Last week was chaotic

So last week was really chaotic.  Some dinner happened and some did not.  This has me thinking that if the season is fully underway during outdoor track with more meets, this cooking plan is going to be way ambitious for me.  I'll give it a couple of weeks and see how realistic it is to cook 3 nights a week.  I am leaning toward changing the days I cook or going to twice a week.  I have saved some money doing this so I am encouraged in that respect.  I have also managed to lose some weight by just being religious about taking my vitamins which do include probiotics, again if I take them religiously.  I have noticed my fingernails are stronger, my hair has grown more (it is now just below my waist if I have it down) and again I've dropped about 12 pounds.  I think it is the combo of all the elements of my life.  Track is in full swing, I'm making food that is generally minimally processed, I'm drinking more water and taking my vitamins like a good girl. (My mom would be so proud of me!)

OK, that said, this week I'm making Meatballs with Creamy Rice (a new recipe), Oven Fried Chicken and Kofta Kari.  We are not dining with our friends this week, sadly, but the two recipes we are having later this week were recipes I have made for them before.  They are yummy so they bear repeating in our repertoire.

Meatballs with Creamy Rice Skillet Supper comes from A Betty Crocker monthly magazine from who knows when.  When it was part of a book, it came from page 41.  It wants me to use frozen meatballs, but I'll make my own using my Swedish Meatball recipe.  Needless to say, I'll do that first and then finish the cooking of the meatballs within the directions of the recipe.  I won't need them to thaw, but I'll still cook them for the allotted recipe time to coincide with the time the meatballs would normally need to cook.  I've adapted the recipe accordingly.

Meatballs and Creamy Rice Skillet Supper

1½ lb. ground beef
½ c. grated onion
2 slices bread, crust removed broken into crumbs
1/3 c. milk
2 eggs
1 t. salt
½ t. pepper
⅛ t. nutmeg
Pinch allspice
1 T. sunflower oil
1 c. uncooked regular rice
1 can cream of celery soup
2½ c. water
1½ c. carrots, diced
   
   Combine the ground beef, onion, bread crumbs, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg and allspice in a bowl.  Form 1 1/2" meatballs from the beef mixture.  Brown in a 12" skillet in the oil.  When the meatballs are browned on all sides, remove from the pan and set aside.
   In the same skillet, mix the rice, soup and water.  Heat to boiling; reduce the heat to medium-low.  Cover and cook 5 minutes.
   Stir in the carrots and meatballs into the rice mixture.  Cover; cook 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the rice and carrots are tender and the meatballs are done. Serves 4-6.

Recipes this week.. Two kinds of pie... Mom's Chicken Pot Pie and Curry Shepherd's Pie

My recipes this week end with two kinds of pie...Mom's Chicken Pot Pie and Curry Shepherd's Pie.  We are starting the week with Poor Man's Beef Stroganoff.  I'm going to date myself here, but I do remember when I first acquired this recipe, I remember the opening credits of the Mary Tyler Moore Show where she is in the grocery store and is agonizing over the ground beef as if to say "Should I or shouldn't I?"  Agonizing a bit more and tosses it in  anyway as if to say, "What the heck!".   Not sure why I have that image, but I do.  Anyway this is super simple and I use Greek yogurt for sour cream at this point in my life.  It's great with either one.

Poor Man's Beef Stroganoff

2 T. butter
1 small can mushrooms (again this would never fly in our house)
1 medium onion, minced
1 lb. ground beef
garlic salt
1 c. sour cream

Melt the butter in a large frying pan.  Add the mushrooms and saute 3 minutes.  Add the onion and saute until yellow.  Add the hamburger, and season with the garlic salt.  Fry until well done and no pink remains.  Add some of the meat mixture to the sour cream.  Incorporate the sour cream mixture into the meat mixture and cover.  Simmer 5 minutes further.  Serve over hot cooked noodles.  Serves 4.
This recipe is gluten free...I really never thought about it.  You could serve it over arepas or rice to maintain it's gluten free-ness.

Wednesday we are having dinner with friends, so a dinner swap will happen and I'll cook on Thursday.  This is a favorite of Miss K and Miss M. DH doesn't like the topping, but I'll make him a couple of Banquet pot pies and he's happy as a clam. (What does that really mean?  I often wonder how happy clams really are...)

Mom's Chicken Pot Pie

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can milk

1 c. frozen veggies

1 c. cooked chicken, chopped

2 c. biscuit mix

1 1/3 c. milk

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Dash garlic salt

Mix the soup, milk, frozen veggies, and chicken together in a 9” x 13” baking dish.  Mix the biscuit mix, milk, cheddar cheese and garlic salt in a bowl.  Spoon the batter over the soup mixture.  Bake at 400° for 35-40 minutes.

** The shape of your dish will determine how thick the topping will be.

Serves 4
I've used cream of celery soup or cream of onion as well.  Both work well especially if the cooked chicken you are working with is well seasoned.

I'll post the Curried Shepherd's Pie tomorrow or Tuesday.

Italian Chicken Dinner Swap last week

Wednesday's Italian Chicken legs were dinner swapped since we went to our friends for dinner.

It turned out well, but it still needs something.  I basically drizzled the 8 drumsticks with olive oil and sprinkled them with Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and a bit of extra thyme.  I popped them in a 375 oven for 50 minutes.  I'm thinking I'll up the seasoning and add additional rosemary as well as more olive oil. It didn't crisp up as I had hoped.  Oh well, the next round from the freezer should be better.  It will have another chance to brown up. 

Be back later with recipes for the week.  The are Poor Man's Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Pot Pie and Curry Shepherd's Pie. That rounds out my 37 recipes so far.  Technically there should be one more for Monday next week to end the month, but we are really doing this by the week.  And I did start the cooking adventure on Halloween and took Thanksgiving off.

I'm trying to decide which recipes bear repeating and will look for more to replace the ones that didn't work well.  I'll also adjust things to see if some of them will work better.  I already know that I'm adjusting One Pan Chicken Curry to freeze differently.  Pork Chops and Pilaf have to be overhauled...I don't want to eat leather again.  Just sayin'!

Friday's derailment of dinner

I remembered again, too late, that I had to make the Curry Sauce before I made the Biryani for Friday's  dinner.  That derailed our dinner on Friday.  In any case, here it is.  It comes from The Encyclopedia of Asian Cooking, Octopus Books Limited, London, 1982, as does my Biryani recipe.

Curry Sauce

4 oz. ghee (clarified butter)
1 large onion peeled an sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 t. coriander powder
1 t. turmeric powder
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. ground pepper
1 1/4 c. water
1 t. Garam Masala 

Melt the ghee in a pan, add the onion and garlic and fry gently until soft but not brown.  Stir in the coriander, turmeric, chili powder, salt and pepper, then add the ingredients to be curried ~ meat, fish, poultry or vegies, etc.  Fry for 5 minutes, then add the water and bring to the boil.

Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the Garam Masala and simmer for a further 5 minutes.  Serve hot with veggies, or simply spooned over rice.  Makes 2 1/4 c.

So I'm kind of on a tape delay with this recipe.  I'm making dinner tonight (Turkey Breast and a mini Thanksgiving), but I want these frozen Biryani dinners as well.  Maybe Miss M and I will have some for lunch.  If I had the curry sauce made ahead of time, this recipe flies together in no time and you only need one serving platter.  How easy is that?

Biryani

1 1/2 c. rice
3 c. water
2 t. salt
2 c. curry sauce
3/4 lb cooked meat (beef, chicken or lamb) cut into 1" cubes
1 1/2 t. turmeric powder
1/2 t. coriander powder
Garnish with: 
1 green or red pepper cut into rings
1-2 hard cooked eggs, sliced
2-3 firm tomatoes, sliced
coriander leaves (optional)
varak, finely beaten (optional)

Wash the rice thoroughly.  Bring the water to the boil in a large pan, add the rice and salt and bring back to the boil.  Simmer exactly 10 minutes, then drain off the excess water and set the rice aside.

Put the curry sauce in a pan with the cooked meat and heat until bubbling.  Add the turmeric and coriander and cook over high heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the rice and stir thoroughly and gently until  the rice has absorbed the color of the turmeric evenly.  Cover the pan, lower the heat and cook gently until the rice is completely cooked.

Transfer the biryani to a warmed serving platter.  Garnish with the pepper rings, egg and tomato slices.  Top with coriander leaves and varak if desired.  Serve immediately.  Serves 4.

The chicken was great!

The Chicken was great!  It needs some adjustments, though.  The last time I made this, chicken breasts had to be much smaller.  I seem to remember that if I bought 2 pounds of chicken breasts I probably got 5 breast halves.  Not anymore, 3.5 lbs yielded 5 pieces.  I kind of planned that way, but I still have to work on the size of my pieces.  I cut the chicken breast halves in half again.  I think I should have sliced so the pieces were thinner.  I needed to add 10 minutes to the baking time for the thicker pieces.

This is the cut up chicken...it's huge!

 This is the lovely curry-lime butter that will be stuffed into the chicken

Here is the finished product!  MMM!

I'm still learning how to work with the camera on my phone, but I think I'm getting more comfortable with it.    

I cracked open my two eggs to prepare my egg wash for the chicken coating and look what happened!

Yup, you guessed it, a double yolk!  I haven't seen one of these since I was about 10!  It happened a lot with brown eggs when I was a kid growing up.  In New England the saying was "Brown eggs are local eggs, local eggs are fresh eggs."  I still prefer brown eggs and when the price is no more than 30 cents difference, I'll buy them.

And speaking of pictures, while I was preparing my massive amount of chicken, I ran out of bread crumbs and egg wash for the coating on said chicken.  I went to the fridge and this is what I found. 

So again, reaching back to my frugal upbringing, I knew most of these eggs were fine.  I had to find out which of any of them needed to be discarded.  I filled up my 8 cup measuring cup with water and put the whole dozen eggs in the water, one at a time. Not until I got to the last three, did any of them float.  

I took out the eggs on the bottom, and yes those 3 eggs were the only ones that floated.  If they float, they flunk and they get tossed out!

The rescued eggs were put back in the carton and I labeled them 1/14/17 so I would know when they were tested.

I knew I could use one of these eggs for the rest of my chicken coating.  I measured more bread crumbs and proceeded with the second tray of chicken breasts.  I put them in the oven after dinner and wrapped them in heavy duty foil like I did with the 3 remaining pieces from dinner.  They will be served on the 28th for dinner.  The great thing is I have 9 of them and that means they will work for lunch as well on other days. :)

I'll be back later with the recipe for tomorrow, Curry Beef Loaf, including my recipe for cream of celery soup.  There was a time when you couldn't get this condensed soup at the stores I frequented in Chicago.  Because of that, I adapted the recipe from my copy of The Joy of Cooking I received as a wedding present in 1982.  I'll have that recipe too.  

Chicken Korma!

Wednesday is Chicken Korma.  The recipe we use comes from Indian:  A Collection of Over 100 Essential Recipes, Parragon Publishing, Bath, UK, 2008.  It is a yummy dish that we love at our house.  This is not overly hot but very flavorful.  I serve this over rice, and usually with, you guessed it, peas.

Chicken Korma
1 chicken, weighing 3 lb.
1 c. butter
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 t. mild chili powder
1 t. ground turmeric
1 t. ground coriander
½ t. ground cardamom
½ t. ground cinnamon
½ t. salt
1 T. chickpea flour
½ c. milk
2 c. heavy cream
fresh cilantro leaves to garnish
freshly cooked rice, to serve

Put the chicken into a large pan, cover with water and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat, lift the chicken, and set aside to cool.  Reserve ½ c. of the cooking liquid.  Remove and discard the skin and bones.  Cut the flesh into bite-size pieces.

Heat the butter in a large pan over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the ginger, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and salt and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the chicken and the reserved broth.  Cook for 2 minutes.

Blend the chickpea flour with a little of the milk and add to the pan, then stir in the remaining milk.  Bring to a boil, stirring, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.  Stir in the cream, cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.  Garnish with the cilantro leaves and serve with the rice.

Friday is Baked Chicken Breasts with Curry-Lime Butter.  Again this is a yummy main dish.  It has been a while since I've made this, but it makes a lot.  

Baked Chicken Breasts with Curry-Lime Butter

8 T. butter, softened
2 t. minced ginger root
2 t. freshly grated lime peel
1½ t. lime juice
1 T. curry powder
½ t. salt
12 boneless chicken breast halves
2 eggs
1½ c. fine dry bread crumbs

Mix 6 T. butter, the ginger, lime peel, lime juice, curry powder and ¼ t. salt; chill until firm.  Cut a 3" slit in the underside of each chicken breast to form a pocket.  Fill each breast with 1½ t. of the butter mixture; smooth the flesh over the butter.  Whisk the eggs and ¼ t. salt in a shallow dish.  Dip each breast half in the egg, then in the crumbs to coat well.  Arrange 1" apart on 2 greased jelly roll pans.  Dot with the remaining 2 T. butter; cover with foil.  Bake in a preheated 425° oven for 10 minutes. Uncover; turn each piece and bake 10 minutes longer or until the crumbs are golden brown and the chicken is tender when pierced. TO FREEZE:  COOL COMPLETELY, WRAP INDIVIDUALLY IN FOIL.  TO REHEAT:  PLACE FROZEN WRAPPED PORTIONS ON A BAKING SHEET IN A PREHEATED 400° OVEN 15 MINUTES, OPEN FOIL AND BAKE 10 MINUTES LONGER OR UNTIL HOT. Serves 12.

I can't believe break is over!

It seems like break was just yesterday...oh, wait, it was.

I tried very hard to make our last dinner of break as headache free as possible.  A 5 lb pork roast went in to give me 3 hours of freedom to leisurely set up and cook dinner.  I even set up things I needed for the week of prepping hubby's lunch so that wasn't a scramble in the morning.  It worked for the most part. The only problem I had happened this morning.  A dish fell out of the cabinet at me while putting dishes away from the dishwasher and broke (Mind you, we never break anything here.  It is really rare.) on the counter on it's way to the floor.  The upside is it was a new thrift store purchase at Thanksgiving, so the cost was negligible and the investment in our lives was short.  The downside was I needed to quickly sweep up the floor so my little furfaces (cats) would not have bloody paws when I came home from work.  All this before 7:15 AM. 

Chicken broth happened last night and became chicken soup tonight for our dinner.  I paired the soup with Tuna Sandwiches and since the broth was made last night, I just had to prep the veggies and chicken and toss it with the simmering broth.  It was ready in 20 minutes.  Again this was essentially free, save for the 1/2 of a chicken breast half I sliced up to put in the soup.  I took 12 carrot sticks that I had prepped last night and diced them, diced a small onion and a celery stalk, and then stir fried for a couple of minutes with the chicken until it was no longer pink.  I added this to the simmering broth with some garlic salt and orzo (melon seed shape) pasta and simmered until the noodles were done.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Chicken Orzo Soup
1 lb chicken bones (I froze my bones from 2 dinners of drum sticks)
8 cups water
vegetable scraps ( Carrot peelings, onion peelings, celery cuttings)
1 small carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 chicken breast, about 4-6 oz., cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 t. garlic salt
1/2 c. orzo pasta
Place the chicken bones, water and vegetable scraps in a 3 qt saucepan.  Simmer on low for about 2 hours.  Drain the broth through cheesecloth in a strainer.  In a 10" frying pan, add the veggies and chicken breast and saute until the chicken is no longer pink.  Add this to the reserved broth with the garlic salt and the orzo pasta.  Simmer 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is done.

Today was a long day.  First day back after Winter Break and I have finally become part of the digital age...I got my first smart phone today. It's been an adventure to say the least!  

Wednesday is Chicken Korma and Friday is Curried Lime Chicken Breast.  I'll post those recipes tomorrow.

Day two...three days late...

So I'm a bit late.  But if you think about it, we've traveled pretty far.  The Pastichio was tremendous.  We had another pan left and I served it to some of our runners today.  One of our kids is of Greek heritage and she told me it smelled like her house when her Mom makes it!  (Great compliment and I'll take it!)  She settled in to a plate of familiarity and then said, " Coach, this is better than my Mom's.  Her's is much creamier and this is much better.  More cheesy!"  So glad everyone liked it!

I made Spaghetti as well today, so we had quite the Adriatic tour.  Tonight we were supposed to have Dusted Pork Chops, but we'll have them tomorrow.  We helped at a track meet and ate lunch late.  We were still full when it came time to think about dinner. I'm not complaining, we just need to shift my cooking to tomorrow.

Dusted Pork Chops come from a really yummy recipe that was an epic fail for DH.  The part he liked was the seasoning on the meat.  I mixed some up in a jar and use it from time to time to season our pork chops and chicken. And yes we do call it Chicken Dust.

The recipe comes from The Gluten-Free Bible, Publications International, Ltd., Lincolnwood, IL, 2010.  I used to work down the street from there. Talk about a small world.   The recipe is actually South American Chicken and Quinoa.  The first 3 ingredients mixed with the last 2 make our Dust.

South American Chicken and Quinoa
1 t. ground turmeric
1 t. dried thyme
3/4 t. salt, divided
1 lb. boneless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
2 T. olive oil, divided
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 c. uncooked quinoa
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. unsweetened coconut milk
1 t. curry powder
1/4 t. ground ginger

Combine the turmeric, thyme and 1/4 t. salt in a shallow dish.  Dip the chicken pieces into the spice mixture coating all sides; set aside.
Heat 1 T. of the oil over medium high heat.  Add the bell pepper and onion. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender.  Remove from the skillet with a slotted spoon; set aside.  Add the remaining oil and the chicken to the skillet.  Cook and stir 5 minutes or until browned and cooked through.  Rinse the quinoa in  a fine-mesh strainer under cold running water; drain well.  Combine the quinoa, chicken broth, coconut milk, curry powder, ginger and the remaining 1/2 t. salt in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to low; simmer covered, 10 minutes. Stir chicken and pepper mixture; cook for 5 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.  Serves 4.  

So for my version, I dust the chicken like it says in the recipe and end up with cool chicken nuggets and follow the cooking instructions for the chicken part of the recipe above.  I've also used it on chicken legs and baked them in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.
Until tomorrow... or maybe it's just later since it's already tomorrow...

Our world tour..first Singapore, then Greece and beyond!

 Monday night's dinner, Singapore Noodles, comes in part from the interweb.  I have tweaked it to our family's preference, but it is a huge hit and we have it often.  I cut out the red pepper flakes, water chestnuts and mushrooms but added chili powder, slivered pea pods and use rice noodles instead of the noodle nests.

Singapore Noodles a la Lorri

1 lb medium rice noodles
1/4 c. cooking oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. slivered fresh ginger
1/2 t. chili powder
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/3 c. green onions
2/3 c. julienned carrot
1/2 c. slivered peapods
1/4 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. oyster sauce
3 T. curry powder
2 t. soy sauce

Bring a pot of  lightly-salted water to at rolling boil; add the rice noodles and return to a boil.  Turn off the heat and let stand 5 minutes; drain and let stand for 5 minutes; drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a wok or deep 12" skillet.  Stir in the garlic, ginger and chili powder; cook a few seconds until the garlic begins to turn golden.  Add the chicken, green onions, and carrots.  Cook and stir until the chicken is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in the peapods, peanut butter, oyster sauce, curry powder and soy sauce until the peanut butter has disolved into the sauce.  Stir the noodles into the chicken mixture; cover and reduce heat to warm or very low.  Let stand 10 to 15 minutes so the noodles absorb some more of the sauce.
Serves 6.

I'll post the Pastichio and Dusted Pork Chops recipe tomorrow. I'm looking forward to break...this is gonna be filled with meals at home, grocery shopping field trips, visiting with friends and naps!  :)

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Birthdays, Chicken and Meatloaf (without the yucky red sauce)

     So it's birthday season in our family and we are celebrating today.  I wanted to post the recipes for tomorrow and Wednesday as well.  Monday is Lime Chicken.  I have only made this once during our 38 years together, so I guess you could say it's been a while.  I remember it was from before we had kids and when I was working on a hand written binder of recipes that would one day turn into a cookbook.  It may still, but now you'll have a couple of recipes from the beloved "Green Binder".  

     Wednesday is Meatloaf with Brown Gravy.  The kids and I would have the 'Blue Plate Special' at Barbara's Kitchen in Edgebrook back in the day.  They would get Meatloaf most of the time.  (Turkey was available as well, but the Meatloaf was the favorite)  Now, I will tell you our kids were middle schoolish when we had it at home for the first time because my Dear Hubby (DH) told me in no uncertain terms that he hated meatloaf.  I found out he hated the "red stuff" on top.  Good thing I grew up with a Swedish Mom and she never put a topping on ours and served it with brown gravy.  Again...he said it was like sliced meatballs.  So glad that some leopards can change their spots. 😍

Lime Chicken

1 c. rice 

2 c. chicken broth

1 ¼ lb. boned chicken breast halves

¼ c. flour

1 t. salt

¼ t. pepper

6 T. butter (divided)

2 T. honey

1 large clove garlic, sliced

4 thin slices lime (divided, with 2 slices cut in half)

½ c. dry white wine

9 oz. frozen pea pods

     Cook the rice according to the directions using the broth instead of water.  Coat the chicken with the mixture of the flour, salt & pepper.  In a large skillet, melt 4 T. of the butter with the honey, garlic and 2 of the whole lime slices.  Add the chicken, cook over medium heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes, turning once.  Add the remaining 2 T. butter and the wine.  Bring to a boil.  Add the peapods; reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 2 min. or until the peapods are crisp-tender.  Garnish with the remaining halved lime slices and serve over the cooked rice.  Serves 4.

Swedish Style Meatloaf

¼ c. chopped onion

½ c. bread crumbs (cracker crumbs work too)*

¼ t. nutmeg

½ t. garlic salt

½ c. milk (can be rice milk)

1 egg

1 ½ lb. ground beef (or half beef/half ground pork)

    

     Preheat the oven to 375°.  Mix well the onion, crumbs, nutmeg, garlic salt, milk and egg togther in a medium bowl.  Add the ground meat and incorporate well being careful not to over handle the meat.  Place in a 9 x 5" loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.  Remove from oven and  let rest 10 minutes before slicing, using a serrated knife.  Serve with brown gravy.  Serves 6.

* I've used crushed rice crackers to make this recipe gluten free.  It works really well.

Brown Gravy Mix

This recipe (Beef Gravy Base) is from "Fix it Fast Cookbook" from the Better Homes and Gardens series, Meredith Corporation, Des Moines, IA, 1979.

1 ⅓ c. nonfat dry milk powder

¾c. flour (rice flour works here also)

3 T. instant beef bouillon granules

¼ t. dried thyme, crushed

½ c. butter

2 t. Kitchen Bouquet or powdered Caramel Coloring

     Combine the dry milk powder, flour, bouillon granules, and thyme.  Cut in the butter and Kitchen Bouquet until the pieces resemble cornmeal. (If you are using the powdered Caramel Coloring, combine that with the dry ingredients.) Store a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.  Makes about 3 cups of mix or enough for 6 cups of gravy.

     To prepare the gravy:  In a saucepan, slowly blend 1 cup of cold water into ½ c. of the gravy mix.  Cook and stir until the mixture is thickened and bubbly.  Cook for 1 more minute.  Makes 1 cup prepared gravy.

Dinner and a recipe for next week

     The Turkey a la King was awesome.  I boxed up a container of rice and a container of the a la King.  I also had an extra portion from dinner and since Miss M did not join us, I put that in the fridge for her for lunch tomorrow or Monday.  The only glitch tonight was that I had no Cream of Chicken Soup.  I winged it (get it, a bit of poultry humor here) and used 1 can each of cream of celery soup and cream of onion soup.  Having done this, I have figured out that if I add 1 teaspoon of Chicken Bouillon granules, I can probably get a similar taste, just using one can of soup and achieve similar results.  This will cut the recipe in half, but at dinner tonight I realized it would feed 4 easily.  That would make a great dinner that is so quick to make, it is finished by the time the rice goes off.  I will do some tweaking of the recipe and adjust it accordingly.  

     My cream of onion soup search does continue though.  I have only found it at Strack & VanTil near JoAnn’s Fabrics here in Chicago.  That is a “field trip” store that requires more time.  We tend to go there on school breaks or in the summer, about once a month or so.  I am all out of cream of “whatever” soup now, so I can’t work with this recipe until winter break when field trips occur more often.  I will check Mariano’s next week maybe. It’s not a regular store for me, but it is on my way to stores that are.  I like to go there on Wednesdays when they’ll double 5 of my coupons.  I have some for cream soup, so that will work.  I also love their pick and mix sodas.  They have so many cool root beers to try!

     Monday's dinner is Curried Chicken with Rice.  This has been around our entire time together...since Summer of 82 at least! That's a lifetime to some people!

Curried Chicken with Rice

1 T. butter

1 medium onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 small green or red bell pepper, chopped

1 c. rice

1 c. diced cooked chicken (see note)

2 c. water

2 t. chicken bouillon granules

1 1/2t. curry powder

     Melt the butter in a skillet.  Saute the onion until transparent.  Add the celery; saute until bright green. Add the bell pepper.  Stir in the rice and chicken.  Stir in the water slowly.  Add the bouillon and curry powder. Stir.  Bring to a boil, reducing heat to a simmer for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.  Serves 4.

Note:  If using fresh chicken, dice and saute first. Incorporate the freshly cooked chicken in the recipe accordingly.  Also, canned chicken may be used as well. 

Dinner went well.  Miss M joined us.  I figured I haven't made this in about 18 Christmas Eves.  That was when Miss K asked if we could eat something different since curry is so spicy.  Now we usually have Wednesday's dinner.  It's kind of ironic that I have them so close together in the meal plan.  I made Curried Rice with Golden Raisins to go with.  It was so yummy.  I packed up our dinners like normal, labeled them and they are waiting in the freezer for the 13th. 

 Friday's recipe is Turkey a la king.  This recipe almost seems like cheating because it uses soup, but sometime you just need convenience.

Chicken A La King Supreme

1 T. oil
2 ribs celery, diced
1 can cream of onion soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 soup cans milk
2 c. diced cooked chicken*
1 c. frozen peas, if desired

In a large saucepan, heat oil.  Add the celery to  the pan., cooking unitl transparent, but not brown.  Add the soups, stirring to combine with the celery.  Gradually add the milk. Stir constantly until thickened and well mixed.  Add the chicken and peas.  Heat until the meat is heated through and the peas are hot.  Serve over hot cooked rice or noodles.  Serves 6.

*Turkey also works well in this recipe.

I have also been known to swap the cream of onion soup for cream of celery soup.  If I do this, I add a diced onion to the recipe for flavor.

Tomorrow we go out with friends so our bonus dinners become lunch for Miss M and I.  :)  Yum!  Spaghetti for lunch!

So I forgot in all the excitement yesterday, to post this recipe.

It is a variation on Curried PeachPork Chops that I came across.  I like to make this with chicken as well and so it goes like this:

Curried Peach Chicken

4-6 boneless chicken breasts ½ lb. each

¼ c. flour, seasoned with ½ t. curry powder & ½ t. onion salt

1 T. oil

1 T. butter

½ onion, chopped

1 t. curry powder

½ t. ground ginger

1 c. chicken broth

¼ t. seasoned salt

1 T. fresh lemon juice

½ c. peach juice (I use the juice from the can)

2 medium peaches sliced (or 15 oz. can)

2 T. peach jam

2 T. cold water

4 t. cornstarch

Dry the chicken with paper towels.  Dredge lightly in the flour mixture.  

Melt the butter and oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat and cook the chicken, for about 4 minutes before turning over.  Brown the chicken on the other side 4 minutes longer.  Remove from the pan.  

Using the same pan, lower the heat to medium low, and the onions and cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft (about 10 minutes).  Add the curry powder and ginger.  Cook one minute longer.  Add the broth, seasoned salt, lemon juice, and peach juice.  Return the chicken to the pan, bring to a simmer and cook, covered about 20 minutes or so.  Add the sliced peaches and cook, uncovered for 5 more minutes.  Remove chicken and peaches and place on a platter.  

Bring the sauce to a boil and add the jam.  Mix the cornstarch with the water and stir into the sauce.  Cook until the sauce thickens; let it cool.  Pour sauce over the chicken and peaches and serve.  Serves 4-6.

I'll be back later with the results.  😋 

Oven Fried Chicken & a bonus recipe!

The recipe I use for Oven Fried Chicken is surprisingly new and comes from the internet.  It is Easy Ranch Chicken from www.food.com.

This recipe also uses Ranch Dressing Mix.  I decided to make my own ranch dressing mix.  A canister of Buttermilk Powder will make 2 1/2 recipes.  It is not necessarily less expensive, but I know what's in it.  That recipe also comes from the internet.

It is Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix from SimplyScratch.com. As long as you have all the ingredients and a food processor, this takes no time to put together. In fact, I don't think I'll buy bottled dressing or dip very often anymore.  Note that I leave out the sugar from the original recipe.  You don't need it, the buttermilk powder has some sweetness all its own.  This is the only time in my life I've used parsley.  I know, I just talked yesterday about not using it, but the dried parsley adds something to the recipe.

I'm including both recipes, because I think the dressing mix with no preservatives is worth it.

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

1 c. Dry Buttermilk Powder

2½ T. Dried Parsley, divided

2 t. Dried Dill, divided

2½ t. Garlic Powder

1½ t. Onion Powder

1½ t. Dried Onion Flakes

2¼ t. Kosher Salt

½ t. Coarse Ground Pepper

½ t. Paprika

¼ t. Cayenne Pepper

In a small food processor or blender; measure and add in the dried buttermilk, 2 T. of the parsley, 1 t. of the dill.  Place the remaining ½ T. of the parsley and 1 t. dried dill in a small bowl and set it aside.  Measure and add in the onion powder, dried onion flakes, kosher salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne.  Turn on the processor and let it run until all the spices are blended into the buttermilk powder.  Transfer the ranch mix into a jar or container (with a tight fitting lid) and add the reserved parsley and dill.  Whisk to combine.  

3 T. of the mix is the equivalent to one packet.

Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 months or in the freezer for 6-8 months.

Now that you have your Ranch Dressing Mix, we can proceed with the Easy Ranch Chicken recipe.

Easy Ranch Chicken

4 Boneless Chicken Breasts

½ (1 oz.) package Ranch Dressing Mix (1½ T. of your mix)

1 c. Dry Breadcrumbs

2 Eggs

Salt

Pepper

Butter

Crackers (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Mix the dressing, salt & pepper to taste and dry bread crumbs in a 1 quart storage bag.  Beat 2 eggs in bowl.  Rinse and dredge chicken through the egg and then place in the bag and shake until the chicken is completely covered. Place in a buttered 13 x 9" glass baking dish. Place a pat of butter on top of chicken.  Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Note:  This works without the eggs and adding cracker crumbs makes the coating crispier. 

Frugal Tip:  Use the food processor right after making the dressing mix to make your breadcrumbs so the crumbs pick up the remaining ranch flavor.