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!

Bacon and Green Pea Pasta

You all know my affinity for pasta. This is just another way to indulge my pasta favoritism. Peas and bacon go really well together. In fact, I have a feeling this is going to be a regular in the pasta rotation at my house. This was really quite yummy. And it has veggies in it, which makes it better, right? :)

This is a simple cream sauce, and I just added some pre-cooked bacon pieces and some frozen peas. So simple, so easy, so yummy. Try it out. You won't regret it.

Ingredients:
-1/2 box pasta (I used spaghetti, and this was for two people, and we had just a smidge left over. adjust accordingly)
-3 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons flour
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-1 cup milk
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (optional, but oh so tasty)
-2 tablespoons pre-cooked bacon pieces (more if desired)
-1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen peas (no need to thaw)

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter over medium/medium low heat (a 4 on a 10 point burner) in a medium skillet. When the butter is melted, whisk in the flour to make a roux. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring frequently. Add in the cream and whisk to incorporate. Cook for a minute until the sauce begins to thicken. Add the milk and whisk to combine. Continue stirring frequently while the sauce cooks and starts to thicken. Add the garlic powder and cheese and continue stirring until well incorporated.

If the sauce gets too thick, just add a tablespoon or so at a time of milk to thin it out to the right consistency.

Add the bacon pieces and frozen peas.

Stir in to the sauce. Let the peas get warmed up by the sauce for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the drained pasta

and toss to coat with the sauce.

Serve immediately and enjoy! So yummy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Rollups

This meal was a result of boredom and ingenuity. I was bored with everything I had been cooking, and this was all pretty much stuff I already had in my pantry and fridge.

I used thin-cut chicken breasts, purchased that way from the store. They're thinner and cook more quickly, and in the case of this meal, are easier to wrap around things. If you only have regular chicken breasts available, just butterfly them all the way through to make thinner pieces. Basically, one chicken breast would become two thinner ones.

This was actually very tasty. My hubby enjoyed it, and so did I. I served this with fresh green beans and some rolls. Yum! This was easy and delicious, and didn't take very long. Great weeknight meal!

Ingredients:
-thin-sliced chicken breasts, enough to feed everyone.
-ham lunch meat (any kind will do, really)
-swiss cheese, sliced thin for sandwiches
-toothpicks, for securing the rolls

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Lay the chicken out flat.

Place a slice of the swiss cheese in the center of the breast.

Next, layer on a couple slices of the ham,

followed by another slice of the cheese.

Carefully roll the chicken around the cheese and ham, securing with a toothpick.

Place on a greased or non-stick baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray to keep the chicken from drying out while baking.

Bake until chicken is cooked through and cheese is melted, approximately 15-20 minutes.

Serve immediately and enjoy! Yum!

London Broil

This is a pretty simple, easy meal to make. The cut of meat isn't very expensive, and it feeds a decent number of people. The marinade I used was just a bunch of stuff I threw together and already had on hand. It was great.

I served this with roasted garlic asparagus and roasted herb potatoes. And rolls. Yum. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1 London broil (the market usually labels it as such. If you can't find it, flank steak works too)
For marinade:
-4 tablespoons veggie oil
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
-1 tablespoon ketchup

Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together all the marinade ingredients.

Lightly core the meat in a large cross-hatch pattern (think tic-tac-toe board) on both sides. Place the London broil in a large plastic zip-top bag, or a shallow dish. Pour the marinade over it and massage into the meat. Place in the fridge to marinate, at least 30 minutes. Overnight would be ok too.

After it's been marinating or a while, place the meat in a slow cooker, with the excess marinade. Cover and cook on low until cooked through, about 4 hours. (I think my slow cooker cooks hot and quickly, so adjust this based on your machine's quirks)

Remove from the slow cooker and slice to serve. I made a brown gravy to supplement. Yum!

Rolled Chicken Florentine

I've been out of the habit of cooking lately. Hence my lack of posts. So when I started back up, I wanted something pretty easy, but different than our everyday fare. This was what I came up with.

I think anything "Florentine" is pretty tasty. It is usually some combination of tomatoes, spinach, and mozzarella. Red, green, and white, after the colors of the Italian flag. I just like the culinary combination. Haha. I used thin chicken breasts so I could roll them around the filling, but if you just have regular ones, just butterfly them and cut them at the seam to make two thin breasts from the one regular one.

This worked out really well. My husband and I both enjoyed it. I served it with some seasoned potatoes and crusty bread. Carb overload, I know, but it was awesome.

Ingredients:
-thin chicken breasts, enough to feed everyone
-Roma/plum tomatoes (each tomato makes about 5 slices, and you'll need about two slices per chicken breast)
-frozen chopped spinach (I probably used a tablespoon for each chicken breast)
-mozzarella cheese, shredded (a used about 2 tablespoons for each filling, and a little more to sprinkle on top)
-garlic powder (about 1 teaspoon per chicken breast)
-Italian seasoning (about 1/2 teaspoon per chicken breast)
-cooking spray
-toothpicks

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray with cooking spray.

Lay out each chicken breast.

Top with tomatoes,

then the frozen spinach.

No need to thaw the spinach. Sprinkle with some garlic powder. Top that with a generous pinch of mozzarella.

Carefully roll the chicken around the filling, securing with a toothpick.

Repeat for each chicken breast. Place on the baking sheet.

Spray the chicken with a bit more cooking spray.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven. The chicken should be just about cooked through, although maybe not completely. Sprinkle on a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

Top with a little bit more mozzarella, and return to the oven. Bake 5 more minutes until cheese is melted or until chicken is cooked through.

Serve hot 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!

Italian Chicken

We had someone bring us dinner recently, and it was amazing. It was some sort of breaded chicken with tomatoes on top of it, with some sort of Italian-type dressing type thing. I know, incredibly descriptive. Haha. Anyway, it was amazing, so I decided to see if I might be able to replicate it. This isn't exactly the same as what our friend made but it was pretty good anyway.

I made some flavored rice to go with it, as well as some ciabatta rolls. You could add to that fare if you want, that's just what I did. Away we go!

Ingredients:
-chicken breasts, enough to feed everyone
-flour, for dredging (probably about 1/2 cup for2 or 3 chicken breasts)
-egg wash for dredging (1 or 2 eggs with a little water or milk, scrambled together)
-breadcrumbs for dredging (I used plain breadcrumbs since there was a lot of flavor elsewhere)
-Roma/plum tomatoes (I used one and a half, because it gave me enough slices for 3 chicken breasts-each tomato will give you about 5 slices or so...)
-Italian dressing (I used probably about 3/4 cup, maybe up to a full cup)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour in a couple tablespoons of Italian dressing into a glass baking dish, just enough to coat the bottom so the chicken won't stick.

In three separate shallow dishes, place the flour, egg wash, and breadcrumbs.

Dredge each chicken breast in the flour, shaking off any excess. Then dredge in the egg wash, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Place the chicken in the baking dish.

When all the chicken is coated in breading, place two to four slices of the tomato on top of each chicken breast, depending on how big it is and your own preference.

Pour the Italian dressing over the chicken and tomatoes.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve hot with yummy sides ans enjoy!