Entree - Mini Macaroni and Cheese - from Marjorie

Mini Macaroni & Cheese

 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 cups fat free evaporated milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
Grinding black pepper
2 cups grated reduced fat cheddar cheese
1/2 pound elbow or other small macaroni

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a medium size sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and stir in the onion. Cook until the onion is very soft but not brown. Sprinkle the flour over the onion and stir to combine the ingredients well. Slowly pour in the milk and stir over medium heat to combine the ingredients. Add the mustard, salt and pepper and continue to stir until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not make the sauce too thick. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and set the sauce aside off the heat and covered.

Cook the elbow macaroni in 6 cups of boiling salted water just until the macaroni is not hard any longer. Do not overcook the macaroni because it will also be baked.

Drain the macaroni in a colander and transfer it to a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the macaroni to combine well. Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop and fill the cupcake pan with the macaroni mixture. Be sure to evenly fill the pan right to the rim.
Place the cupcake pan on a larger baking sheet to catch any spills.

Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese evenly over the macaroni and cheese

Bake for 30 minutes or just until the macaroni and cheese is set.

Turn on the broiler and broil the macaroni and cheese just until the tops are crusty brown.

Let the macaroni and cheese cool slightly in the pan before removing them individually with a butter knife. Serve

Entree - Sauteed Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts - from Marjorie courtesy of America's Test Kitchen

Sauteed Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

(courtesy of America's Test Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 ounces each), trimmed of excess fat (see note)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
• 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 recipe pan sauce , optional (see related recipes)
• Do not use non-stick pan....if you plan on making the gravy.  Otherwise, okay to use.

Instructions

• 1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 275 degrees. Using fork, poke thickest half of each breast 5 to 6 times; evenly sprinkle each breast with ½ teaspoon kosher salt (or ¼ teaspoon table salt). Place chicken, skinned side down, in 13 by 9-inch baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake until thickest part of breast registers 145 to 150 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 30 to 40 minutes.
• 2. Remove chicken from oven and transfer, skinned side up, to paper towel-lined plate and pat dry with paper towels. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. While pan is heating, whisk butter, flour, cornstarch, and pepper together in small bowl. Lightly brush top side of chicken with half of butter mixture. Place chicken in skillet, coated side down, and cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. While chicken browns, brush with remaining butter mixture. Using tongs, flip chicken, reduce heat to medium, and cook until second side is browned and thickest part of breast registers 160 to 165 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to large plate and let rest while preparing pan sauce (if not making pan sauce, let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving).

Technique

·         Flour and Cornstarch Coating

To end up with moist exteriors, our pan-seared boneless, skinless breasts needed light protection. But slurries made with melted butter and the usual suspects—cornstarch and flour—each had issues. Cornstarch is a pure starch prone to forming a gel that left pasty spots on the meat. The proteins in flour, on the other hand, link together to form gluten, leading to an overly tough, bready coating. Using a combination of cornstarch and flour, however, created the perfect light, crisp, evenly browned coating.

The explanation is simple: Each ingredient tempers the effect of the other. With flour in the mix, the cornstarch is sufficiently diluted by protein to prevent it from forming a paste, whereas the protein is diluted enough that it doesn’t cause the crust to become bready.

Dessert - Blueberry Cake (from Carin (Valerie Bertinelli's recipe)

I just made this for our family last night and Chris and Melody loved it. It is also a bit more healthy at 188 calories per serving.

• 2 1/4 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
• 3 3/4 cup(s) (plus 1 Tbsp) all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 3/4 cup(s) buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) canola oil
• 2 teaspoon(s) (grated) lemon zest
• 2 cup(s) (or one 12-oz pkg) frozen blueberries, thawed and drained
• 2 tablespoon(s) coarse sugar, (such as Sugar in the Raw)

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Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-in. springform pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, salt and 3¾ cups flour; make a well in the center.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk, granulated sugar, oil and lemon zest. Pour into the well of flour and stir to combine (a few lumps in the batter are OK—do not overmix).
4. In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining Tbsp flour to evenly coat. Fold all but ½ cup of the blueberries into the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and top with the remaining ½ cup blueberries.
5. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar and bake until cake is brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 70 to 75 minutes.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then unmold (remove the outer ring) and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Entree - Macaroni Pie (from Scottos via Marjorie)

I used hot sausage in lieu of sweet.  A large bag of leaf spinach (thawed).  Lots more garlic.  Locatelli cheese instead of parmesan (just personal preference).  Had deli man cut me a 1/2 inch  chunk of genoa and then took home & diced it.

Macaroni Pie compliments of The Scottos

Ingredients

• 1 pound penne pasta
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 1/2 cup diced Genoa salami
• 1 cup crumbled sweet italian sausage, casings removed, sautéed till brown
• 2 bunches spinach, washed and stemmed
• 1 cup mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 cup ricotta
• 6 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup grated parmigiano reggiano, leaving 1/4 cup for topping
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the inside of an 8-inch springform pan with butter and set aside. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and cook penne pasta till just past al dente, but not too soft. Drain pasta, toss in a large mixing bowl with salt, pepper, and a tablespoon of the olive oil; set aside.

In a large skillet heat ¼ cup olive oil over medium heat till smoking. Add the garlic and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and reduce heat to medium. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove spinach to a cutting board, chop coarsely, and add to the mixing bowl with pasta. Toss pasta and spinach together, then add the cheeses, meats and beaten eggs. Fold mixture until it is uniformly dressed then transfer to springform pan. Bake for 60 minutes, until the top is golden brown and firm to the touch.

Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes then remove from springform pan. Serve warm or at room temperature topped with grated parmigiano reggiano.

Serving Size

6 servings

Addendum:

Created my own sauce to spoon over pie before serving.

5 to 6 cloves of chopped garlic

3 to 4 tbsp of virgin olive oil

1 can low fat Chicken Broth

Salt & Pepper to taste

Red pepper flakes to taste

Chop garlic and sautee in oil until a nice golden brown.  Make sure not to over brown otherwise flavor changes.

Salt & pepper & red pepper to taste and sautee a few minutes longer.  Add one can of low fat chicken broth and

bring to boit and then simmer for 5 minutes or so.

Spoon over slice of macaroni pie, grate some pecorino/romano cheese and either eat at room temp or heat in microwave.

Bon Appetite!!!

Entree - Ravioli with Garlic and Oil - from Marjorie

10 – 12 cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 can low salt/low fat chicken broth

Package of ravioli or whatever amount needed (adjust liquid accordingly)

Parsley flakes (or fresh)

Grated cheese

Salt, pepper & red pepper to taste

Saute garlic, salt, pepper & red pepper in pan coated with lots of olive oil until a light golden color.  Be careful not to burn.

Add in chicken broth, parsley and let it cook until all flavors blend.

In separate pot, boil raviolis and then drain water.  Either add ravioli to sauté pan or add garlic/soup ingredients to raviolis.  Mix well.  Top with grated cheese and serve.

I like to make enough of the garlic/soup mixture so the raviolis remain nice and moist.  They can absorb the liquid very quickly.

Serve with hot Italian bread for dipping!!!

As always, Bon Appetite!!!

Chicken Cordon Bleu (from Marjorie courtesy of America's Test Kitchen)

450 degree oven

8 oz. chicken breasts (use as many as you need and adjust other ingredients accordingly.  This recipe is for 4.)

25 Ritz crackers

4 pieces of hearty white bread

3 eggs with a splash of milk

6 tblsp Melted butter

Deli sliced ham (2 slices per each chicken breast)

Shredded Swiss Cheese

Flour

Dry chicken and slit each breast to create a pocket.  Start ½ way down the fatter side and begin at that end and make slit approximately 3 inches wide.  Let knife reach as far in without breaking through the breast.

Use 2 slices of ham per breast….fill each slice with ¼ cup of shredded swiss and roll tightly.  Place both rolls into the chicken breast.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper and chill in refrigerator for 20 minutes.

While chicken in fridge prepare 3 dishes.  One with flour, one with egg wash with 2 tblsp Dejon mustard  and one with breadcrumbs.

To make  breadcrumbs place 25 Ritz crackers, 4 slices of bread quartered into a blender with the melted butter and mix until nice breadcrumb consistency.  Place on baking sheet and place in oven for 5 or 6 minutes or until a nice golden brown.

Take chicken breasts and dredge in flour, patting to remove any excess flour.  Then dredge into egg wash and then into breadcrumbs, packing tightly so it sticks well.

Place chicken breasts on lightly greased cookie sheet on lower rack of oven for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.  Reduce heat to 400 degrees and place tray on center rack for another 20 minutes.

With a little  luck it should be a delicious dinner!!!  Enjoy.

Entree - Grandma Feula's Chicken Fricassee (from Marjorie)

Grandma Feula's CHICKEN FRICASSEE

Chicken pieces (breasts & legs) whatever amount you want

2 or 3 tbsp olive oil in bottom of pot

Couple of cloves of chopped garlic (I often sprinkle in lots of garlic powder as well)

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp oregano

Small can of tomato sauce (or amount needed depending upon amount of chicken)

Salt & Pepper to taste

(These amounts can be adjusted to your taste based upon amount of chicken being used)

Heat oil & cook garlic until golden brown (be careful not to burn)

Put in chicken and saute on all sides until golden

Sprinkle in the onion powder, oregano, salt & pepper

Add the small can of tomato sauce & one can of water (can of water to one can of sauce)

Cover, bring to boil and cook over medium/low heat for about 50 minutes to an hour stirring frequently

Can add some gravy master if you want to darken color of sauce

Bon Appetite!!!