Chicken Thighs ala Campbell's.

Campbell's soup has a recipe for a chicken stuffing casserole consisting mainly of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, stuffing and soup, baked in the oven.  It's a simple recipe, but I find that the stuffing and chicken tend to get on the dry side, so I don't make it very often.  Now my mother-in-law found boneless, skinless chicken thigh strips on sale again, and even though we told her not to buy them anymore, she did anyway.  The thigh strips usually have a lot of fat attached to them and after trimming the fat away, the pieces are so small.  Tyson either needs to make larger pieces or stop making the product altogether.  Anyway, I have that recipe for  Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs, but believe it or not, I wasn't in the mood for Asian food. What the heck do I do with them?

Looking through the pantry, I found cream of mushroom soup and Stove Top stuffing; I also found a bag of chopped broccoli in the freezer and knew I could make this work. Knowing that the original recipe usually comes out dry, I opted to use the crock pot instead and hoped it would produce a moister dish.  I also thought that the fat would melt off the chicken and help to add moisture to the stuffing.

Now I have to warn you that the dish is not a pretty sight, but the taste was pretty darned good. I'm still not a fan of chicken thighs, but my hubby and mother-in-law liked the results which leads me to wonder, "Will she be buying chicken thigh strips again?"

Crock Pot Chicken Stuffing Broccoli Bake

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh strips
1 bag (10 oz) Stove Top stuffing
1 bag (16 oz) frozen chopped broccoli
2 cans (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup plus one can of milk
1 tsp each ground black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder

Preparation:

Set 4 qt crock pot on low; spray interior with nonstick cooking spray.

Place chicken strips on bottom, spread stuffing over chicken and then the broccoli over the stuffing. In a medium bowl, mix together the soup, milk and seasonings; pour over the broccoli. Cover and let cook for 5 hours.

Makes 8 servings.

Note: boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be used instead of thigh meat.

Mary Cokenour

Stretching the Elk.

So after getting the craving for cheesesteak out of the way, there were still about four servings of the Elk cheesesteak I had already made remaining. Meat, cheese, onions, peppers and I needed to think about what to do with it; then a commercial for Hamburger Helper came on the television and a lightbulb went off in my own mind.

Getting out the pasta pot, filling it with water and setting it on high heat to bring to a rolling boil; I took out the leftovers, placed them in a large skillet and set that onto low heat. Once the water was ready, I added 3 cups of penne pasta to cook plus a sprinkling of salt; the leftovers though were heating up nicely and the cheese was melting. I added to the skillet a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes, draining them first, and this helped the cheese to become a thinner sauce. Draining the cooked pasta, I added that to the skillet also, tossed to coat it all and let it remain on the low heat for an additional five minutes.

All in all, it took about 30 minutes to complete this extremely easy and delicious meal from simple leftovers and the addition of two ingredients; diced tomatoes and cooked pasta. Sorry Hamburger Helper, but you've got nothing on my elk. Wow, could I go so far as to say I've invented "Elk Helper"?

Mary Cokenour

Move Over Turkey, Elk Coming Thru.

Today my hunter friend, Charlie Helquist, brought me a most wonderful surprise...fresh Elk meat (roast, ground and steaks). Thank you, thank you, thank you Charlie...you are an awesome guy and you are appreciated!!!

I was definitely sick of turkey leftovers and was craving meat, so was going to make Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner. With the bonus of fresh Elk meat now in my grasp, I took this as a sign to make the cheesesteaks with the Elk steak.

Opening up the paper wrapped package, removing the meat from a plastic bag, I was still amazed at how beautiful Elk meat was; so lean, red and looking like something only a rich person could afford to indulge in. I sliced it into strips and mixed it with 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce (to bring out more of the rich Elk flavor) plus a half teaspoon each of fine sea salt and ground black pepper; also 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. I then placed the bowl containing the meat into the refrigerator for a half hour to settle. During that half hour, I also prepped a large green bell pepper by seeding it and cutting it into 1/4 inch slices; two large onions were cut into 1/4 inch slices.

Over medium-high heat, I heated up 2 tablespoons of canola oil and added in the peppers and onions. Giving them an occasional toss, I did not add the Elk into the skillet until they just began to soften. I spread the meat on top to allow the peppers and onions to start browning on their edges. Then I began mixing all three together, making sure to turn the strips of meat as they too browned. This all took about 20 minutes to accomplish and then the cheese was added - 16 slices of American Cheese plus 8 slices of Provolone. There was about 2 lbs of meat, so this followed my usual 12 slices of cheese for every pound of meat.

Once the cheeses were completely melted and mixed in with the other ingredients, I removed the skillet from the heat source and let it rest for 5 minutes. The cheese sauce thickened and all was ready to be served into sub rolls.

Spectacular! The Elk meat was so tender; all the ingredients had married so well that no one item overwhelmed in taste. Charlie, once again...THANK YOU!!!

Mary Cokenour

A Tale of Two Meatballs.

I have my favorite shows that I watch on Food Network and one such show is Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives". Not only do I find places to try, but recipes to try out in my own kitchen. I like Guy too; he's funny, ridiculous at times, and knows how to draw you in to enjoy the show. Many of the places he features does Italian food, so I pay particular attention to those, since Italian is one of my favorite cuisines. I watched as one diner owner prepared meatballs, using sliced bread soaked in milk as the binder for the meat. Funny I thought, I'd heard of this method, but hadn't ever tried it myself; to make that is. If I'd eaten this type of meatball before, I really didn't know as I hadn't thought to ask about it.

Growing up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; I learned in my family, and other families, to use bread crumbs, mainly from loaves of Italian bread that had gone stale, ground into fine crumbs and then added to the meat mixture. After I got married, I learned that was the way my first husband's family, who were Italian, also did it, so who was I to question the norm? Then again, I've become a lot more adventurous in the kitchen since those days, and was going to try this other method of bread soaked in milk.

Back on March 18, 2011, I posted my recipe for Homemade Meatballs, but instead of making you search for it, I'll just repost it today and note what changes I made to try the new way.

Homemade Meatballs

Ingredients:
4 lbs lean ground beef (90% or more)
2 lbs ground pork
1 ½ cups Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/8 cup Italian seasoning mix
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 cup diced onion
¾ cup milk
2 eggs, beaten

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray jelly roll pans with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together thoroughly; making sure all dry ingredients are mixed well with wet ingredients. Form the meat mixture into balls, about 2 ¾” (size of a tennis ball); place on jelly roll pans.

Bake meatballs for 20 minutes; dab on paper towels to remove any grease and immerse into sauce. Allow meatballs to cook in sauce until sauce is ready; 4-6 hours depending on cooking technique being used. Serve with pasta, or use meatballs for a sandwich.

Makes about 20 meatballs.

Out where I live now, you cannot find real, authetic Italian bread made with Semolina flour; it's all made with "enriched white flour" which, to me, is basically plain old white bread.

Instead of the dried Italian seasoned crumbs, I broke up slices of white bread, about 6, and soaked them in 1 cup of milk instead of the 3/4 cup called for in my recipe. I also increased my Italian seasoning mixture to 1/4 cup. Adding this to the rest of the ingredients, I found that you had to work the soaked bread into the meat more, making sure to break up any large clumps. Baking time was the same, but I only got 18 meatballs instead of the usual 20; not a big deal though.

After cooking them in sauce came the taste testing; besides hubby and myself, I asked a couple of other folks to try them out against my regularly made mealballs, without telling them which was which. The conclusion: While the bread soaked in milk meatball had a firmer texture, the overall taste was the same as my original style meatball. Everyone liked both types and would willingly eat both without a problem.

Overall conclusion: it comes down to basically what you grew up on, are comfortable making and eating. At least I know now, that if I'm out of dried bread crumbs, I can use the milk soaked bread and still get a decent result, not a disaster.

Mary Cokenour

So Easy, a Caveman can do it.

Or so as my husband has entitled this blog post. I would have named it, "Not Another What to do with Leftover Turkey Blog Post", but since he cooked, he got the title rights. That's correct, my husband actually took the time to cook dinner once again for me and I bet women all over are jealous. After all the stress and demands of getting Thanksgiving dinner prepped, cooked and cleaned up after, I finally had a melt down. Saturday afternoon the headache and muscle cramping hit big time and decided to stick around until Sunday night. My hunny made me tea and fluffed my pillows, he cooked up scrambled eggs and biscuits as it made me feel calm all over.

However, I had promised him Pepper Steak with Onions for dinner, but I just couldn't find the energy. Who came to the rescue? My hubby and he once again did a great job with the prep work and the cooking of the dish itself. He did moan and groan though and several times gripe, "but it looks so much easier when you do it". Me? I snickered in smug satisfaction.

So kudos to my husband, Roy, and his amazing kitchen skills...when he is desperately hungry that is.

Pepper Steak with Onions

Ingredients:

2 lbs London broil, cut into ¼ inch thick strips
2 medium green bell peppers, seeded and cut into ¼ inch thick strips
2 medium onions, cut into ¼ inch thick strips
2 Tbsp canola oil
½ cup soy sauce
½ tsp white pepper
1 tsp ground ginger

Preparation:

In a large skillet or Wok, on medium-high heat, brown the meat; remove to bowl and set aside. In same skillet or Wok, sauté the peppers and onions with the oil until softened. Add back the meat; add the soy sauce, white pepper and ginger; mix thoroughly. Let cook an additional 10 minutes before serving over white, fried or brown rice.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Traditional Thanksgiving Pies.

As long as I can remember, pumpkin and pecan pies were served for dessert after the huge Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing and all the rest of the trimmings. Whether served plain, with whipped cream or ice cream; when finished with these yummy treats, a good nap was seriously needed.

With all the preparations needed for the feast, baking pies was always the farthest from my mind, so I would purchase pies from the local farmers' markets. This year though, I decided that I had the time to spare and made the pies. Of course everyone was given a steadfast warning, "disturb me while I'm baking and you take your life into your own hands". Yeah, I'm that serious when I'm in the kitchen and need to concentrate; baking takes concentration.

Anyway, the pies came out just fine and it was very hard to resist cutting a slice of each, just to try of course. So here are my recipes for pumpkin and pecan pies.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
½ cup pecan halves (optional)
2 (9 inch) unbaked or frozen deep dish pie crusts
1 (29 oz) can pumpkin
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp each of ground nutmeg, ginger and cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 (12 oz) cans evaporated milk (shake slightly before opening)
3 Tbsp brown sugar, divided in half

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425F; place a jelly roll pan in oven to warm up. (this will keep the pan from warping while the pies bake). Divide pecans, if using, between the 2 pie crusts, pressing them down slightly into the bottom of the pie pans. (be careful to not go through the crusts)

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices, vanilla and eggs. One can at a time, beat in the evaporated milk until well incorporated into the pumpkin mixture. Remove jelly roll pan from oven and place pie pans on top; ladle pumpkin filling into each until it reaches the interior edge. Sprinkle 1 ½ Tbsp brown sugar over the tops of each pie. (as the pies bake, the brown sugar will produce a crème brule’ effect)

Bake pies at 425 F for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350F and bake an additional 50-60 minutes; a knife will come out cleanly from center when done. Let pies cool for 2 hours before serving.

Each pie makes 8 servings.

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Pecan Pie
(Recipe is from Karo Syrup with 2 changes: 1 Tbsp vanilla extract instead of 1 tsp.; 1 ¾ cups pecan halves instead of 1 ½ cups)

Ingredients:
1 cup light or dark corn syrup
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups pecan halves
1 (9 inch) unbaked or frozen deep dish pie crust

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 F; place a jelly roll pan in oven. (warming the pan will keep it from warping as the pie bakes) Place crust into pie pan if it isn’t already done so.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the pie crust; pour into the pie crust and place onto center of warmed jelly roll pan. Bake for 50-70 minutes; pie will be done when pressing down lightly in the center, it springs back. Let pie cool for 2 hours before serving.

Makes 8 servings,

Mary Cokenour

Give Thanks to Those Cooking your Thanksgiving Meal.

I love Chinese food; I could go to a Chinese restaurant for days and never order the same thing twice.  One dish I enjoy is Sweet and Sour, but I always have trouble deciding between chicken, pork or shrimp; so I end up ordering the combination.  It's like getting a little surprise in every bite; ok, after a while you can tell what is what, but it's still fun to pretend.

Preparing for Thanksgiving entails a lot of work; cleaning the house from top to bottom, doing the shopping for groceries, baking the pies, and a few odds and ends.  Roy's mom and brother come up from Moab to eat with us, so I want everything as perfect as humanly possible.

So what in the world does Chinese food have to do with Thanksgiving Day?  I get worn out, so to spoil me, Roy decided to make dinner and he made me Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice.  All I had to do was sit on the kitchen stool and supervise, but he did all the work; and he did a damned great job!!! So for those of you busting a gut trying to get heaven and earth organized for Thanksgiving; step back and let a loved one cook a meal for you as their way of giving you thanks for being so wonderful.

Sweet and Sour – Chicken, Pork or Shrimp

Ingredients:
¼ cup canola or peanut oil
1 cup each chopped red and green bell peppers, onions and drained pineapple chucks
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground white pepper
1 egg
1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups of water
2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts or pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes; or medium sized shrimp, peeled and deveined; or a combination equally up to 2 lbs.
1 qt of canola or peanut oil for frying
2 cups homemade sweet and sour sauce; kept warm.

Preparation:
In a large skillet or Wok, heat oil on medium-high heat; sauté peppers, onion and pineapple until the edges just begin to caramelize. Remove from oil and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 Tbsp oil, cornstarch, salt, white pepper and egg; gradually add water until a thick batter forms. Add chicken, pork, shrimp or combination into batter making sure to thoroughly coat each piece. Heat the 1 qt of oil in the skillet or Wok over medium-high heat; when temperature reaches 360F, drop several pieces of battered pieces into the oil, but do not overcrowd. Pieces will be done when they are golden brown and float to top of oil; remove to paper towels to drain. Repeat until all battered pieces are done.

Combine sautéed vegetables and pineapple with battered pieces and warm sauce; serve over white, brown or fried rice.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour