Chicken Pizza

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Oh, la, la....chicken pizza, yum!  New recipe with a new product ....... but of course I just had to change the original recipe.  

Have you seen these?

AND did you know they have a site dedicated to recipes using this new product?  ....... oh the possibilities!  

Among the recipes on this website, I found one that I just had to try.  Whenever we order out for pizza, our first choice is BBQ Chicken Ranch.  It is our f.a.v.o.r.i.t.e!  So I got busy in the kitchen.

First I made my homemade pizza crust as I had posted here.  I like THICK crust for my pizza.  The toppings are important too but I am a big bread lover and well ..... homemade pizza crust .... it just needs to be thick.

Generously coat the pan with olive oil and then sprinkle a layer of cornmeal.  

Spread the dough over the pizza pan (or a cookie sheet, like I used) and then it is time for the toppings. I folded over the edges a little to hold the toppings on better.

Next liberally spread the Philadelphia Brand Italian Herb and Cheese Cooking Creme over the entire crust.  The recipe calls for 1/2 cup which was very close to the whole container so I just used it all. 

Previously I had baked three boneless, skinless chicken breasts that were coated with a BBQ sauce in the oven until they were done.  Once cooled, I shredded the chicken which gave me approximately 3 cups.

I added the chicken to the top of the cooking creme.  Next came the roasted garlic.  You can see how I roasted my garlic here.

Since I had fresh mushrooms in the refrigerator, I sliced those up and added them as well along with the sliced onions.  If you prefer, caramelize the onions ... that would be yummy too!

Fresh mozzarella came next.  I just sliced it and generously laid it over the whole pizza.

Your oven should be pre-heated at 450 F.

Remove from oven once the crust is browned and the cheese is melted ..... approximately 18 - 20 minutes.

Let the pizza stand for 5 minutes once removed from the oven.  This helps to 'set' the cheese so the pizza doesn't fall to pieces when sliced.  Serve with a chilled white wine and a side salad.  Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

BASIC ROASTED GARLIC CHICKEN PIZZA

1 homemade pizza crust (or store-bought) .... I STRONGLY recommend homemade though!

2 to 3 cups of shredded chicken (you can leave it plain or add BBQ sauce like I did)

1/2 cup Philadelphia Brand Italian Herb and Cheese Cooking Creme 

1 to 2 heads roasted garlic, chopped

sliced medium onion, chopped

 1 to 2 cups of Colby or Mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced

1 handful fresh finely chopped parsley (straight from my herb windowsill garden)

Now add any other ingredients you want ..... mushrooms, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, anchovies, anything your little heart desires.

Place in a 450 F oven and bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand and cool for approximately 5 minutes, slice and serve.  Yum, yum, yum!

Brown Gravy Mix

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I use these Brown Gravy Mixes quite a bit when I am cooking

.... I know, I know ... yuck right?  They do come in handy though. I find them useful for meals like shepherd's pie, hot beef sandwiches (when there is roast beef left over from the previous day's meal), for throwing in a package when a pot of stew is almost ready or even when I am in a rush and need something for mashed potatoes.

The worst part about them however is they are quite expensive.  Sometimes I can get them on sale at 3 packs for .99 cents but usually they run about .50 cents a pack.  I think that is outrageous especially when I know it is probably just cornstarch and some beef bullion.  So I was on the hunt to find a recipe to make my own ....

and I found it!  It was on the Our Country Haven Forum site ... now I have never seen this site before but it needs to be explored further.  It looks fantastic.  So I thought I would share it with you.  Now I didn't figure out the cost of how much it cost to make this batch but I would assume it was pretty cheap ... it makes the equivalent to 24 of those little packages!!!!  So that would run me at least $12.00 and I know it didn't cost that much.

Brown Gravy Mix

1 2/3 cup of cornstarch

6 tablespoons of low sodium beef bullion or granules

4 teaspoons of instant coffee crystals or powder

2 teaspoons of onion powder

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Combine and store in an airtight container.

To Use:

Use 3 tablespoons of mix to 1 1/2 cups of water in a pan.  

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and stir for one minute.

I love, love, love it!  No more of those expensive pre-packaged mixes.

Now the same site had a chicken gravy mix recipe so I am happy to share that as well BUT I have not tried this one yet so I am unsure of the taste.  If it is anything like the brown gravy, it will be a winner. It doesn't however make as much ..... or at least you have to use quite a bit more to make the gravy so it looks like this recipe is only the equivalent of about 6 pre-packaged mixes.

Chicken Gravy Mix

1 1/3 cups of instant non-fat dry milk powder

3/4 cup of flour

3 tablespoons of instant chicken bullion or granules

1/4 teaspoon of ground sage

1/8 teaspoon of ground thyme

1/8 teaspoon of ground pepper

Combine and stir with a wire whisk to blend.  

Spoon into a 3 cup air-tight container and store in pantry.

To Use:

Combine 1/2 cup of mix, 1 cup of water, and 1 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan.

Whisk constantly over medium heat until smooth and thick (2-3 minutes).

Another great staple to add to the pantry at the fraction of the cost!  I hope this helps some of you as well.  Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Kentucky Fried Chicken

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Who doesn't love the taste of Kentucky Fried Chicken?  I would think most of us do but I also think most of us do not like eating the skin of the chicken because of the fat content or grease content or just plain ickiness factor of it but how can you enjoy the taste of the 'secret recipe' that Kentucky Fried Chicken is so famous for without eating the skin?  Baked of course using boneless, skinless chicken breasts!

This recipe has been hitting Pinterest by storm lately so I had to give it a try.  Wanting to give someone credit for the recipe, I will give it to Amy over at Your Life Uncommon where I found the first link through Pinterest. 

Since I was making baked, fried KFC, I just had to have french fries and salad to go with the meal but instead of store bought french fries, I make my own.

First I peel, wash and cut the potatoes up into french fry size and par-boil them for a few minutes.  I find this makes a big difference in how homemade french fries both cook and taste.  I then sprinkle them with olive oil and salt before baking in a 400 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Now onto the chicken!

Place freshly rinsed, thawed chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins in a bowl of milk for approximately 30 minutes and let them soak.

Next add the following ingredients in a ziploc gallon sized bag or in a bowl .....

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon of season all

3/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons paprika

Mix it all together well.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut 1/2 stick of butter into a few pieces and place in a 9 x 13 inch pan.  Melt the butter in the pre-heated oven.  

Spread the melted butter around the bottom of the pan.  Lightly spray the pan if needed to make sure there are no dry spots.

Shake the milk off each piece of chicken and shake in the ziploc bag or place in the bowl making sure to completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix.  

Place each piece of chicken in the pan.  Cook for 15 minutes then flip chicken and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Oh so easy and yet oh so good.  Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Chicken Bombs

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Hubby is a big meat eater ... the red meat kind of meat.  Chicken and turkey ... eh, not too much so in order for me to coerce him into eating more chicken, I have to get inventive and/or find new recipes that I think he might like.  

I am constantly searching the web, blogs, Pinterest, and even old recipe books .... yes, actual books ... looking for something new and fresh.  

I ran across this recipe by Leslie the other day and it just looked delicious!  Noticing that Leslie included instructions for cooking them in the oven, I just had to try it last night.  

We are big pepper eaters and although the hot peppers are not to good for my father-in-law or my hubby due to ulcers, I love, love, love them!  Substituting sweet bell peppers for those two and keeping with the jalapeno peppers for me, I got to work creating this interesting dish.  

 sorry for the blurry pictures..the camera was just not cooperating!

Leslie makes the process look easy ... hah!  Now either I was doing something wrong or she is a master at creating flat chicken breasts.  Flattening those suckers was the hardest part.  Mine just didn't want to cooperate.  

The rest was fairly easy.  Cleaned and sliced the peppers, 

mixed the two cheeses,

add them to the flattened chicken breasts,

rolled them up....

                                    

carefully wrapped a couple of slicing of bacon

                         

and magically the bacon holds everything together nicely.  No toothpicks needed here!

Added the bbq sauce and cooked them in the oven for the allotted time.

The last 10 minutes or so I broiled them to crisp up the bacon.

The verdict?  A winner!  Both hubby and father-in-law loved them.  

The bacon probably helped.  LOL

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!