Malibu Chicken

I know I've mentioned that we have "restaurant night" every so often at our house.  Because eating out is so expensive due to the size of our family, we go out by staying home.  I try to pick a new recipe from a different restaurant each time we have restaurant night so my kiddos don't get bored, and so they don't feel like they are missing out by not eating at restaurants.

Last week we "went" to Sizzler.  I made a salad bar, which consisted of a bowl of greens and several bowls of different toppings and dressings.  I even bought a can of the baby corn that everyone loves so much.  We started with the salad, and our server, my #2 daughter Brandee, brought drinks.  I really should have taken a picture of it, because it was fun, and we were all laughing.

For the main course, I served Malibu Chicken.  Now, I consider myself a Malibu Chicken aficionado.  I've been ordering it for almost as many years as I've been alive.  It's my favorite Sizzler menu item.  It's basically their version of Chicken Cordon Bleu, just simplified.  I think it's the perfect restaurant dish to clone at home.

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but alas, I can't.  But I can tell you, that this tastes exactly like Sizzler's Malibu Chicken.  And I don't say that lightly.  Really, I don't.  I'm the first one to admit that most restaurant recipes can't be cloned exactly at home.  Either the ingredients aren't available to the home cook, or the method can't be reproduced at home.  Thankfully, that isn't the case here.  This version comes out crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside with salty ham and the gooey melted cheese finish.  I did make one substitution from the original recipe.  I personally don't care much for Swiss cheese unless the flavor is completely masked by other ingredients, so I used provolone.

Malibu Chicken
Serves 6 

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pound 'em thin)

6 slices cooked ham

6 slices Swiss cheese  (I used provolone)

1 egg

1/4 cup flour 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs  (I used panko)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon water 

1 teaspoon mustard

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Stir egg and 1 tablespoons water together with a fork. Combine flour, salt and pepper and coat each chicken piece, dip into egg mixture and then coat with breadcrumbs making sure to press crumbs in firmly.

Heat oil and butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Brown chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Place browned chicken on cookie sheet or oven proof platter and bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Remove from the oven and top each piece with a slice of ham and slice of cheese. Return to the oven and cook until cheese melts. For the dipping sauce combine mustard and mayonnaise.

Source:  Food.com

Chi Chi's Chimichangas

Holy deliciousness, Batman!  These are amazing!  I never thought I'd come close to tasting Chi Chi's food again.  And in reality, its been like 20 years since Chi Chi's went out of business, so I don't really remember what their food tasted like, but I have some very fond memories of good friends, family and great Mexican food.

This recipe didn't disappoint in the great Mexican food category.  My family devoured these. I have to make a triple batch just to satisfy them.  My 16 year old son, Colton, ate 5 of them.  And they aren't small.  At all.  This is one of the recipes my family requests most.  Don't be intimidated by the long ingredient list.  These come together in about 30 minutes, so they are quick enough for a weeknight meal.


Chi Chi's Chimichangas
Serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (remove seeds for less heat)
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
sea or kosher salt
1 small tomato, chopped, plus more for topping
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken or cooked chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup sour cream, plus more for serving
1 (15-ounce) can refried beans
4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese, plus more for topping
Mexi-sauce, for topping (recipe below)
Shredded lettuce, for topping
Mexican rice, for serving


Mexi Sauce

1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
pinch of each: chili powder, cumin, sugar and salt
2 (4 ounce) cans green chilies, drained and rinsed
1 cup chicken broth


 Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Melt the butter with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet; transfer to a bowl. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in the skillet and add the onion, garlic and jalapeno, cook over medium-low heat until soft. Add the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt; toast 30 seconds. Add the tomato and cilantro and cook until slightly dry, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken and sour cream and warm through. Remove from the heat.


Brush a rimmed baking sheet with some of the butter-oil mixture. Spread 2 tablespoons refried beans down the center of each tortilla, leaving a 2-inch border on both ends. Top with 1 cup chicken mixture and 1/4 cup cheese. Fold in the ends and roll up.


Put the chimichangas seam-side down on the baking sheet; brush with the butter-oil mixture. Bake 8 to 10 minutes per side, brushing again after you flip. Top with the sauce, more cheese, lettuce and tomato. Serve with rice and the remaining beans.


Make Mexi-sauce: Saute 1/2 cup chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves in a skillet over medium-low with heat in a tablespoon or two of vegetable/olive oil. Add a pinch each of chili powder, cumin, sugar and salt; cook 30 seconds. Stir in two 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies and cook 2 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth and simmer until thickened, then puree. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro.


Adapted from:  Food Network

Chili's Chicken Club Tacos

I went to Chili's a while back with my awesome sister-in-law, Carrie.  I love Chili's, but I don't eat there nearly as often as I'd like.  However when I'm there, I do the unthinkable and take notes on the menu so I can make my own knock-off versions at home.  Their food is so simple and fresh, not to mention pretty easy to recreate.

The marinated, grilled chicken is the key to making these tacos delicious.  If you can plan ahead and marinate the chicken overnight or for at least a few hours, you won't be sorry.  When you're grilling thin strips of chicken, line the grill with aluminum foil to prevent the chicken from falling through the grill.  The rest is just using fresh, delicious produce and crispy bacon.

Chili's Chicken Club Tacos

Serves 6-8

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into half inch slices

1 pkg. McCormick grill mates southwest flavor, made according to package directions

8-10 slices bacon, cooked until crispy

Fresh flour tortillas

Fresh lettuce

Diced tomatoes

Shredded cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese

Southwest or Chipotle Ranch dressing

Marinate the chicken in the Southwest marinade overnight or for at least 4 hours.  Then grill the chicken until cooked through.  (Don't forget to line the grill with aluminum foil to prevent the chicken from falling through the grill.)  While the chicken is grilling, cook the tortillas according to package directions.  To assemble, place a few chicken strips in the center of each tortilla.  Top with lettuce, cheese, diced tomatoes, bacon and salad dressing.  Serve with beans or Mexican rice.

Source: A Mommy's original recipe

Mongolian Beef



Too bad that's a terrible picture of a great meal.  This is another one of my family's favorite meals.  The sauce is rich and thick and the meat is tender and flavorful.  This is supposed to be a knock off of PF Chang's Mongolian Beef.  Once again, I've never had PF Chang's version, but I can tell you that this is worth making.

Originally, this recipe called for sliced flank steak.  Have you seen the price of flank steak?  No way could that fit in my budget!  And I'm all about good food on a tight budget!  So I perused the grocery store ads and found a nice beef roast on sale for $1.78 a pound.  I had the butcher slice it thin and I was ready to go.

This dish comes together really fast.  Cooking the meat takes the longest, but that can be done ahead of time to get dinner on the table even faster.  Just be sure not to crowd the meat in the skillet.  You want it to get nice and browned, so cook it in batches.

Mongolian Beef

Serves 6

4 tsp. vegetable oil
2 tsp. ginger, minced
2 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 c. low sodium soy sauce
1 c. water
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 c. vegetable oil
2 lbs. thinly sliced beef roast
½ c. cornstarch
3 large green onions

Make the sauce by heating 4 tsp. vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to medium and boil the sauce 2-3 minutes or until sauce thickens a little bit. Remove sauce from heat.

Dip the meat pieces into cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit about 10 min. so the cornstarch sticks. As the beef sits, heat up 1 c. oil in a wok (or skillet). Heat the oil over medium heat until its hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just 2 minutes, or until beef just begins to darken on the edges. Stir the meat around a little bit so that it cooks evenly.

After a few minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour most of the oil out of the skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the sauce, cook for 1 minute while stirring and add green onions. Cook for 1 more minute. Now at this point you can either remove the beef with a slotted spoon or tongs and discard the sauce (this is what P.F. Chang's does) OR thicken the sauce with a cornstarch-water mixture to desired thickness and serve it over rice with the beef.  (The sauce is so good, its a shame to pour it off!)

Source:  Adapted from Favorite Family Recipes

Olive Garden Roasted Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Last week I promised a recipe that used the gnocchi you made last week.  If you haven't made it yet, you really should.  Its yummy!  This is a knock off of an Olive Garden soup.  Once again, I've never had this one before, so I don't know how close it is to the real deal, but it really doesn't matter when you're dealing with something this good.  This soup is so rich and creamy.  Its chock full of chicken and veggies and of course those lovely little gnocchi.  If you don't want to use the gnocchi, you could always substitute some form of pasta, but you'll be missing out on the great texture the gnocchi adds.  This soup has the potential to be so creamy you could eat it with a fork, or to be more on the soup side.  It just depends on how much broth you add.  Next time I'll thin mine down a little more, but either way, its delicious!

Olive Garden Roasted Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Serves 6-8

1/3 cup butter
3 chicken bullion cubes
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/3 cup flour
1-2 cups chicken broth (Start with one and add more to reach the desired consistency)
1/2 carrot shredded
1 stick of celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup fresh chopped spinach (I used 1/3 pkg. frozen creamed spinach)
4 c. Half & Half (Non fat works too!)
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1 lb. roasted chicken
Cracked pepper to taste
Gnocchi

INSTRUCTIONS
In a large pot on medium heat, melt butter. Add the carrots and celery and saute until tender.  Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk in the flour to make a roux; cook and stir 1 minute.  Add 1 cup of chicken broth, stirring well. Add half and half, nutmeg, pepper and chicken bouillon. Stir well. Add the spinach and heat through.

Heat the soup, stirring occasionally until it thickens.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add more broth if a thinner consistency is desired.  Add the chicken and heat through.

Add your Gnocchi last; allow it to cook for 5 minutes to heat through.

Source:  Adapted from Frieda Loves Bread

Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica

I love Macaroni Grill.  Its one of my favorite restaurants.  But its quite a drive from my house, and like everyone else in America, our eating out budget has been drastically slashed.  Because of the size of our family and the costs involved, we only go out to a real restaurant (as opposed to going to Wendy's) once a year.  So instead of going out to restaurants, we bring the restaurants home.  We put on the fancy tablecloth, use the nice dishes and eat by candlelight.  It makes "restaurant night" really fun for the kids.  Its a great time for them to practice using good manners and sometimes they even get to be the servers, tips and all!

As for the menu on restaurant night, the Internet is full of knock off restaurant recipes.  No matter what they say, nothing I make at home tastes exactly like the restaurant version.  But a lot of them are really close.  And even if they aren't, they're still delicious.  This version of Penne Rustica was a huge hit with all my kiddos.  We served it with crusty garlic bread, a Caesar salad and chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica
Serves 10-12

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and cubed (I grilled mine)
6 slices bacon, cooked and broken into pieces
1 (16 oz.) box penne pasta
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. paprika
Additional chopped rosemary (for the topping)
Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Gratinata Sauce

1 Tbs. butter
2 large cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup Marsala wine (I used 2 Tbs. apple juice, 2 tsp. red wine vinegar and enough chicken broth to equal 1/3 cup)
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
Scant 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chopped rosemary
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 cups heavy cream

Saute the garlic in butter.  Add the Marsala wine, mustard, salt, rosemary, cayenne pepper and heavy cream.  Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Cook the bacon (I baked mine).  Combine the sauce, cooked pasta, diced chicken, cooked bacon, bell peppers, Parmesan cheese and paprika and mix well.  Spread into a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  Top with more chopped rosemary and shredded Mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 475° for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and it is heated through.

Source:  Adapted from Your Homebased Mom

Smashers

I think I'm sick. 

Not physically. 

In the head. 

Really.  There's something wrong with me.  I never used to be like this.

I dream about food.  Not necessarilly eating it, although there is some of that involved.  I dream about cooking. 

And yes, sometimes when I think about food I have to undo the top button on my pants, and soon my thighs may need their own zip code.  But thats okay.

Guess what else I do.

I DVR my soaps (the daytime shows on Food Network) so that I can watch them in the middle of the night when I can't sleep.  For some reason, my life revolves around making food.  I call all this my "Culinary Therapy".  Its much cheaper than a shrink and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside with out having to spill my guts. (Although judging by my waistline I could stand to do some of that too!)

Here is our latest addiction.  We love mashed potatoes, but Mr. Mommy won't eat them with gravy of any kind, so I have to find ways to make them taste good without it.  Thats where bacon comes in.  I could sing songs about bacon.  It must be what they eat in heaven since it will make anything on the planet taste better.  Add cheese and ranch dressing and you have a side dish that everyone will fight over.  I literally had to pull my 14 year old son's head out of the bowl.  He was licking it clean.  As I think about it, I may not be the only one in my family who is "sick". 

Smashers
Serves 6-8

10-12 small red potatoes (I like to leave the skins on)
5-6 slices of bacon
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg. dry ranch dressing mix
4 ounces softened cream cheese
4-5 chopped green onions
warm milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, boil the potatoes until tender.  Meanwhile, fry the bacon until crisp.  Drain on paper towels and crumble.  Drain the potatoes; add the cream cheese, ranch dressing mix and milk and smash by hand with a potato masher.  Fold in the bacon, cheddar cheese and onions until well mixed.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Source:  A Mommy's original inspired by Wallaby's restaurant