Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll-Ups (Thanks, Pinterest!)

Brent and I kind of fell off the monthly meal planning because of the ridiculous switch in my schedule.  Because of the switch all of my shifts are either 11am-7:30pm or 12pm-8:30pm.  Clearly too late for a decent meal.

I was snooping around on Pinterest (I realized that I "pin" far too many baking and sweets recipes than I do actual meals.. Ha)  I sent Brent my "Cooking" board and had him pick out things he thought he'd like.  One of the things he pointed out right away were the Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll-Ups.  I always have Tuesdays off so I decided I'd make it tonight.  Let me describe it in a nutshell:  Super Easy, Super Yummy.

I got the recipe from this gal's site. 

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon coarse or Dijon mustard**
• sea salt and fresh black pepper
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup panko crumbs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 chicken cutlets, 1/4-inch thick
• 4 slices deli ham (sliced on the thick side)
• 4 slices deli Swiss cheese (sliced on the thick side)**
• toothpicks

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F. Lightly grease a large roasting pan (I used a round cake pan...)
2. Set up a dredging station by whisking the egg, milk and mustard together in a shallow dish, season with salt and pepper. In a second wide, shallow dish combine both bread crumbs and flour together.
3. Season the chicken cutlets lightly on each side with salt and pepper. Place a slice each of Swiss and ham (trim to fit the cutlet, if needed) over top and roll up beginning from the smallest end of the chicken. Secure with a toothpick or two. Repeat until they are all rolled up. Dredge one at a time by dipping into the egg and then into the bread crumbs using your hands to pat the crumbs on. Set in roasting pan and repeat until all are covered with crumbs.
4. Bake about 25 minutes, depending on the thickness/size of your cutlets (internal temp should reach 164-175 degrees F). Remove from oven and allow to set 5 minutes. Remove toothpicks and cut into slices 1-2 inches thick, if desired or serve as is.  (I ended up cooking mine for a little under an hour, 25 minutes wasn't nearly long enough - I got my food thermometer up to 160˚F and called it good - it was)

**I would suggest adding some extra Swiss cheese and drizzling a line of Dijon mustard down the center before you roll up the chicken.

We were both really excited about the meal.  It turned out perfectly  -  we served some rice pilaf along side it. I'm definitely going to make this again.

Lasagna!

Brent and I like to go to this restaurant in Moorhead called Speakeasy.  He usually gets the Chicken Parmigiano and I either go with the Chicken Cordon Bleu, Penne Sun Pasta, or the Tortellini Vegetelle.  Brent decided to go outside of his comfort zone and get the lasagna.  He really liked it.  I guess when they make their lasagna they don't layer the sauce in there.  They cut it and it comes out in a nice layered piece - not like my usual lasagna that basically falls apart once you scoop it out with the spatula.

I tried my lasagna like theirs this time around.


1 lb Italian Sausage
Lasagna Noodles, cooked, drained and rinsed in COLD water
1 small can of tomato paste
2 small cans of no salt added tomato sauce
1-1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup Ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Garlic powder mix
crushed red pepper


Bring water to a boil and cook the noodles.  While they cook, brown the Italian sausage until completely cooked through - drain in colander.  I've said this before in another post, I ALWAYS rise the cooked meat under hot water - it gets a ton of the grease off.

Drain the noodles and rinse in COLD water.  If you don't they will get sticky and you won't be able to pull them apart.

Mix the meat with the small can of tomato paste and set aside.

 
Empty the cans of tomato sauce into a separate bowl - season your sauce as you see fit.  I usually shake quite a bit of oregano and basil in there, a little crushed red pepper and some of the garlic powder mix.  I mix it all up and if it doesn't really look or taste the way I like, then I add more.  Remember that the flavor of the herbs will get more noticeable when cooking.

Put the cottage cheese and ricotta (I used part skim ricotta and fat free cottage cheese) in another bowl and shake some oregano and basil into it and mix all together.

Now, put a bit of sauce on the bottom of the dish (I use a 9x9 pan because there's only two of us and we don't need lasagna for days - you can use a 9x13 though, just adjust the ingredients accordingly).  Layer three of the cooked noodles and then spread some of the meat mixture over them.

I put the cheese mixture in a ZipLock bag and cut a hole in the corner.  Layer cheese over the meat.

Use a spatula to spread the cheese out a little bit.  I just like to make things as easy as possible :)
Sprinkle a layer of mozzarella cheese over the soft cheeses.

Yeah, I like cheese.  What of it?

Layer down some more noodles, lay down the rest of the meat, then the soft cheeses and more mozzarella.

Lay one more layer of noodles down, pour your tomato sauce over the last layer of noodles.

Sprinkle some mozzarella on the top, of course.

Bake at 350˚F for 1 hour.  I'd probably put a pan under your baking dish so it doesn't make a mess out of your oven.

Let cool 15-20 minutes and serve.

Now, will someone hand me a Lactaid?

TACOOOOOOOOO Casserole!!! (or hotdish)

Holy ish this stuff is good!  I ate it for three meals in a row :)  Super easy to make, too!
(Brit!  You can make this!!!)


1-8 oz tube crescent rolls
1-1/4 lb hamburger (I just use 1 lb...  who the hell sells 1-1/4 lbs of burger?)
1 pkg taco seasoning (Ortega is the BEST!)
1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chilis
1/2 c. water
2 c. crushed Doritos (Nacho Cheese or Spicy Nacho are the best to use)
12 oz sour cream
1 cup shredded cheese (I don't measure cheese..  I use what I find necessary)

Brown hamburger, drain* and add taco mix, water and drained tomatoes and chilis.
*I always, always, ALWAYS drain the burger into a colander and actually rinse it in hot water - it gets a lot of the excess grease off better than trying to just drain it

Press rolls into 9x13 pan and sprinkle with half of the chips.  Next add the meat mixture and then the sour cream.  I put the sour cream in a ZipLock bag and snipped the corner - way easier to put it on evenly.  Then add cheese and the rest of the chips.

I'm not gonna lie, I used the whole bag of chips.

Bake @ 350˚F for 40-45 minutes.

After baked add shredded lettuce, diced fresh tomatoes, green bell pepper and more cheese if you'd like ;)

this is before it was baked, but you get the idea

Hungry Girl Recipes: Test 2

AND HERE WE GO AGAIN!
Hungry Girl:  200 under 200

Scoopable Chinese Chicken Salad  (it's sooo good!)

1-16 oz package dry broccoli slaw mix
12 oz cooked skinless chicken breast, chopped
1 cup canned water chestnuts, drained and sliced into thin strips
1 cup canned mandarin orange segments packed in water or juice, drained and chopped (and rinsed if packed in juice)
1 cup chopped scallions
3/4 cup Newman's Own Light Low Fat Ginger Dressing

In a large bowl, toss all ingredients together and mix well.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Stir well before serving.  ENJOY!

Serving Size:  195 calories, 2.75g fat, 595mg sodium, 21g carbs, 4.5g fiber, 12.5 sugars, 22.5g protein
Makes 5 servings.

Hungry Girl Recipe: Test 1

My mom got me the Hungry Girl cookbook (200 under 200) and I was really excited when I got it!

With my absolutely ridiculous work schedule I've had a hard time finding time to cook anything in this book (even though they're super easy recipes) and I've also found it hard to blog!  :(

I decided to try the 'Sweet 'n Chunky Chicken Salad' recipe.  With Brent starting school again for the semester he doesn't have a break long enough to get a decent meal on his school days and so we are looking for mini-meals or snacks for him to have during the day.  I also would like to use these recipes to stray away from eating out in the food court at work.

The recipe turned out really well and I actually doubled it.

Here's the actual recipe straight from the book:

4-1/2 oz cooked skinless lean chicken breast, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Persian or Kirby cucumber (if you can't find these, any cucumber will do)
1/3 cup red seedless grapes, halved
1/3 cup chopped apples (any kind will do - I used HoneyCrisp)
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 Tbsp fat-free mayonnaise
1 no-calorie sweetener packet
1/4 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning
Dash of salt

In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, mayo, sweetener, lemon-pepper seasoning and salt, stirring until mixed well.

Add chicken, stirring until fully coated with the yogurt dressing.

Add cucumber, grape halves, and apples - mix well.

Makes two servings.


I didn't have lemon-pepper seasoning, so I just put some lemon juice and pepper in it, lol.
This recipe is actually really good.  I was quite excited when it turned out :)

1 Cup serving size:  145 calories, 1.5g fat, 332mg sodium, 14g carbs, 1g fiber, 10g sugars, 21g proteins
Makes 2 servings [hence the reason I doubled the recipe ;)]

Slow-Cooked Peanut Butter Granola

This recipe is FANTASTIC, especially when mixed with vanilla yogurt :)
Now, that being said, it's quite time intensive... But don't let that deter you from making this!

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, uncooked
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup coconut, toasted*
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 brown sugar


In a slow cooker, stir together the oats, sesame seeds, ground flax seeds, toasted coconut and salt.

In a microwave safe bowl, blend honey, oil, peanut butter, and brown sugar.  Heat mixture and stir until peanut butter melts and mixture is smooth.  Pour mixture over the ingredients in the slow cooker.  Stir the mixture until everything is well coated with the peanut butter mixture.

Set the slow cooker to low.  Place the cover on top and wedge the handle of a wooden spoon or chop stick under the lid to hold it open to create a vent to allow steam to escape.  Cook for about 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.*  When the granola becomes a deep golden brown, turn it out onto a large baking sheet with sides until it is cooled completely.  Store cooled granola at room temperature in airtight container.

*Temperature settings on slow cookers do not seem to be universal.  The low setting on my slow cooker is quite hot and needs to be stirred about every 15 minutes, so just keep an eye on it :)
*Toast coconut in a small skillet on the stove over medium/low heat.  Stir constantly until it turns to a golden brown color.  Immediately dump into slow cooker.   -   There are a lot of people that don't like coconut, however you can't taste it in this recipe so I totally recommend adding it.  For those of you who are like me and LOVE coconut, I added quite a bit extra ;)

Sweet and Spicy Cashews

Let me start off by saying:   I hate cashews.
Because of this my dad wonders whether or not I'm his kid, but I just tell him that it makes us a great team because he hates the peanuts in the mixed jars and I like them and I hate the cashews and he likes them!

These cashews are amazing.

My mom emailed me the recipe saying that they're awesome and I had to try them even though I despise the nut...  So I did.  Now I can't stop eating them.  Thanks, Mom.

1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
19-1/2 oz cashews (I used about a pound and a half, maybe a bit more)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp red chili powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
a dash (maybe 1/2 tsp or more) of ground cinnamon (optional, but I did it and it's gooooood)

Whisk together the egg white and water in a large bowl.  Add cashews and toss to coat.  Transfer to a colander and drain for about 2 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine sugar and spices.  Add the cashews and toss to coat.

Arrange in a single layer on a baking pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes at 250˚F, stirring once half way through.  Store in air tight container.

YUMMMMM!