Thanksgiving!

Warning! Recipe overload!

Since it was our first Thanksgiving together, and we don't have any family here, I decided to just have it with the two of us. It turned out really nice and I enjoyed a quiet night with my hubby. On the menu was:

• lemon chicken
• carrot souffle
• green bean casserole
• baked sweet potatoes
• apple pie

I felt like I was in the kitchen for SO long and then when everything was done it looked so wimpy! Everything tasted good, but it just made me appreciate all the work that goes into a Thanksgiving with my whole family!

Buca di Beppo Lemon Chicken (SO yummy)

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, (6 oz ea)
Salt, to taste
1 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
4 large lemons
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
A small handful drained capers

Directions

Cut three lemons in half and use for fresh lemon juice. Pour the juice through a fine strainer. Cut the last lemon into wedges for garnish.

Begin to heat the olive oil in a 12-inch saute pan on medium-high heat. While oil is getting hot, lightly season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt. Lightly dust the chicken breasts in the flour. Shake off excess flour. Place chicken in the saute pan skin-side down.

When the chicken is golden brown, turn over and brown the other side as well. It is important to brown both sides to insure the chicken is completely cooked through. When both sides are nice and brown, add white wine and lemon juice. Continue to cook for approximately two to three minutes. The liquid should reduce approximately half.

Once the liquid is reduced, remove the chicken breasts from the pan and turn off heat. Check to make sure the chicken breasts are cooked by turning each piece of chicken over and cutting it halfway through with a knife. There should be no visible pink. If the chicken is not completely cooked through, place in a 400 degree oven for five minutes to complete cooking.

Finish the sauce by placing the softened butter in the pan. Using rubber spatula, work the butter into the sauce as it melts. Pour sauce directly on top of chicken breasts. Garnish with capers and lemon wedges. Makes 2 servings.

Recipe by Buca di Beppo

This is actually really simple and so good! Instead of white wine I just used white grape juice. Oh and I forgot to get capers... oh well.

Carrot Souffle

This is a dish that Chad's mom makes for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year, so Chad really wanted it. I had it once when I was in AZ, and I loved it! It is so good, and is even good cold the next day ;)

Ingredients

1 pound bag baby carrots

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbs flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 stick butter

2 eggs

Directions

Boil carrots in water until very soft. You want them soft enough to mash up, they take a little while so be patient!

Once the carrots are soft drain the water and smash the carrots.(a food processor would be the best but if you don't have one use a potato masher, or electric beaters)

Add all of the other ingredients and mix together well.

Pour the mixture into a baking dish sprayed with PAM.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

Recipe by Chad's Mom

Green Bean Casserole

This is like the most common Thanksgiving food, but in my family we never have it.. but Chad does, so I made it. I actually liked it too! The recipe is from the French Fried Onion can... easy peasy.

Apple Pie

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Recipe by allrecipes.com

Here's what our dinner looked like! (Real special I know)

P.S. I wish you could see my cute dishes... I'll tell you about them sometime :)

Chicken Caesar Pasta

Another good one.....do not substitute the Caesar dressing for Italian- I did that the second time I made it thinking they were similar enough, they aren't. It's sick.

Ingredients:
1 (16-oz) box penne pasta
1 bottle Ken's Caesar dressing
2 whole boneless skinless chicken boobs
6 oz mozzarella cheese - (the big chunk you get in the cheese section)
1/2 c seasoned bread crumbs



Boil pasta for 10 minutes, or until done.
Boil chicken in water until fully cooked then cut into bite-size pieces.
Cut up mozzarella into small chunks.
Put chicken, pasta and mozzarella cheese in a casserole dish. Mix in the Caesar dressing - stir thoroughly. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Bake 20-30 minutes, or until bread crumbs are golden brown.

I served it with this bread and it was really good. It's just wheat french bread and some kind of parsley onion stuff I got at the farmers market. It was kind of like brushetta without the tomatoes.

Kabocha Squash and Spinach Soup

Last night our neighbor brought us half of a squash that I'd had never seen before... so I looked it up and found out it was a kabocha squash. It looks like this...

I had no idea what to do with it so I looked up recipes and found this one:

Ingredients

4 cups vegetable broth

8 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 medium kabocha squash, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks

2 packed cups baby spinach

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated mozzarella or crumbled feta cheese for garnish

Sour cream

Method

Put broth, garlic, onions, and squash into a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer at a low boil until squash is completely soft, about 15 minutes. Mash contents of pot with a potato masher, then add spinach and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cheese and sour cream.

Serves 4

You don't have to peel the squash, unless you want to! I heard the peel is healthy, so I left it on!

I cut the recipe in half, since we only had half a squash. It looked so pretty while I was cooking it, so fall-ish! Of course it doesn't really feel like fall here, so it was a bit warm to be eating soup... oh well. It was really yummy, and super filling! We ate it with mozzarella and sour cream on top, with french bread on the side.

Mexican Shells

I have been trying out some new recipes and this was one of our favorites!

1 lb hamburger, browned
4 oz cream cheese (i cut it up in chunks)
1 pack taco seasoning

simmer cream cheese and seasoning with hamburger

8-12 jumbo shells, cooked
1/2 c salsa
1/2 c taco sauce
grated cheese
crushed tortilla chips

Pour salso on bottom of 8x8-inch pan. Stuff shells with hamburger mixture and place on salsa. Pour taco sauce over, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake at 350, covered for 20 minutes. Take it out and sprinkle the crushed chips over the top. Cook for 10 more minutes uncovered.

Pizza Night!

We used to have the BEST homemade pizza while Chad lived with his aunt and uncle in Utah. We loved it so much I had Chad call and get the recipe!

THE DOUGH

First mix:

3 cups warm water

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

Then slowly add 6 cups of flour

*You can use a mixer, but by the time you get to like the 5th cup of flour, you may need to use your hands! If the dough is really sticky, just add some more flour.

Cover the bowl with a paper towel and let it raise for a couple hours till it doubles in size.

Now you can roll it out into pizzas! This recipe makes 2 large pizzas, so I would suggest cutting it in half. We ate it for dinner last night with the help of some friends, and still had dough leftover to make some for lunch today!

Check out Chad's skills

*preheat oven anywhere between 400 and 450.. and spray a cookie sheet really well

THE SAUCE

We just used some tomato sauce and added italian seasoning, basil, garlic salt, and whatever else Chad added.. he was in charge of sauce.

OR

Just use spaghetti sauce, or a pre-made pizza sauce

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the crust is firm. The crust stays pretty light, so it won't really get golden brown.

I forgot to take a picture until I started eating.. oh well.

I put mushrooms, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese on mine.

YUMMMYYYYYYYYY

Birthday Dinner

Salad, steak, green beans, twice baked potatoes and..

Homemade Razzleberry Pie!

It was fun to get out our china and have good food to put on it. I kind of outdid myself on this dinner, at least on the steak and pie. I marinated the steaks in red wine and balsamic vinegar and black pepper for a few hours, then Garrit grilled them up. They were amazing, we hadn't had steak that good since we went to Rare Steakhouse in Vegas. The pie was surprisingly easy, and delicious. In Garrit's words, "It's like a jam pie!" and just ask Grandma how much Garrit likes jam. He'll eat it with a spoon. Anyway, here's the pie recipe.


Ingredients

1 box of Pillsbury pie crusts

1 bag of frozen raspberries 

1 bag of frozen blackberries

1 cup cut up strawberries

1/3 cup sugar + extra to sprinkle on the crust

2 1/2 Tablespoons flour

Crisco (to grease the pan)

Directions
1. Thaw fruit almost completely and pour in colander to strain juice.
2. In large bowl, mix fruit, sugar and flour together. Line bottom of greased pie plate with crust. Fill with fruit.
3. Before adding top layer cut design into crust as vents, or roll it out a little thinner and cut into strips to make a lattice crust.  Lay over top of crust, moisten edges with water to "glue" the two crusts together, or weave strips in a lattice pattern. With the back side of a fork, pinch edges together, or pinch with fingers.
4. Lightly brush top crust with water.
5. Sprinkle sugar over the top.
6. Cover edges with 1 1/2" strip of aluminum foil.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
8. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Good by itself, but EXCELLENT with fresh whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.

Enchilada Soup

I got this recipe from my good friend Heidi, and it has been one of our favorites! It is perfect for days like today - cold and rainy. It seems like a lot of work, but it is really easy.

Saute:
   - 1 diced onion
   - chopped up garlic
   - 2 tbs olive oil

Puree in blender:
   - 1 can green chilies with a little chicken broth

Boil/Fry/Bake
   - 2 chicken breast
   - shred

In big pan on stove simmer together:
   - 1 cup beef broth
   - 1 cup chicken broth
   - 1 1/2 cups water
   - 1 can cream of chicken soup
   - 1 tbsp A1 Sauce
   - 2 tsp Worchestershire
   - 1 tsp cumin
   - 1 tsp chili powder
   - salt pepper to taste
   - (if I want to spice it up a little I add some Tobasco sauce - or you could add jalepenos

When simmering add cooked shredded chicken. Cook together for about 45 min.

Serve with fritos or tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream!