Category: MISC

CHICKEN PASTA IN GARLIC CREAM SUN-DRIED TOMATO SAUCE

While this sounds like a complicated recipe, it’s an easy and quick weeknight recipe when you use the rotisserie chicken.  I buy rotisserie chickens often and when I get home from the store and they are relatively cool I de-bone the chicken and portion out the pieces for week night recipes.  I then take the remaining bones and skin and simmer for about an hour to create stock.  I then freeze the stock in 2 cup portions for use in those same week night recipes.

Chicken Pasta in Garlic Cream Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
1 pack vermicelli noodles or pasta of your choice
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 chicken breasts or 2 cups rotisserie chicken pieces
1 cup milk or heavy cream
2-3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons classico sun dried tomato pesto
1/2 large white Vidalia onion, diced
4 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons flour
salt
pepper
olive oil
fresh grated Parmesan cheese

  • Boil pasta in large pot.
  • While pasta boiling preheat large deep skillet to medium low.
  • Cube chicken to bite size pieces if using raw chicken.
  • Melt 2 tablespoons butter and add chicken, salt and pepper to taste.
  • Cook until chicken is JUST done. Remove to a warm plate.
  • Add remaining butter.
  • When melted, add flour to center of pan, whisk until mixture turns golden in color, creating a roux.
  • Add in the first cup of chicken stock raising heat to medium high, stirring until sauce thickens. Sauce will be very thick.
  • Whisk in second cup of stock until desired consistency.
  • Taste sauce at this point and add in more salt and pepper to taste. Heavy pepper is good in this dish.
  • Add chicken pieces.
  • Add in sun dried tomato pesto, reduce heat to low and allow sauce to continue cooking and thickening.
  • At the very end add in your milk or cream starting with just half to begin with.
  • Drain pasta and add to sauce, coating pasta with chicken and cream sauce.
  • Top with Parmesan cheese and enjoy.
  • If sauce gets to thick it is better to add more stock then milk, as milk or cream will make the dish to rich and take away from the flavor. If your sauce is not thick enough turn up the heat and quickly whisk in more flour.

Fire Day Friday: Sambal Grilled Chicken

 

Next to Sriracha, Sambal Oelek is my favorite condiment.  Mix one or the other with Ranch dressing and you’ve got yourself one of the best sauces around.   Oh crap!  Did I just type that out loud?  Uhmmm.. never mind about the Ranch, I was only kidding.  Unless you think that sounds good, then I’m not kidding at all and you should go make it and dip whatever you can in it!!!

But I digress…you came here for a real recipe, didn’t you?  Ok, ok… Sambal Grilled Chicken.
 
This is a REALLY simple and REALLY flavorful dish.  I found this recipe in one of my latest Food Network Magazines.  It was actually for Sambal shrimp, but I don’t use a lot of shrimp when I cook, so I figured, why not try it on chicken?  It turned out to be one of my favorite chicken marinades.  I will say that the recipe calls for a lot more sesame oil then I think was needed.  I cut it in half and the sesame flavor was still a bit over powering.  I have adjusted to what I think will work best.  My suggestion – start with a small amount, you can always add more!


Sambal Grilled Chicken
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse, Food Network
Printable Recipe 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Sambal Oelek chili paste
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:
In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients except for the chicken.  Stir until well combined.  Set aside and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Place the chicken in a resealable bag and pour the marinade over it.  Let marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat grill to 375-400 degrees.  Remove chicken from bag and discard the marinade.  Rub the grill grates with oil and place the chicken directly over the heat.  Grill for 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked (165 degrees F).  Remove from grill and – Enjoy!

SHAY PLAYS BASEBALL ~ May your day, be a Shay Day

As I sit here bored and with very little energy as I recuperate, I have been trying to catch up on emails.  I ran across this one and according to Snopes it is undetermined as to whether it is true or not, but either way it really makes you think about what’s important and what’s not!
Two Choices

What would you do?….you make the choice. Don’t look for a punch line, there isn’t one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: ‘When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.  Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.  Where is the natural order of things in my son?’

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.’  Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’ I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.’

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.  However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.  The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.  The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.  Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates.  Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, ‘Shay, run to first!  Run to first!’ Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.  He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’ Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head.  Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay’  Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, ‘Run to third! Shay, run to third!’  As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run home! Run home!’  Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team  ‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world’.

Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:
We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.  The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.  If you’re thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you’re probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren’t the ‘appropriate’ ones to receive this type of message Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.  We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the ‘natural order of things.’ So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:  Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it’s least fortunate amongst them.
You now have two choices:
    1. Delete
    2. Forward

    May your day, be a Shay Day.

OLD FASHIONED MEAT LOAF ~ CLASSIC GOOD EATS

OLD FASHIONED MEAT LOAF
MEATLOAF
3/4 cup heavy cream
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, but retained
2 pounds hamburger
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated aged cheddar
1/4 cup minced parsley (fresh)
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Jumbo eggs, beaten
5 slices bacon
SAUCE
1 cup ketchup
1/3 cup Frank’s sweet chili sauce
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Pour cream over bread slices and allow it to soak for several minutes until mushy.
  •  Add beef, onions, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, celery salt, sea salt, white pepper and parsley.
  • With clean hands, mix the mixture together until uniform in consistency.
  • Add beaten eggs and mix again.
  • Form into mixture into a loaf.  I use an actual loaf pan and then lift it out.
  • Line a jelly roll or broiler pan with foil. This avoids a huge mess.
  • Place loaf in center.
  • Lay bacon slices over top of the meatloaf.
  • Arrange retained bread crusts along edges of meatloaf about an inch away to absorb the grease and liquids that cook off the meatloaf.
  • Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together.
  • Spread half the sauce over the top.
  • Bake for 45 minutes.
  • Spread remaining sauce over the top.
  • Bake another 15 minutes.
  • Discard bread edges.
  • Enjoy.

Chicken Egg Salad Sandwiches

Chicken salad is one of my favorites.  It’s so versatile and quick to make. This is a fairly simple basic chicken salad. I often add fruit and other flavorings but was in the mood for something simple and this did the trick. I used the Arnold Select Sandwich Thins today but I often put this on a whole wheat tortilla too. It’s also nice just set over a bed of lettuce greens if you’re low carbing it.

Chicken Egg Salad Sandwiches
2 cups chopped cooked chicken, about 10 ounces
1/4 cup mayo, light
1 egg, hard cooked and diced
3 tablespoon celery, chopped
2 tablespoons onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Lettuce
5 – 100 calories Arnold Selects Sandwich Thins or 100 calorie whole wheat tortillas.

  • Combine chopped chicken, mayo, egg, celery, salt and pepper. 
  • Mix well. 
  • Spread about 1/3 cup chicken salad on a 100 calorie sandwich thin or a 100 calorie whole wheat tortilla with lettuce.

Total calories = 1543 calories
5 sandwiches = 309 calories per sandwich or wrap

Cracker Crumb Chicken

I realize this is not a new recipe. Everyone I know has a variation of it. But it is a staple chicken meal at my house.When all else fails, I know my kids will inhale this chicken.You can use pretty much any cracker, just omit and add spices. I have used cheez its and omitted the spices. Super kid friendly. 
Cracker Chicken
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup crushed Ritz cracker crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
ground black pepper to taste
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Place eggs and cracker crumbs in two separate shallow bowls. Mix cracker crumbs with garlic salt and pepper. Dip chicken in the eggs, then dredge in the crumb mixture to coat.
Arrange coated chicken in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Place pieces of butter around the chicken.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Pesto

Martha from  A Sense of Humor is Essential will be filling in today for Liz.  She loves multitasking recipes, and here is a favorite one- Roasted Red Pepper and Almond pesto. This is a different spin on pesto, using roasted red peppers and almonds, instead of the traditional basil and pine nuts. This red pepper pesto is delicious served on toasted baguette slices brushed with olive oil for an appetizer, or with cooked pasta as an entree.

ROASTED RED PEPPER and ALMOND PESTO
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted
3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

  • In the bowl of a food processor, combine the red peppers, garlic clove, almonds, 3 tablespoons parsley, lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons olive oil. 
  • Pulse until a coarse puree forms. Season with salt and black pepper.


(I used my small wand processor because I already had it out to make soup and I didn’t feel like dirtying yet another cooking gadget!)

Save Room for Dessert…Pineapple Upside Down Cake

The balmy temperatures of the past week had me thinking of the tropics, and I was inspired to bake myself a pineapple upside down cake for my birthday.  I’ve given you two options – a cake from scratch and one using a cake mix.  I’ve made both, and they are both delicious!  Enjoy! 

Also, I’d like to invite you to enter a giveaway over on my blog, Louanne’s Kitchen.  I’m giving away two cookbooks to two lucky followers.  Head on over, become a follower, and leave a comment to be entered.   Up for grabs this week are a subscription to Louisiana Cookin’ magazine (US residents, only), Marcelle Bienvenu’s Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux?, Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, Tom Fitzmorris’s New Orleans Food: More than 225 of the City’s Best Recipes to Cook at Home, River Road Recipes: the Textbook of Louisiana Cuisine.  All you have to do is leave me a comment telling which you would like to win. If you are the lucky winner chosen by random.org, you’ll win your choice! The giveaway is open to everyone, even my international blogger buddies, although the magazine subscription is only valid for residents of the US.  I’ll choose two winners on Friday, 2/25. I do ask that you be a follower of Louanne’s Kitchen.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Printable recipe
3 sticks unsalted butter, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup pineapple juice
3 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar
2-20 oz cans pineapple rings in juice, drained (reserve juice for cake)
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

  • Melt 1 stick of butter and pour into 13×9 baking pan; be sure to butter sides of pan, as well.
  • Sprinkle turbinado sugar over melted butter and arrange pineapple rings over sugar; sprinkle on pecans and set pan aside while preparing cake batter.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining 2 sticks of softened butter, vanilla, and granulated sugar; cream together until well mixed.
  • Add eggs, one at a time, until incorporated.
  • Alternately add flour and pineapple juice to butter mixture, beating until well-mixed.
  • Pour cake batter over fruit and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a tester inserted comes out clean.
  • Allow cake to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before inverting.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake, convenience version
1 pineapple cake mix
3 eggs
1 1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 stick, plus 1/3 cup butter, melted and divided
1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar
2-20 oz cans pineapple rings in juice, drained (reserve juice for cake)
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

  • Melt 1 stick of butter and pour into 13×9 baking pan; be sure to butter sides of pan, as well.
  • Sprinkle turbinado sugar over melted butter and arrange pineapple rings over sugar; sprinkle on pecans and set pan aside while preparing cake batter.
  • Prepare cake batter by combining cake mix, eggs, juice, and 1/3 cup melted butter.
  • Pour cake batter over fruit and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a tester inserted comes out clean.
  • Allow cake to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before inverting.

PHILLY STROMBOLI

Here’s what you’ll need: 

Lay out 2 loaves of the frozen bread in the morning.  Spray a baking dish with cooking spray, put the loaves in the dish and then cover it with tin foil.  Let these loaves sit for about 7 hours.

Philly Stromboli
1 frozen Rhodes bread loaf
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 cup fresh mushrooms
1 onion, cut into strips
6 slices of Provolone cheese
Garlic
Basil (to taste)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Directions:  Put out bread loaf in the AM, per directions. After it has risen, push out onto a LIGHTLY sprayed cookie sheet (cover whole sheet). Layer the above ingredients and top with spices to taste. Roll up the sides and ends of the bread to enclose ingredients like an envelope.
Press seams to seal.

Flip loaf over so seams are down. Bake (preheated) 375 for about 20min. Allow to cool 5min before slicing and serve. Can add different cheeses, salami, etc as your family prefers. Enjoy!

*Makes great leftovers, too.

Modifications:
-I actually had mushrooms but forgot to add them!

Cut up the onion, garlic and green peppers.
Uncover the risen loaves.  
Lightly spray a cookie pan with cooking spray and put one of the loaves on it.  
Spread the dough out all on the cookie pan.
Sliced up a package of deli roast beef and lay it out on top of the dough.
Lay the onions, garlic, and peppers on top.
Place the cheese on top and roll the dough up.
Place in a 375 degree preheated oven for about 30 minutes.  
What you’ll end up with:

Moong Dal Dosa with Potato Masala


This week I will bring you to India for a simple moog dal (split mung beans) dosa, also known as pesarattu, with potato (aloo) masala that I made to go inside the dosa.
When I was searching for a variety of recipes on moong dal I ran across ManjulaAdd Image video on how to make moong dal dosa. I still had about a cup of split mung beans leftover form another recipe I made, just enough to try making this. I found the split mung beans at an Asian store.

I did stick pretty much to the recipe, with just a few changes…or additions. This is what the mung beans look like before they are soaked.

They don’t change too much just plump up a little. I did add some garlic cloves to the beans as they soaked, and I soaked them overnight just because of the timing. You can soak them for as little as 2 to 4 hours she calls for. A lot of dosa recipes will have you soak them over night and also will have rice as well.

I did mine in the food processor just because it was already out, or you could use a blender. In the food processor you add the beans, about a quarter slice of ginger, chili pepper (depends on how spicy you what it to what kind you use or not) 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp salt and some water, about 1/2 cup but add it as you go until you get the right consistency. I added a little dill and the garlic that was soaking with it.

For the potato masala take a medium size sauce pan, add a tablespoon of oil, about 2 medium boiled potatoes diced, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup green peas. In a tiny skillet in a little hot oil add a pinch of hing, 1/2 Tbsp black mustard seeds and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds until it sizzles and pops. Then add to the potatoes and sir in 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice (I just squeezed some over it) and some chopped cilantro.

Use a large non-stick skillet or you could use a tova if you have one, or a flat cast iron pan, or like I have a flat quesadilla pan that I use and it works perfectly. Make sure the pan is hot before you take half a cup of the bean puree and ladled (or poured) it on. It worked well with the back of a large plastic spoon to spread it circular and outward motion, smoothing as you go. When it starts to brown a little around the edges and firm up you drizzle a little oil around the edges and over the top. You don’t need much oil. Then with the back of a pancake flipper, just spread the oil over the top.

Then when it’s ready…flip it…easy breezy! After a little while, flip it again so the pretty side shows after you fill it, and finish.

Place the potato mixture in the center like you would fill a crepe.

Flip one side over it, then the other side, and there you have it.

Ta-da! You can serve it with some sambal, or your favorite chutney. Traditionally it is eaten with coconut chutney, but I didn’t learn how to make that yet. It’s next on my list. (I know I did this backwards). Of course Maranda ate hers with sour cream! You could serve the potato masala along side or inside like we did.

I will definitely make this again, everyone liked it. I was able to bring out my Indian Spice Box, which I just love, it comes in so handy.

We had it for lunch, but it would be a great dish for breakfast too. You can make it ahead and seal the mixture in a airtight container to use at a later time!

You can visit me at The Tiny Skillet anytime! I hope you will try this and enjoy a tiny taste of India!

Fire Day Friday Fail

I thought about this recipe all day long and knew what I wanted to do.  It ended up being good in concept but definitely I have to chalk this up as a fail for one reason.  The one component that I wanted to showcase – the tamale cake – was lackluster.  It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either.   But the idea and flavors worked perfectly so I’ll try again and just tweek the cake recipe.

The idea was simple. A spicy cheese sauce, a sweet corn tamale cake, pulled pork, and a sweet bbq sauce.

I used the corn tamale cake from this recipe, which made 4 cakes.  I tried cooking on on the griddle, but it didn’t hold its shape.  It spread out like a pancake.   This pic is obviously “pre-pancake mode”. 

I tried cooking the other three in the oven but they did the same thing.

Finally I made another batch and this time upped the masa harina flour amount as follows.

1 15 oz can corn kernals, drained well and then pulsed in a food processor
3 Tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup masa harina flour
2 Tbsp all purpose flour

I baked them at 400f in muffin tins.

The cheese sauce was
6 oz Mexican dipping cheese w/ jalapeno
4 oz milk
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 tsp red pepper flakes

 Then I ladled about 1/4 cup of cheese sauce on a small plate and placed a cake in the middle.  Top that with about 1/4 cup of leftover pulled pork and then a sweet bbq sauce.

I think the consistency and flavor of the cake is good now that I added flour but cooking them in the muffin tin made the texture too much like plain cornbread.  Next time I’ll try the oven with free standing cakes again.

The spicy cheese sauce contrasting with the other sweet flavors was tasty.   This was a great use for leftover pulled pork!

Valentine’s Sweet Goodness

I recently participated in a Sweet Goodness Swap for Valentines Day.  Their swaps are always so much fun.  I made Michelle a bracelet with some of her favorite things; like inspirational charms, crowns and beads.   As many of you know I just underwent surgery for ovarian cancer and so I used the turquoise colored beads in her bracelet to signify the search for a cure as a turquoise ribbon represents ovarian cancer.  In the past Sweet Goodness Swaps there have usually been thrifted items as well as the hand made so I found this cute little bear baker figurine and quilted heart magnet for her bag also. I was hoping to receive hers to me so I could run these posts at the same time, but I’ve yet to receive mine so decided to run them separately.