Jacki and Nika’s Honey Plum Soy Chicken

Nika and family are visiting and we made this for dinner today.  I have to admit I wasn’t a fan but I did make some changes so it might be my fault.  I didn’t use the red wine – substituted apple juice and about a tablespoon of red wine vinegar.  The store I went to didn’t have plum preserves so I substituted with cherry preserves.  I used all of the soy sauce called for so maybe just using half like Dana did would be better.  We used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs.  I marinated the chicken over night and then browned it in the pan as directed.  I added the sauce and brought to a boil then put it all in the crockpot and cooked it on low for a few hours.  Served it over steamed rice with steamed green beans.  I was ok but not something I would make again – but, it might be any of my substitutions – apple juice, cherry preserves etc.  Not sure what I did wrong.  I see Dana really liked it so I am looking forward to reading other reviews of it.

 

Rutter Trio Kitchen ~ Honey-Plum-Soy Chicken

I found these noodles and thought they would go perfect with this recipe. I followed the recipe except for the cooking part. I had 2 whole chicken breasts, bone in, in my freezer. I didn't want to wait for them to thaw, so I decided to crock-pot cook. I marinated according to the recipe, except for about 5 hours instead of an hour.

With Johnny, I can only do a little at a time. Then he wants to play. So when I had another second, I took the chicken out of the marinade and placed in into my crock with a couple Tablespoons of olive oil. I didn't sear the chicken as required in the recipe. I just added it to the crock, followed the recipe and put my crock on High. Cooked for about 6 hours, until the chicken was falling off the bone. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm, It was AMAZIN'!!!!!!!

The only thing I changed in the recipe was adding 10oz of soy instead of 20oz. I thought 20 would have been WAY too much, and it would have been in my opinion.

Brandon and I really enjoyed the meat and I will definitely make the recipe again.

Rutter Chicks Kitchen- Pasta and Donuts

We made the Pasta and added shrimp to our dish. This was soooooo easy. It took about 15 min to make the sauce. The noodles took a little longer, but for "The Pioneer Women" this recipe was quick and extremely tasty.

We all really enjoyed the dish. We doubled the recipe and I ate on it for a week. I think we all will most likely make this dish again. We also thought it would be tasty with chicken and using canned tomatoes instead of fresh.

Okay....so these donuts were NOT at all what I expected as far as the length of making the dough. I am very impatient when it comes to dough. Fortunately Audrey did the mixing and initial rising (Thanks Audrey!!!). The dough she made was beautiful.....UNTIL....I got a hold of it.

We didn't have a doughnut cutter, so we used what we could find. What we found made LARGE doughnuts (Before rising). Imagine what they looked like after they rose. World record size....Not really, but they were big.

Me and Brett's fiance' Ashley. She was icing duty and I was fry duty. By the way....did you notice fiance'??? We are soooooo excited for Brett and Ashley. She will be cooking with us. So I thought I would give us a name....Rutter Chicks! It's catchy. I like it. Though....I haven't told Audrey or Ashley....I hope they like it too. HE HE HE..... I need to talk to them.

Well, this is our final product for the doughnuts. Yep....that's them. This is actually one Audrey made. It actually looks like a doughnut. The few I fried looked...well...not so much. It was more funnel cake like. These were tasty. I MIGHT make them again....I wouldn't hold your breath.

Tarin's Donut Time

We've been talking about using these for Brenna's bridal shower over Thanksgiving so I wanted to try these out before hand.

 

I made a 1/3 a batch because it was just me and the kids this weekend. I have to tell you that I can't imagine that how she makes this so that she can serve it at a reasonable breakfast hour. I made the dough left it overnight and then pulled it out at 7:30 am, waited the 2 hours, rolled them out all pretty...

And then waited 2 hours for them to be ready. So by the time I started cooking them it was 11:30, lunch time. I looked at some other yeast donut recipes and it looks like you should be able to let the dough rise for an hour or so, then rolling them out and letting them rise again for another 30-60 minutes. That way you could have donuts at a normal hour.

I decided to used just regular veggie oil instead of the shortening.

Don't they look so pretty.

 Here they were dipped in the glaze. The biggest thing that I would have done differently is cooked one at a time. They are so temperamental that the second one turned brown and I by the time I pulled the first one out the others were too dark. They still tasted good though.

We loved them...especially Addison. She liked having a big donut and a baby donut :) I can't wait to try different toppings.

Tarin's Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce

We loved this dish. Seriously...ever member of the family from the hubs to the baby loved this dish. We used a penne whole wheat pasta and I normally just make half a box for our family...but the first thing Doug said was that I should have made more.

I did make the full serving of the sauce though and thought it was the pefect amount! I used Jacki's suggestion of using walnuts instead of pine nuts because I couldn't find any pune nuts anywhere. Obviously there is a shortage which could be the only explanation for nuts costing $29/lb :-) I also disn't use tomatoes in it, but I think I'd love this with chicken.

We will defintely be making this again.

Recipe for the Week

Hello Ladies!

Sorry I am a day late.  For this week I let my husband look through the cookbook and pick out what he thought sounded good.  He picked:

Honey-Plum-Soy Chicken, on pages 197-199.

The recipe calls for 3 cups of red wine.  I did a quick google search and looked up some possible substitutions for red wine, for those that don't want to cook with it.  I came across grape juice, apple juice, beef or chicken stock, a little splash of vinegar added to any of the already mentioned, etc.  Or cooking wine.  I am sure there are other options out there that I could find if I put a little more time to it.  I think I might go with the grape juice since it is the same color about and maybe sort of the same flavor...

I was also considering trying this recipe with chicken breasts instead of the thighs...just to make it a bit healthier, but I don't know how successful that will be.  I'm still thinking about it :)

Anyway, happy cooking!

Donuts!

So I felt inspired to give these a try tonight for dinner.  Sean was working all day long so I figured it might add some excitement to the day.  I made them gluten free by replacing the flour with a mixture of gluten free flours which worked surprisingly well.  I didn't give it enough time to rise at either time but gluten free things sometimes don't rise that great anyway. I also halved the recipe and it made plenty for us. The kids had fun watching me fry them up and dip them in the icing.  They turned out really tasty! Knox especially loved the donut holes and wanted to keep "popping" them in his mouth.  We had them with some eggs for a breakfast dinner. I haven't had donuts in forever and it was a very tasty treat.

ps. that one in the front broke...not a big bite out of it! 

Jacki’s Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce

I made this dish several nights ago for dinner and it was absolutely addictive.  I have never made pesto before so this was a new adventure.  (I didn’t make the pesto dish from the last cookbook).  It was easy to make with a food processor.  The pine nuts cost $29/lb so I was glad to hear walnuts could be substituted!  I did use the pine nuts this time though.  I used the heavy cream but I imagine half and half would work also.  I used a pasta I had not used before – Radiatore – and I really liked it.  It was a good shape for the sauce to cling to.  I think chicken or shrimp would have been really good in it.  The tomatoes were really good.  I only used 3 Roma tomatoes but next time I will use 4 – loved the flavor in the dish.  I was going to cut the recipe in half since there is just two of us but I am so glad I made the full recipe – plenty of leftovers.

Doughnuts

We made the doughnuts for dinner tonight.  Instead of doing the whole overnight method we mixed up the dough, let it rise until it was more than doubled (doesn’t take long here since its so hot) then I rolled them out and cut them into the proper shape using a drinking glass and a the top of a baby bottle.  After that we let them rise for over an hour.  I would have liked to let them go longer but it was getting late and I didn’t want a late bed time.  The oil was hard to keep at a constant temperature with my glass cooktop but all in all they worked out very well.  The dough was very nice and the finished product very tasty.  I think we made about 20 doughnuts plus the holes and had them for dinner with at least half left over for breakfast.   Served with a fruit smoothie and scrambled eggs it made for a nice dinner.   One funny thing though was as everyone started eating I was getting all sorts of compliments.  “I didn’t know you could make real doughnuts” “You are a perfect cook”  “You are the best mommy ever”.  If you need a little ego boost just make these.

I think you can spot the first two that got a little over cooked!

Catching up on the cooking!

First I have to slip this in here.  I made this about a month ago from the last cookbook.  It’s the sausage stuffed Zucchini.  Not sure what happened to this zucchini on the grill but it was magical.  The flavor was so good!  I think Sterling loved it most of all.   I used regular sausage so it wasn’t particularly healthy but oh so good.

On to the task at hand. .. Here is our Ranch chicken.  I prepared the meat in the marinade after lunch with my special assistant.  It wasn’t  too hard and the meat was very good when we grilled it up at dinner time.  My husband is really excellent at grilling chicken but he was going to be home a little later so I did the meat and it was fine.  I sliced it in half like she suggested.  Everyone liked it.

I also made the brownies for Sam’s birthday party in case people weren’t into Elmo cupcakes.  The brownies were good but there was the issue with my cake mix being smaller than suggested so I opened a second Mix.   Isabelle opened all the caramels which was nice.  I also only had an 8x8 pan which overflowed like crazy and eventually I had to put an end to the cooking time since I didn’t want a fire in the oven.  The brownies were delicious though although my husband thought it was a little overkill on the Carmel.

Here is the pesto.  It was so good.  We used basil from the garden and made a double batch.  I have heard of people using walnuts instead of pine nuts to cut down on the cost.  I used pine nuts this time though.  I didn’t add all the tomatoes and it was plenty. I also didn’t use freshly grated parmesan, but rather the Kraft can of it and it was just fine.  I froze the other half of the pesto so I can make another batch of this for a luncheon I have tomorrow.

Isabelle giving the finished product a little stir. 

Heidi's King Ranch Chicken

I fixed this the other night for dinner but I forgot to take any pictures :(  It was very tasty though!  I thought that the marinade was quite good.  I would definitely fix this again.

Leslee’s Jam and Pesto Pasta

I haven’t gotten the ice cream or donuts made yet but I wanted to post about what I have cooked.  I made a smaller batch of the jam and cooked it until the last boiling stage.  I don’t have any canning equipment so I just skipped that part.  We had the jam that night over waffles and it was a little runny but very tasty.  After it had been in the fridge over night it set up to a perfect consistency.  It was really good!!

I saw the new recipes posted before I went to the store Monday morning so I was able to grab the stuff I needed for the Pesto Pasta.  I don’t have a food processor so I just used my blender but it didn’t get the pesto to look like Ree’s.  Once I mixed it in with the cream and butter I think it turned out all right though.  I wasn’t expecting to like this dish since I don’t like herby flavored things but we all loved it! I added some leftover grilled chicken to the mix to beef it up a bit and it was delicious. 

Tarin's Ranch Chicken

This was really good. I think the bacon and cheese outweighed the healthy aspect of having chicken, bit it was yummy! We actually had it with Ree's bean recipe from the first cookbook and her strawberry jam. I felt like she could've just come and whipped it all up for me!

New Recipes 9-16

Here are the new recipes for this week:

Homemade Glazed Doughnuts on page 8
Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce page 136 - because apparently all I am capable of growing in my garden this summer is basil

Jacki’s Strawberry Jam and Vanilla Ice Cream

I made both the jam and the ice cream yesterday and that kept me busy!  As Tarin mentioned, I felt like quite the homemaker although she did more work than I did.  After a suggestion from Leslee I decided to forgo the canning part (since I got rid of all my canning supplies many moves ago) and just cut the jam recipe in 1/4 and made enough to partially fill a quart jar.  We are not big jam eaters around here so that should do us just fine for a bit.  I liked Tarin’s idea of making homemade bread to go along with it so I did that as well – very tasty.  I followed the jam recipe until the water bath part.  I left the berries pretty chunky because I like it that way.  I was eyeballing the pectin when I added so I think I added a bit much but it tasted really good and wasn’t too solid or gummy.  Success!
The Vanilla Bean Ice Cream was a lot of work but I have to admit it was really good.  Again, I was glad to have Tarin’s review to refer to and I cut the recipe down by 1/4 so it would fit into my ice cream freezer – so glad I did.  It took a long time to heat the mixture up to a simmer but I didn’t want it to burn.  I actually bought a vanilla bean because I have always wondered about using those (trivia – they come from an orchid).  I cut it open and scraped it like the recipe said to and then threw the whole bean in.  I think I could have used 2 beans even – flavor was really good.  I didn’t have a fine mesh strainer so I tried a dish towel but that was too thick so I just dumped it through my regular strainer and that caught enough stuff.  After freezing it in my ice cream maker I put it in a container in the freezer and checked it after 4 hours – it was harder but still a little soft.  I checked it again this morning after 14 hours and it was much more solid.  Very smooth texture – reminds me of frozen custard.

Strawberry Jam

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream – look closely and you can see the brown flecks from the vanilla bean.

Jacki’s Ranch Style Chicken and Brownies

I made both of these recipes last week and like everyone else I thought they were delicious.  The chicken was even good cold as leftovers sliced up in a salad.  I followed the directions except I didn’t brush any bacon grease on the chicken before cooking.  I thought the marinade was really yummy. 
The brownies were just flat out decadent!  So good!  Really rich though so just a small piece is plenty.  I ended up using a devils food cake mix because two stores I went to didn’t have the German Chocolate  mix in the 18.5 oz size.  Both Pillsbury and Betty Crocker are 15.25 oz and Duncan Heinz  Devils Food is 18.25 oz so went with that.  I didn’t have a 9x9 inch pan so used an 8x8 inch Pyrex pan and it rose to the very tip top but didn’t spill over.  I used fewer caramels than 60 because the bag didn’t have that many in it and they were really fresh tasting so maybe a few didn’t make it into the melting bowl:). I also didn’t roll out the top layer of dough – just patted sections out in my hand and layed on top – much easier.   I didn’t sprinkle the powdered sugar on top because it didn’t seem necessary.  Very good!

Rutter Kitchen - Chicken and Brownies

Hi All!!!!! 

It's been sooooo long since I posted. My new mommy job has had me busy this last year (WOW...It's went by so fast!), but Johnny and I have got into the swing of things. I'm hoping to be more involved this go round. 

We cooked our chicken using the breast method (Didn't cut in half) and on the bone chicken thighs (the guys request). I tasted both and I could taste the marrinade more in the breast.. Audrey did much of the prep work, but she said it was pretty simple. 

Everyone seemed to enjoy the chicken. I think it will definitaly be something we will all try cooking again.

Mmmmmmmm!!!!

Okay, the brownies. We baked these for Brett's birthday dessert. They were amazing!!!!! I didn't get naked or anything, actually I ate so much I went home and put sweats on. LOL ;)

Ashley baked them and did a fantastic job. Oh, in case y'all don't know, Ashley is Brett's girl friend and will be cooking with Audrey and I. We are very excited to make our duo cooking nights a trio!!!

Can't wait for more in this cookbook!!! Happy Cookin Y'all!!!

Jenny's Chicken

We had the ranch style chicken last night.  It was success all around!  So, so yummy.  I have a recipe that is almost identical to this, called Alice Springs Chicken.  It is supposed to be like the chicken at Outback Steakhouse.  Really the only difference is that the other recipe has you saute mushrooms and put them under the bacon and cheese.  Al, my husband, says he prefers the PW version...which I guess tells you how he feels about mushrooms.  But to echo what Leslee said, how can you go wrong with bacon and cheese?

I made the recipe as called for, except I didn't have any lemon juice for the marinade.  I am guessing it probably didn't make a huge difference in the outcome.  I paired it with some peas, garlic mashed potatoes, and some roasted butternut squash.  I would definitely make this chicken again!

It is so fun to be cooking from PW again.  I really like Ree.

BTW...I just saw that Our Best Bites is coming out with another cook book too!

Leslee's Chicken

So I kind of reported about the brownies before...we loved them! We also loved the chicken! Really, what is not to like about chicken, bacon and cheese? I didn't make any changes except not pouring bacon grease on top of the chicken.  We served them with rice and it made for a filling meal.

Tarin's Strawberry Jam & Ice Cream

So in making these it made me feel like a super homemaker :)

Let's start with the jam...

STRAWBERRY JAM

I didn't want to make a whole batch so I halved the recipe. I used a 2lb container of strawberries from Sam's Club and it just about the right amount :)

Of course I didn't have a potato masher so I used my meat tenderizer. It worked pretty well. Make sure that you mash it to the size of "chunks" that you want in the jam, they don't really break up that much more and I had a few bites that were a little bigger than I would have liked.

Since I have a glass stove top I use a 16 QT tamale/seafood steamer pot for the water bath portion. It has a rack that inserts and sits the jars a couple inches off of the bottom. Here I was multitasking :) The only difference I made with the recipe was that I had liquid pectin, and I used one pouch of that--if you did a whole batch you would use 2 pouches.

Here's the jam all ready to go into the water bath. I totally forgot to scoop the extra foam off the top before I put it into the jars...so don't forget that step! With a half a batch I was only able to get 4 jars worth in the pint size mason jars.

The jars in the water bath! The only thing I did differently at this stage was to leave them in for an extra 10 minutes of boiling (I live at 6000 ft so we have to boil any canning things for longer) before I turned off the heat and then I let it sit for the 15 minutes like she had said.

Here's my jam...

I had to make some homemade bread to try it on. This jam was delicious! I couldn't stop eating it. Doug and I finished off half a loaf! The extra foam on top didn't effect the taste or the texture at all. It just didn't look as pretty when I first took the lid off. But it doesn't matter. It was worth the work. I'll definitely be doing this again!

 

ICE CREAM

As for the ice cream, I've used this as my base for several versions. I made a peach ice cream with it, chocolate chip cookie dough, and then just the basic vanilla. I love it! It's so smooth and creamy. I didn't have any vanilla beans so I use a tablespoon of vanilla instead and it's worked great. The only thing that I don't like is that I swear it makes just a little bit too much for my 1.5qt ice cream maker so I always cut the recipe down by about a fourth.

Here's my peach ice cream (with some strawberry rhubarb pie)--

 

And the chocolate chip cookie dough version (I put some homemade Magic Shell on it...yummy!)-- 

 

Recipes for Sept. 9th!

Hey guys, I'm so excited to being doing this cookbook! I got it as an Easter gift and have been cooking up a storm with it.

I'd like us to do the
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream on pg. 266
and since tis the season to can lets also do the
Strawberry Jam on pg. 276

Tarin

New Recipes From Pioneer Woman Cooks

I hope that everybody has had a chance to get the new cookbook! I actually got this book last spring and haven’t used it yet so it will be fun to dive in.  A lot of these recipes she is making on her current season show on Food Network, that Summer loves to watch.  The first recipe we saw her make and thought they looked easy and delicious!

RANCH- STYLE CHICKEN- pg 208

KNOCK YOU NAKED BROWNIES- pg 260

Summer and I made these brownies on Friday for our dessert and to take some to a family who just had a baby.  They were fun to make and even though they involved a few more steps than your basic brownies they were too hard to make.  My family really enjoyed them and in regards to the name, Knox DID have a hard time getting dressed for bed after he ate them