Feast on Friday

If there is such a thing, I would be labeled a bake-a-holic—especially at Christmas. Just after Thanksgiving each year, I revisit my previous year’s baking list and make adjustments. I begin with about 10-15 types of cookies or candy. My trusty tried and true favorites never leave the list, but cookies or candies that don’t measure up, get voted off and are replaced by recipes I’ve collected throughout the year. I bake and freeze during December and then parcel goodies out to friends and family, saving an assortment to take to holiday parties and our own festivities.

I have baking lists dating back to 2006, which may seem a little crazy except that it allows me to remember what I’ve made in the past and perhaps revive a recipe from the grave if I so desire. The following recipe is a fabulous one for homemade peanut butter cups. While I’m a firm opponent of peanut butter in general, when it’s paired with chocolate it becomes quite dreamy.

Peanut Butter Cups by Rachael Ray

8 oz. milk chocolate, chopped

4 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ c. natural peanut butter

½ c. honey

(Hint: Use baking liners to form a chocolate shell. Swirl or paint the liquefied chocolate up the walls. Once it sets, fill the shell, then top with more melted chocolate to seal the candy.)

1.      Place 12 – 2 ½ inch baking liners on a baking sheet. Melt the chocolate. Reserve a pot of hot water to keep the chocolate liquid, as necessary. (Since I don’t have a double boiler, I follow the directions on the package to microwave.)

2.      Place about 2 teaspoons of the melted chocolate in a baking cup, swirling to coat about halfway up the side of the cup. Repeat with the remaining cups. Refrigerate until set.

3.      Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the peanut butter and honey. Transfer the mixture to a resealable plastic bag and snip off one corner.

4.      Fill the chocolate cups about ¾ full with the peanut butter mixture, smoothing the surface. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

5.     Top each peanut butter cup with melted chocolate to enclose, smoothing the surface. Refrigerate until hardened. To serve, remove the candies from the baking liners. (Keep stored in refrigerator.)

While this is an easy recipe to follow, it is a tad time-consuming because of all the refrigeration in between steps. You won’t be sorry if you take the time!!

Enjoy!

Friday Feast

I typically plan my week’s meals around whatever meat is on sale. Thus, every time packages of boneless chicken breast are $1.97 a pound, I stock up. This insures that meat is always in my freezer, and I won’t have to buy it at top dollar. The only time we have beef or pork is when I purchase it at a discount. The same goes for other items, such as cheese, lunch meat, ice cream, etc. Stocking up when items are on sale and combining with coupons means I don’t need to buy ingredients in desperation.

I love this particular recipe, but I only make it when I can buy the items more cheaply. This is an easy but fabulous dish to take to potlucks or other outings. You may need to make more than one batch, however, if you have a big group—it’s THAT yummy!

Ham and Cheese Rolls

1 pkg Hawaiian Rolls

1/2 # shaved ham

6 slices Swiss Cheese (I use Provolone)

Sauce:   1 t. dry onion

                ¾ t. dry mustard

                ¾ t. poppy seeds (optional)

                ½ t. Worcestershire Sauce

                ½ stick margarine, melted

*Heat until well mixed.

Cut rolls apart. Layer with ham and cheese. Replace top half of rolls. Pull apart to let sauce drip down in between rolls. Pour sauce over top. Bake covered with foil (7x11 pan) at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Friday Feast

Heredity plays a huge factor in determining physical appearance and personality. Our parents generously give us certain traits whether or not we want them. Nice of them to do that. And, they sometimes overlook one child and give wonderful gifts to another in the family. Nice of them to do that. For example, my sister received artistic gifts from my dad; I did not. In fact, I have zero craft abilities, thank you very much. On the other hand, my father neglected to give my brother any of his 6’3” height. There went the basketball career my brother thought he’d have. My mother gave me the ability (not the desire, alas) to cook; it skipped my sister. Thank goodness her husband cooks, so they don’t starve. But, what about those abilities, those gifts with which we are blessed that come from out of the blue? Like couponing!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve cut, sorted and saved with coupons. I don’t recall my mother ever saving coupons. I’m an anomaly.  Lately, however, I’ve taken couponing to a new level.  While I wouldn’t call myself extreme, I am an official binder carrying coupon machine. I purchase 4 papers each Sunday. I not only cut coupons, but I also download and print them.  Then, I organize them into currency sleeves divided into separate tabs, such as “food”, “medicine”, “personal care”, “laundry and cleaning”, “makeup”. I sort the food coupons to correspond with the aisles at Kroger, my favorite grocery store. When they rearranged the entire store a few months ago, I nearly had a heart attack. Suddenly I found myself flipping binder pages back and forth like Willow Smith in her popular song. It was a chaotic mess for weeks.

Thankfully, fresh meat doesn’t travel around the store; otherwise I would have participated in a chicken scavenger hunt. These fabulous chicken enchiladas are too delicious to miss. A friend made this recently, and my children raved about it. You can make it as mild or spicy as you like depending on the tastes of those in your family.

Chicken Enchiladas

8-10 tortillas

3-4 cooked chicken breasts

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

Chopped jalapeños to taste (or mild green chilies)

½ c. sour cream

1 c. chicken broth

2 c. cheddar cheese (I use cheddar-jack or Mexican)

Mix sour cream, soups, jalapeños, and chicken broth. (Consistency should be spreadable but not runny.) In each tortilla, put shredded chicken and ¼ to ½ c. soup mixture. Roll. Place tortillas side by side in 9x13 greased pan. Cover with remaining soup mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through.  (Side note: I heat tortillas up for about 20 seconds in the microwave so they are easier to roll.)

Enjoy! 

Friday Feast

Approximately 24 years I ago, I created a cooking disaster of such epic proportions it is forever seared in my memory. And, it’s pretty much prevented me from buying and preparing a whole chicken.

Let me set the stage for you, and inform you right up front that I blame my mom for this episode. She had baked a scrumptious chicken that literally melted in your mouth a few weeks before. Mom said cooking a chicken was as easy as making Pillsbury biscuits—pop them out and pop them in the oven. No problem. I reminisced about that chicken and thought why not? I’ll give it a shot.

I cooked that chicken to death. Pulled it out of the oven a million times, and parts of it weren’t done. It never fell apart, tender little pieces falling off the bone. The meat gripped tightly to the bone as if hanging on for dear life. Finally, it appeared done enough, and I tired of waiting.

 Sitting at the dinner table, we sawed pieces off until the innards slithered onto the plate. Turning ugly Shrek-like shades with stomachs churning, we immediately lost our appetites. Dinner over, I phoned Mom to ask her about this strange phenomenon. She howled while I held the phone away from my ear. I’m sure the people in the next apartment heard her chortling. After the shrieking stopped, I wondered why she neglected to give me such important information about the chicken. And, why in the world wouldn’t the chicken killers take care of this mess before they arrived at my dinner table?

My whole chicken baking days sufficiently in the toilet, I stick to boneless, skinless chicken breast recipes. It’s a safer bet, and I don’t have to worry about unwanted body parts sliding out. One of my all time favorite crockpot chicken recipes is so easy, my 11 year old couldn’t mess it up! With five minutes preparation time, this recipe works well for busy families.

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed

1/8 c. margarine

1 package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix

1 package cream cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

Put chicken, margarine and dressing mix in slow cooker; mix together and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours. Add cream cheese and soup; mix together and cook on high for another ½ hour or until heated through and warm. Serve over hot, cooked egg noodles.

Enjoy!

Friday Feast

The first meal I cooked for my parents is forever etched in my memory like words on a locket. A novice at cooking in my younger years, I probably should have begun with something simple like Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup; however, I chose beef stew. Gathering all the ingredients, I chop, cut and cook. The recipe calls for a clove of garlic. For the first time ever, I purchase garlic. Fast forward a few hours later when we are seated around the table preparing to sip our stew. Mom lifts her spoon out of the bowl and looks stunned at the contents.

“Ummm, how much garlic did you put in this stew?” she asks.

“A clove. That’s what the recipe asked for,” I respond.

“But you put the whole thing in!”

“Well, that’s what it asked for,” I repeat, not grasping her meaning.

She proceeds to explain the difference between a clove and cloves of garlic and that one should actually peel the outer layer off a clove, chop or mince it and then add it to the recipe. Well, excuse me. How was I to know the finer details of handling garlic? I missed Cooking 101 because my nose was planted in school books not recipe books. Besides, I don’t recall my mother using garlic at all, ever. Maybe she did, but I occupied myself with boys and books, not necessarily in that order.

Fortunately, I’ve learned a bit about garlic and love to use a lot of it, properly! White Chili recipes are as plentiful as sand on a beach, but our family loves this one particularly. Because the slow cooker makes meal preparing easy, I use it as often as possible. It certainly eliminates the hurry and scurry of trying to prepare a meal in between nightly activities and sports. Just a little effort in the morning and 6 hours later, a tasty dish is ready to eat!

White Chili

2 T. butter

2 lbs. boneless chicken, chopped

2 medium onions

1 large can chicken broth

8 oz. chopped green chilies

3 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 48-oz. jar Great Northern beans

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 t. cumin

1 t. oregano or Italian Spice mix

¼ t. ground cloves

¼ t. cayenne (optional)

Sauté chicken, onion, spices and garlic in butter until chicken is done. Combine all ingredients, except cheese. Simmer on low 6-8 hours; a crock pot will work well. Stir in cheese to melt just before serving.

Enjoy!

Friday Feast

I’m no Paula Dean or Rachael Ray in the kitchen. In fact, when I married, I didn’t even know how to cook. Mom taught me a few things, but homework ruled my life and kept me from the kitchen. Kraft macaroni and cheese and browning hamburger were my specialties. But, my true love involved baking chocolate chip cookies or anything else with sugar. A few faux pas in my early married years and 20 something years later, I’ve learned a bit about cooking. However, I still like to keep it simple. Share a recipe with me that contains more than 10 ingredients, and I’ll not take a second glance. For this reason, I steer clear of gourmet cooking magazines which like to use strange ingredients I’ll only use once then find 6 months later growing a nice shade of green in my refrigerator. Recipes that use massive quantities of Cream of “Something” soup or spaghetti noodles or chicken thrive in this cook’s hands. My problem is I open the pantry door and stare at boxes and cans hoping the kitchen muses will bless me with inspiration, ideas and illumination.

These days, the majority of the battle with cooking is meal planning. If I can conquer that itty bitty thing, cooking is a piece of cake. In honor of this ongoing struggle, Friday posts will be devoted to quick yet tasty recipes. In our family, we call these “keepers,” a word coined by my husband to gently let me know if the meal should stick around.  Let’s face it, cooking can be deeply personal, and nothing is worse than the customers complaining about the menu:

“Oooooo, what’s this? Have you made this before? Do I like it? How many bites do I have to eat?”

Chefs put time and effort into preparing something they hope consumers will enjoy. And, moms don’t want to hear their beautiful babies (or bellyaching big boys) bawling about the beans, bread or broccoli or they’re liable to send those buggers to bed to wait for breakfast the next morning.

I ripped this recipe out of a Kroger mailer. Everyone raved about it except Maddie, who thumbed her nose at the dish never having tasted it. Apparently, she’s allergic to the color green!   

Balsamic Roasted Green Beans

2 lbs. green beans, trimmed

1 red bell pepper, cut into ½-inch wide strips

1 small red onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 T. balsamic vinegar

2 t. olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place beans, bell pepper, onion, garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil on a sheet pan. Toss to coat vegetables with oil mixture. Roast for about 20 minutes or until vegetables reach desired tenderness. Season vegetables with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftovers. Serves 8.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!