Audrey's Spanish Chicken and Onion Crescents

I will have to say that this has been my favorite recipe that we have done so far. Of course I haven't fixed all the recipes. I did make some changes to the recipe for our family and that was using boneless, skinless, chicken thighs instead of the chicken breasts. I also used some Campari tomatoes that I already had instead of the Roma tomatoes. I used the rest of the ingredients that the recipe called for and I really liked the sun-dried tomatoes in it. I thought that really gave the dish good flavor. Since only three of us ate on it, I had lots of leftovers and I ate it for lunch on top of a lettuce salad. That probably sounds strange, but it tasted good. I do think that it was a good idea to have rice with it, like some of you did. We had a lettuce salad with ours and then I fixed the rolls, except I just made them into the crescent shapes and sprinkled them with garlic powder. Everything tasted very good. Like some of you, I think that it would also taste good with more sauce and then put it on top of some pasta.

New Recipes

These are the recipes Rochelle chose for this week.

Turkey Tetrazzini

While the recipe calls for uncooked turkey, Robin says its a great way to use up leftover cooked turkey or chicken so its a very fitting selection for this week.

12 ounces broad egg noodles

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup sliced mushrooms (button, cremini, portabella, or any wild mushrooms)

One 1-pound turkey tenderloin, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 4 cups)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup frozen green peas

1 1/2 cups sour cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

 

1. cook the egg noodles according to the package directions.  Drain and set aside, covered with aluminum foil to keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Add the mushrooms and cook stirring a few times, until they release their liquid.  Add the turkey and cook, stirring a few times, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.  Add the thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper and stir to coat.  Cook, stirring, until the herbs are fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add the broth, bring to a simmer, and continue to simmer until the turkey is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the peas and simmer for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream and parsley.  Add the cooked egg noodles, then season to taste with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese just before serving. 

 

Parmesan-Crusted Rolls

cooking spray

1 pound fresh or thawed frozen bread dough

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.  coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

2.  Break the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.  Place the balls on the prepared sheet, coat with cooking spray, and sprinkle with the parmesan.  Bake until puffed up and golden brown, about 8 minutes. 

Audrey's Banana Cream Pie Parfaits

I bought the ingredients that were called for in the recipe. I wasn't sure about using vanilla yogurt instead of vanilla pudding, but I went ahead with it. It always makes me feel like I am quite the chef when I am trying out a new recipe and putting all the ingredients together. I think that it is a lot of fun. I used my blender getting it all smooth and then I put it in a tupperware container for eating later that night. It actually tasted real good. I never got them assembled as no one wanted them after dinner, so later on some of my guys just made their own. I didn't get a picture of that though. They said that the pudding tasted good. I would probably use pudding next time, but I am sure that the yogurt is a healthier option.

Audrey's Warm Steak & Penne Salad with Tomato Soup French Dressing

I learned after the first recipe to make the changes that would be better for our family. I used all the ingredients called for in the recipe, but changed things up some. First off, I marinated the steak(London Broil) and I used Terriyaki sauce and the seasonings that were called for. I then marinated it all day. That night I cooked the pasta and mixed up the dressing and set that aside. Then I started cooking the steak on our stovetop gas grill. Doug and Brock walked in while I was cooking that and made sure that I wasn't cooking the meat too much, since I am known for doing that. Then they also didn't want me to cut the steak up into slices. We compromised and I cut the steaks in half after they had rested, which they were very happy with. I mixed the dressing in with the pasta and let it soak in a bit. It seemed strange that the sauce wasn't cooked. I also had a salad to go with the meal and everyone used their own salad dressings. Everyone ate the meal and liked the steak and thought that the pasta was pretty good to okay. I would have liked the pasta with a cooked sauce better. In all, the meal went over well with our family. They liked the Steak so much that I ended up eating some leftover roast instead of the steak with my meal. I would probably cook this meal again.

White Bean Soup with Andouille & Collard Greens

It has taken me awhile to get this posted, but thanks to Jacki and Nika's help, I think that I have it figured out.

I had fun fixing this soup, since it was a new recipe. If I fixed this soup again, I would have to make some changes as Brock was about the only one that liked it very well. He had just come in from football practice, so he was real hungry. We aren't big fans of this kind of sausage, so I should have tried a different kind of meat. I followed the recipe very closely, but I need to cook it again using a different kind of meat and substitute spinach for the collard greens. I will have to say that it was fun cooking it, as I really enjoy trying out new recipes. I used the Andouille sausage and for the beans I used small great northern beans. I didn't make the salad, but just had a romaine and iceburg salad and let people use salad dressings that they liked. It was a fun experience and I am glad that we are doing this.

Heidi's Spanish Chicken and Pineapple

We actually tried these recipes last week; but my computer was being fixed so thus the late post.
We had the pinapple without too much of the coconut since I am not a big fan (and I am the cook). Kenton, Ashley and I really liked it but as per usual Connor wasn't a big fan.
For the Spanish Chicken I marinated it in a Lawry's Herb and Garlic marinade which added a bit of sauce since some had posted that it was rather dry. This wasn't a big hit with my family; but I enjoyed trying it. There were too many of the sun dried tomatoes for us which made the flavor a little strong for our tastes. The onion knots were good.

Looking forward to trying the new recipes after Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Break and Schedule Continued...

We will be taking a little break from posting new recipes this week because of Thanksgiving.  I am sure there will be plenty of cooking and eating! If you are still getting caught up on recipes this week (or whenever) please post them so we can see how they turned out! After Thanksgiving we have a few more people to choose recipes.  We have two new cooks joining us, Rochelle and Claudia.  Rochelle is a friend of Nika's from her ward and Claudia just moved into my mom's ward and was looking for a cooking group to join.  It will be fun to have more people! Feel free to invite anyone you know that might be interested. 

Week of Nov. 30th: Rochelle

Week of Dec. 7th: Audrey

Week of Dec. 14th: Connie

Christmas Week Off

Week of Dec. 28th: Jacki

Week of Jan. 4th: Claudia

Week of Jan. 11th: Jacque

Remember try to post the recipes that you choose on the Friday night before your week if possible...for our Saturday grocery shoppers.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Leslee

Bananas, Spanish Chicken, Onion Knots and Pineapple All at Once!

I have fallen way behind on the recipes lately but I made a few of them this week. 

 

First, on Tuesday for lunch the kids and I made the banana cream pie parfait.  We followed the directions and it was very good.  Belle thought that since it came from the blender it should be a drink.   The bananas were not quite ripe enough, but I made it for dessert that night so Sterling could taste it and used riper bananas and it was even better.  We all liked it.

 

 

 

On Wednesday night I made the Spanish chicken.  It was delicious.  I was babysitting a girl that I sometimes watch and so I gave her mom half of it when she came to pick her up, but I haven’t gotten her opinion on it yet.   I did not have broccoli and used peas which seemed to fit right in.  I also used canned instead of fresh tomatoes  in addition to the sun-dried tomatoes.  I would make this again.   I also did not have refrigerated roll dough so I used some good bread that I had and put butter, onion flakes and garlic salt on it and broiled it in the oven.  It was really good and I will probably add the onion flakes in the future when I make garlic bread.   

Last night Sterling and I made the pineapple treat.  Well, he mostly just watched, maybe to make sure I didn’t contaminate his with the cocoanut and almonds.   We used fresh pineapple from Costco which is always really tasty by itself.  We really liked it and had it with ice cream.  We will probably have it again tonight because I have more pineapple.    

 

I hope to make the steak and penne when we get back into town next week. 

Spanish chicken with Spanish Paprika

Really liked this dish, I had used our broccoli for a previous dinner so asparagus is what we had in the refrigerator.
It turned out really, really good!!! I added some Spanish paprika and used the sun dried tomatoes that I had (Not oil-packed). I did not have any plain mozzarella cheese so I used the 4 formage from trades Joes and some parmesan from Costco.

We had the chicken over rice and it was delicious. I also added 1 cup chicken broth since most of you said it was pretty dry.

I liked Jackie's idea of using garlic salt and sure enough the boys devoured the rolls......

I loved the pineapple dessert!!!!!! I decided to use fresh pineapple so glad I did.
I ate mine over coconut ice cream…..Had two helpings….I may have to have a bit more before bed.

Sooooooooooooo Goooooooooooooood

NaDee's Choices

Well, after directions from both Leslee and Nika, I finally got some pictures posted of my Spanish Chicken and my Baked Pineapple Split. I'm not even going to write about them. The rest of you have done some fantastic changes and if I make the chicken dish again, I will incorporate some of your suggestions. Mine was a little dry. The left-overs were good with some spaghetti sauce added for moisture and flavor. The pineapple dish was very good though.

Penne pasta with Steak my way

Sorry but so far this was my least favorite recipe. I don’t like French dressing so I pretty much created my own recipe here with the help of Christopher and Alexandro.

Well as you all know , I like to marinate the meat so I used my favorite - Cabernet & roasted Garlic (made with Grape seed oil) Bistro blends by John Spenger’s of Napa Valley (www.bistroblendes.com) I love this marinade, it can be used as a vinaigrette for your salad and it is also a very delicious bread dip, I always pick a couple up at Seattle’s Pike’s market whenever we are up there. That really made up this dish!!!!
For the pasta I used a salad dressing we picked up in Waitsburg, WA at a fruit stand while we were getting some Walla Walla onions and peaches this last Summer (Walla Walla Sweet onion and Summer tomato dressing) , very tasty. The boys asked me to add some olives and grape tomatoes and I also added some fresh herbs - basil and parseley.

Ok, another problem we had with the dessert is that Leon will not eat anything with bananas……..soooooo I used strawberries, but when I started making the dessert I realized I did not have the vanilla wafers so I used the chocolate wafers I had in the pantry………Definitely making this again, so, so good….. I think I will try making this again with raspberries next time hummmm……

Leslee-Spanish Chicken

Tonight we had the Spanish Chicken for dinner and it was delicious! I started by marinating the chicken in some Italian style dressing today, since my Grandma had mentioned it was a little dry.  I think this made a big difference! Instead of buying a big jar of sun-dried tomatoes since it is a little pricey, I got some from the salad bar at the health food store.  I probably got about a cup but when it was diced up it was a little less.  For the fresh tomatoes Summer helped we chose some smallish ones that came on the vine.  Everything cooked up nicely and smelled delicious, especially after melting on the cheese.  Summer kept calling it Pizza. I served it on top of some white rice.  I was thinking it would be good with pasta but it doesn’t have a lot of sauce so it worked very well with the rice.  Both Sean and I really liked it and I will definitely  make it again.  The only thing I would change was the broccoli that I used.  I used a bag of frozen chopped broccoli but it turned out to be basically blended broccoli so it was kind of all over the dish.  It wasn’t a huge distraction but I could imagine it with some nice chunks of broccoli instead.  I hope you all enjoy this one as much as us!

Some of the ingredients

After broiling

All ready to eat…

Jacki’s Review of Chicken, Rolls, Pineapple

I loved all three of these recipes, especially the Spanish Chicken and the Brown Sugar Glazed Pineapple. For the Spanish Chicken I pretty much followed the recipe as written except I did not put the dish in the oven to broil after I put the cheeses on.  I just sprinkled the cheeses on the hot mixture in the skillet and then let it melt.  I also sprinkled some salt on the chicken and tomatoes as they were cooking.  I thought it was absolutely delicious with the sun-dried tomatoes and the melted cheeses – Yummy!  I can hardly wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  I served it over some yellow saffron rice I cooked up in the rice cooker.  As far as the Onion Knots went, instead of sprinkling onion flakes on I sprinkled them with parmesan cheese and onion salt and they were really good.  I used the reduced fat crescent rolls because they didn’t have any trans fat like the regular ones do and they tasted great.  My knots were not pretty though.  I followed the Pineapple recipe exactly as directed except I cut it in half. I ended up cooking it in the oven for about 15 minutes and I let it cool for a couple of minutes.   I served it over vanilla ice cream and briefly  thought I had died and gone to heaven while I was eating it…the warm glazed pineapple with the toasted coconut and nuts with Bryers creamy vanilla ice cream…sooooo good.  Rich didn’t really care for any of the three recipes but he did eat everything and he did say the nuts and ice cream were good! 

All ingredients except chicken assembled   

Spanish Chicken finished in skillet

Saffron rice, Spanish chicken, Parmesan/Garlic Knots Plated.

Glazed pineapple before          after cooked over ice cream

For those of you who have not made the recipes yet…..taste bud overload awaits you!

Spanish Chicken

Page 83
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 cups fresh or thawed frozen broccoli florets
1 cup drained oil-packed sun-died tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped Roma tomatoes
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat the oil in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, and Roma tomatoes, partially cover the skillet, and simmer until the fresh tomatoes break down and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the chicken mixture with the mozzarella and Parmesian. Place the pan under the broiler and broil until the cheese is golden and bubbly,
2 to 3 minutes.

ONION KNOTS: page 264

8 ounce package refrigerated crescent rolls
Olive oil cooking spray
2 tablespoons onion flakes (or you can use garlic flakes or sesame seeds with a little coarse salt.)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2 Unroll the crescent dough into 8 triangles. Tie each triangle into a knot by stretching two points out and then crossing them over and under, as if tying a shoe. Place the knots on the baking sheet. Coat them with cooking spray, then sprinkle with flakes. Bake until puffed up and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.


BROWN SUGAR-GLAZED PINEAPPLE WITH TOASTED ALMONDS AND COCONUT

Cooking Spray
12 pineapple rings (fresh or canned in juice)
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Arrange the pineapple rings on the prepoared sheet and sprinkle the brown sugar, alm onds, and coconut over the top. Bake until the almonds and coconut are golden brown and pineapple is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

I'll bet this would be excellent with a scoop of vanilla ice cream - a pineapple split.
It says peach slices also work very well.

Jacki’s Review of Pasta Salad and Parfaits

As usual I liked both of these recipes.  They were both quite simple and easy to prepare.  I used whole grain penne pasta because that is what I had and I thought it was good.  Instead of flank steak I used a flat iron steak because it was less expensive and the flank steak came in a bigger package than I needed.  The flat iron steak was excellent!- good flavor and tender.  It took longer to cook than the recipe recommended though.  I made the sauce as directed but I didn’t have any sherry vinegar so I used red wine vinegar and added just a touch more sugar because that is what google told me to do.  I added a few grape tomatoes that I had on hand and needed to use up.  I made the sauce and pasta ahead of time so I mixed the two together and heated just a little in the microwave before I added the steak.  I have to admit I knew Rich would not care for this as a whole meal because he doesn’t really like French or Catalina dressing so I made some rice and saved some of the steak for him to eat separate.  He did have a serving of the pasta salad though and ate it.  The Banana Cream Pie Parfaits were good too and easy to make.  I would like to try it using vanilla pudding like Nika did.  I also added some banana chunks as suggested.  I used the whipped cream in a can instead of the Cool Whip because that is what I had and it worked fine.  When pressed for a comment regarding the recipes, Rich said “interesting”. – but he did eat them both.  He really liked the steak :)                                                                                 

Heidi & Grandma Connie's Review

Last night we had the pasta. We followed the recipe and didn't really make any changes to it. It got a review of "pretty good" from Kenton which is high praise! Everyone thought that it was pretty good; well, except for Connor but he doesn't like anything other than fishsticks or chicken nuggets. I think that this is something that we will fix again though. Might use a little different meat or a different type of steak though and maybe heat the sauce up too. It seemed a little odd that the sauce wasn't hot.

Leslee’s Steak and Pasta

Well this recipe was a little tricky for me and I am not sure if it turned out how it was suppose to, but it was pretty good.  Yesterday I was thinking ahead and figured I would follow Ingrid’s example and marinate my steak. Tonight Sean grilled it up on the bbq to give it a delicious flavor.  I used a gluten free brand on penne pasta, which I am sure didn’t really effect the taste of the dish.  My trouble came with the sauce.  Condensed Tomato soup has wheat flour in it so I couldn’t use that and all the gluten free options were regular tomato soup which is not as thick.  I decided to make my own using some tomato sauce I thickened up a little bit and added some spices to it.  I have never actually tasted condensed tomato soup so I wasn’t exactly sure how to create the flavor, but Sean said it tasted pretty close.  I made add the other things to it following the recipe.  It turned out pretty runny.  I served it on the side so we could just mix in the amount to our pasta and steak that we wanted.  It wasn’t super flavorful so Sean thought to add a little Kraft Tucson House Italian dressing on top which made it quite delicious!  Like I said, I am not sure if all my substitutions messed it up but in the end we both enjoyed it! I am interested to see how everyone’s turns out using the condensed soup.

Sorry, the presentation isn’t that nice…

Dessert First!

I didn’t have all the supplies yet to make the main dish but I decided to try out the dessert tonight. Nilla Wafers are not gluten free so I perused my gluten free cookbooks and found a recipe for Vanilla Wafers to try out.  They turned out really good and taste like a mix of nilla wafers and a thin but soft sugar cookie.  When making the banana cream I cut the recipe in half since there are just two of us and it turned out to be the perfect amount.  I used a combination of vanilla and banana cream flavored yogurt.  Summer had already gone to bed, so I didn’t want to get out the blender, since it is pretty noisy in our little apartment so I just used the mixer.  This probably didn’t get things as smooth but it worked out nicely with some banana chunks in there.  Both Sean and I really liked it. I thought maybe it would be good with broken up angel food cake or something but Sean liked the crunch of the cookie in it.  It was a little rich for me with all the whip cream and I couldn't quite finish that cup full. It was a fun and tasty dessert to try out! You could definitely do this with different fruits too.

Sweet and Tangy Pork chops a success

To be Honest I was not sure about this dish. I am not a fan of Sweet and Sour sauces. I was very surprised with the results and the kids loved it. Leon still thinks that the pork chops with the rhubarb sauce was the best though.
The rice was extremely easy to make I did not have any light coconut milk but decided to use 5.6 Oz can of the regular. I made 3 cups of rice since my boys can eat a lot of it. I used my rice cooker and it turned out perfect.

I always marinate the meat regardless of what the recipe says, I think that the meat always tastes better and is tender. I only added garlic and a little orange juice to it and marinated overnight.

To serve we had sautéed broccoli in garlic and olive oil it was a perfect side dish.

Heidi's Review

Last night we had the coconut rice and sweet and tangy pork chops. I followed both recipes except that I did not put the scallions on the top as we are not big onion eaters. The pork chops were great and I really liked the sauce. I think that we will definetly fix that again although I might have Kenton grill out the pork chops instead of frying them. The rice was good; but it had a little bit too much coconut flavor for us. Maybe just using water instead of the coconut milk would make it better for us. Kenton, Connor and I really liked the pork chops; but Ashley didn't like any of it which was very strange as she never turns away food. I also fixed Garlic-Roasted Asparagus with Almonds (pg 241) and it was pretty good too. Overall, this was probably the most liked by my family (good thing since Kenton picked it).