Category: HELPFUL HINTS

~*~Sweet & Sour Carmelized Chicken~*~

I couldn’t decide which one, so I did 2 this week.
Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy.


This is such an easy and quick meal to make, but it looks & tastes like you worked all afternoon.


Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
3 Tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (bottle works if that’s what you have)
2 tablespoons rice wine balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
olive oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Between 2 sheets of wax paper flatten chicken breasts if they are too thick. If they are too thick they will take longer to cook. If you prefer scallopini style you’ll need to decrease cooking time slightly.

Whisk together the egg and cornstarch. Soak chicken breasts in mixture for an hour before cooking. This mixture seals in the moistness and keeps the chicken juicy throughout.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a oven proof fry pan (or you will need to transfer to a baking dish) coat he bottom of the pan with olive oil. When the oil is hot, brown both sides of the chicken breasts including all the sides. Add onions about midway and brown them too. You want all the little browned bits on the bottom of the pan.

When breasts are browned, put the pan in the oven for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees. In the mean time, whisk together the hot water, bullion, flour, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour liquid mixture over the chicken and cover tightly with foil.

Return it to the oven for additional 10 minutes (5 minutes if doing a scallopini thickness, 15 if they are really thick. Sauce will be thick. During this last ten minutes I steamed the broccoli and turned the left over mashed potatoes from the pot roast into twice baked potato bowls.

I have used breast tenders in a pinch and they work well, but they cook faster so keep an eye on them.

~*~My little Cookbook Corner of the World~*~

Let’s face it, there is no one cookbook for anyone. If you’re like me, you have at least 6 or maybe 60, oh let’s be honest I quit counting a long time ago. I can’t resist browsing through the old books at antique stores. I especially love old church or organization cook books. Some of my favorite recipes originally came from one of those. Many of the pages are dogeared and lots of notes are written in the margins, mostly by me, but the used books sometimes have 2 or 3 people’s writings.

Now the other thing we all do is MODIFY those recipes to our family and their personal preferences. Did you know that all you have to do is make 2 major changes and you can call the recipe your own? or so I’m told.

Alternative to brining

So, I was checking out my favorite food sites this morning and ran across an opposition (maybe it was an aversion, but they’re tackling it and overcoming it) to brining this morning over at Smitten Kitchen. So I offered up my recipe as an alternative to brine, I have used an egg white whisked together with a teaspoon of cornstarch. I also add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and white pepper which tends to bring out the flavor. Coat chicken for 30-60 minutes before you are going to prepare it. DO NOT wash it off before cooking. You will have some of the plumpest juiciest chicken ever.

The Beauty of Pot Roast and living in the Country!

So I stumbled upon a new site today The Pioneer Woman Cooks and Ree’s entry for 2008:The Year of the Pot Roast (I’d vote for that designation) that I thought I’d share with you. The recipes on this site look and sound so yummy! The Pot Roast recipe made my mouth water. I LOVE POT ROAST. Let me re-phrase that I love GOOD pot roast. I was a country girl when I was young and then the city came to us and I chose to leave and to be a country girl again.

My grandma always made the best pot roast, but unlike Ree’s recipe, she always made a thick farm style gravy. I prefer the wine glaze like Ree’s recipe calls for most of the time especially when like her, I’m on that 13 hour fast to make my butt smaller.

Like the author, I too miss mainly food choices (sometimes I’d do anything for a good Mexican meal or some Japanese) when you want to eat out, the availability of specific foods and brands from the city AND the ability to buy what you need when you need it 24/7, but oh the joys of being a country girl again! I have a ‘city’ list of ingredients next to my normal everyday grocery list and I stock up on those whenever I go to the city.

So I’m trying this recipe tonight and will report later this week on how it goes ~ that way I can also link to Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy with my recipe and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. One of the best aspects of preparing a pot roast is that after the initial mess, the roast is in the oven and you can do the majority of the clean-up before dinner even begin!

Favorite Ingredient Friday

I’m trying to branch out this year on my blog. Cooking is an integral part of our everyday lives and can be fun and easy with a little prep. I thought that Favorite Ingredient Friday, hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy would be a fun and informative place to start.
This upcoming Friday Theme is ‘Pies’. So my recipe is for Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie, an original recipe I developed after a major banana and chocolate (2 of my most favorite ingredients) craving one day. It’s relatively quick and easy while giving the appearance that you spent all day in the kitchen. It’s a great dessert to serve to guests, they’ll think you spent all day preparing for them!

9-10″ deep dish pie plate sprayed with PURE – I like to use my Pyrex french white tart pan

4-8 Tablespoons butter

2-3 cups crushed gingersnaps and vanilla wafers mix (you decide which flavor you prefer)

1 regular size cool whip*

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1 1/2 cups cold whole milk

1-5.1 ounce Jell-O Cheesecake flavored instant pudding

1/2 teaspoon rum extract

2 bananas

1 small baskets raspberries

1) Melt butter and mix into cookie crumbs. Push into bottom of pie plate firmly.

2) Melt 6 ounces of the chocolate chips and mix together with 1/3 of the cool whip until well mixed and smooth (microwave about 45 seconds, but you could use double boiler if you prefer melting the chocolate first and then adding cool whip). Spread on top of crumb crust.

3) Slice bananas and layer over chocolate layer saving a few for garnish if you like. If you save a few for garnish, be sure to douse them with lemon juice to prevent browning.

4) Mix together milk, rum extract and pudding mix. Whisk together until smooth and thick. Fold in 1/3 of the cool whip. Spoon over top of chocolate mixture.

5) Melt the other 6 ounces of chocolate chips and mix together with 1/3 of the cool whip until well mixed and smooth. Spread over pudding layer.

Chill at least 30 minutes before serving. Just before serving garnish with cool whip, banana slices and raspberries. For a more decadent looking dessert add a few pieces of shaved chocolate.

*When I first take the cool whip from the freezer I slice it into thirds pie style and it makes it easier to work with.

~*~*~*~*~KITCHEN ORDER & THE IMPORTANCE OF BOWLS~*~*~*~*~

As my friend Bren over at Brenda’s Little Cottage will tell you, there is NO such thing as TOO MANY bowls. Seems like the size and one you want or need is always already in use which means there must not be enough bowls.

I have a set of blue speckled, confetti, splattered (you pick the word you like to describe them) nested, matching, Texas ware bowls. Now you would think that would be enough since they range from about 7 inches up to 13, but NO, they’re never enough! So, following along with the plan to get my kitchen in order, I bought myself a Christmas present.


Aren’t they great? I accidentally ran across an eBay auction from an estate sale for a brand new set of nested, still in the cellophane wrapper set of pink/red bowls identical in size and confetti pattern as my blue set. Now I have twins. You may or may not know, but these are in big demand on eBay and go for a pretty penny. Since I’m not willing to part with too many pretty pennies, I was thrilled to get a brand new set that left little to the imagination that their condition was truly mint and that I’d be getting quality merchandise for those pennies.

I don’t like to use mixers or sharp tools in these despite their durability so you MUST also have a nice Pyrex set or two also. I love my nested Pyrex blue belles almost as much as I love my Texas ware. The two tone blue odd wider sizes are great too. They all still have a beautiful shine and no chips, cracks or crazing.

Many of you may not know or remember, but we were forced to tear out the entire kitchen just weeks after moving into this ‘new’ house due to the previous owners non-disclosure of MAJOR MOLD. This left us without walls, kitchen cabinets, floors, ceilings, etc… I mean it was really bad. We would hold our breath with every wall we opened that maybe hopefully this was the end of the demolition and were constantly praying that it never got any worse.

We’ve been living out of Rubbermaid totes and metal shelving units. We are putting in the cabinets as we can afford it and as time permits. So, every bit of organization is celebrated, right down to the bowls.