Chicken ala King Cups

I've learned this recipe from my mom.  She used to cook this for us when we're tired of eating chicken adobo and fried chicken. I've updated her recipe a little bit. First, I'm going to share the recipe for the Chicken ala King, then how to make it into cups. It became a Chicken ala King Cups since puff pastry was not readily available before; and we just made use of slices of loaf bread and muffin tray. 

If you're avoiding rice and just limiting yourself to bread, this is the right viand for you. Kids will love this new way of serving food to them. You can even ask your kids to help you in preparing this one. It will be a lot of fun. 

Actually, my son, Joaqui, helped me in preparing the Chicken ala King Cups. He loved grating the cheese, brushing the bread with butter and sprinkling the cheese on top. 

Happy Cooking!

Chicken ala King

Ingredients: 

500 grams chicken breast fillet, cut into cubes

1 big carrot, cubed

2 medium size potatoes, cubed

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup frozen green peas

1 soup pack of Cream of Chicken dissolved in 1 1/2 cups of water or 1 can of Cream of Chicken soup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon canola/olive/vegetable oil 

Procedure:

1. Heat a medium size skillet over medium fire. Once the pan is hot, put the butter and oil. 
2. Saute the garlic and onion until translucent and fragrant. 
3. Add in the chicken breast fillet. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. Once the chicken has changed its color, put the carrots and potatoes in the pan. Saute it for a minute or two. 
5. Pour the dissolved soup in the pan. Mix well. 
6. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. 
7. Add in the frozen green peas and mix well. Turn off the fire. 
8. Set aside. 

Chicken ala King Cups

Ingredients:

1/4 cup melted butter

12 slices of loaf bread

2 cups of cooked Chicken ala King

3/4 cup grated quickmelt cheese

 Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or you may use a toaster). Grease the muffin pan with melted butter (or you may use individual muffin cups if you don't have a muffin pan). 
2. Gently put a bread slice in each muffin hole/cup, making it look like a small pot/flower. 
3. Brush the bread with melted butter. 
4. Scoop the Chicken ala King (use a medium size ice cream scooper or about 2 tablespoons) into the bread slices. 
5. Brush the filling with melted butter. Top it with the grated cheese. 
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes. If you're using the toaster, bake for 5-7 minutes or until the cheese melts. 

Baking as a Therapy

It's not easy writing about this, opening up what my family and I went through two months ago. After suffering a miscarriage in my first trimester, deep sadness overwhelmed me. But life has to move on, for I have a six-year old boy and a husband who are counting on me. As I fight off depression, I turned to a lot of things (reading the bible & other comforting books, interacting with women who suffered miscarriages too, researching about my condition), another one is rediscovering my passion, my love for baking. Actually, I was testing myself if I still find joy in what I've been doing before. And I did!

For this, I decided to bake Sour Cream Breakfast Buns. I wanted to try something different from my new cookbook "The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook" by Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel. 

Baking was my therapy. I've always tried to cook or bake whenever I was really stressed out.  Baking was a stress-reliever for me.  My mind and body were kept busy. I just had to concentrate on the tasks at hand. If my mind wandered off, I would have lost count of how many cups of flour I should put in the batter. If my hands were not steady, I would have added more sugar in the buns. For one whole hour, I did not think about what I've lost.  It kept me mind from negative thoughts. It was bliss. 

With less than a dozen of ingredients, I was able to create something wonderful for my son and relatives. The buns grew in size, the sugar & cinnamon caramelized on top and the pecans became more crisp. My house smelled wonderful. After the tinkering and spending so much energy in the kitchen, I would be happy with the result of my hard work - freshly baked and delicious buns! 

It was a great day! I had a lot of realizations after this "therapy session."

 After baking these delicious buns, I have rediscovered the simple joys of life, like enjoying the fruits of your labor (literally & figuratively),  and began to appreciate once again what our Creator has provided for us abundantly. Just like in cooking/baking, you just have to do with what you have and make the most out of it.

Ingredients:

Buns

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Topping

1 1/3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease muffin pans. 
3. To make the buns: In a medium-size bowl, sift together the flour, the baking powder, and the baking soda. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, on the low speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Mix in the sour cream. Spoon the batter in the muffin cups.
5. To make the topping: In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, the pecans, and the cinnamon. Sprinkle the topping evenly and generously over the buns.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes (for large muffins)/18 minutes (for regular size muffins) or until a cake tester inserted into center of bun comes out clean.

It makes 18 buns.