Weeknight Cooking: Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

I am all about authentic dishes. Long, tedious prep times? Not scared. Multi-step recipes? No sweat. Head to the store to get a specialty ingredient I don't normally keep on hand? Why not! Except during the week. Monday through Friday during the school year I'm all about fast and furious. First, when I come home, I am famished. If I don't think a meal will be ready anytime soon, I am going to eat whatever is in sight--and it probably isn't low-fat. Second, I'm mentally and physically exhausted from a day of dealing with high school students. Third, I've got two very young children. Enough said.

So, while I would love to be making my own bread crumbs, pounding out chicken breasts, rolling up ham and gruyere cheese in them, lightly sauteeing them and then finishing the cooking process in the oven--like you might do if you were making authentic chicken cordon bleu--it's Monday night, people. Please.

Good thing I found a quick and easy recipe to fake it! I had barely begun and I was already done! (That rhymes by the way.) The original recipe comes from the Kraft Food & Family magazine. I am going to tell you the original recipe, then how I changed it, and why.

EASY CHICKEN CORDON BLEU
from Kraft Food & Family Magazine (not sure month or year)

2 cups Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken from the multi-serving canister
** I used a regular box of S.T. stuffing (6 oz) because it's what I had on hand.

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb.)
**I have a 6'4" husband and I like to have leftovers to take to work for lunch the next day, so I used 2 lbs.

4 slices Oscar Mayer Thin Sliced Smoked Ham
**I had leftover ham from the deli, so I used that. It wasn't smoked. No big deal. AND sinc I had more chicken, I needed more ham, too. If you're following my amounts, you'll need about 6 - 8 slices of ham.

1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
**I doubled this part because we like to have plenty of sauce at our house.

1 tablespoon dijon mustard
**First I doubled the dijon, because I doubled the soup. Then I added 2 more tablespoons because the flavor wasn't coming through enough.

1 cup Kraft Shredded Swiss Cheese
**I used Meijer brand, which comes in a 6 oz. package, and I used the whole thing.


Regardless of what measurements you use, the cooking instructions will be the same:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package; set aside.


2. Place chicken in a 9x13 baking dish; cover with ham. Mix soup and mustard; spoon over chicken. Top with swiss cheese. Spread prepared stuffing evenly over top.


3. Bake 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. (I had to cook an additional 10 minutes because the chicken breasts weren't small, and they were on the thicker side.)


4. Original makes four servings


5. OR the original would feed one hungry 6'4" husband + 1 wife + 1 picky 2 1/2 year old with NO leftovers.


6. If you follow my measurements, you can feed all of the above, and have one leftover portion size for wife to take to lunch and two decent-sized portions for the husband to eat at 11:00 p.m. while watching hunting shows!

Weeknight Cooking: Chicken Pasta Primavera

I may be passionate about cooking, however, I am also a full-time working mother of two young children. When I get home from work with a two-and-a-half year old and an 8-month old in tow, the last thing I have time (or energy) to do is intense food prep (like chopping vegetables) or intense cooking (like babysitting a roux on the stove). So...I have few go-to recipes that taste really good, but involve shortcuts that I wouldn't normally take if I were cooking for the FUN of it or if I were trying to IMPRESS someone.

I like this Pasta Primavera recipe because (a) it's super easy and quick, (b) you can customize it to your family's tastes, and (c) it's a one-pot wonder--you have a complete meal and you wouldn't need to serve anything else.

By the way, "primavera" means "(the season of) spring" in Italian and Spanish. Hence the presence of fresh vegetables in this dish.


CHICKEN PASTA PRIMAVERA

Chicken - I had some frozen chicken breasts that I defrosted in the microwave. Allow for about one chicken breast per adult that you're cooking for. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Saute over medium-medium high heat in olive oil until cooked through. Set aside until pasta and veggies are cooked.

Pasta - This particular time I used Butoni Three-Cheese Tortellini, which you can find in the refrigerated section of the supermarket. Prepare as directed on the package and set aside (or leave in the colander that you used to drain pasta).

Frozen Veggies - My favorite veggies are the carrot, cauliflower, broccoli blend. I buy the Birdseye Steamfresh because you can steam them right in their package in the microwave and they turn fork tender, but not at all mushy. Prepare as directed on the package.

Sauce - I like toss this dish in a cream sauce. Because it's weeknight cooking, I did not make my own alfredo sauce, which would have been fabulous, but I used our favorite jarred version: Classico Alfredo Sauce. If I had not had any on hand, a drizzle of olive oil and/or balsalmic vinegar would have been my go-to sauce for the evening. While the frozen vegetables are cooking, pour sauce in large saucepan or stockpot (mabye the pot you cooked your pasta in). Begin to warm over medium heat. Add cooked pasta, cooked chicken, and veggies. Toss to coat.

You're done! Serve it up and make someone else do the dishes!

On The Lighter Side - Southwest Apricot Chicken

I have posted a lot of recipes that would be considered waistline splurges rather than waistline helpers. However, when I was searching for a chicken recipe, I came across this oldie-but-goodie and it's very much on the lighter side--and also VERY easy!

Southwest Apricot Chicken

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
10 oz. jar apricot preserves
10 oz. jar mild salsa
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken in bottom of pan, mix together remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve over rice.

Note: For smaller families, prepare in two 8 x 8 square pans and freeze one before cooking.

EASY Chicken Lasagna Alfredo

This past weekend I purchased a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store. In addition to eating the chicken as is, for your main course, there are so many uses for the leftovers...and here is one that turned out well. In fact, other than the chicken, I already had all of the ingredients in the cabinet, refrigerator, and freezer. Because the measurements depend on the size of your family, the amount of ingredients you have on hand, and the size of pan you are going to use, I am not going to include them. Plus, the best thing about a lasagna is you can pretty much "eye-ball" every ingredient and still turn out a masterpiece.

Lasagna Noodles
Jar of store-bought Alfredo sauce (1 jar for 8x8, but probably 2 for 9x13)
Cottage cheese or Ricotta
Diced cooked chicken
Frozen broccoli
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

I made an 8x8 pan of lasagna. This is a perfect size for my family (just husband, me and baby) because we still have leftovers, but not two weeks worth. The leftovers are gone before we get tired of eating them! I used the no-boil style of lasagna noodles to save some time, but FYI: you really don't ever have to boil the other type of lasagna noodles as long as you use enough sauce. Anyway, the Barilla brand is what I had on hand. After spraying non-stick cooking spray in your baking dish, pour enough alfredo sauce to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Spread a layer of noodles on bottom. Follow with a layer of cottage cheese, frozen broccoli, and chicken. Top with mozzarella and parmesan and a good pouring of the alfredo sauce. Repeat another layer. Finally, top the second layer with one more layer of noodles and a good helping of mozzarella cheese. I also poured any remaining sauce I had on top. Cover with foil (spray the foil with non-stick spray so the cheese doesn't bake onto it). Bake at 375 degrees for at least 45 minutes. When 20 minutes of cook-time are remaining, remove foil so cheese can get golden and bubbly. ENJOY!

By the way, there are all kinds of other things you could add--off the top of my head: sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, green peppers. Be creative!