Chicken Parmesan

I have not posted in a while. If anyone follows this blog, I do apologize. My brother is home for Spring Break. This is code for I must buy Cran-Grape Juice, and make Chicken Parmesan. Not that I have too, but there are certain things you do to maintain the title of best sister ever, even if you are the only one.

J

So, here is my recipe for chicken Parmesan, along with my pasta sauce recipe. If you have never made pasta sauce before, I know it may seem intimidating to make something that is perfectly fine coming out of a jar, but I promise it isn’t very hard.

I forgot to grab the eggs for the ingredient round up picture.

The first step to pasta sauce is to turn stewed tomatoes into runny tomato sauce. Just pop it into a blender, turn it on and voilà the promising beginnings to your own tomato sauce!

Sauté the minced garlic in olive oil for about three minutes. This will bring out the flavor and to make the whole kitchen smell Italian. Then add in pureed tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and pepper. Allow to simmer for 15 min. and then remove from heat and add fresh basil. That is all that is involved in making pasta sauce.

Now, for the Parmesan. Quite frankly, it could be called Chicken Mozzarella, since it has more mozzarella in it than it does Parmesan or, as I call them Mozz and Parm. I cook with cheese so much, I give them nicknames. Note: If you are doing three chicken breasts, the recipe is the same, except you beat two eggs instead of one.

Preheat oven to 300

Cut chicken breasts in half such that they look like fat chicken fingers.

Beat and egg in a small bowl, and but Italian bread crumbs in a larger bowl

Roll chicken breast in beaten egg, and then dredge through bread crumbs.  I like to do this assembly line style, I feel like the Henry Ford of cooking.

Fry the breasts in olive oil just long enough to brown the outside. The intent at the moment is to give the exterior layer of the chicken a little crunch, not to cook it all the way through.

Cover the bottom of 8x10 pan with just enough pasta sauce to cover the whole thing.

             Place chicken in the pan, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Pour over the rest of the pasta sauce

Top with Mozzarella cheese

Bake for 1 hour, serve over noodles.

Chicken Parmesan

Sauce

1 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 clove garlic, minced

3 cans stewed tomatoes

½ tsp. Italian seasoning

2 tsp. Sugar

¼ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Pepper

2 Tbs. Fresh Basil Sliced

    1.       Puree tomatoes in a blender until saucy

    2.       Sauté garlic in olive oil for 1 min.

    3.       Add remaining ingredients, except basil. Cook stirring occasionally for 15 min.

    4.       Remove from heat and add basil

Chicken Parmesan

2-3 Boneless skinless chicken breasts

 Olive Oil

1-2 eggs, beaten

1 ½ cups Italian bread crumbs

1 Jar or batch of homemade Pasta sauce

¼ cup Shredded parmesan cheese

½ cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

     1.       Preheat oven to 300

     2.       Cut chicken breasts in half long ways to create two large chicken fingers

     3.       Dip chicken into the eggs, and then dredge through Italian Breadcrumbs

     4.       Fry the chicken in olive oil, enough to brown the outside, but not enough to cook through               

     5.          Remove chicken from oil and drain on a paper towel

     6.       Line bottom of 8x10 baking pan with enough sauce to cover the bottom.

     7.       Place chicken in baking dish. Top each piece with Parmesan then spoon sauce evenly over each piece.

     8.       Pour all of the remaining sauce over the chicken, top with mozzarella

     9.       Bake 1 hour. Serve over spaghetti noodles

    

Hot wing salad

FOOTBALL SEASON is here!!! This is a giant YEA!!!! for many of us. However, if you do not have ravenous teenagers or college students in your home you may find yourself wondering on Monday morning: What on earth am I going to do with 15 left over hot wings?  My solution? Make salad.

 For this ingredients shot, I found myself looking in my fridge and thinking can this be possible? I actually had all of the veggies I need for a salad cut up. This rarely happens to me. I did not possess blue cheese, so feta is filling in.

 Fill your salad bowl about half full of lettuce. This is a Romaine/Spinach mix, but any kind will work.

 Then get out the left over hot wings, I used to mild and one hot, I think all hot may be a little too much heat.

 Then shred them up. (Although a knife is pictured, I wound up just using my fingers.)

 Then add your favorite salad toppings, toss and enjoy. This is also a good way to use up the carrots and celery that come with hot wings.

Hot Wing Salad
Active time:5-10 min.
Total Time: 5-10 min.
Serves: 1

Ingredients

3 Romaine lettuce leaves
Generous handful of spinach
1/4 c. chopped tomato
1/8 c. chopped bell pepper
4 slices cucumber
any other veggies you like
3 hot wings
2 Tbs. blue cheese/or feta
Ranch dressing (optional)

1. Shred hot wings
2. Fill salad bowl halfway with lettuce
3. Top with remaining ingredients, including hot wings
4. Enjoy

Mexican Chicken Chip dip

Mexican Chicken chip dip is a great dish to take to a football party and also works great as a weeknight dinner. I will admit, this is not really the tastiest looking dish, but it does taste good. I promise. :)

Step 1: Gather your ingredients together. (Cream of chicken is missing in this group shot. but is in the recipe)

Step 2: Chop up your chicken.

Step 3: Chop up the veggies too.

Step 4: Saute up the pepper and onions in olive oil until onions are translucent and peppers are soft.

Step 5: Brown the chopped chicken in olive oil. (I know it shares the term with beef browning, but I still hold it should be called whiting the chicken)

Step 6: Pour all of the ingredients together, in a large mixing bowl. At this point it starts to look like a Mexican dish.

Step 7: Pour into a 9x13 pan bake for 30 min.

Serve with chips and enjoy!

Mexican Chicken Chip dip
Active Time: 30 Min.
Total Time: 1 hour

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1  package Boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped bite sized
1 Bell Pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of your favorite salsa
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cup Mexican four cheese
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can black beans, rinsed

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Chop up first three ingredients
3. Saute peppers and onions in olive oil until softened
4. Brown chopped chicken in olive oil in a separate pan.
5. Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl, stir until combined
6. pour mixture into 9x13 pan and bake for 30 min. it is done when it is bubbling on the edges.
7.  Serve over chips

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff! Before I get started I will warn you that this recipe does take 2 hours. When there is a lot of time involved I always like to know up front. The plus side is it taste good, and that does make it worth the time.

Step 1 Gather the ingredients. I am making my own broth out of soup bones. Store bought works great too.

Step 2. If you are making your own broth, start the soup bones now. (I don't find any particular taste difference in making your own broth, but if you buy your beef from a local farmer a half a cow at the time, this is a great way to use the soup bones)

Step 3. Cut the whole roast into bite sized pieces. Removing the bone and most of the fat as you go.

                                      

Step 4: Chop the onion.

Step 5: Melt 1/2 a stick of butter in a small skillet, Saute mushrooms until the mushrooms are golden brown. Set aside.

Step 6: Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a larger a larger skillet. Brown the roast, it is okay if it is still a little pink, it is not done cooking yet.

Step 7: Push roast to one side of the pan and brown the chopped onion the the juice for about 3 min.

Step 8: Push the onions to the side with the roast. Add flour to thicken up the juice. Then pour in  beef broth, stir while broth is coming to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, and add mushrooms and mustard stir everything together and simmer for 1 hour.

Step 9: Just before serving add sour cream, and stir until combined. Serve over rice, or noodles.

Beef Stroganoff

Active Time :1 Hour

Total Time : 2 Hours

Serves: 6

2 lb. Beef Chuck Roast, chopped small

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

1 stick butter, divided

1 small onion, chopped

4 Tbs. All-purpose Flour

14 oz. Beef Broth

8 oz. White button mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

1/3 C. Sour Cream

1. Remove fat and bones from roast and cut into small strips, season with salt and pepper. 

2.If you are making your own broth, start to boil the soup bones, simmer for 30 min, then remove bones, and allow to cool. Then dip out 1 3/4 cups of broth. If using store bought broth, you may ignore this step.

3. Clean mushrooms with a paper towel, wiping off the dirt. Remove stems and slice.

4. Over med-high heat melt 4 oz. (half a stick) of butter in med. skillet saute mushrooms until reduced. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

5. In a large skillet of med, heat, melt 4 oz. of butter then brown the beef strips quickly, then push the strips to one side of the skillet. Add onions and cook on med. for 3-5 min. Then push to the side with the beef strips.

6. Stir the flour into the juices in the empty half of the skillet. Pour in beef broth and bring to a boil,while stirring constantly. Lower the heat to low, stir everything together adding in mustard and mushrooms, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
7.  5 minutes before serving stir in sour cream. Serve over rice or noodles.

Potato Pancakes

Hogan's Heroes is a classic show from the 1960's. One of the main characters, named Schultz,  references potato pancakes in a few episodes. I, having never had them, decided to look up a recipe for them. If you have never had them either, they taste similar to diner hash browns.

Step one is to chop the potatoes and onions. My favorite way to chop onions is using the Vidalia Chop Wizard. It gives a great uniformity and cuts way down on the onion smell.

First chop the onion into thick slices, so that it will go through the Chop wizard easier.

Chop the thick slices until you reach the desired 1/2 cup.

I shredded the potato using a  food processor, which left the potato strings a little too long, So, I poured them onto a cutting board and rough chopped them to where the strings were about 1 1/2 inches long. (not pictured, sorry)

Grab a bowl large enough to hold all of the ingredients, and mix up eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Add in the potatoes and onion, stir until everything is well coated.

Coat skillet in canola oil, turn on medium high heat. Spoon potato into skillet, you want about 1/3 cup of potato per pancake.

Once the potatoes begin to turn brown on the bottom they are ready to flip, cook for about 3 minutes on the other side, and they should be done.

Eat and enjoy!

Total time: 30 min.

Serves: 6

German Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1⁄4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1⁄4 tsp. black pepper

6 medium potato, peeled and shredded fine

1⁄2 cup onion, finely chopped

1⁄4 cup canola oil

1.       In a large bowl, beat together eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Mix in potatoes and onion.

2.       Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture into the skillet. Press to flatten. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side until browned and crispy. Drain on paper towels.