the goose loves chicken pillows

So a few nights ago, Billy and I were going to make chicken with fontina, prosciutto, & mushroom sauce for dinner from one of our Bride & Groom cookbooks. Yum, right? But we didn't have fontina, prosciutto, or mushrooms. Meanwhile, I was casually perusing the blog of the best food-photographer recipe-collector cooker-baker I "know" (I don't really know her, but I wish I did) The Girl Who Ate Everything. On Tuesday, April 5, her post was about these beautiful-looking and strange but still tasty-sounding dinner treats called "Chicken Pillows". YUM. (Be sure to click on the name there, which takes you to her wonderful blog and even more beautiful photos. I mean, when I look at pictures I took of food I made, I think they look tasty, because I remember how tasty the food was. With her pictures, the food looks AWESOME, and I've never even tasted it! She must have a nice camera and/or more-than-hardly-basic photos skills, too! :) But anyways, I had the ingredients on hand, so I whipped up two chicken pillows, one for Billy and one for me. Not so bad looking, right? I probably could have used more light in the photo, but when it comes to finding light or just sitting down to eat, I went with the eating choice...

So Billy's pillow stayed mostly closed up (above). Mine must have been a little over-filled or something, because it sprung a leak. No problem, just more gooey goodness spilling out!

I made slight changes to the recipe, based on what we had, but it came out great. I followed the ingredients for the basic filling, which includes cooked chicken, cream cheese (I used fat-free), sour cream (again I used low-fat), onion, chives, salt, pepper. Then, for heath and for fun (in that order) I added chopped fresh spinach and pesto (premade, from Costco, that stuff is awesome). We're not cooking for kids (yet? hahaha jk) and Billy eats (almost) anything, so I didn't worry about adding things. Also, fat free cream cheese by itself tastes pretty bad, and the consistency is less than awesome. It wouldn't work great for things like bagels or cheesecake. But when mixed in things like this recipe, casseroles, green enchilada sauce, or other things, you really can't tell you're missing the fat. Unless your a fat professional. haha.

Also, I'm not a big gravy person, so I skipped the gravy. This did make Billy gasp in awe, and say something about me being sacriligous or heart-breaking, but to no avail. We had a creamy tomato sauce on hand from a few nights ago (also homemade, and that stuff is awesome) so I used that instead. So I baked up my pillows, topped them with the warmed creamy tomato sauce, threw some parmesan cheese on top, and they came out great! Kind of a puffier take on chicken parmesan...

So overall, thanks Christy (the girl who ate everything) for this awesome recipe. You've inspired me to make pillows out of any cuisine - have you tried breakfast pillows (a filling of fruit?) or mexican pillows (like enchilada/burrito type fillings?) or a quiche pillow (filling of veggies, cheese, eggs)?

The possibilities are endless!