Chicken Two Ways

Thanks to Ms. Gina at SkinnyTaste.com, I began experimenting with stuffed chicken breasts and chicken rollatini this year.  Gina has a fantastically delicious recipe for Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmagiana.
I'm pretty sure I've made it before, but I've made so many of her stuffed chicken/chicken rollatini recipes that it's hard to keep track of which ones I haven't or haven't made. With this one, I made a few minor changes.

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmagiana, serves 4-8
inspired by SkinnyTaste.com

Ingredients:

• 1.25 lbs chicken cutlets, 8 cutlets overall
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (I didn't use whole wheat)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan (I usually have fresh, but I went Kraft this time)
• 1 egg
• about 2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped or torn up (I didn't really measure, but it looked to be about 2 cups)
• 6 Tbsp part-skim ricotta
• 1 oz pecorino romano cheese, grated
• 4 oz part-skim mozzarella cheese
• non-stick cooking spray
• 1 cup marinara sauce (I went with Bertolli Vidalia Onion since I didn't have any already made)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Spray cooking pan with non-stick spray.
2. Chop or tear spinach into small pieces and place in bowl.  Add ricotta and grated pecorino romano and mix together.  In separate bowl, whisk egg.  In third bowl, mix combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.
3. Spread cheese/spinach mix on each cutlet.  Roll each cutlet.  Dip in egg, and then roll in breadcrumbs.  Place in cooking pan, seem side down.  
4. Cover each chicken roll with some sauce and a mozzarella cheese.
5. Bake at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and cheeses are melted.

This was Wednesday night's delicious dinner.  But, I was lazy, and even though I had defrosted chicken breasts, I ended up buying cutlets because I didn't want to butcher the breasts to make cutlets.




On Friday, I was spending some time on the WeightWatchers message boards, my favorite place to "hang out" and chat with some wonderful people, many of whom have become my friends.  Well, one lovely lady was asking for some chicken recipes.  I had no idea what I was making for dinner, but I did know I still had that defrosted chicken in my fridge that had to get cooked or trashed.  And then came along Ms. Jamie (author of FoodFeminismLife) with an absolutely phenomenally delicious recipe. I searched her blog to give her proper credit, but I couldn't find this recipe.  Below is my re-creation, with very little adjustment to the original.  Fortunately, a bunch of us boardies from the NYC area were getting together Saturday evening so I was able to Jamie in person just how much I loved her dish!

We start by sauteing eggplant.

And I learned that sauteed eggplant is super delicious!

Dredge the chicken in flour, and then toss it in the pan and cook it up.

 

Top the chicken with eggplant, 

prosciutto, and fontina.

 

Broil until cheese is melted and everything looks delicious!

Mix up the sauce, 

 

toss together a salad,

and enjoy!

Chicken Sorrentino, serves 4
adapted from a recipe by Jamie, author of FoodFeminismLife
(Original recipe also called for chopped Roma tomatoes which I omitted, 1/2 stick unsalted butter which I replaced with 1/2 cup chicken broth, and 2Tbsp parsley for garnish which I just forgot to include in my finished dish.) 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small eggplant
• 1/8 c flour
• 2 Tbsp vidalia onion, chopped
• 1/2 c marsala wine
• 1 oz prosciutto, sliced thin
• 1 oz fontina cheese
• 1 lb chicken cutlets
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1.  Slice eggplant into thin slices.  (Original recipe calls for 1/2" circles, I went with thinner, lengthwise cuts, totally up to you.)  Heat oil in pan and saute eggplant until golden brown.  Remove from oil and set aside on paper towel covered plate.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Dredge in flour.  Re-heat oil, if necessary, and add chicken to pan.  Cook until browned on one side, and then flip over and continue to cook until heated through.  If oil gets used up, add water or chicken broth to unstick chicken from pan.  When chicken is finished, remove from pan and place on broiler pan.  (Hint: Cover top of broiler pan with foil for easy clean-up.)
3. In same pan, add marsala wine, onion (and tomato if using), and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Simmer and allow wine to reduce.  Add chicken broth to pan and continue to simmer until sauce thickens.
4. Meanwhile, top chicken with eggplant, prosciutto, and fontina cheese.  Place under broiler for a few minutes until cheese is melted and browned.
5. Spoon sauce over chicken (and parsley, if, unlike me, you remember) and viola!

For the Salad:

Chop up some romaine lettuce.  Add cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, banana peppers, a bit of red onion, and black olives.  Mix together some olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic pepper, salt, and pepper.  (I threw it into my Magic Bullet for a few seconds to emulsify.)  Pour over salad.  Top salad with shaved cheese (I used pecorino romano).  Enjoy!

Forgive Me

Please forgive me for posting this absolutely emotional mouth vomit two week ago and then going into hiding.

I had basically retreated inside my head to do a lot of heavy thinking about the best course of action to treat the issues I posted about.

I decided it would be helpful for me to journal, but that maybe other people could relate or benefit from my experiences, so I decided to blog.  Which led me to question if I should blog here or elsewhere about recovering from those issues.  This blog was intended to discover new hobbies and passions, or rediscover old ones.  It was never intended to turn into a weight loss memoir.  So, I've started a new blog: Healing Hunger.  All of my weight loss/overeating/recovery musings will go there.  Here, at Passion & Zest, you'll continue to find recipes and recipe reviews, updates on new activities I've tried, and eventually a slew of photography.  (As I'll be getting a new camera for Christmas!) And maybe some random posts about fun, interesting, or miscellaneous topics.

It might sound a little confusing, or messy, but I'm confident it will all play out just fine soon enough.

As for what to expect to see here, well, with Thanksgiving coming I will be baking up a storm.  I'll be sure to take some pictures (via my phone) and post recipes while I work on those.  There may also be a few new recipes I'm trying for myself thanks to Emily Bites and SkinnyTaste.

I'll be making a variation on this delicious looking Chicken Rollatini tomorrow night.  It looks like the stuffed shells I made last week, but, with chicken instead of shells.  I will certainly let you know how it comes out!

Pumpkin Party, part 2

Remember all that pumpkin pancake goodness from yesterday?  It's time to fill you in the rest of the dishes from Sunday.

Dinner was fantastic!  I made Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta from Emily Bites.  I was going to make it on Saturday but realized I was out of chicken broth.  (Yes, I had pumpkin, but no chicken broth.  I had used it all up with some wonton soup on Friday night - recipe to come when perfected.)  So I made chicken broth.  But it had just finished brothesizing, when I was coerced into going out.  Then it got left for Sunday.

Okay, Sunday.  Lazy day of fakely being snowed in.  Time to whip out the broth and make some pumpkiny pasta.  I won't repost the recipe, as you can find it on Emily's blog.  However, I did make a few changes based on what I actually had on hand:

• rosé instead of  white wine
• regular pork sausage instead of turkey
• spinach instead of mushrooms

And, viola!

Emily says the original recipe from Taste of Home says you can substitute extra chicken broth for the wine, but she recommends not doing so because of the flavor profile the wine brought to the dish.  I almost made the substitution, thinking I didn't have any wine on hand.  (Travesty! I know.  I need to head to my local wine store and stock up.)  But then I remembered I had a couple of bottles from my trip to the vineyards.

I am so glad I used wine!

Emily knows what she's talking about.  The wine (even though I went with a dry rosé instead of a sweet wine) really helped make the flavor of the sauce.  I can't imagine not using it (though I'll try it again with different wines).  It gave it a nice tang to contrast the pumpkin.  The other essential part of this recipe, in my very humble opinion, is the sage.  Wow.  Seriously, just wow.  It just made the sauce.  And it made my taste buds very happy.

The final pumpkin dish of the day was from Skinny Taste: Low-fat Pumpkin Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies.  One word: yum!  Okay, that was a pretty lame word.  I can't even begin to describe how good this cookie dough the cookies are.  I'm not sure how accurate Gina's serving count is because I doubled the recipe, made 25 cookies, and ate lots of cookie dough.  (I wanted to bring 2 dozen to work, and I ate 1 off the first batch, so I added an extra to the second batch.  But then I had 2 more before I came to work, so... whatever, there were still plenty!)

No pictures, sorry.  But my coworkers loved them.  Lots of happy tummies around here!

Pancakes, and Pasta, and Cookies...

The other day I was shopping and decided to buy some canned pumpkin.

I didn't really have anything in mind to use it for, except maybe cookies, but I knew I wanted pumpkin flavored stuff.

It sat on my counter for a few days.  Until, along came a snowstorm on Halloween weekend.  The snowstorm said, "Hey, chick, don't go anywhere.  Just sit around and cook all day."  So that's how I spent most of my Sunday.  (To be honest, here, the storm happened Saturday, and I was going to spend my evening cooking, but I ended up going out instead... yes, in the snow storm.)


So, Sunday rolls around.  Plan I had were canceled and I figured it was time to get cooking.  I started with brunch: Chocolate Chip Walnut Pumpkin Pancakes.  This ended up being a WW Pointstastrophy.  Oops.  I worked off recipes that were supposed to make one serving of pancakes and then adjusted for my pumpkin craving.  16 P+ later, I'd had a pretty hearty breakfast...  I'm pretty sure I could have been satisfied with half the portion.  So, if you want 4-6 big fluffy pancakes, enjoy alone.  If you're good with 2-3, share with a friend.


Chocolate Chip Walnut Pumpkin Pancakes

In small bowl, mix together:
1/4 c canned pumpkin
1 egg white1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a larger bowl, mix:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Add wet ingredients to try and mix until just crumbly.  Whisk in 1/2 cup milk (I used 2%).  Then stir in 2 Tbsp each of chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.

Then I poured the mixture into my trusty measuring cup, greased up a pan with  non-stick spray, and started pouring batter in. 

Small pan, but I was too lazy to clean the griddle.

Then I had 4 delicious fluffy, pumpkiny pancakes.  I topped each with about 1/4 tsp of butter because butter is awesome.  And then I topped with pancake syrup, but it probably didn't need it.  Wash it down with a glass of milk, and it was delicious!

More pumpkin deliciousness to come...

The Domesticity Continues

Remember how I had all that chicken?  All shredded and waiting to be turned into deliciousness? 

 

Well, I shredded it all up.  Came out to about a pound of shredded chicken.  And then I remembered I had to stop by my mom's.  So I put the cooking on hold.

I was afraid this guy would get to it. 

 

He much prefers to pick at my scraps than eat his own food.  He'll eat anything.  And has no qualms about jumping on my counters. I figured a little plastic wrap would help the situation.

But, just in case he decided to rip through the wrap, I decided to hide the plate behind the pots.

Don't worry.  That's chicken broth in the corner, not urine.

 In retrospect, there was still a chance he'd hop up on the stove, drink my broth, and eat my chicken.  Fortunately, when I returned home my food was still safe.

So I got to cooking for the boyfriend.  I had just enough wonton wrappers to make 8 Alfredo Chicken Cupcakes AND 8 Chicken Parm Cupcakes.  They tasted... pretty good.  Good enough for us to eat and make yummy noises.  And for me to eat the leftovers the next day.  However, the leftovers weren't super delicious reheated, and the recipe was lacking... something.  Not sure what.  For now you can look at the pictures and drool.  When I perfect the recipe, I'll share so you can try them out.

This thing is the BEST for grinding, grating, mixing, anything!

Yum!

P.S.  All my cupcake endeavors are 100% inspired by Emily Bites.

I'm So Domestic

A regular Suzie Homemaker.

(At least when it comes to cooking.  I definitely don't clean.)


Today was a free Saturday.  So I decided to take advantage by cooking up some food to have for the week.

I started with Cream of Broccoli soup from another favorite food blog, Skinny Taste.  Anything I've ever made from this site has been delicious.  I got nervous about this soup, though.  It seemed thin, and a bit runny, and I got nervous about what it would actually taste and feel like in my mouth.  It was a bit thin, but the flavor was fantastic!  Also, it's probably my fault.  Re-visitng the recipe, I see maybe the consistency was my fault.  Gina specifies 3 cans of chicken broth, which I interpreted at 6 cups.  So I used 6 cups from the cardboard containers.  Maybe it was too much?  Or maybe I didn't use enough broccoli, seeing as about 1/4 to 1/3 of what I cut up ended up on my floor and not in my soup pot.  Oops.

Regardless, the soup tastes great!  My only issue with Gina's recipe is she told me it makes 4 1.5 cup servings.  I measured out 10 cups of soup.  Which is why I think maybe I used too much broth.  No problem for me, because I ended up with about 4 more servings than I thought I would.  Score!

And then I topped it with a little sour cream and shredded cheddar.  The leftovers are currently occupying my freezer and fridge.

Yum!

I don't particularly love using store bought broth.  Even the reduced sodium version has way more sodium than it really should.  So, whenever I buy too much chicken, I make and freeze my own broth.  I just didn't have enough to make this soup.

Chicken breasts were on sale this past week for $1.99 per pound for the family packs.  So I bought 2.  Totaling about 7 pounds of chicken.  For me, myself, and I.  What to do?  Well, first, I tell my lovely boyfriend that we're having shredded chicken for dinner tonight.

I popped half a package into my handy dandy crock pot.

 

 This thing is invaluable to me.  It's had dinner ready and waiting for me after a long day at work.  If it could clean, I'd marry it.  I'll have to settle for just the cooking, though.

I topped the chicken breast with enough water to cover, added chopped onion, carrots, celery, scallions, a few bay leaves, pepper and a little sea salt.  

It's just about ready.  The chicken will shred easily.  What did the boyfriend and I decide on for dinner?  Chicken parm and/or chicken alfredo cupcakes.  (Did you know savory cupcakes are super trendy these days?  And wonton wrappers are totally fun to work with!)  I told him it depends on how many wonton wrappers I have left.  I'm hopping to make 6-8 of each type of cupcakes.  I'll guess you'll hear more about those when they've proven delicious.


How are you spending your Saturday?