Cream Chicken Over Toast

Cream chicken over toast...it's one of my ultimate comfort foods and fondest childhood dishes.  I remember being so excited about seeing this on the stove cooking when I was growing up.  There's just something great about a creamy sauce over toast, isn't there?

Now, it's exciting to see that this is also quite easy to make...AND that it's a perfect dish when you have leftover chicken!  It's the perfect way to finish off a roasted or rotisserie chicken, and should be one of your go-to recipes after Thanksgiving.  (You'll thank me when you're on day 6 of turkey sandwiches.)

Ingredients
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons flour
2 cups + 2-4 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon Worcheshire sauce (optional)
3 cups chopped chicken
Salt & Pepper
Toasted bread

Directions
Melt butter in a medium pan over low heat.  Add 3 Tablespoons flour and mix until combined and bubbling.

Pour in 2 cups milk and stir over low-medium heat until mixture thickens (about 10 minutes).  Add 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (optional).  If too thick, add a few more Tablespoons of milk to reach your desired sauce.

Add 3 cups chopped chicken and simmer over low heat for another 10 minutes.

Serve over warm, toasted bread or biscuits.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken - 2 Ingredients!

Husband and I love Mexican food.  I love to make it at home, but I especially enjoy a night out at a great restaurant.  I'm pretty predictable when we eat Mexican - I'm either going to get a Chicken Chimichanga (no rice or beans), or a taco salad.  They're my favorites!

I've always wondered howwww they get their chicken to be so delicious and tender...and now I've figured out how to replicate it at home.  AND it's the easiest thing you could make - it takes two ingredients, and you do it in the crock pot!  It's a fantastic "meat base" for any Mexican dish.  Add it to a salad, use it to fill burritos or enchiladas, or top nachos...whatever you want!  It's called Salsa Chicken, and I first saw this idea on a past coworker's blog, SarahFit.  Here's what you need...

Ingredients
3.5 pounds chicken (breasts or tenders)
2.5 cups your favorite salsa (I use a peach mango salsa)

Directions
Combine chicken and salsa in a crock pot, and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or 4+ on high).  Halfway through, chicken will be "fall apart" tender.  Remove chicken from crock pot and shred with a fork.  Return chicken to crock pot, mix with salsa, and continue cooking as long as you'd like.  Depending on what salsa you use, you may want to add a little salt at this point.

This is a fantastic base for any Mexican recipe - we made fajitas and taco salads, but you could also make nachos with this salsa chicken!

Salsa Chicken Fajitas - Saute one onion an orange pepper in a little olive oil.  Spread light sour cream on the center of a large wrap.  Place a heaping half cup of salsa chicken on top of the sour cream, then a half cup of onions/peppers.  Finally, add a few diced tomatoes and some shredded cheese.

Taco Salad - A slight variation of my regular taco salad (check it out!).  Layer lettuce, broccoli slaw, diced tomato, refried beans, salsa chicken, shredded cheese, and sour cream.

Nachos with Salsa Chicken - Layer tortilla chips, shredded cheese, salsa, black olives, and salsa chicken on an oven-safe dish.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or just until cheese melts.  Top with guacamole and/or sour cream and serve!

Chicken with Tomato and Mushrooms

This weekend I went to Costco and stumbled upon a giant container of beautiful cherry tomatoes.  I couldn't wait to get home and make something with them.  What I came up with is super quick and full of flavor...and only uses a few ingredients!

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2.5 cups cherry tomatoes
8 ounces mushrooms
Italian dressing
Water
Olive oil
Basil
Garlic powder

Directions
Season chicken breasts with garlic powder and basil and cook in a little olive oil until just done.  I decided to cut my breasts in half so they were thin.  I started with about 1 tablespoon olive oil.  When more needed to be added to the pan, I substituted the Italian dressing for oo, and finished cooking the chicken that way!

Once your chicken breasts are just done, remove them from the pan.  Add tomatoes, mushrooms, 1/4 cup Italian dressing, and 1/4 cup water to the pan, and cook over medium until tomatoes break down (about 10-15 minutes).

Once you've got a nice looking sauce, add chicken breasts back to the pan and cook for another few minutes to finish cooking.

Then serve!

Enjoy!

Cheesy Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I made the most delicious stuffed chicken last night.  For the past week, with the bombings and general feeling of uneasiness around Boston, I haven't been in the mood to cook much.  I quickly exhausted all of our easy weeknight go-to's, so we were in need of something interesting for dinner.  

When we first moved to Boston, we lived down the street from an Uno's Chicago Grill.  My favorite thing to get there was their "Baked Stuffed" - a chicken breast stuffed with cheese, broccoli, and tomato.  Feeling nostalgic,  I decided to put my own spin on the dish, complements of the Laughing Cow and some spinach.  Laughing Cow wedges are perfect for stuffed chicken breasts - they are pre-portioned into 35 calorie wedges and spread easily, so you can make sure there's cheesy goodness in each bite.  These stuffed chicken breasts are bursting with flavor - you'll LOVE them.  Here's what you need.

Ingredients  (Serves 2)

2 chicken breasts

4 Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese Wedges

Spinach

Tomato (diced with seeds removed)

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Basil

Salt

Directions

Pound chicken breasts until they are about 1/4" thick.  To do this, place each breast between sheets of wax paper and pound lightly (starting in the center, moving outward) until thin.  This is where I learned I was missing a key piece of equipment - the meat pounder - so I used a jewelry hammer.  :)  It worked!

Lay flattened chicken breasts on a flat surface, bottom-side up.  Sprinkle with garlic and onion powder, basil, and salt.  

Then add filling.  Each chicken breast gets two Laughing Cow wedges.  (At only 35 calories per wedge, you can afford LOTS of cheese!)  Spread cheese across entire chicken breast.  Cover in spinach, then sprinkle tomato pieces.

Make sure you spread filling over the entire breast - I changed mine after the picture...sorry!

Now it's time to roll it up!  Roll from one of the short ends, so you have a "stubby" chicken wrap (not a long one).  Once you have it rolled, use several toothpicks to keep edges sealed.  Tuck ends together and secure so the cheese doesn't leak out while cooking.  Sprinkle wrapped breast with garlic and salt.

Line a baking dish with foil and spray with pam.  Then bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until done.  

Carefully remove toothpicks and serve!

Enjoy!

Dinner out at 80 Thoreau

I few weeks ago my friend Ann posted a link from Zagat Blog about 9 Must-Try Tasting Menus in the Greater Boston Area.  This past weekend, Ann, Vivian, and I decided to pick one of the restaurants on the list and give it a try while the husbands were busy.  After looking them over, we decided to try 80 Thoreau in Concord, MA.

We've spent a lot of time in Concord - whether it's wandering around the cute downtown area, visiting Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, or walking around Walden Pond - but I'd never noticed 80 Thoreau.  As I was approaching the restaurant I realized why I'd always missed it.  It doesn't look like a typical restaurant.  We ALL had trouble finding it - it's just a pretty blue door with a sign to the right.  I kind of like a "hidden restaurant" though...

Our seating was at 8:45.  When Vivian made the reservation, she did so on Open Table, but didn't realize that that didn't reserve the tasting menu.  When she called the restaurant, they said their tasting menu was sold out that evening, but had room at the "Chef's Table".  Now THAT sounded like fun!

The Chef's table was a bar overlooking the kitchen, so we spent the evening watching the chefs work their magic...and then eating their creations.  We soon learned the other perk that comes with the Chef's Table are the little extras that are thrown in as you dine.  After we ordered our first course, our waiter brought us something to sample - tuna and an olive compote on crackers.

Then our first course arrived - we had Duck Confit with Grapefruit, Pistachio and Endive, and Poached Farm Egg over a bed of greens.  They were both delicious and full of flavor.

We enjoyed watching the chefs work while we waited for our Main Course.  It was a fun way to pick out what you wanted to eat next.  Watch them make the dishes...and pick the one that looks the best!  The chefs move around the kitchen so gracefully, flawlessly plating all the orders coming in.  I couldn't believe how calm it was.

For the main course, we decided to go with Pan Roasted Quails with Pomegranate, Chevre, and Barley, and the Roasted & Braised Chicken with Potatoes Gratin, Brussels, and Almonds.

The Quail

The Chicken

I was blown away by how large the servings were.  At most of the nice restaurants in Boston, you're presented with tiny portions.  Not so at 80 Thoreau.  I could only finish half of the juicy, bone-in breast - it was so big!  I did, however, polish off the Brussels sprouts and potatoes, which were fantastic.  I'm not usually a fan of the skin on a chicken breast, but this was delicious and perfectly cooked.

After watching the kitchen all evening, we knew dessert was going to be the Flourless Chocolate Cake.  The chocolate cake was finished off with a blowtorch, so how could we not get it?  I was most excited about the poached pears that came with the dish, which did not disappoint.  The cake was very rich, so these were a nice addition to the dish.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Poached Pears

While we were swooning over the cake, the chef we'd been chatting with passed us another little gem to try -   Goat Cheese Cheesecake with a winter fruit compote and graham cracker crumble.  THIS was the dessert of the night.  It was tart without being overbearing, and we immediately abandoned the chocolate cakes for this guy.  We had a Goat Cheese Cheesecake at Audubon Circle a few weeks ago, but this was 1,000 times better.  The perfect way to end a meal.

Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Winter Fruit Compote

It was a fantastic evening out with great friends and was honestly one of my top two dining experiences ever.  I can't wait to go back!  If you live in the Boston area, you MUST make your way to Concord and try this restaurant - you won't be disappointed!