Aluminum Chef

In this journey through aisles of Kroger I've never encountered before this has been my favorite dish by far. Albeit I'm too proud to ask an employee for help in finding what other people would deem as routine items, it might suffice to significantly shorten my grocery shopping times. This recipe only required 2 laps around the store, so I'd consider it a success. Along with better knowing the layout of my local grocer, I have also learned how to correctly spell parmesan cheese!

Ingredients:

-Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

-1/4 cup of milk

-1/2 cup bread crumbs

-2 tsps roasted garlic and bell pepper seasoning 

-1 tsp chives

-3 tbsp of butter

-1/2 cup chicken broth

-1/4 can of diced tomatoes

-3 cloves garlic (minced)

-1 cup heavy whipping cream

-1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese blend

-2 tbsp basil

I got this recipe off a blog and they were very specific about the brands of spices and seasonings used. However, I didn't have time for all that and I simply used a couple of seasonings that I knew tasted good with chicken and bread crumbs. So that part of the recipe is easily interchangeable. You combine the bread crumbs, chives and seasoning in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. (I also threw in some salt and pepper) Place the milk in a separate bowl. 

Next you are going to pound the chicken flat and dip each breast in the milk followed by the bread crumb mixture. Make sure you get a nice even coating before placing in a skillet on medium heat (where you have also placed the butter). Cook the chicken until browned on both sides and cooked through. This takes about 10 minutes. 

After the chicken is golden brown (above right) place to the side and keep warm. In the same skillet sauté garlic for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in cream and tomatoes, bring to a boil and stir for one minute. Reduce heat to low; add parmesan cheese, basil, salt and pepper and stir entire sauce for about 5 minutes. 

Now you have your dinner ready to go. Just drizzle as much of this delicious sauce on your breaded chicken and add your veggie of choice. If you don't want to spend time making the sauce by hand, there are plenty of sauces you can buy pre-made which would suffice. But, this sauce is worth the extra effort. If you're looking to save time use canned vegetables or instant potatoes and skim the minutes from your side dishes. 

Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup

(Eat well, laugh often, love abundantly)

Gettin Crafty

   

A few months ago I had some free time on my hands and decided to get a little crafty. Obviously mustaches were involved. I was planning a Bachelorette party for my bestie and wanted a cute souvenir for each girl to take home with her. Since Friday night we were planning on guzzling wine I figured an etched wine glass would be a nice touch. For the initial glasses I taped a stencil to the glass and painted on the etching fluid. (It took a lot of coats and I would recommend using a different product for better results) 

The mustache glasses were easier because I placed a sticker and painted over the entire glass. This method required less precision and touch-ups. Next I waited and waited and waited before rinsing the glasses clean. This project was extremely easy and cost efficient. You can make any shape, initial, etc. all you need is a sticker or stencil. 

Below are the final products! Happy crafting :)

 

Aluminum Chef

Chicken Parmesan & Chicken Roll-Ups

This week I crafted 2 delicious dinners and I am posting them together b/c I want to and you can't stop me. So there. But enough sass, let's direct our focus back to the yummy meals I prepared this week. On Monday night I made Chicken Roll-Ups, this is a dish my Momma made all the time and I got the recipe from her.

Roll-Up Ingredients:
-2 packages of crescent rolls
-2-3 tbsp of sour cream
-1 can of Cream of Chicken
-Chicken breasts (pre-cooked and shredded)
-Cheddar cheese
-Paprika & Parsley

The first step is to combine the Cream of Chicken w/ a large dollop of sour cream and several dashes of both paprika and parsley. Add salt and pepper to your taste. My Momma's recipe has onions in it, but I would change that to onion flavoring or none at all because the onions are very crisp and I didn't like the texture profiles contrasting each other so starkly.

Anywho, you lay out the crescents flat and add chicken and a dab of sauce. Roll the crescents up and add a good amount of sauce on top. I decided to attempt half of my rolls with cheddar cheese since I had some extra.

You then place the pan in an oven preheated to 350'F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. After tasting the rolls with cheddar and without I was unanimously in favor of the roll-ups sans cheddar. The cheddar didn't taste bad, but it muted the flavor of the sauce. Without the cheese present I could really enjoy the the chicken roll-ups much better.

 Chicken Parmesan Ingredients:
-1/2 cup of milk
-1 egg
-Breadcrumbs
-Olive Oil
-Your choice of red pasta sauce
-Mozzarella cheese
-Vermicelli
-Chicken breasts

Whisk your milk and egg together and dip each chicken breast in the mixture before dipping it in your breadcrumbs. Once the chicken is fully coated place in a skillet w/ olive oil and cook until golden brown on both sides. (Should only take 3-4 minutes). After it is golden brown
place your chicken in a baking dish and put a layer of mozzarella on top. Layer on a generous amount of your chosen pasta sauce, followed by another layer of mozzarella. 

Bake at 350'F for 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling.

While the chicken is cooking I boiled water and cooked my vermicelli to accompany the dish. This only takes about 6-7 minutes so you can wait and have both done at the same time. Once you remove your chicken parmesan from the oven, you place it over a bountiful amount of vermicelli. You could use spaghetti as well, but I like the thinner noodles for this.  


What I chose to do is only cook 1 chicken breast (since it's just me eating) and use the remaining noodles and pasta sauce for meals throughout the week. I kept the sauce in its original container in the fridge and put the noodles in tupperware. This way I am able to add olive oil, pasta sauce, and different toppings to my noodles each meal to vary up the flavors.

This dish was extremely tender and juicy and easy to make as well. If you are looking to impress that special someone or show off for your family and friends this is your ticket. Minimal prep time and all you need to add is a salad and some garlic bread and your feast is made.

Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup

(Eat well, laugh often, love abundantly)

Thoughts About Stuff

Monday night is upon me and I find myself snuggled up with my newly acquired Earl Grey tea and adorable yellow mug as I get inspired by contestants on Biggest Loser. Although I enjoy the show, the 2 hour run time leaves me with ample time to focus on other things during commercials and lulls in the show. This evening I have the urge to write and after reviewing my last few posts I decided that I had to write about anything beyond food. I enjoy my trials and successes with my Aluminum Chef challenge for myself, but I need to mix things up now and again.

Goals has been the theme of this week's episode and contestants are setting personal goals and challenging those in their community and America as a whole to set goals and improve their lives with small steps. I can relate to the lack of self control that many of these individuals struggle with except mine is not in the arena of food. I lack self control in other areas of my life such as self improvement, specifically in the spiritual realm.

Overwhelmed. This is the emotion I often feel whenever I attempt to set goals for myself. I start off extremely enthusiastic and ready to take on everything in the world. Lent this year has been a prime example. I felt like I needed to improve my relationship with God and Lent was an ideal jumping off point. Like every other time I set goals, this time I went overboard. I decided to give up several food and beverage items, add daily quite times, fast on Sundays, add more prayer, add more time in the Word, and exercise more.

As I looked forward to the events coming up I began to realize how inconvenient I would be to others if I tried to follow all these rules so I marked off a few. Then Lent began and I did good with no soft drinks, but as they days added up so did the amount of things I needed to accomplish each day. Instead of enjoying reading the Bible and praying I found myself frustrated with the chore ahead of me. I rushed through and got less out of it than before and it suddenly began to dawn on me that this is my pattern. I set too many goals and then when I can't do every single thing on my list I feel disappointed in myself and worthless so I give up on a lot of things.

My approach is what needs to change. I don't have a problem with food because I don't think about it excessively and make it a chore. I eat when I'm hungry and don't count calories or give myself reasons to feel guilty. Finally I am taking a cue from my healthy eating habits and applying it to the remainder of my life. I am happiest when I don't have a set schedule. This freedom allows me to not feel guilty because I don't set myself up for failure. I made a vague goal instead for this Lent to grow closer to God.

I am accomplishing my goal by attending church on Wednesday and Sunday nights every week. I love going to church and look forward to these services. I also am praying when I think about it instead of at a set time. These steps appear small, but they increase my desire to know God better and improve our relationship. They eliminate the mandatory chore feeling from previous attempts.

Now I pray, read the Bible, and attend church when I want to and it happens more increasingly as I am no longer forcing myself to out of obligation. I am so tired of feeling guilty and so I won't do it any more. Henceforth I am going to work on becoming a better person in small achievable steps. I should have known being an avid ready that small goals would work better for me than large ones because the books I read fastest are filled with a multitude of small chapters. When there is an end in sight I can strive forward more easily and with each new success I am more motivated to attempt a new achievement.

I challenge you to pick an area in your life that you want to make better and set a small goal. See what happens; you might just surprise yourself and triumph. I adore good writing and good quotes so I leave you with a few for motivational fodder:

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. -Thomas Alva Edison

You are never too old to set another goal or dream another dream. -C.S. Lewis

Even if you fall on your face, you are still moving forward. -Victor Kiam

Aluminum Chef

Hawaiian Roll Ham Sandwiches:

This relatively simplistic yet highly flavorful recipe is excellent for game days, a small snack, or the perfect partner to a bowl of soup. My mom has made these for our family for many years so I decided to try some different ingredients and mix things up to find the right flavor combination.  

 

Ingredients:

-2 packs of Hawaiian Rolls

-Ham ( I used the sandwich meat version)

-3/4 cup of butter

-1 1/2 tsp of Dijon mustard

-1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

-1 1/2 tsp dried onions

-poppy seed

-12 slices of cheese (the recipe calls for swiss, which is delicious, but I had shredded cheddar and mozzarella at the house and chose to use those)

The first thing you do is halve each roll and place the ham and cheese of your choice down before adding the top half. You then mix the Dijon, Worcestershire, butter and onion and melt until smooth. This mixture you drizzle over your sandwiches. Bake at 350'F for 10-15 minutes. I wanted to experiment so I used mozzarella cheese in one row, sharp cheddar cheese in one row, and added tomato slices to one row. 

I really enjoyed the tomato slices. They added a slightly sweet moistness to the sandwich which counterbalanced the crunch from the baked roll. My favorite was the sharp cheddar because it complimented the glaze nicely and added just enough tang to keep the meal interesting. The mozzarella was good, but offered a much more subdued flavor. In the future I would use either swiss or sharp cheddar and add tomato slices to a couple. As you can see from my picture, the one thing I would do differently is fold my laundry after I pulled these bad boys out of the oven so I can avoid burning them.                                                                                                                      

Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup

(Eat well, laugh often, love abundantly)

Aluminum Chef

Okay so I had an eclectic collection of canned goods eyeing me from the cabinet every time I peered in to its depths.

I decided to take some basic flavors and combine them into a healthy snack. I really love having something available to munch on since I have odd hours some days and can't always eat meals at their scheduled times.

I grabbed 1 can of black beans, 1 can of pinto beans, 1 can of kidney beans, & 1 can of corn. I simply drained each can after rinsing it with water and mixed the beans/corn together in a bowl. Grab your favorite chip and this minimal munch is ready to eat!

This is great because you can add tomatoes, onions, cilantro, etc. to enhance the flavors and cater to your specific palette.

Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup

(Eat well, laugh often, love abundantly)

Aluminum Chef

Ranch Pork Chops:

Last week I whipped up some delicious honey glazed pork chops, but since I am only cooking for one I had extra chops. I popped 'em in the freezer and tonight I used the left over chops to make ranch pork chops.

Ingredients:
-6 pork chops (I only had 3, so I saved the remaining flour batter in a Ziploc bag for another day)
-1 packet Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
-1 cup all purpose flour
-Salt/Pepper
-5 tablespoons of vegetable oil
-1 cup chicken broth

Mix the flour, ranch mix, and salt and pepper together in a medium sized bowl. Dredge each chop in the flour mixture. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Cook each chop until golden brown on both sides. (While doing this pre-heat your oven to 350'F)

Once you have the golden brown pork chops place them on a baking tray and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. During this time take 1 tablespoon of the flour/ranch mixture and pour into the oil left over in your skillet. Reduce to medium heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Next add HOT chicken broth to the skillet. (If it is cold you will get a pretty nice facial and some sweet grease splatter) Cook for 4-5 minutes, until sauce thickens.

At this point your pork chops should be ready to take out of the oven. Ladle as much of the sauce on your chop as wanted. It is delicious and I added quite a bit and dabbed each bite with the sauce to get as much of that flavor as possible in each mouthful! 

I chose to accompany my ranch chop with Rotel macaroni and cheese. Since this past Sunday was the Super Bowl I had leftover Rotel dip. Anytime I have extra Rotel and no chips I always make Rotel Mac & Cheese. It is a flavorful twist on a classic and extremely easy to make. Just boil macaroni noodles as you normally would. Once they have cooked add the Rotel and serve away. Any pasta would work, but I prefer macaroni noodles.

You can make your Rotel dip as spicy or as mild as you like. The recipe calls for 1 can of Rotel diced tomatoes and 1 package of Velveeta cheese. I always use 2 cans of Rotel to have a hint of spice. The same is true for the Rotel Mac & Cheese. You can use less noodles to enhance the spicy flavor or you could use a 1 pound box of macaroni noodles. I boil the entire box and then stir in a little of the Rotel at a time until all noodles are evenly coated.

Overall this was a wonderful comfort meal. I felt like I was back home as a little girl eating delicious flavors that warm your throat and soul. I wouldn't change a thing about the Ranch Pork Chop recipe.

Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup

(Eat well, laugh often, love abundantly)