Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Tasty Tuesday - Chicken and Stuffing, Round 2

Several months ago, I posted a crockpot recipe for chicken and stuffing. While it was pretty delicious, it had a few flaws.

1. The recipe called for stuffing crumbs, which didn't exactly turn into stuffing - more like a really thick gravy. Once the recipe had become leftovers the next day, THEN there was stuffing. But you know, I like my recipes to turn out the way they're supposed to before a 24-hr period has passed.

2. (And this isn't really a flaw to most people, but...) it's a crockpot recipe. And while I love crockpot recipes....sometimes, I'm kinda bad at planning ahead. I typically prepare dinner during the afternoon hours when my kids are napping and, well, crockpot recipes don't really work if they aren't started until 2pm.

So last week I tried an oven version of this dinner, using my head knowledge of cooking (which is pretty little) and whatever ingredients I had on hand. I like my recipes to be flexible, so using what I have on hand rather than running to the store all the time is really helpful when it comes to saving money.

Over the past few months, I have become a stalker of two cooking blogs that I absolutely LOVE. One thing that their readers often express appreciation for is their PILE of pictures in each blog post. I admit, it does help to be able to see what the cook is doing. Plus, I really like taking pictures. (I guess that goes with the photographer territory?) So, in an attempt to be as cool as this blog and this blog, I have several pictures for you today!

I know you're jumping for joy on the other side of that screen. Don't even try to deny it.

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Modified Chicken and Stuffing

6 chicken breast halves
4-ish cups bread cubes
2 cans cream of chicken
1 cup chicken broth
thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper (sorry, I don't measure)
4 T. melted butter or margerine

1. Grease 9x13 inch pan.

2. Chop bread into cubes. I used hot dog buns because the "best by" date had already come and gone and I had no hot dogs in the fridge.

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3. Spread bread cubes into greased pan.

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4. Mix chicken broth, cream of chicken, and seasonings.

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5. Melt butter and pour over bread crumbs. (And let me just tell you...taking a picture while pouring is...um....a lot harder than it might appear.)

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6. Pour 3/4 of the creamy chicken mixture over bread cubes.

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7. Wash and dry chicken. Cut each breast in half. (This is not actually necessary, but since it probably cooks a little faster, I generally do it this way.)

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8. Place chicken pieces on top of bread crumbs in pan. Add remaining creamy chicken mixture to the tops of the chicken pieces.

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9. Cover and bake in 400 degree oven for 1 hr or until done.

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10. Eat. This time around, I wound up with quite a bit of soggy goodness at the bottom and then more "gravy". I'm not sure what it is about this recipe, but apparently it still needs tweaked. I just cut up some more bread cubes and put the gravy on top w/ the chicken. It worked out okay, but I will keep perfecting it. My husband suggested trying it with dried bread cubes and I think that might work better.

1 comment:

Extraordinary Ordinary Life said...

Will you come over and take pictures of my food? Maybe then I can have a real food blog too. We could barter.