Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

This was really a fantastic meal.  I will make it again for sure.  The kids were raving about the smell even before it came out of the oven.  I didn't have time to make a veggie, so we just ate raw carrots and hummus with it. (not the normal side dish for a meal like this)  Next time, I would maybe add some sauteed mushrooms to the sauce part, or maybe some spinach to the stuffing part.  Either would be delicious.
   
So I had a big roaster chicken from Sam's, and I split it 2 for two casseroles.  And I still have a bit leftover chicken and I have enough of the 2 casseroles for leftovers tonight (no cooking, whew, I need a break!).  So, go buy a big, fat roaster and get 3 meals out of them for probably less than $20.  Love that!
 
  Now I know that almost all recipes call for dry white wine, but personally, I prefer the sweetness a sweet white lends to poultry, so I like Moscato or one similar.  You choose your favorite, but don't forget the wine!  It makes the dish!   And please, no "cooking wines"! They are so full of salt!  Only a wine fit for drinking (though I don't like to, go figure!)
   
This dish came together in about 15 minutes, and has to bake for at least 30 minutes.  But overall, a quick meal!  Enjoy!


CHICKEN AND STUFFING CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 Roaster chicken cut up
• extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 7-10 oz. pepperidge farm stuffing
• 1 egg
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (healthy request)
• 1/2 cup light sour cream (or nonfat greek yogurt)
• 1 1/2 cups white wine divided (I like Moscato)
• 8 oz cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:


Preheat  oven to 375.
Drizzle some EVOO into a skillet and place diced onion and celery in.  Cook over med-high heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring every now and then.  Meanwhile, mix together cream soup, sour cream, 1 cup white wine and about 1/2 can of chicken broth in a bowl.  Add more broth if necessary (you want it about texture of cake batter).  After onion and celery are tender, add stuffing (maybe some thawed/drained chopped spinach??), 1 can chicken broth, 1/2 cup white wine and stir. Add more broth from leftover from sauce if necessary.  All the stuffing should be moist, but not wet.  Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, chop chicken up in small pieces.  After stuffing has cooled, whisk and then add egg and stir into stuffing.  Spray 9x13 with nonstick cooking spray and put all but about 1 1/2 cups sutffing into the pan.  Press gently to spread in the bottom.  Put chicken over stuffing.  Then dump cream soup mixture over the chicken evenly, making sure it is covered evenly.  Put some cheese up on top.  (I used more like 4 oz).  Put remainder stuffing on top.  Bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes, until bubbling and top stuffing is crisp.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I like sweet potatoes, but am honestly not a huge fan.  But I LOVE sweet potato fries.  My kids don't like sweet potatoes at all, but love these.  They are so good for us too!  And so easy.  Makes a great pair with about any meat and great with burgers too!


BAKED SWEET POTATO FRIES


INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 Sweet potatoes
• EVOO
• Coarse salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425.  Peel potatoes and cut into fry like size.  Put them all in bowl and drizzle with 1-2 TBSP EVOO.   Sprinkle with about 1 tsp Salt, few grinds of pepper (about 1/2 tsp) and about 1/2 tsp garlic powder.  Toss to coat, adding more EVOO if needed.  (All potatoes shold be glossy.)
Spread on baking sheet (preferably not nonstick so they will brown) and put in oven.  Take out and turn after about 10 minutes and then cook another 10 minutes. Check to see doneness (will depend on how big fries are)  If necessary, turn them and cook another 10 minutes.
When cooked through, if not browned yet, broil for 3-5 minutes to brown and crisp them up. (WATCH carefully!  I leave oven door ajar.)   Taste for seasoning, can sprinkle with some garlic salt if desired.  Serve with favorite fry dip (a garlic mayo would be fabulous!)

Potato and White Bean Soup

I wanted a hearty and rustic soup last week and this was what I was in the mood for and what I had on hand.  It was very tasty, pretty quick and went great with the focaccia.  It is also pretty figure friendly.  A good meal to warm you up on a cold winter's day!


POTATO AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 lbs of white potatoes, cut bite size
• EVOO
• 1 large onion, diced
•  3  large carrots cut up or 20 baby carrots
• 2 stalks celery, diced (include the leaves)
• 5-6 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
• 1 can cannelloni beans
• sprinkle or parsley
• 1 box chicken broth
• 2 c. water
• 1/3 c. sour cream  

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pan drizzle some EVOO (about 1 tbsp) and place in chopped onion, celery and carrots.  Let cook for 5-10 minutes over med heat until onions become translucent.  Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.  Add potatoes, brother and water and cover and simmer about 1/2 hour or until potatoes are cooked.  Add beans and parsley and reduce heat to low. Just before serving stir in sour cream.  Keep warm until ready to serve.  Serve with sprinkle of parm cheese and crackers or sour cream and cheddar cheese.

Potato Focaccia

 

For some reason I have always been a afraid of making breads.  But really they are not all that hard.

Back when I lived in Germany, Brad and I went to a friends for dinner.  She made a new recipe which was potato focaccia and was delicious.  I never asked her for the recipe, much to my dismay.  I finally realized I could try one from online.  Now, this focaccia was excellent.  It was not as good as I remember hers being, but it was great!  My mom and dad were here and both enjoyed it as well.  It has a nice olive oil taste and the salt, tomato and cheese, made it in my opinion.  Hers was sweeter than this, so maybe if I added some honey or sugar to it?  But, this one was a very traditional focaccia flavor and not that difficult.


The recipe calls for 1 cup of mashed potatoes. A few days before I made it,  I used 2 med. sized white potatoes and boiled them with some salt, and mashed them up with some butter and milk and it was the perfect amount.  This recipe is adapted from Ward Street Bistro. 


POTATO FOCACCIA


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup mashed potato
• 3 cups AP flour
• 1 pkg. active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
• 1 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 3 TBSP EVOO, divided
• coarse sea salt.
• 1/4 c. shredded mozzerella
• Italian seasoning
• 1-2 vine ripened tomatoes

 DIRECTIONS:

Put yeast into large mixing bowl and add warm water to yeast in thin stream.  Mix with wooden spoon and let sit for a few minutes.

Add mashed potato to yeast mixture and whisk to combine. Mix in 2TBSP olive oil.  Add in flour and table salt and stir with wooden spoon to combine.  Knead in bowl for 5-7 min until smooth and elastic, adding a tad more flour if becomes too sticky.

Coat bowl with oil and put dough in making sure dough is also coated.  Cover with kitchen towel and place in warm place to rise for 1 hour.

Lightly oil a 9x13 and after 1st rise, stretch dough  and place in prepared pan.  Cover and let rise another hour.

Preheat oven to 425 (400 if using glass pan).  When dough is done with second rise, make indentations into the dough with finger.  Brush 1 Tbsp olive oil (I drizzled, then brushed) over top of dough allowing it to pool in dents.  Sprinkle with coarse salt, Italian spices (I used grinder of spices) and sliced tomato and cheese.   Bake for 30-35 min until golden brown.  Let cool for 20 min before serving.  (I didn't, oops!)  Cut into big squares of strips.  Makes 8-12 serving depending on slices.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

This is a good quick dinner.  I had a roaster chicken and used about half of it for this meal.  It went together in less than 15 minutes.  It does not qualify as mexican to me, but is a normal cream soup casserole.  Tasty and quick.  We threw some sour cream and fresh salsa up on top and it was very tasty.  Not incredible, but very good. The tortillas were the best part, so use lots! My kids gobbled it up.  I love me a quick meal!



CHICKEN TORTILLA CASSEROLE

• 12 dz. corn tortillas (I used whole wheat about 10)
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 can green chilies
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (I use Campbell's Healthy Request)
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS: 


Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Tear tortilla's into bite size pieces and spread into greased pan.  Spread chopped chicken over shells.  Mix chilies, creamed soups, broth and green onions in bowl and half the cheese.  Pour over chicken.  Top with remaining cheese.  Bake @ 350 for 1 hr.  (I cooked for 1/2 hour covered then removed foil though I don't think it was necessary.)

Gramma's Chocolate Frosting

This recipe is from my Grandma on my dad's side, and is my go to frosting.  I learned by watching her make it and honestly, this is the first time I measured anything.   She used a big spoon and just dumped things in.  This makes a generous amount of frosting and I can remember my Grandpa taking the leftovers and sandwiching it between 2 graham cracker squares.  He would put it in tupperware and in half a day the crackers were softened and it was my favorite "cookie" ever! She passed away about 13 years ago, but her frosting lives on!
It was a little tricky, but I think with these measurements you should get a great frosting.  I leave out the egg normally, but this is her true recipe and the egg does add a lightness.  If you are nervous about the raw egg, leave it out and just add a little more sour milk.  Enjoy!



GRAMMA'S CHOCOLATE FROSTING


INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 c. cocoa powder
• 6-7 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 stick of softened butter
• 2/3 cup crisco
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. (more or less) of sour milk (cook milk in small saucepan until hot)

DIRECTIONS:

In Mixer bowl, with whisk attachment, combine crisco and butter.  Add cocoa powder and sugar and mix on low.  Add egg and a little milk at a time.  When about half the milk is in, turn up to high speed and add vanilla and stream in milk a little at a time until is light brown and well incorporated.  Mix for 2-3 minutes scraping down bowl as necessary.  When done, remove and scrape bottom of bowl and sides to make sure all in incorporated.

Frost!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

My neighbor had a birthday yesterday and of course, I used the excuse to make a dessert to bring over.  I was going to make a flour-less chocolate cake which has been beckoning me, but I did not have all the ingredients on hand, plus there was the problem of, "Happy Birthday, here is half a cake!"  Um... not so cool.  Anyway, I decided cupcakes would be perfect.  So I made some...  and may I say the batter is heavenly!!  As good as brownie batter.  I did reluctantly let my kids have a finger dip at the "empty" bowl, but I cleaned it out with a spatula and got my share as well!  YUM!  I love chocolate!  It really makes me happy. The cupcake is a rich, fudgy, moist cake with a nice crumble.

This is a recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen.  I love that show and everything I have made from there is great.  They recommend not doubling the recipe because you don't get a good rise on the cupcakes, but I did it and they still tasted great and seemed to rise just fine.  I don't have time to make 2 batches... I wanted 24 cupcakes, so I just doubled this recipe.  I only changed the salt, because they are a little too salty otherwise.  I used my grandmother's chocolate frosting which is the best.  Try and enjoy!



Dark Chocolate Cupcakes 
yields 12 

INGREDIENTS:

•  1 stick butter cut up into pieces
• 2 ounces bittersweet choc. chopped (I used bittersweet choc. chips)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 c. AP unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. sour cream

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin cups with paper liners.

In double boiler, combine butter, cocoa powder and chopped choc.and heat until butter and choc. are melted.  Set aside to cool. 

In a small bowl combine flour and baking soda and powder.  Whisk together.

In a large bowl whisk eggs.  When choc. mixture is just warm to touch whisk it in with eggs.  Add 1/3 of flour mixture and whisk until combined.  Add sour cream and whisk until combined.  Add the rest of flour and whisk until batter is thick, scraping down bowl as necessary. 

Use ice cream scoop to put batter into liners.  Cook for 18-20 until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool until can take out of pan and cool another 30 minutes on wire rack before frosting.  Frost with buttercream or chocolate buttercream.