Parmesan Chicken

This is one of my favorite ways to eat chicken. The recipe came from Taste of Home Magazine several years ago and was sent in by Shelby Thompson of Florida. It calls for boneless chicken breasts but I do it with bone in breasts, legs and thighs as well and it is just as delicious. I also like to bake it in my clay baking dishes that I bought when we were in Turkey last year. The baking dish holds two large breasts or thighs, or three smaller thighs. I only did two thighs in the picture. Since there are only two of us to eat I cut the recipe down. I have done it so many times, I no longer measure but guestimate the amounts and judge by the smell. Not too professional I realize but it works for me. The chicken turns out really moist and tender.

Parmesan Chicken

1/2 C butter or margarine melted
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 Cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese
6 to 8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

In a shallow bowl, combine butter, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and salt (I omit the salt as I am not that into salt). In plastic bag, combine crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip chicken in butter mixture, then shake in crumb mixture. Place in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan that has been sprayed. (original recipe says ungreased pan but I like easy clean-up.) Drizzle with any remaining butter mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or till chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce

This recipe comes from Food network courtesy of Stacy Lamons. When I made this I actually cut the recipe in half and had plenty. This sauce would go great with many different dishes. So far I have enjoyed it with Southwestern egg rolls, Mexican haystacks, and I plan to try it with my mock Cafe Rio burritos the next time I make them.

Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce

2 (10 oz) cans Mexican-style diced tomatoes (I used Rotel w/green chilies)

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

2 c loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves (about 1 bunch)

1 c sour cream

3 garlic cloves, minced

Place ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Yield: 3 cups

Baked or Fried Southwestern Egg Rolls

My family really enjoyed these egg rolls. There was a tiny complaint about the spinach (mostly me), so I might fore go the spinach next time. I liked the idea of making them healthier by baking them, which they tasted good but I like a good fried egg roll as well, so suit yourself and pick your cooking method.

Southwestern Egg Rolls

Recipe Adapted from Annie's Eats

2 c frozen corn, thawed
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 c shredded Mexican cheese blend (I used cheddar, cause that's what I had on hand)

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies, drained

4 green onions, chopped (I cooked 1/4c reg. onion w/the chicken)

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

In a large bowl combine the above ingredients. Mix well.

1 pkg egg roll wrappers

2 Chicken breasts

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp chili pwd

Salt & Pepper

Cut up chicken into bite size pieces. Add chicken to an olive oil coated pan. Season with salt, pepper, 1/4 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp chili powder. Cook till chicken is done. Shredd or chop into smaller pieces. Add the chicken to the filling mixture. Stir till well combined.

Place 1/4c of the filling mixture in the center of an egg roll wrapper. Follow the instructions on the egg roll pkg to make a beautiful egg roll.

Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly oil a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the sealed egg rolls on the baking sheet seam side down and spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray. Bake for about 15 min, or until lightly brown, turning halfway through baking. Serve warm with salsa or Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce (recipe posting tomorrow).

Homemade Postum-type Drink

My friend, Terri, loves Postum and since it is no longer available in the stores I set out to see if I could duplicate it. I found several recipes for homemade Postum on the internet at several sites but then I found that I didn't have wheat bran as such and there wasn't any at our store. So, the following recipe is a combination of the recipes that I found on line. It isn't quite the same as the real thing but fairly close.


Homemade Postum

4 Cups of cracked wheat, do not sift out flour, use it all
2 C coarsely ground corn meal
1/2 C molasses

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with your hands. Make sure the grain and bran and corn are well combined and that the molasses is thoroughly mixed in. This takes awhile, probably 5 to 10 minutes to make sure the molasses is distributed evenly on all the grains, no lumps. Spread the mixture onto two baking sheets with sides on them and bake in a 300 degree oven for about 5 hours. You must stir the mixture every 20-30 minutes to make it bake evenly. Bake till a dark mahogany color. It may have some smoke during the last hour or so. Do not use a hotter oven as it will burn. Place the pans on wire racks to cool, stirring the mixture occasionally to cool faster. Store in airtight containers

This is not an instant hot drink and has to be either brewed the same as coffee or steeped like tea. Since we have a coffee machine in the lodges at the KOA, we tried that and it worked very well. However, I do not want to have a coffee machine on my cabinet so tried boiling it and steeping it. I didn't like the boiling method but did like the steeping. I put the mix in a tea ball and poured the hot water in the cup and let it sit as one would a tea bag. Worked well.

Use 2 tablespoons of mixture to 1 1/2 cups of water.

Reuben Sandwich-Pressure Cooker

Happy St. Patrick's Day! At our house we have the tradition of making Reuben sandwiches on or around the 17th, depending on work schedules. In the past I have always cooked my corned beef on the stove for hours till it becomes tender. This year I cooked it in my pressure cooker. Who knew, ok maybe all of you. I found this to be a great technique for cooking corned beef.

It was simple. Put your 3lbs corned beef in the cooker, cover meat with water and add the seasoning packet that comes with it. Secure the lid and bring to pressure (15lbs) and cook for 1 hour and 15 min.

This is our take on the Reuben sandwich. My mother cans her own sauerkraut and so kindly shares so that makes this even better.

Reuben Sandwich

3 lbs Corned Beef

Sauerkraut

Thousand Island Dressing

Swiss cheese

Rye bread

butter

Butter one side of the pieces of rye bread. Place sliced or shredded corned beef on the non buttered side of the bread, then layer Swiss cheese, then the sauerkraut. On the other piece of bread, on the non-buttered side spread some thousand island dressing and place the bread on the top of the sauerkraut. Cook on a panini grill, fry pan, or griddle, a waffle iron is kind of fun if you don't mind a greasy mess to clean up. Cover with a pan lid to help the cheese melt. Cook on both sides till browned and crisp.

Spareribs, Sauerkraut and Potatoes

Cheryl asked that I post this recipe so I am finally doing it. I have made this with pork ribs and beef ribs and like it either way. It doesn't look that good in the photo but it tastes great. Need to serve it with a colorful vegetable so that it looks better on the plate. I got this recipe years ago from the instruction booklet that came with my pressure cooker. The cooker was a gift for our wedding and I am still using it, having replaced the seals a couple of times. This recipe is for a 2 1/2 to 4 quart cooker. Just double it for a 6-8 quart cooker.


Spareribs, Sauerkraut and Potatoes

2 1/2 pounds spareribs
1 TB fat
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 can (or one pint) of sauerkraut, drained
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 potatoes, medium, whole
2/3 C water

Serves 4

Brown the ribs in the fat in the cooker. Season with salt and pepper. I also use garlic. Put sauerkraut in bottom of cooker and sprinkle with brown sugar. Place ribs and potatoes over sauerkraut and add water. Cover and cook 20 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure or 15 minutes at 15 lbs of pressure. Cool cooker normally for 5 minutes, then place under faucet.

Pressure Cooker (Day 1)

When I talked to mom about a week ago she had made some ribs in the pressure cooker which reminded me I have a brand new in the box pressure cooker stowed away in one of my top cupboards. Long story short, my old pressure cooker had some issues and so I quit using it because it made me nervous. Eric bought me a new one for Christmas. With the the chaos of moving I forgot all about it. Anyway I have been using it like crazy for the past few days, so I thought I would do a few posts on pressure cooker recipes.
First up is my sister-in-law Libby's recipe for Cabbage & Potato Soup. (I did change some measurements for my smaller family.) I'm not a cooked cabbage fan but I like this soup I can't even tell it has cabbage in it. My family loves this soup. Make sure you add enough salt it makes all the difference! (Once again I am admitting my addiction to salt!)

Cabbage-Potato Soup
6-7 c potatoes, peeled and diced
4 c cabbage, chopped or shredded
1/2 - 3/4 c carrots, peeled and shredded
1/2- 3/4 c onion, chopped
1/2 lbs cooked & chopped bacon (or 1/2 lbs ground sausage, browned)(reserve grease)
Place all the above ingredients and 2 cups water into the pressure cooker for 15 min @ 15 lbs. After pressure is released, add 1/2 cube of butter and 1 cup milk. For more flavor I add a few (2-4) spoonfuls of the meat grease/drippings does that sound better? Mix until butter is melted. ( I use a potato masher). Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Chicken Divan w/rice

Once again trying to use up leftovers (chicken), but in a delicious way! You have all (my sisters)probably made this a hundred times, this was my first. I remembered mom made this for the masses when we were all there for the weekend, and how yummy it was! This is in "Grandma's Gracious Goodness" (my grandmother's cookbook). The ony alteration to the recipe is the addition of rice.

Chicken Divan
2 cups chicken cooked and cut up
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 c mayo
1/4 c onion, chopped cooked in butter
1 TBS lemon juice
2 pkg frozen broccoli or fresh (I used one large head)
1/4-1/2 tsp curry pwd (I used 1/4 tsp and thought just right)
1 c sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 c rice (uncooked)

Cook rice- Cook Broccoli- In a sprayed 9 x 13 pan layer the rice then the broccoli, then the chicken. In a bowl mix the soup, mayo, lemon juice, curry powder, cooked onions, & 1/2 the cheese. Pour over the chicken. Mix 1 c soft bread crumbs with 4 tbsp melted butter and sprinkle over chicken. (I just sprinkled seasoned bread crumbs). Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour. Sprinkle with slivered almonds if desired. Serves 6-8 people. (If you aren't into rice you could put a layer of Stove Top dressing over the chicken before the sauce. I'm not a big Stove Topper).

Paprika Chicken

Here is the chicken recipe I mentioned earlier to go with the Bow tie Asparagus Pasta. I enjoyed this recipe very much! I got it from Favoritefamilyrecipes.

Paprika Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 c parmesan cheese

1 1/2 c Italian bread crumbs

1 1/2 cubes melted butter (3/4 c)

Paprika

Combine parmesan cheese with bread crumbs. Dip chicken breast in melted butter. Roll in crumb mixture until completely coated. Place in greased baking dish and sprinkle with paprika. Bake uncovered for 35-40 min. @ 375- Do not over cook!

**I found there to be plenty of crumb and cheese mixture if you were needing to serve more than 4. I would also suggest you save on the butter as well. I only melted 1/2 c and there was oodles leftover.

Oreos

This recipe is so simple, yet delicious. I made these a month or so ago and my son just happened to pick green for the icing color, perfect for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. They would also be tasty with a mint icing.

Oreo Cookies

1 Devils food cake mix

2 eggs

3/4 c shortening

Mix all the above ingredients together. Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 min. Don't over cook! They will seem to be undercooked but don't be fooled. After a few min. remove from pan to cooling rack.

Icing

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 c butter, softened

2 1/2 c powdered sugar

(if needed add hot water to get desired consistency)

Bowtie & Asparagus Pasta

Asparagus was on sale this past week so I was so excited to make this recipe again. I found this recipe last year over at favorite family recipes. It is so yummy, not good for you, so if you are still doing great with your "eat healthier this year" resolution move on. This is great as a main course or a side dish. Look for my upcoming post of Paprika chicken (also from favorite family recipes (she served these two recipes for her wedding dinner-yes they are that good) . They go delicious together.

Bowtie & Asparagus Pasta

1 pkg. bow tie pasta

1/2 c butter(the real stuff)

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 pint heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

10-15 asparagus spears, blanched

1/2 c bacon, crumbled

1/4 c toasted pine nuts

Parsley, to taste

Parmesan cheese, to taste

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente. In wok or heavy skillet melt butter. Add minced garlic and saute a minute or so. Add Parmesan cheese and bouillon cubes. When the bouillon has dissolved, slowly stir in heavy cream and salt and pepper. Add cooked pasta to cream sauce and toss until pasta is well covered. Add blanched asparagus. Sprinkle with bacon, toasted pine nuts, parsley and Parmesan cheese and toss together. Serve immediately.

While typing this I realized I didn't add enough cream so it should have more sauce to it than my picture shows.