Chicken Bundles

My mother first made this recipe a few years ago from a recipe in a magazine (sorry, it's been too long, we don't remember what magazine and no longer have the original). At the time, I thought the recipe was alright, but not my favorite. However, I had written down the recipe, and thought it might be time to pull it back out. It was time for a new and different chicken recipe, so I thought I'd give it a try. It also uses crescents, which is Derek and I's favorite side to any dish, any time.

When living in an apartment, no one has the luxury to more than a small freezer attached to your fridge. That means buying meat as you need it most of the time. For this recipe, it calls for 4 cups of cooked and cubed chicken. Because meat shrinks when it cooks, I had no idea how much chicken this would be, so I guessed and bought 2.75 lbs of chicken breasts. This worked out to almost 5 cups of raw cut chicken, and although I forgot to measure the cooked chicken, it was proportionate to the rest of the ingredients. I cooked the chicken ahead of time, and then cut it into even smaller pieces so the chicken was smaller than bite-size. If you want a smaller meal, you can use less chicken, but then may have too much of the "sauce."

I also recommend cooking the chicken right before you are ready to put it together. If the chicken was cold and put into the recipe, it might not heat up enough in the oven.

This recipe is easy to throw together, beating cream cheese, sour cream, dill, salt and pepper to make the "sauce." Then you stir in the chicken, a little bit of onion and celery. 

 Tip about celery: my husband and I do not regularly eat celery, and we usually end up wasting a full bag if I only need a little bit. So, I found a more cost-effective and less-wasteful way to buy celery. In Wal-mart, you can buy small packages of celery for on-the-go. Each package equals approx. 2 stalks, and even if I don't use them all, its easier to throw a package into a lunch so it doesn't go to waste.

I then unrolled 2 tube of crescent rolls on a baking sheet (I bought large rolls, hoping I could have 1 left over, but I had no such luck!) But I would suggest spraying the pan before you roll them out to try to prevent sticking. I placed the chicken mixture on the crescents, and then placed the third roll on top.

I folded the sides up and pinched and smoothed the seams together. I then brushed with only about half the butter that was called for. Because my husband and I love crescents so much, I skipped the bread crumbs, afraid it would ruin the crescent taste and texture. 

This is a huge recipe, so cutting it was a bit challenging, but it allowed for huge bites of the chicken creamy mixture, and then huge bites of crescent (YUM!) 

The husband did mention this would be a great meal for a large lunch, like maybe a football game meal or brunch. If you are the kind of person that likes cold pizza, this also might be a great cold lunch meal. But I think it's meat-y enough that it works well for dinner with a side of veggies, too.

I have to say it's much more delicious than it was the first time I had it.

I'm so blessed to have a husband who encourages me to try new things, and challenges my comfort level in the kitchen. Otherwise, I'm sure we'd be bored of plain chicken very quickly!

Chicken Bundles

1 pkg. softened cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream 

1 tsp dill weed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

4 cups chicken, cooked and cubed

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

3 tubes crescent rolls

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, dill, salt and pepper. tie in chicken, onions and celery. Unroll each tube of crescent rolls and roll out like stromboli, rectangle shape. Fill with chicken mixture. Fold sides up and over chicken and pinch to seal. Brush with butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.