Kitchen Adventures 11.4

Easter is a little different now than it used to be, at least for me. When at home, it was always a big family time when we went to church, then ate lunch with the extended family and hunting eggs. Now, with being three hours away from home and no long weekend, it makes it hard to go home, so now I celebrate with my "family" here. We have had big dinners, gone out to dinner, and everything in between. This year, I got to celebrate with my boyfriend, his roommate, and some friends. It was a nice, though rainy, day, and a wonderful time celebrating Resurrection Sunday.
Mr. boyfriend had the main dish with some delicious ham. He also provided the macaroni and cheese. Our friend Shaye came with roils and fruit salad. I provided scalloped potatoes, a lemon (aka Easter) cake and sauteed asparagus and peas. Overall, way too much food for us, but it was delicious!

I looked around the Web for a couple different recipes to fit these needs. I found several through Foodgawker and other websites. I also turned to my hand Triple T cookbook and combined a few recipes to make the potatoes. It all turned out pretty well, all things considered. Lots of cooking in a short amount of time, but lots of fun in the end.

Sauteed Asparagus and Peas

Ingredients

2 T. unsalted butter
1/4 c. minced shallots
1 bunch thin asparagus spears, ends trimmed and cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces on a diagonal*
1 c. thawed frozen peas
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. honey

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add in the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes.

2. Add the asparagus, 1/4 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so the shallots don't burn, for about 5 minutes or until al dente. Add the peas and honey and cook about one minute more or until the peas are warmed through. Add in more salt and pepper to taste and serve.

*To trim asparagus, bend one spear near its base to see where it naturally snaps off. Use a knife to trim remaining spears to the same length.



The scalloped potatoes were the best of the three, I think. It took a little ingenuity, but they turned out very well. I was a little nervous at first, but it turned out well in the end. It was a combination of two separate recipes that overall became a good new one.

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 lbs. potatoes, or 6 medium ones
3 T. margarine
3 T. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 1/2 c. milk
1 sm. onion, chopped
2 c. cheddar cheese

Directions:

Peel and cube the potatoes. Melt the margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Blend in the flour, salt and pepper. Cook and stir constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Stir in the milk and heat to boiling. Boil for one minute, still stirring. Arrange the potatoes in the bottom of a 2-quart casserole dish with a layer of white sauce on top and then another layer of potatoes and sauce. Top with the cheddar cheese. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake for 60-70 minutes. Let stand before serving.



The final recipe is the lemon cake. I think it would have been better if it wasn't so dry, but I think that was because I made it the day before and it just got a little dry. It still had good flavor, though.

Lemon Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

1 c. butter, room temperature
1 1/4 c. sugar ( 1.25 c.)
zest of 1 large lemon
4 eggs, room temperature
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup buttermilk
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a bundt pan. Mix the sugar and lemon zest together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. In a third bowl, mix the lemon juice and vanilla extract into the milk.
Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until very white and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping the bowl as needed. Turn the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients mixture, alternating with milk in 3 separate additions. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake on the middle rack for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve. *I only baked it for 35 minutes before a toothpick came out clean. I also made a lemon glaze instead of dusting with powdered sugar.

Here is a link to the original posting for this recipe.

Kitchen Adventures 11.3

Do you ever really think about why you don't like a certain dish? Sometimes a scarring experience from childhood turns you off a dish for the rest of your life. Other times, you just THINK you don't like something without ever trying it. That was how I felt about chicken pot pie. I just had it in my head that I didn't like it for the longest time. People would rave about how delicious it was, which restaurant had the best one (Cheddar's is pretty great) or whose grandma had the best recipe. When I finally tried it, I realized just how good it is. And when I found a recipe for it that looked pretty easy, I couldn't resist trying it.

This is another dish from the PHILADELPHIA cooking creme cookbook. Those smart people really put together a good marketing plan with their new product and accompanying cookbooklet (it's a tiny recipe book and that sounds like a good name for it!). Again, something nice and easy that doesn't take too much time or effort to make and is absolutely delicious. My boyfriend was a little wary and swore I was making it wrong when I didn't use a bottom crust, but it turned out fine. That must be the hot pot pie debate question: to use or not to use a bottom crust? I'm sure the bottom crust is just as good, but this top crust-only version was pretty yummy. Though it is more of a fall/winter comfort food item, it's just light enough to work for the summertime, too. Give it a try!

Creamy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
2 c. frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained
1 tub PHILADELPHIA Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
1 ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust (1/2 of a two crust package)

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook and stir chicken in nonstick skillet on medium heat for five or six minutes, or until the chicken is lightly browned (Tremayne would say season your chicken while cooking, so sprinkle some salt, pepper, and garlic powder on there if you feel like it.) Add the vegetables to the chicken in the skillet and cook for one or two minutes, or until the veggies are heated through. Stir in the cooking creme, and then spoon this mixture into a greased 9-inch pie plate. Cover this with the crust, then seal and flute the edges. Cut several slits into the crust as steam vents and then place the pie on a baking sheet. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Kitchen Adventures 11.2

Life has been busy this past month! Still, that is no reason for me to have a month-long break in posting. I have no excuses, that's just how it happened. So, here's a posting to start back up again and do some catching up. Thank goodness there's no work Monday; it should give me plenty of time to get all caught up.

At many grocery stores, samples are provided while you are shopping. This especially is true when you are shopping during the lunch hour. It's good advertising, really, because they get you when you're hungry and such you in to try something new. If you like it, you are much more likely to buy that unplanned product than you would be with just seeing the new product. I will admit, every now and then I get sucked in. With this particular instance that led to this recipe, I tried the product one week but did not buy it until several weeks later. I must say, it was well worth the wait.

The PHILADELPHIA cream cheese people have introduced a new cooking creme product. So, instead of mixing in spices and herbs with your cream cheese, it comes mixed in for you. Plus, it is not as thick as a regular block of cheese. I have tried two of the four cooking creme flavors and liked them both. PHILADELPHIA also made the smart move of putting out a recipe book using these products. This is one of those recipes.

I liked this because it was quick and easy to make, yet filling and delicious. It was also pretty light, which was nice with warmer weather approaching. I would definitely recommend checking out these products!

Creamy Italian Chicken & Orzo Skillet

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 small zucchini, chopped (I omitted this as zucchini were just too expensive when I made this)
1 tub PHILADELPHIA Italian Cheese & Herb Cooking Creme
1/2 c. chopped tomatoes ( I also omitted this as I'm not a big tomato fan)
2 c. hot cooked orzo pasta

Directions:

Cook the chicken and zucchini in a large skillet over medium heat for 6 to 7 minutes or until the chicken is done. Add the cooking creme and tomatoes to the skillet and cook and stir for 2 minutes. Serve the chicken mixture over the cooked orzo.
* substitute 2 cups frozen cut green beans for the zucchini (this is what I did).

Kitchen Adventures 11.1

Every now and then you read a recipe and think it will turn out perfectly, then when you get halfway through it you realize things could go terribly wrong. At that point, you turn to salvage mode and try to find a way to save the dish so it's not a complete wash. This happened to me with this recipe. Everything looked fine at first, but as I went along I realized I would have to do some adjusting to make things turn out right. Fortunately, I made the correct adjustments and it turned out pretty well. I'm getting better at this improvisation in the kitchen thing!

This is a nice casserole recipe that could feed a family or a couple people for a few days. It came from the binder my aunt gave me several years ago. I'm posting it with changes I made so you can learn from my experiences. The oddest thing that happened when making this was that I used more meat than I was supposed to but cut almost everything else in half. It turned out pretty meaty, but it was still good.

Burrito Bake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 1/2 c. grated Monterrey jack cheese
1/4 c. chopped onion (I omitted this)
1 pkg. crescent rolls
1 can refried beans

Directions:

Brown the beef and onion, then drain. Stir in the dry taco seasoning. Press the crescent rolls in the bottom of a 9"x13" pan. Use a second package of crescent rolls is one won't cover it. Spread refried beans over rolls. Use a second can if one won't cover it. Add the beef mixture to the top and then top it all with the cheeses. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil to brown the cheese at the end.

Kitchen Adventures 10.7

There is an abundance of recipes available for coating pork chops or chicken or fish with some type of bread crumb mixture or another and then baking said meat. I've used many of these recipes, and they always turn out good. I have not found many that use nuts for coating, though. I am a nut lover, and I'm particularly fond of pistachios. I even got a huge bag of them for Christmas from my parents, and I was very excited about this! When I saw a recipe using pistachios as a coating for pork chops, I had to try it.

I have made this recipe before, and both times it has turned out well. One piece of adv ice: line your baking sheet with foil. This will make your clean-up go so much quicker, because these suckers tend to stick to the pan. It's totally worth it, though!

This recipe is from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Pistachio-Crusted Pork Chops

Ingredients:

1/2 c. shelled pistachios
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
Salt
1/4 c. breadcrumbs
Four 1-inch thick pork chops
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 c. olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using a food processor (I used a blender), grind up the pistachios, garlic, lemon peel, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Transfer this mixture to a shallow bowl and toss with the breadcrumbs.
2. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Dip each chop into the egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture. Transfer them to a foil-lined baking sheet.
3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chops and cook until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Place the chops back on the baking sheet when done and drizzle with olive oil. Bake about 20 minutes

Kitchen Adventures 10.6

It struck me yesterday that my blogging to baking ratio has gotten greatly disproportional. I'm doing way more baking and cooking than blogging, and it just gets me further in the hole each time! Yesterday did not help the situation, though it did help my hungry tummy. I made a couple sides and a dessert for our Easter dinner, which was a delicious and fun time with friends. But, this post will not address those delicious dishes. Instead, today we'll talk about a scrumptious breakfast from my last family visit.

Karen and Ryan, my sister and brother-in-law, came down to visit me over their spring break in March. We had a wonderful time running around Norman and OKC! We toured OU, ate at Cafe Plaid, drove around Norman, went to the movies, ate at Hideaway, went to the OU art museum, ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, found almost every Sherwin-Williams store in the OKC metro area, went to the OKC bombing memorial, walked around Bricktown and Bass Pro Shops, met up with friends at the Library, went shopping, ate at Tarahumara's and Crimson and Whipped Cream. As you can see, we did a lot! And we ate a lot. :) We didn't eat out all the time, though. These two are coffee lovers, and I have some espresso powder left from an earlier baking adventure, so I thought I'd try to find something that could use some of this up. While flipping through one of my new Rachael Ray magazines, I came across a french toast recipe that incorporates espresso powder. I couldn't pass it up, so we had it their first morning here. It was nice to make breakfast with Karen and chat while things were cooking. We even said our prayer before eating. Mom would be proud. :)

This recipe is from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

French Toast with Espresso Cream

Ingredients:

2 T. instant espresso powder
1 c. sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1/4 c. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. salt
Eight 1/2-inch thick slices chullah bread (I used ciabatta bread)
4 T. melted butter

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the espresso powder with 1/4 cup hot water. Remove 2 T. of the espresso into a cup for later. Whisk the condensed milk into the remaining espresso.
2. In a baking dish, whisk together the eggs, cream, salt, and reserved espresso. Place the bread slices in the dish and turn to coat.
3. Melt 2 T. butter in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add 4 slices of bread to the pan and cook for about 2 or 3 minutes, then flip the bread over and cook an additional 2 minutes or until golden brown. Do this again with the remaining butter and bread. Drizzle the espresso cream over the french toast when serving.

Kitchen Adventures 10.5

Most people tend to have their go=to dish for parties or special occasions. Some people always bring the brownies; others always bring the chips and dip. I can usually be counted on for some type of dessert, no matter the affair, though occasionally I do mix it up. For a recent cookout, I chose to bring a dessert, but since it was a spur-of-the-moment event, I had to go with what I had on hand. Luckily, I had quite a few ingredients. I thought about making brownies from scratch, then found another new recipe while looking for the brownie one. It was neat to try something new, and it was pretty delicious.

As a note, I did not make the original version of this recipe. I made a variation as I knew one of the hosts loves peanut butter and I thought he would really enjoy that variation.

This recipe came from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Revel Bars

Ingredients:

6 T. butter, softened
2 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
3 c. quick cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped peanuts (optional)
1/2 c. peanut butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and baking soda and beat until combined, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs and 2 tsp. vanilla until combined. Beat and stir in the flour, then stir in the oats.
2. For filling: in a medium saucepan combine the peanut butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the peanuts and 2 tsp. vanilla.
3. Press 2/3 (about 3 1/2 c.) of the oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1 baking sheet. Spread filling evenly over the oat mixture and top with dollops of the remaining oat mixture.
4. Bake about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack and cut into bars when cooled.