Recipe Testing: September 2015

In an attempt to come up with more tasty carbohydrate options as dinner side dishes, I tried out this Seasoned Rice Mix (though I didn't make the mix, I made enough for 1 serving of rice for each of us). I really enjoyed the simple flavors here, and found it to be an easy side dish that won't overpower the main course.

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In addition to a rice side dish, I also tried out this recipe for Loaded Mashed Potatoes. This recipe was exactly what I expected, and I loved every bite! The only change I made was that I buttered instead of greased my baking dish. I was surprised how much the potatoes puffed up while in the oven!

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I experimented with using canned biscuits to create tasty dishes. In July I made pepperoni garlic knots and learned the importance of pressing the dough out to be thinner. This time I made this Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes recipe, but created my own filling with the flavors I prefer. My filling was

• 1 chicken breast, cooked & diced
• 1 cup small red potatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 teaspoons Spike (salt free) seasoning (or spices of your choosing)
• 3 oz cream cheese
• salt & pepper to taste

Saute the onion and Spike (or spices of your choosing) in a tablespoon of butter until soft, add the garlic and cooked for another minute before adding in the remaining vegetables. Stir to coat the vegetables in butter, and saute for 5 or so minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the potatoes have some color add 1/2 cup chicken broth & cover. Cook another 5 to 10 minutes, until the potatoes are soft, adding more broth if needed during the cooking process. Add the chicken and cream cheese, stirring to combine. Use filling for cupcakes as directed in above recipe, or for a pot pie, or to stuff bell peppers, or add more broth to make a soup... I use this style of "filling" for lots of things!

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I made this recipe for Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts the other night. Instead of stuffing with cream cheese & green onions I used Alouette Smoky Jalapeno soft spreadable cheese. I was hoping for a bacon jalapeno popper style chicken. It turned out ok. I'm not sure if my wrapping skills were to blame, but most of the cheese oozed out of the chicken. It was tasty, but I'm not sure that I'll be stuffing or bacon wrapping chicken breasts again any time soon.

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Another experiment with tastier side dishes was a slightly modified version of this Best Spanish Rice, where the only change I made was adding 1 minced garlic clove with the onion. The rice did burn onto the bottom of the pot, but rice on the stove top is the bane of my cooking existence so I imagine I'm somehow at fault for that issue. Otherwise the rice was light, fluffy & tasty. Make sure you use a salsa you really like as that's going to be the predominant flavor of the dish.

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This Mediterranean Beef Pita recipe was pretty tasty! I messed up and mixed the salt, pepper & oregano into the beef. I also made a few alterations. As most of the reviews suggested I skipped the hummus and used homemade tzatziki sauce (plain greek yogurt, minced cucumber, minced garlic, dill, lemon juice, and olive oil). I also added sauteed onion & zucchini instead of raw red onion.

I served the pitas with Lemon & Garlic Potatoes that were very tasty. I followed another reviewers recommendation to cover the pan for the first 30 minutes, and I cooked them for about an hour and a half total to make them extra crispy!