White Chicken Chili and Cornbread

Today it feels more October and not at all like July so I decided to make White Chicken

 Chili and cornbread for dinner.

 It was pretty amazing! And before I forget what I did if figured I would post a blog with the recipe.

White Chicken Chili

4 cups navy beans cooked and drained

1 onion chopped fine

2 cloves garlic chopped fine

2 cups chicken broth

2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded

1 cup Verde salsa

1 cup frozen corn

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 small splash of liquid smoke (I have chipotle flavored... YUM!!!)




Take 2 cups of the navy beans and mash them up. set aside. In a big, heavy bottomed pot saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Add everything else and simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve with shredded pepper jack cheese if desired.



Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

4 tsp baking powder

4 tablespoons sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 cup oil

1 cup milk

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add additional ingredients and stir until combined. Pour batter into an 8x8 baking dish and bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center on the cornbread is clean.

It was a huge hit with the kids and it is very mild. If you want to kick up the heat (like I did) add a few drops of your favorite hot sauce.

I hope you are having sunnier weather wherever you are! Feel free to save these recipes for a far off fall day!

Chinese Take In!

What's for dinner tonight?

 CHINESE FOOD!!!!

I  LOVE making ethnic foods. We eat foods from all over the world. Tonight our taste buds traveled to China. I made egg rolls, vegetable lo mien, pineapple chicken (not exactly Chinese but close enough), and steamed brown rice. It was very fun to make and relatively easy. I aslo am very proud to only have burned myself once!  

Vegetable Lo Mien

3 Carrots sliced on the diagonal

3 ribs of celery sliced on the diagonal

1 small onion sliced into half moon slivers

1  small zucchini sliced on the diagonal

2 crushed garlic cloves

1 cup frozen pre sliced multi colored bell peppers (you can find them in most grocery stores in the frozen veggie isle)

1 package of lo mien noodles or 3 packets of Ramen noodles cooked (you can use the seasoning packet but it really ups the sodium content of the dish)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Heat a large skillet on med/high heat. When skillet is hot add olive oil. Do not use extra virgin olive oil, it has a low smoke point and is best used for salad dressings, plain old olive oil is fine. Saute onions, celery, and carrots until slightly soft. add zucchini garlic and peppers. Continue cooking until veggies are cooked, not soft. You want them to have a bite to them. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Coat veggies well. Add noodles and toss well. Serve hot.

 Pineapple Chicken

1 quart of veggie oil for deep frying in whatever pot you use for deep frying. I have a 3 quart soup pot that works great. Don't forget a thermometer to be sure your oil is at 350 when it's time to fry the chicken.

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size chunks

2 eggs well beaten

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 crushed garlic clove

1 cup cornstarch divided

1/2 onion chopped

1 carrot sliced on the diagonal

1 rib celery sliced on the diagonal

1/2 cup frozen sliced bell peppers

1 can chunk pineapple drain and reserve juice

Sauce-

1 tablespoon vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon soy sauce

reserved pineapple juice

2 tablespoons cornstarch

I know it looks like a ton of ingredients... trust me it's not hard, but the recipe does make a lot of dishes, just to warn you. The first thing you want to do in marinate the chicken. in a large bowl mix the eggs, soy sauce, garlic and chicken. Let it marinate for about 10 minutes. I always get the chicken going and while it's hanging out I prep the veggies and make the sauce. Heat your oil to 350. In a second bowl put in half of your cornstarch. With a fork fish out the chicken and toss them in the cornstarch and place on a plate. After you have coated all the chicken put it back in the egg stuff. Put the other half of the cornstarch in the bowl. Repeat the coating so the chicken had two coats of egg and cornstarch. In small batches deep fry the chicken pieces. Since you are using cornstarch the chicken won't get too brown so it's easy to over cook it. about 4 minutes in the oil is long enough. You can put your cooked chicken on a bunch of paper towels to drain but I like putting a cooling rack in a baking sheet and draining it that way. Once the chicken is all fried it's time to move on to the veggies. First make up the sauce. combine all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. In a large skillet(if you have a wok by all means, use it!) Heat about a teaspoon of veggie oil and saute the veggies until they are about done, you want them to have a bite to them. toss in the pineapple and saute until the pineapple is heated through. add the sauce and stir until it thickens up. Cut the heat and add the chicken and toss to coat the chicken. Serve hot!!

I served the meal with plain brown rice that I made in the rice cooker. I thought it would be fun for the kids to kind of decorate the dining room up a bit an eat from nice plate so I pulled out the "good stuff" We ate a=our rice from the finger bowls. I thought it would be cute.

Here is the place setting, simple but elegant.

Our meal was super yummy and oh so fun to eat with chopsticks. I hope you have fun with your own Chinese night. Here is the table. Looks so good I can't wait to make it again. The best part is when it's all done, the hubby did the dishes! What a lucky girl am I!!

*Disclaimer- I do not profess to be a food photographer but that being said the pictures turned out ok. Also the egg rolls were from the store. I do know how to make them but that is a job for another day and another blog post!)

And the Winner is...

Ok so like a good blogger I went to random.org to do the number generator thing to pick the winner of the giveaway. For some reason I am not as smart as the website. I can not for the life of me figure out a way to post the results on the blog. I am sure it is something super easy and I am just being retarded but I have been trying to figure it out for 30 minutes now and I just don't have the time to keep messing with it. So I hope you all trust me when I tell you the results. I numbered all the entries and there were 33!! I was so excited! So the Number generator spit out the number...

 29. Pam Kirkwood

Congrats Pam!! I am so excited for you. Please e-mail me your address so I can mail you your new cookbook. Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

So, this week is the last week of my dinner challenge and I have been so excited to post the menus that I have neglected to post any recipes! And for that I am truly sorry. So I thought I would give you two that were pretty big hits!

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling-

2 cups shredded roasted chicken

1 cup frozen mixed veggies

1 can evaporated milk

1 can cream of whatever soup, I use chicken but have also used cream of celery or mushroom

1 cup milk

1 chicken bouillon cube (I use the Mexican ones)

1 tsp garlic powder

1tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper (the ONLY pepper I use. I don't even have the pre ground stuff in my house!)

Crust-

There are a few options for crusts. You could use a pie crust recipe, a biscuit recipe or a pastry crust recipe. I have used all three but by far our favorite is the pastry recipe. It's a little tricky but I think it is sooooo worth the effort! I love the Cuisinart recipe. I found it at this website.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in ½-inch pieces, well chilled

2 tablespoons shortening (Crisco), cut in ½-inch pieces, well chilled

5 to 8 tablespoons ice water





Instructions

Insert the metal blade. Process the flour, salt and baking powder to sift, 10 seconds. Add the well chilled butter and shortening. Use short rapid pulses until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal and no pieces of butter larger than a “pea” remain visible, 15 to 20 pulses. Sprinkle half the maximum ice water on the flour and butter mixture, then pulse 5 or 6 times. The dough will be crumbly, but should begin to hold together when a small amount is picked up and pressed together. Sprinkle on more water, a teaspoon (two for the two-crust recipe) at a time, with 2 to 3 quick pulses after each addition, adding just enough water for the dough to hold together easily when pressed into a ball. Add the liquid sparingly so that the dough is not sticky. Do not over process or the pastry will be tough, not tender and flaky.



Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press together into a ball, then flatten into a disk about 6 –inches in diameter (two disks for the two-crust recipe). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour before continuing to allow the glutens in the flour to rest. The dough will keep refrigerated for up to 3 days, or may be frozen (double wrapped) for up to a month, thaw at room temperature for an hour before using.



To bake the pastry blind for a single crust filled pie or tart, roll out pastry 1/8-inch thick to fit pan, crimp and seal edges. Prick bottom all over with a fork. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400º F. Line with a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights, dry rice or beans. Bake for 15 minutes.

 

I have a half a pound of dry beans that I use over and over to weigh down crusts. I keep the beans in a quart jar above my pantry so I don't accidentally cook them.

For this recipe you do not pre-cook the crust.I also roll in into a rectangle that is 10x14 inches.  I combine all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I then pour the chicken mixture into a well greased 9x13 pan and top with the pastry. Bake for 35 mins or until the chicken is bubbly and the crust is nicely brown.


Spanish Rice

This is a super simple recipe that gets rave reviews whenever I make it. So simple that it's almost not even a recipe at all.

2 cups uncooked brown rice
3 cups water
2 tomato/chicken bouillon (found in the Mexican foods aisle at the grocery store)
3/4 cup mild salsa
1/4 cup butter

in a rice cooker combine rice, water and bouillon cubes. When rice cooker finishes add butter and salsa. stir to combine and serve hot. It is amazing!!


Again, CONGRATS PAM!!! Thanks so much for everyone who is following the blog. I have a lot of fun stuff planned and I hope you all stick around!

P.S. I had a blast doing this giveaway so I think I am going to do one a month for a while!! YAY! So even if you didn't win this time you will still have a chance next month.

Until next time... Get cookin!

Dinner Challenge Week 2

I enjoyed my first week so much that I was very much looking forward to the second week. Here is what I came up with :

-Turkey Chili and cornbread
-baked potato bar with all the fixin's
-corn chowder and rolls*
-chicken enchiladas and Spanish rice with salad
-Chicken fried steak and potatoes with roasted veggies
-tomato macaroni (our Friday night tradition but only doing it once this month. It's just macaroni noodles, canned Italian style tomatoes and diced up string cheese) with salad*
-calzones yep you guessed it... more salad! It's a big hit at our house

*Vegetarian meals

I never realized how much chicken we eat around here. I like to buy chicken breast on the bone. Not only is it cheaper but I love working with it. I place about 5 or 6 of them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 425 F for 25 mins. It comes out tasting just like I roasted a whole bird but without having to deal with the dark meat which we are not a fan of around here. I let it cool for a while and de-bone the meat and divide it into freezer containers for use in tons of different meals. You can often times find bone in chicken breast on sale and a little prep work goes a long way! It;s awesome to have a freezer full of chicken I can add to so many things.

Recipes I submited for the Family Cookbook

I thought I might share the recipes I submited for the family cookbook. They are not too great but my family loves them. I have a lot more to share but I don't have a ton of time to type them all out. Well anyway, here they are. I hope you enjoy them.

Caramel apple pie
5 apples
¼ cup butter
½ batch of Homemade Caramel warm or 30 premade wrapped caramels, warm
Prepared pie shell

Peel, core, and slice apples. Cook in a medium sauce pan with butter. When apples are about halfway cooked Add caramel and stir. When caramel is melted pour mixture in a prepared pie shell. Add top crust. Cut slits in top crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 mins. Serve with caramel or vanilla ice cream.

Banana “Sushi”
2 slices of bread with or without crust
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 medium banana

Overlap bread slices by about ½ inch. Roll out with a rolling pin. Spread out peanut butter. Roll bread around banana. Slice into circles ½ to 1 inch thick.

Chili and Cornbread Crockpot meal

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 can diced chilies
2 cans store bought chili
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package of jiffy cornbread mix or ½ batch scratch cornbread

Sauté ground beef, onion, garlic, and chilies in a large high sided skillet until ground beef is brown and onions are soft. Add canned chili and tomatoes. Pour into 4 qt. crock pot.
Mix cornbread as directed on package or homemade recipe. Carefully spread cornmeal mix over chili. Set crock pot to high and cook of about 4 hour or until toothpick inserted into the middle of the cornbread comes out clean.

Asparagus and Swiss cheese chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in half
4 slices Swiss cheese
12 spears of asparagus
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup chicken broth
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

Sandwich chicken breast half in between two pieces of plastic and with either a meat mallet of small frying pan pound chicken breast until less the ½ inch thick. Repeat with remaining 3 chicken pieces. Place 1 slice of Swiss cheese on the cut side of the chicken, on one side add 3 asparagus spears and roll chicken up. Using 3 toothpicks close roll up.
In a small bowl mix remaining ingredient. Pour cream soup mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan place chicken rolls on sauce bed. Spoon some sauce over chicken. Bake uncovered in a 375 degree oven of 35 mins or until chicken is done. Let cool in pan of 10 mins. Remove toothpicks and spoon more sauce over the chicken. Serve with your favorite salad and rolls.