Chicken Tetrazzini

This has been a crazy week - which is why I'm posting on Thursday instead of Monday, like I had planned...
We had several projects due last week (no, not the fun craft projects, but the school projects parents have to oversee and do with the kid). Then a birthday weekend (including me speaking in church), followed by another busy week of birthday preparations for the twins - yes, that's 3 birthdays in 1 week around here....plus all the normal daily stuff we have going on.
For us, that means, there are usually several casseroles involved that week for dinner.
Here's my easy fall back:

Chicken Tetrazzini (sometimes, chicken-less tetrazzini)

First, cook some chicken - I do about 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - I just sprinkle them (frozen, straight from the bag) with salt, pepper, and maybe some onion powder, then put them in the oven (on a pan, in a glass dish, whatever) - uncovered.

My mom boils hers. I've also done it in the crockpot, but I don't like cleaning that for something that can be done in the oven.

You can even use canned chicken. (Not as great, but still good - and uses up food storage.)

When the chicken's almost done, cook a pound of spaghetti noodles (that's for 9x13 size).

When the chicken's done (about an hour at 350) - either cut it up, or (my husband found this trick online) - put it in the kitchenaid mixer with the cookie paddle for about 20-30 seconds - shreds it quickly - no effort. This time I just cut it up.

Drain your noodles. Mix them (in the pot they cooked in is fine) with 2 cans cream of whatever soup. (We use 2 chicken b/c we have a lot of mushroom-haters in our house, but we used to do 1 chicken, 1 mushroom.) Mix in the chicken too...unless you have some chicken-haters, then just put it on top of the half for those who'll eat the chicken.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with 8 oz (about 2 cups) cheddar cheese.

Bake until the cheese is melted and all is warmed through (about 15 minutes on 350).

Quick- open a can of vegetables or two and call it a meal. (Maybe some rolls from the freezer I can defrost?)
 Done....onto the rest of the busy night, right? :)
 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been scouring the internet, friends, family, magazines, and cookbooks for a really good homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Usually I buy those mixes at the store, because they're so quick and easy.  However, I realized that the taste of those mix cookies was only okay and it was quite pricey.  The following is the best recipe I've found so far.  

These cookies are fluffy, soft/chewy, and they still taste good even after they've lost that freshly-baked, just out of the oven perfection.  I'll probably keep looking, seeing as how I consider myself a chocolate chip cookie connoisseur, but these are pretty awesome.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 cups brown sugar 

1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1 egg

2 cups flour 

2 tsp cornstarch 

1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt 

Semi-sweet chocolate chips (about half a bag)

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Cream together (with your mixer) softened butter and both sugars, followed by the vanilla and egg.

3.  Mix in the remaining dry ingredients--flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.

4.  Add in as many chocolate chips as you like.  (I had a picture, but it turned out blurry.  I need a photographer.)

5.  Roll the dough into balls and place on a greased cookie sheet, then bake them for 11-14 minutes.  (My bite-sized cookies took exactly 11 minutes, but I like them just barely golden.)

I like to display my mountain of cookies in the awesome cake saver my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas!  Mmm, good.

 

Also, if you double the recipe, the leftover dough freezes really well and makes for practically instant cookies next time.  I recommend rolling the dough into balls and freezing them on a cookie sheet.  Once they're frozen, put them in a zip-lock bag and you'll be able to bake them whenever you get that chocolate chip cookie craving :)

Chicken Nuggets

This recipe is supposed to be a Chick-fil-a knock-off.  I'm not sure that's quite up to Chick-fil-a's standards, but it's definitely the best homemade fried chicken recipe I've ever cooked.  It's been a real hit at our house with my chief minion as well as guests.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
1 cup milk
1 egg
1.25 cups flour
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Canola oil

Directions:

1.  Mix the milk and egg.  Then cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.  Put the chicken into the milk & egg mixture.  Allow it to "marinate" in the refrigerator for 2+ hours.  (When running low on time, I've allowed it to sit for only 1 hour and it tasted the same.)

2.  In a plastic, zip-lock bag, put the remaining dry ingredients--flour, powdered sugar, salt, and pepper.  Give the bag a shake to mix it all up.  Place 4-6 chunks of chicken in the bag and shake the sealed bag until all of the chicken is well-coated.

3.  Fill a frying pan with about half an inch of oil and allow it to heat until it is medium/hot.  Place the coated chunks of chicken in the frying pan and allow to cook for about 1 minute.  Flip the chicken over and cook for another minute or until golden brown.

I know fried chicken is not super healthy, but it is SO tasty.  We never have leftovers when I make this recipe.  I highly recommend it with green beans and mashed potatoes :)

Applesauce Muffins

Last week I was at my wonderful sister-in-law's house (I really consider her more as just a sister :-) ) she had the yummiest, super moist muffins. I had to have the recipe. she told me that it came out of The Friend magazine. this is a kid friendly magazine that our church puts out. You can locate it at LDS.org. :-) Anywho, getting back to the muffins. I came home and looked up the recipe and thankfully had all the ingredients that I needed to make these bad boys. 

Ingredients
6 tablespoons of butter
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of applesauce

Preheat oven to 375° F (191° C)
Line muffin tin with liners if you have them. I just sprayed my pan.

 Place butter in microwave safe bowl and melt.

 Put dry ingredients into a separate bowl except for the brown sugar. You will add that later. :-)

 I like to whisk all the dry ingredients together.

 Mix the melted butter and applesauce together.

 Mix your brown sugar and eggs together and them add you applesauce and butter mixture to your brown sugar and eggs.

 Combine your wet and dry ingredients. Next you will put into your muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tooth pick comes out clean.

Now you can sit back and enjoy your warm muffin!  Be careful, they are addicting. 

Really good Homemade Pizza

I hope that doesn't make me sound vain that I think my pizza is really good, but all of my guests agree (or lie). :)

*updates 4/20/2015

I started making pizza dough (I think) in 2006 before my twins were born, but it could have been right after - I know for their first birthday - Jan '08 - (I can't call it a party because I don't do 1-year old parties), we had pizza since their birthday fell on a Friday night - and I had been making homemade pizza on Friday nights for a while at that point.

Regardless, homemade pizza has been a tradition for Friday nights in our family for several years now.

I am not perfect at it, but just look at this - don't you want to grab a slice and eat it right now??

The only thing I would still like to improve on is making the dough so that it can be tossed without tearing - but no matter how much more I knead the dough or do slow cold rises, etc, nothing has worked and it's just as easy (and fun with my new french rolling pin) to roll it out - I just have to 'fix' the crust to be prettier when I roll it.

* I usually just stretch it in the air each week. Takes about 1 minute/crust.

Beth’s Homemade Pizza (Dough)

Ingredients:

6-7 cups all purpose flour (if you use bread flour or whole wheat, it will take less)

2T sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp yeast (for cold slow rise) or *1T (for immediate rise) - or 1 packet for either

¼ cup oil

2 cups warm water (sometimes 1 3/4 cup)

1 jar pizza sauce (or recipe)

Toppings (optional)

24-32 oz mozzarella cheese

*I now use high gluten flour bought for $10 for 25 lbs from bulk food store near me. Much better elasticity and texture! I use exactly 6 loose cups scooped. (1Tbsp yeast and water same. It's better to over estimate water than under. It's easier to add in more flour. Adding in water is a mess.)

This recipe makes 3 (12-14”) pizzas

In stand mixer* with dough hook, mix dry ingredients (using 5 cups of flour). 

Add liquid ingredients.  

Mix until  dough clings to hook and forms a soft ball, adding 1-2 cups more flour as needed. 

Knead several minutes in stand mixer. 

Then pull out, knead by hand a little to form a smooth ball. Separate into parts and make 3 smooth balls.

* update: I rarely knead by hand after anymore. With the high gluten flour, 7 minutes in my kitchen aid with dough hook is perfect. I just divide and smooth the balls. Cover with plastic wrap to rise fastest.

Cover and place in refrigerator 2 days. (or rise 45 minutes) 

Pull out to return to room temperature 20 minutes before making pizza if refrigerated.

Roll, toss, or stretch each ball into a circle, 
Update: *(If you're gonna roll, here's how, but stretching is still easy and gives better texture after baking.)

place on pizza screen/pan,

Another Option is to put something in those crusts when folding them over - like cheese!

(We've even tried cheese and bacon - inspired by the crazy epic meal time guys.)

top, cheese, and bake in 550° oven for about 7 minutes.
*update: We recently moved and my oven in new house takes 6 minutes (and sometimes 5 1/2 on last pizza)!

*note - we put our toppings under the cheese since some of them will burn quickly.

Cool for about 5 minutes before trying to slice. Enjoy!

I'm particular about my crust texture-

*Can also do recipe by hand without stand mixer. I made this by hand until the beginning of 2009 when I got a kitchenaid. By hand, you can use the same method or proof the yeast first as in other bread recipes. Doing it this way just makes it a little harder to kill/not activate the yeast with too hot/too cold water.

bacon/cheese stuffed crust

French Bread

Since we all need more bread in our lives, I decided to share a recipe I just tried a couple of days ago.  My picky-eater of a husband loves white bread: soft, fresh white bread.  He does not like wheat bread or bread that has been sitting on the counter top for more than 2-3 days.  French bread from Walmart costs $1.60 a loaf and is difficult to eat in the 2-3 day time frame, so we often waste quite a bit of the loaf.  This recipe is really cheap.  Plus, I wanted to see if I could make it on my own.

Honestly, this bread doesn't taste like the loaves you find at Walmart--not even close.  However, it is really good bread and it went well with our Italian-themed meal last night.  Also, I have it on good authority from my chief minion (I'll let you decide who that is, haha) that it tastes good fresh out of the oven AND is still good the day after.

Ingredients:

5.5-6 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages yeast (4.5 tsp)
2 cups warm water
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water

Directions:

1.  Mix 2 cups flour, yeast, and salt in your mixer or by hand, then add in 2 cups warm water.  Mix in the remaining flour--as much as you can. (I used my kitchen aid mixer and got all 6 cups of flour mixed in, but it took quite a while, and I had to stop the mixer and turn the dough ball upside down once in order to get it all mixed in.)

2.  Dump the dough on a floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes until it is smooth and elastic.  Spray a bit of cooking spray into your original mixing bowl.  Shape the dough into a ball and place it in your greased bowl.  Flip it over so that both sides are greased a bit.  Cover and allow to rise for about 1 hour.  (In our refrigerator of a house, I allowed 2 hours for it to double in size.)

3.  Punch the dough down and place it on a greased or floured surface.  Divide it into 2 balls (or 4 if you want smaller loaves).  Cover with plastic wrap and allow them to rest for 10 minutes.

4.  Roll each dough ball into a large rectangle (15x10 inches if you did halves).  Roll each rectangle the long way into a loaf (kind of like you would do for cinnamon rolls).  Place these loaves on a greased pan and pinch the ends so they'll stay together.

5.  Mix 1 egg white with 1 Tbsp water and brush over the tops of the 2 loaves.  Then allow them to rise for 35-45 minutes, until they've doubled in size.

6.  Drag a sharp knife, diagonally, over the tops of the loaves to make the traditional French loaf ridges.  Then bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

7.  Remove the loaves and brush them with the remaining egg white mixture, and then bake them for a final 15-20 minutes until they're golden brown and delicious.

We like to slice the loaves and butter them up, then add garlic and cheese....mmmm good!  I think that next time I may try adding some herbs (garlic, parsley, Italian mix) to the egg white mixture.  Although I didn't try, I bet you could freeze leftover loaves.

This recipe worked out well with my baby minion yesterday, because the steps are relatively short with lots of breaks in between.  This allows for cuddles and playing with trains and keeps the micro-minion happy :)