Pan Grilled Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes

Pan Grilled Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes

We eat a lot of chicken in this house. It's by far the most cost effective and versatile meat I can buy, and I'm constantly trying to find new ways to serve it. So far I haven't tired of it, and I do cook other kinds of meat, so you will eventually see variety! In the picture, the potatoes don't look quite like they should because we were hungry, and a little too impatient to wait until the cheese had browned. It still tastes fantastic, though. I prepare the potatoes, and cook the chicken while the potatoes are in the oven so they're done at roughly the same time.
To make this meal:

Chicken:
2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder

Put your pan over medium heat (I use a big pot because our kitchen is cold and the pan loses less heat). Drizzle a little olive oil in the pan and coat the chicken breasts with it. Add seasonings to taste. Cook chicken until browned on both sides and cooked through- 15-20 minutes for me, and I adjust the temperature throughout the cooking to make sure the chicken doesn't get too dark.

Scalloped Potatoes:
5-6 Medium potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin rounds (enough to go in a 9x13 pan)
1/4 Cup Butter
1/4 Cup Flour
1/2-1 tsp Salt
1/4-1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4-1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/4-1/2 tsp Dill
1/4-1/2 tsp Oregano
2 Cups milk
2-3 Cups grated cheese

Boil sliced potatoes until slightly soft, but not falling apart. Drain and pour into 9x13" pan.
While potatoes are boiling, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add flour and spices (I don't measure the spices, just do it to taste), increase heat, and stir until smooth and bubbly. Add milk and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil one minute; sauce will be thicker. Turn off heat. Add half of the cheese to the sauce, stir until melted. Pour sauce over potatoes and stir a little to make sure they're all coated. Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese over the top. Bake in a 350F oven 30-45 minutes or until the top of the cheese is slightly browned. Let sit a few minutes before serving to let it set.

Bagel Chips and Dip

Onion Bagel Chips with Garlic Dill Sour Cream Dip

Ken and I decided to try making bagel chips last night with some leftover onion bagels we had. These chips are great for snacking on or taking to parties. After they're baked, they keep really well in a resealable plastic bag. To make them:

Bagel of your choice (we used onion, and found that one bagel, sliced, fit on one sheet pan)
Butter

Slice bagel in 1/4" rounds, butter and place on sheet pan. Bake at 325F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from sheet pan. Makes 20-24 chips, depending on the size of your bagel.

Dip:
Sour Cream
1-2tsp Garlic Powder
1-2tsp Dill

Stir a few tablespoons of sour cream in a small dish with garlic and dill. You can add the spices to taste, this amount makes enough for one or two bagel's worth of chips.

Baked Acorn Squash

Baked Acorn Squash

Ken picked up a couple of acorn squash from the store the other day, and I needed to do something with them before they went bad. I decided to bake them with butter and brown sugar, which I always find delicious. Here is what I did:

2 Acorn Squash, halved and gutted
Score the flesh with a paring knife (this allows the buttery goodness to soak in and makes it easier to remove after it's cooked)
Spread 1-2 Tbsp room temperature butter on each half (the back of a spoon works well for this)
Pack 2-3 Tbsp brown sugar on each half over the butter
Place halves in a 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350F for 45min to 1 hour. Squash is done when the flesh is soft when a fork is inserted. To serve, I put a squash half in a bowl, run a knife around the outside to separate the flesh a little, and put a bit more brown sugar in the melted butter to make a nice sauce. Leftovers can be covered and refrigerated, then reheated in the microwave or oven.

Dill Potato Rolls

Dill Potato Rolls (knotted)

I have discovered an awesome recipe for potato rolls (by a lady here in Oregon!) on allrecipes.com: click here to see the recipe. The only difference in my recipe is that I add about 2Tbsp of dill to the dry ingredients. You can't really taste the dill; it just gives it more of an aromatic flavor, I think. They still have that potato-bread sweetness to them that I love! I also roll them or tied them into 32 knots instead of the 24 the recipe suggests. It makes slightly over-sized dinner rolls, or small sandwich rolls. I made them for my family's Thanksgiving, and they were a hit. I'll probably be making them more, since they don't take much work.