Baked Chicken in Creamy Tomato Sauce

 

Ingredients:



 

 

3-4 boneless chicken breasts or tenders, rinsed and patted dry.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1- 15 oz. can tomatoes

3 tablespoons mascarpone (I used softened cream cheese)

Handful fresh basil

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown chicken breasts over high heat in extra virgin olive oil 2 minutes per side. Remove breasts. They do not have to be cooked through. Turn heat to medium/low and add onion and garlic.  After 2 minutes stir in crushed tomatoes and simmer 10-15 minutes. Stir in mascarpone and basil. Add chicken back to the pan immersing in sauce. Bake in 350 degree oven, uncovered, 20 minutes.  I will certainly make this again.

Four-Cheese Quiche

I found this in A little recipe book called Casseroles, Soups and Stews. I made the Apricot Chicken, Baked Chicken in Creamy Tomato Sauce and this Quiche yesterday. We will have this quiche tomorrow night.  I love taking a day to do enough cooking for several days.  We still have some hamburger patties that Jud grilled earlier this week.  I shouldn't have to cook for at least 3 more days.





Ingredients:
1 (15oz.) package Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts
1 (3oz.) package cream cheese, softened
4 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon freeze dried chives
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4oz. (1 cup) shredded Swiss cheese
4 oz. (1cup) shredded Gruyere cheese
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare pie crust according to package directions for one-crust baked shell using 9 -inch pie pan. (Refrigerate remaining crust for a later use. DO NOT PRICK CRUST.  Bake at 450 degrees for 6-8 minutes or just until crust is very light golden brown. If crust puffs up during baking, gently press crust down with the back of a wooden spoon. Cool.
Reduce heat to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk, Parmesan cheese, chives, oregano, salt and pepper.  Mix well. Sprinkle Swiss and Gruyere cheese evenly in bottom of partially baked crust. Pour egg mixture over cheese.
Bake at 375 degrees for 23- 28 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean and crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Apricot-Mustard Baked Chicken

This is a recipe that I have had in my recipe file for a while. This was before I started my blog and didn't know that I would ever need to know where I got it.  It was good, but not great.  I usually toss a recipe unless I really liked it. So this one is going in the trash after I copy it onto my blog.





Ingredients:
6-8 skin-on chicken pieces (thighs or drumsticks, rinsed and patted dry)  I used chicken  tenders
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup apricot jam
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1/4 cup water
Leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place chicken in a rimmed cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake 10 minutes.  While chicken is baking, whisk jam, mustard, water, thyme, salt and pepper in s saucepan over low heat for 3 minutes.  Pull chicke out of the oven and pour sauce on top.  Bake 15 minutes longer. Then turn the oven to boil and place the chicken under the broiler for3-5 minutes on top rack so it is golden and crispy.
 

 

Vegetable Korma

I forgot to take a picture so the one on the left is from the internet.  The one on the right is left-overs the next day.  There wasn't as much juice left, so the one on the left looks more like what it should look like.


  We have friends visiting us that are vegetarians, so I am always looking for a new recipe.  My daughter is a great cook, so I called her and she gave me this recipe.  I liked it very much, but Jud is a meat and potato kind of guy and didn't love it.  Our friends both loved it, so I am happy. 3 out of 4 isn't bad and Jud didn't hate it.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced peeled ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons garam masala ( spice) I found it on the bulk isle and paid $.06 for 2 teaspoons
1 cup frozen peas or edamame
1 potato/ sweet potato/ butternut squash  ( pick one or use a combo (peeled and diced)
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 (13.5 oz.) can coconut milk
3 cups cauliflower florets
1 cup green beans
basmati rice
Directions:
1.  Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté for 2 minutes.
2.  Add 1 tablespoon ginger and garlic; Saute' for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
3.  Stir in tomato paste and garam masala; sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in edamame/peas and potato/squash.
4. Combine yogurt, almonds, and coconut milk, stirring until smooth. Add creamy mixture to pan, and bring to a boil Reduce heat, and simmer for 8 minutes.
5.  Add 3-4 cups cauliflower and 1 cup green beans. Simmer for 9 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Serve over basmati rice.


I also made Naan: Indian Flat Bread. You can find it Here

Chocolate - Candy Cane Cake

This is a Jell-o recipe that I made to celebrate Stacy's birthday. It was a hit. Even Anthony liked it, and he doesn't normally like cake because he doesn't like the icing.  This is iced with Cool Whip, so it passed his test.





Ingredients:
1 box of chocolate cake mix 
1 (3.9oz) package of Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding
4 eggs
1 container (8oz.) Sour Cream
1/2 cup oil (I use Canola Oil)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1 (4oz) package Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped
18 small candy canes, coarsely crushed (about 1 cup), divided
1 tub (8oz) Cool Whip Topping, thawed
Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Beat first 7 ingredients in mixer until well blended. Stir in chopped chocolate and 2 tablespoons crushed candy. Pour into 3- 8" cake pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray.
3. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from sides of pan; Invert onto wire racks. Carefully remove pans. Cool cakes completely
4. Fill and frost cakes with Cool Whip. Sprinkle with remaining crushed candy just before serving.  Keep refrigerated.
Note: I made mine ahead of time and the candy ran. It still looked o.k.  This picture was taken immediately after it was made.

Chicken Breast

I found this recipe in the 1/21/2015 issue of the San Antonio Express News. You may quickly pan-fry these cutlets, but the recipe calls for baking them for about 14 minutes in a 450 degree oven.







Ingredients: 
1 cup panco bread crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
Method:
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat it with cooking spray.
In a pie pan or large bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, sugar, and other spices. In a separate pan, add eggs and flour.  Set aside.

Carefully, slice each chicken breast in 1/2 horizontally to create 2 thin cutlets. To do this, place each breast on a cutting board. Hold the breast in place with the palm of one hand while using a knife to carefully slice across the length of the breast horizontally. On at a time, place each cutlet between 2 sheets of wax paper and use a meat mallet or rolling pin to pound each cutlet until uniformly about 1/4 inch thick.

One at a time, dredge each cutlet through the egg-flour mixture until lightly coated. Shake off any excess, then dredge in the seasoned breadcrumbs. Set the cutlet on a prepared baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining chicken. Mist the tops of the cutlets with cooking spray. Bake for 7 minutes, then flip the cutlets and bake for another 5-7 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.  J.M. Hirsch is food editor for The Associated Press. He blogs at www.LunchBoxBlues.com 

Did I mention that those mustard greens came from my garden?

Thin Mints

Found this recipe on Pinterest. You can find it Here.  I used chocolate bark. You can find it on the baking isle.

16 to 20 oreo cookies

7 to 10 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

1 tsp mint extract

Twist the oreos to separate them and scrape off the cream filling.

Melt  the chocolate, then stir in the mint extract well.

Dip an oreo half in the melted chocolate, turn to coat using a fork.

Use the fork to remove the oreo from the chocolate, tap it on the edge of the bowl a few times (to let excess chocolate drip off) and transfer to a lined cookie sheet.

Leave at room temperature until set.