I know I’m not the first to make this. It’s one of those recipes that there’s a hundred versions of floating around out there. Here’s my version.

• Chicken (I went with thin cut breasts, boneless and skinless)
• Panko bread crumbs
• Ranch dressing (I made homemade using a Hidden Valley Harvest Dill packet)
• Jalapeno, bacon, and green onion cream cheese (something I’ve recently discovered is awesome to have a jar of on hand)
• Shredded parmesan

Now my parmesan isn’t pictured because I forgot about it until the chicken was already in the oven. I went back and sprinkled some on one piece for me since Thom hates cheese. But really it would have tasted better had I mixed the parm and panko together. This is really one of those eyeball recipes, but for the four pieces of chicken pictured here I used about two tablespoons of cream cheese (which I softened in the microwave for about 20 seconds) and a cup of the dressing. I mixed the two together and dredged the chicken. Then rolled it around in the panko and put it in a dish I had sprayed with olive oil spray. I had the oven preheated to 375 and I baked the chicken for 30 minutes. The panko wasn’t turning golden brown so I kicked the broiler on and browned it up a bit for a couple of minutes.

Pretend this chicken is paired with pretty side dishes like roasted broccoli and/or crispy fingerling potatoes. Pretend I didn’t puss out and make chicken only for dinner.

And if you want to make the cream cheese spread, which is great on burger, here you go.

Enjoy!

• 8 oz of cream cheese (I prefer whipped, it’s easier to spread)
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
• 1-2 tbl of bacon bits
• one green onion, chopped

Soften the cream cheese and mix or fold in the remaining ingredients.

Awhile back I saw this recipe on Tasty Kitchen for customizable breakfast bread bowls. I knew I wanted to make them. I just kept not finding the right kind of bread. Finally, I ended up going to Panera for them. And since you can pretty much put anything you want in them, here’s what I did.

I hollowed out the roll to become a mini bread bowl. Then I did a shmear of this awesome cream cheese spread I made.

• 1 container whipped cream cheese
• 1 diced, seeded jalapeno
• 2 tbl bacon bits
• 2 tbl green onion

I made this spread to go on burgers, but I thought it might taste pretty good here too.

Then I put a piece of bacon in a skillet to cook. I scrambled one egg with a little more chopped green onion and some shredded parmesan and muenster and then crumbled the piece of bacon in there. I poured it into the bread bowl and then stuck it in the oven.

I wasn’t sure how to long bake it. I ended up cooking it for 20 minutes uncovered and then 10 minutes covered in foil on 350.

It sure does look pretty.

And it tastes good too. That cream cheese shmear was a good idea.

This past weekend I had a wild hair and I really wanted to make exciting new dishes. Beef Wellington came to mind as my friend Amanda had recently blogged about making it. So I’m standing in the grocery store googling it so I could find out what cut of meat to buy. Then I read (via wikipedia) that Beef Wellington is made when you take a filet of beef and smear foie gras (or pate) all over it. And then I stopped. Hell to the no. I don’t eat pate and I sure don’t eat foie gras. So I didn’t buy a filet. I did end up buying some puff pastry shells. Surely I could do something creative with them right?

I thought about some more and decided that I would use seasoned beef chunks wrapped in bacon instead. Bacon makes everything better right?

So my meat seasoned overnight in my special House Spice blend. Which is basically a cute jar I bought from Anthropologie and dumped a whole bunch of spices in. (garlic powder, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic & herb powder, seasoned salt, lemon pepper seasoning, italian seasoning) It’s a crazy hot mess blend, but everything I use it on tastes great.

So then I took two chunks and wrapped them in half a piece of bacon. I put them in the pastry shell and then stuck one of the pastry puffs on top. I put them in a 375 degree oven for ??? minutes. I confess: The oven was already on 375 for some biscuits I was baking. And I didn’t pay attention to the clock. I just waited until the puff pastry looked done.

My husband and a friend of his showed up just as I started writing this post. So I sat them down and made them be guinea pigs. They were happy to oblige. Thom, of course, got out the horseradish sauce for his. They gobbled them up quickly. I ate one as well. I didn’t actually eat the bacon since it was floppy and not crispy. But it gave the meat a wonderful flavor so you wouldn’t want to skip that step.

All in all this was a neat little dish, but probably not something I would make again. I only made four of these since I wasn’t sure how they would turn out. I’ll probably just throw the rest of the beef chunks in a hot skillet and make steak bites instead.

I do not like coleslaw. Probably because I do not like cabbage. My husband loves it though. So I decided to make him some. I’ve watched so many episodes of Chopped lately, so of course I would be awesome at this right? Right. I just took a bunch of stuff that he loves and threw it in a bowl and fed it to him. And he loved it.

• Red cabbage
• Cilantro
• Carrots
• Green onion
• Horseradish dijon mayo
• Regular mayo
• Honey
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Balsamic vinegar
• Tabasco sauce

I shredded the carrot and chopped everything else and just starting adding things until it looked right. He ate some on its own and also put a bunch on his pulled pork sandwich. I didn’t even try it. Instead I made a side of macaroni and cheese for myself. (the food he hates most in the world)

For the sake of a (somewhat) good photo, I plated everything to show it off.

Good stuff.

Man, I’m so creative with my recipe titles. Basically I just dreamt up something that I thought would sound good and tested it out. Turns out, I was right.

Not pictured, one small chopped onion, which I threw in a non stick skillet with about a tablespoon of the minced garlic and olive oil. Then I shook in some dry Italian herbs. You know, the kind that just says “Italian seasoning” on the bottle. Once the onions start to get translucent add the can of tomato sauce. Then add a giant heaping spoonful of the Philadelphia Cooking Creme and stir until it’s well blended. Then you can add your cooked pasta to the pan. I went with fettuccine. (I only used half the box of pasta)

I hope you’re a good multitasker. Because while you are doing all of this you’re also making your chicken. Or you can cheat and make the chicken first. Whatever. This new Kraft Fresh Take is basically a bag of shredded cheese(s), bread crumbs, and herbs. The idea is that you open it up and throw your raw chicken in there and “shake and bake”. I also threw in about a cup of crushed french fried onions because I love using them with chicken. Now you can take your coated chicken and either bake it in the oven for the healthier option, or throw it in a pan with some oil and fry it up. I’m sure no one is surprised that I didn’t bake mine. In my defense I had just watched Adam Richman on Man VS. Food eating some insanely delicious looking fried chicken. And that sounded so good to me.

So the end result was this:

I was worried Thom wouldn’t eat it because of the cheese in the coating on the chicken. It turns out he really liked the chicken. It was the pasta he wanted nothing to do with. He’s such a weirdo.

This recipe made about four servings.

Last night was going to be just another boring dinner night in my house. I had some chicken and some potatoes and was planning on doing nothing special with them. Then I thought maybe I could make a pan sauce to eat with the chicken. Then from there things started to snowball and I ended up with a pretty tasty dish. I didn’t measure anything, but here’s a general recipe so that you too can enjoy this tasty dish.

• Chicken: I went with boneless skinless chicken thighs that I had broiled in my oven.
• Cream cheese: I used an entire 8oz block
• Rotel: One can. It can be hot or mild or regular. Depends on how hot you like your food.
• Onion: I used one small yellow onion, diced.
• Garlic: I minced one large clove
• Corn: one can, drained
• Thinning liquid: Milk, chicken broth, wine… your choice. I used milk because it’s what I had.

Now at the last minute I converted this into a pasta dish, but it didn’t start out that way. It just looked like it was begging for me to add pasta, so I did.

I started by putting a little olive oil and butter into a large non stick skillet. Then I added the onion and garlic and sauteed for a few minutes. Then I dumped in the entire can of Rotel. I didn’t drain any of the liquid out first. I let this simmer for a few more minutes and then I got out my potato masher and squished the tomatoes until it was less chunky and more saucy. I did this because I don’t like tomatoes. I just like what tomatoes have to offer. Then I started adding in the cream cheese, a pinch at a time. Then I added the corn. Keep stirring until all of the cream cheese is melted. Then you’ll need your thinning liquid. Just start pouring in your wine or broth or milk until you’ve thinned the mixture to your liking. So of course this means sampling along the way. Adding salt and pepper to taste. From there I added my chicken to the pan. I added whole pieces, but you could chop or even shred. Or just plate your chicken and pour the sauce over it. Obviously I boiled up some spaghetti and added it to the mix. I still made the crash hot potatoes that I originally planned to make, and my husband added a few to his bowl.

What I might do different next time? Add in some of that Philadelphia cooking creme they have now instead of plain cream cheese. It’s thinner and pre-seasoned. You could easily cut the cream cheese in the recipe by half and still have a delicious dish.

So now I just have to figure out what to call this dish.

That’s what we’re calling this dish. A hot mess. Because a) it’s hot and b) it doesn’t look like anything you’d want to put in your mouth.

The recipe is from The Larson Lingo and it reminds me a lot of my Chicken Corn Chowder.

I modified her recipe just a smidge. Here’s what I used.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs of frozen chicken, boneless and skinless (I used both white and dark meat)
• 1 can Rotel (or tomatoes and green chilies for those of you who don’t know what Rotel is)
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 block cream cheese
• 1 tbl cumin
• 1 tbl salt
• 1 tbl pepper

If you’re putting this on and heading to work for 8 hours, go ahead and put your crock pot on low. If you’re around the house to monitor it, I say put it on high for 4 hours then switch to low for another 2-4 hours.

You can serve it over rice, but I had mine in a bowl with tortilla chips. I imagine it would also make a good layered casserole with corn tortillas. Next time I make it I will probably add chopped onion. It’s pretty good stuff. We’ve been eating on it for three days now. It really doesn’t look appetizing at all, but if you can get past it long enough to taste it, it’s delicious.

image from Larson Lingo

So I made these meatballs the other night to take to a friend’s house. And well, I was just kind of winging it with the recipe. However, they turned out to be the best meatballs ever! So I’ll share the recipe with you. As best I can since I didn’t really measure anything.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 cup parmesan (I used the Kraft kind in a can)
• 1 box frozen spinach (microwaved and squeezed out with a towel)
• 1 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried basil

I mixed all of this together in my Kitchen Aid mixer and then rolled into balls. I used my dainty little IKEA ice cream scooper so they weren’t large, but also not tiny.

I baked them at 350 for what felt like an hour. I made sure check on them ever 20 minutes and rotated them about half way through.

Now honestly, you could just stop right there and eat them like this and you would be so happy. Lord knows I was. However, I was determined to make a tomato gravy for them to hang out it.

Tomato Gravy

• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup beef broth (or any other flavor broth)
• 2 tbl sugar
• 1 cup cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 cup parmesan

I used my pretty new cast iron pot to make the gravy.

I poured a bit of olive oil on the bottom so I could sweat out the onions and garlic for a few mins. I actually put the lid on and walked away and when I came back they were a little bit stuck to the bottom. But that’s ok! I just deglazed with the beef broth and scraped as best as I could. Then I added the crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt, spices, parmesan, and lastly, the cream. I covered it and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Then I added the meatballs. I let everything hang out on a low heat for about a half hour.

Everyone seemed to love them. I made them on Saturday and had the leftovers on Monday for lunch. And the gravy was even better then. Still, they were amazing all on their own and I can’t wait to make them again.

As promised, I made my neighbor a pie. A butterscotch pie. I haven’t given it to him yet, but hopefully tomorrow he’ll be home when I stop by. I made an extra one for us. I mean I couldn’t very well give away an entire pie that I’ve never made and therefore never tried before right? And I think he might get suspicious if I delivered him a pie with a slice missing.

Recipe Here

I have to say, this pie is a goopy mess. It doesn’t hold its form very well. If you can get past that though, it’s yummy. Maybe by the time he eats it, it will have set up some more.

I would definitely make this again, but I might try to figure out how to modify it so that it’s not so runny.

I dream of one day being able to make a Mexican food recipe in one dish instead of two. It’s never going to happen though because my husband won’t eat cheese. And I’m pretty sure I’ll never give it up.

However, there’s no cheese in this recipe for Easy Creamy Black Bean Soup. It’s not exactly a Mexican food dish, but it is a delicious and vegetarian soup that both Thom and I loved. That’s saying a lot considering Thom’s not much of a soup fan.

Of course I had to promise that the soup was merely a side dish and that there would be something involving meat. So I decided to make stacked enchilada casserole. I’ve never made it before, but really it’s just like making enchiladas. Only easier. And less messy.

I started by browning 1.5 lbs of ground beef with a packet of taco seasoning. Then I combined the cream of chicken soup and the enchilada sauce in a saucepan. I placed corn tortillas in the bottom of the casserole dish and started adding ingredients. Each layer contained beef, black beans, corn, enchilada sauce, and salsa. Mine also had black olives. (yet another thing Thom hates)

Mine was topped with sauce and cheese while Thom’s was topped with sauce and salsa. (and later sour cream for him. I hate sour cream.)

350 for 30 minutes.

Two hearty thumbs up. I will absolutely make these again.