Chicken & Dumplings

 

This is somewhat time consuming but very good!

Ingredients:

  

• Onion
• 3 or 4 stalks of celery
• A chicken (you can use a whole chicken or whatever pieces you want)
• Frozen noodles or dumplings (I used the Reames and used two bags since they are small.  My dad says he uses 1 bag of Reese's brand)
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Carrots (optional)

Directions:

Chop up the celery, onion and toss it in a Dutch oven or large pot.

Saute until it is limp and glossy.  Add about 2 teaspoons of salt to the pan, along with the chicken.  (You can cut it up or just put it in whole.  If whole, be sure to wash it well inside and out.)  Add enough water to cover the chicken. 

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for at 90 minutes.  (I found that you can cook it less than 90 minutes.  If the chicken is cooked through and pulls apart easily, it is done.)  Put a lid on the pot but do not cover completely or it will boil over.

Remove the chicken from the pot and put on a plate or plater to cool.  (My husband does not like onions so I strained the onions and celery out of the broth but that's optional.  If I was leaving them in I would have chopped them more finely before sauteing.) 

Bring broth up to a rolling boil and add  the noodles.  If you like,you can also add carrots (or frozen peas or probably a lot of other veggie options).  I added carrots for color.   You should have plenty of broth to cover the noodles, as a lot will be absorbed during cooking.  If it looks too dry, just add some water.  The noodles will need to cook for about 25 minutes, reduce to a simmer once the broth comes back up to a boil, cook these uncovered.

Let the chicken cool, then shred it apart.  (I use two forks.)  Toss out the skin and bones.  When you're done, toss the chicken back into the pot with the noddles and broth.  You may need to add salt, and a little pepper to your taste.  (I think I threw a few other spices in there too.)

Yum!  My son can't wait to be old enough to try it!

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

While this recipe is a little labor intensive, it's definitely yummy enough to make again.  Like the Pizza Grilled Cheese recipe, this one is healthier than regular pizza.

 The original recipe is here.

Ingredients:

1 roll refrigerated pizza dough
2 Tbl. grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbl. olive oil or melted butter
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
Mozzarella cheese, diced or grated
Pizza toppings of your choice
Pizza sauce

Preheat oven to heat specified on pizza dough package (usually it's 400 degrees).

Unroll the pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface.   Roll the dough so it's about 12" by 8". Use a pizza cutter to cut it into about 24 squares.  I definitely eyeballed it as you can see.  I probably should have made squares instead of rectangles but it still worked great. :)

Note: I tried this with regular crust and thin crust dough.  I think the thin kind worked out much better.  The regular crust seemed a little too substantial for these rolls.

Put all toppings except for marinara on top of the squares, which will be used for dipping later. Wrap the dough around the toppings.  Pinch the dough closed and then put then them seam side down in a lightly sprayed pan.  Some of mine didn't squeeze together perfectly, but it didn't matter all all.
Brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil or melted butter, sprinkle with the garlic, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese.

Cook them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Check often.  I cooked them for about 12 minutes.

Serve with warm pizza sauce on the side for dipping.

Smile at the baby:

Turkey

As an amateur in the cooking arena, I am very proud to announce that I made a turkey this weekend and it was good.  In fact, it was really good.  For the record, this is time consuming but if you're going to make a turkey I definitely recommend this process. 

When my parents visited us over Christmas, they gave me this:

I tossed it in the freezer and there it stayed, looming over me, taunting me in a very intimidating fashion.  Finally, I decided to haul it out and give it a shot.  I searched for recipes and decided that I couldn't go wrong with Alton Brown's turkey recipe.

Ingredients

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

I took the turkey out of the freezer three days ahead of time and put it in the refrigerator.  Then the day before I planned to cook it, I gathered together the brine ingredients:

Instead of the 5 gallon bucket Alton suggested, I used this, which I found in the hardware store:

Aside from being a little flimsy, it worked great. 

Directions:

Combined the stock, salt, brown sugar and peppercorns pot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Below is a picture of the bird with the brine, ice and some water before I put it in the frig.  I filled it up the rest of the way after I put in the refrigerator.  It wasn't completely immersed, but almost. 

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the turkey on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
(I didn't have a roasting rack, so I just used a roasting pan.)

I gathered the aromatic ingredients:

I thought this was as good a time as any to start my own herb garden so I bought fresh herbs for this and will plant them for future use.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

I thought it would take longer than it did, so make sure you check on it after an hour.

Success!  The turkey was juicy and delicious! I even made all the Thanksgiving fixings to go with it, so my husband called it ThanksPatrick's Day. LOL.

Jambalaya & Cheddar Biscuits

I have only tried to make Jambalaya once and it was from a Zataran's mix a long time ago.  Last night was the first time I'd tried to make it from scratch.  My dad used to make it all the time when I was a kid.  I probably should have asked him for his recipe.  That would have been smarter, but I didn't.  Nothing like starting from scratch when you don't have to. LOL. I do have a couple of his that I will be posting soon.  Anyway, I started with this recipe and then altered it.

Ingredients

• Sausage, sliced into rounds (I used pork & turkey sausage)
• Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces (I used 4 chicken breasts)
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used the kind with oregano & basil)
• 1/2 a can of tamato sauce (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

I started out sauteing the chicken (since it would take the longest) along with the garlic in a little bit of Olive Oil.

I made minute rice in another pot and set it aside.  When the chicken was done, I tossed it in with the rice, which was done, and added the drained can of tomatoes.  I turned the rice back on low and mixed in the dry ingredients (pepper, salt, red pepper, worcestershire sauce).

I sliced up the sausge and put it in the frying pan, flipping it occassionally while I chopped up the two celery stalks and put them in the frying pan with the sausage.  When the sausage was done, I added it in to the rice mixture using a slotted spoon so the grease stayed behind in the frying pan.  I mixed it all up and added a little tomato sauce to calm down the spice when I thought it needed it.  That part is optional.

Here's the finished product still in the pot.  YUM!

My little one did not have any. :)

While cooking the chicken, I started making the Cheddar Biscuits, which was a Pinterest find.  (There was no original link.  I don't know where the recipe came from but after googling it, I found this, which might be the original location.  The picture sure looks suspiciously similiar.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

2 c. Bisquick

2/3 c. milk

1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese

1/2 c. melted butter

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Mix Bisquick, milk and cheddar until a soft ball forms.  Drop by balls onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Mix butter and garlic while biscuits are baking it.  Brush it on the biscuits while they are hot and still on the baking pan. I did a couple of layers of the mixture.

This meal was SO good.  We loved the biscuits and it was good to have bread with a spicy meal.  (We usually don't eat bread with meals just because of the additional calories.)  I will definitely make this again!