Monthly Archives: August 2010

August 5, 2010 · 11:18 pm

Apricot Chicken

It’s apricot season!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. fresh apricots, pitted and roughly chopped
1/4 cup sugar
2 T cider vinegar
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
Salt
4 T olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 T chopped, fresh rosemary
1 tspn. cinnamon
2 tspn. Tabasco or other hot sauce

Instructions:
Place the chopped apricots in a bowl. Stir in the sugar and the vinegar. Let sit while the chicken cooks.

In a large and deep saute pan, heat 2 T olive oil over medium-high heat. Place chicken in pan…as it is cooking, sprinkle with salt. When the chicken is cooked through, remove from heat and place in a bowl. Set aside.

Add the remaining oil to the pan and saute the onion. Once the onions have browned, add the chicken broth to the pan and turn the heat down to medium.

Put about 2/3 of the apricots in a blender along with about 1/4 cup water and blend. Pour blended apricots into the pan with the broth.

Add the cinnamon, rosemary and Tabasco. Bring to a low simmer for about 10 minutes.

Put the chicken and remaining apricots in the pan and simmer for ten minutes.

Serve over rice.

Did I change anything? I didn’t change anything, but if I made this again, I would leave out the onions and the rosemary, especially the rosemary. It just didn’t go with the apricots at all. I did not add Tabasco since I didn’t have any, so I added crushed red chili peppers instead.

What did the family think? Hubby ate it, but would probably be really happy if I didn’t make it again. Our oldest liked the chicken, but not the apricots and our youngest…well, you know the story on that one. It wasn’t my favorite dish either, but I think if you take out the rosemary and the onion it would be much better. I don’t usually add recipes to MommaCooks that no one likes, but I think this one has promise.

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· 2:25 pm

Frozen Lemonade Pie

A great dessert for a hot summer day…

Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
7 T unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
2 cups heavy cream
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
6 oz. can frozen lemonade OR limeade concentrate (do not thaw)

Topping:
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
2 tbspn. sugar
1 tbspn. fresh lemon juice

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs (you can either buy the crumbs or just put whole graham crackers in the food processor), the sugar and the melted butter. Press firmly and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for seven minutes. Let cool for about 15-20 minutes and then sick in the freezer to really cool it off.

Make the filling: In a cold large bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, stir together the condensed milk and the concentrate. Gently fold the lemonade mixture into the whipped cream. Pour the filling into the crust and freeze overnight.

Make the topping: About an hour before you serve the pie, toss the berries in a medium bowl with the sugar and the lemon juice. Set aside until ready to serve.

Set the pie out for about 10 minutes at room temperature before serving. Top each slice with berries.

Did I change anything? I didn’t make the berry part of the recipe because I knew that it would take us several days to get the whole pie eaten. Also, I used the lemon concentrate, not the lime although I think the lime would taste fantastic. Lastly, when I make this again next time, I am going to use a little less whipped cream and more concentrate.

What did the family think? I really like it and I think I would love it with the berries. The boys also love it. We even had a guest taster, my friend Christie, who gave it a thumbs up as well.


from Food Network

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Make Ahead of Time

August 2, 2010 · 10:17 pm

Nutella, Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies

They are cookies with Nutella in them…GENIUS!!!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup Nutella or other chocolate spread
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 – 1 cup rolled oats
1/2 – 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, Nutella, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

What did the family think? Cookies don’t last long around here and these were no exception.

Recipe from my good friend, Dana

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Filed under After School Snacks, Desserts, Everybody Ate It, Uncategorized

· 10:08 pm

Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato Italian Sausage Sauce

I love pasta sauces that are both tomatoey and creamy at the same time, so I thought I would give this one a try…

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 lb. spicy Italian sausage, casings removed
1 cup whipping cream
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 T dried sage
3/4 lb. fettuccine
1/2 grated parmesan

Instructions:
Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic and cook until they begin to soften. Add sausage, breaking it up into smaller bits, until cooked through. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes Add tomatoes with juice and sage. Simmer until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.

Return pasta to pot and add tomato sauce. Toss over medium heat until the sauce covers the pasta. Add reserved liquid a little bit at a time if mixture seems dry. Add salt and pepper to taste. Tranfer to bowl, sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

What did the family think? Hubby really liked it. The kids liked it too. I was so-so on it. I wanted the sauce to be thicker or creamier or something and it just didn’t happen.

from Simply Recipes

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Filed under Everybody Ate It, Italian

August 1, 2010 · 10:03 pm

Polenta-Crusted Baked Chicken

This was supposed to be breaded chicken, but when I went to the pantry I didn’t have any bread crumbs…so I spotted some polenta on the shelf and decided to try something new.

Ingredients:
1/8 cup mayo
1/8 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1 T salt, divided
1/2 tspn. cayenne pepper, divided
1/4 tspn. black pepper, divided
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
3/4 cup instant polenta
1/2 cup flour
Cooking oil spray (like Pam)

Instructions:
Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking oil.

In a large bowl mix the mayo and yogurt with half of the salt, cayenne and black pepper.

In a large resealable bag, mix the polenta, flour, and the remaining salt, cayenne and black pepper.

One piece at a time, thoroughly coat the chicken with the mayo mixture, transfer to the bag of polenta and shake to coat. Then place on the baking sheet. Continue with the remainder of the chicken.

Bake on the lowest rack of the oven for about 30 minutes until cooked through.

Carefully turn the chicken after the 30 minutes and cook five minutes more to brown the undersides.

We had this with Creole Potato Salad and watermelon.

What did the family think? Hubby and I really liked it. Our oldest liked it dipped in ketchup and our youngest was having a meltdown in general, but on any other night he would have liked it just fine.

from foodandwine.com

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· 9:43 pm

Creole Potato Salad

This is in the top two potato salads I have ever eaten. SO good! That little bottle of creole mustard makes ALL the difference.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. new potatoes (peel on or off, your choice) scrubbed clean and cut into 1 to 2-inch chunks
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 T cider vinegar
1 tspn. sugar
1/2 cup Creole mustard
3/4 cup mayonnaise (more or less, however you like it)
Salt
Cajun seasoning, for garnish

Instructions:
Place potatoes in a large pot. Cover with cold water. If you need to hard boil the eggs, put those in there too and they can cook along with the potatoes. Bring to a boil, add about a tsp. of salt, reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook about ten minutes and drain in a colander.

While potatoes are boiling, mix the sugar, vinegar, mayo and mustard in with the celery, peppers and onion in a large bowl.

While the potatoes are still warm, gently mixing them in with the dressing allowing the potatoes to soak in some of the flavor from the seasonings better.

Gently fold the chopped hard-boiled eggs into the mixture until well combined. Put the potato salad in the frig to cool for about an hour before serving.

Serve chilled and garnish with paprika or Cajun seasoning.

We had this with Polenta-Crusted Baked Chicken and watermelon.

Did I change anything? I didn’t, but if I were to make it again (which I will because it was awesome) I would only make half as much. This was a good amount if you were going to a potluck or something, but for a family of four, it was a bit much.

What did the family think? Hubby and I thought it was DIVINE! Kids didn’t think do, but I knew that when I was making it. This potato salad has some serious flavor. Make it, your family will thank you.

from Simply Recipes

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Make Ahead of Time, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetarian