Chicken-Stuffed Peppers

I am the kind of person that does not enjoy plain, raw vegetables. Jeff is the kind of guy that can just go to town on a vegetable plate and completely ignore the dip; it’s infuriating. I want to eat more vegetables but smothering them with dip seems counter productive. Thus, I went looking for a stuffed pepper recipe. I was keen to find one with chicken rather than beef because I try to not go too nuts with the red meat.

The recipe
Dila’s Chicken-Stuffed Peppers from allrecipes.com.

Ingredient changes
I was making these as a side rather than a main dish so I halved the recipe and made only two. Also, as I was chopping the cilantro, I felt like the whole bunch was a lot so I used only half.

Ease (or not) of prep
This recipe was pretty straightforward – cook chicken, chop stuff, grate cheese. I’d say it took about 25 minutes to put together, so I suppose I can’t really complain (oh no, what do I do now?).

The Boyfriend Test: Pass
Jeff said he really liked his. He scooped all the filling out and then ate the pepper like an apple, which amused me as I, a huge prude apparently, carefully used my fork and knife to cut slices out of mine.

Picky Eater Test: Soft fail
I plan to make these again with a couple big differences so, while I enjoyed the stuffed pepper idea, I did not like this recipe at all. My main issue was the cilantro. I was right to cut half of it out because it still overpowered the flavour. I don’t use a lot of fresh herbs when cooking so the smell of cilantro really surprised me as I chopped it. I found it smelled like soap, almost chemical, and I was immediately turned off. I figured it would change a bit in the dish but I was wrong. I ate as much as I could while trying to pick around the cilantro but I gave about half of mine to Jeff. I was really disappointed; I so wanted to enjoy this. Next time I make it, I will use spinach instead. That may also solve the second problem I had, which was that the recipe did not yield enough filling. I’m guessing this has something to do with using half the cilantro but I’m surprised it made that much of a difference.

I’m going to look around at other stuffed pepper recipes and see what looks good. I can easily replace beef with chicken so I’ll likely try that before I get too experimental with my cooking. I’m not that fancy just yet.

Chicken Club Pasta Salad

I’m a pretty big fan of pasta. Jeff enjoys spaghetti much more than I do, but dishes with ravioli or penne are guaranteed wins for me. Plus I practically lived off Kraft Dinner when I was in college. Unfortunately, there’s only so much KD one can eat before getting annoyed with the noodles splitting and turning into a gelatinous blob with powdered cheese. We had such success with the Chicken Primavera that I went looking for another pasta dish to try.

The recipe
Chicken Club Pasta Salad from allrecipes.com.

Ingredient changes
I made quite a few changes with this recipe but it mostly came down to personal preferences or what ingredients I had on hand. First, I had chicken breasts so I fried them with a bit of salt and pepper instead of buying a rotisserie chicken. Second, I browsed the comments of those that made the recipe and they said twelve slices of bacon was a bit much so we used six. Third, I used old cheddar cheese instead of Muenster. Fourth, I completely eliminated the tomatoes and avocado because we don’t like tomato and avocado is too high maintenance for a food. Finally, to replace the red colour lost with the tomatoes, I added a red pepper.

Ease (or not) of prep
We used almost every dish in the kitchen to make this but overall it was similar to the Chicken Primavera dish. Chop some veggies, cook some chicken, make some pasta, throw it all in a bowl. With Jeff helping, it took us about 45 minutes to pull together. Prep might not have been so bad but clean up was a nightmare! This image features only half of our kitchen; behind me is another stack of used dishes, a frying pan, a pot, and a pile of leavings from the vegetables. If there’s one thing I hate as much as cooking, it’s doing dishes.

The Boyfriend Test: Pass
I’m beginning to think The Boyfriend Test is unnecessary because I don’t think Jeff has met a food he didn’t like. He said this was really delicious but it could use more bacon (go figure).

Picky Eater Test: Pass
Overall this was pretty good. I don’t mind when green peppers are cooked into a dish but I struggle with their raw, earthy flavour. I tried to eat them but eventually I had to pick them out of my portion. Also, next time I make this, I’ll buy proper cheese because I like the bite of a sharper flavour. It will be a great dish to make and bring to a family gathering in the summer… that is, if the party isn’t over by the time we finish cleaning up the friggin’ mess.

Super Bowl Sunday!

Disclaimer: I don’t like sports. I don’t mind the occasional live game but I don’t enjoy watching sports on TV. I know, I know, I’m a bad little Canadian who doesn’t like hockey but… *shrug emoji*. With that said, Jeff wanted to invite my folks over for the game so I agreed and told my mom to bring her crochet. I also wore the only sports apparel I own – a Blue Jays tank top, just to elicit an eye roll from my stepdad (mission accomplished). This was one of the rare occasions when I looked forward to making food and I had a couple ideas in mind. The Awkward Yeti has a comic that brilliantly sums up how I feel about the Super Bowl:

Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip

Jeff’s sister-in-law makes this every time the family gets together. She gave me the recipe some time ago but it took me forever to make it. I’ve made it twice in the last three weeks even though it has one of the worst steps I’ve ever performed when cooking.

The recipe
– 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
– 1/2 cup Ranch dressing
– 3/4 cup Franks Read Hot sauce
– 2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
– 2 8oz packages cream cheese

Boil chicken until fully cooked. When finished, shred chicken into small bits (Don’t chop. I used a cheese grater or a fork and knife). Soften cream cheese. Add Ranch dressing, hot sauce, shredded cheese, and chicken. Mix well. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes. Serve with Tostitos Scoops.

Ingredient changes
This dip is easy to eat a lot of so I used reduced sodium old cheddar cheese and light cream cheese.

Ease (or not) of prep
Remember how I mentioned this dip has one horrible step? That would be shredding chicken. What the crap is that?! Either you stand there with a knife and fork pulling it apart or you use a cheese grater, which works faster but not necessarily better. It took me at least half an hour to do this! Jeff’s sister-in-law has started using a KitchenAid standing mixer but I found that made the chicken too fine so I guess I can’t complain when I do it the hard way. Regardless, shredding chicken is for the birds *smug emoji*.

Boyfriend Test and Picky Eater Test: SCORE!
Jeff said the dip turned out just like Stacey’s and he ate a quarter of the dish himself so he’ll never go hungry when I make it. I am not a fan of spice so it took me a couple tries to get used to this dip but I really like it. The predominant flavours are chicken and cheese so the spice is not overpowering. The fact that I have to shred chicken by hand means I won’t make this terribly often but I’ll gladly make a meal of it when it’s on the menu at Stacey’s house.

Mozarella Sticks

The recipe
Homemade Mozzarella Sticks from allrecipes.com.

Ingredient changes
Jeff and I were the only ones eating these so I made less than the recipe called for. I used 6 cheese sticks (cut in half), 1 egg, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup bread crumbs to make 12 mozzarella sticks.

Ease (or not) of prep
Put bread crumbs in a baggie? Easy. Mix egg and milk? Simple. Wrap cheese in egg rolls wrappers? Piece of cake. Deep fry? Good thing my mom was here!

I don’t have a deep fryer so we used an old pot. My mom my pretty nervous about not having a deep fryer so when the oil crackled loudly, she removed it from the heat to calm it down. In the end, we and the kitchen survived unscathed so we must have done something right.

The Boyfriend Test: Pass (the ball!)
Jeff enjoyed these quite a bit. He said the were cooked perfectly. Really though, you can’t offend Jeff with breading and cheese.

Picky Eater Test: Soft pass
I found the egg roll wrapper a genius way to stop the cheese from exploding but I also found there to be a bit too much of it once it’s rolled up. The outside was crunchy and the inside was soft but not unpleasantly so. Next time I make these, I’ll fuss with them a bit and try to cut away the excess. I’ll also go a little overboard on the breading because I didn’t find them to be overly flavourful. My next mission will be to find a good dip to accompany them.

Taquitos (sort of?)

My mom threw some ingredients together and this is what came out. I use the term ‘taquitos’ loosely because I’m not sure how they’re actually made since this and the ones Jeff gets from 7 Eleven are my only experiences with them (and those 7 Eleven ones are dubious at best).

The recipe
– 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
– 1/2 cup finely chopped assorted peppers
– 1/2 cup cooked chicken
– 1 tbsp scallions
– 2 cloves fresh garlic
– Joseph’s Lavash wraps (or whatever wraps you prefer)
– shredded cheese, whatever kind and amount you prefer

Sautée ingredients in frying pan on medium heat, greased with your choice of olive oil or cooking spray. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Roll mixture into wraps with cheese. Stick rolls with toothpicks to keep them closed. Dribble tops with tomato sauce or salsa and sprinkle with a bit of cheese. Bake at 400º for 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

Ease (or not) of prep
Of all the things we made, this was probably the easiest, even though it had the most steps. No shredded chicken or threat of burning down the kitchen so that’s a win.

The Boyfriend Test: GOAL!
Jeff actually likes the taquitos that sit on those spinning heat trays at 7 Eleven so he loved the superior homemade version. I like recipes like this where I can easily kick up Jeff’s with spicy salsa or sriracha while leaving mine nice, plain, and pain-free.

Picky Eater Test: Pass
I only tried a bite because I was pretty full of dip by this point, but they were quite good. They were flavourful and, as with all the dishes we made, cheesy, so I was happy.

My mom also brought a veggie platter but, as you can see in the picture, most of that foolishness is still on the table. For dessert, we had a fruit plate. There’s still a lot of dip left over but Jeff and I will make short work of that. Don’t ask me what teams were playing or who won, but feel free to ask me about any of these recipes!

What are your favourite party foods? Any recipes out there I should try next time?

Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Another casualty of the M&M Food Market’s revamp was their soup. They used to come frozen and you’d put this weird cylindrical clump in the oven for an hour until you had a delicious soup with perfectly melted cheese on top. Now they still come frozen but in a plastic container that you have to heat in the microwave, so goodbye cheese. My momsie recently found one of the old style soups in her freezer and gave it to me. It was so excellent that I decided to try making broccoli cheddar soup myself, because god knows I’m never buying the M&M’s one again.

The recipe
Sandy’s Homemade Broccoli and Cheddar Soup from allrecipes.com.

Ingredient changes
The only thing I did differently was that I used old cheddar instead of mild.

I also doubled the recipe because the person who posted it said it was half of the original and a bunch of commenters said they were glad they doubled it when they made it.

Ease (or not) of prep
Because I doubled the recipe, it took me longer than the listed 40 minutes. I’d say it took me an hour, which means I won’t make this terribly often. We had a portion left over so I froze it in a Mason jar. If it survives the freezer well, I might double the doubled batch and freeze the bulk of it so I can make it once instead of twice.

The Boyfriend Test: Solid pass
Jeff enjoyed this more than the potato soup, probably because he loooooves broccoli. He also said this soup wasn’t as heavy so the experience of eating was more pleasurable.

Picky Eater Test: Pass
This soup turned out almost exactly as good as I was hoping. It was thick, creamy, and very delicious. Next time I’ll use a bit less broccoli because the quantity from the recipe added too much texture and I want it to be a bit creamier.

Shenanigans worth mentioning: I am going to need a new whisk. I’m not certain but I think I’ve had this one for a decade and in that time, I used it about six times, three of which were in the last couple years when I made shortbread cookies for Christmas. The last three weeks of cooking has rendered my whisk almost completely destroyed, so much so that Jeff has held it up while doing dishes and said, “what happened to this?” I shall mourn for my poor whisk that has travelled so far with me… but not so much that I’m not going to replace it with one of those heavy duty ones that has all the wires held together. Oh yeah, I mean whisk-business now. What recipe will I do next? That’s none of your whiskness!

Pulled Pork Sliders

I was disheartened by the ham roast hunt fiasco but I still wanted to prepare a pork dish. The beef sliders were such a hit that it seemed only reasonable to do pulled pork as well.

The recipe
Tasty Slow Cooker Pulled Pork from allrecipes.com.

Ingredient changes
I didn’t notice that I bought too big of a roast (4.5 pounds instead of 3) so I added a bit more of all the ingredients. I also can’t handle much spice so I used a teaspoon of hot sauce.

Side note: this was the most discordant list of ingredients I’ve ever seen. Ketchup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and onion soup mix. I put a lot of faith in online reviews that this was going to be good because I did not understand how these ingredients went together.

Ease (or not) of prep
Classic dump crap in a bowl and leave it to cook for a while. Ingredients had to be mixed first and then literally poured over the roast. It took longer to acquire the ingredients than it did to throw it all in the pot.

Boyfriend Test: Solid pass
I often don’t tell Jeff what I’m making so he was so excited when he walked in the door and I took the lid off the slow cooker. He was just as happy to take some leftovers to work as his lunch the next day. We still have a sizeable dish left so I froze that and will surprise him with it again in a couple weeks.

Picky Eater Test: Fail
This marks the first dish of our new cooking endeavour that I didn’t like. I did not enjoy the sauce at all. I think it was the apple cider vinegar; it just had a tang to it that I didn’t enjoy. I like the taste of pork and it was overpowered by the sauce.

Next time I think I’ll call Jeff’s mom and get her recipe. She has this delightful habit of sending Jeff’s dad to deliver fully cooked meals every now and then and a delicious pulled pork was one of them. Hmm… I wonder if she would be able to find the damned roast I was looking for before. I need to make a phone call.