Chicken Pot Pie Oh My!

We've had a mild winter.  And yes, I know that saying that out loud increases the chances that Mother Nature will hear/read this and make me sorry I noticed.  The mild winter has been good for lots of things.  Less salt and sludge in my garage, for example.  More days on which Abby can ride her bike after school (I may or may not be glad that this wears her out), for another.  Not having to wrap myself in 39897 layers just to get the mail--another bonus of a mild winter.

That said, the mild winter has meant a hit to my collection of cozy foods.  I guess that's been good for my waistline and all that, but nevertheless....I would be super okay with one of those bowls of coziness for dinner.  The kind you're obligated to eat while wearing woobie pants, covered in a comfy afghan, sitting in front of the fireplace, watching hockey.  Does that not sound like an awesome way to wrap up a day?  I mean...

Lucky for me (or something....), I noticed that our high temperatures later this week will be in the 30s.  I tried not to smile when I saw those numbers, but a little grin did manage to escape.

Because a high of 31 degrees means a cozy dinner...and all of its trappings.

The only trappings I don't want were the ones that linger on my hips and thighs.  So I am pretty psyched to have found this recipe.  It's from Real Simple, and it appears to live up to its name.  And it's not going to undo all of my work, either.  I didn't use an entire stick of butter; I sauteed the veggies in some olive oil and only used the butter to make the roux--is that how you spell it?  Oh, you know what I mean, right?   

Cheers to you, enjoy and stay warm!

Lightened Up Chicken PotPie

What You'll Need:

• 1 31/2- to 4-pound rotisserie chicken
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 5tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling crust
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
• 4 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 10-ounce package button mushrooms, stems trimmed, caps quartered
• 1 10-ounce package frozen peas
• 1 store-bought pie crust (such as Pillsbury)

What You'll Do:

• Heat oven to 425° F. Remove meat from chicken, discarding the skin and bones. Shred chicken into bite-size pieces and place in a large bowl.
• Melt 5 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When butter bubbles, whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture turns golden brown, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the broth in a steady stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. When all of the broth has been added, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, whisking occasionally for 5 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Remove from the heat.
• Melt 2 of the remaining tablespoons butter in another large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add thyme and carrots and cook just until carrots are tender, about 5 more minutes. Transfer vegetables with a slotted spoon to the bowl containing the chicken.
• Melt remaining butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook over medium-high heat until mushrooms release their liquid, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and simmer until liquid evaporates. Remove from the heat and add to chicken along with the peas, reserved sauce and remaining salt and pepper. Toss well and spoon into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.


• Lightly flour a clean work surface. Roll dough until it is slightly larger than the baking dish and about 1/4 inch thick. Carefully place the dough over the pie filling, tucking the edges underneath. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° F and bake until the filling starts to bubble at the edges, 20 to 25 minutes more. Cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Coconut & Cashew Chicken Tenders...and more--LOTS more!

Note:  For some strange reason (clearly user error) I am unable to properly upload/place pictures in this blog.  I'll keep trying...but I was having one heck of an issue.  Please excuse the lack of mouth-watering shots of each of the featured recipes.  Check back and I'll see if I can't wrestle the computer gremlins into doing what I'm trying to do!  Thanks!

I am not a fan of buffets.  Never have been, never will be.  The endless tables of food, the masses of hands grabbing it, the too many mouths breathing on it.  Seriously, I'm getting chills just thinking about it.  So why am I mentioning this?  Because this blog is a buffet of sorts.  I am probably going to include a few recipes I've recently tried.  My dear friend Jess asked me for some, and I promised I'd post them.  And then I didn't.  Ugh.  I hate when I do that.  Almost as much as I hate buffets.

Alright, let me begin with the title recipe for you all.  Coconut & Cashew Chicken Tenders.  Yes.  Add to it a heavenly honey mango dip.  Yes again!  It feels like a meal one should eat pool or beach-side.  But they also taste just fine when served on snowman-themed plates in our cozy kitchen.   My wish is that they'll also be yummy served in your kitchen!

 What You'll Need:

• 12 chicken tenders (just over 2 pounds)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 cup toasted cashews
• ½ cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ - ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 
  Mango Honey Dip
• 2 mangoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1-2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 green onions, roughly chopped
• 1-2 teaspoons red chili flakes

What You'll Do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add cashews and coconut flakes to blender or food processor and process until cashews are about the size of the panko crumbs, scraping the sides of the blender as needed. Add cashews/coconut, panko, chicken tender spices and brown sugar to a shallow dish and mix until evenly distributed.
• Place the flour in another shallow dish. Whisk the egg with the lime juice in another shallow dish. Working with one chicken tender at a time, dredge in flour and then dip in egg, and then finally coat in the coconut/cashew/panko mixture, pressing mixture into chicken with your fingers to make sure the coating sticks.
• Place chicken tenders on a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean up!) with a baking rack on top that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Lightly spray chicken with non-stick cooking spray for extra crispiness (optional...we did not ). Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until juices run clear. Broil until coconut is nicely golden, and panko crisp, but still light in color.
• To make the Mango Honey Dip, place all the ingredients in a blender, starting with just 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes and process until smooth. Taste and add additional red pepper flakes as desired

When we made this, I found the sauce to be a little too garlicky (is there really such a thing?  Blasphemy, I know!), so I'd scale back just a  smidgen.  These were crispy, light, perfectly-seasoned and really, really great.  You guessed it, they went into the Make Again pile!

I've tried doing a pecan crusted fish before, and never quite got it right.  Seemed like the pecans always got burned before the fish was done.  Blending the nuts with the other dredging ingredients made a huge difference.  In my opinion.

Try them and let me know what you think!



Next up in this buffet of recipes...Taco Pizza.  Sounds good enough, right?  Let's take two things we really like and smush them together.  And, you may recall, Mark and I had a Fall Flavor Pizza Friday thing going on throughout the fall (as the name clearly states, duh!).  We figured we'd add this one to the list.

For me, this one didn't earn an immediate spot in the Make Again pile, but I do think we'll try it again, making adjustments here and there.  So, here it is!

What You'll Need:

Taco Meat:

• 1 pound ground beef (I prefer ground chuck)
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 15 oz can pinto beans (no salt added)
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ⅔ Cup water

Taco pizza sauce:

• 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 can thin crust pizza dough
• 3 cups shredded cheddar & monterey jack cheese blend
• toppings: diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, chopped cilantro, sliced scallions, sour cream, taco sauce, etc.

What You'll Do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef over medium heat in skillet. Drain fat, add in the pinto beans and seasonings for the taco meat. Mix and let the seasonings coat the meat and cook until fragrant about 30 seconds. Add in the water, allow mixture to simmer over medium low heat.
• While browning the meat, get the taco pizza sauce ready by placing all ingredients in a small sauce pan, mix, cover and let simmer until ready to assemble pizza, stirring occasionally.
• While the taco meat and sauce is simmering, per the direction on the back of the pizza crust, pre-bake the dough. After the first baking, layer as much sauce as you like on the pizza crust. Add about ⅔ of the meat mixture on top (try not to get too much of the meat's sauce or the crust might come out soggy.) Layer on the cheese evenly, back for an additional 10 minutes or per the directions on the back of the pizza crust can, until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden brown.
• Top with your favorite pizza garnishes, cut, serve and enjoy! 

I am not quite sure what it was about this dish that didn't quite work for me, but it had all the right elements and flavors.  Maybe it was a little too wet to stand up to the thin crust?  Maybe it was too heavy, again, making the crust seem wimpy.  I'm not sure, but, as I said, I'll probably give it another go at some point and modify as I do.    

Moving back into the realm of chicken--because that darn bird is pretty much the star of every meal around here!--I bring you Honey Lemon Ginger Chicken.  Two things sold me on this immediately; the author of the recipe is someone named Alyssa (awe!) and there are two--TWO!!--steps in the What You'll Do section.  Yeah.  That is a meal I can get behind.  Let me tell you about it.

What You'll Need:

• 3 boneless chicken breasts, (about 1½ pounds)
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• ½ cup honey
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• zest from one lemon
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

What You'll Do:

• In a medium saucepan, add olive oil, minced garlic, and ginger. Sauté over medium heat for 2-3 minutes and add honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let simmer and thicken while cooking chicken.
• Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and add to a medium skillet. Cook about 4-5 minutes until no longer pink in center and the outside is starting to brown. Add the sauce to the chicken and toss to coat.

Okay, I'll add two more steps if you don't mind.  Make a nice little bed of some good brown rice, maybe some asparagus or snap peas and serve this on top.  Then enjoy.  Wait, is that a third step?  Oh, I don't know.  And really, does it matter?  Bottom line, this dish had tons of fresh, bright flavors and was really light and delicious.


Want more ways to prepare and serve chicken?  Why yes, more chicken recipes I shall share with you.  I'm not a fan of wings--I feel like I've covered this before.  And hot sauce isn't a condiment of choice for me.  That said, the Buffalo Chicken Chili recipe that we make regularly and these yummy stuffed chicken breasts are solid attempts at winning me over. 


These are easy to put together, yet look impressive when plated.  You know what Rachel Ray would say..."That's a meal you could entertain with."  And it is, really.  Add a lovely side salad and maybe a warm veggie and you're good to go.

Here's how it's done.  Oh, and did I mention these are from Skinny Taste?  So that's a great thing, right?

What You'll Need:

• 1/4 cup shredded 2% cheddar
• 4 wedges light Laughing Cow blue cheese 
• 1/3 cup celery stalk, minced
• 1/4 cup green onion, minced
• 1/4 cup carrot, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 5 (3 oz each) thin boneless chicken breasts cutlets
• 15 reduced fat Ritz Crackers, crushed into crumbs
• 1 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 6 tbsp Franks hot sauce
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp light butter
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• cooking spray

What You'll Do:
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly spray a baking dish with oil.

Mix cheddar, laughing cow cheese, celery, green onion, carrot, salt and pepper in a dish.


Lay out the chicken cutlets, placing even amount of mixture in the middle and spread in the center.
In one bowl make a breading station out of crushed ritz crumbs. In another bowl combine mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of hot sauce, and lemon juice as a dredging mixture.
Roll chicken breasts in the mayonnaise mixture, then into cracker crumbs, and put on a lightly greased pan, seam side down.

Lightly spray top of chicken with cooking spray. Bake 30 minutes. While the chicken cooks, melt butter and mix with the remaining hot sauce and garlic powder. Drizzle buffalo sauce over finished chicken breast and serve. 

I was skeptical that these would stay together nicely and worried that they wouldn't be crispy.  Happily proved wrong, I tossed this into the Make Again pile and have gone back to it more than once.  It satisfies that need for "bar food" but doesn't wreck our plans to eat pretty well.  I'll take it!

 And speaking of bar food...what's more bar foody than a good ole burger, right?  Well, move over burger on a bun and make way for burger in a bowl.  Say what?  Yes, Cheeseburger Casserole.  Another recipe found on a Skinny Taste-esque site. 

Confession; I gave up pasta for Lent as I do pretty much every year.  But when Mark decided to make this for Valentine's Day, I didn't have the heart (pun not intended) to tell him it wasn't an option.  And yes, that was a little self-serving, too because I do really like this dish.  It's cozy, comforting, fun and easy to throw together.  

What You'll Need:

• 2 cups whole wheat elbow macaroni, uncooked(whole wheat)
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• ½ onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 lb lean ground beef (we used turkey to clean it up some)
• ½ tsp burger seasoning*
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 2 — 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 cups reduced-fat, shredded cheddar cheese
Optional:
• ¼ cup hamburger dill chips, chopped

What You'll Do:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray a 9" x 13" casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a large stock pot, cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.
• In a medium skillet, add olive oil and cook onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes.
• Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add salt, pepper and burger seasoning to ground beef while cooking.
• Add in tomatoes, tomato paste and mustard.
• Allow the mixture to cook and thicken until bubbly.
• Add the pasta to sauce and mix to cover evenly.
• Transfer mixture to casserole dish.
• Top with cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes.
• Remove from oven and top with chopped dill pickles before serving (optional--but highly recommended).
  
  *Burger seasoning?  Uhhh, we made it up.  Added a dash of Worcestershire sauce, less than a dash of yellow mustard and some kind of steak seasoning that we had in the cabinet.  Tasted just fine to me!
  
  And normally, the dill pickle I get with a sandwich goes straight to Mark.  But for some reason, the little bits of pickle on top of this, for me, make the dish.  They really do.  Don't know exactly why, but let's leave it as optional shmoptional.

 
And thus concludes our veritable buffet of random recipes...also known as "this is what happens when I get a little behind in sharing on my blog and I do hope you'll forgive me."  Buffet is easier to type than all of that.




And I mentioned that we are still on the whole "eat pretty clean" thing.  Still going well, still making it work.  And it is work.  Sure, it gets a little easier here and there, but overall, we're committed to eating as well as we can so that we can enjoy how we look and feel.  And that's not vanity, necessarily.  That's the reality of the situation.  Being smart about what we eat means feeling our very best.  Feeling better means living better and what's wrong with that?  Nothing!

Looking and feeling our best lasts a heck of a lot longer than the momentary feel good that you get from a gooey dessert.  Mmmm, gooey desserts.  I feel like I owe you some posts in that category, what do you think?  I promise; I've got some that are decidely gooey yet still damn healthy.  In fact, I think I'll go make myself a dessert shake right now. 

Cheers, and thanks again for coming along.  Love having you stop by and love knowing you enjoy visiting.  Tell a friend next time; you're all welcome!