Chicken Broccoli Casserole

The Date: 25 January 2012

The Occasion: Just wanted to make this old favorite of Husband's.

The Recipe: From my mother-in-law, just slightly tweaked.

How it Went:
We love this tasty, comfort food casserole. Yumm!

What You Need:
broccoli
cooked chicken
rice
flour
butter
milk
chicken broth
mayonnaise
lemon juice
cheddar cheese
bread crumbs

Your Turn:
You'll need 2 C of cooked chicken, so get this prepared ahead of time, if you can. If not, slice up a few chicken breasts and bake them in the oven for a half hour or so until they're cooked through. Then cut or shred. (FYI: That Pinterest trick of putting just-cooked, still-warm chicken breasts in your KitchenAid stand mixer and turning it on low totally DOES work to shred chicken!)

You'll also need 2-3 C cooked rice. So go ahead and prepare this too.

Now, cut up two medium sized broccoli crowns into pieces (about 2&1/2 - 3 C).

Boil about an inch of water in a saucepan. Add the broccoli and steam for about 10 minutes, until tender. Then arrange in the bottom of a greased casserole dish.

Now, your rice should be cooked, so add the chicken to the rice and mix well. Add some salt and pepper, and various herbs if you wish. Mine was kind of a homogeneous mixture because I used chicken that I'd cooked in the crock pot a few days ago so it was fall-apart-tender and mixed smoothly with the rice.

Arrange this chicken and rice mixture over top of the broccoli.

In the saucepan you just took the broccoli from (I'm all about creating as few dishes to wash as possible), melt 4 T of butter. Slowly add 6 T of flour, stirring constantly to keep it smooth. Remove from the heat and slowly add 1 C of milk and 1 C chicken broth, stirring constantly. Return to the heat and bring to a boil, then cook while stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat.

To this mixture, add 1/2 C mayonnaise and 1/2 tsp lemon juice, and stir well.

Pour this over the chicken and rice.

Sprinkle with 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese.

Melt 1 T butter and stir in 4 T dry breadcrumbs. Sprinkle this over the top as well.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until top is bubbly.

Enjoy!

Crescent Calzones

The Date: 23 January 2012

The Occasion: I thought Husband would like these and they looked like a fun challenge.

The Recipe: From a birthday gift, a Pillsbury Cookbook from Mom.

How it Went:
We both really liked these! The instructions weren't quite detailed enough for me, in terms of how you closed and sealed up the calzones, but I figured it out. I thought these looked mighty small and was worried about 4 of them being enough. But we each had just one! The other two were lunches for the next day. I'd definitely make these again.

What You Need:
sausage
bell pepper
onion
Italian seasoning
crescent rolls
tomato sauce
mozzerella or Italian blend shredded cheese
pepperoni
egg

Your Turn:
Preheat the oven to 375 and spray a cookie sheet with PAM. Set aside.

Slice two sweet Italian sausage links down the side and peel off the casing. Break up the sausage meat and cook it in a medium skillet with 1 bell pepper, chopped (any color) and 1/2 a yellow onion, chopped. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Cook until meat is no longer pink, stirring occasionally to break up sausage.

I bought a lb of the sweet Italian sausage links which was 5 links. The recipe asked for a 1/2 lb, but the two links were actually more than enough! I used a yellow bell pepper because it's what I had, but green would be good too, if not better. You could put mushrooms in also, if you like that. 

On greased cookie sheet, open one 8 oz package of crescent rolls. Unroll the dough and separate it into four 7" x 4" rectangles. (Each rectangle will be made of two triangles. Press together at the seam to seal.)

Spread about 1 T of tomato sauce (4 T tomato sauce in total) on each rectangle. Then top each with about 2 T shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese (1/2 C shredded Italian cheese in total).

These could have had a bit more cheese on them.

On each rectangle, place a few pepperoni slices. I had room for three on each. Then top half of each rectangle with a spoonful of the sausage/onion/pepper mixture. Not too much, or you'll never get the calzone to close!

This is actually a little too much filling. You have to fold the calzones in half next, so don't pack it too full!

Now, fold half of the calzone over onto the part with the filling. Seal the edges together with a fork. You might need to do some extra pressing on the seam too. Mine were splitting open. Poke some holes in the top with a fork too.

Beat one egg with a fork. Brush egg on top of each calzone and sprinkle the top with some Italian seasoning.

They look pretty messy at this stage...

Bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Serve with salad.

Just like the pizza shop makes!

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

The Date: 16 January 2012, with half eaten as leftovers tonight

The Occasion: This is a favorite recipe. Husband had asked for more casseroles, instead of the soups I'd become accustomed to making twice or more a week. So I whipped out this favorite.

The Recipe: From Husband's mom, photocopied from Reminisce magazine, I think.

How it Went:
I liked how I did the chicken this time. I've done it a few ways (most often, chopped it small, then sauteed it on the stove), but this was by far the most successful and tasty. It was also the easiest. In the morning, I put about 2 lb of chicken breasts in the crock pot with 2 cups of chicken broth and some herbs. It cooked all day, and by the time I got home, I just had to poke at it with a fork and it fell apart in perfect shreds. Mmmm. I was also then able to use that broth in the recipe and it was much more flavorful than it would have been otherwise, right out of a can or something. And I had extra chicken and broth which I saved for another meal.

I do this dish a bit differently from the recipe in a few respects. First, I don't use a can of cream of chicken soup. I make my own. Those instructions are included below. Second, I don't saute the celery first, as suggested. This is unnecessary. Also, I find this to be a perfect dish for which to use celery that is a bit past its prime. When I've bought it for salad or stir fry or something and then not used it all. This is perfect because it will be baked anyway, and its crunch factor is just slightly lowered. I also use half an onion instead of the recipe-suggested 2 tablespoons. Two tablespoons? You wouldn't even taste that!

What You Need:
chicken
rice
celery
onion
butter
flour
milk
chicken broth
mayonnaise
water chestnuts
almonds
corn flakes

Your Turn:
You need to start with 2 C of cooked chicken.
Get it cooked however you prefer, but I suggest crock-potting it all day and using it in that shredded form. It's better for the casserole than cubes of chicken cooked in a skillet. 

Cook 2 C water with 1 C rice to get 3 C cooked rice.

Time to chop your crunchy things!

Chop up

• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• about 3 stalks of celery
• 1 (8 oz) can of sliced water chestnuts

Blend these in a large bowl. Add about a 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper.

Now, in a medium saucepan, melt 3 T butter. Add 3 T flour, one at a time, until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and slowly add 1/2 C milk and 1/2 C chicken broth, stirring constantly, until smooth. Return to heat and bring to a gentle boil. Stir constantly until it thickens. Add a few pinches each of salt and pepper. (My version was extra flavorful since I used the broth that had been cooking with the chicken and herbs all day.)

Add this, along with the rice and chicken and 3/4 C mayonnaise, to the mixing bowl.

Toss in 1/2 C sliced almonds.

Stir to mix well. 

Spoon into a casserole dish. 

For the topping, melt 2 T butter in a small bowl. Add 1/2 C crushed cornflakes and stir well. Sprinkle over the top of the casserole. If you forgot to buy cornflakes, like I did, just add extra almonds on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy with a salad or fresh fruit!

Wild Rice Soup

The Date: 12 January 2012

The Occasion: I've had this page marked with a post-it in the cookbook for months now, but never got around to making it. This week, I put it on the menu.

One of us liked it. Guess who.

The Recipe: From this Betty Crocker book.

How it Went:
This was an easy soup to make! I really liked it. Husband said he wouldn't mind not eating it again... but yet he did have three bowls-ful. I guess that means it wasn't too bad. It probably won't be a regular menu item, but I'm glad I gave it a try. I enjoyed it.

What You Need:
celery
carrots
onion
bell pepper
flour
black pepper
cooked wild rice (more on this later)
water
chicken broth
milk or half&half

Your Turn:
Gather your vegetables: 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, 1 onion, and 1 red or green bell pepper.

Slice the celery.
Shred the carrots with a vegetable peeler.
Chop the onion and pepper.

Saute these in butter or olive oil with some basil, thyme, and other soup herbs for a few minutes until tender.

Stir in 3 T flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp black pepper.

Stir in 1-2 C water, depending on how dense you want the soup, 1 can chicken broth, and 1&1/4 C cooked wild rice.

The recipe calls for "1 pouch (from 10 oz package) frozen cooked wild rice (1&1/4 C)." I didn't look for frozen cooked wild rice, frankly, but I found this at ALDI and it seemed like it would work perfectly. I know Uncle Ben's makes a similar microwavable pouch of rice, and I think this would be the easiest method of getting your cooked rice. I suppose you could also cook some, if you keep that kind of thing around anyway, but this was a perfect solution for me. Cook this while you're slicing up your vegetables. Then add it with the water and broth.

Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This is a good time to make some parmesan toast or maybe your lunches for tomorrow.

After 15 minutes, stir in 1 C milk or half&half and a shake of dried parsley (or some chopped fresh parsley).

Serve with rolls or toast.

Peppered Pork Sandwiches

The Date: 11 January 2012

The Occasion: Nothing special, just an easy dinner for a Wednesday night.

The Recipe: From this Betty Crocker book. The recipe calls this Peppered Pork Pitas, but I use sandwich rolls instead of pitas.

How it Went: I mentioned this recipe briefly several months ago on my other blog, and I've made it a couple times since then. It's very easy, and the only successful way I've found to make pork. It would be great with sliced cucumbers, but tonight we just had it with a little salad. There's an optional dressing (described below) that you can make, or it would be good with sour cream.

What You Need:
pork chops
olive oil
red bell pepper
rolls
for dressing
mayonnaise
milk
garlic

Your Turn:
Chop 1/2 of a red bell pepper into strips.

Trim the fat from 1 lb boneless pork loin chops, then cut them into narrow strips.

In a bowl, toss the pork and the peppers with 2 T olive oil and 1/2 tsp black pepper. In the meantime, warm up a medium-sized skillet on the stove.

Dump the pork and peppers into the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until pork is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix up your dressing.

• about 1/3 C mayonnaise
• about 2 T milk
• 1 fresh garlic clove, minced

Also, take a minute to toast your rolls just slightly. Since you'll be topping them with hot pork, they will be apt to turn mushy if you haven't firmed them up a bit.

When the pork is ready, spread one side of the roll with dressing (or sour cream, if you don't feel like making the dressing) then top that with the pork and peppers, and serve! Cucumbers, carrot sticks, or grapes would be a fitting side with this. Or a fresh green salad. 

Enjoy!

Tortilla Soup

The Date: 4 January 2012

The Occasion: Love this super-easy soup for a cold night. I had only made it once, and I wanted to do it again.

The Recipe: From Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade 20-Minute Meals cookbook.

How it Went:
This soup is so easy to make and Husband and I love it so much that he suggested I keep the ingredients for it on hand at all times. It's great with grilled cheese, although this time I added chicken to the soup, so that made it hearty enough to stand alone. It's great for when you have a cold - clears those nasal passages right out - and I think it'd be as excellent in the summer as it is in the winter. A soup for all seasons. Mmm.

What You Need:
olive oil
onion
minced, dried garlic
chicken broth
tomato soup
milk
salsa
diced tomatoes with green chiles
frozen corn
tortilla chips
fresh cilantro
cheese (pepper jack is best, but extra sharp white cheddar works too)
cooked, shredded chicken (optional)

Your Turn:
In your soup pot, saute 1 C finely chopped red or yellow onion in 1 T olive oil. Add a few shakes of minced garlic.

Cook about 5 minutes until onion is soft.

Add

• 4 C (32 oz) chicken broth
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1 T milk
• 2 T salsa
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 C frozen, whole-kernel corn
• 1/2 C tortilla chips, crushed
• cooked, shredded chicken (optional)

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve each bowlful with chopped fresh cilantro, shredded or crumbled pepper jack cheese (extra sharp white cheddar works too), and additional crushed tortilla chips. These toppings are essential to this soup. Don't get lazy and omit them, or you will not be doing justice to this fabulous soup.

TIP: Unless you grow your own, you will probably buy an entire bunch of cilantro. But you'll only need to chop up a few stalks for this soup. The rest will keep for a while in your fridge if you store it properly. First, pull out any stalks with withered or soft leaves. Do not rinse the entire bunch. Then, prop up the bunch in a cup of water. (I usually use a glass jar so I can see when the water gets cloudy, but I didn't have one that would accommodate this large bunch of cilantro.) Then loosely cover the top of the bunch with a plastic bag. When you see the water getting cloudy, just dump it out and refill the cup or jar. When you're ready to use cilantro, just pull out a few stalks, rinse, chop, and eat! You can use the cilantro for well over a week when you store it this way.

Chicken Soup with Vegetables and Orzo

The Date: 3 January 2012

The Occasion: I made a whole chicken in the crock pot last week and had lots of chicken leftover, plus real chicken stock. I thought this would make a totally winning soup.

The Recipe: Mostly from a recipe for Vegetable Chicken Noodle Soup from this book. But with several modifications including replacing the egg noodles with orzo, using real stock instead of reduced-sodium chicken broth, and eliminating the evaporated milk.

How it Went:
We loved this soup! Delicious. The stock was weird when I got it out of the fridge. Sort of gelatinous, not liquidy like broth you'd buy. But I mixed it into the soup, and it dissolved down to normal. I'd definitely do this again. Superb.

What You Need:
onion
carrots
celery
garlic
olive oil
flour
soup herbs (your choice)
chicken broth or stock
potatoes
cooked chicken
orzo

Your Turn:
Chop up vegetables so you have

• 1 C chopped onion
• 1 C chopped celery
• 1 C chopped carrot
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Saute these in a large soup pot in 2 tsp olive oil about 10 minutes, until tender.

While this is sauteing, scrub, peel, and chop 3 potatoes. This should be about 3-4 cups. Set these aside.

Now, add to the soup pot

• 1/4 C flour
• 2 tsp of herbs (Good choices are oregano, thyme, and basil. A poultry seasoning is good to add too.)

Stir to coat vegetables well.

Now add

• the chopped potatoes
• 1 tsp salt
• about 3 C chicken broth or stock
• about 3 C water

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in 2 C cooked, shredded chicken and 1 C orzo pasta, and let simmer another 10-15 minutes, or until orzo is plump and soft.

Taste it, then add more herbs and/or more salt, as needed.

Serve and enjoy!