Herb Crusted Chicken with Parmesan Cream Sauce

I admit it, I love eating at Olive Garden. I know it isn't authentic Italian food, but I really don't care.  How can anyone not like free never ending breadsticks and salad with their meal?  I generally order dishes with a cream sauce as opposed to a tomato based sauce.  I can make tomato sauces all day at home but cream based ones always seem to be beyond me.  That is, until I found this recipe.  As far as I am concerned, this beats eating at any Italian restaurant.  I take that back.  There was a mom and pop Italian joint in town until recently that made the best lobster stuffed ravioli I have ever had the pleasure of eating.  I highly doubt I will ever be able to recreate that amazing dish.  This herbed chicken, though, is an excellent way to cure cravings for Italian food and keeps my bank account happy.  I have pictured the chicken and sauce over pasta, but it works equally well on top of mashed potatoes or on its own.  The sauce can also be made by itself for a wonderful twist on macaroni and cheese.  Add less broth for a thicker sauce.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs/breasts pounded thin
1/2 c milk
1 c Italian breadcrumbs
2 tsp 'Perfect Pinch' Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper Seasoning
1 tsp dried chives
3 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c chicken broth
1/2 c diced tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 c Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp basil
Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine breadcrumbs, Perfect Pinch seasoning, and chives in a bowl.
3. Dip chicken in milk, then coat with breadcrumb mixture.
4. Melt butter over medium heat.  Cook chicken until brown on both sides. Set used pan aside.
5. Place chicken in a baking dish and bake until thoroughly cooked, about 15-20 minutes.
6. While chicken bakes, saute garlic over medium high heat in used chicken pan.
7. Add broth and bring to a boil. Scrape bottom of pan while stirring to release any chicken bits.
8. Add cream and tomatoes and return to a boil.
9. Reduce heat to medium low, add Parmesan, basil, and pepper.  Stir until thick and hot (around 5 minutes).
10. Serve sauce over chicken.

Bacon and Green Chile Quiche

I've made lots of quiches in my time at the deli I worked at for over a decade. Those were some very tasty quiches, but they weren't technically made from scratch. We used frozen pie crusts (much easier if you are making 12+ quiches a day) and premade quiche mix from the dairy isle.  I was never willing to purchase quiche mix and wasn't sure what all went in to the egg mixture so I never made them at home.
Then, I saw this recipe for a bacon jalapeno popper quiche.  I like (love) bacon, like (love) jalapeno poppers and like quiche.  How could this possibly not be good?  I read the recipe and decided that I wanted a uniform egg mix and not layers as written.  I also added more eggs and green chiles because green chiles make anything better.  (Interesting fact- chili is the amazing meat and pepper stew that my home state is famous for and chile is the pepper that goes in the stew. I= stew, e= pepper.  I always confuse the spellings of the two.)

Consider this to be a basic quiche recipe.  Try it with ham, roasted peppers, and swiss, or chicken, broccoli, and goat cheese. I would have added goat cheese to this quiche but I'm the only person in my house who will eat it. Do with it as you please and get creative.


Ingredients

1 pie crust (thaw if frozen)
8 eggs
1/2 c heavy cream
2 oz cream cheese, softened
6 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 small can diced green chiles
1 jalapeno, diced
1 c cheddar
salt to taste


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Place the pie crust in a pie dish if it isn't already in one. Poke the bottom and sides with a fork.

3. Mix together the eggs, heavy cream, cream cheese, and salt.  Blend until smooth and no more chunks of cream cheese are present.

4. Stir in bacon and green chiles.  Pour mixture into pie crust.

5 Set pie pan on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Top the quiche with the cheese and jalapeno, then bake another 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned.

Malt-O-Meal Bread

It has been almost 1 month since I last posted and I apologize greatly for that.

Have you ever paid attention to the recipes that come on the side of food packages?  This recipe is technically called Magic Muffins and can be found on a carton of Malt-O-Meal. While it is intended to be a breakfast muffin, my family has made it as a cornbread alternative for years.  Don't get me wrong, we love cornbread.  Sometimes, though, we have run out of cornmeal or have forgotten where we set down the cornbread recipe last.  This then gets made.  It is still sweet and has the same texture and consistency of cornbread.  There is obviously no corn flavor, but don't let that deter you.  This bread can be used anywhere you would normally make cornbread and is a great alternative for someone with a corn allergy.



Ingredients

1 1/4 c flour
3/4 Malt-O-Meal cereal, dry
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c milk
1/4 c oil
1 egg
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients until just incorporated.
3. Pour into a greased pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until center is firm to the touch.

Spicy Thai Chicken Peanut Curry

There is a Thai restaurant in town that has the most amazing food I have ever eaten.  Their menu is probably 5 pages of different curries and another 2 pages of other traditional Thai dishes.  We don't eat there very often since a plate can easily run $20, but it is a great treat when we do stop in.  Since we don't want to break the bank every time we get a craving for curry, I did some searching and found this recipe for a great, easy curry.

As the title says, this recipe is spicy. Incredibly spicy.  It is the sambal oelek that gives most of the heat to this dish.  I suggest starting with half of the sambal oelek and curry and adjusting as you need to. Add more curry first (it is more flavor than heat), then add the sambal oelek.  The red curry, sambal oelek, and fish sauce can be found in the Asian section of most grocery stores or at your favorite Oriental restaurant.  I know the fish sauce looks scary and disgusting, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the flavors it adds. Do not try it by itself though! You will be thoroughly disgusted if you do!

What is your favorite type of curry? 

Ingredients

2 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp red curry paste
3 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste)
4 chicken breasts, diced
2 c coconut milk
3 Tbsp fish sauce
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
Cooked rice, preferably Jasmine
Peanuts
Lime juice


Directions

1. In a large pan, saute oil, curry, and sambal oelek over medium heat for a couple of minutes.

2. Add in the chicken and cook until done.

3. Stir in the coconut milk, fish sauce, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Simmer 10 minutes.

5. Serve over cooked rice. Top with peanuts and lime juice as desired.

 Please use this photo as reference when searching for your ingredients.  You don't have to use these brands, but so you have an idea what you are looking for.