Are you hungry?: 1/1/10

Friday, January 29, 2010

Creamy chicken, spinach stuffing, and number 100 - Woo Hoo

It's my 100th post, Woo Hoo. Friends and Food are so appropriate for this post, well at least it's appropriate for me. You all know how I feel about both if you read my Uplifted and Inspired post.

Friends and Food

Friends first. Two of my very dear blogger friends passed the Happy 101 Award on to me. Well heck, I'm blushing, thanks to Roz and Gera. Roz authors La Bella Vita, and I can tell you her posts will always make you happy. You'll find some awesome food posts there. As for Gera, he's the mind behind SweetsFoods. He posts some awesome weekly blog round ups I mean to tell you. Not only does he list the weeks best foodie posts from foodie blogs he follows, but also includes some great posts on social media, blogging and health & fitness well. Now this award comes with some terms, which I think is perfect for my 100th post. The rules are as follows: 1. Copy and paste the award on your blog. 2. List who gave the award to you and link to their blog.3. List 10 things that make you happy.4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know.

Ok here goes, ten things that make me happy....uuuummmm...... I'm thinking, do you smell the smoke?
1- Hanging out with my sons
2- Serving up a meal that even I am satisfied with the results.
3- Volunteering to help where children are the beneficiaries
4- Seeing my husband smile
5- Road trips
6- Playing with my grand puppy (no grand kids yet)
7- Talking to old friends from back home.
8- Family gatherings
9- Seeing my Dad laugh
10- Fellowship with bloggers from around the globe

Here are the 10 bloggers who I know will Make you Smile -

1. Mary at Foodo del Mundo
2-Stephanie at Dairy Free Diva
3-Angie at Southern Grace Gourmet
4-Reeni at Cinnamon and Spice
5- Claudia at What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine
6-Shelley at Wine at Five
7-Anamaris at Chef it Yourself
8- Mary at Deep South Dish
9-Melissa at Frugal Creativity
10- Pam at A Love for NEW recipes

Wow that was difficult, having to pick just ten bloggers, there are so many more!

And now for the food, yummy! Last weekend I made a really delicious Spinach Stuffing for the first time. My DH, aka 'The Carnivore' wasn't too excited about this. He's cut his carbs to almost nothing and lost about 30 pounds so far! I found the stuffing recipe online, altered it a bit...You know I use what I have on hand most of the time; it finished great.With that I served Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms. This was a recipe that came from mom, with a new twist added. Mom prepared this one in the oven, minus the vino, sometimes it was over potatoes. I did the stove top method, plus the vino! There are no finished pictures because a friend of mine, whom I haven't seen for about a year, stopped by right at dinner time. Knowing about her diet, we waited to eat. By the time I made it back to the kitchen, we were famished! My stomach said, "No time for pictures just dish up that food will ya!" After dinner I popped this photo of the leftover stuffing, to give you an idea of how it finished anyway.

Spinach Stuffing

2-16 ounce bags frozen spinach, thawed/drained (I used one)
1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped(I didn't have peppers, none used)
1 onion chopped (small onion)
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press (1 Tbsp minced)
4 Tablespoons butter
Season salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, chopped (Not used)
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 of a 16 ounce bag of Brownberry Herb Stuffing mix-I like the shredded (I used 1/2 package Rothbury Garlic and Cheese Croutons)

1. Saute the peppers, onions, mushrooms and garlic over medium heat til soft. Season with seasoning salt and pepper.
2. Add the spinach and cook for about 5 minutes more.
3. Place in large bowl and cool to room temperature.
4. Add cilantro, cheese and stuffing mix. Let sit about 10 minutes or so until the bread absorbs the liquid from the veggies. If it's too dry, add chicken stock.(I added 3/4 cup)
5. Stuff into turkey or just place in a greased baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes. (I baked in an 8 X 8 glass dish)

the original - http://www.grouprecipes.com/27782/spinach-stuffing.html

The stuffing was very moist and not in any way mushy.The cheese gave it a sharp flavor yet not overpowering the spinach. In fact, my son Red, who hates spinach, almost polished off the whole dish! Given that my family doesn't really like those slimy or mushy textures that vegetables like spinach have, this one is definitely a keeper!

Creamy Chicken

5 chicken breasts, bone in
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, chopped (I sliced them)
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used cream of celery)
1/2 cup white wine, divided
1/2 can milk

1. Season chicken with salt, pepper to taste.
2. In a large skillet, brown the chicken over medium-high heat.
3. Wisk soup, remaining wine, and milk in a small bowl.
4. Remove chicken, deglaze pan with 1/4 cup of white wine.(Gotta incorporate those yummy brown bits of flavor)
5. Lower the heat, add the mushrooms, and saute for one minute, move to the side.
6. Return the chicken to the pan. Add the onions and scoop the mushrooms on top.
7. Pour cream of mushroom soup mix over chicken. Gently move the chicken pieces and swoosh the soup around to incorporate all ingredients. (a seen in photo)
8. When the soup begins to simmer, cover skillet, cook on medium-low. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes, or until chicken are cooked through. I remove the lid for the last five minutes of cooking in order to allow the sauce to thicken.

This recipe produces a nice creamy ~~gravy~~ sauce. The wine adds just the right flavor, turning that cream soup into a gourmet type sauce. The chicken pieces were nice and juicy inside, and remained nicely browned when the dish was cooked through.

Thanks for stopping by to celebrate my 100th, hope you enjoyed my Friends and Food.

Are you hungry?

Comments Recipe Tags: casserole, chicken, side dish, vegetables

Friday, January 22, 2010

Chocolaty Cheesecake Squares

I promised myself I would bake more in 2010. Not quite ready for anything too fancy just yet, baking in baby steps. Publix had a buy one get one sale on Betty Crocker cake mixes a week or so ago. Of course I had coupons for those so, I bought four different mixes for less than the four bucks! Saturday I planned to try my hand at a cheese cake. My brother in law and niece were coming for Sunday Dinner. The menu was deep fried turkey, home made mac n cheese, garden salad, and steamed broccoli. I figured chocolate cheesecake would be a suitable dessert.

Needless to say, I was excited. I gathered all the ingredients, got out my baking tools and started the cheesecake. When it came time to add the cream cheese I had a big surprise. Oh my gosh, the cream cheese was green and fuzzy. What happened, it wasn't green yesterday??? I had the bottom layer pressed into the pan already. "Gotta go to Publix, the Philly has gone pharmaceutical, be right back guys" I yelled as I ran out the door. Twenty minutes later I'm back in the kitchen using my new hand mixer, thanks to my DH "the carnivore", moving on to step three. I got everything together and in the pan. OK it's time for the marbling... I'm not real good at that I guess 'cause the picture I saw online didn't look like my cheesecake. When mine came out of the oven, it was more like layers, not really marbled on the top.

The bottom was a just little crisper than I would have liked. Not sure if that's because it sat for a while due to the cream cheese delay or maybe I didn't measure the butter exact or what. Cut and served in squares, this cheesecake worked beautifully with this meal. As for the overall taste, I really liked it; Very creamy, modestly rich, and oh so chocolaty! Red, my son and food critic, thought it was really good, as did my brother in law. I'm going to try this one again, checking the cream cheese first next time!

Marble Cheesecake

1 package Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® devil's food cake mix (I used Triple Chocolate Fudge)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened (you know I used Philadelphia Brand)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 container (8 ounces) sour cream
3/4 cup whipping (heavy) cream

1. Heat oven to 350° (325° for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottom and sides of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, with shortening or spray with cooking spray.

2. Reserve 1 cup dry cake mix for filling. Beat remaining cake mix, the butter and 1 egg in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until dough forms. Press on bottom of pan.

3. Beat sugar, cream cheese and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in remaining 2 eggs, the sour cream and 1/4 cup of the whipping cream on low speed until smooth; reserve 1 cup cream cheese mixture. Pour remaining cream cheese mixture over crust.

4. Beat reserved 1 cup cake mix, reserved 1 cup cream cheese mixture and remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream in same bowl on low speed until smooth. Drop chocolate cream cheese mixture by spoonfuls over cream cheese mixture in pan. Cut chocolate mixture through plain mixture with knife in S-shaped curves in one continuous motion. Turn pan 1/4 turn, and repeat for marbled design. Tap bottom of pan sharply on counter to level cream cheese mixtures.

5. Bake 32 to 40 minutes or until sharp knife inserted 1 inch from side of pan comes out clean
(center will not be set). Cool 30 minutes on wire rack. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Run knife around side of pan to loosen cheesecake. Refrigerate at least 4 hours until chilled. Store covered in refrigerator.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Before heating oven, place small baking pan filled with 1 to 2 cups
water on oven rack below cheesecake to help prevent cheesecake from cracking. Bake 40 to 45 minutes.

You'll find the original recipe here - http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes.aspx/marble-cheesecake/34b8884e-e695-4a16-8280-8bc626b0e5ba

Comments Recipe Tags: baking, chocolate, dessert

Friday, January 15, 2010

Lindaraxa's Garden: Haiti Needs Our Support NOW! ...Here's How to Help

Comments Recipe Tags: uncategorized

Frugal Creativity: Bloggers Helping Haiti

Nice list of ways you can help! Thanks Melissa
Frugal Creativity: Bloggers Helping Haiti

Comments Recipe Tags: uncategorized

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Creamy Tomato-Basil Pasta and Free Cream Cheese

Have you seen the new ads for Philadelphia cream cheese? I just love the song!

Anyhow Love My Philly.com invited me to try their Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta and Chicken recipe. To that, a little thank you was attached – They sent me a cute little recipe book with every cheesecake recipe one could think of, and coupons for free Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I’ll be Spreading a Little Philly Love to you all with a giveaway here. Yep a free tub or block of Philadelphia Cream Cheese but first the recipe, it’s really quite impressive. I did make some alterations to the recipe ingredients, which are noted (like this).

Creamy Tomato-Basil Pasta with Chicken

Prep: 30 minutes (45 min)
Makes: 4 servings

3 cups penne pasta, uncooked (2 1/2 cups Rotelle)
¼ cup KRAFT sun-dried tomato dressing, divided
4 small boneless skinless Chicken Breasts – (3 ½ lb each)
1 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
½ tsp. each garlic powder & black pepper
4 oz (1/2 package) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
2 cups grape tomatoes
½ cup KRAFT shredded Parmesan cheese (grated)
8 fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

1. Cook pasta as directed on package. Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp. dressing in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken, cover. Cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until done (165º F). Remove chicken from skillet, cover to keep warm. Carefully wipe out skillet with paper towel.
2. add remaining dressing, broth, and seasonings to skillet; cook 3 to 4 min. or until heated through. Add Neufchatel; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until Neufchatel is melted. Stir in tomatoes, cook 3 minutes.
3. Drain pasta. Add to ingredients in skillet with Parmesan and basil, mix well. Serve topped with chicken.

Method alterations:
Step 1- I used Rotelle pasta because that is what I had on hand. Since the chicken breasts that I bought, and all the packages at the meat counter for that matter, were about a half a pound, I used just three. They took a little longer than 12 minutes to cook; Note to self, fillet the chicken breasts next time.
Step 2- The grape tomatoes I halved, they just seemed too big.
Step 3 – I added all but about a cup of the cooked pasta. It looked to be way too much pasta for the sauce, even after reducing the dry amount.

Assessment:
I had a great time preparing this dish. It was really exciting to be part of a testing program for the first time. Add in the fact that it was Philly cream cheese and I'm a girl from the burbs of Philly, well that's just made the whole deal awesome! The flavor was great. The dressing gave the chicken a nice flavor and a nice bit of zing to the sauce too. Red and the carnivore liked very much. The three of us had one criticism, more sauce was definitely in order! To spoon some of that creamy sauce over the chicken after plating would have been fabulous, but the pasta just soaked it up. Maybe changing from Penne to Rotelle made the difference, I don’t know. I will be making this again, two cups of dry pasta, double the sauce.

My Spread A Little Philly Love Giveaway – If you want to enter, go here and leave a comment about this post, including a way for me to contact you in your comment. That’s it, you're entered to win one free tub or bar of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Giveaway closes at midnight EST on Tuesday January 19th. One winner will be chosen at random.

The lucky winner will be announced on Wednesday January 20th. Thanks and Good Luck!

Are you hungry?

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: chicken, dinner, pasta

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Meatballs n Sausage with Primavera Sauce

This is another one of those no starch meals made specially for "the carnivore". If you read my Crispy Chicken post then you know how it is around my house. I had originally planned to prepare a pasta dish with meatballs and sausage. Upon announcing the dinner menu, I got the WHAT PASTA?? response. See my DH had quit eating high carb foods like pasta, bread, and potatoes to name a few. Oh jeez, I can't do him like that but I want meat balls! Ok, here's the compromise, Meatballs and Sausage Primavera, no pasta, and Devils Food Sour Cream loaf for dessert(which hubby doesn't eat anyway). That got a yes and an I'm sorry from the carnivore, and a big grin from my son Red!

Inspired by the seafood pasta primavera from Christmas Eve dinner, this is what it did:

Meatballs n Sausage with Primavera Sauce

Brown 1.5 pounds sausage over medium-low heat, turning frequently. I used sweet Italian Mozzarella and parsley sausage and cut the links to about 3 inches. I was surprised how lean it was. While they were browning I mixed the meatballs.

Meatballs

1 lb ground chuck

1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup grated cheese Parmesan and/or Romano (I like Romano best)

1/2 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1 tbsp dried parsley

salt & fresh ground pepper

I use my hands to mix and like to roll meatballs just a bit bigger than a golf ball. When the sausage was browned and almost cooked through, I remove the sausage and added the meatballs. Brown the meatballs on medium low, turning only when the side is browned otherwise they will break apart. When the meatballs are browned on all sides, lower heat and continue to cook until the meatballs have lost the red color. Remove and reserve with the sausage.

Drain any excess fat, leaving all the brown bits from the meat. Reduce the heat to lowest setting and add 1 can diced Italian tomatoes and 1/2 cup red cooking wine. I used burgundy. Stir and scrape to mix those flavorful meat bits with the tomato wine liquid, kind of like making gravy. Next add 3-4 cloves of garlic and cook until garlic begins to soften. Add the meat back to the pan, cover and cook until both meats are done. This took about 30 minutes or so and allowed the sauce flavor to be incorporated into the meat balls. Meanwhile, I gathered and cut the vegetables.

1 cup frozen okra

1 cup frozen Italian cut green beans

1 cup diced petite tomatoes (half can)

3 sweet banana peppers (aka Italian sweet peppers) sliced

1 large onion sliced rather thick

1 cup garbanzo beans, drained

1 small can of mushrooms, drained

When the meat is done move to the side of the pan, add the frozen vegetables and the tomatoes, and turn up the heat to get them simmering.Cover and cook, stirring a few times, until veges are no longer frozen but not done. Add the remaining vegetables, stir to combine, cover and cook until the fresh vegetables are cooked but not too soft. Mix the vegetables with the meatballs and sausage. Serve in bowls topped with grated Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. Sorry I don't have a plated photo, it was self serve night with dinner in front of the TV.

I really enjoyed this even without the pasta. Hubby did too, which made me really happy, and Red had seconds so I know he liked it! Nothing better than a compromise well done. Oh and as for the diet success, hubby has lost enough now to go down one pants size!

There's about a million recipes for sour cream pound cake loaf on the net. After reading about ten of them and looking in the pantry I came up with this:

Devils Food Sour Cream Loaf

1 devils food cake mix

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

powdered sugar for dusting

Combine cake mix, oil, yogurt, and sour cream. Mix until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Pour into two 9" greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool and dust with powdered sugar.

Red liked this better than I did. For the ease of the recipe, it was wonderful, and to it's credit not too sweet. Since devils food cake is light, the texture was as such; very moist yet quite airy. The edges were crisp like an old fashioned pound cake, however I like a more dense cake when thinking pound cake. A moist mix would have been perfect. Oh well, maybe I'll graduate and make the next one from scratch!

Are you hungry?

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: baking, beef, dinner, italian, pork

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

2009 - The Bad, the Good, and the Food

2009 is finally over. Hard to believe we made it through the year. While it was a very bad year many good things came about. In fact, I think the bad was necessary for the good to surface. Priorities needed to be adjusted, back to the basics as my DH says. Life is not all about how much, or how new, or how big. It's about people, about what we CAN do and how we CAN help.

The Bad - Our business dropped over 70%. We suffered the losses of family and friends, sold many prized possessions, and watched too many friends loose their homes and businesses. Survival mode set in.

The Good - Our faith increased not 10 but 100 fold. DH and I spent lots more time helping and supporting our friends who were hurting, some worse than us. We prayed together way more often, giving thanks and acknowledging the tiniest blessings on a daily basis. We didn't miss a mortgage payment and have a few jobs on the books for 2010. Red moved home to help out while he completed college. In August he received his degree. My oldest son Luis, after serving eight years in the marine corps, has enrolled in college. With lots of new found time on my hands, I made quite a few blog and foodie friends. I won a few online giveaways and I learned more about food than I ever could have imagined. We did lots of food sharing with little funds. Using ingredients I had on hand and what I learned, I spent way more time in the kitchen and way less time focused on the bad....

The Food - FOODalogue was one of my first inspirations; took me on a culinary trip that was over the top. All of Joan's dishes are dressed for success and I learn a great deal from her blog. Check out the 2010 Culinary Tour, South of the Border and you'll see what I mean.

In 2009 I made homemade applesauce and cheddar crackers for the first time, inspired by Cookin' Canuck.

Ohhhh man I can't tell you how good it felt to serve my family fresh cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving Day which I credit to my dear foodie friend Mary, author of Deep South Dish.

That's Claudia's photo of her Seafood Pasta Primavera, which is now part of our family Christmas Eve Feast. I must mention Gera over at Sweet Foods, what an inspiring blog. Did you see those best of weekly round up posts? Talk about sharing! You'll really miss some good stuff, so go on over and check it out. Reeni, owner of Cinnamon n Spice puts out some incredible eats and posts that I really do relate to. Southern Grace Gourmet has some wonderful dishes, giveaways, reviews, and even some baby food recipes for all you foodie moms. Do I have time to mention the other hundred or so foodies I follow? I don't think so.

AND, (a drum roll please) after a full year of food blogging, I finally overcame my baking phobia. It started with that apple addiction and the apple cranberry crisp via Ginger Rose, followed by a pathetic pumpkin pie that my DH donned pumpkin pizza. All the holiday baking posts just pushed me over the edge. The week of Christmas (2009 was almost over ha!) I made a few dozen of these easy, "no flour" peanut butter cookies that I found cooks.com. I added a half cup of peanut butter chips per Red's request. Red took a dozen of the PB cookies to his Christmas party at work. He claimed they were the first cookies to be gone.

Next I made cake mix sugar cookies, recipe follows. I was amazed that both turned out really good. I liked the sugar cookies far better than the peanut butter.

On New Years Day I made these Oatmeal Brownie Bars. The oatmeal gave top and bottom just the right crunch. The middle brownie was nice and moist. I didn't have nuts on hand so I used raisins. They were perfect little bits of sweet chewy goodness I'll tell you. In fact I think nuts would make it too crunchy. Now I know these baked goods are probably no brainers compared to what some of you all serve up but hey it's a start right? All I can really say is YUMMY!!

As you can see, The Bad is short, The Good quite a bit longer, and The Food is long, really long... point taken?

The recipes -

Oatmeal Brownie Bars
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 package Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix (with chocolate syrup pouch)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts

1.Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches.

2.Mix oats, flour, brown sugar and baking soda; stir in butter. Reserve 1 cup of the oat mixture. Press remaining oat mixture in pan. Bake 10 minutes; cool 5 minutes.

3.Stir brownie mix, chocolate syrup, water, oil and eggs in medium bowl about 50 strokes or until well blended. (Mixture may be lumpy.) Stir in nuts. Spread over baked layer; sprinkle with reserved oat mixture.

4.Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean or almost clean. Cool completely for easier cutting, about 2 hours. For 48 brownies, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows. Store covered.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft) Bake oat mixture 15 minutes. Follow High Altitude directions on package for cakelike brownies. Bake 40 to 45 minutes.
Recipe from Betty Crocker.com

Cake Mix Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

2 eggs
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
powdered sugar

Directions

1. Mix together cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl.
2. Make little balls with the dough and set on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 4 - 10 minutes.

I rolled the balls in powdered sugar as advised by many of the comments. Make sure the dough balls are small, about 1" in diameter, otherwise you will end up with giant cookies. Also, time frame was rather broad, I baked mine for 8 minutes. Roll in a mix of powdered sugar and cinnamon for a snicker doodle sugar cookie.

Original recipe All Recipes

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: baking, dessert, entertaining, snack

Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy New Year

Ham is on it's way into the oven, focaccia bread on it's way out while the oatmeal brownie bars are cooling. Woner what my next post will be?? [big smile]

Wanted to take a moment and wish everyone many blessings in 2010 and Happy New Year's Day!