Panko Crusted Chicken with Horseradish Cream Sauce

Horseradish is something I really didn't eat until my late 20s. I always saw my grandmother and dad eating it in things like Borscht Soup and on Kielbasa, but I never tried it. I regret it now because my grandmother always made her own horseradish! I think I'll have to try my hand at that someday.

Now that I like horseradish, recipes incorporating it always catch my eye, and I like experimenting with it in things like sauces and marinades. I tagged this recipe for Panko Crusted Chicken with Horseradish Cream Sauce a while back, and finally got around to making it a few weeks ago. I baked my chicken instead of frying it, and it came out nice and crispy from using the Panko and turning on the broiler at the end.

The horseradish cream sauce had a nice amount of heat, but was mellowed out from the cream and dijon. I wouldn't call it spicy as the heat from horseradish hits you differently than say a jalapeno - it's not that tongue burning heat but it will still definitely make your eyes water!

Panko Crusted Chicken with Horseradish Cream Sauce
Source: Adapted from Becoming Pigzilla

Ingredients:
Chicken:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Horseradish Cream Sauce:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk (I used 1 c light cream)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp prepared horseradish (adjust to personal taste)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray the bottom of a baking dish lightly with cooking spray.
• Pound chicken breast to 1/4 inch thickness and season lightly with salt and pepper.
• Set up three bowls - bowl 1: flour; bowl 2 - egg mixed with milk; bowl 3 - Panko mixed with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 
• Dredge chicken breasts in flour, shaking off excess, then egg mixture, and finally Panko, making sure to completely coat the chicken. If you want extra crispy chicken, dredge in flour, egg, then flour again, then egg again, and then the Panko mixture.
• Cook the chicken approximately 15-20 minutes, flipping once and turning on the broiler at the end. Make sure the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 170 degrees. Let rest a few minutes before serving.
• While the chicken is cooking, make your sauce. Heat butter over medium eat in a small sauce pan. Whisk in the flour until combined. Once combined, slowly add the milk or cream, whisking constantly. Once milk/cream has warmed and flour and butter are incorporated, increase heat to medium high and bring mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally. Keep a close eye so it doesn’t burn or boil over. Once sauce has thickened, add Dijon mustard, garlic, and horseradish. Whisk until incorporated and sauce reached desired thickness. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Spoon sauce onto plate and top with panko crusted chicken. Serve.

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Muffins

Over the holidays I tried my hand at some holiday baking - I had some successes, one major failure, but all in all I had a good time! Now I'm not going to become a baker by any stretch, but I have gotten over my fear of baking, I guess you could say!

So when I was given the blog Cookies on Friday in the most recent Taste of Home Cooking Recipe Swap, I didn't have the same reaction that I did the first time I had this blog in a swap. I decided to do something with chocolate chips since I had a bag of chips left over from holiday baking, so that's how I narrowed down my choices (and wow, are there a lot of great choices in this blog!!).

I made cookies the first time I had this blog in the swap, so this time I decided to try muffins.

These Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Muffins sounded really interesting, looked easy, and I actually had all of the ingredients on hand. Now don't let the word "muffin" fool you - they definitely aren't breakfast muffins (to me anyway). They were very sweet and ate more like a dessert... a dessert that I enjoyed a few days in a row! I took a bunch of them to work too and they disappeared with rave reviews.

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Muffins
Source: Cookies on Friday

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (this was about 3/4 of a sleeve; I used cinnamon graham crackers)
• 1 cup milk
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ¾ cup milk chocolate chips

For the topping:

• ¼ cups flour
• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
• ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

 Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. This recipe made 18 muffins for me. 
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and graham cracker crumbs until blended.
• In a separate small bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, egg, and vanilla.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
• Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
• Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full.
• Make the topping: in a medium bowl mix the flour, brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and mix well until crumbly and looks like wet sand. Divide the topping between the muffins.
• Bake for 16-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Savory Cracker Snack

If you are looking for one more snack to add to your party menu, give this a try. I made it for Christmas and it was well received by everyone - salty, savory, crunchy, and light enough to have a few handfuls without ruining your appetite for all of the other yummy appetizers or dinner.

Savory Cracker Snack
Source: Examiner.com

Ingredients

• 1 envelope dry ranch dressing mix
• 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 tsp dried dill weed (or to your taste)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or to your taste)
• salt to taste
• 1 box or bag oyster crackers

Directions

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees
• In a large mixing bowl, combine first 5 ingredients and mix well. Stir in oyster crackers mix to coat. Pour crackers onto a large cookie sheet.
• Bake 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.
• Cool and add to a covered container.

Caramelized Onion, Gruyere, and Bacon Spread

Mmm, you had me at bacon. And Gruyere. And caramelized onions.

Three of my favorite ingredients in one recipe? Yes, please.

I first saw this one on Pinterest, pinned from the site My Recipes. Once I looked at it, I discovered it was a Cooking Light recipe from November 2011. I made some changes to the recipe that definitely changed it to "not cooking light" status, but if you want to lighten it up, check out the original recipe.

I served this on Christmas and it was such a hit. I have said it before, but caramelized onions and Gruyere work so well together. They are one of those perfect flavor combinations in my book. This spread was so creamy, had the ideal balance of salty-savory and sweet, and was just a little bit too easy to eat. I served it with some toasted baguette slices.

Caramelized Onion, Gruyere, and Bacon Spread
Adapted From: My Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 white or yellow onions, chopped
• Approximately 4 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
• 1/3 c mayonnaise
• 1/3 c sour cream
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• Sliced baguette for serving (sprayed with olive oil and toasted for 5-6 minutes in the oven)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onions; cook approximately 20 minutes until they turn a deep, golden brown. Be careful not to fry or burn them - you want them to caramelize.
• Transfer onions to a bowl, and add 3 oz of the cheese, half of the chives, and the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine.
• Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and top with the remaining cheese.
• Bake on 425 for 20 minutes or until browned and bubbly.
• Top with the remaining chives and serve immediately.

Bolognese Sauce

It's recipe swap time again! This Taste of Home Cooking Recipe Swap featured recipes from Celebrity Chefs. I submitted this Chicken Pot Pie recipe by Martha Stewart, and was given this Ina Garten recipe for Bolognese Sauce shared by Dawn at Simple Gourmet Cooking.

Jon usually cooks when we are going to have "meatsauce," so I was excited to give this a try. Just from reading the recipe I knew it would be a lot different than his. Fancier, if you will.


I made the recipe exactly as it was shared, except for the amount of time it cooked. This is a weeknight (quick) bolognese, but since I made it on a Sunday, I let it simmer for about 45 minutes in addition to the cooking time required by the recipe. However, it's really nice to know that this is a great sauce recipe that could be made in just 30-40 minutes, if needed.

I really liked this - it was hearty and tasted like something that had cooked and simmered all day. The one change I'd made next time is that I would not add the remaining 1/4 c of wine at the end. I could still taste a lot of the wine as it didn't really have time to cook off. But other than that, I loved everything about the recipe, even the use of cream! I never would have thought to add cream to a tomato sauce unless I was making a pink sauce.

Dawn, thanks for sharing this one!

Bolognese Sauce
Source: Simple Gourmet Cooking


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1¼ cups dry red wine, divided
• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 1½ teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1 pound dried pasta, such as shells
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Directions

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat into the pan and cook until no longer pink and starting to brown, 5-7 minutes, breaking up the meat.
• Stir in the garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add 1 cup of the wine to the pan and stir, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. I had time, so I let it simmer for an additional 45 minutes over low heat.
• Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water according to the package directions.
• While the pasta is cooking, finish the sauce. Stir in the nutmeg, basil, cream, and remaining ¼ cup wine. Simmer for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened.
• When the pasta is cooked and drained, toss with the warm sauce and grated Parmesan until well coated. Serve with additional Parmesan if desired.

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

Last week I had planned on making a salad with buffalo chicken and blue cheese. But that day, it ended up being very cold and windy, and I just wasn't feeling like eating a salad. I wanted something heartier, but still with the buffalo flavor since it had been on my mind for 2 days.

I sat in the parking lot of the supermarket searching for a quick and easy recipe, and came across this one for Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas on the blog I Will Not Eat Oysters. Quesadillas... hmm. That's not usually the type of thing I make for dinner, maybe lunch. But they sounded so good, and I figured we could still have a side salad with them, so I ran in and bought some blue cheese and tortilla shells and decided to give them a shot.

Now these are easy, but they do require 4 different pans to prep and cook them... Jon wasn't too happy with the dishes that night. BUT - this IS the kind of recipe that can be prepped in advance. Make the sauce, dipping sauce, and cook/shred the chicken the night before, and you have a really quick and easy meal to throw together on a weeknight.

I didn't tell Jon what I was making until I put a quesadilla on his plate and said "try it." After eating it and liking it, he admitted that if I would have told him we were having Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas, he would have been wary of them. I'm glad he did, because I really liked them and look forward to making them again, either for a quick dinner or a fun appetizer at a party!

I made several changes, so my adaptation is below.

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas
Source: Adapted from I Will Not Eat Oysters

Ingredients

For Buffalo Chicken:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups hot sauce (like Frank's RedHot)
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 stalks celery, sliced thinly - I really don't think these were necessary in the quesadillas. I would have rather had celery sticks on the side.
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded - I poached my chicken and then shredded it.
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

For Quesadillas:

• 6 tortilla shells (medium size)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, jack cheese, marbled cheddar, or your favorite kind
• 1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
• A large nonstick pan

For Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce:

• 1 c sour cream
• 1/3 c blue cheese, crumbled

Directions

• Make the hot sauce: In a small sauce pot over med heat, melt 2 tbsp butter. Add the flour and mix with the butter. Cook, stirring, for about a minute to cook out the flour taste. Add the hot sauce and vinegar, and let the sauce heat but not boil for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside, or store in an air tight container in the fridge.
• The dipping sauce: In a small bowl, mix the sour cream and blue cheese crumbles. Cover and store in the fridge.
• The chicken mixture: Heat the olive oil in a skillet or large pan on med-high heat and add the celery, if you are using it. Sweat until celery is slightly soft and darker in color. Add the shredded chicken and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to med-low and add the buffalo sauce. Cook together, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
• Make the quesadillas: Place a nonstick pan over medium high heat. Add the tortilla and cook for 20-30 seconds per side. Add chicken to one half of it, top with shredded cheese and then blue cheese. Fold the empty side of the shell over to "close" it. Let cook until crispy and slightly browned, and then flip to cook the other side.
• Slice and serve with the blue cheese dipping sauce.

Enjoy!!

French Onion Pasta

I made this recipe about 2 months ago - I'm a bit behind on blogging! Luckily I made some notes so I wouldn't forget what I did!

A while back, I pinned a recipe for French Onion Pasta found on the blog Stephanie Cooks. I took a few things from that recipe, and a few ideas from this French Onion Braised Chicken, and pulled together a quick and tasty pasta dish.

It was really good - tasted like French Onion Soup with some pasta! I think adding shredded chicken and even some spinach would make this a complete meal.

Ingredients

• 2 yellow onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• Pinch of sugar
• Approximately 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 envelope of Lipton onion soup mix
• 1/3 c brandy
• 1 c beef stock
• 1/4 c light cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 c penne pasta, cooked
• Chopped parsley
• Shredded Swiss or Gruyere cheese

Directions

• Heat olive oil and butter in a large, oven-safe saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sugar. Stir almost constantly until they turn a rich, golden brown color, being careful to keep the heat low enough so they do not fry or burn. At the end, add the dried thyme. This will take about 20-25 minutes.
• Add the garlic and soup mix; stir.
• Turn the heat up a bit and add the brandy, stirring to scrape up any brown bits.
• At this point, turn the broiler on in your oven.
• Add the broth and bring to a simmer.
• Add the cream and a handful of cheese, stirring until the cheese has completely melted.
• Add the pasta and parsley, stir. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.
• Top with cheese and place under the broiler until the cheese has melted.

Chocolate Oreo Truffles

Here we are at the end of another year! I don't know where time is going but it sure is flying. I hope all of you had a wonderful - and delicious - holiday season!

I was so excited about Christmas this year. Baby girl is just about two-and-a-half and for the past month has been so excited for everything Christmas - the tree, the lights, all of the decorated homes, seeing Santa, talking about presents, and the anticipation of the big man coming to her house to bring presents.

As you know, I don't bake, but something about the holidays this year made me want to fill the house with lots of sweet treats! So when assigned a blog for the last Taste of Home Cooking Recipe Swap of the year, I immediately decided to make a sweet treat.

The blog I was given was Simple Gourmet Cooking. I bookmarked a few savory recipes to make in the future but stuck to my original plan of making something sweet. As soon as I saw this recipe for Oreo Truffles, I knew it was the one for me.

 I bought the Oreos, and decided to eat one as I was prepping this recipe. At that moment I realized I hadn't eaten an Oreo in at least 15 years or more! Mmm, I forgot how good they were.

This recipe was SO simple, so quick, and OH MY GOD so rich and delicious. Jon tried one and the look on his face said "oh shit these are really good and you better hide them because I'm going to end up eating every single one." Yup, success.

After he ate it, we were talking about other things we could do with them. He mentioned that coffee would go well with it, and maybe we could roll them in cocoa powder instead of dipping them in a sweet layer of chocolate. Maybe next year I'll play around with the recipe. I think these truffles will be making an appearance for the holidays every year!

Oreo Truffles
From: Simple Gourmet Cooking

Ingredients

•  1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 package Oreo cookies, finely crushed (I ended up using 2 sleeves, not the whole 3 sleeves in the package
• 1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted (I melted them slowly in the microwave with 1 tbsp shortening. I melted for 15 seconds, stirred, another 15, stirred, etc. Total time was 1 min 15 seconds)
• White chocolate melted, if desired for decorating them (I didn't do this)

Directions

• Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs until well combined.
• Roll to shape into truffles.
• Dip in melted chocolate; place on a wax paper-covered baking sheet. Allow truffles to sit at room temp 1 hour or until firm.
• If desired, decorate with more melted chocolate, colored frosting, crushed Oreos, etc.
• Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.

Cauliflower Cheese Fritters

I have been cooking cauliflower a lot recently, so I was excited when I got a recipe for Cauliflower Cheese Fritters from the blog Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks in the latest Taste of Home Cooking Recipe Swap featuring side dishes.

Just a few weeks ago I made  delicious dish called Bang Bang Cauliflower, a tempura battered cauliflower tossed with a creamy Sriracha sauce. These fritters reminded me a bit of the consistency of the Bang Bang Cauliflower which is probably why I ate 4 of them as soon as I finished cooking them! They were really, really good. And while they make a great side dish, they would also make a great appetizer if you made them a little smaller.

I made one small mistake, but it didn't change the flavor of the dish at all. I fried the fritters in just a small amount of oil; the original recipe calls for frying and then finishing in the oven. I let them go longer than instructed, and they became a nice golden brown so I didn't want to overcook them by also throwing them in the oven. And since I only used a thin layer of oil in the bottom of my pan, they weren't all that greasy. But if you want to cut some of the fat, these would work just fine fried and then finished in the oven.

Now the picture below is a bit silly, but I had to take it to show you how big and fluffy these little fritters were! Aren't they pretty? And can't you just tell how crunchy they were on the outside, and fluffy on the inside?

Here is the recipe for Cauliflower Cheese Fritters.

Source: Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks

Ingredients

• 3/4 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c milk
• 2 c chopped, raw cauliflower (I used about half of a medium sized head of cauliflower and chopped it into tiny pieces)
• 1 c cheddar cheese
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

• Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, egg, and milk together in a bowl. Stir until a smooth batter forms.
• Stir in the cauliflower, cheese, garlic, and red pepper flakes; mix well. Put in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
• I did this but never ended up baking them - Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet (I used about 1/4 inch max deep of oil in a non-stick pan). Working in batches, drop large spoonfuls of the cauliflower mixture into the oil. Saute for 3 minutes on each side or until just browned. I browned them completely in the pan.
• If baking them, Transfer to the baking sheet.  Cook for 5-10 minutes in the oven or until cooked through. Immediately sprinkle with salt and serve hot.

   

Chicken-Spinach-Artichoke Stuffed Shells

While shopping at Wegman's a few weeks ago, I picked up a box of pasta shells just on a whim. I didn't have any recipes in mind, but thought that maybe I'd make them soon.

That weekend, I decided to make stuffed shells, but wanted something different and with a creamy sauce instead of a red sauce. I also wanted to incorporate chicken, as well as 2 cans of artichokes I came across while reorganizing my pantry. Mmm, artichokes got me thinking about my favorite hot dip recipe, Spinach Artichoke Dip. And there it was - my inspiration for these Chicken Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Shells!

These shells took a little bit of work, but if you poach or bake and chop your chicken beforehand (even the day before), you will save some time. There isn't anything hard about this recipe, it just requires some prep which means a lot of dishes to wash!

My parents and my friend Jenny came over to eat these, and we all loved them! They tasted so much like my Spinach Artichoke Dip which is exactly what I wanted. I will definitely be making these again!

Chicken Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Shells
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

The amounts are approximate as I created this recipe as I cooked. I go based on look, feel, and taste, adding as necessary instead of adding all of my ingredients at once.


Ingredients

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Dried herbs and spices for poaching the chicken - Italian mix, basil, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper
• Approximately 4 c of water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Optional: 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Approximately 1.5 c ricotta
• 6 oz shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 c bechamel (recipe follows)
• 2-3 handfuls of fresh baby spinach (almost 1 full bag), roughly chopped (or 1 10oz box of frozen spinach would work - defrost and squeeze to get all of the excess water out)
• 1 can of artichoke hearts, chopped
• Handful of shredded Parmesan cheese
• 30 jumbo pasta shells, cooked and drained

Bechamel

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• 2 cups light cream
• 1 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
• 1 tsp black pepper

Directions

• Place the chicken in a pot with all of the spices/herbs, cover with water and cook on medium until cooked through. Remove from water and chop or shred.
• The bechamel: Heat butter in a pot over medium high heat. Add flour and whisk until you have a nice roux. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and add the cheese, whisking until creamy. Season as needed with pepper (it should be salty enough from the cheese).
• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic (and red pepper flakes, if using), saute 2-3 minutes.
• Transfer the onion and garlic to a large mixing bowl. Add the chicken, mozzarella, artichokes, and spinach, and then slowly add your ricotta and 1/2 c of the bechamel until you have a nice thick mixture. You don't want the cheese to overtake the chicken, so make sure your ratio of creamy cheesy goodness to chicken works.
• Cover the bottom of a baking dish with a layer of the bechamel.
• Stuff each shell with a large spoon full of the chicken mixture and place in the dish. Once you have filled the dish, top the shells with a bit more mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
• Bake on 400 for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Enjoy!!