Cin-fu Peach Cobbler

(Photo from Food Network)

Cin-ful Peach Cobbler by Guy Fieri

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/cin-ful-peach-cobbler-recipe/index.html

This is SOOO good! I forgot to thaw the peaches and it still turned out wonderful! Try this - it's pretty easy and perfect to put in while you make and eat dinner!! Great for company too!

Ingredients

For the peach filling:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 cups frozen peaches, thawed, about 3 pounds prepared
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon butter

For the crumb topping:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 8 pieces
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving
Special Equipment: 12 by 8-inch oval stoneware dish or 13 by 9-inch rectangular glass or stoneware dish

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

To make the peach filling: In a large bowl, stir together sugars, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add peaches and gently toss to coat. Mix together cornstarch slurry and lemon juice and stir into peaches to incorporate. Butter a 12 by 8-inch oval dish and add peach mixture.

To make the crumb topping: In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients, add in butter pieces and combine with hands until crumbly.

Top peaches with half of the crumb topping. Place in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, then add remainder of the crumb topping. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F and bake until golden and bubbling, another 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Orange Chicken

I was hungry for orange chicken today so I did some internet searches and came up with something really good! The main recipe is from Melissa d'Arabian's new show "Ten Dollar Dinners" on the Food Network. It's actually REALLY good and super easy. Here's her recipe and then below I explained my changes. FYI - my version is actually a bit easier and cooks up really quickly:

Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange

Ingredients:
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
4 tablespoons honey

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Liberally salt and pepper the chicken breast halves. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and sear the chicken, skin side only, until brown and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the orange glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice concentrate, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste, over medium heat, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Turn the chicken over and brush each piece with the glaze. Turn the chicken skin side up and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, brushing on more glaze halfway through, about 15 minutes in total.

Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. Remove the chicken breast from the bone and slice the meat on the bias. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve.

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My changes:

I just took skinless boneless chicken and cut it into strips (like chicken tenders). I browned them on both sides, made the glaze (added a splash of soy sauce) and then poured the glaze into the chicken skillet. I let it simmer, covered, for about 5-7 minutes or until cooked completely. Then poured it all over the rice. This would be great served with broccoli too.


I do want to try her recipe, her way, though. I think the crispy skin would be a great addition for the flavor and texture. Let me know if you try her recipe with the skin on!

Italian Crockpot Chicken

My friend, Britni, makes this recipe and she says it's OH so good - plus super easy. Hopefully, I'll get a picture once I actually make it!

Here's the recipe:

1 can cream of chicken soup
4 chicken breasts (or i used a whole chicken)
1 envelope dry italian dressing seasonings


I put the soup on the bottom of the crock pot. I spread it out so it's evenly on the bottom. Then you put the chicken in and pour the seasonings on top. (When I did the whole chicken, I spooned some of the soup on top of the chicken and rubbed it in before I sprinkled on the seasonings.)Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.

**Variation -- to make it a little more creamy - many recipes call for 1 block of cream cheese. **

Thanks Brit for the yummy recipe!

Drunken Onion Chicken

So the pic isn't the best. It tastes good though!!

OMG - this is good! Again, this is another "let's throw stuff together and see how it turns out" dish. So no real recipe, sorry. Here's what I did:

Cream of Chicken soup and some White Wine (maybe like 2/3-1cup. I just poured in the rest of what was in the bottle) - mix together and pour in the bottom of a crockpot.

Take a packet of Onion Soup Mix and rub half of it (or so) over a whole raw chicken or chicken breasts. For the raw chicken - separate the skin from the flesh and stick some of the soup mix underneath the skin.

Put the chicken in the crockpot and spoon some of the cream of soup/wine mixture over the top. Sprinkle the other half of the onion soup mix over the top. Start the crockpot. Low for about 6 hours or high for 4 hours.

Carmelize onions. You can use some balsamic vinegar, wine or even a little bit of the soup mixture to deglaze the pan afterwards. Pour the onions and the juices over the top of the chicken.

Cook, then eat and enjoy. Sooooo good.

Mushroom Wine Chicken in a Carmelized Onion Sauce garnished with Spinach, Mushroom and Pine nuts

I was grocery shopping the other day and instead of getting a package of chicken breast, I noticed that they had whole raw chickens for 57 cents a pound. Not being able to resist a great deal, I ditched the breasts and grabbed a whole chicken for only $2.17. SCORE! :) Since I now had an entire chicken, we called up my brother and sister in law and they came to help us devour it. They thought it was pretty good so I thought I'd add it here in case I wanted to try it again. Or, of course, if any of my 4 followers ever wanted to try it! :) FYI - I didn't have a recipe for this - so I just threw a bunch of stuff together and hoped it turned out well. Here's what I did - sorry that it's so scatterbrained and not too too specific.

For the Crockpot chicken:

• 1 whole raw chicken (cleaned and gutted, of course)
• Whatever herbs you want mixed wtih some Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
• Salt and Pepper (with the herbs)
• A couple cloves of garlic (number of cloves depends on how much you like garlic)
• White Wine
• Can of "Cream of Mushroom" soup (can be any cream of soup if you don't want to do mushroom)

Directions:

First - take the cream of mushroom soup and mix 1- 1 1/2 cups of white wine (about a half bottle or so -- not a big deal, just eye ball it) together. Dump that in the crockpot.

Take the herbs that you want (I did rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper) and mix them together in a small bowl. Add some EVOO. Take the mixture and rub ALLLLL over the chicken -- both on the outside, inside the cavity, and then take some and rub it inbetween the skin and meat. Basically -give the chicken a good massage with the mixture. If you have fresh herbs, then stick a bunch in the cavity. Take the garlic and either stick it in the cavity or just drop it on the bottom of the crockpot.

Put the herb-massaged chicken in the crockpot. Turn on low for 6 -8 hours depending on the size of the chicken. Check it after 6 hours.



For the sauce (make about 20-30 minutes before you're ready to serve) :

• 1-2 whole onions (doesn't matter what kind - sweeter onions, like Walla Walla or Vidalia carmelize quicker than others, but you can use whatever you have)
• Some of the crockpot juice (just have a ladle ready so you can add as much or as little as you want) and some of the leftover white wine
• 1/2 - 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 2-3 good handfuls of fresh spinach
• Raw or roasted Pine nuts -- just for a little texture and garnish. You can have as much as or as little as you want.

Directions:

Carmelize the onions:

• Cut onions in half, then cut into half rings.
• Add EVOO and some butter to the pan on high heat. Heat until the oil ripples, but not burning the butter - turn heat to medium-low
• Add in onions, some salt, pepper and sugar (optional) and stir - watch and continue to stir until all the onions get a limp and browned all over - about 15-20 minutes.

Here's a couple good links on how to carmelize onions -- an article and a you tube demo:

• http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Caramelizing-Onions/Detail.aspx
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDdC-kCHSGg&feature=related

*If your pine nuts are raw - stick them on a baking sheet, add some EVOO, salt and pepper. Pop them into an oven on 300 or 350. Just watch them so they don't burn. About 5-10 minutes. Just keep checking on them and pull them whenever they're roasted. You can do this anytime too - so if you want to roast the pine nuts in advance - feel free to do so.

Once the onions are carmelized, add the mushrooms and a couple of ladles of the crockpot juice to deglaze the pan -- this will start a good sauce as well as pick up all that good stuff stuck to the bottom. Add as much as you'd like as you go along as well as adding some of the leftover white wine to thin it out if it's too rich. This is all to taste - so you just kind of gotta see what you like as it cooks. Cook for about 5 minutes or so.

Turn heat off, dump in the spinach and pine nuts. Stir until the spinach is wilted - about a minute.

Serve the chicken, sauce and whatever else you'd like! Angel hair pasta toseed in butter tastes great with this dish. Or you can do potatoes or veggies and garlic bread. Or whatever you want!

Enjoy!

****Next time, I want to try adding a can of cream of mushroom soup to the carmelized onions and crockpot juice so it makes more of a gravy. Let me know if you try it and how it works for you!

Caprese Lasagna

Otherwise known as Basil, Tomato and Mozzerella Lasagna! This was taken from Rachel Ray's show as part of her "Meals for a Steal" segment. It feeds 4 and came in for less than $9. I haven't made it yet, but I put it up here because I don't want to forget about it! :)

Check it out here and even watch her do the segment: http://rachelrayshow.com/food/recipes/caprese-lasagna/

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
A few grates fresh nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Half a bunch (about 30 leaves) basil, chopped
4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

Preperation

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Place a large saucepot over medium-heat and melt the butter. Add garlic to pan and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the butter and garlic, and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk the milk into the butter-flour mixture and bring up to a bubble. Add the nutmeg, season with salt and ground black pepper, and simmer until thickened, 3-4 minutes.

Assemble the lasagna by ladling a small amount (about 1/4 cup, just eyeball it) of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish and laying 3 lasagna noodles over the sauce. Top the noodles with a third of the sliced tomatoes, a third of the basil, 1/4 cup of sauce and a third of the shredded cheese. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, topping the lasagna off with a final layer of sauce and shredded cheese.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake the lasagna for 30 minutes. Remove the foil from the baking dish and bake another 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly. When ready to serve, top with remaining chopped basil leaves.

Dutch Almond Boterkoek

I made these cookie bars for our family reunion. Since the family's Dutch, I thought it would be fun to make something that fit the "theme". :)

They were pertty good -- really buttery. Perfect with some tea -- or any type of refreshing drink, because these puppies are RICH.

Super easy too. Here's the recipe and the link:

Dutch Almond Boterkoek
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dutch-Almond-Boterkoek/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease a 9 x 12 inch jelly roll pan . You can also use a 9 x13 inch rectangular baking pan.

Cream together the brown sugar and the butter or margarine. Add the almond extract.

Sift and add flour to the creamed sugar mixture. Mix well.

Separate the egg, and add the egg yolk to the dough. Mix again.

Press into the greased sponge roll tin, and glaze with the lightly-beaten egg white.

Sprinkle with flaked or slivered almonds.
Bake approx 20 minutes. When cool, cut into bars

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FYI's

I had to keep bake them for a little longer than the 20 minutes (like 5 or so longer). So after 20 min, just watch it.

The dough looks like hardly anything - esp for a 9X13 pan. Don't worry, you want it to be a little thinner so it'll cook all the way through. It rises just a little bit too.

The Almond extract -- it didn't make it taste very almond-y. So if you dn't like almond tasting stuff -- don't worry, it's not that strong. if you LIKE that taste, and want a stronger taste of it in the cookies, you can either use a little more extract or use Almond paste.

Enjoy!