Even though it calls for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, you can make it up, put it in at 325 degrees then put together the Egg Casserole, pop that in the oven and let it all go for an hour with no problems.

Bacon:  I need to just give up mucking around with cooking it on the stovetop.  Microwave works just fine, is faster, and doesn’t burn.

And finally, champagne that has been in the fridge for 1+ year (unopened) will not turn to vinegar, but will lose some of it’s oomph.

In my fridge there is a 7.92# Shady Brook Farms turkey breast!  The first market I went to last evening had at least a dozen of them.  Much better than the year I had to go to 3 different stores to find one.

I always get the biggest one I can get my hands on, because the leftovers will NOT go to waste.  I like turkey, but don’t eat it a whole lot.  My brother LOVES turkey.  Last year he had 8 meals in a row of turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving.  We’ll see if he can break the record this year.

As it stands, we will again have enough food for a small army, even though it’s just my brother & myself.  But I won’t have to cook for at least 3 days afterwards!

The cheese & sausage plate will be a meal in and of itself.  I’ve got summer sausage, hard pepperoni and…  There’s one other thing and I can’t remember what it is off the top of my head but it’s in the fridge.  For cheeses, we have good old sharp cheddar, pepper jack, salsa jack (never heard of it before, but it looked interesting,) smoked gouda and dill havarti.  I also have a roll of Salame Panino.  (Salame rolled in mozzarella!) It just looked really yummy.

Can’t wait!

From Lobstersquad – looks incredibly easy and I’ll have to give it a whirl sometime. I usually pan-fry or broil fish fillets, so this looks easy and different.

And really, go look at her page, lovely illustrations as always!

So, about a month ago, I mentioned the Curry Chicken Pot Pies that I had at a party.  I wanted to give them a whirl, but of course, I couldn’t stick with Alton’s original recipe… (Sorry, Alton!!  But I’m sure you understand.)

It’s still not perfect by any means, so this is round one – but they are still pretty tasty!  I skipped the curry – my brother isn’t a fan (bad childhood experiences) which was fine, I’ve been looking for a decent “plain” chicken pot pie filling recipe to start with, and this looked like a good base.

First, I wanted to do some sort of bite sized version like my friend did.  I couldn’t find puff pastry (I am sure my market has it and I was just looking in the wrong places) so I went with fridge biscuits and used about 1/3 to 1/4 of a biscuit for each section in a mini muffin tin.

I added some garlic (because everything needs garlic) to the onions & celery, and used sweet onion since the white onions around here have been insanely strong this year.

Cut the 4 cups of veggies to 2 cups and added 2 cups of diced white potatoes.  (I also microwaved them for a few minutes, as I had no faith that they would cook through just sitting in the oven with the veggies – I would have boiled them if I had thought of it soon enough.)

Finally, rather than letting the sauce thicken and then folding in the veggies & chicken, I just went ahead and added it all at the same time and letting the chicken simmer in the sauce & seasonings.  Added them to the biscuit cups and popped them in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 (the temp called for on the biscuit package.)

And the results:

I put some of the leftovers in the fridge – 5 minutes at 400 degrees in the toaster oven is just right for reheating without burning the biscuit part.  The rest are in the freezer, we’ll see how well they can be thawed and reheated for snacks.

Now, the changes I need to make for next time…

– Cut it in half.  The original recipe says 6-8 servings.  That is 6-8 servings for people who really, REALLY like chicken pot pie!  (Seems most 4 serving recipes will feed myself and my brother, and then I have a small serving left for lunch the next day.)
– More potatoes, less veggies. :)
– A little bit of bacon.  Cause everything is better with bacon, and I think it would give it a little something.
– Find where the grocery store is hiding the puff pastry.

They were SO GOOD – I HIGHLY recommend this recipe.  The curry is not at all overwhelming, it just gives it a little bit of a kick.

I am definitely going to have to give these a whirl at some point.

No pics, it looks just like last night except without the asparagus. :)

I wanted to give it another whirl to see if I could make it a little softer using lower heat.  It did seem to make a difference, and adding the salt & pepper before the 3rd addition of liquid gave it a nice seasoning.

The shallots went a touch too long and were kind of carmelized, but it just added to the goodness of it all.

Made for a nice little lunch.

I’ve had risotto in restaurants before, but I’ve never actually made it.  I’m not really sure why, but perhaps there was some subliminal intimidation going on.  Let’s face it, watch 3 episodes of Hell’s Kitchen and it seems everyone has a pan of risotto that becomes a disaster at some point.

Well, recently I became posessed by something at the supermarket and I found myself with a container of risotto.  And this afternoon, I got a bit of a wild hair and decided I would make some up for dinner.  Had to go to the market for milk anyway, and decided I’d let something jump out at me as to what to put in it.  And no sooner did I walk through the door than I found it – asparagus!

After much stirring, and stirring, and some more stirring – I had dinner.

Overall, not too bad at all considering that it was my first go at it.  (I couldn’t get the asparagus to look artful, I tried, LOL.)  Still needed a little more S&P when I dug into it, and it wasn’t quite as soft as I thought it should have been – I think that can be remedied easily next time by having the heat somewhat lower and giving the liquid more time to soak in. (It also could have been that I cut the usual serving in half.  Time will tell.)

I sauteed 3 chopped up shallots in butter until they were nice and soft.

Added a 1/2 cup of risotto and let it soak up the butter, about a minute or two.

Added 1/2 cup of heated chicken stock, stirred until it was soaked in.

Repeated that with two more 1/2 cups of stock.

Once the last of the stock was soaked up, I stirred in about 1/4 cup of grated parmesano-reggiano cheese, and then folded in the roasted asparagus.  (I just roll them in some butter and cracked pepper and put them under the broiler of the toaster oven for about 5 minutes.)

Added salt & pepper to taste.

I did it all on medium heat, I think next time I will do it on medium low – it will take a little longer, but I think it will be a bit softer that way.

Overall, it really wasn’t that difficult – just somewhat time consuming and it’s not the type of thing you can easily walk away from while it’s cooking.  Even though mine wasn’t perfect, it was certainly tasty and something I think that anyone could make with some patience!

It’s also insanely rich – I could only finish about half of it.  So, if you’ve been hemming and hawing over making risotto – give it a go.  I think next time I’ll be going for a low-country version.

Dijon Popcorn Chicken

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into nugget size of your choice
~ 2 cups Italian Style Breadcrumbs
~ 1 cup Grated Parmesean Cheese
~ 3 T Mayonnaise
~ 3 T Country Dijon Mustard

Combine Mayo & Mayonnaise in one bowl. Breadcrumbs & Parmesan Cheese in another bowl. (I usually add a few more spices – a bit of oregano, basil & garlic powder.)

Dredge the chicken pieces in the mayo/mustard, then in the breadcrumbs. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-20 minutes. (Depends on the size of the chicken pieces, how accurate your oven is, etc. The good news is that it is really hard to overcook these.)

I usually bake them on a wire rack to prevent stickage.

Yield: 36 nuggets/pound for me.

Per Nuggets: 33 Calories; 1g Fat (36.2% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 9mg Cholesterol; 94mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

When I spied these in the market, I had to try them.

In my mind, my reasons for giving them a go were quite sound.

– I love yakisoba.
– We don’t exactly have a plethora of Japanese restaurants in the area.
– It’s a traditional Japanese food made by a Japanese company, so in theory they should be able to get it right.

Couldn’t be quicker or easier.  Add the veggie pack and a cup of water.  Microwave for 4 minutes, let it sit for another minute.  Add the flavor pack, mix up and it’s done.

The verdict?  I am horribly torn.  It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it just wasn’t really right, either.  The cabbage in the veggie pack does make it smell like you’d expect it to (if you like yakisoba, then it will be a familiar aroma), but the flavor packet is kind of weird.  There isn’t much water left after microwaving, so it sticks to the noodles.  Perhaps it’s by design, but it doesn’t seem to dissolve as well as it should.  The noodles do have that familiar ever so slightly oily mouth feel to them (it’s hard to describe), but overall, something is either missing or overdone, but I just can’t say for sure what it is.

Maybe my expectations were too high, having eaten a decent amount of yakisoba when we were stationed in Japan.

However, everyone’s tastes are different and I’d say it’s worth buying one and giving it a shot to see if you like it, it’s not at all expensive and won’t take up half your day to prepare it.  Myself, I doubt I’ll buy it again, though.

I think it will be worth my while to get hold of some real soba noodles and hunt down a good seasoning recipe, even if it does take longer.  (But doesn’t it always seem to work out that way?)

The verdict?  Nope, not Mom’s, but really good and absolutely perfect for a night when it’s 20 degrees outside.  My brother said it was actually pretty close to Mom’s – I just don’t remember any carrots or celery in hers.  But I really, REALLY enjoyed it! :)

Recipes after the jump:

Ham & Bean Soup

1 pound dried Great Northern Beans, soaked overnight or via the Quick Soak Method and drained.  (Some say drain after soaking, others don’t, I don’t think it matters *that* much.)
1-2 ham hocks (depends on size, I used 2)
~ 3/4 c. chopped carrots (~1 medium carrot)
~ 3/4 c. chopped celery (~1.5 stalks)
~ 3/4 c. chopped sweet onion (I went with a somewhat large chop, and chose sweet over white since the white onions this season have been incredibly strong, and I didn’t want it to overpower the rest of the soup.)
~1-2 cloves garlic, smashed
2-4 c. water
2-4 c. chicken stock
1 ham steak, diced or shredded (optional, but that way you get more ham in the soup!)
ground black pepper

Sweat the onions, garlic and celery over medium low heat with about half the ham steak pieces.  (The ham adds a little more fat for the aromatics to happily bathe in.  Or, “it seemed like a good idea at the time!”)

Once the onions are soft, add the ham hocks, the rest of the ham steak, 2 cups of water and 2 cups of stock.  (That was how much was needed to cover everything in liquid.)  Bring to a boil.  (Takes 10-15 minutes.)

Add the beans, carrots and a few shakes of black pepper, and if needed, a little more water if the beans aren’t covered by liquid.  Give it all a good stir and bring to a boil again.

Reduce heat to low and cover.  Check about every 30 minutes and add more liquid (half water/stock) if needed.

Simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours or until beans are tender.  When the skin on the beans splits when you blow on them, they are supposedly done.  However, the skins were splitting about an hour into it, and the beans didn’t taste “done” to me.

An hour and a half in, I took out the ham hocks and let it simmer on low for another 30 minutes uncovered.  Up until this point, the soup hadn’t been very thick at all, and I was ready to add some cornstarch, but it decided to cooperate and thicken up nicely.  (Probably because at this point the beans are technically overcooked, but who cares, they’re nice and soft and tasty!)

Assuming 8 one-cup servings: Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 280 Calories; 3g Fat (10.2% calories from fat); 24g Protein; 39g Carbohydrate; 12g Dietary Fiber; 26mg Cholesterol; 1282mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain(Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable.

Cornbread Madeleines

I totally cheated on these and I don’t care who knows it.  (Perhaps the bottoms sticking to the pan is karma getting back at me, LOL.)  Good old Jiffy Corn Muffin mix, prepared as directed with a squirt of honey added for good measure.  Baked at 400 degrees for approximately 8 minutes.  Next time I need to get out the Baker’s Joy…