Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms

It's awfully late for me to be posting, but I've neglected my little blog for far too long. It's almost been a week since I left a post, and I can't stand it. This won't be much of a post, but at least it'll be something!
David and I went to Homecoming at LWC this past weekend, and we went a little overboard on eating. We did okay for breakfast Saturday morning, since we had a 5K race to run, but at lunch, we went hog wild. We went to Tray's Garden, a delightful little Chinese buffet, and we put the hurt on it. But we were so hungry! We didn't do so well on the car ride home, either. We split some nachos while watching the ballgames (we sat on the bleachers for 5 1/2 stinkin' hours...and suffered through a double-overtime!), then just ate junk in the car on the way home...pretzels, popcorn, and pepperoni pizza flavored Combos. Tonight, we needed something flavorful, but light.
So we had chicken! I think we've had this recipe before, but tonight it tasted so much better! I love balsamic vinegar and mushrooms, so I didn't figure I could go wrong with this flavor combo. I found the recipe from Heather's Website, which is one of my favorites when I'm looking for a recipe that's light, healthy, full of flavor, and sure to push me out of my comfort zone. This one didn't really require any strange ingredients or unusual flavor profiles, but it was easy to throw together with things I had in my pantry/fridge. The only thing I needed to purchase were the mushrooms.

I served the Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms with green beans and roasted new potatoes. (We LOVE new potatoes and could eat them roasted every night...but we try not to!) Be sure you try this yummy recipe soon...I think this might go into our regular rotation.

Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms

Heather's Site

2 tsp. canola oil

3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. Dijon mustard (I used coarse grain...it was all I had)

1 clove garlic (I used 2 big ones)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups mushrooms, quartered (I used baby portobellos)

1/4 tsp. thyme, crushed

1/3 cup chicken broth

Heat 1 tsp. oil in a nonstick skillet. Mix 2 tbs. balsamic vinegar, mustard, and the garlic. Add chicken and turn to coat.

Transfer chicken and marinade to skillet. Saute chicken until cooked through, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer chicken to skillet and keep warm.

Heat remaining tsp oil in skillet. Add mushrooms and saute 1 minute. Add broth, thyme, and remaining Tbs. of vinegar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are deep brown, about 2 minutes longer.

Serve chicken topped with mushrooms.

TWD: All In One Holiday Bundt Cake

I love bundt cakes. Maybe not quite as much as Mary, The Food Librarian, but they do have a special place in my heart. They're a homey dessert. Simple, not fussy at all. You can frost them, or just dust them with powdered sugar. They're perfect. And I've had my eye on this one ever since I got my copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours...the Dorie Greenspan cookbook that inspired the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group. I love fall flavors, and I love bundts, so this was perfect.
It's full of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger...fall spices that I adore. And diced apples, fresh cranberries, pumpkin puree, and pecans. All of the flavors of our favorite holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas!) are in there. What's not to love?! As is the case with all bundts, this one is very simple to put together. Britin, of The Nitty Britty, made a great choice...it's probably what I woudl have chosen, if I didn't happen to be the 251st person in the recipe rotation!

Anyway, I'm very thankful that Laurie has given us permission to bake the recipes out of sequence this month. I wouldn't have had time to make (or acquire the ingredients for) the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake this week, but I could throw this together in my spare time Sunday night. If you visit the other TWD bakers this month, you'll see that we're all probably baking out of sequence, which I think will be pretty fun and interesting. You'll notice in my pictures that I didn't make the maple icing... and that's because this beautiful bundt is going in the freezer for a future date.

There it is, all wrapped up. I loved the scent of this bundt baking, but it's killing me to not know what it tastes like! I'm keeping it for any number of upcoming holiday events. It might end up at CUB's Thanksgiving potluck, or I might keep it myself for our Thanksgiving dinner. I can't decide. But I do have plans on making another batch of the batter and baking it in my mini loaf pans for Christmas gift. Yum!

Chocolate Reese's Pieces Cookies

Happy Halloween! We really don't get any trick-or-treater's where we live (unfortunately), but every once in awhile, a couple of our friends will stop by with their little girl, if they happen to be in the area on Halloween. I like to have a little something ready for her, just in case. I can't imagine what would be worse than stopping by a house for trick-or-treating, only to find that there was nothing there! Last Sunday, I bought a big ol' gummy spider for her, in case she stopped by. But the more I looked at it, the more I thought it might terrify a 3-year old. It gave me the perfect excuse to make cookies. Four dozen of them, in fact. I wanted something that was a bit "Halloween-y", but not too labor intensive. I visited The Sisters' Cafe to see what they'd been up to, and I found this recipe, which I changed up a teensy bit.
The original recipe from The Sisters' Cafe called for Reese's peanut butter chips, but I had mini-Reese's Pieces. Earl and Shirley were cleaning out their pantry and brought me a bag of mini-M&Ms and this bag of mini-Reese's pieces. David and I ate the bag of mini-M&Ms, but I decided to save these for something special. And today I decided they would make the perfect "Halloween-y" cookies! These cookies are wonderful! I have a horrible habit of overbaking cookies. I like a chewy cookie, but when I take cookies out of the oven at the point where they'll be chewy when cool, I convince myself that they're not fully baked. Then I end up with hard, crunchy cookies. Today, I resisted temptation and pulled the cookies from the oven at 9 minutes. They seemed raw, but once they cooled, they were perfectly chewy!
It's almost 9pm, and I'm pretty sure that official trick-or-treating hours are over. We didn't have a single spook, ghost, or goblin show up, so now I've got about 3 1/2 dozen yummy cookies in my kitchen begging to be eaten. Help!

Chocolate Reese's Pieces Cookies

The Sisters' Cafe

2 cups flour

3/4 cups cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup butter, softened (I used 1 cup)

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (10oz. bag) of Reese's peanut butter chips (or mini-Reese's Pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips or Reese's Pieces. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. Cookies will puff up during baking, but will flatten when cooled. Do not overbake! Cool slightly and remove to wire rack.

Potato, Ham, and Spinach Soup

I've had designs on making this soup for well over a year. I used a recipe from the Louisville Courier-Journal as my starting point, but I made several changes along the way. I clipped the original recipe out of the paper sometime last fall or winter, and tucked it away in my recipe file, which grows larger by the week. I finally decided to rummage through it last Sunday and found this one. It's perfect for a chilly fall day, except those seem to have left Kentucky. Now, we've got highs in the mid-70s! Good grief...I thought we'd finally gotten rid of summer for awhile, but she's reared her ugly head again. Fall, please come back!
This soup is full of ham, potatoes, beans, and spinach. It's the perfect soup to make when it's time to use leftovers, because you could dump just about anything in here, and it would be good. The original recipe called for smoked sausage and kale. I used ham and spinach instead. I've really tried to like kale, but I just haven't seemed to acquire the tastebuds for it yet. I'm still willing to try it, though...maybe I just haven't had it the right way yet. Anyway, here's the recipe for this yummy, hearty soup. If fall hasn't fled your area, it would make a perfect dinner for those nights when you're snuggled up on the couch watching football! Enjoy!

Potato, Ham, and Spinach Soup

adapted from a recipe from the Louisville Courier-Journal

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 lb. ham

1 large onion, diced

6-8 large cloves garlic, minced

4 large potatoes, diced

1 large bunch spinach

2 quarts chicken stock (or a mixture of stock and water)

2 15oz. cans of white beans, drained and rinsed

salt and lots of black pepper

Heat olive oil in a wide, deep soup pot over medium heat. Add ham, chopping it into bite-sized pieces.

Add onion and garlic. Stir often, until softened, about 5-10 minutes.

Add diced potatoes. Wash and remove long stems from spinach. Cut into wide slivers. Add potatoes and spinach.

Add chicken stock and increase the heat to high. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the potoates are very soft. Use a potato masher to roughly mash the potatoes in order to thicken the broth. Add beans and heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

The Cake That Started It All...

We buried my grandmother today. She passed away Monday afternoon at age 95. As we were at the funeral home, everyone talked about what a great cook she was. At one point, it seemed the whole family was in the funeral home's kitchen, snacking and talking. My cousin Marcia said, "Isn't this exactly how Mommy (that's what her side of the family called my grandmother, whom we called Emmy) would have wanted it? You couldn't walk in the house without being offered a plate of food!" She was exactly right. Food was a big part of Emmy's life, and it was the way she showed love.
My sister and I went to Emmy and Pa's house every Monday and Friday afternoon after school, and we spent most Saturday mornings with them as well. Emmy was the person who "infected" me with the baking bug. All of my vivid memories of her involve cooking, canning, and baking. She even had a fully equipped kitchen in her basement, in addition to her main kitchen upstairs! We spent many hours in both of those kitchens, but I was always most interested in baking with her.
She always made lots of pies...your traditional apple and cherry pies, but also things like gooseberry pie and rhubarb pie. I always got the scraps and loved to cut shapes, sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar, and bake my own little snacks. She always encouraged my love of the "domestic arts," my favorite of which was cooking. Anytime I ever asked to cook or bake, she was ready to help. One day while at her house, I baked a cake "all by myself," which meant that I was under her watchful eye and had plenty of help with measuring and cutting! It was called a "Doctor Bird Cake," which I think is similar to what a lot of people call a Hummingbird Cake. I decided that there would be no more fitting way to honor Emmy's memory than to make that same cake tonight.
It's incredibly simple to make. My recipe, which came directly from Emmy, states in large, capitalized letters "DO NOT USE MIXER!" So I didn't. But I wonder if that has more to do with simply not wanting to clean up the mess that an 8-year old might make with a hand mixer than the texture of the completed cake! The whole cake is made in one bowl, and you need nothing more than a wooden spoon. The ingredients are simple (and fattening!), and the result is delicious.

This cake is full of bananas, pineapple, pecans, and cinnamon. It's topped with a simple cream cheese frosting. The next time I make it, I might increase the cinnamon and maybe add some nutmeg, but tonight, I made it just like Emmy taught me.

Doctor Bird Cake

Emma Bickers

3 cups flour, sifted

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups cooking oil (I used canola)

1 cup crushed pineapple in juice (undrained)

3 eggs

2 cups diced banana

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

DO NOT USE MIXER! Preheat oven to 350 degrees Sift all dry ingredients into large bowl. Add banana, oil, vanilla, eggs, and crushed pineapple (juice and all). Mix until just blended. Do not beat. Pour batter into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on cooling rack. After 10 minutes, turn cake out onto cooling rack to finish cooling.

For Frosting:

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat cream cheese on medium. Add melted butter and confectioner's sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Frost only the top of the completely cooled cake.

Skillet Cabbage and Ham

I'm really a very predictable person. I like order, rules, and routine. My life is very regimented, and while lots of people would think that's really boring, it suits me just fine! But sometimes I wonder if I rely on my routine a little too much. After all, I'm the person who forgets to brush my teeth if my morning routine gets out of whack...really. That's happened on more than one occasion. Even my weekends have routines. Saturdays, I clean up the house and wash clothes. On Sunday, we go to church and I do my grocery shopping. But last night, I did something out of my routine, and tonight I was thanking myself for it!
Each Sunday before I go to the grocery, I make my menu for the week based on the leftovers in the fridge, what's on sale, and what sounds good. I knew that I had Skillet Cabbage and Ham on my list, as well as a soup (that you'll see later this week). Well, last night, instead of just shoving my produce in the fridge after coming home from the grocery, I "processed" it for some of my meals!
This delicious Skillet Cabbage and Ham started out as a small head of cabbage and two big ol' carrots, which were chopped and shredded--last night! It was so nice to not have to do that tonight after work! When I got home and started fixing supper, all I had to do was chop an apple, dice up some ham, sprinkle in some dry ingredients, and add some chicken stock and vinegar. Dinner was ready in no time, and with very minimal effort. David and I have had this meal before, but it was long before I started my blog. It's unlike most things we eat, which always makes for a nice change of pace. I really think of it as a fall meal, but you could certainly enjoy it any time of year. We added some roasted butternut squash and were quite happy with our little menu. I made a few adjustments to the original recipe, and I'll put my changes in parenthesis. I hope you enjoy!

Skillet Cabbage and Ham

Family Circle Magazine, December 2008

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 large head of green cabbage, thinly sliced

2 large carrots, peeled and shredded

1/2 cup white wine (I used chicken broth)

10 oz. ham, cut into bite sized pieces

1 large apple, cored and diced (I used a Golden Delicious)

1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp. caraway seeds

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add cabbage and carrot and cook, covered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in wine (or broth) and simmer for 1 minute. Add ham, apple, vinegar, caraway seeds, salt, and pepper. Simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes, uncovered, stirring, until cabbage and apples are tender and most of the liquid has cooked off.

Cover and let stand a few minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Pie Latte

It's that time of year again...Starbucks has rolled out their Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and they are delicious! I look forward to those and the Gingerbread Lattes (at Christmas) all year long. But, of course, those Starbucks drinks sure are budget busters. And, believe it or not, there are people who don't live anywhere near a Starbucks and may not have ever experienced the beauty and deliciousness of a Pumpkin Spice Latte! So, for those who are pinching pennies and for those who don't have a local Starbucks, here's a simple and tasty knockoff that you can probably create with the things you have in your kitchen right now! I'll post the recipe as it was originally written, but I recommend that you don't use this quantity of pumpkin pie spice. Cut it in half, then if you want more, add it a tiny bit at a time.

Pumpkin Pie Latte

adapted from a recipe in Family Circle, November 2008

2 cups fat-free milk

2/3 cup water

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

3 1/2 Tbs. sugar (or Splenda)

4 heaping tsp. espresso powder or instant coffee

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (but this is way too much)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, whisk together all ingredients and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Serve immediately. Makes 2 smallish servings.