Inside Out Chicken Pot Pie

I think this blog serves multiple purposes for me. Recently I've learned that it is the perfect place to store my recipes. There's no risk of losing them this way! Both of my grandmothers had their signature dishes handwritten on those recipe index cards and those were passed down to the next generation. Maybe this is my way to pass my recipes down to Caroline, when she's ready to start helping me out in the kitchen. Just some food for thought.. literally.

This recipe is insanely easy. I just realized that a good chunk of my recipes involve chicken, probably because it's a a meat I'm getting more and more comfortable with. I think I need to venture out of my comfort zone for my next recipe... hmm...

Inside Out Chicken Pot Pie

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
•   1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 packaged refrigerated biscuits (I used buttered, flaky Grands)
• 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, whatever you like

 With a preheated oven for the biscuits, start by cutting up the chicken and cook in skillet until browned.

 Start baking your biscuits, per the instructions on the package. Most varieties will take less than 15 minutes.

After your chicken is starting to brown, go ahead and add the soup and frozen vegetables. Since this meal was for my picky husband, I limited the veggies to carrots and peas. I knew that would go over well? Here are some other options for a more adventurous household: broccoli, corn, potatoes, mushrooms, onions. You know what else would be good? Using cream of broccoli soup instead of cream of chicken. Hmm, this is definitely a recipe that can be customized and improved!

 Cook all of the ingredients together for another 8-10 minutes and allow the flavors to "marry" together - thank you for that term, Buddy Valastro. Then, take out your biscuits and pour your mixture on top of them. That's all there is to it!

Note: One improvement I would've made is opening up the biscuits before pouring the chicken-y vegetable goodness on top of them. 

Creamy Chicken Rice Casserole

My husband is a pretty tough guy. He'll kill giant crickets and spiders for me without batting an eye. His list of fears is pretty short and most of them are rational; public speaking, clowns, etc. But he has another fear that he'd probably never admit to. Mycrophobia.

 *insert Jaws theme song here*

Mycrophobia is the fear or aversion to mushrooms. It's actually amazing that we're married given the fact that I absolutely love mushrooms. He admitted to me once that the only time he's tried mushrooms was on a pizza.. Now, I wasn't with him, but I'm assuming it was those slimy canned mushrooms that a lot of places use. Not the best impression for someone that's a mushroom virgin. And he has refused to eat them every since.

I understand that they aren't the most appealing food in the world. They are technically a fungus, which might trigger images such as a fungus between toes in a person's mind. Fungus and fungi are gross words, that's hard to deny.

I, on the other hand, associate wonderful things with mushrooms. My mom and I always used to go "moreling" every spring when I was little. For anyone that doesn't know what that is, it's hunting down morel mushrooms in wooded areas. There are certain techniques for finding the most and the biggest morels. And when you get home you (hopefully) have a bag full of nature's most delicious mushrooms. Yum. I also have memories of my parents and I driving all the way to Mt. Carmel, Illinois - probably about a  45-minute drive - to get fresh shitake mushrooms. Double yum.

Memories aside, mushrooms are just plain delicious. That's all it comes down to. I don't think I've ever met a mushroom that I didn't like. When my friend Sara suggested a recipe to me that included two cans of Cream of Mushroom soup, I had a hunch it wouldn't go over well. But then I remembered that one of my favorite dishes - Green Bean Casserole - includes the same soup and the mushrooms aren't even noticeable. Could I sneak mushrooms past my mycrophobic husband?

Creamy Chicken Rice Casserole

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
• a box of chicken Rice-a-Roni
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup (use Cream of Mushroom for both if you don't have a picky husband)
•  2 tbsp butter or margarine 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil the chicken breasts. I had never boiled chicken before and wasn't exactly sure how long I should boil it. And you know what? You'll know when it's done. It's changes from that weird kind of translucent color to white and becomes tender. Take it out to cool and then dice it up.

Keep the broth. Start the Rice-a-Roni as directed, this what you'll need the butter or margarine for. And instead of using water, use the chicken broth you have leftover. When that's finished, mix the rice, chicken, and soup together. Add in one more cup of chicken broth. Spread mixture into pan -- I used a square baking dish that I borrowed from my mom and I'm hoping she's forgotten about.

Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the dish is bubbling throughout.

See any mushrooms in there? Brad didn't either and the dish was a big hit. Super easy, pretty cheap to make, and it helped in my attempt to slowly ease my husband out of his comfort zone.  I don't think he'll be up for grilled portabello mushrooms anytime soon, but this was definitely a start.

10 Pathetic Excuses Explaining the Recent Lack of Posts

1. We had a 48+ hour power outage and therefore, no Internet access for awhile.

2. I'm officially an Avon representative now and it's taking up a lot of my time. I've been relying on a lot of my go-to recipes and not trying new ones out.

3. I'm trying out a low carb diet right now. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts...

4. We bought a grill around Mother's Day so a lot of our meals have consisted of burgers, brats and the vegetarian equivalents. Add a fruit tray and a bag of chips and you have yourself a meal. That's not exactly blog worthy in my eyes.

5. My casual couponing has taken a more extreme turn lately and now I spend a lot of Caroline's naptimes organizing my coupons for my next shopping trips. It takes longer than you'd think.

6. I opted to make Caroline's baby food instead of using the jarred stuff. Although this is cost effective and a healthy alternative for her, it does take up some of my time. Man, these excuses are just getting weak...

7. I attempted one recipe, Ham and Cheese Sliders, that just didn't make the cut for this blog. Although I know that even the best chefs in the world have mishaps in the kitchen, it was still frustrating. Maybe I'll give that one another shot soon.

8. I had originally set a goal to update the blog 2x a week with new recipes. I skipped a week for some reason (can't really remember why now..) and never got back on track.

9. I'm lazy and completely unmotivated at times. Sometimes, a girl just needs to spend her free time vegging out in front of the TV watching The Office rather than being productive.

10. I kind of ran out of fresh, new ideas for recipes to be honest. Please comment this post with a challenge for me -- name a meal/dish that has meat in it and I promise I will at least attempt to cook it!

My promise to you is that I will have at least one new recipe posted by this time next week. Hopefully two. If you come visit my blog in a week and this is the most recent post, you have my full permission to come to my house and give me a swift kick in the pants. Seriously, apparently I need it.

Crock Pot Buffalo Ranch Chicken

This is the easiest recipe ever. Seriously. It's so easy, I almost feel weird posting it. But it was my very first solo carnivorous cooking attempt -- and Brad has been in love with it ever since. It would be a great starter recipe for anyone that is uncomfortable cooking meat -- or a great recipe for any chicken lovers out there that have 8-5 jobs and would love to come home to a delicious meal that's 95% ready.

Crock Pot Buffalo Ranch Chicken

• 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Wings Buffalo sauce (or anything similar)
•  2 packets of Ranch mix

 Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot and cover with both Ranch powdered mixes. Flip chicken over so the ranch coats it.

Then pour 3/4 of the bottle of buffalo sauce over the chicken.

Cook on low 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

When the chicken is tender, shred with a fork and add remaining buffalo sauce if necessary.

 Although I completely forgot to take a picture of the final product, we served the chicken on Hawaiian rolls and with potato chips. Who said cooking good food had to be difficult?

Chicken Parmesan

Confession time, readers.

I almost always test out recipes a time or two before posting them on Bonding with Bacon. Sometimes I completely botch them or realize there's a little something I could improve. My goal is to provide you with recipes that you can use and your family will enjoy.

On that note, this was my very first attempt at making chicken parmesan. I've made eggplant parm before and I've watched my mom make tofu parm a million times. So I figured I couldn't screw it up too badly.

Chicken Parmesan

• 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved
• breadcrumbs (I used Italian four cheese flavored)
• 3 eggs
• jar of your favorite marinara sauce
• one package of sliced mozzarella cheese

So the recipe that I built mine off of called for "halved" chicken breasts. Umm, which way do I cut them? After some contemplation (and asking my husband, who had no idea), I decided to cut them long ways which made them thinner. I still don't know if this is how I was supposed to do it, but it worked out.

Then take two small mixing bowls, fill one with beaten eggs and the other with your breadcrumbs. Take your chicken, dip it in the egg mixture and then completely coat all sides with the breadcrumbs.

Lay out your chicken on a greased sheet. Cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Take any pan that would fit all of your chicken in it laid flat (the only one I had was my pie pan, which worked just fine), and pour half of your marinara sauce on the bottom. After the chicken is done, place it on top. Then cover with the remaining marinara. Finally, place the sliced cheese on the very top - some areas can overlap.

Cook for another 20-25 minutes and voila! Chicken parm. Serve with your favorite pasta and/or garlic bread.

Busy Mom Beef Stew

You ever just have one of those days? The ones where no matter how hard you try, nothing seems to get accomplished. I love my 6-month-old daughter to death, but we have those days quite frequently. She is definitely one of those babies that needs to be cuddled constantly -- a trait that I will probably miss in a few years. So in order to spend my day cuddling with my little munchkin, I need some easy recipes that I can scrape together during one of her 20 minute naps. This is where my beloved crockpot comes in (told you it'd be back).

Busy Mom Beef Stew

• 1 lb stew beef
• 4 or 5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 or 4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• beef broth
• one beef stew flavoring packet (hey, I told you this was easy!)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Peel and cut the carrots and potatoes into medium pieces.

Throw the beef, carrots, potatoes, flavoring packet, and Worcestershire sauce in the crockpot. Pour in a few cups of beef broth, add some water if the meat and veggies aren't fully submerged yet. Stir everything up together.

Why a flavoring packet? Yeah, I could be a good cook and measure out the perfect portions of paprika, rosemary, parsley, blah blah blah. Or I could spend $1.50 and have it measured out for me. Simple as that.

 

Cook on low for about 7-8 hours or on high for about 4-5 hours. Stir occassionally. When the stew is done, if the consistency is too liquidy for your liking, add flour until desired consistency is reached. Easy!



Steak Quesadillas

"Make yourself a dang quesa-dilluh!"

Great, now I want to watch Napoleon Dynamite.

These steak quesadillas aren't anything fancy. Brad always orders them at Moe's Southwest Grill with "extra steak, please." So we decided to have a Mexican night at home and make some dang quesadillas ourselves. I have to admit that pounding raw steak with the meat hammer (or whatever the fancy term for that thing is) can be incredibly theraputic. The cow already had to die for our meal, might as well beat on it a little more, right? It serves two purposes: getting all the spices deep into the steak and relieving some everyday stress.

Steak Quesadillas

• 1 lb steak (and this made way too much!)
• tortillas
• 1 red pepper
• a variation of seasonings, whatever you like -- we used garlic powder, onion powder, lemon pepper, black pepper, and meat tenderizer
• Philadelphia Cooking Cream, Santa Fe blend
• Mexican shredded cheese

Generously sprinkle the steak with your choice of seaonsings and beat the hell out of it.

Then cut into thin 1" slices. Set aside.

Then cut up any other ingredients you'd like. We used red pepper (we are both big fans), but here are some other ideas: onions, green peppers, mushrooms. Time to cook everything -- either saute everything together or separate the veggies from the steak, whatever you prefer.

My mom bought us some of that new Philidelphia Cooking Cream stuff and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. But we spread a very thin layer of the Santa Fe flavor on the inside of the tortillas and it turned out really well!

Next, assemble your quesadilla however you'd like it. Be sure not to stack it too thick though, you want all the insides to get warmed evenly.

Warm it up in a pan on both sides. The tortilla will start to get golden brown and the cheese will transform into melty goodness. I think the hardest part of this recipe is flipping the quesadilla. It would probably be easier to use one tortilla and fold in it half instead of the way I did it. That would be much more managable when it comes to flipping!

Cut into slices with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

Again, it's nothing fancy but it's an easy and very customizable meal for your family!

Meatloaf

I think meatloaf is just one of those foods that everyone thinks they have the perfect recipe for. Every family has their own recipe that is passed down from generation to generation. Family members feel that their recipe is superior to others because that's what they're used to, that's the kind of meatloaf they've eaten their entire life. My recipe came from my mother-in-law and Brad is very fond of it. Meatloaf is a comfort food and this is the recipe he's comfortable with. Why mess with success?

The truth is, I don't think recipes for meatloaf vary much. It's raw meat and a bunch of other random ingredients all mixed up together. Easy and cheap to make, it seems to be a staple in most households.

Meatloaf reminds me of an episode of one of my favorite shows, Roseanne. In one episode, Roseanne takes Darlene's home ec class to the grocery store to teach them about shopping on a budget. They are buying the ingredients for meatloaf.

Roseanne: Now we need corn flakes, they are the most important part of this meal.
Student: Why's that?
Roseanne: Well how else do you think we're going to turn 2 pounds of ground round into 11 pounds of mouth watering meatloaf?

As a lifelong vegetarian, meatloaf is one of the nastiest foods I've ever prepared. There's something about ground beef that grosses me out in the first place. So having to take my hands and mix the nasty raw meat up with the other ingredients? The texture is disgusting and I honestly have no idea what part of the cow the meat comes from. It's not very enjoyable but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Keep in mind that I've scaled down our recipe so it's only a few servings, since Brad is the only one eating the meatloaf. If you have more mouths to feed, try doubling or tripling this recipe.

Meatloaf

• 1 cup ketchup
• 4 tbsps brown sugar
• 1 tsp mustard

Combine and set aside 1/2 cup of mixture for topping at the end.

To that, add:

• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tsps. worcestershire (I still haven't mastered pronouncing this yet) sauce
• 1 1/2 cups cracker crumbs
• 1 1/2 tsps. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 lb beef

Shape into individual loaves. Brush remainder of ketchup mixture on loaves.

Spray bakeware with cooking spray and place on there. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

I served ours last night with green beans sauteed with vegetarian bacon and mashed potatoes. I actually forgot to include the ketchup/brown sugar/mustard in the meat mixture, I only put it on top of the loaves. Brad said it just made the meatloaf a little dry and it was still good. Oops! Don't be like me and forget this step.

Fellow vegetarians: Replace the ground beef for a 1 lb bag of Morningstar ground crumbles, found in the freezer section. Yum!

Up for Friday: Steak quesadillas!

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings / Red Hot Apples

I'd like to introduce you to my very best friend.



Well, my very best friend in the kitchen, at least. My crock pot allows me to cook (usually) delicious meals without losing much time with my daughter. I just throw the ingredients in it mid-morning and the meal is ready by the time Brad gets home from work.

My mom gave me this when I moved into my first apartment. I thought I'd use it once every few months to make some chili. That's definitely not the case! It's used multiple times a week and I've cooked everything from barbeque chicken to peach cobbler in it. I would definitely be lost without my beloved crock pot. You'll notice that most of my recipes that I will share on here will incorporate the use of my best friend.

And my chicken and dumplings were no exception.

Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup (I used generic)
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 pkgs of refrigerated biscuit dough (cheapest of the cheap for this recipe, nothing fancy)

Put chicken breasts, soup, butter, and chicken broth in the crock pot. Add some water if you feel everything isn't submerged enough. Cook on high for 5-6 hours. I flipped the chicken and stirred the concoction every so often, but I'm not sure if it was necessary.

Now the important part, about 90 minutes before you are ready to serve the meal, add your biscuit dough. Each of my packages had 10 biscuits, and I just cut each one into fourths, like so.

And then drop all the little pieces into your crock pot along with the chicken mixture. In those 90 minutes, the dumplings should cook long enough to no longer be raw in the center.

I have to be completely honest. I don't think I had ever actually seen chicken and dumplings before cooking this. I had no idea what it was supposed to look like or what consistency everything was supposed to be. After I added the torn biscuits, I cut up the chicken into little pieces. After that, it kind of broke apart and looked more like shredded chicken. Whatever, it made the house smell heavenly and Brad seemed to really love it! He helped himself to seconds and even brought some for his lunch today.

I also didn't know if chicken and dumplings was a main dish or side dish. So I made some creamed corn and Red Hot Apples. Creamed corn is easy... I just open the can, pour in sauce pan, and warm up. I mastered that recipe years ago. My grandma used to make Red Hot Apples and I've always loved them. Great side dish when you want something a little sweet to go along with your meal.

Red Hot Apples

• 6 or 7 apples (I used a 3 lb bag of Red Delicious, but you can use what you prefer)
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 oz. Red Hot candies (I can find little 1 oz. boxes at my grocery store, they are 5/$1)
• 1/2 cup water

Slice up your apples. Cut off any section that includes seeds or parts of the core. Put all ingredients into a large saucepan.

Cook on medium-high for about 20 minutes (or until they are tender), stirring a few times to make sure everything is mixing together well. And here's what you'll have:

Super easy and definitely a favorite in our house! Again, I really have no idea what I'm doing in the kitchen yet. Not all of my recipes will turn out perfectly, I'm human. But one of my hopes is that this blog will be a go-to resource for my readers when they're in need of some new ideas. Feel free to change up my recipes to better fit your family. For example, chopped onion would probably be great in the chicken and dumplings, but not in our house. Onion is used very sparingly and it's almost always in onion powder form.

If you try one of my recipes, let me know! I don't care if you absolutely hate it (okay, I'll care a little...), but please let me know what you think!

"Some Pig"

Remember Wilbur? You know who I'm talking about, that adorable pig from Charlotte's Web? I often think of that little runt when I'm cooking up my husband's favorite food, bacon. I also let my imagination wander and think up scenarios about the particular pig's family, living conditions, and mindset right before he was slaughtered. Horrible, I know.

Despite all of this, something else happens when I cook bacon. It may be the sizzle of the meat on the frying pan or the delicious aroma that fills our 2-bedroom house, but I overcome all my negative thoughts and actually enjoy cooking it.

My husband has the impressive ability to devour an entire package of bacon in one sitting and I doubt he, like most meat eaters, ever thinks of Wilbur. That's why I'm different.

I only started cooking meat over the last year or so. During the first year of our marriage we ate out a lot since I was in grad school and my husband (Brad) worked full-time. If I did cook, it would only be vegetarian things. If Brad wanted to induldge in some carnivorous behavior (which was quite often), he would have to cook it for himself.

Things are different today. I'm a stay-at-home mom to our beautiful 6-month-old daughter and I have a lot more time on my hands than when I was in school - hence, this blog. Sometimes our only excitement for the day is getting out to the grocery store to get ingredients for that evening's meal. I'm incredibly thankful that I'm able to stay at home with our daughter, and I feel one of my responsibilities (among a million other things) is to have supper ready when my husband gets home from work.

This blog will account my adventures of cooking meals that I can't (and have no desire to) taste test. I'll include recipes, pictures, and commentary from Brad who has been a real trooper so far when it comes to trying my recipes.

I'm no stranger to writing. My bachelor's and master's degrees are both in journalism. But as I'm quickly learning, blog writing is very different from news writing. No need to seek expert sources for quotes, I am the source. How scary is that? No need to use AP Style, although that's one habit that's hard to break. And after I'm done perfecting a blog entry there won't be an annoying editor there telling me to go back and try again. I think I'm going to like this.

Up for tomorrow: my first attempt at making chicken and dumplings. Brad told me this is a recipe that can be pretty difficult but luckily for him I'm up for the challenge.

Not so lucky for the chicken.