Balsamic Chicken Sandwiches

It's been a long time since I've posted a recipe, but this one is worth sharing. It's not a new concept--tomatoes, basil, chicken...sandwich. I found this in the Parade magazine that comes in the Sunday paper. It's a Jessica Seinfeld recipe so the original calls for pureed broccoli...which I omitted. But it could possibly go undetected, I suppose, which would fit in with her Deceptively Delicious concept. I halved the recipe and made the following:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 cup flour (she used whole wheat)
2 T evoo
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c chicken broth
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
3 T brown sugar

tomato slices
grated mozzarella
fresh basil

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with flour.
2. Warm oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add chkn and garlic. lower heat to medium and continue to cook til chkn begins to brown and garlic becomes fragrant, 8-10 minutes.
3. Add chkn broth, vinegar and brn sugar. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes, til chkn is cooked through and no longer pink in center.
4. I served mine on a whole wheat tortilla, layered with mozzarella, tomato slices and basil leaves BUT the original recipe calls for assembling the sandwiches on ciabatta rolls and then baking them 5-7 minutes at 350* until melted.

This recipe would make about 3 or 4 tortilla wrap/sandwiches....

Enjoy!

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

I've got a new recipe to share....Stuffed Pizza Rolls! Here's a link to the recipe. They were really good! Ours were made with pepperoni and mozzarella. I think next time I make them, I'll use little chunks of mozzarella, as it would be easier to 'stuff' them. I used their recipe for pizza dough and started the dough about about two hours before I wanted to pop the rolls in the oven. I also had some of their garlic bread seasoning already mixed up in an old shaker in the fridge for the topping. That might have been Mark's favorite part! And (not pictured) I served it with my favorite pizza sauce for dipping (I omit anchovy paste and cayenne and use two small cans of tomato sauce).

Christmas Treat #2 - Danish Kringle

An annual tradition in my family is to eat Danish kringle Christmas morning before opening gifts. My grandmother is 100% Danish, making me 25% Danish. Several years ago my Aunt Debbie taught me how to make the traditional pastry and a few years ago my mom learned, too. Each year my mom and I set aside a day to make kringle to freeze. We then have several (12 this year) to thaw later and bake. The process is involved and pretty tiring but the results are amazing!! I'm not going to include the recipe here because it's lengthy, but if anybody is really dying to know how to make it, I could type it up.

a key ingredient in our Danish kringle--butter!! There's butter in the dough and the traditional cardamom filling!

Here's the dough, rolled out, after three cyles of rolling, folding and chilling. Picture here is the almond filling, a new favorite!

This is the cardamom & currant filling. It's my favorite. Cardamom=Christmas! Cardamom is a not-so-widely known Scandanavian spice...it's found in a lot of chai tea spices.

The final step of our prep day: a kringle ready to freeze and enjoy later!

Christmas Treat #1 - Lemon Lover's Cookies

Last week I decided to dive into some early Christmas baking because 1) it was too cold to leave the house again and 2) we had a neighborhood open house coming up and I needed to have some treats to put out. Here's our 'kick-off' picture. Don't be fooled by the wooden spoon James is holding. It was merely a prop for the photo. :) The following picture shows the limit of his involvement in baking treats this year...

Treat #1 = Lemon Lover's Cookies. Here's the recipe. James just goes nuts when he sees lemons...he loves to suck on the juice, silly boy. I guess it doesn't surprise me too much, as Mark LOVES lemons also!

This dough does require some chilling in plastic wrap--which I didn't have, so I used wax paper. Worked just fine! I used one lemon for the entire batch, you use the rind and juice for the dough and icing.

slice-a-dice (that phrase is for my dad)

And the icing...

This is a very shortbread-ish cookie. It's very crumbly and buttery. It's actually not my favorite cookie. A week later, I still haven't eaten one (I did enjoy a few licks of the icing, though). However, Mark and his family really enjoy lemony sweets so it's worth making a batch!

Sweet Potatoes, Soup, and S'mores

For some reason, I've really slacked off in the food photography lately! That doesn't mean, however that I haven't been trying new recipes. There are quite a few I'd really like to share! The photo above is of sweet potato fries!! I have tried multiple recipes only to be disappointed with too-sweet fries. I'm trying really hard to like them because I've heard and read of the many nutritional benefits. So I googled 'savory' along with sweet potato fries and came across this recipe. YUM! James gobbles them up as quickly as I can put them in front of him and Mark likes them, too! Yay! A keeper! Here's the link to the recipe. I omitted the red pepper flakes and fennel but did use the coriander. It adds so much I'd recommend buying some if you want to try them out. I also used olive oil and spaced each fry so that none were touching, turning them all over half way through baking on a jelly roll pan. Enjoy!
And this is my version of a homemade chipotle burrito bowl. I make chicken fajita meat and sliced bell peppers using this recipe, a batch of cilantro lime rice using this recipe, and set out warmed up black beans (which I quickly season with garlic and cumin), shredded cheese, sour cream, and salsa. An assembly line works best for this type of meal with so man options. It worked great for a crowd a few weeks ago (7 adults) and James loves it, too!

And here are a few honorable mentions. So sorry not to have photos, but most of them are pictured if you follow the links:

White Chicken Chili----HERE. I use more like a cup of green salsa and at least two cups of chicken broth, though. really yummy and quick. I've decided to make more soups to have around for my lunches during the day...I'm just not much of a cold sandwich person...this has a little kick, but I love it!

Taco Soup---HERE. I made this tonight and am seriously contemplating using it to replace my chili recipe. (GASP!?) I'll have to consult Mark about that first, though. This has fire roasted diced tomatoes in it. Where have these been all my life? I made a half recipe and then, as suggested by my friend Heather, I added extra tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce.

S'More Bars---HERE. Enough said, right? I made these for the annual pumpkin carving party. I ate one tiny square, because that's all that was left. I couldn't have taken a picture if I had wanted to. They vanished. They are SO SO good.

No-Rise Orange Rolls---HERE. I was so intrigued by roll dough that didn't have to rise. It has cottage cheese (of all things) in it. Don't worry, you puree it with other ingredients--there are no chunks of cottage cheese. The dough is not tangy, either. Just really great! The dough was really easy to work with, too! I'll be making them again...

Cupcake Bites

I really had fun making these cute little cupcake bites for the annual pumpkin carving party. I read about the idea, originally by a blogger named "Bakerella", on Pioneer Woman's blog. I've just been dying for an excuse to make them. I think I'll find a few more occasions coming up to try them out again with different colored sprinkles and drizzles!

The first step is SO easy; bake a cake mix (I used chocolate), let it cool, crumble it with your hands (this is fun), mix it with almost an entire tub of frosting (I chose vanilla), and then form little balls. Here are more specific directions and photos.

After they've chilled a while (overnight in my case) I got out all my sprinkles, melting chips, and almond bark. I was really glad I had invested $4 at the craft store in the candy mold and two squirt bottles. They really make these treats look more polished. For specific directions on how to finish these, click here.

I was so pleased with the finished product! I'll admit, I spent a good two and a half hours decorating these (thank goodness James took a long nap that afternoon), but it was worth it. Everyone enjoyed them. I wrapped up extras in clear baggies with fall-ish ribbon to send home with friends.

Oops! How did this get here? Here's our little 'cupcake'. :) Look at those eyelashes!! How is that fair?

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Spice Latte

If you enjoy a pumpkin spice latte from any coffee shop, you'll probably reallllly like this recipe! This latte was mentioned this morning on Good Morning America. At first I was concerned I wouldn't be able to find canned pumpkin (it calls for 2 tablespoons), but my grocery store had plenty! Maybe you've heard of the recent canned pumpkin shortage...it's been such an ordeal! (Okay, I've been a little dramatic about it.) But apparently pumpkin is back. I also bought a couple 'pie pumpkins' and plan to try making my own pumpkin puree!

Three cheers for canned pumpkin!

And here's a link to the recipe. What do you do with the rest of the can of pumpkin? Make pumpkin muffins!! I would have if I didn't already have gobs of leftover desserts around the house. My extra pumpkin is in the fridge waiting to be baked later this week! Back to the drink...I really liked this 'latte'. I will say that I haven't purchased many from coffee shops because I'm so cheap, but I did have one a few weeks ago and this tastes pretty close, in my opinion. I thought it was delicious! You could maybe up the spices a little, but it was really nice as is! Enjoy!

p.s. This really only makes enough for a couple of people to enjoy, so you might double or triple it for company!

Recipes, recipes...

Well, there seem to be two major themes in my blog postings. James and food. Well, mostly James, but I really love reading food blogs and think it would be fun to have a weekly recipe post, but I have to be realistic. It's just not going to happen. After my last food post a few months ago, a few people actually mentioned to me in person that they had tried the recipes! I was so surprised that somebody was actually paying attention! So the pattern seems to be that over the course of a few months I take photos of food that turns out great and then compile them all after I have a handful. So that's that. Here's my fourth or fifth 'food post'.

Bagels. I had seen a few recipes recently for homemade bagels and decided to give them a shot. The next day I told my friend Andrea I'd done so, and she responded with a skeptical facial expression, "Oh? How did that go for you?" Honestly, it had quite a few steps, including boiling the pre-baked dough, and they were delicious fresh out of the oven but were pretty chewy the days following. (But not bad toasted). I did try to make mine with whatever whole wheat I had on hand, instead of the fancy stuff it called for. I'll try them again. It was fun to put different toppings on them; cinnamon sugar, minced dried onion, poppyseeds, and kosher salt.

Granola Bars! I have been wanting to make granola bars for months now and finally got around to it. My goal was to find a recipe that was brimming with corn syrup. These are so good that I actually made them three times in two weeks. One of those times I postponed eating breakfast 'til I could whip up a batch. I cut them into huge squares and eat them warm with a glass of milk. There's something really wholesome-ish about them. Oatmeal, whole wheat flour....I add the 1/2 cup applesauce someone recommended to make them softer (it works) and omit any mix-ins, although I tried chocolate chips and craisins another time. I actually prefer them plain!

This is a stuffed pepper, sliced in half, to show the really yummy filling!! I got this recipe for Orzo Stuffed Peppers while working out at the Y. Yes, I watch the Food Net.work channel while working out. Seems counter-productive, right? It's usually torture. Well, Giada was making this and Andrea (who happened to be visiting our Y that day with us) and I looked at each other when we saw these and practically drooled on the eliptical machines. Bell peppers are expensive, but happened to be on sale, so I stuffed a few peppers and baked the rest of the pasta filling (peppers are usually stuffed with a rice mixture) in a baking dish and ate it for days to come. I will probably continue to make the filling because it's just that good! It has shredded zucchini, diced tomatoes, garlic, parmesean cheese, italian seasonings, and mint, of all things! Yum, yum, yum....

There just has to be Mexican food. I love Mexican food. For example, today for lunch Mark and I ate mostly fresh salsa and guacamole, in addition to a small salad. These are Creamy Baked Taquitos and they were awesome! The recipe comes from my new favorite food blog. I bookmark nearly every recipe these ladies post. I'm not kidding. The only complaint about these was that we gobbled almost all of them for dinner in one sitting! But they'd make great appetizers, too. And it's another great recipe to make with shredded chicken from one of those really cheap whole chickens that are always on sale! Oh, and when you roll these, definitely microwave each corn tortilla 20-30 seconds. They'll be piping hot, but if you don't, they'll crack before you get them into the oven! Can't wait to make 'em again!

Finally, this was dinner tonight. Jambalaya. You may notice, if you've actually read this far, that it's from the same site as the taquitos. This tastes like Cajun Fried Rice. Well, that's what it is, really. Green peppers, onions, garlic, minced smoked sausage and ham (really breakin' out of the chicken/ground beef routine for us) and tomato sauce, fried with some cooked rice and seasoned with Creole Seasoning. It was really good. Mark totally approved, too. If you live close and want to try some, let me know, because we'll be eating off of it for days!

And finally, a couple of bonus recipes I don't have photos for: Pizzookies. These are dangerously delicious. I mean dangerous. And too easy, especially if you buy the refrigerated cookie dough, which I recommend. Here's the recipe.

This is a Beef Enchilada Casserole-type-meal. It's called Beef Taco Bake. I made it for Andrea and Brian when they moved a few weeks back and she asked for the recipe. So there it is!

A few 'keepers'

It's Thursday night. On Thursday nights I get free time (after 7pm, that is). Mark is meeting with the guys at a coffee shop and I'm at home by myself. I just spent the last hour or so perusing food blogs. It reminded me that it has been a while since I've shared any recipes. Okay, I realize that the majority of you check the blog to see cute pictures of James' little face, but I think one or two of you have mentioned recipes I've posted before. So here are a few 'keepers' that I've tried recently. I've found a pizza dough recipe that is so easy and quick. You don't have to wait for this one to rise at all. Just mix all the ingredients in your mixer and press onto a pan, top with toppings and bake! Woo hoo! I substitute whole wheat flour for 1/2c to 1c of the flour. Oh, and here's a really delicious pizza sauce. I know, it's so much easier to buy it, but I ended up buying about 15 cans of tomato sauce (I use it instead of the tomato paste the recipe calls for) on sale....so I've been making my own sauce. It's really good and has a little zing to it. (I omit the anchovy paste....sorry, Grandma!)
Kung Pao Chicken....you can actually make this stuff at home? Yes, you can! I was pretty surprised at how delicious this was. And Mark is pretty crazy about it, too. You do have to hunt down sesame oil and rice wine vinegar (not ingredients I had on hand, anyway) but it is worth it! Once you have the ingredients chopped up, this comes together pretty quickly, too! Just make sure to have sticky rice made in advance...This recipe was immediately added to our 'list' of go-to recipes.

These were called "Super Power Muffins" by the person who posted them on a blog. I call them Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. I can't even bring myself to admit how many I've eaten in the past four days. There's something about peanut butter in a muffin that is really genius, if you ask me. They also contain whole wheat (healthy), applesauce (healthy), and brown sugar (hmmm...delicious). I've heard they freeze well, too. Here's the recipe. You have to scroll a third of the way down the page to find them in the comment section.

Let's see. These are pulled pork sandwiches on homemade hamburger buns. The pork...well, it's a long story. In short, I got a huge cut of pork on sale (of course) and made pork tacos and then had a few pounds of shredded pork leftover. So I heated it up with BBQ sauce. The buns--it was a cold blustery day (just a few weeks ago) and I was avoiding a trip to the grocery store, so I decided to make hamburger buns. I wasn't sure if that was a lazy move or not. I'm so glad I tried them. They are outstanding! I'll make them again! They 'stand up' to the meat, too. You know, they don't wobble around and get mushy and soggy. And they freeze great! Here's the recipe.
Oh, and the mac and cheese recipe was new, too, but I wasn't terribly impressed. Good, but not a 'keeper'.

Okay, this one is definitely a keeper, too. :) This picture is for anybody that was disappointed that I was posting recipes again and hoped to see James.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

I actually claimed that this was the best thing I'd ever eaten on Wednesday evening. I think I may just love garlic that much...and I was really hungry. This is a recipe adapted from my Taste of Home cookbook. I started with sauteeing three chopped large cloves of garlic (I didn't use my garlic press this time...it may have made a difference) in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Once the garlic was turning a golden color, I added 1/2tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1tsp oregano, 1tsp parsley, and a dash of salt. Then I added five peeled tomatoes (I had blanched them first), diced up--seeds, juice, and all. It was drizzly outside, so Mark went to pick some fresh basil from the garden for me (that's true love) so I wouldn't have to get wet. I sliced up six leaves thinly and tossed in with the bubbling sauce. I had some extra tomato paste in a can in the fridge from beef stroganoff we had the night before. I added about 1.5 tablespoons to the sauce and stirred it it. It made it the perfect consistency. Just a little thicker. I served it over egg noodles, because that's what I had boiled up for Mark's beef stroganoff leftovers. I loved this sauce! If you love a garlicky tomato sauce, you will, too!

Bread-Baking and Fajitas for dinner, a tribute to the "Pioneer Woman"....

Yesterday I checked another thing off the 'list' and baked some bread. One loaf to eat this week, and another to freeze and have on hand when James is born. (I eat toast for breakfast almost every morning--and breakfast toast is amazing with homemade bread!) This was a new recipe from my More With Less cookbook. I made Easy No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread. It had a few eggs (not so typical compared to the other two kinds I've made this summer) and three tablespoons of yeast in it. It's a good think I kept an eye on it, because it would have overtaken the kitchen, if I'd let it rise the recommended time. Something else different about this recipe: it makes a stiff batter, not dough, so it really doesn't expect you to knead it at all. Instead you pour (or coax, very messily, as I did) it into bread pans. Anyway. It made the nicest huge loaves I've baked this summer...and it is so moist! Verdict: recipe is a keeper.

Then I also made Fajitas for dinner. Mid-morning I thawed a few chicken breasts and then marinated them with a somewhat new marinade recipe mid-day til dinnertime. I love this marinade. So I felt inspired by, just not quite as talented as, the Pioneer Woman's cooking blog section. I love her photos, so I thought it would be fun to take a few step-by-step pictures. I didn't do this nearly to the extent that she does. (Made me wonder: how often does she have to have her camera cleaned?...my kitchen is messy when I cook...and just how much longer does cooking take for her when she stops every three minutes to get a great photo?)

The ingredients I started out with for the chicken marinade: 2 chicken breasts, slided thinly (easier done when still slightly frozen), 4 T veg. oil, 3 T lime juice, 2 cloves minced garlic, a healthy dash of chili pwdr., 1/2 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp. red chili flakes, and a small bunch of cilantro, chopped up finely (2-3T?)! I marinated this for about five hours, but I think maybe up to 24 hours the first time I made it. I used a few recipes from Allrecipes.com and tweaked all of them to come up with this earlier this summer. It's delicious!!! If you don't love cilantro, you could omit it, but I can't guarantee it would be as lovable as I find it.

In a med-high hot skillet with an extra drizzle of veg. oil, I dumped in the chicken and marinade. (There's really not so much extra juice. I'd double the recipe if making more than two chicken breasts.) I let this cook for about 10 minutes. While doing so, I....

chopped up veggies. We had a yellow pepper from our garden. I bought a green pepper and white onion to add. I used a med.-sized onion.

I added the peppers to the cooking chicken and stirred frequently for 15-20 minutes, until the veggies were nice and soft and the onions a little caramelized.
We ate the fajitas with sour cream, fresh salsa, and the best Mexican Rice I've ever had! I included the link to Allrecipes, there, where I found it. The texture was perfect--it's all about cooking the rice in a little oil before adding liquid...this was new for me! In the recipe, I used salsa, instead of tomato sauce and one chicken bouillon cube in water, to replace the broth. It was my most successful Spanish/Mexican rice ever. I've tried about three different kinds. Anyway. Enjoy. I'm going to go eat something, because all this talk about food has made me hungry!

Some things I did today...and a recipe, by request.

Today is Tuesday. Yesterday we had an appointment at the doctor's office. No new news. Because of my frequent 'practice contractions', they did hook me up to a machine that let me hear James' heartbeat for 15 minutes. It was very sweet and soothing. Of course, in those 15 minutes, I didn't happen to have a single contraction, which is what they were looking for. I'm not making it up! Really! :) I've decided to just be thankful and content for each day I have to wait. About 3 and a half weeks to go.

Here are a few things I've done today on my 'relaxing' day. (yesterday I probably packed in too many errands and tasks).

1. I checked email and blogs (reading friends' blogs is a current favorite hobby of mine)
2. I went to CVS to "do a deal". I've recently joined the ranks of women who clip coupons and "CVS" in order to get really cheap, and sometimes free things. Today I spent 36 cents for $26.33 of merchandise. I owe it all to Shannon from Grocery Weekly and the Money Saving Mom blog. I've learned a lot from reading their blogs.
3. I watered the garden....I've been slacking on this one lately.
4. I talked with my retired neighbor Tom about his hummingbird feeder and his grandchildren.
5. I picked 7 tomatoes.
6. I ate 1 tomato that I accidentally dropped. It split, so it had to be eaten.
7. I watched the slide show again and cried, because I'm kind of a mush right now. http://www.sorellimages.com/waitingforbabyjames/
8. I searched for the song in the slide show....and found it here: http://www.pushplayer.com/plumb/b/
It's from an album called Blink, by the artist Plumb. She's a Christian artist. The song is called "Me". I listened to her little interview clip on the story behind the song, and cried a little more. Sounds like a great album--very sweet.
9. And now I'm going to post a recipe that Andrea requested. I mentioned elsewhere that I made Sour Cream Enchiladas last night. She said she'd like the recipe. It's easy and delicious!

***For just Mark and me, I "half" each ingredient, except for the green chilies...and it made 6 enchiladas in an 8x11.

Sour Cream Enchiladas
(from the A.C. Home cookbook, a great treasure trove of recipes that my mother-in-law gave me)

2lbs ground beef
1 lg. white onion, chopped
salt & pepper
garlic powder to taste
2 c. sour cream (I used lite--can't tell the difference)
2 (10oz) cans cream of chicken (I used 98% fat free--"")
1 (4oz) can green chilies
12 corn or flour tortillas (I used flour)
16 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

Brown beef with onion. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic pwdr. Drain fat. In med. bowl, combine sour cream, soup, and green chilies. Blend well. Spoon half soup mixture in bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Spoon heaping 2 tablespoons of meat mixture in tortilla. (I probably used more like 1/4 cup in each.) Sprinkle with grated cheese before rolling up. Place seam side down in dish on top of soup mixture. Repeat til all meat is used up. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over tortillas. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake @ 350* for 45 minutes. Serve with salsa.

I love these!! Enjoy!