My Favorite Tradition

When I was growing up my family had lots of great traditions. Some I have carried over to my family and others just remain a memory I will hold dear forever. I have also tried to create a few new ones with my own family that are just special to us. Last night, though, Sarah and I embarked upon my favorite tradition carried over from my family's Christmas. We made and decorated COOKIES! Lots and lots of wonderful, almondy, sugar cookies. Last year I was so distraught b/c I thought I had lost my mother's recipe we used all while I was growing up. So I searched and searched for a replacement one that captured the exact flavor of the ones we used to make. I was very lucky and did find one, and was doubly (is that word?) lucky that I ended up finding my mother's recipe. So now I have both the original and a suitable back-up should one ever get misplaced again!

Sarah is such the little chef and she loves to help me in the kitchen. She had fun decorating with all the colors and she loved eating the ones she broke during the process. I have fond memories of making cookies with my mother and I hope she will have the same!




Here is the recipe. This is the back-up recipe. Mom's will stay a secret, but this one is sure to please! It is courtesy of Paula Deen.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and almond extract until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating until smooth. Wrap dough in heavy-duty plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with assorted cookie cutters and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill dough 15 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges are very lightly browned. Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

My New Kitchen Toy

This is my new toy that I got for my birthday.

I don't make guacamole that often, but when I do, I like to serve it up in style.

Thanks to Martha, I have a great recipe for guacamole. I think it even rivals the guacamole I get at some of my favorite Mexican restaurants!

Guacamole (Serves 2-3) I usually double up on this one because it is so darn good!

1 ripe avocado
1 TBSP Cilantro (plus 2 tsp, finely chopped)
1 1/4 tsp jalapeno chili seeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 TBSP white onion, finely chopped
3 TBSP tomato, finely chopped
1/2 tsp coarse salt (plus more for seasoning)

1. With a large mortar and pestle, mash onion, 1 TBSP cilantro, jalapeno, and salt, until smooth and juicy.
2. Add avocado, and mash slightly (avocado should remain somewhat chunky)
3. Stir in tomato and remaining 2 tsps of cilantro. Season with more salt, if desired. Serve immediately. Makes 1.5 cups

Cajun Chicken Pasta

This is a recipe I got from Southern Living magazine. It serves 4. Here is the "cast of characters" for tonight's dinner. (I love that phrase that other bloggers use to describe the ingredients of a recipe!)


12 oz cooked linguine
2lbs chicken breast strips
1 Tbsp. Cajun Seasoning
1.25 salt, divided
1/4 cup of butter
2 small peppers thinly sliced. (you can pick any color red, yellow, orange, or green, or do a little of them all)
2 green onions, sliced
1.5 cups of half and half
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp of dried basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. Sprinkle chicken evenly with cajun seasoning & 1 tsp. of salt. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat; add chicken and saute 5 or 6 minutes or until done. Remove the chicken.
3. Add peppers and green onions to skillet and saute 9-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and liquid evaporates.
4. Return chicken to skillet, stir in the half and half, and then the next 3 ingredients. Then add remaining 1/4 tsp. of salt. Cook, stirring often, over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes or until heated throughout.
5. Add linguine and toss to coat. Garnish with extra green onions.

Notes: This is an easy meal to make and it doesn't take that long. It also re-heats well in the microwave the next day for great left-overs!

Memorial Day

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day. We sure did. Charlie spent the day with the girls and they went to have a picnic at the park. I went to work at Le Petit Hameau and was there most of the day. We then let Sarah swim and we cooked burgers. Nana and Papa came over and we had a nice meal al fresco! I made blueberry cobbler with homemade ice cream for dessert. It was Y-U-MMY! I also spent most of the evening trying to figure out to do a photo collage mosaic. Here is my first attempt. Some of my favorite images for the holiday. The picture of the young woman at the cemetery is so moving. I read about her in an article this past year. She lost her love to the war and it was so sad to read about it and see this moving picture. It helps me to remember all those that have sacrificed so much.
BLUEBERRY COBBLER
This is really a recipe for blueberry pie, but it always comes out more like a cobbler, so I changed it!

2 store bought frozen pie crusts
1 cup of sugar
4.5 cups of blueberries
1 lemon
5 TBSP flour
salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unfold first pie crust and press into dish of your choice. Rinse blueberries. Drain and add to a large bowl. Add flour to the berries and toss to coat. Add sugar, a squeeze of lemon, and a dash of salt. Pour berries into pie shell. Place the other pie crust on top, either in a single layer, or cut up to arrange in a special pattern (lattice). Bake for 45-60 minutes or until bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

HOMEMADE VANILLA ICE CREAM

1 cup of whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups of heavy cream
1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a 4 cup measuring cup, mix the milk and sugar and whisk well. Then add the cream and vanilla extract. Mix well again. Cover and chill if time allows.

Pour into ice cream machine (I have a Cuisinart Classic ice cream machine)and let it mix for 20-25 minutes. Then transfer to air-tight storage container and put in freezer. The mixture will be soft at first. Freeze for 2 hours to get a more firm consistency.

Mexican Lasagna

Tonight I tried a new recipe and the first from a blog that I follow. I borrowed it from the Pioneer Woman blog. The picture I "stole" from there as well! I highly recommend this recipe and here is the link to it: Mexican Lasagna. I will, if I may, suggest a slightly altered version of the recipe for those of us that aren't feeding an army of cowboys (although that could be quite fun!) I made my own smaller version tonight for my husband and I and we still could have had about 6 extra guests help us finish it off. Here would be my version if you were going to make it for 2-4 people.

2 cups of unprepared rice
2 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken broth/stock
3 tomatoes chopped small
1/2 onion chopped small
5 cloves of garlic (minced)
1.5-2 lbs of ground beef
2 (16oz) bags of mexican cheese blend
1 can of corn (drained)
1 can of black beans
2 (16oz) jars of salsa verde
1 (16oz) jar of enchilada sauce
2 Tbsp chili powder, 1 tBsp of paprika, 1 Tbsp of cumin
1-2 Tbsp of butter
Flour tortillas
cilantro
Sour cream (if you like for garnish)

Begin by preparing the rice with the chicken broth/stock. I used my rice cooker. Saute tomatoes, onions and garlic over med-high heat with a 1-2 Tbsp of butter. Add 1 Tbsp of chili powder and 1/2 a Tbsp of each the paprika and cumin. Let this cook down a bit and beans. Mix cooked rice together with this mixture. This makes your Mexican rice for the dish.

Then in the same pan you just used, brown the ground beef using the remaining 1 Tbsp of the chili powder, and the other 1/2 a Tbsp of the paprika and cumin. Drain the fat and add a little water if neccesary to create taco beef.

Assemble the lasagna: Spread one container of salsa verde in the bottom of the casserole or baking dish. Layer tortillas covering the salsa verde. Some overlapping is expected. Divide the rice mixture in half and spread it over the layer of tortillas. Put one bag of cheese over the rice layer. Add another layer of tortillas. Pour enchilada sauce over the tortillas and spread it evenly. Add layer of ground beef. Add can of corn. Then the remaining rice mixture. Add one last layer of tortillas and then top with 2nd jar of salsa verde and then the 2nd bag of cheese goes on last.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25-35 minutes until cheese has melted and begins to brown a bit. Garnish with cilantro and sour cream when you serve it.

Thanks for dinner Paula Deen!

I made one my favorite, easy recipes tonight! It is Paula Deen's quick & easy Jambalaya! I usually reserve this for an all out Cajun night where I do the red beans & rice and the whole bit, but tonight I wanted to keep it simple. It is basically a one pot meal and it takes about 30-35 minutes from beginning to end. That is prep and everything! The clean up is snap, too. Just two plates and one big pot. I serve it with bread and call it a meal. The ingredients are as follows:

Notice there is not one stick of butter in the photograph!

The Mix**
1 cup long grain rice
3 TBS dried minced onions
1 TBS dried parsley flakes
1 TBS beef bouillon granules
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 bay leaf

2.5 cups of water
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 lb. fully cooked andouille sausage, 1/4 inch slices
1/2 lb. medium, peeled & deveined fresh shrimp

In a Dutch Oven, combine The Mix**, water, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat & let simmer for 20 minutes. Add shrimp & cook for an additional 5-7 minutes, or until shrimp are pink.

Note: This is such an easy recipe because a lot of the ingredients are dried and canned, however, I don't think it would hurt to add in fresh garlic, fresh onions, and even a little grilled chicken, cooked. This just adds to your prep time, but would probably be worth it if you are in the mood to cook!

The finished product!!

Salad

Not sure how this happened, but I will take full credit since I came up with the idea, but Sarah now eats SALAD!! She has always liked carrots, tomatoes, and red peppers and when we eat at CPK she likes the white cheese and the salami in the chopped salad. So it dawned on me that why not make her a salad!?! I asked her if she wanted to try it with a little lettuce and she said yes. So on Saturday night when I offered her pizza for dinner, she turned it down and asked for THE SALAD. She then ate it the next night, and asked for it in her lunch on Monday. It was not a fluke, because...you guessed it, she asked for it again tonight. I was even able to sneak in a little broccoli! I am so thrilled that she loves it and I wish I could follow her lead and eat more salads!

THE SALAD includes: green leaf lettuce, carrots, strawberry tomatoes, red peppers, broccoli, chopped pepperonis, and shredded mozzarella cheese. No dressing.

Garlic and Cheese Chicken

I made for dinner tonight one of my favorite recipes. So, I thought I would share. Please don't rely entirely on the picture when deciding on whether or not you want to try it. I am not the best photographer and if you could only smell the aroma of this dish, it would complete the picture. It is very simple and tastes soooo good.

1 tbsp butter
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
4 tbsp grated parmessan cheese
3 tbsp bread crumbs
2 breasts of chicken with skin on (this usually comes only with the bone in)
salt & pepper

(Note: This is a perfect dish for 2. If you are making it for 4, just double the ingredients! It is that simple)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On the stove, melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and fry gently without browning, stirring for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the parsley, the cheeses, the bread crumbs, & salt and pepper. Carefully loosen the skin around the chicken. Using a spoon, or your hands, stuff the mixutre under the skin. Use equal amounts on each piece of chicken. Arrange the chicken in a large roasting pan. (I would spray some non-stick spray on the bottom of the pan) Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

(Note: If at 30 minutes the tops are looking too brown, cover loosely with a piece of foil for the remaining 15 minutes.)

This dish smells so good cooking and the garlic and cheese has such a good flavor! Enjoy!

Ice Day

I remember as a kid the excitement around cold weather. Living in Dilley, TX it was not very often that cold weather was an issue, but I guess that is what made it exciting! Now that I am older and have kids, I see both sides...On the one hand you want it to be fun for them and I find myself praying sometimes that it gets really bad just so they can have the experience, then on the other hand, you hate for school to close because you enjoy the free time! Well, last night we had a light ice storm that brought sleet and what appears to be a light dusting of snow, but it is hard as a rock if you touch it. School was canceled,(bummer) and Sarah was a little disappointed that it looked more fun than it actually was (double bummer). Lauren didn't even want to be outside, so no photos of her! I fear this might be our last little bit of winter since it has been so warm this year, but I am holding out hope that it will really snow at least once, just to see the joy on my girl's faces!
































A NOTE ON THE FONDUE.........

I had a couple of requests for my recipe for chocolate fondue that I wrote about last week. It is from Rachael Ray. Normally her stuff is a little weird, but this is pretty basic and pretty yummy!
Serves 4-6

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, reserve 1/4 cup to thin the fondue if it thickens
4 bittersweet chocolate bars, chopped, 3 1/2 ounces each
2 TBS Frangelico or Amaretto liqueur, optional
1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts or almonds, optional

Heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream in a heavy non-reactive saucepot over moderate heat until cream comes to a low boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Let it stand in hot cream for 3-5 minutes, then whisk it together. Stir in the liqueur and nuts if you want, then add it to your fondue bowl. If it becomes to thick, stir in the set aside cream 1 TBS at a time. We used pound cake, bananas, and strawberries for dipping.