Creamy Southwestern Chicken | Birds Eye® Protein Blends

Time-saving items are essential around here these days, especially when it comes to cooking dinner. If you have a kid or two {and even if you don't!} you probably know what I mean. That last few hours of the day can get pretty hectic as everyone gets home, gets settled and gets hungry.

We seem to have our routine down {for now}, but even so, I find myself standing in front of the refrigerator looking for solutions to completing our meals. The "main" part of dinner isn't usually a problem as we tend to rotate between chicken, fish, ground turkey, lean pork chops, etc., etc. But filling the space on the plate next to the entree is usually where it gets tricky.

Almost on cue every night, you can hear me ask, "What do you want as a side?", to which my ever-so-helpful husband replies, "A vegetable."

Yeah... thanks, dear.

Meanwhile, the growling stomachs and hunger meltdowns begin and soon we find ourselves venturing into very crabby territory, which doesn't help my kitchen creativity. The result? Plain, sauteed veggies. Drab, unappealing side dishes. Lackluster, uninspired add-ons.

Unless, of course, you find something that can swoop in to the rescue and be ready in minutes...

Enter Birds Eye® Protein Blends. I found these at Walmart and thought they'd be worth a try, and boy was I right.

Last week I found myself in a pinch as the day was winding down, dinnertime was approaching and my toddler was trying to eat crayons. {Non-toxic, sure, but definitely not nutritious.} And then I remembered this was in the freezer. Score!

Since the veggies were seasoned with a Southwest Style sauce, I went with the theme and made a quick, simple chicken and lightened up creamy sauce to go along with the side. Everything was so zesty and flavorful that I'm sure this meal will become a regular on rotation.

Right now you can save .50 off Birds Eye® Protein Blends with this iBotta offer. Save money, time and sanity and treat yourself to an easy dinnertime routine.

Now the only thing my husband will hear me yell from the kitchen is, "Dinner's ready!" Music to our ears!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Pinnacle Foods Group LLC. The opinions and texts are all mine.

Creamy Southwestern Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon chipotle powder, divided
Salt to taste

1 can diced tomatoes
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/3 cup Greek yogurt {I used 2%}

1. Heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season each chicken breast with 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder {or your favorite southwestern seasoning} and salt.

2. Place chicken breasts in the pan and cook on the first side for about 4-6 minutes or until browned, then flip and brown the other side another 3-5 minutes. {It's ok if they're not fully cooked through as you will be returning them to the pan.

3. Remove chicken from pan and set aside on a plate.

4. To the pan, add all the sauce ingredients except yogurt and whisk to combine, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a bubble, then reduce the heat to medium-low and return the chicken breasts to the pan, nestling them into the sauce.

5. Cover pan and simmer for another 8-10 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through.

6. Remove chicken once again and whisk yogurt into the sauce. Pour sauce into a blender {or use an immersion blender} and blend until completely smooth.*

To serve, ladle sauce over chicken. Serve with Birds Eye® Southwest Style Protein Blends.

Layered Potato Cake {Pommes Anna} | U.S. Potato Board

Raise your hand if you are looking for ways to wow your guests this holiday season!

Listen, I know the pressure -- that unspoken expectation to host a shindig that looks like it came right out of the pages of your favorite lifestyle magazine. The stress is all-too-real.

But here's a little something for you to remember: Those pictures are styled. Staged. Fake. A sham! There are professionals and lighting experts and prop budgets and chefs who all work together to produce that image that you long to reproduce in your apartment kitchen/tiny dining room/shoestring budget.

And yet, there are simple ways to make things pretty and tasty without going over the top or blowing a gasket; little tricks you can have up your sleeve for those times when you want to impress your mother-in-law or make a name for yourself among your siblings.

If the thought of competing for the title of Fluffiest Mashed Potatoes is giving you anxiety, I've got the perfect solution: Ditch the predictable dishes and start a new food tradition that will steal the thunder from the old reliable holiday favorites!

You might overlook the simple potato as an ingredient for creating something impressive. They're not "truffle fancy" or Himalayan pink salt trendy, but they sure are tasty and versatile. {And contain more potassium than bananas, broccoli and spinach with 45% of the daily value for Vitamin C... who knew?!} They're almost a guaranteed hit for even the pickiest of eaters and they're extremely affordable, even when you're feeding a crowd.

Here's a simple -- yet beautiful -- dish that is sure to get some attention at your table this year: Layered Potato Cake.

Isn't it pretty?

I promise you I didn't have a stylist work their magic to prepare this beauty for her close-up, she's just a natural. Layered slices of Russet potato stacked and seasoned and roasted until tender. Here I used the simple combination of salt and rosemary {and a tiny hint of garlic}, but you can flavor this in a variety of ways with your favorite herbs, spices and even cheese.

The most difficult part of this dish is slicing the potato into thin rounds, but buying a mandolin makes this task a breeze. {Just watch your fingers, those things are sharp!}

This holiday, you can have your {potato} cake and eat it, too! But not before you show it off at your dinner table. Even if this doesn't turn out magazine perfect, it'll still be delicious!

For more amazing potato recipes like this one {or the marvelous Caramelized Fingerlings in the video below} check out the U.S. Potato Board's website!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and I was compensated for my work. As always, all opinions here are my own! And boy, do I love potatoes! 




Layered Potato Cake {Pommes Anna}

Makes a medium sized potato cake if you use a medium to small skillet or 4-6 small slices

1 tablespoons olive oil

3 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and dried

4 tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, smashed

Salt to taste for seasoning

1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary {or your favorite herb}

Prep Potatoes: Using a sharp knife or a mandolin, thinly slice potatoes into rounds. Work quickly {but carefully!} as potatoes will begin to discolor once they're cut.

Prep Butter: In a small saucepan {or in a small bowl in the microwave}, melt butter with the smashed garlic clove to infuse the garlic flavor. Discard the garlic clove and set aside.

For Potato Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet {I used an 8 inch} over medium heat. As the oil is heating, begin to place potato slices in a circular pattern, starting with the center. Continue to fill the skillet with potato slices until the entire thing is covered with one layer of potatoes. {Do a nice job as this is the layer that will be the top of the cake.}

2. Once the first layer is complete, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with salt and rosemary.

3. Repeat the process with the remainder of your potato slices, layering then brushing with butter and seasoning with salt and herbs until the skillet is almost full {or until you run out of potato slices}.

4. Let the potatoes brown on the stove top, about 15-20 minutes, then cover the skillet with a sheet of aluminum foil and place in the oven.

5. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. {You should be able to insert a knife easily.} Remove the foil, and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the top is slightly golden.

To invert potato cake: Place a plate that is slightly larger that the skillet over the top -- wear an oven mitt or use a kitchen towel. Carefully tilt the skillet over the sink, leaving a small gap for the excess oil to pour out. Invert the plate completely. The whole potato cake should slide out onto the plate. {If it doesn't, flip it over again and run a small spatula along the outside edges of the skillet to loosen.}

*The potato slices fused together enough to flip and cut, but there may be a few rogue pieces that want to get away. Using cheese does act as a "cement" for the pieces, so consider the addition if you're worried about an unstable structure! ;)

Crispy Potato & Parsnip Hash with Stonyfield Yogurt + DreamFarm

Disclosure: I am honored to be a member of the Stonyfield Clean Plate Club. I received product or coupons for writing this post, but all opinions are my own.


It amazes me that there are still relatively common foods that I haven't tried. Some just don't make it onto my radar and others puzzle me enough that I pick them up at the grocery store and think, "What in the world would I do with this?"

Parsnips are one such food.

During my Trader Joe's rounds last week I found that the parsnips {which happened to be particularly inexpensive} suddenly looked too intriguing to leave out of my basket. So they came home with me and we got acquainted.

Have you ever tried a parsnip? It's a root vegetable that looks a lot like a carrot with a pale complexion. Like maybe carrot's SPF-conscious cousins.

Knowing nothing about parsnips and how to prepare them -- but figuring that they couldn't be too different from other root veggies -- I decided to give them a go in a Crispy Potato and Parsnip Hash and see how they'd turn out.

I peeled them, chopped them and threw them into this cool little contraption that was sent to me to try: the Dreamfarm Vebo.


 It's a silicone basket where VEggies {and whatnot} can be BOiled, steamed and strained all in one convenient place. It was pretty nifty! {Although I have to tell you, you could get some serious steam burns if you're not careful pulling the basket out of the boiling water. Just a heads up.}

Despite the fact that I am not a big fan of carrots {I've tried so very hard to like the over the years, but I just can't do it!}, I really enjoyed the parsnips! It could have something to do with the fact that the way I prepared them gave them just the right amount of golden crispness on the outside and tender creaminess on the inside. The flavor was slightly sweet but not too strong and went perfectly with the Dutch yellow baby potatoes and onions that I roasted along with them.

We love this dish on Sunday mornings with breakfast fixins {read: topped with a runny egg and alongside a few strips of bacon}, or as a side dish with a big dollop of tart and creamy Stonyfield Greek Yogurt on top. You can mix some fresh chives into the yogurt for a little extra flavor, but it isn't even necessary.

Want a Vebo of your own? Enter to win one below! I'll be picking a winner at random next week. Good luck!

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Crispy Potato & Parsnip Hash with Stonyfield Yogurt Sauce 

1 pound Dutch yellow baby potatoes, cut into approximately 1 inch pieces
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into approximately 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Sea salt
Stonyfield Organic Plain Greek Yogurt
{Optional} Fresh or dried chives, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil and drizzle with olive oil. Set aside.

2. Place cut potatoes and parsnips into the Vebo. Place the Vebo in a pot filled with water until just covering veggies. Add about a teaspoon of salt to water. Boil for about 10-12 minutes or until the vegetables are fork-tender.  {If you don't have a Vebo, you can certainly dump the veggies directly into a pot.}

3. Meanwhile, saute onions until just tender in a small pan and set aside.

4. Carefully remove Vebo from pot to drain or pour vegetables into a strainer in the sink. Spread vegetables out onto prepared baking pan and gently toss with oil. {You may want to drizzle a bit more on top.} Add onions to mixture and toss together.

4. Sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder and salt.

5. Roast for 20-25 minutes or until they're golden brown on the outside, giving them a turn about half way through cooking time.

Serve with a dollop of Stonyfield Greek Yogurt and chives sprinkled on top.

Smoky Blue Cheese Grits

Confession: Food bloggers get stumped about what to make for dinner sometimes, too.

Don't get me wrong, I usually have a multitude of recipe ideas swimming around in my head. But most days when I get home from the office or finish a long day of working or recipes, the last thing I want to do is think about what to make for dinner. Those are usually the nights when I say, "Honey, you're on your own." Then I chop up some tomatoes and avocado, throw them in a bowl with a sprinkle of sea salt, and call it a day. {For the record, this a delicious, albeit lazy, thing to eat.}

Ruts happen; Pork chops with a side of rice. Pork chops with a side of quinoa. Pork chops with a side of sweet potato mash. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I am lucky that my sweet husband has taste buds that almost never tire of eating whatever is set in front of him. He's one of those people that can happily eat the same items for breakfast every day for a year without blinking an eye. Meaning, he's not much help when I'm trying to be creative and ask "What should we have as a side?"

His request is usually some form of greens -- a salad, sauteed spinach or kale, etc., etc., -- along with some form of starch. But the starchy element of dinner {which, honestly, I could most times do without} is usually the same response over and over again. A girl can only make so any versions of rice, quinoa and sweet potatoes before she loses her ever-loving mind.

A few weeks ago, after a long day and a firm refusal to eat the same.darn.thing again on a day when pork chops were {once again} up to bat, I decided to get a little creative.

Grits.

Smoky blue cheese grits. Because most of the time, my creativity is fueled by a constant desire to use up the tiny bits of things that end up rolling around the pantry and the fridge without a purpose. I happened to have half a box of grits sitting abandoned on one side of the pantry and a small chunk of blue cheese left over from my wine & chocolate tasting party that didn't look particularly inspiring. And so, smoky blue cheese grits came to pass.

If I said that the quick cooking time of grits didn't have something to do with my decision, I'd be lying. But the twist on a food that 1. Is usually thought of at breakfast time, and 2. Can be sort of bland if not properly seasoned or condimented {that's a legitimate word today, ok?} made for a thrilling new side dish.

Even though the husband wasn't so sure about the thought of pork chops over grits, he sure seemed to get on board quickly after a bite.

These grits are creamy and pungent with the blue cheese, and finish with a smoky richness from a few dashes of liquid smoke {an ingredient that I often tend to forget exists}.

It's an unexpected taste of something familiar; a "rut-breaker." And if nothing else, really yummy stuff.


Smoky Blue Cheese Grits 

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup grits
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled -- extra for garnish if desired
1 1/4 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 tablespoon butter

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring water and half and half to a boil {watch it carefully as dairy has a tendency to bubble over when boiled.} Add salt.

2. Slowly whisk in grits. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to whisk continuously until substantially thickened, about 3-4 minutes.

3. Add blue cheese, liquid smoke and butter and continue to whisk until smooth and thickened to desired consistency. {I like my grits on the thicker side, but if you prefer a runnier texture you can add more liquid to achieve that.}

Serve hot with crumbled blue cheese over top.