Earl & "Turkey" Cook Trader Joe's Wonton Soup

I love shopping at Trader Joe's! They have some great people, products that are unique or hard to find at the normal grocery store, and most products are their own private label! But don't think generic or cheap. Their products are reasonably priced and often imported. That said, sometimes their frozen products have failed to be what we expected. But I am always on the lookout for something new and tasty. On this visit I found Trader "Ming's" Chicken & Vegetable Wonton Soup. It looked good at first glance, but then I noticed it was microwave only, which always worries me. It had an uncooked protein, a wonton wrapper, and frozen carrots...three items I normally don't care to micro-zap. But the picture looked tasty, and we rarely go out to eat Chinese food, and I never cook it, so i bought one for each of us, and we each cooked our own.

My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") had me go first. All I had to do was add about 5 ounces of water and microwave it for about 5 minutes in the provided bowl and voila, it's soup! I topped it with fresh ground pepper, added a dash of Soy Sauce and it was great! My wife even said it was good enough to do all over again. For a quick, satisfying meal, it is nice to have on hand!

Conclusion:
Taste ⭐⭐⭐⭐(Very good)
Price 💲💲(Really nice)

P.S.: I read a review today that said they didn't care it. We must have been eating different meals. Nothing they said applied to our meals!

Earl Gets a Leg (and Thigh) Up on Lunch

My wife brought home a lovely rotisserie chicken so I could make a homemade chicken noodle soup. One of the best deals in most supermarkets and warehouse stores are their rotisserie chickens. Whether you use them for soup or one of the myriad of other dishes, or even just sit down and eat them caveman style, you cant go wrong. For my soup, I need the meat to place in my vegetable broth for a quasi-homemade chicken soup. Just one thing...my wife doesn't care for dark meat!  This is a win for me because I do! I set the chickens hind quarters aside for me for lunch later and this post is the result.

I don't care much for proteins heated in a microwave — especially if the are bone-in, and chicken NEVER! A microwave changes their flavor and textures to something I consider inedible. So I have these hind quarters from the rotisserie chicken and I have decisions to make. My first thought is chicken salad, always a great lunch, but no, I want to eat them as I did in my youth, when we would all scream for the legs, so I decided to heat them up whole. Not in the microwave, on my stove top grill! I heat the grill up, place them on it and use a bacon press to give it some nice crispiness and lovely grill marks.

It takes a bit longer to get them warm, but the flavor is worth it. If you don't have a grill pan, you can place them on a wire rack in the oven or even a skillet. 

I ate them caveman style and enjoyed every bite. 

Earl Cooks Smoked Chicken Salad Sandwich with Garden Tomatoes

Sometimes a tasty ingredient just SCREAMS to be used in a new and different way, and I had a great smoked chicken quarter from Capt. Len's BBQ that knew I could use in a different way. 

The quarter chicken is a leg and thigh, and my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") does not care for dark meat, so this is ALL for me! It is fully cooked and lovingly smoked. I remove the meat from the bone and roughly chopped it because I want the experience to be more like eating chicken than tuna salad.

 Using a hand crank food chopper that I just bought, I chopped several green onions, tops, and whites, rather finely. I also wanted a bit of a crunch, and I have had a chicken salad with cashews, but I was out. I did have some great extra large Virginia Peanuts, which I also chopped fine. My variation on chicken salad was I substituted Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, Cilantro Lime flavored, for mayonnaise. Mix the chicken, onions, peanuts, and ranch dressing thoroughly, seasoning with salt and pepper as you mix well.

My final addition is fresh-picked cherry and pear tomatoes from our little garden, halved and mixed in gently. With a silicone spatula or large spoon, spread it over a slice of bread, and top with the other slice.

I had no idea at the outset what a great flavor this would have. Smoky, creamy, and crunchy with a great freshness from the tomatoes. The tangy cilantro/lime ranch rounded it all out. Whether you use my exact ingredients, do try this with a smoked chicken quarter.

...I know, making a salad isn't exactly cooking, especially when the the smoked chicken came from Capt. Len's BBQ, but I did come up with it and assemble it, even if no heat was applied!

Earl Eats Popeye's $5 Boneless Wing Bash - A Review

There are no Popeye's near us, so this was more of an impromptu decision while shopping in a store near this one. I will start off by saying neither my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") nor I have liked our previous visits. Why then did I decide to eat there? Beside being hungry, I saw the word WINGS. I like wings better than any other chicken piece. Then I saw that it was a $5 BASH and I felt I needed wings...WAIT! What's that small print? BONELESS? I don't know if you know this, but WINGS HAVE BONES! PERIOD! Restaurants who try to sell you these are not delicately removing the delicious meat from the bone for your enjoyment, they are selling some other part of the chicken and renaming it. It is false adverting. If I gave you thighs and called them breasts you would SCREAM! So this is me screaming. Meanwhile, I was now HANGRY and decided to carry on.

This is what I mean. Let's analyze their ad. 

• First: It wasn't $5! Including tax, it was almost $7, and no, I didn't supersize anything.
• Second: IT WASN'T WINGS! Boneless or otherwise. It wasn't even wing-like. THESE ARE NUGGETS, pure and simple. Pictured here they look big. They aren't.
• Lastly: How can it be a BASH when it costs more and isn't what is advertised?

 My photo on the left shows exactly what my to-go looked like as I opened it in my car. I substituted mashed potatoes for fries and they were about what KFC offers these days. The biscuit was quite flat, like it hadn't risen enough. The one nice surprise was their honey mustard dipping sauce which was unlike any I had tried, but hey, this should be about the chicken, right? The chicken was okay, but no better than Wendy's or McDonald's. So this $3 or  $4 dollar meal cost me $7! If you want wings go to Wingers or Buffalo Wild Wings or your favorite wing place. If you want value, this is not the place either. I am still looking for the reasons people go here at all!

By The Numbers
Food ⭐ (nothing special and the ad misrepresented the product)
Price 💲💲💲 (not as advertised and pricey for what you get)
Service ⭐⭐ (it was drive-up...but it was lunch hour and I got my food rather quickly)
Value 👎👎

Earl Reviews KFC Pot Pie $5 Fill-Up

Were you aware that the first Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant was not in Kentucky? It was near my home in Salt Lake City. It is one of my first memories of chain restaurants. My picture here represents my memories of the place, with Colonel Sanders' picture on every bucket, bag & box...the REAL Colonel. Well today after running several long errands, I felt a bit peckish, and was near home, but not wanting to prepare lunch. I decide it would be a great time to review what is now only known as KFC and their $5 fill-ups. Recently my wife and I have totally stopped eating at KFC, because it just hasn't been as good. We used to eat there quite regularly, but that stopped when their food & service stopped being good!

But since their $5 fill-ups are all over the TV, I thought this would be a good time to see what it was all about. 

As I pulled up to the drive-up menu and looked at the $5 offerings, only one seemed appealing...one of our old favorites, the Chicken Pot Pie! We used to get these whenever they were on special for four bucks, add to that a drink (med.) and a chocolate chip cookie and it would be a good deal...if the pie was as good as it was in the past...AND IT WAS!

The minute your fork pierces the crust, you know it is good. The crust is crunchy and you would eat it by itself. The thing that makes the pie's taste is the sauce. It is the perfect consistency and clings to the chicken and the veggies (carrots, peas & potatoes), and gives a chicken-y taste to each bite. What you are left with is a pie tin you feel like licking clean.

In addition, their cookie is LOADED with chocolate chips. The drink is, well, a drink.

I have tried several of the $5 meals that seem to be the craze right now and this is the best BY FAR!

Another benefit of this meal is that these are baked in a HOT oven. If you live within 20 minutes of the KFC, you will still get home with hot food. If you don't wait your tongue will let you know and you may not taste anything for awhile.

By the Numbers:
Service ⭐⭐⭐ (it was drive up, what can I say)
Price 💲💲 (A very good product a a good price)
Taste ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (much better than the price would suggest)

Earl Cooks Chicken Cordon Bleu on Bleu & Baby Broccoli

"Cordon Bleu" is French for "Blue Ribbon". The dish, originating in Switzerland, is a cheese stuffed schnitzel or veal. The dish I made started with a frozen entree. using chicken rather than Schnitzel or veal. Everything is ready, but I thought I could raise it to another level...we'll see.

The frozen chicken breast stuffed with Swiss cheese and ham. I thought I could elevate it a bit and that  is why I am calling it Bleu ON Bleu. I added a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss on top of the prepared entree.

As a side dish, I simply steamed some baby broccoli which I topped with a generous amount of butter (to make sure it wasn't too healthy😄)

Results and Conclusions:
I like having something frozen that isn't cooked or microwavable but will save me time when I need it. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey), thinks I didn't need to add the ham and cheese on top. Maybe not, but one can never have too much ham or Swiss Cheese!

Earl Cooks Ramen for Relief

How do you spell relief? R-A-M-E-N. Recently, I needed to consume bland things for a couple of days. Well, I was tired of yogurt and cheese so I reached for something I almost never eat...ramen. To keep it bland, I needed to omit the seasoning packet. My plan was to use just the noodles and make a soup.

...Now what to do to make a sauce? I added condensed cream of celery soup after cooking the noodles in a saucepan. 

Then I added a can of Costco's premium canned chicken.

...Sauce, noodles, chicken. Now for the finish - a runny fried egg  This was enough to feed me well and didn't taste bland!

Earl Cooks Pi Day Pie ℼ

I love the symbolism of Pi Day. A reference to circles, their circumference, and their diameters, it now has become the infinite string of prime numbers and a great way to celebrate Pies, our best circular food! Pizza Pies, Cheesecakes (pies really), Pot Pies, and any food pie you like. This year, I chose to make a chicken pot pie. But as you may know, I don't bake. I thought of making a cast iron skillet strudel, which I have made before, and it is circular, but I had a flash of inspiration (not always a good sign), and thought I would make a Chicken Pot Pie. How, you may ask, can I do that without a lot of mixing and measuring? Tortillas, that's how. I would turn a refrigerated, uncooked, tortilla into a pie crust! It almost worked too! What I did follows.

—I started with just 4 basic ingredients. La Flor uncooked tortillas (2); Trader Joe's Country Potatoes with Haricots Vert (French for green beans), and Wild Mushrooms (all three in single frozen bag); Kirkland Signature Chicken Breast (Costco), and Carrots I had cooked sous vide: and some homemade chicken stock (not shown)


—For equipment I needed just a large frying pan and two disposable pie tins (saved from frozen pies).
—Next I placed a tortila into the bottom of a pie plate and formed the edges up the side as best I could (there was a bit of overlap). I placed the second pie plate inside the tortilla to form a mold of sorts. Then I placed the tortilla into the oven to blind bake the bottom crust so it would be cooked and crisp. I found the tortillas bubbled a bit so I placed a weight inside to prevent further bubbling.
—While the bottom crust was cooking, I put my homemade stock in the frying pan and heated it. Now I opened my frozen potato/bean/mushroom veggies and added them to the stock. Once cooked and reduced, I added my drained chicken to the mix and heated it through (don't use the canning liquid! It will dilute the stock). If your stock is thin or from a can, you may want to add a cornstarch slurry or some flour to thicken it. Then I added my carrots since they were fully cooked, they only needed to heat through.
—Don't forget to remove your pie crust & tins from the oven after just a few minutes. It should be crispy and golden brown. If not, remove the top tin and let it cook a short time more.
—Now the finish! Spoon the filling into the bottom crust and top with another tortilla, cut slits in top to allow steam to evaporate and turn on the broiler to about 375℉. Bake the entire pie for as long as it takes to crisp up the top, just a few minutes.

Results & Conclusions
Here is the completed Pi Day Chicken Pot Pie. The top and the bottom crust did not come together as I would have liked. The filling was good but may have needed more chicken. I have not given up on using tortillas for something more than tacos, burritos & quesadillas, but as a pie crust in this dish they didn't work. But hey, they are round, and it was for Pi day!

Earl Eats Chick-fil-A Fillets

My earliest memories of Chick-fil-A are walking by people in the mall who were offering me tasty samples of waffle fries and chicken to entice me to buy one of their savory fried foods. I will admit that I loved their fries, but didn't often buy their chicken. At that time, I didn't really know what a chicken sandwich was. My chicken came on the bone from the Colonel, or from home. Since that time a lot has changed! The Colonel has passed on and his recipe seems to have gone with him. Kentucky Fried Chicken is now KFC, and the best fried chicken is NOT on the bone, replaced by the ubiquitous chicken strip, the best of which are found at Chick-fil-A.

Some time in the past 35 years, someone thought it would be a good idea to change the Colonel's recipe. Even though KFC rules the fast food market in Asia, it is tough to get a good piece of fried chicken on-the-bone there today. In my opinion Chick-fil-A rules the roost in fried chicken taste & texture and their service is terrific. I don't eat their sandwich, although for years my wife "Turkey" loved them. Then they changed the cheese offerings, and she now eats the strips along with me. She likes their honey-mustard dipping sauce, though I rarely need the sauce, their strips are so tender and tasty.

...And I still love their waffle fries, though I wish they offered fry sauce.

Chick-fil-A has succeeded by focusing on what they started doing and do so well, fried chicken breast fillets. Sure they have added and changed some since their beginnings, but what they bring us is an amplification of the original, not a deviation. And they have some very clever TV and billboard ads too!

As and aside:
The chicken pot pie at KFC keeps me going back there and is something everyone should try, so they haven't totally lost me!

Game Day Goodies & Gathering

I realized, as we all gathered on Super-bowl Sunday, that I was the only one of us that remembers the first Super Bowl. My wife's family barely watched TV, let alone a sporting event on Sunday. My household, on the other hand, was headed by my dad, a real fan. Back then the only way to see professional sports was on TV, except for our minor league baseball team. Which is one reason we always had a very nice TV, in our basement, in the room we called the TV room. It was an unfinished room and if the washer was going, you couldn't hear the TV! The two things that were always on were The Tonight Show, (Carson of course) and any sporting event: Friday night fights, Golf on Saturday, and Sunday for pro football, which later expanded to Monday nights. Don't get me wrong, we watched many more programs...as long as they didn't get in the way of sports. Let me get back to the food...

I have tried to make the Super Bowl an event my Grandboys gather for. I try to have goodies for them and make it a special occasion, even if we hardly watch the game. We don't have favorite teams, so we just hope for a good game, and if not, we ignore it.

Starting with appetizers, my wife, "Turkey", was tasked with making the deviled eggs, which was the ONLY dish everyone ate. I made some Little Smokies which I placed in a crock-pot and then added a raspberry jam with jalapeño. Of course, we had chips and dip.

My favorite kind of chicken is wings. My favorite wings come from Winger's®. Because they are so good, I have never tried to match their quality and flavor...but today is game day and so it's on! I found a recipe from Chef John at Foodwishes.com, which promised crispy wings baked in the oven!
—Start with 2½ to 3 pounds of chicken wings.
— Mix together in a large bowl:

• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp baking powder (aluminum free)

—Coat the wings in the spiced baking powder mix, and bake at 425 F on a wire rack in a baking sheet, turning every 15-20 minutes, until they are browned and crispy. Total cooking time will be about 1 hour, but that depends on the size and the starting temperature of your wings. They will look unappetizing for the the first turn or two. (Also, "Turkey" recommends lining your baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier clean-up).

—I made a sauce from Texas Pete's Wing Sauce, a legacy from my departed mother, to which I added about a cup of brown sugar.

This was about as close as I will come to Winger's-like wings. My one grandboy liked his, but the other grandboy felt it was a bit too spicy for him. My wife peels the skin off of her wings, so she didn't get the full effect of the heat. 

My final contribution was cheddar brats. Shown here with a toasted bun and caramelized onion chips topped, of course, with mustard. I chose to braise the brats first and pan grill them to give them a rich color. I used a hoagie roll rather than a bun. It was delightful. 

I know who won but didn't care much. With my wife, 2 grandboys, and daughter here it was a great evening!

Earl Cooks Chicken Noodle Soup from Leftovers

Growing up, soup always came from the iconic Campbell's can. Chicken Noodle and Tomato were the only two flavors we had on hand with regularity. There were other flavors on the store shelf, but these two were in our cabinet. This was before chunky, stars, and even before Progresso made it to my local store. I had always heard about other flavors, but I don't remember eating them until my teens. Soup wasn't considered a meal, just something that accompanied the REAL food. I now know how little I knew then!

Over the years, I have had many good, homemade soups. But I had a nice chicken carcass leftover from my salt roasted chicken earlier" see Salt Roasted Chicken ", and I just knew it would make a good chicken noodle soup, so I put it in a big stock pot and brought it to a boil. Then I added a variety of veggies such as carrots, onions, celery, beet greens, and some ribs from lettuce. I was going to steep the chicken and veggies for a good long while, to make a great stock and infuse the chicken flavor. I seasoned it all and let it cook! After cooking for a couple of hours, I removed the chicken from the bones, and added rotini noodles and let them cook thoroughly. I had  SOUP!

My bowl was just what I needed. My wife felt it was a bit under-seasoned, and I must admit, I went light on the salt because I had used so much in the original roasted chicken. Too light. This little bird gave us 2 meals. Thanks!

Earl Cooks Chicken Fried Chicken & Country Gravy with Mashed Potatoes

Chicken Fried Chicken with
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

BREADING STATION: Panko Bread Crumbs, Egg
Whites with Milk & Seasoned Flour

I believe you can tell how good a restaurant is by how good their Chicken Fried Steak is. It is not easy to do well, but it is easy to ruin. As a child, I don't remember having, or even knowing, what  chicken fried steak was. Yes, I am calling it CHICKEN fried steak, because that is the one thing I do remember. It was a steak FRIED like one would fry chicken. A tenderized piece of beef, usually cube steak, breaded and fried. Served with creamy mashed potatoes and both covered with a great,  peppery pan gravy. Later restaurants began calling it "country"  fried steak. My guess is that was because so many mistook it for actual chicken! It doesn't matter what you call it, it is tender and crunchy at the same time, or tough and soggy when done wrong.

Skillet with canola oil  heat on medium high
until wisps of smoke appear

For lunch today I didn't have a cube steak, but I did have a chicken cutlet. I have never made Chicken Fried Steak, heck, I have never even made a whole fried chicken, but my wife "a.k.a."Turkey" left me some egg whites she couldn't use from a baking project so I thought they would be the beginnings of my breading process. Since I was breading just the one cutlet, I used some rather deep plates; one with my homemade Panko bread crumbs, one with about 2 egg whites, and the last had seasoned flour. Season this as you would any fried chicken, 11 herbs and spices or whatever. Make sure to mix the seasoning into the flour well. Also add salt and fresh-cracked black pepper to the breast cutlet itself. You can easily make a cutlet by butterflying a chicken breast or pounding it with a mallet between 2 sheets of plastic or storage bags. You can also find cutlets at some stores in the frozen meat section.

Floured Cutlet in hot oil

Dry the cutlet off, then lay it in the the flour making certain both sides get covered.

Chicken Cutlet Nice & Brown

Now dip the floured cutlet in the egg wash, and place in the panko crumbs, covering well. Gently place the coated cutlet into the HOT oil laying it away from you to avoid hot oil back-splash and burning yourself. If the cutlet is thin, as mine was, it won't take long to crisp and brown the first side. You will be able to see the brownness climbing up the side of the cutlet. Grab your tongs and turn it gently over and proceed as you did on the first side. When it its browned on both sides, it's done! I had some leftover creamy gravy so I whipped up some instant mashed potatoes (Idahoan is my preferred brand), and boy this lunch exceeded my expectations! I might try making fried chicken or "Country" fried steak next!
.

Earl Cooks Salt Roasted Chicken & Burns Golden Beets

In keeping with my new resolve to follow more recipes from others to learn from them, rather than "wing" it, I found a recipe for a salt roasted whole chicken from Chef John, Salt-Roasted Chicken – Tastes Like Chicken .
I should point out that I have never roasted a whole chicken. Whole turkeys, yes. This is a different animal - for me.

There are only 2 ingredients for the chicken -  and one was the chicken. I liked that. The other ingredient is kosher salt. This is perfect. but I made a couple of mistakes, which I will tell you about. Let's begin.
—I found whole roast chickens ON SALE for just 77¢/pound! The recipe called for a 3½ to 4-pound bird which was what I brought home. The chef used a nice big skillet, which was stainless steel and oven proof. I didn't have an oven-proof skillet that was big enough...except my 12" cast iron, which turned out to be the perfect size! (One note here: It is nearly impossible to find chicken that has not been "enhanced" with a solution of 10-15%. This is NOT an enhancement, it allows them to sell you a smaller product than you want to pay for or for a price that is deceptively lowered. Enough preaching!)

—I cleaned my bird, making certain I didn't contaminate any wooden surfaces, after removing the giblets. Then I coated it on ALL sides, including the cavity, with kosher salt and placed it in the pan which was coated with oil and a thin layer of salt. I discovered after cooking that I had used too much salt because I didn't follow the recipe and tried my own measuring. (DON'T DO THIS. I love salt, as does my wife, but too much is, well, TOO MUCH!) Now place your bird into a preheated 450℉ oven. Cook it for 50-60 minutes or until the thickest part of the thigh registers 165℉. When you remove it from the oven, it should look something like mine (pictured at the left). Remove your chicken to a platter and cover it with foil while you prepare the lemon/thyme sauce. This became the star of my dish, and I was surprised. I had never tried to make a pan sauce but it was well worth it.

FOR THE SAUCE
—Remove all but about 10% of the fat in the pan and place the pan on a burner set to medium-high. Add thyme leaves to the pan. Heat until wilted.
—Add the juice of 1 lemon to the pan drippings along with ⅓ cup of chicken stock. I found that this was great for scraping up the tasty brown bits (or fond) from the bottom of the pan. Reduce, if necessary, and turn the pan to low. Add 2 tablespoons COLD butter, cut into quarters and stir into the sauce. It will emulsify when stirred. It will be one of the best sauces ever! Spoon the sauce over the chicken and add fresh ground pepper and it will be great...if you didn't use too much salt!

For my portion, I chose the leg/thigh quarter This may have been the juiciest chicken I have ever cooked! I prepared a side dish of Golden Beets, which I OVERCOOKED by mistake making them inedible for my wife, so I ate them all. here is how it SHOULD be done:

If you have never tried Golden Beets, they are great! They have the flavor and texture of regular beets and can be cooked the same, without the deep red color permeating everything.
—Clean by soaking well. The soil seems to cling to them. Remove the greens (save them for another dish or stock). Peel them and slice each beet into 8 wedges.
—I like to place them into a pan and roast them with olive oil and salt and pepper. a splash of balsamic vinegar goes well too, and is a bit reminiscent of pickled beets. You can also roast them with other root veggies such as  parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, and carrots. They would be good mashed too and a healthy alternative to potatoes. They can be boiled or pickled, just like their red counterparts too.

My beets BURNED!

WHAT I DID and DIDN'T Do:
—I used all of the recipe ingredients with no substitutions.
—I roasted it per recipe instructions.
—I made the pan sauce as directed.
—I didn't have any cotton twine so I couldn't tie the legs together, but the bird I bought had been flattened a bit so it would have been difficult anyway.
—I used too much salt! It was the only place I deviated from the recipe, and I shouldn't have. It affected the flavor of the outer part of the bird but the meat was fine.
—I BURNED MY BEETS! I basically forgot about them while finishing the chicken. I know it's just the side dish but we were looking forward to it!
Conclusion:
I will make this again, but I will modify it to use parts rather than a whole bird since it is just two of us.

Earl Cooks Baked Chicken Parmesan from Chef John

Recently I decided I needed to start following some recipes, since I have hundreds I have wanted to eat from years of collecting foods I want to eat. My first shot at this is a recipe from Chef John & All Recipes.com called The Best Parmesan Chicken Bake (link). I will say up front, I did not follow the recipe exactly, but mostly.
—I started with three chicken breast halves flattened to an even, half inch thickness.
—In a 9x13 inch glass baking pan, add olive oil to the bottom and add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic. I have pre-chopped in my fridge, so I use that. On top of the oil & garlic, I place the 3 chicken breasts.
—Next I added chunky Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce from a jar on top of the breasts. Enough to cover. Use plenty to avoid drying out the chicken breast.
—Layer the pasta sauce with ½ cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated. You will need another ½ cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan later for a total of 1 cup mozzarella and ½ cup Parmesan. (Note: The recipe called for fresh basil before the first cheese layer, but I didn't have any. It would have been better with it.).
—Now add the croûtons. Mine were homemade using my wife's homemade bread and seasoned with herbs. Use enough to cover the first layer.
—Now add the reserved cheese. For the final layer I used shaved Parmesan rather than grated.
—In a preheated 350℉ oven, bake until golden brown and chicken is done, about 35 minutes.

I finished by adding Brussels Sprouts, which I roasted  along with the chicken, to the plate and placed the chicken on top of a bed of gluten free rotini. It was all very good.


Results & Conclusions
My modifications to the recipes were minor. I did not have fresh basil, and wished I had. Even dry would have helped. That was my bad. I also used an Italian blend of cheeses rather than straight mozzarella. Next time I will use the mozzarella and Parmesan alone. The cheese tasted fine, but I wished I had a gooier melt. I also used too little sauce. I eyeballed it. DON"T! 

I was surprised how much I liked the gluten-free rotini! It was a gift from my departed mom, which she got on clearance somewhere. Next time, I will go for a more traditional Chicken Parmesan, but the bake will always be an option!

Earl Cooks Chicken Teriyaki & Rice from Freezer to Plate

I have cooked Freezer to Plate meals before. This one interested me because rather than pasta, it had rice as the base. You may remember that the pasta was undercooked in my previous trials so I thought rice might work out better. I sure wish mine looked like the one on the package! I followed package instructions, although I did bake it a bit longer because the breasts were so large my wife thought they may be turkey, not chicken. I assured her they were not but cooked it a bit longer to make certain it cooked through.

In case you don't know, these boxes contain a sauce and in this case, rice with some veggies. They are meant to be used with frozen chicken breasts. They offer 5 different varieties. Pictured is mine after completing the cooking. The chicken is nicely cooked if a bit on the pale side. The sauce slid off the breasts and didn't add any color to the chicken. My challenge here, again, is the starch. Some was cooked and some was crunchy. Again the failing is the side dish. I am going to take their idea and translate it into a recipe where I control the individual cooking of the ingredients. As you can see these breasts are HUGE! This is a 9x12 baking dish, and only 2 breasts fit. I could have sliced them and made them look nicer in the baking dish, but I was kinda hungry. Here is the plated result with butter and fresh cracked pepper added. I should point out that  I was able to make 2 great meals with the leftover chicken which I will post later. I even used the unevenly cooked rice. It could just be my almost 30+-year-old stove. I would recommend you try it and judge for yourself. It is far superior to any microwave solutions you may be tempted to try!

Earl Reviews Arby's Chicken Pepperoni Parm Sandwich

This sandwich takes me back to my high school Junior Prom, though I am not quite sure why. I took my lovely date to a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City for dinner before the dance which was in the Utah State Capitol rotunda. My date wore a beautiful light blue chiffon-like dress. I am sure it was her first time wearing it and after our dining experience, it was probably her last. I ordered Chicken Cacciatore. Why you ask? Because I like chicken and I like spaghetti. I was unsure of the other offerings on the menu because, well, I didn't eat in many Italian restaurants in 1971. So, as I found out, my chicken was covered with a lovely sauce of tomatoes and onions and other great stuff. I don't recall what my date had, but by the time we finished, it didn't matter. I let her get seated and I took the outside in the cozy booth. Let me pause here to comment that my wife thinks I need a bib whenever I eat. She makes me wear an apron when she can so I don't ruin my clothes with grease and other goodies. That may have been the problem. After we finished our meals and were sliding out of the booth my date slid across something red and saucy, leaving a greasy stain on her new gown. Needless to say, she was not willing to dance and show the back of her gown to the entire student-body, so We spent our entire Junior Prom with her back against the wall, not dancing.

...On with the review. I guess the reason this sandwich reminded me of that experience is that it is a chicken breast slathered with a marinara sauce, topped with pepperoni and mozzarella. The breast is deep fried and crispy with a good crunch but not a lot of flavor. It is advertised as a garlic marinara, but I couldn't taste any garlic. The pepperoni was noticeable but not greasy which is good and there wasn't too much sauce so it wasn't very messy.

Conclusion:
The sandwich alone was $5, so not cheap, but it was filling. As far as ordering it again, I prefer Arby's Roast beef sandwiches, although the smoked pork belly is very good.
⭐⭐⭐✰✰

Earl Cooks Creamy Baked Chicken & Swiss

I was searching for something to cook that would fit the ingredients I had and came upon a recipe that sounded perfect. I had just purchased some all-natural boneless & skinless chicken breasts from Sprouts. The ones I selected were HUGE. In addition to fitting my ingredients, I needed a short prep time since I needed to get it done during halftime of the Utah Jazz game. I found a recipe I could make my own on a site called Lil' Luna, a craft/lifestyle site.

Earl Cooks Chicken Philly and Asparagus

Once again, I found something in the frozen food department I wanted to try. Chicken Philly chicken breast. Now I love Philly Cheese-steaks, so I approached this with a bit of trepidation, and I had tried some of the other offerings from Milford Valley and was under impressed. But the Chicken Philly really called to me.

Preparation is very simple, preheat the oven and put it in for 45 minutes and voilà! The main dish is ready. The breast is stuffed with provolone cheese, peppers and onions, but when cooked, only the flavor of the onions and peppers remained, but no chunks or pieces, which made it quite enjoyable actually. The cheese was very melt-y, though can leak out the ends if overcooked. I paired ours with thin asparagus spears coated with Parmesan shavings and roasted along with the breasts. It was a success, and my wife asked to have it again, so if you are looking for a simple dinner, keep them on-hand in the freezer. Next time I may sauté some peppers and onions to go along with them and enrich my Philly experience!

Earl Cooks Meat Department's Asparagus Filled Chicken Breast with Cheese

For some time now, I have been trying to use my own resources rather than rely on that of others in my food preparation. Mostly I do. When I see something I think we would like, I figure out a way to do it and make it my own. Once in a while though, I see something and it calls to me. Such was the case on my first visit to a new market near me called "Honey Bee Produce Company". As it turns out, it is not truly new, because it is owned by Associated Foods, a giant grocery cooperative headquartered in Utah. 'BEE' that as it may, their stores (Macey's, Fresh Market etc.) are some of the best stores I shop at, and have the friendliest, most helpful people working there. In addition, their private label products (Western Family) are always good quality. Their meat is very high quality as is their poultry and seafood. Well back to my story...I saw in their fresh meat case something that caught my eye. A fresh, boneless, skinless chicken breast filled with fresh asparagus spears and cheese ready to cook at home for what I thought was a really good price. I bought 2,  1 for 'Turkey' (my wife) and 1 for myself. I brought it home and cooked it up. I had no instructions but I will detail what I did and it was very good. There are many good recipes for this on the Internet if you are making it from scratch, but I had no guidelines for one where it is partially prepared, so even though it is a breast, I 'winged' it.
Instructions

• Take the assembled breast and asparagus and season on both sides I used seasoned pepper because I was unsure of any seasonings inside the breast
• Into a HOT cast iron skillet, as some EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil). When the Oil shimmers, gently add the breasts to the skillet and turn to medium to BROWN. While the breasts are browning, heat oven to 325°.
• When all is browned, add a TBL of water to the pan, cover, and place in oven to roast for 15-20 minutes or until breasts reach 165° in the center of the thickest part.
• Remove from breasts from oven and from skillet, and allow to rest, covered for 5 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.
• EAT!

Conclusion

This was a very good meal. Next time though, I would add more seasoning and would top with a great Parmesan. I might also create a butter sauce from the pan drippings because Asparagus loves butter.

Earl Cooks Freezer to Plate Lemon Garlic Herb Chicken

While shopping in my local grocery store...by the way, shopping for me means going to almost EVERY aisle because I never know what I may find, I found something new that sort of set me wondering if it was possible. It was a box the claimed to have the ability to make frozen chicken a meal without THAWING!

I buy almost all my chicken fresh, then freeze it, or buy it frozen in those big packages, and almost always forget to DEFROST IT! This happens not because I have a bad memory, but because I never know, until it's too late, what I am going to create. I am trying to get better, but when I don't, I now have an ALLY...Freezer to Plate from a company called The Good Table.

They claim you can take their product, add frozen chicken and a bit of water and voilà-dinner.

I thought I would start with their Lemon Garlic Herb, because I knew my wife liked lemon. It includes Cavatappi Pasta. (Cavatappi is the Italian word for corkscrew), and a foil packet of sauce. That's it!  Pour the dry pasta into the baking dish, add water place chicken breasts on top, pour sauce packet over chicken breasts, cover with foil and bake! You have it, right?
Well maybe. Since I was cooking just 2 breast halves, I didn't need a 9x13 baking dish. Also the chicken turns out pale because it was frozen and covered and there doesn't seem to be enough liquid for the pasta. That said, it tasted really good and the chicken was cooked perfectly(I cooked mine the longer time on the box), my wife liked it and she is not a pasta fan. i will buy it and make it a again, in a smaller baking dish with a dash more water and I am going to try some of their other offerings.