Chicken Spaghetti

This is kind of the "signature dish" of a friend and former neighbor. The name and look are not super appetizing, but the flavor is wonderful! It is quick and easy. It makes quite a bit so is great for a crowd.

Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 stick butter

2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans whole tomatoes
1/2 pound Velveeta, diced

Directions:

Saute onion, bell pepper and mushrooms in butter until tender
Add tomatoes with juice, stir in and use spoon to break them up.
Add mushroom soup and mix in well
Add Velveeta and cook on medium heat until melted
Serve over favorite hot pasta

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Tips and Hints

• This is a really versatile recipe. If you feel like lots of veggies you can throw in more of whichever. If it is a chicken craving day use more chicken and less veggies. Leave out veggies you don't like. Experiment! Enjoy!


• I haven't tried it, but this would likely be good over rice.


• Add a green salad and hot french bread for an easy meal

Bread Bowls

One of my favorite things is a thick hearty soup in a bread bowl, but they tend to be expensive and hard to find so I decided to learn to make my own.

Bread Bowls

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
7 cups flour
1 Tablespoon cornmeal

Directions:
Put water in a mixing bowl, sprinkle in yeast and mix well.
Add honey and mix in.
Allow to sit several minutes until the yeast is foamy
Add onion flakes and olive oil
Mix salt into the flour
Gradually add flour to yeast mixture, mixing well.
When the yeast is fully incorporated knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic
Cover and let rise until double in size, about 30 minutes.
Punch down and allow to rise again until doubled.
Sprinkle cornmeal onto a baking sheet.
Separate into six equal balls. Shape until smooth and round.
Place dough balls on the baking sheet and allow to double in size again.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes until golden.
Allow to cool then cut off the top similar to the way you would when carving a jack-o-lantern.
Remove some of the bread from the center leaving a full crust about 3/4 inches thick.
Fill with your favorite thick soup and serve with the excess bread.

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Tips and Hints

• The bowls do not work well with a thin brothy soup, as they tend to get too soggy too quickly.


• The first time I made these bowls my honey was a thick clumpy block so I used brown sugar and it turned out great.


• The purpose of the dehydrated onion is to give the bread a depth of flavor, you can omit it if you want to, you could also add dehydrated garlic or other seasonings.


• You can add a Tablespoon or two of your favorite small whole grain such as millet, amaranth, quinoa etc.

Fried Dill Pickles

The first time I ever heard about Deep Fried Dill Pickles was when I was in high school and living with my cousins, the South family. David had been building Monolithic Domes in Athens, Georgia and discovered this Southern specialty. He managed to get a hold of a recipe and we sold them at the big Menan, Idaho 4th of July celebration. They were a huge hit, but I pretty much forgot about them.

Several years later I was reading A Time to Kill by John Grisham. The main character Jake, takes his Yankee paralegal to a quaint little bar-b-que joint and orders a batch of these. She is dubious and makes some crack about Southerners frying everything. as I read I remembered how delicious they were.

A few months ago I walked into a local bar-b-que place, Lon's Cookin Shack, that claims to have the best pulled pork in the world. Lon's is also famous for their deep fried cauliflower. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the deep fried dill pickles had been added to the menu and ordered them, they were as great as I remembered them.

I found a recipe for deep fried broccoli, didn't care for it with broccoli or cauliflower but with dill pickles it is so yummy and my family chows down faster than I can cook them.

Fried Dill Pickles

Ingredients:
1 large egg
1 cup club soda
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper
dill pickle slices
Directions:
In a mixing bowl beat the egg well.
Whisk in the club soda
Stir in the flour, cornstarch and seasonings to taste.
Stir until smooth
Drain the pickles from the pickle brine and add to the batter.
Remove pickles, a few at a time from the batter and allow to drip off a bit.
Add to 350 degree oil and fry about 3 minutes.
Serve hot. Yum!

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Tips and Hints

• Try adding the pickles to the oil one or two at a time so they don't clump together.


• I recommend the crinkled hamburger dill chips because they seem to hold the batter better.


• Great served with bar-b-que such as Pepsi Chicken Sandwiches or pulled pork.


• Seltzer water can be used in place of the club soda.

Pepsi Chicken Sandwiches

When I was in high school I lived with my cousins, the South family. Nanette is the same age as I and we were/are cousins, sisters and best friends. She is an amazing woman and also has a great cooking blog, A Cooking Legacy. In search of an easy meal I decided to try her Pepsi Chicken recipe. I was a bit hesitant since I am not a huge Pepsi fan and detest ketchup, but I trusted her that it was good and tried it. I tweaked it a bit to make sandwiches. We were not disappointed, it is delicious.

Pepsi Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:
5 chicken breasts
1 small bottle ketchup (14 ounces)
14 ounces Pepsi
garlic salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Place chicken in a 9x13 baking dish.
Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper.
Mix ketchup and Pepsi together, until well blended and ketchup looks dark and smooth.
Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.
Remove from oven, take chicken out of sauce allow to cool a few minutes until you can handle it.
Shred the chicken and replace into the baking dish. Stir chicken back into sauce.
It seems like the sauce is way too plentiful and runny, but the chicken will absorb it.
Return to oven and cook about 15 more minutes so the shredded chicken can soak up the sauce and the flavor.
Serve hot in your favorite bun or just eat it alone.

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Tips and Hints

• This also works great in a crock pot.   Throw everything in and set to low for about 5-6 hours, remove chicken breasts, shred and place back in the crock pot another 1-2 hours. 
• Tip to shred chicken quickly and easily.   Put the cooked breasts in a Kitchen Aid (or other stand mixer), using the paddle attachment turn on lowest speed until shredded about 1 -2 minutes 
• I poured some of the Pepsi into the ketchup bottle to help rinse it out
• This recipe works just great with caffeine free Pepsi too
• 
  

Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes

When I was little one of my favorite books was Old Black Witch by Wende Devlin. In the story a boy named Nicky and his mother want to make a sort of bed and breakfast in an old farmhouse. When they arrive and start trying to remodel they are dismayed to find an old witch living in the house. Somehow it transpires that the witch makes killer blueberry pancakes. She is installed as the resident chef and the business is a huge success.

I guess this is part of the reason I have always been on a subconscious search for the perfect amazing blueberry pancake. My friend, Bob steered me to this and it is wonderful. Old Black Witch would be impressed.

Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
whipped cream (optional)
Directions:
In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients, set aside
Beat eggs until fluffy, add buttermilk and beat well, mix in melted butter.
Add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture, mix to a lumpy batter
Add the blueberries and carefully fold into the batter
Do Not Overmix
Pour batter onto a heated griddle and cook until golden brown on each side
Serve warm with whipped cream and/or your favorite syrup

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Tips and Hints

• Overmixing will result in heavy pancakes rather than fluffy pancakes


• I used a large spoon to put the batter on the griddle


• You can leave the blueberries out if you like plain buttermilk pancakes


• On the Fourth of July I made these into Red, White and Blueberry pancakes by adding a half cup of raspberries. They were delicious.

General Tso's Chicken

We love Chinese food at our house. General Tso's chicken with its slightly sweet, slightly spicy, slightly tangy sauce is a favorite. This version, though a bit of work is fantastic!

General Tso's Chicken

Ingredients:

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks

Cornstarch Batter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce*
1 cup cornstarch
water (as needed)

Sauce
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
5-7 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce*
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup cooking sherry or white cooking wine
1 can (14.5 ounces) chicken broth
2 Tablespoons red pepper flakes

4 green onions, chopped

Oil for frying

Directions:

Mix sauce ingredient together, cover and set inside fridge until ready to use.
Beat the egg well, add the soy sauce and cornstarch, mix well. If it too solid add a tablespoon of water at a time until the batter is thick and half-way between a solid and a liquid. (If you ever made cornstarch oobleck as a child this is the consistancy you need). This mixture seems strange, but trust me it will work.
Heat oil to 350 degrees.
Add some of the chicken to the batter and stir the pieces into the batter.
Using a fork lift ONE piece at a time out of the batter and allow the excess to drip off.
Place chicken into the hot oil one piece at a time and allow to cook until crispy.
Remove from oil and drain on paper towel, continue until all the chicken is cooked.
In a separate skillet or large wok heat a small amount of oil and add the green onion, fry a minute or two.
Mix the sauce ingredients until smooth add to the hot pan and cook until thick, stirring constantly.
Sauce should be the consistancy you would get if you ordered this in a restauant, if it gets too thick add a bit of water.
Add chicken to sauce and stir until all chicken is coated and the sauce is thick and bubbly.
Serve over hot rice.

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Tips and Hints

• Be sure the chicken in coooked through when cooking in the oil.


• If you like this less spicy add fewer pepper flakes, more spicy add a bit more.


• I used a deep fryer (similar to a fry daddy) to cook the chicken with excellent results


• As the sauce cools it tends to gel and is not as good rewarmed. Not to worry though, as tasty as this is, you probably won't have leftovers.

• *LaChoy is a gluten free soy sauce.  You can find other gluten free soys if you look.  Tamari is also a great substitute to make this gluten free. 

Best Broccoli Cheese Soup

I love cream of broccoli soup with cheese. I searched for recipes and didn't find one I liked so I asked my friend Andrea for her recipe. She invited the whole family to dinner for my birthday and we cooked it together. Delish!

Best Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ingredients:
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
3 onions
6 Tablespoons butter
salt
3 cloves garlic

3 potatoes, peeled and shredded or finely chopped
thyme
12 cups chicken broth
48 ounces broccoli
1 1/2 cups cream or half and half
1 pound each sharp cheddar, medium or mild cheddar and fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
black pepper

Directions:
Make mirapoix. With this soup you'll have double onion instead of equal portions of each of the veggies. You'll also use the butter rather than olive oil for a richer and creamier flavor.
Add garlic just before de-glazing
De-glaze with about a cup of chicken broth, add rest of broth and potatoes along with a pinch of thyme.
Simmer until potatoes are soft.
Put veggies and some of the broth in a blender or food processor.
Process until very smooth. You'll probably have to do this in multiple batches.
Pour back in pot and add broccoli lightly simmer until broccoli is tender.
Remove from heat and let sit a few minutes, until slightly cooled
Add cheese and stir well until melted
Add cream and mix well
If the soup is to thin you may thicken it with cornstarch or heat just to steaming, no simmer or boil, and allow to reduce.

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Tips and Hints

• Do not allow soup to get too hot or boil after adding the dairy products or it will curdle.


• Feel free to adjust the amount of cheese based on personal preference. If you love cheese add more, if you want the soup more "cream of" use less cheese.


• You may add or substitute other favorite cheeses.


• Never use that fake, dried Parmesan in a green can, it will not work properly or give good flavor.


• This soup is excellent served in a bread bowl.