Catz in the Kitchen

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No Weekly Menu for the next few weeks

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Catz is taking a few weeks off from the weekly menu. It's that time of year when my husband's family from Africa are in town and we spend many nights over at my in-loves having dinner and soaking in time with beloved family. It is important that we make time for them not only because we love them and never get to see them, but also so that our children create lasting memories and bonds with these family members. I'm not sure for how long I'll be absent from posting the weekly menu...A few weeks I imagine.

Also, we're leaving town this weekend to travel to Washington for a family reunion of sorts. We'll be coming back into town, Tuesday evening. In all honesty, I think I'll be taking the week off from blogging. I don't think I'll have internet while we're in Washington and we will be so crazy busy with family during the remainder of the following week, I'm not even sure how much cooking I get done.  Like I always say, "that's okay." Family comes first and my blog comes second.

I will be sharing some recipes this week though. =) You have that to look forward too. :)

Have a wonderful week :)

Love,
Chels

Chicken Tamale Pie

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A few weeks ago, I told you that my Father in love had hernia surgery for the third and what we hope to be the final time.  You might remember my post on the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies I made for him. I mentioned I brought them a meal along with the cookies. I showed you the cookies. Now I'm showing you the meal.

My father in law has to stay away from certain foods, like a lot of beef or pork, and a lot of the other family members suffer from chronic migraines. So I had to make sure I made something that they could all eat. For their dinner, I cut back on the cheese and enchilada sauce, because cheese and tomato based sauces are migraine triggers. I doubled their batch and dropped everything off at their house while they were at the hospital.

Their dinner smelled so good that I put the chicken tamale pie and all of the ingredients back on my menu and grocery list for the following week. It was so good!

I made our tamale pie ahead of time to save on time for us in the evening and it heated up perfectly. There wasn't a bite leftover. We cleaned out the whole pie plate!

What I really enjoyed about this dinner was that there was virtually no work. I used a rotisserie chicken to save on time and made it all in the early afternoon, cooked it, and let it cool before putting it back in the fridge. We served ours with a salad and it was a complete meal.

 

Chicken Tamale Pie

Chicken Tamale Pie

Yield: 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Making homemade tamales is a lot of work. But this simplified version doesn’t take long to prepare, is packed with flavor, and makes you feel like your enjoying your favorite Mexican dish, but without all the hassle.

Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 ½ TB taco seasoning
  • ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 (15 oz) can cream style corn
  • 1 (8.5 ounce) boxed corn muffin mix-like Jiffy
  • 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
  • 1 (10 ounce) red enchilada sauce
  • 2 cups shredded/chopped cooked chicken breast
  • 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
  • 1-2 TB cilantro, chopped for topping

Instructions

    1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a round pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.
    2. Combine the first 7 ingredients (milk-chiles), using ½ tablespoon of the taco seasoning, in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into the prepared pie plate.
    3. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes. While the corn muffin mixture is baking, toss the chicken in a medium sized bowl with 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning.
    4. When the corn muffin mixture is done baking, pierce the entire surface with a fork. Pour enchilada sauce over the top. Top with chicken and sprinkle with cheese. Continue baking at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
    5. Let cool for 5 minutes and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 199Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 418mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 17g

Nutrition information isn't always accurate.

© Catz in the Kitchen
Cuisine: Mexican Food / Category: Chicken Entrees

{Copycat} Panera Bread BBQ Chicken Salad

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Craving some fresh, crispy Panera Bread BBQ Chicken Salad goodness without leaving your four walls? This recipe delivers - Voila! 
 Craving some fresh, crispy Panera Bread BBQ Chicken Salad goodness without leaving your four walls? This recipe delivers - Voila! 
 

We've updated the pictures and some of the info for this post a couple of times over the years since it was first published in 2014. Since we still love it, and since Panera appears to have taken it off the menu again (horror!), it seemed appropriate to remake and reshoot it again. Yep, still as yummy and easy as ever!

Chels and I don't get away for lunch dates very often (I'm usually working, babies are napping, etc), but last week we had that opportunity. I had taken a couple of hours away from the office to visit a showing of school curriculum we intended to purchase for Grace and Eden's upcoming school year, and Chels's parents had offered to come by and watch the kids so she could join me. After the showing, we decided to grab a quick lunch together at the Panera Bread across the street. We're both big fans of Panera Bread, though we haven't actually eaten in their cafes that often. Normally, I get Panera at office meetings, and Chels enjoys it occasionally when she gets her hair done down in the Hollywood District (they have [update: had] a "Panera Cares" cafe down there - that is an incredible community service, if you've never been to one). Needless to say, if you don't have one nearby...well, that's very sad for you. Panera Bread has a well-earned reputation for fresh, creative breads and pastries in their bakeries, as well as simple, flavorful salads, soups, and sandwiches in their cafes.

Craving some fresh, crispy Panera Bread BBQ Chicken Salad goodness without leaving your four walls? This recipe delivers - Voila!  [Read more...]

Tuesday's Tidings for June 17, 2014

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1. I like to create pictures of our kids for gifts for Josh. This was Christian's gift for his daddy to take to work.

2. Josh sent me this link the other day on little baby tigers living with a zoo keeper. I want one...even though they would destroy my house and are probably more work than my toddler. LOL!

3. We finally got a Blu-Ray player. Correction-Josh finally got a Blu-Ray player. I got a pair of Toms. Our lives are complete, haha!


4. Last week, we went to an Asian market not to far away and I fell in love. Seriously, their produce...way better looking and priced better than in our stores. Also...I'm obsessed with lot's of Chinese food. I need more sticky rice balls for breakfast.

5. Our weather has been raining, hailing, windy, and stormy. Feels like Fall. I actually turned on the heat this morning because I was freezing!

6. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory in Sellwood last week with my dad and step-mom and we spotted this gorgeous boat sailing on the Willamette River.

7. Have you ever looked around Dayspring's website? I love their stuff. I'm currently in raptured with this tea cup and saucer. I love tea cups and saucers. They are my favorite way to enjoy a cup of coffee on Sunday mornings when I'm rushing to get ready for church and my favorite way to drink tea.

8. Doesn't this Teriyaki Pina Colada Burger from Oh, Sweet Basil just make your mouth water?

9. Josh bought me a curling wand last week and I've used it every single day except for today. I thought I would let my hair be straight today. Seriously, they are so easy to use and my hair literally stays curled all day long! I went ahead and cut my hair and I'm so glad I did it. I love the cut and Grace does too. She keeps telling me how cute it is, lol!

10. My dad bought us this rice cooker last week as an early anniversary gift and OH MY WORD! I love it. I will never kill the rice again! It was so simple-I started the rice yesterday in the cooker when I got home from grocery shopping. Then when Josh got home, I left for the gym and then we made dinner together-the rice just sat there, perfectly warm and waiting for us. It was AMAZING!

Weekly Menu 6/16-6/22

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My dad and step-mom left on Saturday to drive back to Las Vegas and Father's Day is over. Our week was a busy one. We went to Multnomah Falls and Mt. Hood with my dad, spent one whole day in our house making Chinese dumplings (it really is an all-day process) and Friday was spent doing some shopping.  It was a great week with my dad and I was thrilled that I got to get to know Jen, my step-mom a bit more. She's a pretty fascinating person to talk to.


I will be honest and say it is nice to have the house back in order, though it seems quieter, lol! But I do like having company over. The more often we have people stay with us, the more used to it I get and I really enjoy this different aspect of entertaining and showing hospitality. I think it's good for my kids to see that even though you don't necessarily have room (as in an extra bedroom) for guests, you can still have a ton of fun and make it work.

Monday
(Meatless)
Tofu Stir-fry with rice
Tuesday
(Taco)
Leftover Chicken Enchiladas and a Salad
Wednesday
BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad with Homemade Rolls
Thursday
Smoked Sausage Skewers with Rice and Corn on the Cob
Friday
(Pizza)
Grilled Hawaiian Pizza with Salad
Saturday
Not sure-We'll be gone all day
Sunday
Fried Egg Sandwiches and Smoothies

No Weekly Menu or Posting this week

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Hello friends! I hope your Monday is treating you well and that you had a beautiful weekend!

My dad and step-mom from Vegas are coming into town later today. I haven't seen them since I was 20 weeks pregnant with Christian. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Josh is taking the week off this week so we can all spend time together as a family and go places and do fun things.

I won't be online much and that's a good thing this week. I want to be immersed in my family and make them my priority.

But don't worry, I have lot's of posts for you that we'll be bringing to you next week. And of course, I'll be cooking and baking this week. My dad requests a cheesecake every time he is up here, so I've got a recipe picked out that I'll be making, and hopefully sharing with you.

Have a wonderful week and a fantastic Father's Day and I'll see you back here on Monday morning!

Chicken Taco Pizza

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Every Friday night is pizza night in our house. Friday night comes along and we gather around the coffee table (one of the only nights we eat there) and turn on a family movie while we devour a homemade pizza and a salad. Our pizza fair is pretty routine; we either make Hawaiian, pepperoni & olive, or a sausage and bell pepper pizza. But sometimes, I have leftovers in the fridge that I want to use up and pizza magic is occasionally the result.

 Josh and I have a pretty good system down when it comes to our pizza nights. I make the dough or unthaw some I have stashed away in the freezer ahead of time. Josh rolls it out while I prep ingredients and assist. Friday nights, we always work together in the kitchen and we both love it. It's a fun way to start our weekends.

So, this pizza! I posted a picture of it on Instagram a few weeks ago and as soon as I had a slice, I knew I had to make it again and share it with you. All the ingredients, the shredded chicken, lettuce, cheese, and diced tomato were leftovers from our taco Tuesday night. I had a can of refried beans that Josh had grabbed from the grocery store's marked down rack and the tri-colored tortilla strips is something I usually have lying around in my pantry. So basically, when it came to this particular pizza, there was zero planning involved which meant there was zero expense.

This pizza is really good you guys. We have gobbled it up both times we've made it and I think it's a new family favorite.

Chicken Taco Pizza

A Catz Original Recipe by Joshua & Chelsia Rief

Never had a foot-wide chicken soft taco in pie form? Now's your chance! This warm, flavorful pizza is a family favorite here in our home!

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 15 min (not including cooking chicken in crock pot)

Total time: 25 min

Yield: 8-16 slices

Ingredients

  • ½ recipe (1 lb) Catz Homemade Pizza Dough
  • 1 can (15 oz) refried beans
  • 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
  • 1 cup salsa
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (Mexican blend)
  • 1 large tomato, diced
  • 1 ½ cups iceberg lettuce, chopped
  • 1 cup tortilla strips

Cooking Directions

  1. Add chicken breast and salsa to a crockpot on low heat. Cook 4-6 hours, then shred chicken breast in salsa.
  2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (with pizza stone inside, if using).
  3. Roll out pizza dough to 12+ inches, depending on thickness preference. Sprinkle pizza stone with corn meal (or spray pizza pan with non-stick cooking spray, if using) and lay out crust on stone. Place in oven and par bake for about 6 minutes.
  4. Remove crust from oven, and add refried beans, spreading evenly around crust, leaving a ½ - 1 inch gap around the edges.
  5. Top refried beans with drained chicken mixture and cheese, and return to oven for an additional 6-10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
  6. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then top with lettuce, tomatoes, and tortilla strips.
  7. Cut and serve immediately.

Tuesday's Tidings for June 3, 2014

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1. We've been planning on cutting Eden's hair for awhile now. It is long and beautify. But it is all practically baby hair that has never had more than a small trim here and there. So we're going to cut off a few inches to make it healthier. Eden apparently decided she couldn't wait till Saturday when we get her hair cut. She went ahead and cut a few layers into it on one side, lol! I couldn't even get mad. I just laughed. She said she didn't think anyone would notice, haha! Needless to say, I took away the scissors because I fear she might go and cut my hair in the middle of the night. Just kidding.

2. Anyone else suffering from allergies? Dying. Like as soon as I wash my make-up, my eyes become rub city. I'm convinced my new nickname is Sneezy Itch.

3. What are you all thinking of 24 so far? Loving it here. I wish every night was 2 hours long. I'm thinking a 24 marathon is due.


4. One of the awesome things about cleaning out our garage has been finding the box with some of our decorative knick knacks and picture frames. Christian has broke two of my frames over the last few months and I just hadn't had time to replace them. Now I don't need to! And I found a few other frames for some family pics I was given awhile back that I needed to buy frames for. Now I just need to update some of the photos in the some of my other frames.

5. I love the song Somethin' Stupid by Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman. She has such a dainty voice. It sounds delicate...like a flower. She should put out her own album of older songs.

6. I love Moonstruck Chocolate, which happens to be a Portland brand-yay us! Josh was recently given a box of these for us to try and they are delish. We kept them in the fridge and would have one each every night and it felt like such a treat.

7. I can't wait to start this book! Goodmorninggirls.org has just started an 8 week study on learning about God's love and his love for us. I'm so excited to dig in deep to this. I think it will be very good for me.

8. This sparkling honey rosemary lemonade looks so refreshing. I could dive right in!

9.  I'm addicted to Zumba! I've missed dancing so much and it is such a workout! I'm so spent after spending 57 minutes working out...alongside my sister in love, Jenn. Because she's in the video! Her Zumba instructor made a dvd of one of their Zumba workouts and it is so much fun.

10. Summer break has officially started and I spent yesterday playing board games with the girls. I can't wait to do more of that!

Weekly Menu 6/2-6-8

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It's June and it's full swing allergy season over here. Every evening is pure torture for me. My eyes start getting dry and itchy, I sneeze all day long and I'm still fighting off a stupid cough. Although it's better than it was.  BTW-Happy June! We've reached the half way mark of the year!!

Josh installed our air conditioner downstairs yesterday, thank goodness. It should make my Zumba workouts more comfortable. We attempted to get the a/c on my car fixed last week. But our mechanic told us that not only is it a 15-hour job to fix it, but the minimum cost would be $1,000! We've decided to suffer through for another summer. But we did finally get the check engine light issue fixed. At least one thing is resolved. Onto the next, lol!

Monday
(Meatless)
Bruschetta
Tuesday
(Taco)
Chicken Tamale Pie with Corn on the Cob
Wednesday
BBQ Chicken Salad with Rolls
Thursday
Hot dogs, Beans, and fruit
Friday
Saturday
BBQ Chicken Skewers with Rice
Sunday
Fried Egg Sandwiches and Smoothies

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Nutella Swirled Blondies

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I love my husband to pieces. He does a lot of really sweet things for me on a daily basis that just proves his faithfulness to me. He sets out a coffee cup and leaves me a note every morning before he goes to work. He NEVER leaves the toilet seat up. He picks up after himself. The list goes on. If I were to make a list, his pro's would far outweigh his cons. But we all have cons. His indulgent snack of choice is peanut butter slathered on toast and dotted with chocolate chips. This snack drives me crazy because it means he is dipping into my supply of chocolate chips!

They are for baking. Not snacking on! #men #foodbloggerproblems

Anyways, Josh reminded me that we had some creamy peanut butter from Trader Joe's in the pantry I needed to use before it expired. My first thought was to make cookies. I love cookies. Like OBSESSED! But, I didn't really have the time to experiment with a cookie recipe. I was short on time. Then my mind switched from brownies to blondes! I LOVE BLONDIES! I love the color, the flavor, the texture. You name it. Plus, with a fun name like Blondie, how can you go wrong?

I thought it was a genius idea to kind of take my husband's favorite snack and turn it into something really awesome. The blondies needed something else though. Nutella, duh! I had just enough leftover in my container to swirl on top of the mixture. YUM-O!

Seriously, these smelled so good while they baked. The girls and I could barely keep our hands off of them while they cooled. Of course, I got to sample the finished product ahead of time so I knew whether they were good enough to take pictures of. They certainly smelled good enough. They tasted even more amazing though! These lasted maybe 2 days in our house, but only because we started cutting the pieces in half to make them last longer.

I was a little worried about how Josh would react to these because he doesn't understand Nutella. Who doesn't understand Nutella? It's amazing and full of magic! Anyways, I added the Nutella for me, not for him anyways. But he ended up loving these so it goes down as a win for me! I'm already planning on making these again soon. But I think I need to buy the giant sized container of Nutella from Cosco first.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Nutella Swirled Blondies

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Nutella Swirled Blondies

Yield: 9
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Homemade chewy blondes mixed with creamy peanut butter and sweet chocolate chips get topped with smooth, nutty Nutella – a peanut butter and chocolate lover’s dream come true!

Ingredients

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ⅓ cup Nutella, warmed
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 baking dish with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. Cream butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar together using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer. (Also can be done with an electric mixer.) Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, and baking powder. Pour into peanut butter mixture and beat until combined. Beat in chocolate chips.
  4. Pour and press mixture into prepared baking dish. Scoop Nutella into a bowl and heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds, just until warm and spreadable. Drop Nutella by spoonfuls all over the mixture. Gently use a knife to swirl the Nutella over the top.
  5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until edges are golden. Cool completely. Remove foil from baking dish, cut into squares and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 9 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 450Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 116mgCarbohydrates: 52gFiber: 3gSugar: 36gProtein: 7g

Nutrition information isn't always accurate.

© Chelsia Rief
Category: Dessert