Fruit Pizza and more!

The darling hubby was perusing a cookbook and happened upon a fruit pizza. Not one that I had made, but, there was some nostalgic yearning to revisit this fine masterpiece.  It didn't take long to find the exact recipe that was used the first time. It was in the Favorite All Time Recipes: Philadelphia Cream Cheese cookbook.  I purchased a few fruits, that C#2 selected from my favorite Sam's Club and this was the final product:

The nectarines wouldn't cooperate and were kinda messy.  But, I made it work. Of course that didn't matter since it tasted A-MAAAAAZINGGGGGG!!  And the original recipe pictured used kiwis and bananas, instead of nectarines. Here's the recipe.

Fruit Pizza (pg. 60)

1 20 oz. pkg refrigerated sugar cookies (I used the Walmart brand. It was cheaper and worked just fine.)

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened. (I used the low fat variety - worked fine.)

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I used MORE!)

Assorted fruit

1/2 cup orange marmalade (this is what I used,) peach or apricot preserves (I used apricot preserves the first time I made this.)

2 tbl water

Freeze cookie dough for 1 hour (did NOT do.) Slice into 1/8 inch slices. Line foil-lined 14 inch pizza pan with slices, overlapping edges slightly. Bake at 375, 12 minutes or until golden brown (I cooked it for less, since I just recently discovered my oven runs a teensy bit hot.) Cool. Invert onto serving plate (I didn't do -- I just left it on the foil - no problemo!)

Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla mixing until well blended. Spread over crust.  Arrange fruit over cream cheese layer. Glaze with marmalade and water (mixed.) Chill. Slice into wedges.

Here are a few things I made to help out my MIL. 

I thought I would cheat and look on the internet, but, alas, I didn't find much (of course I didn't look too hard.)  And then I remembered that the Taste of Home: Quick Cooking books had a specific section called "Freezer Pleasers." I have at least ten of these books, so many to look through.  I put together a "Breakfast Bake" which I didn't get a picture of (sorrrrrrry.)  And then I made "Breakfast Burritos." I did get a picture of those. These were pretty good and when you "package them up" you do it individually, so you only cook what you need. C#1 and I gave them a test run and I was pleased.

Breakfast Burritos

Creamy Lasagna (above.) I made two of this recipe and it was delicious! It should be noted I have made this before, but, didn't do the freezer part. ANDDDDD I didn't use lasagna noodles. I only had three. Definitely not enough to make a lasagna. I opted for a box of rigatoni, which worked just fine.

Then I got the smart idea to make muffins. AND to make muffins that used orange marmalade, since I had most of jar leftover from my fruit pizza. So I made these lovelies.  They were very good. Especially with a dab of butter.  This recipe came out of The 250 Best Muffin Recipes by Esther Brody, page 131.

So there you have it... My cooking adventures from the last couple days. Till next time.

TWEAKED Chicken with Shallots recipe

I decided to cook chicken, yet again, this week.  I find that chicken breasts are soooooooo versatile!  I looked through a couple cookbooks and settled for this chicken concoction by the lovely Ina Garten.

I took some liberties. The main "liberty" was to NOT use the oven, since it was over 90 degrees outside.  I will notate what I did differently after each item or sentence. Of course, feel free to make it like she instructs. I am absolutely sure it's fabulous, that way, too.

Chicken with Shallots
2010, Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That?


Serves:
4 servings
Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on (6 to 8 ounces each) I used 2 chicken breasts, NO skin, cut into 4 pieces.
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil    I used a mix of olive oil and canola.
1/2 cup dry white wine  I didn't have any dry white, so I used sweet red.
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)  I used lemon juice concentrate.
1/4 cup minced shallots (1 large)  I didn't have any shallots so settled for green onions and chopped white onion.
3 tablespoons heavy cream
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature  I used SALTED butter.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  No need... It can ALL be done in a skillet on the stove.

Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels and sprinkle them generously on both sides with salt and pepper. In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, until it begins to smoke. Place the chicken breasts, skin side down, in the skillet and cook for 4 to 5 minutes without moving, until golden brown.

Using tongs, turn the chicken breasts skin side up, place the skillet in the oven, and roast for 12 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. I flipped the chicken IN the skillet and finished cooking the chicken on the stove.  Once they were done, I transferred the chicken to a plate and proceeded to make the sauce.

Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan, combine the white wine, lemon juice, and shallots and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until only 2 tablespoons of liquid remain in the pan (I had more liquid left at the end, but, I like my meals saucier!) If it reduces too much, add an extra splash of white wine or water. Add the cream, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and bring to a full boil. Remove from the heat, add the diced butter, and swirl the pan until the butter is incorporated. Don't reheat or the sauce will "break"! Sprinkle with salt and serve the chicken hot with the sauce spooned over it.

I even included a tomato cucumber salad and it was more garden-ey. I picked some of my lettuce, including the "oak leaf" kind that I so love.  It was a hit! 

Till next time...

Cucumber tomato salad and my crazy garden.

I bought a 6 pack of tomatoes and a 3 pack of cucs from Sam's and they definitely need to be eaten. I usually reserve the "cucumber tomato" salad for when I have "real" tomatoes from a garden (any garden besides the store will do!) But, I was having a hankering for it and decided to indulge. Thankfully I remembered to use lemon juice instead of vinegar. I am not sure why I mess that up sometimes. The only thing in it that was authentic garden material were the green onions I got from my MIL. OH! And the little bit of basil - always a plus! It will be a garden variety salad all in due time.  Anyway, here is a picture:

Let me just say it was deeeeelicious!!  Now I will be craving this everyday for the rest of the summer.

And here are some new pictures of my "garden." Some it is going crazy! I think I need to "prune" the tomatoes and get rid of the stems that are apparently not going to produce any fruit.  

My crazy tomato plants and lettuce.

I am kinda surprised at this tomato plant. They don't usually do as well in the brown wood box, like in the grow boxes. This plant is doing great -- as are my peppers!

My cherry tomato plant and cucumber plants, both doing great!

And this lettuce is growing in the grow box. I am not sure what variety it is, but, it has a very distinct, super excellent taste.  If anyone knows what it is, please let me know.

And my puny basil, that is actually growing!!!

And swiss chard. Yes, it's still small, but, hopefully grows like it should. Me loves some swiss chard!!

I have actually spent most of the day "working" and blogging to hide from the heat. Since it is blazing hot outside. It is so nice to have A/C in at least one room in the house.

Well that's it for now. Till next time...

A new cookbook and an awesome chicken recipe!!

Apparently I'm blog happy today. And speaking of not having any qualms about buying more cookbooks, here is my most recent purchase:

I didn't really care about the "lighter & healthier" part. But, the reviews I read were all glowing and it was dirt cheap at $1.49 (plus a small combined shipping fee.)

I was looking for a good chicken recipe and the one I chose claimed to be "habit-forming." Let's just say after the first bite, I was convinced. And then, everyone was raving!!  I wasn't smart enough to take a picture, but, I found a similar picture on the internet.

Everyone should try it. It was A-MAZING! Here is the recipe with a couple minor tweaks of my own.

Chicken Cutlets with Mushrooms and Mozzarella (page 80-81, in book)

Chicken cutlets

2-2 1/2 lbs chicken cutlets (I used regular chicken breasts - 2 - which I cut into four pieces.)

3-4 eggs (I only used 2)

1 1/4 tsp water (I used a splash of milk.)

2 - 2 1/2  cups Italian style bread crumbs (I used Italian style PANKO bread crumbs.)

2 tbl chopped fresh parsley (I used a couple shakes of spaghetti seasoning and garlic powder.)

1/4 cup olive oil (I just used a decent amount to make it cook without sticking.)

Mushroom and cheese topping

2 cups chopped mushrooms (I only used about 3/4 cup, since that is all I had.)

2 tbl olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Mozzarella cheese thinly sliced, 1-2 per cutlet (I used freshly shredded mozzarella.)

Please note: The recipe is slightly wordy, so this is a quick synopsis.

Gently pound chicken until very thin. Beat the eggs and water in bowl. Spread bread crumbs and parsley on large plate. Dredge chicken in egg, then through the bread crumbs. Place in olive oiled skillet.

Clean, then chop/slice the mushrooms. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Stir in mushrooms, salt and pepper, saute until soft. Set aside in bowl. I actually did this FIRST (before the chicken dredging), then used the same pan to cook everything.

Cook Cutlets:

In large skillet add 1/4 cup olive oil. Heat for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken; cook until golden on both sides.

To Assemble:

Place cooked cutlets on large nonstick baking sheet. Arrange cooked mushrooms on top of each cutlet; top each with mozzarella cheese. Bake until cheese is melted. About 5 minutes. It was really hot out, so I used a toaster oven -- worked like a charm!

Today I also tried my hand at making potato chips. I found a blog online that claimed to have a recipe that made crispy chips in the microwave. ANDDDDDDDD it only took 6 minutes.  I did what they said, then sprinkled some sea salt on the slices.

Here is the final product:

Yes, they look brown and potentially crispy. But, they weren't. And I put too much salt on them. They were okay, but, potato chips are not supposed to be chewy.  C#2 liked them, but, the hubby spit it out. Hmmmmm.... I guess that was a fail. 

That is it for today. Till next time.

Need a recipe?! I can help!

Some people collect coins or dolls or action figures or whatever. I collect cookbooks. If you've ever been to my house you would know this. Usually first timers are like, "WHOA! That is a LOT of cookbooks."  My goal in life is to use at least one recipe per book. Sometimes that just doesn't happen. I have my favorites, that get used religiously and some that get parked on the top shelf, to rarely be used.  I even have a very large plastic bin full of cookbooks that I will probably never use, but, they aren't worth anything, so they just sit there.

So here are some pictures of my cookbook craziness:

These are on the counter. One of my favs is Mr. Food. I have almost all of his books.

The lovely Miss Julia Child resides here. And my ultimate always go to Substituting Ingredients book.

These ones get pursued some of the time. 

And these are some timers, too.  I would love to bake the entire MS Cupcakes cookbook!!! 

And this is the parked at the top shelf book shelf. Although there are a couple up there, that shouldn't be; namely the Hershey's cookbook. I was cleaning up and that was the only spot available.

So there you have it. My obsession with cookbooks. And I have no qualms about buying more. You can never have too many!!

Till next time...

Baking Soda Magic!

I know everyone is highly entertained with my burned rhubarb pan saga. So, here is the final chapter.

I was cleaning the breakfast dishes this afternoon and thought maybe it was time to try and clean the burned crud out of that d@mn pan.  I dumped the soaking water out of it and found that nifty little Pampered Chef tool and started scraping the black stuff.  Lo and behold, the soaking seemed to work.  I then got my humongous bag of baking soda out of the pantry closet.

I got this trusty "industrial size" bag from my favorite Sam's Club. I am not sure how I am going to use it all.

Anyway, a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) I was at a friend's house and she was cleaning her stoneware with baking soda. I was like, "You can do that?!?"  She was like, "It was on the instruction sheet with the pan." Me, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...."  I guess I should read those handy little booklets that come with my new stuff. Well, better late than never, like they always say.

I will refresh every one's memory from the beginning. 

The original burned mess.

After the first scrub. It obviously needed a second and a third, after a long soak.

And here is the final cleaned product after about two weeks sitting in water.
TaDAAAAA!!!

I know the edges aren't all sparkly, but, I was getting very, veryyyyyyy tired of scrubbing that pan. THIS is good enough for me.

And here is my favorite pizza pan. I finally decided to actually "wash it" or baking soda the snot out of it, since, I have been going between making cookies and pizza on it and only scrapping off the excess remnant.  (Holy run-on Batman!) This was after it was soda-ed. I like to call it seasoned. Not dirty. So there.

That's it for today. Till next time.

Strawberry Margaritas!

The family headed to the local "Strawberry Festival" today. We did not buy one thing that had a strawberry in it. I must say, in the past, I have purchased such items and been disappointed with the taste. Not strawberry-ey enough, not sweet enough, etccccccccccc...

We did sample some barbecue and were immediately sold. And we had barbecue dinner for lunch. The baked beans were even good! I am not a huge fan. There are only a few types I like and this is apparently one of them.

I shared this with C#2, since I knew we couldn't possibly eat a whole one on our own.

Anyway, after walking around for a 100 miles we went home. AND then I made strawberry margaritas! And they were awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Like I said I am always disappointed with the way too expensive drinks at the festival and I decided to make my own. Cheaper and MORE alcohol!! WhooHoo!!

Fill blender with:

1 cup ice cubes

3 oz tequila

2 oz triple sec

2 packages of sour mix (I used Bartenders Whiskey Sour Mix packets)

6-8 strawberries, sliced.

1/4 cup sugar (or less or even none -- depends on how sweet you like it.)

splash of lemon juice

Blend until smooth, dump in a glass and enjoy!

Serves 2.

I accidentally figured out the triple sec trick, because I was having a "reading problem" and mixed up the measurements for the tequila and triple sec. But, lo and behold, it tastes better with more triple sec! I love when I accidentally make something better!

That's it for today.... Till next time!

It appears that I am on a burn everything streak.

I bought a large bag of nectarines and thought that would make some fantastic shortcake. So I peeled/chopped the nectarines and then sliced up a bunch of strawberries and then I added some sugar.

I found the box of Bisquick and discovered that there was only about one cup left. I needed three for the recipe.  So being the wonderful cook that I am I found a homemade recipe that purportedly was fantastic. I had even made them before, so I had helpful notes to aid my endeavor.

The dough appeared to be all good and I was able to make the biscuits just right, using a glass.  I put them in the oven and turned the timer on and shorted the time by two minutes, so I could make sure they were all right.  Time went by, the timer went off. I sat for a couple extra minutes, since I clearly had time to spare.  And this is what I found.

WHAT?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I did NOT leave them in that long. 

The other pan wasn't burned, thankfully. But, they were very, veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy brown. Not very shortcakey. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Of course, once you add the fruit and a hefty dollop of cool whip, it all looks okay. Truth be told I only ate about half the shortcake. It tasted fine, but, it wasn't nice and moist like a normal shortcake biscuit thing.

Oh! And remember that burned rhubarb thing.  I did convince C#2 to scrub it out a bit, but, there was some very determined black remnant that needed more soaking.  So, alas, there is still sits. Another Grrrrr!!!

Andddd apparently the last batch of "homemade" pizza I made was the best. The homemade in quotes is because I used already made bread dough, so not entirely homemade, but, as close as I will ever get. It was really good.

Well that's it for today. I have lovely dentist appointments to look forward to this afternoon. Definitely NOT my favorite thing.

Till next time....

June 14, 2012

It was a beautiful day today. And it has also been 22 years since my best friend died, on this day. His Mom and I went to the cemetery to clean up the area and leave fresh flowers.

It is hard to believe it has been 22 years. He will never be forgotten. And will always be very dearly loved and missed.

Snow White and the Huntsman review & Walmart savings!!

Since the newly remodeled AMC theater in my area has the most awesome recliner seat seating - which I know I have mentioned before - I feel it's necessary to go to the movies more. They have nice and early showings which are perfect for me, so I can get home to C#1 and C#2 in a timely manner. So my Mom and I planned on going to see "Snow White and the Huntsman."

The movie trailers made it look like a potentially good movie. And I wasn't disappointed.  

I wasn't going to see Kristen Stewart (she's lame,) but, I might say I went to see Thor aka Chris Hemsworth, since he's kinda hot.  Charlize Theron looked like a bad @ss queen and according to the reviews, I skimmed. She pulled it off stunningly!  

I definitely enjoyed this take on the Snow White fairy tale. It did have it's "fairy tale" moments -- read fairies, funky friendly animals, etc.  But, it had it's LOTR moments and medieval feel which I do especially like. 

I will be buying this on dvd, so that my kid's can see it.  It's far cheaper to wait for the dvd, than it is to take them to the movies (tickets, concessions, timing etc make it very, very expensive.)

And then I saved over $21.00 at Walmart!!!  That is one of the reasons I love shopping at Walmart. "OutWalmarting" Walmart, as I like to say. Not that they care.  I did buy a bunch of stuff besides the "price match," so it was a win for all.

That's it for now. Till next time...

Dinner is served...

I recently purchased a big chunk of feta cheese and had some "leftover" from the previous batch that needed to be used. Instead of poring through my bazillion cookbooks, I headed to the internet and found this: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/feta-cheese-and-bacon-stuffed-breasts/

Here's the recipe (in case you don't want to go to the link.)
FETA CHEESE AND BACON STUFFED BREASTS

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 4 slices feta cheese
• 4 slices bacon, fried and drained

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl combine the oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix together. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish and pour oil mixture over chicken.
3. Stuff each chicken breast with 1 slice feta cheese and 1 slice bacon. Secure open sides with toothpicks.
4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes.

Let me just say it was delicious!! I have another feta/chicken/tomatoes recipe I use all of the time and I like that this one didn't have tomatoes on it. I do loveeeeeeeeeeee tomatoes, but, sometimes it takes away from the other flavors. It should be noted I added wayyyyyy more feta cheese than the recipe said. And who has ever seen "slices" of feta?!?! That stuff does not slice.  It turns into a crumbly mess.

So basically when I "stuffed" the breasts I grabbed a glob of cheese and "stuffed" it. Also I did cut "pockets" into the breasts, which the recipe didn't instruct me to do.  I guess they are assuming you know how to do the stuffed thing.  Which I do.  I was using humongous chicken breasts, so I cut them in half. Therefore they didn't "seal" or close like they were supposed to. But, that clearly doesn't matter. It tasted fabulous with all that cheese falling out of it!

This was a super easy recipe and super delicious! And the broccoli was good, too.

Till next time....

Prometheus: A very short review.

Today the hubby and I ventured to see the new movie "Prometheus."  I "heard" it was supposed to be an "Alien" prequel or something to that effect.

I did like "Alien" and "Aliens." The other spin-offs I don't recall (I did see them.)  That's probably because they were not that special or some other reason..... Perhaps they sucked?!?!

The movie was beautiful to watch and it was very action-ey.  And the musical score reminded me of the previous "Alien" movie endeavors.  That said, I was kinda disappointed. I should know better than to believe any of the {good} reviews.  I was trying to be a good movie goer and not get too much information about said flick before entering.  The hubby on the other hand read a review or two I didn't and was fully aware that this movie wasn't going to be all it cracked up to be.

The beginning laid out all the characters and their intent and then it was just a rush of events. It felt like they could have made 3 or 4 different movies with all the different story lines that were pursued at the end. And I can't even tell you what movies without creating spoilers.

So in short --- if you want an action movie with monsters and no brain power go see it. If you are expecting an "Alien" prequel or anything similar to the first two -- forget it. It was fun to watch, but, I don't think I will be wasting my time to watch it, again or wasting my money to buy the dvd.

Till next time...

Strawberry/Rhubarb Cobbler BURNED!

I was being the nice wife/mom and decided to make a special dessert, after the special dinner. I got my latest issue of "Everyday Food" and it had a cobbler recipe that worked for many types of berries/fruit/whatever.  Unfortunately there were phone calls and lots of distractions and this is what happened.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully the middle part was salvageable. But, I am/was highly disappointed that I scorched so much of it. 

It is going to be a real b*tch to clean the pan, since it's stoneware. It's going to have to soak for a week and then be scrubbed for a year with baking soda.  Maybe I can "hire" C#2 to do the task. I sure don't want to do it!

Here is the garden. I think this is week #3. I have had to tie up one of the tomato plants. The unrelenting rain storms made it bend so much it won't bounce back all nicey nice. Grrrrr!

Here is a blossom!

That's it for today... Till next time.

Yeah... yeah. I've been slacking. Here's a food blog!

It's that time of year, again. End of the school year festivities and dentist appointments. And it all seems to be on the same day or be many days in one week. Joy.  C#1 and C#2 are very excited, though.  Well, not about the dentist/orthodontist appointments.

Here's what I actually thought to take pictures of:

Shepherd's Pie. I haven't made this in a long time and C#2 was happy to find out the crust was actually mashed potatoes, not actual crust.  Next time I have to make sure to put aluminum foil over the top during the first 20 minutes of cooking to hopefully avoid the charredness.

And then I made cupcakes. I totally cheated and used a mix for the bottom part. The frosting however is homemade.  

The only reason I made these, was because C#2 whined and complained that we weren't staying late after her end of the year band concert. C#1 was complaining of a headache, which was probably only because there were 1,000,000,000,000 people in the hallway all trying to get out of the auditorium. Sooooooooooo, she was all upset and I promised her cupcakes.  She was actually surprised I made them. She was certain I would forget and forget some more and forget, yet, again. Hmmmmm.... Not my usual MO, but, I'm glad I didn't disappoint.

I did make a "sausage chili skillet" thing today. I forgot to take a picture since it really wasn't that exciting. It was my effort to find something different to make with polish sausage. Everyone seemed to like it, so it was a win!

I also found this hilarious blog when searching for a creole mustard recipe. It is called "Cooking for @ssholes." I debated on posting it to my blog space in "fear" of offending someone, but, decided, that I didn't care toooooooooooooo much... If you are offended, please accept my sincerest apologies. My recommendation to you is to NOT read it.  Anyway, this guy actually cooks and has very colorful language in his recipes -- it makes me laugh -- therefore the need to share.  Here is the link or if you want, there is a link at the bottom of this page where it is listed. http://cookingforassholes.blogspot.com/

That's it for today. Till next time...

(I couldn't help myself. heehee!!)