Chicken Fricassee

Ingredients

*  2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thighs, or a combination

* Table salt and ground black pepper

* 1 tbsp unsalted butter

* 1 tbsp olive oil

*  1 lb white mushrooms, sliced

* 1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)

*  ¼ cup dry white wine

* 1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

*  1 medium garlic clove, minced

*  1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

*  1/3 cup sour cream

*  1 egg yolk

*  2 tsp juice from 1 lemon

Instructions

1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Heat butter and oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When foaming subsides, place chicken in skillet and cook until browned, about 4 minutes. Flip chicken and continue to cook until browned on second side, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate.

2. Add mushrooms, onion, and wine to now-empty skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add flour and garlic; cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add broth and bring mixture to boil, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Add chicken and any accumulated juices to skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees when inserted in breasts and 175 degrees when inserted in thighs, 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Transfer chicken to clean platter and tent loosely with foil. Whisk sour cream and egg yolk together in medium bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly stir ½ cup sauce into sour cream mixture. Stirring constantly, slowly pour sour cream mixture into simmering sauce. Stir in lemon juice and return to simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

 

Notes
This recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen, one of my all time favorite cooking shows.  A few of the Cook's Illustrated cook books even live on my kitchen bookshelf!  I made a few changes, and we served this with mashed potatoes.  It was a hit!

November 2, 2012

My mom was visiting over the weekend from the east coast and she got "hurricane'd" in with us.  While we were happy to have her extend her stay, we felt terrible for all the other family members and friends in the path of the storm.  She did make it home mid-week, but as of tonight my parents are still without power.  I hope that by the posting next week, they, and everyone else, have power restored.

This week I only have one new recipe to share.  We tried a single new one, and it was definitely a keeper!  While I make my tomato sauce in bulk, every now and then I need a quick marinara if I have forgotten to defrost the sauce, or need it meatless.  I was making chicken Parmesan, and this sauce was perfect with it!  You probably have everything in your pantry, and it comes together in a flash!  We ate it almost as quickly as we made it, and so I missed taking a picture.  But, I will certainly be making this again, and I will snap a photo next time!

Happy November!

New Recipe
Quick Marinara Sauce

Quick Marinara Sauce

Ingredients 

*  2 tbsp vegetable oil

*  1 cup chopped onion

*  2 cloves garlic, minced

*  2 stalks celery, chopped

*  1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

*  1 6 oz can tomato paste

*  2 teaspoons dried parsley

*  1 tsp dried basil

* 1 tsp dried oregano

*  salt and pepper to taste

Directions 

1.       Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, garlic and celery and cook until soft.

2.       Pour in tomatoes and tomato paste, stir, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

3.       Stir in parsley, basil, oregano, salt and pepper; simmer 15 minutes, uncovered.   Serve.

Notes

We didn't have tomato paste in the pantry (or freezer), so we left that out.  This was amazing on both the chicken   Parmesan and over pasta.  And it was so easy!

 

October 19, 2012

So close...so close, but no cigar.  Most of the recipes this week were very close to being keepers, but most didn't make it.  I have high hopes that the three that missed the mark will make it into the keeper realm.  A slow cooker pork roast had fabulous flavor, and made a great gravy, but I didn't like the cut of pork that was called for in the recipe.  A casserole to use leftover ham was great, and the family devoured it, but I think the sauce needs to be doubled, so I will be making it again to test that theory.  And, finally, I made homemade granola.  Some of it tasted amazing, but some tasted bitter and burnt.  After I made it I read a tip about granola on another recipe that says it crisps up as it cools.  Oh my, I wish I had read that before I made it!  I cooked it way past what my recipe called for because it wasn't getting hard - so, I overcooked it.  I will definitely make it again, though, because when the kids and I got some good parts of the granola mix, it was fantastic.

It was book club this week, so I made a dessert to bring and it was the lone keeper of the week.  My candy corn cupcakes were a hit with the ladies, and they were easy.  They are really cute and fun for the autumn.  I can hardly call these a recipe, but cute decorated cupcakes.  You family will love these.

We have a crazy and busy week ahead, so who knows what recipes will even be tried and tested, let alone earn the keeper seal of approval.  We'll just have to see what happens!

New Recipe
Candy Corn Recipe

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Ingredients
* White cake mix
* White frosting
* Yellow and red gel food coloring
* 2 candy corn per cupcake

Directions
1. Make the white cake mix per the box directions. Set the oven to the suggested temperature, and ready your muffin tins with either spray, butter, or cupcake liners.
2.  Dye the batter yellow with the food coloring.  Put half the amount of cupcake batter into each muffin cup.
3. Dye the remaining batter with red food coloring to change it from yellow to orange.  Spoon the orange batter onto the yellow.
4. Bake the cupcakes for the directed amount of time.
5. After the cupcakes have cooled, frost with white frosting and place one or two candy corn on each cupcake.

Notes
When the cupcakes are opened the yellow and orange batter with the white frosting resemble candy corn.  Very cute!  I use gel food coloring because I find it gives vibrant colors to the food it is added to, rather than the results achieved with liquid food coloring.  But, I am sure you can use whatever kind of food coloring you have on hand.

If you have a scratch white cake recipe, or a scratch frosting recipe, feel free to use it here.  I actually tried a new frosting recipe for these, and it was terrible!  So, I ended up at the last second having to go with store-bought frosting.  That was a disappointment, but the cupcakes were still very fun! 

October 12, 2012

Last week one of my sisters asked that I work on finding some new slow cooker keeper recipes.  Well, ask and ye shall receive (most of the time) - celery seed brisket turned out flavorful and moist!  Leaving the brisket whole while cooking definitely aided in keeping the meat from drying out.  I have gone through my basket and binders of recipes and have found other slow cooker recipes to experiment with in the upcoming weeks - hopefully a few others will be keepers as well.

Now that it is fall, we are back to our "soup once a week" routine.  We have been eating some of our favorites, but this week I tried a new one.  Ryan loves minestrone soup.  To be honest, I had never tried it before.  I decided to look up the recipe and found out that there isn't a standard recipe for this kind of soup.  In general, minestrone soup seems to be thick soup that contains primarily vegetables and beans and typically, though not always, has the addition of rice or pasta.  I found a couple that interested me and mixed and matched and came up with a soup that everyone loved and thought tasted terrific! Ryan, our household minestrone expert, didn't think it tasted like the minestrone he is used to, but he still really enjoyed it.  5 votes for keeper status on this one!  I didn't want the beans to overwhelm the soup; one recipe called for pureeing them.  Ryan and Owen love beans, so I pureed half and left the other half intact.  This allowed it to act as a slight thickener for the soup, and we got all the nutritional benefits of the beans!  Win-win in my book, and I will definitely make this soup again. 

My canning obsession continued this week - I made applesauce!  No real recipe for this one, but it was great!  Basically cook a mix of apples with just enough water so they don't stick together or to the pot - then puree.  Easy!!!  6 jars of applesauce made.  I would have made more, but I had to give back the pot I was borrowing! 

Friday night is pizza-movie night around here, and this week I tried a cauliflower rice crust pizza. Everyone else used our usual crust (so easy and fantastic), but I was branching out and looking for a pizza recipe that would fit the primal diet.  It was decent, but I think I need to make a few changes.  I will be trying it again, and hope to have it earn keeper status in the coming weeks! 

New Recipes
Minestrone Soup
Celery Seed Brisket

Celery Seed Brisket

Ingredients
* 1 beef brisket  (3-4 lbs)
* 28oz can crushed tomatoes
* 1 large red onion, chopped
* 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
* 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
* 4 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 tbsp brown sugar
* 1 tsp celery seed
* 1 tsp pepper
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp ground cumin
* 4 tsp constarch
* 3 tbsp cold water

Directions
1. Place the brisket in your slow cooker.
2. Mix all the remaining ingredients (except the cornstarch and water) in a large bowl. Pour this over the meat. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
3. Remove meat to a serving platter and keep warm.  In a large saucepan, mix the cornstarch and water until smooth.  Gradually stir in 4 cups of cooking liquid.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for about 2 minutes until thickened.
4. Slice the brisket across the grain and serve with the gravy.

Notes
This had a great flavor! I think you could use about any cut of meat for this recipe, so see what is on sale and what sounds good to you.  It was the flavor of the sauce and subsequent gravy that made this recipe a keeper for our family.