Chicken Sausage and Apples with Rice Pilaf

I am always looking for new ways to get my daughter to eat protein. She's not much of a meat lover, but not enough of a vegetable lover to be a vegetarian.  Both of my kids love apples and if my daughter is going to eat meat, chicken or turkey are her first choice, so when we discovered a brand of chicken sausage in our local market called Sweet Apple with pure Vermont maple syrup, I thought it was a good chance to introduce something new. Neither of my kids cares for breakfast sausage or Italian sausage, so... I was taking a risk.  Luckily, and to my relief, they both liked it. So did my husband and I.

Another thing I am always looking for are meals to make ahead of time and freeze/reheat. That lead to the recipe below. I wasn't sure how the apples would take with being cooked, frozen and reheated, but they were fine. Probably because they aren't cooked very much to begin with.

If you've read other posts on my blog, you know my family has trouble agreeing on vegetables, so dishes like this, you'll almost never see any green veggies in.  We heat up individual ones on the side because we all like something different. But of course, you can add what you like to it, or you can do like we do if you have fussy eaters too.


Chicken Sausage and Apples with Rice Pilaf

1 package Chicken Sausage with Apples (4 links/12 oz)
1 package rice pilaf mix
2 tsp maple syrup
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped/diced carrot
1/2 small apple, diced
2 - 3 tbsp. crushed walnuts
1 tsp butter (for rice mix)

1. Cook rice pilaf according to box directions, adding carrots
2. Slice sausages in half lengthwise and then into pieces, cook over medium heat in skillet
3. When sausages are almost cooked, add apples, walnuts, syrup and brown sugar to skillet, mix. 
4. Cook til sausages are done and apples are nicely glazed.
5. When rice is done, stir in sausage and apple mixture. Serve hot

If you plan to freeze, wait until the food is completely cool before you place in a freezer bag or container and put in freezer.  To serve after freezing: Thaw and reheat in oven at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes, or reheat in a skillet on stovetop.

As with many of my recipes, this is an easy recipe to adapt to the tastes of your family. You could use long grain and wild rice or even quinoa or couscous if you prefer. You could add more apple, or a variety of apples. You could add pecans instead of walnuts. You could add broccoli, or green beans with almonds.  You could even add cheese to the top. There are lots of ways to make this your own.

Enjoy!

Kerry's Chicken With Pasta - Easy and a Good Way To Sneak in Some Green Veggies!

Now anyone who knows me will tell you, I am no fan of green vegetables. I do not like them, Sam I Am.  I will force myself to eat canned green beans, but after 40 plus years of doing it just to please my mother, it is still forced. I do not like them.  That is the only green veggie I will eat.  However.... I have found a way to "sneak" baby spinach into a few of my recipes. My kids didn't know at first, then they protested, but once they realized they'd been eating it and enjoying it, they really didn't have a leg to stand on.

Here's the thing with spinach, it's like a sponge. It will absorb the flavors of what you are cooking, so if you use it in a recipe with a lot of herbs/seasonings, it won't taste like 'spinach'.  The other thing I do is I pulverize it in my food processor until it's an unrecognizable green paste.  I add it to meatballs, meatloaf, and this, now favorite family recipe.  It's broken down so much, you don't even know you're eating it, which, in my book, is a good thing :)

Also, with the spinach so pulverized, there's no way to  "pick it out!"

With this recipe, I also add sun dried tomatoes in the food processor with the spinach. I like tomato sauce and ketchup, hate tomatoes. It's a texture thing. But again, pulverized to a paste.... you get a hint of the sharp tang of the sundried tomato, but never a big bite of it, or the texture of the tomato. So, another bonus for me and my fussy kids.

This is also a recipe that you can tailor to meet the tastes of your family. It is so easy, super quick, can be made ahead of time, frozen, varied depending on what's in your pantry and easily zap some "add on" items for people who want certain things that aren't like by everyone.

For instance, you could cook peas, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, etc., separately, and let only those who want those items to mix them in after they've dished out their portion.  That's how we have to do it here at Picky Eater Central.

One of the reasons this is so easy is you can make it with convenience items. I buy bags of frozen, pre-cooked chicken to use. I try to keep a bag on hand as it's great for a lot of things.  You could also use a rotisserie chicken from your market deli - an especially good buy on their $5 days that most markets have. You couldn't buy that amount of chicken for $5 and it's already cooked. All you have to do is strip the chicken, which is pretty easy. The other convenience item is Land O' Lakes Sauté Express - which is AWESOME! Unfortunately, only 1 market near me carries it. I've asked my regular market again and again and they won't carry it. Annoys the heck out of me, but as long as I can get it, I'm happy. This is a fabulous product and I highly recommend you try it.  If you can't find it, you can try making your own (see below *).  Or you can try using Italian salad dressing.

Oh - and I always make a huge batch so we can freeze the leftovers for another meal on another day.

So - here we go! 

Kerry's Chicken and Pasta

1 Box corkscrew pasta
1 cup shredded carrots (you can use diced or sliced if you prefer)
Land O' Lakes Sauté Express Italian Herb
2 bags frozen chicken strips or diced ( I usually buy Tyson Grilled Strips)
1 can chick peas (aka garbanzo beans)
Approx 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
5 - 6 sun dried tomatoes in oil (adjust as you feel to taste and depending on size of tomatoes)

1. Boil the pasta according to directions on box.
2. I add the shredded carrots to the boiling pasta because I like the carrots thoroughly cooked. If you want them crispy, you can leave them out of the pan and add them in at the end.
3. In an electric skillet on 300 or large pan on med, place 3 cubes of the LOL Sauté Express.
4. Add the 2 bags of chicken. Cut up and extra large pieces.
5. In food processor add spinach and sun dried tomatoes. Puree until a smooth paste. Add to the chicken.
6. Drain the chick peas and add to the chicken.
7. When the pasta and carrots are cooked, drain and return to pan. Place remaining 3 cubes of Sauté Express in with the pasta and mix until melted and thoroughly combined. Add to the chicken mixture and combine.
8. Cover and continue to cook until chicken is hot all the way through.

You can freeze this for future meals. Just thaw and reheat in a skillet or frying pan.

There are so many things you can add/change to this. Sometimes I add pine nuts or a can of corn (the only vegetable all 4 of us can agree on! lol). But you could add water chestnuts, any kind of vegetable, use a different meat, or perhaps fish/shellfish.  You could use a different flavor variety of Sauté Express (Garlic and Herb, Lemon Pepper, Teriyaki, Southwest).  You could put it in a casserole and cover it with cheese.

You can also put all the ingredients into a ziplock bag and freeze to put in crockpot (just cook the pasta first and I'd suggest a couple of frozen cubes of chicken stock).

We made this and are having it tonight and the 2nd helping is going to a friend who is recovering from surgery. (Hope you and Bill and the kids like it Carol! :) )

So! Get creative! Think outside the box, use what you have on hand and think of ways to make it easy.


* Make your own herbed butter:

1 stick  butter (1/2 cup), softened

4 Tbsp olive oil

Herbs and spices of your choosing (approx. 2 Tbsp)

 

Mix together and place into plastic wrap. Roll into a log and then wrap up and refrigerate. Cut off slices as needed.

Chantilly Mashed Potatoes

This is just a simple variation on your basic mashed potato that makes them special.  The name alone makes you feel like you are having a fancy dinner, doesn't it? But really, you are just adding cream and parmesan to your mashed potatoes. Now - I want to say - this is a GREAT dish for fussy eaters. I normally do not like cheese anywhere near my potatoes. No potato skins, no cheese fries, no cheddar in my baked potato. Nothing. But there isn't a lot of cheese here and it's very mild.  Even my very fussy children love it when I make these.

Yummy!

 

Now, I could go into how to make mashed potatoes, blah, blah, blah. But, I am going to assume you know how to make them. If you don't, you can use a box or buy the ready made in the supermarket.  One thing I will say, if you make them from scratch, use an electric hand mixer, not a hand masher. You want these to be as smooth as possible. No lumps.  Also - please salt your water when you cook your potatoes. You can't add that flavor in later on. I know some people are very salt conscious - but that salt brings out the flavor and no amount of table salt after the fact can make up for not having the salt in when you cook them. [climbs down off her soap box]


Ok.... so - you have your mashed potatoes already made - one way or another. Season them with butter, salt and pepper. (I used 24 oz of potatoes - about 3 cups)

Now we are going to turn them into Chantilly Mashed Potatoes!

Approx. 1 tbsp. softened butter
1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese - divided
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Grease the inside of a 9x13 baking dish (or large round casserole) with the softened butter. Be sure to get the bottom and all up the sides to the rim.  Put the breadcrumbs in the dish and shake/turn to cover the entire buttered surface. Dump out any extra crumbs. Set dish aside.

this is what your dish should look like



Whip the heavy cream in a metal bowl until soft peaks form.  Beat 1/3 of the whipped cream into the mashed potatoes along with 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese.  Fold in the remaining whipped cream gently.  Spread potato mixture into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over the top of the potatoes.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown.  If desired, you can finish them off under the broiler for a minute or two to get a darker, crispier top.

You can also add seasoning to the potatoes, such as rosemary (one of my favorites with potatoes!), garlic, onion, etc.  You could even sprinkle the top with crumbled bacon.  Because you are using parmesan as opposed to cheddar or any other, stronger cheese, you will only get a very mild flavor - but very nice.  Also, the cheese on top won't melt and get bubbly. Instead it makes a lovely crust. And you won't ever have creamy potatoes!

This dish comes together very quickly but looks like something very complicated when you bring it to the table.  When I made these at Thanksgiving my dinner guests were very impressed and could not stop talking about how much they loved the potatoes.

Hope you enjoy!