Sunday Dinner on a Monday

Week 12: Crispy Onion Chicken with Green Beans



This week's Sunday dinner is a day late, but for good reason! Yesterday was a fantastic girls day out to see the Rockettes, followed by dinner at Atrias. This all day event kept me out of the kitchen, but I made up for it today. Kim (who was one of the 5 lovely ladies out yesterday) actually gave me this quick and easy recipe.

Crispy Onion Chicken

Ingredients:
-Chicken Breast (cubed)
-1 (2.8 oz) can French fried onions
-Honey mustard
-1 Cup Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Cube chicken and coat with honey mustard.
2. Crush french fried onions and combine with bread crumbs. Combine in bag.
3. Add chicken to bag and shake until fully coated with the dry mixture.
4. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

My commentary:

Fast, easy, and tasty! I made this with some green beans (with the left-over onions that I had.) Because I was in a hurry, I did not cube the chicken, which caused it to take longer to cook. I think smaller pieces of chicken would make the breading taste even better. Since I hate to cut up raw chicken, I think I'll try this in the future with thin sliced chicken breasts.

This was a wonderful week full of good food, fun, and family. I have yet to cook my own Thanksgiving dinner, but I'm working up to it. I am happy to report, though, that for the few smaller gatherings that we hosted, all of the food turned out very well! I used one of my previous Sunday dinner recipes (the Italiain Roast Beef) for the Pitt football crowd we had here on Friday night. Not a drop was left!

This week, I've thought about all that I'm thankful for, and the list is very long. I'll end this week with I piece that I found that helped to put things into persepective:

Be Thankful (Author Unknown)

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

Thankful for the good and the not-so good, and looking forward to this holiday season!

The Big Easy and Cornish Hens

Week 11:

Rosemary Cornish Hens
Couscous with Dried Fruit

I made it back from New Orleans very late last night. The south definitely has their own way of cooking, and maybe sometime soon I'll draw some inspiration from this trip. For today, I was just happy to have food on my plate that was not looking back at me (I'll have to post a picture of the crawfish from our lunch in the French Quarter.)

The presentation (which is the reason that I was in New Orleans)went very well! About 80 people attended and we had a lot of great feedback. It was nice to see so much interest in our topic and have some great discussion with so many people.

So as for dinner, you may remember that Jason was supposed to be in charge this week since I was away. This included both finding a recipe and doing the grocery shopping. What he came up with was a "recipe" he created himself... his very own version of couscous. While that was a noble effort, I needed more food than that so I stepped in to contribute part of our meal. I made the Cornish hens to go with Jason's couscous. Here are the recipes:

Rosemary Cornish Hens:

Ingredients:

2 Cornish Hens
1 TB dried rosemary
1 TB garlic
2 TB lemon juice
2 TB olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix together the rosemary, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, wine, and pepper.
2. Leaving the skin on, use a knife to separate the skin from the hen to create a "pocket" in which to place the herbed mixture.
3. Using a spoon, insert several spoonfuls of herbed mixture between the skin and the meat. Place left over mixture inside the cavity of each hen.
4. Place hens, breast side down, in a roasting pan.
5. Broil for 45 minutes, turning the hen over at the half way point.

Jason's Couscous with Dried Fruit

Ingredients:

1 box Near East Toasted Pine Nut Couscous
1 TB minced garlic
1 1/4 cups water
1 TB olive oil
Dried cherries
Dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Combine water, olive oil and garlic and bring to boil. Add coscous and cook according to directions on box.
2. Add desired amount of dried ingredients to coscous and serve.

My Commentary:

The Cornish hens turned out very well...juicy and flavorful. In the future, though, I'll probably do just a few things differently. I'd prefer to use fresh rosemary as well as fresh lemon juice. I've read a variation of this recipe that places a quarter of a lemon and sprigs of rosemary inside the hen. I think that would really add to the flavor. As for the couscous, I think that Jason was subconsciously paying hommage to my Apricot Pistachio Wild Rice Salad from Week 6. :) I have a few other recipes that look great for Cornish Hens, so I'm sure this little bird will be the topic of some future posts.

Messy Food: Hassle or Heaven?

Week 10:

Barbecue Beef Short Ribs

After several weeks in a row of great Sunday dinners, this one was a bit of a flop. It was a failure on a few levels. First of all, it is truly hard to get a good cut of beef short ribs (short of going to a butcher.) The selection was not great at the grocery store. The best ones that I could find were incredibly slim on the meat and heavy on the fattiness. I realize this is the nature of ribs, but I'm sure there are better cuts out there than what I got today. Anyhow, I liked the recipe that I used, found here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Barbecued-Beef-Ribs-for-Two/Detail.aspx

I did make a few modifications though. First, I boiled the ribs for about an hour and a half to make them more tender. Other reviews on the site have noted you could boil them for even longer (up to 3 hours). I omitted the hot sauce and chili powder since I didn't have them. I also added a few shakes of mesquite flavored Liquid Smoke (that stuff is neat, by the way!) After putting it all together, I didn't feel that it looked like enough sauce to cover all of my ribs. To beef it up, I added some Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce in order to make sure all the ribs were fully coated. I cooked this for just short of an hour in a 350 degree oven.

The result was a great flavor and tender meat...just not enough of it! To me, it was just too fatty. After cooking for a few hours, I don't feel like I should have to work that hard to get at the food! The messiness and work involved made the ribs so not worth it to me. In my mind, the same goes for wings. I want to know your thoughts on this. Weigh in and let me know why you think what you think. I need some perspective.

Next week's Sunday Dinner will have a little twist. Since I'll just be returning from presenting at the ASHA conference, Jason is picking the recipe and doing the shopping for next week's meal. Maybe I can even convince him to cook it...


Poll of the Week- Messy food: Hassle or Heaven? Comment below!

Italian Comfort Foods

Week 9:

Italian Wedding Soup
Baked Ziti
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

So this week I took on more than just Italian comfort foods. This week, I took on the Sunday Dinner Project AND company. There is one kitchen rule that I have learned to stick to over the last few years, and it's very simple.

Annie's Number One Kitchen Rule: If you're having company, don't cook something you've never made before. Instead, go with something you know will be good.

Today, however, Jason's parents were coming over and I decided to ask them to stay for dinner. Now, I know this appears to break my number one rule of cooking, but I can explain. Allow me to digress for a moment. Very early in our marriage, we had a cook-out with Jason's entire family. At the cook-out, we had your typical cook-out food. I also decided to make a potato dish that one of Jason's aunts frequently makes (a family favorite, no less). It's a simple recipe (basically country style hash browns, heavy cream, butter, salt and pepper). The recipe (as I wrote it down) called for "2 containers" of heavy cream. At the store, I bought 2 large containers of cream and came home to cook away. I neglected to realize however, that the recipe actually called for 2 small containers of cream. After taking the potatoes out of the oven, I knew they didn't look right. It was essentially a soupy mess of potatoes and cream. Also, the potatoes were not fully cooked. I made the comment to my guests that I thought that I had goofed, but they insisted I serve the potatoes anyway. Every single one of my in-laws scooped the runny potatoes onto their plates and ate every last undercooked bit. My wonderful father-in-law looked straight at me at the end of the meal and said with all sincerity, "Annie, thank you for dinner. Everything was delicious." So if I'm going to break my number one rule on anyone, it would definitely be my in-laws. (Or my dad or brother.) Anyway, I cooked the wedding soup for lunch today, so I knew that at least the appetizer would be good. As for everything else, it turned out!

Here are the recipes:

Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb extra lean ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
2 TB grated Parm. Cheese
1 tsp dried basil
1 TB minced garlic
3 TB minced onion
2 1/2 Quarts Chicken Broth
2 C Spinach (packed, rinsed, thinly sliced)
3/4 C diced carrots
1 cup noodles (I use mini shells)

Directions:

1. In medium bowl, combine the meat, egg, bread crumbs, basil, onion, garlic, and cheese. Form into small balls.
2. Brown meat balls in pan until brown on all sides but not cooked through.
3.Cook noodles separately.
4. Heat chicken broth to boiling, add carrots and spinach. Add meatballs to broth. Continue to boil and allow to cook for at least 15 minutes before serving. Add desired noodles.

Tricks for this recipe:

-It took a long time to make the meatballs! In the future, I will roll out a "rope" of meat, and then cut the rope to achieve the desired size meatball. That will be much faster.

- I used a pizza cutter to chop up my spinach. No worries about cutting my fingers, fast, and got the job done.

-Using pre-made broth is what helps to make this recipe quick. For the broth in this soup, I combined 1 large can of regular chicken broth with 1 large can of the low fat reduced sodium broth. That way it wasn't too salty. If I have the time, though, I will make my own broth.

-Cook the noodles separately so they won't absorb the broth while cooking. To ensure the noodles are not lacking flavor, I boiled them in water with a chicken bouillon cube.

Baked Ziti:

Ingredients (This recipe serves 10)-
1 lb dry Ziti Pasta
1/2 onion, chopped
1 lb lean ground beef
2 (26 oz) jars spaghetti sauce
6 oz provolone cheese, sliced
2 cups Ricotta Cheese
6 oz Mozzarella Cheese
2 TB Grated Parm Cheese

Directions:
1. Bring large pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Cook ziti for 8-10 minutes or as directed on box.
2. Brown onion and ground beef in skillet over medium heat. Add 3/4 of sauce and allow to simmer (covered) for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Layer ingredients in the following manner: Spaghetti Sauce (enough to cover the bottom of the pan), half of the noodles, Provolone Cheese, Ricotta Cheese, Half of the meat/sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese, remaining sauce mixture, parm cheese.
4. Bake, COVERED with foil for about 30 minutes or until all cheese is melted.

My thoughts on this one:

Easy, fast, and hopefully good as a leftover. It makes a TON of food, so consider cutting the recipe in half if you don't want to be eating this for the next week like we will be. :)

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 C UNSALTED butter
3/4 C white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz white chocolate chips
1 (6.5 oz) jar unsalted Macadamia nuts, chopped*

*If you can only find salted nuts, place nuts in a strainer, rinse thoroughly with water, then allow to dry on paper towels.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda and add to creamed mixture. Stir in white chocolate and nuts.
3. Chill dough in refrigerator for 20 minutes.
3. Placing heaping teaspoonfuls on cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack and store in airtight container.

My thoughts:

:) Easiest cookies I've ever made. Quite delicious too.


Everything I made this week was voted as a "make again" dish. :) Hopefully, that trend will continue.

Until next week...eat, drink, and enjoy!

Italian Roast Beef with a side of Monster Mash

Week 8: Italian Roast Beef, Pumpkin Bread

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a safe holiday! For us, this was a pretty busy weekend, and since I was not home for much of the day due to Stef's lovely baby shower (Congrats Stef!) I opted for a Crock-Pot meal this week. There's only one thing I like better than a meal that turns out great: A meal that turns out great that's EASY, fast, and doesn't make many dishes. This will very likely turn into a week night favorite in our household. Here is the recipe:

Italian Roast Beef

3 Cups Beef Broth

1/4 tsp salt

t tsp ground pepper

1 tsp dry oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 Bay Leaf

2 (0.7 oz) pkts dry Italian Dressing Mix

3-5 pound Chuck Roast

Sliced Italian Rolls if desired

Directions:

1. Combine all dry ingredients in small bowl. Mix well.

2. Rub dry ingredients into meat.

3. Add Beef Broth and meat to crock pot. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 12 hours.

4. Shred meat with fork and serve alone or on soft Italian Rolls.

My commentary:

SO EASY!!!! We saved the broth that it cooked in as a dipping sauce for the sandwiches. I used my very handy Pampered Chef Gravy Separator to skim the fat from the sauce. If you don't have one, an easy alternative is to use a piece of Saran Wrap to remove the fat from the top of the sauce. This would be a great meal to serve some type of roasted potato or any type of veggie. As for the Pumpkin Bread...I cheat and use a great boxed mix by Libby's. Some stores only carry this mix around Thanksgiving, however the Hempfield Square Giant Eagle seems to carry it year round now.

In closing, I'll leave you with some Halloween fun. Of course, this will be much funnier if you know my family, but please click the links below to check out the Monster Mash halloween cards that I made for my family. I couldn't stop laughing!!!



http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/q5k7ey1rJPTSx5GJ


http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/bYf0urig6NJ8nxNx

Hope you had a Spook-tacular weekend! Please send recipe ideas for next week!