Foody Friday - Homemade Chicken Alfredo

I love homemade sauces..and I love them even more now that I'm finally learning how to make them :)

The first time I ever tried to make a cheese sauce it turned into a gigantic pot of lumpy goo. 

But I'm getting better!

 (Here's a great site with tips on how to make a cheese sauce. After reading this, I got it right the very first time!)

This Chicken Alfredo came from Chicken Recipes to Die For. Really, this one wasn't hard at all either. 

Chicken Alfredo

mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

2 large chicken breasts, cut into cubes

fettuccine pasta or egg noodles

3/4 cup cream

1/2 cup milk

5 T butter

1 T olive oil

clove of garlic, chopped

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 T flour

parsley, salt and pepper

Add the olive oil and 1T butter to pan on medium heat. When pan is hot add mushrooms and sprinkle with salt, then cook for 3-4 minutes per sides until brown. While the mushrooms are cooking bring a pot of water to boil. 

Set aside mushrooms and add chopped garlic to frying pan. cook gently for about a minute, then add chicken cubes. Stir so chicken cooks on all sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove from pan and set with mushrooms. Boil the pasta in the pot. 

Add the rest of the butter to frying pan on medium to low heat and when butter has started to melt, add the cream and milk stirring continuously. Slowly sprinkle in the flour while continuing to stir. The sauce should start to thicken after about 5 minutes at which point add the Parmesan cheese and simmer gently for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper to taste and add the chopped parsley. Stir in the cooked chicken and mushrooms to the sauce, and simmer gently until the chicken and mushrooms are warmed through. Serve on top of pasta.

DR has started requesting that I include his "star rating" on the foods. I didn't get a chance to ask how he liked it before I posted but considering he had two bowls of it for lunch today, I guess he rates it fairly well. 

My kids on the other hand.....in their eyes, sauce of any kind is tainting the pure wonder that is pasta! Eh, they'll grow out of that someday...until then they'll just have to suffer my cooking. 

Have a great weekend! 

Foody Friday - Sweet and Spicy Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Oh. My. Goodness.

This was such a great hit at dinner the other night! 

How couldn't it be? It involves bacon!! Nothing can beat bacon!! 

I found the original recipe on Diary of a Recipe Addict. 

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Wrapped Chicken

4 chicken breasts cut half

Bacon slices

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder

chili powder

brown sugar

Cut each breast in half, rub all the chicken with the spices. My rub was about equal amounts of all the spices.   Roll in brown sugar and  then wrap a piece of bacon around each piece of chicken. Place into an oven proof dish sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and bacon is nice and brown and crispy..or a bit rubbery just for my husband.  

I can't wait until it's warm enough to try this out on the grill! Bacon makes anything better. 

Of course...I'm still not brave enough to try the bacon cupcakes. 

Foody Friday - Butter Chicken

You know that feeling you get when you sit down to dinner with your family and NO ONE complains about what's for dinner? It's an even better feeling when you know your kids aren't cheering over hot dogs and potato chips but real honest to goodness food! 

Yeah, I rarely ever have that feeling of euphoria either...

...BUT....

I found a recipe ALL my kids like! REALLY!

Butter Chicken from the cookbook Chicken Recipes to Die For.

When I made this up for dinner the other day I didn't even bother to take a photo of it before we sat down to eat because I fully expected my kids to all veto it. 

So that's why you see shots in the leftover containers. 

This chicken is so creamy and buttery that our leftovers sure didn't last long. 

Butter Chicken - The Easiest and Tastiest Recipe Ever

2 or 3 T butter

1 onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic

1/2 t. ginger

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. turmeric

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. chili powder (or less if you don't like it too hot.)

uncooked chicken, cubed (I used 3 chicken breasts)

jar of tomato paste

3/4 cup cream

Mix all of the spices together, then add to the chicken and set aside. Melt the butter and fry the onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the spiced chicken and continue to fry until chicken is cooked through. Add the tomato paste and cream and simmer gently for 5 more minutes. How easy is that? 

Foody Friday - Apple-Orange Baked Chicken

A while ago I was able to download The Everything Potluck Cookbook onto my Kindle for free. I have found so many good recipes in this cookbook that I would say the current price ($9-$13) on Amazon is definitely worth it.

Apple-Orange Baked Chicken sounded rather odd but turned out to be some of the best chicken ever to come out of my kitchen. 

Apple-Orange Baked Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts

1 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 t. paprika

1 orange, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

1/4 c. butter, melted

1 c. applesauce

1/3 c. orange marmalade

1/2 c. orange juice

1 T. olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and paprika. Line roasting pan with orange and onion slices and top with chicken. Drizzle chicken with melted butter and set aside. 

In bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour over chicken. 

Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes, basting once with orange mixture. Uncover and bake for 30-40 minutes longer, basting frequently until chicken is thoroughly cooked. 

Don't serve the onions and oranges that are under the chicken; they are there to provide lots of flavor and cushion the chicken from the oven's heat. 

Although the recipe calls for continual basting, I forgot to do it. It turned out fabulous nonetheless. This was by far the moistest chicken I've ever eaten. I thought the combination of onion and oranges were odd but the flavor was subtle and just a bit sweet. The only problem with this recipe is that my boys refused to eat the applesauce on top. They thought it was just too weird. I didn't let them see the oranges and onions in the bottom of the pan, that would have resulted in mutiny! But what they don't know won't hurt them! 

Foody Friday - Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce

We've been in harvest mode for the last couple of weeks and considering the guys at the elevator have been working late into the evenings, without a fast food restaurant in sight, I've been taking them dinner a couple nights a week. I made BBQ Meatballs from Sarah's recipe over at This Farm Family's Life. Awesome!!! And so easy to make for a crowd of hungry men.

I also made up Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce that I took to the guys this week. I actually found the recipe in a free cookbook I downloaded to my Kindle a while back; Taste of Romania: Its Cookery and Glimpses of Its History, Folklore, Art, Literature and Poetry. It's not free anymore but it has some great recipes! This chicken dish must have been great, I didn't eat any of it, because DR keeps raving about how good it's been!

Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce

3 T butter

3lbs. chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces

(I diced up a bunch of chicken breasts instead)

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch of scallions, cleaned and chopped (green onions work too)

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 T fresh dill sprigs, chopped (I used a T of dill seeds)

4 T sour cream

1 T flour

1 t. lemon juice (I was out and it was still great)

2 potatoes, peeled, boiled and cut into small pieces

2 T fresh parsley, chopped (dried worked fine)

In a large skillet, melt 2 T butter and brown chicken on medium-high heat. When nicely browned, sprinle with salt and pepper, cover and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through).

In a separate skillet, melt the rest of the butter, and lightly saute scallions, garlic and dill on low heat.

In a small bowl, mix sour cream and four well, and add lemon juice.

When chicken is cooked, add sauteed ingredients, potatoes, and sour cream mixture, then stir well. Let simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve with light salad. Serves 4.