Easter.

Between all the commotion of today I just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY EASTER! I have home made muffins in the oven, getting ready for church, and making my FIRST turkey today! Lets not look past the real reason we gather with family and friends today. It's not about the Easter bunny, baskets, or eggs. Toys or candy. It is about sacrifice and being thankful for what Christ did for us so long ago. It's about celebration. The celebration that He was right when he told the discliples that on the third day he would rise and join the Father. So just remember what today is really about as you gather with your loved ones and are enjoying delicious food.

HAPPY EASTER!

Late again, Tastefull Tuesday!

Just when I feel caught up in life I realize I am so not. Laundry is to the brim (I am all out of running clothes), my room is a mess, and my select "chores" that I have here at home still have not been done. I didn't get to cook dinner on Monday as I had a women's potluck with some of the people that I reconnected with. I will also be posting the recipe for the dessert that I brought!

So I cooked dinner yesterday. I saw this recipe on the Rachael Ray show last week and it looked yummy yet it was different. It is an India chicken recipe and it wasn't anything spectacular . Not sure if I messed somethingup but it tasted like normal chicken to me! You can find the recipe for that here. It is called Sanjeev Kapoor's Quick Jeera Chicken.

My version of Quick Jeera Chicken

Dessert for Women's Potluck! Does the recipe look formilar Aunt Brenda? :) Got lots of good comments on it!

Toffee Brownie Trifle

1 package brownie mix (13x9 pan)

2 1/2 cups of milk

1 package (3.4 oz) instant vanilla or cheesecake pudding

1 package (3.4oz) instant white chocolate pudding

1 carton (8oz) whipped topping

2-3 heath bars, chopped (I sometimes just do chocolate chips)

1. prepare and bake brownies according to the package, follow directions for cake-like brownies (13x9). Cool completely.

2. In a mixing bowl beat the milk and pudding mixes on low speed for 2 mins. Fold in the whipped topping. 

3. Cut the brownies into small cubes and place half in a 3qt glass trifle bowl or serving dish. Cover with half of the pudding. Repeat  layers.

4. Sprinkle with chopped candy bars, etc.

5. Refrigerate leftovers

 

Tasteful Tuesday

Sorry the post is late, I got caught up in the nice weather outside! Monday night I made a super simple dinner of chicken teriyaki.

Chicken Teriyaki

Chicken (as many breasts you need)

Teriyaki marinade or here is a recipe to make your own

Rice

Veggies

1. Marinade chicken. The bottle of marinade that I had said to marinade for a minimum of 30 mins. I let mine sit for about 5 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken in baking pan. Brush with marinade.
3. Place chicken in oven and bake for 1 hour. After 30 mins pull out of oven and flip chicken and brush with marinade. Bake for the remaining 30 mins.
4. Cook up some rice (follow directions on package)
5. You can also stir fry some veggies up to add to the dish!

Enjoy!

Don't forget to leave a comment here for a chance to win Cold Tangerines! You have till Friday!

Friends, Love, and Everything in Between

I have been so MIA besides my Tasteful Tuesday blog posts. I have been telling myself to find the words to write more.

Recently my bedtime book has been Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist. I have become very fond of this author and her thoughts on life.She also wrote Bittersweet which I also love. A read a chapter the other night which really opened my eyes to everything happening in my life recently. It touched on the subject of friends and she really hit the true meaning of a true friend.

"Friendship is acting out God's love for people in tangible ways. We were made to represent the love of God in each other's lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God's love for them. Friendship is the opportunity to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people  that we're close to, reminding each other who God is. When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life. We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can't always see from where we are."

This weekend was Relay for Life and I am so glad I got to experience and participate with loved ones for loved ones.

We spent Saturday walking in honor of those who lost their battle to cancer, to those fighting their battle with cancer, and to those we survived cancer. Cancer is such a touchy subject. The word is scary because you never know what it will bring. It brings emotions to the surface and it helps show us friendship, love and everything in between.

"True friendship is a sacred, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves."

 Leave a comment of what friendship means to you and a drawing will be done to win this book on Friday, April 15.

Disclaimer: I bought this book and am holding the drawing on my own terms.

Tasteful Tuesday: Germany!

This week I found a delicious yet different meal from Germany followed by a yummy German dessert. Don't ask me how to pronounce the name...

Schweinsrouladen

6 boneless pork chops

2 tablespoons flour 1 onion, minced 4 slices bacon, diced 1/4 cup parsley, minced 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup pineapple, diced 4 tablespoons butter 1 cup beer

1. Cook onions and diced bacon until bacon is crispy.
2.  Pound pork chops until thin. While pounding, work in flour as well as salt and pepper.
3.  When bacon is crispy, add parsley, raisins, and pineapple. Remove from heat.
4.  Spoon bacon mixture onto pork chops, roll up the meat, and fasten with toothpicks or string.
5. Heat butter in a large frying pan with a lid. Brown the rolled pork chops on all sides in butter. Add beer (or chicken, pork, or beef stock) and simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes.
6.  Serve hot.

Apple Cranberry Strudel

6 cups apples, peeled, sliced, tart (Northern Spy, Macintosh, Courtland or Granny Smith)
1/2 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon rind, grated
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
8 ounces phyllo pastry sheets, thawed (half of a box, found in the frozen desserts section of your grocery store)
2 cups butter, melted
1 cup breadcrumbs, plain, finely crushed 

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together apples, cranberries, lemon rind, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, flour and walnuts; set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, melt 1 1/2 cups butter. In a medium skillet, melt 1/2 cup butter. Stir and cook bread crumbs with butter until lightly browned. Remove from heat.
4. Place one phyllo leaf on a dry kitchen towel and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with bread crumb mixture.
5. Place a second leaf on top of first phyllo leaf, brush with butter and sprinkle with crumb mixture. Repeat until five leaves have been used.
6. Mound approximately 1 cup of the filling in a 3-inch strip along the narrow end of the phyllo, leaving a 2-inch border. Do not mound too thick, as the filling will spill out the ends of the phyllo once rolled up.
7.  Lift towel, using it to roll leaves over apples in a jelly roll fashion.
8. Carefully place strudel on a large cookie sheet with raised sides, allowing space for five more strudels.
9. Brush top of strudel with butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
10.  Repeat entire procedure for remaining five strudels.
11.  Bake strudels for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.
12. Allow to cool for at least two hours. Cut each strudel into halves or thirds and serve. 

In other cooking news I was in a cupcake contest with Josh's family this past Sunday and tied for second! I made Chocolate Mint Surprise Cupcakes. A vanilla cupcake with mint buttercream filling and dark chocolate ganache frosting topped with Andes mints!

Tasteful Tuesday: Italy

I have always dreamed of going to Italy. The land, the language, the history, and the food just fascinates me. Well, after last week and running around in a "chicken with its head cut off" kind of way I decided to not go all out this week. I made ravioli and let me tell you it was super simple and ready in about 20 mins.

There really isn't a recipe for this unless you make your own spaghetti sauce or want to venture and make your own ravioli and you can find that recipe here. I went to the frozen food section and found a bag of ravioli. They have beef, cheese, italian sausage, etc. so pick what you would like. Follow the cooking instructions on the package. Make sure to heat up the spaghetti sauce. And if you would like to add meat to the sauce make sure to brown/cook it before mixing with the sauce. Also allow time for the meat and sauce to simmer before serving. Add some delicious garlic toast and your meal is complete!

Stay tuned, next week we are venturing to Germany!

Tasteful Tuesday: France

So to continue our tour through Europe last night we made a stop in France. Boy is french cooking a lot of work. I feel that I burned more calories making the meal then I received eating the meal. I was so excited to have the food made that I forgot to take a picture before diving in. I made a delicious french chicken recipe followed by crepes with pear filling. One hint if you want to know if the recipe is french, it contains wine!

Ingredients

1 Chicken (3 lb / 1.4 kg) 1 Onion Carrots 1 oz butter (25 g) 2 tb flour 3 cups chicken bouillon or stock 1 cup dry white wine 1 parsley sprigs 1/2 lb mushrooms 2 egg yolks 1/2 cup whipping cream Lemon juice Salt, black pepper

Chicken Fricassee Recipe (serve 6)
Step 1: In a casserole or skillet, cook the carrots and onion in butter for 5 minutes over moderate heat. Cut the chiken in about 10 pieces. Add the cut-up chicken in the skillet. Turn it every minute for 4 minutes until slightly golden yellow.
Step 2: Lower heat, cover and cook very slowly. Turn the chicken once while cooking.
Step 3: Add salt, pepper and flour on both sides of the chicken. Cover and cook slowly for 4 to 5 minutes. And turn the chicken once during the process.
Step 4: Remove from heat. Boil the bouillon/stock and pour in over the chicken. Add the wine, parsley and just enough bouillon/stock or water to cover the chicken. Bring to the simmer. Cover and maintain for 30 minutes.
Step 5: Cook the mushrooms in butter with a drop of lemon juice. Retrieve the cooking juice of both the mushrooms and chicken. Simmer the cooking juice in a casserole for 3 minutes. Remove the fat from it. Then raise heat and boil, stir it well until the sauce reduces itself, enough to get 2 1/2 cups from it.
Step 6: Blend the egg yolks and cream. While beating it, add the sauce very slowly. Pour the sauce in the casserole again and cook at medium to high heat. Stir the sauce all the way. Boil for 1 minute. Add a drop of lemon juice and salt & pepper.
Step 7: Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetabbles. Heat the chicken fricassee if needed. Add butter before serving.

Basic Crepe Batter Recipe:

Pâte à Crèpes… Thin, light, and luscious!
This recipe is home base for all your fantastic crepe creations! Simple to make, and wonderful to eat!

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: about 30 minutes

Ingredients (for about 15 crepes):
2 cups Flour
2 1/2 cups Whole Milk
4 Eggs
2 tbsp. Butter (melted)
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Vanilla Stalk or Few Drops Vanilla Extract (optional)
Vegetable Oil (for pan)

How to Prepare Batter:

1. Sift flour and mix with salt in a bowl.
2. Make a well and pour in eggs. Stir well.
3. Slowly pour in milk while stirring. Keep stirring batter until small bubbles form on the surface.
4. Stir in Butter.
Voilà!

NB The batter does not need to stand before using it. However, if you do let it stand, you will most likely want to add 1 tbsp. of water before cooking with it. General rule of thumb: if it seems thicker than cream, add a little more water, and/or a little more milk.

How to Prepare Crepes:

1. Pour a little vegetable oil on a folded paper towel, and wipe the pan evenly. Keep paper towel at hand while preparing crepes, in case you want to give it another wipe.
2. Pour in 2 - 3 tbsp. of batter and quickly move pan around, so that batter spreads evenly, covering the whole surface with a thin layer.
3. Let cook for about 1 minute. Then, flip with a metal spatula, and cook other side for about 30 seconds.

Repeat these steps until you are out of batter, stacking cooked crepes on a plate. Yum!

Variations:

Prefer whole wheat flour? No problem. You can substitute the white flour with your own favorite!

Serving Ideas:

Traditionally, a crepe is lightly topped, and then folded into quarters. Meaning, fold in half, and then fold in half again.

If you prefer, you can also top your crepe and then roll it up like a tortilla.

Of course, when you are using thicker fillings, you will probably just want to fold the crepe in half once.

Succulent Cinnamon Pear! (Filling for crepe)

Crèpes aux Poires Fondantes… Delicious crepes that will melt in your mouth!

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

You Need:

8 crepes ( click here for batter instructions)
4 Pears (peeled and cut into slices or cubes)
2 Cinnamon Sticks (or powder)
3/4 cup Dry White Wine
1 tbsp. Butter
Vanilla Ice-Cream
Whipped Cream (optional)

Sauté pears in white wine with cinnamon over a medium-high flame. When most of the liquid has disappeared and the pears are cooked, stir in butter. Spread crepes onto individual plates and cover one half of each crepe with pears. Fold over other half. Top with vanilla ice-cream and if you want, a little cinnamon powder and whipped cream. Serve right away! Voilà!

Stop by next week and see what we cooked up from Italy! Bon appetit!!