Chicken Primavera Pasta

So we all know that I am a girl that loves food and that I love an easy great tasting meal that appears you were a slave to the kitchen when in reality, well lets just keep that our little secret!  Kraft Philadelphia has a new product called Cooking Cream and it is amazing, I mean AMAZING!  So here is my take on the recipe that we tried last night and wow!
(If you want the original recipe go and pick up an Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme at your local store as it's on the back)

1 box of Whole Wheat Penne Pasta
1/2 bag of Match Stick Carrots
1 Red Pepper sliced thinly
2 Chicken Boobs sliced/chopped (I prefer mine thinly sliced across the grain)
2 containers of Philadelphia Cooking Creme in Italian Cheese and Herb

Directions:

Pull out a pot to cook your noodles according to the package directions.  While your pasta is cooking grab your wok add a little veggie oil and cook your chicken when the chicken is done add all of your veggies at once and stir until cooked/ heated thoroughly.  By then your pasta should be cooked drain those and add them to the mixture in the wok and add the Cooking Creme.  Stir until well combined and serve!  Seriously it was that easy and super yummy!  I can't wait to try all of the other Cooking Creme's!

Spinach & Cheddar Souffle

3 T butter
1/4 c finely grated Parmesan
3 T flour
1 c scalded milk
1/4 t nutmeg
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper
4 extra large egg yolks
5 egg whites (yes you will have to throw away one egg yolk)
1/2 c cheddar
3 cups of fresh spinach chopped or 1 package of frozen chopped spinach
1/8 t of cream of tartar

Tip: It seems to me that when you start making the souffle you need all of the ingredients ready pretty quickly or something will burn -- so do yourself a favor and prepare every ingredient beforehand and then it only takes about five minutes to assemble everything and toss it into the oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease on 6-8 cup souffle dish or use ramekins (I usually use four 2 cup ramekins)
2. Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour and stir constantly for two minutes. Add scald milk (I scald mine in the microwave) and the nutmeg, cayenne, & salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly until thickened and smooth (about one min.)
3. Off the heat stir in the egg yolks, parmesan, cheddar, and spinach.
4. Beat Egg whites with cream of tartar until glossy peaks are formed.
5. Whisk 1/4 of egg whites into cheese sauce to lighten and then fold in the rest with a rubber spatula. Pour batter into prepared dishes and draw a circle on top with a spatula.
6. Place in oven and then turn the temp down to 375. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Don't peek or your souffle will fall --use the oven light.

Serve immediately

Jandee's Baking Powder Pie Crust

photo by me

I regularly make pies several times a month and over the years have tried countless pie crust recipes. Typically I end up using this one, which is pretty basic and shapes really easily; however, my husband is not the biggest fan of the texture of regular pie crust so I went in search yet again for another recipe he might like better. Finally I hit upon this one, which is an invention of my own inspired by three different recipes. It has a more "bready" texture and I find that I cannot get the curls in the edges to shape as nicely as my regular recipe, but what you give up in aesthetics you definitely get back in taste/texture. My husband has declared this his favorite crust and now whenever I make a pie he begs and pleads for this recipe:

3 cups flour
1 t salt
2 t baking powder
8-14 T ice water
1 T sugar
1 cup shortening

1. Mix dry ingredients
2. Reserve 1/2 cup of dry mixture and mix with ice water to make paste
3. cut shortening into remaining dry
4. blend paste with shortening mixture
5. chill for 30 minutes

This yields enough crust for two nice size pies (top & bottom crust).

Tips for this recipe: When deciding how much water to use the altitude & humidity of your location is the number one factor. I like to make the paste pretty runny before I add it to the rest of the dry ingredients and since I live in a high arid place I am always closer to the top of the water requirements in the recipe. One thing that I have found really helpful is to roll out the crust in between two sheets of wax paper, this is nice because you don't have to use more flour, which can make your crust more dry.

365 days of Crockpot Recipes

Since I don't have any new and yummy recipes of my own to share, I thought I would pass on the link to my new favorite recipe blog (besides this one of course!)

It's 365 days of crockpot recipes. Anytime I hear the word crockpot, I'm there! I also like that she gives each recipe her own rating. So....

Check it out

Practical Tip

Everyone has probably figured this out way before me, but I thought I'd post it on the off chance that someone else doesn't know about this trick. Ever start making a recipe and get to the word softened butter and scowled? Unless you are a little more prepared than I am you have undoubtedly left the butter in the fridge. I have tried popping it in the microwave for a few seconds but then you get 1/2 firm 1/2 melted butter, definitely not softened........until today when being the braniac that I am, I tried it on defrost & Ta Da! softened butter. Yep, if you have forgotten to take the butter out of the fridge just try putting it in the microwave for a 30 seconds or so on DEFROST!

Tip of the week: July 13 - July 21 2007 cont...

This is what happens when I don't post a tip for so long, I have to post multiple, 4 page long, tips at once. This tip is a branch off of "my mom's" previous tip about menus.
I haven't been cooking for my family as long as my mom has for hers and so I am still in the discovery phase of what my family loves, what they tolerate, and what they abhor. For that reason (and the fact that I LOVE trying new recipes) I am always looking through cookbooks for new recipes to try. After having to look up every recipe when I went to make my shopping list I decided it was time for a change.
I created an excel document (which I have included in a link below) that broke each recipe down for me so that I didn't have to look it up until the day came that I was actually making it. I included what cookbook it was in, the page number, the time required, the genre, and (my favorite and might I add most ingenious part) I included a list of the ingredients I didn't usually have on hand.
For example, things like butter, flour, sugar, sour cream, cheese, chicken, ground beef, and cream of mushroom soup; those are regulars in my kitchen, I always have them on hand. But, things like cabbage, jalapenos, Russian dressing, or orange sherbet aren't pantry staples so I would have to get them for a recipe. When looking through a recipe, if I knew I didn't keep that on hand (or if it was a produce, other than onions) I would type that ingredient into the ingredients column.
By making this little (actually huge) recipe/ingredient data base I have been able to simplify my menu making. Like my mother, I have designated days for different genres (once again, this just simplifies everything) Every other Thursday I make menus. I scroll down my recipe data base and write down the recipes I want to do and I put the ingredients I need on my shopping list.
This has worked out so great for me. I am not going to lie, it did take quite a bit of time to get it up and running, but sustaining it is no big deal at all. If you have the time to create something like this for yourself, go for it! It has been a great menu planning tool.
A side bonus, you know those days when you have NOTHING in your fridge/pantry. Those are the perfect days to scroll down the database and find the recipes that seemingly need no ingredients. Chances are, your empty pantry has the necessary things to make a delicious meal.
Here is the link to my recipe database: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pn4WdmcCP2gYCjmnJ_jv7bA
By the way, what you want to look at is in sheet 4. You can look at the others but they won't make much sense since they really are of no relevance

Tip of the week: July 13 - July 21 2007

Yes, I know I have been remiss with this "reoccurring" post, but....actually, I really have no excuses. Anyway, for this week's tip, I take one from my mother (the font of ALL cooking/homemaking knowledge) I swiped this tip, word for word, from my mom's cookbook, so it is almost like she is posting it herself.
Before I post it, let me tell you that this has been one of the most influential cooking tips I have ever received: it saves money, it saves time, and it ensures that my family has a wonderful, home cooked meal every night of the week. My mom does her menus in 3 month periods, I like a little more spontaneity and so I usually do menus every other week in the summer, and once a month in the fall/winter/spring months. You can't beat the power of a menu!

"When I started my own family I quickly discovered that the biggest dilemma in regards to feeding a family was what to make on any given night. The second biggest dilemma was budget. I killed two birds with one stone. All of my children have one night a week that they are assigned to cook and do the dishes. If they were younger it became a time for mom and child to talk and spend time together as I helped. As they became more confident I was usually just there for company.

When they were little, deciding what to make usually involved them looking in cookbooks and picking the pictures that they liked best. This is how we found some of our family favorites. As they grew older their methods changed. Some would honestly try to find something that sounded good or fun to make. Others would try to make whatever was easy. Others continually tried to make what was their favorite over and over again. We finally came to the conclusion that they needed to give me six different things that they wanted to make on their night. This is how our menus evolved. It eliminated the ever present, “What do I make for dinner”. It also helped the budget. How many times have you gone to the store without a plan and ended up spending more for one meal than you normally would for 2 days worth of meals. We could shop for what was needed only, and watch sales and case lots to stock up on what we used the most. Our menus started out being for 2 weeks, and then evolved to 6 weeks. For the last 5 or 6 years they have been for three to four months at a time. Now, I know you think that 3 months of menus are a lot, but let me break it down.

When my boys became the main body of our household I knew that I needed to change the way that we did menus. They didn’t really care what they made. They just wanted to be told what to make. One day I was riding with my husband as he was checking on some jobs for work. This involves me sitting in the vehicle for extended periods of time. I started writing down everything that our family ate. When I was finished I had around 80 different things. I was amazed. I broke them down into type of food; like soups, casseroles, etc. Then I broke them down by ethnic type; Mexican, Italian, Chinese, etc. You get the picture. I then took out a calendar. I put soup once a week, then Mexican once a week, etc. You get the picture. I put in an occasional try a new recipe night, leftover night, pizza take out night. Before I knew it, I had three months worth of menus.
There is no more humdrum in the house. We don’t find ourselves repeating the same 15-20 meals over and over. We eat a greater variety and are all better cooks and budgeters (if that is a word). You will find that you cook certain things in the summer, and certain things in the winter. We eat a little differently around the holidays. But once you have you basic menu set, it is no big deal to mix it up a little for the next 3 months of menus."

Tip of the week: May 28-June 3

Hi, as the food blog is new, let me explain what this post is. Every week, I, or one of my little piggies, will post a cooking tip for the week. Whether it be general cooking technique info or just things they have found make cooking and preparing meals better or easier for them. All of our tips will be found in the category to the left entitled Tips of the Weeks (clever, I know)
So, here goes this week's tip, hailing you from Rachel Ray herself:
Use a garbage bowl. For messy (and I mean messy) cooks like myself this is a lifesaver, as well as a time saver. For those of you not familiar with Rachel Ray, this is the concept. Put a big empty bowl on your table before you begin making your meal. As you chop things, open cans, etc. place all the rubbish in the garbage bowl, as opposed to walking back and forth to the trash can or just setting it on the table. This saves a load of time and mess. When your done, just dump the contents of the garbage bowl in the actual garbage and rinse out your bowl. Hope you try this little tip, I really like it. - Brittany