Catching Up!

She Said:

I have some serious catching up to do. I have three recipes that we made that count toward our own Julie/Julia Project. They are all from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Day 61 - Arroz Con Pollo with Peas

2 cups long-grain white rice
2½ cups chicken broth
½ cup dry sherry
¼ teaspoon crushed saffron threads
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fresh peas (about 2 pounds in the shell)
1 roasted red pepper, diced
20 pimiento stuffed green olives, sliced
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the rice in a sieve and set in a bowl. Run cold tap water over the rice until the rinse water runs clear. Drain well. Set aside. (This step is optional. It does wash away vitamins that have been sprayed onto the rice, but it greatly improves the texture of the final dish.)

2. Combine the broth, sherry, and saffron in a small saucepan and warm gently over low heat.

3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sauté for 2 minutes, until the chicken is partially cooked. Add the onion and garlic and continue to sauté until the chicken is white and firm, 2 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and sauté until the rice appears toasted, about 3 minutes.

4. Stir the chicken broth mixture into the rice. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the peas to the skillet (do not stir) and continue to cook until the liquid is absorbed and the peas are tender, about 10 minutes. (if your peas are "mature", they may take a few minutes longer.)

5. Fluff the rice with a fork. Stir in the red pepper, olives, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Serve at once.

This was just OK. I even thought it might get better having sat overnight in the fridge and reheated. But it wasn't. It was just OK.

Day 62 - German Potato Salad

2 pounds waxy potatoes, scrubbed, halved, and sliced ¼ inch thick
4 ounces bacon, diced
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons white wine or red wine vinegar (we only used 3½ tablespoons of white wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 celery stalks, diced
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the potatoes with 6 cups salted water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Reserve ¼ cup of the cooking liquid and drain. Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl and keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and transfer to the bowl with the potatoes. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease.

3. Add the shallot to the skillet and cook until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the reserved cooking liquid, oil, vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and toss to coat. Add the celery, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Serve immediately.

This was not what we were expecting from potato salad but it was quite good. The real test was taking it to work the next day when it was cold. It held up even then. Good recipe!

Day 63 - Carrot Muffins

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1½ cups firmly packed grated carrots
¼ cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup sour cream or yogurt (we used sour cream)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Topping
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease 16 regular-size muffin cups.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the carrots, maple syrup, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture until smooth.

4. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. The batter will be stiff; an ice-cream scoop does a great job of distributing int.

5. Bake the muffins for 25 to 30 minutes, until they have risen and a knife inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

6. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for a few minutes.

7. To make the topping, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, one at a time dip the tops into the melted butter, then into the sugar and cinnamon mixture, covering the tops completely. Let cool before serving.

I was worried about the cinnamon and sugar topping for these. I thought that they would need a cream cheese frosting or something like that. Admittedly, they were a little dry but really tasty and just right to have with your morning coffee or tea. I really enjoyed these!

Days 61, 62 & 63/365:Recipes 32, 33 & 34/175

Day Thirty-Two

She Said:

Continuing on with our own Julie/Julia Project, here's what we made from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Chicken Curry with Green Beans

1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ½-inch strips
1½ cups fresh or canned diced tomatoes (we used fresh)
1 can (14 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (we used flat-leaf parsley - my life will be much better if I just skip cilantro for the most part)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cayenne
Hot cooked basmati rice, to serve

1. Blanch the green beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the onion and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic, jalapeño, ginger, and curry powder. Sauté until the onion is tender and the spices are fragrant, stirring frequently, 2 to 3 minutes longer.

3. Add the chicken and sauté, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, coconut milk, and green beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the cilantro and basil. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. Add the cayenne to taste, starting with just a pinch and adding more, depending on how hot you enjoy your curries. Simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Serve hot over a bed of rice.

I don't know what it is about the flavor of curry powder and we've only made four or five curry dishes in our lives but the flavor just gets into my head to where I start to crave it. I was so happy to have this last night. It was really delicious, healthy, and had a really nice heat. We do like things hot so we went a little heavy on the cayenne and I think it was just right.

Normally, I like this kind of spicy food with a good dry Riesling. So we opened a good dry Riesling. Before taking a bite of dinner, the wine was just wonderful - fruity, slightly sweet, perfect for a warm day. But then it just did not pair well with the food. It wasn't horrible but we did it no favors by pairing it with this dish. Maybe we needed a Riesling that wasn't quite so dry, who knows. But after dinner, we finished the bottle and it was quite good again. Weird.

Day 32/365:Recipe 22/175

Day Thirty

She Said:

Well, we have been at our own Julie/Julia Project for one month. How exciting! We are totally loving this project, even though sometimes we just don't feel like cooking. Thank goodness we have our traditional Thursday pizza-and-a-movie night (see prior post) to break things up a little. And we don't cook every single day, obviously, but we're in the kitchen a whole lot more than we used to be!

Anyway, another recipe from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman and this one was a TOTAL winner! I could eat this every night, I think. Actually, since I'm supposed to stay away from tomatoes, I wouldn't but it is just that good! We made some regular old mashed potatoes to accompany this meal and it was perfect. (Actually, the potatoes were tremendous - Yukon gold potatoes with just a tiny splash of whole milk, some butter, salt and lots of pepper. Delicious!)

Chicken Breast Niçoise

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 large boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups seeded and diced tomatoes
1 cup cured pitted black olives, such as niçoise or Kalamata (we used your standard Black Pearls, sliced in half)
½ cup chicken broth
½ cup dry white wine (we were actually having red wine with dinner and didn't open a bottle of white just for this, so I just doubled the chicken broth)
1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence (this is critical to this dish!)

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts, season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and cook until well browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn the breasts over, season the second side, and cook until well browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside to keep warm.

2. Sauté the onion in the skillet until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, olives, broth, wine and herbs. Cook until the tomatoes are broken down and the sauce is somewhat thickened, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

3. Return the chicken to the skillet (we sliced it up before doing this), reduce the heat, and continue cooking until the chicken is heated through and no longer pink in the middle, about 5 minutes. Serve hot.

I can't say enough about how good this meal was. He chose this recipe because it's in the tomato section and we have to spread those out through the year because I don't particularly care for uncooked tomatoes and I'm not supposed to be eating them anyway. But the way these were cooked was fantastic! And I have to say that I was never a black olive fan. I'm OK with kalamata olives but never your standard black olives. If they were in something highly seasoned (like nachos), I could eat them.

But the olives absolutely made this dish. It made such an impression on me that the pizza we ordered last night had black olives on it and I loved it. I guess it's something about the combination of the tomatoes and the black olives. Delicious!!

Oh and do not skip the herbes de Provence. When you get to the point in the recipe where it says to taste and adjust the seasoning, the herbs will be right there at the front and it's quite an experience.

I guess I really liked this one!

Day 30/365:Recipe 21/175

Day Eighteen

She Said:

Day Seventeen was another day of leftovers. That seems to be an issue with us. I guess we should start taking the leftovers to work the next day or something.

But anyway, we're back at it for Day Eighteen of our own Julie/Julia Project. This recipe, as usual, comes from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman and it was a hit - just delicious!

Chicken with Creamy Corn Sauce

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, plus additional thyme leaves to garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kernels from 4 ears fresh corn
2 scallions, white and tender green parts, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons white wine
1½ cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Garlic Mashed Potatoes (see Day Sixteen)

1. Combine the flour, thyme, a generous pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper in a shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken in the flour, turning to coat on all sides.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Shake off any excess flour on the chicken and place the chicken in the skillet. Cook until well browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.

3. Sauté the corn, scallions, and garlic in the skillet until the scallions are wilted, about 1 minute. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, stirring well and cooking until all the wine is evaporated. Add the broth and boil until reduced by about a third. Whisk in the cream. Season with more salt and pepper. Return the chicken to the pan just long enough to heat through, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Serve the chicken and mashed potatoes on plates, spooning the corn sauce over both. Garnish with a sprinkling of thyme leaves.

I thought this dish was so tasty! And I arranged it so I had potatoes and corn left and mixed them all up together. Yum! I think we'll be making this again, especially when the corn comes into season. We did find fresh corn on the cob but I don't know where it came from. We have a fabulous farm about 1 mile from our house that sells fantastic produce during the summer but the star of their show is their corn - it's amazing! Can't wait to try that in this recipe.

Day 18/365:Recipe 13/175

Day Sixteen

She Said:

We finally got our internet back again - yay!! So now I can tell you about what came next in our own Julie/Julia Project.

This is from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Chicken and Broccoli in Mornay Sauce

3 large heads (1½ pounds) broccoli, stems sliced and florets broken into small pieces (12 cups)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
¾ cup grated Gruyère cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the broccoli and blanch for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge into cold water to stop the cooking. Drain well. Transfer the broccoli to a clean towel and pat dry.

2. Put ¾ cup of the flour in a shallow bowl. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour and add to the skillet in a single layer. Sauté the chicken on both sides until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the chicken to a bowl to keep warm while you prepare the sauce.

4. Return the skillet to medium heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the garlic. Sprinkle in the remaining ¼ cup flour and whisk until smooth. Stir in the broth and milk and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in ½ cup of the cheese. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.

5. To assemble the casserole, arrange the broccoli in the baking dish. Pour half the sauce over the broccoli. Arrange the chicken on top. Cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup cheese over all.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbling and browned.

7. Serve hot.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

3 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
¾ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Cover the potatoes and garlic with cold salted water in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Partially remove the lid and boil until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan until steaming.

2. Drain the potatoes. Mash the potatoes in a mixing bowl or pass through a potato ricer into a mixing bowl. Beat the potatoes as you pour in the heated milk mixture. Season generously with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

This was a relatively easy meal to make and it was quite tasty. We even have leftover mashed potatoes to go with tonight's meal!

Day 16/365:Recipes 11 and 12/175

Day Four

She Said:

Day Four of our own Julie/Julia Project worked out much better than Day Three, that's for sure! Dinner was really delicious and another easy meal to make.

This is from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Strips with Sesame Spinach

Marinade
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece (1 inch long) fresh ginger, peeled
1/2 cup tamari
1/4 cup sake or dry sherry
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Chicken and Vegetables
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch strips
1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, tough stems removed (we used baby spinach)
1 large carrot, grated
1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Hot cooked white rice
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

1. To make the marinade, mince the garlic and ginger together in a blender or food processor. Add the tamari, sherry, oil, and brown sugar and process until well mixed. Alternatively, mince the garlic and ginger. Mix in a small bowl with the tamari, sherry, oil, and brown sugar.

2. Place the chicken in a nonreactive bowl. Add half the marinade and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the dinner, or up to 2 hours.

3. Wash the spinach and place in a large pot. Add an inch or so of water. Cook over high heat until the spinach is completely wilted, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Drain well. Transfer the spinach to a medium bowl and add the carrot. Toss to combine.

4. Stir the vinegar into the remaining marinade. Add to the spinach and toss lightly. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

5. Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill and let the coals burn down until they are covered with white ash, or preheat a gas grill on high. (We went with Option B since we don't have a charcoal grill!)

6. Grill the chicken for 4 to 6 minutes, until tender and no longer pink, turning once.

7. To serve, place a bed of rice in the center of a platter or on individual plates. Arrange the spinach over half the rice. Place the chicken on the other half, sprinkle the sesame seeds over all, and serve at once.

This meal was really, really delicious but for the life of me, I don't understand the cold sides. Our spinach was still a little warm when we served it because we were cooking the chicken while the spinach was still being assembled and, truly, it was delicious. I don't think it needs to be cold or even cool. There's nothing wrong with hot spinach! It's quite good!

So, the leftovers are living happily in one plastic container in the refrigerator. And they'll be heated up all together when we go to eat them.

That's the only objection I had to this meal. The flavors were wonderful and it was easy to make, although it did use quite a few bowls and pots.

Day 4/365:Recipe 5/175.

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

She Said:

I have been very remiss in updating over here at He Said:She Said. It's been a really busy time! We did not cook much last weekend (read: I did the cooking) but we did cook the weekend before. And actually, I did the cooking then, too. Hmm...I see why I haven't been updating!

I was looking for something specifically to take as "leftovers" to work for lunches. I get tired of soups so fast it's not even funny. And I can't for the life of me think of any type of sandwiches to make that I'll appreciate so I try to go with something casserole-y. (See prior post.)

I went a little out of the ordinary and found a white cheese chicken lasagna. I made it pretty much like the recipe lays it out except that I added more cheese, of course, and chicken and didn't have any fresh parsley so I used dried. It's fabulous and not at all figure-friendly. I can heartily recommend it!

Here's where the recipe comes from.

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

9 lasagna noodles
1/2 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk (I used skim)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I used regular - not low-fat)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups ricotta cheese (I just had a huge container of ricotta and eye-balled it as I was assembling)
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat (I had more than 2 cups of chicken)
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse with cold water.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour and salt, and simmer until bubbly. Mix in the broth and milk, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with the basil, oregano, and ground black pepper. Remove from heat, and set aside.

Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer with 1/3 of the noodles, the ricotta, and the chicken. Arrange 1/3 of the noodles over the chicken, and layer with 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spinach, and the remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Arrange remaining noodles over cheese, and spread remaining sauce evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.

Now, if I had it to do over again, which I do as long as I'm still on this earth, I would have combined the chicken and spinach together and split them between the layers so that I didn't have one layer of nothing but chicken and one layer of nothing but spinach. But, as it is, I cut the whole thing up into 12 portions and packed it up for lunches so when we reheat, we just chop it all up and mix well before eating anyway.

I must make mention of the cheese sauce. Now I had revealed my awesome macaroni and cheese recipe a while back. The cheese sauce there is quite good. But the cheese sauce from this recipe knocked my socks off. The seasonings and Parmesan cheese in it plus the delicate flavor of the mozzarella cheese and the chicken broth/milk mixture is an incredible combination. I will make this cheese sauce again for a simple pasta side dish with some breaded chicken breasts or broiled fish for dinner one night. It's just that good.

¡Awesome Enchiladas!

She Said:

He chose this recipe for enchiladas because we haven't had anything remotely Mexican for a long time. And while these are hardly authenticly Mexican, they are, absolutely, awesome! Just like the name of the recipe. Found over at www.allrecipes.com.

Angela's Awesome Enchiladas

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast meat
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
1 (1.25 ounce) package mild taco seasoning mix
1 bunch green onions, chopped, divided
1 cup water
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
5 (12 inch) flour tortillas
3 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives

Place the chicken in a large pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the chicken pieces are no longer pink, about 20 minutes. Shred chicken by placing two forks back to back and pulling meat apart. Set the shredded chicken aside. Meanwhile, combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and chili powder in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, then turn off the heat and cover to keep warm.
Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the shredded chicken, chopped green chilies, taco seasoning, half of the bunch of chopped green onion, and water. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the lime juice, onion powder, and garlic powder; simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Stir 1 cup of the soup mixture into the skillet with the chicken mixture. Spread the remaining soup mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese over the chicken filling before folding the tortillas, reserving half of the shredded cheese for topping the enchiladas. Fold tortillas over the filling and place seam-side down in the prepared pan.
Pour enchilada sauce evenly over the enchiladas. Cover with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the reserved chopped green onions and the sliced olives on top of the cheese. Bake in the preheated oven until filling is heated through and the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 25 minutes.

You must make these. You must!

Bangers and Mash - Lightened Up (Accidentally)

She Said:

I was trying to plan dinner yesterday and I looked in the freezer for some sort of protein. I pulled out a package of chicken & turkey mild Italian sausage. And that became my starting point. After looking around for recipes that had only ingredients that I already had on hand, this is what I found. Naturally, as I always do, I tweaked it a little.

Not-So-Classic Bangers and Mash

Makes 2 servings.

4 Russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 package very low sodium chicken instant broth & seasoning
1/2 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
Olive oil
4 links chicken & turkey sausage
1/2 large onion, sliced and separated into rings
About 2 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano

Get the potatoes started in water as you would for regular mashed potatoes. Boil for 20 minutes or so. Drain, leaving the potatoes in the pan.

At the same time, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Prick the sausages in a few places with a fork, and place them into the skillet. Cook, turning often, until golden brown and juices run clear. This should take about 20 minutes. Internal temperature should be 165º.

While the potatoes and sausages are cooking, start the gravy. Melt together 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour to make a roux. Cook for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of the beef broth and whisk until smooth. Heat to boiling; boil and stir for 1 minute. Leave on a low heat to keep warm and add more beef broth as needed for the consistency desired. You can season to taste, if you wish.

Heat up the milk in a microwave or saucepan. Stir the instant broth into the milk until dissolved. Stir the milk mixture and melted butter into the cooked potatoes. Mash or whip the potatoes until smooth and creamy.

When the sausages are done, take them out of the skillet and place onto paper towels on a plate. In the same skillet, add the onion rings. Cook and stir over medium heat until the onions are golden and wilted, about 5 minutes.

To serve, scoop the potatoes onto the plate, arrange the sausages over the potatoes, top with the onions, drizzle with the gravy and sprinkle with oregano.

This was such a fun meal to eat and it was delicious! I was really surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I love that it was all made with things we had on hand. And did you notice? Almost no salt whatsoever. I don't know what's happening but we rarely use salt any more in our cooking and eating. It's just not that appealing any more. Go figure!

We had leftover potatoes, so they will be part of tonight's dinner. There is no wasting of mashed potatoes in this house!

Oh, the recipe said to pair this with a syrah. I didn't know if it would still work because it wasn't pork sausage, but that's what we had. And it worked beautifully!

The wine we had was a 2005 Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz. It's a little pricey for a mid-week wine (at around $23) but we're running low on the cheaper stuff, so what choice did we have? :-)

Dijon Chicken Salad

She Said:

We could call this a New Year's resolution, but we won't. He has decided that He is going to be making something that He has never made before, once a week. He outdid Himself yesterday. He made three things that He's never made before.

The first one I'm going to talk about is the Dijon Chicken Salad. Based on this recipe, we made it our own. Here's what we did:

Dijon Chicken Salad

1 lb. chicken breast tenders, cooked
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup halved green grapes
1/2 cup halved red grapes
1 cup very roughly chopped walnuts (you can leave these as halved walnuts, depending on how much you like walnuts!)
2 teaspoons dried chives
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3/4 cup light mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the chicken, celery, grapes, walnuts and chives in a bowl. Whisk together the honey, mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper in a separate bowl. Add the mustard mixture to the chicken mixture and stir to coat.

I absolutely loved this recipe and it was really, really easy!

One Local Summer, Week 5

More comfort food! This is an old recipe that I've made many, many times. It never fails.

Chicken Noodle Soup

One Local Summer, Week 4

I have not been keeping up!  I've been on vacation so I've been cooking up a storm.  Here are three entries I forgot to post here:

  Cucumber Salad (we've reviewed this recipe before but here it is made locally)

  Chicken Pot Pie

  Cream of Asparagus Soup

This was a good batch.  Everything was quite tasty!

One Local Summer, Week 1

Today began our foray into the One Local Summer Challenge. I decided to keep the pictures in a set on my Flickr account, but we'll also be posting them here, along with the recipes.

Here is our first week's entry, made with all local ingredients.

Chicken Florentine Sausage Frittata

1 lb. chicken florentine sausage, cut into 1/2" slices

1 tbsp. butter
6 eggs
1/4 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup swiss cheese, shredded

Saute sausage pieces in oven-safe skillet until browned. Remove sausage from pan and cool slightly. Wipe skillet dry. When sausage is cool, chop sausage into bite size pieces. In a bowl, combine eggs, half-and-half, chives and parsley. Melt butter in original skillet. Return cooled sausage to pan and saute slightly until browned all over. Pour egg mixture over sausage in skillet. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes until the eggs are set. Remove cover. Sprinkle cheese over top. Broil uncovered until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Sausage from Mountain View Poultry Farm - 55.9 miles

Butter from Liberty Bell Butter - approx. 30 miles

Eggs from Jack's Farm - 13.8 miles

Half-and-half from Merrymead Farm - 12.5 miles

Chives from our garden - 0 miles

Parsley from our garden - 0 miles

Swiss cheese (Highland Alpine) from Birchrun Hills Farm - 11.5 miles

Baked Hoisin Chicken Buns

Cooking Light

She Said:

Hoo, mama. I was looking for a light but yummy appetizer recipe with an Asian feel. Since it's the beginning of a new year and everyone is trying to behave and eat light, I went to my most trusted recipe source - Cooking Light. I found this recipe called Baked Hoisin Chicken Buns. Now, I love hoisin and I love chicken, so I checked it out. It even called for sprinkling sesame seeds on the top before baking. It sounded really good!

But it was light, I wasn't looking for a miracle.

It was delicious! I was so pleasantly surprised!! The flavors were perfect together. The only change I made to the recipe was the dough. I couldn't find frozen roll dough so I bought a can of refrigerated round crescent roll dough. We actually cut back on the amount of filling it called for so that they wouldn't explode. And we just folded them in half and crimped the edges with a fork, making a little Asian hoisin chicken pie. They were really, really good! (We have lots of leftover filling mix so guess what's for dinner tomorrow night??)

P.S. They got better as they cooled down. So leave yourself time after baking to let them sit for 10 or 15 minutes before serving.

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He Said:

We had a couple of friends over Saturday night (hi guys!) and decided to use them as guinea pigs for a new appetizer we wanted to make - Baked Hoisin Chicken Buns. Let's see, Baked? Baked is nice. Hoisin? I love me some hoisin! Chicken? What's not to love about chicken? And buns. Hey, everyone likes a nice bun now and again, right? So, it seemed that we couldn't possibly go wrong. Usually, that's when everything goes wrong.

Not this time, though. I thought these were terrific! Delicious and easy to eat. Heck, they were even pretty fun to make. Not difficult and I got to shred. Oh how I love to shred. The Meester even brought over some hot sauce which we tried and that was good too. So if you want to try something a little different than the standard appetizer, I would strongly recommend these. I think they'd be perfect at your Super Bowl party!

(Go Cowboys!)

Grilled Chicken Ciabatta Canapes

12/11/07
Ha! I said "canapes!"

She Said:
We tried a new recipe for dinner tonight. It was based on this recipe for Grilled Chicken Ciabatta Sandwiches, but we went with the hors d'oeuvres variation.

I was not thrilled with it. All of the separate ingredients were delicious on their own but they somehow didn't meld together well. The recipe was to be served cool but I ended up throwing a little bit of shredded Cheddar on top and microwaving it for 30 seconds to heat it through and melt the cheese. I liked it better that way.
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He Said:
Grilled Chicken Ciabatta hors d'oeuvres. Man, that's a mouthfull. This was a meal that I really wanted to like. And when all was said and done, I did like it. I just didn't love it. I'm not sure why. The chicken? Delish. The roasted peppers? Delish. The garlic rubbed ciabatta bread? Delish. The end result. Ehhh. It left me wanting. And so I did what I always do when I am left wanting.

I went a grabbed a cookie.

Haha! Just kidding. I actually grabbed two cookies! Now those were fantastic!

Crock Pot Chicken Curry

12/7/07

Games we play

She Said:

I've never had curry before. So, as part of a game that He and I are playing (we'll talk about that eventually, I think), we ended up making Crock Pot Chicken Curry. And it was delicious! It's a really easy recipe. Here's how it goes.

1 large onion, diced large

2 full skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed

2 cans (15 oz.) fire-roasted diced tomatoes

4 heaping tablespoons mild curry paste

Saute the onions in a little bit of olive oil. Put them in the bottom of a crock pot. In the same pan, saute the chicken cubes until almost cooked through. Put them on top of the onions in the crock pot. Add the two cans of tomatoes with the juice and the curry paste. Cook on high for about 45 minutes, then turn to low and let cook for 7 or 8 hours. Serve with brown rice.

That's it! It was very easy to make, healthy and delicious! (It was, however, a bit too spicy for me right off the bat but we'll make this again and I will get used to it, I'm sure.)

Oh, and we served it with a bottle of Cave Spring Riesling which complimented the spices perfectly and cooled the heat down quite nicely. This wine is a "2nd Bottle of the Night" wine. It was about $15. Very nice - lightly dry (does that make sense?) and a bit flowery. Perfect for the spicy meal. Two thumbs up on this meal!

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He Said:

Crock Pot Chicken Curry, eh? Sounds weird. And curry? Hah! I don't think so!

Or so I thought.

I just love a meal that makes my scalp sweat and this was just that kind of meal. Hot and spicy! Yumm! I was really worried about the curry because that's a spice that I never really delved into before.

Curry? What's that? Isn't that something that other people eat? People that aren't me?

Well, not any more. I loved this meal and I already can't wait to hit the leftovers. (Maybe after She goes to sleep. Shhhhhh.) We had this chicken and onion heatfest served over some nice hearty brown rice which seemed perfectly suited. Then we paired it with a very pleasant Cave Spring Riesling which killed the mouth fire almost immediately.

I'm really glad that we finally entered into the world of curry. It opens up a virtual plethora of possibilities. (Hey, did you ever notice that plethoras are always virtual? What's up with that?)