Recipes

     I noticed that of late I have posted a lot of recipes, but I think this because I now have someone to cook for and I'm excited to cook, and I am even more excited when it tastes good, I have this huge worry that I will make something and it won't taste good.

     Well the other day I was in a very bad mood, and my number one comfort food is Tuna Casserole, and it just so happened that it was scheduled to be for dinner that night.

     This is my families go to meal if we are hungry and didn't really plan anything else. My little sister at the age of 6 was making this, with little help from her older siblings, it is very easy and the skill level is little to nothing.

Here is what you will need:

One bag egg noodles
Two cans Cream of Mushroom (I use cream of chicken)
Milk (enough to fill the two empty cans)
Two cans Tuna (if you don't like tuna, you can use one can of the chicken breasts)
Cheese
Bread Crumbs
Italian seasoning
salt

    -Cook your noodles according to the directions on the bag

    -While those are cooking take a 9x13 pan and put the tuna, cream of mushroom, milk, and cheese. Mix it till it is well combined.

    -After the noodles are done cooking and drained, mix them into the cream of mushroom mixture. Mix till all the noodles are coated. Sprinkle more cheese on top, sprinkle bread crumbs and italian seasoning.

    -But in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until it s bubbly. Take out, let cool slightly and enjoy!!

I made this one time at my apartment in Salt Lake, and I came home from church and my roommates had eaten half of it. Needless to say its good!

Chicken Gravy and Mashed Potatos

     At the beginning of the week Matthew and I sit down and discuss what we are going to eat for the next two weeks and get food accordingly, that way we always have a plan, and aren't wondering what we are going to eat day by day.

     Well tonight on the calendar it said "Chicken and mashed Taters"  I know how to make mashed potatoes, that wasn't  problem, it was trying to figure out what to do with the chicken, yeah i could have breaded it, but I didn't have any breadcrumbs, I thought of fried chicken, but I don't know how to make that, my mom suggested italian chicken (I will give you that recipe later) but that wouldn't taste good with mashed taters and gravy. My mom though told me to do this, and this is what I did:

    -Take as much chicken as you want (I used one breast)

Make sure it is thawed and put in two plastic baggies, and beat with a meat tenderizer, wooden spoon, or anything else you can find to beat it, make sure you don't break it, you just want it as flat as possible.

    -Put into a skillet and put 1/4 of an onion kinda thinly sliced with the chicken, put 3 tablespoons butter, salt, pepper, and garlic on top. Add 1/4-1/2 cup water. Let cook all the way through and flip once. Once I thought it was all the way cooked through I cut it into thirds just to make sure, don't over cook it by making it dry. Let the water boil off and crisp chicken and onions till your liking. 

    -In a saucepan bring 2 cups water and 3 tablespoons chicken bouillon to a boil. Add chicken and onion from skillet, let sit 5 minutes. 

    -Take chicken out and shred or chunk. 

    -Add back to saucepan, add one can of cream of chicken soup, and 4 more cups of water, stir till the cream of chicken is combined, let simmer for 7-10 minutes. 

    -Add three tablespoons cornstarch and enough water to make the cornstarch not thick but not runny. Mix well in a bowl before adding to the gravy. Add to the gravy stirring the whole time and add till its to your liking of gravy. let simmer 2 minutes, taste and add any other seasons. 

Cooking Note: I always flavor it more after I have added the cornstarch, because it mutes your flavors just slightly. And its hard to judge what it will really taste like before the cornstarch.

     Your gravy is now done!!!

     It tasted amazing!! I am not a big chicken person, and was worried about the chicken being dry, but it was very tender and most. I ate a lot of it, I may have to make more taters because I made a lot of gravy.

Better then Sex.....

.....Cake!!

    At my bridal shower my cousin gave me the recipe and ingedents to Better Than Sex Cake, I have been putting off making it because one, I didn't have vegetable oil, and two, I didn't have the time. Well today I made it and let me just say Matthew and I ate half of it in one sitting and drank 1/4 of a gallon of milk.

Here is how it is made

Take:
1 devils food box cake
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 hershey's caramel sauce
1 bag toffee chips
Whipped cream

Make and cook cake as directed in a 9x13 pan.
Take out and cool slightly, poke cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Pour sweetened condensed milk over cake, make sure that it goes in the holes. Then cover with caramel sauce, sprinkle toffee chips over the top of the cake and let cook.
Serve with whipped cream and a tall glass of milk.

Serves 2 (believe me, once you try it, you won't want to share it.)

Nutella......

   I was in search of a homemade Nutella recipe, I have been craving it and I wanted to price homemade vs store bought.

Here is the recipe that I found.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups (8 ounces) hazelnuts
1 cup powdered sugar
⅓ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread the hazelnuts out on a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until dark brown and fragrant, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking. Keep a close eye on them, as they can go from perfect roasted to burnt in a short amount of time. Transfer the hazelnuts to a medium-sized bowl.

2. Once the hazelnuts are cool enough to handle, place a second bowl upside-down on top of the bowl with the hazelnuts. Shake vigorously for about 30 seconds to remove the skins of the hazelnuts. It may take a few times to get all of the skins off; each time, remove the hazelnuts that have lost their skin to the bowl of a food processor, then continue shaking.

3. Process the hazelnuts in a food processor until their oil is released and they form a smooth, loose paste, 2 to 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl often.

4. Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, hazelnut oil, vanilla extract and salt and process until fully incorporated, scraping the bowl as needed, about 2 minutes. The mixture will loosen and become glossy. Transfer the spread to a jar with a tight-fitting lid or an airtight container. You can store it in the refrigerator or at room temperature for up to 1 month.

Notes:

• If you want to do away with having to remove the hazelnut skins, you could purchase blanched hazelnuts, which I might try next time.
• I was not able to find hazelnut oil at any local grocery stores (including Whole Foods), so I ended up ordering it from Nuts.com. You could substitute walnut oil or vegetable oil, but the hazelnut oil really helps give the spread a silky smooth texture.
• You can substitute regular unsweetened cocoa powder for the Dutch-processed cocoa powder.

(Recipe adapted from The America's Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook)

This recipe was found on a blog called http://www.browneyedbaker.com/ It is sooo cute and she has some other amazing recipes and I can't wait to try.

I can't wait to get baking!

Cream of Mushroom and Rice Soup

Today I made a super yummy soup!! I wanted to use up some of the leftovers in the fridge so here is what I came up with.

Cream of Mushroom and Rice Soup.

2 can cream of mushroom
1 can green beans
1 can corn
4-6 cups milk
8 oz bag of broccoli cuts
3 cups cooked white rice
salt
garlic powder
onion powder
pepper

Put everything but the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper, into a crock pot, mix well. Add milk, thin to your liking. Add as much as you think is necessary of the seasonings. (Matthew said that next time I should put the onion in it, he said it was to strong, I couldn't taste it)

Let it cook for three hours.

When hot, and broccoli is done, serve with cheese and bacon.

Serves 6-8