Tag Archives: recipes

Make Dinner Easy: Roast a Chicken in the CrockPot

9 Oct

Looking for something easy and inexpensive to make for dinner tomorrow night? Have a CrockPot?

If you’ve answered yes, then I have a recipe for you!

It’s no secret amongst my family and friends that chicken is probably my favorite food. Mostly, I love it because it is such a versatile ingredient. So, I’m always looking for new chicken-related recipes.

Although I don’t mind more complicated recipes, easy recipes are always great to have when you’re short on time or simply don’t feel like putting the effort into making some extravagant meal. For example, I made Chicken Paprikash a few weeks ago for the first time and by the time I was done I needed a nap (just kidding).

So, I was very excited to learn that you could roast a whole chicken in the CrockPot. Oh, I love the CrockPot…haha.

Roasted Chicken is always a good bet.

 

 

Ingredients:

– 1 whole chicken for roasting*

– 1 cup water

– Olive Oil

– Seasoning of your choice**

*Make sure you buy a roasting chicken and not a frying one. All of the roasting chickens available at my grocery store were around 6 1/2 to 7 lbs.

**I used Chef Paul Prudhomme’s “Chicken Magic” Seasoning. However, feel free to use whatever you want. Many spice brands have a rotisserie spice blend that would be good. Also, you can never go wrong with plain salt and pepper!

Tools:

– 1 Large CrockPot (Remember, you’ll need to have a CrockPot that the chicken will actually fit in. My CrockPot is oval and works really well for this kind of recipe.)

– 1 pair of tongs

– 1 basting brush

– A small oven safe dish or ramekin (to prop the chicken up with)

Instructions:

1. Place the chicken in your kitchen sink and remove it from the packaging. (This can be somewhat messy, so have your waste basket on hand.) If your chicken was frozen, it should be completely thawed prior to cooking.

2. Once you’ve removed the chicken from its wrappings, you will need to remove any of the “innards” (giblets) that have been left inside the chicken’s abdominal cavity. Sometimes the giblets are in a small bag, but sometimes they are loose. Your best bet is to use tongs to remove them. After you’ve removed these items, rinse out the inside of the chicken’s abdominal cavity.

3. Prepare your CrockPot. I wanted to prop my chicken up a little in the CrockPot, so I placed a small oven safe corning ware dish in the bottom of the CrockPot. Also, spray the inside of the CrockPot with some non-stick cooking spray.

4. Place the chicken in the CrockPot.

5. Take a small amount of olive oil and baste the chicken with it. This will help the skin brown and become crispy.

6. Sprinkle your chosen seasoning over the chicken, making sure to coat the legs and wings.

7. Before you begin cooking the chicken, pour about 1 cup of water into the bottom of the CrockPot. Feel free to use less or more, depending on your personal preferences.

8. Turn the CrockPot onto the Low setting and cook for 6 to 7 hours. If you wish to cook the chicken in a shorter amount of time, you could cook it for approximately 2 hours on High and then reduce the heat to low for another 2 to 3 hours. When it comes to cooking chicken, it is all about temperature. The chicken is done when the internal temperature of the meat is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

9. Once the chicken is cooked, it will look like this:

10. Carefully remove the chicken from the CrockPot. Allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. This will allow the chicken to retain its moisture.v

Serve and enjoy!

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Pinterest Made Me Make It: Chocolate Cobbler

8 Oct

I know, I know. I’ve been a very naughty blogger. But, I’m back now! Job hunting is time, and brain, consuming…

In my absence, I’ve been spending a lot of time on Pinterest and have found a good number of awesome crafts and recipes that I’ve been trying. Some have worked out, some haven’t. And there are still many more that I haven’t yet had the time to attempt.

When I saw this recipe for Chocolate Cobbler last week, I knew that it would be one of the recipes I tried soon. I mean, really, who doesn’t love chocolate?

“Granny’s Chocolate Cobbler”

I found this recipe through this Pinterest-linked blog. The recipe, however, is actually from Tasty Kitchen recipe website contributor Susan Hawkins.

While I’ve eaten similar ooey-gooey chocolate concoctions before, I’ve never heard it called “cobbler” before. I mean, cobbler is supposed to include fruit, right?

Regardless of the name, Chocolate Cobbler is extremely easy to make (you don’t even need a mixer!) and doesn’t require any out of the ordinary ingredients.

Serves 10

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1/4 Teaspoon salt
  • 1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
  • 7 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, divided
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup (5 and 1/3 Tablespoons) melted butter
  • 1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 and 1/2 cups Hot Water

Tools:

  • Ceramic or glass oven safe baking dish, approx. 8 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep.
  • Spatula
  • Whisk
  • 2 mixing bowls, one large and one small.

Instructions:

1. In the large mixing bowl, combine the flour, Baking Powder, and salt. To these ingredients, add 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder.

2. Using the whisk, blend these dry ingredients together so they are mixed evenly.

3. Add the milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract to the mixture. Using the spatula, stir until the batter is thoroughly mixed and smooth. Set this bowl aside.

4. In a small mixing bowl, combine the remaining granulated sugar (1/2 cup), the remaining cocoa powder (4 Tablespoons), and the brown sugar. Use the whisk to evenly mix the sugars and cocoa.

5. Even though the original recipe does not direct you to grease the baking dish, I went ahead and sprayed mine with some cooking spray to be on the safe side.

6. Add the wet, batter-like mixture to the baking dish and spread it out evenly. Then, sprinkle the sugar and cocoa mixture evenly over the batter. It will look like this:

7. Finally, pour the hot water over the top of everything. DO NOT MIX IT. Just let it be.

8. Place the baking dish in a 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, test the center of the cobbler with a toothpick. If it is still extremely wet when you pull it out, bake the cobbler for another 5 minutes. (NOTE: The toothpick will never come out completely clean since this is cobbler, and not cake or brownies. Use your best judgement.)

9. Remove the cobbler from the oven, let cool for at least 10 minutes and enjoy!

The cobbler is very similar to volcano cake or chocolate melting cake. It is meant to be eaten warm. The top is a crunchy, cake like crust and the inside is a molten chocolate sauce. Very good, but also best in small quantities. Add ice cream if desired — it is cobbler after all!

Note: I refrigerated the cobbler after people were done eating it. While I normally wouldn’t do this with brownies, cookies, or cake I wasn’t sure how the cobbler would behave since it was both wet and dry. (Better safe than sorry.)

I really liked this recipe, but I wonder how you could change it up a little bit. It would be interesting to try different types of chocolate (maybe dark chocolate) or possibly see how it behaved with different types of flour.

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The Easiest, Most Delicious Potato Recipe Ever

4 Sep photo

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. Smells, sounds, tastes, feelings that just send you back to a previous time and place. It’s really amazing if you think about it. I heard a song on the radio last week that I probably hadn’t heard since it was first popular in 2000 — you know, one of those one hit wonder songs that were so bad they were good?  Even though I cringed at the lyrics that I now get at age 24 and went over my head at age 12, I still smiled and chuckled. It made me remember the people and events I spent those formative years with, and those memories, bad song or not, are always worth remembering.

But random memory triggers aren’t the only things that can bring you warm feelings. Consistency does that too.

Every Christmas Day, I go to my Aunt Susie’s (my Grandma’s sister) house for a huge Christmas open house. Situated on the border of a large park system, her house is a dream for a history person like me. It is filled with hidden nooks and crannies, with a double staircase, and a summer kitchen. And every year, like clockwork, she and my Grandma make what they have dubbed “Christmas Potatoes.” Even when my Grandma makes them at other times in the year (for smaller occasions) she still calls them Christmas Potatoes.

Really, they could be called Hungarian Potatoes. Or Paprika Potatoes. Or as they’re called in my own brain, Amazing Potatoes.

They’re probably so good because they are just so simple.

So, I figured I share the recipe with you.

Amazing and Easy Paprika Potatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 cans of Whole White or Whole New Potatoes*

1 stick of margarine (or butter)

1 heaping teaspoon of good Hungarian Paprika**

*The two names are interchangeable — they’re the same thing.

**The paprika is the most important ingredient. While you can make the potatoes with any kind of paprika, the better the  quality, the better the taste.

 

Instructions:

1. Open and drain the cans of potatoes. Cut any dark spots off the potatoes.

2. In a small saucepan, melt the margarine.

3. Add the paprika to the margarine, stir.

4. Drop the potatoes in the paprika-margarine mixture and coat them thoroughly.

5. Place the potatoes in an oven safe dish. I use a cookie sheet, but any oven safe dish or pan will work. Cover with aluminum foil.

6. Bake the potatoes at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.

7. Enjoy!

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25 Before 25

6 Aug

I keep seeing these # Before # lists pop up around the Internet.  I have mixed feelings about them.  On the one hand, no one really cares that you or I want to figure out how to French braid your or my hair before your dog’s half birthday next month.  On the other hand, sometimes lists like these provide an interesting window into a person’s priorities and interests.  Their staccato nature also fits well into our technologically overstimulated short attention spans.

My 25th birthday is this December.  That leaves me only a few months to do these things.  Given that deadline, I have not included any big ticket items that might go on a bucket list.  I am neither traveling, nor getting married, nor starting my own business, nor anything monumental whatsoever.  I am simply operating from a carpe diem point of view.  I want to make the 100+ days left of my 24th year count instead of squandering that time away on Facebook.

1. Don’t wear sweat pants or gym shorts in public.

2. Go to an outdoor movie.

3. Ride the Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Towpath train.

4. Try a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.

5. Go on a real, decent length hike.

6. Trace my family lineage back to Europe.

7. Do the Tour de Donut.

8. Finish Invitation to a Beheading by Nabokov.

9. Finish El general en su laberinto by García Márquez.

10. Make soybean baklava.

11. Be extra punctual.

12. Make homemade jam.

13. Cut back on my use of Facebook.

14. Make homemade ice cream.

15. Bake Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.

16. Write (and finish!) a short story.

17. Obtain gainful, respectable employment.

18. Bake mocha cupcakes.

19. Do a fitness event.

20. Pick my own produce.

21. Watch The Motorcycle Diaries.

22. Read a book every month.

23. Carve a pumpkin.

24. (Possibly) Get my TEFL/TESOL certificate.

25. Recreate simit as I ate it in Turkey.

What are your short term goals?

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Kumpir: A Twist on the Baked Potato

4 Aug

After much hemming and hawing over having a whole lot of nothing to say, I have decided that maybe my “nothing” is enough to say.  This “nothing” is a recipe.

This afternoon I could not find a good recipe for kumpirs, something that quite honestly I do not need a recipe for.  I watched those tasty loaded baked potatos get made a handful of times in Turkey, enough for me to know how to make one.  for potatoes and cheese to make myself a cheap, filling dinner.  What I wanted was for Google to reassure me that my memory of the kumpir served me correctly, but instead I got a handful of boutique kumpir recipes very unlike the buttery, cheesy fast food version I had in Istanbul.

I know perfectly well how to prepare a kumpir, so since Google is lacking in solid kumpir recipes, I thought I would share.  For about $10, you too can make an “exotic, foreign” dish.  You can pat yourself on the back for being all swanky and multicultural.  All it takes is a microwaved baked potato and, truthfully, whatever leftovers you feel like wrangling out of the fridge.  The toppings I list are the standard kumpir toppings, but the kumpir is more of an art form of throwing everything you can find on a baked potato than of following a specific recipe.  Given the dismal economy and rising food prices, I think a lot of people could get on board with my quest to lower my grocery bill without feeling like all I eat are ramen noodles.  So I present the kumpir, a gloriously fatty, delicious, cheap meal.

Image

I neither made nor ate this particular kumpir, but it looks legit.  I found it on Google, which does in fact have many good things even if the specific kumpir recipe I want is not one of those things.

What you will need

Really large potatoes

Shredded mozzarella or feta cheese

Corn

Hot dogs (about 1 hot dog for every 1 large potato)

Macaroni salad

ImageImage

Optional, suggested additions

Pickles

Peas

Olives

Butter

Ketchup & mayonnaise

Anything you need to eat right away before it goes bad

How to make your kumpir

1. Microwave cook the baked potatoes.

2. Heat up the corn and hot dogs.  Cut the hot dogs into little pieces.

3. When the potatoes are cooked, split them open.  Leave enough of the potato skin uncut that the potato still stands upright like an oval rather than flat on the plate like a disc. 

Image

This is an example of how NOT to slice your potato.  I overcut mine and it turned into a flat, listless baked potato.  My sense of spatial reasoning is not so great…

4. Scrape the potato off the skin and mash it inside the skin.  Keep the skin upright here still. 

5. Add the cheese in and mash it with the potato.  Don’t be shy about adding cheese because in this case, the more cheese the better your kumpir will taste and look.  (If you are using butter, also add it now.)

6. Add the pickles, olives, macaroni salad, etc.

7. Add the corn and hot dog slices.

8. Top with ketchup & mayonnaise.

9. Enjoy.

Image

This is how the finished DIY kumpir should look.  I wish I could credit myself with producing this baked potato, but my boyfriend made this one.

The budget friendly breakdown

$2 Two giant potatoes

$2.17 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese, only about 3 oz of which were used

$2.28 Macaroni salad

$1 Package of eight hot dogs, two of which were used

$1.50 Jar of pickles, half of which were eaten

$.70 Corn

Total cost: Under $10

The best part?  We will each get two meals out of those two giant potatoes, so this $10 recipe serves four people.  You even have ingredients left over.

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Cookie Table Project #2 – M&M Cookies

23 May

If you had asked me a month ago how often I’d be able to blog during the month of May, I probably would have said often. Well, it’s May 23rd and this is my first blog post for the month of May. Worse yet, I started my Cookie Table series of posts a long time ago and have only given you one recipe. Don’t worry — I promise I will be better about this. Look for several cookie-related posts in the next 2 weeks. My cousin’s wedding is just around the corner, so cookies need to be made soon. Especially be on the lookout for the Thumbprint Cookie recipe that I plan on blogging about sometime next week — it’s not to be missed!

As I discussed in my last post, things have been crazy. I finished my thesis and it was approved by my committee and by the Dean of the graduate school. Oh yeah, and I graduated on Saturday. So did Abbie! Yay for the Master’s Degree Dames!

Here’s a picture:

 

So, now that graduation is over, I have a lot of free time and I plan on blogging more.

And with that, I give you my new favorite M & M cookie recipe:

 

Red’s Ultimate M&M’s Cookies

Unlike the Lemon Burst Cake Mix Cookies I blogged about in March, I didn’t get this recipe from Pinterest. Instead, I used good old Google to find a good M&M cookie recipe. And who better to turn to than M&M’s themselves for a perfect recipe?

Even though I made them completely from scratch, these cookies were relatively simple to make and only took me about 1 hour from dough to cooling rack.

I modified the recipe slightly by using margarine instead of butter, and I have written the recipe on this blog post to reflect that change, but the link above will take you to the M&M’s website which has the original recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup margarine, softened (2 sticks)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed firmly
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1- 12 ounce package mini M&M’s candies

 

Directions:

1. In a large bowl or in any stand mixer (I use my awesome KitchenAid Mixer), combine the margarine, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Beat mixture until is it blended well.

2. To this mixture, add the egg and the vanilla. Beat for approximately 1 minute until the mixture is well blended and creamy.

3. Add the flour and baking soda. Add the flour one cup at a time and blend after each cup, that way the flour won’t go flying when you turn the beaters back on.

 

4. Mix the flour and baking soda into the sugar mixture well, until it looks like this:

Don’t mind my Christmas mini M&M’s — they were leftover from the holidays. Can’t let them go to waste!

5. Finally, add the 12 ounce bag of mini M&Ms to the dough and fold them in using a spoon or spatula. Do NOT use the mixer to mix in the M&Ms — you’ll end up with broken M&Ms and a mess (especially if using a traditional mixer or hand mixer with the 2 metal beaters).

6. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray. I use two cookie sheets at a time to make things go faster.

7. Drop approximately 2 teaspoons worth of dough for each cookie, placing each cookie 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. I can get 12 cookies on each cookie sheet.

8. Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. They will still be soft in the middle. As the M&M website says, be careful not to overbake them.

This recipe makes about 50 cookies and they taste really good.

Definitely by careful about how long you bake them — if you leave them in too long, they tend to flatten out and become hard and crispy.

I’m not sure if I’ll make these for my cousin’s wedding, but they were fun and delicious to make anyway. :-)

Happy Baking!

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Cookie Table Project: Lemon Burst Cake Mix Cookies

9 Mar

Note: This is part one of a double post (the posts, though, are unrelated and do not have to be read in order).

———————————————————————————————————————————–

In my last post, I gave you a little history lesson on the cookie table and previewed the first cookie I was going to try in my little “cookie experiment” in the months leading up to my cousin’s wedding.

The first cookie I  tried was: Lemon Burst Cake Mix Cookies. I found the recipe through Pinterest, but the original recipe can be found on the TidyMom.net blog.

Lemon Burst Cake Mix Cookies

Makes about 5 dozen small cookies.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Lemon Cake Mix (approximately 18 oz)
  • 8oz. Cool Whip (thawed)
  • 1 egg*
  • Powdered Sugar

Baking Tools:

  • Parchment Paper
  • Stand or Hand Mixer
  • Cookie Sheet(s)

Parchment paper is essential for making this recipe. Plus, it makes cleaning up a breeze!

 

Directions:

  1. If your Cool Whip is frozen, make sure to thaw it completely before starting.
  2. In a bowl, combine the cake mix,  Cool Whip, and egg.
  3. Beat the mixture well, for 1-2 minutes, until all ingredients are fully incorporated into one another. The dough will be slightly sticky and look a little like taffy.
  4. Place approximately 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl (to roll the cookies in before placing them on the baking sheet.)
  5. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. IMPORTANT: Do NOT use wax paper. Wax paper should not be used to bake with and is not an alternative for parchment paper.
  6. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into the powdered sugar, completely coating the dough ball before placing it on the cookie sheet. 
  7. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

    These are what the cookies look like when about 2/3 of the way done. They will still be soft when you take them out, but leaving them sit for a minute or so will make them firm.

  8. Cookies will be soft when first removed from oven.
  9. Cool cookies on a rack.
  10. Eat!

 

Tips:

  • *A commenter on the TidyMom.net blog suggested using 2 eggs for a fluffier cookie. I might try this next time. My cookies were a little flat, but not so flat that they were a failure.
  • Thaw your Cool Whip but keep it cold. The colder the Cool Whip is, the easier the dough is to handle. I definitely noticed that as the dough got warmer, the cookies didn’t come out as nice.
  • Watch out for the powdered sugar! Coating the dough leaves a lot of powdered sugar on the baked cookies and if you inhale the wrong way, you’re left with a powdered sugar-induced coughing fit. Haha!

 

The Verdict:

These cookies were amazing. Plain and simple. They were light and slightly chewy. Just lemony enough without being overpowering and not overly sweet. I will definitely make them again and hope to make them for my cousin’s wedding. The only downside to them is that I don’t think they are the kind of cookie that will freeze well, so I’d have to make them close to the event.

:-)

 

 

 

 

 

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A Bonus Thanksgiving Post: A Non-Pumpkin Pie Dessert

23 Nov

This may come as a shock to you, but I don’t like pumpkin pie. Consequently, when Thanksgiving rolls around there isn’t always a dessert I like, so I’ve taken to fending for myself and making something I know I’ll enjoy. Because, come on, regardless of how full you are from turkey and stuffing, you still need dessert.

This year I decided to make Chocolate Chip Cake.

I’ve made it before and it’s both really good and really easy. And, despite what the title of this post says, it’s a perfect dessert for any time of the year!

Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Cake Mix

4 Eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup mini chocolate chips

5 Tablespoons grated German chocolate baking chocolate (3 for cake, 2 for garnish)

2 Tablespoons Confectioner’s Sugar (For garnish)

Equipment:

Hand/Stand Mixer

Measuring Cups

Spatula

Grater

Bundt Pan

Instructions:

1. Combine the cake mix, the milk, vegetable oil, and eggs.

2. Blend the ingredients on a low setting for 30 seconds. Then beat the ingredients on a medium setting for 2 minutes.

3. Grate approximately 5 tablespoons of the German Chocolate baking chocolate. Add 3 Tablespoons to the other ingredients and save the remaining 2 Tablespoons for later.

4. Add the mini chocolate chips to the mixture.

5. Blend the German chocolate and the mini chocolate chips in to the rest of the ingredients, beating on low for 30 seconds.

6. Pour the batter into a greased bundt pan.

7. Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees.

8. Allow cake to cool and then remove it from the pan, placing it on a plate.

9. Mix the remaining grated chocolate to the confectioner’s sugar. Sprinkle the mixture over the cake.

10. Serve!

Happy  Thanksgiving!!!

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Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana Soup

3 Sep

We’re having a heat wave here in Ohio on this Labor Day weekend – it’s 6pm and currently 92 degrees outside – so, instead of being normal and making something cool and refreshing in this hot weather, I’ve made Olive Garden‘s Zuppa Toscana soup.

Although I wasn’t planning on spending part of my afternoon cooking, I had bought the ingredients several days ago and figured I had better cook it now before anything – particularly the greens – went bad. The recipe itself is really easy, and requires very little prep or work – instead, it’s mostly waiting for things to cook that takes up the nearly 60 – 75 minutes the recipe requires.

Here’s the ingredients you’ll need:

  • 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 3 tbsp. minced garlic
  • 2 tbsp. real bacon bits (don’t use the fake stuff!)
  • 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (use less than this if you don’t like things too spicy!)
  • 10 cups water
  • 8 medium size potatoes (less if they’re larger, more if they’re small)
  • 1 cup heavy cream (half and half works too)
  • 5 chicken bullion cubes
  • 1 bunch of endive or escarole (don’t use kale – it’s very bitter)

Here’s how to make it:

  1. Brown the sausage and the red pepper flakes in the pot you are going to cook the soup in. Drain the sausage once it is brown and put it in the refrigerator.
  2. In the same pot, brown the onion, garlic, and bacon.
  3. Add the water and bullion cubes. Bring to boil.
  4. Wash the potatoes and cut them in half. Slice them into 1/4″ inch thick pieces and add them to the pot. You do not need to peel the potatoes.
  5. Cook the potatoes on low to medium heat for about 30 minutes, until they are soft.
  6. Lower the heat and add the heavy cream and stir.
  7. Add the sausage.
  8. Wash and chop the greens you’ve chosen. Eliminate the stalk portion as much as possible. Add the greens.
  9. Let the entire mixture sit for a few minutes to ensure that it is hot.
  10. Enjoy!

Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana soup is one of my favorites – a great potato and sausage soup!

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