Cresent Rolls for Breakfast!

Two posts in one day? That is just crazy talk! But I had to share my yummy breakfast discovery! I have a bunch of crescent rolls (since they are way cheap right now as Safeway) I decided to get creative with them. I wanted to make crescent dogs, but couldn't find mini ones. But I did see sausage and lightbulb moment! I could make crescent sausage! I think breakfast turned out scrumptious :) It's simple, buy the pre-cooked sausage, heat it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Roll the sausage in a crescent roll dough wedge and bake!  Enjoy! And yes, that is homemade Lemonade in the photo as well :)

Baked Penne With Chicken and Sundried Tomatoes

I know, it's been a while since I posted, but trust me, I am still trying new things! I just don't have a lot of time to tell everyone about it! The other night I went to On The Border, and instead of my usual enchiladas (shredded beef with red sauce), I ordered "La Bandera" which was a chicken enchilada with a sour cream sauce, a pork enchilada with green chile sauce and a beef enchilada with red sauce. MMMM! It was delicious!

The other night, I made baked penne with chicken and sundried tomatoes. I found the recipe to be a little... well bland. I spiced up my leftovers with some red pepper flakes. But play around with it and let me know if you come up with anything delicious from the recipe!  Just a heads up, this recipe makes A LOT of food, feel free to cut it in half!
Enjoy!


Baked Penne With Chicken and Sundried Tomatoes

Prep Time 35 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Yield Serves 8

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound penne rigate
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (8 ounces each), halved horizontally
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups whole milk
• 10 ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups shredded provolone (6 ounces)
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan (4 ounces)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter two shallow 2-quart baking dishes. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta, and return to pot.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise.
3. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer, whisking frequently. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. Off heat, gradually stir in provolone and 1/2 cup Parmesan.
4. Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes; sprinkle each with cup Parmesan.
5. Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Well my New Year's Resolution was to try new things. So next month, I am running a 200 mile relay with a team of 11 people I don't know over the course of two days. How's that for trying something new?

Chicken Tacos and French Toast :)

I know, it's been a while. But boy does life get in the way of blogging sometimes! I haven't made a whole bunch of "new recipes" but I did take a new spin on some classics. 

On Sunday, G and I had chicken tacos for dinner. But what I did was put the chicken in the slow cooker with a little bit of chicken broth and taco seasoning. Then once the chicken was cooked (about 6 hours on low) I shredded it, then added the rest of the rest of the seasoning. G made guacamole (he used three avacados, an 8 ounce container of cottage cheese and a guacamole seasoning packet... we wanted quickness!)

Doesn't it look delicious?

Then tonight for dinner I made french toast. Just used two eggs, a little bit of milk and whisked with a teaspoon of cinnamon. I made me 4 pieces of toast. I topped it with strawberries. I chopped the strawberries into small pieces, added a couple teaspoons of sugar and a splash of orange juice. MMMMMM! A dusting of powdered sugar to top it off.

Parmesan Chicken

Today’s new recipe is Parmesan Chicken. I have never actually made it myself, normally purchase it instead.  It was super delicious and super quick and easy, which is great because I'm super super exhausted today.  Short post today, hitting the hay early.

Here is the recipe if you are interested in trying it for yourself.

Parmesan Chicken
Prep: 15 minutes      Serves: 4
Ready in: 15 minutes

4       boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
½      cup seasoned bread crumbs
¼      cup grated Parmesan cheese
½      teaspoon dried basil
1       egg
1       tablespoon butter
1       tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Flatten chicken to ¼ in thickness. In a shallow bowl, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and basil. In another bowl, beat the egg. Dip the chicken into egg, then coat with crumb mixture. In a large skillet, brown chicken in butter and oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.

I served my over noodles, with spaghetti sauce and melted mozzarella cheese.

You Choose

Today for dinner I was going to make Parmesan Chicken, but G offered to get me dinner instead, so I couldn't pass that up. I told him to choose what I was going to eat though. I chose In and Out Burger, but he brought home Rally's (which is equally delicious) and told me he got me a burger with no pickles (which is a SIN!) and with onions (which are seriously gross) because I want to try new things. In reality he got me a cheeseburger with no onions and pickles (he knows me so well!) but instead of ketchup and mustard, it had thousand island dressing on it. I'm generally old school with my burgers and go with ketchup and mustard, but this was pretty delicious. I would eat it again for sure.

Last night’s new thing wasn’t a raging success. G thought it was good, I didn’t think it was anything spectacular. I made Mexican Roast Chicken and Carrots. I feel the carrots came out too lemony.  I think I may try it again at a later date, but tweak the recipe a bit. But here it is if you would like to try it.

 

Mexican Roast Chicken
Serves:  4       Prep: 30 minutes
Roast:  40 minutes

 

5       tbsp. EVOO
1       lemon, juiced
4 ½      tsp chili powder
1 ½      lb baby carrots, halved lengthwise
16      cloves garlic, unpeeled
4       skin on, bone- in chick breast halves
        salt and pepper

 

1.  In a small bowl, combine the EVOO, 2tbsp lemon juice, ½ tsp chili powder and ½ tsp salt.

2. In a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, toss the carrots and 12 cloves garlic with ¼ cup of the lemon- chili mixture. Place the pan in a cold oven and heat to 400 degrees.

3. Meanwhile, peel and grate the remaining 4 cloves garlic into a small bowl. Stir in 2 tbsp lemon juice and the remaining 4 tsp chili powder. Rub the garlic- chili paste evenly onto the chicken flesh under the skin; rub some over the skin, too. Let sit until the oven and pan are preheated.

4. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the chicken skin side up, over the vegetables in the baking pan. Roast until cooked through but still juicy, about 40 minutes.

 

 

Chicken Caesar Florentine

As a New Year's Resolution, I decided that it is time to get out of my comfort zone and start trying new things. Everyday seems to be filled with the same stuff... the same restaurants, the same food, the same morning routine, the same everything! Now it is time to shake things up and try some new stuff out.

Last night I made Chicken Caesar Florentine. I was a little worried that I wasn't going to like it because you stuff baby spinach into the chicken, but oh my goodness was it delicious! I was like eating a chicken caesar salad, but it wasn't a salad! For those of you who are interested, here is the receipe.

Chicken Caesar Florentine
Prep: 15 minutes       Bake: 40 minutes
Yield:  4 servings
  
2   cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided
2   cups Caesar salad croutons, coarsely crushed, divided
1   cup fresh baby spinach
1   cup creamy Caesar salad dressing, divided
4   bone-in chicken breast halves, skin removed


1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup cheese, 1 cup crushed croutons, spinach and 1/2 cup salad dressing. Cut a pocket into the thickest part of each breast; fill with cheese mixture.

2. Place remaining dressing and crushed croutons in seperate shallow bowls. Dip the chicken in dressing, then roll in the croutons.

3.  Transfer to a greased 13-in x 9-in baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese; bake 10- 15 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees.