Friday, August 22, 2008

The PW's Sandwich #1

She calls this Marlboro Man's sandwich. I made it the other night and MAN OH MAN. I'll be posting quite a few of her recipes on my blog because we love them and you will too. You can always go to her website and see them there, but to make it easy so you don't have to search them out, you can look here too. lol :D

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich

2 to 3 lbs cube steak that's been extra tenderized
1 large onion or 2 small onions
**sliced mushrooms** (I added these)
4 french/deli rolls
2 sticks of butter... (oh yeah. BUTTER.)
Seasoned Salt
1/2 cup worchestershire sauce (or more)
Tabasco sauce

Slice the onions and cook in 1/4 stick of butter until soft and brown. Remove from skillet and set aside.
Slice cube steak into 1/2 inch slices, cutting against the grain. Season with seasoned salt.
In the same skillet melt 2 tbsp butter over high heat until it starts to brown. Add the seasoned cube steak in a single layer and cook until brown, then flip and cook until brown. (The recipe says about a minute on each side, but it took much longer than that for me.)
Add at least 1/2 cup of worchestershire sauce and some shakes of Tabasco. (I added 3 and it had a kick. I will only do 2 next time) Add another 2 tbsp of butter and add the cooked onions. Stir to combine.
Half and butter your rolls and brown them on a skillet. Lay the bottom half on your plate, cover with meat mixture (I added some provolone cheese here) and top with other half.

MmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMM! Ryan LOVED this sandwich .. and so did I. Kids probably won't like it so much, especially the younger ones, but this is a great adult sandwich.

Chicken Bacon Dumplings

Ok, as promised, here's the recipe I made last night! It's SOOOO good. I found it on allrecipes.com

3 slices bacon (I used about 4, and cut them in half before frying them)
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced (you can leave this out if you don't like onions, it adds a nice flavor though)
4 chicken breasts - cooked and diced (I baked mine with some chicken grilling Mrs Dash, salt and butter... 425 for 35 minutes. YUM)
3 cups chicken broth
1 tsp poultry seasoning (I used about 2 tsp Mrs Dash chicken grilling blend)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed (I used 2 cans of white shoepeg corn)
3 cups half and half

dumplings by direction on the Bisquick box (I believe it's 1 cup of Bisquick and 1/3 cup of milk)

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. (I don't a skillet deep enough, so I used my stock pot and it worked just fine) Cook over medium-high heat until brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Drain grease, but leave bacon drippings (the little brown specks left behind)

Add potatoes, onion and chicken to the bacon drippings and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in chicken broth, add seasonings. Stir in corn and simmer for 15 minutes.

Pour in half and half and bring to a boil. Add crumbled bacon. In a bowl, combine milk and biscuit mix to make dumplings. Drop by the tablespoon into boiling mixture, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered, then another 10 minutes covered. (Do not stir while simmering or the dumplings will break apart)

**variations. I noticed in some of the reviews some people added less half and half, or combined it with milk or used milk instead. Some also added celery and carrots to the mixture. Some left out the corn, potatoes and onion, saying it wasn't chicken and dumplings if it wasn't JUST chicken and dumplings. I added the notes to what I did, and it turned out perfectly. It will seem a little thin after it's done simmering, but if you let it sit for a little bit it'll thicken up. It's sooooooo good. SO good. YUMMY YUMMY!!!!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Mac and Cheddar Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli

Rachel Ray recipe! This is a good one for kids too.

2 tbsp EVOO
1 pound chicken breast tenders, chopped
salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound macaroni elbows or corkscrew shaped pasta twirls
2 1/2 cups raw broccoli florets, available packaged in the produce dept.
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
3 cups WHOLE milk (it's important it's whole milk or the sauce won't set up right)
1 cup chicken broth
3 cups yellow sharp cheddar
1 tbsp prepared Dijon mustard

Place a pot of water on to boil for macaroni.

Heat a medium pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add EVOO and chicken and season with salt and pepper. Saute a couple of minutes then add onion and cook another 5-7 minutes until onions are tender and chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and reserve.

To boiling pasta water, add past and salt to season the cooking water. Cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli and cook 3 more minutes more or until pasta is cooked to al dente and florets are just tender.

White pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, then add flour, cayenne pepper and paprika and whisk together over heat until roux bubbles then cook a minute more. Whisk in milk and broth and raise heat to bring the sauce to a quick boil. Simmer until the sauce thickens about 5 minutes.

Drain macaroni or pasta and broccoli florets. Add back to the pot and add chicken to the pasta and broccoli. Add cheese to milk sauce and stir to melt it in, a minute or so. Stir in mustard and season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and cooked pasta and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings and transfer to a large serving platter (if you want to) and serve.

YUM-O! lol

Taco Soup

This is a Paula Deen recipe... and OH. MY. GOSH... this stuff is SO good. It makes a lot, so be prepared to feed some people or freeze it!

2 lbs ground beef
2 cups diced onion (it makes it SO good)
2 (15 1/2 ounce) cans pinto beans
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can pink kidney beans
1 (15 1/4 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can tomatoes with chiles
2 (4 1/2 ounce) cans diced green chiles
1 (4.6 ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced - optional (I did add these)
1/2 cup green olives sliced - optional (I did NOT add these)
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix (I like the Taco Bell one)
1 (1 ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix

Corn chips, for serving
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheese, for garnish
Chopped green onions, for garnish
Pickled jalapenos, for garnish (not so much.. lol)

Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet - drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stock pot. (I used my slow cooker) Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove.

To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.

OOOOOOOH you are gonna LOVE this soup!!!!!!!

Green Bean Casserole

Classic Campbell's recipe.

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp soy sauce
dash of ground pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans (or 3 cans green beans)
1 1/3 cups French's Fried Onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix soup, milk, soy, black pepper and 2/3 cups onions in a 1 1/2 or 2 quart casserole dish.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until hot.
Stir and add remaining onions. Bake 5 minutes more.

Suggestions from Campbell's Kitchen website:

You can use 4 cups of cooked broccoli flowerets instead of green beans.

You can add 1/2 cup cheddar cheese with the soup. Add 1/4 cup cheese when adding onions on top.

White chocolate fondue

I found this online somewhere, this is GOOD stuff.

3/4 cup heavy cream
12 ounces white chocolate, chopped (look for the baking white chocolate bars)
1 tsp vanilla

Put it in a saucepan or fondue pot and melt it. GOOD stuff. I had this with cubed pound cake and strawberries. MMMMM.

Parmesan Fondue

I got this from allrecipes.com. This stuff is SOOO GOOD! Make sure you have a lot of people to eat it, cause it makes A LOT. Don't worry if you have leftovers though - I found several different ways to use it in recipes. :)

1 1/2 cups milk
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, cubed.
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 loaf french bread, cubed

In a large saucepan, cook and stir the milk and cream cheese over low heat until cheese is melted. (I recommend putting the cream cheese in first and letting it melt a good bit before adding the milk. If you put both in at the same time and they're cold, it takes a LONG TIME for it melt)
Stir in parmesan cheese and garlic salt, cook and stir until heated through. Transfer to a fondue pot or mini slow cooker to keep warm. Serve with bread cubes.

Be warned - this stuff is RICH. You won't be able to finish it in one sitting. lol