Sous Chef in Training

Made some delicious concoctions last night, thanks to Pinterest, and wanted to share.

My inspirations: 

(I always give credit where credit is due! But you better still read my blog...)

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/07/easy-7-up-biscuits.html

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/01/recipe-for-roasted-green-beans-with.html

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1139/BakedChickenKiev71886.shtml

Yes, 3 separate things- I know! Just call me Julia Child :-)

Remember though, my cooking is more realistic than others you see. I cook with what I have, whether that means smaller portions or slightly different ingredients. Which is my disclaimer as to why the things are not exaaactly the same!

7-UP Biscuits

Recipe:

4 cups Bisquick

1 cup 7-Up

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup meted butter 

What I had- 1 cup Bisquick. 

Yay for easy math. Divide everything with 4, you will find the rest of the numbers I needed.

This recipe is extremely easy, but a bit messy which is why I have a total of 2 pictures from it. Before and after. Sorry.

Mix ingredients (except for the butter), form balls/squares/whatever shape you want your biscuits in. 

Put butter on bottom of the pan (I lined with foil, yay for no cleaning up). Original recipe says melt it, I was lazy and just spread it around. Does the same thing. 

Cook. Temperature? Dunno, I think I did about 375. Time? Till they were brown. Told you it was easy.

And voila! Yummy Biscuits. 

They really are quite delicious. Mine were a tad dry, I think I needed more sour cream. Still, the taste was wonderful, and as they were so easy to make, I will be making them again.

Baked Chicken Kiev

This is an example of why, when you pin something on Pinterest, you shouldn't just assume form the picture/caption that you have all the info- you need to read the website! (Isn't that annoying? People, if you are writing a caption, please be sure it reflects what the site says, or, make a note that you did something different. Not hard).

I say this is Chicken Kiev, but it's not really. Real Chicken Kiev has butter cooked inside it, lots more spices, and is browned in a pan before being put in an overn. Well that sounds wayy to complicated for me.

I decided to try a simpler Baked Kiev, and made a little changes...

Recipe:

4 chicken breast halves

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon Chopped parsely
4 ounces Monterey jack cheese
6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

What I used:

Chicken breast filets (This was actually an accident. I wasn't thinking about what I was cooking when I bought the chicken, so really struggled putting it all together. More explanation later)

Italian spices

Mozzarella

Butter

Breadcrumbs

Salt and Pepper

First things first, flatten out the chicken. Good for getting a little of that bad temper out. Don't go crazy though, one wrong hit and you have two pieces instead of one (not good for future stages).

On the chicken, put the spices then the cheese. Here we see the beginning of problems from having small filets instead of normal size chicken breasts.  Does that look like it is going to roll well to you?

 Roll the chicken. If you have normal sized chicken, you should create a little pocket with the sides folded in. Me? Fail.

The best way to coat something in bread crumbs is to dip them in egg first, and then roll in the crumbs. Well, I didn't have a lot of crumbs to use, so I didn't feel like wasting an egg to do the same thing as butter (lots of crumbs-egg. few crumbs- butter. remember that). Here are my *beautiful* not correctly rolled, not fully breaded chicken filets.

 I know, I know. Pretty mangy. Ok, you don't have to call me Julia Child anymore.
After that, I put them in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375.

Here is what they should look like once cooked.

 And here is what mine looked like.

Yeahhh, big difference. But, I enjoyed the taste of mine just fine. I think it could have used more spices, because the flavor was very plain. More bread crumbs would have helped too, I think. Live and learn, right?

Balsamic Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms

To me, this was the best thing I made yesterday, and if course I only took one picture. Sorry.

Recipe:
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper

This was, again, very simple.
Coat the green beans and mushrooms with olive oil and vinegar (not enough to drown them, you just want all of them lightly coated).
Put in the oven (about 375) until they reach your desired stage of cookedness.
Meaning:
If you want them moist, like mine, 20-25 minutes.
Crispy, closes to 30-35 minutes.

When they are finished, top with salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.
Enjoy.

Hurray for easy, yummy veggies!

Let me know if you guys try any of these recipes, have an ideas for them, etc!