Category: RECIPES

Quick Italian Chicken Strips with Fire Roasted Marinara Sauce ~ Simple Saturdays with girlichef

Hello everybody and thanks so much for joining me for my first Simple Saturday here at the KrAzY KiTcHeN! I’m taking over for Martha who has moved to Mondays. I decided to drop the word ‘supper’ from the Saturday theme just to leave the day a little more open to interpretation. Of course you are more than welcome to submit a simple supper…but you can also submit a simple breakfast, lunch, snack, drink…whatever!

Please forgive me as I get acquainted with my new home away from home and learn all of the little nooks & crannies…ummmm, Mr. Linky…of cooking with you on Saturdays! I think that I will be featuring a recipe and a picture or two weekly, with a link back to a longer post at my own place (if you click on recipe title). Feel free to pepper me with comments and suggestions… I thought I’d start this Saturday with a simple favorite around my house.

Quick Italian Chicken Strips w/ Fire-roasted Marinara Sauce
by girlichef (here)

For the Chicken Strips:
Chicken Breast Tenders (aka rib meat)- ~1 1/2 lbs
Bread Crumbs seasoned with Italian Seasoning & Parmesan
Eggs- 2
Water- splash
Flour- seasoned with salt & pepper

For the (quick) Fire-Roasted Marinara Sauce:
Fire-Roasted Tomatoes, 2- 14.5 oz cans (Hunt’s Brand…my fave canned tomaters)
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Dried, minced onion
Crushed Red Chiles (optional)
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Start your quickie marinara first by pouring the cans of fire-roasted tomatoes into a pot and bringing gently to a simmer. Add the other ingredients to taste (as you like). Let simmer gently while you make your chicken strips.

Get out three bowls/plates and set up a breading station. Fill the first bowl with flour and season it with salt and pepper. Crack your eggs into the second bowl and whip them up with a splash or two of water. Fill the last bowl with your bread crumbs seasoned with Italian seasoning & Parmesan cheese.

Pat your (chicken) tenders dry. Dip them in flour & shake off excess. Dip in egg wash. Dip in breading. Place on a large, hot skillet with a light coating of oil (~1/8″ deep). Flip once golden on the first side. Remember, they’re small…they will cook all the way through by the time both sides are golden. Saute in batches and set aside on a warm plate to hold until they are all finished.

Stir up your quickie marinara and serve the chicken strips with your marinara…and some shaved Parmesan.

Simple Saturday meal that adults and kiddos alike love in our house. Please add a link to Mr. Linky to one of your favorite simple things to make on Saturdays (or any day for that matter) and then leave a comment to let us know you’re there!

Blueberry Muffins ~ What Did You Bake Today?

I love vintage cookbooks. Not just because they are cute and old, but because the recipes of yesteryear used less sugar and processed foods. Today’s recipe comes from The New England Cookbook published in 1956 by the Culinary Arts Institute of Chicago.Blueberry Muffins:

1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg , beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup fresh or thawed blueberries

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowlCombine milk and eggs in another, then blend in melted butter. At this point, the recipe says to make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet and stir for no more than 25 strokes. I counted and frankly, I just couldn’t do in in 25. I stirred for more like 30 strokes. Anyway, after it is moist, lumpy and mostly incorporated, fold in the blueberries.Scoop into 12 greased muffin tins. Bake 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.
What Did You Bake Today?

Thursday 13 ~ ALL ABOUT SALT


Thank you Janet and Megan for resurrecting it!
13 things to know about SALT!

  1. Sat is NOT a spice.
  2. Salt is NOT an herb.
  3. Salt is NOT a seasoning.
  4. Salt is a mineral.
  5. Salt is essential to life.
  6. Salt is contained naturally in most foods.
  7. Salt unites the flavors of herbs and seasonings together until they come alive.
  8. Salt does not actually flavor our food.
  9. Salt enhances our food.
  10. Salt increases the flow of saliva.
  11. Salt opens the taste buds.
  12. Salt releases the juices in foods.
  13. Salt stimulates the appetite.

final blog signature.

Martha’s Monday Munchies – Beef Wellington Appetizers!

Welcome to the all new Monday Munchies hosted by me – Martha! This week featuring Beef Wellington appetizers …

Ingredients: Leftover beef (I used eye-round roast) cut into bite sized cubes, fresh mushrooms (minced), white wine, cream, puff pastry (thawed)

Sauté mushrooms for 3-5 minutes in a splash of white wine, reduce until almost dry. Add a splash of cream and reduce until consistency is like a spread. Season the mushroom mixture with salt and pepper to taste, set aside to cool.

Place puff pastry sheets on a floured work surface, cut into small squares. Place a beef cube on each. Top each beef cube with a small amount of the mushroom mixture. Wrap edges up to seal around each. Twist ends at the top. Place on a parchment lined pan and bake at 350 until crisp – about 15 minutes.

Alternatives: You could use just about any kind of beef in these appetizers. I’ve used leftover steak, London broil, meatloaf and once even used little store bought cocktail meatballs when making for a large crowd. They have been a big hit every single time!

It’s also a great way to turn small amounts of leftovers into an elegant light meal by serving on the side with a nice salad.

I can’t wait to see your recipes!

Baked Omelet with Paprika Cheese Hash Browns ~ Simply Delicious Sunday

BAKED OMELET with PAPRIKA CHEESE HASH BROWNS

This combination is perfect together. I prepare all the ingredients before I begin. I them assemble the omelet and while it is baking I prepare the hash browns. They are almost always done at the same time which makes it perfect in my book.



BAKED OMELET
4 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 small tomato, diced
1 small bunch green onions, sliced thin
4 ounces chopped ham (or meat of your choice)
1/2 cup finely shredded white cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
PURE

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Whisk eggs and milk until well blended.
  • Generously spray a 9 inch square baking dish with PURE.
  • Sprinkle onions, tomatoes and meat over the bottom of the baking dish.
  • Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese over this layer.
  • Pour eggs over the cheese.
  • Top with 1/3 more of the cheese.
  • Bake 20 minutes or until just set.
  • Top with remaining cheese and leave in oven just until melted.

PAPRIKA CHEESE HASH BROWNS
4 cups shredded or finely chopped potatoes, dry well with paper towels
4-6 tablespoons butter
1 small bunch green onions, sliced fine
paprika
celery salt
salt and pepper
1/2 cup finely shredded white cheddar (or cheese of your choice)

  • Melt butter in a large skillet* over medium high heat.
  • Add potatoes, onions and season well with salt, pepper, celery salt and paprika.
  • Brown well.
  • Sprinkle cheese over top and fold in.

*Use a skillet large enough to have a single layer of potatoes. They will brown better if they are not crowded.

Healthy Helpings – Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole

Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole
Source: WW 15 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook (2002)
1 pound ground round
1 (15 ounce) can chunky Italian-style tomato sauce
Cooking spray
1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
1 1/2 cups preshredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Cook meat in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring until it crumbles. Drain, if necessary, and return to skillet. Add tomato sauce, and cook until heated.

While meat cooks, coat a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Unroll pizza crust dough, and press into bottom and halfway up sides of baking dish. Top with meat mixture. Bake, uncovered at 425 degrees F for 12 minutes.

Top with cheese, and bake 5 additional minutes or until crust is browned and cheese melts. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Servings: 6 – 6 WW points per serving

Simply Delicious Sunday ~ Crab Salad & Homemade 1000 Island Dressing


CRAB SALAD & HOMEMADE 1000 ISLAND DRESSING
CRAB SALAD
8 ounces Louis Kemp Crab, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/3 cup minced red onion
salt and pepper
mayo (about 1/4 cup)
Romaine lettuce
Roma tomatoes, sliced
Snap peas, halved

  • Wash lettuce, peas and tomatoes. Arrange on plate. Salt and pepper.
  • Mix crab, celery, onion, salt and pepper together until well blended using enough mayonnaise for desired consistency.
  • Place a large scoop of crab salad over the romaine mix.
  • Serve over chopped romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes and snap peas.
  • Top with dressing.

1000 ISLAND DRESSING
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1 heaping tablespoon minced red onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

  • In a mini blender blend all ingredients to desired consistency.

He all but licked his plate and drank the rest of the dressing straight from the bottle.

♥♥final blog signature. ♥♥

Simple Supper Saturday – Italian Chicken

Welcome to Simple Supper Saturday! This week is my super easy baked Italian chicken …
Marinate chicken breasts in Italian dressing for a couple hours, drain marinade, dredge chicken lightly in Italian bread crumbs. Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in baking pan, place chicken in pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until juices run clear and chicken is golden brown – turn chicken halfway through cooking time. Serve with some fresh veggies or salad and dinner rolls.

Oh and be sure to make enough chicken to have plenty leftover – Next week I’ll be posting an easy, yummy leftover chicken recipe that you won’t want to miss!

I can’t wait to see your simple supper ideas this week!

Healthy Helpings – Smothered Chicken with Pierogies

Smothered Chicken with Pierogies
4 servings – 7 WWpoints each serving

1 dozen Mrs T’s Frozen Potato & Cheddar Cheese pierogies (I used a box of the mini sized, I think this makes it easier to serve if you want to give equal portions of pierogies to each person. There are 28 small ones compared to 12 big ones!)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) low fat cream of chicken soup
1 can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained (I used 8 oz fresh and sauteed)
1 c frozen peas
2 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 qt casserole with cooking spray. Thaw pierogies in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and place in casserole dish.

In large saucepan, combine soup, mushrooms, peas and chicken. Cook, stirring, about 5 min or until heated through. Pour over pierogies. Bake 15 minutes.

(My great nephew joined us for dinner unexpectedly the night I prepared this, and he gave it two thumbs up… he didn’t think he liked mushrooms, but in this dish he said they were good!)

Simply Delicious Sunday ~ Asiago Garlic Mushroom Ravioli

HOMEMADE PASTA DOUGH
2 to 2 1/2 cups flour, divided 2 cups and 1/2 cup
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon cold water

  • Place 2 cups of the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  • Make a well in the center of the flour.
  • Add the eggs and water to the flour.
  • With your hands or a wooden spoon, gradually mix all together until well blended.
  • Gather into a ball and knead on a floured surface until smooth, about 10 minutes.
  • Add remaining flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands or the kneading surface.
  • Divide the dough into fourths.

FILLING
2 tablespoons butter
1 large bunch green onion, minced
1/2 pound mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
3 teaspoons minced garlic, jar
1/2 cup freshly grated Asiago Parmesan cheese
1 eggs, slightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

  • Melt the butter in a small skillet and cook the onions, stir and cook until onions are transparent.
  • Add mushrooms and simmer until tender.
  • Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.
  • Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
  • Season to taste.

ASSEMBLY

  • Divide the pasta dough into 4 balls and roll out one at a time about 1/4 inch thick.
  • Place 1 heaping tablespoon of filling about every 2 inches apart on the sheet of pasta.
  • With a brush dipped in water draw lines between the mounds.
  • Then place a second sheet of pasta evenly over the first sheet, but work quickly ~the dough must remain pliable.
  • Press down between the mounds to form the ravioli envelopes. The wet areas of the pasta sheet will help seal the ravioli.
  • With a ravioli cutter or a serrated knife separate from each other.
  • Cook ravioli in large kettle of chicken broth or salted water. Boil slowly for about 10 minutes. Drain. Always add 1 tablespoon of oil to the cooking water for a better noodle.
  • Layer ravioli and sauce.
  • Sprinkle fresh grated Parmesan cheese on last layer and serve, hot.

The Original Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce Product Review & Giveaway

Earlier this week I was contacted by a nice man from Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and asked if I would be interested in doing a product review. I said I’d love to. In just 2 days time a box was on my stoop with bottles of sauce and recipe brochures. I had this little niggling in my brain though. I could not figure out why the name of this sauce sounded so familiar. I tried to find the sauce locally and failed until I finally found it at a Walmart store 30 miles away. You have to remember I live rurally for the moment. That is when it occurred to me where I had heard the name before. I had won a cookbook awhile back over at Forgetfulone, but was never able to prepare any of the recipes because I couldn’t find the sauce.

As you can see from all the slips of paper sticking out of the top of the book I had marked a multitude of recipes to try and now I finally can. I found 2 meatloaf recipes, 1 from the brochure which is extremely similar to hubby’s favorite one that I have made for years and years and a sour cream recipe from the book that I decided to try. In the end the recipe I made was a combination of both recipes and hubby all but licked his plate. He kept telling me to find out where to get more of this sauce. He even put it on his mashed potatoes and thought that was just scrumptious. Normally he would use ketchup on his meatloaf, but tonight he used Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce. He decided Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce is our new ketchup.

I will be trying a few more recipes this week and will do a follow up for you. Head on over to tHe KrAzY KiTcHeN to enter the giveaway.


The true test came when I made dessert with the sauce. It was the most unusual group of ingredients I had ever mixed together. I have to admit I had my doubts that we were going to like this recipe, but I also thought it would be a good test of the versatility of an all purpose sauce.
All I can say is that I was sooooooooooooooooo pleasantly surprised by the flavor. Hubby can’t say anything, he’s too busy licking the bowl. You have to try Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and start with this fudge recipe.
Justify Full

One of the greatest things about this recipe besides the awesome flavor is the consistency. How many times have you made fudge and weren’t sure it would set up okay or it turned out dry? That will never happen with this recipe. This recipe is truly foolproof.

COUNTRY BOB’S INCREDIBLE FUDGE
12 ounces Velveeta cheese*
2 sticks butter
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
2 pounds powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)**

  • In a microwave safe bowl combine the Velveeta, butter, Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and chocolate. Microwave on high 2-4 minutes, stirring every minute until mixture is smooth and well blended.
  • Pour the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the chocolate mixture gradaully while beating with an electric mixture until well blended.
  • Beat in the vanilla.
  • Stir in the nuts.
  • Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.
  • Cover and chill until firm.
  • Store in the refrigerator.

*When I made a second batch of this recipe. it worked better cubed before microwaving
**I exchanged this for Heath Bar bits and loved it

COUNTRY BOB’S SOUR CREAM MEATLOAF ala TAMY
3 pounds ground beef
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
1/2 cup + Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
1 sleeve crushed saltines
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

  • Mix all together.
  • Pour additional sauce over the top.
  • Bake 1 1/2 hours.
  • Pour off any excess moisture.
  • Let stand 5-10 minutes.
  • Serve.

What Did You Bake Today: Monkey Bread


Weekends are our favorite time for sweet breakfasts. Monkey bread is one of my sons’ favorites. It is easy to throw together because it starts with ready to bake canned biscuits. I have seen quite a few variations of this dish. This one is ooey gooey yummy! Monkey Bread:
3 cans buttermilk biscuits (10 to a can)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a gallon size ziplock bag. Shake biscuit pieces in the sugar/cinnamon combo and layer into a greased tube pan. Melt brown sugar and butter and boil for 1 minute. Pour over biscuits. Bake 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes in the pan before inverting on a plate.

What Did You Bake Today?