Make it with what you have on hand Stuffed Chicken

     There will be no picture for this because although I am writing for anyone who might be interested, my real only talent lies in making pretty delicious meals from what I have on hand.  My daughter, Anessa even came up with a cute name if the Food Network ever got wind of this. So, with that in mind, I told my niece to list everything she had in her pantry, refrigerator and freezer.  I then took  that list and created a few meals that are healthy, not complicated and somewhat fast. Maybe I can get my niece to post a picture of the chicken and I can add it later. If you would like me to do this for you, send me a list of what you have to work with and I'll do my best to come up with something heavenly.This is

Simple Supper #4 Stuffed Chicken Thighs.

Preheat oven to 350
Line a baking sheet with foil. Cut another sheet a foil that you will tent over the chicken.
Bring a pot of water to a boil.

Ingredients;
4-6 boneless skinless thighs slightly flattened by putting them one at a time between 2 sheets of waxed paper and banging with a heavy skillet.  I am looking for flat and pretty uniform.  Not paper thin.
About a TBSP of EVOO to rub onto the chicken.
garlic powder, salt and pepper to season the chicken
NEXT TIME BUY AND ADD DRIED ROSEMARY.

Filling
about 1/4 cup shredded zucchini dry it on a paper towel.  (Use the rest for salad.)
1 heaping Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 diced poratabella mushroom divided 1/4 cup for the filling the rest for the sauce (You will use some for a sauce.)
1/4 of an onion sliced very thinly
1 TBSP shredded carrot (Use the rest for your salad.)
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs.  (If your bread crumbs are not seasoned add a little salt and pepper.)
1/4 cup pepper jack cheese

1. Rub chicken with EVOO and sprinkle with salt pepper and garlic powder. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, put in all of the other ingredients.  Toss gently with your fingers. Try not to mash.  Keep everything light.
3. On the baking sheet, take one chicken thigh and add 1 TBSP of the filling to the middle.  Roll to cover the filling and make sure thigh is seam side down.  The chicken does NOT need to overlap.
4. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Turn the oven off. Tent the foil over the chicken and return to the oven.

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin cleaned, peeled  and cut into cubes (Make sure that this is pumpkin for baking not just the jack-o-lantern pumpkin. Use the canned pumpkin, if yours is not a baking pumpkin.)

1 carrot washed peeled and cut into about the same size as the pumpkin

1 sweet potato washed peeled and cut into cubes same size as other veggies.

1/8 inch of cinnamon stick or a pinch of dry

1 TBSP  butter or margarine

1. Toss veggies into boiling water. Add 1 tsp. salt.
2. Boil for about 10 min. Until cubes are soft. 
3. Drain (save 1 cup of the water) and remove cinnamon stick and in the same pot, mash the potatoes to the consistency you like.If the mash is too stiff add a little milk or water that you used to boil veggies in.
4. Add butter or margarine.Stir, cover and set aside.

Sauce

Ingredients;

1 heaping TBSP sugar free jam

1 heaping TBSP balsamic vinegar
Mushrooms

NEXT TIME BUY AND ADD ONE DRIED CHILI PEPPER

In a small saucepan or in a microwave safe dish, put a little EVOO and saute the mushrooms a little. Add both the jam and vinegar and stir. Heat for about 1 min. in microwave. Stir again.  Should be syrup consistency.  If you are using stovetop put in a pan and over low heat stir until it's the right consistency. Spoon over the chicken.

Except for the salad you are good to go.  

Pumpkin Spice Cake No Sugar, No Eggs No oil No Fooling Cake

     This is by far the most amazing feat of substitutions that I have ever accomplished! The original recipe was pretty healthy but I think I kicked it way out of the park.  I do not like buying boxed cake mixes because I find that they are TOO SWEET!  But my family LIKES dessert once in a great while. So this Sunday, in my traditional fashion of not letting leftovers go to waste, I got on line and found a recipe that used some pumpkin puree. I had made a pretty delicious pumpkin, butternut squash and carrot puree the week before which froze beautifully.  I am sure that you could use just pumpkin puree. So that is where the substitutions began. I will list the original ingredients and then my substitutions in bold. I am not a baker and I really do not have a lot of experience baking.  Those with more experience, I am sure, could fiddle with this recipe and give me some pointers.  The cake was very light and almost "fluffy" as my daughter said.  It was plenty sweet. I would LOVE feedback!


Ingredients
1 cup ground old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups flour           1 1/4 cup cake flour, 1/4 cup ground flax seeds and  1/4 cup ground walnuts
1/4 golden raisins         I did not use raisins.
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup butter               1/4 cups applesauce
2 eggs                          1 cup puree mixture
1 1/2 cups sugar           2/3 cups agave nectar


1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease and flour a cake pan.
3.  Put the ground oats,  cake flour,  the ground flax seed and ground walnuts into a mixer. Mix.
4. In a small bowl  mix all the spices and incorporate into the dry flour.
5. Mix the applesauce, the puree and the agave in  the same small bowl and stir to incorporate.Pour into dry ingredients and mix on low for 30 sec. and on medium for 2 minutes.At this point I tried to remember what a cake batter looked like.  I would have added more wet stuff /puree if too dry and more flour if too wet. But it looked about right to me.
6. Pour into the bundt pan and bake for 40-45 min.
7. Cool on a rack until completely cool.
8. Frost and sprinkle with apple and nut mixture.

Cream Cheese Frosting (Totally made this up. )
Ingredients
8 oz. of low fat cream cheese at room temp.
1/4 cup agave syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 of an apple grated
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Put cream cheese, agave syrup and vanilla into a bowl.ingredients into a  small mixing bowl and beat on low for a couple minutes.
2. Add a little more agave if frosting is too stiff or refrigerate if too wet.
3. Frost cooled cake.
4.. Sprinkle walnut and apple mixture on frosted cake.

Supper Simple Sunday Dinner #3
     Sunday dinners have ALWAYS been special in our family.  Going way back both Zach and I remember that Sunday meant something special in the food department.  I remember going to my grandma's house and a lot of cousins being there.  After I married into the Peck family I remember going to Zach's mom's house for big family Sunday dinners.  As the families expanded and people moved on and away, I still tried to keep Sunday dinner's special.  I know that people don't like to hear this but even when I worked, I tried to make dinner time special every day.  We all sat and ate together and rarely was it take out.  But on Sunday, I really tried to make a "fancier" meal. It has always been important to me to have the family gather around good home cooked meals.  Now Sunday dinner usually means a roast of some kind. I usually have Donnie, Nessa, Ellie and sometimes a random person or persons that Zach has invited. Although the meal includes a roast, I still keep the lid on the food budget.  The cooking of this cheap cut of meat appears a little tricky but it is not after you run it through your head a couple of times. So here goes, Supper Simple Supper #3. Notice that the salad is the largest plate.  I always make a salad with every dinner.AND it usually takes up half my plate.

Night before;
Take a cheap 2.5-3 lbs round roast and salt all sides.
Wrap the roast  in plastic and put into fridge.
Day of meal
 3 hours before meal; Preheat oven to highest temp. Take meat out of fridge and let come to room temp. Pat meat dry with paper towels.

Ingrdients for Rub
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 TBSP oil

1. Mix the herbs together in a small bowl.
2. Take 1 TBSP of the oil and put into a pan.  Wait until  the pan is almost smoking and brown all sides of the meat.
3. Let meat rest. When cool enough to touch, rub the meat with the rest of the oil and apply the herbs.
4. Put into the oven on a baking sheet that you have covered in foil.
5. Cook meat for 7 min. per lb.
6. Reduce heat to lowest oven temp. and continue to cook meat for aprox. 3 hours. After 1.5 hours with a meat thermometer check to see if meat is at least 115 internal temp. If not, crank oven up 50 degrees.  Try  not to  open the oven until the end of the cooking time except at the halfway point to check temp.

Salad Ingredients  (6+ servings)
6 med. tomatoes (from my garden)  thinly sliced
1 large English cucumber ( take a fork and after washing scarp down the whole length) cut into thin slices
juice of 2 limes
s/p
olives about 1/4 cup any kind
garlic chives (from my garden) can use scallions white and green parts sliced thinly
EVOO

1. Arrange tomatoes and cucumbers on a platter.
2. Squeeze the juice of 2 limes over the cucumbers and tomatoes.
3. Salt and pepper the veggies.
4. Add olives scattered around the platter.
5. Garnish with scallions.
6. Refrigerate.
7.  Just before serving. use just a spritz over the platter of EVOO.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (8+ servings)
4 large russet potatoes scrubbed and cubed DO NOT remove skins.
8 cloves of garlic
4 bay leaves
1 tsp. salt
water enough to cover potatoes
1/2 cup non fat yogurt
1/2 cup + vegetable stock
s/p

1.  Cover potatoes with water. Add salt.
2. Add next 2 ingredients.
3. Boil until potatoes are soft.
4. Drain and remove bay leaves.
5.  In the same pan mash potatoes and add the next ingredients. Add veggie stock if it is too dry.

Roasted yellow squash and butternut squash (6+servings)
Preheat oven to highest temp.
4 yellow squashes
1 butternut squash oil to coat
about 1/4 or less EVOO
s/p to taste

1.Cut squash into as uniform a size as possible.
2. Arrange on a baking sheet and toss with oil. Make sure squash doesn't overlap.
3.  S/P toss again.
3. Put into oven and drop temp to 400.
4.  Bake for 20-25 min.

Falling Into Pasta

Butternut Squash and Ground  Turkey Pasta

Serves 4 generously

Supper Simple Supper #2

 *5 okay 6  ingredients/ less than 30 min.

Includes a Pantry Splurge

(The garlic and onion are in just about everything I make. The  herbs are not essential but really who wants a bland tasting pasta dish.) 

     As promised here is  the recipe for the butternut squash pasta I made last night.  This came about because my daughter bought  butternut squash to make for Ellie, our 17 month old grand daughter.  Ellie likes ravioli filled with butternut squash but apparently didn't like the butternut squash on it's own. Nessa brought it over because they're not found of it either. Too bad for them. Grand slam for us! So I decided to make it into some kind of pasta dish for supper. It really did look quite "fallish" as I was making it. The flavors were just right and I can tell you that it tasted even better today for lunch.

Ingredients: 

1 TBSP grapeseed oil for pan (You can use PAM or EVOO but I prefer not to use olive oil in applications that  heat the oil.  I read somewhere that olive oil is healthier if used room temp. Grapeseed oil does not have a flavor and has a higher smoke point than EVOO. )

1 onion diced

4 cloves of garlic pressed or grated

*2 cups of butternut squash cut into cubes (could use any other hard skinned squash)

*2 cups of kale roughly chopped  (could use spinach or chard  instead)

*1 lb. of ground turkey (although any lean ground meat would be fine)

*2 large tomatoes diced

*1 TBSP tomato paste

*Spinach pasta I broke it up and used about 4 cups  (I thought that it'd be easier to eat.)

Better if the following are fresh and then they should be coarsely chopped. But if dry, crush in the palm of your hand for several seconds.You could also use a ready made dry Italian herb mixture.

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried oregano 

1/2 tsp. dried sage

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

S/P to taste

1TBSP EVOO for the top of the pasta. (This can be eliminated if you want to cut calories but it does add such a nice flavor and the cheese sticks better to the pasta.)

1/4 cup of parm cheese to garnish (Let's just be honest, I used a lot more than that! I usually put it out on the table and let everyone have at it!)

PANTRY SPLURGE:  Sun dried tomatoes sprinkled over the top garnishes this dish very well.

Steps:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. (I always put a couple bay leaves in the water.)
2. Dress large skillet with oil. Add onion, garlic and  ground meat.  Breaking the meat with a potato masher is easier than using a wooden utensil or spoon. 
3.  When onion is soft (about 5 min.), add kale and butternut squash. Stir to combine. (Cook for about another 5 min.)
4. Mix the tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs in a small bowl.  Stir to combine and then add to meat and squash. Stir gently. Cook until squash is soft but still has a bite about 10 min.
5. When water boils add a Tbsp. of salt and the pasta. (The package I got said cook pasta  for 3 minutes. I suppose I could have just added pasta to meat and squash mixture. It would have had enough time to get cooked.) Drain and add pasta to meat and squash mixture. Gently toss into the mixture.
6. ADD SALT AND PEPPER. Toss again.  TASTE.  UNDER SALT SLIGHTLY BECAUSE THE CHEESE WILL ADD PLENTY OF SALTY FLAVOR.
7. You can lower the heat at this point and put on a lid on if you want to make a salad
8.  Just before I put the parm cheese, I spritz the top with the EVOO then dust with the cheese.

I made a tossed green salad with celery and cucumbers and green Zebra  heirloom tomatoes. The picture above does not show the tomatoes, the pasta or the cheese that I  added.

Amazing Thighs

     I am sorry that I have been away so long.  Lots happening in my life.  I have become very busy. Retirement is a different mindset that has taken time to get me to wrap my head around it.  Still working on it.
    This past week I have had 3 different people ask me to post some recipes.  So I started my Blog again. These requests have come from busy woman who want to make meals a gift to their families.  No more microwave processed dinners. No more drive thru meals. Healthy, simple, delicious meals made at home.   In the next few days I will also include a list of what a well stocked pantry, freezer, and refrigerator should have. To begin, you could add an item or two of something you do not usually buy. I promise these items will make your meals fabulous. I also highly recommend you start a little herb garden.  Basics; cilantro, parsley, thyme, mint, rosemary, oregano and basil.  However, basil is a pain as is cilantro.
      Most of these will be very easy meals with few ingredients and simple prep and cooking time. I will add sides that I have made with this main dish. However, sometimes I will post more complex meals or ideas on how to make the Super Simple Suppers with more ingredients. Ingredients with * are what I consider the 5 main ingredients. I will post pictures if I am making this dish.  Tonight I am actually making a pasta dish.  We haven't had pasta for a long time. I'll post that with a picture tomorrow if I remember how to upload the pictures.

Amazing Thighs

Ingredients

1 TBSP EVOO for your pan or spray with PAM (I actually like Grapeseed oil for cooking and EVOO for no heat applications)

*6 boneless skinless thighs (pound between wax paper using a heavy sauce pan)

*1 cup flour in a plastic bag with salt, pepper, dried thyme and garlic powder (1 tsp salt  about 1/2 tsp. pepper 1/2 tsp thyme 1/2 tsp. garlic powder)

*1 carton or bag of mushrooms (as many as you can afford, slice to make it more affordable)

*1 baseball sized onion sliced thinly

1 TBSP butter

*1+ cup of apple juice or Marsala wine (or any other sweet wine) 

PANTRY FUN INGREDIENT: GARNISH WITH CAPERS

1. Prepare your plastic bag with flour and herbs. 

2. Oil and heat your pan.

3. Put  1/2 of your chicken pieces in the bag and shake gently until completely covered. Place in the pan. Do the other half  of the chicken and place in the pan.  

4. Cook chicken for about 4 min. on each side.  (You are looking for a little brown.)

5. Take your chicken out of the pan and set aside for a few minutes.

6. Add the butter to the pan. Add the onion and mushrooms.  Cook until the onion is translucent and mushrooms are soft. (From what I have read, the body actually knows what to do with butter and it adds so much flavor but use whatever you are comfortable with.)

TASTE SAUCE AND ADD SALT AND OR PEPPER

7.  Add the  apple juice. Stir all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add your chicken.Add a TBSP of apple juice at a time to the sauce to loosen it up if it needs that.  Make sure to put the sauce, mushrooms and onions on top of the chicken when you serve it.

                                                                 SIDES

A plate of sliced tomatoes with a little lime juice, salt and pepper would go really well with this dish garnished with scallions and parsley. Steamed green beans are nice with this dish too. (Fresh are great but use those steamer bags. Very good too.) Personally, I would  also love this with some garlic mashed potatoes. Bring a couple of scrubbed  cubed potatoes (skins on)  and water to a boil. I put a bay leaf in the water and about two cloves of garlic per potato.  Cook for about 10-12 minutes. Take off heat and start to mash to the consistency you like.  I like lumpy.  Add enough chicken broth to loosen the potatoes if needed. You won't really need butter or milk. Taste and add salt and pepper. 

Cindy's Chicken Salad

     I have been eating chicken salad for every "event" that my mom and aunts have hosted over some 50+ years.  I have also included it in many menus for many events I have hosted. Over the years I have tweaked it but it remains virtually the same. The beauty of this salad is it can be quadrupled or halved and it retains the same flavors. Also this is a salad that can be eaten on bread or on lettuce leaves. It can be a one dish meal or a nice side dish.  I often serve this salad with a fruit salad and a pasta salad. Or...in the fall and winter, some potato or pumpkin soup.  Just so you know, you can use the roast chickens that the stores sell now days. It makes it a FAST salad. But I learned something watching the Cooking channel and I now use this procedure almost exclusively the night before when I am going to poach the chicken myself.

This recipe makes enough for 10 servings with leftovers if you are lucky.  Much better the next day.  :)

Chicken Prep

The night before
1 whole raw chicken, rinsed and cleaned out, covered in water to which 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of salt have been diluted.

Chicken Poaching Water

1 whole chicken
3 bay leaves
4 smashed cloves of garlic
1 onion quartered
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP whole peppers
The night before


1. Drain the chicken.
2. Put the raw whole chicken in a pot of water to cover the chicken.
3. Put 3 bay leaves
4. 1 tsp whole pepper.
5. 1 TBSP salt
6. 4 garlic cloves, smashed.
7. 1 large onion cut in 1/4's
8.  Cook for about 1.5 hours in the following manner.  Bring water to a boil and then drop to a simmer.  Cover the pot. Check chicken.  Chicken is done if you can wiggle the leg and it comes away from the body. Cool the chicken.
Ingredients:
 Debone the chicken and cut into small chunks. (Pull the chicken away from the bones.  Remove the fat and skin.)
3 ribs of celery diced
1 cup of green grapes cut in half
1 cup red grapes cut in half
1/4 cup dried cranberries
3 green onions diced
1/2 cup cashews
1 small jar of marinated artichokes.
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
1 tsp fresh tarragon leaves chopped

Dressing
1/4 cup of fresh lime juice
1 cup of plain yogurt
1/2 cup light mayo (I like the mayo that has lime juice in it.)
1 large (heaping ) TBSP Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp. curry  powder
1 heaping TBSP of Agave syrup

1.  Combine all of the above and whisk.
2. Taste and adjust s/p.

Directions:
Pour dressing on the chicken and fruit and toss carefully.

It's Autumnal Weather Food

 

It's been a long time since I posted.  I have been traveling but I am still cooking and I have been eating many delicious foods. I hope to post more recipes soon.

So today it rained.  No news in that, you say.  Wrong. We've had spritzes but no real rain for a looooonnnnnggggg time. It got my fall weather juices flowing. So I made a stuffed pork tenderloin, minted peas, a  green salad with thin apple slices and  goat cheese and jalapeno cornbread.

 The Pork
2 lbs pork tenderloin sliced almost through fat side up ( a big momma!)
1/4 olive oil
3 heaping tabsp. grill seasoning (I love Kirkland's)
1 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1 TBSP sugar 1 tsp salt  mix to combine
1 green tart apple very thinly sliced
1 large onion thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
1. Slather the pork with olve oil and then take a palm full of grilled seasoning and cover the pork inside and out with the seasoning salt.
2. Marinate the apple and onion in the sugar, salt and vinegar for about 1 hour.
3. Drain and fill pork cavity.
4.Line a roasting pan with heavy duty foil.   Place pork slit side up in a roasting pan.
5. Bake at 500 for about 20 min..
6. Lower heat and cook for about 45min. top 1 hour at 350.
7.  Remove from heat and cover pork with the foil.

Jalepeno Corn Bread
Preheat oven to 350
1 pkg. Jiffy cornbread mix (Don't turn your nose up at this.  I've tried it many ways and this is still the best!!!)
1 egg beaten
1 can of creamed corn
1/2 cup shredded cheese ( I like the Mex. mix)
2 jalapenos peppers diced finely  (remove the seeds if too hot)

1. Combine all of the ingredients and fold carefully.
2. Spray muffin tins or small loaf pans with Pam.
3.  Follow cooking directions on Jiffy pkg.

Salad
1 large green apple sliced thinly
*I have sometimes used a purple onion too.  (1/2 of an onion sliced thinly.)
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 big handfuls of salad greens
1/2 cup of goat cheese crumbled
pepper to taste

1. Marinate the apple in the vinegar, sugar and salt for about 30 min.
2.  Remove the apples add the oil and whisk the above dressing.
3. Put salad greens in a bowl and add apples and goat cheese. Toss dressing  to coat.
4. Add peeper and toss again.

Peas
1 pkg. frozen peas
1 box of sliced mushrooms
1/4 stick of butter
1 tsp. mint jelly
1 tsp. finely chopped mint

1. Follow frozen pea directions but add the mushrooms, butter and mint jelly.
2. Just before serving toss in the mint.

This meal served 4 generous dinner portions (second all around) with left overs which I will use for sandwiches tomorrow.