Marys Kitchen Adventures

Mushroom appetizer and Wings

2010-12-31T10:26:00.005-05:00

I felt like doing something different last night. Supper was my brother Kens buffalo wings, his SUPER GOOD mushroom appetizer. I served celery sticks with ranch dressing and we had some spinache dip served with tortilla's. It was like a mix of appetizers. Since, I'm going back to eating healthy after the new year, I figured I should splurge a little this week. : )

There was another batch of wings cooking when I took this picture.

For the MUSHROOM APPETIZER:
1. Cut up a bunch of portabella mushrooms.
2. Heat up pan and melt butter and olive oil.
3. Cook mushrooms. They should cook for at least 12-15 minutes
4. While cooking add paprika, salt, pepper and garlic
5. When done, add some heavy cream and KIKKOMAN Terriaki BASTE and GLAZE. Just enough to be like a little gravy for the mushrooms.

Serve with toothpicks or eat with a spoon. You can use 1/2 and 1/2 if you don't have cream.

For the WINGS.

1. Buy the party wings, since there smalller
2. Fry them in oil or bake them. It doesn't matter, although some say frying is best if you want your wings nice and crispy
3. Use 50%/%50 KIKKOMAN TERRIAKI BASTE and GLAZE and any kind of hot sauce. My brother says Crystals is the best, but I can't find any around here.
4. Heat up and pour over wings. You can also just pour some into an individual bowl and dip wings in sauce.

Crab Cakes and Broccoli Soup

2010-10-10T12:39:00.008-04:00

The other night, I was watching one of the cooking channels and watched Emeril make some crab cakes. I notice later that he has made many version over the years, but this one really looked good and simple. Here is the recipe. I didn't bother with making the sauce. I ate my crab cake like a sandwich in a big romaine lettuce leaf. It is important to note that it's a loose crab cake, meaning when you flip it over it's a bit on the loose side and that is how it was done when I watched him make it on TV. He even mentioned how it doesn't always have to be neat and they ate the crab cakes with a fork. Here is the crab cake recipe:

I served that with my new favorite VERY EASY to make creamy brocolli soup. I actually got that recipe from Gordan Ramsay. I was bored one night and was watching different cooking videos he has out there. Plus, It was really interesting watching how he cooks and how he trys to teach people to cook. He is really good at making simple dishes taste really good. I heard he entered this into a competition where the other person had like 20 ingredients in there broccoli soup and his was better.

You would NOT believe that the soup is pretty much only 2 ingredients. Brocolli and the water the brocolli was cooked in. However, if you really want to spiff it up - take some goat cheese or cream cheese and put on the bottom of a bowl. Pour hot brocolli soup over it and it will melt into it giving it a yummy creamy texture. Little salt and pepper and even a few drizzles of some olive oil. Recipe is below:

Gordan Ramsay's Broccoli Soup
Ingredients
Water
Salt
Black pepper
2-3 heads of Broccoli very fresh
Olive oil optional, for garnish

Preparation

Cut the florets off the heads of broccoli. Cut the stems into similarly sized pieces. Add all of the broccoli -- florets and stems -- into a pot of rapidly-boiling, salted water (2 tablespoons salt in 5 quarts of water). Cover. Cook 3.5 to 4 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, put the cooked broccoli pieces into a blender. Fill blender about halfway with the cooking liquid. Make sure you use the water the brocolli cooked in. Blend carefully since it's hot. Add more cooking liquid as necessary to achieve the desired consistency. Add some salt and pepper.

Extra Note* Be double careful because when you blend hot liquid and the cover is not on tight - it can make a mess. You could also pulse a few times to get it going first too.

If desired, add cheese (goat cheese or cheddar cheese) to the bottom of the bowl before pouring the soup in. Serve, drizzled with olive oil if desired.

Gravy - A Proud Moment

2010-10-05T22:45:00.008-04:00

I've made decent gravy's in the past. Sometimes it seems like I have good luck and other times, I don't. I haven't been good about taking notes. What really urks me is when I have a decent gravy and than I swear I do the same thing a few months later and it isn't good anymore. Hmmmm. In addition, I'm always inquiring about how people make there gravy and at times, I've watched some videos online watching people make gravy. As with a lot of things, there are many ways to making gravy and it seems everyone has there own way of making it.

Recently I saw one video that really caught my attention. I thought it was good at highlighting some important aspects of making gravy. I had VERY GOOD luck with it today. Here are the basic steps outlined.

1. Cook chicken in oven. In this case, I only cooked 2 chicken legs and I used a very small shallow pan - there wasn't much room in the pan for anything else other than the legs. I just baked them in the oven until done. Prior to putting them in the oven, I used salt, pepper, olive oil and some fresh thyme. There were actually some juices on the bottom of the pan from cooking the chicken. I'm going to try this method when roasting a whole chicken and post the results. Obviously the pan will be bigger and some of the amounts may change.

2. Pour off any grease and juices from pan and take everything out of the pan.
3. Put pan on the stove and turn heat on. Remember my pan was really small and fit on one burner.
4. Put a tablespoon of butter into the pan along with a small spoonful of tomato paste. Mix and let cook a little. It should be a slight orange color. I did sneak in a little of the pan juices back in. I didn't bother trying to separate any fat, since it was such a small amount of pan juices.
5. Add some flour. Enough to suck up the grease. In my case, I added 2 small spoonfuls.
6. Add water or chicken broth. I added homemade chicken broth. I only ended up added a cup. This helps release the drippings on the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil.
7. I let cook on low for a good 5 minutes. I happen to be using my high heat burner so when it's on low - it's definetely higher than a simmer. I didn't mix it constantly, but did keep an eye on it and I mixed often. Usually when I checked on it, it would be at a fair boil.
8. Add a little cream, a tiny butter, salt, pepper, and some thyme. The cream helps smooth it out. The butter will add a nice shean to the gravy and give it more flavor.
9. I also personally added a few drops of gravy master.

I didn't quite fill the entire gravy bowl, but it came close to filling it up.

Here is the video that gave me the inspiration to try this.
My gravy didn't come out that dark, but it came out VERY GOOD and finally thick enough for my likings. Yeah Me!!!!

Video that inspired me.

It's a 3 part series, so you just go to the one before it and the one after it to see the whole thing. I linked to the 2nd part, which was the main part.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2010-09-19T20:20:00.018-04:00

I spend one day concentrating on making the broth. Than the next day, I make the soup. I like spending an entire day concentrating on the broth because the longer you simmer it, the more it will reduce, get darker and become very flavorful.

PART #1/DAY #1:

1. I took a small carcass from the freezer from a bird I roasted in the near past. The birds we buy are small, so the carcass was small. I usually also use some chicken parts. I sometimes will just add left over chicken bones and a few times, I added two legs and two thighs including the chicken.

2. To the pan, I added the following: carrots, onions, parsnips, red onions, celery, chives, 2 bay leaves, 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of peppercorns. You can add anything you want. Sometimes I add Bok Choy and Leeks. Throwing in some fresh herbs if you have them is an excellent idea.
Some people sometimes add cloves and/or Cinnamon Sticks for a different twist.

4. Add water to the pan. I usually fill it close to the 8 quart mark.
5. Bring to a boil. That took awhile. : )
6. Put back down to simmer and cooked with cover on for a good 2 hours.
7. Cooked with cover off for another 3-6 hours. This is where it's suppose to reduce and darken and intensify.
8. Strain, cool off and put in refrigerator. From what I understand, since this broth was cooked for so long - nothing in there has any or much flavor since all the flavor is in the YUMMY BROTH. We are not talking about cooking broth for 2-3 hours, we are talking about a good 6 hours or more. SO after straining everything gets discarded. Some would try to save the chicken and do something with it, but you'd have to mix it with a lot of salsa or mayo for example for it to be any good.

TWO/DAY #2

PART TWO/DAY #2: THE SOUP

1. Take layer of fat off the best I could the next morning.
2. Heated 2 tablespoons of butter and a few tablespoons of oil in a pan.
3. Add chopped onions and let cook for about 5 minutes. Add some salt and pepper.
4. Add some garlic and cook for a minute. I than add my new secret ingredient - 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of tomatoe paste.
5. Chop and peel carrots and potatoes. Add those to the pan. I like to cut everything nice and small. Let cook until carrots and potatoes start feeling tender.

*Note*. Of course peeling and chopping the onions, carrots, and potatoes ahead of time is highly advised.

6. Add broth from the night before. Throw in one peeled and leafy celery.
7. Bring to boil.
8. Once it's boiling - add some pasta if you'd like. I like adding Orzo. Be careful about putting in too much pasta. I have made that mistake many times. It will eat up your broth if you put too much in. Cook as long as it takes for the pasta to be done and your pretty much done at that point.
9. Add some parsley and/or Thyme depending on your tastes and more salt and pepper. 10 You can also add some frozen corn and/or peas toward the end.
11. Lastly, add pre-cooked and chopped chicken. Left over chicken from your roast where the carcass came from would be great. If not, any left over chicken.

You want to add enough broth in step #6 to handle the pasta and all the food, because some of it will reduce from the boiling and the pasta and vegetables will swell a little.

Five spice braised chicken

2010-09-12T18:59:00.003-04:00

This recipe is a BIG keeper. Thanks Chez Pim.
The recipe is served with egg noodles, but I used rice instead. I cooked some rice directly in the juices after taking the chicken out. WOW. My husband said he liked the rice the best. : ). I'm happy that I was able to learn a new way to cook chicken. I didn't have as much chicken as it called for, so I decreased some of the ingredients just a tad.

Recipe here

As you know from previous posts, I'm without a camara. I don't want to not blog at all, so I'll have to come back and post pictures later. The camera I'm interested in is $350.00 and I don't have the money for one right now. I'm hoping family can pool resources together for a combo Birthday/Christmas gift. : )

Mini SpareRibs braised in black bean sauce

2010-09-03T23:04:00.004-04:00

Mini SpareRibs braised in black bean sauce:

I made this prior to a camping trip I went on this summer. Than I just heated up the ribs on the grill and heated up some of the extra sauce in a pan - on the grill.

WoW, this is really good. Strong flavors and the ribs were so good. This is something I would think about making for company. It's really impressive. The only down-fall was it cost a pretty penny to buy the ribs all cut up like that from the butcher.

dragonladykitchen.com where I got this recipe is another website I have on my favorites. I did try her sesame noodles and cooling off with cucumber recipes, which were good. I thought the cucumber was too strong from the soy sauce though. Anyways, back to the ribs. Some-day when I make them again, I'll have to remember to take a picture. For now, my blog is getting too outdated and I'm falling behind with sharing some awesome recipes. So here is my boring picture-less blog entry for Dragon Lady's Mini Spareribs braised in black bean sauce.

I also - tried cooking with black bean sauce for the first time, so that was kind of neat. Bonus: Since I picked up baby bok choy from the farmer this summer - I found another way to use the black bean sauce. See recipe here and very simple and very!! good.

Bonus Recipe:

Chorizo and Chickpea Stew

2010-09-03T22:48:00.005-04:00

I'm really falling behind with posting oh so yummy recipe's on my blog. It doesn't help that my camara died when I dropped it in the river back in July. I've been using my blackberry camara, which actually isn't too bad. Here is a link to a recipe I tried. My husband and I absolutely loved it. Needless to say, we gobbled up this recipe before I got a chance to take any pictures. Of course rushing to eat my supper every night so I can tend to the needs of my kids contributes toward me forgetting to take pictures. I will make this again, so I'll update this later with a picture.

Back to the recipe: When I made this, I also happen to have a real yummy batch of homemade chicken stock, which I'm sure helped make the recipe yummy. I didn't have enough of the homemade chicken stock for what the recipe called for, so I used 1/2 of that and 1/2 broth from the cans.

I also just mixed in bacon (instead of perchuitto) and the hard boiled egg into the entire soup at the end, instead of individually.

Thank you Claire from foodjunta

LINK HERE

I'd also like to note that food junta is one of my new favorite blog sites. I feel comfortable using there site and I've tried a few recipes from the site already.

Each person who contributes tells a nice story, the pictures are great and most of the recipes look really good, some nice and simple too.

mulligatawany

2010-08-03T21:10:00.006-04:00

I went to a farmers market at the beginning of the summer. One lady sold some pre-made meals. I decided to take a small container of her mulligatawany soup home. It was made with goat leg meat and it was very tender. The overall taste of the soup was sooo good. After thinking about it for a long time, yesterday was the day I decided to make it.

You can use any kind of meat, but I used Goat Leg Meat. I bought it from another farmer. It wasn't as tender, but it was still good and the soup came out awesome!! I just love the combination of curry and coconut milk. From what I understand this soup is a type of Anglo-Indian soup. There are many variations of the soup. The back of the container I originally bought from the lady listed out her ingredients except the spices were not listed out. I ended up looking up a few recipes - getting an idea of how it was made - combined a few - and made sure I used all the ingredients that was in the actual recipe I tried. You could even serve it over rice or noodles. I might actually try that with some of the left overs (serve it over rice).

It was a winner and my husband really loved it too. The day before I made the soup I seared the pork leg and than braised it in the oven. I just put some red wine, beef broth and water on the bottom. I made sure I saved the broth for the recipe below.

Mulligatawny

* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
* 1-2 medium onions, chopped (about 2-1/2 cups)
* 1-2 medium sweet potatoes, diced (about 2-1/2 cups)
* 2 garlic cloves, pressed
* 6-3/4 cups chicken and/or goat stock
* 1 can (19 oz.) chickpeas, drained
* 1 cup diced cooked meat (I didn't measure - I used wayyy more than a cup of meat)
* 1 cup coconut milk
* 5 teaspoons curry powder
* 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
* 1 apple, chopped or shredded
* 1/2 cup to a cup of raisins
* garlic
* jalapenos

Directions

1. In a large saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Sauté carrots, onions, potatoes, and garlic until the onions are translucent, 10 minutes.

2. Add the chicken stock and simmer over medium-low heat until the vegetables are soft, 20 minutes more.

3. Stir in chickpeas, apple, chicken, coconut milk, and curry powder and simmer until hot.

4. Mix in the cilantro at the end.

Found a great base Veggie Burger recipe

2010-07-10T13:36:00.006-04:00

OK, took a little while, but I finally found a good Veggie Burger Base recipe. Here is my Veggie Burger making Story!!!

First I tried to follow a recipe for a Quinoa Veggie burger that I found. I couldn't take two bites from it. : (. It just was not good.

In the past, my friend Galya told me she had some good experience with making veggie burgers. She wrote it up on her blog and even referenced my name. I did patiently wait for her to reveal her veggie burger making secrets. : )

The first round of making these veggie burgers didn't work out to well.
I didn't do a good job getting the water out of the zucchini and it turned out to be a disaster. : (.

Than I took a break and a week or so later, I followed the recipe, except I had eggplant instead of zucchini and I shredded a carrot too. I would of tried zucchini again, I just didn't have it. I noticed after shredding the eggplant - that it was also watery, just not as watery as zucchini. I used my potatoe ricer to help me get rid of the water and I made sure I worked real hard at getting the water out the best I could. After it was pressed down to the point where no water was coming out, I would mix it around a little and run it through the potatoe ricer over and over.

The only real change I made was adding 1/3 cup of oat-bran "uncooked". I did still use crackers. I had a variety pack and I think I used about 4 of them. I cooked mine on a pan on top of the stove.

Yummy Yummy. Here is the link to the recipe: VEGGIE BURGER BLOG

The first night I had one as a side dish. Today, I had one for lunch. I made a wonderful sandwich. I used two garden fresh lettuce leaves and in between was the Veggie Patty, 2 slices of pre made bacon, cut up red peppers, and some blue cheese dressing. I followed the dressing recipe on this blog since I had left over blue cheese. Blue Cheese Dressing Blog

I have enough in the refrigerator to make one more sandwich. I'm hoping to get a picture when I make it.

Vegetable Chili

2010-06-24T22:23:00.005-04:00

I told you I had some catching up to do. I recently made some vegetable chili. I got the recipe from my Penzey Spice Magazine that I get every month. This isn't the first time I've posted a recipe from that book. I'm really having some good luck with some of the recipes I'm finding in these magazines. All I did was buy a jar of Penzey spices and every month I get this magazine.

Anyways, here is the recipe. Thanks to Jordan Goldstein who's recipe got posted in the Summer 2010 Penzeys Spices Magazine.

My husband said he liked it a lot better than most meat chili's he's had.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 large celery stalks, sliced
1 medium crrot, diced
1 small red or yellow pepper, diced
1 tablespoon ground ancho chili pepper (I just used regular chili powder)
1-2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tsp oregano
1/2-1 tsp ground chipotle pepper. i used 1-2 peppers from a jar called "chipotle peppers in adobe sauce". Watch out, these are spicy.
1 large or 2 small zucchini's. I used eggplant instead
1 11oz can of corn kernels, rinsed and drained. Or kernels from 3 fresh ears of corn.
1 14 oz can of kidney or black beans, rinsed and drained. I had no corn and I used black beans.
1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes with juice (or 3-4 large tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped)
2-5 tablespoons of water or red wine.

In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and bell pepper and saute until cooked through. sprinkle the spices on. Add the zucchini slices, corn, beans and tomatoes. Add water/wine. Cover and simmer about 20-30 minutes.

Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, or yogurt on top if you desire.

Picture didn't come out too great!!!

Garlic Scape Pesto

2010-06-24T14:46:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago, I had some garlic scapes from the farmers market.

My friend Trina was very nice to send me this wonderful recipe called Garlic Scape Pasta. She shared some of her tips as well. : )
I made it and mixed some of it with pasta. As I mentioned before, I love the site this recipe came from.

Note*, A little sauce goes a long way. I froze some of the sauce for later use.

I also took her recommendation and tried the brown rice pasta made from Tinkyada. My husband is watching his grain/gluten intake and these are great. There better than the whole wheat pasta's you find.

Garlic Scape Pesto recipe:

I grilled up some pork chops, cut them into pieces and added that to the dinner. Chicken will go well with it.

Bean, Kale and Flounder soup

2010-06-24T14:32:00.007-04:00

I belong to a CSA and picked up some Kale this past week. I tried making Kale chips, but was unsuccessful. I than decided to make this. WOW I am so glad I found this. This was yummy and my husband gave it a huge! thumbs up. I broiled some flounder, broke it into pieces and added it to the entire soup.

I also halved the recipe. I only had cherry tomatoes, so I put a whole bunch of them in the food processor. I had white beans, but decided to use a can of black beans instead. I'm so glad I did. My husband loves black beans.

See original recipe for Bean soup with Kale.

Update: I made this again, since I picked up more Kale. I served it at a Beach Party luncheon that I hosted. I live on a Lake and the beach is across the street, so luckily I didn't have to carry the soup too far "LOL". My friends loved it. I didn't add the fish in this time.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Baked Beans and Cole Slaw

2010-06-24T13:34:00.014-04:00

I went all out for fathers day. Had the family over and made Pulled Pork sandwiches, baked beans, and coleslaw all homemade. Served that with corn on the cob as well.

The family gave this meal a pretty big thumbs up. LOL. It is well worth posting.

I bought an 8lb boston butt from Hannaford. I made a dry rub. I rubbed it with vegetable oil and than put the dry rub on. It sat in the Refrigerator for about 8 hours. It is recommended that you let it sit over night. Put rubbed shoulder in a roaster with a rack and into the oven it went (uncovered overnight). Start time was 11pm. Total cooking time was 16 hours. The oven was on 225, however I upped it to 275 around noon time, as it was getting closer to eating time. I also loosely covered it with tin foil the last 5 hours or so. Out of the oven it came, and I shredded away. Put some of the juices from the pan on the stove and boil some of it out. Add at least one bottle of bbq sauce and heat up. Mix shredded pork into the sauce.

On fathers day it was served with onion rolls and plain rolls. Today, I decided to make a little bbq ranch sandwich. As you can see in the picture, I used lettuce leaves instead of bread. Very Yummy. I grated a little cheese on it too.

DRY RUB:

Ingredients
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary powder

These baked beans came out great. I got rave reviews.
I did follow the advise I read about on some other recipe sources - and continued to cook the beans for a total of 6/7 hours. I continued to add more broth or hot water as needed. I never made baked beans from scratch so it was neat seeing the process.

See recipe here: Click here!

**** If you can wait for the pork to register at 190/200 degrees at a long and low heat - the better the pulled pork is suppose to be. It will still be great shredded pork if you take it out early. I took mine out at at 175. Oven times vary based on different conditions. Estimated time frame would be between 10 and 18 hours.

I got a lot of reviews about the cole slaw too. Click HERE for recipe I used.

A HUGE thanks goes out to discusscooking and allrecipes. I have had a long relationship with allrecipes.com. That is the first site I started using for recipes years ago. Although I haven't used them as often as I used to - I have never been disapointed after choosing a recipe from there site. I love the review system they have. I don't think I've talked about it too much in my blog so I figured I'd give thanks on this one. I get a lot of help from people over at discuss cooking. I can't begin to explain how nice these people are and the amazing knowledge they have about food and cooking. They helped me through a few questions I had about making the fathers day meal.

Mediterranean Meatloaf

2010-06-13T20:11:00.008-04:00

This meatloaf recipe is awesome. I really!! enjoyed this tonight. My last few meatloaf attempts have been a little bla. I like to call this Stuffed Mediterranean matloaf.

I did make this once before and remember enjoying it. Of course today I had to experiment and make one change. I added about 2/3 cup of oatbran. The original recipe actually doesn't call for any kind of breadcrumbs or oatbran etc. Personally, I think that is great, especially if your cutting down or not eating grains. I didn't quite have a cup of mushrooms - so I thought it was best to add the oatbran so that it stayed together.

I only used ground turkey for the loaf I made today. For my fillings I peeled some egg plant and threw that in the food processor. To the food processor I also added, a few baby carrots, a boiled egg, and some spanish olives. You can see from the original recipe, you can do what you want for the fillings.

I also put some BBQ sauce on the top before cooking. I'm thinking next time - I might try adding a little bacon and maybe even some cubed cheddar cheese into the mix. Although, more calories when those items are added.

I didn't have 2 lbs of meat - I think I had a little over 1 1/2 lbs. Because of this I only ended up using one egg and less sun-dried tomatoes. I don't think more or less of something in this recipe is that big of a deal.

Once again, Galya has a winner recipe!!! Here is the link to the recipe:

RECIPE HERE

Homemade Turkey/Chicken Pot Pie

2010-05-30T21:25:00.015-04:00

Below you will read about a nice homemade Turkey/Chicken Pot Pie. Also, below is a very quick recipe for a good, easy and not so homemade Turkey/Chicken Pot Pie.

My mother in law gave me a book called Best Recipes from Time-Life Books. There was a recipe called Vermont Chicken Pie. Instead of pie crusts, you just place homemade biscuits on top. There were instructions on poaching a whole chicken, but I didn't follow that portion of the recipe. Instead, I had left overs from a turkey I roasted not too long ago. We froze some of the drippings and the left-over turkey for a few weeks. Eventually, I defrosted everything and used both the turkey and the drippings for the Turkey Pot Pie. Biscuit Recipe also included below!. I have to admit, hubby and I are trying to cut down on grains, so I probably should of left the biscuits out. I would make this in a heart beat with out the biscuits or crust.

Assuming you have fat from the bird, the recipe actually states to drop the reserved chicken fat into a heavy 10 to 12 inch skillet, add 2 tablespoons water, and cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently. When the bits render all there fat, remove the residue with a slotted spoon and discard it. This was another STEP I didn't do, since I never saved the reserved chicken fat. I just added olive oil to the pan and a little of the fat that rises to the top from the drippings we saved. The rest of the instructions are taking exactly from the recipe in the book.

To this 2 tablespoons of butter is added and melted over moderate heat. When foam subsides, stir in 6 tablespoons of flour and mix to a smooth paste with a whisk.

Pour in 2 1/2 cups of turkey or chicken stock, stir constantly - until it comes to a boil. You can use chicken broth from the can of course if you don't have stock. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Salt and Pepper it.

Mix in 1 inch turkey or chicken pieces. I also added frozen peas and corn. Pour all into a baking dish.

The original Vermont Chicken Pie recipe is ONLY the meat. I think it's better to add things though. You could add anything, potatoes, carrots etc. However, since the pie is only cooked in the oven for 1/2 hour, you might want to pre cook your carrots and potatoes. One idea is to saute carrots, potatoes, celery, onions etc. on the stove and add that to the mixture.

BISCUITS:
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt. sift all three ingredients into a large chilled bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into bits and 2 tablespoons of lard, cut into bits. I used crisco instead of lard. With your finger tips, rub the flour mixture and fat together until they look like flakes of coarse meal.

Pour in 1/2 cup cold milk and beat with a wooden spoon until the dough is smooth and can be gathered into a fairly dry, compact ball. If the dough is moist and sticky - add flour one tablespoon at a time.

roll dough, cut dough into 2 inch rounds. You can use the bottom of a glass to make the rounds if you want.

Brush tops with butter. Place them all on top of the chicken pot pie mixture. Bake for 25 minutes 400 degrees.

It was very yummy. I used individual crocks.

If your looking for a VERY easy and yummy pot pie recipe - this is great. It's not exactly homemade though. Take 2 cups of cooked chicken, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1/2 cup of frozen veggies and 1/2 cup of milk. Mix all together and pour into pre-made pie crusts. Cook until done. Not exactly homemade - but I have to admit, it's always a winner in my house.

Lamb Meatball, Orach and Cashew soup

2010-05-14T21:58:00.009-04:00

I haven't updated my blog in awhile. I have either been making recipes that are already located on my blog or just throwing stuff together. Sometimes with the kids, it's easier for me to throw together a quick salad, throw some steaks or burgers on the grill etc. And since I went off my 'eating healthy' lifestyle for awhile, eating out became a bit more frequent.

Today I decided to combine 2 recipes. Penzeys spice magazine had a lamb meatball recipe. I made these and put them into a soup recipe I tried for the first time. The soup is called Orach and cashew soup. I couldn't find Orach so I used spinache instead. My husband and I enjoyed this meal. The soup recipe comes from Galya. You have probably noticed a lot of recipes on my blog come from her. She just has this wonderful way of preparing and cooking healthy, sophisticated foods and at the same time minimal list of ingredients, easy preparation and minimal cooking time.

Click here to see recipe for soup:

The Lamb Meatballs were pretty easy. Here are the steps.

1. 1 lb ground lamb
2. 1 tsp of spearmint or 1-2 TB fresh spearmint. I could only find mint so I used that instead.
3. 1 tsp of lamb seasoning
4. some pepper
5. 1 TB fresh minced parsley.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours to let flavors meld together.

Preheat oven to 375
Heat some oil in a pan.
Form small balls from your mixture and brown on all sides. (total time 5-8 minutes).
Place on Cookie sheet and cook in oven for 10-15 minutes.

You can even make a dipping sauce for the lamb meatballs if you don't put them into a soup like I did. Just chop up 1/4 of a cucumber and mix that with 4oz of plain yogurt or sourcream. Add some fresh parley into the mix when ready to serve.

collection of healthy foods

2010-02-18T17:22:00.013-05:00

I have decided to do a little post briefly discussing and posting links to some very healthy things I've been incorporating into my life. I will than hopefully add more as time goes by. So the list begins. I probably have more, but these are the ones that I can think of for now. A BIG HUGE thank you for the people who have shared these wonderful recipes and have made my life more healthier. I have tried them all and they all get a BIG thumbs up. : )

1. My new favorite salad. Link here: SALAD
Look at Chris’ Cayenne Candied Pecan California Salad under Eat A Salad Everyday.
I actually have used walnuts and sunflower seeds instead of pecans many times.

To continue with the salad sega for a second, I actually made one up today. 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, tuna (which was mixed with a few tablespoons of sour cream, lemon juice and some spices), 1/2 cup cold black beans and a whole bunch of spring lettuce leaves. It was sooo good. : )

2. Here is a list of 10 healthy marinades you can make. Tonight, I'm trying the Tandoori Chicken marindade. It's in the oven now. I plan on trying more of these marinades. Here is the link: MARINADES
You have to scroll down a little to get to the list of marinades.

3. Also from the same site, but different link: Some homemade salad dressings. I have made the Balsamic Vinaigrette a few times. It is is so good and it took like 2 minutes to make. Here is the link: SALAD DRESSINGS

4. A recipe my mom found recently. It comes from Sam the Cooking Guy, her new favorite show.

Warm Cabbage Salad.
Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1/3 to 1/2 cup of any kind of honey dijon dressing

1/2 head of napa cabbage (not the core end) finely shredded - about 6 cups.

1-2 ounces pack 'ready bacon', sliced thin across the strips

8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced

4 ounces crumbled blue cheese

STEPS:

1. Place cabbage in large bowl with cheese on top
2. Saute mushrooms in about a tablespoon of olive oil until quite soft - add bacon. Book both about 3 more minutes, until bacon starts getting crispy.
3. Add dressing to pan
4. Pour mushroom, bacon dressing on the the cabbage and mix well.
5. Season with salt, pepper and serve.

4. I have many!!! lovely recipes from my friend Galya over at http://eatloveandtrain.blogspot.com/

Some of my favorites are:

1. Ricotta Breakfasts: Ricotta Breakfasts

2. Mock bread and Italian Mock bread: Mock Bread. Italian Mock Bread.

3. Banana Bread: Banana Bread

4. Protein Bars. This one is a GREAT one. I can't for some reason find it on the site right now, so here it is, written by Galya. Thanks Galya!!!!

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup oat bran
1 grated apple
1/2 cup berries ( I used aronia/chokeberry here)
2 scoops vanilla protein powder (roughly 50 grams)
1/2 cup nuts
1/4 cup dried fruit (cranberries in this recipe)
3 eggs
2 tsp pumpkin spice

Mix all the ingredients and let them sit for half an hour. Pour in a silicone pan and bake for about 20 minutes at 370F. Cut while still warm, pizza cutters work best in my opinion.

To store, wrap in a wet towel and keep in the fridge.

5. Guacamole Dip

6. Nutty Swiss Chard

Thanks so much Galya!!!!!!

and my last one, that I made up but got the general idea from a forum I was reading:

HEALTHY DESERT:

tablespoon of cocoa powder or however much you want
smooched up banana
tablespoon of coconut oil (actually looks more like a paste or soft butter than oil)
tablespoon of peanut butter or almond butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup of blueberries.
1-2 teaspoons of honey or maple syrup.
1/4 cup chopped nuts (toasted would be best, like hazelnuts)
Mix all together and eat. A little mushy looking, but it's a good sweet treat. I think I left out the nuts, the last time I made it, because it was fairly late at night and I didn't feel like chopping them in my mini chopper and toasting them in the oven.

OK ONE MORE. : ). My new favorite Shake.

1. frozen banana
2. 1-2 tablespoons of almond butter
3. cup of unsweetened almond milk
4. few bunches of baby spinache
5. sometimes sliced strawberries or frozen blueberries
6. Blend!!! Yummy

Red Curry Sauce

2010-02-04T19:16:00.005-05:00

Once again, I'll have to update with pictures at a later time. I do want to continue sharing my favorite recipes, even if don't have pictures of them. : )

This is great. I usually make a stir fry and pour it over the stir fry. Served with rice is always good too. I've made this a bunch of time too. I also have to find the original source that I found this recipe. I found it awhile ago. I was very excited when I first made it, because it really reminds of a sauce I've had at a Thai Restaurant in Salem that I used to go to.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minched, peeled ginger root
1 teaspoon coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
1 1/2 teaspoons of paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 1/4 cups of coconut milk
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

Instructions:
1. heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Saute the garlic and ginger for several minutes, than remove from heat and add the coriander seeds, cumin, paprika, curry paste and cook over low heat for 2 minutes to release oils, stirring constantly.
3. Do not let it burn.
4. Add the coconut milk, tomato paste, soy sauce, and brown sugar.
5. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to ALMOST a boil, stirring constantly. Be careful and don't let it boil or it will separate. Remove from heat and keep warm, or reheat it very gently when ready to use.

Baked Halibut (or TALAPIA) with tomatoes, capers and olive vinaigrette

2010-02-04T19:08:00.005-05:00

This recipe is so awesome. I've made it for company and my husband and I love this supper. The next time I make it, I'll try to take pictures and than update this blog with pictures. I've been making this for years now. It was adaped from Gourmet Magazine.

Baked Haliburt (OR TALAPIA) with tomato, capers, olive vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons of dijon mustard
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
quartered 2/3 cup kalmata olives
2 tablespoons drained capers, rinsed
salt and pepper
1-2 lobs of fish cut into bite size pieces.

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Whisk together lemon juice, and mustard.
3. add oil in a slow stream whisking until emulsified.
4. stir in tomatoes, olives, capers, salt and pepper.
5. Put fish into a glass baking dish and pour everything in with the fish.
6. Cook until finished. Anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.

Kellys healthy pancake recipe

2010-02-04T19:04:00.002-05:00

I think I mentioned in an early board, that I would post my friend Kellys pancake recipe. We all love this. My friend Kelly also has young children, and her family loves it too.

Dry Mix to store:

4 cups of Quick Oats
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup nonfat dry milk
1/4 cup wheat germ or groundflaxseed
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
3 tablespoons baking power
1/2 teaspoon cream tarta (found in spice isle).

When ready to make Pancakes:

1. 2 cups mix that you made above.
2. 2 eggs
3. 1/2 cup olive oil
4. 1 cup water
5. mix alltogether and make pancakes.

You can half the recipe too.

Favorite Holiday Season Deserts.

2010-01-02T20:28:00.003-05:00

The last couple of years, my mother in laws chocolate peanutbutter fudge and a wonderful peppermint bark recipe I found have been our favorites. They have been big hits. I have even made the fudge for the cookie walk at the annual toys and greens sale. Although these will continue to be big hits and I will make them again, this year I made what's called a chocolate salami. It came from a magazine from Hannaford called Fresh - home for the holidays issue. It's a truflle like mixture studded with almonds and cookie crumbs, making it look like salami. The recipe can be halved and it can be frozen. Very simple and a new holiday favorite. Here is the recipe. Also, an added bonus : ). The bark and fudge recipes are also below.

Recipe for Chocolate "Salami"

1 12 pkg semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, sliced
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups vanilla wafer cookies crushed into crumbs
1/3 cup of sliced almonds. I grinded mine up in my mini chopper.

Instructions:
1. melt chocolate using a double boiler or a metal bowl or saucepan that will rest on top of a bottom saucepan. Fill the bottom pan halfway with water. Place chocolate and butter in the top pan. Heat the water over medium low heat. Gently stir the chocolate and butter after about 1 minute. Keep stiring. When it's about 80 percent melted, take off stove and let it continue to melt.
2. stir in vanilla, cookie crumbs and almonds
3. put the pan in the freezer until mixture is slightly firm. 5-10 minutes or so.
4. spray a large sheet of plastic wrap with vegetable cooking spray or use parchment paper (which I did). Spread the chocolate mixture evenly along one long side. Roll to form a log shape about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter and 10 to 12 inches long. Place in freezer until fully firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
5. Remove log from freezer 2 hours before you plan to serve. Cut into slices. You can garnish with strawberries, whipped cream ect. on the side if you want.

Peppermint Bark: Here is another wonderful recipe that I have found and used from Boston Chefs blog over at http://bostonchef.blogspot.com.
The recipe can be found here:

Chocolate PeanutButter Fudge:
1 lb white chocolate
1 lb milk chocolate
16 oz jar of cream peanutbutter

Melt chocolate
stir in peanut butter
pour into 9X13 pan lined with parchment paper and refrigerate.

My mini cooking adventure

2009-12-22T20:31:00.030-05:00

1/20/2010. I thought I'd write some reviews on how my life has been since the freezer cooking days. I have pretty much used up everything I have made. There is one more bag of beef stew, some sauce for spagetti or something like that....and a few calzones left. I can't believe it lasted this long. It was an awesome experience. Of course, we didn't eat from the foods I made every day. During the holidays, we ate at relatives houses, ate out a few times, and many nights I cooked other things that were not on the list (example, roasted a chicken, steak dinner ect.). But it gave us a LOT of meals. I made mexican pizza's and mexican lasagna's with the mexican mixes. Had rolls with dinner. I made spagetti and meatballs, had meatball subs, beef stew dinners, a few bbq chicken dinners (had to make sides). My husband and enjoyed having the breakfast sandwiches for breakfast a bunch of times and I could go on. I'm very satisfied with how this turned out. I will definitely do it again. Just not sure when LOL. Oh and I loved the blackbean mushroom burgers, will be making those again for sure. My husband didn't like them though. Oh and the pancake mix lasted awhile, myself, husband and kids got a bunch of pancake mornings from it.

12/25 5:30pm. Well today I extended some of my freezer cooking. Made chicken noodle soup, some pasta sauce and meatballs. This is the final end!! LOL. Can't really fit anymore in the freezer anyways, as there was stuff in there before I started this project. Took out one of the Chicken Mexican mixes today and just put together a little tortilla lasagna dish (layers of the torn flour tortillas, the mix and cheese. It's in the oven now. Yum. Kids had some of the chicken noodle soup for supper. Before freezing the meatballs and sauce, husband and I had a meatball sub for lunch. I'm going to sit back and enjoy now. Curious to see how much money it might save (might not have to spend as much the next food shopping trip or two) and curious to see how nice it will feel to not have to cook supper some nights or minimal cooking such as making sides. I should of taking pictures of my chicken soup, sauce and meatballs today, but I didn't. Wasn't even thinking of the camara and had 2 kids to take care of too. Luckily they stayed fairly busy playing with new Christmas toys.

12/24 9:20pm. I'm actually thinking I might extend my freezer cooking a little this weekend. Depending on how the kids are. I may try to sneak in some pasta sauce and meatballs, as well as homemade chicken soup. I have some bones and chicken in the freezer that I keep forgetting about. I'm also thinking some Individual Quiche Muffin freezable recipe that I found. We'll see. It really will depend on how the kids are. Today we ate at my dads house since we spent Christmas Eve over there and tomorrow we are eating at my mother and fatherinlaws and my mothers house for Christmas, so nothing I have put into the freezer has been eating yet, except the breakfast burritos. : ). I doubt I'll do it this weekend, but I found what looks to be a VERY nice recipe for freezable homemade pizza pockets or ham and cheese pockets.

12/24 9:05pm. OK Recipe links:

Beef Stew: I already posted before, see Stew

MeatLoaf Muffins: I also already posted before, see Meatloaf Muffins

Dough for pizza or rolls: I posted before, see Dough

Black Bean Mushroom Burgers. I haven't tried them yet, so I can't give a review yet.
See Black Bean Burgers
Thanks Michele over at browneyedbaker.

Mexican Chicken Black Bean Filling: See Mex Chicken
Thanks kate from stolenmomentscooking.com

Sausage and Egg Breakfast Burritos. Click here.

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken. See Zesty Chicken

Will get the pancake mix recipe posted later. Thanks to my friend Kelly for giving it to me.

12/23 3:09pm. After a long needed rest, as I got up at 5:30am this morning, I cleaned most of the kitchen and ahhh I'm all done. Final result. Although, I will learn more as I serve if I figured out the servings correctly. Finally, recipe links will be provided later when I have some time after the kids are in bed.

3 servings of bbq chicken
2 pizza doughs
2 sets of rolls
will figure out how much beef stew servings after I serve dinner
12 breakfast burritos
3 mexican chicken fillings
4 blackbean mushroom burgers
4 servings of meatloaf muffins (it actually makes 12, but there small and hubby ate 5 the first night we had them, I had 2 and for lunch one day had 3 of them).
pancake mix enough to last quite awhile
a nice big chocolate log that I will cut and split up for the grandparents Christmas Eve and Christmas.

12/23 1:pm. Chocolate Logs or the real name Chocolate Salami is done and in the freezor. It has to freeze for awhile, before I can cut it into pieces. Chicken BBQ portioned out for 2 meals, cooling down so I can put it in the freezer. Beef stew still on the stove. Will serve some for supper tonight. Dough portioned out and in the freezer. I'm so tired right now LOL. I will have to rest a little before cleaning the kitchen.

12/23 12:30am. Ok now at this point I'm wondering how people do this for 2 days straight (I've read blogs about people spending 2 days on freezer cooking). OK...Beef Stew is cooking on the stove. That will take a few hours, but all the work is done. Pancake mix has been made. Water is boiling so I can melt the butter and chocolate for the chocolate logs. Getting ready to take the BBQ chicken out of the crockpot and let it cool off, than I'll put at least 2 to 3 servings into separate freezer bags. I'm almost coming to the end of my project, in the kitchen that is. Of course Kitchen is a mess again. Here are some updated pictures.
The ones wrapped in tin foil are the breakfast tortillas I made last night when I got a head start on the project.

12/23 11:30am. I'm back from the store. I'm thinking I might not make the pasta sauce. I have to make 3 chocolate logs for the Christmas visiting I will be doing (moms, dads, mother/father inlaws. I'm still going to make beef stew and the dry pancake mix.

12/23 11:00am. Dough is made, rising now. Everything else so far has been stored in the freezer except the crock pot bbq chicken. I will post links to recipes later. I cleaned a little, had something to eat. I realized I'm missing quick oats for my pancake recipe. I also decided since all has gone well especially with timing, that I will make some beef stew and a small batch of pasta sauce. So I'm heading to the store real quick to pick up a few things. My second bad news of the day for this project is the meatloaf muffins stuck to the pan and appear to be a little dry : (. I'm thinking when the day comes to eat some, I'll moisten it with something "like bbq sauce for example", and reform them somehow before reheating.

12/23 9:30am
Update: Wow, I'm very pleased. I can't believe what I got done in 45 minutes. First the bad news. My food processor broke : (. I couldn't believe it. Had to use my mini choppers and chop things in batches. Arg.
However, the following is done.
1. Meat Loaf Muffins are cooking in the oven.
2. Mexican Chicken & Black Bean filing has been completed.
3. Black Bean Mushroom burgers are done.

I'm feeling a little tired. I need to clean up a little, and take a break. I will make the dough and pancake mix next. I might even tackle some pasta sauce and beef stew. Here are some pictures so far.

12/23 7:30am
Update: Tried the breakfast sandwich. They are WONDERFUL!!!
Got the BBQ Chicken in the crock pot cooking. Two down.
Will start the rest of the adventure around 9am this morning.

12/22

Part I:

Over the course of the last month or so I've been reading some blogs about freezer cooking. They will spend about 1-2 days cooking all day so that they basically don't have to cook for a month. Some of the recipes that seem to be popular for freezer cooking just don't appeal to me. The time involved can be very long and exhausting. I'm pretty busy with Chaunda who is 2 and Chayse who is 3 1/2. Making supper or doing anything can be twice as long if not impossible at times. After further research - I'm starting to realize that the possibilities are endless and I'm finding blogs and recipe sites for freezer cooking that look very delicious. Of course I found these after I came up with what I'm going to make for my mini cooking session.

So about a week ago, I decided I was going to try a mini freezer cooking session. I did some super extra cleaning of the house last week and since Christmas Eve and Christmas is this coming Thursday/Friday - I did my food shopping today instead of toward the end of the week. I will have the house to myself for awhile tomorrow and will make the following.

1. Freezer Breakfast Burritos. (OK...last minute decision tonight, I made these tonight to get them out of the way and to get ahead start)
2. Mexican Chicken & Black Bean filing. Good for 3 meals. Great for taco filliing, served over rice, mexican pizza topping ect.
3. Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue
4. Pumpkin Turkey Meatloaf muffins
5. Black Bean Mushroom Burgers
6. Homemade dough for pizza's and rolls
7. Pancake Mix

I was thinking, I would love to make some beef stew and my simple pasta sauce for 2-4 people as well - but feel I should stick to the 7 items above first and than see where I stand. My mini freezer cooking session won't be so mini anymore. I know I have to be careful, because I have read people spending all morning, all afternoon and half the night finishing there cooking sessions.

My plan so far for tomorrow:

1. take all ingredients out for all recipes. Open any jars that need to be opened. Preheat oven.
2. Get out my food processor and crockpot
3. Put all ingredients for Chicken BBQ in crockpot and turn on.
4. Make the Mexican Chicken and Black Bean filling
5. Make the Black Bean Mushroom Burgers. Maybe try to do #4 and #5 at the same time on different burners.
6. Make the Pumpkin Turkey Meatloaf muffins and put them in the oven.
7. Prepare the pancake mix and make the dough.

I plan on taking some pictures and hopefully blogging about it tomorrow. Of course recipe information/ links will be included : )

pumpkin turkey meatloaf muffins with cranberry glaze

2009-12-19T20:09:00.003-05:00

Here is another recipe that I tried and loved from Cara over at Cara's Cravings. When I saw her recipe for pumpkin turkey meatloaf muffins and the positive reviews she gave, I had to give it a try.

I really enjoyed them. I will definitely make again.

I'm always looking for new ways to cook and serve ground turkey.

pumpkin turkey meatloaf muffins

Anniversary Chicken

2009-12-14T20:24:00.003-05:00

This is a die for dish. My friends used to ask me to make it for them over and over when I would have them over for little dinner party's. For some reason it took me a year to make it for my husband and he couldn't believe it. I remember him saying - it's been a YEAR and you haven't made this yet. He absolutely loves it. I have made it for family members as well. It's just soooo good.

I didn't take any pictures "woops", but will post pics some day when I make it again. I guess I was too hungry and wanted to eat it right away LOL.

The recipe:

I sometimes will omit the scallions - only because I don't have them in the house. I also have used many different types of terriakki sauces from kikkomans terriki baste n glaze to just any ole terriaki sauce I might have in the house. It always turns out fantastic.

Pollo Con Salsa Verde (Chicken with Green Sauce)

2009-12-06T21:12:00.008-05:00

I made this a few weeks ago. It's one of my favorites and it's definitely on my rotation list.

It's by Bert's Kitchen Witch and I got it from recipezaar.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast fillets
1 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter
2 2/3 cups salsa verde (mild green salsa)
1 cup chicken broth
3 garlic cloves (minced fine)
3 tablespoons cilantro (minced fine)
1 fresh jalapeno (seeded and minced)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup sour cream
3-5 green onions (green part chopped)

Sometimes I don't have the green onions and/or the jalapeno in the house. Usually I just use the jarred jalopeno slices if I have it in the house.

I can usually only find green salsa at Hannaford. Market Basket doesn't always seem to carry it. The last time I looked, they had a really hot one that I didn't want.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and black pepper to taste.
Dredge both sides of chicken through the flour, shaking off excess.
Melt the butter over med heat in a large heavy bottomed pot.
Add the chicken and cook over med-high heat turning once, until both sides are well browned, but chicken is not quite cooked through (about 6-7 minutes per side).
Remove chicken from the pot and keep warm.
Pour the chicken broth into the pot and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Place the green salsa, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, and cumin into the pot; bring to a boil.
Just as the sauce begins to boil, reduce the heat to obtain a slow simmer. Add the chicken breasts back into the sauce and spoon sauce over each piece of chicken.
Continue to cook until chicken is cooked through and tender (about 15 minutes).
Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper if desired.
Place chicken on a serving platter and spoon sauce over each piece.
Top each piece of chicken with a heaping tablespoon of sour cream and sprinkle some chopped green onion over the sour cream.

Served over rice is the best.

Recipe also found here: Pollo Con Salsa Verde

I do have one confession. When I made this a few weeks ago, I think I cup up some tomatoes I needed to use. I can see I added something in the picture, and I can't quite remember LOL. As long as you stick to most of the ingredients, subtracting a few or adding a few isn't going to hurt the recipe. The green salsa is KEY!!!. Oh and sourcream in the end is always a nice touch to the taste. : )

I'm not going to tonight, but debating on posting a Turkey Meatloaf I made the other day. It was very actually very good, but wasn't sure if it was oh so good post worthy. I'm still thinking about it.

Beef Stew

2009-12-06T20:57:00.004-05:00

I haven't made beef stew in a long time. I have made many in the past. I don't remember if any really became OH MY I have to make this one again!!. My dad makes a really good one. He uses the McCormicks Beef Stew packets and adds a lot of other stuff.

Today, I found a great homemade one. It is definitely one that I will make again.

The picture is actually when it was half way done. Some or I should say a lot of the sauce evaporates and of course becomes thicker and oh so tasty. I do think next time, I will add a little more broth though. We had plenty of beef stew juices, but the left overs won't have much. Plus leftovers always seem to suck up the juices in the refrigerator.

I got it from ICook4Fun over at My Kitchen Snippets. I halved the recipe and I added a nice spoonful of some chili hot sauce that I have in the house. I also cut the carrots and potatoes a little smaller. I like my chunks to be on the smaller size. Those were the only changes. It came out so good and my husband gave it the thumbs up. Thanks for the recipe!!

You can find it here:

LINK TO RECIPE

Simple pasta sauce for 2-4 people.

2009-11-03T20:58:00.008-05:00

I have to admit, nothing beats my mother and mother-in-laws homemade pasta sauce. Yum!!!

I do however have a little version of tomato sauce of my own that takes about an hour and a half and serves 2-4 people.

Ingredients
1 large can of whole tomatoes
teaspoon of honey
package of turkey sausages or any kind of sausage
basil
salt, pepper
1/4 of a red or green pepper if you have it
1/4 of a large sweet onion
garlic

throw some olive oil in a pan and cook chopped onions for about 8 minutes. Add chopped red or green pepper if you have it.
throw the turkey sausages in. cook until done. Take them out and put aside. Cut them into bite size pieces. I sometimes leave one sausage in the pot.
add the can of whole tomatoes and squish them.
add honey.
let it all come to a boil
take a hand blender and blend
add salt, pepper, garlic and basil. I sometimes throw in a little red wine if I have it.
let simmer for an hour with cover on most of the way. should leave an opening for the steam to get out. Last 20 minutes or so, add the cut up sausages back in. My husband and I really enjoy this.

For link to see handblender click here:

Crushed Pepper Chicken

2009-11-03T20:36:00.006-05:00

I haven't blogged in a little while. Kids keeping me busy and have been too tired. I have been throwing together a lot of quick things, example tonight was pork marinaded in Lawreys Marinade and some couscous mixed with spinache and sundried tomatoes.

Last week I cooked a favorite of ours. I used to work with this young lady named Kelly. I said to her one day, I need a new and easy recipe. She told me about this and it's been on our rotation of recipes ever since. This was a few years ago at least.

Ingredients
wet crushed peppers
chicken (salt and pepper the chicken)
worcestershire sauce
cinnamon
butter
tomato sauce

Put about 3-4 tablespoons of butter in pan and melt.
Add about 3-4 tablespoons of the crushed peppers.
Put chicken into the pan. I use 2-3 chicken breasts cut in half length wise so there on the thinner side.
sprinkle generous amount of cinnamon and some worcestershire sauce on top of the chicken
mix just a little tomato sauce in - just a little - I think 1/4 cup should be good. I don't usually measure.
Cook until done. I usually simmer or cook on low.

Zucchini Noodles with Shrimp and Goat Cheese

2009-10-23T20:06:00.012-04:00

I knew when I first saw this recipe that it would be a big hit. I've made dishes in the past with similar ingredients usually with pasta. My husband and I both loved this dish. It came from Cara over at carascravings.
Simple and easy to make. I love simple yet wonderful recipes.

Recipe found here:

I made my greek pasta and shrimp dish recently, so I had about 1/2 lb of shrimp in the freezor. I also bought some goat cheese when I went grocery shopping yesterday...thinking I'd think of something to make that includes goat cheese, such as omelets or this wonderful little chicken or pork dish that I make that uses it. I love goat cheese. I ran out today and got some zucchinni and had my husband pick up some fresh basil. In this dish, I put the cheese in the pan at the end and let it melt and blend with all the ingredients. yummmmm

I can't post a picture of the final product because the pictures came out to blurry. The cheap money I paid for a digital camara lately is probably why.

This will definetely be made again.

I wasn't sure if diced tomatoes meant from a can or diced real tomatoes. I ended up dicing about a cup of roma tomatoes and than filled the cup with some tomato juice from a can of whole tomatoes. I also got a little tired of using my little lemon zester to get the zucchini into strips so after I was half way done, I just used my big cheese grator. It's definitely worth using the zestor for at least half of it. I did use about an oz of goat cheese, although I didn't measure and I think it was a little bit more than an oz. I used 1 small to medium size zucchini. My only regret is the shrimp. I had less than 1/2lb and it would of been even more delightful to have more shrimp in the dish.

My final thought on this is the zucchini. I had prepared the zucchini ahead of time so I wouldn't have to grate or zest the zucchini into strips when it was time to cook. Especially with my 2 yr old and 3 yr old to take care of. After sitting for awhile, the bottom of the bowl had water in it from the zucchini. I didn't end up using all the zucchini as I didn't want it to take over the dish too much and didn't use the water on the bottom of the bowl. I wonder if I should have used my potatoe ricer to drain the water out of the zucchini. Well never the less, this was soooo good and creamy and tasty and oh I could go on.

Thank you sooo much Cara.

It didn't end up being a complete carbless meal though LOL. I made a batch of my pizza/calzone/rolls dough and made some rolls to go with it. Pizza dough recipe.
I posted and raved about this dough recipe in an earlier post on my site.

Homemade Tortilla chips

2009-10-18T19:58:00.012-04:00

I can't believe how easy it is to make home made tortilla chips. Cut corn tortilla's into fourths and fry in oil for approximately 4 minutes. Turn them about 1/2 way. I found 3 to 3 1/2 minutes worked better for me. Take them out, put them on paper towels and throw into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt.

They are great and work the best when making a nacho supreme snack. They are strong and hold everything really well - aka they don't break.

I got this idea from Nick at his macheesmo site. Thanks Nick. I didn't quite follow how he made the nacho supreme. I just followed his advise on making homemade Tortilla chips. I just put the following in order on mine. Guacamole, ground turkey, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. I found the ground turkey stuck really well on top of the Guacamole and heard salsa can make chips less soggy if not put as one of the last ingredients. I did cook the ground turkey with a little taco seasoning on the stove first. It would be best if the guacamole, salsa and sourcream were warmed up a little before making, but I didn't do that. It was put into the oven at 350 for about 7 minutes. The cheese melts fast, so keep checking.

Homemade tortilla chips can be found here:

Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast

2009-10-16T19:47:00.007-04:00

Wow I'm slacking this week with pictures. So busy at supper time especially with the kids. I have been making this meal for many years now. My husband loves it. It's so easy. I found the 7 bone chuck roast comes out the best!!!. All you need is the 7 bone chuck steak, can of jellied or whole cranberries and a package of lipton onion soup mix. My friend Sue tried this tonight for the first time and her and her family loved it.

I got this recipe years ago off allrecipes.com. Sometimes I make the gravy by thickening the juices as explained - but usually we just use the juices right from the crockpot. I have many tnt recipes from allrecipes.com. I love that site especially with all the reviews you can read.

Recipe link: Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast.

ground turkey tacos

2009-10-15T21:18:00.006-04:00

This is one of our favorite taco meals. Simple, but good.
I've made it many times. Serve it with sour cream, salsa and shredded cheese.

3/4 to 1 pound ground turkey
3 green onions including the tops sliced
1 package (1 ounce size) dry taco spices and seasonings
a little water
A whole bunch spinach
2 carrots peeled and shredded

Cook and serve on tortilla's or pita rounds. I usually start cooking the turkey, than I move it to the sides of the pan and start cooking the carrots and onions. I let that cook and than I throw in the spinach and cook that for a few minutes. I mix it all together and than I add the taco seasoning and some water.

It wasn't quite done yet, but here it is in the pan almost ready to be made into yummy tacos. Sorry for the lack of pictures in the last couple blogs. Stay tuned for our very favorite Slow Cooker Cranberry 7 bone chuck roast meal. I will be making it tomorrow.

Simplest Roast Chicken

2009-10-15T21:05:00.003-04:00

I did already post a Roast Chicken recipe on my blog, but thought I'd give this a try. I got it from Thibeault's Table blog. She got it from Barbara Kafka's "Roasting, A simple Art" Cookbook. I read rave reviews about it on her site as well as other sites.

It's basically high heat method of roasting. 500 degree oven, 1 hour and done.

See here for more details. My husband and I loved it. My husband said it was one of his favorite chicken meals. Served it with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy. I do sometimes brine my bird before cooking, I bet it would come out even better if I did. Sorry no pictures for this one. I did not have time.

French Omelette

2009-10-13T11:55:00.011-04:00

I feel silly blogging about an omelette, I mean how hard can it be? I never thought my omelettes were anything special, good - but not great.

Until I came across Julia Childs video on making a French Omelette. I even went searching at Walmart for just the right pan that would do the job as she explains. I love my omelets now. LOL

This one has sharp cheddar cheese that I shredded, diced ham and a few cut up mushroom pieces. Onions and possibly a few other items should be cooked ahead of time, but most everything else will just cook from the heat of the omelette. The video stops after Julia shows a french omelette with no fillings, but these are just added right after you let it set a little and after the first initial shakes of the pan. The ovens have obviously changed since than as I could never use the highest setting on my stove or it will burn in seconds lol, but I did have it as high as I thought it should be knowing my stove.

Her video:
Maybe next omelette creation will be spanish, its made with potatoes, oil, onions, and eggs and is very!!! different and made differently from the French omelette.

fffff

Marys Greek Pasta and Shrimp dish

2009-10-11T15:51:00.009-04:00

Here is the long overdue Greek Pasta and Shrimp dish that I created years ago. It's one of my husbands favorite meals and many family members and friends have had this. It serves two, but its easy to make more for more servings. Actually this always gives us a little left overs, but not much. I don't usually measure with this recipe, so it was hard trying to figure out exacts.

Ingredients:
2-3 large portabella mushrooms
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup kalmata olives
3 tablespoons of kalmata olive juice
feta cheese
garlic
1/2 lb to 3/4 lb medium size shrimp.
salt,pepper, paprika
olive oil
1/2 lb spaghetti

Instructions:

*before following instructions below, start boiling water so you can throw the pasta in once the water is boiling.

1. heat butter in pan.
2. add olive oil - a few tablespoons
3. break mushrooms into bite size pieces and throw into pan.
4. add salt, pepper and paprika. if using garlic powder, add this too.
5. cook for a good 12 minutes
6. Add olives, the juice from the olives and lemon juice. Olives should be broken into pieces before measuring. You can add more too if you wish. Of course juice from real lemons would be great, but I didn't have real lemons in the house.
7. Let cook for a few minutes. If using real garlic, throw a little water in the pan and add the garlic. Actually if pan seems a little dry, add about 1/4 cup of water anyways.
8. add the shrimp. If precooked - only let cook 3 minutes. If the shrimp isn't cooked, cook for about 8 minutes. You can throw in about 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice on the shrimp and toss some paprika over them too.
9. drain pasta. Throw pasta back into pan it was cooked in. Add an extra tablespoon or two of olive oil, extra virgin that is.
10. Add the shrimp/mushroom mixture.
11. Add lots of feta cheese - mix and enjoy

This is the basic recipe. I sometimes add spinache and have even added quartered cherry tomatoes. We love the basic recipe so I did that today.

Street Tacos

2009-10-03T19:00:00.023-04:00

You would think that with all the recipes I've collected and tried over the years that I wouldn't always be on the lookout for new ones LOL.

I thought I'd try a different way to serve taco's. I think I still love the American ground beef, seasoned with one of those taco envelopes, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, taco sauce the best. : )

But, I tried these simple street tacos and served it with a refried bean dip and Corn Chips. The dip was refried beans, sourcream and salsa mixed together. I wanted to make an avocado dip, but the avocados were not ripe yet.

I got the idea for the tacos from Kate over at aspoonfulofthyme blog. They first had these taco's in Rosarito, Mexico and I have heard it's pretty common to buy street taco's all over Mexico.

It is just thinly sliced skirt steak, seasoned, cooked and served with fresh cilantro, onions, and salsa. All served on warm tortilla's. I've also read resources recommending marinading skirt steak before cooking.

Thank you Kate for the idea. See here for her nice description/experience with street tacos.

Yogurt Waffles and homemade Blueberry syrup

2009-10-02T09:13:00.009-04:00

Last night I was looking online for a healthy version of homemade waffles. I came across this and gave it a try this morning. They were pretty good. Unfortanately, I only had white flour, but don't see any reason why whole wheat flour will make any differences in taste. I will definitely try it with the whole wheat flour the next time. I like the fact that it has yogurt and oatbran in it. I love oatbran and I use it a lot. The picture didn't come out that great - dang camara. ; )

Recipe found here:

I also made a quick version of homemade blueberry syrup using fresh blueberries. You can get all fancy with this using sterile jars, mesh strainers ect. I didn't get all fancy though - too time consuming with kiddos around.

Homemade Blueberry Syrup

* 1 cup sugar or try 1/2 cup of frozen concentrated fruit juice (grape, peach, apple or mixed)
* 1 cup water
* 12 oz. blueberries (either fresh or frozen)
* 2 tbsp honey
* The juice of 1/2 lemon

Combine sugar and water in a 3 quart saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is completely dissolved. Add blueberries and honey. Increase heat to medium and bring to a simmer for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, stir in lemon juice and allow to reduce for approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Syrup may be served warm or at room temperature. It will thicken noticeably the cooler it becomes.

If desired, strain out blueberries using a fine wire-mesh strainer before serving.

Note* you might have to simmer longer if you want it thicker. You can always try blending it all when done/cooled and than put back on stove, bring to boil and simmer to thicken.

Spicy Orange Chicken over Fried Rice

2009-09-30T17:49:00.009-04:00

This Spicy Orange Chicken over Fried Rice comes from Rebekah over at workingwifedinners blog. I found it about 6 months ago.

I absolutely love this meal. I try to do as much as I can ahead of time to make it easier come time for cooking. I used 1 egg instead of egg whites and just used shredded carrot for the veggie in the rice stir fry. I didn't have green pepper and husband isn't a huge fan of green, so I used red. If I'm lazy or don't have much time, I'll just serve the chicken over cooked rice. Real ginger is best, but if you have to use ground ginger, than use between 1/4 and 1/2 of a teaspoon.

I'm not entirely sure what it means by chilli, but I just use chilli sauce, the kind some people use for kielbasa in a crockpot recipe. I would say this recipe isn't spicy as in hot to your mouth spicy. It definitely has more flavor in it if you use real ginger. I should probably find out what it means when it calls for chili.

I will continue to make this again and again. The chicken came out so tender. Of course you don't want to cook it for too long and risk over cooking the chicken. The last step calls for cooking/simmering the chicken in the sauce mixture until done. Any time you finish chicken by simmering it in a liquid combination, chances are your chicken will come out juicy.

Recipe found here:

Spicy Orange Chicken over Fried Rice

Thanks Rebekah!!!

Chocolate Hazelnut Pear Cake.

2009-09-25T21:45:00.010-04:00

The first time I made this cake, it was for valentines day. I made it exactly as it was instructed by Deborah over at italianfoodforever. Which includes pouring a hot yummy pear compote over each piece witha dollop of homemade whipped cream on top. However, this time, I made it in my tiara pan for my dads birthday dinner. This puts a nice indent in the middle of the cake for things like strawberries, fruit ect. So most of the pear compote juice was drained and the pear mixture from the pan was placed in the middle. I was afraid that too much juice would soak the cake and ruin it. I cut the powdered sugar down to 1/4 cup for the creamed frosting on top. I thought 1/2 cup was too sweet, but 1/4 cup was perfect. It was refrigerated until ready to serve. The family devoured this cake!!!! They loved it.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pear Cake derived from
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake With Pear Compote

Roast Chicken

2009-09-25T21:16:00.008-04:00

Today was my dads birthday dinner. Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, gravy, homemade rolls and a special chocolate hazelnut pear cake. I will write more about this cake in a separate category.

Although roasting a chicken is pretty easy and I have done it many ways, I can't stop going back to the guidelines posted by the wonderful young couple over at Boston Chef. I actually have a few recipe's from there site that I have made many times.

The chicken sat in a brine solution for 6-8 hours, than filled with lemon slices and garlic, brushed with melted butter, and salted. More details on how it was done over at Boston Chef Roaste d Chicken.

What did I do different? Well I chopped up about 1/4 cup of carrots, celery and onion in my mini chopper and put that on the bottom of the pan. I also filled the pan with probably a good 1/2 inch of water and than place the chicken on top of that. I also put in carrot chunks into the pan so the carrots would cook along side the chicken. Here it is all ready to be put into the oven.

I used the same recipe located at my site under homemade pizza for the rolls. I added some oregeno and garlic powder to the mix though. You can use that recipe for pizza, rolls, and calzones. It was so good. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the rolls just coming out of the oven. I did take a picture of the dough rising oh so nicely.

homemade pizza

2009-09-23T21:23:00.009-04:00

As with a bunch of my recipes, I have many successful pizza dough recipes. I recently found this one and it's my new favorite. It comes from Mari over at Once Upon a Plate. Thank you so much Mari.

Pizza dough recipe

I actually made the dough a couple weeks ago, took it out of the freezer this morning.
I made two pizza's. A sauce, cheese and ham one. I also made a greek one, which consisted of feta cheese, kalmata olives and Alfredo sauce. I only took a picture of the sauce and cheese one since I was veryyy hungry and started gobbling the greek one right away. The ham slid to one side too. : )

I actually owe it to my brother Kenny for teaching me how to make pizza dough. All dough recipes are fairly similar. I just so happen to find this one recently and really liked it. I will post other pizza dough recipes, such as my brothers at another time. I think I have 3 all together. Years ago when my brother got a new KitchenAide mixer, he gave me his old one. Its great, thanks Ken for such a wonderful kitchen tool. I used it to make this pizza dough. I let it knead longer than the recipe called for. I also let it rise, since I used a regular dry active yeast packet.

Chilli and Corn Bread

2009-09-22T15:00:00.001-04:00

Today I made homemade Chilli and corn bread. I would of bought the Jiffy corn bread, but I wasn't making another trip to the store. I do have a good recipe for cornbread that I hve made for Thanksgiving. It includes stuffing and I think it was a little involving. So instead I found this easy one and it came out great. Corn Bread Recipe.

I have tried making many different Chilli recipes. For some reason, everytime I make chilli, I try a different recipe. A few I've made more than once. I saw an interesting recipe in a Penzey's spice magazine I get in the mail. I get them because I ordered spices from them in the past. It includes baking beef short ribs bone in and sausage in the oven before putting into the pot of chilli. However, it also included a spice called Chilli 9000, which I didn't have. So I followed the recipe and used McCormicks chilli package instead. I did end up adding some extra caynene and some hot paprika that I had when it was almost done. I like it hot. The McCormicks chilli packages come in original, mild and hot. The recipe didn't include kidney beans, so I also added these. I like beans in my chilli.

Recipe:
2.5 lbs beef short ribs, bone in
2 lbs italian sausage. You can use hot if you want. If you happen to find Chorizo sausage - that's suppose to be a nice hot mexican sausage.
1 large onion minced
1 tsp minced garlic
14.5 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
14.5 oz cans of pureed tomatoes
4 cups water
salt to taste
McKormicks chilli seasoning packet.
1 can of kidney beans. dont drain - it adds flavor. add more if you like a lot of beans.

Note, recipe actually calls for two 14.5oz cans of crushed, diced and pureed tomatoes. I accidently didn't' see this. It still came out great. Nice and thick. If you would rather it more soupy - than add more of the tomatoes or include 2 cans each. I would also add more beans if your adding more tomatoes. You'll get more servings too. I used less sausage than it called for, because it seemed like a bit much. No wonder LOL

preheat oven to 375
wash and pat dry the ribs. rub with salt and pepper. Place in foiled lined baking pan. Bake for 1/2 hour.
take casings off sausage and add to pan when 1/2 hour is done. cook for another 1/2 hour.
take meat out of the oven and place meat in large stock pot and add all the ingredients.
Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 hours. I keep the lid on most of the way. I leave it open a little so it doesn't boil over. It also helps thicken up the sauce.
1/2 hour before its done take out short ribs and sausage and cut into bite size pieces. Put them back into the pot. Discard the bone. You can also add some fresh cilantro at the end. I added a little mozzerella cheese in my bowl. : )

apple pie

2009-09-21T20:04:00.000-04:00

I'm not a big baker, but occasionally I will bake goodies. A few weeks ago, I chose to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie using Lori's Rhubarb pie recipe over at allthesplatters. I just replaced some of the rhubarb ingredients with strawberries. I made my first homemade pie crust for that pie. She provides a wonderful pie crust recipe. Thank you for making my first pie crust experience stress free. : )

So today, I used the same pie crust with one small addition (about 2 teaspoons of sugar) to make an apple pie. I took the kids apple picking yesterday, so I thought a homemade apple pie was in order. I served it with vanilla icecream and it sooo good.

Lori's pie crust recipe:
Make sure you double the crust recipe shown. I feel safer doing one, and than the other. probably more work, but I just feel safer that way.

The apple pie recipe comes from thibeaultstablerecipes.
She also has a very similar pie crust recipe. I love the simplicity in Lori's pie crust recipe. I can't believe how easy it is to make a pie crust.

I'm pretty busy taking care of my 3 and 2 year old, so only had time for one picture.

chuck roast

2009-09-20T21:28:00.000-04:00

I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with this simple way to cook a chuck roast. So simple yet sooo delicious. The best part, no need to make gravy. It's automatically made for you.

The packet to the right has a 2.5 chuck roast with a can of cream of mushroom soup and a package of dry onion soup mix. All tightly wrapped in tin foil.

The packet to the left has sliced potatoes and carrots. Some olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.

Water thrown into the bottom of the pan and a few orange slices thrown into the mix. I threw them in because - well I felt like being different.

It was cooked in the oven on 350 for a good 2 hours.
I took the tinfoil off and threw everything back into the same pan before serving.

Note* I absolutely loved this, husband loved the chuck roast, but said there was some flavor in the potatoes and carrots he wasn't use to. Although cooked in a separate packet, at the end it was thrown into the pan with all the lovely juices. I don't know if it was the orange flavor or the thyme. We've had and enjoyed orange chicken before and there was only one orange sliced up in there.

OHenry Bars

2009-09-18T14:15:00.000-04:00

OH MY! my moms O'henry bars. I used to love these growing up. I'm sure some of my neighborhood friends will remember. I usually can't stop eating them. I made them for a party my husband and I are going to tonight.

Recipe

2/3 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups instant oatmeal (quick oats)

Mix ingrediants above together.
Spread into 13*9 greased pan
Bake for 15 minutes
Let cool.

In a saucepan melt 6oz chocolate chips and 2/3 cup peanut butter.

Spread mixture over cooled oatmeal mixture and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Thanks MoM

Chicken Fra Diavlo

2009-09-15T20:29:00.000-04:00

Tonight I made an oldie, but goodie. I can't even count how many times I've made this. A coworker and friend gave this to me at least 8 years ago. His name is Casey. Thank You for sharing it with me.

I do know there are some variations to this recipe. Some more involving than others, but I love the simplicity in this recipe. This recipe is usually prepared with seafood, such as shrimp - but this one is made with chicken. Something I have frequently in our house.

I served this with brown rice and green beans from our garden. The green beans were cooked in a combo of tomato sauce and chicken broth.

Recipe Ingredients

2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of white wine
garlic
fennel seeds
crushed red pepper
oregeno
tomatoe sauce
chicken cut into strips and floured. I used two chicken boneless breasts and whole wheat flour. I usually use white flour, but figured why not use the whole wheat flour. It gave it a nice golden look.

Cooking Instructions

melt butter in pan
add and cook garlic
fill bottom of pan with wine
add spices, probably about 2 teaspoons each. I don't usually measure these.
let cook for a few minutes
add chicken strips and cook until done.
At the end add just a little tomatoe sauce into the pan and let cook for another minute. Just a very little.

I didn't have any sauce in the house. I ended up boiling some water and threw a few garden tomatoes into it for about 40 secs. I let cool and peeled them. Blended them and let it come to a boil. Lastly, I let the sauce simmer for about an hour.

note the picture above doesn't show all the ingredients involved. My 2 year old has a cold and wasnt feeling well, so I had to hold her almost the entire time while cooking. My poor baby and my poor arm ; ). I realized after I took the picture that I forgot a few things.

TIP: I like to cut the chicken when its still slightly frozen. It's so easy to cut. I will cut it horizontally so there is 4 chicken breasts instead of two and than I cut it into strips. Key, thinner is better. It allows for more uniform and quicker cooking.

turkey burgers

2009-09-15T07:36:00.001-04:00

Last night I took a frozen turkey burger that I had made a few weeks ago out of the freezer. My friend Kelly gave me a wonderful recipe, however sometimes I switch some of the ingrediants around depending on what I have in the house. Original recipe is:

1lb ground turkey
1 egg
chopped up green onion
chopped up green pepper
spices such as salt and pepper
1/2 cup quaker oats or rolled oats.

mix and form into patties.

Note* Only use about a 1/4 of the pepper. Chopping up the entire pepper would be a bit much for a lb of ground turkey. When cooking the patty, I love to put a slice of american cheese on it, when it's almost ready to take out of the pan.

I have used regular onion instead of green as well as red peppers instead of green.
Even oatbran will do in place of the oats. I had the butternut squash soup leftovers as well.

Also, in the picture, youll see my kids favorite pizza and my cute little pizza plates. I got that idea from my brother kenny many years ago. He is a superior cook/chef and taught me a few tricks when I visited him and his wife in Calafornia years ago.

The kids pizza is just mama marys pizza crusts, what ever sauce I have on hand and grated sharp cheddar cheese. I keep a big block of it in the house for many things. My 2 year old, Chaunda likes it cubed for snacks.

Pork Roast for Two

2009-09-14T14:29:00.000-04:00

Before I found this and even after I found it, I would continue to try different methods of cooking a pork roast, including on the stove in my dutch oven. However, I keep on going back to Jessica's recipe over at principiagastronomica.com. I love how the pork and the gravy comes out.

To go with it, I made mashed potatoes, homemade rolls and butternut squash soup using a squash a neighbor gave us from his garden.

I also usually wait until it hits between 150 and 160 degrees before taking it out of the oven. I try to take it out prior to 160 degrees though, especially with the smaller roasts. Yesterday's roast was taking out right at 160. I originally planned on taking it out a little sooner based on the links recommendations, but didnt get to it in time. I still came out very juicy.

Here is the link to this wonderful Roast Pork dinner.

When making the beef broth, I tried better than bouillon beef base for the first time. It has 680 mg of sodium per serving. At least its less than the cubes I was using.

I will add recipe link to the butternut squash soup later. The mashed was just russet potatoes boiled in water and than mixed with butter, milk and spices.

blueberry protein pancakes

2009-09-14T07:27:00.000-04:00

Bear with me while I improve on taking pictures of my food. Hard to do things taking care of a 3 year old and a 2 year old. : ). This is just a quick picture taking when it was in the pan. I smothered some fresh blackberries, some benecol and sugarfree syrup on it afterwards.

Today I decided to make Galya Talkington's decadent blueberry protein pancakes. I do have a variety of pancake recipes that Ill eventually share, but I have been making these ones lately.
I do sometimes make a few changes to the recipe. Today, only one egg, a tablespoon of milk, 4 tablespoons of oatbran and a tablespoon of plain lowfat yogurt. I still used 1 scoop protein powder and of course the blueberries. It was the first time I added yogurt. I felt like being adventureous. Thank you for the recipe Galya.