Positively Pre-Cooked

If you've read my blog entries before, you know I love to use pre-cooked chicken breasts that I keep in my freezer.  I buy a large package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and bake them for 45-60 minutes at 350.  Then I place them, usually by threes, into freezer bags.

This solves a lot of my dinnertime dilemmas.  I mean, A LOT.

I believe that by keeping staples at the ready - chicken broth, canned tomatoes, canned beans, onions, garlic, seasonings - that you have the ability to make any dinner easy and quick.  Please remember my first rule... (other than wash your hands before you cook)...KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Tonight's dinner is a product of this belief system.  YEA!!!!!

I didn't even defrost the two chicken breasts all the way, that's how simple it was.  The link of chorizo sausage is pre-cooked by the manufacturer.  I used the seasonings and veggies that existed already in my kitchen, and you should employ the same theory.  Don't have potatoes?  Use rice and cook it on the side.  Don't have the same seasonings?  Use ones you do have.  Some of my recipes are not versatile, they need to be made to the letter.  But most of my posts, such as this one, include recipes that you can make any which way but loose.  Give this meal a shot.  It's gonna spice up my Thursday quite nicely!


Chicken & Chorizo Stew
Serves 4


Ingredients:

2 tsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used a poblano)
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 tsp. oregano
1 link Aidell's chorizo
1 & 1/2 cups Dutch Yellow Baby Potatoes, halved
2 pre-cooked chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 pinch of saffron threads
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. Bijol powder
(If you can't find Bijol, use a mix of cumin and turmeric)

Heat a Dutch oven on medium, adding olive oil.  Saute onions, oregano and pepper until soft.  Add garlic for one minute.  Add chorizo and potatoes.  Saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add chicken and saffron.  Stir well.  Add in tomatoes, broth, paprika, and Bijol.  Cook on medium to med-low until potatoes are fork tender.

This can be served with Queso Fresco (white crumbly Mexican cheese), Feta, or even a sharp Cheddar.  A nice piece of hard bread, a glass of wine, and you've got a meal that is more than worthy of the effort and the eating.  Bon Appetit!

Greek Pizza & More

I love pizza night.

Sure, it means I have to make the dough and then roll out each pie.  But it's so worth it.  This is pizza the way we like it, without all the grease and the cheese that makes you question if it's really cheese.  Every time we order delivery pizza, I feel a little sick afterwards.  Making your own pies means controlling the chemical additives and junk that the pizza companies would rather you not know about.

Tonight was Greek Pizza night, and I threw in a Spanish one for the heck of it.  Bell peppers, tomatoes, black olives, prosciutto, feta, chorizo - all you need is a glass of vino and you're good to go!

I order my pizza flour from King Arthur Flour Company.  Trust me, this flour is worth it.  Your pizza dough will be smooth and elastic.  It will also be the perfect combination of crunchy meets chewy. If you cannot find the 00-style flour, buy a decent bread flour.  All-purpose flour just won't cut it.

You can find my recipe for pizza dough here.


The toppings we used were:

8 oz. Boar's Head Feta Cheese (I crumbled the entire block)
1 bell pepper sliced thin
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 slices purple onion, chopped
Small can sliced black olives
Parmesan, grated
McCormick's Greek Seasoning (no salt)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 link Aidells chorizo, sliced
3 oz. prosciutto, torn to pieces

The pizza dough recipe listed above (use the link) makes three pies.  Use the toppings knowing you'll need to split them three ways.  I wanted to do a chorizo/Granny Smith apple slice pizza, but I figured my family would not appreciate that.  At least it wasn't my usual fave - bell pepper and anchovy!

Use 1 tbsp. olive oil instead of pizza sauce

The last toppings are Parmesan, seasoning, and olive oil drizzle 

Bake on a pizza stone at 445 for 15 minutes

Finished Greek pizza

Some chorizo pizza goodness!!

Bottom line:  make these pies how you prefer.  The dough takes about an hour and 15 minutes from start to finish.  If you use the right flour, it takes seconds to roll out.  With a little planning, you can make meals you and your loved ones will be proud of.  Much better than delivery regret!

The Funky Chicken

We eat a lot of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in this house.  I find the only good way to buy them is in large packs, then either freeze them in multiple freezer bags or pre-cook them and then freeze them.

Today, I broke one of my cooking rules.  Never buy chicken on the fly.  No pun intended, seriously.  I had forgotten to defrost the chicken for dinner so I picked up some at my local Target, as it now sells groceries.  That was a mistake.  Their chicken pieces were kinda funky.

Not smelly, just, well, their chickens had tiny tah-tahs.  I was horrified!

Ok, so not that horrified, but surprised, nonetheless.  

So how in the world was I supposed to make stuffed chicken breasts when those chickens must have been stuffing their feathery bras???

Answer - I made them funky, that's how.

Whenever I've had stuffed chicken or pork, there's always been a little pocket slit into the sides of the chicken or chop, and then the cook stuffs that pocket with goodness.  Tonight, well, I practically filleted those things trying to make the pockets.  And it turned out better than I had anticipated.  Some of my instructions for stuffing will sound like plastic surgery, but I like having filling on both sides of the piece of chicken.

I don't claim to be all that talented when it comes to handling poultry and meat, so just go with it.

I'm serving this with homemade (and super easy) Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, but you can toss some lemon pepper or red wine salad dressing over the stuffed breasts before they go into the oven.  Throw in a tossed salad and a dinner roll and you've got one fabulous meal!

Chicken Stuffed with Prosciutto and Feta


Serves 4


Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 oz. Prosciutto (I took 1/3 of a 3 oz. package, about 3.5 slices)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
Several cracks fresh black pepper
2 tsp. EVOO

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Rinse and pat chicken dry, then place in a large Ziploc bag.  Pound with a mallet or rolling pin, but not using much pressure, just to make the pieces fairly uniform.

Make filling by chopping the prosciutto and mixing with the feta.  Add basil and black pepper.

Taking a sharp knife, place one piece of chicken at a time on a cutting board (one that is skid-proof) and make an incision on both sides/edges of the breast.  Stuff each opening with 1 tbsp. of the mixture.  You should have enough filling to use 2 tbsp. per breast.

Place each completed breast on a cookie sheet lined with non-stick foil.  Drizzle each breast with 1/2 tsp. EVOO.  Sprinkle freshly cracked black pepper over.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Serve with April's Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and enjoy!