Experiment in the Kitchen - Pesto Parmesan Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Experiment for today is Pesto-Parmesan Stuffed Chicken Breasts. I blended some Pesto from Costco, a bit of Kraft Parmesan Cheese and some garlic salt in a bowl. I then took the chicken breasts (with skin and bones - I wanted skin but no bones, but have yet to find it) and defrosted them.

I was a bit miffed to find that what I thought were 4 chicken breast halves were actually 6 - a bit much for our family, even with my Mother staying with us - but decided to just go with it. I laid each chicken breast down on a cookie sheet and carefully pulled up on the skins until they separated from the meat below. I then stuffed the pesto-parmesan mixture into the pocket created. Turns out I had just exactly the right amount to do 6 breasts - yay! I also smeared some of the mixture on the bits of chicken where there was no skin.

After that was accomplished, I cut a sliver of butter for each breast, laying them gently on top of the skin. I stuck my awesome in-the-oven-but-outside-reading digital meat thermometer into the meatiest part of the biggest breast, popped them in the oven at 375F and that was that. They should be out of the oven in a little while (I'm guessing about 45 minutes or so). At that time I'll update to say how things turned out.

Update: Sorry for the delay in the update (see crazy life mentioned in previous blog for excuse)! The chicken turned out wonderfully moist and delicious. The skin was crispy, the pesto-parmesan became slightly crunchy and the flavor it added to the chicken was sublime. I will definitely be trying this again! This experiment was a Success!

Experiment in Sewing - Capes!

Last night, I finally bit the bullet. Yes, I finally got started on getting all the party things ready for my eldest's (and her cousin's) 6th birthday party. The theme? Superheroes. The goal? To have an awesome party (and possibly top last year's Princess theme). The Mom? Freaking crazy, apparently.

My tasks started simply enough. I was originally just suppose to make 15 capes, handle cake arrangements for our cake (I demanded that each child get their own cake - and their own candles! - due to hang-ups from my own childhood's shared birthdays) and invite 15 kids. Of course, I couldn't have it be that simple!

Let's start by saying that the birthday party happens to be two days before we are leaving for Ohio. Oh, and that my daughter has a dance recital the day before, the day of and the day after the party. So, amidst packing and organizing and arranging our lives so that they can be shipped most of the way across the country, I also have to make sure that my daughter makes her dress rehearsal and all 3 show days. And I need to make things for the party, get invites out and get all of us to the park on time. Did I say freaking crazy? Let's up that to "where are the nice men in their clean white coats?"

Experiments in the Kitchen and Life - Blogging / Raspberry Almond Truffles

So, today amidst the chaos of packing the house to move across the country, I have decided to start a blog. Yay, right? The idea came to me while I was in the beginning process of making truffles (the latest in what will probably eventually be a long line of "hey, I could do that!" experiments for me).

Now, normally I would just twitter about any random daily revelations. Yet as I was sitting at my dining room table, methodically filling in the molds with what will become the outer shells of my truffles while at the same time trying to figure out how to reduce my revelations to a 140-character tidbit, I realized the futility of the exercise.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love twitter and think that it has an excellent place (especially when the thoughts are truly random) but for something like this that 140-character limit was just too... limiting! So the idea for a blog was born. A place to record various experiments (either in the kitchen our outside of them as I go about other activities in my life) and whether or not they were successes. A place to note down observations - why I think something did or did not work - and perhaps (once I get some readers) get some feedback from others out there who have had similar experiments/experiences in their own life.

Experiment in the Kitchen - Chicken Adobo

Posts from the past!

On this day I attempted to make chicken adobo (a recipe from my husband's childhood - we have had it a couple times previously and once when his mother was visiting and made it for us). Normally, this is a dish cooked for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs in the oven at 350F. It is one whole chicken, cut up; a cup and a half of soy sauce; a half cup of water; and 3/4 cup of vinegar served over rice.

Now, I thought that this would be a recipe that would lend itself well to being in the crockpot - a recipe that needs to cook for a decent length of time, has a goodly amount of liquid and where the meat would taste good the more tender you managed to get it. Unfortunately, due to some quirk of physics, this was not to be the case. The chicken came out strangely dry and stringy after it's time spent in the food sauna and the flavor did not penetrate well. All in all, this experiment was a Failure.