Recipes

Let them eat cake!

Or rather let ME eat cake! Give me! Give me!  Julia, my friend, this one is for you.

This is a chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, oh sorry I got carried away. It's a Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and icing and vanilla butter cream on top. Which makes for a very rich slice of cake. But that is what my son's-teachers-daughter wanted for her birthday. So that is what she got. And I am sure she needed a big ol' glass of milk to go with it. The cupcake is my turtle cupcake. I love turtle candies.You know, cashew's topped with caramel and covered in chocolate. The crunch of nuts, stickiness of caramel and the smoothing feeling that only chocolate can give you.  So I wanted to make a cupcake that reminds me of that same feeling only......softer. So I baked chocolate cupcakes, cut a cone out of the middle and filled it with dulce de leche cream then topped it with cashew butter buttercream. You never heard of it you say? Well, I made it. Yes, Yes I did. It is so easy to make your own peanut butter or any nut butter. But I will save that for another post. Until then, I am going to let you in on my no-fail, go-to cake recipe. It is pretty mess-it-up safe and I have never, ever had a problem with it. Even when I didn't mix the dry ingredients together first, just tossed them in there, it still turned out perfect. It is a firm but not too dense cake with a moist crumb. I find it very versatile and easy to work with. Let me show you.

Here's the ingredients. WAIT! I know, I know. You are thinking "a box mix"? Seriously? But there is more. Much more. The mix is a good base to start with and then add all the parts that make the cake great. Trust me!........please?!?



So, I put the wet ingredients in the mixer then added the dry ingredients. See? I told you it was easy. The square cake was baked in two 8 inch pans and I still had enough left over for some cupcakes.

 

I layered the inside of the cake with whipped chocolate ganache.

Then did this....



I used the same recipe for these cupcakes.



The cashew butter buttercream was.....terrific. I may never eat a plain ol' peanut butter and jelly sandwich again. Man were these things good.



Ok, here is the recipe.

Almond Sour Cream Cake
(adapted from http://whatscookingamerica.net/)

Ingredients:

1.      Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.

2.      Add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

3.      Pour into greased and floured cake pans, filling each pan a little over half full.

4.      Lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.

5.      Bake in preheated 325° F oven until cake tests done.

6.      Baking time varies according to the size and depth of pans being used.  8 inch pan approx 50 min. Cupcakes approx 22 min.

Cashew Frosting

Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cashew (or peanut butter) butter
About 2 tablespoons water

With an electric mixer at low speed, cream the butter and cashew butter together. Then add the powdered sugar.  Once combined, add vanilla and water. Increase speed of mixer to medium and beat for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth. Add additional teaspoons of water till you get the consistency you want.
 
Chocolate Ganache Frosting

16-24 oz fine chocolate, chopped
12-16  oz whipping cream
2 Tbls corn syrup

Put chopped chocolate in a large bowl. Heat cream and corn syrup in a sauce pan to just before boiling; pour over chocolate. Allow it to sit for a few minutes then begin stirring until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool completely. Mixture will set up as it cools. Then spoon all of it in the bowl of a mixer and begin mixing on medium speed. Continue for about 3-5 min until chocolate is lighter in color and fluffy.


Vanilla Buttercream

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
About 2 tablespoons milk

With an electric mixer at low speed, mix the powdered sugar and butter together. Once combined, add vanilla and milk. Increase speed of mixer to medium and beat for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth and of spreading consistency

Chili with bread bowls

MMMM. Just what I needed on a cold rainy day like today. I'm hungry, so lets get started.

The ingredients are below; Beef broth, olive oil, onion, garlic, pepper, 1 lb stew beef, 1 lb ground beef, 2 Tbls flour, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, 1 pkg Mccormick chili mix, bread bowls.



First I added the all the beef to the oil in a heated pan and crumbled it up. After it has browned, remove it from the pan. Drain the drippings except for 2 TBS.



Add the peppers, onion and garlic and saute them for several minutes till onion becomes translucent.



Add the mix and flour and stir to combine, keep stiring and cooking for about 1 min.



Add the tomatoes, beef broth and beans; then salt and pepper to taste.



Add the meat back to the pot, stir and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Stirring occasionally.






I got these bread bowls in my bakery section of the grocery store. Mostly because I was hungry and feeling lazy. I didn't really want to make, knead, rise and bake my own. But feel free to if you have the time and inclination. Now, go away so I can eat. And, no, you can't have any of mine! It's easy, make your own!




Stew beef chili
Ingredients:
1 pounds stew beef, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg Mccormick chili mix
2 tablespoons flour
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cup beef broth
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 cans kidney beans or small red beans (28 to 32 ounces total)

In a dutch oven, brown stew beef and ground beef in vegetable oil. Remove meat; set aside and drain off all but 2 tablespoons of drippings. In the same kettle in the drippings, sauté onion, pepper and garlic. Stir in chili mix and flour. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and beans; stir in hot beef broth. Add salt. Return meat to the pot; lower heat, cover, and simmer for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until meat is tender. Cut cone off top of bread, scoop out the inside, laddle soup inside, top with shredded cheese and serve. Serves approx 4.

My latest snack obsession

SNACK TIME!



I don't know if everyone goes through phases like I do, but I am in my 'Pork potsticker' phase right now. I have one of these about every day. Sometimes every other day, but mostly everyday. I am addicted. But, alas, I am not worried -  cause 'this too shall pass'. Like my obsession with PB&J when I was pregnant with my middle child and hot dogs with my first born. This time I am not pregnant (at least I hope not - honey,are you reading this?). However, I think this bout of snack related fixation will be over soon. I am quickly growing tired of the whole thing. But until then, I will revel in it's simplicty. Open box, put potstickers in pan, pour in water and oil, cover and cook for 8 min. Not rocket science.



See, here's the lid. Now they will steam. And while they are cooking away, I like to put the sauce packet beside the burner to defrost. After 8 minutes, I take off the lid and let them start to crisp up; flipping them when they brown. Then we turn them out onto a plate, pour the sauce and enjoy.



In about 12 minutes it is all done and ready to enjoy. Please imagine me eating these on good china. I should be ashamed of myself and have more respect for my little friends. But the truth is I am just too lazy to do more dishes! And believe me when I tell you it is more of a lunch meal than a small snack. But it does curb any asian flavored craving you might have. At least until your next run to the chinese restaurant in town.

Hamantashen

Don't ask me how to pronounce it, cause I haven't a clue. But I can tell you how easy and delicious these little cookies are. They are part of the jewish holiday commemmorating their deliverance from the ancient persian empire and 'hamans' plot to annihilate them. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate non-annihilation than to eat cookies. I am not jewish so the meaning behind these doesn't really pertain to me, but the intricacy of them peaked my interest. I added my own twist to the traditional recipe by adding lemon juice. The dough is simple and comes together easily. Rolling it out was simple as well. The only complicated issue was forming them into the 'hat' shape. And, keeping up with my poor organization skills, I completely forgot to take the pictures of how to form them. But I will do my best to describe it to you as we get more into it. So here we go.

Ingredients: Flour, salt, vanilla, butter flavoring (wilton), salt, butter, egg, lemon, cream cheese, and jam.




Mix the butter and cream cheese till smooth. Add the sugar through the zest; mixing well. Then add the flour. As the dough comes together it will be sticky, that's ok. Just add another of the Tablespoons of flour till it is tacky, but not sticky. Put in plastic wrap and form into disc; then place in fridge for a couple hours.



Roll dough out onto floured surface and cut into about 1/8 - 1/4 circles. Place on parchment paper on sheet pan.


Now we are going to form these.



On one end of the circle fold over and pinch the ends together. Then go to the side and pinch those ends together forming a triangle. Make sure




Hamantashen

20-22 cookies 2-inch cookies

8 tbls butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese
3 tbls sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp butter flavoring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbls lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/3 cup plus 2 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt
Jam any flavor, or multi flavors

Cream butter and cheese. Add sugar, egg, vanilla extract, zest and salt - mixing till combined. Add the flour and mix just till combined. As the mixture comes together it may be a tad sticky. If too sticky, add an additional tablespoon of flour.
Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

To form, roll out dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/8 to 1/4 in thick. Using a round cookie cutter ( I used a 2 1/2 inch one), cut the dough into circles. Spoon a teaspoon of the jam (I used apricot, strawberry and raspberry) in the center. Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners to seal and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed. Try to leave a bit of the filling showing through the center. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden
brown, about 20 minutes.

Cool on racks. Resist the urge to try them while still hot, unless you want a jam-burned tongue.

Cheesy Mexican Lasagna

This was a learning recipe. By that I mean, I learned a valuable lesson about spice. Now I like mexican food as much as the next person. But I am not a big fan of spicy food. Food with a lot of heat, that is, not just flavor. I like flavor. It's my favorite thing to taste! So when I make recipes at home I tend to adjust the spices to suit my taste. And I did that to this recipe. The problem is.....I didn't do it enough. And, although this dish was very good, it was spicy. Enough that even my heat loving husband said it was spicy. So I cut the chili powder back in this recipe to my taste for next time, but please feel free to up the heat notch as much as your tongue desires or can handle, whichever comes first!

Ingredients: onion, flour tortillas, garlic, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, beef broth, cheddar cheese, montery jack cheese, ground beef, and stew beef.  And as always, Salt and Pepper to taste.


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. I diced the onion and added it to a hot pan, and cooked it for 3-5 min. Then I added the ground beef, cooked for 3-5 min, and added the stew beef and did the same. Then I added the tomatoes, garlic, paste, seasonings and beef broth. I stirred well and let it simmer for 30-35 min.





While that was cooking down I shredded the cheeses.



When the sauce had cooked for about 45 min (because I have kids and they require lots of time, who'da thought that!) I pulled it off the heat and allowed it to cool for about 30 min. Then I started to layer. First some sauce on the bottom, then two flour tortillas, then sauce then cheese. Keep doing that till the sauce and cheese are your last layer. Then pop it in the oven for 20 min to melt the cheese. I turned the broiler after my timer went off and browned the cheese some.



While letting it cool awhile, I shredded the lettuce and diced the tomatoes. I served a big scoop on a plate and topped it with the veggies and a dollop of sour cream. It was pretty good, spicy, but good. The stew meat gave it a different texture then just ground beef as did the cold of the sour cream give good contrast to the warm gooey cheese. This was so easy and one recipe made so much I actually made two pans from one recipe. Which is wayyy more than my husband and I will eat. So I froze one pan and made the other. Good for one of those days when I don't feel like cooking. Do you have a mexican recipe that you like really well? Well, let me know and I will consider making it and posting my results here. Have a great day.





Cheesy Mexican Lasagna
 
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 pound ground beef
1 pound stew meat, diced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
Salt and pepper
1 can tomato paste 
1 can peeled and chopped tomatoes
3 cups beef stock
10 flour tortillas
2 cups grated Medium Cheddar cheese
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9 by 2-inch square baking dish. In a large skillet, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the ground beef and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the diced meat and continue to cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomato paste, tomatoes and stock. Simmer the mixture for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and cool. Spoon a 1/2 cup of the chili mixture on the bottom of the prepared pan. Lay two tortillas on top of the chili mixture. Sprinkle the top of the tortillas with the Cheddar and Jack cheese. Repeat the layering process until all of the chili, tortillas and cheese are used. (The final layer should be cheese) Place the pan in the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving.

Salisbury Steak

This ain't your frozen TV dinner Salisbury steak. No, ma'am. This is not the minced meat used to resemble steak. There is no soy-sauce powder, autolyzed yeast extract, lactic acid or rolled oats. Nothing here but real ground beef, eggs and fresh onions. This is how you wish pre-made, pre-packaged dinners tasted. And now I am going to share with you how to make this nostalgic dish for your family. To warm their little hearts and bodies and souls. To make them say, 'oh mom, this reminds me of the TV dinners I used to have when I was a kid. Oh, but wait, I'm still a kid, well it's good either way.' But it will be so much better and better for them. So sit down and buckle up cause here we go.

Here are the leading characters. Onion, egg, half & half (or milk), cream of mushroom soup, Worcestershire, beef broth, bread crumbs, onion soup mix and 1lb ground beef.




Throw the beef, egg, onion, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, and worcestershire sauce in a bowl and gently mix. You don't want to squish it or compact it in anyway, cause it will make the meat tough. Just use your fingertips and gently bring it together.



Divide the meat into four sections and form each into patties. Using your thumb, push an indention into the center of each one. This helps to keep the meat from swelling up like a ball but rather keep it's shape.



Heat oil in pan and add patties. When you put them in put the side closest to you in first and lay it down away from you. That way you don't get splashed with oil.



Leave them to cook for about 3-4 min then flip them when they are browned like this.



Cook on the other side for another 3-4 minutes. Then remove them to a plate and keep warm.



Add the onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup and broth. Whisk till it comes together. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and add the patties (and they're juices) back to the pan.



Keep at a simmer till the sauce reduces by 1/3 and you can smell the goodness filtering through your kitchen. Now while the patties were frying, I cut up some redskinned potatoes and boiled them in some chicken broth and salted water. Then drained them, added butter (aghast) and some half & half - mashing them till they were creamy. Of course I add salt and pepper to taste and boy howdy were they good. Not exactly good for me, but I coulda added lighter butter and 2% or skim milk, but......WHY? And if you wanted to go healthy and lean you wouldn't be wanting to eat those nasty TV dinners, now would ya?



So here it is. I plated it with those creamy mashed potatoes and green beans. Doesn't that look soooo much better then some frozen-out-of-the-box-pasty-meat-substitute? PPPPPlllleeeaaaassseeee go and make this for your kids. And tell them your horror story of the Tv dinners you used to have to eat and watch them look at you like your crazy. They do anyway, right?





Salisbury Steaks

INGREDIENTS:
1 lbs ground beef
1 envelope dry onion soup mix, divided
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons oil or shortening
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 3/4 cups beef broth

PREPARATION:
Gently but thoroughly mix beef, 3 tablespoons of soup mix, onions, crumbs, milk,egg and Worcestershire sauce. Shape into 3- 4 patties. Make sure to put an indentention in the center of each patty to help it keeps it shape as it cooks. Brown patties on both sides in skillet with oil till a crust forms. Remove patties to a plate; pour excess fat out of pan. Add remaining onion soup mix, broth and mushroom soup. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, return meat w/ juices to pan.

Cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serves 2 - 4.

Nutter Butter Balls/PB&J Bites

More chocolate! More trials and tests. Here is another versions I made this past week of the chocolate covered bites. I adapted the recipe from Bakerella again. This time I made some with jelly in the middle of them to mimick Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Although my Pb&j sandwiches were never coated in chocolate when I was a child. Just another benefit of being an adult I guess. I used Nutter Butter cookies and strawberry perserves. I personally liked the ones made with just peanut butter. And I found the ones filled with jelly were harder to dip in the chocolate. But I learned from the whole experience and ended up with chocolate! That's not a bad trade-off at all!

Here's a couple pictures. These are the ingredients. Nutter butter cookies, chocolate wafers and cream cheese frosting.



I put 22 of the cookies in my food processor and grinded them all up fine.





Then I added the whole can of cream cheese to it and mixed it up well.  I scooped them out, rolled them up and put them in the refrigerator to set while I melted the chocolate. After about 15 min, I dipped them in chocolate and put them on a foil lined cookie sheet to set.



On the left is the jelly filled one and the peanut butter one on the right. Try making them for yourself and tell me which ones you prefer.

Classic Coconut Cake

Who doesn't love coconut cake? Ok, maybe those that don't like coconut wouldn't like coconut cake. But I swear if you tried this cake with everything in there together you would like it. I wasn't a big fan of coconut either when I was younger, which was like forever ago! Yes it was! I am OLD, let me tell ya!  Anyway, I didn't used to like it either, but after trying some coconut cake and some chocolates with coconut cream in the middle I decided it wasn't so bad after all. I think it gets a bad rap because it tends to have a sticky kinda stringy texture. But when it is mixed in with something its flavor comes out and reminds you of some exotic drink you mighta had on your honeymoon in Tahiti. Didn't you honeymoon in Tahiti? Naaww, I didn't either, but you get my gist. You take a bite or a sip and you can't quite put your finger on what that flavor is tickling the back of your tongue. You sniff it and swirl it in your mouth but still you aren't quite sure what it is.

 

That is the fragrant coconut, my friend. It has mild flavor yet rounds out a dish or drink like you wouldn't expect. So I challenge you to find a little room for coconut in your life. Just a tiny spot. You know like over near your rib cage or in the back corner behind your knee cap. And pull it out and use it sometime when you are feeling adventurous. Which is what I did when I tried to tackle a Classic Coconut Cake. I got it from Big City, Little Kitchen and she adapted it from Gourmet Magazines recipe. I made some mistakes while making the cake part and it didn't turn out very well. I'll get into that later. But the frosting! OMGoodness. The FROSTING! I was in heaven. I have never made a Swiss meringue type frosting. But I guarantee it will be one of the first things I reach for when making cakes in the future! So let me break it down for ya.

Here are the ingredients. Salt, sugar,butter, vanilla extract, almond extract, baking powder, whole milk, egg whites and flour. Now here is one place I went wrong. The recipe calls for Cake flour but neither I, nor my local store, had cake flour. So I substitued pastry flour which is only 2% higher on the gluten scale. Now it probably didn't make the biggest difference, but it was a step toward not-so-fluffy cake texture.



Here is everything all mixed up minus the egg whites which needed to be whipped up in a separate clean bowl and folded in. I think this is mistake numero dos (number two, for those that don't watch Dora). See this site strives to be a little educational too. The recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour. So I measured 3 1/2 cups and put it in my sifter with the baking powder and salt......yes, I measured 3 1/2 cups of flour.  OOOOOO. You want to know why I measured it first. Before sifting? Well, I didn't want to end up with too much flour to measure on the other end. Because you are supposed to measure the 3 1/2 cups flour AFTER it is sifted. But guess what? I forgot that part. It could be because my oldest was home with strep and was bugging me, or my baby was fussing to be let in the kitchen so he could reek havoc on the cat food. Either way, I didn't do it. So that is why I think it had a floury taste. So do as I say, not as I do. Or rather, do as the recipe says. So back to the egg whites.



And looky there. They are all whipped up.



See that peak? Nice huh?


 
Here it is all folded into the batter. Now at this point I'm thinking 'that looks pretty good'. And it kinda was but I noticed a......floury taste to it. Yes. I tasted it. AND? I had fresh eggs and I am not elderly or infirmed or a child. I have done it many times over many years and have yet to have ANY problems with salmonella. I'm fine, but thanks for thinking about me.



I poured it into my sprayed, and parchment lined pans. Then here is where I think I made the biggest mistake. After putting them in the pans I tried to even out the batter into and picked the pans up and pounded them on the table. Remember being told to do that when you were younger. Seeing your mom or grandma doing that to the brownies? Well I do. And I shoulda known better. I haven't used that technique since highschool and I don't know what caused me to this time. Coulda been those trifling kids again. Anyway, I think doing that made the egg whites deflate and caused the cake to be dense when it baked. It could have been light and fluffy. But NNNNOOOOO. I had to go and smoosh down all those innocent egg's that did nothing to me. Except maybe add a little bulk to my hips. But I should blame that on my kids, not the eggs. I am only 5 feet tall and those babies had to go somewhere while gestating. Ok ok OK. Enough about babies and gestating. Back to my cakes.



See how they look.......compact? This is what squished egg whites look like. This is what I did wrong. Next time I will do better. I will remember.


After letting them cool in a pan I flipped them onto a cooling rack and peeled off the parchment paper. Doing this one thing makes removing cakes sooo much easier.



Doesn't this look like browned shredded cheese? Well it isn't. It is toasted coconut. I prefer toasted to untoasted cause it is less sticky and less chewy to me.



I took both square cakes and sliced them horizontally. Then in half again down the center ending up with 4 rectangles for each cake. I took one half of them, filled, iced and coated them with the meringue and toasted coconut. Here is the result. 



I then took the other sections and cut little circles out of the cakes with a biscuit cutter. Layered them with swiss meringue frosting and coconut mixed in. Then frosted them all over with plain meringue. And topped them with some of the toasted coconut. This procedure made about 3 -3 layered round cakes. All in all it wasn't bad. But I would definately make changes the next time I do this recipe.



If you have a favorite coconut cake recipe handed down to you through generations of family,  give it to me!  I....uh....mean....uh....let me know what differences you noticed and how your family enjoys their coconut. If not, then please enjoy this one.

Coconut Cake, A Southern Classic

Chicken Pot Pie

It was raining here today. I wanted to stay inside, take some chips from my dear poker friend and eat something warm and comforting. Ok, she takes my chips, but it's all in fun. But I was hungry and was feeling like a meal with a nice sauce, some potatoes, carrots and maybe a flaky crust. Pot pie came to mind. And, checking my pantry, I already had everything I needed. That NEVER happens! So I was ready.  I gathered all my ingredients and got down to business dicing the chicken and putting it in the pan. Then I remembered I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients. Doh! So I gathered what was left and snapped them. The rest went pretty easy. Check it out.

Here is where I started without ya'll!  Adding the diced chicken to a heated pan with a little olive oil.



And here is where I remembered my brain and grabbed my camera and lined the rest of the ingredients up.  They are flour, butter, puff pastry, onion, potatoes, carrots, corn, peas and chicken broth.



While the chicken cooked, I chopped the onion.



Added it to the pan with the chicken and cook till the onion is translucent and the chicken is opaque.



Remove the chicken and onion from the pan and add the butter. After it melts add the flour and whisk it together.



Then I added the chicken broth and whisked till it was smooth. After adding in the veggies, salt and pepper to taste I also added 1 Tsp of Italian seasoning and the chicken/onion mixture.



Let this mixtuer simmer for about 30 min and take out the puff pastry and lay them on a counter to thaw.



After 30 min this is what we have. Yummy, bubbling, delicious goodness. And now we prepare the pans and laddle the chicken mixture into them.



I cut the puff pastry roughly to size and tucked under the ends.



I put them on foil covered sheet pans to catch any drippings and put them into a 350 degree oven for 30 min. I checked the oven at 25 to see if the pastry was getting too done, but it wasn't. So I let it go another few minutes until it was golden on top.




And here it is. Beautiful, flaky, golden crust above steaming, creamy, comforting deliciousness!

Here is my recipe, I hope you will try it someday. And feel free to play with the veggie ingredients to suit your liking. And also use store bought, or homemade, piecrust if you wish.


Chicken Pot Pie
Serves 3 generously

3 small red potatoes
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. salt, divided
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3-5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup diced or shredded carrots
1 tsp dried Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1  package frozen puff pastry or refrigerated piecrusts

1. Pierce red potato several times with a fork. Place in microwave safe bowl with several tablespoons of water in bottom. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 4-6 min or until done. Let stand for 5 min then peel and dice.

2. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 tsp salt. Saute chicken and onion in hot oil in large pan over medium-high heat 10-12 minutes or unitl chicken is done. Remove from pan.

3. To make roux: Melt butter in pan, Whisk in flour whisking constantly for 1 min. Whisk in chicken broth until smooth. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly , 3-4 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cooked chicken and onion, potato, peas and carrots and next 3 ingredients, and remaining 1/2 tsp seasoned salt. Cook, stirring often, 5 minutes or until throughly heated. . Spoon chicken mixture into lightly greased ramekins or pie dish.

4. Unroll puff pastry or piecrusts and cut to fit ramekins or fit over pie dish pressing onto sides to seal. Pierce holes in top to let steam escape.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crusts are golden brown and filling is heated through. Let stand 10 minutes.

Gentlemen prefer Blondies!

Like that title? My husband Andy came up with that. He is so smart that way. I guess they call these "Blondies" cause they are like brownies, but.....well, blonde. The only chocolate added is in the form of chocolate chips, if you prefer. Or there are tons of other mix-ins that you can add. Like toffee,  peanut butter chips,  nuts, m&m's, or Reese cups/pieces, the list goes on and on. To me, they are like square chocolate chip cookies. They are about the taste and texture of them too. The recipe doesn't call for white sugar though, like regular cookies do, just brown sugar. I found this recipe from BakingBlonde. As the title say's it is her favorite, and I can see why. They went together very easily and were done in no time. Check it out.  

List of Ingredients. Brown sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, vanilla, egg, butter and chocolate chips.

Wrap in foil and spray an 8x8 pan. And preheat your oven to 350 degrees.



Melt the butter and let it cool for about 5 min.



Add the brown sugar. And beat till smooth.



Add the vanilla and egg and blend till it comes together.

Add the flour and salt.



And baking powder. And mix to combine.



The mixture will get kinda thick and scraggily. Fold in the chips, or nuts or toffee for whatever you choose. And put in prepared pan.



Pop'em in the oven and bake for 20-25 min. Mine were done at 22 min. After I took them out I added a bit of Dulce de Leche to one half of them.



Then I let them cool for about 15 min. Taking the foil from the sides of the pan, I lifted them out and placed them on my counter then cut them into 2 to 2 1/2 inch squares.



Here are the cut Dulce de leche ones. They went over pretty well. Meaning, I was the only one to eat them. Which is bad for me. Luckily I had a bit (and I am being generous here) of self-control and managed to put some away for my kids to take to school tomorrow for their teachers. I should be very popular this week! Emma and Andy liked the plain ones, but Stevie (who hasn't been feeling well for a few days) didn't like either of them. And he has to be feeling bad to turn down sweets. All-in-all they were pretty good. And, like I said earlier, they were easy to put together. I think I might double the recipe and take some to our next church lunch or school party. They held together well and didn't fall apart, which is always good for potluck get-togethers. Give them a try and let me know what you think.





Bakingblonde Blondies

Basic Blondies
6-7 TBS butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (optional, creates lighter blondie texture)
"Add in's" (see below)

Preheat oven to 350.
Line an 8x8 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM.
In a large microwave safe mixing bowl melt the butter. Allow to cool for 5 mintues. Mix the brown sugar with the melted butter and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and
then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour and baking powder (if using). Mix in any additions (some ideas below).

Pour into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. (I baked for 22
minutes)Cool on rack before cutting.

Add in ideas:
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate or butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds
1/2 cup M&M candies1/2 chopped Reese's PB cups
1/4 cup toffee pieces
1/2 tsp mint extract in addition to, or in the place of vanilla extract

Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

 

Chicken Enchiladas. What a beautiful dish. I love chicken. Like you didn't notice that more than half my recipes are chicken,right? This dish is just what I love about mexican cooking. Spicy, tangy, creamy, cool, and hot. All those textures and tastes make it delicious in my book. Tonight I wanted something different than the same ol' meat (or chicken) and potatoes meal. A friend of mine recently asked me for an enchilada recipe and I thought tonight was a great night to experiment. Here are the list of ingredients.

Shredded Mozzarella chesse, onion, sour cream, chipotle chili powder, flour tortillas, chicken breast, green chiles, butter and flour.

First I put the chicken in a pot of salted water to boil. While that was working, I put the butter in a pot to melt. Then added flour and whisked till it had absorbed the butter then let it cook for about a minute. The original recipe called for the chicken broth from the boiled chicken, but I didn't feel like waiting for it to get done, so I added store bought chicken broth. 


Stir to make smooth then add the green chiles, sour cream and chipotle powder. I brought it to a boil and reduced the heat to simmer for about 3 min then removed it from the heat.



Meanwhile, my chicken had finished cooking so I sliced it into thin strips.



I diced an onion and put it in a pan set to medium heat with olive oil.



After a few minutes of sauteing them, I added the chipotle powder, salt and pepper and about 2 tablespoons of the chicken broth from the pan I used to boil the chicken in.

 

I let that simmer down and meld with flavor then added the cheese. Stir to combine and remove from heat.



Now it's time to wrap and roll!  I crack myself up. First, to make the tortillas more pliable, I put them in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. Then I placed some of the chicken cheese mixture on one and rolled it up and placed it in my glass pan. After all of them were done, I poured the cheese sauce over top. Well, actually, my neighbors granddaughter did. She was over playing with my kids and I needed an extra hand. She is so helpful. And not bad at pouring either. But I bet it was more because she was hungry!



After covering them in sauce what would be better than adding more cheese? Nothing I tell ya! NOTHING is better than cheese. Except maybe butter. Or even bacon. Ok, maybe not NOTHING. But I settled with just adding more cheese.



Then I placed it in my preheated oven, didn't I tell you to do that already? Of course I did, cause I'm thoughtful like that. It baked for about 22 min in my oven then when I saw it getting all browned and yummy on top I pulled it out. Doesn't that look heavenly? And my kitchen smells wonderful. Don't you think? What? Ohhh that's right, you can't smell it. Sorry.



I topped them with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and a dollop of sour cream. Boy howdy then did I dig in. I barely remembered to take a picture. And oooo where they soooooo goooood. You are seriously going to have to try this recipe. It is worth it. And so simple. You could even start with leftover baked chicken from the night before if you choose. Have fun and play with your food!




Here's my recipe.

Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas
Servings: 4 to 6 servings  
 
3 chicken breasts 
1 onion, chopped
1 lg. pkg. shredded mozzerella cheese
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
2 Tbls chicken broth
1 pkg. flour tortillas

Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chiles
1 cup sour cream
 
Directions: 
Boil chicken and slice into strips, save 2 cups of chicken broth for sauce. Put diced onion in a pan set to medium heat with olive oil. Saute for 3-5 min then add the
sliced chicken and chipotle powder, and some salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 5 min then top with shredded cheese. Stir to combine and cheese melts then
remove from heat.

For sauce
Melt butter in a pan then whisk in flour. Add chicken broth and stir till smooth, then add chiles, chipotle powder and sour cream. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce
heat and simmer for 3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside. Heat the tortillas in the microwave for a few seconds to soften. Fill tortilla with
chicken/cheese mixture. Roll and put into 9x11 pan. Pour sauce on top of rolled tortillas. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 425°F for 20-25 minutes until bubbly. 

Serve with shredded lettuce and diced tomato.

Tuscan Chicken Fettucine

I love Olive Garden. The way it smells. The way it looks. Even the soothing harmonious sounds piped through the sound system peak my senses. The bread is soft and warm. The salad is crisp and refreshing and coated with their tangy italian dressing. And every dish you order is abundant with fragrant herbs, tomatoes, meat, pasta, or vegetables. All of my senses are alive. This dish is one that takes me back to that feeling. It explores the deliciousness (is that a word?) of the creamy sauce and the crunch of the golden chicken. I'm sorry, I am getting carried away. Lets get back to how I made it.

Preheat a pan to medium heat and add oil. Put the flour, pepper, salt, and italian seasoning in a Ziplock bag and combine. Place the chicken in the bag squeezing out most the air and seal. Then pound the meatiest part of the breast to a 1/2 inch. Then shake bag to coat chicken.



Carefully place the breast in the hot pan. Don't touch them. Wait for them to form a golden crust, about 5 -7 min. The top side will start to be mostly opaque. Then flip them and brown on the other side.



Remove them to a plate and keep warm. Chop red pepper and mince garlic. Add another 1tsp of oil to the hot pan then the pepper and garlic.



Saute for a few minutes then add the 1 Tbls of flour and stir. Add the wine and spinach.


 Then the half & half or cream and simmer till the spinach wilts and the sauce reduces.

 

Then add the parmesan and remove from heat. Add the drained pasta and mix well.



Plate and enjoy. And please say an extra yum for me. Try making this for your boyfriend and he will marry you. Make this for your husband and he will buy you a new diamond. At least that is what I hope happens for you. And ya just never know.......






Tuscan Chicken Fettucine

More bites

I recently bought a new melting pot for my chocolate. It works a lot better than melting and re-melting and re-melting some more. Would that be re-re-melting? Something to think about. So anyway, I decided to try some of the new flavor combo's I have been considering. I melted two pans of white chocolate and tinted one of them black and added coffee oil. I tinted it black, because I didn't have dark chocolate to melt, which is what I wanted to use. It came out ok, but not exactly what I wanted.



The other day I made banana cake and some Dulce de leche frosting. I crumbled the cake in my food processor and then mixed in the frosting. Then I formed them into balls and put them in the frige to set up. So today, after I melted the chocolate, I got the balls out and dipped them in the melted white chocolate. 









Then I put a dollop of dulce de leche on top and a walnut chip.



For the coffee ones, I dipped chocolate cake bites into the coffee flavored melted chocolate. Then, while it was still wet, I placed a dark chocolate covered espresso bean on top. Now, I don't drink coffee, so was apprehensive to taste them. But my husband, who is a coffee lover decided to step in on my behalf. He is so thoughtful that way. He considers them "bite size" and sticks the whole thing in his mouth. After a couple bites he looks at me and does a noticable "jolt". Then says "man thats good" So even though they didn't turn out exactly like i wanted, it was close. They are kinda ugly, but the taste was spot on. So next time I will make some changes, but these definately won't go to waste.  



And these are my "spicy" bites. They are chocolate cake centers dipped in chili spiced dark chocolate and topped with red tinted white chocolate. One would think 'chili's and chocolate'? The practice is as old as chocolate itself. The Aztec's used to put chili's in their chocolate drinks to enhance the flavor. They aren't really spicy though. When you bite into one you taste chocolate and creamy goodness. Then after you swallow, at the back of your throat is this smokey heat. Not spice, just smoke. It is very interesting.



And you know the best part of all this? I get to taste the damaged or not so perfect ones. Like that one right in the front, in the middle. It was not any good at all. It was terrible and I am just going to have to store these in a secret container in the back of my fridge - I mean, er, uh, throw them away, right now! Ok, you caught me. Fine! They were delicious. As just about anything dipped in chocolate is. If you are wondering where in the world you can get chili spiced chocolate, Lindt sells them in bar form. Grab ya bar and just try it. You might like it!

Chicken Milanese with Avocado and Tomato Salad

This is a great dish to make during the summer or, as it is now, late summer to utilize some of those veggies. It is crisp and refreshing. It makes me think of sitting at a beachside restaurant with the breeze blowing in and the sun setting. It's simple and straightforward and easy. So lets get started.

Here are the ingredients for the Tomato and Avocado Salad. Olive oil, Lemon, Onion, Avocado, Pint of Cherry or grape tomatoes, container of baby mozzarella, parsley, italian seasoning, salt, and balsamic vinegar.



I cut the tomatoes in half, larger one in quarters as well as the mozzarella balls.Then diced the onion. I put the olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, onions, and the seasonings in a bowl. The recipe calls for a lot of fresh herbs which I don't have so I used dried. Then I peeled, pitted and diced the avocado and threw that, the tomatoes, and mozzarella into the bowl.  I am luckily enough to have aged balsamic vinegar, which I REALLLY, like. So I used a bit more. Mix it all up, season with salt and this is what you get. Set it to the side and let the flavors meld while you cook the chicken.



The cast of characters for the chicken. Panko, Parmesan, egg beaters (or real egg), salt, pepper, italian seasonings, olive oil, lemon and chicken.



Put oil in the pan and turn heat to medium while you prepare the chicken. You want to start with a hot pan when it is time to fry the chicken and you don't want to have to sit around and wait on it to heat up.

Lay your chicken out and cover with plastic. Pound to about 1/2 in thick.

Combine the panko, seasoning, pepper, salt and parmesan on a pie pan or, as I have done here, a paper plate.



Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture.



Then into the panko mix. Make sure the entire chicken is coated. You want it to have that pretty golden color all over the chicken, not just in spots.



Place the coated chicken carefull in the hot oiled pan and listen to it sizzle. Now, don't touch it! You need to wait till the crust starts to brown or it will come off in the pan. See how this one is browned?



After both sides have cooked to crispy browness, put them on a plate and immediately sprinkle with lemon juice.

 Pile the avocado and tomato salad on top, take a pretty picture like this then get a fork and dig in! Ok, ok. You don't have to take a picture, but do be proud of what you have made, cause it is that good.

Be advised. I made this dinner for only my husband and I, so I halved this recipe for just us. But two large chicken breast cut in half, cooked, topped with this salad and accompanied with some fresh corn or simply noodles would easily feed four people.  

My favorite salad

So when I need to watch what I'm eating and cut back on some calories I reach for my greens. Mixed baby greens, that is. This is such a simple salad. With only five ingredients, how much more simple can it be? Sometimes, if I have leftover bacon, I throw that in there too. Just lightly dress the greens, too much and it becomes saturated and wilty. Very good. Simple, but good. Give it a try and tell me what you think. It is full of flavor not half bad for ya. Let's get started cause I'm huuunngry. So here's the run down.

 Mixed baby greens, cranberries, crumbled feta, chopped walnuts and Kraft Light Raspberry Vinaigrette

 

Put ya a big ol' handful of greens in a bowl. Top with feta. I happen to like the tang of feta so I put just a tad over "a little" in my bowl.

 

Now add the walnuts,

 
the cranberries,



and, even though you can't see it, the vinaigrette.



Lastly, I added croutons to my salad for an extra crunch. It's up to you if you want to put them in there or not. There. That's it. End of story. All she wrote. Now honestly, could that have been any simpler? Now go forth and count calories!

4 Tbls Feta cheese, crumbled
3 Tbls chopped Walnuts
3 Tbls Craisins
Baby mixed greens
Kraft light raspberry vinegrette
*croutons (optional)

 *If you want protein, used leftover chicken or pre-packaged cooked chicken