nana's chicken and rice

If you just need some good comfort food try this recipe of Zach's Grandmother Weisse (aka Nana). She had 13 kids so she learned how to cook on a low budget and make easy dishes that would feed a lot of people. This is really simple, but you can do a few things to spice it up if you want.

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken (I use full Breasts)--use as much as you want

1 can Cream of Mushroom

2 can Cream of Celery

1 packet of dry Onion Soup Mix

1 can water (or 1 1/2 cans for larger meal)

1 cup rice (or 1 1/2 rice for larger meal)

Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Mix all ingredients (except chicken)

2.) Place in a greased pan

3.) Place chicken on top and cover a little with the rest of the ingredients.

4.) Cover with Foil. Cook at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Notes: I didn't have the soup mix so I just put in about 3/4 a cup of chopped onions. I had a bunch of mushrooms that I needed to use up so I diced those and threw them in too. You can fuss with the recipe however you want and it will still turn out pretty good. I served this with asparagus, but green beans or another green veggie would be good too.

Glorified Zucchini Casserole

A few months ago, Julie told me about Pioneer Woman. If you don't know Pioneer Woman, wait til you have a weekend to kill and check out her awesomest blog complete with true love story.
Pioneer Woman has a few pages: Confessions, Cooking, Photography, Home & Garden, Homeschooling and Tasty Kitchen. Tasty Kitchen is actually it's own site, with members posting recipes all the time. The recipes are rated, reviewed and easy to search. Tasty Kitchen is where I found this gem.
I am now a firm believer that the only good tasting vegetables are those that have been roasted in heavy cream. I could even become a vegetarian. My kids, who never before consumed zucchini in any form other than bread, ate multiple helpings. I am making this for Major Paul tonight.

Glorified Zuchinni Casserole
Added by jlclawson on August 25, 2009 in Sides, Vegetables

Prep Time 15 Minutes
Cook Time 45 Minutes Servings 8 Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
2 cloves Garlic Chopped
1 whole Sweet Onion, Chopped
1 whole Zuchinni Sliced In 1/4 Inch Sliced
1 whole Crooknecked Squash Sliced
4 whole Medium Red Potatoes Sliced
4 whole Tomatoes (home Grown Is Best) Sliced
1 cup Cream
1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 sprigs Fresh Basil, Torn
Salt And Pepper
Preparation Instructions
In a medium pan, saute the chopped onion and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes. Once the onion and garlic are soft, place them in the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan. Top with the sliced zucchini, then the yellow crookneck squash, potatoes, and finally the tomato slices. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Place uncovered in a preheated 450 F oven for 25-35 minutes. Test with a fork to make sure the potato slices are tender.

Take the casserole out of the oven and drizzle the cream on top of the veggies. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese and fresh basil over the top and return to the oven for 15 more minutes. When done, the cream and cheese will bubble and melt. Let the casserole sit for a few minutes before serving. I serve this with any meat main dish, or my favorite is serving it for breakfast with a fried egg on top with toast. It is the best meal when your garden is bursting with fresh veggies.

Chicken Tetrazzini

I hesitate to post this recipe since it comes from Zach's Food Network girlfriend (who will remain nameless).  However, since we actually took pictures of us cooking, I guess I need to add it.  We made it for our friends John and Angela Kersting who just had a baby, so they could have something easy to heat up for dinner this week since they will both be too tired to do much cooking.  Zach was so excited about it, that he decided we should make it for ourselves the next night.  It was delicious.  It takes a little bit of time, but it is fun to make.  There are a lot of easier versions that aren't exactly from scratch that we have made in the past.  Zach's mom always made an easy version that just used Cream of Mushroom soup, noodles, black olives, and parmesan.  

Ingredients

• 9 tablespoons butter
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
  
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
  
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
  
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
  
•  1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 4 cups whole milk, room temperature
  
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
  
• 1 cup chicken broth
  
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  
• 12 ounces linguine
  
• 3/4 cup frozen peas
  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
  
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
  
• 1/4 cup dried Italian-style breadcrumbs
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Spread 1 tablespoon of butter over a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil in a deep large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the hot pan and cook until pale golden and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate to cool slightly. Coarsely shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and into a large bowl.

Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil to the same pan. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium-high heat until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms become pale golden, about 12 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, and saute until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it evaporates, about 2 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to the bowl with the chicken.

Melt 3 more tablespoons butter in the same pan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, cream, broth, nutmeg, remaining 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Increase the heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Drain. Add the linguine, sauce, peas, and parsley to the chicken mixture. Toss until the sauce coats the pasta and the mixture is well blended.

Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish. Stir the cheese and breadcrumbs in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the pasta. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Bake, uncovered, until golden brown on top and the sauce bubbles, about 25 minutes.  

shepherd's pie

Zach and I decided to make this on St. Patrick's Day.  It is actually a traditionally English meal, but at least it was in the same realm and most good Irish Pubs have it on the menu.  In my opinion it is one of the few meals from that region that is actually good.  Zach loves it and when we make it we usually have leftovers for awhile.  It is sort of one of those easy things to put together in a casserole so you don't have to make anything else for dinner.  Jimmy also loves it.  We have tried a couple of different recipes, but this one was the easiest I found and they all tasted about the same.  I recommend just buying bags of frozen carrots, peas, and corn because you can buy them already all together (although I keep them on hand in seperate bags for Jimmy anyway).  You can mess with the seasonings (when I haven't had Worcestershire sauce, I made up other things) and  people can add their own salt and pepper to taste.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)... I used 6 medium sized ones and it was just right.
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef broth (I used chicken though)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

METHOD

1. Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2. While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3. Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4. Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5. Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6. Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7.Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.  Serves Four.