Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Oldies, But Goodies

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.

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Soups · Uncategorized

Crock Pot Green Chile Enchilada Soup

Yes, these are recipes that I have posted before but if you are like so many others right now, you might not have time to go scrolling through to look at recipes from years back. Because it is story and very overcast today, I thought this soup sounded like something that would taste good tonight.

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (or a rotisserie chicken)
2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
2 ((15 oz) cans mild green enchilada sauce
2 (4 oz) cans of diced green chiles
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 teas onion powder (or diced onion, frozen or fresh)
1 teas garlic powder (I use 2 because we love garlic and we have heard that it helps ward off infections, don’t have a clue if that’s true, but it gives me an excuse to use a lot of it)
2/3 cup corn (if frozen, thaw out before putting in in crockpot)
1 (8 oz) bar cream cheese, cubed
Salt and Pepper to your liking
Monterrey jack Cheese

Place all ingredients into crock pot, except the Monterrey jack. Stir the ingredients until they have combine. Cover the crockpot and then ook on high for 3 1/2 hours. When ready to serve, sprinkle some of the Monterrey Jack over each serving bowl. (Actually I like to put it in the serving bowls first and pour the soup over it, allowing it to melt into the soup)

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Starches · Uncategorized

Cast Iron Chicken Piccata

Isn’t this time of year so awesome when we sit and go through old magazines because well, its just one of those things that Fall gets us in the mood to do. Look through recipes to see what we want to make for friends/family. This is one of those foods that I tend to order quite a lot when we are out eating Italian. When I saw this it showed me how easy it is to make and now I don’t need to wait until I am at Vito’s or Maggianos to have chicken piccata.

Taken from Southern Living magazine April 2016 (yes, I tend to hoard my SL magazines and don’t throw them away until Mr. We Don’t Have Room For ALL These Magazines, makes me get rid of them)

4 (5-6 oz) chicken cutlets
1/2 cup (2 oz) flour
1 1/2 teas kosher salt
1/4 teas black pepper
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
6 tables salted butter, divided
2 tables olive oil, divided
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tables brined capers, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Hot cooked pasta

Place each chicken cutlet between two sheets of heavy duty plastic wrap and flatten to 1/4″ thickness, using a rolling pin or flat side of a meat mallet. Stir together flour, salt and pepper. Dip each cutlet in egg white and dredge in flour mixture.
Melt 2 tables butter with 1 tables olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 cutlets, and cook until golden brown, 2-3 min on each side. Transfer to a plate. Wipe skillet clean and repeat process with 2 tables butter and 1 tables olive oil and remaining 2 cutlets. Discard drippings; but do not wipe skillet clean.
Add broth, lemon juice and capers to skillet. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring and scraping bottom of skillet to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally for 5 minutes. Whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons butter and parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve over pasta.

Beef · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats · Uncategorized

Spaghetti & Meatballs

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.

Meats

Buffalo Wing Pork Chops

A couple of nights ago our son-in-law made dinner for us. Randy and I walked in Tues night to the best aroma coming from the kids kitchen. We walked over to the stove and saw great looking pork chops. Eric told us that he had found the recipe on a blog that listed 15 simple dinners and had made it once before and fell in love with it. He immediately went out and bought some buffalo sauce and pork chops. We sat down to a great looking dinner. Salad, mac and cheese and these amazing pork chops. Recipe is truly so simple, but the result was the juiciest great tasting pork chops that we have had. Thanks Eric for a great meal!

4 (1/2″) pork chops

1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce

4 slices of mozzarella cheese

Butter

Salt, Pepper & Garlic powder to taste

Heat an iron skillet until warm. Melt about 4 tables butter in skillet. Season both sides of chops with garlic, salt & pepper. Saute chops on each side for about 3 to 4 minutes, each side. Drizzle some of the buffalo sauce on each chop as you are searing them on each side. Place lid on skillet and cook until chops are cooked throughout.

Place chops in a baking dish and place a cheese slice on each chop. Place in preheated oven to “broil” and broil until cheese is bubbling. Drizzle more of the buffalo sauce over the chops and serve immediately.

Chicken · Meats

Chicken and Artichoke Penne

Looking for some new summer recipes, this one jumped off the page from my new Southern Living that arrived a couple of days ago.

1 1/4 teas kosher salt, divided

1/2 lb penne pasta

1 lb chicken breast tenders

1 1/4 teas black pepper, divided

3 tables olive oil

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 (9 oz) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed

1 ( 6 oz) package fresh baby spinach

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring 4 qt water to a boil in a stockpot over high heat. Add 1 teas salt; return to a boil. Add pasta; boil, stirring occasionally 11 minutes or until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water.

Sprinkle chicken with 1 teas each salt and pepper. Cook chicken in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 4 to 5 min on each side until golden on each side. Remove chicken from skillet. Add tomatoes to skillet; cook, stirring often 4 minutes. Stir in artichokes, 1/4 teas salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup pasta water. Reduce heat to medium and cook stirring often 3 minutes or until tomatoes burst.

Stir pasta, spinach and 1/4 cup cheese into tomato mixture; toss with pasta mixture. Top with remaining cheese.

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