Chicken Packets

This recipe is tried and true (slightly modified) from Emily, my sister-in law's mother, Sandy.  Emily, grew up having these Chicken Packets for dinner and introduced me to them a few years ago.  Back when her twin girls, were babies FOUR years ago now, I would visit every Wednesday.  Emily, being the super woman that she is, would make a delicious dinner and we would all hang out while my brother would play basketball.  This recipe is one of the delicious meals she would make.  

Since I am now too a mom, I figured I should probably try my hand at this recipe.  Seems like something a mom should do.  I have been prepping dinner during Addison's second morning nap and then finishing things closer to dinner-time.  It has worked out well and puts less pressure on getting things ready for dinner.  

This recipe is perfect for our schedule.  While the chicken was baking I set the cream cheese out on the counter to soften/come to room temp.  Once the chicken was done, I combined things and popped that concoction in the fridge until I got the call that my husband was on his way home from work.  Then I assembled everything, baked them up and devoured just before the baby needed to have her dinner.  

Here is how I did it...

 I started out by baking the chicken.  This is my go-to method when I need to use cooked chicken.  It is so easy and it doesn't leave any hard bits on the chicken like grilling/sautéing does.  Just season the chicken and pop it in the oven for 30 mins. Easy.

 Done.

 Once the chicken cooled just a bit, I shredded/chopped it up and placed it in a bowl.

 Chopped the celery

 Popped the cream cheese into the bowl over the warm chicken

 Added the celery

 A little onion powder

 Salt

 Pepper

 And combined things.  It does take a little bit of elbow grease to mix things up.  At this point I tasted it, added a little more onion power and salt.  Season it to your liking.

 I then placed the crescent rolls out on a baking sheet like so, keeping two of the rolls together.

 I smooshed the perforation together with my fingers.

 Scooped a good amount of the chicken mixture onto one side of the dough

 Flipped over the other side and sealed the packet edges together, using my fingers.

 Rolled the packet in seasoned bread crumbs and popped them back onto the baking sheet.  Into the oven they went for 17 minutes.

 They came out perfect…just like this.

I LOVE these things.  So flaky and delicious with a creamy texture in the middle.  A few dashes of buffalo sauce on the top and they are perfection.

Just a little side note, when I made these I had quite a bit of left over filling.  This recipe can make 8 packets but there was only two of us eating and we each ate two.  They do not reheat very well so I saved the filling and made a quick pasta with it.  I just cooked some noodles, drained them and then added the remaining chicken mixture over the hot noodles.  Gave it a very good stir, added a bit of milk and had a quick and tasty pasta dish the next day!

I told Emily about my noodle dish the next day and she said that she typically eats the filling on a croissant the following day for lunch.  The possibilities are just endless with this recipe people!

Chicken Packets 
(Makes 8 packets or 4 with leftover filling)

3 chicken breasts
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 8 oz block of celery (1/3 the fat is okay)
2 rolls of refrigerated croissants (or 1 if you are using the filling for left overs also, reduced fat is okay!)
1/8-1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
Buffalo sauce for serving, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the chicken breasts in a large baking dish and season with salt and pepper.  Once the oven is preheated, bake chicken for 30 minutes with a cover on the dish.  Take the cream cheese out of the fridge and put it on the counter to come to room temp.  After 30 minutes, cut through the biggest part of the chicken and check that it is no longer pink in the middle.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the dish and shred.  It is easier to shred when it is still warm.  Place the chicken in a large bowl and add the cream cheese, celery, onion powder, salt and pepper.  Stir to fully combine.  Once combined, taste for seasoning.  Add more onion power, salt and pepper, if needed.

On a large baking sheet (or two if you are making 8 packets), separate the dough into 4 rectangles (or 8 if you are making a full batch).  Press the perforation together with your fingers.  Scoop a good amount of the chicken mixture onto half of each piece of dough staying away from the edges.  Flip the other side of the dough over the filling and press the dough together to seal and make the packet.

Pour your bread crumbs onto a large plate and flip and gently press each packet into the bread crumbs to coat.  Place the bread crumb coated packets on to the baking sheet and into the oven.

Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until the packets are golden brown.

Serve with a drizzle of buffalo sauce if you would like.

Enjoy!

Recipe very slightly adapted from Sandy :)

Pizza Sloppy Joes

Some of you might not know this about me but I have a "day job." I spend my days working at a large University and as you can imagine this is a very busy time of the year for us.  That means when I get home from work I am exhausted.  Absolutely spent.  So,  quick dinners that take minimal time and effort are essential!  

This recipe fits the bill.  Quick, easy and loaded with veggies with tons of flavor.  I would stick this one in your back pocket for this coming school year. 

Start with chopping your veggies.  I used red onion, green and red peppers.  You could also toss in mushrooms, banana peppers, broccoli whatever you like on your pizza.

Toss a pound of ground beef in a large skillet on medium heat and season with salt and pepper.

Brown it up

Then add the pepperoni.  Let this cook for a few minutes

Pour in a jar of pizza sauce 

And let it bubble away for a few minutes while you work on the garlic toast

Place the frozen garlic toast in a large skillet on medium high heat.  Cook them for a few minutes on each side.  PS.  did you know you could cook garlic bread this way!? Me either until I lived with my friend Sam.  She always made garlic toast like this, genius!

Then add in the veggies

Give it a quick stir.  You might ask why I did this so late…well I wanted it to be like a real pizza where the veggies are still a bit crisp.

Anyway, spoon this delicious mixture onto each piece of the garlic toast

And top with a bunch of cheese and sprinkle with a little pizza seasoning.

Pop these in the oven under the broiler for just a few minutes

And there you have it!

Serve with a nice green salad

Pizza Sloppy Joes 

(serves 4--2 each) 

1/4 red onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1 pound ground beef

salt and pepper for seasoning

1 cup chopped pepperoni

1 jar pizza sauce  

8 pieces of frozen garlic bread

2 cups shredded mozzarella

Pizza seasoning 

Start by placing the ground beef in a medium skillet on medium high heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until no longer pink.  Then add the pepperoni and cook for about 3 minutes or so.  If there is a lot of grease, at this point, drain the grease and discard.  Pour the pizza sauce into the skillet with the meat, stir to combine.  Add the veggies to the skillet and let simmer while you work on the garlic toast.  

Place a large skillet on medium high heat.  Add the frozen garlic toast to the pan and cook on each side for about two minutes.  

Once the garlic toast is cooked, spoon the veggie and meat mixture onto the toast.  Sprinkle with cheese and a little bit of the pizza seasoning.  

Place under the broiler to melt the cheese.  

Remove from the pan and enjoy!!! 

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz 

Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich

We are off to our friends lake house for the weekend and absolutely cannot wait!  I figured I would just stop by and give you a grilling idea for the weekend.  Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches are basically the easiest and tastiest way to kick of the weekend.  I hope it's a good one for you! 

Start by seasoning the heck out of the chicken.  We used this Grill Mates Fiery 5 Pepper (no, they didn't pay me to plug that, we just like the seasoning.)

Wrapped each of the chicken breasts in bacon...never a bad idea.

And onto the grill they went. 

The bacon got nice and crispy while the chicken cooked and helped keep in a lot of the moisture.  I would suggest sticking a few toothpicks in to hold the bacon as that got a little sketchy.

Once the chicken and bacon are cooked, top with cheese.  We used pepper jack cheese that was left over from a party...hence the small squares.  But it worked perfectly!

Remove from the grill...just look at that melty cheese...and toasted buns in the background. Mr. Schwartz is the King of the Grill.

Pop one of the breasts on a cutting board..

And cut it in half..unless you are super man hungry, then leave it alone.

Place half of the chicken breast on the bun and top with ranch dressing.  I used my Semi-Homemade Ranch Dressing that I absolutely adore.  We always have a mason jar full of it in our fridge during the summer.

That's it!  Top with the other side of the bun and dig on in.

The spicy seasoning with the pepper jack cheese, crispy bacon and cool ranch dressing.  It doesn't get much better than that my friends.

Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches
(makes 4 sandwiches)

2 large chicken breasts
4 slices of bacon
Seasoning of your choice (we used McCormick's Fiery 5 Pepper seasoning)
2-3 slices pepper jack cheese
4 buns
1 cup of ranch dressing (we love my Semi-Home Made Ranch Dressing)

Preheat the grill to medium high heat.

Season each chicken breast very liberally with your seasoning of choice.  Wrap each chicken  breast with two slices of bacon.  Secure the bacon using toothpicks.

Place the chicken on the grill and cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes depending on the heat of your grill.  Be careful to watch it so the bacon doesn't burn.  Once the chicken is no longer pink in the middle, top each chicken breast with the pepper jack cheese and allow to melt.

Remove chicken from the grill and place on a cutting board.  Slice each chicken in half and place a half of a chicken breast on each bun.  Pour the ranch dressing over the top of each chicken breast and top with the other half of bun.

Devour.

Enjoy!

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz

The BEST Queso and Spicy Mexican Chicken

There is a Mexican food chain in the Twin Cities area that we are just obsessed with, a little place called Alcupulco.  We love everything about it, especially the Queso Dip.  Holy cats, that stuff is so freaking good.  You can order it with your chips and salsa, smother your burrito with it, order it to go....whatever way you order it, just get.it.in.your.belly.  

So, I thought I should probably try to recreate the Queso Dip at home and let me tell you, friends, I nailed it.  It is SO good and this is SO dangerous.  I served it over spicy chicken along with Spanish Rice and chips with corn salsa.  Yeah, let's just say Mr. Schwartz was one happy guy.  

Let's start with the chicken, specifically the spice rub.  But, I have to be honest, when I made it, it was SO freaking salty (hence the HUGE tablespoon of salt up there...what was I thinking!?) so reduce that down to a teaspoon...the flavor was AH-MAZING but the salt was out of this world...

1/2 teaspoon of chili powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic

Dried Mexican oregano.  I know, you are probably saying "I don't have that stuff, when would I ever use it?"  Well, let's just say I thought the same thing...until I had it in my cupboard.  Now I use it all the time!

You will also need 1/2 teaspoon dried chipolte powder.

Give it a good mix, yours will look less salty...because you will use less salt :) 

Rub the spice mixture all over your chicken

And place it into a large skillet with a drizzle of canola oil.  Cook for 4 minutes or so on each side or until no longer pink in the middle.

Alright, alright, I know this stuff is just junk but it is the essential element to the queso.  I found it at drum roll please....Walmart.

Anyways, take a bunch of slices and tear them into pieces.

Chop up a few pickled jalapenos and that's basically the prep.  Easy.

Melt some butter in a sauce pan

Add some flour and give it a good stir

Let the flour taste cook out for a few minutes...

And flip the chicken...

After the flour has had a chance to cook a bit, pour in some milk and whisk the heck out of it to avoid lumps

Once you reached a smooth consistency, add in the cheese

And the jalapenos (forgot to take a picture of that) and salt.  Give it a stir, if it is too thick, add additional milk.  At this point it is a good idea to taste it too, might need more salt or more jalapenos for spice!

That's it.  Smother your spicy chicken breast with it...

Eat it with your Spanish rice

And look at that chicken, it's so good!

Also delicious rolled in tortillas.

Oh, you could also just dip chips in the queso too...whatever blows your hair back.

The BEST Queso and Spicy Mexican Chicken

For the Chicken: 

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground chipolte pepper 

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon Mexican oregano 

3-4 medium sized chicken breasts

Preheat a large skillet on medium high heat and drizzle in the oil.

Combine all of the seasonings into a small bowl and stir.  Sprinkle the seasoning mix on both sides of each of the chicken breasts and rub in.  

Place the chicken into the skillet and cook for about 4 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the middle. 

For the BEST Queso

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups milk 

12 slices of white American cheese, torn into pieces

3-4 (or more if you like it even spicier) tablespoons pickled jalapenos, finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Melt the butter on medium heat in a sauce pan.  Sprinkle in the flour and stir to combine.  Let this cook (while stirring every once in a while) on medium heat for about 3 minutes to cook the flour taste out.  

Once the flour is cooked, pour in the milk and stir the whole time to prevent clumps.  Once you have reached a smooth consistency, add the cheese and continue to stir until the cheese is completely incorporated.  

Add in the jalapenos and salt.  Give it a good stir.  If it is too thick, add a little milk at a time.  Taste it as well, it might need more salt or jalapenos according to your taste.  

Enjoy! 

Recipes by: Mrs. Schwartz