Chicken Pot Pie

This is one of my favorite things ever. And it is really easy to make...

I love the Neely's on the Food Network. I remember the first time I saw them guest appear on Paula Deen's show and I thought, "Oh they totally need their own show!!" I guess I'm a psychic now because they totally got one shortly after ;)

I halved this recipe this last time because it is really filling and it makes a lot but the recipe I'm posting is the FULL recipe... so just keep that in mind.

Sadly, my husband has left me for Pocatello (for work) throughout the week and my dinners have been very sad and small and lonely and weird since I like to eat weird things apparently. Hopefully I can keep up with this blog though!!!

So here ya go...

The Neely's Individual Chicken Pot Pies
Courtesy of foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 bouillon cube
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 large carrots cut in 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 rib celery, sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped chives
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 store-bought 2-pound rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 1 (7-ounce) bag frozen pearl onions
• 1 (9-ounce) box frozen peas
• 2 (9-ounce) packages store-bought rolled out pie dough
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

(PS, I add green beans because duh, I love green beans. I use canned but you could use frozen or even fresh. With the fresh ones, I would blanch them in boiling salted water for a couple minutes)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large saucepan heat chicken broth and bouillon cube over medium heat until hot.

In a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, chives and garlic, and saute until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the flour and stir together until it becomes pasty and lump-free, about 2 minutes. Stir in the hot broth, heavy cream, sherry, chicken and frozen onions and peas. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

With a ladle, fill 6ovenproof ramekins or bowls with the filling. Place on baking sheet.

Sprinkle flour on countertop. Roll out dough an extra inch. Using a biscuit round or mold, cut out dough to cover the tops of your oven-proof bowls, with about 1/2-inch hangover, depending on their size. Crimp the dough over the edge of the ramekin. Brush with the egg wash and make 4 small slits on the top. Sprinkle with kosher salt and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

The best hamburgers EVER... and oven fries.

I found this recipe forever ago but I've tweeked it so much and it was so long ago that I found it, that I do not know who to give credit to. But since I've made it my own, I'll credit myself :)

Hamburgers and Oven fries (below)

Ingredients (for hamburgers)
1 lb ground beef (85% fat is the best select of meat for hamburgers)
2 tablespoons Prepared Horseradish (trust ME, just do it)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
6 slices of cook bacon, chopped into small bits
1 Cup Cheddar cheese
Tomato slices
Lettuce
Purple Onions (my fave)
Hamburger Buns
Ketchup
Mustard

Heat grill.

Mix first 6 ingredients until well incorporated. Don't overmix because it'll make the hamburger patties tough after grilling. Make into patties. You can get 4-5 patties out of this mixture, but 4 patties tend to be a little too big (for me).

My husband is the griller in the family, but he always grills anything for 20 minutes. I think it's a little bit longer for whole chicken breasts, but 20 minutes should work. Make sure you flip it half way through. You can always pan fry them too.

Assemble hamburgers however you like. And enjoy... because you WILL.. these are delicious.

Oven Fries
Potatoes (However many you want and whatever kind you want)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Equal parts: Onion powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, pepper, paprika

Heat oven 400 degrees. I put parchment paper down because potatoes always stick to my pans, even the nonstick pans.

Coat the potatoes with oil. I also sprinkle with salt and pepper at this point, but don't overdo it since you will be seasoning them when they come out of the oven.

Layer onto a baking sheet. If you don't have parchment paper, make sure you spray the sheet.

Turn the potatoes at least twice throughout the cooking process, more is always better. Cook for 40 minutes and they will be delish. Ovens are always different so you may need to adjust the cooking times.

Chicken Boudine

(Picture courtesy of Paula Deen and foodnetwork.com)

Recipe courtesy of Ms. Paula Deen

I LOVE Paula, but I don't make a lot of her recipes because she adds SOO much butter. As you should know if you know Paula.

But this recipe has zippo butter, but she instead replaces it with a lot of cheese. But man oh man is it good.

Chicken Boudine

• 2 cups cooked egg noodles
• 2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 3 cups grated sharp cheese, your choice, divided
• 1 (2 1/4-ounce) package slivered almonds, toasted (We omit)
  
• 1/4 cup drained, chopped pimentos
• 1 (4-ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained (I use fresh mushrooms and cook them in a skillet with a little butter or EVOO. Once they brown, I add some seasoned salt. This is my favorite way to use fresh mushrooms)
  
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss together the noodles, soup, broth, and sherry. Add the chicken, 2 cups of the cheese, the almonds, pimento, mushrooms, and salt and pepper, to taste, and toss gently to combine. Transfer the mixture to a greased 13 by 9 by 2-inch casserole and top with the remaining cup of cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

Chicken Kabob

This one is EASY!!!


(Sorry for the extra bad picture... but get used to it. They probably won't approve. Yay)

Chicken Kabobs
-2-3 chicken breasts, diced into big chunks (You'll be grilling these, so you don't want the chicken cut too small. They'll fall apart)
-1 green pepper, diced *again into big chunks
-1 red onion *make sure you use red. White onions burn too quickly and just don't taste the same.
-1 1/2 teaspoons Fajita seasoning/creole seasoning
-Olive oil
-Skewers

Heat grill. Put the chicken in a medium sized bow then coat with oil and seasonings. You can use whatever seasonings you like, but I found the fajita seasoning is the most tasteful. You can also add salt and pepper (which I do). Take another bowl and do the same thing to the vegetables, covering them with oil and seasonings. Take the skewers and put the chicken, onions and green peppers on them, alternating between the three.

My husband does the grilling, but he cooks them for 20 minutes and they come out so delicious and moist.

I served mine with fresh green beans and a pasta salad with feta on top.

Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Orzo

Hey all!!! It's meee..... I have had so many new recipes but I haven't been in the mood to post. Here's a really yummy recipe!

Again, it's my own creation. Don't have a lot of exact measurements... it's sort of like my life... everything just thrown in and hoping it'll turn out ok :)

Stuffed Peppers with Ground Turkey and Orzo

4-6 Green Peppers/Red Peppers/Yellow Peppers/Whatever color you fancy
3/4 - 1 lb Ground Turkey (depending on how many peppers you make)
1/2 C Orzo
1 14 oz Can Diced Tomato
1 8 oz Can Tomato Sauce
1 Onion Diced
2 cloves Garlic Minced
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
1 Teaspoon Hot Sauce (Optional)
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (Optional)
Salt
Pepper
Sprinkle of Cheddar Cheese
1 14 oz Chicken Stock

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook Orzo until al dente (look at package directions) and set aside. Meanwhile, brown ground turkey. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are soft, about 5-8 minutes.

Cut the top of the green peppers off and scoop out the ribs and seeds from the peppers. SAVE THE TOP OF THE PEPPERS. Cut them up (around the stem of course) and use them in the filling, use all you can!! Set peppers in a baking dish, preferably one that keeps the peppers tight together and set aside.

Cook the filling until the peppers are soft, shouldn't take that long. Add tomatoes, orzo, worcestershire, hot sauce, pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes. Taste the mixture to make sure there is enough seasoning. Fill all the peppers up VERY LIBERALLY. Pour the chicken stock in the baking dish until it comes half way up the peppers. Sprinkle each pepper with some cheese, you can omit. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, or until tender.

Eat... and enjoy.

(I served mine with garlic bread, *no potatoes GASP, and corn.)

Ranch Chicken and Twice Baked Potatoes

These first recipes will all be thrown together recipes. I'm starting to realize a lot of my dinners are all random, without any recipe. SOOOO, here's another winner.

This was one of my favorite dinners I ever made.

P.S. Expect to see a lot of green beans as my side dish... I am obsessed with green beans (fresh, canned, frozen).

Ranch Chicken
3 large chicken breasts, cut length wise in half OR 6 small chicken breasts or tenders (I always cut the breasts in half to give it the illusion we have a feast)
Shake and bake Ranch flavor packet or a dry Ranch dressing packet (I used the entire package of Shake and Bake... and let me tell you something.. it was heavenly)
1 1/2 cups Breadcrumbs or panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 1/2 cups Flour
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper

Get three shallow bowls and fill one with flour, one with eggs and in the last bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the shake and bake or ranch packets. You can try just using the shake and bake packet alone but the reason the breadcrumbs are there is because I was originally going to use my ranch packet.. You can salt and pepper your chicken but this time I just salt and peppered my flour bowl. It worked well since either the Shake and Bake and the Ranch packets have a lot of flavor already.

I digress.

Dip the chicken breasts in first the flour, shaking off any excess completely. Then the eggs and finally the breadcrumb mixture. Get your skillet (I used two so the chicken could all cook together) and heat it up pretty high. You want a good crust. I did medium high. Cook the first side until brown, about 5 minutes. It all depends on how thick of chicken you are going to use. Flip and cook until the chicken is no longer pink (I always cut one piece to make sure... although that piece always loses all the juices). You can also see if the chicken is cooked if when you touch it, there's not very much resistance. If it's squishy, it's still raw.

And then guess what?? It's done wahooooo.

And it was yum o. That's for you Rachael.


Twice Baked Potatoes

Well gosh, look at that... another potato. But before you freak out at me, these meals are all about a month apart. We don't eat potatoes every night. I swear!!!

4 medium potatoes (Or however much you want)
6-8 slices of bacon
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, diced
1/2 - 3/4 cup of sour cream (Again, depending on how many potatoes you make)
Chicken Stock or milk (Milk is preferably but I only had stock. It makes it slightly healthier)
Cheddar Cheese (I use sharp)
Salt
Pepper

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees. Cook bacon until brown, crumble and set aside. Meanwhile, bake or microwave your potatoes until soft. I have never been able to get my potato cooked just right by baking. Call me an idiot, but I prefer the microwave because it's faster. A lot of people like to bake them because the potato can become "gummy" in the microwave. I cooked mine for a total of 18 minutes for 4 potatoes. (Is that long??) Let them rest so you can handle them and then scoop out all the flesh, leaving enough for the potato to stand up to a lot of delicious filling. I'm not good with measurements so you decide. Just make sure there isn't just potato skin left. Meanwhile, heat up a pan and add some olive oil. Cook the onion and garlic until soft. About 5-8 minutes. Add these onion mixture to the potato flesh, sour cream, cheese, bacon (save a couple pieces to sprinkle on top), salt and pepper and slowly add in the stock or milk until you get the right consistency.

I didn't salt and pepper my potato skins, but I should have. But you can always omit any salt and pepper suggestions since the bacon does give this dish enough salty taste. Fill the potato skins very liberally... heaping spoonfuls. Sprinkle a little more cheese on top with the reserved bacon. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese melts.

Eat. Enjoy. Exercise.

:)

Cowboy Potatoes

I LOVE Carbs!!! So you'll see a lot of them on here. Potatoes are probably my biggest carb love, so what better way to introduce my affair with them then COWBOY POTATOES!!!

Again, I have a big eater at home... PLUS I eat the crap out of these things... so I make a lot of them. They taste as delicious the next day for breakfast... yeah, I eat things like this for breakfast.

4-6 potatoes (Again, depending on how much ppl you need to feed)
1 Onion, sliced
1/2 package of bacon - full package of bacon
Cheddar Cheese

Brown the bacon in a skillet and set aside. Peel and cut the potatoes into disks. Sometimes I cut them into half moons when I'm feeling spicy. Put the potatoes in the same skillet, using that bacon fat because it'll give this side dish a really good flavor, but if you're healthy or something like that... maybe you should just skip this recipe entirely. :P Top them with the onions and some Salt and Pepa (as I like to call it). Because I HATE a crunchy potato, I cover my skillet with a lid to ensure a fully cook tator. This is where it gets really casual. I haven't timed the exact moment when the potatoes seem perfectly cooked. I usually just go back and forth... since the potatoes need to be moved around so they don't burn. But I'd say 15 minutes at most.

Once the potatoes are perfect-o, top them with the cheddar cheese... however much your heart desires... or handle :) AND then top all that with the bacon bacon BACON!!! You may want to put the lid back on to hurry along the process of the cheese melting.

Cass and I eat these while we're camping mostly (in a dutch oven, mother in law makes THE BEST!!!) and we always go all out when we are camping.... so don't think I make these bad boys everyday. They are what I call "special food". But very very tasty "special food".