Pulled Barbeque Chicken and Coleslaw

Pulled chicken...interesting!  I have made pulled pork many times but never pulled chicken (unless you count the slow cooker chicken tacos from a few months ago!)  This recipe is from the same cookbook, so it caught my eye. 

The recipe turns out well, and it makes a lot!  We turned the chicken and coleslaw into a taco rather than having a sandwich (it is the one on the left...the one on the right is an oyster mushroom taco - hubby's new recipe).   There are a lot of ingredients to measure, so it could get pricy if you don't have a well stocked kitchen.   You use a slow cooker for this one, but it cooks for three hours on high, then you shred the chicken and return it for an additional hour.   For this reason, you can't make this one on a work day.  I do wonder if you could just use low and have that cook until you get home, then shred, then an hour isn't so bad to wait.  I do love how TENDER and moist the chicken breasts turn out, and I love the combo of the thighs and breasts for the meat.  As far as the bbq sauce, the measuring of all the ingredients is worth it as it is a VERY good recipe that I could see myself also using for pork.  The house smelled DIVINE for the three hours I had to wait to shred the chicken.

Now...what to do with the leftovers?  I think I will make a bbq chicken pizza tonight and then freeze the leftovers.  Will I make this again?  Maybe.  I might give it a go next time I make pulled pork.   I liked the slow cooker chicken taco recipe a bit better as it was less sweet and the slow cooker was easier to clean afterwards.  All in all....it was a nice dinner and I loved that I had leftovers for lunch the next day....and a few dinners, too!


http://www.gelsominas-cucina.com/2014/05/pulled-bbq-chicken-coleslaw.html#.VlJEuqRdHcs

Tacos!

Pulled BBQ Chicken

Spanakopita Loaded Potatoes and Spinach Feta Bread

My husband likes to make the Spinach Feta Bread pictured below.  I must admit that I have never made it as it is his speciality.  We don't buy the frozen dough...we make our own.  A little hint is to find a bread dough recipe that uses milk and not water as it turns out even better!  I thought I would include it in this blog as the filling is very similar to that of the spanakopita loaded potatoes.  If you have extra filling from the bread, use it up in a twice baked potato or two!

Our school library subscribes to the Eating Well magazine, and I have to admit I quite like it.  This is a recipe that I found and wanted to try.  I do a very basic twice baked potato with my grade 8 classes that just has cheddar, sour cream, milk and green onions in it.  After seeing this recipe, I thought I would demo both so that they could see a variation.  I had some leftover supplies from my demo for the lab, and I had a few students ask to make the spanakopita ones.  Those who tried both could not decide which one was better.  I like the texture and flavours of the spanakopita one, and of course I like that there is the added nutrition of the spinach!  It is great to make a bunch of these and have them around for a quick breakfast, lunch, snack or side dish.  I can see myself making these again in the future.  I don't think I would change much with the recipe.  I thought I might try to swap sour cream for the cream cheese or add in some chopped artichokes, but that is as far as I would go.  I LOVE the spinach/feta combo!   All in all, another great find!



http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/spanakopita_loaded_potatoes.html

Spanakopita Loaded Potato

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/spinach-feta-bread

Spinach Feta Bread rising

The finished loaf!

A slice of bread to accompany dinner...

Tamale Pie

Comfort food at its best!  I have been craving homemade chili with cornbread, and I have been toying with the idea of making a Shepherd's Pie lately.  So, I was very thrilled when I stumbled across a recipe for Tamale Pie, which combined these ideas into one casserole.  Imagine a Chili/Tex Mex flavoured base with cornbread as the topping!  This recipe is also very easy to make vegetarian by adding in more beans and diced eggplant or zucchini.

 

The recipe I found started by sautéing a diced onion and green pepper followed by browning a pound of ground pork or beef (I used ground turkey).  The spices were chili powder, ground cumin, cayenne pepper and allspice in a 4:2:1:1 ratio.   Play with the flavour to make it your spice level.  Then, add in black beans, corn, sliced olives, and diced tomatoes allowing all this to simmer for 15-20 minutes.  This gives you time to clean up and make the cornbread topping.  These recipes are around everywhere....just add in some grated cheese and minced jalepenos.   The meat mixture goes in a dish, then the cornbread batter gets spread on top.  Bake in the oven at 375 F for about 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.  

 

A recipe I found that is similar and looks like one that might even be better can be found on the link below...I might try this one next time...A simple google search for "Tamale Pie" will give you enough ideas to even create your own recipe! 

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/tamale-pie.html

 

 

I can see myself making this for dinner once a month during the winter months.  It was simply delicious!   I loved the different textures and flavours from the sweet corn to spicy jalepenos...from tender veggies to coarser cornbread.    My brain is working around the idea on how to do this recipe with my Foods 9 classes in the new year as we are limited by time.  I am thinking that we can do it if we make the meat layer one class, refrigerate that, and make the topping and bake the casserole next time we meet a couple days later.  I just think I might have to ask the students to bring containers as I am not convinced there will be time to eat it as well as clean-up, but they have surprised me before!  Whatever the case, this meal will become part of our meal idea rotation at home not only this winter, but in many winters to come!

 

 

A piece of Tamale Pie!

The finished product

Chocolate Banana Marble Cake

 

This recipe is a keeper!  I made it with my Foods 9 classes.  You could easily double it into a bigger pan and not have to deal with half an egg and half a banana - recipe is following the photos.  It was really fun for the students as the cakes all turn out differently due to the swirling....they said it was edible art class!  The cake turns out VERY moist.  The flavor is great - banana and chocolate!  Some said that they would add in chocolate chips or peanut butter chips at home.  For me, I can see myself making this at home as a treat, and it will DEFINITELY be a keeper in my Foods 9 program.   I will just have to watch a few groups....we had a couple Chocolate Banana Cakes....no marbling as the students added the cocoa to the dry ingredients and not the 1/3 batter at the end...oops!  It is all part of the learning

 

 

 

Chocolate Banana Marble Cake

Top View

 

Chocolate Banana Marble Cake

 

60 mL butter or margarine, softened

125 mL sugar

½ egg

2.5 mL vanilla

175 mL (about 1 ½) banana, mashed

 

175 mL flour

2.5 mL baking powder

2.5 mL baking soda

1.25 mL salt

 

30 mL cocoa powder, sifted

 

 

1.     Preheat oven to 350 F.   Grease an 8" x 8" pan.

 

2.     In large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla.  Beat well.  Add mashed banana.  Beat well.

 

3.     In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.

 

4.     Add flour mixture to creamed mixture.  Mix well.

 

5.     Spread 2/3 of the light coloured batter into the prepared pan.

 

6.     Sift cocoa into the remaining 1/3 batter.  Stir well.

 

7.     Drop chocolate batter on top of the light batter with a teaspoon.

 

8.     Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.

9.      Bake for about 20 minutes or until it passes the touch/bounce back test.

10.                         Cool before cutting into squares.

Baked Chicken Fingers

 

I am in the process of developing a recipe for my Grade 8 Foods classes as I would like to teach them how to make homemade chicken fingers baked in the oven.  So far....what has worked well is to coat the chicken in flour then egg then a mixture of panko crumbs and spices.  I used garlic powder, salt, pepper and am going to add in chili powder next time.  I am going to allow my students to choose between bread crumbs or panko crumbs.

 

So far...I have:

 

 

1 chicken breast, cut into equal sized pieces

 

30 mL flour

 

1/2 egg

 

125 mL bread crumbs OR panko crumbs

 

2.5 mL garlic

 

1/2 mL each of salt, pepper, and chili powder

 

I am going to get them to bake them at 400 F turning after about ten minutes of baking.  Total time will be about 20 minutes.

 

I didn't take a photo of the finished product, but they turned out really well - nice and golden brown.  I think I will add a bit of oil to the parchment paper so they are not too dry for the students.  I can't wait to see what they think....we will make a homemade honey mustard and cut up some veggies on the side as well - yum!

 

For home, I will make extra next time and pop them in the freezer after they are cooked to make for an easy, healthy meal or snack solution when I am rushed! 

 

PS  This 3 way dipping works well for pork and fish too - fyi!  Fish sticks...schnitzel...etc.

 

 



 

 

 

The Set Up

Finished Product prior to Baking