Tag: Company Dinners

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1800’s Chicken

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And no, I wasn’t around then to make this recipe up….it appeared in my email this morning as a recipe someone found in Taste of Home. I have not tried it yet, but it does sound really good and so easy to have on hand during the holidays when you have cooked so much that you feel like you are old enough to have been born in the 1800’s. Just get your slow cooker out and add ingredients and sit back and make your Christmas list to give to everyone.

1 large onion, chopped

1 medium sweet red bell pepper

2 teas minced garlic

3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 tables curry powder

1 teas ground cinnamon

1 teas ground ginger

1 teas dried thyme

1 tables light brown sugar

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup golden raisins

1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

Hot cooked rice or noodles

Place onion, pepper and garlic in 6 qt slow cooker. Arrange chicken pieces over this.

Whisk the next 5 ingredients with the chicken broth. Pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Add the raisins and tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and cook until chicken reaches 165 (about 2 1/2 hours).

Serve hot over rice or noodles. Sprinkle with parsley if desired or tops of green onions.

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Oldies, But Goodies

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And no, I’m not talking about Randy and I. I am talking about some of the old recipes that seem to be floating around on FB and on several web pages and blogs. In fact, this past Sunday, we were at our kids house in McKinney for dinner. They had told us that they were going to make us Fehttuchini Alfredo with Chicken. It was a recipe which they have made several times from Joanna Gaines new cookbook and it was really good. But in conversation with our sweet DIL, she and I were talking about some of the recipes which seem to be appearing that use good Ole Campbells Cream Soups. We began to talk about the chicken spaghetti recipe that I posted a couple of weeks ago and we agreed that some of the old tried and true recipes are still some of the best comfort foods. Today, I found myself wanting some spaghetti, (I think I must be half Italian and half Mexican because I think I could live on Mexican and Italian food, oh, but throw in a hamburger once a week, oh and chicken fried steak and, roast once in a while. Maybe I’m a mixture, kinda like a mutt, I guess. Anyway, back to the oldies and goodies. When you start to think about the “good old days” of pot lucks and church dinners and Sunday dinners at grandmas house, I bet your mind conjures up some of the foods like, lime jello salad, or the orange jello salad with mandarin oranges. Or maybe your mind goes to chicken and dumplings made with cream of chicken soup, or beef stroganoff and noodles, made with cream of mushroom. Or remember pot roast with a can of french onion soup and cream of mushroom? Of course, could we really have Christmas and Thanksgiving without the green bean casserole that uses Cream of Mushroom soup? And what about porcupine meatballs made in Campbells Tomato Soup. All this to say, that during this quarantine, when trying to order some of these soups, they have been hard to come by. Several weeks went by before I actually was able to acquire cream of celery and tomato soup. But now…..my pantry is stocked with every Campbells cream of EVERYTHING! So watch out family! Any recipe which you might receive these next couple of weeks will probably have one or more of the cream soups in them. To get things started, I thought I would post this recipe which uses a can of cream of mushroom soup. The filling is great used with crepes or poured over noodles or mashed potatoes.

1 pound of fresh mushrooms, cleaned
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup frozen chopped onions, or fresh onions, diced small
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk or cream
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1 cup cooked frozen peas or green beans, drained
1/2 teas garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teas each, seasoned salt and pepper

Sauce mushrooms and onions in butter until tender. Sprinkle seasoned salt, pepper and garlic into this mixture. Set aside.

Combine soup, sour cream, milk, chicken and peas or green beans into a crockpot which you have sprayed with Pam. Cook on low for 2 hours, stirring often. Combine the mushrooms and onions during the last hour of cooking. Stir well and use as filing on crepes, or pour over mashed potatoes or cooked noodles.

Beef · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats · Uncategorized

Spaghetti & Meatballs

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It was a shock to me to find that I had never posted my Spaghetti & meatball recipe. It is one of our most requested dinners from family and friends alike. When I lived in Corpus Christ for years, there was a neighbor, Cam, who was Italian from New York and she gave me so many of her recipes that to this day, her meatballs, pecan pie, sour cream pound cake, and so many other of our desserts are still most treasured.

1 large can of Hunts Traditional or Del Monte pasta sauce
1 can (the large can, I don’t have any here today but its about a 24 oz can I think) of small chopped diced tomatoes in sauce
1 small can oof tomato paste
2 cups water
2 packets of Thick and Zesty Italian Seasoning
1 teas Italian Seasoning
1 teas dried oregano
1 cube of frozen garlic (or one garlic clove or almost one teas of garlic powder)
1 lb 93/7 ground hamburger meat
1 lb of Italian flavored ground turkey
1 lb of ground pork
1/2 cup Progresso Italian flavored bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teas garlic powder
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place all the meat in a large bowl.
Meatballs:
Add one (1) packet of the Italian Seasoning, the bread crumbs, the parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley and 1/2 teas garlic powder (I usually add a little more than that, but we love garlic)
Mix well with your hands and form meatballs about 2″ in size. Place on lightly greased jelly roll pan or pyrex dish and back in preheated 400 degree oven until meatballs are done. About 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven.
Remove meatballs from baking dish and set aside.
Sauce:
In a oven proof dutch oven, spray it with Pam or lightly with a little oil. Pour all of the tomato sauce, water, paste and diced tomatoes in the pan. Add the other packet of Italian seasoning, the garlic, the Italian seasoning and the oregano. Stir and place meatballs in tomato mixture.
Bake in preheated 300 oven, covered with heavy lid for 2-3 hours, or until thick and deep red in color. Sometimes, I have to add a little more water if it cooks to quickly.
Remove from oven and spoon oven cooked (according to directions on package) spaghetti. Sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.
This serves about 8-10 people.

Breads · Casseroles · Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats · Pies · Starches · Uncategorized

Old Fashion Chicken Pot Pie (Minus the Peas)

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One of the most dear to my heart comfort foods is chicken pot pie. But, because one cannot ever find it without peas, I am forced to make my own. Actually, it is such a great dish to make. For some reason, it makes me feel like autumn is in the air, even though it is over 100. It brings back memories of sitting by a fireplace while the pot pie is in the oven and the apple crisp is sitting over on the counter waiting to bring about a wonderful closure to our meal. Yesterday I could not wait any longer. Chicken pot pie was on the menu. I didn’t care if there was no fire in the fireplace, or that the thermostat was turned down to 64 so the oven could be on. Because we had had the kids over for dinner on Sunday evening for barbecued chicken and hash brown casserole, there was still some of the potatoes left over so I began to think, “hum, the hash brown casserole could be used in my pot pie and give it a wonderful cheesy flavor. And flavor it did have. The pie was absolutely wonderful and we ate unit there would have been no room for apple crisp (ok, not for a couple of hours anyway, but we had pumpkin cookies and cherry pie so didn’t need to make anything else). The only thing I will change when I make it again is that I will homemake the biscuits to place on the top. Last night I used canned biscuits because I was in a hurry to get to game night at a girlfriends house. But it was still really really good.

1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups finely chopped chicken
1 cup chicken broth
1 can Campbells cream of chicken with herbs (not ever store has this but if you can find it, get it, it is a great addition) I find it at Walmart
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2/3 cup finely chopped celery
2/3 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup of finely chopped cooked potato
(If Randy would not have been here, I would have added 1 cup of sliced mushrooms and cooked them along with the onion, celery, chicken mixture)
1/2 teas poultry seasoning
1/2 teas thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Biscuits to cover the top of casserole

To a medium size saucepan, place carrots and potato in a little water to cook for about 3-4 minutes after bringing to a boil. Drain and set aside.
In a large skillet (If you use an iron skillet, you could actually complete the baking in the skillet and would not need to pour mixture into a different baking dish), melt the butter and add the chopped chicken, onion and celery. Sprinkle with salt and pepper until veggies are tender and chicken is done. Add the can of cream of chicken to the mixture. Stir. Slowly add the chicken broth (you might not need to add the full cup, so after adding about 1/2 cup, stir and add to thin mixture until it is still creamy, but not to runny) to this mixture along with the poultry seasoning and thyme. Stir in the drained carrots and potatoes. (Yes, if you are a pea lover, you can add those also, but be are and drain them well before adding.) Stir until mixture is well combined. If leaving in iron skillet, you an top with enough biscuits to cover the top and bake at 350 until mixture is bubbly and biscuits are done. (I cut each biscuit in 4th’s, but I think if I did use canned biscuits in the future, I would slice them in half horizontally making each biscuit into two. That way the biscuit isn’t so think on top.
If you are not using an iron skillet, pour into a greased 9×9 baking dish, top with biscuits or corn bread stuffing and bake until bubbly and biscuits are thoroughly cooked.
This pot pie reminded me so much of Thanksgiving that I think next time i make it, I am going to top it with corn bread dressing. The sauce in the pie using the cream of chicken with herbs was outstanding.

Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Parmesan Chicken Casserole (Southern Supper)

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I know, “suppers” is really not used too much anymore, but doesn’t it sound like it makes the meal in the evening much more informal. You can just imagine, friends and family gathered around the table, passing plates of rolls, bowls of mashed potatoes and platters of fried chicken or roast. Supper is a Southern term which interpreted should just mean, “comfort food being enjoyed by folks which enjoy being together”.  After finally getting moved into our new “digs” (there, I used a term which sounds a little more current and hip) my cooking magazines have started to arrive. Because we were traveling for a couple of months after moving from Texas, I let my subscriptions expire until I had a permanent address. Just yesterday we are the proud owners of our new Arizona license plates which adorn our new car. We feel much more Arizonian now. Am still dreading going to get our DL, which means that we will have to take a eye test and just don’t know if I’m quite ready for that yet. Am eating lots of carrots before that time, hoping that I do, in fact, past the eye test.  OK, back to the supper that I want to post this afternoon. When I saw this recipe, I printed it up so we could buy the ingredients and make it this week.

Parmesan Chicken Casserole

6 boneless chicken breasts, diced

1 cup may or plain Greek yogurt

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 teas Lawrys seasoned salt

1/2 teas ground black pepper

1 teas garlic powder

Instructions

Placee diced chicken into a greased 9×13″ baking dish

In a small bowl, combine the mayo/yogurt, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Spread evenly over chicken

Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup parmesan cheese on top of may mixture.

Place dish in preheated 375 oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and serve chicken over pasta!

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Stuffed Pork Chops

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Jason & Tracy (our oldest of our 5 kids) had us over for dinner last night. That is such a treat to be invited over to our kids houses to eat. It is refreshing to be at their tables and sometimes catch a glimpse of seeing a little bit of yourself in them, as they cook, serve and entertain others. Was a delightful evening and the food was scrumptious. Tracy told me she got this out of Giada’s cookbook. We didn’t leave a crumb on our plates. She even had us chocolate truffles for dessert that she had bought from Whole Foods. Thanks guys, it was such a nice evening.

2 tables olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic,minced

6 sun-dried tomatoes

1 (10 oz) bag of frozen spinach, thawed and water squeezed out well

1/2 teas salt, plus more for seasoning

1/2 teas pepper

1/4 teas dried thyme

1/4 cup (2 oz) goat cheese

1/3 cup reduced fat cream cheese, softened

4 (4 oz ea) center-cut porck chops

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 lemon, zested

2 tables lemon juice

2 teas Dijon mustard

Warm 1 tables olive oil in a nice size sauté pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper and thyme. Cook until well combined, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium size bowl. Add the softened goat cheese and the cream cheese.

Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket into the thickest portion of the pork chop. Stuff each pocket with the spinach mixture (about 1/4 cup). Sprinkle salt and pepper over each pork chop.

In a small bowl, combine the chicken broth, lemon zest and mustard.

Warm the remaining 1 tables olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add the chops.

Cook until golden and cooked through, about 4 to 5 min per side. Transfer the chops to a side dish and tent with foil to keep warm. Add the chicken broth mixture to the skillet over medium-high heat, scrapping up the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet as the broth begins to thicken. Cook until broth has been reduced by half, (about 8 min)making a light sauce to drizzle over each chop as you serve them.

Tracy served these with baked butter-nut squash, drizzled with cinnamon and olive oil and baked Brussels sprouts.