Holiday Bark

My mother makes a holiday bark that I'm fairly certain had something to do with why Dan married me. It has all the best things: salt, chocolate, sugar, butter, carbs.

I don't love all bark. I don't love white chocolate bark, and I don't appreciate peppermint bark like most people do (unless it has a dark chocolate base). But I love this bark.

I had a staff celebration coming up and a great deal of leftover Halloween candy. I combined my mother's basic bark with the idea of topping it all with a variety of delicious candy leftovers.

About half way through execution I started to think that perhaps I had overdone the candy. If you run into this problem, plow through. It will all work out in the end. Feel free to substitute your favorite candies for anything else here. You may not use all the candy bits... the best thing to do in that case is to put them over ice cream. You wouldn't want them to go to waste.

One batch makes one cookie sheet... I made two to share with 30-40 people, but should have made more. If it were a Get Fat night, I'm sure 5 of us girls could have done justice to one batch.

I'm sorry there is no picture... I was so excited to eat and share this that I completely forgot to take one.

You will need:

1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar (packed)
about 25 Saltine crackers (1 sleeve should do the trick)
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 full-sized Butterfinger bar (or a bunch of small ones), chopped into chunks
2-3 Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, chopped into chunks
1/2 cup(ish) candy corn
1/2 cup(ish) M&Ms
1/4 cup roasted (unsalted) peanuts


Preheat oven to 350.
Line a jelly roll sheet (cookie sheet with sides) with aluminum foil & spray with nonstick spray.

Cover the bottom of the cookie sheet with Saltine crackers so that there is no space between them.
Melt 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar together, and bring to a boil.
Pour boiling sugar over crackers.
Bake in oven for 5 minutes - toffee will spread in the oven, so don't worry if the sugar isn't covering the crackers.
Let rest for 1 minute outside of oven.

Spread the chocolate chips over toffee. When they get good and melty, spread them with a spatula or knife.

While the chocolate is still gooey, top with the candy. You may need to gently press some of the candy corn down.


Refrigerate for about 1 hour, or until the chocolate has set.

Break into small, uneven pieces.

Chicken and Rice

Lately I've been in the mood for some one-dish comfort food. Out of my normal realm of cooking, I always feel like I'm cheating when I make one of these... like I should be putting more effort into a healthy dinner.

Dan knows how to cook few things. His go-to dish is chicken, boil-in-bag rice, and steamed broccoli. This is a good meal, but I can't imagine eating it all the time. (Dan would be fine with having that 3 times a week.) Being me, I like to spin things. So, for my husband and my need for something more than boiled, steamed, and baked, I decided we would have some chicken and rice tonight.


You will need:

1 cup uncooked rice (not instant)
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2/3 lb boneless/skinless chicken breast (or about 9oz. pre-cooked chicken breast, diced)
5 oz Vermont sharp white cheddar (I used Cracker Barrel), shredded
2/3 can heart healthy Campbell's Cream of Celery condensed soup
2 c. broccoli florettes (frozen is fine - I used 1 bag of Bird's Eye Deluxe, because they are small)
1 c. lima beans

Preheat oven to 375.

In a 2qt sauce pan, combine rice and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
While the rice cooks, lightly salt and pepper chicken. Dice raw chicken, and saute in a pan.

Combine rice (with liquid), chicken, broccoli, lima beans, cream of celery, and cheese in a glass pan. I was going to add diced zucchini, but I ran out of room.


Bake for 35 minutes covered, and 5 minutes uncovered if there is a lot of liquid in the pan (otherwise just leave it covered for the additional 5 minutes).

Enjoy!

Weekday Coq Au Vin

Coq au vin (chicken in wine) is typically a slow-cooked, time-consuming dish. You may remember my "Sunday version"... but what if you want coq au vin on a Tuesday? Or Thursday?

I frequently want delicious food mid-week that I didn't have the good sense to prepare on Sunday when I had the time. Yesterday, the weather turned damp and cold and I wanted a nice, hearty chicken dish.

I went to Trader Joe's (one of my favorite stores) and started collecting the ingredients for what I knew would involve chicken, carrots, and wine. I hadn't thought all the way to coq au vin until I tasted their sample of the dish, which (for a frozen heat-and-eat meal) wasn't too shabby.

I was off and running, determined to make a coq au vin as delicious as my Sunday version in under 2 hours. After 15 minutes of prep work, I left my kitchen at 5:30 pm, and could have eaten at 6:30pm. I chose to let the chicken cook an additional 30 minutes while I finished some lesson plans, and everything turned out perfectly. Even better - today I put the dutch oven of leftovers into the oven, and in 20 minutes had dinner ready.


Quick Coq Au Vin

You will need:

chicken pieces, bone in, skin on. I used 2 breasts with rib meat and 4 drumsticks. Use any combination that you like - enough to feed 4 people.

1/2 bottle of French red wine - I prefer bordeaux. Burgundy would work well, too. Don't go too cheap (quality-wise) on the wine (don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink), especially because you are only using half a bottle. Serving the chicken with a glass of the same wine is always a nice touch, and you can get decent table wines for under $10 if you know where to look (like Trader Joe's).

2 - 3 pieces of smoked bacon (I used applewood smoked uncured bacon), diced

1/4 cup pearl onions (frozen)

about 6 oz condensed cream of mushroom soup - I highly highly highly recommend Trader Joe's condensed portabella mushroom soup... the quality is far superior to Campbell's cream of anything.

3 carrots

about 6 small red potatoes

salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 375.
Salt and pepper chicken generously.
Over medium-high heat, warm some olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven. Place as many pieces of chicken as you can without them touching into the pan to brown. Turn the chicken once and then remove to a plate, cooking the second batch (or however many more you have to brown all the chicken). You just need it in there long enough to brown up the skin a bit, not to cook the chicken. While the chicken browns, dice up your bacon, clean and cut the carrots into large pieces, and quarter the potatoes. (Reserve carrots and potatoes for later - you won't actually need them until about 30 minutes before eating.)

Once the chicken is brown and removed from the pan, saute the bacon. Once done, drain the pan and add the chicken, onions, cream of mushroom soup, and wine. Cover and put it into the oven.

Cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes (or 30 minutes before you would like to eat - this can cook for as long as you like) add in the carrots and potatoes.


That is it. Coq au vin in under 2 hours.
You can serve this over egg noodles if you wish, but it is delicious and filling as-is.
Either way, enjoy!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

I love a multitude of foods. Delicious, quality stuffing is somewhere near the top of the "Foods I Love" list.
I also love roasting a bird, but I don't always have the time, patience, and/or crowd to eat stuffed poultry.

When I got home tonight, I was craving stuffing. Being home alone, I started to think "What can I stuff that won't leave me with a whole bird minus a leg?"

Then I remembered the acorn squashes on the counter. I thought "Yes, those are stuffable."


The stuffing itself is versatile. You can use turkey sausage, veggie sausage, tofu, or no protein at all. To create a gluten-free meal, leave out the croutons.

Serves 4**

You will need:

2 medium - large acorn squashes, halved and gutted
1/2 small onion diced (a little less than 1/4 cup)
1 celery rib, diced
1/2 small granny smith apple, peeled and diced
a handful of dried cranberries
1/2 cup sausage (I used Jimmy Dean Sage)
handful of croutons (a little less than 1/4 cup), cut in half if they are large
salt, pepper, and sage (if you do not use sage sausage)
2 tsp maple syrup divided in half


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roast squash, cut side up, for 45 minutes. (I find a loaf pan works well for holding both halves.)

While those bake:
Saute the onions, celery, and sausage over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 tsp sage. Once the sausage is cooked, add the apples, cranberries, and croutons. Mix well. If stuffing is dry (will depend on the meat you used and how much croutons you put in) add chicken broth or vegetable broth by the Tablespoonful. You can also add a small amount of butter to add moisture.
Season stuffing with salt and pepper to taste.

Once the squash has roasted for 45 minutes, remove from oven, fill halves with stuffing (stuffing will be mounded on top), drizzle maple syrup over the top, and continue to bake for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

*Stuffing can be made beforehand and frozen. You could also use leftover stuffing if that exists in your home. Stuffing tends to be eaten the first time around in these parts...
This would also be great with some toasted sliced almonds, which can be quickly toasted in the pan before browning the onions, and would make a great vegetarian protein option or crunchy add-in.

**I edited this to include 2 acorn squashes after trying to stuff my own halves and finding I had an abundance of stuffing left over. I dumped all the extra stuffing into the pan to bake, but it could have easily fit into 2 squash.

Roasted Chicken

(Yes, this chicken is upside down.)

You can go into any grocery store and buy a rotisserie chicken for about $7. However, it doesn't come close to a chicken you roast at home. Sure, roasting a chicken takes time, but it isn't hard.

Here is a fail-proof way to make a delicious, crispy-skin chicken.

After much research, I have found a way to make crispy-skin chicken. It is one of those "I'm trying very hard not to eat all the tasty skin off this chicken because it might clog my arteries instantly, but it just might be worth it." chickens.


First, you need a chicken. A 3 lb fryer will feed 4 people (2 for dark meat, 2 for light) and you will have some leftovers.

The secret to crispy skin is to salt the chicken and let it sit for a while. You can either season your chicken in the morning, refrigerate it, and then roast it at night, or season the chicken and let it sit on the counter for 30 - 45 minutes. (No longer than an hour.)
When you season a chicken, rub seasoning and olive oil all over the chicken, inside and out.

For tonight's chicken I used salt (about 2 tsp), black pepper, rosemary, onion powder (about 1/4 tsp), and the juice of half a lemon. In the body cavity I put a bay leaf and the squeezed out lemon.

There are many seasons that go well with chicken. I usually use thyme, but was out. You can use French basil, savory, white pepper, sage, celery salt... try different combinations to find what you like. You can also put celery, half an onion, a piece of orange, carrots, fresh herbs... into the bird cavity.

Put the chicken into your roasting pan breast-side down and let it sit, either in the refrigerator for a day or on the counter for up to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 450.

Roast the chicken breast-side down in the oven for 20 minutes.
An excellent way to cook a chicken is to roast veggies along with it. While the chicken is roasting for the initial 20 minutes, you can prepare veggies. On nights I'm running short on time, I throw baby carrots into the pan. Peeling and dicing (into 1 inch cubes) fresh beets, carrots, turnips, white potatoes, parsnips, celery root, butternut squash... is a great addition and side to chicken. I also like to get small red potatoes and peel one stripe around the middle and stick those into the pan. Fingerling potatoes (poked with a fork) work well, too.

After 20 minutes of roasting, flip the chicken so that it is breast-side up. Add the veggies around the chicken, tossing them in any pan juices.

Roast the chicken and the veggies for an additional 25 minutes.
Once the chicken has been in the oven for 45 minutes, take the chicken's temperature. Insert a meat thermometer into a thick part of the thigh, being careful not to hit any bones. The internal temperature must read 160 degrees. If the chicken is at 155 +, turn off the oven and let the chicken sit for 10 minutes. If the temperature is lower than 155, continue roasting, checking the temperature in 6-10 minutes (depending on how close it is or is not to 155).
While you are in there, give the veggies a stir.

Once the chicken is done, remove to a cutting board and let the chicken rest breast-side down for a few minutes before turning over and carving.

While waiting, you can remove the veggies from the pan and heat the pan on the stove top with some chicken broth (a cup is more than enough... or you can use a little water, a little white wine, any combination of the above...) and scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and let it boil for a few minutes (while you carve your chicken). You can enjoy this pan sauce as is or thicken this with a roux (or Wondra) for more of a gravy.

Enjoy!Chicken served with acorn squash (which you can roast in a separate pan at the same temperature for about 40 minutes, cut side down, with a little water in the pan), mashed russet potatoes and celery root, and (overly) roasted baby carrots. (I've adjusted the time above so that this does not happen to you.)

Now I'm ready for some FOOTBALL!

I have been a slacker in the kitchen as of late. After a summer of morning sickness, traveling, and starting up the school year, I'm back at it... or at least, my crock pot is. I'm still trying to balance teaching, pregnancy, and trying to clean after a month of being gone, so time for making delicious, healthy food is limited.
I digress.


Happy football season, everyone! It is still muggy down here in the south (today it wasn't bad - 75 - but the rain made it a bit sticky) but that can't stop me from enjoying some of the best things about football season: chili.

(Let's be honest... at every football gathering you can always find at least one person more excited about the food than the sport. Chili and football were made for each other.)

This is crock pot chili. You can make it the night before (start it late Saturday if you want to make it for a 1 p.m. Sunday game) or Monday before work for Monday night football. Or you could make it any other time you like.

This makes hot chili. If you want to tone it down, use Ro*Tel's Original tomatoes with chili peppers (for medium) or mild for, well, mild. Don't skip the chilies, though.

If you find, after cooking, it is too hot, add more tomatoes.


You will need:

1 sweet onion, diced
1 - 1.5 lb ground beef
2 large cans (14-16 oz) tomato puree
2 8 oz cans Ro*Tel diced tomatoes with chilies (hot)
2 4 oz cans fire-roasted diced green chili (mild) - I get mine at Trader Joe's
1 large can (or 2 regular cans) dark red kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can great northern white beans
onion & garlic powders
salt
smoked paprika
chili powder (I use Penzey's Chili 3000 - it is fantastic)
something to eat your chili over - I like elbow pasta

I use my standard sized crock for this. If you have a little crock, cut it in half.


Brown the beef and caramelize the onions. Put into crock with the next 3 ingredients. Add 1 TBS salt, 4 TBS chili powder, and 1 tsp smoked paprika.
Cook on low for 6+ hours (or, if you are in a rush, high for 3)

1 hour before serving (ish... 30 min - 2 hours, really):
Add beans (drained), 1 TBS smoked paprika, onion and garlic powders to taste (if you don't know where to start, add 1.5 tsp of each and go from there), and salt if needed. If it isn't as hot as you would like, stir in some crushed red pepper.
Simmer on low.

If there is too much liquid, remove the lid while it simmers.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Lemonade

A few days ago I polled some Facebook friends for ideas of what to do with an excess of strawberries. One of my friends, Robin, suggested strawberry lemonade. In this heat, can there be anything better? Now, you can make this with frozen berries, but fresh is best.

I'm going to tell you the recipe I envisioned, and then the recipe I actually used, to help use up what I had. Both will be tasty, I promise.

First, the all-from-scratch strawberry lemonade:

You will need:
The juice of 6 lemons
water
1 pint of strawberries, hulled and sliced
sugar (you can substitute Splenda in this recipe!)

Lemonade is very subjective. Some love it tart, some can't get enough sweet. I err on the side of tart.
Remember, the strawberries will add some sweetness, and again, how much sweetness they bring is dependent on the berry.

Place your hulled berries into a saucepan with 1/3 cup sugar and a few TBS of water. Melt sugar over medium heat, and cook berries down into sugar. When your berries look like melted jam, they are done.

If you want your lemonade to be pulp-free, put a fine meshed strainer over the mouth of your pitcher.

Pour in your lemon juice. Next, pour in your strawberry. If using a strainer, you will want to pour your water over the top of the berries while mashing every last bit of juice out of them!

Add water, stir, and taste. If it is too tart, add more sugar. If it is too sugary, add more water and lemon.



Now, the "cheater" version I made:

I had a whole container of Simply Made Lemonade in my refrigerator. Although I don't think it possible to have too much lemonade, my refrigerator is limited on space, and making more wasn't an option.

You will need:
A gallon of Simply Made Lemonade
A pint of strawberries, hulled and sliced


I should start with saying that I was specific with the lemonade brand for a reason. I don't generally push one brand over another, but this line of juices I feel are closest to homemade. Many manufactured lemonades are overly sweet (I even think this one is a bit sweet... but I eat lemons, so it might just be me), and if you add strawberries to the mix, you will have a sugar headache in no time. If you love overly sweet, go for it. Just don't lose the fact that you should taste lemons!

Cook the strawberries in a sauce pan over medium heat with a several (5ish) tablespoons of lemonade and a tablespoon of sugar. When the strawberries have broken down and the juices are flowing, they are ready.

Like in the above, if you want a pulp-free lemonade, run everything through a strainer. Put the berries in first, then add the lemonade to taste.


Chill and serve. This drink tastes especially delicious on the back porch or at picnics.