It's Baaaaack!

That's right!  The Christmas countdown is back at the top of my blog!  You're welcome : )

Braiding 101

There was a lot some confusion over the "braiding" of the dough from my Chicken & Broccoli Braid recipe, so since I made Apple Danish Bread on Saturday, I figured I would explain that a bit better.  It sounds really quite complicated when you read it (I was confused the first time too), but once you see it, it all makes sense.

I forgot to mention in the other recipe as well, that you should leave the crescent roll dough in the fridge until you are going to open it.  It's much easier to work with when it's cold.

So, after you open the crescent roll package, roll it out horizontally so that it covers the top half of your baking sheet.  Don't worry if it hangs over the edges since you'll be pulling them into the middle later on.
Next either use a rolling pin or your fingers to mash all the perforations together.  We want one big piece of dough, not little crescents.

Repeat the above with the second package of dough.

Now take a knife (I usually use a paring knife 'cuz it's small) and cut slits along the edges of the dough.  Mine are usually about the length of the paring knife's blade and I just eyeball them so that I end up with about 8 strips of dough (I try to make them a little thicker so that they hold the filling in better.  This doesn't always happen though and sometimes they're skinnier.  It's all good in the hood.  Makes it more "rustic" when it's not perfect, I say).  Repeat on the other side of the dough and try to match up the slits as much as possible (you don't need to get a ruler out or anything, just eyeball it).

Add your filling in the middle.  Try to leave about a centimeter between your filling and the slits so that your filling doesn't seep out the sides.  Now comes the "braiding."  Pick up a pair of strips and cross them over the filling.  Voila, a braid.  Repeat with the reamaining strips.  Make sure to squish the dough at the top and bottom together so the filling doesn't seep out there either.

And since I'm on a recipe kick lately, here's the recipe for the Apple Danish Bread I made on Saturday:

1 pkg. cream cheese, softened

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled  cored and sliced

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. maple-flavored syrup

1 tbsp. sugar

1 egg

1/4 cups pecans, chopped

2 pkg, refrigerated crescent rolls

1/3 cup icing sugar

Combine cream cheese and icing sugar until well blended.  Add egg, mixing until smooth.  Chop pecans.  Unroll 1 pkg. of crescent dough; do not separate.  Place horizontally across top of a 12X15" cookie sheet or baking stone.  Repeat with 2nd pkg. of dough.  Roll dough (or squish together with fingers) to seal perforations.  On longest sides of the cookie sheet, cut strips with paring knife (as pictured above).  Spread half of cream cheese mixture evenly over middle of dough.  Peel, core and slice apples.  Cut slices crosswise in half; evenly arrange apple slices over cream cheese mixture.  Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.  Scoop remaining cream cheese mixture over apples.  Sprinkle with chopped pecans.  To braid, lift strips of dough across mixture to meet in center, twisting each strip one turn.  Continue alternating strips to form a braid.  Tuck ends under to seal at end of braid.  Bake in preheated 375F oven for 25-28 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Remove from oven; brush with syrup using a pastry brush.

I don't do the maple syrup.  This is because I am lazy don't own a pastry brush.  And also because we don't normally have maple syrup in the house and since the Wal-Mart brand was $7, I didn't really think it was worth the cost for 1 tablespoon.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the finished product.  I was making it just before my B-Charmed party and forgot to take a picture when it was done baking 'cuz I was having too much fun with the jewellry!

Shepherd's Pie

Well, since last night's dinner was such a hit, I figured I'd post the recipe for tonight's dinner as well.  We made Shepherd's Pie which was taught to me by my friend Jackie.  It's so delicious and easy to make too!

1 lb ground beef
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
5 lb bag of potatoes
1 can tomato soup
1 pkg onion soup mix
1-2 cups shredded cheese.

First off, peel, boil and mash the potatoes.  Brown the ground beef and drain any excess fat.  Add tomato soup and onion soup mix.  Stir well.  Add beef mixture to the bottom of a casserole dish (or 2).  Pour frozen veggies on top of ground beef.  Scoop potatoes on top of the veggies and spread as evenly as possible (actually spread all the layers as evenly as possible).  Sprinkle cheese on top of potatoes.  Cook at 375F for about 1/2 hour.  Enjoy!!!

Chicken & Broccoli Braid

This is what we had for supper tonight:  (it tasted pretty much as good as it looks.  For anyone who has tried my Apple Danish Bread, this is the same thing just with different filling.)

And a bunch of people wanted the recipe after I posted the pictures on Facebook.  So, without further ado, here it is:

2 cups cooked cut-up chicken (about 3-4 chicken breasts)
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed (I use about 2 tsp of minced garlic)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup honey ham sliced into small pieces (I just bought honey ham sandwich meat at Sobeys and had them slice it a little thicker than normal)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (Miracle Whip is just fine)
2 packages refrigerated crescent rolls

1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 tbsp slivered almonds
(I don't do the last 2 ingredients in mine, but you could I suppose (this is mostly because I'm too lazy to brush the egg over the dough and because I don't ever use slivered almonds for anything else so I think it's sort of a waste of money since it tastes just fine without.  phew that was long-winded))

1 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp salt
(I use about 2-3 tsp Clubhouse Lemon & Herb seasoning instead of dill & salt, once again because I'm sort of lazy and that's what I had in my cupboard.  I might mix it up and use the Greek seasoning I have next time.  I know, I'm wild and crazy in the kitchen.)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Cut up chicken, chop broccoli and add to a large mixing bowl.  Chop red pepper and add to bowl.  Press garlic over mixture in the bowl (or spoon it in if you're like me).  Shred cheese and add to bowl.  Cut up ham and add to bowl.  Mix gently.  Add mayonnaise, dill weed and salt (or Clubhouse seasoning); mix well.  Unroll 1 package of crescent dough; do NOT separate.  Arrange longest sides of dough accross the width of 12" X 15" rectangle Baking Stone (or cookie sheet).  Repeat with remaining package of dough.  Roll dough to seal perforations (I did not pull out my rolling pin for this.  I just "pinch" the dough with my fingers along the perforations.  I must say though that Pillsbury seems to have improved their perforations 'cuz this took a lot more effort than normal).  On longest sides of baking stong, cut dough into strips 1 1/2 inches apart and 3 inches deep.  Spread filling evenly over middle of dough.  To braid, lift strips of dough across mixture to meet in center, twisting each strip one turn to form a braid.  Tuck ends under to seal at ends of braid.  Brush egg white over dough using a pastry brush.  Sprinkle with almonds.  Bake 30 minutes or until deep golden brown (I usually cook mine about 10 minutes longer just to make sure the dough's 100% done.  I cannot stand undercooked dough so that's just my paranoid self coming through).  Cut and serve!!!

If that doesn't sound like enough calories sauce for you, try it with this deliciousness that I usually make with my Chicken Rolls:

Cheese Sauce

1 can Cream of Cheese & Broccoli soup
1/2 can Evaporated Milk
1-2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Combine the soup and milk in a sauce pan and bring to a low boil.  Make sure you stir this A LOT because it will scorch to the bottom of your pan (not that I've had that happen before ...).  Add the cheese bit by bit while stirring until desired consistency/cheesiness (this is easier if you have a helper either adding or stirring while you perform the other task).  Enjoy!!!

And once again I'd like to say that if I can make this, anyone can : )

Another Step

I know I haven't blogged for a while (and I need to do some blogs to catch up on our summer) but I wanted to get this one down.

A bunch of my friends who have kids around Paxton's age have been potty training over the last few months.  I haven't even been contemplating it though since Paxton doesn't show any interest in letting me know when he needs to go or when he's gone, even if it's a poopy diaper.  Well, the times might just be a-changin'.

I was sitting at the computer this morning emailing Jenny and Pete in England (I've been really bad at emailing lately as well) when Paxton came over and started tugging on my pants.  So I got up and followed him to bathroom.  He was pointing at the toilet, so I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty.  And he nodded his head yes (he's getting really good at nodding and shaking his head at the correct times lately).  So off came the diaper and I sat him up there.  He didn't do anything and didn't want to stay up there for very long (like maybe 30 seconds) but Paxton was really quite proud of himself when I got him down.  Looks like we might be using the latest gift from Grandma Daryl sooner than I thought!

I can't believe potty training could be on the horizon!  Where has the time gone?  And who is this cheesy boy that's replaced my baby?