Broccoli Chicken Cups

To be completely honest with you, I haven't really been able to get my act together since I moved exactly a month ago. 

I had thought of several new things to try out in my kitchen and then blog about, but time just seems to get away from me these days. I'm back in school after a 3-month break and am now trying to work on my non-existent time-management skills. 

Even simple tasks are over-whelming lately & so the thought of having people over really throws me over the edge. Although I love the whole process of entertaining, I find it nerve-wracking. Especially because I belong to the school of thought that "more is less". So I am very capable of adding last-minute things to the Smorgasbord and making DH run to the grocery store at the last minute for some essential ingredient for an unplanned-for addition to my menu. 

And so I am that person standing over the stove, stirring a pot of something or the other while throwing orders at the rest of my petrified family to run around fetching things for me seconds before our guests arrive. 

We had a replay of all of the above this past weekend because it was a people-filled one both days. I had a huge assignment due (for school) right before the weekend started so, much to my disappointment, out of the ten things I had planned to make; I could only manage a few (read 7 - why are you surprised? didn't I say, 'more is less'? ).  

These Broccoli Chicken Cups were one of several appetizers made (but the only ones photographed) and our friends loved them so much that they took along all the leftover ones home with them. I managed to sneak away just two - so I could take a photo of them in the morning! 

The recipe is adapted from Taste of Home. 

Broccoli Chicken Cups

2.5 cups roasted chicken, shredded

1 can (10 3/4 oz) reduced-fat, reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup chopped fresh broccoli

2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 small carrot, grated

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, minced

1 - 1.5 tsp freshly crushed black pepper

12 frozen low-fat puff pastry squares

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients except the Parmesan cheese. 

Gently press puff pastry squares into muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

Spoon chicken mixture into pastry cups. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

Bake 25-30 minutes. Serve warm.

 

Tres Leches French Toast

I am not a breakfast loving gal. 

Or in other words, I'm lazy and the thought doing of anything more complicated than drinking a glass of water as soon as I wake up leaves me winded. 

It has been the bone of contention between DH and myself. He loves a good breakfast ... and I don't love making it.

I'm just not a morning person. So I can't get more creative than setting down a bowl of cereal in front of him and, if I'm feeling very generous, once in a while I'll butter toast.

I know what you're thinking. But sometimes I do make a special effort and get creative. Lately I've had Tres Leches cake on the brain. Constantly and all-consummately.

I saw another blogger's Caramel Pancakes ...and the idea of combining milk & caramel was all the inspiration I needed to go ahead and create a breakfast version of my favorite cake .

French Toast is always a delicious treat, no matter how you make it. It makes you happy just to wake up, get out of bed in the morning and smile deep down in your heart. 

This recipe started out as an experiment because I wanted to see if I could make baked and stuffed French Toast with a Tres Leches twist. And it had to be overnight-french toast because Tres Leches cake requires overnight or at least 5 hr soaking. Quite convenient for me - as I have already established how lazy and unproductive I am in the morning.

It worked so well. And the addition of strawberries made it smell wonderful. 

This french toast doesn't need the embellishment of maple syrup, because it is so rich and has just the right amount of sweetness. 

But I couldn't leave well enough alone and drizzled it with my homemade Dulce de Leche anyway. 

Oh my. Doesn't that make you want to dig in already? In that case: follow me . .