#WhatsForDinner from my Instagram... Chicken Cordon Bleu and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

 

Just a quick fly-by post of dinner:  Chicken Cordon Bleu with Roasted Brussels Sprouts - so easy!

Remember when I posted my homemade chicken nuggets post?  Using that breading I did some make-ahead cooking prep for a couple versions of stuffed chicken breasts.  I did one as a Cheese Stuffed Taco Flavored Chicken and a more traditional Chicken Cordon Bleu with Swiss cheese and ham.  This is that one.

Here was the nugget breading post:  Link

Here was the breading from that post that I used on this chicken as well (the options are for the amount of carbs you want in the breading)

Chicken Cordon Bleu

2 cups protein puffs, rice krispies, ground pork rinds or almond flour (or a mixture of any of them)

3/4 t paprika (see option below for a smokey spicey option)
3/4 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
egg whites - about 2

2 t oil of choice (I used avocado but you can use whatever you like)
optional: 2 t of any Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning Blend (I use Lawry's but any brand will do!)

1-2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Swiss Cheese
Diced ham

 

Mix the dry breading you've chosen with the spices.  Set aside.
Beat the egg whites with the oil.  Set aside. 

Slice the chicken on the top, thickest part of the breast.  Using your knife, cut inside the slice to form a pocket inside the chicken breast, careful not to cut through to the outside.  Stuff the inside pocket with a mixture of diced or shredded Swiss and ham.  Close the flap of the chicken.

Roll the chicken breast in the egg white/oil mixture.  Dredge in the dry breading mixture.  Lay on your baking sheet - I like to use parchment or greased foil for easy clean up.  Bake at 375 or 400 about 25 minutes until done.  I made mine ahead of time and froze them, took them out to thaw for about an hour and then baked at 400 with the Brussels Sprouts for about 25 minutes.

Brussels Sprouts

Trim Brussels Sprouts, slice in half if they are very large
olive oil - about 2-3 T
salt and pepper
butter - about 2-3 T

Line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up.  Drizzle about 1 T oil to cover.  Place the other 2 T oil in a Ziploc or a bowl.  Add salt and pepper.  Add about a pound of Brussels Sprouts (however much you want) and add salt and pepper.  Shake, roll or stir to coat.

Lay the Brussels sprouts on the oiled foil, dot with bits of butter.  Bake at 400 about 25-30 minutes until done.  You can shake the pan or use a spatula to flip and move them around half way through.

___________________________________

Sugar Free Butter Cookies

 

Even when we do eat traditional wheat flour based breads, biscuits or desserts, we still make them sugar free even without thinking about it really.  I have natural sweeteners in my pantry like most people have sugar.  So yes, these cookies are made with flour so they have carbs but they are sugar free.  They melt in your mouth... oh how they just melt in your mouth! 

If you want to make them lemon or peppermint flavored, just add a few drops of flavor oils to the dough with the butter but yesterdays were just plain butter cookies with vanilla.  I topped some of with a sugar free glaze made of confectioner's style sweetener with a bit of cream and a drop or two of vanilla.  Others I left plain like a traditional butter cookie. 

Sugar Free Butter Cookies

1 lb. real butter
1 c powdered/confectioner style natural sweetener
1/2 c corn starch
pinch of salt (optional if you use salted butter)
3 c flour
1 1/2 t vanilla extract (or use 1/2 t various good quality flavor oils like lemon or peppermint)

Whip the 4 sticks of real butter in an electric mixer for at least 3-4 minutes until it's smooth and pale in color.  Add the cornstarch and sweetener(s) along with a dash of salt if you are using it. 
Add the flour and vanilla.  As soon as the dry is blended, remove the dough and use in your favorite cookie press to press out cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet.  Bake about 13 minutes at 325 or until they are done but not browned.  These freeze well.  You can drizzle or brush them with a simple powdered sweetener glaze if you want.

Homestyle Pizza Dough

 

 

Recipe trials... they never end.  Not for me they don't.  Even if I have a recipe I know we love.  A go-to recipe that I make for years... that doesn't mean I'll never try a similar new recipe in the future to see if we might like it better, or perhaps our tastes have changed over the years and we find we like a different recipe better.  

I have a pizza crust recipe I love.  I've made it for 20 years.  I've posted it here numerous times.

At this point in our lives, we typically eat keto or low carb but sometimes we just want a real, traditional flour-based awesome pizza crust.  Last weekend I decided although I love my go-to crust of the last 20 years, I'd go ahead and try a new one just to check and make sure I still love my go-to crust of the last 20 years.

And I do.

This one is fine... it's good. Interestingly enough, it doesn't use dry milk like my go-to recipe does, but it tastes almost exactly like the one I usually make which does use powdered milk.

I made two pizzas last weekend; One regular pepperoni (my husbands favorite) and one a Greek Style with feta, kalamata olives, garlic and spinach.  If you follow me on Instagram I'm sure you saw them on my story.

 

Pizza Dough

2 1/4 t dry active yeast
1 t sugar
1 1/4 c warm (not hot) water
dash of salt
3+ c bread flour or all purpose flour
2 T olive oil

Mix the yeast, sugar and water together in a small bowl and let it foam for a couple minutes while you mix the flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer like KitchenAid.  Add the water/yeast mixture and the olive oil.
Stir with the bread dough hook slowly until it starts to mix and then up to a slow-medium. Let it knead for about 5 minutes.  Rub your hands with oil and remove the dough ball from the bowl - it will be a bit sticky.  Cover it with a thin layer of oil and place into a sprayed/oiled bowl and place in a warm area to raise to double size.
Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.  Heat your pizza stone in the oven while it's preheating.
Separate your dough into 2 or 3 (depending on how many you want and how thick the crust).
Sprinkle flour on parchment paper and form your dough into a circle, pressing or rolling it out as thick and large as you wish.
Now you can bake your pizza on the pizza stone by removing it, tossing on some cornmeal so the dough doesn't stick, and carefully transferring your dough to the hot stone and quickly adding the cheese and toppings and sauce you want or you can transfer the dough to the stone still on parchment and bake it that way.  Up to you.  Either way, make your pizza, bake it for about 20 minutes and check for doneness in the center. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Grandmother's Recipe Box: Butterscotch Cake and Sweetened Condensed Milk Dessert

This is one of the older ones, and quite faded as it's written in pencil.  Looks like it's from 'Francis'.  I have no idea who that is but butterscotch cake sounds pretty good.

 Butterscotch Cake

2 1/4 c cake flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c shortening
2/3 c milk
1 t vanilla

Beat these items 2 minutes.  Then add

1/3 c milk
2 unbeaten eggs

Beat 2 minutes more.  Bake 315 30-35 minutes.

 

Condensed Milk Dessert

Boil 1 can sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours.
Remove from can.
Add 1/4 c cold coffee.
1 cup nut meats.

Serve with whipped cream.

My Grandmother's Recipe Box - Fattigman's (A Christmas Cookie)

My mother remembers Grandma making these from the time she was born.  It was a Christmas cookie they had every single year, without fail ever since she can remember.  My Mother turns 70 this year so this recipe card is probably her age or a few years older as she can't remember Grandma 'not' making these and she is the 3rd sibling in their family and she was making them before my Mom was born.  

I remember these from Grandma's house as well.  Grandma didn't have time to make a lot of Christmas cookies, but our Swedish heritage came out in those she did.  These and Rosette's were always, always served at Christmas at Grandma's house along with our Christmas Eve dinner of Oyster Stew, Lefsa and Lutefisk. 

 

Fattigman

5 egg yolks, beaten slightly
5 T sugar
5 T sweet cream
1 t vanilla
Flour enough to make a stiff dough

Roll out thin and cut in shapes with a slit in the middle.  Fry in hot fat.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Note:  You cut them into a diamond shape, cut the slit in the middle and then right before you drop in hot grease to fry, you flip and tuck one end of the cookie dough through the slit and pull it gently forming a little 'knot'.