Poppy Seed Chicken

The cream cheese and sour cream makes this a rich, filling dish.  The recipe calls for only 1/4 tsp. of poultry seasoning, which isn't much at all for the volume of the other ingredients so I added more.

I did not have any light cream so I used milk and added an extra tablespoon of butter. 

POPPY SEED CHICKEN

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 ½ T. poppy seeds

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp. poultry seasoning ( I added quite a bit more)

3 T. butter

3 T flour

1 cup chicken broth

¾ cup light cream  (I used milk)

4 oz. cream cheese

1/3 cup sour cream

½ cup crushed Ritz crackers

3 T. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375°.

Cook onion, garlic, poultry seasoning in butter until tender.  Add flour, stir well and cook 1-2 minutes.  Gradually add broth and cream.  Stir in cream cheese and sour cream and cook until melted and smooth

Combine chicken and poppy seeds and add to sauce.

Put in a grease 8” square pan.

Top with crushed crackers and butter.

Bake 20-25 minutes.

Serve over pasta or rice.

Four Cheese Bacon Stuffed Smothered Chicken Casserole

This recipe came from a food blog.  It looked interesting but the person that wrote the recipe had the instructions so convoluted that I had to literally watch the video to determine how to assemble the dish.  Then I rewrote the ingredients list and instructions to make the process clearer.

Since I cook for just myself, I used one package of chicken tenders in place of the breasts. If you use breasts, they need to be thin.

I used a one quart casserole dish and made two layers with the stuffing mixture spread on top of the bottom layer rather than rolling them.  I used mozzarella and medium cheddar cheeses. 

The package of chicken tenders had eight in it.  I put the soup mixture in the bottom of the dish then placed four tenders on top.  I spread the chicken stuffing mixture on top of the bottom layer of tenders then put the other four on top of that.  

 

Four Cheese Bacon Stuffed Smothered Chicken Casserole

2 T. olive oil

1 tsp. butter

¼ red bell pepper, chopped

½ onion, chopped

½ can cream of chicken or mushroom soup

¼ c. water

½ c. grated Mozzarella cheese

Saute onion and pepper in oil and butter. 

Stir in soup and water. 

Spread in bottom of baking dish.

Stuffing for chicken:

8 oz. cream cheese

1 T. onion, minced

1 T. Italian seasoning

1 T. garlic powder

1 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. lemon juice

6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

Mix in bowl and spoon 2 T. on each chicken breast. 

Roll up and secure with toothpick.

Dip each breast in 1 beaten egg and coat with Italian Bread Crumbs.

Brown in oil. 

Place in baking dish, pressing each breast down into the pepper mixture.  Spoon some of the mixture over the chicken breasts.

Top with ½ cup grated cheddar and ½ cup grated Monterey Jack cheese.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes.

Top with 6 additional slices of cooked chopped bacon.  Bake for 5 minutes.

Pot Luck Recipes

I've been so busy at the office that there's just not been time for me to get into the kitchen and experiment with new recipes until today.  These are three recipes I found on Facebook in the past few days.

The chicken recipe is from America's Test Kitchen.

SMOKEY PULLED CHICKEN

1 Cup chicken broth

2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 T. molasses

1 T. sugar

2 tsp. liquid smoke

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

1 tsp. salt

Cut chicken thighs in half.  Put into stockpot with remaining ingredients.  Cover and simmer 25 minutes.

Remove chicken from liquid.  Strain liquid and set aside.

SAUCE

1/4 Cup molasses

1 ½ cups catsup

2 T. Worcestershire sauce  (I used 1 T.)

1 T. Frank’s Red Hot hot sauce

½ tsp. each salt and pepper

Shred chicken, add 1 cup of the sauce and ½ cup of the reserved braising liquid and 1 tsp. liquid smoke.  Heat thoroughly.

SWEET MACARONI SALAD

16 oz. elbow macaroni

4 medium carrots, peeled and shredded

1 chopped bell pepper

1 red onion, diced

2 cups mayonnaise

14 oz can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

1 cup cider vinegar

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp. salt

Cook macaroni.  Drain and rinse.  Stir in carrots, onion and pepper.

Whisk together remaining ingredients and toss with macaroni mixture.

***I cut the recipe in half and it still made a large bowl full***

I've never been fond of graham cracker crusts so I just prepared the filling for this.  The oreo cookie crust would just be too sweet and would overpower the filling. 

Creamsicle Cheesecake

Ingredients

For the crust 

24 whole golden Oreo cookies, crushed

6 tbsp. melted butter

Pinch kosher salt

For the filling

1 (3-oz.) box orange Jell-O

1 c. boiling water

2 c. whipped topping

2 (8-oz.) blocks cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. sour cream

1 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Pinch kosher salt

For garnish

1 c. whipped topping

1 clementine, peeled and separated into segments

Directions

 In a large bowl, whisk together orange Jell-o and boiling water until Jell-o is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool completely.

In a medium bowl, mix together Oreo crumbs, butter, and salt. Press into the bottom of an 8" springform pan and up the sides.

In another large bowl beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth, then add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Fold whipped topping into cream cheese mixture, then pour half of mixture into cooled Jell-o. Whisk until smooth.

Onto your prepared crust, alternate pouring 1/4 cup dollops of each mixture until both mixtures are used. Use a butter knife to gently swirl the layers. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours, or until firm.

When firm, pipe dollops of whipped topping around the outside of the cheesecake. Top each dollop with a clementine segment, garnish with orange zest and serve.