My Kitchen Escapades - A day in the life of my kitchen

Chicken 5-5: 5 Easy Dinners from 5 lbs of Chicken

Feb 27 2015

Two weeks ago, I mentioned in a post that every week at the grocery store, I buy a 5 pound package of boneless skinless chicken breasts. I bake the whole package at one time, cut it up and use it all week for lunches and dinners. It is a huge time saver for me and it also keeps me on track for eating healthy. You see, if I know I have some yummy chicken already cooked in fridge at home, it is easier to pass by those lousy fast food places!

Apparently, you loved this idea as well because I received so many emails asking how I bake the breasts and then how to use it to make quick meals. In response, I present to you my Chicken 5 – 5: how to turn 5 pounds of chicken into 5 quick and easy dinner recipes for a whole week of menus!

I use my juicy and flavorful cooked chicken breasts in so many different ways, often depending on my mood, but I thought it was important that I share with you my 5 favorite recipes to use my pre-baked protein in! My recipe for the actual baked breasts is at the bottom of this post, so just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling…..

Candied Pecan Chicken Salad

Grilled California Club Wraps

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Chicken Avocado and Bacon Pasta Salad

White Chicken Chili

For my full recipe and instructions for baking the chicken breasts, please click here to see my guest post over on Made From Pinterest!

Chicken and Potato Chowder

Feb 20 2015

Hello! Tracy here visiting from Made From Pinterest and I’m excited to be back with an incredible recipe for Chicken Chowder. First, I’d like to introduce you to my 23 year old son (attending college) before we start talking about this yummy Chicken Chowder.

I could write a detailed description telling you all about him, instead I’m going to share this post from his Facebook page that went up yesterday.

“Hey all. If you know a girl who drives a silver or tan 2 door Honda Civic, tag her on this status!

To the girl at the red light: I was riding my scooter. You were dead set on looking straight ahead and not over at me. I sang to you for a solid fifteen seconds at the top of my lungs until the light turned green. I know you thought it was funny because you were laughing hysterically at me, while trying to keep a straight face and pretend I wasn’t there. Don’t worry, the girl on the back of my scooter was my sister. When you get this, I would like to take you out… on my scooter.”

It takes no stretch of the imagination to picture my son singing at the top of his lungs with my daughter sitting behind him laughing at the top of her lungs. This picture clearly shows their sense of humor started at a very early age!

As far as I know the girl who was driving the Honda Civic has not responded to my son’s post. I hope she does because it would make for a great first date story, and in my unbiased opinion she would be one lucky girl to go out with my awesome son

I’m passing this Chicken Chowder recipe on to him with the explanation that women love a man who can cook! Between his singing and my Chicken Chowder he should have no problem getting a second date with the girl who drives Honda Civic, or any other girl!

Chicken and Potato Chowder

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk, or more, as needed
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups diced cooked chicken breast
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

Melt butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add celery, carrots and onion, stirring occasionally until tender, about 3-4 minutes.[br] Add thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
[br]Whisk in flour or cornstarch until lightly browned, about 1 minute. [br]Gradually stir in chicken broth and milk, and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes, add in potatoes. Bring soup to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes reach desired tenderness, about 12-15 minutes. Be careful not to over cook the potatoes. [br]Stir in chicken and cheese, a handful at a time, stir until smooth, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. [br]If the chowder is too thick, add more milk as needed until desired consistency is reached.
Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

Breakfast Freezer Sandwiches with Oven Baked Eggs

Feb 17 2015

As a momma to six kiddos, I am sharing my tips, recipes and anecdotes related to bringing out every kid’s culinary potential.

Click HERE to see all the posts in this series!

I’ve been in a huge cold cereal rut recently and my poor kids have definitely been missing a bit of variety (and nutrition) in their morning meals. Last week, my 15 year old son kindly requested if I could restock the freezer with his favorite breakfast sandwiches because he just couldn’t take one more bowl of rice crispies….

With as crazy as my schedule has been recently, I knew there wasn’t going to be time for me to make my normal recipe for these handy breakfast freezer sandwiches. I needed my sous chef to make a big batch of these for the freezer and I wasn’t quite sure how she would do with the egg portion of my original recipe. I needed something that was going to be easy for my 10 year old to make all on her own.

I remembered seeing somewhere on Pinterest the idea to oven bake the eggs in muffin tins and I knew it was the perfect solution. She made them all on her own and I was able to get a ton of work done while she ~~slaved away~~ kept busy in the kitchen.

I had her break the yolk up a bit so that each bite of the sandwiches had some yolk, but feel free to keep it whole if you would like it that way. Also, if you would prefer your eggs soft and a bit runny on the inside, just reduce the baking time to 15 minutes.

Breakfast Freezer Sandwiches with Oven Baked Eggs

Ingredients

12 large eggs
salt and pepper
12 english muffins
12 slices cheese
12 sausage patties

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffins tins. Crack one egg into a small dish and be sure there are no shells before pouring that egg into one of the muffin tins. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Sprinkle the tops of all the eggs with some salt and pepper. Use a butter knife to break open the yolk, if desired, and then bake for 20 minutes until eggs are set.
Assemble the sandwiches, wrap them each in plastic wrap and freeze. To reheat, unwrap the sandwich, open it into two pieces and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes - 2 minutes depending on the power of your microwave.

http://www.mykitchenescapades.com/2015/02/breakfast-freezer-sandwiches-oven-baked-eggs.html

The Best Cinnamon Rolls

Feb 13 2015

Jones kiddo #3 had his 15th birthday this week and while I desperately love that boy, he took a knife to my culinary heart when he chose Hot Pockets for his birthday dinner. Hot Pockets?!?! Come on son! Your amazing mother offers to make you anything you want for your birthday dinner and you pick something guaranteed to give you intestinal problems for days?!?

The only thing that saved him from being banned from my presence was his request for a batch of my best cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast. I guess I will find some way for my offended heart to forgive him.

This killer recipe is my version of the recipe over at Epicurious. The main two changes I made was to reduce the amount of cinnamon in the actual dough, plus I didn’t add the pecans this time around. I know I would have loved these rock star rolls with a ton of pecans, but not all my kiddos would agree with that statement.

A couple recipe notes: don’t skimp out on the whole milk for the dough. That extra fat really adds to the richness and texture of the dough. Also, the filling uses dark brown sugar and it really does make a difference in the end result of the filling. You can use light brown sugar but the flavor won’t be quite as rich and deep.

The Best Cinnamon Rolls

Yield: 16 rolls

Ingredients

Dough
3 1/2 C flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/3 C sugar
1 C whole milk (yes, use whole milk!)
4 Tb butter
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
Filling
1 1/4 C dark brown sugar
2 Tb ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
6 Tb butter, soft
Glaze
1 C powdered sugar
1 Tb + 2 tsp whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Instructions

In your stand mixer with your paddle attachment, mix together the flour, yeast and sugar. In a medium microwave safe bowl, heat the milk and butter for 1 1/2 minutes on high so the butter melts. Turn the mixer on and slowly add the milk to the bowl, then the eggs, cinnamon and salt. Beat for 2 minutes, then stop the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat again for another 3 minutes then transfer the very soft and very sticky dough into a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to rise in a warm, draft free place for 2 hours. I stick mine inside the microwave :)
Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Once the dough has risen, roll it out onto a floured counter top to a 16 x 12 inch rectangle. Spread the soft butter over the dough then sprinkle the filling evenly over the butter. Starting at the long edge, roll the dough tightly into a log and pinch the seam closed with your fingers. With the seam side down, cut dough into 16 equal pieces with a very sharp, thin knife.
Grease two 9 inch round cake pans and evenly place the rolls in the pans. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 45-60 minutes until almost doubled in volume. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake the rolls until golden brown on top, about 18 minutes. Mix together the glaze. Remove from the oven and invert immediately onto a cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes and then invert onto a plate so the right side is up. Drizzle the rolls with the glaze and serve immediately.

http://www.mykitchenescapades.com/2015/02/best-cinnamon-rolls.html