Chicken Pockets

So, you know how much I love the church recipe book I own. I used to own two or three church cookbooks, but the other two ended up having way more icky recipes than good ones, so they got donated to some poor soul who actually liked the weird, icky recipes those cook books offered.

May their families forgive me.

This recipe is from my beloved church cook book and we've actually eaten it a couple of times. Each time it's on the menu, Evan wrinkles his nose and says, "Have you made this before? Cause it sounds weird."

Yeah, Chicken Roll-ups is not a great name. It reminds me of Fruit Roll-ups and it's not fun to think of chicken in a leathery, fruity manner. Maybe Chicken Pockets is better? Hmmm...I shall ponder this name change...

But, this recipe is flipping awesome and easy to assemble. And if you don't microwave it to death, makes great leftovers!

The ingredients:

2-3 cans of crescent rolls; 4 C. cooked chicken; 3 oz. cream cheese; 2 Tbsp. butter; 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise; 1/2 C. chopped celery (which I did not have in my fridge, but thought I had, but totally needed, so make sure you buy it!); 1 Tbsp. pimento; 1 1/2 C. chopped green onions; 1 jar of chicken gravy. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Start by cooking your chicken. I always try to cut the chicken while it's raw and then cook it in small pieces cause it is a helluva lot faster than cooking whole pieces.
Chop up those green onions. I didn't quite chop a cup and a half due to me not liking green onions that much. You'd also be chopping the celery here too, if you didn't forget it like I did.
In a small mixing bowl throw in the pimentos, butter, cream cheese, mayo, celery and green onions.
Once it's done cooking, chop up the chicken even more.
Add it to the small mixing bowl and mix! mix! mix!
Now, with those crescent rolls, take them out of the can and take two triangles and smoosh the edges together to make a square. Please make sure the edges are sealed so there is no leakage.
Take a scoop of the chicken mixture and put it in the middle of the crescent roll square.
Wrap up the crescent roll like it's a present, making sure to seal the edges. I have no worries about prettiness with these because that is not how I roll and I'm just going to dump gravy over the whole thing anyway!
Once you've made all your chicken roll-ups, put them in a 9x13 baking dish. Bake them gravy-less for 10 minutes.
For the life of me, I could not find a stupid jar of chicken gravy at the store. So, I just used 4 cups of chicken broth and heated it in a pot. I mixed 2 Tbsp. of flour with 2 Tbsp. of cold water and whisked it into the hot chicken broth. I stirred it until it was a thick consistency. You might need to add more of the flour/water mixture as needed, but just remember it's Tbsp. for Tbsp. with that mixture.

Mmm...perfect!
Pour the gravy over the chicken roll-ups. Bake them an additional 30 minutes until they're browned like this:
I served ours with green beans and cooked carrots. You do not see cooked carrots on my plate due to my intense dislike of the taste of cooked carrots. (Seriously, they are so much better raw!)
Once he ate them again, Evan remembered that he did, in fact, enjoy this meal! It simple and delicious.

In fact, it was so good, that Julia insisted I take a picture of her eating hers.
It's also an easy meal to make and throw in the fridge to be cooked the next day or to cook and freeze for later consumption.

Enjoy!

Chicken leg quarters

I need to share a cooking secret with you:

Buying chicken with the bone in it is waaaaaaay cheaper than buying boneless.

Amen.

Also, it's not that hard to cook. I promise.

For example, this is what I recently purchased at the store:

It is over 5 pounds of chicken. Granted, some of that weight is the bones, but look at this price:
So, here's my secret to buying and cooking bone-in chicken...I boil it.

In my giant stockpot.
I bring the pot to a boil and then put it on a medium-heat cook that chicken until it literally falls off the bone. It takes about 2 hours, but I just let it cook while I'm busy around the house. Then, the chicken is so tender that it pulls away from the bone and I am left with about 4 pounds of chicken to use in meals for the week. I also have homemade chicken broth that I run through a strainer and can freeze and use whenever chicken broth is needed.

So, don't be scared of bone-in chicken. You can definitely conquer it and save a bundle of money as well!

Caper Chicken

In this house, we love capers. Adding them to a recipe usually makes it an instant hit.

For those of you unawares as to what capers are, they are actually the salted and pickled bud of the caper flower (which is a lovely flower). They add a nice little tart bite to dishes and I love them, especially with chicken. Hence my sharing this recipe with you.

The ingredients:

Olive oil; 3-6 chicken breasts (depending on how many people you are feeding); 1 C. cream; 3 Tbsp. capers; 3 Tbsp. caper juice; 3/4 tsp. oregano; salt and pepper to taste. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Start by heating the oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, brown the chicken on both sides (about 2-3 minutes each side).
Move the chicken to a baking dish. In the same large skillet, add the cream, capers with their juice, oregano and the salt and pepper. Bring this all to a boil and then allow it to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pour the sauce over the chicken in the baking dish. Bake the chicken for 45-60 minutes, basting the chicken occasionally with the sauce.
Done! (Sorry this isn't prettier, but sometimes things out of the oven aren't very pretty.)
We ate our caper chicken with rice and green beans.
This chicken was soooo juicy!! And the cream sauce was yummy! I didn't have enough capers and we'll definitely be making sure I have plenty the next time I make this dish. Everyone liked it and it was simple yet very yummy. My favorite kind of meals.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Chicken

Chinese New Year fell on a Thursday this year, which means we celebrated it with Kim and Rachel and their families. Evan and I were deciding what we wanted to eat this year and decided on Teriyaki Chicken, Chicken Wontons and Fried Rice.

The exact same menu we had last year.

Well, it was super good last year!!!!

I found this recipe in one of my Weight Watcher cook books. It's a slow cooker recipe, which sounds odd when talking about Chinese food, but this recipe ended up fabulous. Definitely one we'll be using again! (obviously...)

The ingredients:

2 heads of broccoli; 3 large carrots; 1 can water chestnuts; 2 Tbsp. tapioca pudding; 2 lbs. chicken breasts, cubed; 1 C. chicken broth; 1/4 C. packed brown sugar; 1/4 C. teriyaki sauce; 2 Tbsp. dry mustard; 2 tsp. grated orange zest; 1 tsp. ground ginger.

Chop the broccoli...
the carrots...
and the water chestnuts...
and throw them into your slow cooker.
Sprinkle the tapioca pudding over the vegetables.Place the chopped chicken on top of the vegetables.
Mix the broth, brown sugar, teriyaki sauce, mustard, orange zest and ginger in a bowl.
Pour the mixture over the chicken and veggies.
Cook on high 4-6 hours until the chicken is cooked. Enjoy the fabulous aroma that fills your home.

Serve over rice and add some extra teriyaki sauce on top.
This was a complete hit with everyone. Even those who claimed they didn't like teriyaki sauce changed their minds after eating this meal. Evan and I both agreed that we liked it better last year when we modified it and used the wok to cook it, but the slow cooker way was good as well.

Enjoy!!

Chicken and Cashews in Lettuce Cups

I love chicken. I really do.

I like how versatile it is and I like how cheap I can buy it.

I also am fond of rotisserie chickens. Especially when I have a dollar off coupon for one. You can't beat a coupon. It makes grocery shopping fun, I tells ya!

I liked how this recipe looked in the picture from whatever cook book or magazine I got it from. I've been putting off making it because...well, I'm just kind of weirdo.

It is one of my new favorite recipes and I plan on making it one of our staple meals from here on out.

The ingredients:

3 Tbsp soy sauce; 3 Tbsp honey; 2 Tbsp oil; 1 1/2 lbs chicken, cut into 3/4 inch pieces; 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped; 1 Tbsp grated ginger; pepper; 1/4 C. roasted cashews; 1 8oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained; 1 small head of boston or bibb lettuce; 1 bunch of scallions, trimmed and sliced.

Did you know scallions and green onions are the same thing?

I am not embarrassed to tell you that I didn't know the difference for a long time. Years. Until maybe a year ago.

Nevermind, I am embarrassed. Don't judge me.

Let's start by mixing the soy sauce...
and honey into a small mixing bowl. Stir and let it sit while you fix the rest of the meal.
Take this lovely rotisserie chicken (that was a dollar cheaper than normal!) and completely demeat it.

De-meat.

Just take the meat off, please.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, toss in all the meat that you managed to de-meat from the chicken (making sure to cut it into small pieces). Season the chicken with pepper.
Take the garlic cloves and chop them up. Toss it in with the chicken.
Take the ginger and toss it in with the chicken as well.
Stir! Stir! Stir!
Take those green onions (or scallions) and chop them up.
Add them to the chicken.
Toss in the drained water chestnuts too.
Re-stir the soy sauce/honey mixture because it's probably separated by now. Add half of it to the chicken mixture. Cook for about 4 minutes until everything's completely cooked together and coated.
While it's cooking, take the cashews...
and scrunch them. I bought this at IKEA, which is no where near me now. I miss you IKEA.
Scrunched.
Now, it's time to assemble. Take one leaf of the lettuce and lay it on the plate.
Add a scoop of the chicken mixture.
Sprinkle it with cashews.
Then drizzle some of the soy sauce/honey mixture on top.
Isn't it pretty? And holy cow, it was delicious. We all LOVED it.
Evan made rice and we scooped some of the chicken mixture on top of it and it was divine. In fact, if you want to ditch the lettuce and just use rice (like Evan told me he will do whenever we eat it again), it is just as delicious as with the lettuce.
It was like eating restaurant Chinese food in your home. Please make this immediately. Then eat all the leftovers. Them make it again in 3 days. You'll love it!

Enjoy!