Last night, we (well, actually Frosty) was busy putting out lights on our patio so I would quit saying, “Frosty, I wish we could be the first ones on our street this year to put lights up.” So while he was outside, I got in the mood for Italian. I remembered this dish that I had seen on Facebook a few days ago and decided to make it. Wow, we loved it and cannot wait to have the leftovers again tonight. One pot dish and oh so easy. Here it is
4 1/2 cups vegetable broth
12 oz spaghetti
1/2 thinly sliced onion
4 garlic cloves
2 large stems of fresh basil
1 (16 oz) diced tomatoes (I used Hunts with basil and garlic)
2 tables olive oil.
Put everything, even the raw spaghetti, in a large pot that can be used on stove top. Sprinkle the olive oil over the top. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to simmer and cook, still covered, about 15 more minutes, stirring about every 5 minutes. Dish up into bowls and grate your favorite Italian cheese over the top. Season with salt and pepper to taste. As the pasta cooks with the other ingredient, it makes a great sauce. Even Frosty commented and said how good it was. Crusty bread with garlic and butter and you have a fantastic and quick dinner.
Author: Chocolate Castles
Welcome to Chocolate Castles, a blog about food, family and stories that hopefully will bring a smile to your heart.
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578 Recipe for Left Over Turkey
Kay Vasquez from Roswell, NM sent this to me today telling me how she uses up left over turkey. So forget the first 577 ways, this one sounds great.
8 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded left over turkey
1 small can diced green chiles
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup diced onions
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cups chicken broth.
Dip each corn tortilla in warm chicken broth. Drain on paper towels. Saute onions and green chiles in the oil and butter until tender. Add shredded turkey and about 1/2 cup of the chicken broth. (If you like the sauce a little less thick, add a little more broth.)
Grease a 8×8 baking dish. Mix soup and sour cream until blended. Place about 1/2 cup of this mixture In the bottom of the baking dish.
On each of the corn tortillas, place about 1 table of meat mixture in center of tortilla. Spread about 1 teas cheese over meat and roll up the tortilla and place seam side down in the dish. Continue until you have rolled all 8 of the tortillas. (if you have meat mixture left over, just use tortillas until you have used it up. When you have rolled all of the tortillas, spread the soup mixture over the enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until they are bubbling and heated thoroughly.
Thanks Kay, am passing this on!.
After Thanksgiving, I use leftover turkey, cream of chicken mixed with sour cream, cheese, hot chopped green chilies, chopped onions, rolled into corn tortillas softened with chicken broth. Bake and add more sour cream topping and cheese in last 10 minutes. Great with guacamole, Spanish rice and pinto beans. Complete meal and crowd favorite.
Bite Size Chiles Rellenos
As most of you know, Peter and I are Mexican food junkies. When I was reading this recipe to him last night, he informed me that I needed to make these for him ASAP! They do sound so good and can’t wait to try them. It is such fun to look through these old (SL 1987) magazines. He fusses at me all the time for not being able to throw these out, but as the seasons of our lives change, so do our tastes and what looks and taste good to us. I probably didn’t even give these a second look back in 87, but now, can’t wait to make them. Another great appetizer for the upcoming parties.
1 cup flour
1/2 teas salt
1/2 teas garlic powder
1 cup beer (for all you Baptist, if you wear your Halloween mask when grocery shopping, none of the deacons will recognize you buying a beer for this recipe, you are safe. Or if this still seems too scary, borrow a cup from your Methodist neighbor)
2 (4 oz) cans whole green chiles, drained and seeded
4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 1/2″ cubes
Vegetable oil
Picante Sauce
Combine first 3 ingredients; stir will. Gradually add 1 cup beer, stirring until smooth. Cover and let stand 1 hour.
Cut green chiles lengthwise into 3/4″ wide strips. Roll each strip around a cheese cube, securing with a wooden pick. Cover and chill 1 hour.
Dip chile-cheese rolls in batter; allow excess to drip slightly. Deep-fry in hot oikl about 15 seconds or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with picante sauce.
Yields: about 2 dozen
Measuring Cups & Pie Crust
If you are one of those that you are just now taking the Warranty Papers and Care Instructions out of the oven you have had for 5 years, you might not be aware that there is a difference in measuring cups. Today, a sweet young lady was making cookies and called me to ask me why her dough wasn’t the texture that she knew it should be. We went over the instructions and the ingredients and discovered that she had followed them to a T. When I ask her if she had used liquid measuring cups of dry measuring cups, she didn’t know that there was a difference and she had in fact used the ones meant to measure liquids. It can make a huge difference in your baked goods, not using the right measuring cups. The liquid measuring cups add more flour than what is intended. She ask me why they aren’t labeled, “liquid” or “dry”. At lunch I was relaying this story with a friend and she said it was years before she knew that fact. So for all of you out there that aren’t quite sure which is liquid or dry, the liquid measuring cups have lines and usually a pouring spout. Dry measuring cups are just labeled 1/2, 2/3, 1/4, 1, 1/3, etc. They are made to where you can scrape across the top of the measuring cup to level it off. Does this make sense?
Also, for those of you who like to make your own pie crust, last night I made the pie crust recipe I found in Paula Deen Magazine. It is undoubtedly the absolute BEST pie crust I have ever had….it was flaky and had such a great flavor. I will never make any other recipe again.
2 1/2 cups flour
6 tables cold butter
6 tables cold shortening
1 tables sugar
1/2 teas salt
1/2 cup cold water
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles crumbs. Add water, 1 tables at a time, as you might not need all the water (I used 3 tables is all). Stir with a fork until mixture comes together. Remove from bowl and wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Flour a sheet of parchment paper, waxed paper or your counter. Roll 1/2 of the dough mixture into a 12″ circle. Carefully fold in half and place in a 9″ pie plate. Fill with fruit filling. Repeat the procedure with the remaining dough. Place over the fruit and make a few slits in the top crust, allowing for steam to escape. Bake at 425 for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.\
If you are needing a single crust, you can freeze the other half and just use the bottom crust. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes. Watch carefully as to not allowing to get to brown. Cool and use filling of your choice.
Thumbie
The Thumbies In Motion
Use a Thumbie to make your thumbprint cookies, brownie cups.
Easier and faster than using your thumb and the indentions are uniform in size.
Will be giving one away Nov 23rd. Comment me your favorite thumbprint recipe. The one chosen will receive a Thumbie!
Thumbie Give Away
Finally talked Frosty (yes, I like to think of it as “talking” to him, not nagging) into making more Thumbies. So…since it is the time of year when all of us love to make thumbprint cookies and brownies, I am having a Thumbie Give Away.
To have your very own Thumbie to make those cookies much easier and faster, please send me your email and your favorite Thumbprint cookie recipe. I will announce the winner, Satruday, November 23rd and will get in the mail to you so you will have it in plenty of time for your Christmas baking.
Cheese & Spinach Puffs
Taken from a Nov, 1987 SL magazine, this is a great appetizer to take to all those holiday parties. It is quick and easy. The flavor is really so good. Actually they are a great way to get little ones to eat “their spinach”. Popeye would love these.
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup water
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tables commercial blue cheese dressing, or if you are like me and do not like blue cheese, use Ranch Dressing
1/4 teas garlic powder
1 (8 1/2 oz) package corn muffin mix (Jiffy is a good one)
Combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes. Drain very well, squeezing to remove excess liquid. Combine spinach mixture and remaining ingredients; stir well. Cover and chill 2 hours.
Shape mixture into 1″ balls and place 1 1/2″ apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Chill 30 minutes before baking.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes; serve warm.
Yields: 4 dozen
Cookie Swap
Finally stepping out of my comfort zone, I have entered a cooking bloggers cookie swap. Today I received the 3 bloggers (which is kept secret until they receive the cookies), which I will send 1 dz cookies to each of the 3.. Haven’t figured out which cookie I will make, so if any of you have a great cookie recipe that travels well by mail, please let me hear from you. All the recipes from this cookie swap will be posted in an on-line site in December.
Essentially, you get three dozen cookies, one dozen each from three other bloggers in addition to mailing out three dozen cookies of your own creation to three fellow bloggers and make a donation to a lovely charity in the process. What could be better?
Super-Bowl
What a great soup for using leftover turkey, or having it for Super-Bowl parties or on those cold weather evenings.
6 tables unsalted butter, plus melted butter for brushing
1 small onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 clove garlic, minced
5 tables flour
1 qt chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded white American cheese (about 4 oz)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (about 6 oz)
1 cup diced deli ham
1 cup diced leftover roast turkey
6 slices baguette
6 slices bacon
1/2 pt grape tomatoes, thinly sliced
3 tables chopped fresh parsley
Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic; cook, stirring, until softened, abut 4 minutes. Stir in the flour and whisk, about 1 min. Add the broth and cream;, stirring, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir in the American cheese and 1 cup of the cheddar until melted. Add the ham and turkey and heat through, 3-5 minutes.
Remove from the heat, keeping warm with lid.
Spread the baguette slices on a baking sheet and brush with melted butter. Transfer to the oven and toast until golden, abut 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, turning until crisp. Drain on paper towels. When cool enough to handle, crumble.
Toss the tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. Lade the soup into bowls and top with the toasted baguette, the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar, divided between the 6 bowls, and the tomato-parsley mixture and crumbled bacon. YUM!
Suppers On…Come & Get It, Oops, I Mean, Dinner is Served
I can’t help it, I lived almost 60 of my butter-laden years in the south, where folks come to supper, not dinner. When I found this new recipe last night in the Food Network Magazine, (which I will get to in a minute, but have to get this story out of my system first) I remembered an incident from dining out a few nights ago. First of all, just to begin this story, I am no longer allowed to talk about dinner anymore when in public. Returning home from Texas, home of Whataburger, Dr Pepper and Blue Bell, some of my all time favorite things, Mr. Sourheart, aka, Randy (the closer it gets to holiday time, he quickly changes from sweetheart to sourheart) picked me up from the airport and whisked me away to one of our favorite restaurants. Actually it is one of his favorites, because it is the only place in California where you can get Blue Bell ice cream. As we are sitting outside, enjoying the gorgeous weather, just waiting for our food to arrive, we are talking about how he is so glad to have me home so he doesn’t have to eat by himself. It was at this point that I asked, “what did you eat for supper while I was gone last week?” You can’t imagine the stares that came my way. Randy hid behind his napkin. I thought there for a minute we were going to be asked to leave or at least take the table by the kitchen door. People from the tables around us began to look my way and then whisper to their table companions. I felt so ashamed. Fortunately, our food arrived and Randy quickly stuffed a roll in my mouth before I could say anything more. He quietly “encouraged” me to save that kind of talk for when we were alone. Note to self….when not in the South, I eat dinner, not supper! There is just something wrong with ordering chicken fried steak with cream gravy and mashed potatoes for dinner, but sounds so much better when you are ordering it for supper. Tonight, because we are all alone, I am making this new delicious sounding soup for supper. Tomorrow, we are having company and prime rib for dinner. Am looking for new friends that don’t mind coming to supper, rather than coming for dinner. Think I will post the recipe in a new post, I got a little carried away thinking about dinner vs supper.
Supper
Chicken Fried Anything
Taters
Collard Greens
Gravy
Cobblers
Hot Biscuits with butter and jelly
Sweet Taters
Macaroni & Cheese
Corn on the Cob
Dinner
Prime Rib
Au Jus
Brussels Sprouts
Green Beans with Proscuitto
Stuffed Mushrooms
Merignues
See the difference?
Chocolate Castles 