Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

I had a lot of chicken leftovers after my roasted chicken with potatoes and butternut squash recipe. I decided to utilize them in a chicken pot pie, a recipe that I've used before from kraftfoods.com. You can use leftover chicken or start fresh. I hope you enjoy!

  • 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 frozen puff pastry, thawed
  • 1/4 lb. velveeta cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes
  • 1 egg (for brushing pastry)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To cook the chicken, heat a skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add chicken and cook five minutes or until done. Add vegetables and soup, and stir to mix. Spoon mixture into a 9" square baking pan that's been sprayed with cooking spray. Spread velveeta cheese over top of mixture. Lay puff pastry over the dish and tuck in the sides. Brush pastry with egg and cut slits for ventilation. Cook 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yum yum!


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken

This chicken is so tender it can be pulled apart with a fork. A delicious meal to come home to. I hope you enjoy!

  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
  • 2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
  • 1 can (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced (or 1/4 cup of frozen chopped onion)

Place all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover; cook on low 6-8 hours or until chicken is tender. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Wonderful Sugar Cookies!

This recipe came in the box of my wonderful new sugar cookie presses from William Sanoma. The instructions are for a stand mixer, but I just used my regular hand beaters. I think they came out great.

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • food coloring gel (optional)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract



Over a small bowl sift together flour and salt. Beat butter on high speed for 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and slowly add sugar and food coloring and beat for 2 additional minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl when necessary. Add the egg and vanilla and beat an additional 1 minute. Stop the mixer and add half the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until most of the flour has been absorbed. Add the remaining flour and continue beating until all the flour has been absorbed.


Turn the dough onto a work surface and divide into two equal balls. Shape each into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours or up to 2 days. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 3/16 to 1/4".

Use cookie cutters to make desired shapes. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper for easy transfer to cooling rack after baked. For best results, refrigerate cookies for 20-30 minutes just prior to baking. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake from 10-12 minutes.

Decorate with royal icing.

I hope you enjoy!



Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Butternut Squash

Delicious! The chicken is extra moist and tender, and the butternut squash is fabulous. Helpful hint: Make sure you have a big enough broiler pan (or rack placed over a baking dish) so the vegetables can spread out around the chicken. From Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2010. I hope you enjoy!

  • 2 tbsp minced garlic, divided
  • 1 tsp salt, divided
  • 3/4 tsp black pepper, divided
  • 1/2 tsp dried rubbed sage
  • 1 (3 1/2 lb) roasting chicken
  • 12 ounces red potatoes, cut into wedges
  • 1 1/2 (about 8 oz) cubed, peeled butternut squash
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine 1 1/2 tbsp garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and sage in a small bowl. Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Starting at the neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers gently, pushing between skin and meat. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under chicken. Rub garlic mixture under loosened skin. Place chicken, breast side up, on rack of a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Place rack in broiler pan.

Combine potatoes, squash, butter, 1 1/2 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Arrange vegetable mixture around chicken. Bake at 400 for 1 hour or until a thermometer inserted into meaty part of thigh registers 165 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes. Discard skin.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Slow Cooker Round Steak

Yummy! I was first introduced to the recipe by Mrs. Anita, but then later found it in my crock-pot recipe book. This dish is so easy to create and goes great with mashed potatoes (because you can use the gravy in the crock pot for gravy on your potatoes). I hope you enjoy.

  • 1 1/2 lb. round steak, trimmed and cut into four pieces (you can usually find this pre-trimmed and pre-cut at your local grocery store)
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 package of dry onion soup mix
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 1 can sliced mushrooms, drained

Place round steak in a large ziploc bag. Combine flour, salt, and pepper and toss in bag. Shake bag, coating steak evenly. Heat oil and large skillet over medium heat. Add steak to bag and brown sides to enhance flavor and presentation. Add steak and juices to crock-pot. Add soup, soup mix, milk, water, bay leaf, onion, and mushrooms and mix well. Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 5-6 hours or until steak is tender. Remove bay leaf and serve. Enjoy!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Three Bean Turkey Chili

It certainly has been a long time since I've posted a recipe. I now have a slow cooker and am enjoying the plethora of recipes that can be utilized with this time-saver. Tonight I made a chili recipe from a slow cooker recipe book. It was delicious! I hope you enjoy!

1 lb. ground turkey meat
1 small onion (chopped)
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 4 oz. can of chopped or diced green chillies
1-2 tablespoons of chili powder

Brown turkey meat and onions in skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Spoon into large slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Cover and cook on HIGH for 6-8 hours or LOW for 12-16 hours. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese to serve.