Chicken Marsala

Ok, folks, you’re very privileged to get to see this recipe! It was given to me by my friend Jessica. (P.S. This girl can COOK!) I’m eternally grateful for her generosity, because this recipe ROCKS. As far as flavor goes, this can’t be beat. It’s a little more work than some recipes, but the payoff is worth it. This is one of my favorites. The entire time I ate it, I made Mmmmm sounds. Jessica is working on publishing her own cookbook and this will be an inclusion to that. Once that happens, I’ll be sure to link you all to where you can get your very own Jessica Cribbs cookbook! I can’t wait to get my hands on one! So, Jessica, thank you for sharing this with me and for allowing me to share it with others!

2 boneless/skinless breasts
¼ cup cake flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 TBSP oregano or Italian seasoning
4 TBSP Olive Oil
4 TBSP butter or margarine
1 (2-3.5 oz) jar of capers (do not drain)
2 (8 oz) packages of fresh, sliced mushrooms
1 thinly sliced onion
2 cups sweet marsala wine

Combine flour, salt, pepper and oregano in separate bowl. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet until bubbling lightly. Rinse the chicken, shake off lightly then dredge the chicken lightly in the flour and shake off the excess. (It should not be thick like for fried chicken.) Immediately place in the pan and lightly brown on medium heat for 4 minutes on the first side. Turn the chicken over and brown for 4 more minutes, while adding the mushrooms, capers and onions around the chicken.  When the breasts are lightly browned, stir the mushrooms, onions and capers and add the wine to the pan. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes on medium. Flip chicken and allow to simmer on low for 20 mins. Continue to flip the chicken as needed, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan with each flip. The longer you cook the chicken, the tenderer it becomes.

 Strain the liquid from the pan and pour into another pan, adding 4 TBSP of flour and stir on medium heat.

**As you can see from my pictures, I overcooked this a bit and really caramelized everything. That being said, this was still fantastic. Sadly, I was pulled away from the kitchen for a bit too long!

Easy Chicken and Stuffing

I know it doesn’t look appetizing, but I swear, it was yummy. If it doesn’t pass my inspection, it doesn’t get added to the recipe book! I found this recipe online while searching for crockpot recipes. I decided that I wanted to do chicken and stuffing and here is what I found…

4 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves or 2 whole breasts

½ can cream of celery soup
½ can cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup of milk
1 package seasoned stuffing mix with seasoning packet
1 ½ cups water
Salt and Pepper

 Place chicken in crockpot. Combine soup and milk and pour over chicken. Combine stuffing, seasoning packet, salt and pepper and water. Mix well. Spoon over chicken and soup. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

*You can choose to use 1 full can of either soup. I just combined both cans of soup that I had left and froze it for the next time I make this.

Crockpot Roast

This evening we had a roast for dinner that I cooked in the Crockpot all day. Let me just say that it’s HEAVENLY. I don’t think I’ll ever cook a roast differently anymore! I gotta give credit where credit is due however. This recipe was shared by my daughter Kaytie’s Me-Maw. She made it for us while we were visiting over the summer and I just had to have the recipe. YUM.

Chuck Roast

8 small potatoes
1 bag of small carrots
4 small onions
Cornstarch

 Cut up 2 of the onions into quarters and place on the bottom of the crockpot. Put the roast on top of the onion and add 2 cups of water. Cook on high for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, add potatoes whole around the roast. Cook on low for 2 hours.

Now add the carrots on the top. Cook on low another 2 hours.

Quarter remaining onions and add on top. Continue cooking on low for 2 hours.

Remove about a cup of the juice and mix 3TBSP of cornstarch until dissolved. Add back to crockpot and cook on love for 45 mins.

***I didn’t add any seasonings or salt and pepper to this and it was wonderful!

FYI: She suggested that I use the crockpot bags for no clean up and I did. They are marvelous and I’m sold on them!

Sautéed Squash

This takes me back to home cooked meals with my family as a child. My Grandmother always made the BEST fried squash. Right now, my mouth is watering for some. Even if you don’t like squash, I’m certain you will love this. Now that my Grandmother is no longer able to cook, one day, I sat down with her and had her walk me through making squash “her way”. My family adores it and it’s the only way I prepare squash. It’s also a family tradition and something I hope to pass down to my kids.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. This one comes straight from the heart!

You will need:

Squash (Remember, squash cooks down. I use about 8 pieces, because we can’t get enough of this when I make it.)

2 Onions

1 Stick of Butter

1 Can of Evaporated Milk

Salt and Pepper

First, you’ll need to cut your squash and onion up. I cut my onion into wedges. My squash, I cut at an angle. I have no idea why other than that’s what my Grandmother taught me and how she’s always done it. Melt 1 stick of butter over medium heat. Once melted, add squash and onion.

Sauté this down. It’s going to take a while. Keep your heat on medium. Cover with a lid and stir periodically to keep from burning. Once the squash has softened (see photo below) add your salt and pepper. 

You’ll notice the closer it gets to being done, more water is present. At this stage, remove the lid and continue cooking. You want to cook the water out.  

Once you have successfully cooked the water out, the squash will be soft and a little brown in some places. Now you want to add your canned milk, just a little at a time, until you have a nice, creamy sauce. You won’t even use half of the can.

Yum – Yum!

Homemade Chili Mix

How many of you know that I L O V E Chili? Well, I do! I make a very easy and basic chili and it’s wonderful, but I love trying new versions! I happened upon this recipe one day while browsing online and decided to give it a shot. Normally, I just use the packaged chili mix (yes, I admit it). After reading the RAVES for this mix, I decided to give it a go and boy am I glad that I did! Thank you Mermaids Treasures for sharing this!

2 TBSP chili powder

1 TBSP seasoned salt
2TBSP cumin
1 TBSP oregano
2 TBSP dried onion flakes
1 TBSP garlic powder
½ to 1 TSP dried red pepper flakes

 *I only used ½ tsp of the pepper flakes. I decided it was easier to add, than to take away. This was plenty spicy for my family. I would recommend making this recipe times 3 and storing it in an airtight container for future use.

I added 4TBSP for a large family size serving. You can add more or less obviously, to your preference

Fritos Chili Pie

This was FANTASTIC. I’m always looking for quick and easy recipes to try. Something a little different. Thanks to my friend Michelle for posting that she was having this for dinner and then so generously sharing the recipe with me. I made it the very next night! I’ve been wanting some chili anyway (come on cooler weather!) and this hit the spot. I’ve never had, nor heard of Fritos Chili Pie before. I guess I’ve been living under a rock! We all enjoyed this very much.

*Side Note: We had this for lunch the following day. I added a little water to rehydrate it and added some crackers and ate it like chili. YUM!

Here’s how I made mine!

Chili

Fritos

Shredded Cheese

Make your chili, don’t use the canned stuff. For me, this means:

I browned 1.5lbs of turkey meat. Add 2 cans of diced tomatoes and 2 cans of chili beans. Also add chili flavoring. (I decided NOT to use the package of chili mix and found a recipe for homemade mix. It was AWESOME. You can find the recipe here.) I allowed this to cook up and blend well, and then I simmered it for about an hour. Once I was ready for the chili, I added 3 TBSP of Wondra to thicken the chili so that it was not watery.  

Now add 2 cups of Fritos to the bottom of a casserole dish. I broke mine a little using the palm of my hand once in the dish. Top with shredded cheese (or Velveeta if that’s what you prefer) and pile your chili over the top. Layer with more cheese and top that with crushed Fritos.

I put this under the broiler for a couple of minutes to melt the cheese.

P.S. Since we’re trying to eat healthier, I used ground turkey meat and 50% less salt Fritos.

Bruschetta Chicken over Risotto

Thanks to Angie for this recipe. It was amazing! Everyone here loved it! This was my first experience with Risotto ever. First experience making it and tasting it. Kevin actually liked the Risotto better than regular rice. The consistency is slightly different and it’s more dense and creamy. The meal went together perfectly. It was a little more work then set it and forget it, but well worth the effort. I served this with a simple side salad. It would have been nice to have had some dinner bread to go along with it. However, it was very filling.

1 cup Baby Arugula Leaves, chopped small

8 oz Fresh Mozzarella, cubed

1 (16 oz) package Risotto

4 tbsp Olive Oil

1 cup fresh diced tomatoes

¼ cup olive oil vinaigrette

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

4 chicken breasts

4 tsp minced garlic

Prepare risotto following package instructions. (If instructions call for butter, use olive oil instead)

Combine tomatoes, arugula, cheese, salt, pepper and vinaigrette and set aside.  

Preheat large sauté pan on medium 2-3 minutes. Add 3 tbsp oil to pan.  Combine breadcrumbs and 2 tbsp parmesan cheese in a bowl. Coat both sides of chicken. Add chicken to pan, cover and cook until done.

Stir in garlic and 2 tbsp parmesan cheese into risotto and cover. Cook and stir 2-3 more minutes until rice is creamy and tender.

Add risotto to plate, top with chicken. Finish with tomato mixture on top.