CHICKEN TETRAZZINI WITH HOME MADE PASTA

One of my favorite dinners is Chicken Tetrazzini with home made pasta.

It is simple and inexpensive to make and (in my opinion) pure comfort food.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cups of good chicken broth
1 medium onion chopped
3 stalks of celery chopped
2 carrots cut into chunks
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
.Put the above items in a crock pot, on low, for 6-8 hours (you want extremely tender chicken). Remove the chicken and break into pieces. (see note).
In medium saucepan, with heavy bottom, melt 3 tablespoons of butter; add 3 tablespoons flour + ½ teaspoon black pepper + 2 teaspoons chicken bullion granules. Let this simmer (stirring) for a couple of minutes, then add 2½ cups of milk (whisk like crazy as you slowly add the milk so you do not get lumps). This entire mixture will thicken as it comes to a boil.
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When the mixture boils and thickens, turn heat to LOW and add broken up chicken breast pieces, 1 cup frozen peas, 1 cup sauteed mushrooms, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, a pinch of dry red pepper flakes and 1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese. Let this cook on low (to warm everything through) but watch it because it can scorch if the heat is too high. Serve over fettuccini noodles.
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If you are going to make your own pasta, here is an easy recipe:
Put 2 cups of all purpose flour in a heavy duty stand mixer. Make a “well” in the flour and put in five whole eggs:

Mixing with your paddle attachment, mix until the eggs are well incorporated into the flour. It shouldn’t be sticky; if it is, add a little more flour. Remove the paddle attachment and add the dough hook. Knead with the dough hook for about 5 minutes. Dough should be very smooth. Cover with plastic and let it rest for about 30 minutes before you cut it.
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Keep majority of dough covered with plastic wrap and work with a small ball of dough at a time. A small ball like this:

will roll out to a flat ribbon like this!

Fold the flat ribbon over onto itself a couple of times and run it through the roller four or five times. Roll the dough out one last time and dust it lightly with flour. Now you are ready to run it through the cutter. Two small balls of pasta dough (like the one in my hand above) made this much cut pasta!!

Bring a big pot of salted water to a full boil. Fresh (un-dried) pasta cooks in about 3 minutes. If you have let your pasta air dry, it takes about 8 to 10 minutes to boil (depending on its thickness).
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NOTE: I’ve noticed when boiling fresh pasta, it tries to “boil over” more easily than commercial pasta. If you add just a few drops of oil to the water, it will stop that.

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NOTE: A (bristle type) pastry brush is great for brushing off excess flour from your pasta dough.

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NOTE: If you do not have a pasta roller/cutter, you can still make home made pasta by rolling it out super thin and cutting it with a pizza cutter.

NOTE: Cool and save the liquid from the crock pot for another recipe, it is excellent broth.

PUMPKIN - CRANBERRY BREAD (the best)

If the rating system for this recipe was 1 to 5 stars; I would rate this a 10. It is absolutely delicious and will be perfect for your holiday table!! It is very easy to make (doesn't even take an electric mixer) and yet it is unique enough for gift giving. I hope you try it, it is SO GOOD... extremely moist, total comfort food!!!

 Preheat your oven to 350, and grease and flour two 9" x 5" loaf pans. Set out two large bowls. In the first one mix:

3 cups flour
3 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

In the 2nd bowl, mix:
3 cups sugar
(1) 15 ounce can pumpkin (without spice)
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
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Whisk the first bowl (with the flour in it)until the dry ingredients are well mixed. Whisk the 2nd bowl (with the pumpkin in it) until WELL mixed and oil is completely incorporated. Pour the wet into the dry and mix with spoon just until moistened. Stir in cranberries gently.
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Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake 60 to 65 minutes (my oven took 70 minutes). Cool (in the pans) for about 10 minutes, then turn them out. Wrap the hot bread IMMEDIATELY in plastic wrap, covering tightly. Let the breads cool completely in the wrap.


NOTE: Make sure you use a 15 ounce can of plain packed pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling (big difference).

NOTE: Recipe calls for ½ cup of orange juice, which I didn't have, so I used pineapple juice instead.

NOTE: Wash and sort your cranberries. Try to use the darkest berries. Make sure they are thawed out before mixing into batter.

NOTE: It is OK to put the plastic wrap on the hot bread as soon as it comes out of the pan. This forces the moisture back into the bread as it cools.

NOTE: My oven took 70 minutes to cook these loaves. Use the toothpick test to determine doneness.

CRANBERRY SAUCE

I have been trying out various side dishes and condiments with Thanksgiving in mind. Lately, I've been trying out cranberry sauce recipes. If you follow my blog, you know my dear sweet Hubby is a "purist" when it comes to a lot of foods. Actually, that just means he is very picky eater and doesn't like a lot of "extras" in what he eats. This simple cranberry sauce really fills that bill; he loves it and has asked me to stock up on cranberries for the freezer, with this recipe in mind.
Three Simple Ingredients:
12 ounces fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pineapple juice (or orange juice)
Wash and sort the berries, and put all ingredients into a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to a medium simmer and cook the berries (stirring berries about once a minute) for 20 minutes. When they first start to boil, the berries will actually pop, so cover the boiling berries with a splatter screen to reduce any mess.

If you like whole berry cranberry sauce, just pour it into a bowl and chill for a few hours For  Picky-picky Hubby, I press the sauce through a strainer to remove the berry skins. Sauce will thicken as it cools.NOTE: I am not usually a cranberry sauce fan, but I found this to be excellent.

UPDATE: Since I posted this, I've discovered that using half white sugar and half brown sugar is a fantastic addition.

MILKY WAY CAKE

Joan, my dear friend of 40+ years, sent me this recipe. It is one of the easiest (and richest) cakes I've ever tried and it is covered with a delicious cooked fudge frosting. It is a decadent delight!!

4 Milky Way candy bars (see note)1 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups sugar
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
2½ cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
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Melt the candy bars, butter and nuts over low heat, set aside to cool. Mix sugar, buttermilk, baking soda, eggs, flour and vanilla, beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Fold in candy mixture. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 350 for one hour..FUDGE FROSTING2½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
½ cup butter
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ of a 7 ounce jar marshmallow cream
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Cook sugar, milk and butter to soft ball stage. Remove from heat. Beat in chocolate chips and marshmallow cream until smooth. Pour QUICKLY over completely cooled cake because this will start to set up as soon as it begins to cool.
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NOTE: The original recipe called for 4 five cent Milky Way candy bars, so you know how old this recipe is. I used four 2.05 ounce bars but they were more like 69 cents, ha!!
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NOTE: I baked this in an angel food cake pan and it took exactly an hour.
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NOTE: Work quickly when frosting this cake because the fudge frosting hardens fairly quickly. The recipe says to pour over the cake and let it drizzle down the edges, but I had enough time to cover the sides. It makes a LOT of frosting and Joan told me she just uses the excess frosting to fill up the hole in the middle of the cake.

CHICKEN MARINADE

This marinade for chicken, works best if you let the meat marinate overnight. It is excellent for taco's, burritos, sandwiches, chicken salad, etc. It is a wonderfully flavored chicken to have in the fridge for a wide variety of recipes.
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4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup cold chicken broth
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ to ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
Mix all marinade ingredients in a Ziploc type resealable bag. Add chicken, making sure it is submerged in the marinade. Refrigerate overnight if possible. Next day, remove from marinade and THROW AWAY THE LIQUID.
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Lay the chicken on a paper towel to wick away excess liquid. Grill (indoor or outdoor) until juices run clear. Use immediately in favorite recipe or cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.

CHOCOLATE HALLOWEEN CAT COOKIES

These chewy, chocolate, Halloween cookies would be a great project for the kids to make this holiday and they taste great too.

1 cup butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup baking cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
candy corns
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter & sugar until smooth; beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and gradually add it to the creamed mixture.
Roll dough into 1½" balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on cookie sheet (I baked mine on parchment paper). Pinch the top of the cookie to form ears. For the whiskers, press a fork on each cat cheek (at 45 degree angle according to hubby). Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, remove from oven and immediately press candy corns into the cookie to form the eyes and use a red hot for the cat nose (I just cut off the end of a candy corn and used that). Cool on wire racks. Makes 24.

HAPPY TRICK-OR-TREATING !!

NOTE: Hubby says my whisker angle made these "cats" look angry lol. Maybe he is right about angling the fork tines a little more.

WHITE CHOCOLATE & RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE FOR TWO

If you are looking for a special dessert for two, this is it. This recipe has several steps, but they are all very easy and the final product is totally delicious. What a way to top off a romantic meal!!

Preheat your oven to 325 and line a mini-loaf pan (6" x 3" x 2") with foil. The foil will help you lift the baked cheesecake out of the pan after it is chilled, so make the foil ends long enough to grab on to. Spray with vegetable spray and set aside.

Make the raspberry sauce: In a sauce pan, heat up 1 cup of raspberries (I used frozen) and ¼ cup of white sugar. Bring to a simmer and mash the berries as they cook. When berries are all soft, thicken with a slurry of 1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water. Stir until berries are nice a thick. Press through fine mesh strainer. Set aside.

Make crust: Mix ½ cup graham cracker crumbs, 1 tablespoon white sugar and 1 tablespoon melted butter. When thoroughly mixed together, press into the bottom of the foil lined mini-loaf pan. Set aside.

Make filling: Melt ¼ cup of white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon cream and set aside. In a bowl, with an electric mixer, cream 3 ounces of room temperature cream cheese and 2 tablespoons sugar. When thoroughly creamed, add 1 egg white, ½ teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons all purpose flour (don't over beat). Stir in melted white chocolate chips.

Pour half of the batter onto the crumb crust and top with half of the berry mixture. Top with the second half of the batter then decorate the top with the rest of the berry mixture. *see note

Water bath: Place the mini-loaf pan (with cheesecake in it) inside of a larger pan (I used a 9" cake pan) and pour very hot water into the larger pan, making sure that the hot water comes half way up on the sides of the mini-loaf pan.

Bake in a 325 oven for 28 to 33 minutes (my oven takes 33 minutes). The cheesecake is done when you gently tap the side of the pan and the cheesecake sort of jiggles (kind of like jello).

Cool for 30 minutes in the pan, then chill for at least 3 hours. To serve, lift the cheesecake out of the mini-loaf pan (using the foil "handles") then cut it into two pieces.

NOTE: You don't have to strain the seeds out of the raspberries if you don't want to. To decorate the top of the cheesecake, I spooned small amounts of the berrys in a random pattern, then ran the tip of a toothpick through the berries to make a design.