Day 26- Cream of Anything and Edamame

Tonight for dinner we had my favorite chicken of all time, creamy Italian chicken, if you don't have the recipe you need it! It's pretty simple to make and you make it in the crock pot ( I love my crock pot! and the recipe is at the very bottom). This recipe calls for 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, instead of cream of chicken soup I made a batch of cream of anything soup. It can be used in place of cream of chicken, mushroom, celery, etc. and it is better for you too! I was a little leery that it would change the taste of my dish but it didn't, it tasted the same if not better. The only thing I will change from now on is using 1 cup water per every 1/3 cup to make a can. The directions call for 1 1/4 cup but in my opinion it was too watery.

I wrote all the ingredients and portions for a can on the front so I won't forget

Cream of Anything Soup

 

1 cup non-fat dried milk

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup bouillon (if you have cubes you have to smash up 11 of them)You can use whatever kind you like (ie, beef, veggie)

4 Tablespoons freeze dried minced onions

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon pepper

(For the equivalent of one can of condensed cream soup, mix 1/3 cup dry mix with 1 1/4 cup water. Cook until thick) 

So I guess I didn't read all the directions I just mixed it in a measuring cup, I didn't cook it...so next time I will cook it first and try again with the right amounts of mix and water

This mix came from One Orange Giraffe

 

Edamame is not a veggie I normally cook, actually I had never cooked it until tonight. I made garlic Parmesan edamame and it was pretty yummy. Surprisingly Jorydn LOVED it, and when I say loved I mean she asked for seconds and thirds. Having never cooked it before I was shocked when the picture I saw for the recipe showed all these nice beans in pods sitting on a plate and I read the back of the package and it says in big bold capital letters "PODS NOT EDIBLE. DO NOT EAT THE PODS" what?! I was totally confused, so I called my mom and she didn't know either...then I found a youtube video of a guy making the same recipe I was making. Thank goodness for the internet. You don't eat the pods you just eat the bean inside, which in case you didn't know edamame is soy beans. Unfortunately the pod had all the flavor and the beans didn't. It was really messy getting the beans out of the shell, but once you got them out and mushed them around in the coating they were delicious. I think they would have been better as an appetizer rather than a veggie for dinner. Either way they were yummy and I will make it again. Next time I am going to try steaming the beans longer to see if I can get the shells to soften more.

Garlic Parmesan Edamame

1 (16 oz) pkg frozen edamame in shell
1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped up
1/2 c Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Steam edamame in microwave until slightly warm and not frozen. (Mine came in a steamable bag, but you could also stick it in a ziplock baggie with a little water and steam them that way too) Drain and set aside

In a small food processor, combine olive oil and garlic. Process until well-combined. 

Heat a wok over medium high heat with a little bit of oil in it

Add edamame and toss for a few seconds

Add garlic oil and saute for a minute or two, stirring constantly

Remove from heat and add breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and salt and toss until well coated

Pop the little beans out of the shell and enjoy 

This recipe came from 28 Cooks

Creamy Italian Chicken

4 chicken breast

1 8 oz package of neufchâtel cheese (or cream cheese)

1 pouch of zesty italian dressing mix

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

Place all the ingredients in the crock pot and cook low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

Half way through I usually mush the cream cheese around so it gets all over the chicken breast.

Half hour before you serve it break up the chicken breast and stir it up so the sauce has time to get all over all the pieces.

Serve with noodles...and you will enjoy!