Ending to a great week

As some of you may know, I have been gone for the last 8 days to Las Vegas for work....yes I said for work. lol.  Anyways I have been internet free for most part so there was no updating of my blog but I am back today to share all my fun and adventures however I would like to start with my final two recipes that I made before I left.  :)

First off I made the Herb-Crusted Chicken Piccata.  This recipe was a flattened breaded chicken breast with a lemon zesty sauce drizzled over the top.  I started with 3 boneless skinless chicken breast and cut them in half lengthwise - then I had to flatten them out with a rolling pin.  Once this was completed I had to create a crust for the chicken.  This consisted of italian bread crumbs (or in our case regular ones), garlic powder and pepper.

Once this was put together then I had to press the chicken into this breading mixture on both sides.  

After this was done, I had to melt some butter in the frying pan and and cook the chicken on either side.  Where the chicken was supposed to be flattened it shouldn't have taken much more then a couple of minutes per side, however I didn't quite flatten them like I should have and it took a bit longer.  Once that was done, I set them aside to make the sauce.

The sauce consisted of chicken broth, lemon juice and butter.  I had to whisk this together in the frying pan over low heat for about 1 minute and then spooned it over the chicken.  I ended up cooking some rice and veggies for the side.

 We did enjoy this meal however the chicken was a little overcooked where it wasn't as flat as it should have been and it took me longer to cook it.  Personally I wouldn't add the lemon juice next time as I am not a huge fan of the lemon flavour on foods.  Curtis and I decided that we would rate this a 7 out of 10.

The second and final recipe of the week that I tried was the Crock-Pot Corn Chowder.  I have to admit I didn't actually get to eat this meal however from the rave reviews I got from Curtis I have to say this was most likely the highlight of the week of recipes.

This was quite a simple recipe as all I really had to do was put the ingredients in the slow cooker and then leave it for the day.  There were 5 potatoes, 2 onions chopped, 2 stocks of celery, 2 cans of corn, butter and chicken broth.  I personally don't do well with chopping onions so I used the mini chopper for those and the celery.

 I added all those ingredients to the crock pot and then put it on low for 8-9 hours.

We did think by mid day that the onions may be too overwhelming as the scent was very strong in the house however Curtis did advise me that when he did eat it, it ended up being the perfect amount in it.  Around 4 pm during that day, I got the bright idea to add bacon to the recipe.  I ended up adding about a half a pack of bacon sliced up and mixed.  This did end up taking longer then I expected to cook as I wanted to make sure the bacon was done properly.  Around 7pm, I added a cup of milk and I was supposed to cook it for about another half hour - however I accidentally forgot about this until 10pm when I was in bed :).  Hence why I never got to actually eat the chowder.

The next day Curtis did have it and LOVED it!  I am pretty sure he would have rated this about 9.5 out of 10.  So as you may have guessed, I am looking forward to making this again as I want to try it this time.

As for the Vegas pics, I will definitely share more either later today or tomorrow.  I had a great time and learned lots (as I was there for work) but also had a great time shopping and sight seeing.  Looking forward to sharing more details soon.