Crispy Oven Roasted Parmesan Potatoes over Chicken

This is one we tried last night - very tasty! I'd recommend serving it with some sort of bread or something that will soak up the juices, because they are delicious! This recipe is courtesy of My Recipe Journey.

Crispy Oven Roasted Parmesan Potatoes Over Chicken

INGREDIENTS:
  4 large russet potatoes

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon black pepper, divided in half

1 teaspoon garlic powder, divided in half

1 teaspoon onion powder, divided in half

 15 oz. can fat free beef broth

2 Tablespoons of butter

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin bite sized pieces

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

kosher salt

black pepper

chopped fresh parsley, garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the potatoes into 1 inch cubes and coat with the 

olive oil and half the pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

In a medium sized pot simmer the beef broth and butter.

Then add the coated potatoes and bring to a boil for 8 minutes.

Season the chicken pieces with the other half of the pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

Also lightly season the chicken pieces

with kosher salt and pepper.

Grease a 12"x 9" glass baking pan.

Evenly spread out the seasoned chicken pieces

in the bottom of that pan.

Now pour the boiled potatoes and the broth mixture

evenly over the chicken pieces.

 Top with the grated cheese.

Bake uncovered on middle rack for 50- 60 minutes

or until nicely browned.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.

Serve warm with pan juices.

Makes 4 servings.

I made this as directed, though I made it with 6 potatoes and about 1/2 a bag of chicken tenders, which ended up making a 9 x 13 pan, and a 10 x 8 pan as well. I doubled the liquid amount, and used chicken broth instead of beef broth. It seemed weird to me to use beef broth with a chicken/potato dish. The potatoes were deliciously seasoned and cooked perfectly. Compared to the potatoes, the chicken was a little less flavorful, but together, mmmmm, a piece of heaven. 

Kentucky Hot Browns/Bocci Ball

Happy Derby Day!!! The Kentucky Derby is quite the event at my household. I've been following/watching the iconic race since I was at least 14, and while in later years I haven't been as zealous at following the pre-race horse history, the actual race is always something to be excited about. We pick our favorites, cheer loudly, and crow proudly if we correctly guess any of the top three placers. (I would like to boast at this point that I did in fact pick the winner this year - Orb) This year we cranked up Derby fever a bit and added classic Derby food to the day! It was quite yummy, so I am going to share it with you. Enjoy! (Recipe copyrights go to Shine on Yahoo)

Kentucky Hot Browns

Ingredients

4 thick white bread slices 3/4 pound sliced roasted turkey 
Mornay Sauce (see below)
1 cup (4-oz.) shredded Parmesan cheese 
3 plum tomatoes, sliced 
8 bacon slices, cooked 

Preparation: 
1. Preheat broiler with oven rack 6 inches from heat. Place bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until toasted. 

2. Arrange bread slices in 4 lightly greased broiler-safe individual baking dishes. Top bread with turkey slices. Pour hot Mornay Sauce over turkey. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

3. Broil 6 inches from heat 3 to 4 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned; remove from oven. Top sandwiches with tomatoes and bacon. Serve immediately. 

Mornay Sauce 
1/2 cup butter 
1/3 cup all-purpose flour 
3 1/2 cups milk 
1/2 cup (2-oz.) shredded Parmesan cheese 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon pepper 

Preparation: 
Melt butter in a 3-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour; cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, and cook, whisking constantly, 1 to 2 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. 

      Follow as directed (pretty much ;p). I used Garlic Texas Toast for the bread, and shredded block Parmesan in the food processor. I did bake the bacon prior to starting the recipe - I feel like once you get started with the sauce, you're stirring until you put everything together! As a result, the bacon wasn't piping hot, so instead of adding it right before serving, I put it on top of the bread/turkey/Mornay sauce/Parmesan combo before putting it back in the oven to broil for the 3-4 minutes. This was perfect, as it browned the bacon just a bit more, and didn't interfere with the browning of the Parmesan. I used 1 piece of bacon, and 1 and 1/2 thick cut slices of turkey breast per sandwich, which was a great ration of meat to bread.

       The sauce is a little bland...I think next time I would spice it up with some sort of seasoning +/- extra salt. There is also a TON of sauce made with this recipe! I typically like things really saucy, and even making 6 sandwiches, I still have over half the pot of sauce left! Definitely recommend halving the sauce portion of the recipe, or devising something else you could use it for!  And while in traditional Derby fashion, this should be served with a Mint Julep...I just don't like them! I'm not a big fan of drinks with mint in them. So we opted to serve a Hunt classic - The Bocci Ball! 

     The Bocci Ball is pretty simple - mix orange juice, club soda, and amaretto together (as much of each as desired, and served cold - typically it's 1 cup orange juice, 1/3-1/2 cup club soda, and 1 shot amaretto) with a splash of lime juice. Stir well and enjoy!

World's Best Bacon Cheese Dip

I'm back! And there is a new addition to the blog - if you look in the upper right corner, there is a now a search bar! I was feeling like I didn't want to keep adding more recipes, because I could never remember what month I put what recipes, and I wasn't able to find recipes without looking through all the months. I will be adding tags to older recipes, and will try to add as much detail to the tags in order to make it easy for you to find recipes. Search by recipe or ingredient, and voila!
To start off the weekend of blogging (which is the plan...playing catch up!), I just made a bacon cheese dip that was fabulous for my special group. The recipe says it makes enough for 16...it lies. I would say maybe 6. It's yummy, so make lots!

World's Best Bacon Cheese Dip

Ingredients


4 slices bacon
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
8 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
2 green onions, finely chopped
4 buttery round crackers, crushed

Directions

Place bacon in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese with mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in Swiss cheese, onions, and bacon. Place bowl in microwave, and cook 2 minutes. Remove, and stir well. Return to microwave, and cook 2 to 4 minutes more. Sprinkle crushed crackers on top. Serve warm with crackers.

For something that is called "World's Best Bacon Cheese Dip", 4 pieces of bacon is really sub-par. I recommend using a package of bacon, minus the one that you eat. Cook bacon in whatever method suits you best - I did pan fry these, but my favorite method is baking. I don't really like mayonnaise that much, so I  eye-balled the Miracle Whip to about 1/2 cup, added a little over a cup of shredded Swiss, and about 1/2 cup of freshly shredded Parmesan cheese. I didn't have any green onions on hand, so I used my freeze-dried chives (which are super handy to have around for times like this!). To give it a little extra something, I also added a couple shakes of garlic powder and onion powder. I think it would be a little on the bland side without some kind of extra seasoning. I then crushed a little mini package of Ritz crackers (about 15 I think in the package) to sprinkle on top. You definitely can serve it at that point, but I then baked it uncovered  at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. It was DELICIOUS! The Miracle Whip gave a little sweetness, and all the cheese made it very hearty- it may break your dipping crackers! I may look for an additional ingredient next time I make it that would still give it a cheesy taste, but thin it out a little bit without make it too greasy (which is what I was worried about with adding the required amount of Mayo). 

    We are being commissioned at Stephen Minister's this weekend at church. I'm both excited and nervous (not really a big fan of standing in front of a bunch of people!). At least I only have to say my name...hopefully that won't be too challenging........... .......Anywho....... It's nice being done with the weekly commitment of training (hello 50+ hours of my life that I could have spent doing much less useful things). We still have bi-monthly meetings to attend, and me being me, my goal is to not miss any meetings, despite the fact that I have yet to acquire care receiver. 

     Stephen Ministry is great for teaching you how to effectively interact with people - if you don't know about it, I encourage you to check it out. It's all about being assertive, speaking the truth tempered with love, and how to really be there to help someone through a crisis. It's a process-oriented ministry - the goal is not to immediately jump to "do this, this, and that, your problems will be solved". It's about encouraging the care receiver to grow, and to process what they are going through, and to just listen. Even if I never got a care receiver  it would be worth it just for getting (hopefully!!) those skills.