Chicken Pot Awesome!

So, I need to post about how awesome The Williams & Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook is.

It's phenomenal. Seriously, between that book and the ever so "to the Hamptons!" Ina Garten, Mrs Barefoot Contessa herself, I am pretty in love with cooking. So thank you both.

This recipe is adapted from the Bride and Groom cookbook.

Chicken Pot Pie. It's a meal with your carbs, your protein, your veggies, and warmth like your mama used to make.

Perfect for those winter months coming up!

Warning; This makes 2 VERY large pot pies that fill your average run of the mill 9-10" pie pan; 4 healthy servings in each pie pan, totaling 8 servings.

Les Ingredients:

3 servings (approximately 4-6 ounces each) Chicken Breast, Boneless, Skinless.

3 tbsp Light Butter

5 tbsp All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Fat Free Half and Half

1 cup Yellow Onion, Chopped

1 cup Carrots, Chopped

1 cup Celery, Diced

2 cups Button Mushrooms

1 package Puff Pastry Sheets (2 sheets)

1 tsp Coarse Kosher Salt

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

4 Cups Lower Sodium Chicken Broth

1-2 cups Yukon Gold Potatoes, diced

Touch of Olive Oil

1 tsp fresh sage

2 tsp fresh thyme

2 tsp finely chopped celery leaf

With a touch of olive oil, heat a medium sauce pan.

Add onions, carrots, celery- saute for about 4-5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and potatoes, stir often, for about 4 minutes.

Add chicken stock, bring to a slight boil. Next, lower the heat to medium/low and add chicken.

Next, add sage, thyme, and celery leaf & some salt (about 2 tsp) and pepper. Let this simmer for 10 minutes or so.

Now, in a small sauce pan, make a roux with the butter and flour. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes with a wooden spoon.

Add the Fat Free half and half and stir to get the sauce to thicken. Next add the roux to the chicken mixture. Let this simmer for 5-10 minutes. Adjust seasoning at this point to your liking.

Next, take two pie pans, and fill them with the chicken/vegetable mixture. Leave some room for the pastry. Let them cool for about 30 minutes.

With your pastry, cut two rounds to fit on top of the pie crust.

In your 400 degree oven they go and let cook for about 15 minutes.

Golden deliciousness.

The facts, approximately (remember this is an all inclusive meal, meaning- carbs, protein, and veggies!):

Nutrition Facts

Recipe Serves 8 people

Amount per Serving

• Calories 440Calories from Fat 189

% Daily Value *

• Total Fat 20.86g32%
• Saturated Fat 10.97g55%
• Monounsaturated Fat 0.57g
• Polyunsaturated Fat 0.03g
• Cholesterol 58.13mg19%
• Sodium 578.81mg24%
• Potassium 205.8mg6%
• Total Carbohydrate 39.48g13%
• Dietary Fiber 1.21g5%
• Sugars 4g
• Protein 27.07g54%

• Vitamin A43.88
• Vitamin C4.96
• Calcium2.82
• Iron17.79
• Vitamin E0.49
• Thiamin (B1)0.01
• Riboflavin (B2)0.02
• Niacin (B3)0.21
• Vitamin B61.61
• Phosphorus9.71
• Magnesium4
• Panthothenic Acid0.08
• Zinc0.42
• Manganese0.05

Est. Percent of Calories from:

Fat 42.7% Carbs 35.9%

Protein 24.6%

Cooking with Mr. Not Your Bubbe's Kitchen

So, Mr. Not Your Bubbe's Kitchen likes to cook too, and as much as it pains me to admit it, he's good. And I mean, he's real, real, real good. But if you're like me, you're a control freak and sometimes don't want your manly other half to be in the kitchen...but sometimes, well, you have to just let them be. And something amazing could happen... He may clean his mess, too!

So, the other night, he and I decided on a quick easy dinner- pan fried

chicken with creamed spinach and. gulp....I don't know why I am admitting this, Mrs. Not Your Bubbe's Kitchens failed scalloped potatoes. Yes, I said it, failed. So sad. If those suckers had a little more spice and salt to them, and were cooked 15 minutes longer...They would have been great.

So, today, we will post about the Mr's chicken that is so easy anyone can do it.

Serving size-Trois.

The ingredients for Mr. Bubbe's Kitchen super easy pan fried chicken:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken tenders

Like these:

1/2 cup of flour, for dredging

1 egg mixed with 2-3 tbsp of skim milk

1//2 cup plain breadcrumbs seasoned with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a dash of cayenne- Mr. Bubbe knows sometimes my heat radar is a bit sensitive...so he chose to make these on the milder side for me; but if he was making them just for him, he would have loaded cayenne in there!

1-2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil for the pan

Line your pans like this:

Here's how easy this is.

Wash chicken.

Dry chicken.

Take piece of chicken. Dredge in flour. Shake off excess.

Take chicken, place in egg wash. Shake of excess.

Take your now flour dredged, egg washed chicken, and roll in breadcrumbs till covered.

(Hint, Mr. Not your Bubbe's Kitchen did the wet hand/dry hand technique and it works out well. This is what it sounds. You use one hand for the dry ingredients...and one hand for the wet.)

In your already hot, oiled pan, drop chicken in. Depending on thickness, the chicken will take

about 5 minutes per side. They'll be golden brown, moist, and delicious. Trust me.

The facts... but please keep in mind, I included all the flour and all the breadcrumbs when in reality you shouldn't need all of them! As I say, better to over estimate than under estimate :)

Nutrition Facts

Recipe Serves 3 people

Amount per Serving

• Calories 344Calories from Fat 94

% Daily Value *

• Total Fat 11.01g17%
• Saturated Fat 1.83g9%
• Monounsaturated Fat 6.67g
• Polyunsaturated Fat 0.67g
• Cholesterol 135mg45%
• Sodium 537.83mg22%
• Potassium 316.25mg9%
• Total Carbohydrate 23.28g8%
• Dietary Fiber 1.01g4%
• Sugars 10.34g
• Protein 30.92g62%

• Vitamin A8.67
• Calcium28.04
• Iron4.86
• Vitamin D16.67

Est. Percent of Calories from:

Fat 28.8% Carbs 27.1%

Protein 36.0%

Now, for Mrs. Bubbe's Kitchen's creamed spinach:

Again, this serves about 3 people.

Here's what you need:

1 20 ounce bag of fresh spinach

1/4 cup fat free half and half

1/4 cup fat free skim milk

1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped finely.

2 cloves of garlic, minced

dash of cayenne pepper (hey, my man likes heat)

1/4 tsp kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp corn starch, if you like it a little thicker- mixed with a little water (this allows it to blend in the liquid mix easier).

1 tbsp light butter

Melt butter in saute pan. Add onions and garlic and cayenne, salt, pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes until just translucent.

Add in your spinach, let it cook down.

Add your milk mix and the cornstarch mix to the spinach mix. Let this cook down for about 5 minutes.

And, you're done. Mr. Bubbe's Kitchen liked this a lot!!

The facts, approximately:

Nutrition Facts

Recipe Serves 3 people

Amount per Serving

• Calories 131Calories from Fat 73

% Daily Value *

• Total Fat 8g12%
• Saturated Fat 1.33g7%
• Monounsaturated Fat 0.5g
• Polyunsaturated Fat 0.83g
• Cholesterol 3.33mg1%
• Sodium 626.17mg26%
• Potassium 11mg0%
• Total Carbohydrate 9.73g3%
• Dietary Fiber 1.5g6%
• Sugars 0.67g
• Protein 3.75g8%

• Vitamin A42.33
• Vitamin C2
• Calcium9.33
• Iron5
• Niacin (B3)0.01
• Vitamin B60.57
• Phosphorus2
• Magnesium0.67
• Panthothenic Acid0.01
• Zinc0.09
• Manganese0.01

Est. Percent of Calories from:

Fat 55.0% Carbs 29.7%

Protein 11.5%

Bon Appetit!