15 Minute White Bean Soup

This has become my go-to busy night meal. It's really easy and seriously only takes 15 minutes. So healthy too! I think I make it at least one night a week. This recipe is perfect for 2 people...and a Joseph. It's a Martha Stewart recipe. I am not usually a big bean fan but I have discovered that I really like white beans. I know I have at least one reader who is vegetarian so here's one that she can enjoy (as long as she sticks with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth)!! It's rare to find a main dish from me that is meatless. Here's the recipe:

15 Minute White Bean Soup

2 tsp olive oil
2 scallions, thinly sliced (I've used chopped yellow or red onion too)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 can (14.5 oz) vegetable broth (I use chicken broth)
1 can (19 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
course salt and pepper
freshly grated parmesan

Heat oil in 1.5 quart saucepan. Add scallions, garlic and oregano and cook, stirring frequently, until scallions begin to soften (about 3 minutes).

Add beans and broth. Cook until heated through (5 minutes or so). Remove from heat and add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parmesan.

Enjoy!!

If you want to print this recipe, go here.

I almost finished 2 craft projects today...YAY! That's about all the news I have. :)

Cooking with the Shaws - Poppy Seed Chicken

Michael and I go to the gym 3 to 4 days a week after he gets home from work. This makes it necessary to either have something really quick to fix when we get home or something that I can make ahead. Rita’s Poppy Seed Chicken (pg 141) definitely fits the “make ahead” category. I simply get it all together in the afternoon and then throw it in the oven when we walk in the door after the gym. It’s ready in 30 minutes and we can get supper eaten at a decent hour. It warm and creamy and really comforting.

Poppy Seed Chicken

1 chicken (or chicken breasts)

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz sour cream

40 ritz crackers, crushed

1 stick of margarine

2 tsp poppy seeds

Cook chicken, debone, and cut into bitesize pieces.

Put in the bottom of a greased casserole.

Mix soup and sour cream; spread over chicken.

Melt margarine and add crushed crackers; Sprinkle over soup and sour cream mixture.

Sprinkle poppy seeds on top.

Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes.

I really like to serve this with hot cooked rice or pearled barley. YUM!

If I'm correct, this is my 10th recipe!! 90 more to go! I actually have a few more that I just haven't posted yet. 2 more recipe posts this week and I will be caught up!! I actually have 4 recipes on deck for this week: Chicken Cacciatore, Butter Me Not Rolls, Mario's Carrots, and Chicken Fried Steak.

Oh and Joseph decided that my cookbook made a good scribbling pad today. It never ceases to amaze me how he refused to scribble on the coloring books, etc that I give him and instead goes after my cookbook. No harm done though..I can still read the recipes.

Cooking with the Shaws - Chicken Picatta

I made this for my parents and sister while I was home last week. It was a huge hit. The flour on the chicken makes a light delicious crust and the chicken bouillon adds salty flavorful goodness. I made this quite often when I was in college since it didn’t require a lot of ingredients, but for some reason I haven’t made it since until last week. Pity. I’ve been missing out. That’s the good thing about this project. I’m adding lots of things to my regular go to rotation….Things that I can make when I just don’t know what to put on the table. This recipe comes from Linda and is on page 138.

Chicken Picatta

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 egg

3 Tbsp lemon juice (separated)

¼ c flour

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp paprika

¼ c butter

2 Tbsp instant chicken bouillon or 2 cubes

½ c boiling water

Beat egg and 1 Tbsp lemon juice.

Combine flour, garlic powder, paprika.

Dip chicken in egg and then dredge in flour mixture.

In skillet, brown chicken in butter.

Dissolve bouillon in water and pour over chicken. Add remaining lemon juice to skillet.

Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until tender.

I did a few things different. I get all freaked out about not salting my meat. If it doesn’t freak you out not to, then by all means, I think it will be fine. I did add a few grains of salt to my flour mixture. Also, I used chicken tenders because that’s what I had and I pounded them thin. And since I used chicken tenders, I had to almost double my flour mixture to get them all covered. I did not cover my skillet because I wanted my liquid to cook down a bit. But other than that, this recipe is all Linda.

Enjoy!!

I hope you all have had a wonderful week!! I have really been enjoying these cooler mornings. Joseph, Shelby, and I have been spending most of our time in the AM outside taking walks or playing in the yard. We went downtown to the Farmer's Market yesterday and I picked up some wonderful "Sweet Candy" apples and some asian pears. Good stuff.

Oh and one of my good friends, Christy, had her baby Monday morning. So welcome to the world, Baby Gavin!!! They are in Maryland, so I have no idea when I'll be able to meet him.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a great weekend. The huge 127 yard sale is in full swing, so I will be driving carefully. The Hot Rod Nationals car show is also this weekend in Louisville, but Michael has to work most of the weekend so I don't know if we will be able to go or not. Hope you all have big plans or plans to relax!

Cooking with the Shaws - Imperial Chicken Bake

I made this a little while ago and it was wonderful. It is similar to a Parmesan chicken dish that I make often, but actually it so much better and will probably take the place of my regular Parmesan chicken. It's Mary Ann's Imperial Chicken Bake (p143). It's super simple which is always good!

Imperial Chicken Bake
Serves 6
1/2 c dry bread crumbs
1/4 c plus 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 c milk
1/4 butter or margarine
1 small clove garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
Paprika

Combine first 5 ingredients. Dip each breast in milk and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Arrange in a lightly greased 12x8x2 inch baking dish. Combine butter, lemon juice, and garlic. Drizzle over chicken. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until tender.

I used thin chicken breasts and thus it did not take 40 minutes for mine to cook. As with any recipe, it's a good idea to keep an eye on what you are cooking to keep it from getting over done since all ovens are different.

I am getting back into the swing of things after being in Tennessee for almost a whole week. I feel like I've been doing laundry nonstop since I've returned!! I know Joseph misses his daily tractor rides and getting to feed the cats and chickens, but I'm trying to make sure he doesn't get bored. :) He doesn't get to drink out of the hose as much here though...he was a big fan of drinking straight from the hose:

Cooking with the Shaws - Pizza

Cooking with the Shaws – Pizza

This recipe is one I have been using since my mom gave me the Shaw Family Favorites. It’s for my mom’s pizza. Now, growing up, I rarely had pizza from Pizza Hut or Dominoes or anywhere else. For one thing, they wouldn’t deliver out to the country where I was raised… and the other reason is that my mom made fantastic pizza almost weekly so there was no need for any “brought-on” pizza. :)

Don’t worry, I got plenty caught up on delivery pizza while in college. And none of those can touch homemade pizza.

I’ve started having Pizza Fridays at our house. It’s a good tradition. It makes for a quick and easy meal as long as I remember to get my dough going earlier in the day. While I LOVE to think outside the red sauce when it comes to pizza, last Friday I took it back and cooked my mom’s Pizza (p 155). Here’s how you can too…you may notice a few differences between the cookbook and what I put here….we have made a couple of changes like subbing Italian seasoning for oregano in the sauce):

Dough

1 pkg dry yeast

1 cup Water, warm but not hot

1 tsp Sugar

3 cups Flour

½ tsp salt

2 Tbsp Oil

Stir yeast and sugar into warm water and let proof for 5 minutes.

Beat half the flour into yeast mixture. Add salt oil, and remaining flour. Mix well.

Knead until smooth, adding more flour if needed.

Place in lightly oiled bowl, turning dough to coat. Cover and let rise until double…1 hour at least.

Sauce (I don’t know why, but I could eat this by the spoonful…and sometimes I do, but I’m weird like that)

8 oz Can tomato sauce

6 oz Can tomato paste

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp Sugar

1/8 tsp Pepper

1 Tbsp Oil

Mix all together!

Toppings

Mozzarella cheese (12-16 oz for 2 pizzas)

1 lb sausage or ground beef or a combination of the 2, browned

Parmesan cheese to taste

This recipe will make 2 pizzas or 1 really big one. 1 of the smaller ones can feed 2-4 people depending on if you have sides or not. So you will need to divide the dough in half. If you just make one pizza, the dough freezes really well..just plop it in a Ziploc bag. Get it out the day you plan to make your next pizza and put it in an oiled bowl, cover it and let it thaw and rise.

The rest is pretty explanatory….spread the crust out on a baking sheet or pizza pan (dust your pan with cornmeal to keep it from sticking), top with sauce, meat, and cheeses. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or so. Enjoy!!

This will probably be my only post this week. My grandfather passed away yesterday and I am probably going to drive down to Tennessee tomorrow for the funeral and such. Now don’t be sad for me. As awful as it sounds, I was not fond of the man. This is not a place to list the reasons why. Just know that I don’t have any warm memories of him. It makes me thankful that Joseph has such wonderful grandparents and won’t have to worry about having one that treats him like he’s nothing. I am sad…but not because I will miss him. I am sad because of the grandmothers that left me too soon and the grandfather that I never knew at all who I know would have loved me.

So anyway…enough sadness. I hope you all have a great week! I have many more Shaw Family recipes in the works and will be moving to another kitchen this week. I’m sure mom won’t mind. :)

Cooking with the Shaws: Barbequed Chicken and Squash Patties

I thought I might have a problem with my "Cooking with the Shaws" Project this week. I went to the grocery Monday and spent all of our weekly food budget but hadn't decided what to make out of the Shaw Cookbook so I didn't buy anything for that. One of the good things about this cookbook is that there are a lot of recipes that use things that I almost always have on hand. So, I picked Aunt Pete's Barbequed Chicken (p 137) and Linda's Squash Patties (p 202).

I love this barbeque chicken of Aunt Pete's. I also love that her comment on the recipe is that she was "not a good griller" and that is why she created this oven barbeque recipe. I'm not a good griller either, and so this suits me.

It's got a lot of ingredients but don't be scared. You're basically making your own BBQ sauce. I went ahead and made the whole recipe of sauce even though I was only cooking 3 breasts. I just jarred the rest and will use it later.

Here's what you need:
2 chickens (pieces of your choice)
2 sliced onions (less if you use less chicken. I think I used 1/2 of one, but we aren't big onion eaters)
sauce:
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp red pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp chili powder
3/4 c ketchup
3/4 c water

Place chicken pieces in roasting pan and cover with sliced onions.
Mix other ingredients and pour over chicken and onions.
Bake for about 1 hour.
Remove chicken to Pyrex dish and bake for 20 minutes or until brown.

Ok, Aunt Pete did not specify an oven temp. I just did 375. Also, since I was using boneless skinless chicken breasts, I baked them for 30 minutes and then removed the onions, basted them with sauce, and put them back in for 10 minutes to brown. I also just did it all in a pyrex dish because I hate having extra dishes to wash.

The verdict: The chicken was moist and delicious. The sauce was nice and spicy, but not overly so (or Michael wouldn't have eaten it).

Now the Squash Patties were a revelation. I got some good fresh squash from my parents this past weekend. Neither Michael nor I are big fans of squash but I thought maybe I could find some way that we liked it. Well, I did. Yes, it includes frying, but MAN, they were so good!!

Squash Patties (makes about 14)
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Dash pepper
2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp chopped onion
1 c cooked, mashed squash
1/2 c self rising flour

Combine all ingredients and mix well.
Drop by tablespoon into 1/2 inch of hot oil in a large skillet.
Flatten patties to 1/4 in thick.
Fry until golden brown.

My patty "dough" was kinda runny so there was no controlling the thickness, etc. It kinda fried like a funnel cake. They also cook really fast so be ready with your plate to put them on. But do try them....they are fantastic.

Ok, that is 3 recipes down...97 to go!

Cooking with the Shaws - Mom's Red Beans and Rice

I know I promised I would have my first Shaw Family Cookbook post yesterday, but obviously that didn't happen. Yesterday was super busy trying to get ready to go out of town this weekend. We are going to my parents' house in Tennessee. All my cousins on my dad's side are getting together for the first time in I don't even know when. One of my cousins lives in Maryland and the other in Colorado. The other 2 live in middle Tennessee but I still don't see them often. So, I'm pretty excited. They all have kids and it'll be fun for all of our kids to play together.

Anyway, after a day of packing and cleaning, I put Joseph to bed and went to the barn for a ride...and didn't come home until 11:30. I wasn't about to post then. The barn owners and their kids were out and we just sat around riding and talking for a few hours. It was so worth the tired eyes I had this morning.

Anyway, here is recipe 1. It's for "Mom's Red Beans and Rice." Submitted by Susan and Linda (I'm not putting any last names here). For those of you who have the cookbook (since I know a good bit of my readers are family...) this is on page 156 of what I believe is the first printing.

Mom's Red Beans and Rice

1 lb dried red beans
4 qts water
3/4 c chopped onion
3/4 c chopped celery
3/4 c chopped green pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 c margarine
2 bay leaves
2 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika (recipe recommends Hungarian, but I didn't have any)
1 tsp dried whole thyme
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1 lb smoked polish sausage, cut into 1 in pieces
1/2 c finely chopped fresh parsley

Ok, I didn't put green pepper in it since Michael and I are not green pepper fans. I also used 1/2 tsp of ground thyme instead of 1 tsp of whole thyme and I used smoked turkey sausage because we are on kind of a health kick.

I also didn't put in the fresh parsley because I forgot to go out to the garden and get it.

ANYWAY, all those things aside...here's what you do:
Sort, wash, soak beans (quick soak or overnight...the directions are on the bag). Drain the soak water and add 4 qts of water to the beans in a 6 qt dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered for 1 to 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Saute onions, celery, peppers, and garlic in butter until tender.

Stir sauteed veggies and next 6 ingredients into beans. Cook, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally (add water if necessary).

Bake sausage at 350 for 20 minutes, drain well (you could probably omit this if you use turkey sausage...there is nothing to drain).

Stir sausage into bean mixture and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves and serve over rice.

Michael was a big fan of this dish....as I knew he would be. That boy loves beans. Joseph even seemed to really like it. It's definitely going to be joining the regular rotation in our house, because, while it is time consuming, it is so simple and not very "hands on." I like that.

Enjoy!

Not Your Usual Chicken Tacos

Sorry...I only remembered to take a picture after I had started chowing down!

I found this recipe on my Betty Crocker calendar. I have been trying to make each monthly recipe. This one was actually from May, so I was a touch behind. I have to say that I didn’t know how it would go over. It has baked beans on it….I’m not a huge fan of baked beans and neither is Michael, but I decided to give it a shot. The recipe looked easy and quick which I love for weeknight meals. I modified the recipe a little for what I had on hand.

Here’s what you need (makes 6 tacos):

1 ½ to 2 cups Chicken breast strips (I baked a chicken breast for mine, but then Joseph ate most of it, so I ended up using frozen grilled chicken strips from Tyson so that I would have enough…worked fine)

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp paprika

1 cup BBQ baked beans (from the can)

1 cup shredded cheddar

3 strips bacon, cooked

6 taco shells

Combine chicken, cumin, and paprika. Stir to coat chicken.

Spoon chicken evenly into shells.

Top with beans, cheese, and bacon.

Bake at 400 for 8 minutes or until cheese is melted and shells start to brown.

Give these a try. I really did like them and Michael even liked them. It's also a great way to use leftover baked beans from summer cookouts...hint hint, Mom! :)

Enjoy!!

BBQ Pizza

I've been on a real pizza kick lately. What can I say? It's easy and always a hit. I made this one a while back when I had some barbeque left over from back home. It's so hard to find good barbeque. Anyway, Here's what you need:

1 pizza crust (have I posted my crust recipe yet? If not, I will soon)
2 Tbsp corn meal
1/4 lb pork barbeque
1/4 c BBQ sauce + a little more for drizzling
1/2 to 3/4 c cheddar cheese, shredded

Sprinkle crust with cornmeal.
Spread 1/4 cup or so BBQ sauce on the crust.
Distribute meat evenly over sauce
Sprinkle with cheese and drizzle with a little more sauce.
Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

Enjoy! It may sound weird, but I promise you, it's yummy!

"The Other White Meat" Pizza

I make a lot of pizza. I like to play around with the ingredients and stray from the usual red sauce and pepperoni. I find that when I'm in a pinch, I can always whip up a pizza of some sort. This is my all time favorite pizza. I call it "The Other White Meat" pizza because it has only pork and white cheese and white sauce. It's fantastic....try it, you'll like it. You will need:
1 pizza crust
sauce:
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c heavy cream (or light cream)
1/2 c freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
Toppings:
6 slices thin sliced or shaved smoked ham
3 strips bacon, cooked, crumbled
1 c mozzerella cheese, grated
Dried parsley (optional, I just like the little flecks of green)

In a small saucepan, melt butter with olive oil over med heat.
Add garlic and cook for about a minute. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
Add cream and continue to cook for a few minutes or until slightly thickened. I like to get a whisk in there and whoop it a little. The sauce should coat a spoon at this point.
Take pan off the heat and stir in parmesan until melted.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spread sauce on crust.
Sprinkle mozzerella evenly over sauce.
Cute each piece of ham into quarters and place over cheese.
Sprinkle with bacon.
Sprinkle with parsley.
Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes (depending on thickness of crust).
ENJOY!