Sunday, October 28, 2007

Cold weather food

When I bought a bag of On the border chips last week I saw their recipe for chicken tortilla soup. It included using their salsa which I had just bought for the first time. I think they have the best jarred salsa so I thought it would really make this soup yummy. I don't like chunks of tomato and most tortilla soup recipes call for some type of tomato that is chunky but the salsa didn't make it chunky. The biggest part was that Chad really liked it. He kept commenting on how good it was which is a rarity!
So since the bag is downstairs this recipe won't be exact but here it is.

Chicken Tortilla Soup:
Chicken Broth (32 oz.)
2 Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup of On the Border Salsa
4 Tbs. of white rice
Chopped onion (didn't use)
Avocado (didn't use)
I added some frozen corn

Cook the chicken breast in the broth. Remove and tear into pieces.
Add the salsa,rice, onion and corn to the broth and cook for about 15 minutes.
Add the chicken back and cook about 5 minutes more.
Place some tortilla chips in the bottom of the bowl and add some avocado to the top of the soup.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip!

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (8-oz) pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
3/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Stir continuously, until the brown sugar dissolves. (You can also do this in the microwave but watch it closely. The butter/sugar mixture will boil over fast. Stir every 30 seconds or so.)

2. Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla extract and set aside to cool.

3. Beat the cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar for 1 minute.

4. Slowly beat in the cooled butter mixture and beat again for another minute.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour into a serving bowl and refrigerate.

7. Garnish with additional chips, if you choose.

Serve with Nilla wafers (my choice) or graham crackers.

**Note: after refrigerating the dip it will be pretty solid and un-dippable so make sure to remove it from the refrigerator about 15-30 minutes before you plan on serving it, so it has time to soften up.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Yummy Dessert!

So I finally got some baking in. I signed up to bring a dessert for church tonight. I saw this recipe a few weeks ago on a food blog and kept it out. Although I won't get to taste it for a few more hours it looks soooo good! So for now I will post the recipe and tonight I post a picture and what I think of it but I don't think I will be disappointed :)
Here is the blog I got the recipe from this site. *** I forgot to take a picture of the dish so you will just have to look at the other blog but I did come home with an empty dish so I think everyone else liked it just as much as I did.
Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping and Brown Sugar Glaze.

Cake:
1 stick plus 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apples ( about 2 apples)

Crumble Topping:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Brown Sugar Glaze:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with 2 teaspoons of the butter.

In a large bowl, cream together the remaining stick of butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after the addition of each. In a separate bowl or on a piece of parchment, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream and vanilla. Fold in the apples. Pour into the prepared baking dish, spreading out to the edges.

To make the topping, in a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the cake and bake until golden brown and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

To make the glaze, in a bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla, and water and mix until smooth. Drizzle the cake with the glaze and let harden slightly. Serve warm.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Why do I only post on Sundays?


I was in the mood to bake this weekend but of course I don't need any sweets right now. I love making these cookies and they always seem to come out pretty good! I got the recipe from www.allrecipes.com Since I don't care for chocolate so much I made half the batter with chocolate chips for Chad and peanut butter chips for me. Sometimes I use andes mint pieces for Chad.

Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2.Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside

3.In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart

4.Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Amazing!!

Tonights dinner was sooo good! I feel like I haven't cooked anything really yummy lately and this finally broke that rut! I found the recipe from another flood blog.
Recently I haven eaten at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown a few times and the last time I had the chicken parm. When I bit into what I made it reminded me just of what I had there. The only change I made was that I did not make my own sauce but it was still just as good! :)

For the chicken:
4 chicken breast cutlets, about 6 oz. each.
Flour, salt & pepper
2 eggs, beaten with about 2T water
Italian breadcrumbs
Grated parmesan cheese
Half a ball of sliced, fresh mozzarella (please don’t use polly-0)

For the sauce:
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ yellow or white onion, minced
1T dried oregano
½ T dried rosemary
Pinch of crushed red pepper
About ¾ cup of chiffonade or torn basil leaves
Olive oil
Sauté garlic and onions in olive oil until fragrant and onions are translucent. Add oregano, rosemary and crushed red pepper and both cans of tomatoes. Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes and then stir in basil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the sauce continue to simmer over low heat while you prepare the chicken.

Preheat oven to 350

Set up a cookie sheet or sheet pan covered in foil and sprayed with nonstick cooking spray next to the stove.

Set up 3 bowls or casserole dishes. One with flour, salt & pepper combined, one with the egg and water mixture and one with the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

In a large sauté pan or nonstick skillet, heat about ¼ cup olive oil over medium high heat until it shimmers. One at a time and working in batches so as not to crowd the pan (I did 2 at a time), dip each cutlet first in the flour mixture, then the egg mixture and then the breadcrumbs making sure to thoroughly coat with each layer even if it means pressing the chicken into the mixture, and fry about 3 minutes on each side or until the breading is golden and crispy. Move cutlets to sheet pan and top with more grated parmesan, 1 ladle of sauce and a thick slice of mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes and then switch to broil for 5 minutes more until cheese is golden and bubbly.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Comfort Food


MMM Macaroni and Cheese! With the great we weather we are having we decided to grill out tonight and make cheeseburgers. To go along with them I decided to make some macaroni. I was going to make a friends recipe but I couldn't get a hold of her to get the recipe so I searched for one online. It took a little longer than I thought it would to make it and after giving my Grandma a call to make sure I was making the roux right it turned out ok. It tasted good but the texture was funny. It was kinda gritty so maybe with some more help from my grandma I can get it just right. The changes I made to it were recommended by my Grandma. I added a little hot sauce and some garlic powder.

Here is the link to the recipe.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Homemade-Mac-and-Cheese/Detail.aspx