White Chicken Chili

It sure is feeling like December around here!  Cold weather calls for warm, delicious comfort food.

Last week I decided that White Chicken Chili sounded good and I had all the stuff to throw in the crock pot!


I started with 2 frozen chicken breasts...cause, who has time to thaw??
I added 1 can of black beans and 1 can of garbanzo beans-both drained
Added some frozen corn, about 1/2 jar of salsa, some onion, and about 1 c chicken broth
I threw in a few shakes of cumin and chili powder
I wanted dry ranch dressing, but I was all out so I added some Penzey's FoxPoint, a great substitution!
I mixed all that up and added an 8oz brick of cream cheese on top
I let it cook low and slow all day long.
When we got home we shredded the chicken, stirred it up and served it!

As always, Enjoy!!

Sweet Treats

Our family has been hit with the "1st time in pre-school" sickness!

We prided ourselves on having a healthy kid...one ear infection and one bout with strep throat in his whole 3 years of existence!

Then came pre-school...

Almost immediately, he came down with a cough and runny nose that has now turned into another ear infection, upper respiratory infection and sinus infection...which he has so kindly shared with us! I guess when we were drilling sharing into his little brain, we forgot to add the part that it's ok to not share germs! This is also when we figured out the antibiotics he's allergic to!

Anyway, one sure way to get me out of a funk is to bake! We are hosting our annual "Frolic Bar Run After Party" tonight and this year,  I have decided to fatten our guests up with some sweets!

The 1st thing I made was my mom's famous peanut butter blossoms!

Here is what you'll need:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
36 little peanut butter cups...The bag only contains 35 so I had to buy an extra and eat the leftovers! 

Get your oven heated up to 350
Mix up your flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Cream up your butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium speed until it's nice and fluffy. Then add in your eggs and vanilla. Reduce your speed to low and add in the dry ingredients until it's just combined.
Shape your dough into 1" balls and place in mini muffin tins. Bake for 8-10 minutes. After you pull them out, sink a peanut butter cup into the centers and let it get all melty. I added the sprinkles for a pretty holiday touch. DO NOT remove the cookies from the pan until they have completely cooled or else you will have a peanut buttery chocolatey mess!

Next up was the White Chocolate Party Mix

For this one, you will need:
10oz mini pretzels
5 C. Cheerios
5 C. Corn Chex
2 C. Salted Peanuts
1 pkg (1 lb size) M&Ms...again I bought 2 bags but didn't use them all and M&Ms are my fav!
2 12oz pkg white chocolate chips
3T vegetable oil

Mix up the 1st 5 ingredients. Melt the chocolate and oil in the microwave on high for 2 minutes, stirring once. Pour melted white chocolate over the mix and give it a good mixing up. Dump onto a few waxed paper lined cookie sheets and let cool.

Last up was my "secret" chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was hesitant to share it because I wanted to be the mom that made the best cookies and I think these would help me achieve that goal! However, since I found the basic recipe online and just added a few tweaks, I thought I'd share it with you...my friends!

Here is what you'll need for these babies  

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 c. brown sugar 

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 t cinnamon

1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips (my office LOVES when I make these with peppermint chips!)

Here's whatcha do.

Heat up your oven to 350.

I use my stand mixer with my paddle attachment and cream up with butter and sugars til it's light and fluffy. Add in your egg and vanilla and combine.  Mix in your flour, cornstarch, soda, salt and cinnamon then stir in those chips.

Scoop them out onto cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes...I do 8 or they tend to burn on the bottom. When you take them out, they will not look done. The will just start to be brown around the edges and the tops will look soft...trust the recipe and take them out. I like to leave mine on the sheets for about 5 minutes before I put them on wire racks to cool...that is, if they can cool all the way before we dive into them!

Enjoy!

Menu Planning

There are so many things in life I can't control but one thing that is in my control is what I feed my family. I try (Try being the key word) to menu plan at least part of each week.

I printed out my handy menu planner that I found here and sat down with my cup of coffee to plan my week.  This week was a bit easier. I only needed meal for a few days since its Thanksgiving this week, but I planned that day out too.

Sometimes I plan based on store sales, sometimes I just try to use up some stuff in the freezer and sometimes it's just what sounds good to me. S is zero help when it comes to meal planning, he has no preference and will eat whatever I put in front of him as long as it's not watermelon (Seriously, who doesn't like watermelon!!)

This week, we are having a chicken Florentine casserole and butternut squash/black bean chili...photos and recipes to come soon.

I was trying to leave you with some photos of our Holiday baking, but my phone/computer is acting up...try to imagine how 4 apple pies and 17 loaves of banket would look. =)

The Working Mom's Best Friend

Or, perhaps I should call it the Busy Person who wants to get a hot meal on the table but doesn't want to spend all day in the kitchen's best friend...Either way...it's the crock pot!  My crock pot is one of the most utilized appliances in my kitchen, coming in just behind the coffee pot!

I "crocked" 2 meal this week and I was glad I did when snowy weather and slick roads got me home later than usual and I could walk in to dinner already made!

Wednesday night I made a Balsamic Garlic Porkloin

I started with a marinade of 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/4 c balsamic vinegar, 1/2 c water, 1/2 c sugar and a 1t of molasses and a sprinkling of rosemary (I mixed the sugar and molasses in a separate small bowl before adding it to the marinade.

Next I rubbed salt, pepper and dried mustard all over the porkloin on both sides

I threw it all in the crock pot and set it to low for 10ish hours.

I served it with steamed broccoli and I had enough left for lunch the next day and then some!

Thursday I adapted a Swiss Steak recipe that my co-worker, RRJ gave me.

I had a round steak that I dredged in flour and Penzey's Bicentennial Rub before I seared it on all sides.

I chopped up some onion and carrots and sauteed them in the same pan that I seared the steak in

After those started to cook, I added 1 c of water to the pan and a packet of brown gravy.
I dumped the meat, carrots and onions plus a jar of the tomatoes I canned this summer, cream of celery soup, and a small can of mushrooms into the pot and cooked on low all day.

It turned out to look a bit like beef stew. We served it over mashed potatoes. S & E loved it!

It made enough for us to freeze the leftovers for another meal in a few weeks!

I must say that I am finding that writing this blog is just the creative outlet that I was looking for. I am currently curled up on my couch with a blanket and a cup of tea (vanilla sleepy time) and writing about something I love, it's a great way to wind down my evening.

This weekend, we have plans to visit Brewery Vivant with our neighbors and I am spending a few hours on Saturday baking with my mom and aunt, I am sure I will have plenty to write about.

Thanks for reading and please let me know if you try any of my recipes and how it turned out!

Scones

It's no secret that S loves to eat!

For as long as I have known him, he has liked a pastry of some sort along with his egg and cereal in the morning. 

When we were 1st married, I baked him sweet treats every weekend to enjoy throughout the week.

As life got busier ie: E was born, I started just buying him bagels and calling it good.

This past weekend, I decided to surprise him and make him an old favorite...scones! I have made a variety of different flavor combinations over the years and all of them have been pretty good. This week, I decided to thaw out some rhubarb that a patient had given me over the summer and add in my new Cake Spice from Penzeys...what a great combo!

If you aren't sure, Scones are a dry-ish pastry that originated in the U.K. They are wonderful with coffee or tea!

This recipe was given to me several years ago by our friend D.O.

Here is the basic recipe minus the fruits and spices. The fruit/spice combos are endless and mine are never the same twice!

2 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar*
1/4 c cold butter cut into pieces
2/3 c Buttermilk*
1 c fruit

*I never have buttermilk on hand, so I use milk and lemon juice
*I was out of brown sugar, so I used extra white sugar with some molasses

Preheat oven to 375. Stir flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugars.

With a pastry blender, cut in butter until soft crumbs form.

Stir in fruit. Stir in buttermilk (I just roll up my sleeves and mix with my hands) until dough just hold together.
Transfer dough to an un-greased cookie sheet.

Shade into a 9" round. Use a floured knife to cut into 8 wedges, sprinkle tops with additional sugar if desired.  Separate wedges allowing about 1/2" between each piece

Bake 22-28 minutes-until golden.

For these scones, I used about 2 c rhubarb and added 1t Cake Spice and 1 t vanilla. I sprinkled the tops with cinnamon and sugar.

Enjoy!

My 1st Recipe Post!

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Cream Sauce....it's what was for dinner!

Last night, S and I had tickets to Mary Poppins at the Civic....what a great show! We needed something fairly quick and easy so I pulled out some frozen ravioli and whipped up a homemade sauce to toss them in. We paired it with a simple salad and dinner was ready in 30 minutes!



I have made homemade ravioli in the past, but these ones from Costco were just as good and so much quicker. 

Ravioli

 

Here is my recipe..

2T unsalted butter
1/3 C chopped onion
1 1/2 T chopped fresh sage
3/4 C dry white wine...I drank the left over...it was good!
2/3 C heavy whipping cream
Freshly ground S & P to taste
Asiago or Parmesan cheese for sprinkling. I like to buy my cheese in a block and shred as needed.

Get that ravioli cooking according to package directions

Melt the butter over medium heat, add the onion and sage and saute about 30 seconds

Smells so good!

 Add wine and cream. Increase heat and boil, uncovered, until sauce is reduced and thickened, about 5 minutes.

 After ravioli the ravioli was cooked, I drained it, tossed it with EVOO and then tossed it in the sauce, garnished with my cheese and dinner was ready!

Since it's cold and snowy here today, I plan to spend some good quality time in my kitchen and I can't wait to show you what I've come up with! Stay tuned...and stay warm!

I'm a blogger!

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I have been thinking about blogging for a while now and decided to finally take the plunge!

Yesterday, S and I went on a long overdue date. After our food arrived, I began taking photos of if. I mentioned that my dream job would be a restaurant reviewer. He suggested I start a blog where I can ramble on about my love of good food, both from my kitchen and restaurants. I didn't think that I had mentioned blogging before...he totally read my mind!

So, yesterday I announced to my Face Book world that I intended to start blogging, and here I am!

I believe that I can truly show my love for my family and friends through food. I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and sharing my creations with the ones I love.  If you were to be a guest at my table I can guarantee that you will find a properly set table (much to the dismay of my husband who firmly believes that you only need put out the utensils you intend to use) with cloth napkins. You will also find, good conversation and company. When you leave my table, it is my intention that you leave full...your belly and your heart!

I invite you to sit back, grab a beverage and (hopefully) be inspired to feed the ones you love!

If you like what you've read, leave me some love!