Simple Supper Mondays - Volume 10: Birthday Chicken

Happy Monday! I spent time this weekend plotting out meal menus for the next 2 weeks. I find that if I plan out my meals, I waste less time panicking the day of, trying to figure out what to eat. I also waste less time and money at the grocery store. (PS - A great blog about meal planning and recipe tracking is Cooking With a Plan, run by a friend of mine named Alison.)

So I took my kitchen calendar and wrote in each day what I planned to make for dinner. I also attached the recipe cards to the calendar, so I have quick access to making the meal (and not rummaging through cookbooks attempting to find said recipe card). I tried to incorporate what meals will provide leftovers, and planned to make them during the week, so my husband and I could eat the leftovers for lunch. (Note: we are usually awful with leftovers, so planning ahead is a big plus to this!)

Now that I feel organized, I'd like to share with you Simple Supper recipe!

I found this recipe flipping through a church cookbook. It is an almost exact copy of a recipe that my friend, Heather, used to make for me. She called it "Birthday Chicken," because in college she would make this with her friends for special events (such as birthdays, thus the name). The recipe from the cookbook is only slightly different (the cookbook recipe calls for you to saute the onions involved), and since it is already copied down, I'll use that one. Heather, thanks for permission to share the recipe!

Simple Supper Mondays

Birthday Chicken

• 3 oz cream cheese
• 3 T butter, melted
• 2 c. cooked chicken, cubed
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 2 T milk
• 1 T onion, chopped and sauteed
• 8 oz can crescent rolls
• 1/2 cup green olives with pimentos, chopped (OPTIONAL)

Blend the cream cheese and melted butter. Add the chicken, salt, pepper, milk and onion. Separate the crescent rolls into 4 rectangles and firmly seal the cut line. Spoon mix onto dough, pull the corners together and bring up other edges and seal. Brush with some melted butter. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Serves 4

Notes:

1) I like cheese, so I use a little more cream cheese than 3 oz.

2) I used closer to 1/4 cup of sauteed onions.

3) If I am short on time, I use Perdue Short Cuts Chicken (usually the "grilled" kind). Then all I have to do is open the bag and cut the chicken into pieces!

4) Have fun being creative - sometimes I add in some green peppers and saute them with the onions. I'm sure that there are plenty of spices and herbs you can try out with this, as the recipe is a natural blank canvas to work with

5) The way this recipe explains using the crescent rolls (approximately 2 triangles to make a rectangle), it is difficult to make the pocket necessary for the chicken (and it definitely doesn't make one big enough for a meal). So, I usually use 2 - 3 containers of crescent rolls (depending on how many people you are trying to serve), and make 2 rectangles per person, putting the chicken mixture on one rectangle (ie: 2 triangles sealed together to make a rectangle), and topping it with another rectangle, sealing the edges.

** If this is confusing and you are interested in making this meal, let me know - I'll make it this week and post pictures.

If you try out anything new and exciting with this recipe, let me know and I will pass it along. A thought I had: I think this would be a great recipe for kids, because you can easily sneak in vegetables (onions, pepper - heck, even broccoli and carrots!) without them knowing it. I also think they would enjoy having their own little meal-in-a-pocket! If you have kids and try it out, let me know what THEY think of it as well!

Enjoy!

PLEASE send me your Simple Supper recipes! moderndaydonnareed@gmail.com