Saturday, November 19, 2011

Thanksgiving




For my girls - our family recipes...




 

Grandpa Kane's Stuffing

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick, not the unsalted kind)
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup diced celery

8 cups of bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I like to use half whole wheat/half white)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

 1 pound sausage, cooked and drained

 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
 1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried of thyme or sage

 (You could also add sauted mushrooms, nuts, dried fruit, etc.)


Saute the onion and celery in the butter over low heat until they are very soft. Put bread cubes in a large bowl and pour the onion and celery mixture over them. Add the seasonings, sprinkle with the chicken broth, and gently toss the bread cubes along with the sausage.
Right before putting the turkey in the oven, stuff it. (Do not stuff ahead of time) Or, put the stuffing into a buttered baking dish and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven about 30 minutes.









Vegetable Trio With Zippy Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

2 hard boiled eggs chopped (optional)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons minced onions

1 teaspoon prepared mustard (I use Dijon)

1/4 teaspoon bottled hot sauce (I use Frank's)

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

10 ounces each frozen peas, green beans, and lima beans

Cook the three different vegetables and drain them. While they are cooking mix all the sauce ingredients together and slowly heat until just hot. Pour over the cooked vegetables.























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Broccoli Cheese Casserole

   (Adding 2 cups of chopped cooked chicken  makes this a main dish) 

10 oz. frozen broccoli

 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Mix broccoli, 1 cup of the cheese and soup together.  Put in an oven safe dish. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.  Then top with the remaining one cup of cheese and bake another 10 minutes.




 

Basic Cranberries

1 (12 oz.) package of cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

 Rinse and drain the cranberries.  Put in a pan along with the sugar and water.  Bring to a boil, slightly reduce the heat and cook for ten minutes, stirring every so often. The berries will pop open.  Pour into the serving dish and let the cranberries cool a bit before you place it in the refrigerator. They will keep for one week.


Kane Sweet Potatoes

4 to 6 regular sized sweet potatoes

1/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup minature marshmallows

 Peel and cut up the sweet potatoes into quarters.  Put them in a large pan with enough water to cover them. Bring them to a boil and turn down the heat to cook them until a fork can go into them. Drain the water and mash the sweet potatoes up. ( You should yield about 4 cups of mashed sweet potatoes). Combine the mashed sweet potatoes with 1/4 cup of margarine, 1/4 cup of orange juice, and 1/4 cup of the minature marshmallows. (In recent years I have actually used 1/4 cup of Splenda instead of the marshmallows).  Place an oven safe dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.Top with additional minature marshmallow and put back into the oven until the marshmallows are lightly browned.

Aunt Claire's Chocolate Chip Pie

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup (2-sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped walnuts, optional

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) pie plates; set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, and mix until fully combined. Fold in the 3 cups chocolate chips and, if desired, the walnuts. Divide the dough between the prepared pie plates and smooth the tops with a spatula.

Bake about 30 minutes or until pies are golden and slightly firm to the touch but still soft. If the pies begin to darken too much before they are baked through, cover with foil and continue baking. Let pies cool completely on a wire rack.


                                                                                                                   
                                                   






      

Ashley's Disgustingly Rich Brownies

4 eggs

3/4 cup of cocoa

2 sticks of butter

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Smear inside of a 8 or 9 inch pan with shortening. Melt butter over low heat. Watch it to make sure it doesn't burn. In a mixing bowl, stir cocoa and sugar together.  Stir in melted butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir again. Add the flour and the salt. Mix until smooth. If you're adding walnuts, add them in now. Spread mixture in the greased pan  and smooth out until evenly distributed.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Let cool before cutting.

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Three Simple Ideas for a Chicken Breast


Spinach Artichoke Chicken
    On Monday, we flew into our "home" airport right at dinner time. Jenn lives just a half hour away so we had planned ahead of time to go over to her place after we landed.  She had some stuff she wanted us to help her hang, but she also had a wonderful dinner waiting for us!  What a treat - we had a delicious chicken fajita feast and got to catch up on all kinds of interesting news in her world.  While we were eating her yummy dinner, she remarked that she needed some easy but different ways to deal with a chicken breast. Well, Jenn - here you go - I hope this helps!

Spinach Artichoke Chicken
    
 Split the chicken breasts and spread 1/4 cup of spinach artichoke dip (recipe below) on each one. If you want a stuffed look, "close" the split breast. Bake at 350 for about 50 - 55 minutes.

John Purdue Room Spinach and Artichoke Dip - Caroline got this recipe from the HTM program at Purdue when she worked in the John Purdue Room.  It is the best Spinach Artichoke dip I have ever had!
8 Cups loosely packed fresh spinach
1 (15oz.) can of artichoke hearts
12 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonaise
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. (I use the bottom of a glass to help work the cream cheese in)  If using as a dip, put in oven safe dish and top with some extra parmesan cheese, and bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes until brown on top and heated through out. (You can use light mayo, reduced fat cream cheese, reduced fat sour cream. I have even used plain nonfat yougurt in place of the sour cream.)

Aunt Betsy's Feta and Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken

For each chicken breast you will use, gently combine 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese, 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped dried tomatoes, 1/8 of a teaspoon of dried oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil. Place the mixture on top of a split chicken breast. If desired, close and secure with a tooth pick or two. Pour 2 tablespoons of some kind of oil and vinegar mixture over the top of each breast. You could use Greek salad dressing, the marinade from the Zesty Chicken Oregano post, or just the basic vinegar and oil in the Salad Dressing 101 post. Bake the chicken at 350 for about 50 - 55 minutes.


Chicken with a Buttery Crunch


The bare bones version:
Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of store bought herbed stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is nice because it contains whole wheat bread) over each chicken breast. Drizzle each breast with a teaspoon of melted butter (or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter). Bake at 350 for about 50 - 55 minutes.
The jazzed up version:  Before you put the stuffing and melted butter on the chicken breast, place a slice of cheese and some cream of chicken soup that has been thinned out with some white wine. ( Or just do the soup, etc.)
Or:  Add nuts, dried cranberries, chopped apricots to the dried stuffing