A Happy Experiment

I was going to make a spicy, Asian inspired chicken and rice recipe for supper tonight. I got the chicken out to thaw this morning, which I rarely have the foresight to do, and was planning on it all day. But, sometimes pregnancy has unexpected consequences. Such as unplanned indigestion. Suffice it to say, spicy, Asian chicken wasn't sounding so great anymore. So, all the way home from work, I was brainstorming about what I could make with those chicken tenders. I finally decided to try to invent some sort of cream cheesey, alfredo-ey, chicken and noodles something or other. So that's what I did! And oooooh, was it ever good.


The chicken was impossibly tender, the sauce was mild yet flavorful, the noodles the perfect base for it all. Mmmmm. It's a new favorite in my recipe book for sure! It's pretty much going to be my new go-to chicken alfredo. Yum-o!

Creamy Garlic Chicken Alfredo

1/4 cup of butter
1/4 of a small onion, chopped
3 cloves of minced garlic
8 oz of cream cheese, cubed
3/4 cup of cream
1/4-1/2 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Sea salt to taste
6 chicken tenders
Cooked noodles

Melt the butter in a deep skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add cubed cream cheese, and stir until melted. Whisk in cream and as much milk as needed (1/4 to 1/2 a cup.) Whisk until creamy. Whisk in Parmesan cheese. Add salt to taste. When sauce is creamy and salted to perfection, add chicken tenders. Cover and simmer for 5-8 minutes. After 8 minutes (or when this side of the chicken has turned white and started to brown), turn chicken tenders and stir sauce. Simmer another 5-8 minutes, then check chicken for doneness. As soon as tenders are cooked through, slice into chunks and mix back into sauce. Serve over noodles.

A Dough Day

We had a snow day on Monday. So, we decided to make doughnuts!! Actually, my peach of a husband made the dough for me the night before, so that we could have them the next day. He's pretty grand. : ) And a beautiful dough it was!


I was quite impressed. Then we spent the afternoon cutting, frying, and glazing the little beauties.


It was, honestly, quite time consuming, but it didn't matter, since we had all day.


The recipe made soo many doughnuts, we really had no hope of eating them all. But somehow they all managed to be put to good use. ; )


PW's Glazed Doughnuts

Tawny, Scrawny Lion Soup

Have you ever read The Tawny, Scrawny Lion? It's a Little Golden Book. "Once there was a tawny scrawny lion who chased monkeys on Monday—kangaroos on Tuesday—zebras on Wednesday—bears on Thursday—camels on Friday—and on Saturday, elephants!"
A family of rabbits end up teaching him to eat carrot stew so he doesn't eat them. I loved this book when I was a child. And every time I read it, I imagined the carrot stew being just like this Cheese soup that my mom used to make.



It was my favorite soup, and I still think of the Tawny, Scrawny Lion every time I eat it. :)


Cheese Soup

2 Carrots, chopped into 1 inch pieces (I always use baby carrots, I think they have a sweeter flavor)
1 1/2 cups of frozen, chopped broccoli
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups of water
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 cups of milk
1/4 cup of flour
10 ounces of cubed velveeta cheese

Put the carrots, broccoli, onion, water, and bullion cubes in a blender. Blend until chopped into small pieces. Pour mixture into a saucepan, and cook over medium heat until veggies are soft (I usually give it a good 20 minutes.) Meanwhile, blend milk, flour, and cheese in the blender until smooth. Add to veggie mixture and cook (stirring frequently) over low to medium heat until warm and bubbly.
Share a warm bowl with your little ones, while reading The Tawny, Scrawny Lion. : )

The Fizzy Peach

New Year's Eve is my favorite holiday. I think it's because it's the last hoorah before life returns back to the pre-holiday hum-drum. It's also because it's the most laid back of the holidays, simply all about hanging out with friends, playing games, staying up late, and eating massive amounts of insanely delicious junk food. Pure junk food. None of this full meal nonsense, just one whole evening of unabashed indulgence. There are some things I have to have on New Year's Eve. My mom's bacon wrapped little smokies...puppy chow...chips and dip...a baked brie (although, sadly, this year I had to forgo that one, due to my pregnancy- soft cheeses are not recommended because of their increased likelihood to carry bacteria), and our traditional sparkling grape juice toast at twelve o'clock. But I also like to mix it up a little each year, try out some new recipes, give us something different to enjoy. This year our culinary cameos were a drink I've dubbed "The Fizzy Peach" and some Cheesy Crescent Pinwheels.

The Fizzy Peach is quite simple, as all good drinks usually end up being. All you do is scoop some peach sherbet into a well-chilled glass (I am all about freezer chilled glass glasses for fun drinks...they're so much better that way), and then pour some Peach Citrus flavored Fresca over the top. Yum! It gives you something fun and special to ring in the new year, but with absolutely no effort! Tasty.



The Cheesy Crescent Pinwheels are hardly more complicated.


Simply roll out your tube of crescent rolls into a sheet, mix up some cheeses and a little bit of mayo and butter, spread the paste over the crescents, roll the crescents into one long log, then cut slices. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes, and voila, a tasty, fancy looking hors d'oeuvres. I used cream cheese, parmesan, and shredded cheddar, about 2 oz of each cheese, paired with 3 tbs each of mayo and butter.

Mmmm...these cameos may have to make a surprise comeback next year!!

Sweet Potato Bread Pudding

So this delectable dish is what I decided to make for the church dinner tomorrow. Because December just calls for a ridiculous amount of sweet potatoes. I tweaked this recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding and was so pleased with how it turned out! It calls for pumpkin bread, but I had some leftover Cream Cheese Pound Cake that was turning rather dry, so I decided to use that. I also didn't have any pumpkin, so I used sweet potatoes instead. I also added some pumpkin pie spice, since I wasn't using pumpkin bread. Yuuuuuummy! The pound cake got nice and soft, but not soggy, and the custard formed a wonderful sauce underneath the crust, that just begs to be poured all over the top.


It was the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, creamy and crusty, with a delicate underlying flavor of sweet potato. You could add whipped cream, but with that custard sauce, I just didn't think it needed it.



Here's my tweaked recipe.

Sweet Potato Bread Pudding

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tbs vanilla
  
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 1/2 cups pureed sweet potatoes
  
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  
• Cream Cheese Pound Cake, cubed and dried, recipe here

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Combine the cream, milk, and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.

Whisk together the yolks, sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, and sweet potato puree in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the hot cream mixture until combined.

Scatter the pound cake cubes in a buttered 9 by 13-inch baking glass baking dish. Pour the custard over the bread, pressing down on the bread to totally submerge it in the custard. Let sit for 15 minutes to allow the bread to soak up some of the custard.

Place the pan in a larger roasting pan and pour hot tap water into the roasting pan until it comes half way up the sides of the glass dish. Bake until the sides are slightly puffed and the center jiggles slightly, about 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and water bath and cool on a baking rack for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve warm, spooning custard over top.

The big news!

It's a...

It's another soup day!

It's starting to get chilly around here! This past week has been a beautiful 70s week, but next week is forecasting low 30s and snow. Eh. But of course, there's always the benefit of more soupful days. : )
A few days ago I tried my hand at a Butternut Squash soup suggested to me by my sister.
Butternut Squash is one of my favorite foods in the whole world. I really don't think I could get sick of it. And it's a positive powerhouse when it comes to nutrients! One cup has 107% of your daily beta-carotene intake, which may help prevent acne, cancer, and macular degeneration. It also has tons of fiber, lutein (which again helps with macular degeneration and possibly colon cancer), potassium, and thaimin (a brain booster, that may help with memory and mood!)
It also has a significant amount of magnesium, which may be beneficial for allergies, asthma, cardiovascular health, high bp, and kidney stones. Wow! It also has lots of vitamin B6 and C. Talk about a healthy veggie.
I've had rather unsuccessful experiences with squash soup in the past, but have always thought it sounds just amazing. So I decided to give it one more shot. And this one had bacon and cream cheese in it, so I figured my chances were a lot better. : ) It was actually quite good! Very creamy and smooth, with a deep, yummy squash flavor. I thought it was a bit thin, so I ended up making a roux with the leftover bacon fat and flour, then mixing in a ladle of the soup, before whisking it into the soup. That seemed to thicken it up, and I think we enjoyed it more that way, but if you like thinner soups, it was really just fine. It was even better the next day reheated, after the flavors had intensified a little bit. However, although we enjoyed it, I doubt I'll go to the trouble of making it again. It was just weird enough that it wasn't something we'd eat often. But it was a fun experiment!


Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

6 tablespoons chopped onion
4-6 slices of bacon
6 cups mashed, roasted butternut squash (I usually half mine, drizzle with olive oil, and roast them in the oven at 450 for a couple hours, or until fork tender...add some butter and salt and this also makes amazing mashed squash.)
3-4 cups chicken stock
a sprinkle of cayenne pepper
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (you could definitely cut this back, maybe even in half)

Saute onions and bacon together in a skillet until bacon is cooked and onions are translucent. In a saucepan, bring chicken stock to boil. Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Add to chicken stock in saucepan, and heat through. Add bacon and onions. Do not allow to boil.


*If you want a thicker soup:
Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of flour over bacon grease in skillet. Stir together and cook until the flour absorbs the grease and turns brown. Allow to bubble and cook for a few minutes. Turn off burner and add a ladle full of soup to the skillet, stirring to combine. Add about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of the roux to the saucepan, whisking well to dissolve. Continue to cook soup until it reaches desired thickness.

I have one more soup (for now) in my archives to post...it's been my husband's favorite so far, so you know it's good!