a brief leave of absence…

I am happy to announce that my husband and I are moving cross country- from Louisiana to Wyoming.  We are super excited about this new leg of our journey, but, unfortunately for you all who follow my blog, I won’t be posting a for a bit.

 

I have packed up my entire pantry and kitchen over the last couple days and will be newly settled in my new house (we own) by the end of the month, well maybe not the settled part but at least sleeping there and unpacking.

 

This is our first home and I am super excited to be setting up my kitchen- my very own kitchen.  As you all know, I love my kitchen, especially cos I LOVE to cook!

 

So, Please be patient as I settle in and I PROMISE there will be more recipes in a month or so!

 

See you all soon!

 

Sarah

Chicken Cutlets (Classic Italian Dish)

This is a classic Italian meal, as you can tell by the lack of amounts of ingredients.  This is one of those meals you just have to add a pinch or palm full ect… of the ingredients.  It is just up to you how much of each you want to add.  You do want to add quite a bit of Parmesan cheese, like almost the same amount of both the bread crumbs and cheese.

 This is my husband’s ultimate favorite thing to eat.  This is basically the recipe that his mom gave me, but she uses eggs instead of milk and does not use the flour.  John really likes it either way, I just had to put my own twist on it, southern fried chicken style.  It is really the best baked in the oven, even though you could finish it on the stove top.

 

Ingredients:

• 2-4 (or more) Chicken tenderloins
• Italian bread crumbs
• Parmesan cheese
• Garlic powder
• Pepper
• Salt
• Onion powder
• Paprika
• Milk
• Flour

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F with casserole dish inside it
2. Heat a skillet to brown chicken
3. Pull out 4 plates
4. Pour milk onto a plate
5. Pour flour on a plate
6. Pour bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, pepper, salt, onion powder, and paprika on another plate (use however much of each you think you will like, I never measure, just go for it)
7. Put out a tray or plate that is empty
8. Clean chicken
9. Pound chicken until thin
10. Dip chicken in milk
11. Dredge (coat) chicken in flour
12. Set on empty plate
13. Repeat for each piece
14. Take a piece of chicken and dip it in milk again
15. Dredge chicken in bread crumb mixture
16. Place back on plate
17. Repeat for each piece
18. Add oil to pan, only a couple tbsp at most
19. Quickly brown each piece of chicken
20. Place in warmed casserole dish in oven
21. Cover with tin foil or a lid and cook until meal is done and chicken is cooked through

Some people eat this with sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pasta- a la Chicken Parmesan style, or any way you like (we eat it with Mac & Cheese usually).

Chicken Cutlets

Souper Simple Mac & Cheese

I didn’t have enough corkscrew pasta, so I added penne to the mix

My husband LOVES mac & cheese.  It is one of his fave things to eat.  This is my take on his mom’s recipe.  We usually eat it with Chicken Cutlets (recipe to follow).  It would also be great to just make up quick as a side with any meal, as a pot luck item, or as a meal all itself.

This really is the best the first day, but my husband eats it as leftovers just fine.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 can Campbell’s Cheddar Cheese Soup (unless you can find off brand)
• ½ can of milk (whole is great)
• ¼ tsp pepper
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• 2 c corkscrew pasta, cooked al dente (or whatever shape you like)
• ¼ c (approx) Italian bread crumbs
• ¼ c butter, melted

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400* F
2. Mix soup, milk, black pepper and pasta in 2 qt. casserole dish
3. Mix bread crumbs and butter and sprinkle over pasta mixture
4. Bake for 20 minutes

Souper Simple Mac & Cheese

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

I love Chicken Cordon Bleau and I almost always have some frozen leftover baked ham in my freezer.  This was a great way to use it up as I empty my freezers.

We really enjoyed this and the left overs were still really good.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Chicken tenderloins (as many as you want to stuff)
• Swiss cheese, slices
• Ham, leftovers from a baked ham
• Chicken broth
• toothpicks

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F
2. Pound the chicken until thin
3. Place one piece of Swiss cheese on one side of the chicken
4. Place ham on top of cheese
5. Roll up and hold together with toothpicks
6. Place in a casserole dish
7. Repeat for each piece of chicken you have
8. Pour  ½ to 1 c chicken broth in casserole dish
9. Cover and bake in oven for 40 minutes, or until done
10. Serve with Parmesan potatoes au gratin (see recipe on my blog)

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

Lemony Chicken Piccata with Rice and Veggies

This is a meal I have been wanting to try for a while.  I really loved it, but my husband was iffy.  It has a very strong lemon taste and it was too strong for my husband.  If you are not a fan of lemons, do not make this, or use less lemons and juice.  This was really good with rice and mixed veggies prepared according to directions on the bottom of recipe.

 

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken tenderloins or 2 breasts
• Salt and pepper
• Flour
• Milk
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 c chicken broth
• 1/2 lemon, sliced
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 2 tbsp capers, drained (come in a jar near pickles usually)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp (heaping) parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F*
2. Place oven safe casserole dish or platter into the oven to warm
3. Heat a pan to brown chicken on stovetop
4. Put some flour on a dish
5. Pour some milk on another plate
6. Pour a mix of Italian bread crumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper on another plate
7. Put out a tray or plate that is empty
8. Clean chicken
9. Dip chicken in milk
10. Dredge (coat) chicken in flour
11. Set on empty plate
12. Repeat for each piece
13. Take a piece of chicken and dip it in milk again
14. Dredge chicken in bread crumb mixture
15. Place back on plate
16. Repeat for each piece
17. Add oil to pan, only a couple tbsp at most
18. Quickly brown each piece of chicken
19. Place in warmed casserole dish in oven
20. Cover with tin foil or a lid and cook until meal is done and chicken is cooked through
21. In the same pan/skillet, stir in minced garlic, cook about 20 seconds
22. Pour in chicken broth
23. Add lemon slices
24. Let come to a boil, cook about 5-8 minutes
25. Add the lemon juice and capers; simmer until the sauce is reduced and slightly thickened, about 5 minutes more
26. Add butter into the skillet and swirl it into the sauce
27. Add the parsley; remove from heat and set aside
28. Arrange the chicken on serving plates and spoon sauce over each portion

Rice:

Use the white rice recipe found on my blog, but add 2 or 3 lemon slices,1 tsp capers, and 1 tbsp parsley to the sauce pan, along with the rice, water, and butter from the recipe.

Lemony Mixed Vegetables:

Cook them in a skillet.  Add 1 c water, 1 chicken bouillon cube, 2 cups veggies, 1 tsp capers, 2 lemon wedges, and 1 tbsp garlic (minced).  Let come to a boil.  Cook until veggies are done and liquid is evaporated.

 

Lemony Chicken Piccata

Turkey O’Toole-like Sandwich

My husband and I used to love going to Bennigan’s restaurant before they closed down.  We always got a Turkey O’Toole sandwich when we went there.  After a few years of not being able to get one of our favorite sandwiches, I decided I wanted to give making one a try.  The first time I made this sandwich, the roll recipe was very complicated and took two days and an empty freezer, two things I rarely have available.  It was not very fun to make the rolls, so it took me about 3 years to give this another try.

Before trying again, I did a thorough search of the internet until I found a few different recipes for soft pretzels.  I mixed a few different recipes together and came up with this one.  This is not the simplest recipe on my blog, but the end result is well worth the work.  I may actually use the pretzel recipe to make regular soft pretzels and freeze them  to eat as snacks when we want them.

These pretzel rolls freeze well, as long as you do not add the salt to them until right before you use them.  Also, I divided the dough into 4 part this time, the rolls were huge, I placed an Altoids container next to the rolls so you can see how big they are.  I suggest breaking the dough into 6 parts, or even smaller and make appetizer sized Turkey O’Toole’s for a gathering.

Pretzel Roll Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 – 115 *F)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast- quick rise kind works great
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• Oil spray (for bowl)
• 10 c water
• 2/3 c baking soda
• 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt or Coarse Kosher Salt

Directions for making rolls:

1. Combine warm water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top.
2. Allow to sit for 1-2 minutes then whisk until the mixture begins to foam.
3. Add the flour and butter
4. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined
5. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl
6. Remove the dough from the bowl, and place in clean bowl that is sprayed with oil
7. Spray the top of the dough with oil.
8. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size
9. Preheat the oven to 450 *F.
10. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside
11. Bring 10 c of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan
12. On a clean surface, spray oil
13. Separate dough into 4-6 sections (I did 4 this time and the rolls are HUGE)
14. Roll out the dough into a “snake”- or long rope
15. Spiral the long rope into the shape of a roll- or a circle (like a cinnamon roll shape)
16. Place onto the parchment-lined sheet
17. When water is boiling, place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds
18. Remove each from the water using a large flat spatula, or something else that you might have that doesn’t collect water and is as big as the roll you are putting in the water (the dough puffs and cooks a bit, but it is still soft and you don’t want the spiral to break apart)
19. Return to the cookie sheet, brush the top of each pretzel with a mixture of beaten egg yolk and water
20. If you are freezing either all or some of them for later use- DO NOT put salt on roll- just skip the salt step
21. If you are using them now, sprinkle with the pretzel salt or Coarse Salt
22. Bake until dark golden brown in color, about 12 to 14 minutes. (They do puff even more so do not place them too close together on the tray before cooking)
23. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving or freezing
24. If frozen- thaw out roll when you want to use it- mix egg and water together again, brush with egg mixture, and put salt on top
25. lace in oven about heated to about 350*F, cook until dry- but do not burn

                     

 

Ingredients for sandwich:

• Roll already w/ salt on top
• Turkey from the deli, lunchmeat- probably more than 1 lb, it depends on how many rolls, how big they are, and how thick you want the meat
• Honey mustard
• Mayo
• Swiss cheese, either in slices or grated

Directions to make sandwich:

1. Heat up oven to 350 *F
2. Smear honey mustard and mayo on both the top and bottom of the roll (depends how much of each you really like)
3. Place cheese on bottom of roll
4. Place turkey on roll- as much as you want
5. Place cheese on top
6. Leave open and place in oven
7. Cook until heated and cheese is melted
8. Serve warm
9. Enjoy!

Turkey O’Toole-like Sandwich

Slow Cooker Mom Inserra Chicken Noodle Soup

This is the slow cooker version of the soup my MIL made.  It is a ton quicker since I prep the meat before hand and just pull out frozen stock and chicken when I make this.  All I have to do is prep the veggies and throw it all in the slow cooker and let it do it’s thing.  I am super happy to have a quicker alternative to the stock pot soup, though I did make one change with this one, I added peas since I am trying to pair down my freezer and I had a bag in there.  Peas were a nice color addition, I might even add them to the stock pot next time I make it that way.

 

Note: 

Prepped chicken- I buy like 5 or more lbs of drumsticks when they are on sale, cook them in a stock pot, freeze the broth and freeze the chicken in 1 lb bags to use in different dishes later.  This has been super handy and works great for soups and/or potpie, or really any dish that works best with shredded chicken.

 

Ingredients:
• 6-8 c water (cover the food, plus some- depends on how much broth you like)
• 1 lb chicken, shredded or diced
• 2-4 c celery, diced (including tops)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 6 chicken bouillon cubes
• ½- full pkg shredded carrots
• 4-6 (small- medium) potatoes, diced (small)
• 1 c peas (frozen)

• ½ c Orzo Pasta
• ¼- ½ c Parmesan cheese, grated (shaker cheese)

 

Directions:
1. Place all ingredients except Parmesan cheese and orzo in slow cooker
2. Cook on high for 4-6 hrs or low for 7-9
3. Add Orzo in last 30 min to 1 hr
4. Add Parmesan cheese before serving, let sit for 5- 10 minutes
5. serve

Slow Cooker Mom Inserra Chicken Noodle Soup

Mom Inserra’s Chicken Noodle Soup

My MIL made the best chicken noodle (or rather pasta) soup ever.  Before we moved, I helped her make it and wrote down the directions.  Now, 5 years after we left WNY, I have changed a few things about how I make this compared to how my MIL made it, though it tastes exactly the same.  The changes I made were just changes to the procedure, making it more streamlined.

 

One of the major things I do differently is that I cut up all the ingredients the night before, place them in bags filled with water, and just drain them and add them to the soup when called for, my MIL cut them up during different parts of the process, this is just easier for me.  I also remove the skin from the chicken to cut down on fat, and remove the chicken before it is fully cooked so that I don’t get any bones in my soup.  We always had to play “find the bone” in my MIL’s soup and that kinda weirded me out.

 

I hope you enjoy this hearty soup.  It is a family favorite and it freezes well!  It is also great to share with friends or neighbors, you’ll have more than enough!

 

Ingredients:

• Large Stock Pot with Lid (16 qt)
• 6-8 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
• Orzo Pasta (16 oz box) approx. 2 ½ cups
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 bunch of celery, diced (including tops)
• 1 large onion or 2 medium onions, diced
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 6 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 lb carrots, shredded
• 6-8 potatoes, diced (small)
• Parmesan cheese, grated (shaker cheese)

 

Directions:

1. Fill Stockpot ¾ full with filtered water
2. Place skinned and cleaned chicken in water
3. Let come to a boil (lid on top helps)
4. During the first ½ hr occasionally skim fat (foam) from top of water, throw away
5. Make sure to stir the meat after each time you skim off foam, more will appear
6. After about a ½ hr, when very little is floating on top, remove chicken and let cool
7. Add bouillon cubes
8. Add celery, onion, two cans of broth
9. Add a palm of salt and a palm of pepper
10. Clean chicken off of the bone, dice up, add back to pot
11. Let boil for 2 hours
12. Taste, add more salt or pepper if needed
13.  Add carrots and potatoes
14. Let cook 10-15 minutes
15. Add pasta, mix
16. Keep stirring soup
17. Add ½- 1 c Parmesan cheese
18. Turn down heat, let simmer for ½ hr (or more) to mix together
19. Enjoy!

This freezes well!!

Mom Inserra’s Chicken Noodle Soup

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup

John and I love Buffalo Wings and at a relative’s house we had Buffalo Wing soup and loved it.  I decided I wanted to try to make it.  There are tons of different recipes out there for Buffalo Wing soup, but very few have anything other than meat in the soup, and they almost all add cheddar cheese.  Now being from Buffalo, NO ONE puts cheddar cheese on wings, there is just something fundamentally wrong with that, so I omitted that from my recipe.  We also like our soup more on the thick side, with lots of stuff in it, I am not much of a broth person, I like substance to my soups, so I thought about the kinds of things that we would dip in the sauce left over in the wing bowl- celery and sometimes carrots are given with wings at any good wing establishment in Buffalo, so I added that to my soup.

 

I added lots of celery, and a bit of carrots, this made the soup nice and chunky.  I added 1/2 a cup of wing sauce, and it is a bit hot, we liked it, but  it would more than likely be too hot for most other people.  It had a nice hotness, both of our noses were running like crazy, but that is a good thing when it comes to wings.  I topped mine with some good blue cheese dressing, the kind you get in the cold section of the store, crumbled would also be great.  Tasted just like wings, since I dip mine in blue cheese.

 

This soup would be great at a Superbowl, or other football party.  I am so excited to have this recipe now so that next year we can celebrate our Soup-er-bowl, like we used to do at Nashotah, hopefully in a new house with more space for entertaining.

 

Ingredients:
• 1 Lb chicken, diced or shredded (cooked or uncooked, doesn’t matter)
• 5 c celery, diced (less if you don’t like celery- we do)
• 2 c carrots, sliced or shredded (I used frozen)
• 3 cans cream of chicken soup
• 4 c milk (I used whole)
• 1 c sour cream
• 2 medium onions, diced
• ¼- ½ c buffalo wing sauce (I used Frank’s wing sauce)
• 4 chicken bouillon cubes
• Blue cheese crumbles or dressing (topping)- optional

 

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker, mix together
2. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8
3. Add more milk or wing sauce to reach desired consistency and flavor
4. Top with blue cheese, eat with tortilla chips
5. Serve and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup

“Johnny’s” Texas Hots

First, these are not named after my husband, but rather after the place where we would get them in Jamestown, NY, Johnny’s Lunch, just known locally as Johnny’s.  I grew up eating Texas Hots from a now closed diner in my hometown, Nestor’s, and my husband would get them when he was with his father who lived in Jamestown, so we both have a fondness for this deliciously bad for you meal.  

Best with a piece of American cheese melted on the burger!

A bit of history, the Texas Hot does not herald from the state by the same name, but rather specifically from Western New York.  Other states in the North East also have their variations on this sauce covered hot dog, but each does it a bit differently.  The only thing that is common is that they all have roots in the Greek community and are takes on a Greek Hot Dog, there are differences though, Greek Hot Dog’s do not typically have a tomato base, Texas Hots do.

 

This can be made on the stove, or in the slow cooker.

 

I hope you guys enjoy another one of my reminders of WNY!  Enjoy!

 

 

UPDATE: Frozen leftovers were just as good as the first time!  If you make them on burgers, a piece of American cheese melted on burger was super good, but is not the traditional way to eat Texas Hots!

 

Ingredients:

• Hot dogs (good kind- all beef if you can- I use Sahlen’s)
• Hamburgers (another option)
• Buns
• 3 onions, diced (dice two at the same time- and then the third is for topping)
• 1 Lb ground beef
• 3 tsp (heaping) garlic, minced
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 can tomato soup (10.75 ounce)
• 1 ½ c water
• 1 ½ tsp paprika
• 2 tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (plain)

Directions:
1. Brown Ground beef w/ 2 diced onions, drain grease

Can be done two ways- in the slow cooker or on the stovetop- combine the ingredients either in a pot or in the greased slow cooker

2. Combine the rest of the ingredients from the garlic to the bread crumbs
3. Allow to cook in slow cooker on High for 2 hours or on Low for 4 hours
4. If on stovetop- allow to simmer for ½ hour- 1 hour- or longer, the longer it cooks, the more the flavors mix together
5. If you want true Texas Hots, you should blend the entire mixture until smooth, I didn’t do that, I didn’t feel like pulling out my food processor
6. serve when ready

A proper “Johnny’s” Hot has yellow mustard, the hotdog or hamburger, the sauce, and is topped with diced onions.

If it is a burger you can add lettuce and tomato if you want.

My husband doesn’t like mustard but he says these are much better with it, he also eats his light on the onions, I like mine heavy, it’s up to you.

“Johnny’s” Texas Hots