Chicken Marsala

1 package of Lawry’s Tuscan Style Chicken Marsala Seasoning

1 pound of chicken breast cutlets (thin) I used two packages

1 1/2 pounds of sliced, fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup red wine

1 cup water

2 tbs butter

Olive Oil

Follow basic directions on the seasoning packet to prepare chicken and mushrooms.  (I seasoned my chicken with salt and pepper before adding to the pan.)  Brown chicken in oil and set aside.  Sauté mushrooms in remaining oil (add 1-2 tbsp more if needed)  and cook for 3 minutes.  (I added a tbsp of butter here.)  Add the seasoning packet and 1 1/2 cups water. (Here is where I changed it, I added 1/2 cup red wine and 1 cup of water) stir sauce to combine then let simmer.  (I added another tbsp of butter to the sauce to make it a bit richer and thicker)  When sauce is ready add chicken back to the pan and simmer.  Can be served with pasta, rice or potatoes.

This is the first time I have tried this season packet and I have to say that it is the shortest short cut from another regular chicken dish to OMG! GOOD chicken dish!  I had a dish similar to this at a restaurant called Brio, they called it Chicken Under A Brick (cuz it was flattened that way) and it had Marsala sauce on it just like this!  When I first opened the seasoning packet I stuck my finger in to taste the mix before I added the water.  I wanted to see if it was going to have the same flavor base as the Brio dish I had had and it did so that is when I decided that it would be better made with red wine instead of just water.  Who am I kidding, everything is better when it’s made with wine!  Anyway, for a quick, impressive, flavorful one dish dinner you can’t loose with this one.  I’m serving mine with garlic mashed potatoes and a field green salad with raspberry vinaigrette! 

Lindy’s Banana Nut Bread or Muffins

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs, separated

4 large ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cups chopped pecans

1 tsp vanilla

Grease and flour 4 small loaf pans or two 9x5 loaf pans or 12 muffin cups.  (I just sprayed them with Pam and they didn’t stick at all.)  Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg yolks, mixing well.  Mix in mashed bananas.  Measure 1/2 cup milk then add enough sour cream to make one full cup.  (about 1/2 cup sour cream, maybe more)  Sift together flour, soda, salt and cinnamon.  Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture alternately to the banana mixture till combined.  Mix in pecans. 

Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter.  Bake at 300 degrees for 45 – 60 minutes if using loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes if making muffins.  Bake until golden brown and done in the center.  Makes 2 large loafs 4 small loafs or 24 muffins.

This is my sister’s recipe and it is really good.  To me, they are not too sweet, just right and super moist.  I use to think that this recipe took all day to make, that was before I started improving my cooking skills.  Now, these muffins can be whipped up in no time and if you make them into muffins that cuts down on the cooking time too.  When I have baked goods in the oven the quicker I can get them on the table into waiting paws of hungry men, the better!  I used walnuts in mine instead of pecans and they worked just fine. 

This recipe came from a little cookbook my sister put together after my Grandmother passed away that was a collection of a lot of her recipes along with some of the other women in our family.  Just like the “little tin box” of recipes that I have, it’s filled mostly with recipes for sweets and desserts!  Grandmother had her priorities!

Chicken Parmesan

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt plus more to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper plus more to taste

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to uniform thinness

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 cup wine (white or red)

three 14.5 ounce cans crushed tomatoes

2 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for sprinkling

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 lb thin linguine or other pasta cooked al dente

Mix the four sand and pepper on a large plate.  Season the flattened chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper then dredge them in the flour mixture.  Set them aside.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter in the olive oil until sizzling.  Fry the chicken breasts until nice and golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes on each side.  Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm.  Without cleaning the skillet, add the onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes or until the onions start to brown.  Pour in the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom.  Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.  Pour in the crushed tomatoes and stir to combine.  Add the sugar, salt and pepper to taste.  Stir, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes so the flavors can marry.  Add the chopped parsley and the 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, stir to combine.  Carefully lay the chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them with the remaining 1 cup grated Parmesan.  Cover the skillet and simmer until the cheese is melted and the chicken is heated through, about 5 minutes.  Place the cooked pasta in pasta bowls or on plates, then cover it with sauce.  Lay a chicken breast on top of each serving and sprinkle with more parsley.  Serve immediately.

Well, we finally had a hit this week!  the men folk at the house gave this one a thumbs up.  My husband said anything was better than the “leather” we had a couple of nights ago.  I won’t go there right now!  This dish made a huge portion and it was very filling and tasty.  I served it with a side of Pasta Ala Vodka and garlic toast.   Yummy!  I did make a few slight changes as I let the chicken simmer in the sauce first and then when I assembled the dish I added the grated Parm on top last, sprinkled with parsley and then microwaved to melt the cheese about 30 seconds.  My group was hungry and there wasn’t time to add the cheese first, in the dish and let it melt that way.  Another thing that I would change about this recipe is, instead of turning the chicken in just flour, I would turn it in Italian breadcrumbs instead to give the chicken a little more flavor. 

I saw Pioneer Woman make this dish on her Saturday morning cooking show and I wondered how she could call it Parmesan chicken when I hardly saw her put anything in it to make it taste that way.  Using Italian breadcrumbs, to me, would bring out more flavor.  I would make this dish again, especially for my Bearkat who is away at school.  He loves Chicken Parmesan but is busy at school playing with rocks.  I’ll make it for him the next time he comes home! 

Tangy Tomato Brisket

one 5-8 lb beef brisket, trimmed of all fat          

one 24-ounce bottle of ketchup

1 package dry onion soup mix

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Place the brisket in an oven safe pan.  Combine the ketchup and soup mix in a bowl and stir to mix.  Pour in 1 cup of water and stir again.  Pour the sauce all over the brisket, then flip the brisket over to coat the other side.  Now just cover the pan with foil and roast in the oven for 6 to 7 hours.  Remove the pan from the oven and test the brisket to make sure its fork tender.  Slice the brisket into thin strips.  Return meat to sauce and cover until ready to serve.

Sorry Pioneer Woman, but your brisket cannot hold a candle to my husband’s brisket.  Not just a candle but a lit match, blow torch, campfire or any other kind of open flame.  This dish was easy to make but it tasted like a barbequed roast.  It wouldn’t slice up like a brisket, it didn’t even taste like it was meant to be brisket.  It tasted like a roast that had a lot of tangy sauce on it.  It is tasty but in no way shape or form do we consider this brisket in our state.  Probably because Pioneer girl lives in Oklahoma and we all are from TEXAS and TEXAS knows how to do brisket.  There’s only two kinds of people in Oklahoma…..Neil Diamond fans and Members Only members. 

Corn Casserole with Peppers

8 ears of corn, husked, kernels shaved off the cob

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Combine the corn, bell pepper and jalapenos in a bowl.  Add the butter, cream, milk and salt and pepper.  Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Give it a stir before serving in order to coat all the corn in the cream/butter mixture.

Confession, I used can corn instead of fresh ears.  It would have cost me 8 dollars just for corn to make this dish and to me that is a little extreme just for a bowl of corn.  I don’t think it really had much of an affect on the outcome of the dish.  Corn is corn unless you are roasting it.  That’s a whole different story in my book.  I could eat roasted corn till I pass out!  Anyway, I used a large and one regular size can of Libby corn in this recipe.  It looked to be about the same amount of corn I would have gotten off of 8 ears.  I have to say, however, that after combining all the ingredients to this dish it was extremely soupy!  I think a cup of cream is way too much and you don’t even need the 1/2 cup of milk.  To me it would have been way less soupy and the flavors of the butter and cream would have really stuck to the corn if you had less liquid.  The corn/bell pepper/jalapeno taste was good so I am not dissing the dish but I was disappointed in the sauce that was supposed to make it so buttery good.  If you make it and it turns out soupy then just serve it with a slotted spoon. 

Beef and Bean Burritos

2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground oregano

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp salt

two 7-ounce cans Mexican tomato sauce or enchilada sauce

one 28-ounce can refried beans

3/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese plus extra for sprinkling

12 burrito size flour tortillas

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef and onions until the beef is cooked through.  Add the cumin, oregano, chili powder and salt and stir to combine.  Pour 1 can of the sauce into the  meat and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.  Add a little water if mixture looks dry.  Meanwhile, heat the refried beans in a saucepan over medium low heat.  Add the grated Cheddar cheese.  Stir until cheese is melted.  Heat the tortillas in the microwave for 1 minute, spread a small amount of beans on each tortilla, add a small amount of the meat mixture, fold the ends over and roll tortilla up.  Place 2 burritos on a microwave safe place.  Drizzle some sauce from the second can over the burritos and sprinkle with extra Cheddar cheese.  Microwave for 1 minute or until cheese is melted.  Repeat with the rest of the burritos.

One thing I’ve learned about cooking from the Pioneer Woman’s cookbooks is that she cooks for a crowd and these recipes are sometimes way too big for my family.  I’m usually only feeding 3-4 people where she is feeding anywhere from 6 to a herd!  I made seven burritos for the 3 of us and had enough stuff left over for seven more.  Leftovers don’t really fly well at my house unless I announce out loud that it’s “Left Over Night” and it’s “Take It Or Leave It” too.  These burritos were easy to make but were pretty basic.  You can add other toppings into the burrito before you roll it up but I wanted to be able to taste the beef/bean combination so I didn’t want to fancy it up too much.  I did have to add extra seasoning to the beef as the spices and amounts the recipe called for left it tasting a little bland for me.  I added a little more heat and a little more salt.  This is something easy that you can throw together in about 20 minutes and will most likely fill you up.  I served along side the corn dish and chips and hot sauce.  Not bad.

Knock You Naked Brownies

1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
60 whole caramels
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, chopped pecans, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter.  Stir together until totally combined.  Mixture will be very thick.  Press half the mixture into a well greased 9x9 square baking pan.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and set aside.  In a double boiler, melt caramels with additional 1/2 cup evaporated milk.  When melted and combined, pour over brownie base.  Sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the caramel.  Turn out remaining brownie dough on a work surface. (sprayed with Pam or floured so it won't stick)  Use your hands to press it into a large square a little smaller than the pan.  Use a spatula to remove it from the surface, then set it on top of the caramel and chocolate chips. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours.  When ready to serve, set out on counter for about 10 minutes to get the chill off, generously sift powdered sugar over the surface of the brownies then cut into squares and serve.

One of two sounds will come out of your mouth the moment you take a bite of one of these brownies.  You'll either go "MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm" or "Oh My Gosh".  These babies are gooey good!  I must caution you, however, that they need to be eaten with either a glass of milk or a cup of black coffee because they are RICH!  They are GOOD!  Yes, they may even knock you naked!  Try em!  Before you know it you'll have a room full of naked brownie eaters!  :)