Pesto Presto!

The food swap was awesome! I guess it was actually called a "Pantry Party". The women there were amazing and I got some yummy loot and great ideas for my next projects!
 Some of the items I got were: jams, granola, fruit leather (I hope to make this as soon as I get my new Vitamix!), lemon curd, applesauce, kombucha, and...PESTO! I have been grazing on all of the goodness all weekend. Last night I decided to make creamy pesto chicken pasta. This has always been one of my favorites. I have made pesto a few times and would use my own to make this. Well, I can definitely say I have never had pesto as yummy as what I used last night.

Here are the ingredients you will need for this dish:

- 1 lb pasta - I used a penne
- 1 lb chicken breasts (season and then bake in the oven at 425degrees for 15 minutes on each side)
- 2 T butter
- 2 T flour
- 2 1/2 Cups Milk (I used 1%, but you could use whole if you wanted*)
- 4 oz Pesto (I hope you have good friends that make it homemade - if not, I will post a recipe later this summer)
- Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place the chicken on a foil lined pan. After the chicken has baked halfway, start the water for the pasta and make a roux. Making a roux is the start of a basic cream sauce. It is one of the best basic cooking techniques to know. My dad taught me how to make a roux and I am forever grateful. When you think roux, think Chuck Woolery: 2 and 2. Two tablespoons flour, 2 Tablespoons fat - mostly butter. Melt butter in the pan and once it is melted, whisk in two tablespoons flour until you have a past. The whisk is helpful because you don't want lumps. Once you have cooked your roux for a few minutes, it is time to get your cream on! Just add milk - you guessed it - 2 cups. In the case of this dish, I added a little bit of extra milk - trust me.
Constantly whisk the milk with the roux until it just starts to boil. Without extra milk, your sauce would now start to thicken into a perfect cream sauce. In this case we added a bit of extra milk, so it won't be quite as thick - do not panic!
If you haven't already, add your pasta to boil. You want to cook this about 7 minutes, or until al dente. What is al dente you ask? Al dente is about texture. It is the magic point when pasta is done, but not quite soft.
While the pasta is cooking, add your magnificent pesto to the sauce. I had a 4 ounce jar and I used the whole thing. I probably could have added more too. Keep adding and tasting until you have a taste you like. At this point (assuming your pasta is done), add your pasta. Let the mixture come to a slight boil for just a minute to get all of that sauce soaking into the pasta. You don't want it to cook too long or it will get mushy.
At this point, hopefully your chicken is done and has had time to rest for about 5 minutes. Letting any meat rest after cooking is super important, so that all those juices get locked into the meat. Slice the chicken and stir it in with the rest of the dish. Voila! Super yummy! To give it some extra freshness, add tomatoes in. My husband isn't a fan, so I didn't do this.
Here is the finished product:

Bon Appetit!

*

Ojai Orange Marmalade

Long time no see! I'm back! At least I hope to be.
Tonight I am going to my first food swap. What is a food swap you ask? Well, from what I understand, it is where folks who make homemade food (not just canning - think granola, keffir, jam, etc.) all get together and swap a jar and a recipe. Right up my alley!
Well, I am terrified! I have been looking at pictures of everyone else's contributions and they are adorable! Wish me luck!
I am bringing orange marmalade. I used a combination of oranges that I picked and oranges that I bought at the Ojai farmer's market.

With all of the oranges, I worked hard the whole rest of my trip to coddle these oranges. I kept them in air conditioning and fridges as much as possible. I did not want them to get too ripe!

I used a recipe from "Susan Can Cook": http://susan-susancancook.blogspot.com/2011/01/orange-marmalade.html I am posting it here to give credit and also so the peeps at my food swap can find the recipe.
Back to the Ojai oranges. Well, I think I failed here. From what I have read, the best orange marmalade comes from oranges that are not too ripe, because they have more natural pectin. The reason I think this was my problem, is my marmalade turned more to syrup then to a gel. Besides this issue, the recipe above worked great! One other note: it takes FOREVER to get the marmalade to 222 degrees! Make sure you have lots to do around the house/kitchen while you wait. I'm talking like 2 hours worth!
Here is my marmalade finished and on toast:

And here is my finished packaging:

 

I took a cute daisy from the yard and tied it on with a sprig from my crazy huge rosemary bush.

Ta ta for now! I hope to be back soon with more fun projects!

 

 

Squash & Bean Enchilada Casserole

One of my friends was looking for a recipe to use up some butternut squash. This is the perfect fall recipe! In fact, it is also the perfect recipe for giving: I make this for every friend who becomes a new parent. Just put it in one of those disposable tin casserole dishes and they won't ever have to worry about returning it!
Here is the recipe - Oh! I should give credit where credit is due: I got this recipe when they were doing a cooking demonstration one day at my favorite grocery store, New Seasons. They had samples, and it was love at first taste. Enjoy!

2 cans drained black beans

4 cups cooked squash cubed and mashed

2 cans diced tomatoes – drained

1 cup diced onion

4 cloves of minced garlic

5 T olive oil

½ C chopped cilantro

2 C shredded pepper jack (or cheddar) cheese

4 t. Mexican seasoning (if you don't have any, just use chili powder, salt and a touch of cumin)

2 t. salt

12 corn tortillas

2 cans enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté onions and garlic with the Mexican seasoning and salt in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Combine the onions with the beans and cilantro. In a baking dish, put a layer of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan. Place a layer of tortillas on top, followed by half of the squash. Top the squash with half of the bean and onion mixture. Top that with half of the tomatoes. Finally, top the tomatoes with 1 C of the cheese. Cover the layers with enchilada sauce. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Cover and bake for about 25 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream and cilantro garnish.

I don't think you're ready for this jelly!

That is what Mike sang to me today, so that will be my title. I hope it gets into all of your heads, just like me!
http://youtu.be/IyYnnUcgeMc

So, I finally did what I have been saying I was going to do for weeks: I made pepper jelly.
I grew an awesome pepper plant this summer and the peppers were just ripe, time to figure out what I could do with 10 spicy peppers....jelly!
As always, I researched many recipes and tweaked it to my liking (and the ingredients I had).

Helpful hint: Make sure to read all of the steps to making and canning the jelly before starting! It is always best to know what you are getting into!

Here are the ingredients :

• 2 cups White Vinegar (make sure it is cooking grade with 5% acidity)
• 2 packages pectin such as sure-jell
• 6 oz (about 3/4 Cup) chopped, dried apricots
• 1/2 cup chopped spicy peppers - such as jalapenos (make sure to take out the seeds and stems before chopping - I use a food processor for easy chopping)
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper (again, make sure to de-seed before chopping)

• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 6 cups white sugar

Sauce as it is cooking

WARNING: This recipe takes 2 days. It is really easy, but the apricots need to soak in the vinegar overnight.

Here is the process:
Day 1: Take a large (at least 6 quart), preferably stainless steel, pot and pour in the chopped apricots and the 2 cups vinegar, let sit overnight.
Day 2:
1. Start by chopping up all of the veggies - I really recommend a food processor for ease and consistency in the size you are chopping it in to.
2. Stir all of the peppers and onions into the vinegar and apricot mixture and turn the heat on high to start a boil.
3. While the mixture is heating, stir in 6 cups of sugar (I did a scosche less - because I used no/low sugar pectin - you will want to add a large part of the sugar though, because the apricots won't be enough to sweeten the jelly)
4. Once the mixture comes to a rolling boil (where you can't stop it by stirring), quickly add in the pectin while still stirring. Once the pectin is stirred in, take off the heat.

Now it is time to start the canning!
Okay, canning can seem daunting, but as long as you follow instructions and know a few basics, it is really easy (especially with acid based foods that don't need the use of a pressure canner).

1. For this jelly, you will need 14-16 four-ounce sterilized glass jars with rings and new lids. When I say sterilized, all this means is make sure they are brand new out of the package, or they have been run through a dishwasher on the hottest cycle (most dishwashers have an option for sterilize).
2. Put a large pot (at least 10 - 12 quarts) of water on the stove to boil
3. I would recommend getting a canning kit - but at the very least, you must have canning tongs for taking the jars in and out of the water, and a canning funnel for ladling the jelly into the jars. Here is a picture to the left.
4. Once your jars are sanitized (hopefully you will have done this while you are preparing the jelly), ladle the jelly into the jars, leaving at least 1/4 inch head space at the top of each jar.
5. Once you have ladled all of the jelly, one-by-one wipe the rims of the jars, place to lid on and tighten the ring on. You don't have to be a muscle man for this, just tighten to the best of your ability.
6. Now, once the water is boiled, drop the jars in with the canning tongs. Let boil for 10 minutes. Once 10 minutes have passed, take the jars out with the tongs and let sit for at least 24 hours.
7. The way you will know that the jars have sufficiently sealed, is by what I call, the Snapple test. If you are around my age, you will remember the refreshing fruit drink called Snapple and the obnoxious popping sound that the cap made when you pushed on it. It used to drive teachers nuts! Just like that sound was bad for teachers, this sound is bad for your jars. Push down on the middle of the cap of the jar and if it pops back up, like the Snapple cap, it hasn't sealed properly. Don't worry about this tests validity until 24 hours has passed. It is common for jars to come out of the boiling water making this sound. If the lid hasn't "popped" into place after a day, it probably won't and you will want to put the contents in the fridge and use it right away to make sure it doesn't spoil.

Here is the finished product:

Serve over roasted pork or with cream cheese and crackers as a yummy appetizer. Enjoy!

What is the best dish for a cold winter evening? Stew, of course!

Well, here we are, cloudy days are among us. When this happens, I get into soup/stew mode. That is about all I want to cook and eat. This week it was beef stew. As I usually say, I did not make up this recipe, per say. I basically took what sounded good from a bunch of recipes and combined it.
Here are the deets:

1 1/2 lbs Stew beef (New Seasons has great quality beef - I always cut mine into smaller pieces than the butcher. Make sure they are about 1 inch square)
1 quart organic beef stock
1 package organic onion dip mix (This is really all the salt you need, and it is tasty! The reason I buy this kind is that it does not contain MSG)
1 Stout beer (like Guinness - this adds some good flavor!)
1 small can of tomato paste (This will offset the bitter of the beer)
1 white onion, chopped
4-6 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2-3 large or about 10 small potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped (I like a lot of garlic!)
Optional:1-2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Wasn't that fun?! Okay, now what do you do with all of the ingredients? Listen carefully, this is really complicated: You pour them all into a crock pot and stir. Whew! That was difficult! If you have not discovered the amazingness of the crock pot, get ready! You can get all of the ingredients together the night before and then in the morning, set the crock pot on low and go about your day! You can even leave it cooking while you are at work. The best!

Here is a picture for all you visual learners:

Bon Appetit!

Kale Chips, mmmmm!

This is a no-brainer recipe, but it is so good and great for you! Every child I know, except my husband, loves them. :-)
Here is what you need:
1 bunch Kale, really any kind, cut into chip-size pieces
2 -3 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

All you do is toss the chopped kale with olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl, spread out the kale on a cookie sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until it is nice and crunchy.

I love snacking on this before or during dinner. It has the crunch of a potato chip, nutty flavor and it's crazy good for you!

Here is the finished product.

Don't believe this taste tester...he will probably contract skurvy.

Football? Buffalo Chicken Dip is a must!

I don't watch football. If Mike is watching it, I am usually grading papers, cooking or (right now) blogging. A couple of years ago, my sister made this amazing dip for some family event, and I have been making it during fall football or any fall night, for that matter, ever since. Again, full disclosure, I did not make up this recipe, I have only tweaked it to my own liking.

It's super easy!
Here is what you need:
2lbs or 4 chicken breasts, boiled and then shredded (the best way to do this is either with your hands, or with two forks, simply pull the chicken with each fork)
1 bottle Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 bottle (about 1 cup) blue cheese or ranch dressing (I've had it both ways and prefer blue cheese, but both are good!)
1 block low-fat cream cheese (If you read my first blog, you know that I like to cut at least one fat corner in my recipes, when it doesn't affect the taste - this does not need to be full fat, I can never tell a difference.)
1 package or 2 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese (Again, I have tried both and sometimes when I feel really crazy, I COMBINE them! They both taste good!)
Update (10/18/11): I forgot an important ingredient! My brain is till trying to get used to writing my recipes down, forgive me! Anyways, celery! I hate celery by itself, but it is a regularly stocked item in my fridge for its addition to soups and casseroles. Our friend, Blake, came over and made this recipe about a month ago and he added celery to his version, I was sold! It adds a little crunch to the texture without messing with the taste. I digress...
2 stalks chopped celery

Okay, here is where you have to make a decision. I have cooked this recipe two different ways, I like them both: In a pan in the oven (cheese is brown and bubbly on top) or....in a crock pot (cheese is mixed in.
Whichever vessel (love that word!) you go with, you will want to combine the chicken, hot sauce, dressing & cream cheese together. If you decide to bake in the oven, sprinkle the cheese on top. If you decide to do this in a crock pot, (you guessed it!) mix the cheese into the other ingredients.
Either way, cook for at least 30 minutes (350 degrees in the oven).
As with all of my recipes, I am terrible with accuracy in cooking times. I always guess when creating my own. So, I trust you to be able to do what I do: taste test or visual check at this point. If it doesn't look quite right, go another 10 minutes and check again, until you are happy. Trust yourself!
When you are happy with the taste, serve to your hubby and/or guests with tortilla chips or baguette slices. Or just freakin' lick it off a spoon! It is so delicious! Enjoy!

Here is a pic of the finished product after I had served half of it...I was so excited, I forgot to take a pic before I had served it.

Mike and his tummy are happy!

P.S. I am attempting to make pepper jelly tomorrow...I'll keep you posted!