I love Chicken!

I've been feeling anxious, restless, and uneasy about a lot of things lately and I don't want to post about it again because I'm beginning to hate reading what I've written. So for this post I am going to focus on one thing I love, love, love--- FOOD!

I love chicken. This is the easiest thing in the world to cook, it's very versatile, my kids and hubby love it, and it isn't too expensive. Perfect.

But since I am not a true-blue cook, with a bajillion recipes, and the experience and knowledge to create something from scratch (Mai? hehe), I had to search for possible new recipes. And here are some I found that look promising:

Chicken Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

6 Tablespoons butter
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (3 cups)
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups half and half or whole milk
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.

2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

3. Stir in the mushrooms and rosemary, cook until softened (about 5 min.). Stir in the flour until well blended.

4. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and the half and half or milk.

5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until sauce is thickened and smooth (about 5 min.).

6. Mix in the chicken and the cooked rice, combine well.

7. Pour into prepared pan.

8. Mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and 1 Tbsp. melted butter, stir well. Sprinkle on top of the chicken and rice mixture.

9. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Chicken Kiev

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
½ tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. minced fresh chives
½ tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup flour
1 large egg
1 ½ cups dry bread crumbs
½ cup oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Pound chicken between wax paper until it is the same thickness through out the breast, about 1/4 inch. Season with salt and pepper.

3. In a small bowl, combine butter, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the parsley, chives, garlic, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cream together until well mixed.

4. Divide the mixture evenly between the four chicken breasts, spread in center of each one. Roll the chicken up tightly and secure with a toothpick.

5. Place the flour in a shallow bowl. In a second shallow bowl, beat the egg with a fork.

6. In a third bowl, mix the bread crumbs with the other tablespoon of parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

7. Dredge each chicken breast in the flour, then dip into the egg, and roll in the bread crumbs.

8. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use tongs to place the chicken in the hot oil and fry until the bottom sides are brown (about 3-4 minutes). Turn and brown the other side of each chicken breast for 2-3 minutes.

9. Transfer chicken to a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts
4 Tablespoons oil
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound fettuccine

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 10 inch skillet.

2. Cut chicken breast into small strips, add salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until cooked through.

3. In a saucepan, melt the butter, then add the cream and Parmesan cheese.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Do not boil.

5. Mix chicken and Alfredo sauce together.

6. Cook fettuccine in 3 quarts boiling water. Drain, pour sauce and chicken over noodles.



OK, you all must have noticed a trend. Yes, I love creamy stuff. I am not a big fan of very tomato-ey dishes. I do like herbs, spices, butter, and olive oil though so I am not stuck on just cream. Now if only someone would tell me how to cut the proportions of these recipes in half.

Recipes courtesy of momswhothink.com.

Baby Food Update # 4

OK, my daughter is now a 1 year old and so I can now introduce more complex dishes. To be honest, I did this before my son turned one partly because his teeth came out early and so I felt more confident about his chewing powers (although baby's gums are really hardy apparently so I shouldn't have worried) and partly because I didn't know any better. With my daughter I was extra careful with textures and ingredients also because she is a lot more sensitive than my son, and thus more prone to allergic reactions. But, I feel confident now that she can handle more and different types of food. In fact she had a small portion of fettuccine carbonara over the weekend and it didn't seem to harm her. Plus, she loved it. So here are some dishes I am planning to introduce asap:

MEALS:

Fish and Veggie Parcel

12oz cod or other white fish
4oz mozzarella, grated
4tsp milk
2 carrots, peeled and grated
2 courgettes, grated
pinch freshly ground black pepper (optional)
few sprigs of dill

Pre-heat the oven to 350 deg F, 180 deg C.
Divide the fish into 4 equal pieces.
Cut 4 pieces of tin foil and place one piece of fish on each.
Add a little black pepper to each piece of fish.
Divide the carrots and courgettes equally between each parcel.
Do the same with the cheese.
Add 1tsp of milk to each parcel, plus a sprig of dill.
Wrap and seal the parcels and place on a baking tray.
Cook for 15 mins, then serve with mashed potatoes or brown rice.

Healthy Yogurt and Cottage Cheese Pasta

4oz green noodles
8oz plain yogurt
4oz cottage cheese
2oz scallions, chopped
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
1tbsp dill weed
2tsp fresh oregano, chopped
1tbsp butter

Cook the noodles according to the directions on the pack. Drain and set aside.
Combine the remaining ingredients (except for the butter) and puree in a food processor.
Warm through.
Stir the butter into the noodles, then toss the noodles with the yogurt sauce.


For finger food, I am thinking cheese sticks, peaches, and graham crackers. Oooh! I am excited!

(Baby food recipes courtesy of Homemade Baby Food Recipes)

Baby Food Update #3

Ok, I've been remiss on the updating, but not the food giving.

So, updates:
-my daughter has now eaten chicken, fish, pork, and beef, successfully. She liked the fish the least though but I think it might have been how I cooked it. I used Dory and steamed it with lemon,a bit of salt, and olive oil. I'll try another way for her next fish dish.
-she has also eaten a lot of fruit and veggies. Carrots, sweet potato, potato, squash, apples, banana, papaya, pineapple, green peas. She likes sweet potato and squash a lot. Next thing I'm going to add is broccoli for the veggies and pears for fruit.
-I am not pureeing anymore (thank goodness!). She needs to have clumps now so she can learn to chew well. Besides, she already has 6 teeth, plus she's turning 1 in a month. So it's time. She has also eaten some pita break and crackers. Oh, and yogurt. Which she loves. (She does not get that from me, for sure!)
-my 3 year old son broke out into a nasty rash a week ago and we figured it was food-related. How? Well, he had been suffering from a bad cough and according to hi doctor, this is a good time for allergies to highly allergenic food to surface, even if he had been eating the food without a problem in the past. Poor boy, I had to put him on a "bland" diet for a week. He was on fish and Nilaga. Funnily enough, he loved both, and ate a whole lot that entire week. (Now that is definitely from me!).
-I know the list of highly allergenic food items is long but here's a short list:

• chicken
  
• egg
• salted food
• chocolate
• food with preservatives (this was tough since everything is processed now)
• tomatoes
• dairy
• peanuts
  

You can find a more detailed list here.
-He's well now, and eating some of these foods again without a reaction. So, whew!

That's it for now. I am excited about some Halloween and Christmas baby/toddler food posts.

Baby Food Update #2

So the baby food thing has been going well. I now have the schedule pretty regularized. I make 2 kinds of food twice a week. Ok, I've only been doing this for about 2 weeks but so far so good. For my 2nd "dish" I decided to try a different meat. So I boiled some lean pork and pureed when it was cold. I added some sweet potato and papaya to it. It looked interesting but I can't say much for the taste. This is because, again, I don't like either sweet potato or papaya. But they are good for the digestion and my daughter's digestion is like mine, bad, so I decided it would be a good idea to give her this added fiber. The frozen cubes were a bit grainy and separated when thawed so I bought a tub of plain yogurt and mixed a couple of teaspoons into the mix. What do you know? It thickened right up. I made the consistency kind of chunky this time to get her to start chewing more. She didn't take to it as quickly as the chicken-squash-apple dish but she got into it eventually.
For my third "dish" I tried beef. Now this was a disaster! I followed the instructions from this great baby food site, wholesome baby food, for all my purees so I was confident that the beef would be just as good. It turned out stinky and not too great looking. I threw it away. I know, waste of food but I just couldn't bring myself to give that to my daughter. I will try it again though, with a few changes here and there. Updates on that to follow.
So for this week I made chicken again, primarily because this was the meat I had on hand. But to spruce it up I mixed it with sweet potato and pineapple. Perfect for the fiber again. Plus, the pineapple packs a lot of natural flavor. It actually seemed to me like the baby version of 'Pinyang Manok'. She loved it! I also added some rice to her dish, just before she was about to eat. She loved that too.
I am so pleased at how this is all going. I am thinking though that I want to add more flavor to the dishes so I am thinking of cooking the food before pureeing, meaning doing more than the regular boil. I am also thinking of a fish dish next. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all continues to go well.

Baby Food Resolution

I did my grocery shopping yesterday and was again struck by the lack of variety and high cost of baby food. This pushed me even more to begin my homemade baby food. I've listed what I need and these are:

1. blender
2. ice trays
3. fruit
4. meat
5. steamer
6. time

I have everything ready at home except the last number. Good thing I have a long weekend coming up. This will give me enough time to concentrate. I am confident that, once I get the hang of it, I won't need so much prep time.

Wish me luck!!

Baby Milk

My daughter is turning 9 months next week, just as my son turns 3. Wow! How fast time flies. I much prefer the after 6 month time for babies though because I've always been afraid of very fragile babies (even my own!). I've been having so much fun with her now, as she progresses from crawling to standing and as she learns new, unintelligible syllables everyday. On the nutrition side, I've always been worried. I worry that I am giving my baby too much of one thing and not enough of another. With my son, I tried to stay within the milk portions for his age and size and then to go all-natural soon after I received the go ahead signal to give solids. With my daughter, it is rediscovering all these facts again. I thought I would remember seeing as their ages aren't too far apart but, perhaps due to the CS or my natural lack of ability to retain details, I don't.
So I was pleased to find this simple milk chart online.

Since she gets 4 7 oz. bottles a day she's still within the acceptable range. I was thinking about giving her 3-4 8 oz bottles after she turns 9 months and I am happy that that too still is within the acceptable range. Yippee!!

A Lover of All Things Food

I love food. I really always have. And I love it more now that I have more confidence in my cooking and baking skills. My husband and friends encourage me whenever they give me positive feedback about a dish or a pastry I've tried out. And I love the fact that, so far, my son likes 95% of the things I whip up for him.

Most of all, I looooooooooove pasta. They are filling, varied, delicious, and easy to make. You can create almost any kind of tasty pasta dish with just a few basic ingredients . Often, when I have some down time at home and I am hungry, I turn to pasta to fill me up. My current favorite Pasta dish has a taste of the local with a splash of Italy. I was inspired by a dish I say my friend Ren and her boyfriend Joff eating one working day while I was roaming the mall on my lunch break.

I call it Black Olives and Tuyo (not very fancy huh?)

Ingredients:
Tuyo
Olive Oil
Black Olives, sliced
Pasta (Spaghetti or Fetuccine would do fine. I've only tried this with the ribbon pastas.)

In a non-stick pan, fry your tuyo in regular oil. When it is almost cooked, add Black olives and some Olive Oil. Turn off the heat and remove fish from the pan. Only use the meat of the fish but do not flake this too much as it is yummier with some chunks. Return to the pan with the oil and fish residue, no heat.
At the same time, boil some water in a pot. When boiling, add salt. Add pasta and cook al dente. Remove pasta and place in the pan with the fish meat and olives. Add a little more Olive Oil and heat through.

Serving size depends on how much you want to eat and proportions of the ingredients are according to personal taste. This is really yummy and easy to make.

Now, in the spirit of all things yummy, let me post 2 recipes that look really really good and, my favorite adjective when it comes to cooking- EASY as well.

I got this from Cooking with Amy, a really informative and interesting food blog.

Spaghetti with Walnuts and Anchovies (adapted from Adventures of an Italian Food Lover)
Serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a first course

2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3-4 filets of oil packed anchovies
2 Tablespoon chopped walnuts
pinch of chili flakes
3 Tablespoons minced parsley
8 ounces spaghetti

Heat the olive oil over low heat and cook the garlic until it softens and barely begins to color. Add the anchovies and mash until they dissolve into the oil. Add the walnuts, chili and parsley, stir and remove from the heat. Cook the pasta in boiling water until it is 3/4 of the way done.

Drain the pasta and reserve some cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce and cook over high heat, adding about 1/3 cup cooking water. Cook, adding more cooking liquid as needed, until the pasta is al dente.

Brie & Bacon Fettucine
serves 2 - 3 as a main dish or 4 as a starter

1/2 lb fettucine
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
2 strips of bacon, chopped
1/4 cup brie, rind removed
1/4 cup of pasta water (water the pasta has cooked in)
black pepper
parmesan cheese

In a large skillet saute the bacon and onion slowly over medium heat until bacon begins to crisp and onion is light brown. Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted water until al dente.

Take the pasta out of the water with tongs and place in the skillet with the onion and bacon. Add the brie. Toss with the pasta water. When the brie melts, add a good grind of black pepper and serve with a scant sprinkling of parmesan cheese on each serving.


I can't wait to try them out!!

As a bonus, I've included the recipe to my cocktail of the moment, the Mojito. I was inspired by Martini Moms. This drink doesn't really go with the Pasta recipes but it's a fabulous drink you can prepare anytime you need warmth and a buzz in a moment. Enjoy!

3 fresh mint sprigs
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz light white rum
club soda
ice

In a tall thin glass, crush part of the mint with a fork to coat the inside. Add the sugar and lime juice and stir thoroughly. Top with ice. Add rum and mix. Top off with *chilled* club soda (or seltzer). Add a lime slice and the remaining mint, and serve.

Kid Friendly Dish

I only discovered the joys of cooking and baking after I got married. I guess it really does make a difference when you have to cook. Anyway, since then I've been experimenting with different recipes for meals and desserts. My son's in the picky eater stage so finding recipes for kids that are easy to cook or bake is something that excites me no end. I saw this recipe on the Oprah website.

Brownies (with Carrot and Spinach)

Created by Jessica Seinfeld

From the book Deceptively DeliciousSM
Makes 12 brownies

These brownies fool everyone! You won't believe how scrumptious they are (or how good they are for you) until you make them yourself. Just don't serve them warm—it's not until they're completely cool that the spinach flavor totally disappears.

INGREDIENTS

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup carrot puree
• 1/2 cup spinach puree
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp. trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup oat flour or all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat an 8" x 8" baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame.

In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine and vanilla and whisk until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Whisk in egg whites. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

It looks good and easy to make. I think I will try it. I am hoping my son will like it.