Box cake mix and Can frosting

So I have come to the realization that box cake mix and frosting from a can taste really bad! No wonder people don't like cake! I am doing some cupcakes for a wedding and they wanted box cake with this one kind of canned frosting. It's and easy job for me but as I was tasting the stuff it doesn't taste good at all. The frosting looks like some sort of soft putty and one finger full will give you a sugar high for the rest of the day and the cake itself has a funny aftertaste. Ok sorry that is my rant on box cake mix. I guess I have just gotten spoiled =D

Polish Sweet Bread

My Grandmother's bread. I grew up with this and think it is pure heaven.

2 cups of sugar
1/2 cups of butter
2 cups of buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
4 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
2 tsp of baking powder
raisins are optional (I don't add them)

Topping:
1/2 cup of butter
1 1/4 cup of flour
1/2 sugar
mix in a small bowl

In a large bowl cream sugar eggs and butter. In another bowl flour salt baking soda and baking powder.
Combine egg mixture with flour mixture plus buttermilk.
Add Raisins last (ewww.)
Pour into 2 well greased loaf pans and sprinkle topping on batter

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Country Captain Chicken

SO Taber and I had this at Beth and Danny Ruiz. Beth said it is from Rachel Ray 30mins. It was a pleasant surprise to me. I do not like bell peppers but I got to say mixed with the raises I was ok eating them.
2 3/4 cups of water
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups of white and wild rice or long grain rice
2/3 cups of flour, eyeball it
1 rounded tablespoon sweet paprike
4 pieces, 6 ounces each, boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 turns of the pan
2 Tablespoons butter
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion chopped
2 or 3 cloves of garlic smashed
1 table spoon curry powered or mild curry paste
1 cup of chicken broth
1 can of diced tomatoes in puree or chunky style crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup golden raisins or currants a couple of handfuls
2 ounces, 1 small pouch, sliced almonds lightly toasted
3 scallions, chopped for garnish

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add butter and rice and return water to boil. Reduce heat to low and cover the pot. Cook rice 20 minutes or until tender. Turn off heat and fluff rice with a fork. Combine flour and paprika in a shallow dish. season chicken with salt and pepper. cut each chicken breast and thigh in 1/2 on an angle. Coat chicken pieces in paprika seasoned flour. wash your hands and chicken work surfaces thoroughly.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to the pan. Brown chicken pieces. 3 minutes on each side and remove from the skillet. add butter to the pan, then stir in peppers, onions and garlic. season the veggies with salt and pepper and saute them 5 to 7 minutes to soften. add curry, stock, tomatoes, and raisins. Slide chicken back into the skillet and simmer over moderate heat for 5 minutes to combine flavors and finish cooking the chicken through. Place skillet on a trivet and serve the chicken from the pan. Garnish the country captain's chicken with the sliced almonds. Transfer rice to a serving dish and garnish with chapped scallions.

Boneless Buffalo Wings

Serves 2-3
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black peppe
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 chicken breast fillets
4-6 cups vegetable oil(or half crisco and half veggie oil)
1/4 cup hot sauce (Crystals or Frank's Louisiana)
1 Tablespoon butter

1. Combine flour, salt, peppers and paprika in a medium bowl
2. In another small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk.
3. Slice each chicken breast into 6 pieces or however big you want your "wings"
4. Preheat the vegetable/crisco oil in a deep fryer until hot
5. One or two at a time, dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture then into the flour/spice blend.      Repeat the process so each piece of chicken is double coated, then place on a plate. Once all the            chicken pieces are coated chill the chicken for 15 minutes.
6. When the chicken is done resting, drop each piece into the hot oil and fry for 5-6 minutes or until       each piece is brown and chicken is cooked.
7. As the chicken fries combine the hot sauce and butter in a small microwavable bowl. Microwave        the sauce for 20-30 seconds or until butter is melted. Stir to combine. Or heat the butter and sauce      in small saucepan over the stove top and stir until ingredients are blended.
8. When chicken is done frying, remove onto a plate lined with paper towels.
9. Place the chicken into a container with a cover and pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover with lid and gently shake until each piece of chicken is coated in the sauce.
10. Pour the chicken onto a place and serve with your favorite sides.

 I made them into Buffalo burgers. Just cut the chicken breast in half and pound them out a little flatter, then follow all the rest of the instructions. Serve them on hamburger buns with mayo, lettuce, pickles and tomatos. It was really yummy!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have been wanting to try a chicken lettuce wrap recipe for a while now, so today I decided to just do it! I got the recipe off the Food Network website, with a few changes by me! Tim really liked them!
I labeled them Appetizers but you can totally do it for lunch or dinner served with a bowl of rice.
It seems like a lot of ingredients and prep but it's actually very easy. I will also attach the link to the original recipe. The original called for noodle but I didn't add them.

CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAPS
Serves 4
About 1 hour total prep and cook time

For the Chicken:
1 large egg white
1 Tblsp cornstarch
1 Tblsp Chinese rice wine or dry Sherry(I used the Sherry and cream sherry at that and it still turned out yummy)
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
Whisk the egg white, cornstarch and rice wine in a large bowl. Add the diced and toss to coat well. Cover and let sit in the fridge for at least half an hour while prepare the other stuff.

For the Stir Fry Sauce
2 Tblsp Oyster sauce
1 Tblsp Hoisin sauce (I didn't have any oyster sauce, so I used the hoisin for the amount of the oyster sauce as well, you might need to add just a little more salt but other than that it still tasted good.)
1 Tblsp low sodium soy sauce
1 Tblsp Chinese rice wine or sherry
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons Cornstarch
Whisk  the Oyster sauce, Hoisin, soy sauce,  rice wine and sesame oil in a bowl, then whisk in the cornstarch until it is dissolved. Set aside.
I wanted more kick so I added 1 tsp of sweet chili sauce to the mix

For the Stir Fry
4 Tblsp Peanut oil(or canola oil)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon peeled ginger, minced
1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
4-6 scallions(green onions) large slices
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 pound shitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced( the shitake mushrooms were kind of expensive so I substituted the baby bella's also called Cremini mushrooms. Take the stems off and dice them)
1/2 cup water chestnuts, diced
Small lettuce leaves(butter or Boston lettuce works well, but also whatever lettuce you like)

Directions:
To make the stir fry: Heat 2 Tblsp peanut or canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring 2-3 minutes. Remove to a plate. add the remaining 2 Tblsp oil to the skillet; when really hot, almost smoking, stir in the garlic, ginger and jalapeno, then ad the 1/2 tsp salt and the 1/4 tsp sugar and stir fry 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, water chestnuts and scallion piece and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Add the stir fry sauce and and chicken and cook for a minute.

Spoon mixture into washed and stemmed lettuce leaves and enjoy!
To Garnish you can shred some carrots and top the lettuce cups with some shredded carrots.

I am back!!!

So I do not have a recipe to post yet but I had this delicious appetizer in Hawaii that I want to try to make. It was a piece of garlic toast with a slice of grilled eggplant and zucchini on it, topped with Parmesan that was toasted on top then drizzles with a balsamic dressing. It was so tasty! I also made dinner for the first time in two months =D

Recipe number two!

Chicken breast with bacon and sherry vinegar

5 slices bacon chopped

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast

salt and pepper

2 shallots, minced

1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, ( ok this was weird because i could not find this in any stores so i called Erin. i think i used a little bit more on the sherry side.)

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 teaspoons honey

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes, Transfer to paper towel-lined plate and pour of all but tablespoons fat from skillet.

2. Spread flour in shallow dish. pat chicken dry with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess. cook chicken in fat in skillet until golden brown about 4 minutes per side transfer to plate.

3. add shallots to empty skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 1 minute. stir in 1/3 cup vinegar and simmer until syrupy, about 1 minute. add broth, honey and chicken and simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. transfer chicken to platter and tent with foil.

4. Continue to simmer sauce until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. off heat, whisk in butter and remaining vinegar. pour sauce over chicken and sprinkle with bacon. Serve

Ok now for the real food

These three recipes are from the cook book called The Best Simple recipes. they all take about 30 to 35 minutes to cook.
The first one:
Chicken with Pesto-Mushroom Cream Sauce
4 boneless, skinless chicken

salt and pepper

3 table spoons of oil

10 ounces of mushrooms sliced thin

garlic cloves minced

1/2 cup of low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup basil pesto

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 table spoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. cook chicken until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to plate and tent with foil

2. Add remaining oil to skillet and cook mushrooms until browned, about 5 minutes. stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add cream, broth, and chicken in to skillet, scraping up any browned bits, and bring to a boil. reduced heat to low cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

3. transfer chicken to serving platter and tent with foil. return skillet to high heat and simmer until sauce s thickened, about 5 minutes. Off heat stir in pesto and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve.

This goes great with rice, potatoes, coucous.

So busy Cooking

To Start with if you are borded and need something to do. Make giant gummy bears. it is so easy and fun. http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/project/366/1
just follow the recipe and be amaze. Also use lots of oil it will help.

The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

OK so Eileen introduce Taber and I to this wonderful cheese. it has an Irish ale mixed in with the cheddar. well don't try to make it into a grilled cheese sandwich. it is way too strong.

Chicken Wraps

These are yummy and easy to make. It's nice light meal that can be used for lunch or dinner as well as makes for a good summer dish, since you don't have to turn on the oven =D I made these for dinner for Tim and I tonight and thought I should share the recipe!

CHICKEN WRAPS
Serves 3-4
12 oz Shredded Chicken, or 2 chicken breast
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tblsp pesto
1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 shallot
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp thyme
2 Tblsp white wine
salt and pepper to taste

1 cup shredded Romaine
4-5 tortillas
Place your chicken breast in a sauce pan and fill with water to cover the chicken. Bring the chicken to a simmer and simmer until the chicken breast is cooked all the way through. Once chicken is cooked pull out of water and pat dry. Using a fork shred the chicken by running the fork along the grain of the chicken, put the shredded chicken into a bowl and set aside.

Blend all the other ingredients (except lettuce and tortillas) in a blender or food processor until nice and smooth. Pour the dressing over the shredded chicken and mix well.

Warm you tortillas and place some of the shredded chicken in the tortilla, top with shredded romaine lettuce and roll up. Voila!

Note; If I am making this for just Tim and I usually half the recipe and use one chicken breast. It should make enough to fill 3 tortillas

Variations
Sundried Tomato pesto. Substitute sundried tomatoes in place of pesto or add along with the pesto, both are good.
If you don't have either pesto or sundried tomatoes add 2 tsp balsamic vinegar. I usually add the balsamic vinegar to the recipe anyways since I like the way it taste.
Have fun with the recipe! I never follow it exactly so play around with ingredients you like!

dinner a few nights ago

So a few nights ago when I had work. I made dinner early so Taber could eat when he was hungry. I made two baked potatoes, as well as carrots with garlic. i think i cooked the carrots to long. but they still had a nice flavor. I then made a beef and gravy thing. It was pre-packaged, but went very nice with the potatoes and carrots.

Grandpa Greg's biscuts

Grandpa's Biscuts

Easy way:
Get a Biscut mix, follow the recipe on the back of the box.
Brown some sausage, drain off the fat the put it in your biscuts
Put shredded chedder cheese in with the mix (as much or as little as you like)
Put on backing sheet and follow cooking time on the box.

Other way:
Make your own Biscut mix then follow the above with the sausage and cheese.

No Peep Dinner

No Peep Dinner

2 lbs. lean, boneless stew meat
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 - 4oz. can of mushroom stems and piece (you can use fresh or you can leave it out)
1 package dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup red wine
3/4 to 1 cup water

Place stew meat in the bottom of a roasting pan. Season with pepper, but NO salt. Pour all other ingredients on top of meat. No need to stir. Cover and cook in 325 degree oven for three hours. Do not peep while cooking. Meat shuld be very tender, and you will have a rich brown gravy. Serve with rice or noodles.

Tater Tot Casserole from "Feeding the Flock FUMC Marshall, TX"

This is easy and it is good.

1lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 bag tater tots
1 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 2 cups shredded chedder cheese

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic, add salt and pepper then drain the fat off the beef. Mix the drained meat with the Cream of Mushroom soup. Place in a baking dish. Top the meat with the tater tots. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top. Cook an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

I served this with Aunt C's Asparagus. Have a pot of boiling water. Cut a little off the bottom of the asparagus. Remove the spikes.O you can make them like Julia Child's and peel the tough skin off with a potato peeler, be careful not to peel too much off. Once the asparagus is preped, put it into the boiling water until it is just barly soft. Take the asparagus out of the boiling water and put it into cold water with ice, this will make it stop cooking and make it crisp. Take the asparagus out of the cold water, sprinkle with lemon juice and kosher salt to taste.

gonna try it

So i finally found a recipe out of Julia Child;s cook book that i think is near my cooking level. I foget the name but it is basicaly chicken, and bacon with potatoes, onions, and mushrooms. I am also excited because spring is near by i can cook again.

My Recipe for the Week

On Monday my Mom and Paula came and spent the day with me perusing LA and Beverly Hills. After filling up on chocolate truffles from K. Chocolatiers, which were melt in your mouth, amazingly delicious and kind of expensive; we then invaded the Beverly Hills Cheese Store! The Beverly Hills Cheese Store has every kind of cheese you can think of and you get to sample as many as you want. Carie you would have thought you had died and gone to cheese Heaven! For dinner I wanted to do something special to go with our cheese and chocolate(oh and bottle of sake, why sake...because Paula liked the bottled) so I decided to make Steak au Poivre, also known as Steak Diane. It's peppered steak served with a Cognac/ Brandy sauce. Interesting fact I learned while shopping for the brandy. Brandy and Cognac are essentially the same thing, only Cognac comes from the Cognac region of France and anything outside of that has to be called Brandy. I went with the $10 bottle of Brandy rather than the $30 bottle of Cognac. The recipe I used comes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child, with the little changes I did. Sorry the instructions are long, Julia is very detailed.

Steak au Poivre
Serves 4-6 people depending on your menu

 2 Tblsp of a mixture of several kinds of peppercorns. (I used black peppercorns and my pepper grinder)
4 - 6 steaks 3/4 to 1 inch thick. ( A porterhouse is a nice cut to use, but any steak cut about 1-inch thick)
1 1/2 Tblsp Butter
1 1/2 Tblsp vegetable oil
Dry the steaks on a paper towel. Rub and pres the crushed peppercorns into both sides of the meat with your fingers and the palms of your hands. Cover with waxed paper. Let stand for at least half an hour; 2-3 hours are even better, so the flavor of the pepper will penetrate the meat.

Put the butter and oil in the skillet and place over moderately high heat until you see the butter foam begin to subside; this indicates the oil is hot enough to sear the steaks. Saute the steak on one side for 3-4 minutes and regulate the heat so the oil is very hot but not burning. Turn the Steak and Saute the other side for 3-4 minutes. It will be about medium rare at this point. (I had really thick steaks so once they were seared I took them out of the saute pan and put them on a baking sheet in the oven preheated to 350 degrees F. I let them cook for about another 10 minutes while I made the sauce in the pan, you can do this if you like your steak more medium to well done).

Brandy Sauce
1 Tblsp Butter
2 Tblsp minced shallots
1/2 cup beef stock
1/3 cup Cognac
3-4 Tblsp Room temperature butter.
Using the skillet you used to sear the steaks, pour the fat out of the skillet from the steaks. Add the new butter and add the shallots and cook slowly for a minute. Pour in the stock and boil down rapidly over high heat. Then add the Cognac and boil rapidly for a minute or two more to evaporate the alcohol. Off heat swirl in the butter a half tablespoon at a time. Taste sauce and Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the sauce over the steak and Serve! =D yum!

Guest for dinner =D

Tonight Tim and I got to have Landon and Nicole over for food and games. I made Penne a la Vodka with homemade French bread, Broccoli sauteed with olive oil, salt and chili flakes(gives them a little kick that is delicious!!!). I had a bunch of leftover egg whites so for dessert I made lemon meringue pie. The pasta was amazing, the broccoli turned out perfect, the french bread was not the best I have made, I tried making it with AP flour and it didn't turn out as good as the loafs with  bread flour in them. The lemon meringue pie had great flavor, but the lemon filling was a little runny and not enough of it. Overall everything was really great but I think next time I will do more of a lemon curd for the lemon filling in the pie so it is thicker. =D Any thoughts?

Blog site ideas

Just so you guys know the layout and name is something I just came up with really fast and is open to revision. So if you have any ideas for our blogs name or want to change the layout let me know, or feel free just to change the layout and we can see if we like it!

breakfast

I ws able to cook Taber breakfast this morning. I made him animal pancakes, (i got a pan that has the shape of animals imprinted in it) as well as bacon and eggs, I do have one question does any one else put milk in their eggs?

Recipe of the Week

I may not be able to make a new recipe this week since there was pretty much no food at the grocery store....stupid snow!

Recipe of the Week

My Recipe of the week going to be Cornish Pasties. Yum!
So I changed my recipe for the week last week and instead did Creamy Pesto and Sundried Tomato Penne. Tim loved it! It was super fast and easy to make and if you are like me I am always looking for fast and easy!

Creamy Pesto Penne
Serves 2
1 Boneless, skinless Chicken Breast
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup Cream
2 Tblsp Pesto
1Tblsp Sundried tomatoes(the kind that comes in a can and cut into strips)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 pound of Penne Pasta

Start cooking the pasta.
Cut the chicken breast into little chunks.
Pour 1 Tblsp Olive oil into a saute pan and saute the chicken breast.
At the end of cooking the chicken toss in the garlic and sundried tomatos and saute for a little bit more.
Add the pesto to pan and then the cream(if you want more sauce you can adjust here with a little more cream and pesto)
Simmer for a couple minutes until it looks like it's starting to thicken slightly.
Add the pasta and Parmesan cheese to the sauce and toss to coat all the pasta! Voila, easy and enjoy!

Note on Pesto: You can buy premade pesto at the grocery store. It comes in a can or tubes usually by the tomato sauces. If you guys want a recipe for homemade pesto I can post one!