St. Patricks Day Dinner with Friends

Chicken en papillote with Mashed Potatoes, 

           Green Pear & Celery Salad,and Chocolate Cupcakes.

                 (oops! forgot to take a picture of the salad)   

Ok, well I really didn't make this whole meal , but I helped.  This is my Mom's recipe which I think is one of her best.  After this has been cooking for about 15 minutes you get this amazing aroma from the kitchen, I can't describe it... it's just wonderful! 

Ribboning the vegetables is the best way to to make this dish.  You can always slice the vegetables on the diagonal which is also very pretty, but make sure whatever you do that they are all the same size so they cook evenly.

After cutting the pieces of parchment into large hearts, place the chicken on one side, add your spices and then start putting on your beautiful vegetables. Then you are going to start closing the packets by crimping the sides all the way around.                                                                                                                     

can you tell my sister loved her new fingernail polish??

Chicken en papillote

                                Boneless skinless Chicken breast                                                                                Salt                                                          

 Pepper

Herbes de Provence

White Balsamic Vinegar 

Carrots 

Zucchini 

                  Parsnips ( a wonderful addition to this meal)

Put the chicken on the parchment paper hearts; sprinkle salt, pepper, and the herbes on the chicken. Wash all the vegetables and peel the root vegetables, then start ribboning using the vegetable peeler.  Add extra virgin olive oil to veggies and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  After you drizzled the chicken with the vinegar, put the vegetables on the chicken and start closing the packets. Put them all on a baking sheet and cook at 400 for about 30 minuets.

 

The chocolate cupcakes are simple. Just use your favorite chocolate cake recipe, and then I use the Wilton Buttercream icing. Sorry Crisco users I don't use any Crisco in my icing, I just substitute it for butter. This is the best icing of all time so I highly recommend using it!! The color, obviously is totally up to you.   I would like to thank my Mom and sister for their gorgeous hand modeling  for this post!