Creamy Chicken, Broccoli and Mushroom Casserole

July 13, 2009 at 3:28 pm · Filed under Chicken Recipes ·Tagged , , ,

Casseroles get a bad rap but sometimes you’re looking for simple and tasty and let’s face it, they are the ultimate in comfort food.  I chose to rely on the old standby of Campbell’s cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups.  Definately easy, great for the younger members of your household and most importantly you can adapt this recipe to include your favorite vegetable or topping of your choice (buttery Ritz crackers come to mind).  Use the recipe that follows as a guide and make changes that suit your family’s tastes.

July 2009 126  Creamy Chicken, Mushroom and Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces*

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup sweet onion (I used Vidalia)

3 garlic cloves, minced

8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can of cream of mushroom soup

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 milk

1 lb broccoli florets (if you using frozen, defrost first)

1 Cup plain bread crumbs

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 Cup Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese, grated

 

Method

Preheat oven to 350.  Lighly grease and 11 x 7-inch baking dish.

Heat olive oil and butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and saute 3-4 minutes until translucent.  Add mushrooms and saute until tender about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and saute 2 minutes more.   Season with salt and pepper.

Blend both soups with milk.  Add chicken, mushroom mixture, and broccoli, stirring well.  Spoon chicken mixture into baking dish. 

Blend butter with bread crumbs.   Season with salt and pepper.  Top chicken mixture with buttered bread crumbs.  Add freshly grated cheese to the top of casserole.

*If you’re not using leftover chicken.  You can wash and pat dry chicken breasts.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place chicken into 350 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through. 

Kitchen Note:  Try using Panko breadcrumbs in place of dry bread crumbs.  They are lighter than traditional bread crumbs.  I served my casserole on  a bed of thin, egg noodles from Trader Joe’s.

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Strawberry Butter

May 23, 2009 at 12:47 pm · Filed under Breakfast ·Tagged , , ,

As promised here is a simple recipe for strawberry butter.  It’s not pink like other flavored spreads you may find in your grocer store, just flecked with farm-fresh strawberries.  Try it on the corn muffins or atop pancakes and waffles.  It will even make frozen waffles a little more special.

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Strawberry Butter

Ingredients

1/2-3/4 cup strawberries, hulled and chopped

1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar

8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature

Method

In a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan combine strawberries and sugar.  Stir constantly over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Add strawberry mixture to butter and combine.  Use parchment paper to roll into a log.  Refrigerate until firm.

Yield:  8 tbsp

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Corn Muffins

May 22, 2009 at 8:17 pm · Filed under Breakfast ·Tagged , , ,

My Mom says that corn muffins are her favorite and they certainly help to fill seats around the breakfast table at my house.  I make corn muffins all the time for our family – usually on Sunday mornings. 

My kids don’t like a thing on them, while others slather on butter, jam or honey.  I have to admit I like them plain too, but when fresh berries are in season somehow you just want a way to include them at all breakfast gatherings (not to mention in desserts).  I’ll be posting a quick recipe for strawberry butter so look for that post shortly.

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Corn Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup flour (not self-rising)

1 cup cornmeal (I used Moss’ Plain White Fine Ground Corn Meal)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Method

Preheat oven to 400.  Grease nine muffin cups in muffin tin. 

Using a whisk, combine first five ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Add butter and combine until crumbs form.

In a small mixing bowl, mix milk, heavy cream and egg.  Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until combined.

Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes just until turning light golden brown.

Yield: 9 delightful muffins

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Green Beans with Leeks

May 21, 2009 at 1:03 pm · Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged , , , ,

I love combining flavors and items from the vegetable drawer that you may not have planned on putting together but somehow come together beautifully and easily. Last night’s green beans with leeks was one of those dishes where I had fresh green beans (that needed to be used immediately), leftover leeks from a vegetable soup made earlier in the week and then some other ingredients to punch up the flavor.

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 Over the summer I hope use my own green beans from the garden my family and I planted but for now I’ll just have to go with the ones purchased at the grocery store.  When selecting beans, many people prefer to smaller, thinner version known as haricots verts.  Haricots Verts is French for green bean and generally speaking are a smaller, pencil-thin bean.  There are also no strings to remove.  They tend to be more expensive in your grocery store.  But you could certainly grow your own.

Green Beans with Leeks

Ingredients

1 lb green beans, ends trimmed and cut in half

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 leeks (white and light green parts), cut in half lengthwise then again lengthwise; chop into 1/4-inch thick quarter slices

1 tbsp coarse grain mustard or Dijon mustard

couple of splashes of white wine vinegar

zest of small lemon

Kosher salt and frehly ground black pepper

Method

Bring pot of liberally salted water to a boil.  Cook green beans in boiling water approximately 6 minutes.  Drain beans and place into ice water bath to stop cooking. 

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in saute pan over medium heat.  Add chopped leaks and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add mustard, vinegar, lemon juice and zest.  Blend ingredients.  Add green beans to bowl and toss.  Add salt and pepper.  Taste.  Adjust seasonings, if needed.

Yield:  4 servings

Kitchen Note:  This dish is fantastic served at room temperature.

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Mini Pizza with Homemade Pizza Sauce

May 20, 2009 at 12:51 pm · Filed under Calling all kids! ·Tagged , , , , ,

Spreading pizza sauce onto pizza shells.

Spreading pizza sauce onto pizza shells.

Feeling very much like Sandra Lee and not wanting to order out for pizza I made my own pizza sauce but used prepared pizza shells (mini version) for last night’s dinner.   While I try to cook each and every night, when one child is sick, another one has t-ball practice and the husband won’t be home until well after 9pm sometimes you’ve just got to simplify things so you can manage all the other things.

I used Mama Mary’s Piza Crusts and while they weren’t exactly like having freshly risen pizza dough, adding the homemade pizza sauce and freshly grated cheese helped it quite a bit.  In fact, for the time-challenged you can top these “naked” pizza crusts any number of ways to make personal pizzas for each family member.  Better yet, allow the kids to make their own as I did with my oldest.

Before pureeing in the food processor.

Before pureeing in the food processor.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 Cup Vidalia onion, small chop

2 tbsp garlic, minced

2 pinches of sugar

1 24oz can tomatoes, undrained

1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 bay leaf

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat until translucent.  Add garlic and sugar and saute one minute longer.  Add tomatoes and next five ingredients.  Stir.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until sauce is thickened.  Occasionally stir sauce and crush tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove from heat.   Taste and adjust seasonings.  For a smoother consistency to sauce, add (in batches) to a food processor and puree.

Kichen Note:   Sauce will freeze beautifully for up to two months.  Defrost overnight in refrigerator.

 

 

 

 

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Chicken Meatballs

May 19, 2009 at 12:42 pm · Filed under Calling all kids!, Chicken Recipes ·Tagged , , , , ,

This seemed like a perfectly simple plan for dinner and with the right tools, clean-up is pretty simple too. 

I’m always looking for the next great dish to prepare for my family, which usually translates into deciphering what the kids might try.  One thing’s for sure, whenever I scale down the size of the item, i.e., mini meatball or mini pizza, it’s usually a hit.

I used a stainless steel scoop from The Pampered Chef  (like a mini ice cream scoop) to size the meatballs but you can also find them on Amazon.  This made them smaller than the usual meatball and uniform in size.

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Not only is this simple kid fare but I think this is something that the grown-ups will go for too (even if you’re a kid-free household).  I provided marinara sauce for dipping, but a simple pan gravy would go nicely with these.  They also freeze and reheat beautifully.

Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients

1 1/4 lb ground chicken

1/2 Cup dry breadcrumbs (seasoned or plain)

1/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

1 carrot, grated (I used a microplane to get finer shreds)

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 pinches of salt

ground black pepper

 

Method

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a sheet pan by lining it parchment paper or a Silpat.  

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl with hands (my preferred method) just until all ingredients are incorporated.  Using your stainless steel scoop or a tablespoon place meatballs onto prepared sheet pan.

Bake meatballs 25-30 minutes.  Meatballs will have a golden brown appearance.

Kitchen Note:  Depending on the amount of ground chicken you may need to increase the dry ingredients.  Even with 1 1/2 lbs of ground chicken, I would keep the amount of eggs the same.  And, yes that isn’t fresh grated Parmesan cheese you’re seeing, but you can certainly fresh grate the cheese and experiment with whatever combination of Italian cheeses that suit your taste buds.  Keep in mind that the saltier of the cheeses, Pecorino Romano would merit reducing the salt or eliminating it altogether.

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Strawberry Lemonade

May 16, 2009 at 1:18 pm · Filed under Beverages, Calling all kids! ·Tagged , , , ,

I think we can all agree that there’s nothing better in the late days of spring than something made with deliciously ripe strawberries.

A recent visit to Buckwheat Farm in Apex, NC is inspiring some simple dishes with those delicious farm-picked strawberries.  I plan on making some breakfast treats with those strawberries, but first a quick recipe for homemade strawberry lemonade. 

This recipe lends itself to help from the kids.  Older kids can juice the lemons, while younger kids can stir the pitcher or depress the button on your blender or food processor.  Younger ones can also put straws into everyone’s cup or glass.

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Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Water

Zest of one lemon

Juice of 6 lemons

2 Cups strawberries

Method

To make simple syrup, in a small sauce pan bring sugar and water to a boil.   Add lemon zest and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and bring to room temperature.  Strain.

To make strawberry puree, wash and hull strawberries.  Add strawberries to food processor (or blender) and process until pureed.

To a 2-quart pitcher add lemon juice and a 1/2 Cup of the lemon-infused simple syrup, 5 cups of cold water and strawberry puree.  Stir to combine.  Depending on the size of your lemons (larger yielding more juice) you may need to add additional simple syrup and/or more water.

To assemble, add crushed ice to glass.  Pour desired amount of lemonade.  Garnish with lemon slices, fresh strawberries and a straw. 

Kitchen note:  Use remaining simple syrup to sweeten iced tea.

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Simple Easter Eggs

May 15, 2009 at 4:46 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

April and May 2009 014I admit that for the past two years we’ve not colored Easter eggs in our home.  I think I’ve always been so busy running around to shop for egg fillers, basket stuffers and Easter outfits that the egg coloring gets lost in our pre-Easter shuffle. 

Just when I though I had egg coloring ready for ‘09, I could not find the Star Wars-themed egg coloring kit I had bought (for last year’s eggs, actually).  I found it when I was unpacking in March put it somewhere safe and then promptly forgot where that safe spot was.  I hope to find it for next year…

 

 

 

April and May 2009 015Well, my pantry to the rescue again and the simple use of food color for this year’s eggs and hand-written names in crayon.  No Star Wars stickers but they had fun just the same.

Color combos we loved:  5 yellow + 1 red yields Orange Sunset

6 red + 4 blue yields Purple

24 red + 2 blue yields Watermelon Red

3 blue + 2 green yields Teal

 

I didn’t prep for it this year but next year I plan to use ingredients from my garden and/or the vegetable bins in my refrigerator to create natural dyes.   I think my kids will find it intriguing (like a science experiement).

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Chicken Piccata

April 5, 2009 at 9:36 pm · Filed under Chicken Recipes ·Tagged , , ,

A good friend in San Diego says that this is her absolute favorite chicken entree so I’m dedicating this post and my version of this well-known dish to her.  Coincidentally, when I served it to my husband he said it tasted like the one at The Godfather restaurant …very high praise coming from him, especially since we’ve dined their many times over the years with friends (even celebrating a pre-honeymoon dinner with our out-of-town guests).

To simplify things I purchased thinly sliced chicken breasts, which eliminated having to pound the breasts to the desired thickness.  In my local grocery store I found thinly sliced breasts from Perdue.   Check with your local grocer to see if they carry a similar product.

Buon Apetito!

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Ingredients

4 chicken breasts , pounded to 1/4-inch thickness or 1 package thinly sliced chicken breasts

3/4 c flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp good quality olive oil

2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided

1/3 cup dry white wine

4 tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp capers, drained

1 small lemon, cut in half and sliced thinly

2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

Method

Heat oil and butter in large skillet or saute pan over medium heat. 

Combine flour with salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.  Dredge chicken in flour mixture and add to skillet.  Do not crowd pan.  Cook for 2-3 minutes on both sides.  Remove chicken to platter lined with paper towels. 

Add wine to skillet (replace with water if not using wine) and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Add lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and return chicken to skillet .  Add capers, remaining 1 tbsp butter and sliced lemons.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Sprinkle chicken with parsley when ready to serve.

Yield: 4 servings

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Oven-Fried Chicken

April 4, 2009 at 4:21 pm · Filed under Calling all kids!, Chicken Recipes ·Tagged , , , ,

Or, in our house we’ve re-named it “picnic chicken.”  To make this dish more appealing to my kiddos I’ve relied on buttermilk, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to flavor the chicken and have edited out other well-known (and traditional) fried chicken flavorings, such as hot sauce, paprika, poultry seasoning or shortening. 

Baking in the oven yields crispy and more healthful results.  Here’s another great thing: with “oven-frying,” once it’s in the oven you’re free to do other things versus standing at the skillet and frying the chicken. 

Give it a try.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with this one.  And, change up the seasonings to suit your tastes or that of your family.

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Ingredients

3 lbs chicken parts, rinsed and patted dry

1 cup buttermilk

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 slices white bread

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

Method

Pre-heat oven to 400.  Prepare baking sheet with spray oil.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.  In zipper top bag, add buttermilk , salt, pepper and then chicken.  Seal bag and place into mixing bowl.  Marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Place bread into bowl of food processor and process until ground into crumb consistency.  In shallow bowl or dish, blend bread crumbs with Parmesan cheese.   Dredge chicken in bread crumbs, pressing to adhere.  Place coated chicken onto baking sheet.  Do not crowd pan or chicken won’t crisp or cook properly.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Chicken should be golden brown.  Remove from baking pan with tongs transfer to paper towel-lined platter to drain.

Yield: 4 servings

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