Chicken in Shallot Cream Sauce

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil or butter
4 shallots or 1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup white wine or chicken broth
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sour cream (can sub plain yogurt or cream cheese)
10 oz. fresh spinach or kale

1. Season chicken with S&P. Cook chicken in oil in large skillet about 12 minutes, flipping once. Remove from pan.

2. In same pan, cook and stir shallots (and kale if using) until tender. Add wine/broth and salt; bring to boil. Cook 2-3 minutes until thickened slightly. Stir in sour cream. Add spinach if using; cook until just wilted. Stir chicken back in and serve over rice.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Taste of Home. It's a go-to chicken recipe because it is cheap, fast, healthy, tasty and uses only one pan -- my top 5 criteria :)

Oinka-Doodle-Moo Baby Bakers

OK, Oinkadoodle-Moo, this BBQ place, has the most amazing potatoes everrr. So I tried to recreate them at home. It was a somewhat-fail, but now I know what to do. This is even a potatoes after church recipe, which I think is nothing to sneeze at :)

Slow Cooker Baby Bakers
====================
1.5 lbs potatoes (supposed to be new potatoes but I just had regular old russet)
2 Tbsp. + 1/4 c. butter, melted
salt
---
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. paprika
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. granulated onion
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. chili powder

Leaving skin on, scrub and chop potatoes into 1-2" pieces. Toss potatoes with 2 Tbsp. melted butter and some salt. Spread in single layer on cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker. Pour remaining 1/4 c. melted butter over top.

Mix brown sugar and spices together to create a dry rub. Sprinkle over potatoes and butter in slow cooker and cook on low 3-4 hours. Serve with sauce.

Curried Lentil Soup

from Claire's Corner Copia Cookbook
Really flavorful, especially when topped with plain yogurt!
Serves 4

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1-2 large onions, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tsp. curry powder
1 bay leaf
1/4 c. chopped parsley
2 quarts water
1/2 lb. lentils
1/4 c. brown rice, uncooked
5 oz. frozen peas
1/4 c. bottled mango chutney (Trader Joe's?)
Salt and pepper to taste (for me...a lot :-) )

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium-low heat. Add onions, garlic, curry powder, bay leaf and parsley. Cook uncovered, stirring frequently, 8-10 minutes or until onions are translucent.

2. Add water, cover and bring to a boil. Stir in lentils and rice. Cook partially covered, stirring frequently for 1 1/2 hours, until tender.

3. Stir in peas, chutney, salt and pepper. Continue cooking over low for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf and taste for seasoning. Serve with plain yogurt or sour cream and Trader Joe's pita crackers.

Note: Everything in this cookbook seems to have extraordinarily long cooking times, so I'm not sure if quite this much time is necessary, but the brown rice at least would require a long time.

Pureed Butternut Squash Soup

I made this out of some leftover cooked butternut squash so it was fast work. The squash broke down in the pan so I didn't puree it, but it was still super good. I usually add sugar to my butternut squash soup, but the orange juice made it sweet enough and the ginger was super tasty!

from Everyday Food (Martha Stewart for the common man)

2 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 2" piece ginger, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 3/4 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, chopped (1" cubes)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
salt and pepper
sour cream (optional)

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium. Cook onion 2 minutes; add ginger, garlic and squash and cook 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 4 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender (20 minutes).

2. Puree soup in two batches. Stir in orange juice and 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Season with pepper and serve with sour cream if desired.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients
4 Tbsp. butter
2 medium onions, sliced
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 c. sliced mushrooms (12 oz?)
1/4 c. white wine
1/4 c. chopped parsley
Pinch thyme
Dash cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 c. Sour cream

Hot cooked egg noodles, for serving

Method
1. Saute sliced onions in butter in a large pot on medium-low heat, for about 20 minutes or until golden-brown. Add a bit of brown sugar toward the end of the simmerage.

2. Add sliced mushrooms and sauté until tender (15-20 minutes). Add the wine and bring back up to a simmer, stirring to deglaze. Stir in parsley, Season with salt and pepper, thyme and cayenne if desired.

3. Remove from heat; stir in parsley and sour cream. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve over hot egg noodles.

Yogurt

How to Make Yogurt without a Yogurt Maker :)

Ingredients

1 qt whole milk (my preference is whole, but you could probably use whatever kind you have)

2 Tbsp. plain yogurt

Equipment

Candy thermometer (with range from 115 - 180)

Heating Pad

Glass quart jar with lid (like a canning jar, or you could use 2 smaller jars)

Huge soup pot

Kitchen towel

Wire whisk

Pyrex glass measuring cup

2 qt (ish) saucepan

Method

1. Measure milk and pour into a medium saucepan. Start it heating up over medium heat. Rig your candy thermometer so its tip is in the middle of the milk. I do this by sort of threading it through the wires of a wire whisk. Stir occasionally with said whisk.

2. In your now-empty pyrex measuring cup, measure out 2 Tbsp. yogurt to start hanging out at room temperature.

3. When your milk gets to 180 degrees, remove from heat. Let it cool down to 115 degrees. This takes a while...but exactly how long depends on how warm your kitchen is, among other things.

4. Pour a little cooled milk (115) into the Pyrex holding the (now room-temp) yogurt. Using that same old whisk, whisk it together real good. Then pour the yogurt-milk mixture back into the saucepan holding the rest of the cooled milk. Whisk it all together real good, again, some more.

5. Pour into glass jar, set jar on top of heating pad set to low, cover with kitchen towel and then put huge giant soup pot on top. Leave it for 8 hours (or a little more is fine too). Then put it in your fridge and call it a day. It keeps for about 5 days.

Note: For you working women, you could feasibly start this yogurt when you get up in the AM and have it be done when you come home. But I would try it the first time on a Saturday so you'll have an idea of how much time it takes at the beginning.

Another note: You can "chain" the yogurt once you make some. When you get down to your last 2 tablespoons (or almost) you will want to make some more. You can also freeze it in 2 Tbsp. amounts; it will just require a little more forethought with thawing and all that.

Suggestion: If you want to substitute this yogurt in a recipe that calls for sour cream, you should make it into "yogurt cheese" first, by straining it for a while in your fridge. The name is kind of misleading, it isn't really like cheese. It becomes a very similar consistency to sour cream.

Final note: If you don't have a big enough soup pot to keep your yogurt incubating on the heating pad, you can try putting your heating pad on an oven rack, the yogurt on top and then just a towel snugly around it. There are different creative ways you can incubate it. It just has to stay warm for 8 (ish) hours.

Chicken Enchiladas

OK, I can't find this brilliant recipe I saw in Taste of Home mag on Taste of Home's website, because they have a million chicken enchilada recipes... of course, right? So even though I haven't tried it yet, here it is. It stuck out to me because it has few ingredients, and it doesn't have anything gross in it like canned soup or "enchilada sauce" from a can. Why do enchilada recipes have those nasty ingredients? And then also the process always seems time-consuming, whereas this one sounds quick & easy.

I am planning to use corn tortillas for this recipe so I hope they won't get too weird and crunchy and torn, like corn tortillas are wont to do.

"Easy" Enchiladas

Ingredients
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 8-oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
8 flour tortillas (8") (Again, I'm thinking of using 6" corn tortillas, so I'll do 10-12)
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (I'm straining some plain yogurt for this very purpose)
1 cup salsa (I'll use the salsa I made today out of my last-hurrah tomatoes and peppers)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 2 1/4 oz. can sliced black olives, drained

Directions
In a small bowl, combine chicken and cream cheese. Spoon about 1/4 cup chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up tightly. Place seam side down in a greased 9x13 baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine yogurt and salsa. Spread over tortillas. Bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and olives. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Serves 8.

OR.......

Try this green chile enchilada recipe. I would use TJ's salsa verde instead of doing that whole tomatillo process, which would make it a whole lot easier, and still probably taste awesome. I love this blog!

Frugal Gourmet

So I've been on this frugality kick.

My friend loaned me The Tightwad Gazette and it has been Most inspiring. I highly recommend getting it from the library or at a garage sale, in the true spirit of tightwaddery. But in any case, read it. There are some good ideas [and recipes] in there.

In honor of my new kick, I'm going to put some budget (but still yummy and healthy) recipes up here. Stay tuned.....

Baked Tomato-Garlic "Sauce"

from Better Homes & Gardens, August 2010 (maybe?)
This is really delicious and super easy.

Ingredients
Enough beautiful similarly-sized tomatoes to cover the bottom of your 9x13 in a single layer
1/4 - 1/2 c. EVOO
7 garlic cloves, peeled, split lengthwise, and that little green shoot part removed
Coarse salt (1 - 2 tsp.) and freshly ground black pepper
Goat cheese or feta cheese

Method
1. Preheat oven to 325.

2. Arrange tomatoes in a single layer in 9x13 baking dish (make sure it's glass or earthenware, not metal, which is reactive, whatever the heck that means). Stick the garlic halves in between the tomatoes. Pour EVOO on evenly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until skins split and soften, but tomatoes still retain their shape.

4. Serve hot, warm or at room temp. We smashed ours up and made it into kind of a sauce, just stirring the smashed tomatoes and garlic up with the olive oil that was floating around in the bottom of the dish. Then we tossed the baked "sauce" with some pasta (radiatore, I do believe it was) and feta cheese.

The recipe suggests spooning or mashing the tomatoes over slices of toasted bread and serving with goat cheese. Either way... yum. Roasting the tomatoes gives them this awesome sweetness that even Ken liked. And you know he hates tomatoes usually.

Mexican Chicken Soup

from Cook's Country Feb/March 2006
This makes kind of a lot - it says it serves 6-8 and I think that's really true. It tastes amazing though, so you won't be sorry if you have leftovers.

Ingredients
6 c. chicken broth
1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken - breasts or thighs
1 onion, quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled
10 sprigs cilantro
salt
tomatoes
tomato juice (I used a quart of juice that was leftover from straining homemade salsa)
1 chipotle in adobo sauce, plus 1 T. adobo sauce
1 T. vegetable oil
2 c. frozen corn kernels
2 T. lime juice
Toppings: avocado, cilantro, shredded cheddar or jack, sour cream, crunched up tortilla chips

1. Make broth and cook chicken: Bring 4 c. of the chicken broth, chicken, 2 onion quarters, 2 garlic cloves, cilantro and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil in large skillet. Cover and reduce heat to low until chicken is cooked through (8-10 minutes). Transfer chicken to a plate.

2. Do the tomato part of broth: In a blender, puree tomatoes, remaining 2 onion quarters and 2 garlic cloves, chipotle and adobo sauce until smooth.

3. Get out your huge soup pot: Heat oil in large pot over high heat until shimmering. Add tomato mixture and 1/8 tsp. salt; cook until darkened in color (8-10 minutes). Strain broth directly into pot with tomato puree (discard solids). Add remaining 2 c. broth, tomato (or salsa) juice, and corn. Simmer to blend flavors, about 5 minutes. Shred chicken into bite-size pieces and add to soup. Stir in lime juice and adjust S&P to taste. Serve with toppings available in small bowls.

Potatoes Romanoff

I haven't actually made these yet, so we shall see how they turn out.

(OK, I made them, and they were raved about... best part of the meal hands-down)

10 c. chopped potatoes (cut into about 1" chunks; 10-12 medium potatoes)

1 tsp. salt

3 c. cottage cheese (I might change this to 2 c. next time... there is a lot of sauce)

2 c. sour cream (and this to 1 1/2 c.? see note above)

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1/2 c. chopped green onions (having none, I subbed a ton of Sunny Paris seasoning)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1. Cook the potatoes in water (cover potatoes by about an inch) and the 1 tsp. salt until tender (simmer about 15 minutes).

2. Mix the cottage cheese, sour cream, garlic and green onions. Mix in the potatoes. Top with shredded cheese and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Keep It Simple: Tomato Basil Pasta

Martha Stewart had this great recipe in the August issue of Living that you must try. I love Martha when she doesn't get all crazy. This recipe has no mention of parchment paper* or shallots, so I tried it, and it was good.
*Amendment: Susan told me to buy some parchment paper, so I did, and it really is cool stuff.

Tomato & Basil pasta
1/4 c. evoo
3 garlic cloves, pressed/minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 lb. short pasta (penne or something)
tomatoes - she says 4 medium but just however many you have - cut up into bite-size
1 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese - cut up into bite-size
basil leaves

1. Cook and drain pasta.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine evoo, garlic, salt & pepper. Toss in the warm pasta. Throw the tomatoes and cheese on top, then top that with the basil leaves and some more salt & pepper.

That's it!

Leftover Watermelon: 2 ideas

Blending and straining watermelon to make juice is sort of messy and a pain, but it's well worth it :)

First Idea:
Watermelon Sorbet

3 c. watermelon juice (blend and strain about 3 lbs. seeded cubed watermelon)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Whisk sugar and watermelon juice together until sugar is dissolved. Stir in salt and lemon juice. Pour into ice cream maker and let it do the rest of the work :) Let it finish freezing in a different container in the freezer. Just make sure you pull it out of the freezer for a while (10 minutes?) before you want to eat some.

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After I made the sorbet, I had extra watermelon juice which I used to make:
Watermelon Lemonade
Juice of 3-4 lemons
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. watermelon juice
add water to make 1/2 gallon

Shake all ingredients together in a container with a tightly screwed-on lid. Soo good over ice on a hot day!

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OK, I lied: I actually had 3 ideas. The last one is just almost too simple to mention, which is:
Pour some of that watermelon juice into your popsicle molds and stick in in your freezer.

There you go.

New Look and New Take on Bean Pot

I love this new blog design! The background makes me think of a nice cool Washington day. :)

For dinner tonight, we had a new spin on an old favorite: Jamaican Black Beans. This time I threw it all in the crockpot -
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
2 Tbsp (?) molasses
some browned italian sausage that I had in my freezer... so it's no longer vegetarian

I had this going on low heat for about 2 1/2 hours. Then I thought, I should put a sweet potato in there. I don't know about sweet potatoes in the crockpot, and anyway I didn't have much time, so I poked a sweet potato with a fork and put it in the microwave for 7 minutes. Then I let it cool, peeled it, cut it into chunks, and put it in the crockpot for another 30-45 minutes... until dinner time.

Served this goodness with rice and it was awesome! I don't think I'll do it the old way again... and not just because I'm an ENFP. :)

Polenta Pie Revival

I updated this recipe. I've been making it forever (never the same way twice... of course :) ) and finally hit upon the brilliance that was tonight's dinner. Even Ken said so..... and it was vegetarian. Now that's saying something.

I think it was the perfect combo of salty cheese plus sweet corn plus tangy tomatoes and tomatillos plus oniony onions plus mildly spicy chipotle pepper. That was just what I had on hand, but we struck gold!! Plus it's easy, and cheap. Check it out.