Soul Smothered Chicken

Soul Smothered Chicken

Courtesy of AllRecipes.com I recently tried a new recipe. It turned out pretty good except I didn't cute the carrots small enough wasn't able to let it cook long enough so the carrots weren't quite done. :-/ That aside, it's a pretty yummy recipe while not being too complicated yet just complicated enough to be fun. Here 'tis!

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter

1 whole chicken (or 4 boneless/skinless breasts cut in half)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

3/4 c flour

3 c chopped yellow onion

1 c chopped celery

3 cloves chopped garlic

2 c chopped carrots

3 c chicken broth

3 Tbs flour

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Dredge in 3/4 cup flour, place in the skillet, and brown on all sides. Set chicken aside, and drain skillet, reserving about 1 tablespoon butter. Reduce skillet heat to medium-low, and stir in onions, celery, garlic, and carrots. Cook 5 minutes, until tender. Stir in the flour, and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in the chicken broth, season with cayenne pepper, and remaining salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Return chicken to the skillet, cover, and continue cooking 30 minutes, until chicken juices run clear and gravy has thickened.

For a full cooking story on this recipe click here :-)

Thanksgiving Menu

Well I've been talking about Thanksgiving a lot so I thought I'd make a special page where I put all of my Thanksgiving recipes as I choose the "line up". :-) Click on "Thanksgiving Menu" on the right to see all of the recipes together. So check back soon and see what we're having for Thanksgiving this year!

Ranch Pork Roast

Made this for the first time a year or so ago and it was wonderful! Because of the meat and cream cheese it's not the kind of recipe I can do all of the time but Mama bought some meat and I told her about this recipe so it's in the crock pot right now. :-) Someone one FB requested the recipe so I thought I'd just post it on here. Simple and way yummy. :-)




Ingredients: 
2 1/2 lbs pork roast/steak whatever :-)
1 lb potatoes
1 small can of cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz cream cheese
.4 oz of ranch dressing powder 


Directions:
Dice potatoes, brown meat, and mix up the soup, cheese, and dressing. Put all into the crock pot and cook on low for 9 to 10 hours or on high for 4 1/2 to 5 hours. 


FYI, I doubled the recipe and added a couple of lbs of potatoes to make it stretch...and put a blob of plain yogurt in for the second 8 oz of cream cheese. It's a very forgiving recipe. :-)

Super Duper Zucchini Muffins

Those of you who have read my blog before know that I've recently discovered zucchini and I love it! I've loved it in soups etc for awhile but not I'm discovering it's amazing possibilities in cakes and breads etc. Yumminess! :-) So, I have a little more in my freezer from my last shredding/freezing so I thought I'd find something to use it in for Thanksgiving day. Then I remembered some amazing muffins that a friend of mine had made. They were originally applesauce or apple cinnamon or apple bran...or something like that lol but she tweaked it to be a peach muffin as she had some fresh peaches. Well I thought that it would surely be easy to tweak for zucchini...but I couldn't find it. :-/ But I came across this other one that sounds pretty good so I'm going to give it a try. :-) I'll check back and let you know how good it was. :-)


Ingredients:


2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sour milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup brown sugar


Directions:


In large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Stir in baking powder, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly. Pour in milk, eggs, zucchini, and vanilla. Fold in walnuts. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full. Sprinkle tops with brown sugar. Bake at 350* for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Zucchini Bread

So I made Zucchini Bread for the first time in my life a few weeks ago and it was so good!!!!! I remember the first time I had it as a child; it sounded gross! lol! Zucchini...in a bread???? But I was a well behaved child ( :-P ) so I ate it and found it to my liking. :-) Now, at 25 years of age, I finally made my first six loaves loaf. ;-) I tried a couple of variations too. Some with brown sugar on the top, some with brown sugar and cinnamon on the top, some with brown sugar and cinnamon on the top and pecans in it! lol And some with nothing on the top and no nuts. :-) I found the one with the topping and nuts was my favorite but you can do whatever works for you. :-) So, here's the recipe! 


Ingredients:


1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
1 c sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 c oil
1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans (they say toasted but I don't think I did :-P )


Directions:


In a medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. In another medium bowl combine egg, sugar, zucchini, and oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in nuts. Pour batter into bread pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. 


I don't think we did that last part. :-P It wasn't even cool before it someone started slicing it. lol So I guess that's not necessary. Also, I easily doubled the recipe to make 2 loaves because who bakes bread one loaf at a time??? :-) Oh, and I didn't have nutmeg so I just added a dash extra of cinnamon and it was still great.

Cinnamon Apples

Shared my attempts (one bad one good) at this on my other blog. Sharing the actual recipe here. :-)
I only had 4 apples so I didn't make much but you can adjust it to any amount of apples. It's very easy. 


Ingredients:
4 apples 
1 tsp cinnamon 
2 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
Sprinkle of salt
4 cups water
(cinnamon and sugar are approximate as I just sprinkled all :-) )


Directions:
Slice, peel, and dice the apples into small pieces. Place in the pot with about 1/2 cup of the water. Bring to a "boiling simmer" and continue to let simmer until the water boils down, adding a little more each time it boils down. After about 20 minutes of this I went ahead and added the spices, covered it, and then continued the process of boiling down and adding water until the water was gone at which time I decided it was done. :-) They tasted amazing!

Glory Studios: "Ya gotta eat your spinach, ba-by!"

Not an actual recipe but a great photo and a yummy meal! lol!

Glory Studios: "Ya gotta eat your spinach, ba-by!"

Easy Fudge Cake

I got this one from "The Beany Malone Cookbook" (I'd be curious to hear if any of you have heard of the Beany Malone books!) and it fast became a favorite! It is so moist and yummy! Needless to say, in my large family one 8-in pan is not going to do it so I usually double it and bake it in a 9x13 pan.

Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients:
1/2 c margarine or butter
1 c sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa
2 beaten eggs
1 c flour
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
In a warmed bowl cream together the margarine, sugar, and cocoa until smooth. Add the beaten eggs and beat all together. Add the flour and milk alternately, beating as you do so. Then add the vanilla and the chopped nuts.
Oil and flour an 8-in square pan. Pour int the mixture, and bake 35 minutes or until a straw or toothpick stuck in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Cut into squares when cool.

Cinnamon Toasted Almonds

I L-O-V-E these! I buy them almost every year and when I don't I miss them! A couple of years ago I planned a whole list of goodies to make for Thanksgiving and decided to give them a shot home-made. Well I've made them 2 years in a row now and I think maybe I've started a new yummy tradition!

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
6 tsp vanilla extract
4 c unblanched almonds
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until frothy; beat in vanilla. Add almonds; stir gently to coat. Combine the sugars, salt and cinnamon; add to nut mixture and stir gently to coat.
Spread evenly into two greased 15-in x 10-in x 1-in baking pans (a cookie sheet :-P ). Bake at 300 degrees for 25-30 munutes or until almonds are crisp, stirring once. Cool. Store in an airtight container.

BBQ Green Beans

I created this one on my own when we had a whole bunch of fresh green beans (from our garden) lying around that were about to go to waste. It seems to be a sensitive recipe though as the first time I made it it was delicious and the second time I burnt them up! lol! But they are definitely worth the try!

Ingredients:
2-3 cups fresh green beans (snap them of course-one of my favorite vegetable chores lol)
1 c chicken broth
1/4 c bbq sauce (home-made or your favorite store brand)
1 tsp worcesterchire sauce

Directions:
Cover and simmer all of the ingredients together on low for appx 1-1 1/2 hours or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remember! Watch them so they don't burn! ;-)

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cake

This is one of my absolute favorites!


Preheat oven for 350 degrees.


Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbs cocoa
1 c applesauce
2 c flour
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c chocolate chips
Topping:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 c chocolate chips


Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, and eggs together. Add applesauce and dry ingredients. Mix well then add the chocolate chips. Pour into a 9x13 greased pan. Sprinkle the sugar and chocolate chips on top. Bake for 35 minutes.

Hamburger Soup

1 1/2 lbs ground meat (I used ground turkey)
3 eggs
1 Tblsp flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
Mix the above and make little meatballs.
Put into:
2 qt water
1 bay leaf
3-4 potatoes, diced (I found you could add more if you wanted to stretch it further)
1/2 c chopped onion
Cook until meat and potatoes are done (appx 1 hour).
Add salt to taste.

To 1 slightly beaten egg add enough flour to make a stiff dough. Drop by spoonfuls into soup. Cover and let dumplings cook for 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sweet cream and just bring to boil OR remove from head and add 1/2 cup sour cream.

Funny story for this recipe. It was my first time ever making dumplings of any kind and they turned out kinda rubbery! lol! But I'm sure with practice they would be as delicious as the soup! :-D

About Me

Welcome to my new blog! I love to cook! Try out new recipies and use old ones over and over. I also love to share the good ones (and the stories about the bad ones!) so I thought I'd go ahead and start a blog to post recipies from time to time. Some will be ones I've made up and some will be ones that were shared with me. So let's get to cooking! :-)