Garlic Chicken and Potatoes AND Chocolate Mousse Torte

A couple weeks ago I made Macaroni and Cheese with Corn Dogs. I had a very heavy feeling in my stomach after that meal. Today's combination was a perfect balance of light and heavy.

I chose to make Garlic Chicken and Potatoes, torn out of the Food Network Magazine and Chocolate Mousse Torte, torn out of the Real Simple Magazine but actually a recipe in an ad for Kraft Foods.

I made the Chocolate Mousse Torte first, seeing that it required 3 hours in the fridge. Here are the ingredients I used:

I used the majority of the recommended items in the ingredients list. I already have squares of Semi Sweet chocolate I had bought from Bulk Barn so, why would I buy more?! Cream Cheese is the other ingredients I chose not to buy name brand. Reason 1: I already had a brick of Great Value cream cheese at home and Reason 2: when I am using cream cheese in combination with other ingredients I think it is rediculous to pay the extra money for the name brand. The Nila wafers required me to go to another store after buying all the other ingredients at another. Oh and FYI I didn't realize that Nila wafers were so small. You will only need to buy one box not two.

Here it is before the INVERT step:

I started out thinking that it was going to be difficult to balance the wafers on their sides around the pan but it wasn't.  Just make sure you are spooning the pudding layer and the cream cheese layer into the center and then working your way out the edges.

After the refrigeration period, I took it out, inverted it and then finished it with 1 cup of cool whip (I did not end up using the entire tub), raspberries and chocolate shavings.

I think it turned out pretty close to the picture.

Now for the Garlic Chicken and Potatoes. Here are the ingredients:

I used the same about of ground cumin instead of seeds.

After taking the picture and reading the recipe over, I realized I forgot this:

The potatoes were easy to put together.

I would suggest either putting more oil on the potatoes or lightly spraying the baking dish with cooking spray. Some of the potatoes stuck to the bottom of the dish.

I set my oven timer to 20 minutes and when it went off I added another 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes I made the garlic mixture. I then took the potatoes out of the oven and added the chicken breasts.

I did make 5 instead of 4 chicken breasts. Only because of the number of people that come over to eat my blog entry dinners. I modified the amount of everything buy adding a quarter more of the asked amount.

I've never really been comfortable knowing exactly when a chicken breast is completely cooked. My husband has to let me know. There must be a trick.

Here is it served. The chicken did not brown like the one on the recipe.

The chocolate torte was very good but I have a problem making desserts not from scratch. So surprisingly I am going to TOSS this recipe.

The garlic chicken and potatoes was also good. The chicken turned out nice and juicy and the potatoes had a nice crispy exterior. Next time I will use more salt and pepper when seasoning both the potatoes and the chicken. I will also reduce the amount of lemon juice in the garlic mixture that is poured onto the chicken. I think that is why my chicken breasts did not brown. I am going to KEEP this recipe. It did not take long to assemble and my body was not feeling heavy afterwards.

Weight Watcher's followers: The Chocolate Torte is 7 points for a sixteenth. I weighed the chicken and the potatoes. 90 grams of chicken and 150 grams of potatoes (including the olive oil and brown sugar) are approximately 8 points.

Basic Pizza Dough & Peanut Butter Pretzel Pops

Yes, I decided to do two recipes again this week. Same reason as last week. If I don't, I fear I will be writing this blog for many years. Which is not a bad thing but I do not know where I will be in a couple years. So, on with the recipes.

The first recipe was torn out of the Food Network Magazine and the second I don't know. It is an ad for a particular brand of pretzels. Which magazine this add was in, I have no idea.

The only ingredient I needed to purchase for the Pizza Dough was the Yeast. This was the second time in my life I have purchased yeast. I bought the individual packaged portions.

I did not buy the "Snyder's" brand of pretzels. I bought No Name. All taste the same to me. I got the candy melts and the lollipop sticks at Bulk Barn.

The Pizza Dough was quite easy to do. I thought about taking a picture of the yeast after it had become foamy but I thought about it as I was pouring it into the well.

I kneaded the dough for about 4 minutes and ended up with with this:

I sliced it in half and placed it in the bowls coated in oil and after an hour and a half it doubled in size.

I tried using a rolling pin to roll it out but after one roll I decided it would be easier to use my fingers to stretch it out to the size of the pan. I added my favourite toppings and into the oven it went.

I baked it at 450 degrees for 18 minutes. It came out beautifully!

I probably could have been more generous with the cheese. The edges looked dry.

Now for the Peanut Butter Pretzel Pops. I mixed  and then froze the peanut butter mixture. Then I started to scoop out the portions for the balls. I made 5 with the bigger scoop and calculated roughly in my head that it would not end up making 20 balls so I switched to the smaller scoop.

I ended up making 29 balls with the smaller scoop.

They went into the freezer for the instructed 15 minutes. Now for the inserting of the lollipop sticks. This is what happened the with the first ball.

In order for this not to happen again, I allowed the balls to thaw slightly and held the ball on each side before inserting the rest of the sticks.

Now for the dipping. There were two casualties. This one ended up in my mouth.

The bowl did not work so I switched to a cup.

You must work fast. If the balls become to soft they will fall off the sticks. Once you get them all done they may look like this.

They then went into the fridge for the chocolate to set. They tasted slightly better after the chocolate set.

I really enjoyed the Pizza Dough. I actually stood and stared at the oven while it cooked. I did it for two reasons to watch the cheese bubble and more importantly to make sure it did not burn. I enjoyed the slight sweetness due to the very small amount of sugar put in the dough. I will need to learn to be more generous with the toppings. I am KEEPing this recipe.

After thinking about the whole process of making the Peanut Butter Pretzel Pops, I would make them again. Other than the lollipop sticks, I usually have all the ingredients on hand and the process was quite simple. These would be great to bring to a party or for a small sweet treat. I will KEEP this recipe.

Weight Watchers followers:
Pizza Dough made two medium sized pizzas, 8 slices each,  4 points / slice (dough only)
Peanut Butter Pretzel Pops = 4 points each

Corn Dogs with Macaroni and Cheese

I did two recipes today. Figured I have a lot of recipes to get through so why not try two.

The Corn Dogs recipe was torn out of the Food Network Magazine and the Macaroni and Cheese recipe was torn out of the Women's World Magazine.

The ingredients for the Macaroni and Cheese were very basic and the only thing I had to go out and buy was a package of Elbow Macaroni.

The ingredients for the Corn Dogs were not as basic and required a stop at Bulk Barn for the Mustard Powder and the Corn Meal.

I was expecting to have seven for dinner so I did 1 1/2 times the recipes for the Macaroni and Cheese and the Corn Dogs.

The assembly of the Macaroni and Cheese was simple. Make sure you mix the sauce ingredients well.

The Corn Dogs were a little more time consuming to prepare. There were no issues when whisking the ingredients together. The issue came when I was supposed to pour the batter into a tall glass. The batter was very thick! On to step two. When heating such a large amount of oil it can be very difficult to regulate the temperature. I will admit I do not have a deep-fry thermometer. I used a candy thermometer. That may have been the cause of all the problems to come. I really do not know. I brought the oil up to the requested temperature, I proceeded to dredge the hot dogs in flour and now onto step three. When reading this recipe I envisioned a hot dogs being nicely coated in a yummy cornmeal batter. That was not the case. The batter being as thick as it was did not want to adhere to the hot dog. Frustrating! My husband took over and tried various techniques to get the batter onto the hot dog. I aided in suggesting to add some more milk to the batter. After getting the batter onto the hot dog we placed it into the oil and the batter expanded and started to fry a lot faster then expected. At this point I was ready to just cut the remainder hot dogs up and add them to the macaroni and cheese.

My husband insisted on figuring it out. He did it and this was what we ended up eating tonight for dinner.

The Macaroni and Cheese was simple to make and unfortunately the taste was simple as well. Perhaps it was because the cheese was only on top. The Corn Dogs tasted really good but because of all the issues with the batter and how stressed I got it's not worth the effort.

Both of these recipes will be TOSSed.

Weight Watcher's Points: Corn Dogs, approximately 8 points each and approximately 8 points for 1 1/2 cups for the Macaroni and Cheese.

French Apple Tart

I chose to do a dessert today. Tis the season for apples.

This recipe was torn out of the Food Network Magazine. My favourite magazine for recipes.

Ingredients for the pastry were easy to assemble. No purchasing required. The 1 1/2 sticks of butter is the same as a 3/4 cup. I cut it up into 12 pieces.

I got to take out my food processor that I have owned for years and have only used three times. I followed the directions on how to make the pastry exactly the way it is written and ended up with this:

The recipe states "knead quickly into a ball". I did not know exactly what that meant so I just brought all of the dough together and tried not to be finicky about the cracks.

While the pastry dough sat in the fridge I assembled the ingredients for the apple portion of the recipe.

A half a stick of butter is the equivalent to a 1/4 cup. I "diced" it up into approximately 24 pieces. I do have rum in my house but not "Calvados" rum so, I used water.

Buy extra apples. I ended up using 5 instead of 4. I did not use the melon ball coring technique they suggested. Instead I quartered the apples and removed the cores with a knife. I wish that apples did not turn brown so fast!

When sprinkling with the sugar, it felt like the sugar never ended. Next time I will try and keep the sugar on the pastry. The next photo is why.

Tip: Stay close by to occasionally spot any air pockets.I almost forgot about that part of the instructions.

Warning: When rotating the pan smoke will exit your oven! So, turn on the exhaust fan or have a book ready to fan the fire alarm off. Also, my oven must be hotter than other ovens. I baked it for 25 minutes before I rotated the pan and then I set the timer for 15 minutes and took it out at about 10 minutes because the edges underneath were very dark. Next time I will start with 15 minutes, rotate the pan and then another 15 minutes.

When it came time to brush the apricot jam onto the apples, it was like deja vu. It never ended. I did not end up using all of it. Probably just over half the amount.

At this point I really wanted a piece. I calculated the Weight Watcher's points and chose to cut it up into 24 pieces.

One piece is 4 points. 

Four very yummy points! I will KEEP this recipe. Varying the fruit is a great alternative or using the recipe for the pastry dough to make turnovers.