Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Chicken

Another dish from pintrest. I must admit that her's looks so much better than mine.  I used some cooked chicken instead of cooking the chicken like she suggests, but this was oh so much easier. http://goddessofscrumptiousness.tumblr.com/














Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, whole
2 T. flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 T. basil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups cherry tomatoes
To grill our chicken we usually marinade it in Italian dressing for 1-4 hours.  Then we grill it out on the outdoor grill. I'm sure it would be fine to grill it in your grill pan indoors, but we like the outdoor taste, and I can get my husband to do the grilling.  One less thing for me to do.  For the gravy:  Melt butter and extra virgin olive oil together. Add whole garlic and saute for about 3 minutes. Remove garlic and add flour. Cook 1 minute. Add chicken stock. Simmer until thickened. Add basil. Season with salt and pepper. Add sauteed chicken and cooked spahhetti. Add cherry tomatoes and finish with garnish of parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos

O.K., so I know that this doesn't look like beef tacos.  I decided that tonight I would make a meal and the beef would be served like roast beef. I shredded the left-over beef and will use the rest as tacos. Check out gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-shredded-beef-tacos/ to see how he served them.  This is another one of those recipes I found on Pinetrest.  It is so nice to be trying some new things.  Love this recipe and am looking forward to the beef tacos tomorrow. I will serve them with the slaw and some tomato and guacamole with a little creama on the top. Yum!


Ingredients:
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds of boneless beef chuck roast
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 adobe chili pepper in adobe sauce, minced
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic (I only used 1)
flour tortillas
favorite taco toppings
Suggestions: avocado, salsa, mexican rice, tomato, sour cream, slaw,
Method:
Make a rub from the chili powder, paprika, and cumin. Rub it over both sides of the beef chuck roast. I also used salt and pepper. Add 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a large skillet or stock pot.  Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the roast to the skillet and sear both sides.  Remove the beef and add it to the slow cooker.   The recipe says to add the beef broth to deglaze the pan, but I added the onions and garlic to skillet and cooked them over medium heat.Add beef stock, tomato paste, and minced chipotle. Whisk to combine. Turn down heat to medium/low and allow to thicken for about 4-5 minutes.  Pour pan sauce over top of the meat in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove and shred beef if you are making tacos.  If you are using as a roast as I did, just take chunks from the crock pot.  Serve the shredded beef in warmed flour tortillas and top with your favorite topping.

Creamy Green Chicken Enchiladas

I got this recipe from Pinterest.  I am hooked on that site.  I have found so many new recipes from that them.  I wouldn't want to eat this often because it is not very figure-friendly, but it is soooooo worth the calories.  This is straight from Melskitchencafe.com. Thanks Mel. Love your recipes.


http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/05/white-and-green-chicken-enchiladas.html

Printable Recipe
https://sites.google.com/site/whatscookingsherry/creamy-green-chicken-enchiladas

INGREDIENTS:
Filling:
3 cups cooked, chopped chicken
2 (4 oz.) cans of green chiles, lightly drained
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, cubed
1 can white or black beans, rinsed and drained (you can really use any type of bean you prefer here)

Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup chicken broth
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 can (7 ounce) green chile enchilada sauce
½ cup sour cream
8 ounces (about 2 cups) Monterey jack cheese, shredded

8 medium (soft taco size) flour tortillas
Handful of chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.In a medium bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and green chiles. Mix well. Add the chicken and black beans. Mix to combine. Set aside.In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and starts to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk. As you whisk and the mixture cooks, the flour will get less lumpy around the onions and the mixture will become smooth. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is bubbling and has thickened, about 4-5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the enchilada sauce and sour cream.

Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish. Spread about 1/4 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the dish. Fill each tortilla with about ½ cup of the chicken/cream cheese filling. Top with a small handful of shredded cheese, a couple tablespoonfuls for each enchilada. Save at least 1/2 cup cheese for the top of the enchiladas. Roll the tortillas up and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Continue filling enchiladas until the dish is full (I can easily fit 8 enchiladas in one pan).

Pour the white sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the enchiladas are bubbling, hot and lightly browned. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over the top and serve.

Recipe Source: My Kitchen Cafe

Coconut Syrup

I got this recipe off Pinetrest. It is a winner.  I made more than I could possibly eat at one sitting, so I assume with the butter, I will have to reheat it to melt the butter solids. I used it this morning on French toast made from 2-day-old French bread, but I am certain it would be awesome on waffles or pancakes. I have a feeling I will be looking for things to put this on.
http://cookingalamode.blogspot.com/2010/03/blender-french-toast-with-coconut-syrup.html








Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup sugar
Stir these ingredients over medium heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add:
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coconut extract.
Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes.  It will foam-up so put it in a pot with room so it will not boil-over.

Bean Soup

If you haven't followed my blog, you should know that Jud and I try to make a soup every week. This was our soup for this week.  I had a ham bone left-over from Thanksgiving that I had put in a freezer bag and my brother had given me some deer sausage the last time I visited; this seemed like the perfect soup to make.  This recipe came from my Talk About Good Cookbook that I got 40 years ago when I got married.




Ingredients:
1 can whole tomatoes (I used the large can)
1can tomato sauce or tomato paste
1 large onion (I used 1/2 of a large onion)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
ham bone
1 package Great Northern white beans
sausage
salt and pepper to taste (salt in the last 1/2 hour)
Method:
Put all ingredients except sausage in a large pot and fill with water. I used my crock pot. Add black and red pepper to taste. Add salt after it has cooked as the ham may have enough salt. Cook 8 hours in the crock pot on low. In the last hour cut-up the sausage in rounds and fry it in a frying pan to remove grease. I just cut it and put it in the crock pot without frying. Deer sausage doesn't have much fat. 
Note: Mrs. McGinn says she cooks hers 8 hours in the pot. She doesn't say if she puts it on top of the stove or cooks it in a 300 degree oven for 8 hours.

Country Captain

I love my Talk About Good cookbook.  This recipe was not explained very well so I will put my notes in italics. I would use a  chicken that is already cut-up. I'm not very good at it.  You should see my chickens after the massacure.  It is not a pretty sight.  



Ingredients:
1 large fryer or young hen (preferably cut-up)
1/3 cup oil
1 can ( 14.5oz) tomatoes
1 can (14.5oz) English Peas
1 can (4.5oz) mushrooms
1 cup celery, chopped
1 medium-size onion, chopped
1/2 stick butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon curry powder
Method:
Cut chicken in frying pieces, unless you followed my advice and bought one already cut-up. Salt and pepper each piece and roll in flour. Fry  in 1/3 cup oil until golden brown. While chicken is frying, put all the other ingredients into a large heavy pot with cover.  When the chicken is brown, put it into the pot. Make a brown gravy with dripping from the chicken, butter, 2 tablespoons flour.  Make a rough with the butter and flour.  Add 2 cups of milk.Add the fried chicken to the pot. Cover tightly and cook on low (300 degrees) for 3 hours.  Remove chicken from bone. Serve over steamed rice and top with parched almonds and currants.  Mrs. Larcade took first place at the Intertnational Rice Festival--judged by Gaynor Maddox--on this old family recipe. This will probably not go on my list of favorites, but I do really like the addition of almonds and raisins. I didn't have almonds, so I used toasted pine nuts.

Braised Chicken with Lemon and Capers

Found this recipe on Pintrest and had a whole chicken that I decided to cup and use for this recipe. Really liked the sauce that went on the chicken, but I have become very partial to white meat and would use chicken breasts next time I make it.


http://theurbanspork.com/2009/09/braised-chicken-with-lemon-and-capers/




Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
4 pieces of chicken with skin on
3 cloves garlic
3/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc
3/4 cup chicken stock (I didn't use this because I was only making enough sauce for 2 people)
3- 1" pieces of lemon peel (only the yellow, no white part)
 4  thyme sprigs
  2 teaspoons capers
1 bay leaf
Method:
Over medium-high heat melt butter and olive oil together.  Add chicken, skin side down, to the skillet and brown for 12-14 minutes until meat is cooked through. Turn down heat and add garlic. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes.  Add wine and reduce by 1/2.  Then add lemon peel, thyme, bay leaf, and capers.  Return chicken, skin side up and place in a 350 degree oven. Cook for 30-35 minutes.

Bacon Pancakes

I saw these pancakes on pintrest and thought they looked like fun. I tried them this morning and enjoyed them. I thought it might be something that my grandsons would like, but neither of the older boys are crazy about bacon, so this may not be a repeat except that Jud like them so I will probably make them for him.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/sa_steve/4688652422/


Ingredients:
4 slices of bacon- cooked I cook mine on a cookie sheet at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes
1 cup of biscuit/pancake mix or make your own pancake recipe
3/4 cup water or milk
Mix pancake mix and milk together to form the pancake mix.  Put one slice of cooked bacon on the griddle and pour the pancake mix over the bacon.  Allow to cook until bubbles begin to form and turn to cook on the other side.  Serve with butter and pancake syrup.

Savory Ham Casserole

This is such an easy recipe and would be great with baked chicken or turkey.  I had some ham left-over from Thanksgiving that I had in the freezer. I thought it cooked a little too long. Next time I would probably just bake it at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Maybe my oven cooks hotter. I got this recipe from:
Talk about Good Cookbook by Martha B. Salmon



Ingredients:
3 tablespoons chopped onion
1/4 cup green bell pepper
1/4 cup cooking oil
3 tablespoons flour
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/3 cups milk
2 cups diced ham
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 can biscuits
Saute onions and pepper in oil. Stir in flour. Add milk and soup and cook until thick. Add ham and lemon juice. Mix and pour into a greased casserole. Place biscuits on top and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 425 degrees for 10 more minutes or until biscuits are golden brown

Grandkids Treasure Hunt

I realize that this post doesn't belong in a cooking blog, but I wanted to share this idea. It is my blog, so I can do anything I want.  When Stacy and Randel were young I started making a treasure hunt for them.  This was before the age of computers, so I would draw a picture of a bathtub, a bed, couch, etc.  It had to be simple, because I was not gifted in that area. By the time my grandchildren were old enough to do it I was fairly computer savvy, so I would print out pictures of things in my house from my PrintMaster ( see Expressit.com ). Now that a few years have passed, I use my digital camera to take pictures around the house and print them on my computer.  The following is a sample.

After printing and cutting them, I put them in little envelopes. I made them out of construction paper that I folded up to form an envelope and taped the sides closed.  I write where it goes on the outside so I don't have to look inside the envelope when I am hiding the clues. Give the first clue to the child.  Example:  the snowman doorstop.  He goes to the snowman and finds the next clue, the entry hall desk with lantern.  The last clue will have the prize.  I usually make it the oven, the refrigerator, cloths dryer, or the shower so I have enough room to place the snack.  At an early age, they don't even care if there is a prize; the hunt is enough.

Hattie's Meatloaf

Tried a new meatloaf recipe and really liked it. We loved the bacon on top. Of course, anything with bacon can't be bad.  This came from my Talk About Good cookbook by Hattie Mae Perry.






Printable Recipe
https://sites.google.com/site/whatscookingsherry/hattie-s-meatloaf
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
2 eggs, well beaten
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 teaspoon pepper, more if desired
2 slices bacon
1 can tomato sauce
Mix meat, egg, onion, bell pepper, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl. When mixed, form into a 9 X 5 inch loaf pan. Place the two slices of bacon over the meat loaf and cover with tomato sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Approximately 8-10 servings.

Shrimp, Chicken, and Sausage Gumbo

I went to visit my brother and his wife this past weekend and she made an awesome gumbo.  My brother gave me some of his smoked deer sausage, and I used it in the dish along with some chicken breasts and shrimp. It was really good, but I think Pam's was better. Maybe it has something to do with being cooked for that is so delightful.
I think I got this recipe years ago from one of Jud's friends who cooked dinner for us. Thanks Mike Walzel for the wonderful meal you cooked for us.
Printable Recipe:

https://sites.google.com/site/whatscookingsherry/shrimp-chicken-and-sausage-gumbo
Ingredients:
1/2 large onion
1 rib of celery
1/4 cup canola oil (vegetable oil, olive oil will also work)
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1 link of smoked sausage cut into cubes
2/3 pound of shrimp (if they are large, cut in 1/2)
1 cup of cooked rice
Sweat the first 2  ingredients over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes in the oil.  Add 2 tablespoons flour and stir to make a rough. Add the 2 chicken breasts and cook until no longer pink.
Add water or chicken stock (about 3 cups), diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add  sausage and shrimp.  Cook until the shrimp are no longer pink.  Serve over a nice spoonful of rice. Enjoy!

Shrimp Stuffed Peppers

This is one of those mistakes that turned out good.  When I read the recipe and jotted down what I needed, I knew I needed shrimp, but I didn't write or forgot about the lobster and crab. It turned out really good, but I think the crab and lobster would have been a nice addition.
Adapted from Talk about Good Cookbook, Mrs. George Parker






Ingredients:
1/2 of a large onion
1 rib of celery
1/2 of a small bell pepper
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 pound shrimp
1 small can lobster
1 small can crab meat
1/2 cup of cooked rice
2 bell peppers
bread crumbs
2 bay leaves----- black and red pepper-----lemon slices
1 teaspoon flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato sauce, Tabasco sauce to taste, black and red pepper
1. Chop the first 3 ingredients ingredients fine and wilt down in 1/2 stick of butter (about 2 minutes). Boil 1/2 pound large shrimp with 2 bay leaves, salt, black and red pepper and lemon slices. When the shrimp turn pink, remove the shrimp from heat; peel and devein; then chop fine. Cook 1/2 cup rice.
2. Cut the peppers in 1/2 lengthwise, remove seeds, and boil in a pan with a little water for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
3. Combine vegetables (onions, celery, bell peppers),  tomato sauce mixture (flour, tomato sauce, Tabasco sauce, black and red pepper) and shrimp. Cook 5-10 minutes on medium heat. Remove from heat. Add lobster, crab meat, and cooked rice.
4. Stuff parboiled peppers, place in casserole, and top with bread crumbs. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lynn's Beef Stroganoff

I used Lynne Rector's recipe from a Woodland Cookbook. I am pretty sure she got it from her mother, Rusty Cody. I used stew meat instead of ground meat.  I will print it like I made it instead of how it is in the cookbook.  I love using my crockpot on days that I am going to be away from home.






Ingredients:
1 package of beef tips
1 onion, cut in 1/2 moons
1 bell pepper, cut in strips
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small carton sour cream
1 cup cooked rice

Method:
Brown the beef tips in about 3 tablespoons of canola oil, about 5 minutes.  Soften the onions and bell peppers in about 2 tablespoons of canola oil or olive oil.  Put all the ingredients in the crockpot and put on low for 5 hours.  Serve over rice or noodles.

Autumn Pork Tenderloin

I love the idea of apples with pork.  I was afraid this recipe might be too sweet for my taste, but it was really nice. I think it might also be good with peach or cherry pie filling. I got this recipe from Fine Fighter Fare cookbook. The recipe is submitted by Brandy Forrest


Printable Recipe
https://sites.google.com/site/whatscookingsherry/autumn-pork-tenderloin


Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon salt                                                        1 cup apple pie filling (canned)
1/4 teaspoon pepper                                                   1/4 cup pecans
1 pound pork tenderloin                                             1/4 teaspoon greound cinnamon
1/2 cup apple juice

Rub salt and pepper over pork. Place in a large resealable plastic bag; add apple juice. Seal and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Drain and discard apple juice. Place pork on rack in roasting pan.l Combine pie filling, pecans, and cinnamon; spoon over pork. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 45- 1 hour.  The recipe says 40-45 minutes, but I cooked mine for 1 hour and it was perfect.