August 31, 2012 By headchef
I always like tried and true recipes. One of my favorite places to find recipes is allrecipes.com. I love to read the reviews and make some adaptations to the recipes. Chicken Parmigiana was one of those recipes. It was my turn to choose the recipe and I knew Little Chef C would be able to execute it easily. It is very simple. Only dipping the chicken in egg then breadcrumbs, pouring sauce over everything, mounding cheese on top. She didn’t think it was that much fun because she didn’t get to do any of the fun things like cutting or stirring.
Little Chef C dipped each piece of chicken into the whisked egg. She lifted it out of the egg and let the excess drip off.
She then dipped it into the bread crumbs to coat each side. She not like either of these steps because it makes her hands yucky, but I kept telling her she was almost done. That seemed to get her to finish all pieces of chicken.
Each coated piece was placed in a sprayed pan in a single layer. Canned spaghetti sauce was poured all over. Mozzarella and parmesan cheese was placed on top of each piece.
After baking in the oven and the cheese melting it turned into a delicious piece of chicken. We had some excess spaghetti sauce in the pan we spooned over some pasta. It turned out to be a great meal the Little Chefs enjoyed!
Chicken Parmigiana
Source: allrecipes.com
Ingredients2 eggs, beaten4 ounces dry breadcrumbs4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves1 jar (16 ounce) spaghetti sauce4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Directions1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Pour egg into a small, shallow bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a separate shallow bowl. Dip chicken into egg, then into breadcrumbs. Place coated chicken on the prepared baking sheet and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until no longer pink and juices run clear.
3. Pour half of the spaghetti sauce into a 8.5 x 11 inch baking dish. Place chicken over sauce and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses on top and return to the preheated oven for 20 more minutes.
August 30, 2012 By headchef
Welcome to Fantastic Thursday!
Thanks to all who linked up last week! Each of you help make this party successful!
Be sure to come back next week to see if you have been featured and to link up your latest creation!
I’d appreciate it if you would link up in some way; button or text link to this party to spread the word.
Our most viewed recipe from last week’s party is Candy Bar Brownies
from Amy’s Journey!
Let’s get the party started! I’m excited to see what you have to share!
Thanks so much for choosing to link up at Five Little Chefs!
‘);
August 29, 2012 By headchef
We first had this Warm Summer Squash Salad about two summers ago. We really enjoy the taste of balsamic vinegar. When our gardens are producing A LOT of summer squash we get tired of the same recipe. This is a great alternative with a strong balsamic vinegar flavor.
The first step is to cut the summer squash into half moons. You could do a circle, but they are too big for my Little Chef’s mouths. It is easier to prep the food to their size instead of cutting everyone’s plates while mine is getting cold.
Next, Little Chef A cooked garlic in oil, then added in the summer squash. When it just starts to wilt and brown it is done. When all the summer squash is cooked it is time to add the balsamic vinegar and stir in the oregano.
This can be served warm or at room temperature. It is a quick, simple zucchini recipe with minimal ingredients. All qualities our favorite recipes have!
Warm Summer Squash Salad
Ingredients3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced4 medium zucchini very thinly sliced4 medium yellow summer squashes very thinly sliced2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
Directions1. Coat a large skillet with oil. Add a third of the garlic, and heat over medium-high heat until sizzling, 1-2 minutes.2. Add a third of the zucchini and yellow squashes and cook until just wilted and browned around edges, 2-3 minutes.3. Transfer to a plate. Repeat twice with remaining garlic, zucchini, and yellow squashes.4. Stir in vinegar to last batch, and let evaporate slightly.5. Return all batches of zucchini and yellow squashes to skillet and stir in oregano.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.
August 27, 2012 By headchef
Melynda Fleury had a close call to losing her eyesight because of diabetes. In honor of this, Wayman Publishing is celebrating with a Blogfest and Book Fair Giveaway during Labor Day week. This is a three part giveaway!
1. ALL those who enter will be given unlimited access to download any of Wayman Publishing’s Top 10 Books only during the days Sept 2 through Sept 4. A direct link will be given to all entrants on Sept 1st.
2. The second amazing part of this giveaway is, Mommy Blog Designs, who is a great blog designer with an even better reputation for her service as well as blog designs will contribute one of her Premade Designs with full package ($269 Value) for FREE to one lucky winner!
3. To make it even better the third amazing part is we are giving away $200 paypal cash!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
August 27, 2012 By headchef
For Little Chef D’s birthday Grandma gave her some cooking supplies. Grandma did think it was a little strange to give such a young girl a gift like this, but Little Chef D was over joyed! One of the things in that bag were a variety of sizes of turnover molds.
The fun part is these can be used for both sweet and savory dishes. Since lately we have been experimenting with Melissa d’Arabian recipes we decided to try her Chicken Pot Pie Turnovers.
This recipe is not the simplest. It does have a variety of steps with different skill levels. The first part is to cut an onion, one carrot and one celery. Little Chef D has had enough practice she is able to complete this task with me overseeing, but not holding her hands. I still do not take my eyes off her while she is cutting, and she does hear a frequent; “Move your fingers back.”
The second task is to saute the onions, carrots and celery in a saute pan with some herbs and other seasonings. Stock is added. We opted to use all stock instead of wine and stock.
After a few minutes the peas and chicken are added. The chicken can be any type; shredded, cubed, pulled from a rotisserie chicken, left over chicken. I even think this would be great for a post thanksgiving meal to use up the turkey.
You will need to use one sheet of frozen puff pastry. I now keep this in my freezer at all times because we love Baked Cinnamon Sugar Churros. Carefully cut the sheet into 4 squares and slightly roll them out even more.
At this point Little Chef D carefully placed the pastry sheet on top of the mold and added some of the chicken mixture to one side. With her finger she wet the edges with water. (The part that would stick together and crimp).
She folded the mold over and pushed down. I held my breath hoping she didn’t fill it too much and hoping it would not explode out the folded edge. See how it is starting to bulge out!
She carefully cut away any excess dough, then gave them an egg wash and cut a small slit it the tops to allow steam to escape.
When they came out of the oven they were golden brown and looked delicious. These were VERY well received by all the Little Chefs! I especially enjoyed the puff pastry because it was so flaky. Little Chef Dad thought the thyme that was over powering. Now that we know the process and we will definitely use the puff pastry as the dough we can fill these with any number of combinations!
Chicken Pot Pie Turnovers
Source: Melissa d’Arabian
Ingredients2 Tablespoons butter1/2 onion, chopped1 carrot, chopped1 stalk celery, choppedKosher salt and freshly ground black pepper2 cloves garlic, minced2 teaspoons dried thyme1 Tablespoon flour, plus more for dusting1 1/2 cups chicken stock1 teaspoon Dijon mustard1/2 cup frozen peas1 1/2 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg
Directions1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.2. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Cook the onions, carrots, and celery with salt and pepper, to taste, until the carrots soften, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for an additional minute, stirring frequently. Add the flour and cook off the raw flavor, about 1 minute more. Whisk in the stock and Dijon mustard. Add the peas and chicken and cook on a very low simmer until the sauce thickens up into a gravy, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. On a lightly floured surface, unfold the pastry dough and cut into 4 even squares (cut once horizontally and once vertically). Gently roll out each square, increasing the size of the square by about 20 percent.. Place the squares on a baking sheet and spoon the chicken mixture in the center. Fold the squares diagonally to create triangles. Pinch the edges together to create turnovers (use a little water if needed to bind). Press the edges with a fork to create a decorative border. Whisk the egg with a splash of water and brush the turnovers with the egg wash. Cut a small slit in the top to allow the steam to escape during baking. Bake the turnover until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving as the insides will be very hot.
August 24, 2012 By headchef
School has started for us and with two Little Chefs gone all day Little Chef D is desperate to do something fun just with Mom especially when Little Chef H is taking a nap. We made Chocolate Nectarine Burritos for an afternoon snack. When Little Chef D saw more nectarines available to eat she wanted to make something else. Food for her is easiest to eat when it is rolled up so we came up with Nectarine Cream Cheese Burritos.
It is easy for any Little Chef to spread some cream cheese on a tortilla. I’m not saying they will do it perfectly, but it doesn’t have to be. Little Chefs are proud of their accomplishments and spreading cream cheese is quite an accomplishment for the smallest Little Chefs.
Now it is time to finely dice the nectarine. You can cut it for your Little Chef if they are not able to safely handle a knife. We have had success with the Vidalia Chopper. Place the finely diced nectarine on top of the tortilla, not too close to the edges.
Roll the tortilla up burrito style. Fold two opposite sides in toward the middle about an inch. (This is so the food doesn’t fall out the ends.) Starting at one side (the sides NOT folded in) begin to roll until it forms a burrito. Cut it in half and enjoy!
Nectarine Cream Cheese Burritos
Five Little Chefs
Ingredients1/2 finely diced nectarine (or any fruit of your choice, chunky jams also work well)1 flour tortilla
2 Tablespoons cream cheese
Directions1. Spread cream cheese on a flour tortilla.2. Add fruit on top of the cream cheese.
3. Roll up burrito by folding two sides in toward the middle and rolling adjacent side all the way until the crease is on the bottom.
August 23, 2012 By headchef
Welcome to Fantastic Thursday!
Thanks to all who linked up last week! Each of you help make this party successful!
Be sure to come back next week to see if you have been featured and to link up your latest creation!
I’d appreciate it if you would link up in some way; button or text link to this party to spread the word.
Our most viewed recipe from last week’s party is
Hidden Star in a Cupcake from Simply Sweet ‘n Savory!
Let’s get the party started! I’m excited to see what you have to share!
Thanks so much for choosing to link up at Five Little Chefs!
‘);
August 22, 2012 By headchef
Chicken is always in our freezer. I love a quick chicken recipe that I can make at a moments notice. There are always days when nothing goes right and its dinner time in 30 minutes and nothing is planned. This chicken recipe has common ingredients; chicken, orange juice concentrate, honey, salt and pepper. It takes a few minutes to prep and only 15 minutes to cook.
In a small saucepan add orange juice concentrate, honey, salt and pepper. Let it boil for about 3 minutes. This will thicken the glaze.
Brush on your chicken and bake in a 375 degree F oven for about 15 minutes. Pull it out, add some easy sides like Broccoli Florets with Olive Oil. While this recipe is simple to make I would love to have the chicken sit in the orange-honey mixture to infuse the chicken. We will have to give it a try and let you know how it goes.
Orange Glazed Chicken
Five Little Chefs
Ingredients4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
4 Tablespoons honey
Directions1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.2. Liberally salt and pepper the chicken breast halves.3. To make the orange glaze; In a small saucepan heat the orange juice concentrate, honey, salt and pepper over medium heat for 3 minutes.
4. Brush each piece with the glaze. Bake for about 15 minutes or until completely cooked through.
August 20, 2012 By headchef
I love quick side dishes so when we saw Corn Saute from Melissa D’Arabian we wanted to give it a try. The recipe does call for red peppers but because the green are half the price we opted for those. I do agree the red would add some much needed color to the completed dish.
Today I thought I’d teach my Little Chefs how to cut in a line. The green pepper was cut in long strips. I showed them how to line up the strips and then cut cross wise. This not only cuts the peppers quicker, but it also SHOULD create more uniform sizes. Depending on the ability of the Little Chef depended on how many strips they could put together to successfully cut cross wise.
The peppers and onions were added at a hot sauce pan with olive oil until soft. The zucchini and corn was added in last along with salt and pepper. We used frozen sweet corn because that is always available in the freezer section. Green peppers can easily be diced and frozen in the summer to use all winter long.
Besides needing more color to the dish it was a different alternative that could use summer ingredients from your garden. It was quick to make which means it kept the attention of my Little Chefs.
Corn Saute
Source: Melissa d’Arabian
Ingredients1/2 yellow onion, chopped1 red bell pepper, diced1 Tablespoon olive oil1 zucchini, cubedKosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ears fresh corn, shucked, or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
Directions
Cook the peppers and onions in olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat until soft. Add the zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, lightly char the corn on a gas burner, using tongs to turn, 2 minutes. Let cool, and then cut the kernels off the cob. Add the corn kernels to the pan and cook the whole mixture 5 more minutes. Serve.
August 17, 2012 By headchef
It is fruit season and we love to eat many varieties fresh, but we have also been finding other ways to incorporate fruit. We ALWAYS have tortillas in our freezer. We like buying the uncooked kind. We take only one package out of the freezer to defrost and use at a time. Sometimes we cook a few more tortillas then we need. That is fine because we put the extra cooked tortillas in a ziploc and keep it in the refrigerator.
As we were wondering what to do with some nectarines we acquired from a family member we thought of those cooked tortillas in the refrigerator. Very young Little Chefs can do this recipe if all they need to do is assemble. They will need minimal help rolling up the burrito and putting it in and out of the oven. The first step is to cut the nectarine. This can be done by an Intermediate Little Chef or by an adult helping a beginner Little Chef. Grab an extra bag of chocolate chips from your pantry but watch out when you open the bag….my Little Chefs always sneak a few! Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper to help with clean up!
Now that the prep work is done the easy part can begin. Place a cooked tortilla in front of you and add some diced nectarines (or any fruit of your choosing).
Add to the nectarines some chocolate chips (any flavor). If you add too many chocolate chips the chocolate will ooze out of the ends so don’t over do it.
To fold the tortilla into a burrito your food – in this case nectarines and chocolate chips – need to be toward the end of the side closest to you and in the middle 1/3. Fold the two sides in. Starting from the end closest to you (where the food is close to the edge) roll it up to the end. It does take some practice to get a tight roll. Another way to try is fold the edge closest to you over the food so it covers all the food. Gently grab the tortilla and food and pull down toward your body. (You are sliding the food down the tortilla and making the fold smaller and tighter.) Then roll up the rest of the way.
Place burritos seam side down on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F. Once finished and the chocolate is probably oozing out you can let it cool and eat it like this. Or..after cooling for a few minutes carefully let your Little Chef take a stick of butter and rub it all over the tops of the burritos. Sprinkle a little cinnamon and twice as much sugar on the top of each. We just eye balled it. Cut it in half because it looks pretty and the ends are hard for the little ones to eat. An added bonus is it cools the burrito off quicker with the middle exposed.
Clean up is easy because all you need to do is throw away the parchment paper! I love that stuff!
Chocolate and Nectarine Burritos
Five Little Chefs
Ingredients 1 nectarine, diced (or any fruit of your choosing)Chocolate chips (any type works)4 cooked tortillasbutter or margarinesugar
cinnamon
Directions1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.2. Dice the fruit.3. On a tortilla place about 1/4 cup diced nectarine and chocolate chips. Roll up into a burrito.4. Place seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20 minutes.
5. Once cooked, rub on some butter until shinny. Sprinkle over the tops of the burritos 1 part cinnamon and 2 parts sugar.