Poultry

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

April 2, 2013

This Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole is a creamy, flavorful chicken and rice casserole that is easy to make and is a great comfort food dish to dig into.

I love making this casserole because it’s so easy and it’s so tasty. I suggest that you double the recipe so you can freeze another to save for later. Yum!

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Cali Turkey Burger Quesadillas

March 22, 2013

It’s officially spring but mother nature has not yet received that memo. She is being a pain in my butt with the cold and the SNOW that we have been having. I have a love/hate relationship with living in New England as I hate the long drawn out cold weather that mess with us long into March and April. And yet, I just love the spring and fall seasons. Can’t win them all I guess. But at this point I wouldn’t pass up at trip to California to escape this cold weather right now.

Plus, if I was in Cali I’d sure as hell be attending the Sprint Cup race this weekend in Fontana. A little of shopping in L.A. and a whole lotta fun watching the Auto Club 400 race in Fontana. Of course I would hope for another win for Kasey Kahne because I’m still loving his win from last weekend in Bristol. yay!! But since I can’t cheer him in person I’ll take a mental trip there by making these Cali Turkey Burger Quesadillas for this week’s edition of Sprint Cup Snacks.

There is a restaurant near my office that had a summer special when they first opened that I just loved. They made a burger quesadilla that was sooo good! It was so flavorful like a taco but was a totally a burger in a tortilla. I guess it wasn’t a typical quesadilla as it was wrapped up but it just made it so easy to eat. It’s kinda like a quesadilla wrap or a flat burrito. Whatever, it is just good!

This is super easy to make which is always great when your whipping up a quick weeknight dinner or just distracted watching the race. ha! The burger is so flavorful with all the toppings on top. I picked toppings that reminded me of a California Club with the bacon, tomato, red onion, and avocado. And, of course, a quesadilla has loads of cheese!

Don’t wait another year for another Fontana Race to make this burger but your family. This is great anytime for lunch or dinner.

Cali Turkey Burger Quesadillas

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey
1 generous teaspoon adobo seasoning
4 burrito sized flour tortillas
12 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices of cooked bacon
1/2 of an avocado, thinly sliced
tomato, thinly sliced
red onion, thinly sliced

Process

Combine the ground turkey and the adobo seasoning. Form 4 equally sized patties. Make the patties very, very thin and about 4″ across.
Grill the burgers until they are about 2 minutes from being cooked through.
While the burgers are cooking microwave the burrito tortillas for about 30 seconds to make them vary soft and playable.
Place some of cheese in the center of the tortilla. Then add the burger, bacon, tomato, onion, avocado, and cheese onto the burger. Fold opposite sides into center and then repeat with the remaining sides.
Place the burger with the fold sides down back on the grill with a weight on top of the burger to seal it closed. Flip over to other side to warm though to melt the cheese and add grill marks.
Cut in half prior to serving.

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{Sprint Cup Snacks Track Facts}

The Auto Club Speedway is a fairly new track in the Sprint Cup Series. Construction started in 1995 and the first Sprint Cup race was in 1997 with Jeff Gordon winning the inaugural race. Originally the race was 500 miles but since then has been shorted to 400 miles. It is the only Sprint Cup race in Southern California, which is just 50 miles from downtown LA.

Track: 2 miles

Shape: D-Shaped Oval

Banking: 11 degrees in the front-stretch, 3 degrees in the back-stretch, 14 degrees in turns

Surface: Asphalt

Capacity: 91200

Race: 200-lap for 400-miles

2012 winner: Tony Stewart

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Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts

February 20, 2013

When we first got Kemper I took most of the next week off so I could run outside with him every hour-ish so we could get him trained quickly. Well in hopes of that. Also in making wrong assumptiongs… I thought I would get so much blogging, scrapbooking, cleaning done while he sleep but that is a big fat no since I just ooed and awwed over him while he slept. Seriously. Hopeless.

At least I did manage to make some great meals for my lunches and for our dinners that week. I’ve been looking all around at the mass quantities of cookbooks I have and I’ve decided that I need to actually crack them open and make some recipes from them. The first one I grabbed was The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. This is such a fantastic Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. There are so many great recipes in there that I’ve flagged. The book is so full of post-it’s now it’s a bit crazy.

I suggest that you try the Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts because they were just fantastic. I love spanakopita with it’s puff pastry pockets stuffed with spinach, salty feta, and fresh lemon. Stuffing the chicken breasts with that mixture was a great way to spice up some chicken for dinner. I love Greek inspired dishes and this is one that I will make again.

I made some changes along the way but it still worked out just a planned. Mainly, I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. My preparation of the chicken differed as I didn’t stuff the spinach mixture between the skin and breasts, but created a pocket myself. Also, the recipe called for 3 tablespoons snipped fresh dill added to the spinach mixture, but I didn’t have it around so I didn’t want to buy it just for this as I don’t really like dill anyway.

Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
10oz box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1/4 ground nutmeg
1 medium sized lemon
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 skinless chicken breasts (approximately 2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium sized lemon, cut into wedges

Process

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 3 quart casserole dish by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent (about 4-6 minutes). Remove from heat then add the spinach, feta, nutmeg, pepper, and the juice from 1 lemon. Combine all the ingredients and then divide into 4 equal portions.
Cut large pockets into the chicken breasts. Put 1/4 of the spinach mixture into each open chicken breast. Close the chicken breasts as much as possible and place in the casserole dish. Add the lemon wedges to the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degrees).

(Almost) No Baste Bacon Covered Turkey

November 21, 2012

I love 4 things about Thanksgiving: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the National Dog Show after it, booze, and my mom’s turkey. I don’t actually eat much turkey because I’m poor at planning and self control and get too eager with the appetizers and all of the sides. By the time dessert comes I’m just thinking of P-jams and how those pies need to get away from me!!

Okay, back to the turkey… So while I don’t eat a lot of turkey on Thanksgiving I could not imagine not making a turkey when home for the holiday and eating it the days following Thanksgiving. And since I’ve learned from my parents, the way I make turkey is that it is covered in bacon. Yep, bacon.

Covering the turkey gives it a great taste from the bacon, plus your house smells extra awesome. Also, since the bacon is continually rendering on top of the turkey you basically don’t need to baste it. This allows you to put your turkey in & just about forget about it while you watch the parade or freak out at every cute dog in the dog show. You turn the temp down once and later on check on the wings to give them a tine foil cover so they don’t burn, which is when I typically give it a thorough basting and then back in the oven it goes.

Now truth be told, if you love crunchy skin this might not be the turkey for you. This is all about sealing in the juices with the bacon so the skin doesn’t really get any exposure in the oven. If you want to give this a try and want a crispy skin then I suggest you might remove the bacon and then put the turkey back in with a broiler in low.

(Almost) No Baste Bacon Covered Turkey

Ingredients

1 whole turkey
1 pound of bacon
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-2″ long pieces
3 onions, cut into wedges
4 stalks of celery, peeled and cut into 1-2″ pieces
6 cloves of garlic
2 lemons, cut into 8 pieces
1 orange, cut into 8 pieces
bunch of parsley
1 stick of butter
4 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper

Process

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Remove the giblets from the cavity of the turkey. Rinse then dry the turkey completely. Place turkey onto rack in large roasting pan.
Combine the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, lemons, orange, and parsley. Put the mixture into the cavity of the bird and the remaining mixture goes into the bottom of the pan with the chicken stock.
Cut the butter into small pieces and place between the breast and the skin.
Place the strips of bacon over the breast of the turkey and wrap the legs with bacon.
Put turkey in oven. After 45 minutes turn the temperature down to 350. After 2 hours, put foil on the wing tips. Continue cooking until the thigh meat reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees. When testing, be sure that your thermometer is not touching the bone. Rule of thumb is that it will take approximately 15-20 minutes per pound.
When turkey is done, let stand 20-30 minutes prior to carving. to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the bird.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

April 19, 2010

I have always wanted to make chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. The idea of using that much garlic had me so interested, like the time price ordered Garlic soup and it was AMAZING! I had seen several recipes for chicken with 40 cloves are garlic but to be honest they seemed like more work than what I wanted to deal with, like chopping up a chicken, dredging it, boiling the garlic, etc. So I opted for creating an easy version by using a whole chicken and roasting it along with the garlic. So this is my reworked version, simple, easy, and delightfully garlicy!

This recipe is more like a complete meal. I think it is essential to cook potatoes, maybe other root vegetables also, with the chicken. The potatoes take on the flavor from the chicken, wine, and, of course, the garlic. So just add a side vegetable or a salad and your meal is complete.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 pounds

40 cloves of garlic

1 pound of small potatoes, such as fingerling

1/2 cup white wine

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375.

Rinse and clean chicken. Dry chicken- very important! (A dry chicken equals a crispy skin) Put chicken into a pan and season with salt and pepper. Lift up the skin of the chicken and place several small cloves of garlic between skin and breast.

Clean and cut, if necessary, the potatoes. Combine potatoes and remaining garlic in a bowl to lightly dress with oil and season with salt and pepper.

distribute potatoes and garlic around chicken.

After chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes, toss potatoes and garlic, preventing burning. Add wine to pan.

Cook chicken until it is done, approximately another 45 minutes. You can use a pop up or a manual thermometer test chicken’s doneness. Let chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving to serve. When slicing keep skin intact to show the softened garlic layered between the chicken breast and skin.

Enjoy, and feel free to finish off the wine you opened for the chicken!