Cranberry Orange Muffins

Every week I like to make something sweet to put into dh's lunch box.  

Cranberry Orange Muffins

1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups craisins
1 tbsp. orange zest, finely grated

1.  In a mixing bowl, beat together sugar and egg.  Add milk, sour cream and oil.
2.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add to wet ingredients just until blended.  Fold in craisins and orange zest.
3.  Pour batter into greased or paper-lined muffin cups.  Bake at 375 for 15 to 18 minutes or until muffins test done.

Pretzels

 I'm in the midst of recipe testing for a project that I'm involved in.  Today I was testing pretzel recipe.  This is so good, that I don't think I'll have to find another one.  I used pink salt because I didn't have coarse salt.  It was still great.  This would be a great after school snack for children.

Dough
1 1/8 c water
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. veg oil, shortening or butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. yeast

Additional Ingredients
2 qt water, plus 2 Tbsp. baking soda

Wash
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp. water

Topping coarse salt or seeds

Toss ingredients for dough in bread machine on dough cycle.  When completed, remove dough from the machine.  Divide it into 10 equal pieces and roll each one into a long rope, 15 or 20 inches.  If you have trouble rolling ropes that long, let them rest for about 5-10 minutes and then roll out again.  After ropes are formed, shape them into pretzel ( or simply cut into 1 inch pieces) and place on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover and let rise for 20-30 minutes.  Meanwhile bring 2 qts. water to a boil in a large, non-aluminium pan and stir in baking soda.  Reduce heat slightly so that water is just below a boil.  With a large slotted spoon, gently place 2 or 3 pretzels at a time into water and cook for about 30 seconds on each side.  Remove from water and return to greased baking sheet.  Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with salt or seeds and bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden and crusty.

If you want cinnamon sugar pretzels, brush with melted butter instead of egg wash and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over pretzel before baking.

Chicken Enchiladas

Today when my son requested Mexican food, this recipe came to mind.  My Godson made it for us many years ago, and I had forgotten it until recently.  It's simple, soothing food.  It's not too spicy, but if you like more flavors, by all means add more spice.  serves 8-10

1 can cream of chicken soup (or use magic mix)
1/2 c. sour cream
1 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2-2 cups cooked chicken breasts, chopped
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
8-10 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 cup co-jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small bowl, mix the soup and sour cream;  set aside.
Melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion and chile powder and saute until tender.  Stir in the chicken, chile peppers, and 2 Tbsp. of soup mixture.  Cook and stir until heated through.  Spread 1/2 c. soup mixture in the bottom of a 9*13 baking dish.  Spoon about 1/4 cup chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Roll up tortilla and place seam side down in baking dish.  Spoon remaining soup mixture on top. and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake 25 minutes in a preheated oven.

I have been craving cabbage.  It's actually one of my favorite veggies.  This is not my usual Oriental Salad, but it has become a close second.  I used cabbage with no lettuce because that's just the way I wanted it.  This is just a guideline,  it's okay to change a recipe to suit your tastes. For instance,  I added green onions and cashews to the original recipe.  I also cut back on the sugar and increased the sesame oil, garlic powder and soy sauce.  Play around with this recipe.  You will enjoy the results.

Oriental Salad 



1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1-2 tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
Dash soy sauce
6 cups torn lettuce
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 green onions, slice
¼ cup cashews
1/2 cup shredded cabbage

1. Combine first eight ingredients and mix until well combined. Chill. Store in a jar with a tight fitting lid or air tight container. Serve over salad mixture of torn lettuce, shredded carrot and shredded red cabbage.  Store remaining dressing in refrigerator.   Yield: 6 servings.

Jambalaya

 A co-worker of my husband asked that I send Jambalaya and my personal recipe in to work.  This isn't actually my own personal recipe.  It is the creation of my older sister, Jo Ann who is a phenomenal cook.  I have tweaked it some to suit my families personal taste.  She uses Manda pork sausages while I use Turkey sausage.  The reason is that my children are allergic to pork fat.  I will admit that fat taste good.  If you use Turkey Sausage, you will need to add more seasoning.  They must have liked it.  They asked for Gumbo next week.

Jambalaya

1 lb. sausage (could also be ham)

2 Tbsp. Lard (veg oil or bacon grease could be substituted)

½ lb chicken (breast or thighs)

1 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery finely chopped

1 bell pepper . diced

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 tsp. salt

Pepper to taste

Hot sauce

2 cups uncooked Long grain rice

1.        Traditionally you would use a couple of tablespoons lard, but any fat could be used.  Slice that sausage and cook in a single layer in an iron skillet until browned.  Remove from pan. 

2.       Season chicken (I sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme to taste) and brown. Remove from pan and cut into bite size pieces.

3.       Reheat skillet and add onion.  Cook until translucent then add celery and bell pepper.  Cook until tender.

4.       Put meat back into the pan and stir well.  Add garlic and continue cooking.  Stir well.  It will burn if not stirred continuously.

5.       You can do several things at this point.  You can add 2 cups raw rice and toast lightly.  Then add 4 cups water and a couple of tsp. veg or chicken bouillon.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and then cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed.

6.       Sometimes if I have leftover cooked rice, I will add that to the pan instead of the raw rice, and add 2 tsp. bouillon dissolved in a half cup of water.  Heat through and serve.

7.       Salt, pepper and Tabasco are to taste.

8.       This is just a basic clean out the fridge, quick meal.

9.       The “Trinity” celery, bell pepper and onion can be purchased already chopped in the fresh veg department or in the freezer section.  You would use around 2 cups.

10.   This is Cajun Jambalaya.  Creole Jambalaya has a can of diced tomatoes added to it.

Last night I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle and jarred my shoulder.  I'm fine, but I wasn't really interested in cooking anything complicated.  This meal totally fit the bill.  It took maybe 15-20 minutes and was really good. I saw this recipe on The Green Apple Home on Youtube.

Spicy Shredded Chicken over Rice

½ lb chicken, cubed and cooked than shredded

In a bowl mix:

                ½ Tbsp. water

                ½ Tbsp. soy sauce

                ¼ tsp. salt

                Dash pepper

                ¾ tbsp. cornstarch

Put shredded chicken in sauce mix and stir well.

Add to saucepan

                1 tsp. sesame oil

                1 tsp. chopped garlic

                Red pepper flakes to taste

When garlic is nice a fragrant, add chicken.

Add 2 yellow squash and 2 zucchini , cubed, to pan.  Add ½ cup nuts.

In a bowl mix:

                6 Tbsp. water

                5 Tbsp. soy sauce

                1 Tbsp. vinegar

                2 tsp. sugar

                2 tsp. cornstarch

Add to sauce pan and cook until veggies are done.  Serve over rice.

I didn't have squash or zucchini so I just subbed a package of broccoli.  She used peanuts, but I just subbed almonds.

Chicken Soup

Neil and I just drove 14 hours from our home in Louisiana to our home in Kansas City.  It was so exhausting, that we've mainly just hung out at home and rested this weekend.  Saturday we picked up a rotisserie chicken so we wouldn't have to cook.  It's only the two of us so of course we couldn't eat the whole chicken.  This is what we did with the leftovers.  It was perfect for a cool fall day.

Chicken Soup

1/2 rotisserie chicken, deboned an cut into chunks
1/2 onion, chopped ((I used leftover grilled onions, chunked)
4 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1/8 tsp. Italian seasoning
4 cups water
1 veggie bouillon cube
1/2 tsp. sage
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf

If your onions are uncooked, cook them first in stockpot with 2 tbsp. butter. I used grilled onions, so I skipped this step.
Since the chicken was already cooked, I tossed it in along with the rest of the ingredients and boiled to allow flavors to combine. You could toss this in the crockpot and come home to a nice dinner. We served over rice, but you could use noodles also. I always keep the rice or noodles separate because they tend to absorb all the liquid and become mush which I despise. This was really good and super easy. I should have used brown rice or dreamfield pasta for an "E" meal, but I just really used what was on hand because grocery shopping is tomorrow. Enjoy!