Chicken Biscuit Bake

This was originally a cook for 2 recipe. It works great for that. However, the picture down below is a family size. If you cook for 2, use an 8x8. If you cook for a family, use a 2 quart dish. (This is smaller than 9x13. However, if that's all you have, that will work too.) The ingredients are in the original form. But just know that I doubled everything. And know that I hate recipes like this, that say 1/2 cup cooked chicken. I always think, "Well, how much chicken do I thaw out?" So I just round up. For this recipe, I would use 1 chicken breast. (the 2 person version.) One great thing about this recipe is, you can easily put more in and it doesn't hurt the recipe one bit. I will use at least 2 chicken breasts, the whole bag of mixed veggies (otherwise I don't eat the leftovers), and as for the things that say "dash" I use 1/8 tsp. What's a dash, really? The biscuit can easily be made ahead of time and popped in the fridge. That might actually make it easier to roll out. I'll explain some of the challenges with the dough at the end of the post.

Biscuit:
½ cup plus 1 tbsp flour
½ tsp baking powder
dash salt
3 tbsp cold butter
2 tbsp beaten egg
¼ cup buttermilk

Filling:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tbsp chicken bouillon granules
dash poultry seasoning
dash onion powder
½ cup cubed cooked chicken
½ cup frozen mixed vegetables
½ cup small curd cottage cheese

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembled coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 tsp beaten egg; stir remaining egg into buttermilk. Add to crumb mixture; stir until dough forms a ball. Turn onto a floured board; knead 10 times or until smooth. Divide dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion to fit the bottom of a greased 1 qt. baking dish. Place in dish.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add the milk, bouillon, poultry seasoning and onion powder. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in the chicken, vegetables and cottage cheese. Pour into baking dish. Roll out the remaining dough to fit the top of the dish; place over filling. Brush with reserved egg. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

You may wonder why my topping is all gimpy looking. (and it's not pretty looking either because I forgot to brush the top with the leftover egg wash) Well, this biscuit is really soft and stretchy as a dough. It is really hard to roll out a piece to fit a 2 quart pan. For the bottom biscuit, I put half the dough in the pan and stretch it out inside the pan. Then for the top, I do it in to pieces. However, if it were refrigerated, it might be stiff enough to do in one piece. It's kind of a tough dough to work with, but most definitely worth it. It's so yummy! This is a highly recommended Julie recipe. When I first found it I made it like once a week. I love this recipe. And I put it under kid friendly because despite the veggies in it, Joseph has always eaten it without any trouble. It's just a really great flavor. As long as they don't freak out about the vegetables they can see, and just eat it, I'm sure they'll like how it tastes.

Chicken Tip

This is a two-fold tip. First you can use for cooked or raw chicken. Kitchen scissors. Scissors are such an awesome kitchen tool for things other than opening packaging. They work wonders for cutting up raw or cooked chicken and it can be easier than using a knife at times, especially depending on how much snipping you need to do.

The second tip is one I use for the following post (Chicken Biscuit Bake). I do this whenever I have a recipe that requires the chicken cooked before I put it into the dish. The tip is: microwave it. I know for some that may be kinda gross. But to me, it's so much more effort to cook it on the skillet, just to chop it up and throw it into something else that bakes additional time. Microwaving the chicken in my following recipe saves me major time and in the end tastes the same. (I think) When you have a recipe where the chicken is added to the dish already cooked, and without seasoning, I find that doing it on the stove isn't worth the time, where the microwave is a huge time saver. Then you can proceed to cut it with a knife, or with scissors. Whichever you prefer.

Breaded Pork Chops

Another Emeril. This one is pretty easy and I really like it. I really like the technique he uses to bake them. It's handy and I've already used it for other things.

Ingredients
1 5 oz. box plain melba toast (I just use bread crumbs instead)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp Baby Bam
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
6 thin center-cut pork chops (about 2 1/4 lbs)

Preheat oven to 400. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top (the kind you cool cookies on.) Place the melba toast in food processor (if using) and pulse to form coarse crumbs. Transfer the crumbs (or bread crumbs) to a large plastic bag and add the italian seasoning, 2 tbsp baby bam, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, and vegetable oil. Close the bag and shake to combine.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs and remaining 2 tbsp of baby bam with a fork. Using your hands, dip the pork chops one at a time into the eggs, then place in the bag, close, and shake to coat on both sides, pressing so that the crumbs adhere. Place the chops on the wire wrack in the baking sheet. Bake until the chops are cooked through and the coating is golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes.

Strawberry Lemonade Slush/Lemonade

This is a two part recipe. It came out pretty great. It was a spur of the moment thing. It starts out with a lemonade or limeade base and then you add that to the strawberries.

Ingredients for lime/lemonade base
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp finely shredded lemon or lime peel
1 1/4 cups lemon or lime juice
Ice cubes

For a lemonade or limeade base, in a medium saucepan heat and stir water and sugar over meidum heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; cool 20 minutes. Add citrus peel and juice to sugar mixture. Pour into a jar; cover and chill up to 3 days. (For lemonade, combine equal parts base and water in ice-filled glasses; stir.)

Strawberry Lemonade Slush
For each serving, ina blender container combine 1/2 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened strawberries, 1/3 cup lemonade base, and 1 tbsp sugar. Blend until smooth. With a blender running, add 1/2 cup ice cubes, 1 at a time, through opening in lid until beverage is slushy.

Shepherd's Pie

This is another Emeril recipe. I really enjoyed it. I didn't start liking shepherd's pie until the last year or so, so it's a pretty big deal that I like this. My mom might think so anyway. Just don't overdo the cloves. It's a powerful taste.

Ingredients
5 tbsp unsalted butter
3 large Idaho potatoes (about 2 lbs) peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 lbs ground beef or lamb (I used beef, but think lamb would be interesting. I'm not really familiar with it.)
3/4 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves (seriously, just a pinch. I'd say half an 1/8 tsp. This is strong and can really go too far if you're not careful.)
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups reduced-sodium beef broth (I just use hot water and 1 1/4 tsp beef boullion granules)
3/4 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup green peas, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don't thaw)
2 tsp tomato paste
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Grease a 2 quart casserole dish with 1 tbsp butter and set aside. (This is smaller than a 9x13, I believe, so check your casserole dish.) Preheat oven to 375. In a medium saucepan, place the potatoes and 1 tsp of the salt. Cover with water by 1 inch and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and cook at a low boil until fork-tender, about 12-15 minutes. (I think I cooked mine longer than that.) Using oven mitts or pot holders, drain potatoes in a colander set in the sink and then return them to the saucepan. Add the remaining 4 tbsp of butter, the milk, heavy cream, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp black pepper. Mash with a potato masher until smooth. Set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring for 30 seconds, then add the ground meat and cook, stirring to break up chunk, until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and remove as much excess liquid as possible. Return the skllet to medium high heat. Add the italian seasoning, thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves, and cook until the meat is well browned, stirring frequently, about 6 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and cook, stirring, for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the beef broth, carrots, peas, and tomato paste, stir to combine, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to the casserole dish and spoon the mashed potatoes evenly over the top. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake for 30 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to broil and cook until golden brown and crisp around the edges, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Cheese Enchiladas

This is an Emeril recipe. I didn't know how I would like it. I'm not a corn tortilla person. (Unless they're my mom's homemade chips.) But I really did like this recipe.

Ingredients
5 tbsp vegetable oil, split
1 (28 oz) can peeled whole tomatoes
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp Baby Bam
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
12 corn tortillas
8 ounces white cheddar cheese, grated (I couldn't find this. Didn't even know it existed. I subbed it with another white cheese. You can use Monterrey, Mozzarella, Colby [I think that's a white one]. If any of you find white cheddar, let me know. I didn't look in the deli however. They have more specialty cheeses there.)
8 ounces yellow cheddar cheese, grated
1/3 cup finely chopped yellow onion (I don't think I used this part. Mine was all in the sauce.)
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (I use freeze dried if I don't have fresh on hand, although I learned it needs water to rehydrate or you can't really taste it, so you might not use it in this recipe. The sauce might do the trick, but fresh is always best.)

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish with 1 tbsp of oil. Set aside. In a blender, puree the tomatoes on high speed. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tbsp of the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, cumin, oregano, and Baby Bam and cook, stirring until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the pureed tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring until slightly thieckened, about 5 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper and stir. Reduce the heat to very low. Simmer to keep warm, stirring occasionally, while you assemble the enchiladas. Heat a second medium skllet over low heat. Place the remaining 2 tbsp of oil in a small bowl or dish. With a pastry brush, lightly brush both sides of each tortilla with the oill. Place on tortilla at a time in the skillet until just warm and softened, about 2 to 5 seconds per side. (I thought this would be horribly tedious but did it in the spirit of a first time recipe. It wasn't bad and works well to keep the tortillas from cracking. Although the same effect might come from microwaving them.) Remove tortilla with tongs and palce it on a large palte. Continue with the remaining tortillas and oil. Combine the white and yellow Cheddar cheeses in a medium bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the mixed cheese in a line along the middle of each tortilla. If using the finely chopped raw onion, (which I would still recommend) sprinkle a heaping teaspoon into each tortilla. Fold one side toward the middle to enclose the filling, then roll up the tortilla to form a cylinder. Place tortillas seam side down in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Pour the tomato sauce over the filled enchiladas, spreading with the back of a spoon to distribute evenly. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese over the top of the enchiladas. Bake until bubbly, about 10-12 minutes. Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the baking dish from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. To serve, divide enchiladas among plates and garnish, if desired, with the cilantro.

If you haven't realized yet, you will, Emeril's recipes are long and wordy. The cookbook is made to be a simple step by step so kids can use it with parents. I cut down when it's easy to make it simpler, but in general I just put it the way it is. So that's why it's so wordy. But make sure you read it all the way through before you start. His recipes are ones that I get in trouble with because I dont't read it all the way through before I start cooking.

Baby Bam

Here's a separate post for Baby Bam. It's used in lots of Emeril Lagasse recipes. It's an all-purpose spice with kick. I just make it up and keep it in an empty spice container.

Ingredients
3 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp celery salt

This obviously makes a bit. It lasts for a while. I'll eventually put up more recipes that use Bam. I've also used it randomly. It's a nice all-purpose seasoner with kick.