Great Leftovers...

Last night we had the left over chicken and baked it in the oven, as I didn't think it would be good reheated in the microwave. It turned out great and I couldn't taste the extra olive oil that was on it previously. We ate all of the cauliflower and onions, so I made two different side items. I cut up two large size potatoes and just added salt, pepper, butter and baked it until cooked. Last week I had made some more refrigerated pickling juice and never used some of it, so Tuesday night I added some baby carrots to it. Tonight the carrots were ready to eat. I didn't make the bread it was store bought french loaf.

Valentine's Day....

I had a great Valentine's Day and hope everyone had a great day (wether you celebrate it with a significant other, friends, etc. or even not at all). I received a package from my Dad and flowers from Mr. Crafts4others.

Mr. Crafts4others and I went out for breakfast and then later on cooked dinner together. Normally, I do the cooking by myself as I love to cook. We made two new recipes and besides a few tweaks on some of the ingredients, we will definitely have it again.

I didn't get a very good picture of the side dish, which was cauliflower, onions, garlic, shredded parmesan, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper. We accidentally put the parmesan on too early, we were supposed to cook everything and then towards the end add it. We used a whole mini package of fresh thyme, but we couldn't taste the flavor at all. Next time we plan on not adding the thyme at all, less olive oil, and making sure the cauliflower and onion pieces are bigger.

The chicken breast (we had two fairly good size breasts and I cut it into 4 pieces) we baked had olive oil, minced garlic, crushed dried rosemary, salt and parmesan. It also was supposed to have chives but we didn't have any on hand. It was really easy to get too much olive oil on the chicken, as per the recipe it says to add all the spices together with the oil. Next time I will just brush the olive oil on both sides and then sprinkle on the spices. The parmesan then only goes on the top. 

We have leftover chicken so we will see how it tastes.

Trying New Recipes

I like to try a new recipe every now and then, lately though I usually change something about the recipe that I think would make it taste better. I have never made a pastie (pasty?) before but thought they sounded good. I found a basic recipe but changed it a little bit; used ground turkey, added dried basil and oregano, and a little bit of cheese. I think next time it needed more herbs and cheese, otherwise it was a little too dry even with dunking the pastie in a condiment such as ketchup or mustard.

This meal actually feed us for a few days, and in the recipe it did say they could be frozen (although might not be a good idea if you added cheese to them).

I also tried a chicken with potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker. The reviews did say that it was a little bland so I added a lot more salt, rosemary, and paprika. I made a error though in adding all that salt, it created a lot of water so much so that all the vegggies were totally submerged under the liquid (some of it in the end didn't taste the greatest). The chicken came out good though, so perhaps I might make the veggies in a different way or use less salt. I forgot to take a after photo, but here is the before.

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Chicken

I decided to make a recipe using roasted red bell peppers with chicken. I was originally going to just make it a sauce, but then decided to shred the chicken and mix the sauce together. Here is the ingredients I used;

Almost 2 lbs. of boneless, skinless Chicken Breast
1 Jar 15-17 oz. of Roasted Red Bell Peppers IN WATER
2 Red Bell Peppers, chopped
Garlic
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Kosher Salt and Pepper

I cut up the chicken breast into smaller pieces and put it in the slow cooker. I added salt and pepper with a little water, cooked on high approximately 4-7 hours (check on it until it is done, depends on your slow cooker). I never stack the chicken on top of each other. I took out the roasted red bell peppers from the jar, and put it into a food processer. Then add the 2 red bell peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Process until a sauce is made to the consistancy of your liking, gradually add more garlic or seasoning per your taste. Shred the chicken and mix it with the sauce. I made this in advance of dinner and then put it in the fridge, later I warmed it on a skillet. This definately brought out a wonderful smell and might have even enhanced the flavor. Obviously, you don't have to cook the chicken in a slow cooker, but I used it since it was so hot out and I made it the night before we had this dinner. It was very good and I plan on making this again.

Do you have some good chicken recipes?

Slow Cooker....

I love using a slow cooker, normally to make soups but have been branching out a little bit lately. Recently I came across a chicken recipe, along with it is a mock cauliflower "rice" dish (it also has a greek salsa which I didn't make). The meal was good but I think that next time I just might make it with the chicken and a different side dish. Not to say at all that the cauliflower "rice" dish was bad but it is a little messy to make. Instead of using chicken breasts, I used chicken tenders as they were cheaper and then I didn't have to cut up the chicken breasts. I do think next time I might not use as much lemon or once I have shredded the chicken only put half back in the slow cooker. I couldn't find greek oregano so I just used regular oregano.

Whats On Your Plate This Week?

Last Week:

 The Goulash was ok, I couldn't find the recipe that I used last time. So next time I will just change it a little bit.

 The Chicken Tikka Masala was good, but the sauce I purchased was a little spicy. I plan on adding some vegetables next time.

The potato Lentil Soup was good. The picture is of leftovers that I ended up freezing.

This Week:

Last week I didn't end up making the Veggie Bean Casserole or the Mac and Cheese, we either had leftovers or delivered pizza.

This week I want to try a few dishes I have never made before, either as a main meal or side. So I hope they taste good! You will just need to wait until next week to find out, what we thought of them. I have made the Shepherds Pie quite a few times from the past couple of months, and it is really good. Also, from the same cookbook I make a healthy Turkey Meatloaf that rarely is there ever any leftovers, it is that good.

• Spiced Chicken with Herbed Veggie Skillet
• Rustic Italian Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Rosemary-Dijon Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
• Cheese Tortellini with Pesto Sauce
• Italian version of Shepherds Pie (From Mama's Table to Mine cookbook)

What Is On Your Plate This Week? Share below what you will be eating this week, so we can all get inspired for other meals.