Hawaiian Haystacks

(From Cherie)

Bone in chicken with skin
1 cube margarine
¾ C flour
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 C milk
3-4 C chicken broth

Cook whole chicken or cut up chicken in boiling water. When cooked, let chicken cool then remove meat from bones in small pieces. Set aside chicken and broth to use in the sauce. Make a white sauce by melting butter. Add flour to soak up the butter. Then stir in milk. Add broth a little bit at a time and cream of chicken soup. Be careful not to let sauce get to thin. (I use a wisk for all of this part so the sauce doesn’t get lumps of buttery flour.) Salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked chicken. Serve over cooked rice and top with desired toppings like cheese, tomato, olives, Chinese noodles, etc…

Note: to save time, canned chicken and canned chicken broth can be used instead of boiling your own. It doesn’t taste as good but is a lot faster. Also the amount of sauce can easily be altered to make more by adding another can of chicken soup and more broth. Or to make less, I usually cut the recipe in half by halving the base ingredients of the white sauce (butter, flour, milk). Then I add enough soup and broth to make the right consistency.

Cook-Blog-Share: Week 3 of 4

*Here are the links to the other blogs with recipes this week. The blog/post title isn't always the name of the recipe so be sure to read the whole post and there should be a recipe somewhere in there. Also be sure to click on 'older posts' at the end of this post for more recipes or check out the February archive. Updated Mar 3 2010.

Tortellini Soup From Elise
Bran Muffins from Marie
Baked Fish With Tomatoes from Melanie

Thanks to everyone who has contributed recipes so far. I am trying them out one by one and have found some real winners! This week there are a few less contributors, so if you are reading this and want to send on a recipe, please do! Email me or leave it in a comment. elainesmithson@live.com

This is actually a new recipe for me that I tried for the first time this week. If you love mushrooms, and I luv mushrooms, then you will like this dish. If you don't like them, then not so much. It is basically chicken and linguine with a mushroom sauce. I thought it was yummy. I got it from Pioneer Woman's website. You should check it out sometime. I did make a few modifications to her recipe, though. So here it is.


Chicken Scallopine

1/2 pound Linguine
4 whole Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts
Salt And Pepper
Flour
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
4 Tablespoons Butter
12 ounces Mushrooms, Sliced Thin
1 cup Chicken Broth
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
½ cups Heavy Cream (can Use Half-and-Half)
1 teaspoon (heaping) Capers
Chopped Fresh Italian Parsley

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Flatten chicken breasts to uniform thickness. Salt and pepper both sides (first), then dip/cover in flour (second). Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken breasts until golden brown. If breast are thin, this is about 2-3 minutes on each side. Be careful not to burn butter (juices in pan will start turning black). Remove to a plate and set aside.

Throw mushrooms into the pan and stir. Immediately pour in chicken broth and lemon juice. Stir to deglaze the pan, and then cook vigorously for 1 minute, until sauce reduces.

*At this point I thought the sauce was a little thin, so: Take about 1/2 teaspoon butter in a bowl and mash as much flour into it as you can with a fork to make a thick butter/flour clay. Maybe about 2 tablespoons of flour. Then, stir this in with the mushrooms till the butter and flour dissolve. Turn up heat to medium high and cook until sauce thickens. Again, be careful not to burn. This is a cool trick I learned to add flour to thicken without the flour getting clumpy

Pour in cream and stir, then add capers and parsley and stir. Turn off heat. Stir and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve mushroom sauce over chicken and pasta.

**Little side note. After making this, I thought, "Next time I will cook the sauce first and the chicken second so the chicken stays warmer and juicier, and the sauce can sit and absorb flavor while I cook the chicken. Then I realized, the chicken juices and butter and oil make the mushroom sauce tastier, so never mind. That is all.

Greek Salad/ Sesame Lamb Gyros

(From Holly)

Greek Salad

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 large clove

garlic, quartered

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 cup olive oil

6 cups mixed mesclun greens, soaked in salt water to remove grit, dried in a salad spinner and torn into bite-sized pieces

1 cup kalamata olives, pitted

2 English cucumbers, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch disks

1 cup cubed feta cheese

Sesame Lamb Gyros

4 each pita bread, slightly toasted or grilled

2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste (or 2 tablespoons peanut butter mixed with 1 teaspoon sesame oil)

2 cups plain yogurt

1 lemon, juiced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 cup cucumber, peeled, 1/16-inch dice

3 to 5 slices leftover cooked lamb per pita, slightly warmed on a grill or Sauteed in olive oil

2 large tomatoes, 1/4-inch slices and seasoned with salt and pepper

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Greek Salad

For the dressing:Add the vinegar to a blender, replace the lid, turn it on, and through the feed tube add, 1 at a time, the garlic, crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Leaving the blender running, add the olive oil in a slow thin stream. Set aside until needed.Toss the greens, olives and cucumbers together with enough dressing to coat. Fold in the feta cheese. Serve additional dressing on the side.

Gyros

In a small bowl, whisk together the sesame paste, yogurt, lemon juice and garlic until smooth. Fold in the cucumbers and season. Spread the 'tzatziki' on the pita and lay warm lamb and tomato slices on top. Spread more 'tzatziki' on the tomatoes and garnish with sesame seeds.

Plating: Slice in half and serve.

Chicken Nuggets

(From Cherie)

1/2 C flour (rounded)
2 tsp seasoned salt
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp poultry seasoning
½ tsp ground mustard
¼ tsp pepper
2-3 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts

Mix dry ingredients in a ziplock bag or large bowl. Cut chicken, place in bowl or bag and coat with flour mixture. Fry in oil until chicken is cooked—about 10 minutes.

Italian Chicken

(From The Kitchen of Erin Cummings)


4 frozen chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ stick of butter
1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix
8 oz. room temp. cream cheese
Angel Hair Pasta


Put chicken breasts in crock-pot. Melt butter and pour over chicken. Sprinkle with entire packet of Italian dressing mix. Cover and cook 4 hours on HIGH. When done, shred chicken with a fork. Blend soup and cream cheese and pour over shredded chicken. Cook and additional 30 minutes and serve over angel hair pasta or whatever other pasta you like.

Out Of the Mouth Of Babes

(A picture of me and my girl at the baby shower. Wow, I look like a ghost from this long winter inside...)

Here are some of the adorable things She-She has said lately. At age three she sure comes up with some good ones.

(When I was brushing her hair)
"Mom, stop! You are hurting me. Stop brushing my fur!"

*******************

One night She-She couldn't fall asleep so we let her come in with us while we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed. We were all laying in bed while Sean and I read scriptures. And had this little conversation.

"You're my sweetheart," says Sean to She-She.
"No your MY sweetheart," she replies.
"Your MY sweetheart, She-She," I jump in.
"No, she's MY sweetheart!" Sean counters.

It goes on like this, so I change it up...

"Hey She-She, Daddy is MY husband."

She argues, "No, he is MY husband!" We laugh and tell her what a cute girl she is. The argument is over. She-She lays back, stares at the ceiling, and says in a quiet voice to Sean, "You are my life...you are my heart." Sean and I glance at each other, both stunned at her poetic confession of love for her daddy, then shower her with tender hugs and kisses.

*****************************

One of my friends is having a baby and is due in three weeks. We have playdates every so often but She-She was oblivious to the whole pregnancy until we went to the store to buy a gift for the baby shower.

"What is that for?" She-She asks.

"Holly is going to have a baby girl soon. This is a dress for her new baby."

"She has a baby at her house?"

"Well, not yet, but soon. Right now the baby is in her tummy." I can see She-She trying to fit this information into her head.

I explain further, "See, Heavenly Father gives little babies to mommies. First babies stay in a mom's tummy, and then later, the baby comes out and the mommy gets to hold it." Oh shoot, I'm not sure if I am doing this right. I wait for She-She's response

"Oh...I don't have a baby in my tummy." Whew! I think I did okay. She-She concludes, "Holly feeds the baby in her tummy!" and then is distracted with toys. The end, except...

She-She was OBSESSED with this idea of Holly getting a baby. Almost everyday she would ask if Holly had the baby and if we could see it. I kept explaining that the baby wasn't here yet, but soon. So She-She finally reasons at lunch one day, "Oh, okay. The baby will be here soon. They will go get it from the store." I think she forgot the whole baby-in-tummy thing...UNTIL the day of the baby shower.

We go to the shower and AGAIN have the whole conversation that Holly is going to have a baby girl but it is not here yet. We walk in, see Holly, and I tell her about She-She's facination with her pregnancy. She-She hears me and the whole baby-in-tummy thing that we talked about earlier in the week. After a while I think she figured out that Holly's tummy WAS in fact bigger. There really must be a baby in there!

She-She turns to me, "Did they tie the baby up?" Oh dear, this is a confusing idea.

"No, honey, the baby is warm and comfy in the tummy."

"Oh...does it bite her?"

"No. The baby is so happy in her tummy. The baby likes to sleep a lot."

No response, just a thoughtful face.

So I can only wonder what my poor child thinks now. Since the baby shower, she hasn't brought the subject up again. Even if she is confused, I can't help but smile at her cute perception of such a new concept.

Cook-Blog-Share: Week #2

*Here are the links to the other blogs with recipes this week. The blog/post title isn't always the name of the recipe so be sure to read the whole post and there should be a recipe somewhere in there. Also be sure to click on 'older posts' at the end of this post for more recipes or check out the February archive. Updated Feb 22 2010.


Salsa Chicken from Elise
Cranberry Cheesecake from Melanie
Shoyu Chicken from Marie

Original Post

I am posting two recipes this week. I usually make these recipes together since they both use a roast and our family can't eat a whole roast in one night. They are, again, really simple (but yummy). What can I say? I'm all about quick and painless. Sean likes both of these recipes with beef, but I feel it is a shame to use a delicous beef roast on a sandwich. I kinda like using pork because it is sweeter.

First Night- BBQ Roast Beef Sandwich

Ingredients:

Pork or Beef Roast

Hamburger Buns

BQ Sauce

Preparation:

Put roast in crock pot over night (this is important so that the roast will be super tender and easy to shred). All you need to add is 1-2 cups of water. But by all means, season it with what you'd like. Our family likes it plain and beefy..or porky. Shred roast. Butter buns. Put buns on cookie sheet in oven. Broil on low until bread is toasted. Put meat on bun, add BBQ sauce, eat up.

Second Night- Pulled Pork (beef) Burritos

Think similar to Chipotle restaurant.

Simply put the meat on a tortilla with all of these other tasty toppings...

black beans (I just use canned)

tomatos

lettuce

cheese

onions

salsa

quacamole

sour cream

Chinese Chicken Salad- The only homemade salad worth eating...

(From Holly)

Dressing:
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons oil
1 chicken flavor seasoning packet from ramen noodle mix

Salad:
6 cups finely shredded Fresh cabbage
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1 Fresh green onion, thinly sliced
1 (3-oz.) pkg. chicken-flavor ramen noodle soup mix
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted
2 teaspoons sesame seed, toasted

Preparation Directions
1. In small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients; mix well.2. In large bowl, combine cabbage, chicken and onion; toss to mix. Crumble ramen noodles; (the seasoning packet is for your dressing). Add noodles, almonds and sesame seed to cabbage mixture. Add dressing; toss to coat.

Let Them Eat Cake

(From Kaitlin)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 can of Caramel Ice Cream Topping
1 package of Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
1 Whipped cream
A package of ground up Heath Bar.

Bake the Devil's Food cake according to the directions on the package. After baking and before the cake cools, use a wooden spoon or knife handle to poke holes all over the cake. Poor the condensed milk and caramel in all of the holes, make sure it soaks into the cake. Cover and cool. Top the cake off with whipped cream and crushed Heath bar! Serve cool and ENJOY!!!!

Lasagna/ Lasagna Casserole

(From Cherie)

To make the sauce:
Brown ½-1 lb ground beef—season with garlic salt, pepper, onion, etc…
Add 1 can Hunts tomato sauce with basil, garlic, and oregano
And 1 can tomato soup plus about 1/3 of the soup can full of water
Mix together, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes

For lasagna casserole:
Cook a little more than ¾ of a 1 lb bag of egg noodles. Drain. Add 1 ½ C. cottage cheese and a little salt to the noodles and mix together. In a 2 quart casserole dish, layer half of the noodles, half of the sauce, then a layer of cheese. (I use cheddar and mozzarella) Repeat layers one more time. Cover and bake about 30 minutes at 350.

For lasagna:
Boil lasagna noodles until cooked. Place a layer of lasagna noodles in a 9x13 pan. Spoon some cottage cheese over all the noodles. Add half of the sauce. Then sprinkle with cheese. Repeat layers one more time. (I usually double layer the noodles in one of my sets of layers). Bake same as casserole.