easy cheesy chicken casserole

(I served this with fresh green beans, roasted tomatoes and roasted bittersweet onions.)

This easy chicken casserole is an oldie from one of my favorite cookbooks called “Clockwise Cuisine” published by the Junior League of Detroit way back in 1984. Those were the days when casseroles were loaded with lots of cream soup and lots of cheese. This casserole is no exception. I have made this many, many times. I have served this at parties, baby showers and even this year on Christmas Eve to my family. It’s that good……

Here’s what you need:

12 oz. noodles, cooked and drained – the original recipe calls for only 8 ounces, but I always stretch it to 12.

8 oz. cream cheese- room temperature

1 ½ C cottage cheese

2 cans cream mushroom soup

1 C whole milk

½ green pepper, diced or sliced very thin

¼ C onion, sliced very thin

Fresh parsely

Cooked chicken –recipe calls for 4 cups, but I like to load in more

Optional: buttered bread crumbs for the top of the casserole

Here's a great way to cook chicken breasts:

use breasts with the bone in and the skin on

drizzle with olive oil and liberally season with salt and pepper

place them skin side up on a baking sheet - be sure to use one that has sides, not the flat kind

roast in a 350 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the juices run clear and a knife inserted into the thickest part of the meat slides out easily

cool for 1/2 hour

peel off the skin, tear the meat away from the bone and slice

Here’s what you do:

Mix it all together and bake. Brace yourself for the compliments.

(printable recipe)

I'm curious to know what some of your favorite old-time casseroles are? Do you make anything similar to this, old fashioned, but too good to set aside?

ginger pecan chews

As I look out my kitchen window, all I see is snow, snow, snow and more snow. The temperature is dropping, the fireplace is ablaze (thanks to the flip of a switch....) and I'm in the mood for comfort food. It's the perfect time of year to hibernate indoors with a cup of tea and a home made cookie.

I got very brave a few weeks ago and made crystallized ginger at home. It was very easy and pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. The bonus now is that I have all the crystallized ginger I need for baking and snacking. 

Click here to see how I made it.

These are the perfect cookies for a blustery winter day – very warm tasting and filled with flavor.  My kitchen smelled warm and spicy while these were baking.

Here’s what you need:

½ C sugar

½ C butter, softened

½ C molasses

½ C chopped crystallized ginger

1 egg

2 C flour

1 t ground ginger

½ t baking soda

½ t salt

½ C chopped pecans

Some pecan halves for decorating the top of each cookie

Here’s what you do:

Cream butter and sugar. Add the molasses, crystallized ginger and egg and mix well. 

Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Shape heaping tablespoonfuls into balls and gently press pecan half on top of each cookie.

Bake 375 degrees for about 12 minutes.

I love this type of cookie at all time of the year, but especially on cold winter days with a cup of tea.

(printable recipe)

Yucatan Meals

Instead of posting all the ‘touristy’ photos from our recent trip across the Yucatan Peninsula, I thought I'd share some more random things we saw and, more importantly, ate! :) My favorite things from the sweet stand were the lime-coconut treats from the top shelf and the pumpkin-papaya treats there in the middle.

I think this was my favorite meal on our entire vacation! We were sitting at an indoor diner right in the middle of the mercado. This is a typical Mayan meal: the one on the left is called 'Salbute.' It's basically, a corn tortilla, with shredded turkey, lettuce, tomato and avocado. The one on the right is called 'Panucho' and the only addition is a layer of black beans. Ironically, we eat this kind of food at home quite often; never knew it was authentic Mayan fare. Oh, and our salsa is not quit as hot! 
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Street food. Hot dogs, fries, corn dogs and other greasy stuff, served on a styrofoam tray and smothered in lime and salsa. 

A beautiful meal of turkey in pumpkin seed mole: ‘pipian de pavo.’ It was excellent. Poor Tim, at this meal,  ate a tortilla chip loaded with salsa. Unfortunately, it was habanero salsa: seeds, veins, pulp…. the works. It took a few minutes for him to cool down! We love our food nice and spicy, but we found the salsa in the Yucatan to be extremely hot! We were eating at the wildly popular  La Chaya Maya restaurant in Merida.

A most unusual drink made from the chaya leaf.  I could not pass this up - it was like drinking the lawn, but in a really, really refreshing and great way. Supposedly very healthy. Anyone out there ever tasted this one? 

I’ll give anyone three guesses what this is. We had it at happy hour.

Los Tres Amigos

The breads and pastries are very beautiful in Mexico. I think they all taste alike, but that never stops me from buying one of each type.

These women were making corn tortillas. There's not a flour tortilla in sight in the Yucatan. There was a live fire in the container on the bottom and also flames coming from the top. The masa dough was placed in the top and the machine cut  out the tortillas and they rolled down the conveyer belt, between the flames. She kindly handed us a few to snack on. Talk about fresh!

Anyone out there been to the Yucatan? I'd love to swap stories!

huevos rancheros yucateca

Huevos Rancheros Yucateca

I have been away on a fabulous second honeymoon with the love of my life! After 25 years of marriage, Tim and I spent 5 wonderful and very adventurous days driving across the Yucatan Peninsula! We did it all: from pyramids to pink flamingos; from road side taco stands to 5 star restaurants; from tiny pueblos to the big city of Merida. I can’t say enough how much we loved it! The people were so warm and friendly, the food (of course) was outstanding and our accommodations could not have been better.

We stayed at Luz en Yucatan, right in the heart of the old colonial part of Merida. Our penthouse room had an outdoor kitchen in one of our two rooftop patios. Have kitchen- will cook:  so huevos rancheros it was for breakfast!

Here’s what you need:

Huevos

Salsa roja y verde

Tostaditas o otro tipo de tortilla

Frijoles

Poco de aciete

One very romantic roof top outdoor patio kitchen in the heart of Merida Yucatan, Mexico

Here’s what you do:

Lay around in the hammock until you are plenty hungry

Venture to the supermercado to purchase necessary ingredients

Warm up frijoles y tostaditas

Fry the huevos

Smother it all in salsa and voila! Huevos Rancheros a la Yucataca

I am blessed beyond measure! 

mushroom cups

(This picture does not do these little beauties justice at all! By the time I remembered to snap this photo, our party was under way and the mood was not quite serious for good photos. Trust me, these are excellent!)

One of my favorite appetizers, easy to prepare ahead, great for the freezer and absolutely delicious, these little cups are a thing of beauty. And all from a lowly slice of white bread and some mushrooms. They are a little fussy to make, but not difficult.

Here’s what you need:

24 slices of white bread, cut into 3 inch rounds (I use a ½ Cup measuring cup)

5 T butter

¼ C minced onion

½ pound mushrooms, minced

2 T flour

1 Cup half-and-half

½ t salt and pepper to taste 

1/8 t cayenne pepper

1 ½ T fresh parsley, minced

1 t lemon juice

3 T Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on the top

Here’s what you do:

Cut 3 inch circles from each slice of bread and carefully place in 1/8 cup muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. (These are so cute and toasty!)

Melt butter and slowly soften the minced onions for about 3-4 minutes – don’t brown them.

Add the mushrooms and cook on low for about 10 minutes or until the liquid from the mushrooms is evaporated.

Stir in the flour. Add the half-and-half. Continue to cook over low heat until it is very thick, maybe 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice, parsley and seasonings.  Carefully fill each cup using two small spoons. There should be enough mushroom mixture to generously fill 24 cups, plus one big spoonful for the cook ( J ) Sprinkle each cup with Parmesan cheese.

From this point you can continue to cook them for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until the cheese on top is nice and brown. Or you can freeze them and cook them from their frozen state for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Enjoy!

(printable recipe) 

crystallized ginger

Every time I pass by this stuff I stick one in my mouth.

 I never knew you could make this in a home kitchen and I’m too cheap to purchase it, so when I opened a new cookbook and found this recipe, I was quick to try it. Granted, my crystallized ginger is probably not as beautiful as professionally prepared, but remember, it was my first time making it. I will make this again for sure because I love all things ginger. Just think – now I can make anything I want that calls for crystallized ginger without the sticker shock.

Here’s what you need:

½ pound of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices and 1 Cup sugar

Here’s what you do:   Peel and slice the ginger

Cook the ginger in boiling water for about 20 minutes to soften it a bit. Drain and allow to dry on a wire rack.

Combine ginger, 1 Cup sugar and 2 Tablespoons water in a 12 inch skillet. (they need a lot of room)

Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes. 

Stir it once in a while and shake the pan around so the slices don’t stick together. Do not let the sugar caramelize! As soon as the sugar is thick, syrupy and begins to crystallize, remove the ginger with a slotted spoon. 

You’ll know when to stop cooking….. the sugar turns from granules to crystals in an obvious way. The unexpected bonus from this fun project was the 'throw-away' sugar that was left in the pan. We have used it in tea and cocktails. It would be excellent sprinkled on oatmeal or ice cream. Can't stop eating it! And yes, the pan was easy to clean...... (look at it!)

The recipe said that this process takes 52 minutes….. 52! So, I was compulsively standing at my stove watching the ginger bubble and boil in the pan…. Every few minutes I glanced over to see how it was going. I just could not imagine what would happen at minute 52 and I was compulsively frantic over the thought of what would happen at minute 53…… Well, it did not take 52 minutes! The magic happened for me at 25 minutes….. perhaps my heat was too high? Don’t know and don’t care because I am perfectly happy with the results.

The large pieces were dipped in unsweetened chocolate for a special treat with espresso. I stuck them in the freezer to harden for a few minutes and they turned out perfect! I sent the picture below to my daughter who said, "Mom, that's so Ann Arbor!" 

(recipe from: 2010 Christmas with Southern Living )

scallops in white wine

Do not be intimidated by cooking seafood! Just remember these few simple rules: one – never over cook it, and two- only use the freshest seafood possible. It’s that simple. I’ll admit that choosing seafood can seem a bit daunting, especially when you see the price tag, but jump in and give it a try. It’s healthy and it brings a whole new dimension to the weekly menu. Scallops have a very mild taste and a firm texture. We love them around here and when they go on sale, I purchase them in bunches.

Here’s a quick lesson about scallops. Bay scallops are the small ones; they are sweeter and more expensive than sea scallops, which are the large ones and the less expensive ones. Sea scallops might be a bit chewier too.

This recipe is an adaptation of Ina Garten’s Scallops Provencal. She usually piles on the butter, but I have toned that down. Very light, very fresh tasting, a nice week night dinner because it's very quick and easy. 

Here’s what you need:

About 1 pound of very fresh bay or sea scallops (you can see in the pictures that I used sea scallops)

Salt and pepper

Flour for dredging

2 T butter

¼ C finely minced shallots

1 small clove garlic, finely minced

¼ C chopped parsley (don’t skip this ingredient! I was lucky to have the last bit of fresh parsley from my herb garden. We are having a very mild November here in Michigan and I’m squeezing out every last leaf from my herb garden!)

½ C - ¾ C dry white wine (you can see in the picture, it does not have to be expensive wine…)

Fresh lemon

Here’s what you do:

Prepare the shallots, garlic and parsley and have them ready to go. Measure out the wine also.

Dry the scallops on paper towels and generously salt and pepper them on both sides. 

Carefully dredge them in flour, shaking off excess. This flour coating will later thicken the wine sauce a bit.

Melt the butter in a large pan and when very hot, add the scallops in one layer. Don’t let them touch and do not be tempted to move them around. Just leave them alone and they will get brown.

 After about 3 minutes, if they are golden, turn them over gently. When they have been turned over, add the chopped veggies and stir and soften them. Total cooking time is maybe 5-6 minutes.

Toss the scallops in the sautéed veggies, add the wine and stir gently. I used my lucky, broken wooden spoon…..Serve with fresh lemon juice.   I served this with risotto, salad and carrots. Crusty bread for the wine sauce would be perfect also.  Very nice. 

(printable recipe)

coffee crunch bars

This is a most excellent and very different type of bar – a very sophisticated and delicious combination of chocolate, coffee and toffee. They are crunchy, but not dry; chocolaty, but not sweet; rich and buttery, but not heavy tasting.

Here’s the ironic thing about this particular batch of bars. I made them for a dessert buffet at my school and you know how it is when you donate something to a buffet- you glance over every so often to see how much is left – hoping that your particular donation is the first to go because it’s so yummy. Doesn’t everyone want their dessert to be the best it can be? Well, this particular night, these bars were hardly touched!!! I’m not used to that!!! They ended up in the ‘left-over’ pile to sell in church the next morning……. Sigh

Don’t let my story scare you away from these. I have made them many times and they are A+. Trust me! (Notice the low temperature on the oven! I’ve ruined these in an oven which is set too high!)

Here’s what you need:

2 Cups flour

½ t baking powder

¼ t salt

2 sticks + 2 T butter (no substitutions here please or they really will end up in the ‘left over’ pile)

1 ¼ C packed dark brown sugar

2 T instant coffee powder

½ t almond extract

1 C semisweet chocolate chips

½ sliced or slivered almonds

Here’s what you do:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. (Notice the low temperature)

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar for a full 2 minutes. 

Then add the dry coffee powder and almond extract. Beat for another 1 minute. Add in the flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing well after each addition. Finally, add the chocolate and almonds.

Turn out onto an ungreased baking sheet. I know, it looks hopeless, but it turns out great every time! Using your hands, shape and convince the dough into a 12 inch square – let the warmth of your hands help the butter behave!

Pierce all over with tines of a fork at about 1 inch intervals.

Bake until the edges are slightly brown – about 40 minutes. Cool for 1 minute and immediately cut into small squares. I start in the middle and work my way evenly to each edge. Notice that I trimmed away the ‘not-so-pretty-but-oh-so-tasty’ edges. You should end up with about 48 squares. 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. These really crisp up and live up to their title as they cool.

(printable recipe)