Simply Sauté

When the cupboards begin to grow bare, creativity is in higher demand.  That was just the case tonight, as we tried a new recipe, a new twist on tacos.  It's wasn't the fastest meal, but it sure was good.  So, here you go.

 

After warming two tortilla shells, I placed them in class bowls, so that they would make a bowl shape themselves.  I spread the glass bowl with cooking spray before adding the shell.  Then, I used a stick of butter and rubbed it all on the inside of the new shell bowls.  I put them in the oven until they started to get crispy.

I thawed and sliced boneless skinless chicken breast, and fried them in a skillet with butter (like I did in my first pasta dish).

The chicken cooks pretty quickly, and will start to brown as it finishes.  As soon as the chicken was done, I added a mixture of chopped green peppers and onions into the same pan.  I sauteed them until they were a starting to get a little crispy.

 

When the peppers and onions were done, I added some frozen corn in to saute as well.

 

I added red peppers and jerk rub seasoning to the corn, which made it a little bit spicy.  While all of this was being cooked, I was also making spanish flavored rice from a package.  

When it was all done, we put our special tacos together.

 

Rice came first, then the corn.

 

After the corn came the chicken, and then the peppers and onions.
 

The last theing that I added was some delicious cheddar cheese.  These taco salads were pretty good!

Secret Cinnamon Rolls

One could question whether the cinnamon roll is a breakfast dish or a dessert.  I guess my dad would have to say that there really just for anytime. 

It seems that in every Baptist church there is one lady that makes the best cinnamon rolls.  As a young child, I remembered the treat of receiving a batch of rolls from Martha.  They were delightful.  When we had to move, we weren't disappointed.  There was someone in our new church who had the same talent.  Pete (yes, a lady, and if I told you her real name, she'd kill me.) made the best cinnamon rolls.  Honestly, I'm more of a meat and potatoes girl, but when a batch of those rolls showed up at church, I had to have one. 

Unfortunately, I have not now, nor will I probably ever, master the art of making homemade cinnamon rolls, especially now that I've been taught to cheat the system.  My husband's grandmother told me the secret, and I'm sharing it with you.  Now, they can in no way compare to Martha or Pete's masterpieces, but they sure are easy to make.

Unroll a can of crescents and spread butter over each piece.

 

Next, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of them.   (I use a special Pampered Chef blend, but any cinnamon and sugar would work.)

 

 

Roll the crescents up like normal, and cook them according to the instructions on the can.  When they are done, ta-da! instant cinnamon rolls. 

 

Don't you just love easy recipes?

Grandma Gregory's Goulash

 

Goulash is a relative name.  There are lots of things that I've heard called goulash.  "What's in that pan?"  I would ask.  "Goulash," was the response.  I would start to get excited, because I love goulash.  When I fix it, I make a big pot, and I can eat the leftovers for days.  I like it hot; I like it cold; I like it in the pot, nine days old.

However, my excitement would soon diminish.  I guess I'm a goulash snob.  There's only one way that I like it, and that's Grandma's way.  So, here is the "right" way to make a delicious pot of goulash.  It's pretty easy too!

1. Brown a pound of ground beef.  Drain the grease off of it.  (If you like, you can add just a few pieces of chopped onion for flavor.)  

2. While the hamburger is browning, boil a pot of water.  When the water starts boiling, add a box of pasta.  (Most people use Macaroni noodles.  I, however, really enjoy rotinni, but it all depends on my mood.)  Cook the pasta until it is soft, and then drain off the water.

3.  Mix the beef and cooked pasta in the pasta pot.  Add tomato juice.  (Here is where one of the big mistakes is made in goulash, in my snobish opinion.)  I think that the only way for the goulash to be is runny, like soup.  I always use at least half of my 46 oz can of tomato juice.  I save the rest of the juice, because as you reheat the goulash on other days, it starts to get dry.  I add the extra juice then.

4. Turn the heat to a medium level. Add salt and pepper to taste, and mix while the goulash heats up.  (The second atrocity against this dish is sugar.  Many people add this to their goulash to give it a sweet taste.  Blah!   Dessert is supposed to be sweet, not the main course.) 

So, there you go, a quick and easy recipe that ends in a delicious dish.    

Fall Favorites...

Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. I love the changing colors of leaves, but also the way that the bean fields turn yellow. The cooler weather is always appreciated. Fall means hayrides and bonfires, smores, and pumpkin carving. One of my favorite parts of fall is the food! I love, love soup, but I can't bring myself to make it except during the fall. I think that fall is the perfect time for those wonderful comfort foods, soups, casseroles, pies, yummy!

So, over the next few weeks and months I'm going to be sharing some of my favorite fall recipes. I hope you enjoy!

Also, let me know what your favorite part of fall is by voting on my poll to the left.

Chicken and Noodles

I had never cooked a whole chicken before. Now I know why. The plan was to make a pot of delicious homemade chicken and noodles. First, I put the chicken in the pot of water. Well, what I immediately learned (this being my first experience and all) was that, unlike other meats that I've cooked, the chicken needed to be cleaned. I thought the point of cleaning a chicken in the first place was to clean it! I'm just saying that when I've cleaned chickens, I made sure the feathers were gone, and those birds were clean!

Imagine my frustration when I had to pluck the rest of the feathers off of my chicken. Much grumbling was heard coming from the kitchen, and my lack of patience caused me to to just grab a knife. Instead of plucking each feather, I just skinned the rest of the chicken.

Finally I got my cleaned chicken into the pot of water, and let it start cooking. I had to get those noodles going. I love the simplicity of making egg noodles. I used 4-6 eggs, and then put as much milk into the mixture as I do eggs. If I use 4 eggs, I put 4 egg fulls of milk into the mixture. The only other thing to add is flour. I added enough to make it doughy.

The fun part came next as I rolled out the dough nice and flat. The problem starting rising again, though. See, I do not have counter space. It's just non-existent in my kitchen. My only option was to roll out the dough on my table.
Well, let's just say that it took many more mistakes before I finally got the dough to do what it needed to do. When it was flat, I rolled it up and sliced the noodles up.I spread the noodles out to dry, and left them there all night.
After the chicken was finished cooking, I put it in the fridge. On Sunday I put the pot of chicken back on the stove. I added some chicken bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper for more flavor. Then I added the noodles and cooked it until the noodles were limp. It smelled delicious. Now, for the faults...(In case you were starting to believe that I was a cooking genius!)

The noodles, were still a little doughy, needing to have dried some more. I rather like my noodles a little doughy, but not everyone does. Also, the whole meal was a little bland. Even though I had put in the bouillon cubes and seasonings, it was still a little plain. Adding some more seasoning would have probably helped. All in all, I think the experiment was ok, although, I will never choose to cook with a whole chicken again.

I wish that every day were Saturday...

My great intentions for last Saturday had been to spend the day cooking. Instead, I wrote and wrote. Finally, at seven in the evening, I started cooking. This is not the time of evening to start cooking, especially when you have to get up the next morning. However, my wonderful husband helped me so much.

After fighting with a chicken, suffering from the lack of counter space, and a limited amount of time, I was able to complete the three recipes that had been on the agenda. I'll share more later, but today we are enjoying the homemade chicken potpie.

To enjoy this amazingly delicious recipe,

This recipe makes two potpies, one to cook and one to freeze!

Use the store bought frozen pie crust. There are lots of kinds to buy, but I choose the kind that is already in the pan. The pie crust often comes in twos, but make sure to buy two. One crust will be the bottom, and the other will be the top of the potpie.

While the pie crusts are frozen, take two of the crusts out of the pie pan. When the crusts are thawed, it will be too difficult to try to take it out of the pan. The pie crusts that are out of the pan will be the top of the pie. Let all of the crusts thaw.

Cook a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. While that is cooking chop into chunks and cook, two to three pieces of the boneless, skinless chicken breast. (I cooked mine in the microwave.)

When the vegetables and chicken are cooked, mix together with two cans of cream of chicken soup. Add a bit of sage and mix.
Cook the bottom part of the pie crust until it begins to turn golden brown. Then divide the mixture between the two pans.
Add the second crust to the top, and poke some holes in the top. There will probably be a little extra dough from the top crust, which we used for a fun design.
Place the pie on a cookie sheet, in case it bubbles over, and place in the oven at around 400 degrees. Cook until the top crust is brown and a little crisp. We cooked one pie that night, and then covered and stuck the other one in the freezer for later. It was delicious!

Internet Help?

I found this information on the internet, and I had never heard of such a thing! Have you ever heard of this before. I have doubts of how effective this would be. What do you think?

The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat

Method

Open the palm of your hand. Relax the hand. Take the index finger of your other hand and push on the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm. Make sure your hand is relaxed. This is what raw meat feels like. (Check this out the next time you have a raw steak to cook.)

Now gently press the tip of your pinky and your thumb together. Again feel the fleshy area below the thumb. It should feel quite firm. This is what well done meat feels like when you press on it. (Check this out the next time you overcook a piece of meat.)

Press the tip of your ring finger and your thumb together. The flesh beneath the thumb should give a little more. This is what meat cooked to a medium doneness feels like.

Gently press the tip of your middle finger to the tip of your thumb. This is medium rare.

Press the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb. The fleshy area below the thumb should give quite a bit. This is what meat cooked to rare feels like. Open up your palm again and compare raw to rare.

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