Foodie Tutorial Tryout: Chicken Broccoli Bread Braid

Have you seen all of the braided stuffed bread deliciousness happening on Pinterest lately?? I'm not quite sure why, but I'm loving this idea. Delicious carb goodness, no? It's just cool to me that people came up with the idea to shove whatever they want to eat inside bread and then bake it all together. Plus, the braids are pretty!

I keep finding new ideas to try out.

 (Links are to original websites with recipes!)

There's the Ham Breakfast Braid... no longer must I shovel my omlette on my toast and have my husband look at me like I'm crazy!

The Taco Bread Braid... which uses cream cheese. Could be fabulous.

 There's Braided Spaghetti... no need for extra garlic bread! NOM!

And finally, the one that looked really good to me.

 The Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Braid. Because when you put cheese and brocolli together, magic happens. 

So I had to try that one first. Verdict? DELICIOUS. I must now try ALL THE BRAIDS.

I did fiddle the above recipe a bit. I made it even better. Ha. Instead of mayo (blech!) I used ranch. I also used an Italian herb mix instead of just rosemary and put fresh Parmesan cheese and minced garlic in my egg wash. 

So you'll notice I didn't braid my bread. Two reasons.

 1) I had a toddler who was beating my leg with her plastic spoon. It's her way of saying "Feed me!!!" Even though she had just eaten blueberries, string cheese, and some pasta noodles. When there is food about, Sage Muffin will sniff it out and demand a bite. Apparently, I was starving her by making her wait 30 minutes between meals.

2) Whoever said that doing these braids with crescent roll dough was easy must have been entirely too optimistic. The perforations in the doll did not simply "press together." Also, it took two rolls of that stuff. I don't know how anyone could have enough dough using one roll to lay ingredients on and then braid. In the future, I'll use a bread dough.

One other thing I did and you should too. Buy pre-cooked, shredded chicken in the deli section of your grocery store. Because seriously, who has time to cook chicken, shred it, and THEN make dinner!? Not me.

It made a huge loaf and it was soooooo good. Braided (sort of) Breaded Chickeny Cheesy Broccoli goodness. I've also made the Spaghetti Braid, but gave it away as a meal for a family, so I haven't taste tested that one yet. Maybe for next week. I've also heard that if wrapped in foil and plastic wrap correctly, these freeze very well. 

I'm participating in my first freezer food exchange next month and I think this will be one of the three dishes I use. Is it weird I'm excited to do a food exchange? School is only a month away, so I need to start stocking pre-made, easy food now so that my kids don't end up eating hot dogs every night for dinner. 

Let me know if you come across any other braided recipes! I'm obsessed!