Recipe Review: Paula Deen's Mexican Chicken

Last week, I tried Paula Deen's Mexican Chicken Recipe.  It was circulating all over Pinterest and it looked delicious, easy to make and it's Paula Deen for crying out loud.

Ingredients:

• 1 10 3/4 -ounce can cream of chicken soup
• 1 10 3/4 -ounce can cheddar cheese soup
• 1 10 3/4 -ounce can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 10-ounce can tomatoes
• 1 whole chicken, cooked, boned, and chopped or 4 cups leftover cooked chicken
• 11 1/2-ounce package flour tortillas
• 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the three kinds of soup and the tomatoes. Stir in the chicken.
3. In a greased 13 x 9- inch pan, layer the tortillas and the chicken mixture, beginning and ending with tortillas.
4. Sprinkle the cheese over the casserole and bake for 30 minutes.

THE VERDICT

This recipe makes a lot, so I halved it.  Based on the reviews on Paula's website, I substituted a can of mild Rotel in place of the tomatoes and nacho cheese soup for the cheddar cheese soup.  Apparently, many people complained that the recipe was bland.  I typically try not to make substitutions on the first try, but people were adamant that the recipe was bland.

I didn't like it.  AJ didn't like it.  Casey didn't even want to try it.  I believe the alterations I made actually improved the recipe, and we still didn't like it.  I would have to go with most of the reviewers who said the recipe as written is bland.

There is NOTHING Mexican about this recipe as written.  The addition of tortillas, tomatoes and cheese does not make it Mexican.  As written, it is DEFINITELY not Mexican.  What Mexican recipe has absolutely no spice in it?  No jalapenos, no bell peppers, no cumin.  Nothing.  I tried this recipe based on reviews who all claimed it was good.  I took a leap of faith because sometimes, these simple recipes are a hit.

AJ's exact words were, "Um, Mom?  It is way too cheesy and salty.  I can't eat this."  He didn't even finish chewing.  He just spit it out, cleaned off his plate and re-heated some frozen pre-made taquitos.

My thoughts were, "This has absolutely no flavor."

The recipe is easy to make.  I will give it that.  If you are in a rush, it is a good starting point.  It lacks a true "Mexican" flavor, even with Rotel.  I can't even begin to think how bland this recipe would have been without my substitutions.  

The only thing I can say is it looked good.  It looked appetizing.  It even smelled appetizing.  In the end, it tasted like three cans of soup, shredded chicken with a hint of tortilla and rotel.  It didn't mesh well.  It was over-the-top soupy/salty.  If you like that in-your-face cheesy kind of dish, this might actually be palatable to you.  I thought it just tasted cheap and that isn't really what I like to serve my family.  I was hoping for a diamond and instead I got the lump of coal.

Can this recipe be salvaged?  With A LOT of alteration, I think you can turn this into something palatable.  It lacks spice and doesn't even hint Mexican food to a Texan.  

This was a definite miss by Paula Deen.  Don't be deceived by the good photography.  It was overly salty from the soups, had that entirely fake cheesy taste and just didn't do it for us here in the Bartholow household.  I would not recommend this recipe, even with improving alterations.

Recipe Review: Pioneer Woman's Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

After watching the second episode of The Pioneer Woman's cooking show, the family wanted to try out the lemon blueberry pancakes she made for her son's 7th birthday.

You can find the recipe at her website or on Food Network.

The cons:

The batter was way too thin for my liking, but in the interest of making the recipe AS INTENDED, I did not thicken it.

The pros:

Our family loved it.  The ratio blueberries was perfect for us.  Each scoop of batter yielded about 4-5 blueberries a pancake which is perfect for our family.  We don't enjoy over-doing the fruit in the batter.  As I mentioned, the batter was pretty thin.  This made a crepe-like batter that was actually delightful.  They weren't heavy and sitting like bricks in our stomach.  Instead of syrup, I made a blueberry compote.  I put the remainder of the blueberries in a saucepan with some water and sugar.  No, I didn't measure.  I put enough water up to the top of the berries, but not covering.  I put maybe 1/2 cup of sugar.  I also added the juice of 1/2 lemon.  I let it simmer until most of the liquid evaporated and thickened it up with some cornstarch slurry.  It was almost like a pie filling.  The combination was amazing.  The lemon in the batter wasn't overpowering at all.  It was a nice surprise in the batter.

The verdict:

I will most definitely keep this recipe for special events and weekend meals.  I think I will decrease the amount of liquid to make it less runny and a little less crepe like.  Overall, it is probably my favorite blueberry pancake recipe.  I don't like going "fruit overboard" and this recipe doesn't go all out.