Monday, September 27, 2010

Poached Plums, Pastry Cream, and Shortcake

We made the poached plums, pastry cream, and shortcake from these recipes. I die. It's such a fall-y combination. Again, I die.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/poached-plum-tart

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/shortcake-recipe/index.html

Also...I'm considering turning this into a joint cooking adventure blog with John, and calling it "Cooking for Two". But that's also disgusting...so maybe not.


Friday, September 10, 2010

Chicken Noodle Soup

Remember that time that I found out I was allergic to chicken, and then my new two blog posts were chicken recipes.

That's because I'm protesting.

John is sick! Poor guy has had a cold for the entire week! SO, on Tuesday we made my (slash my mom's) famous chicken noodle soup for him! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken (herb crusted, pref.)
2 32 oz. cartons of chicken stock (GOOD chicken stock, PLEASE)
1/4 white onion, chopped (or, if you're John, annihilated)
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/4" rounds
3 stalks of celery, chopped into 1/4" semi-circles
2 tbsp. butter
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp each of the following: dill, tarragon, thyme, parsley (or you could just toss in a classic Bouquet Garni, plus some dill...dill is essential)
Salt and pepper to taste (I like to just lightly season the meat, and then pepper the heck of of the soup itself)
1 package of egg noodles (you'll end up using about 3/4 of a package)

Directions:

1) Tear that chicken apart! Separate skin and bones from the meat. Place skin and bones in a large stock pot with chicken stock and herbs. Simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the broth from the skin and bones. Return broth to stock pot and bring to a boil to cook egg noodles.

2) Meanwhile, chop chicken meat into bite-sized chunks.

3) ALSO meanwhile (btw, having 3 arms is required for this recipe...or a nice fiance who's willing to help out even though he's sick!), melt butter in a pan and saute the veggies until soft (keep the heat looooow).

4) Once egg noodles have cooked, veggies have been sauteed, and meat has been chopped, combine all ingredients into the stock pot and lightly simmer for 15 minutes.

5) Salt and pepper as desired, and serve!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Baked Panko Chicken Tenders

John and I made this awesome recipe last night from Love and Olive Oil (who I am now following on my cool, fancy Google Reader, because I'm all 20-something and hip!) It was wonderfully light and surprisingly flavorful! I had always been under the impression that unless chicken was marinated, it would taste like paper. Not so! We used rice flour instead of regular flour, regular instead of smoked paprika, and crushed red chili flakes instead of cayenne (still trying to learn my way around my aunt's kitchen!). John also made some fries, and a spicy habanero mustard sauce to go with it! Yum! (but, please note that I did not say Yum-O!...because I'm in protest of that phrase).

I wish I had taken a picture. Actually, I wish I had taken a picture every step of the way and made funny comments on it, like my favorite blogger Ree Drummond does on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Seriously, if you're not following her, you should be. She's super funny, super talented, and is into so much more than just cooking! AKA- I'm jealous of her photography skills!

But hey! I actually cooked, which hasn't happened in a long time! Hopefully this be a more regular occurrence?