Proud Momma!

My Kindergartener started back to school this week.  She has been working hard on her writing and her reading.  This week she started bringing home 1st grade level books to read.  Also if she so chooses she can write a book report on it and share it with the class.  Oh and she started private violin lessons along with her dad.  I think we are starting early on all this overachiever stuff.  However, I prefer that to underachiever.  She is going to learn to work for her success and that nothing is free.  Someone has to pay for it some where. 
So I just had to put a note in here about how proud I am.  I am one happy momma!

Pinterest recipe #3 and #4

This recipe is really two.  I started with one to make the other.  The first one is called Perfect Chicken.  It comes from www.therecipecrayonbox.blogspot.com.  You should really read her post since she talks about people making casseroles and such with chicken that has no flavor.  So this is the solution.

For Perfect Chicken you will need:

  1/2 tsp salt                            1-1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

  1/2 tsp pepper                      1/2 tsp garlic powder

  1/2 tsp paprika                     1/2 tsp onion powder

Mix salt and spices.  Rub all over chicken.  Bake* at 350 for 25 minutes.

Sounds easy, right?  *It isn't all that easy in reality.  I followed the directions on her recipe card (literally she had a picture of her recipe card) and it took me 45 minutes to cook the chicken enough to use.  So later when I went back to see what I had done wrong I noticed she left out a step.  She had step by step instructions that included it as well as the recipe again at the bottom including the step as well.  She cooks the chicken in oil on the stovetop for 2-3 minutes per side to give the outside a nice brown color.  Don't miss this step like I did.  My problem is that when I am cooking I like to have all the steps right there.  It is nice to have step by step instructions.  However, my children always want to tell or show me something so I rush through things. Even though my chicken was really hard to shred because of how long it took to cook I will give this one another chance and see how it comes out when done right.  Also, just for your info the outside with all the spices was great but the inside was still the same ol' tasteless chicken.  I will work on that by cutting into the chicken and rubbing the spices all the way down into it. 

On to the next recipe.  My kids loved it and it even passed my husbands taste test even though he still refused to say that it was one of the best things he has eaten.  I'll keep working on him.  This recipe comes from www.chef-in-training.com.  Here it is:

Chicken Pillows

Ingredients:

  1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury Crescent Rolls*                   1 sleeve Saltine Crackers, crushed

  8 oz cream cheese                                                1 can cream of chicken soup

  1/4 cup butter                                                       1/4 cup milk

  2-3 cups cooked and shredded chicken                 2 spoonfuls sour cream

  1 egg                                                                    1/2 cup shredded cheese

Instructions:

  Preheat oven to 400 F.  Soften the butter and cream cheese in a bowl.  Then stir to a smooth consistency.  Add shredded chicken to the bowl. 

  Lay out 8 crescents on a cookie sheet and strech them out.

  Place a few spoonfulls of the chicken mixture into the center of each crescent.  Then fold the dough around the filling so that none of it is showing.  This is the "pillow."

  In a seperate bowl, beat the egg with a little water.  Dip the "pillow" into the egg mixture then transfer into the crushed saltine crackers.  Then place on a cookie sheet.  Repeat until all "pillows" are on the cookie sheet.  

  Place cookie sheet in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on them since your oven may cook them quicker.

  For the sauce: Mix the soup and milk in a saucepan.  You can add more milk to get the consistancy you want.  When hot add the sour cream and shredded cheese of your liking and stir to combine. 

  When each "pillow" is plated spoon the sauce over the top and serve.

This really is a great recipe.  It is so good.  You can change it to your liking.  I added a little garlic salt to the filling.  *Instead of Pillsbury I used the store brand and it worked great.  I also used the big and flaky crescent rolls which only have 6 rolls to a can.  For the cheese I used Monterey Jack.  I look forward to trying out other cheeses.

 The outside

The inside

**UPDATE** I tried the Perfect Chicken again and it is much better when not so over cooked. 

Pinterest recipe #2

My husband loves bacon so I am always on the look out for any recipe with bacon.  I found a recipe for bacon wrapped chicken on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.  This is what it looked like (it looks good but not nearly as good as the picture on Pinterest).

It is a pretty basic recipe.  Play around with it.  Also the amount of each ingredient is pretty much set by you and how many people you will be feeding.
Ingredients:
  Chicken breasts (1 per person)
  Bacon (6 slices per chicken breast - this is why my picture doesn't look as good.  I only had enough bacon for 4 slices per breast)
  Season salt
  Cream cheese
  Garlic salt
  Cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions:
  Place a chicken breast between two layers of plastic wrap and flatten it out using a meat tenderizer.  Be careful not to put holes in the meat. Do this to all chicken breasts you plan to do.
  Next lay out 4 pieces of bacon vertically on a plate.  Then 2 pieces horizontally.  Place your flattened chicken on top of bacon.  Sprinkle a little seasoned salt over chicken.  Then mix the cream cheese and garlic salt together and spread over chicken.  Top with shredded cheese.
  Roll the chicken up a little bit and then fold the 2 horizontal strips of bacon up over the chicken.  Then fold the 4 vertical slices around the chicken and secure with toothpicks.
    Lay the chicken seam side down on a pan.  Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.  Turn it over half way through.  Then broil to brown the bacon and make it crisp.  You can turn it once while broiling to get both sides.  Watch to closely so that it doesn't go to long under the broiler.

That is it.  Serve it up and enjoy.  This recipe brought to you by www.artsyfartsymama.com

Pinterest recipe #1

This is the first recipe in my quest to actually try the recipes on Pinterest.  I did this one for a Halloween party.  My kids loved them.  My husband loved them (he is hard to impress).

These cupcakes are from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Recipe book.  This recipe was posted on www.bakeorbreak.com.

Chocolate Salted-Caramel Mini Cupcakes*

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

   1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour                                2 large eggs

   3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process                   3/4 cup buttermilk

          cocoa powder                                             3 Tbsp vegetable oil

   1 1/2 cups sugar                                                 1 tsp vanilla extract                               

   1 1/2 tsp baking soda                                         3/4 cup warm water                                       

   3/4 tsp baking powder                                        sea salt for garnish

For the filling:

   2 1/2 cups sugar                                                 3/4 cup heavy cream

   2/3 cup water                                                     2 1/2 tsp sea salt

   1 Tbsp light corn 

For the frosting:

   1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch             3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

          processed cocoa powder                            1/4 tsp salt

   1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp boilong water                      1 1/2 lbs semi-sweet chocolate,

   2 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temp                      melted and cooled

Instructions

To make cupcakes:

   Preheat oven to 350 and line your muffin pans with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and water.  Using an electric mixer on low speed, mix until smooth. 

   Fill muffin pans about 2/3 full.  Bake about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire rack about 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes to wire racks to let cool completely.

   Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen in an airtight container for up to a month.

To make the filling:

   Heat sugar, water, and corn syrup, in a heavy saucepan over high heat.  Stir occasionally until syrup is clear.  Attach a candy themometer to side of pan.  Stop stirring, and cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush as needed.

   Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized and temperature just reaches 360.

   Remove from heat.  Slowly pour in cream and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Stir in sea salt.  Use immediately.  If caramel begins to harden, reheat gently until pourable.

   Use a paring knife, cut a cone-shaped piece, about 1/2 inch deep, from the center of each cupcake.  Spoon 1-2 teaspoons of warm filling into each cupcake.  Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over filling.

To make the frosting:

   Combine cocoa and boiling water.  Stir until cocoa has dissolved.

   Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, powdered sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and add melted and cooled chocolate.  Beat until combined.  Beat in cocoa mixture.

  Frosting can be refridgerated up to 5 days or frozen up to 1 month.  Bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth before using.

  Fit a pastry bag with a medium open-star tip (Wilton #18).  Fill pastry bag with frosting with frosting.  Pipe onto cupcakes, swirling tip and releasing as you pull up to form a peak.  Garnish with a pinch of sea salt.

  Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are filled and frosted.  Store at room temperature in an air0tight container until ready to serve.

*I make regular cupcakes rather than the mini ones.  The recipe for mini cupcakes makes 56-60 mini cupcakes.  I had to bake mine longer due to the fact that I made them bigger. 

Pinterest

While much later than many others I have become fasinated with Pinterest.  Earlier this year my sister sent me an invite. I was in need of something to keep my from going crazy.  So I joined the ranks of pinners world wide.  I look at all the wonderful things there are to be found.  However, like most I pin it and tell myself that at I will come back and really look at it and even try it at least once.  I have done so only once and it was fantastic!  So my goal on here is to buckle down and try the thousands of things I have pinned (one at a time) and then record my honest opinion here.  So I will start with the one thing I have tried off of pinterest.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

This is what mine looked like and this . . . .



is how it looked on Pinterest.

Ok so their picture is way better but I want you to know that dispite that it was soooo good.  In fact, I got a ton of compliments for it.  It is a must try!  Here is the recipe from Leslie at dishingwithleslie.blogspot.com:

Ingredients:

4 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup freshly chopped chives, divided

8 strips of bacon (6 for the salad and 2 for topping) cooked and crumbled

1 tsp black pepper

salt to taste

Serves 4 - 6 (Simply double list of ingredients if you need a larger serving)

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together your mayonnaise, and sour cream. Make sure the two are completely combined and then add half of the chives, cheese, and pepper. Taste mixture to see if you prefer some salt. (I usually add a dash or two.) Let chill in fridge for a bit. Meanwhile, peel and cube your potatoes in to bite size pieces. Put in a large pot, cover with water, and boil until fork tender. About 20 minutes. *You need to keep an eye on them. If they cook too long you'll end up with more of a mashed potato consistency when you mix them with the sauce.

When potatoes are ready, drain and let cool just a bit. *Let them cool a lot if you plan to serve chilled. Put potatoes in a large bowl or dish and combine with sour cream mixture. Fold in most of your crumbled bacon. Top with remaining half of chives and remaining crumbled bacon.

LESLIE'S NOTES: I typically  make this dish with Russet potatoes. I gave the suggestion of Yukon Gold because I have made it using those as well. Both are excellent! I also like to leave a little bit of the skins on the potatoes (especially if using Russets) to give a really baked potato taste. But that's just me.

 

Thank you Leslie for this great recipe!

 

Welcome

Since no one knows about this blog and isn't likely to visit it I am mostly welcoming myself.  If you have stumbled across this blog I welcome you as well.  I hope you can find something of use or at the very least entertaining.  I have started to learn many different things over the years and have wanted a way to show them while remaining annonymous.  I have another blog or two that I use to keep my family who lives far away up to date on the goings on in our lives here.  So blogging is not new to me.  The only thing new is this particular blog.  If you do happen onto this blog and find somehting of use here please let me know.  If you would like to give me new ideas to try please share. Thank you for your time.