheese into the pot and stir well. Once the sauce slightly bubbles and thickens it is finished...

The type of cheese can be changed for the recipe... I have used sharp cheddar, mild cheddar, and a four cheese mixture... All of them were good, though the sharp cheddar is my personal favorite...

A few ideas for using it:

Fondue!!! Cube a loaf of french bread and dip in the cheese sauce (you can use a fancier cheese for this, or just plain old cheddar).

Broccoli Chicken Cheesy Mac: Cook pasta according to package. Meanwhile make the cheese sauce, when adding the cheese also add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or chili powder. Steam broccoli florets and cut cooked chicken into cubes. Toss with pasta and sauce and serve. If you use already cooked chicken this recipe takes 15 minutes to make, start to finish!

Cheddar Broccoli Rice: Steam 1-2 cups of rice. Steam 1 cup of broccoli. Make cheese sauce and toss with rice and broccoli. This recipe only takes about 15 minutes to make if you use minute rice.

Cheddar Broccoli Rice Bake: Make cheddar broccoli rice. Layer a casserole dish with thinly sliced chicken tenders. Top with cheddar broccoli rice and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes, then top with cheese (and French Fried Onions if you want some fun texture!!!) and bake for 5-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Au Gratin Potatoes: Thinly slice four to six large potatoes. Layer potatoes in a casserole dish, pouring half of the sauce over the first layer, followed by another layer of potatoes, and topped with the rest of the sauce and grated cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees for an hour and a half.

Enjoy!!!

Chicken and Okra in Peanut Sauce

I first tried this dish at a potluck for our FRG last year. I was hooked right away. I know there are many variations on this dish that can be found on the internet and whatnot, but I concocted my own variation and was pretty pleased with it.. What is this dish I am describing? Basically it is chicken with okra... like the name suggests... but the sauce is a combination of the juice from tomatoes in the dish and a couple tablespoons of peanut butter... It is a creamy delicious sauce and anyone you serve it to will beg for the recipe!

This is an awesome "meal in one" dish... You get protein, veggies, and great flavor in this dish. Serve over rice and dinner is served!


I have to warn you right now though, I forgot to take pictures of every single step, and I didn't take one of the final product either.. so basically that means I have to remake the whole thing again so I can take more pictures!

Chicken and Okra in Peanut Sauce

1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 c frozen okra (I added more because I love okra, but you can add less if you are skeptical)
1 onion, chopped finely
minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1/4-1/2 c peanut butter
salt and pepper

Cook the chicken in olive oil in a large pot. When done, remove to a plate and add another glug olive oil.



Sauté the onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Add the tomatoes and bring to a soft boil.



Add the okra and the chicken. Grind some salt and pepper on top and stir well. Add peanut butter, starting with 1/4 c and increasing to taste. Let simmer until okra is no longer frozen and everything is heated through.

Serve on rice.

This may sound easy and a little strange, but let me reassure you that this will be a hit at your dinner table!!

Oh pooh... I am alone... and a casserole!

So my darling lovely husband (puke now if you will) left today for two weeks..

Two weeks is not that long, but it is long enough for me to go a little crazy missing him...

Okay who am I kidding, two weeks is going to drag out like you wouldn't believe.

I know I went through months and months, but it doesn't make being away from him at all any easier.

But there is a little bit of liberation when he is gone...

I GET TO MAKE WHATEVER I WANT FOR DINNER!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!

You know what I am going to make with my new found freedom and liberation?!?!!

Leftovers...

Yup. Leftovers.

I made two casseroles tonight for dinner to take to my friends' who just had babies. I used a recipe I found on another blog and tweaked it, and called it "Fiesta Chicken Casserole". In hindsight, I would have tweaked it even more.

Here is a link to the original, below is what I would change.

To make Fiesta Chicken Casserole:

Chop an onion and sauté until tender. Add 2 cups chopped cooked chicken, a drained can of black beans, and a cup of frozen corn. Stir in a can of Rotel, a can of cream of chicken soup, and a can of another cream of (chicken, celery, or mushroom) soup... you choose.

Turn off the heat and mix these things together well. Then stir in some chili powder, garlic powder, and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13x9 inch casserole dish, or if you are like me and making this to freeze or for a friend, grease two 8x8 foil casseroles. Tear some corn tortillas into quarters and layer the bottom with them. Spread a bit of the mixture on top of the tortillas and top with a good smothering of cheese. I used the "four cheese mexican blend"... But use whatever you have: monterey jack and cheddar would be fabulous! Repeat until all of the chicken mixture is gone and top with plenty of cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

If you want to freeze this casserole, wrap tightly with foil and then freeze. When you want to have it for dinner simply throw in the fridge to thaw the night before, then bake according to the original instructions.

Enjoy! But seriously, read the original recipe for a different take on it (it was her recipe in the fist place) and a good laugh about how much her husband loves this casserole!!!

Lemon and Orange Herb Chicken with Carrots and Roasted Asparagus

Saturday night was "Date Night" for me and Donovan. He is leaving on Friday for a 2 week det, so we have been trying to have little "dates" together, even if it means watching a movie on pay per view and having a "picnic" on the floor in our living room. So I decided to make a "fancy" meal, since I knew we wouldn't be getting a real date anytime soon.

I had a whole chicken in the fridge and I knew I wanted to roast it in the oven. I also had a bunch of oranges and lemons to use, so I decided to put it all together.

Preheat your oven to 350.

First I rinsed the chicken off and took out the neck and gizzards and innards and tossed them aside. Normally I wouldn't condone throwing away perfectly good innards, but I knew I wouldn't have time to put them to use, so in the trash they went.

Pat the chicken dry and gently loosen the skin on the chicken. Cut a stick of butter into even slices and stick the butter under the skin. Put chicken, breast side down at first (this helps seal in the juices), into a roasting pan, and cover with 1-2 cups chicken stock or broth, if you don't have stock on hand.

Cut an orange and squeeze the juice all over the chicken, then stuff the orange shell inside the chicken. I threw some baby carrots into the pot with the chicken and dunked them down under the broth so they could get soft. Melt a stick of butter and pour it on top of the chicken.

Salt and pepper your chicken, then sprinkle with rosemary, thyme, sage, and any other herbs you like. Put in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, covered with foil or a lid. Then pull the pot out and flip the chicken over so the breast side is up. Then sprinkle with the same herbs you put on the other side, and a little more salt and pepper.



Slice a lemon or two into 1/4 inch thick slices. Then, using toothpicks, secure the lemon slices to the top of the chicken.



Roast for about 2 more hours, uncovered, or until the thickest part of the thigh reads 170. I cooked ours until the thigh read 180 just to be on the safe side, and it was still super juicy and incredible!!! If you want the skin to get a little crispier, you can remove the lemon slices and put it under the broiler for a minute or two, but don't overdo it! You don't want a dry chicken!!!

Let the chicken rest for ten minutes before serving: this helps the juices settle and keeps all the juices from running right out of the chicken when you make that first slice.



While the chicken is resting, pop your asparagus into the oven and let it roast. I usually just cut off the woody stems of the spears, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, and my homemade lemon pepper seasoning. Then place on a cookie sheet and roast for about 5 minutes on each side in the already preheated oven.