Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole

One of my faaaavorite dishes growing up - cheesy chicken broccoli casserole. I think I requested it for my birthday dinner nearly every year. While I believe my taste buds have become a bit more 'cultured' over the years, this dish brings great feelings of nostalgia and I will love it forever. It is very fitting that I am posting this on the very day of my wonderful mother's 60th birthday...as this is her recipe. 

That being said, you will not find this dish anywhere in France. Interpret that how you wish. 

Where you will find it, is Wisconsin.  Most recipes that include canned soup originated somewhere in Wisconsin.

Recipe

• 2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 cups broccoli
• 1 can cheddar cheese soup
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup mayo
• Pinch curry powder
• Pinch ground mustard (my add)
• Dash Worcestershire (my add)
• S&P
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Bake the chicken breasts (about 30 minutes at 350, drizzled with olive oil and S&P), and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Lightly steam the broccoli - about 2 minutes in the microwave. Leave the oven heated to 350.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, except the shredded cheddar. Make sure you don't overdo the curry powder - that's a sure fire way to ruin this casserole.

Layer the broccoli on the bottom of a casserole dish, followed by the chicken. Pour the cheese sauce over to cover completely. Top with shredded cheddar, and bake uncovered for 45 min. Let sit for a few minutes, then serve over rice. 

Merry Christmas everyone! I will be busy eating other people's food over the holidays, so I will see you in the New Year!

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

One word might come to mind when you think of grilled flank steak: 'Why?' 

Trust me, I had the same feeling, as my husband suggested it for dinner week after week. It just seems sort of lame. Of course, anything that is incredibly cheap, lean, and easy to prepare seems like a waste of time to me. But then I make something like this, a real winner, and I leave the kitchen feeling like I really accomplished something - an economical and effortless meal I could make for our future family of 8 while my husband picks everyone up from soccer practice. Just kidding, we would put them in gymnastics.

I think flank steak has to be marinated. It's a very lean meat and highly benefits from the marinating process, giving it lots of juicy flavor. I'm in love with this marinade - you might see it on my next 6 posts. On chicken, on pork, on pizza, on ribs. I guess that's just 4.

I marinated the steak overnight, but I think you could get away with just a few hours. I also made mini slits on the top of the steak to help the flavor really get in there.

Recipe

• 1 lb flank steak (serves 3-4)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• couple dashes Worcestershire
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a large ziploc bag, add the steak, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Heat your grill to high (450-500 degrees). I ran into a loooot of problems here. Texas is hot right now. So hot that I think grilling season might actually be over for the summer. I heated our grill to MEDIUM, and it was at 550 degrees within 3 minutes. It made our steak just a little more done than we would have liked (flank steak is best medium rare - ours turned out medium), but if you don't live in Texas this shouldn't be a problem.

Remove the steak from the marinade, and sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper. This will help form a nice crust on the steak. Grill the steak for about 4-5 minutes on each side, then remove and tent with foil for about 5 minutes before slicing. The next step is very important.

SLICE THE STEAK CROSSWISE AND AT A SLIGHT ANGLE IN VERY, VERY THIN PIECES.  If you don't, you run the risk of my husband running into your kitchen and crying, 'What are you doing??!!' like you are burning down the house or something. I actually may have been better off burning down the house. I had no idea such rules applied to flank steak, so I am warning you ahead of time to save you from any future ridicule. I gladly handed over the knife to my husband for a 'proper slicing,' and I can even admit that his was better. It tastes good thin like that. Enjoy!

Apricot Balsamic Chicken

I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day! We did, although we had neither of our dads to celebrate with us. We did, however, have a wonderful summer dinner in their honor, and I'm sure both of them would have been happy to eat it. I would send the leftovers, but that would be gross. 

Apricot Balsamic Chicken - a make shift recipe filled with things I like. My favorite type of recipe. Also my least favorite type of recipe for blogging purposes, because once I get cooking it makes it very difficult for me to remember measurements, quantities, all the ingredients, etc. I don't know how people with cookbooks do it sometimes - they must make things over and over until they get it just right. Well not me,  I don't have time for that. I have a job. But this chicken was darn good so estimates will have to do.

Recipe

• 2-3 lb bone-in chicken breasts and drumsticks, skin removed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil and/or butter
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 jar apricot preserves (it looked like a cup or so)
• 2 heaping tablespoons brown sugar
• Several dashes Worcestershire
• 3-4 sprigs fresh Thyme
• Chicken broth - about 1-2 cup

Start by preheating the oven to 300 degrees. You will need to brown the outsides of the chicken, so you can either do this in the dutch oven you will be using, or on a hot grill. I opted for the grill, because it's summer and it seemed like the right thing to do.  Heat either the grill or your burner to high (if grilling drizzle the chicken with olive oil, if using the stove heat plenty of olive oil in the pot),  and brown on each side - about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and sprinkle with S&P. 

In the dutch oven, melt about a tablespoon of butter or olive oil. Add in the diced onion and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Pour in the balsamic, and let it reduce a little.  Add in the apricot preserves and then the brown sugar, because clearly there is not enough sugar in the preserves alone. Sprinkle in plenty of Worcestershire, and then throw in the Thyme. Mix well.  Place the chicken back in the pot, and mix around to coat. Pour in chicken broth until the chicken is nearly covered. Coat everything evenly. Place the chicken in the oven, and cook for 2 hours.  Remove the pot from the oven, and transfer the chicken to a plate; let rest for a few minutes before serving. Bring the sauce to a boil to let it thicken up - you can add a little corn starch (mixed with water) to help this process along. Brush the chicken with more sauce, then serve. If you are serving this for a dinner party, you will want to strain out the herbs. If you are serving this to your husband, who cares. This is verrrry delicious melt-in-your-mouth chicken.

Shrimp Cocktail Sauce-Off

There is a lot of talk about cocktail sauce in our house. I order it A LOT (more than anyone should), and so there is inevitably a good deal of discussion regarding the amount of horseradish and chili in the cocktail sauce.  As part of our super fun and easy Sam's Club Dinner, there was a giant bag of frozen shrimp that needed to be incorporated. The shrimp, first of all, were awesome. Get frozen, cooked shrimp at Sam's. Immediately. Second of all, the fact that a shrimp cocktail would ensue was inevitable. The sauce, however, was up for debate. What do you do in a situation like that? Have a competition against your husband for the best cocktail sauce.

The winner: Both of us. For two reasons:
1. His was really different in a fun and delicious way
2. I would never admit defeat in my own self-imposed competition

Recipe #1 is mine - very traditional, classic, cocktail sauce - a bit sweeter from the ketchup but has a good bite from the horseradish (add more or less to your liking).

Recipe #2 is John's - the addition of dijon was a surprising and yet genius decision. His rationale is that we always eat crab claws with a mustard sauce, so why not shrimp? True John, true.

Recipe 1

• 1/4 cup Heinz Chili Sauce
• 1/3 cup Heinz Ketchup
• 1 T. horseradish
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 1/4 t. worcestershire
• Dash tabasco
• S&P

Recipe 2

• 1/2 cup Heinz Chili Sauce
• 1 T. horseradish
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 1-2 t. dijon mustard
• S&P

John's recipe is estimated because he is 'too cool for measuring,' so adjust quantities to your liking.

Both sauces were enjoyed with a glass of wine and beautiful weather on the front porch...

Winner, Winner, Sam's Club Dinner

My husband likes to run errands.  Any kind of errand, really; anything that will use up his seemingly never ending abundance of energy. On Saturday, he started them at 730AM, as I lazily slept upstairs. He came back hours later, with bags full of groceries from Sam's. No, we don't have 25 mouths to feed, but yes we love the great steals you can find at the place. Because I didn't want anything he bought to go to waste, and because I like a good cooking challenge, and because I was shocked you could make a great meal this cheap - I cooked a Sam's Club Dinner.

Recipes to follow (now posted hereand here)....

Shrimp Cocktail

Grilled Lamb Chops

Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce

Roasted Vegetables with Lemon, Olive Oil, and Sea Salt

...and a popover and potato skin thrown in to make sure we wouldn't starve

Can we say frugal and resourceful? I think so.

Baked Ham Sandwiches

I'm about to introduce you to something that will change life as you know it.  Your previous life with typical, mundane ham sandwiches is over.  Thanks to Sarah Foster's Southern Kitchen, (my favorite cookbook now that I indeed have a southern kitchen)...we now have 'Ham and Cheese Rolls' available to us.  They contain all the ingredients that I believe are great 100% of the time: ham ... cheese ... mustard ... butter ... worcestershire. They also involve 'marinating' and 'baking'.....sold?

Luckily, this discovery coincided with planning our annual St. Patrick's Day party. I was looking for a perfect party food that was super easy to make in large quantities, super delicious, and looked good with these balloons that my husband ordered a week in advance.

So I made the ham sandwiches. And let me tell you, they were a party hit. I made a few modifications to Sarah's recipe....I took out the garlic (I don't know why you would add garlic to all these other wonderful ingredients)...I took out the grated onion (same reason)...I added brown sugar (because it seemed natural, and WOW)...and I bought Hawaiian rolls from the store rather than made my own (I'm an underachiever).

Recipe (makes 12 small sandwiches)

• 1 stick butter
• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• 1 T Worcestershire
• 2 T Brown Sugar
• 1/2 lb smoked ham, thinly sliced
• 1/2 lb Swiss or Gruyere cheese, thinly sliced
• 12 Hawaiian rolls (or other slider bun of choice)

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the dijon, worcestershire, and brown sugar. Bring to a low boil, remove from heat, and set aside. 

In a baking dish (or aluminum foil pan for ease of cleanup, which is what I did)....assemble the Hawaiian rolls with the ham and cheese.

Pour the sauce over the sandwiches, cover and MARINATE for several hours or overnight. 

The next day, or however long you were able to wait, place the sandwiches in a 350 degree oven and bake, covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover the sandwiches and bake for another 10 minutes.

I made 48 sandwiches for the party. There were 6 left, and we ate the rest of them over the course of the next few days. I even caught myself lying to the neighbor on Sunday when he asked if we had any of those ham sandwiches left. Sorry, I said, we ate the last of them last night. Not my proudest moment.

Texas Caviar

I don't know who came up with the name 'Texas Caviar,' but I like them. What a sneaky and innovative way to make a salad/dip/salsa consisting mainly of canned ingredients sound classy and exclusive.

The first truth is that there is nothing exclusive about this recipe. It is so easy (and cost effective!) - and a great party food. Plus it looks pretty with all the colors it has going on. I made this dip/salad/salsa (it is truly a multi-purpose recipe) for my husband's work lunch, served with Pulled Pork Tacos.

The second truth is that I don't think this is really Texas Caviar. True Texas caviar is composed mostly of black-eyed peas; and most variations contain chopped onions, jalapenos, and a lime-juice marinade. I didn't feel comfortable with any of that, so I made this instead. But it's close enough to the true Texas Caviar that I'm sure no one will be offended I'm using the name.

Recipe

• 1-2 cans corn (depending on your love of corn)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can white northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can cooked black eyed peas
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Dressing

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (please don't use the generic kind)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil

So, there's really no instructions here. Mix all of the salad/dip/salsa ingredients together, more or less of each to taste. I prefer a corn-heavy mixture, so I used 2 full cans of corn.  Whisk all the dressing ingredients together, then mix it together with the corn mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least a couple hours before serving, but 24 hours is ideal. Try to stir it occasionally to distribute the dressing evenly. Serve with pita or tortilla chips.

Pulled Pork Tacos

I catered my first party a few weeks ago, though I am still awaiting payment from my client. Apparently my husband thinks he can get my services for free. Perhaps next time I will need to draft up some sort of a contract ahead of time.

Several weeks ago John enthusiastically offered to host the annual Christmas lunch they do every year at his company.  I was actually quite enthusiastic about it as well, I was excited to come up with a menu and cook for a large group (30 people) - because I have never done that before. Of course if you would look at our typical Sunday night dinners, one would think I was cooking for 30 people every week.

We wanted to do something fun and relatively easy. We decided on pulled pork tacos because they are amazing, you can make them the day before, and we live in Texas and we love tacos and pulled pork. Our menu was complete with Texas Caviar and a 7-layer salad, both of which I will be posting later. Oh and lots of Christmas cookies.

For blogging purposes I will cut down the serving size to a normal number of people (6-8), but keep in mind this is a great party food when you are having a large number of guests (for 30 people I got 12lbs of pork shoulder)

 Recipe

• 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder
• olive oil
• 1 large jar salsa (or about 2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2-3 cups beef broth

For Tacos

• Corn and flour tortillas
• Avocado slices
• Sour cream
• Sliced tomatoes
• Salsa
• Caramelized onions
• Cheese - cheddar or feta are great options

These are so easy you are not going to believe it. I still can hardly believe it as I'm writing this. Unwrap the boneless pork shoulder and pat dry.  I had the butcher cut the meat into smaller pieces (about 4x4 inches I would say) - but you can easily do this yourself. Salt and Pepper the meat. Heat a couple tablespoons olive oil in a large dutch oven over med-high heat. Add the pork shoulder, browning each side.

Mix the beef broth, cumin, cocoa, and brown sugar in a separate bowl. When all the sides of the pork are browned, add the broth mixture to the meat. Add more broth or water if necessary - the pork should be nearly covered. Pour in a jar of salsa. I use Pace Medium because I truly believe it is the best salsa out there. And I have tried every single one of them.

Mix things around if you want, or don't. The beauty of this pulled pork is that it turns out delicious no matter what you do to it. Turn the heat up to high to bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 3 to 4 hours.  Just cover the pot and walk away. FYI, you could also place it in the oven at 325 for 2 hours. I prefer this recipe stove-top, but pork shoulder is not very temperature-sensitive and will turn out wonderful regardless. So, do whatever floats your boat.

After 3 hours (or 2 depending on your method), check the pork. It should shred very easily with a fork. If it does not, just cook for another 30 minutes or so longer.  

When the meat is done, remove it to a plate to shred. 

Oh boy. Grab a few pieces with your fingers and eat it.

Strain the braising liquid from the pot to remove any fat that has surfaced, and return the liquid to the stovetop. Turn the heat up to med-high, and bring to a low boil until the sauce has thickened. Mix the sauce with the shredded meat.

Yes, it is in a tupperware container. I was making this the night before, and I did not feel the need to be all fancy and put it in a nice serving dish just for the purpose of this blog. Sorry guys.

Now, the great thing about this pork is its versatility. We served it on corn and flour tortillas with caramelized onions, sour cream, avocado, tomatoes, and salsa as toppings. You could also add some barbecue sauce and serve it on hamburger buns, or add it to BBQ Chicken Pizza, of course then it would be BBQ pulled pork pizza. But how delicious does that sound? 

Another great thing about this pork is that it freezes nicely. We froze the minimal leftovers we had from the party, and we have big aspirations for it. Heck, we might even add it to lasagna. It will depend on how crazy we want to get. Have fun!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

It used to be hard for me to understand BBQ Chicken Pizza people. Why in the world would one choose to order that over your standard, delicious, amazing, traditional tomato sauce pizza? You know the old saying - if it ain't broke don't fix it. I think whoever came up with that had pizza in mind.

Well, I've turned a new leaf. I moved into a new neighborhood, started going to new restaurants, and started doing new things. Marriage being one of them, BBQ pizza being the other. One of our favorite neighborhood restaurants has BBQ chicken pizza on the menu - and I don't know if it was newlywed bliss, severe starvation, or one too many glasses of wine - but I ordered it a few months ago. And I loved it. And I've been eating it nearly every weekend since.

And, to get to the point, I wanted to make it at home. The key(s) to good BBQ chicken pizza - crispy crust, tender pulled chicken, good BBQ sauce.

Recipe

Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water

1 package yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 cup bread flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pizza

2 skinless chicken breasts, bone-in

1/2 onion, sliced

BBQ sauce

corn

Fresh Mozzarella

Start by mixing the pizza dough. In a liquid measuring cup, mix one cup of warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let it stand there for a few minutes to get all foamy. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the flours and salt. Pour in the warm water and mix. Add the honey and oil. Knead together until combined. If the dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour. Cover the bowl and let rise for about an hour and a half. 

Now, cook the chicken. There is a lot of flexibility here - you can use leftover chicken, grilled chicken, plain baked boneless skinless chicken...but I recommend this method if you have the time.

Preheat the oven to 300. Heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts, browning all sides.

Throw in the sliced onions.

Drizzle with some BBQ sauce (a cup or so) and a little more olive oil.

Cover the pot and place in the oven. Bake for an hour and a half, and remove from the oven.

Now it should be time to roll out the dough. Increase the oven temp to 450. My wonderful and thoughtful husband surprised me with a really great pizza stone - which works wonders on a pizza crust. I highly recommend you get one. If you don't have one, a baking sheet will be fine. Place the pizza stone/baking sheet in the hot oven to heat it up.

Roll out the dough to your desired thickness. We like really thin, crispy, crust - I rolled out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkles with a little salt.

Take the pizza stone from the oven, and drizzle with olive oil and flour. Use a brush to spread out evenly over the stone. This is a little hard to do without burning your hands, but you'll find a way.

Place the pizza dough in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, pull apart the chicken. It should just fall off the bone.

Remove the pizza crust from the oven....

Spread with BBQ sauce....

Add the chicken...

And plenty of fresh sliced mozzarella.  On half of the pizza I threw on some corn. Sadly, it was canned. Texas has bad corn. This is a great addition though and highly recommended.

Bake the pizza at 450 for about 10-12 minutes, until the crust looks crisp and the cheese is slightly browned.  And that's all, folks!

Caprese Toast with Balsamic Glaze

I loooove caprese sandwiches. I could eat them morning, noon, and night.  This is a very easy and fun twist on the traditional caprese sandwich - perfect for a ladies' luncheon or a Saturday night dinner for yourself when your husband is in Denver for the Bears game. 

Recipe

1 loaf ciabatta bread

3 tablespoons butter

3 large red tomatoes

3 yellow tomatoes

fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil (approximate - use just enough to coat tomatoes)

1 cup balsamic

Mozzarella cheese

Start by making the balsamic glaze. Pour about 1 cup balsamic into a saute pan, and heat on medium-low. Throw in about 1 tablespoon sugar - you do not need this, but it helps the vinegar to reduce more quickly. Stirring occasionally, keep the vinegar at a low simmer until it reduces to about 1/4 cup and forms a nice sugary glaze. It should take about 20-30 minutes. Make sure to keep the heat on low, balsamic burns relatively easily.

Slice up the tomatoes, mix with olive oil and fresh basil, and set aside.

Meanwhile,  slice up the ciabatta bread into nice thick pieces. Heat butter in a skillet, and fry the bread until golden brown on each side.

Transfer the bread to a plate, and top with mozzarella.

Yes, that is string cheese. It's all I had.

....and drizzle with balsamic glaze. If the glaze has gotten too sticky or hard, you can thin it out a bit by heating it in the microwave for 10 seconds.

Finally, top with the tomato mixture.

 So delicious, and so pretty with the multi-colored tomatoes. Enjoy!

Italian Chicken

This recipe is easy peasy. Between this post and my previous one (Salmon Baked in Foil), one might conclude that I am turning into a lazy cook. This chicken takes about 4 minutes to prepare, with minimal chopping and manual labor. I assure you, however, I am not lazy. I promise to make an incredibly time intensive and tedious dinner this evening.

For a weeknight meal, however, you will love this. Despite the extremely easy preparation and minimal ingredients, this recipe has the look and taste of something far more gourmet than it is.

Recipe:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (obviously more or less depending on servings)
• 1 bottle light italian dressing
• 1 package Lipton onion soup mix
• Paprika
• 2 cups Cremini Mushrooms, stems removed
• 3 medium tomatoes, sliced and seeded

I only took the one picture of the final product, because there are so few steps in this process. Plus, I've come to conclude that my photographs really don't add any positive appeal to my recipes. I need to take a class.

Preheat the oven to 350. Place the chicken in a baking dish, and pour the italian dressing and soup mix over them. Flip the chicken a couple times to fully coat. Generously salt and pepper. Let the chicken marinate at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes. Then, sprinkle the chicken with paprika (about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon total), cover the dish with foil, and place in the oven. Bake for 35 minutes.

Take the dish out of the oven, uncover, and add the tomatoes and mushrooms. Bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes. To make this even easier, you could use cherry tomatoes and not do any chopping or seeding. Those would be delicious, but I only had vine tomatoes so I used those. Here is the same picture, again, I just wanted to remind you how good it is. Oh yeah, and I added a bay leaf. I just caught that floating in the middle of the picture.

Salmon Baked in Foil with Herbs, Tomatoes, and Onions

Perfect weeknight meal. Super fast. Super healthy. Super good.

Recipe:

• 2 6-8 oz. Salmon fillets
• 3 medium sized tomatoes, chopped and seeded
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped or sliced
• 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• S&P
• Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Place each piece of salmon on a sheet of foil.  Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice from half over both pieces. Generously salt and pepper.

In a bowl, mix the onions, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, herbs, remaining lemon juice, and a dash of olive oil. 

Pour the mixture over the salmon.

Seal the foil. This picture makes me laugh for some reason. Two sleeping salmons.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Remove salmon from the oven, open the foil to let the steam escape, and turn on the broiler. Broil for 5-8 minutes. Dunzo, in less than 35 minutes.