Category: Recipes

Our Christmas celebrations are spread out a bit this year, so today we enjoyed a quiet day at home with just our family. For supper, we ate one of our favorite chicken dishes, which I have meant to post before so our readers could enjoy it too…here it is at last!

We call this “Cornflake Chicken” but that was not its original name. I am printing the original version here as given to me by Leslie. She brought us this meal after our horrible car accident back in 2005, and it’s been a staple around our house ever since.

Parmesan Ranch Chicken

3/4 cup crushed cornflakes

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 envelop ranch salad dressing mix

6-8 chicken breast halves or 2 lbs chicken tenders

1/2 cup butter, melted

Grease a 9×13″ baking dish. In a shallow bowl combine corn flakes,

parmesan cheese and salad dressing mix. Have the melted butter in another

shallow bowl. Dip chicken in butter then roll in cornflake mixture to

coat and place in baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45

minutes.

Modifications:

When I make this recipe, I substitute liquid ranch dressing for the powdered ranch. I put the ranch (about 1-ish cups) in a bowl with a little milk added, dip the chicken in the liquid, then dredge in the dry cornflake/parmesan mixture.  Place chicken in the pan and sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over them. Drizzle with 1/4 cup melted butter before baking. Bake as directed.

I have also been known to substitute crushed Ritz crackers for the cornflake crumbs when certain Target stores have run out of the cornflakes cereal the day before Christmas!

One more note: the leftovers from this recipe are delightful when reheated in the oven (to preserve crispiness in the coating) then sliced and served over salad greens with your favorite dressing. Magnificent!

Since I cannot photograph food like Angie the magnificent, and since my camera is not nearly as fine as hers, my picture won’t be as tantalizing as I’d like, but here it is anyway….

Serve with baked sweet potatoes and a salad for a wondeful meal! Merry Christmas!!

Given how much I love to cook, you might think I would post more recipes than I do. But I haven’t made the time. In an effort to begin to remedy this, I wanted to share a recipe I used to make a wonderful, EASY peach cobbler for our dessert this evening. It is a Southern Living recipe, from the June, 1997 issue.

(Oh, by way of wandering aside – if you’re wondering whether you ought to keep those old magazine issues, let me help you remove some of the clutter from your house. You can access virtually every article, recipe, etc they’ve published in their magazine for the last several years on their website.)

This particular recipe calls for fresh peaches. I used some frozen peaches that I had sliced and frozen last summer (gulp!) after our peach-picking fieldtrip. Before freezing, I sprinkled them with Fruit Fresh, and it did prevent browning, etc. They worked perfectly in the recipe. One other change I made was to add the cinnamon, as well as some nutmeg to the boiling peach mixture before pouring it over the batter in the pan.

Enjoy!!

Easy Peach Cobbler

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
4 cups fresh peach slices
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Ground cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)

Melt butter in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish.Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter over butter (do not stir).

Bring remaining 1 cup sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; pour over batter (do not stir). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.

Bake at 375° for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve cobbler warm or cool.

Yield: 10 servings

Note: we ate ours warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! Yum!

Since I have caught Baby Josiah’s cold, I felt the need for some soothing homemade soup today. I generally love making and eating soup. Jay enjoys the eating part. The children love to join in the making part, but not the eating part so much. I continue in my motherly efforts to introduce them to many different types of homemades soups, in hopes that someday they may gain an appreciation for soup as a wholesome and comforting meall!!

The following recipe is a combination of an online recipe I found, along with some modifications I made to suit my purposes. The ingredients needed for this dish are pretty inexpensive, especially if you can buy your whole chicken on a good sale. Preparation was easy, if a little time-consuming, and the results were delicious, and (miraculously!) enjoyed by all five members of our family who eat at table.

Garlic Chicken Soup

1 whole chicken
1 1/2 cups baby carrots
2 stalks celery
1 large onion
2 heads (not cloves, but the entire heads) of garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
3 Tbs dried parsely
salt/pepper to taste
4-6 small potatoes, washed and diced (not peeled) – I used Gold Petites
4 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
3/4 cup white wine

Rinse chicken and discard or keep giblets, depending on if you like them for flavor. In food processor, mince: carrots, celery and onion. (I did them separately but I’m guessing you could combine them if you have room in your chopper.) Separate the cloves of garlic, but do not peel them. Put all this into a large stockpot and fill with water to cover all. Add seasonings.

Boil/simmer for about 2 hours, loosely covered, until broth is thick and rich, and chicken is cooked through and very tender (leg should loosen from body when you attempt to grab at it with tongs). Remove chicken for deboning.

Pour broth through a colander or sieve, reserving garlic cloves for use in soup. I used a colander with holes large enough that some of the minced vegetable pieces ended up in the final broth. I think it added something. After broth has sat for awhile, skim fat from top. Reserve broth till needed.

Into same pot (don’t wash it yet, folks!) put potatoes with water to cover. Boil till tender.

While potatoes are boiling, prep your chicken and your garlic: Carefully debone entire chicken, shredding and reserving meat. Extract pulp from garlic cloves (I just squeezed each clove, and the garlic inside popped out!).

Drain finished potatoes. Using SAME stockpot still, add butter and when it’s melted add your mushy garlic cloves. Add flour to this, whisking all to smooth the mixure. Add the white wine, keep whisking. Add broth back to pot, with chicken, and vegetables. Note: I didn’t end up using ALL the chicken meat, but kept back about 1 1/2 cups to make chicken salad. It was moist, flavorful chicken!

Bring soup to a low boil and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve and enjoy!!

Someone recently tried to convince me that washing an orange or clementine before peeling it to eat was akin to washing a banana peel before eating the banana. I personally do not wash my banana peel. But everyone is different.

So I ask you:

1. How many of you readers (and Lurkers, I mean you too!!) wash the orange or clementine or grapefruit (or whatever your choice citrus fruit happens to be) prior to eating that fruit, and how many of you do not?

2. And, are there any banana peel-washers out there?

I made this recipe (courtesy of Steph – thank you!) Friday night for a get-together with friends. Figured they might come in handy to someone who reads this if you have any people in your life who cannot eat some of the ingredients listed above. I made the bar variation as it is so much less time consuming. They were delicious, and did not at all taste like they were “missing” something!! Enjoy!

1 cup margarine (use Fleichmann’s Unsalted for a nondairy margarine)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs water
2 Tbs oil
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12oz chocolate chips (use Bakers Chocolate Chunks – they’re made without milk)

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, cream margarine and sugars together. Add next 4 ingredients and beat well, until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt and add gradually to the large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for approximately 8 minutes.

Bar Cookie Variation: In a greased 9X13 pan, spread dough and bake at 375 for approximately 15 minutes, till golden brown, and till a toothpick/tester poked into the middle of the pan comes out clean.

Over the past 2.5 years, I’ve been perfecting a salsa recipe. My first attempts ended up with the name Jay’s Chop Chop Salsa due to my efforts to create a tasty salsa that didn’t involve actual cooking. A second iteration of that salsa is described in Salsa, Round II. A later evolution was called Jay’s Green Salsa due to the stunning amount of cilantro which turned the tomato base a distinct green color.

My latest modifications have resulted in what I consider an excellent salsa that is somewhat lacking in its, ah, visual aesthetic appeal. Of the various names that came to mind, Jay’s Blender Salsa seemed the best alternative given the way it looks. But oh does it taste delightful! I’m using smaller bunches of cilantro and cutting off more of the stems, thus the color is a rather ambiguous red-green mishmash. Here’s the recipe.

Jay’s Blender Salsa

1 28 oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 tablespoon of granulated garlic
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
2 medium-sized jalapenos
1.5 tablespoons of olive oil
2 small bunches of cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice

Cook jalapeno(s) in boiling water until tender, then drain. Remove seeds for more mild heat. Add all the ingredients but the cilantro in a blender and puree to a smooth consistency. Cut stems off the cilantro below the leaves. Add cilantro and blend to desired consistency.

Note: If you use “no salt added” tomatoes, you may need to add more salt.