Loaded Potato Chicken Casserole

Mmmmm... this was yummy!  I love my Pinterest, I found a recipe for Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken on Cook Lisa Cook. Which inspired me to create Loaded Potato Chicken Casserole!

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
5 medium to large potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I left the skin on)
NOTE: You basically need enough potatoes to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 TBS. freshly ground pepper
1 TBS. paprika
2 TBS. garlic salt

Topping Ingredients
2 cups Colby Jack cheese
1 cup crumbled bacon
1 cup diced green onion

Preheat the oven to 500F.  I know this seems a little hot but this high temp is simply to cook the potatoes and create the crusty potato that you want! 

In a mixing bowl mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika & garlic salt, this is the sauce.  Cube the potatoes and put them in the sauce and stir it to coat.  Using a slotted spoon, take the coated potatoes and put them in a greased 9x13 pan.  Using the slotted spoon helps to leave behind the sauce in order to use it to coat the chicken.  Slide the potatoes into the oven. 

The original recipe calls for the potatoes to be in the oven for 45-50 minutes but I didn't find it necessary to cook them that long.  You are going to stir the potatoes every 10 minutes.  So while your potatoes are cooking for the first 10 minutes cut your chicken and place them into the mixing bowl and coat them with the remaining sauce. Stir your potatoes. 

During the second 10 minutes, cook your bacon.  To prepare the bacon to be cooked I simply use my kitchen shears and cut the bacon.  Cook the bacon.  Drain the bacon.

KITCHEN TIP: I never pour grease down my garbage disposal... I know, I know that is basics 101... but I also don't want to keep a can with grease in it on my counter or under my sink... it just doesn't appeal to my sense of kitchen organization.  So I take a piece of foil and line a bowl that my strainer will fit in, and place the strainer on top of the foil.  Once the grease has cooled and solid I simply wrap up the foil and toss it into the trash.

Stir the potatoes.  I typically leave my bacon in the strainer and grate the cheese and dice my green onions, mix them together and by the time I am done with that my bacon is cool enough to add to the topping mix.  Toss it all together.  Pull the potatoes out of the oven.  Immediately turn the oven down to 400F. 

Place the chicken on top of the potatoes, then top it with the cheese mix.  Slide your casserole back into the oven for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  This is important because if your chicken pieces are too big they won't cook and you could be serving raw chicken. 

Serving the dish with ranch or sour cream really sets off the meal. ENJOY!!!

Changing Life

Well I did it... I actually quit my job to stay at home and actively raise my children.  For me I can't do it all... too much stress and never enough time to give to my husband and kids!  So together the husband and I decided that it was time to make a change.

Just to make this transition a little more challenging we also decided to move! So this last weekend we moved out of our 2200 sq foot house into a beautiful 1800 sq foot townhouse.  Now during this process I realized that I have a ton of interests but (it seems) not enough time.  I have a lot of half started projects, books I've never read, recipes I've never tried and a lot of things I've saved because I knew I would need to used them some day.  But that day never came!

So after a lot of painful decluttering... we have moved and I'm ready to give my all to myself and my family!

Because I was always so pushed for time, I always purchased my lunch at the company cafeteria.  Like everyone else I have my favorite lunches.  Now my challenge is recreating them at home!  Lately I have discovered that I really like fresh fruit in my salad and I used to get this great Chicken, Pear, Feta, and Walnut Salad with a citrus dressing. YUMMY!

So first I needed to cook some chicken.  I took two chicken breasts and sprinkled them with some garlic salt and onion flakes.  I baked them @ 350 for about 45 minutes and then I let them cool completely.  I then thinly sliced them and put them in a container.  My husband typically cooks chicken on Sunday to be used in his lunches all week.  It happens to be the only day of the week that he kicks me out of the kitchen. So now we spend some time together in the kitchen... SCORE hubby time!

Next I had to find the dressing, after a little searching I found a Candied, Walnut, Pear and Leafy Green Salad on myrecipes.com.  It isn't exact but with a little tweaking it is pretty darn close.  Below is where I made changes.  One word of caution... if you don't like balsamic vinegar... this isn't the recipe for you!

Chicken & Citrus Salad

Chicken Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

garlic salt

onion flakes

Chicken Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.  Place chicken breasts into dish and sprinkle with garlic salt and onion flakes.  Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked.  Let the chicken completely cool.  Once cooled thinly slice the chicken and place in a container and refrigerate until you are ready to have your salad.

Candied Walnut Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup walnuts
Water
Cooking Spray
Candied Walnut Directions
(Please note the original recipe does not call for water however, after a minute at medium heat... my sugar was not melting... once I added a splash of water the sugar dissolved.)
Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Add sugar and a splash of water to a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Add in walnuts and stir.  Coat all of the walnuts with the sugar mixture.  Spread the walnut on the cookie sheet and set aside to cool.

Dressing Ingredients
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbls White Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 tsp Ground Mustard (I didn't have any mustard in the house so I used this instead)
3 Tbls Olive Oil
1/2 medium orange (Squeeze the juice into the blender don't add the whole thing to the blender)
Dressing Instructions
In a blender combine all ingredients and emulsify. Transfer ingredients to a bowl (make sure the bowl is large enough to add the sliced pears to once they are cut).

Salad Ingredients
Romaine Lettuce - cleaned and torn into bit size pieces I used an entire head of Romaine
Feta Cheese - the amount you like I usually add about a 1/4 cup
Mushrooms - optional - I add them to all my salads because they are high in Vitamin D
Pear - sliced as you are slicing them add them to the dressing bowl and coat them with the dressing.  This will keep them from turning brown. Once I am done I pull the pears out of the dressing and put them on a plate.
Craisins - I use about 2 Tbls I think.
Salad Directions
In the bowl with the lettuce add all the above ingredients.  Also add half of the candied walnuts.  I gradually add in the dressing and toss until lightly coated.  Don't forget to add the chicken... I like mine heated but it is good with it cold too.

I know it sounds like a lot of work but it really isn't.  Enjoy!

Garlic Parmesan Knots... a little yummy with dinner

Garlic Parmesan Knots

Another Pinterest win for our house!  

 We have a tradition... every Sunday we have spaghetti for dinner.  I'll admit is gets a little boring sometimes, so I occasionally try to find something to liven it up, these rolls did the trick.  They are super easy to make and tasty!  I found this recipe on the Picture The Recipe website. 

I didn't have fresh Parmesan on hand so I used the "shaker" stuff and it was still very good. I can only assume that fresh Parmesan makes it that much better.  Noreen has way better step by step instructions and pictures! Enjoy!

Carpet Cleaning 101

I have two kids, one dog, and a husband that wears shoes all of the time.  Answer me this... WHY DID I BUY A HOUSE WITH WHITE BERBER CARPET?  

It seems like I am always fighting this losing battle with stains, high traffic wear and just plain dirt!  

Carpet sprays don't work out too well because the dog is always trying to lick the floor.  Sprinkle powders don't work because then the dog is constantly sniffing the floor and sneezing... why can't he just learn "If I sniff this floor I will sneeze"?  And I really don't relish the thought of having a professional come in and clean my carpets because of the chemicals that they use to clean the carpet which would likely take me right back to a sneezing dog (or worse)!

Which lead me to searching Pinterest for something to try, I must admit when I saw this post I thought "This is too good to be true".  Since I had the ingredients on hand I decided to give it a try!

Before

A large spot right at the top of our entryway stairs!

A small spot on the entryway stairs!

The first step in the direction was to scrape up the liquid, but these stains are long standing... no need for me to do scrape!

Next I needed to sprinkle baking soda or cornstarch on the stain to let absorb for 10 minutes and then vacuum.  I suspected that this was likely a step for fresh stains but since it was in the directions I did it anyway.  I was correct, there was absolutely no change or value in this step for me.  How do I know that?  Well the first stain posted above was treated with the Baking Soda and the second stain was not.

Now for the magical solution:  Mix 1 Tablespoon dish washing liquid (the directions said clear but all I had was purple lavender so I used it instead), with 1 Tablespoon white vinegar and two cups of warm water. Give the mixture a little swirl to mix but don't do it vigorously enough to create bubbles.

Using a rag, I dipped it in the solution and sponged, dabbed and a little forcefully scrubbed the stain.  I couldn't believe it... the carpet looked stain free.  But I thought to myself "It looks clean because it is wet, I wonder if it really did the trick".  So I waited for it to dry, even after it dried I couldn't believe that it did that good of a job.  So then I thought "Give it 24 hours and see if it changes back to the big ugly stain".  24 hours later and still no stain.

The final part of the original directions was to sponge off with cold water and blot dry... who has time for that??? I didn't do the last step.

After

NO SPOT at the top of the entryway stairs!

NO SPOT on the entryway stairs!

Now I just have to figure out how to clean the rest of the carpets without having to be on my hands and knees going section by section!  Maybe just rent one of those Rug Doctors and use this as my solution instead of their cleaner!

Please checkout Lizzy Writes for additional tips and comments about this process.  It worked for some folks and not for others.  I however am a I firm believer, it worked for my carpet!

Breakfast As Easy As Apple Pie

If you are like me your mornings are filled with rushing to get yourself ready and the kids ready and out the door!  In fact most of the time I am so rushed I'm lucky if I remember to grab my purse (I've actually taken to stashing money in my laptop bag).  Trying to lead a healthy lifestyle means getting breakfast and getting it from home not a drive thru or cafeteria.  A couple of weeks ago I came across this recipe on a site called Cooking with Jax.   I decided to give it a try and the worst case scenario was that no one but me liked it but EVERYONE liked it, the kids even ask to have it as an after school snack!

I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup of steel cut oats (sometimes called Irish Oats)
3 diced apples (I used Red Delicious)
1 cup apple juice (I used Mott's)
3 cups water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup raw sugar (not the white stuff)

Just a couple of notes here

I did not peel my apples, it was fine with out peeling them but if you have texture issues then you probably should peel them.  I don't have the time or the patience for that ;o)

If you prefer to use quick oats please check out the Cooking with Jax link above as she does have a version that can be done with quick oats as well as on the stove.  

I make this in a large crock-pot but I also double the recipe as I am making it for a family of 4.

Directions
Put oats in crock-pot, add apple juice, water, cinnamon and raw sugar.  De-core the apples.  Dice, slice or however you like your apples cut, toss them in and stir.  Turn the crock-pot on, put the lid on and forget about it!  Wake up in the morning and enjoy a hot yummy breakfast. 

10/23/12 - I like this much better when I only cook it for 4 hours and then put it in containers and just reheat it in the morning.  When I left it overnight it was way too mushy for my liking.

I put the leftovers in 1 cup containers and put them in the refrigerator (they don't stay around for longer than a couple of days so I don't know how long they would actually last).

Nutritional Info is approximate and not verified.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving 1 cup
• Calories: 152.7

• Total Fat: 1.8 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 3.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 33.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.6 g
• Protein: 4.1 g

Have you heard? There's gold in them chickens!

Yes corny, but oh so true. I use chicken stock in many of the dishes I make and I think it just makes things taste better. BUT oh my goodness so expensive! I happen to take a cooking class at my local gym in which they talked about how to break down your own chicken and how to make your own chicken stock. Which I promptly did, just to prove I could, but I honestly struggled with getting it just right.

After a bunch of searching and trying things I found that this is what worked for me:

In my crockpot I put:

1 whole chicken
onion, roughly chopped (whatever you have on hand)
carrots, roughly chopped (whatever you have on hand)
celery sticks, roughly chopped (whatever you have on hand)
parsley (if I have fresh I do one or two stems but if I don't I put enough dry in the palm of my hand until it gets to nickel size)

(if I happen to have mushrooms hanging out in the fridge they go in too)

I add salt & pepper too but I really don't know how much... I just go with my gut (if I had to guess I would say about a 1/4 teaspoon of each)

Cooking time... well I generally do this after the kids go to bed so I start it around 8:30pm and then I let it cook until about 5pm the following day. I pull out the chicken (or as much as I can without it all falling apart on me). I take a large bowl or stock pot and put a strainer on top of it... the very important thing is to line the strainer with cheese cloth. Then I pour the liquid into the strainer.

Now comes the fun part... storing the stock! The best method I have found is to let the liquid cool slightly and put it in freezer bags. A word of caution... Sandwich bags are not a good substitute unless you let your stock cool down a whole lot. I like to lay the bags flat when I freeze them... mainly because the first time I did this I put them in the side door and when they froze they sort of molded themselves to the space and it wasn't easy getting them out... let's just say it involved a blow dryer and a whole lot of swearing (in my head of course).

OK so now I have all this chicken too. We typically just shred it and put it in a container to use during the week in enchiladas, mix it with pesto and pasta, salads... etc. Again, I have to say I do not like chicken BUT it is a huge time saver during the week most of the time AND it keeps me from going through the drive thru!

Bacon & Leek Risotto

My hubby loves to make risotto and we love eating risotto! He made this wonderful risotto with some tweaks... for the original Bacon & Leek Risotto click on the link. The photo on the left is also of the original... it went so fast in our house that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture!

His version is below:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup Abborio Rice

4 strips of bacon, cut up into small pieces & cooked

1 leek, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 green or red bell pepper, diced (or use smaller peppers and use a variety of colors)

3 1/2 cups chicken stock, hot (don't try to make risotto with cold chicken stock)

1/4 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

4 TBLS butter

1 TBLS olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Cut the top and bottom of the leek off. One tip we got from the recipe was to slice the leek in half lengthwise and then slice them, so as they cook they fall apart easier.

Fry the bacon pieces. As they cook add in the leeks, garlic and peppers. DRAIN... DRAIN!

In another pan, add olive oil & rice, let it cook for a minute on medium heat. Turn the heat down to low and add half of the chicken stock, cook until absorbed. Add the remainder of the stock over the next 15 - 20 minutes. Stop adding liquid when the rice is soft but has a bit of bite to it.

Add in the leek mixture, stir all of the ingredients together. Cook on medium heat for about 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add in butter & Parmesan cheese, cover and let sit for 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy.