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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Strawberry Filled Butter Almond Cookies with Lemon Glaze


Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cups butter (room temperature)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1tsp almond extract
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup strawberry jam (not preserves)
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375*

Beat butter, granulated and brown sugars on medium speed until well blended. Add egg and almond extract, beating until blended. SLOWLY add flour and salt, mixing until combines. Form dough into 1 inch balls, placing on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (IMPORTANT: Do NOT overwork dough when rolling, as this will dry out your cookies)

Using your finger, press into the center of each cookie, making a well. Fill each well with 1/4-1/2 tsp of strawberry jam. Bake 9-11 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown.

While cookies are baking, stir together powdered sugar and 2tsp lemon juice; if necessary (for me it always is), add additional lemon juice to get drizzling consistency. Remove cookies from oven and drizzle with lemon glaze. (I usually remove cookies from pan and place them on a cooling rack with towels under them prior to the drizzle step to avoid pouring sugar on my pans... it could be a pain to clean up). Makes 2 dozen cookies

Monday, April 18, 2011

Crock-Pot Chicken


Crock Pot Chicken
Ingredients:
  • 4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 large roasting chicken (it's best to make sure the sucker will fit into your crock pot before you begin)
Directions:

  1. Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken. (I drink wine while doing this to avoid a gag reflux, this is not required, just a strong suggestion). Pat chicken dry and set aside
  2. In a small bowl, combine dry spices
  3. Mix chopped onion and minced garlic and put in bottom of crock pot (I ALWAYS use slow cooker liners, but for this dish, it's especially useful if you plan to make gravy)
  4. Cut lemon in half and stuff into chicken cavity (Again, for me, this means more wine)
  5. Rub spice mixture onto the chicken (more wine, ugh raw chicken is gross)
  6. Place chicken on top of onion, and cover (it will look like the picture posted above)
  7. Cook for 6-7 hours on low
Note: I usually prepare the night before, refrigerate over night and start the crock pot the next morning as I go to work. This is how I am able to drink the wine ;)


For Gravy:

  • After removing chicken from crockpot onto a platter, Pour all the liquid into a saucepan on the stove (there will be a lot of liquid) put it on a low setting
  • If you used a liner, simply pull out the bag, and slice a small hole in the bottom to drain liquid into sauce pan
  • Mix cold water with cornstarch and add to chicken liquid (more wine drinking for me)
  • Stir frequently and let it heat up. It should thicken up quickly, serve with rice
**caveat: we're not big gravy people here, so I usually skip this step, but I know we're in the minority on this***

Serve with you favorite sides and take credit for slaving away all day...oh, and don't forget the wine ;)

Friday, April 15, 2011

Sausage & Rice Stuffed Portabellas

We came across this recipe while food shopping in Publix last week. They were doing a demo on it & we got to taste it. Obviously it's delicious because here I am sharing it ;)

4 whole portabella mushrooms
2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley coarsely chopped
2-3 links of mild Italian (chicken or pork) sausage
1 (8.8oz) pouch of pre-cooked brown rice (Uncle Ben's makes a microwaveable pouch) or you can make your own
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Gorgonzola cheese
1/4 cup whipped cream cheese
1 1/2 cups of tomato basil sauce

Preheat oven to 400
Remove stems & gills from mushrooms being careful not to break them
chop the parsley
remove the casing from the sausage

1. Preheat a large saute' pan on medium for 2-3 minutes. Put the sausage in the pan to cook. Cook for 3-4 minutes stirring to crumble the sausage or until no pink remains.
2. Remove pan from heat.
3. Stir in the rice, parsley, both cheeses & cream cheese.
4. Fill the mushrooms with the sausage mixture.
5. Place them on a baking sheet & bake for 10-12 minutes or until they're hot & the cheese is melted.
6. Serve the pasta sauce with mushrooms.

Add a salad & the meal is complete!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Chicken Spinach Chimichanga (Baked!)



Once you get the flavors and super simple technique down for the baked chimichanga, you can go 'chalupa' with combinations. Hahahaha! This is so great to use up leftovers as I have done here.

2 cups chopped or shredded Chicken (I used leftover roast chicken)
3-4 cups Baby Spinach washed and dried
1 bunch Cilantro chopped
2 Scallions sliced
1/2 can Diced Tomatoes (about 8oz) pureed
2 cloves Garlic minced
1 small yellow Onion diced
1/4-1/2 TSP Ancho Chili Powder
1/2 TSP ground Cumin
4oz Cheddar Cheese shredded (or crumbled if you are using aged -that's my favorite)
Salt & Pepper
6-8 Whole Wheat Tortillas
Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 400*
Lightly grease a flat pan with Oil
In a large bowl, mix together Chicken, Spinach, Cilantro, Scallions, Tomato Puree, Garlic, Onion, Chili Powder, Cumin and Cheddar until well combined.
Season with Salt and Pepper.
Place about a tennis ball sized amount of mixture into a log sort of shape on a Tortilla and fold up the sides of the tortilla with your fingertips and use your thumbs to fold up the part closest to you while you hold the sides up. Work the end up and over with your thumbs and your palms as you keep the sides pulled in. Roll the that end all the way over until it reaches the inside of the top part of the tortilla as you keep the filling inside and place the rolled tortilla seam side down on the flat pan.
Repeat process with more tortillas until you are out of filling.
If you don't know how to roll it, it is going to probably take a few tries and a few bouts of cursing. Stick with it, you'll get it and then you'll think you should move to Havana and roll cigars for a living and you'll be able to make all sorts of chimichangas to live in the meantime.
Place pan in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Serve.

Death By Chocolate- The Easy Way!



OK, so this recipe is SHAMEFULLY easy, and always gets rave reviews!

1pkg Chocolate or Devil's Food Cake Mix, and necessary ingredients
1 8oz tub of CoolWhip
1pkg of pudding OR a 6pk of Jello Pudding snacks
2 Heath bars

Prepare and bake the cake in a 9x13 pan, following the directions on the box. COOL COMPLETELY. Some folks use an already made cake, but it's difficult to find the un-frosted kind. I just bake my own, using a devil's food mix.

Prepare the pudding, following directions on the box, and chill as directed

Once the cake is cooled, cut it up into squares (about 1" is fine) and throw in a large, deep salad bowl.

Stir in pudding. Don't worry about making it pretty. It will look like a pile of delicious mud.

Spread Cool Whip on top, in a thick layer.

Break up Heath Bars and sprinkle on top

Enjoy!