Chicken florentine

I guess I am in a cooking mood! Got in from work yesterday and knew I wanted chicken with a pasta. a new creation was born!

I took 7-10 frozen chicken tenders straight out of the freezer and put them in my medium sized round calaphon sauté pan on a medium to high heat. Added in a cup of sliced mushrooms, a cup of chopped celery, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, salt, pepper, and Tuscany seasoning to taste After letting that simmer with the dome lid on for a few minutes I added one can of diced tomatoes and covered it again.  It needed color and more sauce so I went looking in the pantry and found a pint of gossner's shelf whipping cream.  Added that and let it simmer a bit more. I also cut up the now cooked chicken tenders  into bite sized pieceswith a small metal spatula while it was still in the pan. Still wasn't happy with it,  so I pulled out the remains of fresh spinach from the fridge and added about 1.5 cups of freshly torn spinach to the pan and covered it up and turned off the heat.

I cooked up a batch of whole wheat angel hair pasta. That was the healthy part of dinner!  The final touch was adding a handful of shredded cheese to the top of the chicken florentined cream rose colored sauce before serving. To say the least, It was a hit with this crew!

Shrimp Creole...my way

I was at my sister in laws on Saturday and saw her recipe for Shrimp Creole sitting on the counter. I immediately knew I would be making something like it this week

1.5 cups chopped red bell pepper
1/4 of a jalepeno pepper minced very fine
1 c chopped red onion
1.5 cups of chopped celery
2 Tblsp minced garlic

Sauté all of this in a 1/4 cup butter. Salt pepper to taste

Add 2 lbs of shrimp(mine were actually frozen with deveined and the tail off)
Tobasco to taste
1 can of tomato paste
3 reg cans of diced tomatoes

I let that simmer and stew until the shrimp started to melt  and cook. I then added frozen okra, about  one and a half cups. Simmered about twenty more minutes. Turned the heat off and let it sit for an hour. Served over jasmine rice blend with wild rices that had been cooked in chicken broth and butter.

It was really a comfort food on a rainy night.

Manhattan style beef stew

2 lbs of beef stew meat seasoned with uncle Chris seasoning
1 cup each chopped onion, celery, carrots
4 small red potatoes chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
Salt pepper to taste
Brown the meat in butter, add the veges stew with the lid on medium temp, After 10 minutes add 1/2 c  sour cream, let stew for 5 minutes or until the potatoes can be cut with a fork. Add 1/2 cup cheese on top( I like the 4 cheese combination ) let melt on top and serve!

big D says this was the best stew he has ever had and I better write it down!

Nacho Cheese Mashed Potato Salad

This last sunday I made a little different potato salad. It was designed for those who are not huge fans of pickles or eggs

12 potatoes cut up and boiled in salted water , then drained.

1 c chopped Celery
1 c chopped Onion
1 c of crumbled Bacon

Saute the three C of COB in 2 Tbl of butter. Combine all of this with the still warm drained potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. I like to add an herbal seasoned salt that has rosemary, thyme and other various herbs. I actually use a potato masher to give it a bit of a mashed potato appearance, leaving lumps is preferred. Add the last three ingreadients, mixing it quite well.

1 C sour cream
1/4 c of mayonaise
1 1/2 C of shredded nacho cheese( I do love Gossner's brand)

The awesome part of this recipe is that it can be served warm like a german potato salad or cold like a traditional summer salad.

Quick Pork roast with Bread Dumplings

I have a family friend who I call "Aunt Maria". She is from Czeckoslovakia which is now known as the Czech Republic. She taught me long ago to make czech bread dumplings. When we were in Prague I ordered their goulash with dumplings. I was utterly pleased when they were the bread dumplings that she has taught to make years ago.

We found pre-made ones in Bergreinfeld where Jeni and Al live. We hoped for the best and they did not disappoint. But I digress.
We were starving when we returned from church and I wanted something quick. We had pork roast and a package of the dumplings. I opted to cut the raw pork roast into bite size pieces, coat it in flour, and braised it with onions, carrots, ground pepper, and a herbed salt we found in Salzburg. The meat was tender and juicy and tasty. It left a wonderful base for a gravy. A little gooseberry jam was added to the gravy and it was super! When it was all done, we added the pre-cooked dumplings on top, covered it and let them steam. It was so fresh and tasted like the meal we had had in Prague.
Now if you cannot find pre-made dumplings I am including the recipe that Aunt Maria gave me years ago.
1 pkg of yeast
1/2 c Warm-not hot milk to activate the yeast
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
3-4 c of flour
2 rolls broken up small or 4 white pieces of bread torn up
mix ingredients in order. Let rise for an hour. Form into loaf shapes and then drop in hot boiling salted water. COVER-DO NOT PEEK! Keep covered and boiling for 20 minutes. When they are done remove and cut them into thin slices with a piece of White thread. There are two kinds of dumpling on this picture, one is the potato dumpling and is more yellow in color. The other is white and the bread dumpling. They are wonderful for using with any meat and gravy. Also tasty with Cabbage and potatoes cooked together!

Savaroises au chocolat

Our trip to Europe has inspired a new taste treat! Trying it out today.

My thanks to La Cuisine De Christelle...a blogger of French cuisine.

I have attempted to translate the recipe...hopefully it works

*3 oefs... 3 eggs

*100 g sucre...1/2 cup sugar

*110 g farina...1 c flour

*1 cc de levure chimique...a generous 1/2 tsp of baking powder

*90 gr de beurre...1/2 stick butter

*1 cc cacao powder...about 1 Tblsn dark cocoa powder

*Quelgues vanilla...generous 1/2 tsp vanilla

*1 pince de sel...pinch of salt

I set the oven to 375.

Beat the eggs with sugar, add the butter and vanilla. Beat again. Add the salt, flour and baking powder, mix well. Divide on third of the dough away from the larger mass, save on the side. Add cocoa powder to the two third remainder, blend well.

Put paper cupcake holders in the stone ware muffin pan. Put One large spoonful of cocoa mixture in the bottom of the paper cupcake holder till it was all gone. Filled 12 cups. Added a small Spoonful of the vanilla butter mixture to the top. Baked for 12 to 15 minutes.

The tasting judges say it is perfect!

Hot Chocolate Popovers...thank you joy the baker

Hot Chocolate Popovers makes: 12 popovers recipe adapted from David Lebovitz 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted plus more for greasing the pan 3 large eggs, at room temperature 1 cup whole milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 12 large marshmallows. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. I used a standard muffin tin for these popovers. No fancy popover pan required. Use a paper towel to grease the individual muffin cups. Grease well with butter. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk well. Get an arm workout. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, instant espresso powder, salt, cocoa powder, and flour. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until just incorporated and no lumps remain. I poured my batter in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and poured the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Fill cups one-half to two-thirds full. Place pan in the oven and set timer for 30 minutes. No peeking. That’s important. Don’t open the oven. After 30 minutes, remove the popovers from the oven and immediately set oven to broiler. Carefully add a sprinkling (maybe about 5-7) chocolate chips into the center of the popover, and top with a marshmallow. If you have to press the chocolate in and deflate the popover a bit, use the back of a spoon. Go for it. Place pan under the broiler and barely close the door. Keep and eye on the toasting marshmallows. They’ll only need about a minute under the broiler. Feel free to rotate the pan as necessary. Remove toasted popovers from the oven. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Use a butter knife to gently remove the popovers. Serve warm. Popovers are best the day they’re made, but they also freeze just fine. Place in the freezer and reheat wrapped in foil, in a 350 degree oven.

Easier Paella

I just wanted a little Paella. Cut up a quarter of an onion, 1/2 cup celery and about 2 TBL of cilantro Put it all in a small saute pan in melted butter to meld flavors and tenderize the veges. Added this mixture to the rice cooker that had enough rice for two and a couple of pinches of saffron and one of salt. Did not start the rice cooker yet. I had been steaming gulf shrimp with the shell on, frozen clams in the shell, and frozen black shell mussels. I took some of the broth and added some of the broth to the rice. I then filled the rest of the appropriate amount of water to the rice cooker and turned it on. I did add one can of drained diced tomatoes after the rice was finished. I tossed the gorgeous yellow saffroned rice with the seafood in a huge white bowl. Big D was more than impressed! Success with an easier Paella! Leftovers enough for today! To the purists of Paella, no I did not use Olive Oil. No I did not use rabbit, or chicken. I like a seafood Paella. I did not cook it over a wood burning fire. Nope, no peas either. Nope no red peppers either. But it was so good and we liked it!

Smoked turkey chili

I had a smoked turkey breast...I wanted chili...I cut up a half of red onion, chopped up the smoked turkey breast. Melted 2 Tblsp of butter. Added 2 Tblsp of garlic and the chopped up onion, one can of hatch chopped chilies and the turkey, with salt to taste. Now here is the cheater part part...I added 7 cups of water and brought it a boil with cilantro and one can of green enchilada sauce. Brought it to a boil and then added one can of drained kidney beans and a pkg of darn good chili mix. After it has simmered for about 20 minutes. Serve with cut up tortilla chips and sprinkled shredded cheese on top. Big d said I could open a restaurant with this recipe.

Vegan mulligan stew...

My dad would make "Mulligan stew" when mom needed him to cook. What that meant is he cleaned out everything in the fridge and added a can of soup. At least that is how I remember it. I decided after my family's resident vegan's left to do the same thing...it turned out so well, I recreated it tonight for school soup day. Start with heating Olive oil in the bottom of a large pot Add in about 2 tsp do whole cumin And 2 Tbl of minced garlic Let sizzle for a minute or so. Add in 3/4 cup of each of the following: Chopped red onion Chopped celery Chopped cilantro Sliced white button mushrooms Sliced baby Bella mushrooms Sliced leeks Baby zucchini sliced Red bell pepper chopped Baby carrots cut in to two diagonally Let all of this Simmer a bit Add in two cans of artichokes-not pickled- cut in 1/2 or 1/4 Add in 1 can of drained dark red kidney beans And 1 qt vegetable broth Salt to taste Add thyme to taste And just for fun I added 3 Tbls of olive tapenade. After it has simmered a bit, add a handful of couscous and let it cook. Take off heat and serve as is...I will admit that I do kick it up to vegetarian level for me and add grated cheese.