.chicken cordon bleu pockets.

I love Chicken Cordon Blue. Traditionally it's a pounded out chicken breast a layer of ham and a slice of swiss cheese all rolled up. Then breaded and baked. I was in the mood to try something a little different and take these three ingredients but wrap them in bread dough.

Recently, another company contacted me asking if I would try their product too. This company is J.B. Dough. They're located in Benton Harbor, Michigan and I have to say, their bread mixes are pretty tasty. You can make them by hand, or using a bread machine, but with this recipe, I used my Kitchen Aid.


Open the package and put the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast packet in warm water. Follow the directions on the package.


Knead out on a floured counter and cover to let rise until almost double. Punch dough down and knead again.


Chop up some slices of ham.


Cut up some swiss cheese.


And then chop up some chicken breasts. You want to cut them into chunks to ensure they're baked thoroughly. If you used whole chicken breast, you run the risk of the bread pocket overbaking and having raw chicken in the middle. Ick.


Divide the dough into 4-6 pieces. You can make some larger and some smaller for kids if you want.

Take each piece and roll out into a circle.


Put some chicken, ham, and swiss cheese in the center. Season well with salt and pepper.


Pull all the edges up into a little pouch and pinch closed.


Turn the pouch upside down so the seam is on the bottom. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam. Repeat until all the dough and filling ingredients are used up.


In a bowl, put one egg and one Tablespoon water. Mix up.


Brush the eggwash on top of each of the bread pouches. Make sure you get as much of the surface as you can. Place the sheet in a 350* oven for about 40-45 minutes. If the tops start browning too much, put a sheet of foil on top.


The tops will be beautifully golden. Pull from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes.


See how yummy that looks. The chicken was so tender and moist. The swiss cheese coated the chicken and ham and the fresh baked bread surrounding it soaked in all of the flavors. A perfect twist on a traditional meal.

Something that would be really awesome? Make these mini sized for parties! I think you'll have people inviting themselves to your get togethers if you start serving these. Enjoy!

.wild rice soup.

Since I've put off the contest to the end of the week, I will still post a recipe.


Last night we had the Bishop from church over for dinner. I feel like I've been horking all sorts of bad things this week so I made salad, soup, and rolls.



Elizabeth, you're going to love me because I know how much you love this soup! My friend Elizabeth, who frequents this blog would always come get a bowl of Wild Rice Soup when I had the bakery but noooo she had to move away. :( It's her favorite. ;) Love you Elizabeth!!! Miss you!!!



Dice 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, and a few stalks of celery.

Grate 1 cup carrots. There are a lot of carrots here. I needed more for the carrot cake. So unless you are making carrot cake like me, don't grate this many. ;)

Heat 3 Tbsp butter in a soup pot over medium high. Throw in the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Sautee for a few minutes.

You want one box of Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice ORIGINAL recipe.

Dump the rice into the pot. Put the seasoning packet off to the side. You'll need that in a minute.

Cut up 1/2 lb ham (about 1 1/2 cups), and 1 1/2 cups turkey. I get my ham and turkey from the deli counter and have them cut it a little thicker than sandwich slices.

After the rice has cooked for a minute, add 5 cups chicken stock (3-4 cans). The rice absorbs a lot of the liquid so you want to make sure you have enough so you have liquid in your bowl when it comes time to eat it!



Kick the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low.



Add the cut up meat.

Remember that seasoning packet that came with the rice? Add about 1 1/2 Tbsp to the soup. Don't add the whole packet. It throws the whole flavor off. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Simmer for about half hour before serving.

To serve: Ladle soup into your bowl. Add a little half and half to your bowl to make it creamy.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_50zprm3ncc