Couscous

The tiny couscous that comes in a box is just too hard to eat! I hate hemming it up on a fork and I feel like a kid eating it with a spoon. A couple of years ago I was introduced to pearl or Israeli couscous
( probably by Ina Garten ) and have been converted every since. Tonight I just wanted something different.  We've eaten our fill of potatoes, rice and beans. A quick inventory of the refrigerator sent me scurrying for the big saucepan and this side dish emerged. It was a hit at our dinner table along with oven roasted fresh asparagus ( from Costco ) and chicken tenders dipped in egg then rolled in Panko and baked. Yuuuuuum! Full tummies here tonight!

Veggie Pearl Couscous
1tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1cup pearl ( Israeli ) couscous
2 small or 1 medium zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
1 1/4 cup chicken broth ( or water )
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add garlic and onion, sautéing until soft, but not brown.  Add couscous and stir until lightly browned. Add zucchini, red pepper and chicken broth. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

Honey Brushed Chicken and the Cutest Chickies Around

Have I really missed an entire month? Wow! You must be starving! Ha! Ha! As most of you know, we have a new grandson, Hudson Riley Statham, who was born Feb. 4 in Atlanta. My daughter had a scheduled c-section and I stayed with them for 2 1/2 weeks. Everyone is doing great although a bit sleep deprived at the moment. Of course, he is THE most adorable baby EVER born! Just in case you've missed pictures of him, here's a cutie. He has a 3 1/2 yr old sister, Emmie who simply adores him (except when he cries!). They belong to my daughter and son-in-law. My son and daughter-in-law have 3 children. So, this makes number 5 Grand for us! For someone who grew up as an only child, this is a crowd! I love every one of them and every minute I get to spend with them!

Ok, now that you're up to date with my family, let's get back to the kitchen! Since I'm always on the lookout for QUICK recipes, this one was an instant winner with me. I like the combination of spices and since it has been too cold, snowy, rainy, yucky to grill out, this comes close to the same taste! The recipe calls for chicken thighs. I used boneless, skinless thighs. I think chicken legs or wings or even (my favorite) tenders would be equally as good.  

Honey Brushed Chicken 

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika ( if you have smoked paprika, use half regular and half smoked)

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper ( I backed off of this a little as we are not fans of HOT)

8 skinless chicken thighs

6 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Preheat broiler. Spray broiler pan WELL with Pam. Line bottom of pan with foil.

Combine garlic powder, chili powder, salt, cumin and paprika in a large bowl (or zip loc bag). Add chicken to bowl and toss to coat. Place chicken on broiler rack. Broil 5 minutes on each side. 

Combine honey and vinegar. Remove chicken from oven. Brush half of the honey mixture over chicken and return to the oven. Broil for 2 minutes. Turn chicken and brush with remaining mixture. Broil an additional 2 minutes or until chicken is done. (Total cooking time: 14 - 18 minutes). 

Easy No-bake Nutella Cheesecake

Quick and easy. Two of my favorite words! And boy will I ever need those kind of recipes for the next few weeks. Early next week my daughter will deliver our 5th grandchild (2 for her, 3 for my son) and I will be on "grandma duty" while she recuperates. Her 3 yr old, Emmie, and I will be in charge of the kitchen and I think we will need a good dessert recipe to make together. This pie looks like it will be just right!

You could press this into a 9-inch baking pan or into a tart pan or into individual muffin tins. If you do any of these variations, you'll need to make your own crust. Place about 1/2 pkg of Oreos in a food processor along with 3 tablespoons melted butter and process until mixture looks like wet sand. Press into pan and fill with Nutella mixture.

Enjoy the pie and say a prayer for all of us next week as we welcome Hudson Riley Statham into the world!

Easy No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake

2/3 cup Nutella
1 (8 oz) pkg. Cream Cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) container non-dairy whipped topping, defrosted
1 Oreo Cookie Pie Crust
1 bar chocolate (optional)

Combine Nutella and cream cheese in mixer bowl. Beat until well blended and smooth. Add vanilla extract. Fold in whipped topping until no white streaks are left. Pour into Oreo Pie crust. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Optional: Shave chocolate with veggie peeler on top of pie for garnish.

Winter vegetable Soup

Snowy, blustery, cold winter day. Can you guess what's cooking at my house? Right! SOUP! My friend/teacher/mentor, artist extraordinaire AND excellent cook, Elly Hobgood ( check out her amazing watercolor paintings here www.ellyhobgood.com) shared this recipe after she witnessed our bumper crop of butternut squash. It is yuuuuuummmy good! Also, unlike lots of soups, it is quick and easy to make! AND it's low calorie! Win! Win! Win!


Elly's Winter Vegetable Soup

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, diced
 2 cloves garlic, minced
 2 to 3 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced 1/2-inch
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
 pinch of cayenne pepper
4 generous sprigs fresh thyme (remove stems before serving) or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 (14 ounce)  can diced fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups packed chopped kale
1can chick peas (or cannellini beans) rinsed and drained
Parmesan cheese, optional

Sauté onion, carrot and garlic in oil in large Dutch oven. Add squash, allspice, salt, pepper thyme, broth and tomatoes. Simmer until squash starts to soften. About 20 minutes. Add kale and beans. Cook another 10 minutes until kale has wilted.  Adjust seasonings.

Sprinkle with a bit of Parmesan when serving, but even without that it's quite hearty.

Two New Recipes- Chicken and Salmon

It's been a busy and positive start to 2014! I've been on a huge learning curve with my changeover from PC to MAC. I've completed a painting for my daughter's baby's room. (Hudson is scheduled to arrive by c-section on Feb. 4) My friend, Helen, drug me to the gym and held a gun to my head until I signed on the dotted line. I've started "teaching" small cooking "classes" in my kitchen by request. We've scheduled 2 trips with the longest to come in Oct when we take another river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland. AND I celebrated another birthday! WHEW!

In addition, I have 2 new recipes to share with you. I am easily bored with food in winter and was looking for something different to cook. The chicken recipe came from Pinterest. ( Yes, I know how badly I talked about the recipes on Pinterest earlier. However, now I research the recipe back to the source before trying it. Only reliable websites with positive reviews yield positive results! ) The chicken recipe is cooked in the crockpot and was very good, but very sweet. The salmon recipe was very good, quick and easy and very spicy ( If you don't like spicy, use mild Rotel tomatoes.) We liked both recipes.  I hope you will, too!

Orange Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts ( I used 6 skinless thighs)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Place chicken in crockpot. ( no liquid! )Sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper. Cook on HIGH for 3 hours. Add remaining ingredients and cook for an additional 2 hours. Serve with hot cooked rice.

Note: I think it would actually work to add all ingredients at the beginning, go to work and forget about it. If I did that, I would cook it on LOW.
Next time, I'm going to reduce the marmalade by half.

Santa Fe Salmon
1 (10-oz) can Rotel tomatoes with chilis,lime and cilantro, well drained
1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise
2 salmon fillets

Spray with pam and heat a large skillet over medium heat. Combine drained Rotel tomatoes with mayonnaise. Spread over one side of salmon. Place salmon in hot skillet. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Turn fish, spoon on remaining sauce, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Fish is done when it flakes with a fork. DO NOT OVERCOOK! Serve with rice.

Chicken Pot Pie

When it's really cold and/or snowy, I head to the kitchen. There's usually a big pot of soup simmering and/or a batch of cookies baking. Since I've done both of those already this week, today I made chicken pot pie from scratch. Totally. Made the ( ugh) pie crust, baked the chicken, made the sauce from scratch ( no cream of anything in this recipe! ) and baked individual pies! Ok, I was bored and it was too cold in my studio to paint!

I found the recipe on the blog, Simply Scratch. She even gives her recipe for pie crust made with cold butter in the food processor. Next time, I would use the refrigerated crust. I would also bake one 9x13 pan of Chicken Pie! Mama rolled out her crust and baked half of it on a cookie sheet, then layered it with the filling, topping it with unbaked crust. Then she baked the Chicken Pie just long enough for the filling to bubble and the crust to brown.

Here's the recipe as I made it today. It was absolutely DELICIOUS! We have plenty of leftovers which we will look forward to!

HOMEMADE CHICKEN POT PIES
1 pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cooked and chopped

1 stick butter, divided

2 carrots, peeled and diced small

2 stalks celery, diced small

1 cup diced cooked potatoes

1 medium onion, peeled and diced small

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn ( I omitted this)

3 cups chicken broth, warmed

1-1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salg, more or less to taste

1/2 teaspoons black pepper, more or less to taste

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1 recipe for Homemade Pie Crust

6 (10-ounce) Ramekins or 1( 9x13-inch baking pan)

Preheat  oven to 375 degrees and grease six 10-ounce ramekins with butter or olive oil.

Roll the pie crust out and use a bowl {slightly larger than the ramekin}, trace and cut out 6 circles, using the scraps to make more if needed. Keep the dough circles in the fridge so they stay cold.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large Dutch oven.

Add in the diced carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add in the diced onion and celery and season with a teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent and the carrots are soft {but not too soft}. Add in the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and let that melt. Once melted add in the half cup of flour and stir often while it cooks for 2 minutes.

Pour in 3 cups of hot chicken broth and 1-1/2 cups of whole milk. Let that simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened 5-8 minutes.

Next add in frozen peas, corn, cooked chicken, dried parsley and chopped fresh thyme. Stir. Taste add season further with up to a teaspoon more of salt and a little more black pepper if desired.

Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Evenly divide the diced cooked potatoes into each prepared ramekin.

Spoon the pot pie filling evenly over the potatoes, filling the ramekins to the brim. Let them cool down a bit before placing the pie dough over top and crimping the edges. With a sharp knife make slits for ventilation.

Slide the tray of pot pies into a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden.

Remove and let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

This delicious recipe brought to you by Simply Scratch
http://www.simplyscratch.com/2012/12/chicken-pot-pies.html

Ham and Bean Soup

Winter weather has arrived and it is COLD on the mountain! Since I had a nice ham bone leftover from Christmas, this was the perfect day to make Ham and Bean Soup. The bag of mixed beans came with a slow cooker recipe and I followed the directions but altered the ingredients slightly. It turned out to be a yummy supper with cornbread muffins! I only tended it 3 times today and that made it quick and easy in my book. I was free to do other things without standing over the pot and stirring to prevent sticking!

Ham and Bean Soup
1 pkg mixed dried beans ( or 15 bean soup mix)
2 quarts water
1 ham bone or 2 cups chopped ham
1 tablespoon Cajun Seasoning
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Fines Herbs or a Bouquet Garni or 2 bay leaves

Place beans and 2 qts water in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Next day, drain and rinse beans.

Place beans and ham bone in slow cooker. Cook on High for 3 hours. Add remaining ingredients and cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours or until beans are soft. Remove the ham bone, cool, then remove and chop meat. Discard bone. Return meat to mixture. Cover and continue to cook until desired thickness. Remove and discard bay leaves, if used.

  * This soup is thinner than typical bean soup. I used a stick blender to puree part of the mixture. You could also put part of it in a blender, then return it to the pot. Or eat it as it is!

* If you use chopped ham, add it at the last of cooking time.