142.2…Chicken Breasts Do Not Have To Be Dry!
I’m pretty good at using up leftovers. As most of you know, I have the freezer of champions. Everything goes in my freezer. I always have meals on hand on those nights when I don’t feel like cooking. Sometimes I can turn those leftovers into new meals which I did the other night with my Baked Penne dish. There is a limit to my enjoyment with these leftovers. Last night I reached my limit.
We had leftovers of the leftover baked penne. I enjoyed it the first two times around but by the third time I was over it. But I was hungry and I hate to waste food so I ate it. I did make a fresh salad to go with it though.
Some of you know that my husband is very picky when it comes to food. There are more things on his “won’t eat list” than on his “will eat list.” He’s even picky when it comes to his lettuce. He only likes romaine and iceberg lettuces. Last night I didn’t have enough romaine so I threw in some mixed baby greens. I thought I could get away with it but in the middle of eating his salad he made a face. I asked what was wrong and he said “it tastes like there’s weeds in here.” Oh well.
For breakfast this morning, I made a sandwich using an a toasted wheat English muffin, an egg and a Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb cheese wedge. I had a bowl of watermelon as well. My watermelon supply never ends.
I took the kids to school and went to Great News for a cooking class. Today my favorite instructor, Phillis Carey, was teaching her famous “Chicken Breasts” class. I love attending this class. I love the techniques for getting chicken breasts to cook fast and evenly and love getting the recipes. My husband loves chicken!
The basic thing you need to do EVERY time you prepare boneless skinless chicken breasts is to pound them. EVERY time. This way the chicken is an even thickness and cooks faster. Cooking faster means you will not dry the chicken out. A chicken breast has a fat end and a skinny end. By the time you cook the fat end all the way through, the skinny end is dried out. Pound your chicken=problem solved. So instead of taking 8 or 9 minutes per side to cook, you only need 3 to 4.
To Do: place your chicken breast, shiny side down ,onto a plastic board and place plastic wrap on top (or just put between two sheets of plastic wrap) and take your meat pounder (one WITHOUT TEETH) and pound the fat side until it is an even thickness with the thin side. Voila! You can thank me later.
Let’s get to the recipes from today’s class because they were good! The first recipe was Cobb Salad with BBQ Grilled Chicken and Buttermilk Dressing:
Fresh and delicious! The dressing was pretty light and I loved the BBQ chicken on top! The salad had corn, black beans, red onions, Cotija cheese and BBQ chicken all tossed with the buttermilk dressing.
The second recipe was Oven-Fried Chicken Cordon Bleu Bundles Stuffed with Bacon, Broccoli and Cheddar:
This was my favorite! I will have to make this at home for sure! The flavors were amazing! The technique for “frying” this chicken is awesome! Heat a baking sheet with some oil on it for a few minutes and then place the chicken bundles on the sheet. Bake for 8 minutes, flip them over and bake for another 6 to 8 minutes. Oven fried chicken!
The next recipe was Easy Baked Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breasts with Creamy Tomato Sauce and Fresh Basil:
They served it with fresh pasta and it was fabulous! Easy: place the chicken breasts in a casserole dish, pour some tomato sauce mixed with some cream over them and bake!
The last chicken recipe was Parmesan Chicken with Spinach Gorgonzola Sauce:
They served this one with rice. Another winner! The sauce was rich and silky. If you don’t like blue cheeses, you could substitute it with Boursin cheese. I want to try it that way.
There was also a dessert: White Chocolate Mousse with Dark Chocolate Sauce:
The chocolate sauce was out of this world. I don’t think I could ever eat jarred chocolate sauce again.
Now I’m stuffed. And to make things even crazier, I’m going to Bunco tonight. My friend who’s hosting Bunco makes fabulous food. I need to be hungry when I get there. :) Maybe I should go run laps around the neighborhood?
What’s your favorite way to prepare chicken breasts?
Is your significant other a picky eater or are you?
Can I just say every picture you posted looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels very wasteful throwing away food!
YUM! Sounds like a super good day at your cooking class.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm totally with your husband. Iceberg and romaine is where it's at. As a kid, I'd tell my mom that I wouldn't eat anything that looked like a leaf off of a tree.
Yummy eats girl! I actually always pound out the chicken breasts. I'm not a big meat fan and if I do eat it I'm not really into a big hunk of it. I also always use a meat thermometer so it's never dry!
ReplyDeleteYum...can you post any recipes???
ReplyDeleteI think I am pickier than the boyfriend but he has really opened up his options with all the cooking I do.
ReplyDelete@Andrea
ReplyDeleteSure!! Which one would you like? Sometimes I make recipes from cooking class and post the recipes. I haven't done it in awhile but need to get on that! :)
Neither of us are picky eaters, but I used to be - MAJORLY. Now I love to try everything! (well, within reason. :) ) My favorite chicken is probably in a soy sauce-based stir fry - heart some asian!
ReplyDelete