Chicken and Artichoke Penne

So, I know this is a little bland looking- but it's not bland tasting! I really like artichoke hearts. I get a huge jar from Costco. This was a hit with everyone in the family- the 2 littlest kids didn't eat the artichoke, but they ate the chicken and pasta.


Chicken and Artichoke Penne

Ingredients:
16 ounces pasta
4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup artichoke hearts
1/2 cup "juice" from the artichoke hearts
1 cup half & half
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (or corn starch)

Directions:
Boil pasta, according to directions. Brown chicken breast in lightly oiled frying pan or skillet. When chicken is done (juices run clear) add the artichoke, juice and lemon juice. Allow to heat through. Mix arrowroot powder into half & half, slowly add to chicken. Stir until thickened and toss with cooked drained pasta.
Serve.

Pizza Crust and Taco Pizza

My friend Kristy got a new cookbook, she's been coming over about once a month and we've made a few dishes to put in the freezer. I really enjoyed going through the book, the recipes are easy but don't have much with cream soups. I was most impressed with the pizza crust we made.
We've made their Chicken Alfredo Pizza (that was delicious!!) and then we made more crust and put our regular toppings on.
Sunday I had some leftover Lentil Chili so we made some taco pizza. It was so good!!





No-Rise Pizza Dough
2 c. Warm water
2 T. Yeast
3 T. Sugar
1 T. Salt
4-5 c. Flour (can be all white or 1/2 wheat & 1/2 white)
~
Cornmeal
Olive oil

Makes 2 pizza crusts.

Put water, yeast and sugar into a stand mixer bowl, mix slightly and let sit for a few minutes to get the yeast working. Then add salt and mix and add flour until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the mixer bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes.
Dust pizza stone with cornmeal, roll out dough, brush with olive oil and prick with fork every 1/2-1 inch.
Bake at 500˚ for about 5 minutes.

Take out and let cool (I just started piling my toppings on, because it was going right back into the oven).

Taco Pizza
2 c. Lentil Chili
2 c. chopped cooked chicken, tossed with
1 T. taco seasoning
4-6 green onions, chopped
Shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips

Spread the chili over the crust, top with chicken, onions and cheese, bake at 450˚ for 15 minutes. Top with crushed tortilla chips. Now, I didn't do this- but I know it would complete the meal perfectly:
Top with shredded lettuce and diced fresh tomatoes.

I have tried to make taco pizza before, I've had some great ones at pizza restaurants, but it's never been too good at home. This one totally hit the spot though! It was great!

Turkey Soup

With the turkey I made last Sunday, I made a soup stock and thought I would let you know what I did this time.

Turkey Soup
3/4 of a 10-12 qt. pot of stock (directions here under my other turkey soup post, just scroll down)
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 of a celery bunch, chopped
5 carrots, diced
3 cups cooked, chopped turkey meat
16 -32 oz. egg noodles (depending on how much or little broth you like when you eat)
Salt and pepper to taste

The next night, when I reheated it I added about 1 Tbsp. parsley flakes.

This filled my 10 qt. stock pot and fed us for 2 dinners. Now, remember we are big eaters- so that's 5 people eating 2 bowls of soup and 2 (little people) eating 1 bowl of soup. And Titus loved it, so at almost 1 year, he ate a whole bowl himself!

Find out more on how good broth is for you here.

Broccoli and Chicken Alfredo

Broccoli and Chicken Alfredo
16 oz penne (or whatever pasta you would prefer)
2 c. broccoli (blanched)
2 chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. grated parmesan cheese

Fry chicken breasts in oil, (I chop them as they cook with the flat spoon) When almost done put in 2 cloves of garlic, pressed.
Cut broccoli into bite sized pieces.
Cook pasta according to package directions.
To blanch the broccoli, I put a colander in the pasta water, place the broccoli inside and boil for 1-2 minutes, then take it out and let it drain.

For Alfredo Sauce:
Heat heavy whipping cream in saucepan, stirring constantly. When it starts to boil sprinkle and mix parmesan cheese in. Do this slowly so the parmesan melts before adding more cheese, if added all at once it will be clumpy.
Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste. Take off the heat.

Drain pasta, mix with broccoli, chicken and sauce. Serve.

Mmmm! So tasty!

Turkey Gravy Over Rice

Sunday, I stuck a turkey in the oven before church, Jesse peeled some potatoes and had them sitting in a pot of water ready to be boiled and we came home to a delicious smell!
We enjoyed a great turkey dinner and had quite a bit of leftover gravy, so I stuck it in the fridge and reheated it tonight, stuck in some chunks of turkey meat and served it over rice. It was a hit with everyone.

Turkey Gravy

Chicken Mac & Cheese

Creative name, isn't it? Let me know if you have a better one. Ok- 2 out of 4 kids didn't like this. It's because they don't like homemade mac & cheese- specifically: melted cheese. But the rest of us thought it was wonderful! I've been fasinated with homemade mac & cheese for the last few months. I made it once several years ago, following a recipe online (because I had never had it before- ever, only the boxed junk), it called for a sauce to be made, poured over the pasta and baked. It was gross- the sauce clumped up and didn't taste good either. So when Titus was born, I knew my midwife could make Mac & Cheese- so I asked her to make it while she was here. It was delicious. But this was her husbands preferred recipe, so she told me how she likes- basically, there are a bunch of different ways.

I started watching the food network when I nurse Titus... and they were making mac & cheese- everyone had their own twist, so I started experimenting. I haven't made a bad one yet! Ok, I'll admit that Jesse and Stephen haven't enjoyed my experiments- but Luke has been loving it. Guess it's payback for all the rice dishes I make that they love and Luke despises. So here's my latest and honestly, I think it's my best!

Chicken Mac & Cheese
16 oz pasta, cooked in salted water to al dente, drained (I used Cappelletti this time)
1/3 c. sundried tomatoes, diced (in olive oil- I have the julienne ones, so I had to chop them up some more)
~
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes and cooked in frying pan, until done.
~
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 c. shredded cheddar (sharp is good for this, but Med. or Mild is fine too)
~
3 slices white bread
2 TB parsley flakes
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 TB butter*

Toss pasta and sundried tomatoes, then mix in cheese and chicken. Pour into 9"x13" baking dish.
In food processor:
Tear up bread and put in, add the parsley and parmesan- blend until fine.
Sprinkle bread crumbs over the pasta, dot with butter*, bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes. Broil for a couple minutes at the end- just to brown the top.
*ok, this time I dotted the top with butter- but next time, I'm going to freeze the butter, after I cut it into a couple smaller pieces and then mix it in the food processor with the bread crumbs. The purpose of the butter is to help the bread crumbs brown pretty.

Meal Cost
Pasta; $1.33
Chicken: $1.88
Mozzarella Cheese: $.82
Cheddar Cheese: $1.00
Parmesan Cheese: $.40
Sundried Tomatoes: $.66
Meal total: $6.09
We had enough for 5 big eaters, Naomi and 2 leftover servings: $.87/serving.

I did buy my cheese, Sundried tomato, and Pasta at Costco, which cuts the cost of this dish.

Valentine Banquet 2009

Last year our group at church (Y.A.M.S. Young Adults Married & Single) hosted a Valentine Banquet (2008) for the rest of the Church.
Everyone had a great time, so we decided to do it again this year. It was a beautiful- we had so many people helping, setting up, decorating, cleaning, serving, doing dishes- it went really well. It was a little more challenging with having a 2 month old, but YAMS is a pretty good group of friends and they did so much.


Here's what we had on the menu: (recipes on the bottom of post)

Soup

Pasta e Fagioli

Fresh Artisan Bread

Penne Rigate with Grilled Chicken Alfredo

Topped with Diced Tomatoes and Basil

Roasted Asparagus

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

with Chocolate Drizzle

Last year at the banquet we were low on silverware... so when I found a huge amount at a garage sale this summer I grabbed them. There was soup spoons, so I was determined to make a soup for the first course of the banquet. I got this recipe from my friend Suzanne. It's supposed to be like the soup at Olive Garden. I don't know- because it has been so long since I have tried their soup. But Brian loved this, so I went ahead and made it for the banquet. I stuck the soup in 3 crock pots for the day, adding the pasta and sauce a little while before serving. The smell apparently drove the pastor and his wife nuts while it was cooking, so they had to go get some lunch alot earlier than what is normal for them.

Pasta e Fagioli
1 lb ground meat
olive oil for browning, if needed
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 carrots, quartered and diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 24 oz can tomatoes
6 c. beef stock
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. pepper
2 1/2 tsp. parsley
3/4 tsp. tobasco sauce
1 can Hunts Chunky Vegetable Spaghetti sauce
1 c. (8 oz.) ditalini pasta, cooked and drained

Brown the meet in oil, until crumbly. Drain if needed. Stir in carrots, onions, celery and tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Rinse and drain the kidney bean, then stir in. Add beef stock, spices and tobasco. Simmer for 45 min, until celery and carrots are tender. Stir in spaghetti sauce and pasta. Serve.


Artisan Bread
A few months ago I read this post on a blog I follow. I sent the link to my mom, who then bought the cook book. Of which, I borrowed. I found it very interesting and enjoyed reading it. I liked the basic bread, so I used it for the Valentine Banquet and everyone loved it. I changed it a little, so I'll post what I did here. The book inspired me. It was alot of fun and nice to have the dough ready. I really liked the way the crust was so nice and crunchy and crackled when it came out of the oven- just lovely. The texture was great as well and just what I was looking for in an artisan bread.
For the banquet I made all the bread the day before and then before the banquet stuck them in a hot oven with a pan of water for 5-10 minutes. They were great. That made the crust crunchy again.

So, here's what I did:
Artisan Bread
3 c. warm water
1 T. kosher salt (coarse salt)
1 1/2 T. yeast
6 1/2 c. flour

Mix thoroughly, but don't knead. Let rise for about 2 hours, dump onto a floured surface, cut in half and then cut the halves into 3 equal portions. Shape into round loaves and set on parchment paper. Let rise. (This dough was easier to work with after it sat in the fridge for a day, like they suggest.)
Heat oven to 450˚ for 20 minutes before baking with an empty broiler pan (or another metal pan) and pizza stone. When the bread is ready, take a serrated knife and slice three 1/4" deep slits in the top. (Or an "X".) Slide the parchment and bread onto the hot pizza stone. pour 1 c. of warm/hot water into the empty broiler pan. Bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool before cutting.
The first time I made it I used unbleached flour, but then for the banquet I used bleach- because that's what I had a 25 lb. bag of. It worked fine, I think they were a little better with unbleached- but really, I would prefer to use unbleached in everything, but it's not so inexpensive here, at least not for the amount of flour I go through in a month.

And since we had 24 loaves of bread to slice- and were limited in our appliances, we used an electric meat carving knife- it worked great.

The loaves were cut into about 5 slices, so we put one loaf between each couple.


Alfredo Sauce
1 qt. Heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat whipping cream on medium, stirring constantly with whisk. When it starts to boil, add cheese about 1/4 c. at a time. Stir until melted before adding more cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. I think this would taste great with some garlic, but I had a lady who was allergic to garlic, so I didn't add any. I will another time when I make it just for us.

I used the fully cooked grilled chicken strips you can find frozen at Costco. I used a little less than 1/2 the package and mixed the sauce with 1 lb cooked Penne Rigate.
Top with diced fresh tomatoes and basil.

Roasted Asparagus
I love roasted asparagus. Just trim the ends off, line in a 9" x 13" baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. My favorite is no pepper- but garlic salt. YUM!
Bake at 400˚ for 10-15 minutes. You want them to be slightly crunchy (not soft and mushy) and a beautiful green color.


Dessert
My friend Dawn makes the most beautiful cakes. I asked her to make the desserts last year too and they were gorgeous. She uses this opportunity to branch out from the typical cakes. This cheesecake was wonderful and she shared the recipe- so you get it too!

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake
2 c. packaged chocolate wafer crumbs
1/3 c. butter, melted
3 T. sugar
2 1/2 c. fresh or lightly sweetened, frozen red raspberries, thawed
2/3 c. sugar
2 T cornstarch
2 tsp. lemon juice
3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
2 T flour
1 tsp. vanilla
2 egg whites
1 c. whipping cream

Crust:
combine wafer crumbs, butter and 3 T. sugar. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of an ungreased 8 or 9 inch spring-form pan. Chill while preparing filling.
Raspberries:
In a blender container, blend the 2 1/2 c. raspberries until smooth. Press though a sieve to remove seed. Add water to sieved raspberries if necessary to equal 1 c. Combine 2/3 c. sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir in raspberries. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes more. Stir in lemon juice. Remove 3/4 c. sauce; cool slightly without stirring. Cover remaining sauce and chill until serving time.
Filling:
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, 1/2 c. sugar, flour and vanilla. Beat with mixer until fluffy. Add egg whites, beating on low speed just until combined. Stir in cream.
Our half of the mixture into crust-lined pan. Drizzle the 3/4 c. raspberry sauce over cheese mixture in pan. Carefully spoon on remaining cheese mixture, covering sauce. Place in a shallow baking pan. Bake in a 375˚ oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until center appears nearly set when shaken.
Cool in spring-form pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen crust from sides of pan and cool 30 minutes more. Remove sides of pan; cool 1 hour. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.
To serve top with remaining raspberry sauce.

Chicken Quesadillas

It's hot and during the summer I really try not to use the oven. These were delicious, but appetites required much more of them!

Chicken Quesadillas
2 c. cooked, chopped chicken
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp. taco seasoning
6 flour tortillas (8")

Mix chicken, cheese and seasoning together and spread over half of one tortilla, fold the rest of the tortilla over. Fry on med-high griddle for a few minutes on each side (until slightly browned and cheese is melted).
Cut each into 3 wedges and serve with sour cream and salsa.

Baked Chicken Curry

This is good, easy and smells wonderful. I stuck it in the oven before taking the boys to piano lessons and the house smelled so good when we came home. I don't have specific measurements for these spices, here is an estimate. This is a little spicy- but you won't notice the spiciness if you don't eat the skin.

Baked Chicken Curry
1 whole chicken, rinsed
5 potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1 T. curry powder
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Place potatoes in the bottom of an oven safe skillet, set the chicken on top, breast up, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle spices over breast, wings, legs and some inside the chicken.
Place uncovered in 320 degree oven for 3 hours- test with a meat thermometer: it should read 180 degrees in deepest area of meat without touching any bones.

Cost:
Whole Fryer: $5.05 (largest one they had- need to serve rolls or muffins next time, as it wasn't quite enough for my big eaters)
5 potatoes: $.30
Green Beans: $.45
Meal Total: $5.80
There are some leftover potatoes and the chicken bones, I will make soup from, so technically I am getting 2 meals out of it- and just need to count the cost of a few veggies and pasta or barley for soup.

Chicken Burgers

These are really good.

Chicken Burgers
4 chicken breast, cooked and diced
1/2 med onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp. sugar
dash of cayenne pepper
dash of white pepper
3 T. soy sauce
4 eggs, beaten

Put everything in a food processor, when completely mixed, form into patties and fry in olive oil about 5 minutes each side.
(I actually don't have a food processor, so used my blender and it took extra time because I could only put about 1/2 c. diced chicken in at a time. Then had to mix everything together in a bowl. Canned chicken would work just as well without having to blend or process it- similar to tuna.)


I used my Italian Bread recipe for the buns, but made a smaller batch:

Rachel's Hamburger Buns
2 c. warm water
2 T sugar
2 T yeast
1/4 c. dry milk
1/2 T salt
1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. whole wheat flour
4-5 c. white flour

Mix water, sugar and yeast and let set for 10 minutes until the yeast is foamy. Add the rest of ingredients until you get to the flour then as the mixer is going add the flour one cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the mixer. Let it knead (mix) for 10 minutes. Flour the counter where you plan to shape the loaves.
I put the whole batch of dough on the counter and flattened it a little- so it was about 1 inch thick. Then took a pizza cutter and cut a 1 1/2" strip off the end, then cut that into about six 1 1/2" squares. Each square: squish down to 1/2 inch thick, it should be about 2 to 3 inches square. Take all corners and squish together, turn the "loaf" so the seam is on the underside and place on baking sheet (these did best on stoneware). Let rise till doubled, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serve with Mayo, lettuce and tomatoes.

Cost:
Turkey: $5.
Eggs:$.60
Lettuce: $.75
Tomato: $1.35
Buns: $.60
Chips: $2.5 (natural w/ sea salt)
Meal Total: $10.80
This didn't really cost me this much, as I was given farm fresh eggs (thanks to my mom!) and some chicken from someone and this will also cheaper in the summer when we have our garden lettuce and tomatoes.
But I really only spent $5.20
And we had 2 extra adults joining us for dinner last night, so it fed quite a few.

Spicy Peanut Sauce Over Spaghetti

I love peanut sauce. This one is a little different than my regular one but I was looking forward to it since it has a little spice to it. It didn't disappoint-- it was very good.
I have looked through the Hillbilly Housewife site quite a few times and am really impressed with all the info she has. This is one of her recipes.



Spicy Peanut Sauce
I added some left over chicken pieces as well- this would be the best over rice noodles, with a green salad, but I didn't have that on hand.

Cost:
Pasta $.34
Peanut Butter: $1.71 (Adams Natural)
Soy sauce: $.25
Chicken $.66
Meal Total: $2.96

Turkey Soup

I made a nice warm soup again- I think I like barley better than pasta, that is what I did this time.
I used my basic soup recipe, but this time I added some frozen chopped spinach and used Quick Cook Barley instead of pasta.



Cost:
Turkey soup stock and meat $1.50 (I just use 1/2 of a bag that I froze for a whole meal)
Quick Barley $1.26
1/4 bag of spinach $.30
1/2 bag frozen veggies $.44
Meal Total $3.50

Quick Enchiladas

This is really tasty, but not very frequent for us as it takes so much meat and I normally don't use that much in one dish- I like to stretch it farther than that. But I used some of our frozen turkey, it worked out well.

Quick Enchiladas
4 c. diced cooked chicken or turkey
2 c. salsa
3/4 c. mayonnaise
16 oz. Shredded Colby/Jack cheese
Corn tortillas

Mix chicken, salsa, mayo and most of the cheese (set aside about 1 cup of cheese).
Layer bottom of 9x13 baking dish with tortillas, breaking some in half if necessary. Spread on a layer of chicken mixture, repeat so that you have 3 layers- top with last cup of cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Turkey Soup

This is one of Luke's favorites meals, though everyone enjoys it. What a great way to warm up in the winter!


Turkey Soup
This is different every time I make it, as I tend to use whatever I have on hand; but here is what I did today:
1/2 pot (maybe 6 cups?) soup stock
2 c. Macaroni Pasta
1 can green beans
1 can mixed veggies
Meat from carcass.
1 tsp. Rosa Maria seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring stock to a boil. Add noodles and seasoning, cook until pasta are almost ready, (if necessary, add water to cover pasta noodles) add veggies and meat and cook until pasta is done.

How to make soup stock
Get the meat off the turkey carcass that you are planning to use.
Put the carcass in a large stock pot, add water to cover most of it.
Bring to boil then turn down to a simmer and let simmer for a few hours.
Pour through a strainer into a new container/pot.
Now, some people put this in a cool spot and the fat collects on the top, as it gets cold it becomes thick and white, you can remove that and just use what is left. I just stir it and put it in my ziplock freezer bags while it's still warm.
This should make enough for several gallon bags of stock, which I freeze and pull out later for soup.
When the bones cool, go through them and remove the small pieces of meat that were left on- you can either put it in the stock or freeze it separately to be used later.

Turkey Dinner

I love a good turkey dinner! I don't think I could ever get sick of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. MMM! I got 4 turkeys before Thanksgiving this year when they had a good sale. I skipped all the normal holiday trimmings with this and we just had Turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans.




I got enough extra meat for 3 meals. I put that in ziplock bags and put them in the freezer- I'll use that for casseroles, enchiladas, etc- when I need diced chicken. The carcass I put in my big stock pot to make soup stock.



Turkey Gravy
drippings from turkey (sometimes there is more sometimes less drippings, I use all the drippings)
3 c. milk
1 c. flour
meat from neck
salt and pepper to taste

Put the drippings in a large skillet, heat on med to med high heat. Whisk milk and flour. Add to hot drippings, stir constantly until thick- add salt and pepper to taste. If you cook the neck with the rest of the turkey, it has little pieces of meat on it that I brake off and stir into the gravy.

Peanut Butter Rice

My friend Suzanne got me hooked on this dish and now it's Stephen's favorite too. When the boys have to cook, this is what he wants to make. I take this to potlucks at church, it's always amusing to hear people's reactions. I even get requests for it now.

Peanut Butter Rice
2 cups uncooked rice, cooked (White rice tastes better, though brown rice works well)
1-2 cups diced cooked chicken

Sauce
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter*
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
garlic powder to taste

Heat sauce and stir over medium high heat, with wire whisk until creamy.

Combine sauce with diced chicken and cooked rice-serve.

*I am ever impressed with Tropical Traditions and the quality of their products. If you order- don't forget to give my referral number: 5691384 and get a FREE book on all the benefits of coconut oil! (Free book given to first time customers only.)

Chili Chicken Roll ups

This is the most amazing dinner I make. Everyone of of us absolutely LOVES it! The smell of fresh bread and the cream cheese and green chilies... Oh my goodness. The taste is incredible- completely lives up to the smell!

Chicken Chili Roll Ups


Ingredients:
1 Basic Roll Recipe

1 pk cream cheese
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 4 oz can green chilies
a dash or two tabasco/red pepper sauce
2 c. diced chicken

Directions:
Make the Basic Roll Recipe. Roll out into a large rectangle, as if making cinnamon rolls. Mix the remaining ingredients together (with a mixer is easiest, but not necessary). Spread chicken/cheese mixture onto the rectangle of dough and then roll up and cut- just like you would cinnamon rolls.
Place onto a cookie sheet, with enough rooms so the sides do not stick together.
Bake at 350˚ for 20-25 minutes.

Excellent served with salad or fresh cut veggies.