Cheese and Broccoli Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I tried this tonight for the first time, it was really good and low carb too! I was worried about slicing the chicken but it was pretty easy.

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, about 5 ounces each

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt, divided

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

1 ¼ cup chopped broccoli

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

¼ cup grated Parmesan

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, minced

4 slices bacon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the chicken breasts on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the side of each chicken breast. Drizzle chicken with olive oil.
3. Add the paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to a small bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle evenly over both sides of the chicken.
4. Add cream cheese, Parmesan, mayonnaise, garlic, and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt to a small mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Stir in the broccoli.
5. Spoon the cheese mixture into each chicken breast evenly.
6. Slice each piece of bacon in half and wrap each piece of chicken with 2 pieces of bacon. 
7. Place the chicken breasts in a 9x13 baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
8. Place pan under the broiler to crisp the bacon more, if desired.

Notes

Be sure to chop the broccoli fairly small to make it easy to stuff the chicken.

Swap out the seasoning blend for any that you prefer. This is our standard spice mix for seasoning chicken and it does work well here.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

This recipe is one of my new favorites - everyone else seemed to like it - even those who don't like sweet potatoes and it freezes well ...


Ingredients

2 cups salsa Verde ( I like the hot variety, but whatever)
2 cups chopped up cooked chicken
2 cooked sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (don't use really big ones)
1 cup corn - (I used the microwave type)
1/2 cup diced red onion
About 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 cup black beans
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups Mexican cheese blend (or just cheddar)
12 6 inch tortillas ( you might need a few more)


Preheat oven to 350

Pour 1 cup salsa verde into a 9x12 pan

Mix corn, sweet potatoes, chicken, beans, onion, cilantro and spices in a large bowl

Pour about 1/4 cup of this mixture on a tortilla, sprinkle with a bit of cheese, and roll it up and place in pan on the salsa. Continue until you've filled all 12.

Pour the other cup of salsa over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese

Bake for about 20 minutes until it's bubbly and a little brown



This is nice with a salad and rice, or another new favorite, riced cauliflower.

King Cake

This is different & better than the one I made last year - still too big, but I froze some. The glaze that went with this never hardened so I left it out - you could just sprinkle some colored sugar on the glaze. The taste and texture were really good - just for an everyday coffee cake  not just for Mardi Gras!
 From : Food 52

For the dough:

• 1 1/2teaspoons (5 grams) active dry yeast
• 1/2cup (100 grams) sugar plus 1/4 teaspoon, divided
• 1/2cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 1/2cup (4 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1cup whole milk
• 2egg yolks (save the whites for egg wash)
• 1teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 1/2cups (500 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1teaspoon salt

1. In a small bowl, mix the yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar with 1/4 cup of warm (100° to 110° F) water.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and cream cheese (the cream cheese won't fully melt, but that's okay). Remove from heat and add milk, egg yolks, vanilla, and yeast mixture.
3. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add wet ingredients all at once and mix for 5 minutes, until it forms a smooth, elastic ball.
4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set aside to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

For the filling, glaze, and assembly:

• For the filling:
• 7ounces almond paste (1 tube)
• 1/4cup (4 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
• 3tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2cup (57 grams) confectioners' sugar
• 2teaspoons cocoa powder
• 1egg
• For the glaze:
• 1/2cup 4 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4cup (4 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
• 1/4cup milk
• 1cup (114 grams) confectioners' sugar
• Purple, green, and gold colored sugars
• Plastic baby

1. While the dough rises, make the filling: Combine almond paste, butter, flour, confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, and egg and mix until smoothly combined.
2. Once dough has risen, punch it down and divide into 2 equal pieces. Roll one piece of dough to into a rectangle about 18t to 20 inches long and 6 to 8 inches wide.
3. Spread with half of the filling mixture and roll (cinnamon roll style) starting from the long end of the dough.
4. Repeat with the second piece of dough and the rest of the filling. You'll have two rolled ropes of dough. Press and roll each dough out another 2-inches or so to even the thickness of the strands and close the seams.
5. Line the ropes of dough up and, starting from the center, make a basic twist. Then bring the beginning and end of the twist together to seal into a circle.
6. Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 375° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the circular cake on top. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.
7. Brush cake lightly with egg wash made from beating the two remaining egg whites .Then bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until cake is golden brown (and the internal temperature is 190° F).

Dry Rub Chicken

I had about a cup of rub mix from the last time I made ribs - so when I saw this recipe I had to try it! And I think I'll be making it more often - it takes less time than ribs and I do like chicken - and it was moist and falling apart. I'll try the mix that Smitten Kitchen uses for chicken next time - it's just a little bit different.

From : Smitten Kitchen

I used about 2 pounds of chicken breast - this mix should do about 6 pounds - but you can save any extra mix for another time

6 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons smoked paprika
3 tablespoons chili powder
Up to 1 tablespoon ground red pepper (if you like things quite hot) or to taste (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
Up to 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 300F

Place the chicken on a large piece of foil. Cover with the spice rub and leave the chicken skin side down and make a packet with the foil.

Place on oven rack with a baking sheet underneath to catch any drips  (there shouldn't be any if you wrap the foil tightly)

Bake for 1.5 - 2 hours - 155F

You can then broil the chicken skin side up for about 5 minutes to crisp it up - or just eat it!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is really more candy than cake - or a giant brownie with chocolate on top - lots & lots of chocolate ...
 I read that this freezes well - dunno yet but I am trying it - this cake is very rich so I couldn't eat much

From: King Arthur Flour

CAKE

•    170g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
•    113g unsalted butter (1 stick)
•    149g granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
•    1/4 teaspoon salt
•    1 to 2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional
•    1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
•    3 large eggs
•    43g unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch-process preferred (1/2 cup)

GLAZE

•    170g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
•    113g heavy cream (1/2 cup)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease an 8" round cake pan - I used an 8 inch round 
2. corningware casserole; cut a piece of parchment or waxed paper to fit, grease it, and lay it
3. in the bottom of the pan.
4. To make the cake: Put the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat until the 
5. butter is melted and the chips are soft. Stir until the chips melt, reheating briefly if necessary.
6. You can also do this over a burner set at very low heat. Transfer the melted chocolate/butter
7.  to a mixing bowl.
8. Stir in the sugar, salt, espresso powder, and vanilla.
9. Add the eggs, beating briefly until smooth. Add the cocoa powder, and mix just to combine.
10. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
11. Bake the cake for 25 minutes; the top will have formed a thin crust like brownies, and it should 
12. register at least 200°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into its center.
13. Remove it from the oven, and cool it in the pan for 5 minutes.
14. Loosen the edges of the pan with a table knife or nylon spreader, and turn it out onto a serving
15. plate. The top will now be on the bottom; that's fine. Also, the edges will crumble a bit, which
16.  is also fine. Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.
17. To make the glaze: Combine the chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat 
18. until the cream is very hot, but not simmering. Remove from the microwave, and stir until the 
19. chocolate melts and the mixture is completely smooth.
20. Spoon the glaze over the cake, spreading it to drip over the sides a bit. Allow the glaze to 
21. set for several hours before serving the cake.

Guiness Chocolate Cake

This seemed to be a theme this Christmas - using up stuff I had leftover - but I had some leftover Guinness and couldn't decide what to do with it - so I did this - a nice dense, not too sweet chocolate cake! It was frozen unfrosted for about three weeks before I  frosted it with some cream cheese frosting & defrosted it overnight in the fridge - it went well with coffee ice cream ...

From NYT

Frosting from Simply Recipes

1 cup Guinness extra stout

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa

1.5 cups sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

2.5 tsps baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

Butter a 9 inch springform or what I used was a 8/9 inch corningware casserole. Preheat oven to 360F.

Melt butter a large saucepan add Guiness, remove from heat then add cocoa and sugar and stir to blend.

In another bowl mix sour cream eggs and vanilla - then add to Guiness mixture.

Add flour and baking soda and whisk tto mix.

Pour into pan and bake until it rises and feels firm - about 45 mins to 1 hour (depends on what pan you bake it in).

I froze it at this point and frosted it after it was defrosted.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

2 -3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter and cream cheese together, beat in vanilla

Add powdered sugar until as thick and sweet as you like it.

This frosting will prolly make more than you need for this cake ...

Black & Whites

I remember these from Bambi's in East Meadow and Benkert's in Astoria ... I almost always picked these if we were offered a free cookie because they were the biggest - I still like the white side better ...

I made the white and black frosting separately.

From: Smitten Kitchen

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
3 ounces very bitter or unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper.

2. In large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Mix by machine or hand until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then milk and vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix until smooth. Scrape down bowl.

3. In medium bowl, combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed. Add dry mixture to the wet in batches, stirring well after each addition. Using a soup spoon, place heaping spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.

4. Boil a cup or so of water in a small pot. Place confectioners’ sugar in large, heat-safe mixing bowl. Gradually stir in enough boiling water to the sugar to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Err on the side of caution because a too-thin frosting is hard to undo. Leave remaining boiling water on the stove.

5. Spread frosting on half of the flat side of each cookie and let dry. Once all cookie halves have been frosted, place the bowl of chocolate in microwave & melt it. Stir in the bitter or unsweetened chocolate until melted, as well as the light corn syrup. At this point, depending on the chocolate you used and your preferences, you might find the chocolate color to be a little lighter than the “black” of a black-and-white cookie. If so, I find that a tablespoon or so of cocoa mixed in darkens the color nicely.

6. Ice the remaining half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. I find that the chocolate–especially with cocoa in it–is especially prone to getting too dry, so don’t worry about whisking in an extra teaspoon of that hot water from time to time to smooth it back into a shiny frosting.

7. Let the frosting set. Store in an airtight container. These cookies keep for a few days, but I think they’re best on the first or second. Because of the cake nature of the bases, they can get stale quickly. (I am freezing them & I'll report back how they do - they did very well after freezing)

Coconut Brown Butter Cookies

I found some Bob's Red Mill Shredded Coconut in the freezer & just had to use it up! I know the recipe calls for coconut chips - but I couldn't find any & I did have the shredded - but they came out amazing anyway ...

From Smitten Kitchen

1 cup (2 sticks or 225 grams) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (125 grams) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (145 grams) packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
4 cups (240 grams) dried, unsweetened coconut chips 

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Don’t take your eyes off the pot as it seems to take forever (more than 5 minutes) but then turns dark very quickly. Once it is a deeply fragrant, almost nut-brown color, remove from heat and pour butter and all browned bits at the bottom into a measuring cup. Adding 2 tablespoons water should bring the butter amount back up to 1 cup. 

Chill browned butter in the fridge until it solidifies, about 1 to 2 hours. You can hurry this along in the freezer, but check back and stir often so it doesn’t freeze unevenly solid. ( I did this the night before)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.

Scrape chilled browned butter and any bits into a large mixing bowl. Add both sugars and beat the mixture together until fluffy. 

Add egg and beat until combined, scraping down bowl as needed, then vanilla. 

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour half of flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined, then add remaining flour and mix again, scraping down bowl if needed. Add coconut chips in two parts as well.

Scoop dough into 1, 2 or more (Rubin recommends a 2-inch wide scoop for bakery-sized cookies) balls and arrange a few with a lot of room for spreading on first baking sheet; use the back of a spoon or your fingers to flatten the dough slightly. Bake first tray of cookies; 1 tablespoon scoops will take 10 to 11 minutes (Mine only took 8 mins - so check early) ; 2 tablespoon scoops, 12 to 14 minutes, the 2-inch scoop used at the bakery, 14 to 16 minutes; take the cookies out when they’re deeply golden all over. If cookies have not spread much, stir 2 teaspoons more water into cookie dough, mixing thoroughly, before baking off another tray. This should do the trick, but if it does not, repeat the same with your next batch. Once you’ve confirmed that you have the water level correct, bake remaining cookies. (I didn't need any more water - just the 2 tablespoons)

Cool cookies on baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cookies keep for up to one week at room temperature. Extra dough can be stored in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for a month or more.

Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies

These are really good simple & kinda plain butter cookies with just enough maple flavor to be different - I had just enough maple syrup hiding in the back of the fridge to make them ... 

From Gourmet via Smitten Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

1. •  2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
   •  1 cup sugar
   •  1/2 cup Grade B maple syrup (or Grade A maple syrup flavored with 3 drops maple extract, or to taste)
   •  1 large egg yolk
   •  1 teaspoon salt
   •  3 cups all-purpose flour
   • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

PREPARATION

1. 1. In a standing electric mixer cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in maple syrup and egg yolk until mixture is combined well. Sift together salt and flour over mixture and fold in thoroughly. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 2 hours. Dough may be made 4 days ahead and chilled.
   2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
   3. Divide dough in half. Keeping one half chilled, lightly flour other half and on a lightly floured surface gently pound with a rolling pin to soften. Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick and with a 3-inch floured maple-leaf cookie cutter cut out cookies, chilling scraps. Arrange cookies on buttered baking sheets and if desired, with back of a knife, mark cookies decoratively. Make more cookies in same manner with remaining dough and with all the scraps pressed together. Chill about 10/15 minutes before baking. I glazed these with an egg wash.
   4. Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until edges are golden, about 8 - 10 minutes.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These are kinda like brownie bites! I added Kahlua instead of vanilla because it sounded good & I had some left over ...

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional, but not really - this makes a difference)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 
  

Method

1 Beat together cocoa powder, white sugar, vegetable oil: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or beat by hand with a wooden spoon) beat together the cocoa powder, white sugar, and vegetable oil until it comes together into a shiny, gritty, black dough of sorts.

2 Add eggs, one at a time, add vanilla/Kahlua: Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds each. Add the vanilla and beat in thoroughly.

3 Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, espresso powder: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder.

4 Beat dry ingredients into cocoa oil mix: Mix into the chocolate mixture on low speed until just combined.

5 Cover and chill: Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill the dough for four hours or overnight.

6 Roll dough into balls, roll into powdered sugar, place on cookie sheet: Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or non stick foil. Place the confectioner's sugar in a wide bowl.

Using a rounded teaspoon get clumps of the chilled dough and roll them into 1-inch (2.5 cm) sized balls using your hands.

Roll the balls in the confectioner's sugar and place on the cookie sheets (you should be able to get 12-16 on each sheet). You can roll them in granulated sugar first - this makes them a bit more crispy on the outside.

I cool them again for about 10/15 minutes before baking as they get a bit soft during rolling.

7 Bake: Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool a minute or two on the sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate_crinkles/#ixzz4SXAtsmUi

Mango Frozen Yogurt

A good way to eat mango - I used frozen mango because I didn't want to mess with a whole one

16 ounces frozen diced mango, thawed, or 2 1/2 pounds fresh mango, peeled, pitted, and diced
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
8 ounces plain, Greek-style yogurt, preferably full fat
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch of cinnamon (optional)


Put the mango, sweetened condensed milk, yogurt, lime juice, salt, and cinnamon in a blender and then puree until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Freeze according to your ice-cream maker’s instructions. Or you can place the puree in freezer-safe container, and allow it to freeze for 8 hours, stirring the puree a couple of times in the first two hours of freezing. 

I don't have an ice cream maker but it came out just as well