Ham and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes!!!

               So in this post I started playing around with my lighting and used two different cameras to try and make the pictures look better for you guys. I am by no means a photographer and I'm still messing around with everything. Trial and error I suppose. So bare with me until I figure out how to make everything look great for you guys. Suggestions are also welcome. :-)

              Alright so I almost made a pasta dish and was looking back on my posts and realized most of them are pasta. Oops! So I decided to make a dish my Nana introduced to me. Now she has probably sent me the recipe to it countless times and I always forget to save it so I "wing" it 90% of the time. 

Good thing I'm not afraid of straying from original recipes. Plus straying helps you become more creative and thats how you come up with your own recipes. Anyway I can't quite call this one my own because I'm pretty sure it's very close to the original. I'm going to jump right in and will post the shopping list at the end of the post. Happy Cooking!!! 

So you are going to start out with as many chicken breasts as your family needs. This is a good recipe to make if you only have to cook for one or if you have six. I used three large chicken breasts for two of us so we could split the third one for lunch the next day. 

You want a larger chicken breast because you are going to butterfly them open. 

Place your hand on top of the breast to hold it still and slowly run your knife toward you. (well that doesn't sound very safe does it?) I just find this method easy for me. Try it any way you would like. Just don't saw through the chicken. Use single strokes then open the chicken up and make sure your cut is going where you want it to. In one of the pictures you will see I had to re-direct my cut. 

Now I'm almost positive the original recipe calls for procuttio but I let my husband decide what he's in the mood for. Usually he picks out procuttio but this time he decided on some thick cut ham. It was very good too!!! So be creative. I've even used Canadian bacon.

Also the recipe calls for mozzarella and most of the time I buy the fresh ball but for a more budget friendly trip to the grocery store I bought mozzarella slices. Still delicious!!!! 

Now place your desired amount of meat, cheese and spinach onto one side of the chicken breast. Sometimes I don't use spinach, sometimes I do it just depends on my mood. Close your chicken breast like a book and season with salt and pepper. I have never used a toothpick to secure the chicken shut because once you start to brown it the chicken will stiffen up.  I pull all of the meats and cheeses out of the packaging before I touch the chicken so I don't have to reach into the bag with raw chicken on my hands. Just make yourself a little assembly line before you start. 

Add some extra virgin olive oil into your pan on medium to medium high heat. This is a good time to preheat your oven to 350 degrees as well.

Now lightly flour the outside of your chicken and brown it on both sides. Your not trying to cook the chicken all the way through in the pan. We will finish cooking it in the oven. While your browning your chicken chop up your potatoes and start them on the stove. 

Now place them in an oven safe pan and cook them all the way through. It will depend on the size of your chicken, mine took about 16 minutes. 

While your chicken is cooking and potatoes are boiling you can make your gravy. In the same pan you cooked your chicken in your are going to make a roux. A roux is a thickening agent. Melt a few pats of butter in the pan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted add a few spoonfuls of flour and whisk together. Let that cook out for about a minute then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of chicken stock and whisk until combined and thickened up. It can take a minute or two to thicken. Now that it's thickened add a couple splashes of cream and whisk to combine. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper. The gravy is very easy to over season so add your salt carefully. 

When your potatoes are soft drain them and return to the pot. Add a few pats of butter, salt and pepper and cream and mash up. I used a handheld potato masher but an electric one works just fine!!

( I always use red potatoes since we prefer them over russet. And you don't have to peel them because their skin is so thin!) 

Once your chicken is done pull it out of the oven and let it rest. You can probably have them resting while you mash your potatoes up. 

Right before I was about to serve I melted some shredded mozzarella into the sauce. (I decided to do this last minute.)

Now plate up and spoon gravy onto potatoes and chicken. I also steamed some sugar snap peas to serve with it with just a little pinch of sea salt. :-)

                                                               Shopping List:

For the stuffed chicken:

One chicken breast per person (medium to large)

Procuttio or ham

Mozzarella

Spinach

Flour for dredging

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

For the gravy:

A few pats of butter

A few spoonfuls of flour

1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken stock

A couple large dashes of cream (preferably heavy whipping cream but half and half works good as well)

Salt and pepper

Shredded mozzarella for melting in at the end (optional)

For the potatoes: 

Potatoes

A few large pats of butter

Cream

Salt and pepper

I don't have an exact measurement for everything because it all depends on how many people you are feeding. I was feeding two but cooked enough for three. With this recipe it's very easy to convert everything to your needs. In my recipe I made enough gravy for four servings since we love gravy!! :-)

I hope you guys enjoy!!!!!!! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Beef Enchiladas!!!

Ok so for my first recipe post I wanted to share something pretty easy. (As you can tell I only know how to add photos to the bottom of the post and not throughout. I'll figure it out eventually.) I came up with this recipe a while back and have been tweaking it ever since. I think I finally got it down to the way WE love it. You guys can make it your own. It really is pretty versatile. You might not even make this recipe. It could inspire you to make something completely your own!
I'm going to show you how I make Beef Enchiladas. My brother and sisters are pretty picky eaters and they all four loved this. It's simple and super tasty.

I start out with a pound to a pound and a quarter of ground beef. Use whatever you like. If you have one that has a higher percentage of fat just make sure you drain it. Don't add oil to the pan because we want to make sure and brown the beef not boil it. You can add a little oil if you are using ground turkey. Get your pan hot and add the beef. Let the bottom get a little bit of a brown crust on the bottom before you mess with it. I use a potato masher to "grind it up" after the bottom has browned a bit. (I learned that from Rachael Ray and it works wonders!)

Get all of the beef nice and brown then add about a half an onion, more of less if you prefer. I used a red onion. Then cook that out a little and then add a few cloves of garlic. Like I said add the amount that would suit your taste. Cook all that out until the onions have softened.

This is the part where you can change things around if you want. I had taco seasoning on hand so that's what I used. I usually do. I added about a pack and a half of taco seasoning to this. You can definitely mix up your own seasonings if you'd like. ( chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, etc.)
You can even add fajita seasoning.
Add the water and simmer. After simmering for a bit I slice up a jalapeño and add it to the beef mixture to cook out a little.

While I was doing all of this I cooked up about 1/2 cup of white rice. After the jalapeños have softened add the rice and stir together well.

Now it's time to assemble. Put a little enchilada sauce in the bottom of your baking dish so it just covers the bottom. Add a scoop or two of beef mixture to your tortilla. ( I bought the super soft ones) Roll it up and set it in baking dish fold side down. This always makes me a 9x13 pan. After your pan is stuffed full of your enchiladas pour the rest of your enchilada sauce (I use about 2 cans of sauce for the whole recipe. I like it spicy so I buy the hot ones.) over them so they are all covered. You don't want your tortillas to burn. Then top it all with LOTS of cheese. I was running a little low on cheese so mine looks a little skimpy.

Bake this on 350 degrees until your cheese melts and starts to brown.

Top with any fixings you'd like.
More cheese! Avocado, sour cream, lettuce etc. The list could go on and on.

I usually serve this with refried beans. I always thin my beans out with a little water or beef/chicken stock. Sometimes I add hot sauce or chipotle and adobo too.

Side note: Don't be afraid of a recipe that calls for chipotle and adobo. It's in almost every grocery store I've been in. It's either by the pickled jalapeños or in the Mexican food isle.
Plus it's super yummy!!!!

Usually I add cilantro to this dish. I was out this time. I am a cilantro addict!

I hope you guys enjoy. Like I said I'm super new to blogging. Hopefully I'll learn as I go. I just want to share my ideas more than anything.
(Btw if you know how to add pics throughout the blog and not just at the end let me know! :) )