Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I definitely improvised this recipe tonight; I was wanting to cook something, and I couldn't find a stuffed chicken breast recipe that I liked. This seems like a very flexible recipe, and you could add just about anything to it :) The measurements I have listed are all guesses, because I didn't actually measure anything, so adjust according to taste!

Oven to 400

Ingredients:
2 Chicken breasts, thawed
3 Tablespoons of cream cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon of Pesto (or more, to taste) OR if you do not have pesto, add some parmesan cheese, dried basil, olive oil, and garlic to a food processor with the cream cheese and blend
1 egg white
1 teaspoon of water
Bread crumbs
2 teaspoons of olive oil

Combine the cream cheese and pesto (I used a food processor, but I am sure mixing by hand would work just find). Slice the chicken breasts almost touching the other side of the breast so you have a nice opening. Stuff the cream cheese mix into the chicken breast, and press it firmly to close it. Combine the egg white and water in a bowl. Holding the chicken breast closed, dip it in the egg white mixture, and then dip it in the bread crumbs. Put the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Put the chicken breasts in the skillet until golden brown on one side (about two minutes) and then put them into a casserole dish for baking, brown side up. Bake for 20-25 minutes (until the pink is gone!)

Enjoy!

Thai Style Peanut Butter Noodles

Please excuse the messy bowl. I was in a hurry to eat these...

I love peanut butter. Have I mentioned that before? I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER. Thankfully, my boys do as well. It was the only source of protein I could get down my son for the longest time. We’ve had more than our fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the past year, that is for sure. But sometimes, I think peanut butter gets stuck in the “sweets” category. I know it’s stuck there for my husband. He is not a fan of this dish. Like, not at all. Won’t touch it. Ever again. But the little bug and me? Oh, we can devour this stuff. I love peanut butter used in savory applications. It goes SO WELL with Thai flavors. And put it on noodles, my other favorite type of food? Mm. Mm-mm.

This is pretty much what I do for this dish. I have a hard time paying attention to quantity when I play with a recipe. I usually end up adjusting things a couple of times before I’m satisfied, so you may need to play around with this one until it tastes good to you. Just remember – go easy on the sugar! This is supposed to be mostly savory.

Thai Style Peanut Butter Noodles

Adapted from Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave

½ cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

½ cup chicken broth

3+ tbsp low sodium soy sauce (depending on your taste buds)

3 tbsp lime juice

2 tsp brown sugar

1 clove minced garlic (or ¼ tsp garlic powder)

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (or ¼ - ½ tsp ground ginger)

2 tbsp chili sauce (see note below)

1 ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 scallion, chopped

Combine all ingredients into a small bowl (I usually do a cereal bowl, honestly). Mix well. If the peanut butter is not mixing with the other ingredients, microwave on high for 15-20 seconds, then stir vigorously. Serve over cooked whole wheat pasta – I like angel hair, myself.

*This is super quick and easy, and you probably have most of this stuff already. The toasted sesame oil is great for Asian dishes, so if you don’t have it already, go get some! Totally worth it. And the toasted has such a nice flavor. It’s hard to find just straight up sesame oil that doesn’t have canola oil mixed in with it, so just go ahead and buy the toasted sesame oil. Be careful, though – it does not have a high smoke point like vegetable or canola oil, so NEVER try to stir fry or cook with it over anything higher than low heat. Trust me. Also, the chili sauce might not be something you have. The brand I buy is cheapest at Whole Foods; it’s called “Roland Ginger Chili Sauce” and it has a yellowish label with skinny green lizardy dragons on it. Good stuff, again with pretty much any Asian dish.

Just to make it worth your while to go out and buy the toasted sesame oil, I’ll post a couple more recipes that use it soon J

Hashbrown Casserole

This is probably one of my most frequent go-to recipes. I loooove this recipe cause I will pretty much devour the entire casserole in just a few days. I end up eating it breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or just as a quick snack. Yumm! And, it's one of those dishes that actually tastes a little better (in my opinion) as a leftover, cause it thickens up a little once it's had a chance to sit in the fridge for a bit.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cans condensed cream of chicken (or cream of mushroom) soup- sometimes I'll even do one of each
• 1 1/2 cups (12 oz) sour cream
• 4 Tbsp butter (divided in half, and softened) - you will use 2 Tbsp here and 2 Tbsp there
• 1 (2lb) package frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed
• 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 cups corn flakes cereal
• black pepper
• garlic salt
• onion powder

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
• In a large bowl mix the soup, sour cream, 2 Tbsp butter, and hashbrowns. Sprinkle a pinch of black pepper, garlic salt, and onion powder to the mixture.
• Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Pour the mixture into the dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, as well as enough corn flakes to thinly cover the top. Then pour 2 Tbsp melted butter over the cornflakes.
• Bake for 45mins-1 hour until cheese is melted and bubbly. I have made this many many times, and sometimes it takes even longer than an hour to cook, but I have found that it's very hard to ruin this dish. Unless you forget about it for 2 hours, I'm pretty sure you can't over cook this. It may still be a little soupy when you remove it from the oven, but like I said, as it cools (either sitting out on the counter or in the fridge), it will thicken up.

Chantrelle Mushroom Tacos

Ahh, Oregon mushroom season. I do love you so! Mushrooms are so versitile and nutritious, how can you go wrong?


-high in vitamins and fiber
-dried, ground mushrooms can add flavor to sauces and make good rubs
-they are so tasty!







Currently, chantrelle mushrooms are out in force. We have been eating them in everything. **We pick them wild ourselves but I never recommend that unless you are POSITIVE they are edible. Some will make you very sick or very dead.


Chantrelle mushrooms are very meaty like portabellos. So you can substitute other meaty mushrooms in this recipe.


Chantrelle Tacos

Ingredients
1 Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 poblano chili, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
3 C diced Chantrelle mushrooms
1 package taco seasoning
Taco sized tortillas (corn or flour)
Favorite taco topping


Directions
Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add poblano, onion, and mushrooms. Saute 5 minutes. Add taco seasoning to taste.


Add the mushroom mixtue to heated tortillas and top with your favorite taco toppings!

Oreo Truffles

This recipe is ridiculously easy, and extremely delicious. These are great for parties because they are easy to make and taste great. I have received many compliments on these, and they're so simple to make!

Ingredients:

1- 8oz. block of cream cheese (allow to soften)
1 package of Oreo cookies
Your preference of chocolate, melted. (I typically use White chocolate, and I found that both Baking chocolate squares and chocolate chips work equally well for this recipe).

Instructions:
Mix the cream cheese and cookies together (crumble and smash up the cookies) until you have kind of a mess of oreo cookies mixed with cream cheese. This is not the cleanest recipe, and I always find myself messy, because I prefer to mix the cookies and cream cheese by hand.

Once you have thoroughly mixed the cookies and cream cheese together, roll into balls about teaspoon sized. Dip the ball into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool (I usually refrigerate them for about 3 hours) before serving.

Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (approx 2 cans)
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 1/3 cups BBQ sauce (I used Bull's Eye-Hickory Smoked)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• hot pepper sauce
• salt and pepper
• 6 sandwich buns
• shredded cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in a deep pot (I used a stockpot) with the onion, garlic, and just enough chicken broth to cover. Add the BBQ sauce, vinegar and a few drops of hot sauce and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer unit the chicken is cooked through (approx. 15-20 mins).
3. Remove chicken from the sauce and shred with two forks. While you're working on this, bring the sauce back to a boil, and boil uncovered, until reduced by half (approx 15 mins).
4. Season with pepper, and add the shredded chicken back into the pot and heat through.
5. Spoon the mixture onto some sandwich buns and enjoy. May also add some shredded cheese, if you choose.
   

Meatloaf

I wanted to make dinner tonight for myself and Greg (my sweet boyfriend!). He has raved about his mama's meatloaf to me in the past, and since I've never made meatloaf before I wanted to give it a shot. I got this recipe from my sister, who I believe got it from her dear friend who is an amazing cook. It was a huge hit at the dinner table tonight :) I served it with twice-baked potatoes (which I also just posted). I would imagine you could sneak a few more veggies into this dish. Just decrease the portions of each, and finely dice them.

Servings: 4
Cook time: 1 hour 15 mins
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 18 saltine crackers, crushed
  
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
  
• 1/2 small onion, diced
  
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (divided into [2] 1/4c. portions)
• 1/2 cup ketchup

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the beef, crackers, bell pepper, onion, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and 1/4 cup of brown sugar into a large bowl and mix well. (You gotta get down and dirty with this one and use your hands, but WASH THEM FIRST, please! I'm a nurse, what can I say...)
2. Place into a greased baking dish forming the mixture into a loaf shape. (I used an 8x8 dish, and formed a square). Bake for 1 hour.
3. Remove from oven and drain off the grease, being careful not to dump the loaf out of the dish!
4. Stir the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar and ketchup together and pour on top. Bake for an additional 15 mins. If you have a meat thermometer, you want to make sure the thickest portion of the loaf reaches at least 150 degrees.
5. Remove from oven again, and let stand for approx 10-15 mins. Serve and enjoy!