Chicken Pillows…

This recipe is a keeper.  I found it at Life as a Lofthouse’s blog, and it’s a fabulous recipe.  You can exchange every ingredient in this recipe for either low-fat or non-fat ingredients (except the dough and chicken :). I didn’t do that, because I was preparing it for my family, and I served it with vegetable sides.  I figured the little extra fat wouldn’t hurt them, and would taste great. :)

I have to get in the habit of taking pictures of my recipes as I make them, like the fancy cooking blogs do.  I always forget, so I just have a final result picture.  These are my Chicken Pillows…

I am going to try my hand at some other variety of pillows in the coming weeks/months. I think these would be great with a small spoonful of mixed vegetables thrown in, as sort of a mini-pot pie pocket.  I’m also going to try some little Chicken Cordon Bleu pockets.  I’ll make them the way the recipe specifies, but I’ll add some diced ham and Swiss cheese to the mix, and then prepare a light Swiss cheese sauce to pour over them instead of the chicken gravy.  I think those would be really good.  I’ll let you know how they go…and I’ll try to take pictures as I make them this time!

In the meantime…here’s the recipe…

Chicken Pillows

4-6 servings

2 cups Chicken, cooked and shredded (I cooked 3-4 chicken breasts and shredded them.  I like my pillows MEATY :)
4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon Butter, softened
1/2 Tablespoon dried Chives
1/2 Tablespoon dried, minced Onion
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1- (8 oz) can Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1 cup Italian Breadcrumbs (I used plain this time because that was all I had. They worked fine, though I’m sure the Italian will add some flavor)

GRAVY: (I just made my gravy with my poultry gravy mix.  I’ll post her recipe for you)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 packet Chicken Gravy mix
3/4 cup Water

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Mix together the softened cream cheese and 1 tablespoon butter. Add in chicken, chives, onion and season with salt and pepper.

Unroll your crescent dough and press together two triangles to create one rectangle. Make sure you press together the perforations well so your filling wont ooze out. You should have 4 rectangles total.

Spoon about 3 tablespoons of chicken mixture into the center of rectangle. Fold each corner over the center of filling. Press together to cover filling entirely. Shape into a ball. Repeat with all rectangles. Once all pillows are formed, dip each into the melted butter, and then coat in breadcrumbs. Shake off excess. Place each coated chicken pillow onto the greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

While chicken pillows are baking, make the chicken gravy. In a small saucepan, mix together the cream of chicken soup, gravy packet and water. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and let simmer and thicken until ready to use.

Pour gravy over each chicken pillow and serve!

Let me know if you try these!

***COOK’S NOTE*** I doubled this recipe thinking these pillows looked small.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THAT.  One per person was PLENTY.  I had four left over!  They are great as leftovers, but I really did not need to double the recipe.  I will not do that in the future.