Poulet Doux

I decided to try this recipe yesterday.

Unfortunately, after visiting four stores I wasn’t able to find Russian salad dressing. A quick conference with my former roommate and I decided to replace the Russian dressing with Catalina dressing.

However, this also proved impossible to find… so I ended up using French dressing. This meant that I had made the recipe mine and thus I renamed it: Poulet Doux, which means Sweet Chicken in French.

Just a review:

1 bottle French Dressing
1 jar Apricot Preserves
4 large boneless chicken filets
1 package onion soup mix. (dry)

Preheat the oven to 435.
Spray a shallow small baking dish.

Mix the dressing, apricot preserves and onion soup mix. It will look slightly disgusting. Take heart.

Roll the chicken fillets in the mixture and then plop into the baking sheet. Pour remaining mixture over the chicken and bake for 25 minutes.




I served it over noodles… but I think it will be better over rice. There is a fair bit of liquid left over after you remove the chicken for serving. This could be drizzled over the rice.

As it was, it was a hit. The gals I made it for seemed to really like it… either that or they were just starving. Regardless, I am putting it down as a success.

Time: Just about half an hour.

Corn Flake Chicken

This one looks easy... a bit time intensive but you can't go more simple wiht the number of items needed and prep work.

Corn Flake Chicken

6 to 8 chicken cutlets
Bottle of fat free Italian dressing
Corn Flakes crumbs

Prehat oven to 325.

Marinate 6 or 8 chicken cutlets in fat free, Italian dressing for an hour and a half.

Heavily coat both sides of the cutlets in Corn Flake crumbs.
Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with Pam (or whatever).
Place cutlets on cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes... to an hour depending on your oven.

Nutty Green Beans

I made these last night and they were a hit!

Need:
1 pound of green beans (fresh)
3-5 cloves of garlic (cloves being the little parts not the big things –I think- hmmm, well buy the big thing then take the outer layer off an then pull out the little bulbs and skin ‘em. Chop 3-5 of these in half… the more you use the more garlic-y the beans will be)
1 Big Handful of halved walnuts (chop these up as well… I think about ¼ cup of chopped nuts is a good guide, but change for your own discretion.
Oil (I used Peanut oil)

Rinse and snap the green beans.
Place green beans in pan (large… I used my wok) and cover just barely with water.
Cook on high until beans are BRIGHT GREEN! (about 6-7 minutes(
Drain
Rinse with cold water and plop the whole strainer into cold water. (I filled my sink up about 1/3 of the way and added ice cubes.) I have no idea why this I important, but I followed the directions.
Let them cool while you heat a healthy dose (cover the bottom of the pan) of oil in the pan.
When the oil is hot add the garlic, cook on high for 5 minutes
After five minutes add the green beans and the nuts… sprinkle a bit of minced onions, salt to taste.
Cook for another 5 minutes or until you can’t stand it (They are going to smell soooo good!)

(Depending on your group.. you might want to remove the big chunks of garlic before you serve.)

Serve and enjoy!

Time: Less than 20 minutes.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients
1 cup butter (soft)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 and ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick cooking oats (Like the Quaker kind, in the cylinder container)
1 cup chocolate chips.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Cream the butter and sugars until smooth (I use a fork). Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix. In separate container combine the flour, soda, and salt. Stir it in slowly until blended. (Still using the fork works best)

Add the oats, stir well. Add the chocolate chips and stir.

Use a regular spoon to scoop out bits and bake on an ungreased* sheet for 12 minutes.
When you take them out of the oven, let the pan sit for about 5 minutes before sliding them off. You don’t need a wire rack, a plate works just fine.


(*Note: when I say ungreased, I mean it. Despite the fact that my mother told me to always grease my pans… cooking spray, butter, foil, and any combination of such things only result in badly burned and oddly tasting cookies. Don’t Grease That Pan.)

(Another note: why is “ungreased” not a word? Microsoft Word needs to be updated.)

Time: Give yourself an hour and a half and you should be fine.

Recommended music would be KT Oslin’s Sounds from an Aging Sex Bomb, and Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits.

Simple Chicken Tenders

Simple Chicken Tenders

Ingredients

Canola oil cooking spray
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 egg whites
1 pound chicken tenders

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Set a wire rack on a foil-lined baking sheet and coat with cooking spray.
Place almonds, flour, paprika, garlic powder, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a food processor; process until the almonds are finely chopped and the paprika is mixed throughout, about 1 minute. With the motor running, drizzle in oil; process until combined. Transfer the mixture to a shallow dish.
Whisk egg whites in a second shallow dish. Add chicken tenders and turn to coat. Transfer each tender to the almond mixture; turn to coat evenly. (Discard any remaining egg white and almond mixture.) Place the tenders on the prepared rack and coat with cooking spray; turn and spray the other side.
Bake the chicken fingers until golden brown, crispy and no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings

I haven’t made this yet… because honestly it was billed as “Simple Chicken Fingers” and in my book anything with more than 10 ingrediants (including egg whites) isn’t “Simple” at all.
But I plan on attempting this (with possible variations) in the next week or so.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Rosemary Chicken

Rosemary Chicken and Tortellini


Need:
1 package chicken (mine had 9 medium-ish boneless chicken breasts)
1 package Pesto Tortellini
Spices: Garlic, Onion, Rosemary.

I browned the chicken in a frying pan on medium high heat with about ¼ cup water (used olive oil to prep the pan).
Add Garlic, onion, rosemary to taste… I used minced onion and minced garlic and a two tablespoons of minced rosemary.

Cook the tortellini in a medium sauce pan (with a bit of olive oil) as directed on the package… must stir constantly.

Drain and serve right away to avoid clumping.

Server chicken on the tortellini with a small bit of heated frozen veggies.

Time: The first 8 songs off the Shins’ Oh Inverted World CD.

Easy Oven BBQ Chicken

Easy Oven BBQ Chicken

I love easy.

Need:
Chicken drumsticks
Bottle of BBQ sauce

Lay chicken drumsticks in greased baking pan.
Cover with barbeque sauce
Cook in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
Turn chicken pieces over, add more sauce.
Cook for another 20 minutes.

Done!

Ok… maybe that is too easy. I am going to do this… but I think I am going to make my own sauce before hand.

BBQ Sauce… and….

Stay Tuned.

Knifes

Knifes scare me.

I am not really sure why… I have never really cut myself horribly… but mostly because I mostly refuse to handle any sort of knife in any serious fashion. In fact, most of the things I already know how to cook don’t involve cutting of any sort.

It’s true. Opening packages can be done with scissors, stirring things takes spoons, and even breaking apart things life ground beef for the Stroganoff happens with a spatual when the meat is safely in the pan. (I also really don’t like touching raw meat, especially beef but that is a whole other issue.)

Chopping, slicing, cutting… these all seems like things that actual cooks do, people who have managed a certain comfort in the kitchen, a comfort I severely lack.

There is also the issue of which knife to use. There are literally dozens of different sorts of knifes, big ones, little ones, serrated edges, non-serrated edges…. knifes that are curved, knifes that are straight, knifes that look like daggers, knifes that look like veggie peelers…. And I somehow know that they all have different uses… but I still haven’t figured out which knife really goes the best with which thing.

Ok, I am not dullest knife in the drawer… I know that a Bread knife is a big one with a serrated edge.

And I know that you should use the small knife for cutting fruit.

But… there are still a whole bunch of black handeled instruments of fear in that drawer that I honestly just don’t know what to do with.

A few years ago my boyfriend at the time tried to teach me how to cut veggies. Specifically garlic. He patiently showed me which knife to use (big, straight edge), and then taught me this see saw method that I still use whenever I think it might work.

And it because of those few chopping lessons that I was able to chop garlic for two different recopies this week.

Yes, knifes still scare me… and I will probably always try to find a way around using them… but with enough practice and deep breaths…and a few more kind hearted cooks like him, I feel confident that I will be able to manage my kitchen.

Either that or I will just have to hire out all knife work. I can pay with baked goods (Very little cutting in backed goods!)

So far… two meals cooked from scratch in the last week. Baby steps, yes?

Kay’s Stroganoff.

This is a good easy to make recipe that is tailor made for leftovers. In fact, many people argue that it tastes better the next day. I plan on making it today (Sunday) so that I can eat it during the week.

Need:
1 package (1 pound) ground beef
1 package egg noodles (or bow tie)
2 cans gravy: beef and mushroom is a good combo. 1 can cream of mushroom soup and 1 can beef gravy works as well. Use whatever you have on hand.
Seasonings to taste (I use minced onions and garlic.)

Brown ground beef in skillet on high.
Add in onions and garlic (1 clove) while the meat is cooking. Stir often.
Once beef is all brown (no more pink at all) add in the gravy (gravy/soup) and turn on medium. Stir well and then let it simmer on Medium low for a good ten minutes.

Cooke noodles in saucepan with a bit of butter. Drain and then put back in the pot.
Add beef mixture to noodles and stir well.

Take off heat and eat or let cool for easy Tupperware storage.

Time to Cook: The first seven songs off of REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity.

Makes a whole bunch. I had a heaping helping along with five asparagus spears and put the rest in containers… at least two lunches and another dinner.

Pasta and Asparagus Dinner

Need:
1 Jar medium priced pasta sauce (I like the basil flavored one)
4-5 Spears of as fresh as you can get it Asparagus
1 Garlic Clove
1 Handful dry uncooked Angel hair pasta
1 loaf French Baguette
Butter and Olive Oil
Whatever spices are handy.


Time before eating: The first 8 songs off of The Best of Sheryl Crow album. By the time “If It Makes You Happy” is playing you should be sitting on your living room floor with a plate of food. Actually, it will probably take you less time if you don’t take photos along the way and send a text message announcing your success to half the people in your contact list.


Asparagus:
I chopped up the garlic… actually I pulled three cloves of the big garlic hunk and then chopped those using the chopping technique Christ taught me* and cooked the pieces in a thin layer of oil on the stove. (Frying pan)
Once it was hot and starting to smell all garlicky, I added the uncut (but rinsed) asparagus spears.
Heat on High gradually turning down to medium low for about 10 minutes,


Pasta:
I don’t measure my pasta or my water... I just cook it until it is tender but still firm (8-10 minutes) and then drain off the excess liquid. I also add butter to the pot when I add the noodles.

Sauce
Pour as much as needed into small saucepan to heat.
Add spices as desired.
A good combo is bay leaves (crushed), minced garlic, minced onions, a few shakes of parsley and a few shakes of pepper. Obviously, the more sauce in the pan, a bit more spice… And I taste it as I go.

Serve with French baguette slices and butter.

Noodles can be tossed in the fridge, leftover sauce can be as well or frozen.

Sweet and Sticky Chicken

Sweet and Sticky Chicken

1 Bottle Russian salad dressing
1 Jar apricot preserves
1 Dry packet of onion soup mix
1 package chicken pieces

Preheat oven to 425

Mix onion soup mix and 3/4 bottle of dressing
Stir in apricot preserves to taste
Pour over chicken in greased pan

Bake 25 minutes

Serve over brown rice

Why I Started This Blog

Last weekend I attended a BBQ.

It was one of those laid back sort of events… the menu was decided upon last minute and we had no real start time. Basically it was four people coming together to cook and share the evening. There was classical music, inside jokes, Matthew standing proud and manly over the flames (singing a bit of the hair off his knuckles in the process), and in the end some very fine food.

I doubt anyone there could tell that the evening was a mini turning point for me.

You see I used to cook. I also used to be married, didn’t have a job outside the home, and no real hobbies except being the happy housewife.

Things change.

After I joined the ranks of self sufficient and single women I found that I lacked the desire to cook for myself. It was a sort of self empowerment thing (and yes, the irony of not sustaining myself physically to somehow do it emotionally is not lost on me). I didn’t have to cook for my husband… in fact I was free for the first time in my life to set my own schedule, plan my own evenings, eat what I wanted when I wanted…. I thrilled at all this independence and I decided I wasn’t going to cook.

To be honest, a bit of this was practical… I had practically no money and for a while no real cooking supplies. Part of my artistic nature reveled in being the opposite of the “good wife” all single girl self sufficient eating Saltines for dinner… occasionally splurging on jam for my toast… but see I had never been the classic “starving” college student and I didn’t know about things like Raman, cans of tuna, rice and beans, or seasonings. All I knew how to cook were the thing my ex husband had liked to eat… and since both he and my father had both been pretty comfortable in the kitchen, I had never really bothered to learn more than what I needed to know.

I also didn’t eat much. Thanks the miracle of on-site cafeterias at work and a semi regular cycle of first and second dates, I didn’t really need to prepare food for myself. So I didn’t. When I was hungry, I made toast. I ate granola bars. I drank milk and beer and ordered pizza (making it last for four or five dinners). Occasionally I made microwave popcorn and would eat an entire bag in one sitting calling it breakfast or dinner as the time of day dictated.

I lived in a studio apartment for seven months without owning a set of silverware and didn’t notice.

How I got from there to here is a story for another day, suffice it to say that there were several dinners and conversation, and even a few romantic overtures that have led me to where I was sitting last Sunday evening watching helplessly while my friends moved around the kitchen, cooking, chopping, talking in code, and generally amused by my befuddlement.

And that evening of confusion and embarrassment has led me in turn to today, right now, this blog post.

I want to become more comfortable in the kitchen.
I want to eat healthier.
I want to be able to cook for myself.
I would like to be able to cook for others too, but primarily for myself… it is a (new) self empowerment thing.

And as I travel down this somewhat frightening road I am sure I will have a few adventures and a few set backs. But I am loath to simply fade into the background and continue to have a troubled relationship with my kitchen.

Also, I am on the computer a lot and figure that if I type my recipes in as blog entries I can label them with helpful things like “Oven” “Crock Pot” “Serves 2” “Great for Parties” or whatnot and thus make finding them again in the future slightly easier.

So, there you have it.

Now… let’s get cooking!