Field Trip & a Recipe

Christmas is fast approaching, we've got the tree up and presents neatly wrapped and stacked underneath. This has been some strange year. April was the longest year of my life, with days crawling by like months as the monotony of "Safer at Home" forced everyone inside. When I finally returned to the office in June, it seemed like things were maybe getting back towards normal. But as this year drags on, we keep looking for ways to have fun. While wearing masks. Avoiding crowds. Etc. This weekend we drove to a house whose family had filled the yard with Christmas. This was our adventure for the week, if you can call it that. It appeared that the lights were synchronized with music so we went searching for the radio station. What luck! We found the station! The lights flashed along to the tune but the song choice seemed strange, not holiday festivity but more love song crooning. And then, "Thank you for tuning in to Light Jazz..." Huh. Guess it wasn't the right station after all. Moving on. We drove to Culver's for a picnic in the van (they're not open for dining inside). A second trip through the drive-thru for dessert and then home. Nothing too exciting. But at this point, we just need something to break the everything's-the-same-every-day feeling that we have. Because everything's still cancelled.

Anyway, on to a recipe. Original is here, mine is below. I don't usually make recipes like this because too many ingredients and too many steps. But it was worth it, so we'll try to get it into the regular rotation.

Crispy Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
salt & pepper to taste
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup panko crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup flour
1 cup oil for frying
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1/2 cup shredded provelone
1/2 cup shredded parmesan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450

Pound chicken breasts to a thickness of about 1/2 inch, season with salt & pepper

Beat the eggs together in a shallow bowl

Mix panko crumbs and 1/2 cup parmesan together in a shallow dish

Use a strainer or sifter to dust chicken breasts with flour

Dip the chicken into the eggs then the panko crumbs, set aside

Heat oil in frying pan until shimmering, fry chicken until golden on both sides, place in baking dish

Top each chicken breast with about 2 Tbsp tomato sauce, then sprinkle mozzarella, basil, provelone and parmesan on each

Drizzle a little olive oil over each breast

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, cheese should be brown and bubbly and chicken cooked through

Enjoy with a caprese salad on the side, or over garlic buttered noodles, whatever you've got the energy for.

It's a hit, we'll definitely make this again!

     

Shelly Rolls

Yesterday Shelly said she felt like baking something, I suggested dinner rolls, today we see the fruits of her labor.

She found this recipe and decided to make them today. She has no experience with bread and I'm not any help because my bread attempts mostly fail. I DID help her when there wasn't enough flour on the counter and her hands were covered in sticky dough, I sprinkled more flour everywhere. But that was the extent of my advise to her. Here we go!

Shelly Rolls

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour, more as needed
1 envelopes rapid/quick rise yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp butter

Instructions

1. Mix together 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
2. Heat milk, water and butter until very warm (120-130 F). Add to flour mixture and beat with mixer on medium for about 2 minutes.
3. Add 1/4 cup flour and beat for 2 more minutes. Continue slowly adding more flour and beating until you have soft dough.
4. Generously flour your counter top. Also flour your hands. Also set aside a measuring cup with more flour cause you'll probably need it.
5. Knead the dough 8-10 minutes until it's smooth and not sticky anymore, adding flour as needed to combat the stickiness.
6. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. While the dough is resting, catch up on  your dishes or something. Drink some lemonade.
7. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces using Dad's fancy dough cutter. I feel like a putty knife would work just as well, but I'm not sure how it would fare in the dishwasher. Maybe stick to the dough cutter.
8. Shape the dough into balls and put into a greased round pan, aluminum cake pan works best for this. Quit getting distracted by shopping on amazon and cover the whole thing with plastic wrap, use small binder clips if it seems like the plastic is going to fall off.
9. Put outside where it's 98 in the shade and let it rise for half an hour. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375.
10. Once they're doubled in size, take off the plastic and bake for about 20 minutes, when the tops should be nicely browned.
11. Brush with melted butter (about 1 Tbsp) if you want. Tell everyone how many they're each allowed to have and watch your fingers as everyone dives in to snatch theirs. Guard your rationed portion closely, they go fast!

Why we love it

Perfectly soft and fluffy little rolls, maybe we should have made a double batch?
I'm so impressed with Shelly's resourcefulness and willingness to try new things, she really hit this one out of the park!

   

Peach Cobbler Delight

Ok. I made this ONCE. But it was SOOO good, I'm keeping track of the recipe in case I ever decide to make it again. It's kind of intense - lots of steps and sort of time consuming but perhaps someday, when I have all the time in the world and I've run out of laundry and dishes and books to read... A girl can dream, right?

Original recipe is from a Martha Stewart show, watched many years ago and the recipe scribbled down on a scrap of paper.

Peach Cobbler Delight

Ingredients

Filling:
   10 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced
   1/3 cup sugar
   1 Tbsp lemon juice
   3 Tbsp cornstarch
   2 Tbsp brown sugar
   Pinch Salt
   1 tsp fresh ginger (optional)

Biscuits:
   2 cups flour, plus more for topping
   1/3 cup sugar
   1/2 tsp salt
   2 tsp baking powder
   1/2 cup butter, chilled and sliced
   1 cup + 2 Tbsp heavy cream, plus more for topping
   scrapings from 1 vanilla bean

Instructions

1. Filling - Mix peaches, sugar, lemon juice. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Add cornstarch, brown sugar, salt, ginger, mix together. Put peach mixture into glass pie pan.
3. Biscuits - Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, butter until all combined and mushed together.
4. Add heavy cream and vanilla to biscuit mixture, mix together, work fast, should be crumbly
5. Flour your counter, roll out dough into 1/2" thickness. Cut with cookie cutter to make rounds, lay onto peach mixture in pie pan.
6. Spread biscuits with heavy cream, sprinkle with sugar.
7. Bake on the middle rack until top is golden brown and juices are bubbling (55-70 minutes).

Why we love it

Warm and sweet. I don't actually remember who liked it and who didn't, but when I make this someday, I'll update the post with some stars.

The Best Pretzels You've Ever Had - Savory & Sweet

A savory treat from my mom, original recipe from Bampa's brother Kim. These never sit around for long when they arrive from Grandma's treats stash.

No Bake Savory Pretzels

Ingredients

30 oz pretzels
12 oz butter flavored oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 oz packet powdered Ranch salad dressing mix

Instructions

1. Spread the pretzels evenly on a cookie sheet
2. Whisk together the oil, ranch dressing, garlic powder & cajun seasoning
3. Pour the mixture over the pretzels in the pan and stir to coat
4. Sprinkle w/ grated parmesan cheese and stir
5. Bake for approximately 3 hours, stirring every 15 minutes

Why we love it

I can't EXACTLY explain it, other than to say - once you start, you just can't stop. These leave us grabbing for just one more, and licking our fingers and sad when they're suddenly gone. How did they all disappear QUITE that fast???

   

Next Up...

I've only made this a couple of times but we all loved it. I've vowed to only make this for group events because I don't want us to eat the whole delicious batch ourselves, it's just so rich!

Original recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Irresistible Chocolate Toffee Pretzels

Ingredients

Half a 1 lb bag of mini pretzels, broken into pieces
2 Sticks butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
18 oz semisweet chocolate chips (1 and a half 12 oz bags)
Sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, cover with a layer of the broken pretzel pieces.
2. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, add the butter and brown sugar. Once the mixture starts to bubble, set a timer for 3 minutes and allow to simmer without stirring. After 3 minutes, pour the hot caramel mixture over the pretzels in back and forth motion to cover the pretzels. A few bare spots are ok, it'll all bake together in the end.
3. Bake for 5 minutes, then spread the chocolate chips evenly over the pretzels. Put the pan back in the oven to help the chocolate melt. Once it's all melted, remove from oven, sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Refrigerate until set. Once it's all cooled, break into bite size pieces. (After it's set, you don't have to refrigerate any further.)

Why we love it

Buttery, crunchy, salty, sweet. Of COURSE we love it!

   

Baked Pasta

This one was something I wanted to make on Saturday but trips to Hardware Store, home, the Other Hardware Store, home again, sidetracked plans for dinner. The Deck Project is keeping me running!

Sunday I planned ahead and made this at 9:30 in the morning, tucked it in the fridge and then warmed it up in the oven at 5 when we were ready to eat. Yay for planning ahead, even if I was a day late. :)

Original recipe is here

Baked Pasta

Ingredients

1 lb pasta (recipe says ziti, I didn't have it, I used some other tube shaped stuff)
1 lb ground beef (or sausage)
1 large onion chopped
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
a bunch of diced garlic
1 large jar marinara sauce (about 32 ounces - I tried to use a regular 24 oz jar but this wasn't enough - you definitely need the 32 oz jar)
a bunch of shredded cheese (recipe says mozzarella, we used parmesan)
1 cup ricotta cheese (I used 1 pkg cream cheese)

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta
2. While you're waiting for the pasta to cook, cook the ground beef & drain off the fat.
3. Add the chopped onion and saute for a little bit, letting the onion get soft
4. Dump in a bunch of Italian seasoning, the garlic and the marinara sauce to the meat. Bring it all to a simmer.
5. Put about half or 2/3 the sauce into a casserole dish and add the cooked pasta. Stir it all together. Add dollops (ricotta) or little pieces (cream cheese) to the casserole dish.
6. Pour the rest of the sauce into the casserole dish, sprinkle shredded cheese over everything, and cover with foil.
7. Put in the fridge and save for later, or put it into the oven at 350 and bake until the cheese is melted and the top is slightly browned.
8. If warming up after it's been in the fridge, it takes about 40 minutes at 350. Take the foil off halfway through.

Note for next time - make this 1 large batch, then split it in half into 2 square pans, freeze one, make the other for today.

Why we love it

Easy to make, easy to make AHEAD, warm and gooey and LOTS of leftovers for the next day

  

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Now that I'm getting older, I've started branching out a bit with the foods I eat. Just admitting it right up front. Cause, you know, I've not always been a fan of veggies. Whatever you do, don't tell the kids. I think they might already know.

Anyway, is it cause I'm so old now? I'm not old. Not even 40 yet, not for a few more months. I have no idea what's happening to me, but in the last couple of months, I finally got brave enough to try the feared Broccoli Cheese Soup. I gotta say. It's still not my favorite, but I do sort of like it. So here we go with a recipe.

Original Velveeta recipe is here, but it's seen some improvement in our house, the first time it was made by David and I followed his lead when I took a turn at making it.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbsp butter
1/4 chopped onion
2 Tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 pound Velveeta, cut up
1/4 to 1/2 pound other kinds of cheese
8 to 12 ounces broccoli, cut up into tiny little bits (no stems! who even likes stems? this may or may not be a slight controversy in our house)
a little pepper, or a lot

Instructions

1. After cutting up broccoli, put into saucepan with a little water and steam until bright green. Set aside.
2. In large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, add onion and cook until it's soft. Add the butter and stir constantly until bubbling.
3. Stir in milk and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, constantly stirring. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 1 minute.
4. Add cheese, broccoli and pepper. Stir constantly until all the cheese is evenly melted.
5. Simmer for about 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Why we like it

Warm, creamy, cheesy (we're Wisconsinites! we love cheese!) and we can pretend that it's healthy because there are a couple of veggies in it. The warm creamy cheesy doesn't quite overcome the fact of BROCCOLI for two of us, so just 3 stars for now.

P.S. I suspect it would be improved by adding a little bit of red pepper flakes when the cheese is added, but I haven't had the opportunity to implement that yet. Maybe someday.

  

Simple BBQ Chicken Sliders

Remember the thing about Freezer Experiments?

Total side note. I just looked up Freezer Experiment in my blog so I could link to the time that I explained what a Freezer Experiment is, and I discovered that I explained F.E. AND it was all related to BBQ SAUCE!!! Eight years ago!!! That makes this whole thing even crazier.

So, think Freezer Experiment. I had 3 pounds of chicken in my fridge and didn't know what to do with it. On my way home from work, I decided to make BBQ Chicken Sliders so I stopped at the store for BBQ sauce and rolls. I go to the BBQ section and then decide I could certainly make it at home, I didn't need to buy it. I picked up the rolls and headed home. I started cooking the chicken and decided to wing it with the sauce. "I think it has ketchup, plus brown sugar or something, maybe garlic?" I start dumping stuff into the pot. Mixing, heating it up, go to the other pan and turn over the chicken, come back to the sauce and stir some more. It tastes like ketchup. Maybe if I add... still ketchup... call in the BBQ expert... still tastes like ketchup, also it's too watery. Basically it's ketchup soup. Back to the store. Good thing we only live a mile away.

It could have been a disaster. Instead, it was a bunch of ketchup soup down the drain, and some really great chicken sandwiches.

Here we go.

Simple BBQ Chicken Sliders

Ingredients
3 lbs chicken breast, butterflied
2 bottles BBQ sauce
whatever seasonings you like (garlic, garlic salt, seasoned salt, pepper)

Instructions
1. Add a little olive oil into a skillet and cook the chicken on a low temperature, don't let it brown, add some seasonings if you'd like.
2. While chicken is cooking (this takes forever because you can't fit 3 lbs of chicken in  your skillet all at the same time), DON'T use the Freezer Experiment Method, just use the Premade Storebought BBQ Sauce, put the sauce into a pot and start warming it up.
3. When chicken is done cooking, recruit any helpers you can to shred the chicken with forks. Or get some good music going and do it yourself, this takes forever.
4. Mix the chicken into the sauce, heat everything up, slice the rolls in half and go at it. Deliciousness!
5. Put half of the BBQ chicken into a freezer storage bag and freeze it, that's dinner for next time. Try not to eat all of the remaining chicken today.

Why we love it
Cause once we got past the "homemade sauce tastes like ketchup soup", there's pretty much no way to mess it up. And even though it took forever, it was worth it because half of it is in our freezer waiting for us to enjoy it without having to actually cook.

    

(no pics today because we were too busy eating it to pause for pics!)

Deliciousest Beef Stew Ever

The other day at work, Ally was warming up her leftover beef stew from the night before. I commented on how great it smelled and she let me try just a tiny bit. And it was the deliciousest beef stew ever. Two nights later, I was making it. Not only is it the deliciousest, but also the easiest. So pretty much just the bestest.

Ally's Deliciousest Beef Stew 

Ingredients
1 lb stew beef (the kind that comes cut up in cubes)
1/4 stick butter
cubed potatoes and carrots (a couple pounds? a bunch?)
salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
4 cups beef stock

Instructions
1. In a large pot, melt the butter and brown the beef, add all the seasonings.
2. Once browned, add some beef stock - just a layer of stock, don't cover the meat. Put lid on the pot.
3. Bake in the oven at 350 for about two hours. After one hour, take out the pot and add the potatoes and carrots. Add a little more stock, if needed, to keep the ingredients moist but don't cover them with the stock.
4. After two hours, everything will be fully cooked. Add the rest of the beef stock, and warm up everything on the stove top if needed.

#1 Rule - Do NOT forget that you just took the pot out of the oven so the handles are super hot, also the lid will burn you so use the potholder!!! Ask me how easy it is to forget that this thing is SUPER hot...

Anyway, the beef gets so tender, and everything's so full of flavor, I loved it.

It's been a week or two since I made it and I can't remember who exactly liked it, who didn't try it or who wasn't even home for it, so I'm just giving it 4 stars. Because I liked it. Lots. And I can't wait to make it again!

  

No Recipe Fly by the Seat of Your Pants Chicken Noodle Soup

Not much time to chat, so here we go...

1. Find a sale on chicken and buy 3 pounds with no idea what you're going to do with it.
2. Come home.... What are we gonna do with all this chicken?

Start over!

Ok, here it is, for real.

No Recipe Fly by the Seat of Your Pants Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients
about 1 lb chicken breast
salt and pepper and italian seasoning
carrots, celery, onions
frozen egg noodles or gnocchi or try something else, anything could work
chicken stock - 8 cups or 2 cartons

Instructions
1. Cook approximately 1 lb of chicken on the stove in a pot at a VERY low temperature (like, 3 out of 10). While it's cooking, dump some seasonings on it, like salt and pepper and Italian seasoning mix. Try to avoid the Pepper Incident where the stopper falls out of the bottom of the shaker and you accidentally dump about 1/4 cup of pepper onto the chicken.

2. Recruit some Kid or Husband to chop up the carrots, celery and onions. Throw out the onions when Husband pulls out the bag of onions and they're all fuzzy and blue. Skip the celery because you forgot you don't have any and who likes celery anyway? Stick to just the carrots, and try not to cringe while Kid is chopping and you're a paranoid Mom who's afraid someone's going to lose a fingertip.

3. Take the cooked chicken off the stove and shred with a fork while Kid dumps the carrots into the pot to start cooking, now the heat should be set to medium/high. Keep shredding the chicken. This feels like it takes forever. Keep cooking the carrots, till they're kinda soft.

4. Dump in the 2 cartons of chicken broth (8 cups) and turn up the pot to the hottest setting, dump in the chicken and bring the whole thing to a boil. Taste it a couple times, decide the Pepper Incident wasn't really so bad and it needs more pepper. Now. Dump in the frozen egg noodles. Now. Be really patient because they're supposed to simmer for 20 minutes and it's getting late and you just want to get everybody fed and off to bed but sit down and write a blog post about your recipe while you so very patiently wait for those noodles to cook and THEN.

Set the table, gather round, tell me about your day, eat some soup!
We enjoyed this with some toasted sliced baguettes, thanks David :)

Why we like it
Warm, soupy, comfortable, three of us liked it, one of us was ok with it and the last one of us was too full from snacks to give the soup a try.

  

PS While all of that other stuff is happening, put the other 2 pounds of chicken into the oven to cook for whatever you're gonna make tomorrow. Chicken Salad. Chicken Tacos. It's the Week of Chicken, people!

Parmesan Garlic Pasta

Oh. Goodness. Garlic Parmesan Butter. Pasta.
Recipe comes from here. And it's true - 20 minutes to bliss.

Ingredients
8 oz pasta (whatever the heck I have in the cupboard, bowtie, ziti, fuscilli?? dump it all in!)
10 Tbsp butter (frozen? fridge? room temp? again! dump it in!)
3 cloves garlic minced, or 1.5 tsp minced from the jar
1 tiny little bit crushed red pepper (when I made it with 1/2 tsp it was too spicy for the kids but perfect for me)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I used the grated stuff in the jar and it was GREAT GRATE but the fancy fresh stuff would have made it even better)
salt and pepper to taste (who doesn't love salt? but if you're sensitive to pepper, go easy...)
parsley if you wanna get fancy (nope. we're not fancy)

Instructions
1. Cook the pasta according to package directions, in generously salted water.
2. While the pasta is cooking, put a small saucepan on low/medium heat and melt butter.
3. Add garlic and red pepper, brown the butter while constantly whisking the butter and mixing the pasta so it doesn't clump.
4. Remember the green beans in the fridge, quickly prep them and put in another pan with salted water to steam while the pasta cooks and the butter browns.
5. Once the pasta is done drain it, once the butter is browned but not burned, remove from heat, let the veggies finish cooking.
6. Mix the pasta, butter mixture, cheese, dole out into bowls and add beans on the side to whoever agrees to eat them.

This recipe was a WINNER. Flat out. Only 4 of the Fortier 5 were home tonight but we all loved it. Except the kids didn't take seconds because the red pepper made it too spicy for them. (Seriously people, it wasn't even THAT spicy!!)

This could be served alongside just about any veggie I can think of, and it would go great with chicken, pork chops, whatever. We'll DEFINITELY be having this one again!!

I'm giving it 5 of 5 because if David was home I know he would have loved it :)