Italian Chicken and Pastry Stacks

I bought some puff pastry dough not too long ago for something, but I didn't use it all. So as I was making up my meal plan, going through what I had in my kitchen, I came across the leftover dough. I decided to figure out something to make for dinner with it, and this is what I came up with. My husband has already asked that I make it again. I guess that means it was good. Haha.

This does take a little time, but not because it's complicated. I used cooked and shredded chicken, so that took a little time before assembling the end product. Frozen pastry dough also takes about an hour to thaw, but you can also put it in the fridge in the morning and it'll be pretty much ready to go at dinner time. If you do the chicken in advance and put the dough in the fridge in the morning, this would only take about 10 minutes to assemble and 15-20 to cook in the evening. Super simple and easy. One pastry sheet made 3 stacks, so adjust accordingly.

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1 frozen puff pastry sheet
-2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
-approximately 1 cup seasoned tomato sauce (jarred pasta sauce works)
-6 sandwich-sized slices mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix together the shredded chicken and the tomato sauce.

Lay the pastry sheet out flat. Cut into thirds, then cut each third in half, creating six equally sized rectangles of pastry dough.

Lay three of the pieces out on a baking sheet.

Place one slice of the mozzarella on each piece of dough.

Scoop equal portions of the coated chicken on each piece of cheese covered dough.

Top the chicken with another slice of the mozzarella.

Finally, place each of the other three pieces of dough on top of a stack.

Bake the stacks for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is flaky and golden, and the chicken and cheese bubbly.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Strawberry Crescents

So recently I went to someone's house for a get together. I wanted to take something, but it was kind of last minute, so I needed to make do with what I had in the kitchen. Lucky for me, I had a roll of refrigerator crescent rolls. You can make so much with those things, seriously.

I then looked to see what I could find to stuff inside these lovely rolls. I found cream cheese and strawberry jelly. Perfection.

These were the result of the experiment. I will say they made a lovely sticky sugary mess on my baking sheet, so next time I might do things a little differently, but they were still good. You could do these with a full crescent roll instead of cutting them smaller like I did, too. I was just trying to make smaller treats. :)

Ingredients:
-refrigerator crescent rolls
-About 1/4 of a block of cream cheese
-About 1/3 cup jelly

Directions:
Preheat oven according to package directions.

Lay out the crescent roll dough on a baking sheet. If using the full rolls, just separate them. If cutting into smaller bits, cut and separate (I didn't separate very well, and it made it harder to roll them around the filling).

Spread a little cream cheese on each roll.

Spoon a little strawberry jelly over the cream cheese.

Roll the crescent dough around the filling and evenly space them on the baking sheet.

Bake according to package directions, until golden brown and yummy.

Remove from baking sheet before they cool, especially if the jelly oozed out and made a mess. Once it cools, it's almost impossible to get the rolls off without mangling them. Serve and enjoy.

Yum!

"Pull-Aparts"

Sometimes known as "Monkey Bread," this little jewel was a childhood favorite of mine. My mom would make this occasionally for breakfast, and I was always disappointed when it was gone and I couldn't gorge myself anymore. It is so simple and so yummy. My husband always gets excited when I make this too. I guess you could technically eat this for dessert, but I've always had it for breakfast.

We called this "Pull-aparts" growing up, because, well, you pull apart the pieces to eat it. Haha. This is literally biscuit dough and cinnamon mixed with sugar, baked in a bundt pan. It can't get much simpler. I say kudos to you if you want to make biscuit dough from scratch for this, but I use refrigerator biscuits.

Just as a funny anecdote...when I was younger, I didn't know that cinnamon was a stick. It was brown powder that came in little jars or containers. I don't know how old I was, but it was incredible to me when I finally realized that cinnamon was actually a little stick, and you had to grind it up to make the powder. I know, easily amused. Haha. Anyway...I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
-2 "rolls" of refrigerator biscuits
-approximately 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
-approximately 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat the oven according to biscuit package (or recipe) directions.

Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Cut each refrigerator biscuit into quarters. I use a pair of clean kitchen shears, but you can use a sharp knife too. Drop the quarters of dough into the cinnamon sugar. Toss gently to coat.

Place the sugar coated biscuits in the non-stick or well greased bundt pan.

Continue with the rest of the biscuit dough, evenly distributing the pieces around the pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the dough is cooked through and the top of the "pull aparts" are golden brown.

This next step is crucial. Immediately after you remove the pan from the oven, turn the pull aparts out onto a large plate (basically, just turn the bundt pan upside down over a plate and let the whole thing fall out onto the plate). If you don't do it immediately, the sugar will start to harden and make the whole thing stick annoyingly to the bundt pan. When it's hot, the sugar is semi-liquid and melted and will more easily let go of the pan.

This will make a cute little ring of pull aparts to serve.

And they will go quickly. Just warning you now. So yummy. I want some now. Just pull off a chunk and chow down. Haha.

Have fun and enjoy!

Three Cheese Tortellini in Garlic and Herb Butter Sauce

This was the first "real food" I cooked in my new kitchen. I made a frozen pizza and some spaghetti with jarred pasta sauce, but those don't "count." Haha. This was actually really yummy, and I was very happy that it turned out well. It's always a little iffy in a new kitchen. Appliances can be finicky, so you never quite know how things will work right away. This, however, was a success. I used a smaller package of tortellini because it's just my hubby and me, but you can easily double this for a family. I hope you enjoy. :)

Ingredients:
-1 small package three cheese tortellini (use fresh or dry, doesn't matter)
-1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
-3 garlic cloves
-2 or 3 tablespoons flour
-1/2 heavy cream
-1/2 to 3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
-1/4 cup parmesan cheese (optional), plus a sprinkle for garnish

Directions:
Boil a large pot of water. Add in the tortellini and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter in a skillet over medium low heat (a 4 on a scale of 10).

Smash the peeled garlic cloves and add them to the melted butter.

Saute the garlic to infuse the butter with the flavor. DON'T let the garlic burn. When the garlic starts to get translucent, but before it starts to get brown, remove the cloves from the butter.

Whisk the flour into the remaining garlic-infused butter, making a roux.

Add the cream to the party and continue whisking to incorporate. When the cream and roux are well incorporated, and the sauce has started to thicken, add in the milk to thin it back out a bit.

Continue stirring as you add the Italian seasoning, letting it flavor the whole sauce.

When the sauce has thickened slightly again, and everything is hot and yummy, you can add the parmesan if desired, and let it melt into the sauce for a couple minutes before serving. If you're leaving it out, then the sauce is done! Toss the tortellini in the sauce until well coated, then serve. Yum!

I served mine with yummy garlic and parmesan Italian bread.

So delicious. (To make this bread: Slice a fresh Italian loaf into thick slices. Spread butter on each slice and sprinkle with garlic powder. Sprinkle on a little parmesan, then broil for a couple minutes in the oven until the butter is melted, the garlic has seeped into the bread, and the parmesan is melted an yummy on top. Voila!) This made the meal so much better. Anyway, have fun and enjoy!

Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
-5 pieces of bread
-2 tablespoons butter
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/4 cup raisins
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1.5 cups milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut the bread into chunks and put into a large bowl.

Melt the butter and stir in the cinnamon.

Pour over the bread and stir to combine. Add the raisins and stir to incorporate.

Pour into a baking dish.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs. Add the vanilla, sugar, and salt and stir to combine.

Heat the milk up until it's hot, then add to the egg mixture.

Mix well, then pour over the bread mixture in the baking dish.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until the pudding has set and the whole thing is baked through.

Yum! Serve hot, room temp, or cold. Doesn't really matter.

About-to-move Food- Potato stuffed crescent roll

Ok, so, we're about to move for the 5th time in 5 years. To a new state. So I'm making up some interesting meals as I'm cleaning out my fridge and pantry in preparation for the move. I do this every time we move, so you'd think I'd have it down by now, but not so much. You always have different weird things left over.

This is basically loaded mashed potatoes in a crescent roll crust. Let me explain how this came to be...

When I was younger, and my family would go out for dinner somewhere that served steak, potatoes, and rolls, I would invariably end up stuffing the potatoes into the roll and eating them together. I know, I'm weird. I have accepted that. Haha. But anyway...I did that. So when I was looking at what I had in my fridge and pantry to make for dinner, I saw potatoes and a tube of crescent rolls. So..it just happened. Haha.

Honestly, this was actually pretty tasty. A little odd (my husband looked at me funny when I told him what it was), but tasty nonetheless. I'm not saying you should serve this alone for dinner, but it would be a great side dish. Grilled chicken, steaks, etc. would all go great with this. So have fun playing with this food...

Ingredients:
-1 tube refrigerator crescent rolls
-2-3 medium sized potatoes (I used russet)
-butter to taste (I used about 1/4 cup)
-milk, enough to get a creamy consistency for the mashed potatoes (I used about 1/4 cup)
-shredded cheese, per your preference (I used about a cup of cheddar)
-crumbled bacon, per your preference (I used about 3 tablespoons)

Directions:
Wash, peel, and boil the potatoes in a large pot until the potatoes are fork tender. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes with the butter.

Add in the milk and mash some more.

Stir in the cheese

and bacon crumbles.

Unroll the crescent rolls onto a baking sheet.

Pinch all the seams together so it's one big piece of dough (You can also get the Crescent Creations thing Pillsbury makes and skip this step).

Scoop the potatoes into the center of the dough and pile it up, leaving enough dough on the sides to wrap over the potatoes.

Fold the edges of the dough up and over the potatoes.

Pinch the dough together in the center to keep the whole thing together. I scored the top a few times to let some of the steam from the potatoes escape.

Bake according to package directions until the dough is golden brown and yummy.

Cut a piece from the roll and enjoy!

Yum!

Chicken and Dumplin's

Mmmm. Talk about comfort food; this is it. This was my first time to make Chicken and dumplin's, and oh my word. So yummy. And to be honest, I feel bad typing out "dumplings." It should be "dumplin's." Sorry, that's just the way it is. Haha. I feel the Texas drawl comin' out when I say that. Ok, moving on.

I think every person that has ever made this dish has made it differently. There are so many variations. Some people like it more soupy, some like it without a cream component, with just chicken broth. Some like their dumplin's mushy, and some like them more firm. Some like this dish with carrots, celery, and onions mixed in, and some like just chicken and dumplin's. So...yeah. I wasn't sure how I was going to make mine. So I did what I always do...I made it up as I went. Haha. It turned out WAY better than I expected, and it was pretty darn easy. I made mine with chicken, dumplin's, carrots, and onion powder in a "sauce" of chicken broth and cream. You could easily leave out the cream (the dumplin's give it a good consistency), and you could easily add more veggies. But for me...this is a winner. Yummmmmm. This made enough for probably 2-3 adults, so scale accordingly.

Ingredients:
-2 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper
-2 tablespoons butter
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-3 cups chicken broth
-2-4 cups water (it will depend on how quickly the liquid is absorbed/evaporates)
-2 or 3 medium sized carrots, peeled and chopped roughly
-2 cups baking mix
-2/3 cup milk
-1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
In a small mixing bowl, mix together the baking mix and milk

until just moistened-it will be a very soft dough.

Set aside. (This is the dumplin' dough)

In a medium sized stock pot, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the uncooked chicken and brown slightly on both sides.

It doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. Add the onion powder to the pot with the chicken broth and increase heat to high.

Let the broth begin to boil, cooking the chicken the remainder of the way. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to shred momentarily.

Add the chopped carrots to the boiling broth.

While they begin to cook, start dropping small chunks of the dumplin' dough into the boiling broth. I literally just pinched off about a teaspoon-ful of dough

and dropped it in.

You don't need to make them round. Rustic is better. Hehe. Make sure the entire thing is covered in liquid.

As the liquid is absorbed by the dumplin's, add more water to keep things from burning, and to have enough liquid in which to cook the dumplin's. I added it a cup at a time and stirred the whole she-bang to make sure the dumplin's got covered. When the dumplin's are all added, reduce the heat to medium and stir to incorporate everything well.

Shred the chicken with two forks and add back to the pot.

Reduce the heat to medium low and stir to incorporate.

Add in the cream and stir to combine.

Cover the pot and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

This will let everything get hot and yummy, and for the dumplin's to finish cooking so you're not eating...dough. Eww. When the ten minutes is up, taste for seasoning, adjust accordingly, and serve while piping hot.

So.amazingly.yummy.

Enjoy!