Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

It isn't homemade, but looks it and almost tastes it. :) I'm sure you could substitute any boxed alfredo pasta and add any other veggies you want.

Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

3 T Margarine

1 lb chicken breasts

½ c chopped red bell pepper

2 C Fresh or frozen broccoli florets (thawed)

1 ¾ C Water

½ C milk

1 pkg Knorr Pasta Sides, Alfredo

Melt 1 T margarine in a skillet and cook chicken thoroughly. Remove chicken and set aside. Melt remaining margarine in same skillet and cook red pepper. Stir in broccoli, water and milk. Bring to a boil. Stir in Alfredo pasta. Cook 8 minutes. Return chicken to skillet, heat through.

Veggie Rice Pilaf

This can easily be made Vegan by omitting the chicken stock and replacing with water or veggie stock. We forgot the almonds tonight, but it was great without.

Rice Pilaf

1 C Rice

2 C water or chicken stock

1/2 cup carrot, diced

1/2 cup green onion, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup green pepper, diced
1/4 cup sweet red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup almonds, sliced

salt to taste

1/4 tsp oregano

Sauté chopped vegetables in olive oil until clear, yet crisp: stir in oregano. Add rice and sauté until golden and fragrant. Add water or stock and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt to taste. Dry-roast almonds in heavy skillet until lightly golden. Add almonds and mix.

Easiest Roast Chicken

When I say easy, I mean easy! You must let it rest!

Roast Chicken Dinner – Serves 4, about 250 calories per chicken breast (no skin, no bones), about 60 calories per drumstick (no skin, no bones), wings about 100 calories (no bones)

One 3-4 pound chicken

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons minced thyme (optional)

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.

Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. Trussing is not difficult, and if you roast chicken often, it's a good technique to feel comfortable with. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.

Now, salt the chicken— rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper.

Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. I leave it alone—I don't baste it, I don't add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don't want. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.

Bagel Dogs

I know... they sound strange. They are however surprisingly good. They are better when you haven't eaten all day and you need to have your daily caloric intake in one meal, but hey... every now and then it's alright.

Bagel Dog – serves 16 (maybe 32 if you cut each one in half) Appx $1.23 per serving


JohnMorrell Polish Sausages (not Smoked) 48oz pkg
Hillshire Farms Pastrami 2-8 oz pkgs
1 LB Swiss Cheese
1/4 cup Dried Onions
4 pkg. yeast (or 4 T yeast)
1-2 tablespoons Poppy Seeds
1 egg beaten
8 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups of warm water
3-4 Tablespoon of sugar
4 tablespoons of salt

In the bowl of a mixer combine: 3 ½ C Flour, 4 T yeast, sugar, salt and water. Mix until smooth and set aside for 5 minutes. Then add 4 1/2 to 5 cups of flour making a ball of dough. Set aside while you prepare centers.

Take 16 polish sausages (I use John Morrell they taste the best) slit them down the middle making room for the cheese and the pastrami. Take 2 packages of Hillshire Farms pastrami and slice each package in 8 equal portions. Take 1 pound of swiss cheese and cut into 16 equal strips. Beat 1 egg to brush on later and you will also need 1/4 cups dry onion and 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds.

Take the sausages and open them up sprinkle approx. 1/2 teaspoon of dried onion inside, place pastrami and cheese on top of that. Once they are all prepared with the meat and cheese take the dough and cut it into 16 pieces. Roll each piece out flat into a triangle. Place the meat on the shortest end as long as there is enough room to fold over the ends to seal. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Place on a baking sheet Bake @ 375 to 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until brown. If you want to you can freeze them individually then wrap in plastic wrap and put in zip lock bags to keep fresh. From frozen they take 5 extra minutes to bake. Enjoy!

These are traditionally served with Yellow Mustard.

Back Log

So apparently, it's been a while. I had a baby right after the last post and obviously haven't done much since. That will change though :)

I am in charge of a cooking group for my Church and we hold 8 classes each year. We usually cook 3-5 new things, maybe with a theme, maybe not :) Tonight we made 5 delicious meals and one dessert... the recipes are soon to come, but there are no photos, sorry. Maybe nest time! Hope you enjoy!

These cupcakes were awesome! I found a recipe for a chocolate cherry cake. Different then any chocolate cherry cake I've ever had, but it was awesome. My mom makes a delicious chocolate cherry cake with cherry pie filling and cake mix, super dense, fudgy and rich but awesome!

This is a chocolate cake with a cherry frosting. The frosting was light and fluffy and a little tangy which paired well with a very chocolatey cake.

Cherry Frosting

8 oz Sour Cream

1 C Whipping Cream

1 1/2 C Powdered Sugar

2 T Maraschino Cherry Juice

Whip all ingredients together until stiff peaks form. Frost cupcakes or a double layer chocolate cake of your choice. This generously frosted almost 2 dozen cupcakes. For a cake I would multiply it by 1.5 just to ensure that you have enough frosting. I preferred the frosting the next day as it stiffened up just a bit more.

Pulled Beef Enchiladas

My husband has been craving real beef enchiladas with red enchilada sauce. I found this recipe on a food blog (http://caitlincooks.blogspot.com). I made a few adjustments and tripled the recipe, we had a 3.25 lb chuck roast we used in place of the blade steaks. I also didn't add the cilantro or jalapenos, we like hot but not so intense that it makes your eyes water and your nose run.

Next time I will use beef (or chicken) stock instead of water and I would cut the salt out since my tomato sauce is already salted. I cooked mine in a crock pot and it needed to cook about 6-8 hours, but only got to cook for about 4 and it still tasted great. Spanish rice and homemade refried beans or black beans would also be great with this. 

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbsp chili powder

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp oregano

Salt

1 to 1.25 lbs blade or chuck steaks, trimmed to small pieces

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

½ cup water

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack or mild cheddar

¼ cup chopped cilantro

¼ cup canned japapenos, chopped fine

12 (6-inch) corn tortillas, white or yellow

1. Combine garlic, chili powder, coriander, cumin, sugar, and 1 tsp salt in a small bowl. Pat the meat dry and sprinkle with salt. Heat oil in a dutch oven (or I used just a deep saucepan) over med high heat. Cook meat until browned on both sides. Transfer the meat to a plate. Add chopped onions to the pot and cook over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic mixture and cook till fragrent, about 1 minute. Add tomato sauce and water, bring to a boil. Return meat and juices to the pot, cover, reduce heat to low, and gently simmer till meat is tender and can br broken apart with a wooden spoon or fork, about 1 ½ hours.

2. Adjust oven rack t the middle position and heat oven to 350. Strain the beef mixture over a medium bowl, breaking meat into small pieces, reserve the sauce. Transfer meat to a bowl and mix with the cilantro, jalapenos, and 1 cup of cheese.

3. Spread ¾ cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Microwave tortillas 6 at a time until soft, 1 minute. Spread 1/3 cup beef mixture down the center of each tortilla, roll the tortillas tightly, and set in the baking dish seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and beef, you may have to fit a few down the sides of the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over enchiladas and spread to coat evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheese over, wrap with foil, and baked until heated through, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking till cheese browns slightly, 5 minutes. Serve with your favorite toppings (guac, sour cream, salsa) Enjoy!!