Asparagus and Chicken

Bowties with Chicken and Asparagus

Made: August 17, 2012

Ingredients

- 4 cups uncooked bow-tie (farfalle) pasta (8oz)
- 1 pound asparagus
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

- Cook and drain pasta as directed on package, omitting salt
- Break off tough ends of asparagus, wash & cut into 1 inch pieces
- In a 12 inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat
- Add chicken, cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Stir in asparagus and garlic, cook 6-8 minutes until asparagus is tender & chicken is no longer pink
- In a small bowl, gradually stir broth into the cornstarch
- Stir into chicken mixture
- Cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly
- Season with salt
- Toss with pasta
- Sprinkle with cheese

I omitted the garlic and used garlic salt and powder instead to please my pallette as well as Mom's & Granny's. I had to reheat this for when Mom got home, so it tastes better served asap after it's cooked as the batch I tasted for Granny came out really good. :x

(Recipe used: Pillsbury)

Lemon Cookies

Zesty Lemon Cookies

Made: August 14, 2011

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
- In the bowl of a standing mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together until well blended
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl
- With the mixer on low speed, add eggs, one at a time, until blended
- Add lemon juice and zest, mixing until blended
- Add salt, baking powder and flour and mix until blended
- Drop by rounded scoopfuls onto prepared baking sheets
- Bake until edges are firm with no color, 12 to 15 minutes
- Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks and let cool completely
- Dust with powdered sugar

For me, these came out a little too thick battered, so I might reduce the flour next time. Trial and error! But they taste very lemony and overall are quite delish :)

(Recipe used: realmomkitchen.com)

Amish Chicken

Chicken Casserole

Made: August 12, 2012

Ingredients

- 6 tablespoons butter
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 1 can of cream of chicken soup
- 1 can of cream of celery soup
- 8 oz Velvetta cheese; cut in pieces
- 1-12 oz package of noodles, cooked
- 4 cups diced cooked chicken
- Dry stuffing mix

Directions
- In a saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat
- Stir flour in slowly, using a wire whisk, until the butter and flour mixture begins to bubble
- Continue cooking and stirring for about 2 minutes, remove from heat
- In a separate pan, heat chicken broth, stir in salt and celery salt
- Once broth is fully heated, add it to the butter and flour mixture, stirring quickly
- Return the saucepan to heat, stir over medium heat until sauce begins to thicken (do not let boil)
- Add soups and cheese, cook until creamy and smooth
- Mix sauces, noddles and chicken together
- Pour into a greased 9x13 casserole pan and cover with stuffing mix
- Bake at 300 F for 1 hour

I followed this recipe closely to a tee this time. I used reduced sodium chicken broth and egg noodles for this recipe. Hoping to reduce the number of pans I had to use over all, I used the same pot for my noodles and heating of the chicken broth. I only had to wash one saucepan as I had cooked the chicken in, but then used it for the main cooking of the dish. Overall, I'm very pleased with the turn out!

(Recipe used: Beverly Lewis Amish Heritage cookbook)

Burgers & Veggies

Broccoli Hamburger Casserole

Made August 3, 2012

Ingredients

- 2 - 16oz packages of frozen broccoli
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 - 10.75oz cans condensed cream of celery soup
- 1 - 16oz container of sour cream
- 1 - 16oz package of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350 F
- Prepare the broccoli according to the package directions
- In a skill over medium heat, mix the ground beef and onion
- Cook until beef is evenly brown; drain grease
- Season with salt & pepper, mix in cream of celery soup and sour cream
- Continue cooking until heated through
- Transfer to medium baking dish, evenly layer with broccoli and top with cheese
- Bake 1 hour, until bubbly and lightly brown

As a family of 3 (or 4, depending if it's Granny approved) we never use 2 pounds of ground beef at a time for a casserole dish. So I cut this recipe in half and didn't use the onion. I also only baked it in the oven for 25 minutes. It didn't seem like it needed 30 and 25 bubbled the cheese enough to make it ooey good! I also used a blend of Monterey Jack & Mozzarella cheeses :)

(Recipe used: Pinterest)

Pickles in the soup

Polish Dill Pickle Soup

Made: July 22, 2012

Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 5 medium carrots, shredded
- 2 large potatoes, cubed (about 2 cups)
- 3 large dill pickles, shredded
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup sour cream
- Salt
- Pickle juice

Directions
- Combine 5 cups water, the butter, the carrots and potatoes in a saucepan
- Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender
- Add the pickles and continue to boil
- Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, sour cream and salt in a separate bowl
- Add enough water to make a paste, then slowly, to avoid curdling, add the mixture to the soup to thicken
- Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat
- Add pickle juice, to taste

I used my dutch oven instead of a saucepan, I like having the room, just in case. Although, my "paste" stayed paste in my soup, so I had clumps all around. So next time I might either add in the pickles after the paste or make the paste a cream. Either way, it had a really good taste.

For the pickle juice, I had 2 jars of pickle spears. I used about the remains of one jar and half of the other with about 10 pickle spears used overall.

(Recipe used: foodnetwork.com)