Decadent Creamy Chicken & Mushroom

I'm eager to avoid the supermarket as much as possible, during these crazy pandemic times. As such, I decided to raid the fridge and see what dregs were left, so I could push back a trip outside the house one day. 

Wella! The following dish was made. I don't measure, I'm one of those people, but have included a rough idea of what is needed.

You can serve this with whatever you choose, we did gluten free egg pasta, had nothing else left. 

INGREDIENTS:

600g chicken thigh, boneless and skin-off (approx. 4)

150g mushrooms, thinly sliced

75g bacon, diced

1 tbspn garlic powder

1 tbspn onion powder

25g butter

1/4 cup dry white wine

150ml thickened cream

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

METHOD:

Mix garlic and onion powders together, then sprinkle over chicken. Preheat a pan to medium heat and brown chicken. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C and put a baking tray in for chicken. 

Once chicken is browned, transfer to baking tray in oven to continue cooking (approx. 10 minutes). 

In the same pan, place a knob of butter and add mushrooms, cooking until golden. Transfer to a plate, then increase heat to medium-high and add bacon, cooking until starting to brown. Add gulp of wine and allow alcohol to cook off, then add mushrooms to the pan. Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer until wine has reduced. Add thickened cream and stir, then simmer until you're ready to serve. Sprinkle parmesan on top, add pasta (if using) and stir through. Otherwise, remove chicken from oven and serve, topping with the creamy sauce. 

Season to taste (I didn't need to) and enjoy! 😍

Best way to use scraps to create a delicious meal! I will be doing this again, serving with greens to absorb those tasty fats! 

Mexican Chicken Soup [Slow Cooker]

Wow. I have almost posted more today than I have in the past two months combined!

Anyway, earlier in the year I found a bunch of recipes and prepped, then freezed, a bunch of meals. One of those was a Mexican chicken soup. I finally cooked it up about a month ago, and no word of a lie, it was the best thing I have ever had! I was on the cusp of getting sick, in the middle of submitting like, four assignments, that were all due within five days of each other, and just wanted something easy. Ended up with SO MUCH MORE!!!

Ever since, I have been trawling the internet, trying to find the recipe... Well, today, I did it. I stumbled across an old bookmark that I had copy/pasted into a document after prepping all those meals, but then forgot about. It is quite the occasion!!!! I'm going to make it again, because it's amazing. But I'm also going to put it here so I can easily share it with everyone I know, and also so I never lose the recipe again. ;)

The recipe can be found here.

Enjoy!

- L. x

I Think I Just.... [Southwest Sweet Potatoes w/ Grilled Chicken]

No wait, I KNOW I just had an orgasm in my mouth.

Oh, my god.

This is so good. I haven't actually made it yet, but just looking at it... Pwoar.

Anyway, here's the recipe. I'm mostly putting it here so I can find it later. I'm in a bit of a menu planning shakeup crazy funk thing right now. Much fun!

I will finish converting it to Australian later. ;)

South West Stuffed Sweet Potatoes w/ Grilled Chicken

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg chicken breasts (measured raw)
• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 1 cup black beans (optional)
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1 cup corn
• 2 vine tomatoes
• 2/3 capsicum
• 3 green onions
• 1 zucchini
• 5 tbsp mozzarella (optional)
• Seasonings such as cayenne, paprika, sea salt, pepper, southwest chipotle....

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 210.
2. Wrap sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and bake until firm but soft, about 45-50 minutes.
3. Season chicken with Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle, cayenne, paprika, and dash of sea salt, and cook in a nonstick frying pan. Set aside.
4. Chop vegetables into small pieces.
5. Saute garlic and corn in a nonstick skillet using spray coconut oil. Once corn is seared, toss in vegetables and black beans.
6. Slice sweet potatoes in half and carve out part of the insides. Set carved-out portions aside to be used later.
7. Spray sweet potato halves with coconut oil, then place back in oven for 5 minutes.
8. Fill sweet potatoes with vegetable mixture, then top with 1 tbsp mozzarella.
9. Bake for another 8 minutes at 210.
10. Serve chicken breasts on the side with stuffed sweet potatoes.

Tip: So as not to waste food, take the leftover sweet potato, mash it up, and add 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and 1 tbsp raw honey or 3 packets of natural sweetener. Enjoy this sweet potato mash hot or cold. For breakfast, heat it up and sprinkle with a little bit of granola and fresh blueberries.

Peace out.

- L. x

Chicken Parma Balls

I LOVE these! They're so simple and affordable, yet so yummy! This recipe was originally a "4 Ingredients" recipe, however I have tweaked it a little to suit our tastes.

INGREDIENTS:
500g chicken mince (or turkey!)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I use GF crumbs)
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1 tbspn (approx) mixed herbs
salt & pepper, to taste
2/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 cup pizza sauce 

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180° and line a tray with baking paper.
Combine the mince, breadcrumbs, spring onion, herbs, salt & pepper, and half the cheese in a bowl. Mix together using your hands, until well combined.
Put the sauce into a small bowl, and the remaining cheese into another bowl.
Roll the mixture into meatballs (I like them to be 'two-bite-size', but do them whatever size - you may need to adjust cooking time accordingly) then dip them into the sauce and place on tray, sauce side up. Repeat until mixture is all rolled, then put in oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven, dip in sauce again, but this time dip in the cheese after dipping in the sauce. Bake for a further 5 minutes, or until cheese is golden, "having become one with the sensuously delicious balls"**.

I serve these with anything - salad, vegetables, you name it! They're also great in the kids lunchboxes the next day!

Enjoy!

- L. x

**This description is one the 4 Ingredients author used, but I had to "borrow" it! It's too good! ;)

Lemony Chicken with Broccoli

I'm trying oh-so-hard to find a million ways to incorporate broccoli into dinner without just having plain '30-second-steamed' broccoli on the side of most meals. This turned out pretty good!
As a sidenote - I have a photographic memory, so sometimes I see a recipe and then remember the key ingredients or whatever, then incorporate those ingredients into what I believe to be my own creation. So whilst I think I'm being totally original (or not... someone out there has pretty much combined every pairable ingredient possible!), I may have been unknowingly inspired by someone else. We're all Masterchefs in here though. ;)

Served myself and Spawn, with enough leftovers for both of us to have again for lunch tomorrow!

INGREDIENTS:
1kg chicken breast, diced bite-size
1 medium brown onion, finely diced
250g mushrooms, sliced
1 lemon
300g broccoli, steamed (I steam for about a minute - just so it's more vibrant and heated)
1 tspn ground cumin
1 tspn dried basil
1 tspn dried oregano
Salt & pepper, to season

METHOD:
Heat large frying pan over medium heat and add oil/fat of choice.
Add onion and mushroom and cook until starting to soften, then add chicken and mix well.
Once chicken is just about cooked, add cumin, oregano, basil, juice of lemon, and broccoli. Mix around and then add salt and pepper to taste, and more oil/fat if needed. Test to ensure chicken is seasoned to your liking - if not, add more salt/pepper/herbs/lemon, then stir and serve!
I served this meal with brown rice, but would be great with cauliflower rice or mash as well.

Enjoy!

- L. x
(Will add a photo next time - was running late with dinner tonight, lol.)