Chicken Stew & Ranch Dumplings

The hubs & I are pretty busy for the next two weeks. We are going out of town for the next two weekends & turkey day,etc.. Well I refuse to shop & I want to use up the fresh produce in the house. I also wasn't feeling well so I wanted some Chicken Soup/Stew/Something.
I found a chicken stew recipe on Cooking Light, but adapted it to what I had at the house

Chicken Stew
myself

4 chicken breasts, cut into bit sized pieces

Olive Oil

2 cups of red potatoes, cut into bite size pieces

1 cup celery, sliced

1 cup carrots, sliced

1/2 cup onions, diced

salt

pepper

garlic powder

8 cups of chicken broth (low sodium)

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup corn

3/4 cup of water

1/4 cup of flour

Heat oil over medium heat in a large pot or dutch oven and add chicken. Cook until chicken is browned.

Add the next seven ingredients to the pot & mix well. Let the vegetables saute for about 5-7 minutes.

Add the broth, peas & corn & bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender.

In a separate bowl, mix flour & water until no longer clumpy. Gradually add to the soup. Stir well.

Reduce heat to low & let the stew simmer.

For the dumplings, and this is where it gets funny, i used 1 cup of bisquick & 1/6 cup of ranch dressing & 1/6 cup of water. Now I did this b/c we had no milk in the house. The hubs though ranch was like milk so we should use it. Pretty funny, but it worked. (Note you should use 1/3 cup of milk to make the dumplings)
Drop about 8 balls of dough into the soup mixture. cook on low, uncovered about 10 minutes. Then cover & cook for an additional 10 mins.

Just what the doctor ordered!!

A little soiree

I had some friends over on Friday night. Its rare that I get to entertain so when I do I go all out. (Hint people, visit me more often!)

So yes, I made quite a bit of snacks. I really wanted to use some of the serving trays I got as wedding gifts so I based my snacks around those.

First was the 3 bowl serving tier:

On top, some homemade hummus, in the middle garlic & tyhme dip, and on the bottom a ratatouille dip. I served these with some garlic pita toasts.

Hummus
Courtesy of Jill(who couldn't be present but was represented)
One 15oz. can garbanzo beans, drained
2 teaspoons bottle lemon juice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
Bottle of wine

Pour a glass of wine. Puree the beans. They don’t have to be completely smooth: in fact a little
texture is a good thing. Drink some wine, so it doesn’t matter. In a bowl, mix the pureed beans
with the remaining ingredients. (If it’s too thick for you, add a little extra oil or some water.) Or
drink some more and you won’t care.
Garlic & Thyme Dip
Found on http://definitelynotmartha.blogspot.com, orginally from Epicurious **
1 tablespoon (packed) fresh thyme leaves
1/2 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 71/2-ounce package farmer cheese or one 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream

Blend first 4 ingredients in processor until garlic is finely chopped, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Add cheese and sour cream; blend well. Season with more salt and pepper, if desired. Transfer to serving bowl; chill 30 minutes. (Dip can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)

Ratatouille Dip
I'll have to get back to you on this one. I can't remember where I found it.

Garlic Pita Toasts
Courtesy of Jill(who couldn't be present but was represented)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Three 6 inch rounds pita bread

Heat Oven to 350 Degrees. Drink more of the aforementioned wine. Pour the oil into a small
bowl, sprinkle with garlic powder, and stir. Brush the oil lightly all over the pita round. If you
don’t have a brush, just drizzle a little and rub with your fingers. You might be drunk at this point, so it may not matter in neatness.
Bake on baking sheet for about 10 minutes, or until the wedges have gotten crisp on top.
Finish off the bottle of wine.

Next a little anti-pasta platter
In the middle are some marinated olives, courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis, Everyday Italian
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cup Sicilian cracked green olives or other green olives
1 1/2 cup kalamata olives
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

In a medium size heavy skillet, stir the oil, lemon zest and red pepper flakes over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat & stir in the olives. Add the lemon juice and basil, toss to coat. Transfer the olive mixture to a container. Cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to blend, stirring occasionally, about 12 hours.
Bring the olive mixture to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Transfer the olive mixture to a small bowl & serve.

I also did a tier of bruschetta/crostini.

This was a basic tomato bruschetta: tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, balsamic viniagrette. This was a roasted red pepper topping, I need to locate that recipe as well...

This was a sun-dried tomato & chickpea topping, From Giada, Everyday Italian
1 large garlic clove
1 (15.5 oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained & rinses
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained & coarsely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil
1.4 cup fresh Italian parsley
Lemon zest for garnish

To Make Crostini: preheat oven to 375F. Place baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet, and lightly brush with oil. Toast in the oven until golden, about 8 minutes.

To Make Dip: Mince garlic in a food processor. Add the chickpeas, lemon juice, 2 Tbsp water, salt & pepper. Process until mixture is almost smooth. While the machine is running, gradually blend in the oil. Process mixture until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add sun-dried tomatoes and the herbs. Blend until the tomatoes and herbs are finely chopped.

So this all looks like a lot right? Well the best part is all of it could be made the night before. All I had to do on Friday was put it on the serving trays and voila!
Thanks for the night of fun ladies!!

Dinner Made Easy

Last night I needed to make a quick dinner b/c I wasn't feeling well and I needed to do some prep work for a party on Friday. I had two chicken breast thawed out and decided to have chicken sandwiches with soup. (Sick=Soup)

I didnt just want to grill the sandwiches so I coated them in ranch powder. Oh my husbnad was sooo happy.

Anyway, after cooking the chicken in my grill pan, I sliced it up and made paninis that had the chicken, provolone cheese & fresh tomatoes.

I made Campbell's Tomato soup with this. Nothing like a little "Mmm Mmm Good" to make me feel better.

Baked Penne

This is what happens when you have a little bit of this and a little bit of that leftover in the fridge.


Last week we had spaghetti for dinner and I had some of the sauce leftover. I had some ricotta cheese in the fridge, some other shredded cheese and 2 italian sausages. I had some homemade marinara in the freezer so I pulled that out too. And voila

Delicious! I boiled the italian sausages & sliced them into bite size pieces. I cooked the corkscrew pasta until al dente. Then I combined the leftover spaghetti sauce, the marinara sauce, the ricotta cheese & other cheeses and the pasta in a bowl. Mix well. Place in a baking dish & cook at 350-375 for about 30 mins or until bubbly. I sprinkled the bake with more cheese and let it get nice and brown.

We also had a hlaf a loaf of french baguette, so I spread some butter & garlic powder on it, wrapped it in foil & placed it in the oven with the pasta bake.
So easy, great use of leftovers & delicious!

A few failed attempts

I am making this one blog entry even though it was actually 2 dinners. I wouldn't say they failed, but they didn't turn out how I was expecting them to. I am sure I did something wrong, b/c the girls I grabbed these recipes from have amazing success. So I won't totally rule out making these 2 items again, but it may be awhile before I attempt.

I had been wanting to try my hand at Crab Rangoon. I had a recipe from Tyler Florence, but after reading his, it called for mayo, not cream cheese, so I went on search for another. I snagged a recipe from Joelen. http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/07/chinese-flair-farewell.html

I won't repost the recipe but I think my mistakes went as follows:

a) I should have filled all the wonton wrappers with crab mixture, then turned on the oil, then I could just work in batches.

b) I used dungress crab thinking it would be better, but it made it more fishy

c) My mixture was a little watery, I don't know why, but maybe the dungress crab did it.

Anyway, the hubs said he liked these, but they definitely didn't taste like the kind you get at the local Chinese Restaurant.

Next up was my hand at homemade empanadas. When we were in St. Lucia, my husband had a little treat he called a "beef fritter". After reading the empanada post from Ally, http://culinaryinfatuation.blogspot.com/2007/10/chipotle-chicken-empanadas-spanish-rice.html, I thought these sounded pretty close to these fritters he had had.

The filling was delicious! I used chicken breast that I seasoned with the spices she had put on her whole chicken, then I pan sauteed the breasts & let them cool. I went on the search at the store for the empanada dough- no dice. But I had a feeling this would happen so I researched and read that you could use pie dough. That I could find.

Well, the pie dough didn't hold together, and it definitely didn't fry quite right in the pan, basically they all fell apart. The hubs said, well I think its delicious, just b/c it doesn't look good doesn't mean its bad. I wasn't so worried about it looking good, but it did not look like Ally's at all.

Onto the rice recipe of Ally's. Eek. I should not be allowed to make any rice but minute rice. I can do minute rice pretty darn good. But I tried this long grain Mexican rice & well, after 45 mins of adding additional broth, tomato sauce, etc.. The rice was still crunchy. I have no idea what I did. But it did smell good while it was cooking.

So I post these here for two reasons: One, everyone has kitchen disasters but you won't learn from them if you don't at least try to make them. I think these were pretty ambitious recipes, but hey, I tried right? Two, tips for the next time I feel like I can make these??

Fake Out Friday

Back in the day, when the hubs & I were wedding planning, (ok yeah it was like 6 months ago) I decided that on Friday or Saturday, I would make a nice "gourmet" meal. Either a 4 course meal or maybe something we had had at a restaurant that I had been wanting to make at home. We were cutting back on "entertainment" costs to save for the wedding, but we discovered, most of the time, 80% of the time, what I made was almost better than what we had at restaurant.
So after entering the realm of the food blogs, I have discovered "Fake Out Take Out" and made on Friday, PF Changs Style Lettuce Wraps.

For the filling
3 Tbsp Oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnuts
2/3 cup mushrooms
3 Tbsp onions, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 head iceberg lettuce
For the Special Sauce
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp hot mustard
2 Tsp water
1-2 tsp garlic or red-chili sauce I used Sriracha sauce
For the stir-fry sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well. (I didn't do this, hubs doesn't like things spicy)
Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.
Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done. Remove chicken from the pan and cool. Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.
As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas. (I used my pampered chef chopper, it worked perfectly.)
Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.
With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.
Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.
Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".
Top with"Special Sauce".

These were great!!! I was going to make crab rangoons with them, but ran out of time. However, these alone were filling enough. Another successful Fake Out Take Out!

Hollow Weenies

Oh this is what happens when the Hubs & I have to work very early in the morning and don't get enough sleep.

Halloween was on Wednesday and I had planned to make Gnocchi with Pumpkin Sauce for dinner. However, the day was pretty bad, getting to work at 6:30am, all kinds of things were broken, I was exhausted. Needless to say, I didn't think experimenting with dinner would be the best idea.

As we drove home from work, I was asking what to make for dinner & for some reason I said something about it being Halloweeny. Well then I said, I could make weenies for dinner? And The Hubs:"What about hollowed-weenies??"

Me: "What?"

Hubs:"We could hollow out the inside of a hot dog!"

Me: laughing all the way home.

So here it is, the hollow weenies

This was a challenge. See I have a corer, but it was too big to hollow out. So then we thought we could use a straw but it wasn't strong enough. Then we cleaned out a pen of its insides & used the outer portion of the pen. It seemed to do the job.

of course you have to stuff the hollowweenie with cheese.
And top with chili.

So Happy Hollow Ween Everyone!