Chicken Crescents and bonus dessert! ~9.23.09

I might be exaggerating to say that my life changed quite a bit when I discovered this recipe, but not by much. The entire Costain crew loves these Chicken Crescents and that makes for a very happy momma. They don't even pick out the "red things" anymore! I know that crescent rolls might not be the healthiest of foods, but they are, in fact, the coolest food invention in my book and I depend on them for quick meals/appetizers/desserts often.

The original recipe can be found in the Three Rivers Cookbook III (known in our family as the "blue one") on pg 111.

Ingredients:

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed/shredded (whatever you want)
• 1 Tbsp chopped pimento- I do not stress if I don't have this in the house, optional
• 1/2 red pepper, diced and sauteed
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, diced and sauteed
• 3-4 green onions, chopped and sauteed
• S & P
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 Tbsp chopped parsley

After I preheat the oven to 350 degrees, I start by putting the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and popping them in the microwave a few secs to soften. I mush them together with a fork with the chopped parsley.

Then I saute up the peppers, green onions and mushrooms. I season them with Salt and Pepper, to taste, at this junction, too. The amounts for this vary in my house depending on what I have. The original recipe calls for green pepper (only 1 Tbsp sauteed) and only 2 Tbsp chopped sauteed mushrooms. I use A LOT more than that, prefer red peppers and these are still stellar and filling! Don't they look delish all sauteed up...

And the star of this dinner... most versatile food invention evah... CRESCENT ROLLS! AND I'm not brand specific either. I prefer pillsbury, but I've bought store brand, "wally world" brand and others. Whatever floats your pocketbook's boat, in my opinion. If you are using these, don't forget to snip off the box tops and send them to a school you love!
You'll need to keep these in rectangles. So open the package and put them on a greased or silpat lined baking sheet. Smoosh the perforated edges together to form 4 rectangles.
Now, let's get the filling ready to go...

So, after you sautee the veggies, let them cool for a few in the pan or in a bowl. Then if you need to cut up your chicken, do that now. I almost always use leftover rotisserie chicken for this. However I have poached chicken to use specifically for this recipe and if I do this, I do double and freeze the other half for a day when I need cooked chicken in a recipe. (do you know how to poach chicken? I'll teach you if you'd like... Sarah Moulton taught me, she used to be on Food Network, I've learned a lot from that channel).

Okay, chicken's ready, put it in the bowl with the cream cheese, butter and parsley.
Add your sauteed veggies and the 2 Tbsp of milk. The milk helps it all to go together nice and smooth. It should be creamy looking- you're ready to fill those crescents.
Spoon about a 1/2 cup of the mixture on each crescent (if you have more, save it or open up another can of crescents- I can tell you what to do with "leftover crescents" later).
If only I took pics of this next part- you bring the four corners of the crescent roll together in the middle and twist... can you envision that? I hope so. It will look like a little purse, of sorts.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. You'll want them to look like this... all golden and delicious!

BONUS DESSERT:
If for some reason you have leftover crescent rolls b/c you have more than enough filling... consider yourself lucky!


Grab some chocolate chips or cinnamon chips or butterscotch chips or nutella-- something sweet that melts. And put a little bit in the large end of a crescent triangle. You want to roll it up in a crescent roll shape and make sure that the chips are hidden inside... they may oooze out while baking. Bake for about 9-13 minutes and you'll have chocolate crescents (or whatever flavor you put inside there). Nutella rocks, by the way.

Serve with rice and a salad! Buon Apetito!