Monday, December 13, 2010

Luscious Lemon Bars

have you ever wondered what the best thing on the planet taste like? well, here it is. these suckers almost didn't get a picture because we ate them so fast. My mother-in-law made these while I was up in Seattle and it was love at first bite. they have a lovely thick crust (like a buttery pie) and a juicy and "luscious" lemon top. I couldn't wait to come home and make them myself. this recipe was handed down to her from her mother.

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Dorothy Throssell's Luscious Lemon Bar Cookies
Crust:
1 cup soft butter          1/2 cup powdered sugar
dash salt                      2 cups flour
-Combine all ingredients and mix well. Press mixture into 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until nicely browned.

Filling:
4 eggs, beaten                    1/4 cup flour
2 cups granulated sugar     6 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
-Combine flour and sugar, mix in beaten eggs and lemon juice. Pour into the slightly cooled crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until set.
-Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Chicken Enchiladas with Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa

Image Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com
I've held onto this recipe for a couple years now, waiting until the day I would have enough time to make something so labor intensive. When I first saw Tyler Florence on TV making this, I could smell the roasted tomatillo sauce and enchiladas through the TV. I'm a sucker for enchiladas, and a bigger sucker for "green sauce". This was just as good as I imagined and smelled it to be a couple years back. Well worth all the effort!! And it knocked Jeremy's socks off, too!! =)

So here is the modified recipe that I did:

Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa:
1 pound tomatillos, husked
1 white onion, peeled and quartered
4 to 5 garlic cloves
2 jalapenos
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 lime, juiced

Enchiladas:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock, store bought
Chopped cilantro leaves
3 Chicken breast, cooked and shredded (or you could use 1 deli roasted chicken, meat shredded)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
14-16  medium flour tortillas
1/2 - 1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 cups sour cream
Chopped tomatoes and cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the salsa:
On a baking tray, roast tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices on the bottom of the tray to a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cilantro, and lime juice and pulse mixture until well combined but still chunky.

Enchiladas:
Meanwhile heat a 2 count of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and caramelized - this should take 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin then cook for a further minute. Sprinkle on the flour and stir to ensure the flour doesn't burn then gradually add the chicken stock to make a veloute. Continue stirring over a low simmer until the flour cooks and the liquid thickens. Turn off the heat, add half of the roasted tomatillo chile salsa, some additional fresh chopped cilantro and fold in the shredded chicken meat. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Change the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F and begin assembling the dish. Take a large baking dish and smear the bottom with some of the reserved tomatillo salsa. Now take the flour tortillas and briefly flash them over the stove-top flame (or put them briefly under the broiler if using an electric stove). Using a shallow bowl, coat each tortilla lightly with the reserved salsa mix. Put a scoop of the shredded chicken-enchilada mix on top of the tortilla followed by a sprinkle of the shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla over the filling and roll like a cigar to enclose it. Using a spatula place the tortillas in the baking dish and continue to do the same with all the tortillas. Finally pour over some more of the salsa and top with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until bubbly and cracked on top. Garnish, cilantro and tomato.

Serve hot with the remaining tomatillo salsa and sour cream.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Mom's dinner nachos

As a kid, I loved when my mom made these for dinner. I "helped" so that I could eat all of the extra green olives. yum! I made these for Jeremy for the first time last night, not sure why I never did it before. Since Jeremy loves nachos, and its a fun alternative to tacos.

- brown 1 lbs. ground beef with taco seasoning (according to pkg.)
- lay out chips on baking sheet. (Don't overlap, let each chip have its own space)
- place small spoonful of meat on each chip.
- sprinkle with shredded cheese of your liking.
- Bake in oven (at 350 degrees) until cheese is melted. This won't take long. I didn't time it, but maybe 5 minutes? Keep an eye on them. :)
- top with sour cream and half of a green olive (my favorite part!!)
- CRUNCH!

I served this with my favorite salad on the side.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Parmigiana

This is FANTASTIC!! (I'm channeling my best Tyler Florence impression.)

I recently started reading The Pioneer Woman's blog, and I thoroughly enjoy it. I saved about 15 recipes from her site that I want to try. But this one caught my eye the most. Either that, or I already had 2 large chicken breasts in the fridge. The smells of the kitchen are fantastic, and tasting the sauce as I was going was even better. And even fantastic for my lunch leftovers today.


(Adapted from Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:
4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat (1/4 - 1/2")
1/3 cups All-purpose Flour
Salt And Pepper, to taste
1/3 cups Olive Oil
1 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
1/3 cup of chicken stock
1 large can (28 Oz.) Crushed Tomatoes
1 Tablespoons Sugar
Handful  Chopped Fresh Parsley
1/2 - 3/4 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 pound Thin Linguine

Directions:

  • Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.
  • Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.
  • At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente.
  • Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
  • Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.
  • Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in splash of chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow stock to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
  • Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add chopped parsley and give sauce a final stir.
  • Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan. Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.
  • Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce. Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.

Monday, September 13, 2010

EXTREME banana nut bread

I recently made this EXTREME banana nut bread from allrecipes.com.
It is the very non-healthy version- and TASTE LIKE CANDY!!!

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I usually make just half the batch- since I only have one loaf pan and usually only have a few over-ripened bananas at a time. So here is the recipe for just ONE loaf.

Ingredients
* 1 cup1 all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 cup mashed overripe bananas
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter or margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in the bananas, eggs, and walnuts until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture, and stir just until blended. Pour into loaf pan.
3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaf cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack, and cool completely. Wrap in aluminum foil to keep in the moisture.

Teriyaki Sesame chicken pasta

We went to a fun ward pizza party at the Bishop's house last night. They have an outdoor pizza oven and everyone got to make their own mini personalized pizza. Bishop's wife made homemade pizza sauce and dough that was fantastic.

So Jeremy signed me up to bring a salad. I usually always sign up for dessert (vs. salad), so I was a bit nervous but up for the challenge. I looked through my file folder of recipes I've collected over years but haven't gotten around to making yet. I found this one torn out from a Taste of Home Magazine from August 2007. Yum Yum Yum!! I made it Thursday night first to make sure it was good, and it sure was!! I was snacking on it all day Friday. This isn't a very good picture, but feel I always have to have a picture when posting a recipe.

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Teriyaki Sesame Chicken Salad
1 package (16 oz.) bow tie pasta
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup white wine vinegar (I didn't have this so i used half red wine vinegar/half rice wine vinegar)
2/3 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki which I would recommend using)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cans (11 oz each) mandarin oranges, drained
2 cans (8 oz. each) sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 package (9 oz) fresh spinach, torn
1 package (6 oz.) dried cranberries
6 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup sesame seeds, (toasted in oven at 400 degrees for 3 minutes)

Cook Pasta according to package directions; drain and place in a very large bowl and add cubed chicken. In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, teriyaki sauce, sugar and pepper. Pour over pasta and chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Just before serving, add the remaining ingredients; gently toss to coat.
(Yield: 22 servings at 1 cup each)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tomato Basil Pizza

I've seen and heard about the Pioneer Woman for quite some time, so I figured it was about time for me to make something from her website. I love all of her pictures and the step-by-step commentary and visuals.

I followed her directions for TOMATO BASIL PIZZA (with a Pesto Sauce).

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It was a yummy and fresh meal last night. Head over to her blog for the recipe.


I'm still on the lookout for a good pizza crust recipe. I wasn't a big fan of hers. I thought it was a bit dense and heavy on the olive oil flavor.