PB&J

I know... there's nothing really exciting about good ol' peanut butter and jam.  But I saw this idea in a magazine and thought I'd share.  I used a cookie cutter to cut out the bear and then did the heart shape with a small knife.  (I've added "small heart cookie cutter" to my list of things I want.)  The kids thought it was fun.

Cheez-it Chicken

This recipe came from a good friend's mom.  I'm not sure if she made it up or got it from somewhere, but we it's really simple and we all liked it.  

Ingredients:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Cheez-Its

Sour Cream

 Directions:

Put your Cheez-Its in a food processor or blender and run until they're coarse crumbs.   Put sour cream on one plate and the Cheez-Its on another.  Dip each chicken piece in sour cream and then the Cheez-Its, making sure to coat all sides.  Cook at 350 for 1 hour.

The taste of the chicken and Cheez-Its together was unexpectedly fun.  Next time, though, I think I'll use chicken tenders or nuggets instead of the breasts so there's more cheezy goodness in each bite.  If you do use smaller pieces, adjust your cooking time since they'll cook faster.

Kolacky

This is an old family recipe from my Mother-in-Law.  Fortunately it is not a secret family recipe, so I am free to share it.  I was not originally planning on posting it, or else I would have taken a picture or two of the rolling process so you can envision it a little better.  But hopefully with looking at a picture of the finished product you'll be able to figure it out.  If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll try to explain it better.

Ingredients:
1 serving yeast (1 envelope, 1 cake, etc.)
¼ cup warm water
6 cubes butter
5 cups flour
4 eggs
Boysenberry jam or other preserve of your choice
Sugar

Dissolve yeast in water. In the meantime, cut butter into flour until it’s the size of peas. Add yeast mixture and eggs. Mix together; frankly it’s easiest done with your hands. Take off your rings first, though ‘cuz it’s pretty gooey! Put dough in the fridge for at least one hour.

Roll dough out between two sheets of wax paper until thin; it’s kinda like rolling out pie crust. Cut dough into 3 or 4 inch squares with a cookie cutter. (I did 4 inch squares this time and I think they’re too big. Next time I’ll probably stick to 3 inch.) Put a scoop of jam in one corner. Fold the square in half so it’s slightly off-center, turning the corner with the jam.  Seal the edge and then roll it up and bend the corners like a croissant. Roll each kolaky in sugar to coat thoroughly. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Shepard's Pie Soup

One of my favorite websites is Supercook.  You can list the ingredients you have and don't have and it will spit out recipes that you can make with those ingredients.  Supercook was my friend tonight and inspired a recipe tonight that will probably become a regular in our house.

I was planning on making my Mom's shephard's pie for dinner, which I thought Julie had blogged about and I was going to add a link to, but she hasn't so next time I make it I'll share it with you.  Anyways, I had made my Mom's Homemade Macaroni and Cheese for lunch and it ended up taking all of my cheese.  So I didn't have any to top the casserole with.  I went to supercook, put in the ingredients that I had been planning on using, and out came a recipe to make soup.  I strayed a little from the original recipe, so I'm going to give you what I made instead of what the original recipe was.  If you want to see the original, go here.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
3 large potatoes
1 jar marinara pasta sauce
1 can corn
salt and pepper

Dice potatoes into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes and put in large pot to begin cooking.  Cook ground beef and onion in a skillet until beef is browned.  Drain all but 1 cup of the potato cooking water; the potatoes will not be cooked thoroughly yet.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and cook 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

I served it with biscuits on the side.  I don't have a biscuit cutter, so I use a heart shaped cookie cutter.  Adds a little something special, I think.

Roast Chicken with Fiery Lemon Glaze

I got this recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens January 2010 issue.  I've only made it once but I love it.  I'll give you the recipe as is and then tell you the changes I'll make next time.

Ingredients:

1 4-5 lb whole roasting chicken

4 to 6 small lemons

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp snipped fresh parsley

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup honey

2 to 3 small lemons, halved or quartered (optional)

Remove giblets from chicken, if present.  Place chicken in plastic bag set in shallow dish.  Slice 2 of the lemons; add to bag.  Finely shred 2 tsp peel from the remaining lemons; set aside.  Squeeze lemons to yield 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons juice for glaze.

For marinade, in bowl combine the 1/2 cup lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, garlic, 1/2 tsp of the cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper.  Pour over chicken; turn to coat.  Seal bag.  Refrigerate 8 to 12 hours; turn occasionally.

Preheat oven to 375.  Let chicken stand at room temperature 15 minutes.  Drain chicken and set aside lemon slices; discard marinade.  Pull neck skin to back and fasten with skewers.  Tie drumsticks to tail.  Twist wing tips under back.

Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.  Cover with lemon slices.  Arrange lemon halves or quarters on rack around chicken.  Roast on lowest rack, uncovered, for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in small saucepan, combine honey, shredded lemon peel, the 2 tsp lemon juice, and remaining 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.  Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat, set aside.

Cut string between drumstick and reposition any lemon slices that have slid off of chicken.  continue roasting 30 to 60 minutes more, or until drumsticks move easily in their socket and chicken is no longer pink, (180 degrees), occasionally brushing with some of the honey mixture during the last 20 minutes of roasting.  If lemons begin to darken, tent loosely with foil.  Remove chicken from oven.  Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing.  Pass remaining honey glaze.





 I forgot to put the quarted lemons around the chicken while cooking, so I added them at the table for eye candy.

The glaze.

Now, when they say "Fiery" Lemon Glaze, they mean it.  Next time I will probably take the cayenne in the glaze down from 1/2 tsp to 1/4, maybe even 1/8 if I'm not in a spicy mood.  Other than that, this was a delicious chicken.

Alfredo Add-in

Here's a small variation on our alfredo we love so much. This ended up being so darn tasty, I had to share how easy it is to spice up your meals.

The original Alfredo recipe is here.

All we did was steam some broccoli on the side and add it in. It was so yummy and such a great addition. It's so easy to spice up simple dishes.

Roasted Asparagus

This is one I found on Food Network's website a long time ago. It was super simple and went something like this.

Ingredients

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Snap or cut the dry stem ends off each asparagus and place on a heavy baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss. Roast until the asparagus is tender, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly and serve warm or at room temperature.

I was using garden asparagus, and it wasn't as thick and they weren't all the same size. So some of ours got crispy, like in the picture. But honestly, I kinda liked it. Made them kinda taste like french fries. I'm sure if you used a bunch from the store they'd all cook up real uniform though.