Another kitchen adventure with The Crystal Chef!

Tonight was the youth group party.  I was not really sure what to do so I made my first attempt at white chili - truthfully, I was trying to use ingredients that I had on hand without having to go to the grocery store.  Here is what I did:

I soaked one package of baby lima beans overnight and then drained and rinsed them and set them to boil.

I put six boneless chicken thighs in water to boil until done, reserving the broth when they were finished.  Shred the chicken.

Saute one medium yellow onion chopped and four cloves of garlic minced in two tablespoons of olive oil for about 10 minutes until soft.

Add the shredded chicken.

Add the following:

(2) teaspoons of Cumin
(2) teaspoons of dried oregano
(2) teaspoons of red chile flakes
(2) teaspoons of red chile powder
(1) cup of the reserved broth

Stir well and let bubble and cook for another 10 minutes.
Add:

(1) cup of the reserved broth
(1) large can of Old El Paso Enchilada sauce (what? It was in my cabinet and had all the right flavorings without adding a bunch of tomato flavor! Don't judge, I was a desperate woman trying to feed a bunch of people without spending any money!)

Stir.  Check your lima beans to see if they are done.  When they are soft, drain them and add to the chili mixture.  If you need more liquid, add more chicken broth.  Otherwise, let the beans cook in the chili for a while before serving.

That's it! That was my adventure in cooking tonight.  I am not convinced it was spectacular but my husband and children all liked it so I am glad for that.

cluck, cluck, cluck......where's the eggs????

I am a complete doofus! Note to self:  never try to make bread when you are in a hurry and distracted!  I made my lovely yeast bread recipe really fast tonight before my meeting at church.  I instructed my beautiful daughter Paulina to watch the bread and thump it; when it sounded hollow, she was to take it out.  I ran out to my meeting and then received the following text message:  "BREAD EMERGENCY!"  My poor girl! The bread flopped!
I assured her it was okay and not to worry, I would make more.

As I began my second batch of dough I suddenly realized why she had a bread emergency.....I had forgotten to add the eggs to the recipe!!!  What a silly girl I am!  In my haste to complete the recipe and get to my meeting, I skipped a step! Oh well! Live and learn and waste 7 cups of bread flour!!!

My second batch is in the oven.  I am going to turn it into cinnamon rolls for my youth group meeting tomorrow! :) I love my church youth group.

My soup is growing and changing.....

So I am making some soup for a friend who is going through a rough time.  It started out to be ordinary chicken soup but it is changing fast.  Here is what I have done so far:

Melted a stick of butter and softened up one good size yellow onion and about 6 minced cloves of garlic.  I then added three good size boneless chicken thighs that had been well salted and peppered.  I let them saute in the butter mixture for a while.

Next I added two cans of chicken broth.  A few cups of water too.  I let that boil until the chicken was falling apart and done.

Next was the addition of about two cups of baby carrots.  Then I added about four peeled and chopped russet potatoes and some rough chopped cabbage.  I tasted the broth and was not too happy. 

Next I added a can of Hunt's chopped tomatoes (they are my favorite because they are flash steamed to peel not chemical treated) and one can of Hunt's tomato paste.  I sprinkled in some dried basil., and oregano.  NOW it smells good! I have to let this simmer awhile to let the potatoes finish cooking and then I think I will be able to quit adding things to it!!

Roast - shredded beef

I knew that I would not want to cook tonight since we were going to the viewing of a sweet 19 year old child who was killed by a drunk driver.  I put a large roast in the oven at 300 degrees and let it cook for about 3 hours until it was nice and tender.  We decided to shred it up and have it as tacos.  It was different than our usual ground beef way of eating tacos.  We typically have refried beans, salsa, sliced cucumbers, tomatos, sour cream, cheese and a ranchero sauce.  It sure was good.

On the sad note, Carolina Perez was killed by a drunk driver while in Richmond where she attended college at VCU.  No matter what you do, please don't ever, ever get behind the wheel of a car if you have been drinking.  It is not worth it.  Carolina was the first in her family to go to college and she was pre-med.  Now she is in heaven, resting in God's arms.  Her young family, little brothers and her mother are left behind.  Rest in peace Sweet Carolina.

The "oops I have not been grocery shopping" dinner!

Well, obviously I did not make it to the grocery store yet.  I knew that everyone would be hungry so I pulled out my old fashioned "I'm totally broke" menu from many years ago.  We had Kraft boxed mac and cheese and then I chopped up and sauteed some hotdogs.  Not the fanciest meal I have ever made by far but it was okay.  We ate it and we are thankful for it.  However make no mistake I will be heading to the grocery store tomorrow!  HA HA HA I hope you enjoyed looking at our dinner!

Bobby Flay would probably flinch at this.....

So....I was mixing up my meatloaf for tonight's dinner when I realized I had already used my last two eggs on my yeast rolls.  I was NOT running to the store so as I stood there mixing up the loaf I was trying to figure out what to moisten it with.....(here is where you need to look away Bobby) so I used chicken stock.  Yeah, I know....its chicken not beef but I had to use something!  Hopefully it will turn out okay!  I will keep you updated.  The meatloaf is in the oven beside the scallopped potatoes......stay tuned...

Homemade Yeast Rolls!!

I think I have found the perfect recipe for yeast rolls.  Home-Style Yeast Bread
This is an excellent recipe.  It makes a large quantity and it is so yummy.  I typically use it to make one loaf of bread and then dinner rolls.  I think the eggs and the melted butter add a nice taste to the loaf. 

I am going to make meatloaf for dinner tonight so I thought the addition of fresh rolls would be great.  I have already been to the butcher and got 1 1/2 pounds of fresh ground chuck and 1 pound of fresh ground pork.  It should make for a tasty meatloaf.  I so want to try every single recipe from "Worst Cooks in America".  They made meatballs last night.  The one recipe that put goat cheese in with the meatballs sounds really good.  I was so hungry for meatloaf and meatballs by the time the show was over last night!

I am going to go get my potatos sliced up! Time to get the meatloaf show on the road!!  Happy eating everyone!

Poor man's filet mignon

Tonight we had a throwback meal from when I was a child.  We were pretty poor so instead of steak wrapped in bacon, my mother would wrap hotdogs in bacon and broil them in the oven.

My take on the hotdog of my past.  I split the hotdogs almost all the through down the center and tuck strips of American cheese in it.  Then I wrap in uncooked bacon and put them in the oven under the broiler set to high.

To complete my low budget meal, we made Kraft Mac & Cheese and some green beans.  The bacon gives the hotdogs such yummy flavor! The flavor of my childhood! It was delish!!!

Arroz con Pollo

My dear sweet friend made dinner for my family tonight.  I don't think I have ever had arroz con pollo before.  IT WAS DIVINE!!!  The rice was so yummy and quite frankly I don't think I have EVER made chicken that moist and tender.  And when I stated that to my family that was sitting around the table with me, they said, NOPE you never have.  SHEESH.... Monique is an excellent chef! And I am so blessed.

Thank you Monique!  I am so grateful.

Italian hamburgers!

So, we have to have dinner early tonight as we are going to go to the skating rink for a family fun night!  I was pondering what to do with my fresh ground chuck (gotta love having a butcher at your fingertips) when my husband came in and said he had a "novel" idea....why not just make hamburgers?!  Gotta love my hubby!!

I mixed my fresh ground chuck with some dry Italian seasoning dressing mix.  Nothing else.  It smells wonderful.  I have some fresh tomatos sliced (by my butcher because I am spoiled like that), some onion, cheese, and buns.  Crinkle cut fries are in the oven!  YAY! Another easy dinner night!

If I don't break anything tonight skating I will be back tomorrow with an awesome pie crust recipe!  Bye!

Baked Potato Soup

Tonight was an easy supper night.  I made my bacon, cheddar and baked potato soup.  It was way easier than it sounds.  Earlier in the day I put about six russet potatoes in the oven to bake.  When they were done, I put them in a bowl on my counter to cool down.  They don't fall apart so easy when you cut them up after they are cooled.

One pound of bacon, fried in the bottom of my large soup pot
Drain bacon on paper towels and reserve drippings in a bowl for later
One can of chicken broth (14.5 ounces)
1/2 gallon of whole milk
4 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of flour
1 - 2 drops of Texas Pete
Freshly ground pepper

Cube the baked potatos.  Pour the chicken broth into the large soup pot.  Add the cubed potatos (I leave the skins on, they taste better that way, just make sure to wash your taters before putting them in the oven to roast).  Add 3/4th's of the while milk.  Have the temperature set on medium (you don't want it to high as to not scald the milk).  Crumble the bacon and put in the soup.

In a separate saucepan melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Once melted add the flour to form a roux.  Cook until a blonde color.  Slowly add the remaining milk to the roux and stir well.  When combined, pour the roux into the soup.  This will help thicken the soup.

Liberally add freshly ground pepper.  Add 2 cups of the shredded cheddar and stir.  Add 1-2 drops of Texas Pete.  Stir and let simmer.  Taste and check for your preference of cheese in the soup.  Add more shredded cheese if desired.  I typically always add 4 cups of shredded cheese as my family loves it really cheesy.

I often use the reserved bacon fat to saute some fresh chopped onion.  I serve the onion on the side as not all of my family likes it in their soup.  I also put extra shredded cheese on the table (all though it already has four cups in it!!!) for my cheese heads!

I hope you like it! We love it and often make it with leftover baked potatoes from a different dinner.  Tonight since we had company over, I made baking powder biscuits to go with it.  I love having company!

Cornish Game Hens....I got brave!

I got brave and bought some Cornish game hens from the butcher.  They are almost done! They were also relatively easier than I anticipated.  Only two of them had their innards left inside.

They turned out yummy! I think my sister would be proud of me.  My son liked them.  I also boiled some cauliflower and then mashed them up like taters.  I added butter, milk, salt and pepper.  It was yummy.

Cheesy Chicken Casserole - My mom's recipe!

This is a very, very versatile recipe that my mom taught me how to make.

(1) package wide egg noodles, cooked according to package
(1) family size can of Cream of Chicken Soup
(1) 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
cooked, chopped chicken
(1) package of American Cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Place one layer of American cheese in the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan
In a separate bowl mix the can of soup with the can of milk and stir well.  Mix in the chicken with the soup.
After the noodles are done, pour into the pan on top of the layer of cheese.  Pour the soup mixture on top of the noodles and carefully distribute around.  Put another layer of American cheese all over the top, leaving no exposed noodles. 
Put in oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is all melty and the casserole is heated through.

Variations:  When I am broke, I use a can of tuna (in water, drained).  Frozen broccoli (thawed and cooked) is good mixed in as well as peas.

My mom made this for my birthday every year. 

Gnocchi!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/gnocchi-recipe2/index.html

I made homemade gnocchi tonight to go with the tomato sauce I made yesterday.  They turned out pretty good! They were not perfect but I think I did okay for my first time.  My biggest problem was trying to roll them like gnocchi.  I need to get one of those little gnocchi boards so I can do it up right.

My Italian hubby liked them! :) I was happy!  I have attached the link to the recipe I used.  You can't get much more Italian than Mario Batali! I love him! I think he is awesome.  I wish I could take lessons from him.

I'm at it again!

I am thinking about trying to make gnocchi tonight.  In anticipation of this task, I am making a tomato sauce to go with it.  I have thrown in the requisite cans of tomatos (Hunts because they don't use chemicals to peel them), V8 juice, garlic, chopped onions, butter, olive oil, basil and oregano.  I am not sure what else I will add.  I am out of tomato paste so we will see.

I will keep you updated on my progress! In the meantime I am thinking of starting another blog strictly for my bible study stuff. I am giving it much thought and will post a link if I decide to do that.