Category: MEMES & LINK PARTIES

SKILLET CHICKEN & RICE

Son2 as a Junior this past year took cooking for one of his electives… This past week he made dinner for the family…


This is the recipe he used from class… I copied it word for word straight from the cookbook he made in class… 

Boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs 
1 tablespoon oil 
1/2 cup chopped onions 
1-2 garlic cloves 
1 cup broccoli 
1 1/4 cup rice 
2 3/4 cup water 
2-3 teaspoon chicken bouillon 
Pepper, dash 
Garlic salt, dash 
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese 
Optional–1/2 cup thinly sliced red peppers and or 1/4 cup shredded carrot
1. Wash and pat dry chicken.
2. Cut chicken into thin strips about 1/4 inch wide.

3. Heat oil in Teflon frying pan or a frying pan with a lid. Be careful for smoke point.
 4. Add chicken, onions, garlic, and (shredded carrots if you choose to have them). Stir constantly browning the onions and chicken. Spice with pepper and garlic salt.
 5. Carefully add water, bouillon, and rice. Bring to a hard boil.
 6. Add broccoli and any other vegetables.
 7. Cover and lower temperature to simmer 15 minutes without looking. (Do not allow the steam to escape).
 8. After 15 minutes, check to see if rice is soft. If not, cover and cook another five minutes. Add small amount of water if needed.

9. When rice is soft, turn off temperature. Add cheese and cover with lid for 3 minutes to melt the cheese.



Happy Eating…



Fire Day Friday: Spicy Grilled Shrimp

Now that summer is almost here, I like to grill shellfish. The seafood is fresher and grilling it brings out the best in it. This spicy marinade packs the heat of summer into these grilled shrimp.
Grilling Tip: You know how they always say to soak your bamboo skewers for 30 minutes before grilling, right? And you probably know how sometimes that works and sometimes it does not. Sometimes, the skewers still burn off. You can use a “grill shield” like the one I am using here or you can make you’re own by folding up a piece of HD aluminum foil several times to protect the skewers.
Spicy Summer Grilled Shrimp
1 lb medium count shrimp, cleaned, peeled, and deveined
3 oz clarified butter, melted
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz sriracha sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp turbinado sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ shallot, finely minced
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Mix the marinade ingredients together. Add the shrimp and marinate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, fire up your grill to 450f or medium-high. 
Place the shrimp on skewers and grill 2 minutes per side.
They are done when the tails turn pink.
These disappeared with my 22 y/o son’s friends devouring them as fast as I could get them off the grill.

LUAU BENEDICTS

I saw a recipe similar to these on a menu and set out to replicate it.  I’m not sure how close I came, but we loved them!

LUAU BENEDICTS
1 English muffin per person
2 eggs per person
enough leftover sweet and sour pulled pork
hollandaise sauce

  • Prepare Hollandaise sauce.
  • Toast English muffins.
  • Poach eggs.
  • Layer together starting with English muffin, pulled pork, poached egg and the hollandaise sauce.
  • Enjoy.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
1/2 cup butter
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons hot water
finely chopped fresh parsley, if desired

  • Heat butter in a heavy saucepan until hot and foamy, but not browned.
  • In a small bowl, whisk or beat egg yolks with lemon juice, salt, and  hot sauce.
  • Gradually beat in butter, then water.
  • Return mixture to saucepan and beat over very low heat until mixture is slightly thickened.
  • Serve immediately or let stand over warm water for up to 30 minutes.
  • If desired, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley before serving.

Makes about 2/3 cup of hollandaise sauce.

GRILLED CORN with CHIPOTLE LIME BROWNED BUTTER

We grill a lot of corn on the cob in the summer.  Who doesn’t, right?  Well, my standard way is to keep the husks on, soak them in water for awhile and grill them in the husks.  I like this as there is no silk left and they are easy to peel.

Well, I’ve been seeing the corn grilled straight on the grill a lot lately and thought I’d try it today.  It was awesome. I did find the kernels a bit more chewy but not necessarily in a bad way.

Often because of calories, I skip the butter altogether but today I made the most awesome chipotle lime browned butter.  This seriously brought corn to a new level!  It was super tasty! 
The great thing about this butter, if you don’t use it all, just stick it in the frig for next time.

GRILLED CORN with CHIPOTLE-LIME BROWNED BUTTER  Adapted from A Veggie Venture

6 ears sweet corn, silk and husks removed
4 tablespoons butter **
Juice of a lime (about 1 tablespoon)
Pinch of ground chipotle powder
Good salt to taste

Grill the corn, turning occasionally, until many of the kernels have turned dark and caramel-like.

Meanwhile, inside: 
  • melt the butter in a small saucepan, then let it sizzle, stirring occasionally, until the butter begins to brown. 
  • Add the lime, chipotle and salt, let gently sizzle a bit. 
  • Turn off the heat, if needed, rewarm before serving. 
  • Transfer to a small dish. 
  • Refrigerate leftovers, heat and stir before serving again.
**This butter makes enough for at least 12 ears of corn and refrigerates well.

Total calories = 111 calories per ear of corn with about 1 tsp. butter mixture. I just brushed it lightly. The husband put way more butter on his.

CHERRY APRICOT GALETTE

Pie Dough Ingredients*
For a 9-inch crust
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) of butter, cold and cubed
  • 1/4 cup ice water
Filling Ingredients**
For one 9-inch galette
  • 3/4 pound fresh apricots, pitted and chopped
  • 1/2 pound fresh cherries, pitted
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup sugar + more for sprinkling
  • Juice of half a lemon
Ingredients for Assembly
  • 1 egg, beaten
ASSEMBLY
  • Cut butter into small cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  • Pulse flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. 
  • Add butter and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. 
  • Gradually add ice water and pulse until the dough forms a coarse meal. 
  • Turn the dough out onto a work surface and very lightly and sparingly, knead just to incorporate dry ingredients. 
  • Flatten into a circle; wrap individually in plastic. 
  • Refrigerate dough for at least an hour. 
  • Remove dough from refrigerator; place on floured work surface. 
  • Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a rough 11-inch circle. 
  • Trim the edges to a clean circle with a pairing knife. 
  • Transfer the circle to a baking sheet or pizza pan lined with parchment paper. 
  • Mix 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl and spread on the bottom of the dough. 
  • Toss apricots and cherries with the rest of the cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice. 
  • Arrange the fruit on the bottom of the dough, leaving 2 inches of dough left outside. 
  • Fold up and pleat the dough over the top of the fruit, leaving the center uncovered. 
  • Lightly brush the top of the pastry with the beaten egg and sprinkle both the dough and the fruit with 1/4 – 1/3 cup sugar. 
  • Place the Galette in the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. 
  • Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack immediately. 
  • Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
*If you are in a huge hurry, Pillsbury from the dairy case can be substituted.
**1 can Comstock cherries can be substituted.  Just add apricots!

RANTS, RAVES, BUTTS, BASKETS, PEDESTRIAN RIGHT OF WAY, COMMON SENSE & RESPONSIBILITY and THE PURSUIT OF THE ICONIC TV 50’S WAY OF LIFE

Life is busy these days, real busy, but there are a few things I still notice.  We are all overworked, over stimulated and over tired!  I seem to notice less and less quality in everything around me whether it’s sitting down to dinner as a family or the quality of the products that sit on my kitchen counter.

My brother and I had a conversation not too long ago about the pursuit of the iconic TV 50’s way of life – you know, slower and kinder.  Now you need to know that my brother and I, at times, are as far apart on the political spectrum as 2 siblings can be.  We’re close, but there are many a subject that we have an agreement to agree to disagree on and move on to another topic.  He pointed out that the 50’s that many seem to want to return to is nothing but a TV iconic way of life.  I beg to disagree though.  Now I wasn’t alive in the 50’s, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that life in general was kinder, slower and calmer and MUCH less stressful.  This is one of those spots that I would go off on a rant about.  You see, I believe that stress is a catalyst of much of what ails us today, specifically cancer.  But, that is a story for another post.

If you were to watch say the Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, Happy Days or Leave it to Beaver, you would see homemakers vacuuming in high heels and pearls or maybe cleaning the refrigerator.  Husbands would be in ties and coats or at least a sport shirt and loafers.  Now while I don’t think things need to return to that formal, I do expect guys to pull up their pants.  I don’t want to see their butts.  In my era, the only butt to see was in a pair of tight jeans – where you had to use your imagination and fantasize. WOW that made me sound old, but I’m not really, just tired of seeing ugly underwear hanging out of over sized pants that are falling off some guy’s butt.  Many women aren’t much better though.  No one wants to see rolls of fat hanging out of a midriff top and low cut jeans – both of which are things for teen girls, not overweight 20, 30, 40, 50 somethings or even overweight teens.  Get the picture here – fat is not something to show off, but something to lose and hide while you’re doing it!

Another thing you saw more of in the past was Common Courtesy.  I find this ironic since we seem to need it more now, but it appears to be non-existent many times.  Whether it’s driving on the freeway or driving basket at the supermarket, common courtesy seems to always be in the backseat.  When I was a kid, I was taught to ‘drive’ my basket at the supermarket the same way you would a car on a 2 lane road – stay to the right, park off the pavement and use your signals.  More and more I notice at the supermarket that people leave their baskets in the middle of the aisle while they are roaming up and down looking at various things.  While I commend the label reading, how hard is it to park your cart off to the side and out of the way?  Interestingly enough, if there is no one around and I go to move the basket aside so I can pass, someone always magically appears and is miffed that “their” basket is being moved.  Well excuse me! The sense of entitlement and the self righteous (and unearned I might add) indignation is way too over the top.

On this same subject we all know that pedestrians have the right of way.  But don’t they also have a responsibility to NOT just walk willy nilly and blindly out into traffic?  What happened to looking both ways before entering a street?
Okay, I will get off my soap box now and return you to your regularly scheduled blog hopping.

PHILLY CHEESE STEAK SANDWICHES

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 medium green pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound thinly sliced roast beef
6 hoagie rolls, split
6 slices part-skim mozzarella cheese
4 beef bouillon cubs
2 cups water

Directions: In a large skillet, saute mushrooms, onions and green peppers in butter until tender. Divide beef among rolls. Top with vegetables and cheese; replace tops. Place on an ungreased baking sheet; cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until heated through. Meanwhile, in a sauce pan, heat bouillon and water until cubes are dissolved; serve as a dipping sauce.

Here’s what you’ll need:
Modifications:
-I used 2 containers of pre-packaged deli style roast beef
-I used the left over Provolone cheese that I had from last week’s Baked Ziti.

Wipe off the mushrooms with a paper towel and cut them up.  Cut up the onion and green pepper, too.  
Put 2 cups of water in a sauce pan and add 4 beef bouillon cubes.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan. 
Slice open the bread while the butter is melting.

Saute the mushrooms, green peppers, and onions in the butter.

After the mixture has cooked for a bit, ladle in 1 cup of the beef bouillon stock into the onion mixture.

After the mixture has cooked for a while and onions were soft, add the prepackaged deli roast beef and seasoned the pan with Home Seasoning.

While the mixture cooks, slice up the meat into smaller slices.  Fill in the rolls with meat and veggies and then cover it with a slice of cheese.  

Pop the sandwiches in the oven for about 5-7 minutes so the cheese can melt.  

Here is what you’ll end up with:

:

MELTING MOMENTS SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Martha from A Sense of Humor is Essential here to fill in for Joanne and to share a special shortbread recipe that is easy to make, with ingredients readily at hand, and has a nice, not too sweet taste, which goes wonderfully with coffee and tea. These cookies are also always a hit at baby showers,  bridal showers, and as hostess gifts too.

MELTING MOMENTS SHORTBREAD COOKIES
1 cup salted softened butter
5 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 cup corn starch 1 1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • Mix all ingredients using mixer for approximately 3-5 minutes until a soft ball dough is formed. The dough will look like cornmeal prior to the dough ball forming.
  • Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Drop by teaspoons unto un-greased cookie sheets.
  • Bake until golden at edges, approximately 12 – 15 minutes.
  • Allow cookies to completely cool on cookie sheet. 
  • Frost with glaze or frosting if desired. Refrigerate if necessary. 

Fire Day Friday: Spicy Peach-Molasses Grilled Chicken

I’m having a bit of a creative block in the kitchen.  Which then also translates to a slight writers block when it comes to posts.  I can say that it all has to do with how much I’ve been working lately, but honestly, I really do think I’m just in a slump.  But, nice thing about being in a slump these days is that we always have the internet to help give us inspiring new ideas!  Or it can at least give us recipes we can play with to create a fantastic meal in the kitchen.  This is one of those meals.  I was uninspired and needed to use up some peach preserves I had in the fridge, so I stumbled across this recipe on Grilling.com…. it was perfect!  Simple, delicious, and, well, let’s be honest, I didn’t have to think too hard when it came to putting this together….exactly what I needed 🙂

Spicy Peach-Molasses Grilled Chicken
Adapted from Grilling.com
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1/4 cup peach preserves
1 teaspoon molasses
3/4 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together except the chicken.  Spread half of the mixture of the chicken – reserve the other half for later.  Allow the chicken to marinate in the fridge for 2-4 hours.
Preheat grill to 375-400 degrees.  Oil the grill grates.  Place the chicken over the fire and allow to grill for 5-8 minutes or until nice and brown.  Flip the chicken and spread remaining sauce over chicken.  Allow to grill for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove from grill and allow to rest for 3 minutes before cutting into the chicken.  Enjoy!

TURKEY MILANESE ~ CLASSIC GOOD EATS

8 turkey cutlets, pounded down to about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thickness
Salt and black pepper
1 cup flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1 cup panko crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons butter
Oil for frying

  • Generously season the turkey cutlets with salt and pepper and set aside.
  • Sift together the bread crumbs, panko crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil oregano and parsley until well blended.
  • Set three shallow bowls side by side on your counter.  Fill the first one with the flour, the second one with the beaten eggs and the third one with the bread crumbs mixture.
  • Dredge cutlets, one at a time, first in the flour, then in the egg and finally, in the bread crumb mixture. Shake off any excess crumbs and reserve on another plate.
  • Chill the cutlets in the freezer for about 15 minutes.  This will help the coating stay intact when you fry it.
  • Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add enough oil to come up about 1/4-inch high.  Add butter.  Add cutlets and fry until cooked through and golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.  Do NOT crowd the pan.  If necessary, do this step in batches.  As each cutlet is cooked, transfer to a platter.   You can keep the cutlets warm in a low oven.
  • Serve with rice pilaf, mashed potatoes, buttered parsley noodles or some lemon wedges.
  • Top with minced parsley.
  • Serves 4.

STIR FRIED RICE – Lovin’ The Leftovers


I love Asian food, using up leftovers, and cleaning out my fridge. A wonderful and versatile dish, stir fried rice, does all three with ease and delight.


Here is my current version of this dish today using the ingredients of:
2-3 cups cooked white rice (brown rice is also delish)
1 to 1 1/2 cups of chopped fresh vegetables including broccoli, carrots, green onions. *
1/4 cup diced ham
1 egg beaten
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup toasted nuts, toasted lightly in a seasoned pan, then set aside
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil for stir frying

Sauce
Mix in measuring cup or small bowl with whisk:
4-6 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1-2 tablespoon Ponzu sauce
1-2 tablespoons Rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Asian style salad dressing
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons brown sugar

  • Heat oil in wok or fry pan over medium high heat.
  • Cook minced garlic until translucent, approximately one minute.
  • Add vegetables, brown for 1 minute while stirring with spatula. Cover with lid to steam for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add cooked rice and mix ingredients, allow to heat through.
  • Add diced ham, stir ingredients thoroughly, and then push rice mixture to one side of pan.
  • Use this open area to scramble the beaten egg.
  • After the egg is scrambled, stir into rice mixture.
  • Add the sauce to pan, stir fry for another minute until bubbling and hot.
  • Sprinkle toasted nuts prior to serving.

Other ingredient suggestions include tofu, pineapple, leftover pork, chicken, or steak, peas, corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and whatever else you have in your pantry, freezer, or refrigerator.


*Drained and defrosted frozen vegetables can also be used. 
Thank you so much and what variations and ingredients do you enjoy?