Name: Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 4 sandwiches
Ingredients: 2 chicken breasts; 1 cup buttermilk; 1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon salt, divided; 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil; 1/2 cup flour; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 4 thin slices deli ham; 4 slices Swiss or Havarti cheese (I used the kind that is cut for sandwiches); 4 bakery buns (I used torta rolls from Costco); 1/2 cup honey mustard dipping sauce

Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich

May 27, 2016

This chicken cordon bleu sandwich is easy and delicious, with crispy chicken topped with ham, Swiss cheese, and honey mustard sauce on a bakery bun!

When I was in college I was in a sorority (go Chi-O). I was pretty much the worst sorority member ever. I was an introvert back then too and was much more into the idea of hanging out with my (non-sorority member) roommates or Philip than attempting to make awkward small talk with the other 120 girls in my sorority. I became friends with lots of amazing girls, but essentially my only contribution to the sorority was my 3.8 GPA.

My two favorite things about my sorority (besides the four or five girls that I actually hung out with, the fact that the sorority’s colors actually happened to be my real-life favorite colors, and the fact that it gave me an outlet for my creative energy-I can still make an amazing omega and draw a huge variety of cutesy owls) were the creme de menthe parfaits we served to the recruits (we called them rushees back then) on the last night of recruitment (ahem, rush) and the stuffed chicken that was served every couple of months at Monday night dinner before our weekly meetings.

The chicken came in two varieties: broccoli and cheese and chicken cordon bleu. I had never had chicken cordon bleu at the time, but it seemed so exotic and SO delicious (news flash: it was frozen breaded chicken from Sam’s. And I thought it was the height of cuisine. I was a very different person back then.). I decided that I was going to make it myself, so I flipped through the pages of my one cookbook, which was, of course, the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, which has pretty much every recipe ever written. Lo and behold, there it was: a recipe for chicken cordon bleu.

It was a disaster. Pure and simple. I was a very green cook at the time, and I ended up with a very overcooked mess with melted cheese running out the sides and I am sure some burnt oil. To his credit, Philip ate it like it was the best thing anyone had ever cooked for him (it helped that he pretty much subsisted on a diet of cereal, spaghetti, and fast food before we started dating, so I didn’t have to work too hard to impress him). I decided that night that I would never make chicken cordon bleu again. It was a nightmare of a recipe.

The problem is that chicken cordon bleu is delicious. I mean, crispy breaded chicken with Swiss cheese and ham? What’s not to love about that? But rolling cheese and ham up into a chicken breast and hoping that you can produce a dish that is simultaneously cooked through and not overcooked is asking a bit much. I decided that was nothing that a chicken cordon bleu sandwich couldn’t fix.

The first rendition of this sandwich did not go well. I attempted to make an oven-fried chicken cordon bleu sandwich, cutting the chicken breasts in half crosswise and pounding them out to make them thinner. They were still way too thick and they didn’t brown very well. I also used country ham, which is super-fabulously tasty but doesn’t exactly tear off the sandwich easily. We ate them but we were pretty “meh” about it. Second go-round, I decided to cut the chicken breasts into cutlets, shallow-fry them, and use deli-sliced ham. Those were all good decisions. This time around my chicken cordon bleu sandwich turned out just the way I wanted it.

If you have the chicken cordon bleu blues, try making my chicken cordon bleu sandwich!

This post contains an affiliate link. This means that if you click through the link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Mary

Yield: 4 sandwiches

Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich

15 minPrep Time:

20 minCook Time:

35 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 thin slices deli ham
4 slices Swiss or Havarti cheese (I used the kind that is cut for sandwiches)
4 bakery buns (I used torta rolls from Costco)
1/2 cup honey mustard dipping sauce

Instructions

Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise to form 4 thin cutlets. Pour the buttermilk into a shallow container and whisk in 2 teaspoons of the salt. Place the chicken into the buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 12 hours.
Preheat the oil in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Place the flour in a wide, shallow dish and whisk in the remaining salt and the pepper.
Remove each piece of chicken from the buttermilk and allow the excess liquid to drain away. Dip the chicken into the flour to coat, shake off the excess, dip back into the buttermilk, and repeat.
Fry the chicken in the hot oil for 3-4 minutes per side, until golden brown. You will need to do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.
Move a rack to the top position of your oven and preheat the broiler. Place the chicken on a broiler-safe pan. Top with one slice of ham (I folded them to make them fit) and one slice of cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted.
Cut each bakery bun in half and spread the bottom half with one tablespoon of honey mustard. Place a chicken breast onto each bottom then drizzle each with a tablespoon of honey mustard. Top with the remaining bun halves and serve immediately.

Notes

Prep time does not include time to soak the chicken in buttermilk. If you are in a huge hurry you can skip the soaking step, but it will slightly affect the flavor and texture of the chicken.

https://chattavore.com/chicken-cordon-bleu-sandwich/

This chicken cordon bleu sandwich is easy and delicious, with crispy chicken topped with ham, Swiss cheese, and honey mustard sauce on a bakery bun! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Black Bean Sliders with Cilantro-Lime Cream

May 20, 2016

Sure, black bean sliders don’t taste anything like beef sliders, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t delicious! They’re also easy and healthy.

I went through a phase-a pretty lengthy one-where I only ate meat a few times a week. I thought of myself as a “flexitarian” (someone who is mostly vegetarian but eats meat from time to time), though I didn’t really tell other people that. Because flexitarian seems a little less, I don’t know, credible than a vegetarian. Almost like it isn’t really a “thing”.

My reasons for eating this way were two-fold. Number one, my LDL cholesterol (that’s the bad kind) tended toward the slightly high end and I wondered if eating less meat might make my numbers drop (it did). Number two, I spent a lot of time watching food documentaries where I learned about the horrors of the commercial meat industry and eating mostly vegetarian was much cheaper than eating pastured meat all the time. That stuff is good but it isn’t cheap. Paying to eat with your conscience is a worthy cause but if you can’t afford it, well, you can’t afford it.
This totally sounds like I’m headed down a downer hole. I’m really not trying to. The thing is, I’ve realized that lately I’ve been eating more meat again. I don’t even know how it crept back up on me. And guess what? My cholesterol is back up (if anyone feels the need to point out the amount of dairy and eggs that I consume, don’t bother. I never stopped eating that stuff.). Oh, and another thing? I’m spending more money on groceries again. Even conventional meats are expensive.

What am I getting at? No, I’m not going vegetarian. I am, however, trying to be a little more conscious about how many times I eat meat every week. There are so many other great sources of protein that are less expensive. This is what works for me, so I’m going to see if I can get those numbers back down again.
That, my friends, is where black bean sliders come in. Anyone who has read my blog for a while knows that I have a problem with fake meat. Anything posing as a burger that anyone tries to say actually tastes like a burger…probably doesn’t taste like a burger. I remember someone telling me once in a grocery store freezer section that Boca Burgers tasted just like regular burgers. They don’t. Learn from my mistake.

Black bean burgers have never had that problem, though. No one ever claimed that black bean burgers actually tasted like beef burgers. That’s just why I like them. What do they taste like? Black beans. But I love black beans, so I’m totally fine with that. I love them in slider form…since they’re smaller, they cook up more quickly and get a nice crust on the outside. Paired with an easy cilantro-lime crema and topped with mozzarella cheese and avocado, they’re positively marvelous. Black bean sliders are perfect for lunch, dinner, or even as an appetizer for a party. And they’re super-quick and easy, too!

Try my black bean sliders with cilantro-lime cream for a quick, delicious dinner or appetizer!

Mary

Yield: 8 sliders

Black Bean Sliders with Cilantro-Lime Crema

The recipe for the black bean patties was adapted from My Recipes .

15 minPrep Time:

15 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

For the burgers

2 ounces bread, torn into pieces (2-3 slices bread or 1 hamburger bun)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 (15.25-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
4 slices mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
1 avocado, thinly sliced
8 slider rolls or dinner rolls

For the cilantro-lime cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup cilantro, lightly packed
salt, to taste

Instructions

Make the cilantro-lime cream: combine the mayonnaise, lime juice and zest, and cilantro in a food processor until smooth. Salt to taste and briefly reprocess. Cover and refrigerate.
Wash the food processor. Pulse the bread until coarse crumbs form. Add one tablespoon of olive oil, the garlic, and the black beans and process until a paste begins to form. Add the spices, the egg, and the egg white and process until well-combined.
Preheat the remaining olive oil in a 10-inch skillet (I used cast iron) set over medium-high heat. Form the black bean mixture into eight patties. Cook (in batches if necessary, but I cooked all of mine at once) in the oil until a crust forms, about 3 minutes per side.
Top each slider with half of a slice of mozzarella. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for another minute to melt the cheese. Serve immediately on the slider rolls topped with avocado and cilantro-lime cream.

https://chattavore.com/black-bean-sliders/

Sure, black bean sliders don't taste anything like beef sliders, but that doesn't mean that they aren't delicious! They're also easy and healthy. | recipe from Chattavore.com

BBQ Bowl with Pulled Pork and Potatoes

May 13, 2016

This BBQ bowl with pulled pork, potatoes, coleslaw, and cheese is a one-bowl meal that is great for using up your leftovers!

By now, you guys know my obsession with repurposing leftovers. I’ll gladly eat the same thing for an entire week if I can turn it into some new delicious dish every single night. Variety is key. I guess some people just don’t like the taste of leftovers, but in my opinion there are some many things that taste better a day or two after you cook them. It seems like a waste (well, it doesn’t seem like a waste, it is a waste) to let perfectly good leftovers sit in your fridge till they go bad, or to just trash them with no intention of eating them later. Leftovers save me so much money.

BBQ is kind of the ultimate leftover player. Well, really shredded meat of any kind, barbecue sauce aside. What CAN’T you do with shredded meat? When I have barbecue or any kind of shreddable meat in my house, it’s open season. Tacos! Soups! Sandwiches! Stuffed potatoes! Pizza! All bets are off. Whether it’s pork, beef, or chicken, if I’ve got shreddable meat in my house, it’s gonna get used. All of it.

Putting it in a BBQ bowl wasn’t really my idea, I’ll admit. I first saw it on the Facebook page of a friend who ordered something along those lines at a restaurant and shared a picture of it. I have no idea what was in that BBQ bowl, but I wrote it down and every time I have shredded meat in the house, I think about it. I even made it once, but I think I lost the will to take photos of it. That’s okay, because the BBQ bowl is back and better than ever. This version has breakfast potatoes, shredded pork (mine was leftover from my pressure cooker pork shoulder, but you can use whatever you’ve got), barbecue sauce, coleslaw, cheese, and chopped pickles. Pretty fantastic, if you ask me. Facebook is good for something!

Next time you have leftover meat to shred, make a BBQ bowl!

Mary

Yield: 4 servings

BBQ Bowl with Pulled Pork and Potatoes

15 minPrep Time:

20 minCook Time:

35 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons bacon drippings, canola oil, or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 small potatoes, baked and cut into cubes
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup shredded pork (or other meat) (you can use more meat if you want a more substantial dish)
1/2 cup barbecue sauce plus more for drizzling
1 cup coleslaw
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/4 cup chopped dill pickles

Instructions

In a medium pan (I use a 10-inch cast iron pan), heat the bacon drippings or oil. Sauce the onions until they begin to soften. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring every few minutes, until browned and crispy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide among 4 bowls.
Heat the shredded pork with the barbecue sauce. Divide among the bowls, topping the potatoes. Top with coleslaw, shredded cheese, chopped pickles, and, if desired, a drizzle of barbecue sauce. Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/bbq-bowl-pulled-pork-potatoes/

For other great recipes, check out the Weekend Potluck Link-Up on Served Up With Love!

This BBQ bowl with pulled pork, potatoes, coleslaw, and cheese is a one-bowl meal that is great for using up your leftovers! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Pressure Cooker Pork Shoulder & Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

May 9, 2016

Pressure cooker pork shoulder with Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce gives you the same fall-apart tender result as the slow cooker in a fraction of the time!

I’ve written about my grandmother on here quite a few times. Honestly, no one – not even my mom – had more culinary influence on me than her. One of my most prized possessions is her set of recipe books, filled with magazine clippings and recipe cards. Granddaughter gold, that is.

One of my most vivid memories from my grandmother’s kitchen is her pressure cooker. It was totally old-school, with a little round thing that sat on top of the pressure valve. I remember it hissing and shimmying around and having no idea what was going on in that pot. All I remember was the goodness that came out of it. As much as I love my beef stew, I will never replicate the amazing beef stew that she cooked up in that pressure cooker. It was a fixture in her kitchen. I don’t remember her ever using a slow cooker – I don’t even think she owned a slow cooker – but I sure do remember that pressure cooker!

I have owned a pressure cooker for a long time, but I’ve only used my traditional pressure cooker a handful of times. First off, it’s too big (I really had no idea what I was doing when I bought it). Second of all…it always just sort of freaked me out. You know, all that hot food under pressure. It’s a little scary. When I got my Instant Pot (<–affiliate link) at Christmas, I vowed to get over my fear of the pressure cooker. For some reason, an electric pressure cooker seemed a little less scary. I think I have conquered my fears.

I don’t think that I trusted that pressure cooker pork shoulder would be as perfectly tender as slow cooker pork shoulder. Silly me. I based this recipe on one that I found in the book Pressure Cooker Perfection from America’s Test Kitchen. I coated the pork shoulder with a sweet and slightly spicy rub, set it in a mixture I whisked up of Dr. Pepper and ketchup, lidded up, and set the pressure. I then headed downstairs to work out while the magic happened in my Instant Pot. An hour and fifteen minutes later (that includes time to pressurize, cook time, and time to de-pressurize), I had a perfectly tender pork shoulder (okay, not perfectly tender – I realized after cooking it that I really should have cut it into four smaller pieces. But it was definitely cooked through, and the surface areas were perfectly tender, so if you cut it, it would definitely be completely tender). While I was resting and shredding the pork, I simmered the sauce to thicken it.

Pressure cooker pork shoulder eliminates the need to think about what you’re going to put in your slow cooker in the morning. I’m definitely not abandoning my love for my slow cooker, but sometimes at 7:15 in the morning I don’t want to think about dinner. Plus, there are some things that you can do in a pressure cooker that aren’t quite as easy in the slow cooker…I’ll share some of those with you coming up. However, if you wanted to make this in the slow cooker, you totally can – just put it in the slow cooker, cook on low for 8-10 hours, then simmer the sauce on the stove while you shred the meat.

Pressure cooker pork shoulder with Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce will make you fall in love with pressure cooking!

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

For other great recipes, check out the Meal-Plan Monday Link-Up on Southern Plate!

Mary

Yield: 10-12 servings

Pressure Cooker Pork Shoulder & Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

This recipe is adapted from the book Pressure Cooker Perfection from America's Test Kitchen.

20 minPrep Time:

1 hr, 25 Cook Time:

1 hr, 45 Total Time:

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Ingredients

For the rub

3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the pork shoulder

3-4 pound pork shoulder, cut into 4 pieces and trimmed of visible fat.
1/2 cup Dr. Pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
salt and pepper, to taste
hamburger buns, for serving (optional)
coleslaw, for serving (optional)

Instructions

In a small bowl, stir together the rub ingredients. Coat the pieces of the pork shoulder with the rub.
In your pressure cooker, whisk together the Dr. Pepper and ketchup. Set the pork shoulder into the pressure cooker. Cover and cook over high pressure for 45 minutes according to the manufacturer's directions for your pressure cooker.
Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes (if you are using an electric pressure cooker, turn it off or unplug it so that it won't switch to "warm", which could cause your pork to overcook. If the pressure cooker has not completely depressurized after 10 minutes, release the remaining pressure.
Remove the meat from the pressure cooker to a plate and tent with foil for 10 minutes. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat and cook until thickened (you can do this right in your pressure cooker, just don't put the lid on). Add the liquid smoke and salt and pepper to taste.
Shred the pork and return it to the sauce, tossing to coat. Serve on buns with coleslaw, if desired.

Notes

Cook time includes time to pressurize and depressurize the pressure cooker and make the sauce. Prep time includes time to shred the meat.

https://chattavore.com/pressure-cooker-pork-shoulder-dr-pepper-bbq-sauce/

Easy Breakfast Burritos with Fried Rice

May 6, 2016

Easy breakfast burritos with fried rice are a great, quick breakfast that allow you to use up your leftover Chinese takeout!

This month marks five years that we have not had cable television at our house. When Philip left his job in corporate America, we knew that we had to cut some corners, but for a while we were unwilling to part with the hundreds of channels that cable had to offer. We watch a lot of TV (I know, I know). After a lot of research, though, we realized how much money we could save every month if we bought a Roku and streamed our favorite shows and movies. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and YouTube bring us plenty of viewing pleasure. We’ve never looked back.

Okay, so that’s a lie. Most of the time I’m okay with not having cable…but every once in a while I start feeling a little wistful for Food Network and the Cooking Channel. I❤️America’s Test Kitchen, don’t get me wrong…but I’ve seen every episode currently being run on air or on Amazon at least twenty times through. And as obsessed as I am with YouTube cooking videos, I miss twenty-two minute episodes of well-edited food television. I can’t help it.
When my parents go out of town, we stay over at their house a lot to take care of my uncle Bobby, who has Down syndrome. I always look forward to the time in the afternoons when we’re waiting for him to get off the bus, because that’s the time that Food Network actually plays cooking shows (I am concerned that Food Network is going to soon be like MTv – all reality shows. UGGH. I want MY MTv – the authentic Mtv that was the background of my life in the eighties and nineties. And now I feel old.). Over spring break, we stayed there and watched an episode of Eat Street, a show about food trucks, on the Cooking Channel. And that, my friends, is where the idea for this easy breakfast burrito came from.

I wish I had written down the name of the food truck that was making these fried rice breakfast burritos. It seems so blatantly obvious when I saw it. I mean, when you go to Mojo Burrito or Chipotle or Salsarita’s or whatever your favorite burrito joint is, they put rice on your burrito. So why on earth wouldn’t you put rice on your breakfast burrito?
These easy breakfast burritos are a great way to use up your fried rice, whether you make it yourself or you have it leftover from your Chinese takeout. Combined with breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, cheese, and salsa, fried rice makes a pretty fantastic breakfast burrito. I threw some of my almost-famous Japanese white sauce in the mix too. It was not a bad idea.

These easy breakfast burritos with fried rice are almost too easy. But not quite.

Mary

Yield: 4 burritos

Easy Breakfast Burritos with Fried Rice

10 minPrep Time:

10 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 pound mild or hot breakfast sausage
4 8-inch flour tortillas
1 cup fried rice, heated (leftover takeout or homemade )
1 cup (4 ounces) grated Monterey jack or Cheddar cheese
salsa and Japanese white sauce , for serving (optional)

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, and milk until homogenous. Set aside.
Preheat a medium pan over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage until browned and completely cooked through, stirring constantly to crumble up. Remove from the pan and set aside. Turn off the heat and drain all but one tablespoon of the sausage drippings from the pan. Allow the pan to cool briefly.
Heat the pan again over medium-low heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring constantly, until softly scrambled. Remove from the heat.
Heat the flour tortillas using your preferred method (I heat mine briefly over my gas burners). Divide the sausage and eggs among the tortillas, making a strip down the center. Top each with 1/4 cup of fried rice and 1/4 cup cheese.
Fold one side of each tortilla over the long edge of the filling. Fold in the short sides, then continue rolling the tortilla toward the remaining long edge. Cut in half and serve immediately with salsa and white sauce, if desired.

https://chattavore.com/easy-breakfast-burritos-fried-rice/

Easy breakfast burritos with fried rice are a great, quick breakfast that allow you to use up your leftover Chinese takeout! | recipe from Chattavore.com

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