Mini chicken pizzas - They're adorable!

At least, that's what Miss Four said when they came out of the oven. We thought they were pretty tasty too. The leftovers went into the freezer with baking paper in between each layer and reheated quite nicely for afternoon tea a week later.

Mini tortillas on a baking paper lined tray

Spread with pasta/pizza sauce, and topped with shredded chicken breast

Add sliced mushroom, char grilled red pepper slices, and cheese.

Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Capsicum Pesto BBQ Chicken Pizza with Caramelized Onions

Time once again for Taste & Create. Past time actually, this post was due by last night, but my ankle was playing up from an injury from ten years ago, and we ended up having Hungry Jacks for dinner instead. Which was not nearly as nice as this pizza from My Year on the Grill.

Mmmm, rustic!

We used my most recent regular pizza dough, instead of his recipe, and I didn't use bbq sauce on the chopped chicken, but other than that I followed his steps. Oh, and I had pine nuts in the pantry already, so I used them in the pesto and I subbed one of the 'peppers' for a package of fire roasted capsicum strips, to give it a slightly more depth. And I forgot to get tomatoes, so I added some baby spinach leaves under the cheese.

I made mine pretty much upside down, both from how I would usually make a pizza, and from what is written on My Year on the Grill, but he did mention that the pesto could go top or bottom, and putting it on the top would have changed the flavour of the pesto. My pesto had a very sharp flavour from the garlic, so I thought I'd put it on the top. Here are my assembly photos - I didn't take a photo of the onions by themselves, as dark onions in a black pan wouldn't have photographed well. Plus, I forgot. ;)

Just spinach


Add a little tasty cheese


Some shredded roast chicken


Those crazy onions (so sweet!)


The capsicum pesto layer


A touch more cheese because I can't help myself

I even had leftover chicken and pesto, so I mixed the two together and froze them for a pasta sauce someday down the track. (The chicken will be fine as long as I thaw it properly and cook it through again)

This pizza was nice, though I'm not sure if I'd make it again. Miss Four reaffirmed my position as "The Best Cooker Ever" but it was far too sweet for my liking. The sugar on the onions is probably what tipped the scales for me. Still, if you want a gourmet pizza, that passes muster by children, this'll do it. Plus, you know, the vegie thing!

Go and visit My Year on the Grill, he has some crazy awesome recipes, especially these Cashew Butter Truffles that would have been this Taste & Create entry, only I knew if I made them, I'd eat the whole batch myself.

Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

Stew was on the agenda for lots of blogs last week. The Daring Cooks April challenge of Brunswick Stew conquered the blogosphere, the air redolent with hearty stew aromas. I was flat broke and just couldn't fit it into the budget unfortunately, so I had to miss out, and tonight's dinner is my 'almost' challenge stew. As in, I bought a bunch of things, then ran out of money for the meat side, and now have to use up the ingredients. Plus, since it's no longer for the challenge, I'm throwing in a bunch of other things too. Like fresh from the garden pumpkin my mother grew, and some French Onion soup mix, because I'm a nut for that stuff.

Not-Quite-Brunswick Stew
850g peeled, seeded pumpkin, cut into chunks (you could obviously use less, to personal preference, or depending on how big your pumpkins are.)
500g new potatoes, cut into quarters
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 onions, cut into 12ths (or chunks, however you like)
2 sticks celery, cut into chunks
500g chicken (I used thighs)
400g can whole peeled tomatoes
400g can butterbeans
40g pk French Onion Soup mix

Throw everything into your slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 4 hours. I find chicken goes stringy if you cook on LOW for 8 hours, but if you don't mind that, or need to be out of the house for longer, feel free to cook it that way instead.

Spicy Mango Chicken Ranch Pizza

Inspired by the Chicken Ranch Pizza over at Annie's Eats, this was one of those 'as you go' type recipes. The only thing I followed exactly was the pizza dough recipe.

Pizza dough
200ml warm water
1 Tbsp garlic olive oil
1 tsp salt (I used 3/4 table salt, and 1/4 garlic salt)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup wholemeal bread mix (I ran out of flour!)
8g yeast

Place in bread maker on 'Dough' cycle.

Spicy Mango Chicken Ranch Pizza
1 quantity pizza dough
Ranch dressing
grated mozzarella
400g Spicy Mango Chicken Steak, fried and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tomato, seeded and diced
2 spring onions, chopped
130g fire roasted capsicum strips
grated tasty cheese

Split dough in half, and roll out into a thin oblong. (If you have a round pizza tray or stone, by all means make round pizzas. I only have regular oblong baking trays, so I make oblong pizzas) Place on baking paper lined trays, or however you normally cook your pizzas.

Spread the bases with ranch dressing. Annie used 1/4 cup, but I was too lazy to measure it. Give yourself enough to make a nice even coverage, but don't drown it. Sprinkle each pizza with a light handful of mozzarella.

Top the pizzas with tomato, spring onions, chicken and capsicum. Then take another light handful of tasty cheese and sprinkle over the top. It's really important not to overdo it with the cheese, like I did, or the pizza will be greasy and goopy. Goopy with cheese is nice, but not this time.

Bake at 200°C for 10-15 minutes.

Serve with Blue Heaven Spiders, just because you can. :)

Tarragon Chicken & Leek Pies

Based on the Chicken & Vegetable Pies at taste.com.au, only adapted for a slow cooker.

Tarragon Chicken & Leek Pies
1kg chicken thighs, cut into 2cm chunks
2 leeks, white part only, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/3 cup white wine or water
2/3 cup chicken stock
2 large carrots, diced
400g baby potatoes, diced
200g mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 cup frozen corn, cooked
300ml thick cream
100g baby spinach
8 sheets puff pastry, thawed

Toss the diced potatoes and carrots into your slow cooker. Top with the chicken, leeks, garlic and mushrooms. Pour the wine and stock over the top, and add the tarragon. Cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.

Add the corn, cream, and spinach, and stir through until the corn has thawed. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Lay out each sheet of pastry on a oven tray lined with baking paper, with the corner pointing up. Drain some of the chicken mixture, and place in the centre of the pastry. Fold each corner over the chicken into the middle, to close the pie. Repeat with other pastry sheets and chicken mix.

Cook for 25 minutes or until golden. Extra pies can be frozen once cooked.

Mojito Chicken Sandwiches

This tasty lunch was inspired by the post at Food for my family. I pretty much followed the marinade recipe exactly, just skipping the cayenne. I didn't follow anything else from that recipe though, so here's what I did.

I marinated 5 chicken breast minute steaks overnight in a zip lock bag.
Mojito marinade
2/3 cup Mojito
2 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
Juice from ½ of a lime
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh black pepper

I fried them over high heat for a few minutes on each side. After removing the chicken to a covered plate, I tipped the rest of the marinade into the fry pan, and boiled it at high heat until it had reduced down to about a third.

Scrummy mayo
2 tsp boiled down marinade
2 tsp ranch dressing
4 tbsp whole egg mayonnaise

Mix all together.

Slice some fancy rolls in half. I used Turkish Pide, but Ciabatta, or any nice crusty bread would do. Lightly brown the insides under a grill. Give each toasted side a liberal coating of the mayo mix. Top with lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and a piece of chicken.

I served them with chips.

DP doesn't like raw tomatoes

Thai Chicken Fettucine

Recipe taken from Taste of Home. I substituted a sprinkle of dried cilantro into the sauce, once I'd set it aside, instead of adding fresh at the end, because DP has decided he doesn't like fresh cilantro. It would have really added something though.

Also, I marinated the chicken with a few teaspoons of minced garlic while I made the sauce, and fried that up with the chicken. Once the capsicum was almost done, I squeezed half a lime over the pan, which perked it up a little. It could have used more vegies, but it was still very tasty, and well liked by all.

I washed it down with these:

Mojito and Lemonade

Well, lime goes with Thai food right?

Country Chicken with Tarragon (slow cooker)

Country Chicken with Tarragon
8 chicken thighs
500g baby potatoes, halved
1 onion, halved, then segmented
150ml apple juice
2 large sprigs tarragon, leaves only
4 Tbsp cream cheese
1 cup frozen corn kernels
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the chicken in a fry pan with a little oil, over a high heat.
Put the potatoes in the slow cooker and top with the chicken.

Return the pan to the heat, add the onion, and fry until golden. Deglaze with the apple juice, and allow to reduce by half. Add the tarragon leaves, then pour over the chicken. Cover with the lid and cook on HIGH for 3 hours.

Remove the potatoes with tongs, draining well, and keep warm. Remove the chicken to a chopping board, and shred finely. Drain sauce into a frying pan, add the cream cheese and corn, and bring to a boil, until sauce has thickened. Season to taste, and add the chicken, and warming through. Serve with the potatoes.

Poached Chicken Pasta with Feta & Baby Spinach

Sounds Posh doesn't it? Thankfully the recipe isn't hard like you expect with a posh named dish. I pretty much made this up so I didn't have to get more than one pot dirty. Course, I cheated with a jar of ready made sauce, but if you have aversions to ready made sauce, you are welcome to make your own, and go through the rigmarole of bottling it, or at least freezing and defrosting it. Me, I'm very fond of the flavour and chunky vegetables in the Aldi brand Garden Vegetable pasta sauce, and it's cheap too.

Master One has no problems with bottled sauce!

Poached Chicken Pasta with Feta & Baby Spinach
1 pkt pasta shells/penne/spirals
a couple of splashes of Maggi
400g thinly sliced chicken (breast or thighs, whatever's on hand)
small head broccoli, cut into florets
100g baby spinach
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1/4 cup feta, crumbled
1 jar tomato based pasta sauce

Put a large pot of salted water on the stove. Add the Maggi and the pasta straight away. When the water comes to a boil, stir the pasta. Slice the chicken and tip into the pot. Chop up the broccoli and add that to the pot when the pasta has about 3-4 minutes left to cook. When the pasta is cooked to your satisfaction, drain and return to the pot. Throw the spinach in on top of the pasta. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to chop the spring onions on the diagonal - it's much easier than slicing them with a knife. Toss them into the pot too, along with the feta and sauce. Stir everything up until it is well combined, then serve. Season individually with freshly cracked pepper, and salt to taste, if needed.


Don't forget to get messy with your young 'uns for Kids In The Kitchen, training our next generation of food bloggers! ;)

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

Okay, so I took the cheats way out by buying a Caesar salad kit to make this, but next time I swear I'll do it properly. I felt like it needed vegetables of some sort too, chicken with pasta and bacon and cheese flavoured powders plus salad dressing doesn't really do it for me as nutritionally balanced. But crunchy crumbed chicken forgives a multitude of cooking sins anyway.

Oh, before I forget, there's a new blog out there called Regretsy - who knew there were so many bad taste crafts out there for sale?


Tonight is the deadline for the Virtual Night In, so get those entries in!

Chicken & Camembert Turnovers with Roast Potato Salad

Sounds fancy huh? Tasted pretty fancy too. But it's dead easy. Perfect to impress those fussy friends or in-laws!

All you do is fry up some chicken strips, and some sliced mushrooms. Fry them very lightly, you don't want to overcook the chicken. Grab a sheet or two of frozen puff pastry out of the freezer first, so that it has slightly defrosted while the chicken cooks. You want it pliable, but not too soggy.

Slice a wheel of camembert into small wedges. Slice the pastry into two large triangles, cutting the square in half diagonally. Place 3 or 4 pieces of cheese on each half, then top with the chicken and mushrooms. You might need to drain the cooked mixture first.

Taking one corner of the pastry, fold down into a smaller triangle, sealing all the yummy stuff inside. Press together the two open edges, making sure the pastry seals. Cook for about 20 minutes at 180C, or until golden.

I served these with a salad made with lettuce, basil leaves, mayonnaise, fetta cheese, and some chat potatoes which I cut in half, and then boiled until almost cooked. Then I tossed them in some olive oil, added a little sea salt, and roasted them on the bottom rack of the oven under the turnovers. Add to the lettuce just before serving, so the basil is starting to wilt and release its beautiful fragrance just as you hand out the plates. The crumbled fetta goes so nicely with the warm potatoes too.

Don't forget to think (and cook!) pink for the Virtual Night In, raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research.

Garlic Tarragon Chicken Drumsticks

Garlic Tarragon Chicken Drumsticks with Nom Nom Salad
8 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
garlic salt
dried tarragon (or fresh if you prefer)
mayonnaise (I used Belgian fritessause, which is awesome, but if you can't get that, then just use a good mayo)
200g lettuce, we used a mix of Coral, Radicchio, Frisee and Cos
150g sugar snap peas, topped and tailed
1 small green capsicum, seeds removed and thinly sliced
salad dressing of your choice (we mixed caesar dressing with fritessause)

Line an roasting tray with baking paper, and place the drumsticks in. Smear the chicken with the mayo, and then sprinkle with the seasonings.
Yeah, I know. It's not rocket science.
Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C with a sheet of foil over the top, then remove the foil and return to the oven for another 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, throw all the salad ingredients into a bowl, and toss with the dressing.
Serve with oven bake chips or mini roasts.

And now I defy anyone to tell me they can't cook.

Don't forget to think (and cook!) pink for the Virtual Night In, raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research.

Chicken Kiev with Cheesy Vegtable Macaroni

Not much to say really. Mac & Cheese from a box, plus vegies, and a oven baked chicken kiev that came from the fresh meat fridge at coles. It was very tasty, but not really recipe worthy.

So here's a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy cover of one of the catchiest tunes to ever come out of a Rankin and Bass movie set to the original footage:
Mr Heatmiser, from 'The Year Without a Santa Claus'

Chicken & Roast Potato Salad

Chicken & Roast Potato Salad
500g chicken tenderloins
190g Capsicum & eggplant pasta sauce
120g baby spinach & rocket mix
1 head broccoli
10 - 15 baby potatoes (I used one of those microwave packs, that come with butter and parsley, but we could have used a lot more potato)

Preheat the oven to 190C.
Drown the chicken in the pasta sauce, and leave in the fridge for an hour. Microwave the potatoes until almost cooked. If using the prepacked baby spuds with butter and herbs, just follow the pack directions. Once removed from the microwave, coat the potatoes in a little butter and herbs, a dash of soy (if you like that sort of thing), and cut in halves. Place in the oven to roast. About 30 minutes should do it.
Trim the broccoli into florets and steam in the microwave.
After the chicken has been marinating for an hour, place a frypan on high heat. Give it a light but generous spray of oil. Fry the chicken until cooked through, turning at least once. Break the chicken into little bite sized pieces. Thisa will also let you see if it's cooked all the way through.
Toss everything into a large salad bowl, including your leaves. Season with a touch of salt and freshly ground pepper if you desire.

Hay, Hay, It's Donna Day: Parmesan and Polenta Chicken

Another blog event from Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness: Hay, Hay, It's Donna Day. This is actually round 28, as you can see over at Chez Us. You might remember around this time last year my Triple Choc Pancakes for an earlier round of the same event. What follows is how I made mine, go and check out Stephanie's post for the original recipe, this would be great any way you made it!
(as I found out in the round up)

We had a lovely sunny spring day here today, so this went down great. Although Master One spat his out and made me heat up a can of pumpkin risotto, and Miss Three left most of her leaves behind. But it was a beautiful, fresh, light meal, and would be great for entertaining. I served with it garlic ciabatta rolls, and even had an Apple & Pink Grapefruit mineral water and Vodka with mine, very posh indeed.

Parmesan and Polenta Chicken
500g chicken tenderloins
flour for dusting
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 cup polenta
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
400g baby spinach leaves
one bunch basil, leaves only
1 cup of frozen corn kernals

Combine the parmesan and polenta. (depending on the size of your tenders, you may run a little short like I did, just top up the bowl by sight near the end of coating if you find that happening). Put the corn in a microwave container and heat on high for 2 minutes. Put the leaves in a big bowl.
Dust the tenderloins with the flour, dip into the egg & press into the combined parmesan & polenta to coat. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat & cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden & cooked through. Set aside to barely cool. Toss the warm corn through the salad leaves. Slice the chicken into small strips, and add to the salad. Smell that awesome sweet smell of the basil as the hot chicken and corn warm the leaves. MMM, heaven.

This is perfect for entertaining... if only we entertained more often!

We don't dress salads in this house very often, but if you do, here is the dressing that goes with:

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
sea salt and cracked black pepper

Place everything in a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour over the salad and top with shaved parmesan, just before serving.

Easy Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pasta

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pasta
1 bbq chicken, skin and bones removed ($5)
400g sliced mushrooms ($2)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup ($1.69)
500g pasta ($0.59)
cheese to serve

Cook pasta in boiling salted water.
Meanwhile, heat mushrooms in a large frypan, with no butter or oil. Cook over high heat until the mushrooms start to sweat and go all brown and gleaming like you fried them in a tub of butter. Add chicken meat, and soup. Cook until soup has warmed into a sauce type consistency and is no longer a gelatinous blob. Drain pasta. Toss through sauce. Serve with a sprinkle of cheese.

And all for less than $10! Serves 5 btw.

Chicken Pizza Braid

I first saw this recipe over at The Finer Things in Life and thought it was a great idea. I haven't actually used any of her recipe, but I used her idea, plus she's got some great step-by-step pictures of the method, so go check it out. Go on, I'll wait.

First, you'll need to make your dough. Use your favourite recipe, this is mine:
Pizza Dough
3 cups bread mix
1 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp yeast

Place everything in the bread machine and select dough cycle. Easy huh?

Once your dough is done with the rising and the kneading and the etc, roll it out into a rectangle the length of a baking tray. Line said baking tray with paper.
Spread the dough with pizza sauce, generously in the centre third, and more sparingly around the sides. Place your preferred pizza toppings down the centre third of the dough. We used chopped bbq chicken, cheese, baby spinach, and halved cherry tomatoes.
Then cut 8 even strips either side of the fillings. Start by cutting the middle mark first, then slice that part in half, and then half again, and then repeat for the bottom half, and the other side, ending up with 8 strips a side. (Amy has a good photo of this bit)
Starting at one end, cross the strips over to resemble a plait.
Bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Ready for baking


Fresh from the oven

Creamy Tarragon Chicken with Leek Risotto

Creamy Tarragon Chicken with Leek Risotto
4 chicken thighs
3/4 cup buttermilk
tarragon
1 leek, sliced thinly
1 cup aborio rice
maggi, liquid stock or stock cubes
butter/oil

Place the chicken, tarragon and buttermilk in a zip lock bag, and remove as much air as possible. Leave in the fridge to marinate for 20 minutes, longer if you have the time. Gently sautee the leek in the butter until just starting to wilt, then add in the rice. Cook over low heat until the leek is cooked, translucent and collapsed. Then transfer the rice and leek into a microwave container with 2 cups of stock, or water with maggi or stock cubes in it. Cook for 5 minutes on HIGH in the microwave, stir, and return for another five minutes. Keep stirring and cooking for 5 minute intervals until the rice is done. You may need to add more stock if the rice has absorbed all the liquid but the rice is still hard to the bite.
Fry the chicken in your buttery, leeky frypan. Add the leftover buttermilk once the chicken has browned, but not fully cooked. That will give it enough time on the heat to kill any bacteria, but not so much that it will all boil away. Serve with the cooked risotto.

Chicken Parmagiana, Spaghetti Carbonara with Spinach, and Garlic Bread

I wanted to have a recipe here for you tonight, I really did, but our menu conspired against me. Bought crumbed chicken, fried, topped with bought pasta sauce, shaved ham, and cheese, baked. Bought garlic bread, baked. Spaghetti, boiled, drained, coated in bought carbonara sauce, and then a bag of baby spinach thrown in to wilt from the heat of the pasta. Served.

It was kinda real cooking, and I won't belittle anyone by saying you are all too smart to need an exact recipe for this, but I'd feel like I was cheating if I gave an exact recipe for this. Photo or not, this is a lazy dinner, and really therefore deserves linkage.

The 5 Most Embarrassing Failures in the History of Terrorism
Make sure you read on to the second page, there is a picture of a newspaper headline that deserves some kind of award. I'm not sure if there is such a type of award, but if there is, I'd vote for it!

Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta

Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta
4 chicken thighs, diced (guess you could use any diced chicken really)
1 small head of broccoli, chopped into florets
2 small carrots, sliced
1 stick celery, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 zucchini, chunky diced
3 shortcut rindless bacon rashers, sliced
1 jar Chicken Tonight Creamy Lemon Chicken sauce
500g pasta
tarragon, maggi, salt and pepper (optional)

Place the pasta on to cook, putting the carrots in with pasta (large pot of boiling, salted water, you know the deal).
Fry the onion, celery, bacon and zucchini until almost golden. Add the chicken, and brown well on all sides. Then add the sauce and simmer until everything is ready. (Like the pasta, the table setting, the baby's nappy changed etc ;) )Add the broccoli to the pasta and carrots a few minutes before the pasta is ready, you want the broccoli to cook, but still be bright and vibrant green.

Don't over cook it. Don't over think it. We had no tarragon, but I wish we did, it would have been great in this. I added a few splashes of Maggi, and then a sprinkle of salt to my serve only (I hate my arteries, but that's no reason for everyone else's to suffer). Miss Three cleared her plate - a rarity, because I always seem to over serve her, but it was quite tasty. I'm going to buy Tarragon tomorrow, and another jar of this sauce, to sit on standby in the cupboard, it was make-again good, and made a nice change from the usual tomato based pasta.