New Year's Eve Dinner (chicken roulade) & some others (Days 344-351)

It's funny how when I used to work full-time, I would look forward to vacation weeks to have more time to make lavish meals for breakfast, lunch, and especially dinner.  I looked forward to them for other reasons, too, but I'm speaking strictly from a food perspective, here. :) Now that I'm home most of the time, vacation weeks are generally spent eating out a little more or just trying to get out of the house more!  Randy had this past week off so we tried to squeeze as many fun and inexpensive little day trips in as possible.  The sad thing for me was that not a single "planned" thing went the way I planned!  Isn't that the way it always goes?  I started to get down on myself and then wonder why I feel so much pressure to not only have "the most wonderful time" wherever we go out but also to be the most prepared mother on the planet.  I won't get into details of how or why the experiences weren't "perfect."  They weren't awful, either!  We had a great vacation week!  This is not a New Year's resolution thing, but I have been working at "letting go" more and not putting so much pressure on myself.  I'm proud to say that in some areas, I am succeeding at this, though I know I will always be a work in progress. ;)

Here are some of the meals we enjoyed over vacation...

Day 344 (Monday): leftover day
With all the feasting we did over Christmas week, I think I was entitled to a "leftover day!"

Day 345 (Tuesday): carbonara
That recipe is from Day 16!  It was fun for me to go back and read what I wrote about it and how my early posts looked.  Tonight I had my aunt and 2 college-student cousins over for a girls' cooking night.  I taught them how to make this dish as well as their own croutons for a salad and we made our own caesar dressing.  For dessert, we enjoyed sinful mocha brownies.  It was a really fun night!

Abby checking out Santa's workshop at Yankee Candle Village, where we went on Wednesday...

Day 346 (Wednesday, New Year's Eve): jalapeno poppers, homemade salsa & chips, and chicken roulades with mustard-roasted potatoes and balsamic broccoli.
Another night of feasting and entertaining!  For dessert I put out the leftover mocha brownies and ALL of the candy we had received for Christmas--we still had most of it left in our house after New Year's. :(  Who wants free candy?!

New Year's Eve

Chicken Roulades
So this recipe originally is Ann Burrell's from the Food Network.  But she uses Spanish sausage (chorizo) and manchego cheese in hers.  Since those ingredients can be a little harder to find, I swapped them for Italian hot sausage (ground) and fontina cheese.  I think it's slightly more user-friendly this way.  She also has a recipe for a light sauce to go with them but I was a little bit stressed New Year's Eve and forgot to make the sauce.  The chicken was still fantastic!  Here's the recipe written how I made it...

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
1 onion, diced
salt, pepper, pinch of red pepper flakes
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 lb ground hot Italian sausage
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated fontina cheese
1/2 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1 egg
For the breading, you will need flour, an egg, and more breadcrumbs.

"Butterfly" the chicken breasts by slicing through them to open the thickest part like a book.  Pound out the breasts to flatten them even more.  Set aside.

Cheers!

Drizzle some olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the onions with some salt, pepper, and red pepper, until translucent.  Then add the garlic cook for another minute or so.  Add the ground sausage to the pan and cook until thoroughly brown.  Transfer the sausage and onion mixture to a bowl and let it cool slightly.  Add the egg, breadcrumbs, fontina cheese, parsley, and almonds.  Mix well.  Scoop this mixture onto the butterflied chicken breasts and roll them up tightly.  Secure with a toothpick or two.
Set up flour, egg, and breadcrumb bowls for dipping and dip each roulade in the flour first, then the beaten egg, then the breadcrumbs.  Place the breaded roulades in a hot skillet drizzled with olive oil.  Rotate the roulades so they brown on all sides, then transfer to an oven-safe baking sheet.  Bake at 350* for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Day 347 (Thursday--New Year's Day): blueberry crumb cake, broccoli & cheddar soup, and sausage calzones
So today Randy and Marko were working in the upstairs bathroom all day.  When I have men working in the house (and my kitchen is actually functional), I naturally want to keep them fed!  I called them down mid-morning for a blueberry crumb cake snack.  For lunch I made broccoli & cheddar soup in homemade bread bowls.  Then, when all the work was said and done, we had easy sausage calzones and green salads for dinner.  All of these recipes are on my blog and you can find them by following the links above.

Day 348 (Friday): Rainforest Café
Tonight we dined in Burlington at the Rainforest Café!  The kids loved it!  (Once Abby got over the "scary" crocodile in the front of the store/restaurant.)  This was one of our planned vacation events.  So fun!

Day 349 (Saturday): Guys' Night/Leftovers

Randy had his guys' night tonight and the kids and I feasted on some leftovers from the week.  It was still a fun night for me!  For lunch today I stopped and picked up D'Angelo sandwiches.  Randy loves his Thanksgiving toasted sandwich but he only loves it if he gets EXTRA gravy.  Well, they forgot the gravy. :(  And I forgot to double check and make sure there was gravy in the bag.  So, I made him some gravy.  It's really not that hard!  Start with some butter in a skillet over medium heat.  When the butter starts to melt, add the same about (in tablespoons) of flour and cook them together for 1-2 minutes.  Start whisking in chicken broth (1-2 cups, maybe, depending on how much gravy you want)and turn the heat up to high.  Continue whisking vigorously and once the gravy comes to a bubble, reduce the heat to low.  It should be thickening by this point.  Season with salt and pepper.  Voila!  You have gravy.

Day 350 (Sunday): leftovers/Staff Dinner
For Sunday dinner, we had some leftover chicken and I made some rice to go with it.  For supper, the staff at church had dinner at a steakhouse, which was really nice!

Day 351 (Monday): eggplant parmesan
Staying true to our "meatless Mondays" with this vegetarian meal!  The kids devoured it, too!  Yum!

Abby and I at the Rainforest Cafe