cheesy chicken breadstick tacos

I’ll be totally honest.  I love eating together with my kids but I don’t necessarily love cooking with them.  Yup, you’ll see them here on this blog, cooking away and looking really happy…and they really are.  What you don’t see is me in the background, trying to be patient with them as I see them taking double (or triple) the time I would take and making all sorts of messes. So no, I don’t love cooking with them but I continue to do it because I know that they love it and because they’re interested in it and it truly does make them more open to trying things they might not love. It gives them a sense of pride and ownership in the meal we end up sharing together at the table and my hope is that maybe they’ll take some of those skills off to college (unlike me!). My entire life I watched my grandmother and mom cook but I had never really cooked a thing until I starting dating my husband. We were together all the time and over time, it just wasn’t practical to eat out every single meal.  It took me a long time to figure things out in the kitchen and of course I eventually did, but if my kids can get more of the basics down early on, I hope they’ll use those skills when they’re eventually off on their own.

It’s funny – my son, who is 9, tends to naturally want to cook and use the knife while my daughter, who is 6, really enjoys baking and has the necessary temperament to be detailed and patient.  I tell them both not to limit themselves but of course they naturally gravitate towards what they like.  This recipe was going to be something that I let my son do from start to finish but then he abandoned me to play outside with friends but the little one wanted to help and jumped right in!  It did take some more time but already, she’s getting so much more proficient doing these things on her own.  My heart literally swells with love and pride when I see her big smile and then, yes… it is all worth it.

Cheesy Chicken Breadstick Tacos

adapted just slightly from Picky Palate

Note: The only change I really  made was to not make the sour cream dipping sauce. My family tends to not like dips so I knew it’d be flavorful enough for them to eat without!  Visit Picky Palate if you’d be interested in the sour cream dipping sauce (link above)!

Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 20 min | Total time: 30 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup finely shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Old El Paso Taco Seasoning, divided
• 12 ounces prepared pizza dough
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Place chicken and 1 teaspoon Old El Paso Taco Seasoning into a medium mixing bowl, stir to combine. Press your pizza dough into a rectangle filling most of the space on your baking sheet. Top half of dough with cheese then evenly place shredded chicken mixture over cheese. Top with additional cheese and fold dough over filled dough, pressing edges firmly to seal. Doesn’t have to be perfect, just mostly sealed. Sprinkle with an additional 1/2 teaspoon taco seasoning and use a pizza cutter to cut 1 inch “breadstick” strips. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before separating into breadsticks.

bbq chicken french bread pizza

Getting kids involved in the kitchen can be a test of patience mostly for the adult.  Things that take me a few minutes will most likely be doubled or tripled if I have the kids help.   But my kids love helping in the kitchen and like many sources say, kids are more likely to eat what they help prepare.  My weekdays are a bit hectic but on some days, I have just one kid with me at home while the other one is at a practice.  I use that as an opportunity to get some rare one-on-one me with them in the kitchen. This week, my son decided to help me make these bbq chicken french bread pizzas.  He cut the bread, I cooked the chicken and he simply assembled the rest.  My daughter came in right at the tail end, just in time to sprinkle some cheese and all of a sudden it became family cooking time!

My kids started cracking eggs and chopping things with a paring knife at 5 years old.  My son’s been expressing more and more of an interest to cook after watching “Worst Cooks in America”? I’m not familiar with the show but apparently it’s made quite an impression on him! My hope is that we’ll be able to spend a lot more time together in the kitchen this summer.  This was a great weeknight meal!

BBQ Chicken French Bread Pizza

recipe from Damn Delicious

Total Time 25 minutes

Yield 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce, divided
• 1 (1-pound) French bread loaf, cut in half crosswise
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat.
• Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken and 1/4 cup BBQ sauce to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes; set aside.
• Place bread, cut-sides up, onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread remaining 1/4 cup BBQ sauce evenly over the bread slices; top with chicken, red onion and cheeses.
• Place into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheeses have melted.
• Serve immediately, garnished with additional BBQ sauce and cilantro, if desired.