Fettuccine Alfredo

Once again dinner had fallen on me. Not literally. That would have been rather messy. Rather, the responsibility to make dinner had fallen on me. And so I began looking up quick recipes. I had not planned for the crock pot, and I knew I'd have about half an hour that evening, so I began looking around for recipes.
I pulled up my amazingly-cool-new-app on my phone. It's the app put out by my favorite recipe website, allrecipes.com. They call it the Dinner Spinner. You pick a meal (dessert, breakfast, main course, side dish, etc...) pick an ingredient (poultry, beef, cheese, pasta, veggies, etc...) and pick a prep time (Less than half an hour, 40 minutes of more, Slow cooker, etc...) and then hit the ok button, and it pulls up all the meals in those categories. It's awesome. :D

Well, we had chicken, and I had 30 minutes, and it was a main course, so I selected those options. Fettucini Alfredo was the one thing that popped up that contained (almost) all ingredients I knew we had on hand. We only needed the cream cheese, so I called ahead and had my brother run to the store and pick it up, since I knew I wouldn't have time to go shopping before I had to make the meal.

8 oz Dry Pasta
1 (8 oz) package Cream Cheese
3/4 C. Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 C. Butter or Margarine
1/2 C. Milk
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Dried Basil
1 Pinch Ground Nutmeg

Anyway. So I got home and began the meal prep. First, I put a pot of water on the stove to boil, then I took the thawed chicken and began cutting it up.

Then I melted a bit of butter in a pan and began grilling the chicken.

Meanwhile, I was melting the butter in a sauce panon the back of the stove. Notice I had three burners running, and all were requiring my attention, since the water had boiled and I had added the noodles. So I was stirring the noodles so they wouldn't stick, flipping the chicken so it wouldn't burn, and stirring the butter so it wouldn't scorch.
Then I added the cream cheese, parmesan cheese, milk, and spices to the melted butter. I wanted to make a bit more than the recipe said, but only had the one package of cream cheese, so I added a bit of sour cream in as well, just to mix things up. It turned out pretty well.

I stirred the whole mixture around on low heat until the cream cheese was melted and mixed in smoothly.

Then I added it to the cooked pasta. I must confess that, even though the recipe called for fettucini pasta (and it is Fettucini Alfredo, after all) I used Rotini pasta, instead. :P

Then I took the cooked chicken, and chopped it into bite-size chunks.

I mixed it into the pasta and served it up!

It was very rich, and very creamy, and very full of calories, but it was also very tasty. :D

Creamy Shredded Crockpot Chicken

This recipe has no official name, so I made one up.

It all started when my dad brought home a couple coupons for a new product. Phillidelphia, that company that makes cream cheese, had just come out with a new thing called "cooking cream". It's basically like an extra creamy cream cheese stuff that is flavored. It sounded delicious, and I decided to try something with it. It was basically like cream cheese, so I figured I'd find a recipe that called for such and then substitute the new cooking cream. We carefully clipped the coupons and headed to the store to pick up the ingredients. There were several flavors, and I chose the Italian Cheese and Herb flavor and, once purchased, we headed back home. It was once home we realized we'd completely forgotten to even use the coupons that prompted our purchase in the first place. *blonde*

Here's the recipe I used:

6 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast Halves

1 (8 ounce) bottle Italian-style Salad Dressing

1 (10.75 oz) Can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

1 Cup Chicken Broth

1 (8 oz) Package Cream Cheese

1/2 tsp. Dried Basil

1/2 tsp. Dried Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

I started with the chicken. I greased the bottom of the crock pot and put them in. i didn't make six, just five, cause I figured it would make the sauce creamier, and because it saves on chicken. ^_^

Next, I poured the dressing on top. We didn't have a lot of it, and not nearly as much as the recipe called for, but it worked. I put it in the crockpot and started it cooking on low. Then, before leaving for work, I made the chicken broth using bouillon, and added the other ingredients. I didn't use quite all of the cream cheese stuff, since it's a 10 ounce container, and the recipe only called for 8 ounces. I stuck the rest back in the fridge for a later time. (Although I don't think I ever used it... hmm... it's probably still in the back of the fridge somewhere. :P)

Once those were all mixed, I stuck them in the fridge to be added later, and went off to work. 

Thankfully, I have family members at home, so I asked my mother to please add the cream mixture at about 4:30. Also, she shredded the chicken up for me when she added the cream sauce. It was pretty easy, since the chicken had been cooking all day and was extremely tender.

Once the cream mixture had been added, the crockpot was left to simmer another hour on low. Meanwhile, I got home and made some rice. When the rice was done, I spooned some of the shredded chicken over it. 

I really liked it. I think it probably would have been just as good if made with regular cream cheese, but I liked the extra flavor the special stuff added. Definitely something I'd make again.

Chicken and Bacon

Ok, now is the moment you've all been waiting for!

Well, maybe not, but I know I have. I am going to share the recipe of my very most favorite meal EVAR!!!

*ahem*

Anyway, yeah, this is my favorite meal. It's the meal that I always have on my birthday, and my sister happens to love it, as well, so when her birthday rolled around, she requested it. I was very happy. :D

1 jar Dried Beef (sometimes called Chipped Beef)

6 large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 lb. Bacon, uncooked.

1 pint Sour Cream

1 can Cr. of Mushroom Soup

You start with a greased, 9x13 pan. Rip the dried beef up into small-ish chunks and cover the bottom of the pan.

Then, take the chicken breast and wrap the bacon around them. I like to use 2 slices of bacon per piece of chicken, but this might change, depending on the size of the chicken pieces, and how many slices of bacon you have in the pound. Basically, you want to use the whole pound of bacon, and you want to put as many pieces of chicken in the pan as you can. That's about 6 large pieces of chicken, but maybe up to 8 smaller pieces.

Next, mix the sour cream together with the cream of mushroom soup.

Scoop it out, and spread it evenly over and around the chicken.

Then you cook it. It has to cook slowly; 3 hours at 275˚. The kitchen smells wonderful while it's cooking. :D

Oh wow, the picture is making me hungry. :P

Make some rice, and spoon the sauce over the chicken and the rice.

My mouth is watering. ^_^

Hot Chicken Salad

A couple years ago, while searching for something to make for dinner, my mother suggested we make Hot Chicken Salad. I had never heard of such a thing, so we began to search through her old recipe book and we discovered the recipe. It is a recipe from my grandmother, which gives it extra value in my opinion. So anyway, we made it, and it was amazingly delicious. I've made it several times since then, and decided to whip it up the other day. 

2 Cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

4-5 Cups Diced Chicken Breast (about 3-4 Breast Pieces)

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

3/4 Cup Real Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp Minced Onion

1 Cup Diced Celery

4 Diced, Hard-boiled Eggs

1 8oz Bag Plain Potato Chips

I started by boiling, and chopping up the chicken breasts. I boiled two, then discovered it wasn't quite enough, so I had to boil another one. 

While the chicken was boiling, I also hard boiled the eggs.

Now, you may think this odd for all the cooking I have done, but I have a very difficult time hard boiling eggs. For whatever reason, I can never remember exactly how it's done. Is it start them cold and boil them 10 minutes? Or maybe you put them in boiling water, then turn it down, then let them sit 10 minutes? Or is it put them in cold water, let them boil, and then immediately transfer them back to cold water? *sigh* Way too many options. (Turns out, it's put them in cold water, bring it to a boil, boil them for 10 minutes, let them cool for about 2 minutes, then transfer them to cold water)

Anyway, I have always ended up with undercooked eggs. And once you crack them to see if they're done, you're out of luck. 

BUT! This time, I did it right! I was ridiculously pleased with myself. ^_^

Once I had the eggs done, I chopped them up. 

Then I mixed the eggs, chicken, and other ingredients together.

Once they were all mixed, I greased an 11x13 pan and spread the bottom with crushed potato chips. *NOTE* The potato chips do not get mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. They get crushed and layered on the top and bottom of the rest of the casserole 

After putting in a layer of chips, I spread the rest of the stuff on top, and sprinkled more crushed chips on top of that.

Into the oven it went! 425˚ for about half an hour, or until it's bubbling and the chips are starting to brown. Like so:

It's especially delicious when you add a side of potato chips. :D

It's definitely a favorite meal of mine... although my brother professed to absolutely hate it. He does really dislike mayonnaise, though, so that could be the reason. :)

It's also good reheated, but I'd recommend adding fresh potato chips to the top if you do that, since the ones it was baked with tend to get a bit soggy after they've been sitting for awhile. 

Chicken and Cheese Crescents

Before I begin this blog, let me just point out the new stoneware pan I just got. It was in a pile of free stuff on a table at our church. I'm rather excited about it. It has apples. I love appley kitchen stuff. *is ridiculously pleased with new pan*

Anyway.... so the other day I was trying to come up with a quick easy recipe for dinner. We didn't have much in the house, and I didn't have much time. I opened the fridge to see what I could come up with. We had some chicken I had boiled the other day in preparation for.... whenever I might need it. There were also some crescent rolls, ready to be made. I had no idea what I could make with these things, but I went to my favorite recipe site, www.allrecipes.com, and plugged in these two ingredients. The first thing that came up was something called Chicken and Cheese Crescents.

Preheat Oven to 350˚ F

1 (4 pound) whole chicken, cooked and deboned
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
2 1/2 C. milk
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
2 cans refrigerated crescent roll dough

It looked good, and easy, so I decided to give it a try. I made it, and promptly realized I had forgotten to take any pictures. No problem. It was a liked recipe, so I just made it again a different time. :D

I started by shredding the cheese, and putting the milk, half the cheese, and the cream soups into a pot on the stove and cooking them until the cheese was melted, and all the ingredients were combined.

Next, I opened up the crescent rolls. Now, the recipe calls for a whole chicken. I had not a whole chicken. Either the first time, or this time. The first time, I had some pre-cooked chicken breasts that I shredded up. This time, I resorted to canned chicken. It was easy, and it tastes fine. I took each crescent roll triangle and piled some chicken and a pinch of the leftover cheese on the wide end and rolling it all up inside. I tend to pile the chicken and cheese rather high.

When I had rolled them all up, I put them in my beautiful new stoneware pan, which I had previously greased. You may notice there are not 16 here, which is the proper count from two cans of crescent rolls. You are correct. The other four had been cooked the evening before to accompany my dinner. ^_^

The next step was to take half of the gravy mixture stuff I had just finished cooking and pour it around the crescent rolls. Not on them, just around them.

Into the oven they go! I baked them for about 15 minutes, then pulled them back out. They're starting to puff up nicely.

The rest of the broth was then poured on top and layered with the any remaining chicken or cheese.

I put them back into the oven. The recipe says to cook them until the cheese is melted and the rolls are brown. However, as you can see here, the rolls were no longer visible, and were not likely to be getting very brown anytime soon. So I guesstimated at 10 minutes. I was wrong. It took closer to 15. I might even recommend 20. The rolls will be a bit soggy, obviously, but they won't  be undercooked.

Looks delicious!

I must say, this is one of my favorite recipes. Relatively quick, fun to make, very easy, and quite good. Throw a salad on the side, as you see here in my serving suggestion, and voila! Dinner. :)

Curry Chicken Salad

I have a favorite coffee shop. They have really good coffee. And muffins. And many many other things. One of their specialties is Curry Chicken Salad. Oooooh, it's good! So one day, I got a hankering to have some. Only problem was, I was at home, and really didn't feel like going out. No problem, I'd make my own! I quickly searched all my favorite recipe sites for a good recipe. Many of the recipes called for mango chutney. Well I certainly didn't have any of that, so I kept looking. After wading through many many different recipes, I found a decent looking one of www.cooks.com.

2-3 boneless chicken breasts, skin removed
2 stalks celery, strings removed
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup real mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1/2 medium onion, finely minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
paprika (optional)

Now, before you get all excited and take this recipe and go make it, let me warn you. I did not follow it. Recipes are more like guidelines, anyway! :D
It started with the chicken. I didn't have any chicken breasts, so once again I resorted to a 12.5 ounce can of canned chicken. I'm sure it would have been better with real chicken, but I worked with what I had on hand.
Next, I began in on the other ingredients.

I got the celery and began to remove the strings. Now, I have never done this before. I wasn't even sure how. I had to go online to figure it out. Once I figured it out, I started in on peeling my celery. Who knew celery even needed to be peeled? :P
I wasn't halfway through the first stalk when I called it quits. I decided I rather like the celery strings.
The next thing I changed was the cilantro. I didn't have any. Once again turning to the world wide web, I discovered parsley to be an acceptable substitute. I was fully intending to throw in some dried parsley, but must admit I completely forgot. So much for that.
Then I attacked the onions. What did they ever do to me, you may ask? Well, I happen to not be a big fan of raw onions. Raw scallions, however are a different matter. We have wild scallions in the yard, and I've been known to walk around chewing on them during the Summer. Oh so good. So I added the word 'green' to the recipe and chopped up the scallions.

But I wasn't done there, oh no. More things in this recipe needed changing! First came the garlic. No garlic cloves on hand made me turn to my trusty jar of minced garlic in the fridge. As with the chicken, real garlic cloves would no doubt have been better, but this was wasn't bad.
So pretty much the only thing I kept according to the recipe was the mayonnaise. Even the curry got changed, but I'll get to that in a minute.
So I took all these ingredients and piled them into my bowl.

After mixing them up, I tasted it. Hmmm.... not enough curry. I added more, and then some more. All in all, I estimate I put in just over a Tablespoon, instead of the called for Teaspoon.
The only thing I regret is that I had no red grapes. I really think they would  have made this recipe perfect. I can't complain, though. It was delicious! I put it in the fridge for a while and served it that evening for dinner along with some homemade bread.

It was definitely a success. Have to say it's one of my favorite recipes so far. :D

Chicken and Bacon Sandwiches

My absolute favorite meal in the world is Chicken and Bacon. It's a special recipe my mother makes. I'll probably make it and post it some day, but for now, I decided to put a spin on it. The original recipe takes 3 hours just to bake. When I started making dinner, I wasn't sure exactly what I was making, but I had chicken, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup. I love all three of those things, so I was sure I'd be able to come up with something.
While digging in the freezer for inspiration, I discovered a pound of bacon. That's when I decided to alter the original recipe and see how it worked.
I started by cooking the bacon. I always prefer to cook my bacon in the oven.

Next, I mixed a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, and about a cup of sour cream. I wasn't really sure how much sour cream to put in, so I kinda guessed. It worked out pretty well.

When the bacon was done, I chopped up about half of it. The other half I put in the fridge, and my family enjoyed it the next day for breakfast.

I took about 3 pieces of chicken breasts and that I had cooked earlier, shredded them, and spread them in the bottom of a greased pan. This pan is a bit smaller than a 9x13, but a couple more pieces of chicken, and a regular 9x13 pan would have worked well.

Then I mixed the bacon bits with the sour cream and soup mixture, and poured it over the chicken, mixing it together.

I stuck it in the oven for a few minutes. Since all the ingredients were pre-cooked, I mostly just cooked it on a low setting until it was warm. Then I found some rolls, cut them open, and served the chicken mixture with the rolls. Then I ended up putting the chicken on the roll and eating it as a sandwich.

It was very delicious. Tasted almost like the regular Chicken and Bacon meal. Definitely something I'd make again. :D

Chicken Pasta Salad

I love pasta salad. Especially in the Summer. Well, in case you didn't notice, it's not Summer, but I decided to make some pasta salad, anyway.
I started with some Garden Pasta. It pretty much tastes the same as regular pasta, but it's more colorful. :)

When that was done, I added about a cup of Miracle Whip, a handful of celery, a handful of cubed mozzarella cheese, and about half a cup of shredded chicken.

Then I mixed it all together,

It turned out pretty good.

Something I may keep fiddling with, but I like it pretty well.

Crockpot: Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli

I've been rather relaxed about blogging here, of late, but the time has come to once again begin posting recipes. I have actually made quite a few things recently, and hope to upload them soon.
The first recipe is, once again, a crockpot recipe. In case you haven't noticed, I really like crock pot recipes. This particular one I pulled off of the internet. I was looking for a good recipe to make with the ingredients I had on hand. Namely, frozen chicken, several cream soups, and broccoli.
I love broccoli, but I had recently purchased a lot, and was afraid I wouldn't get around to eating it before it went bad, so i decided to use it up. A good looking recipe popped up almost immediately, and I proceeded to put it together.

I started with the cream soups. The recipe called for Cream of Broccoli (although the recipe said any basic cream soup, such as Cream of Chicken, or Cream of Celery, could be substituted. This was good, since I hadn't any cream of broccoli. I substituted the Cream of Celery and moved on. The other thing it called for was a can of Cream of Cheddar Cheese.
Now, this is a particular kind of soup that, as far as I know, is only made my Campbells. It's very good, and I knew I had bought a can recently, so I began to search through the cabinets to find it. No such luck. I searched more and still could not find it. Time was ticking, and I knew I'd have to leave for work soon, so I quickly googled a solution to my problem. (I later discovered that my brother had used the soup to make himself some cheese fondue sauce)

Luckily, Cream of Cheddar Cheese soup seems to not only be just a Campbells thing, but also only a North American thing. Several substitutions were suggested, including a mixture of evaporated milk and shredded cheddar cheese, cooked on the stove until the cheese melted. I tried this and the result was delicious. :D

So I took this cheese mixture, plus the celery soup, and poured it on top of several frozen chicken breasts, and then set it to cook for about 6 hours on low.

When it was about 2 hours away from being done, the broccoli got added.

Rice was made a few hours later. I love rice. ^_^

It looks pretty good!

Now, I have to say, this was not my favorite recipe. However, it's not because it's a bad recipe. It's mostly because I'm not a huge fan of cooked broccoli. It was hailed as a success by my taste-testers, though, so I imagine if you like broccoli, you'd probably like this very much. :D