Loaded Hash Browns

I became obsessed with these hash browns toward the end of my Whole33. They're easy/quick enough to make whenever the desire strikes. (Daily, in my case.)

Loaded Hash Browns

2-3 tbs olive oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 medium (2 small) yukon gold potatoes, grated and squeezed of excess water
2 big handfuls of baby spinach, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a large non-stick skillet, heat 2 tbs olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and red pepper, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. Add grated potato, season with salt and pepper, and stir together. Let cook and brown, stirring every few minutes, until nicely browned, about 7-10 minutes. Stir in spinach and wilt slightly. Turn out onto a plate and devour with scrambled or fried eggs.

Chicken and Zucchini

This is another Whole30 favorite. It's super simple, but super delicious. 

Chicken and Zucchini

3-4 tbs olive oil

1 lb chicken (breasts, thighs, or tenders) cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 onion, sliced

2 medium zucchini, cut into circles or half-moons

salt

pepper

cayenne pepper (optional)

Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, salt and pepper. When onion starts to soften, but not brown, add chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken just starts to brown. Add zucchini, more oil, if neccessary, and season with salt, pepper, and cayenne, if using. Cook until chicken and zucchini are nicely browned and chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. 

Whole30 Meatballs

Whole30 Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1 egg
2 tbs finely ground almonds (ground in the food processor)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine egg, almonds, and seasonings and mix well. Add ground beef and mix just until everything is incorporated. Roll into uniform sized meatballs and place on a baking sheet. Place in freezer for about 15 minutes. Drizzle meatballs with olive oil and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until well browned and cooked through.

Pizza (or anything!) Rolls

Remember those delicious little Garlic Knots I came up with? I've become a bit obsessed with them, but my kids aren't complaining. I love to make them for a quick bread to go with dinner, but lately I've been stuffing them with various ingredients and giving them to the kids for lunch.
Again, no complaints. Except that time I used spinach. (I ended up eating those, of course.)

Pizza (or anything!) Rolls

1 pizza crust (homemade or store bought)

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

ham, pepperoni, chopped fresh spinach, etc.
1/2 stick butter, melted
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a standard sized muffin tin with cooking spray. Tear the pizza dough into 12 pieces and flatten each piece into a circle. Stuff with cheese, pepperoni, ham, spinach, etc. Pinch the dough together to completely cover the ingredients. Place roll, seam side down, in the muffin tin. Top generously with melted butter. Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. 

Shredded Beef Taquitos

Back when I used to watch Glee, there was an episode about "mash-ups;" two songs put together to make a new song. Consider this your recipe mash-up. It's a keeper.

Shredded Beef Taquitos
makes 20, or more

20 small flour tortillas
1 recipe- Ridiculously Easy Shredded Beef (see below)
grated pepper jack cheese
canola or olive oil

Ridiculously Easy (and versatile!) Shredded Beef

2 pounds cubed chuck meat for stew
salt and pepper
1/2 cup barbecue sauce- the finished product did not end up tasting overwhelmingly like barbecue
1/2 cup water

Combine ingredients in crock-pot. Cover and cook on high 4 hours, until tender when pierced with a fork.
After 4 hours, remove meat from crock-pot with a slotted spoon. Add to the bowl of a Kitchen-Aid mixer fitted with the paddle. Mix on low speed until meat is shredded.

For taquitos: 
Heat tortillas in microwave in batches of 4 or 5, for 30-40 seconds.
When all tortillas are warmed, start assembling. Spread about 1 tbs. of shredded beef onto tortillas, top with about 2 tsp. of cheese. Roll up, place seam side down on baking sheet. Repeat until all the tortillas are filled.
Bake 15-18 minutes at 425, or until browned and crispy.
Serve with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.

Bacon (or Sausage), Egg, and Cheese Muffins

Early last Sunday morning, I was serving breakfast to the 14 people who make up our church Leadership Team. So Saturday evening, I was preparing said breakfast, so that I didn't have to wake up any earlier than necessary. I was bringing yogurt, granola, and fruit to make parfaits, muffins, and mini-donuts for any kids who might be there, but I knew that if it were me, I would want something savory and something substantial. I'm not a huge breakfast casserole fan, plus they take forever to cook, so I ruled that out. I finally landed upon the best solution: a riff on the Sausage Biscuit Things that my boys always loved.
On Saturday, I fried bacon, browned sausage, and scrambled eggs. I had stumbled upon the most awesome creation ever, crescent roll sheets. Have you seen these? A thing of beauty, I tell you. They made this breakfast almost too easy.

Bacon (or Sausage), Egg, and Cheese Muffins

2 packages crescent dough sheets

4-5 slices bacon, cut into small pieces, fried to crispy perfection

1/2 pound breakfast sausage, fully cooked

6 eggs, scrambled

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 2 standard sized muffin tins with non-stick spray. Onto a lightly floured surface, or a plastic cutting board, unroll one package of crescent dough. Distribute half of the scrambled eggs evenly across the dough, then the bacon, then 1/2 cup cheese. Roll up the dough "jelly-roll" style. Cut the log in half, then half again, and into 12 equal pieces. Place 1 piece in each section of the muffin tin. 

Repeat the process with the remaining dough, using the breakfast sausage, remaining eggs, and remaining cheese. (If making these ahead, simply cover the pans with plastic wrap or foil, park them in the fridge overnight, and bake them the next morning!)

Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. 

Garlic Knots

We had some delightful friends over for pizza last week. I used Pioneer Woman's crust this time around, as opposed to my old standby. PW's was delicious, and probably my new go-to. I doubled the recipe, and got 4 crusts out of the dough. However, I guess I was a bit too generous (if there is such a thing) with the cheese, because I ran out after topping 3 pizzas. So I stuck the last of the dough in the freezer to use another day. Well, "another day" became the next day, when I thawed the dough out and made these garlic knots (so called because they are similar to the garlic knots we've had from a pizza place in my in-laws town) to serve with spaghetti.
They got rave reviews. They might just be an excuse for making extra pizza dough next time.

Garlic Knots

1 pizza crust (homemade or store bought)

1/2 stick butter, melted

garlic salt, to taste

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a standard sized muffin tin with cooking spray. Tear the pizza dough into pieces and place in the muffin tin, using 2-3 pieces in each cup. Top generously with melted butter, sprinkle with garlic salt to taste. Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Top with additional melted butter when they come out of the oven. 

Whole30- Day 9

Game-changer: unlike russets, sweet potatoes don't oxidize right away, so you can grate them beforehand and make your hash browns later. Love.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, sweet potato hash brown (made in the skillet because my waffle iron is in need of repair after so much use), iced coffee.

The kids and I went shopping with Grannie and she bought them Happy Meals on the way home. After I dropped her off, I made myself a chicken and sweet potato hash. It was a delicious way to use up a bunch of stuff in the fridge. I even tossed in some prepped cauliflower and didn't even know it was there.

For dinner, we headed to a friend's' house for a cookout. Lots of people, lots of food, but plenty of options for me. I had a burger topped with guacamole wrapped in lettuce. It was awesome! Baby carrots and watermelon kept me from even desiring a s'more. (Lie. That's a lie. I wanted six.)

Of course, it's somewhat easy to stay motivated when multiple people there read my blog and were asking questions (and watching!).

Chicken and Sweet Potato Hash

cooked chicken (I was out of leftovers, but I had chicken cutlets that I cut into bite-sized pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked through in olive oil. I removed it from the pan before I moved on to the veggies.)
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet potato, grated
kale or spinach

In a large non-stick skillet heat 2 tbs olive oil over medium heat. Cook chicken through and remove from pan, or, if using cooked chicken, start with veggies. Add onion and pepper, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add sweet potato and another tbs of olive oil if necessary, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add kale or spinach and cook slightly, about 2-3 minutes. Add chicken back into pan to warm through. Check for seasoning.

Whole30- Day 8

Confession time- last night I told my husband that I want to quit. Not because it's too hard (it's really not!), not because I'm tired of the food, not because I miss crackers and cheese. I wanted to quit...just because. It would just be easier to not do this anymore.

I've been at this for a week now. And I feel like I've learned a lot in one week- about my eating habits, the mindless eating I wasn't completely aware of before, my problem areas and triggers. Why do it for a month? He lovingly reminded me that I wanted to do this mainly to see if I would stick with it.
For 30 days. Not 7. Then he encouraged me to think about how much I've learned in this week and then multiply that by 3, as I've got 3 weeks to go.

And just like that, I'm back in the game.

(Confession 2- I stepped on the scale today. I'm not supposed to do that until the 30 days are over. I've lost 5 pounds.)

This morning, I just didn't want to put forth the effort of eggs and hash browns, so I had a banana with coconut cream, cinnamon, and almonds. (Notice I didn't call it a banana split. Not for breakfast!) I drank my coffee black. I knew that sweet breakfast wouldn't tide me over until lunch, and I was right. We spent a good 2 hours at the library and I was very hungry when we got home.

So lunch became a plate of piles. A pile of sweet potato hash browns, a pile of veggies, a pile of spaghetti sauce. Hearty and satisfying and it cleaned out the fridge a bit. Win, win.

Immediately after I finished lunch, I felt light-headed and had a headache coming on. I assumed I hadn't had enough protein today. So instead of popping some Advil, I grabbed some cold chicken from the fridge. Between that and lying down with my daughter, I hoped to catch it before my headache got bad.

It got bad. I tried some afternoon coffee. I tried more protein (chicken and avocado dressing lettuce wrap). I tried lots of water. I ate more lettuce wraps for dinner, heavy on the chicken. Eventually, I gave up and took an Imitrex, which worked, thankfully.

I want Whole30 to be a magic pill that makes my headaches go away forever. That's probably too much to expect at all, but especially 8 days in.

I found myself seeking comfort (?) in something sweet, so I whipped up some "ice cream." (I tried again with that whipped sorbet and it worked, after the berries thawed out a bit!) It was delicious, but I think I need to start paying more attention to the food I'm seeking out. (Obvious statement.)

Berry Coconut "Ice Cream"

frozen blueberries, slightly thawed

frozen strawberries, slightly thawed

coconut cream

Combine berries in food processor and blend well. Add coconut cream, mix well and serve immediately. 

Whole30- Day 7

I have knocked it out of the park today. My food has been so good. So no more talking, here's what I've eaten.

Breakfast- fried eggs (a la yesterday's) and a sweet potato hash brown. A match made in heaven.

After breakfast, while the kids played Wii, I prepped the stir-fry ingredients for dinner. It will be such a relief to be able to just throw everything in the skillet when the time comes. I'm learning that preparation is key with Whole30. If I get hungry, I want to grab something immediately. 

Lunch- I knew it would be a salad. I bought a lot of lettuce and have yet to use it. But I'm really not a salad fan. When I saw my avocados threatening to over-ripen on the counter, I remembered this salad with avocado dressing. Perfect! But with no cheese and no chips, would it be anything more than chicken on lettuce? No. That's boring. So I didn't go tex-mex with this salad. I went classic chicken salad. I added some halved grapes and a handful of chopped almonds. Delicious!!

Dinner- Chicken stir-fry with lots of veggies and cauliflower "rice." I'm not going to lie- I was scared of this. When I prepped it this morning, my son kept complaining about how smelly his sister was. He was begging me to change her diaper. I assured him that it wasn't her, it was mommy's dinner. That didn't bode well.

Let me say this- cauliflower rice is not rice. However, in the context of a stir-fry, it's not bad. The texture was more like couscous, and it didn't taste overwhelmingly like cauliflower. I ate every last bite. I sauteed mine with onion and red pepper, then stir-fried chicken thighs, onion, carrot, garlic, ginger, and snap peas in another pan. I made a sauce with clementine zest and juice, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and a bit of water. I expected both my husband and I to miss the soy sauce, but neither of us did. 

I didn't actually cook all of the cauliflower, and have more "rice" to use later in the week. A couple of friends mentioned cauliflower garlic "mashed potatoes," so I might try that another night. 

Chicken Salad for the Mayo-Hater (like me)

lettuce
cooked chicken
halved grapes
sliced celery
chopped green onions
chopped roasted almonds
salt and pepper

Avocado Dressing

1 large avocado
juice of 1 small lemon
2 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper
water

In a blender, puree avocado with lemon juice, olive oil and enough water to make a creamy consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper (and cayenne, if desired) and blend well.

Combine all ingredients (adjust the amounts accordingly, you might not need all the dressing.)  and toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Whole30- Day 1

So I drank my iced coffee black (and enjoyed it) and fried my eggs in extra-virgin olive oil instead of butter. I missed the taste of butter, but I survived. I usually eat buttered toast with my eggs in the morning, but again, I survived. Praise God that I've been eating eggs for breakfast for the past 5 months instead of my old usual, peanut butter toast with honey. That would have made for a harder transition.

Lunch was a big pot of veggie soup for me. I started with my friend Rachel's Minestrone recipe, using what I had and leaving out what I had to (pasta and beans, for example). I was surprised that eating two big bowls of really hot soup wasn't impossible to do in 90 degree Oklahoma. Triple-digit-degree Oklahoma? That's probably another story.
I had been to Sprout's the day before and got some swiss chard, fully intending to use it up the way I did last summer. Alas, it went into the soup. Sure, I wanted some Parmesan cheese on top and some crusty bread on the side, but the soup was good.

My afternoon snack was a delicious, huge bowl of fresh mixed berries. I am a genius for trying this at the height of berry season. 

Granted, a moment of weakness ensued when I was getting the kids their snacks. I had to force myself to put the peanut-covered spoon straight into the sink instead of licking it clean first. A quick text to a friend and she let me know I had seriously only just begun. 

I knew I was making chicken nuggets for dinner. And I knew that the last few times I made them, I ate the browned and crispy panko bread crumbs left behind in the pan by the fistful. But it wasn't a big deal to make them for everyone else and just saute my unbreaded chicken. I steamed some snap peas for my husband and I, added some brown rice to his plate and more berries to mine. Delicious. 

My food so far has been simple and delicious. Remember, I only just read about this whole plan the day before, so I haven't researched recipes, shopped for ingredients, or planned out the rest of the week. I'm trying not to make this more of a shock to my life-style than it has to be. So taking what I have, using it simply, and enjoying it? I can do that. 

Day 1 was a cinch. 

Veggie Soup

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 quarts (8 cups) chicken stock 

1 can diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 sprig fresh rosemary

3 medium zucchini, sliced

1 bunch swiss chard, sliced lengthwise and then into ribbons

salt and pepper

olive oil

In a large pot over medium low heat, warm about 1 tbs olive oil. Add garlic and onion and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add carrot and celery, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. 

Add chicken stock, tomatoes, bay leaves, and rosemary and increase heat to medium. Bring to a boil, lower the heat back to medium low, and add the zucchini. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the swiss chard and let wilt slightly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Mondays with Mom- Fiesta Time

Mexican food will probably always make me think of my mom. We ate it often, at home and in restaurants. Growing up, there was a little place by our church and we ate there every other week. My sister remembers me eating the butter packets placed on the table to spread on tortillas (I still deny this) and I remember her ordering chicken fingers at a Mexican restaurant (she cannot deny this). 

Our family tradition is to eat Mexican food every year on Christmas Eve. No turkey or ham for us, just enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas, even homemade tamales one year. It's a pretty special feeling on Christmas Eve, knowing that my family in California is celebrating in the same manner. 

We ate a lot of Mexican food at home, as well. Mom would usually buy a Taco Bell taco kit from the store and a block of frozen hamburger meat was transformed into a fiesta by the end of the day. My dad works for Frito-Lay, so we always had plenty of chips, salsa, and queso to round out the meal. Taco night is a favorite at our house, as well. I love it because it's one of the quickest meals to get on the table, and yet it always looks like such an elaborate spread of food. 

I also love it because no other meal gets my oldest picky eater to voluntarily add lettuce and tomato to his plate. 

I forgo the boxed kit and packaged taco seasoning but usually have crunchy shells for the kiddos. If I feel fancy, I'll make flour tortillas. Rice and beans, guacamole for me, and everyone ends up happy and full. If I've learned anything from this blog series about feeding a family, it is this: my mom knew what she was doing. 

Taco Seasoning
To season 1 lb of hamburger meat:

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbs chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp oregano

Brown and drain your meat, then add seasonings and a couple of tablespoons of water. Stir well to combine and distribute the seasoning throughout.

Mondays With Mom- The Weekly Shake and Bake

My Mom always had to work, but she always took a job that would allow her to be home when my sister and I got out of school. For a few years, she even worked in the cafeteria of my elementary school. I was never embarrassed to see her there, in her hairnet. She was hilarious and all my friends loved her. It wasn't until a sociology class in college, while researching my family's educational history, that I learned that my mom had two master's degrees and was pretty wicked smaht. She had been an educator most of her life, so slopping mashed potatoes on an endless line of plastic trays was a truly sacrificial move on her part.

Throughout my childhood, in the mornings, mom would grab some kind of meat out of the deep freezer and set in the sink to thaw throughout the day. Not in a sink filled with cold water, just the sink. When I commented on this when I became an adult who cooked and who knew that this really wasn't a safe way to thaw out meat, she responded, "Nothing bad ever happened, right?"
I don't remember a lot of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which are a staple in my house today. I remember a lot of pork chops. I'm sure they were a cheaper option. If there were pork chops in the sink, you could count on one thing for supper- Shake and Bake. I loved Shake and Bake nights, because of course, I helped!

These days, I still rely heavily on a weekly dose of "shake and bake" chicken. 25 minutes in the oven, a side of brown rice and some veggies? Done. And everyone loves it. Growing up, the cast of characters would have included a bag of Lipton Rice and a salad. There was always salad on the table. 

Crispy Rosemary Chicken is my go-to version of mom's weekly favorite. It requires little more effort than the boxed variety and it tastes infinitely better. This meal has completely taken the place of Parmesan Chicken as my family's favorite meal.  

I think mom would have loved it. I'm willing to bet your family will, as well. 

Roasted Sausages and Vegetables

AKA- The night that Facebook saved dinner.

I bought some Italian sausage because it was on sale and I had a coupon which doubled. Cheap dinner is always a good idea. I usually use it to jazz up our standard cheese pizza, but I didn't want to walk back over to the opposite side of the grocery store to get mozzarella cheese. So last night, the sausage was staring me in the face, taunting my nearly empty fridge and cabinets. I turned to my friends on Facebook for inspiration. What we hit on was, in a word, success. An easy, delicious, success. You can basically throw whatever you have in here and it will probably taste pretty darn good.

Roasted Sausages and Vegetables

1 package Italian sausage links, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 russet potato, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 large carrots, peeled, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
fresh rosemary or thyme, if you have any- I had rosemary

Preheat oven to 400. In a baking dish or on a large baking sheet, toss together the vegetables with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Place the sausage pieces on top, along with 3 sprigs of rosemary (I didn't even strip the leaves off the stems- just threw the whole thing in there!). Roast for 30 minutes, stirring everything about half way through the cooking time, until the sausage is cooked through, the veggies are softened and starting to caramelize beautifully.
Serve with Easy French Bread.

Veggie Spaghetti

My kids LOVE Daniel Tiger. Perhaps I should be able to appreciate him a bit more, as I did grow up on Mr. Roger's, but I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Daniel. (Mostly hate.) For the most part, the show annoys me. The songs are so catchy, I sometimes find myself singing them in the middle of the night. But I have Daniel to thank for one of my kids most requested meals- Veggie Spaghetti. "You've got to try new food, cause it might taste good!"  That's the song my boys sing to one another on a regular basis. And this Veggie Spaghetti has them eating more vegetables in one meal (and without complaint) than anything else I've ever tried.  Sing on, Daniel. Sing on. 

Veggie Spaghetti

1 box whole wheat pasta
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
1 medium carrot, cut into pieces
1 stalk celery, cut into pieces
1/2 cup fresh spinach
3/4 - 1 lb ground beef
2 tbs tomato paste
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried tarragon
1/4 tsp dried basil

Put a big old pot of water on to boil for your pasta.
Place 2 tbs olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. In a food processor (I only have a mini-chopper, and it works fine. Sometimes I have to do this in batches.), combine garlic, onion, carrot, celery, and spinach. Pulse until everything is finely minced. Add mixture to the pan with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste and let the veggies soften, about 3 minutes. Add the ground beef, season again with salt and pepper and cook until meat is no longer pink- 7-10 minutes. When meat is browned, add the tomato paste and stir to distribute it. Add the crushed tomatoes, sugar, and dried herbs. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over low heat while the pasta cooks- about 10-15 minutes.
Drain the pasta, top with the veggie-fied sauce and parmesan cheese.
Serve with the world's best French Bread.

Ridiculously Easy Shredded Beef

The meat was thawed, but I just wasn't motivated to make our favorite Beef Stew. So I threw it in the crock-pot at around 2:00. By 6:30, we were all devouring the easiest, most mindless after-thought of a dinner ever. 

Ridiculously Easy (and versatile!) Shredded Beef

2 pounds cubed chuck meat for stew
salt and pepper
1/2 cup barbecue sauce- the finished product did not end up tasting overwhelmingly like barbecue
1/2 cup water

Combine ingredients in crock-pot. Cover and cook on high 4 hours, until tender when pierced with a fork.
After 4 hours, remove meat from crock-pot with a slotted spoon. Add to the bowl of a Kitchen-Aid mixer fitted with the paddle. Mix on low speed until meat is shredded.

Serving ideas-
*Scoop into a hot dog or hamburger bun. Top with more barbecue sauce, ketchup, or mustard.
*Use for a taco or taquito filling, or top nachos with it!- I used it for nachos at lunch today and will definitely try it in taquitos soon!
*Stuff a baked potato with the shredded beef and top with cheese! YUM.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Noodles

Chicken Noodle Soup is about as basic as it gets, right?  Even the simplest of homemade versions is infinitely superior to anything out of a can.  Even so, I've been bored with mine for a while now.  So to amp it up a bit, I scoured the Internet for a homemade noodle recipe and tried the first one I found.  Egg noodles from a bag will never again float in my chicken noodle soup.  (Well, never say never.  But these are really, really good and well worth the effort.)  

Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Noodles

noodle recipe adapted from eHow

For noodles:

2 large eggs

4 tbs heavy cream (I used half and half- I'm sure you can use whole milk and they'll be fine)

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, then slowly add the cream and salt.  Add flour to the egg mixture, about half a cup at a time.  Blend well with a fork or pastry cutter.  Continue to mix with a fork or by hand until smooth.  On a floured surface, divide the dough into two balls.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is as thin as possible.  

Slice dough into thin strips, using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife.  Cut those strips into 2 inch lengths.  Place the dough strips on wax paper.  Allow to dry at room temperature for 30 minutes.  (Don't do what I did and assume they'll be fine if they overlap a bit.  They won't.  They'll stick together and you'll lose quite a few noodles this way.)

For the soup:
12 cups chicken stock- preferably homemade (I only had 8 cups so I used 4 cups of water and added more salt and pepper to the end result)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 dry bay leaf
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
salt and pepper to taste
parsley to finish, if your family doesn't scream at the sight of green things in their soup

In your biggest pot, heat 2 tbs olive oil over medium-low.  Add carrots and celery and season with salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Add chicken stock and bay leaf and raise heat to medium-high.  Bring to a boil.  Add noodles to the boiling broth and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.  Add chicken and warm through, about 2 minutes more.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove bay leaf. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

(My soup pictured above is obviously veggie-free, simply because my house was veggie-free that day.  Even so, that bowl of chicken, broth, and homemade noodles is probably the best bowl of soup I've ever had.)  

Carino's Chicken Milano

If you knew the whole story of our first date, you'd be as amazed as I am that my husband and I are actually married.  For now, suffice it to say I was an immature 20 year old who had literally never been on a date.  We went to Carino's Italian and my future husband ordered the same thing he always gets (a habit he has most places we go)- Chicken Milano with Fettuccine Alfredo on the side.  I can't remember the last time we ate at Carino's, so when I asked him yesterday if he wanted Parmesan Chicken for dinner (for the 1,000th time) or Chicken Milano, he excitedly answered the latter.  Here's my riff on one of his favorites.  

Carino's Chicken Milano

serves 4, but easily adjusted

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 thin slices ham

1/2 cup shredded cheese- provolone or mozzarella

12 leaves fresh basil

2 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper 

Prepare your chicken by making "pockets" for the filling: Holding chicken flat on your cutting board with palm of one hand, make an incision in thicker side of each breast with a paring knife. Carefully pivot the knife to create a deep pocket, keeping the other side of the chicken breast intact.  If you do what I did and poke a hole in the bottom of the chicken, simply layer in your ham first so the cheese doesn't ooze out.  Fill the pocket with one slice of ham, about 2 tbs cheese, and 3 basil leaves.  Fill each chicken breast and season both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook until browned on both sides, 6 to 7 minutes per side.
Cover skillet, and continue cooking until chicken is opaque throughout and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 160 degrees. about 5 minutes more.  When your chicken is finished cooking, you will be left with a beautiful pan full of browned bits and lots of goodness.  Feel free to add a 1/2 cup of chicken stock or white wine to that pan and let it bubble and reduce a bit and then spoon it over the chicken. 

Serve with Fettuccine Alfredo and thank the Lord on my behalf that my husband still wanted to marry me after that horrendous first date. 

Crispy Rosemary Chicken

These simple baked chicken thighs are becoming a staple in our house and are almost always met with the same reaction from the husband, "Is that Shake and Bake?"  While I grew up on a steady diet of Shake and Bake and turned out just fine, I assure you that these little beauties have substantially better flavor and require no more effort than their boxed counterpart.  Try them out and let me know what you think!  And Katherine, I've included the freezer-friendly instructions for you!  

Crispy Rosemary Chicken

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 1 large lemon (or 3 tbs red wine vinegar)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped
1- 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper

In a large baking pan or a ziploc bag, combine olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Stir together and mix well.  Add chicken thighs and let marinate 30 minutes at room temperature, or up to 2 hours in the fridge.  Preheat oven to 375.  Pour the breadcrumbs onto a plate and season with salt and pepper.  Remove the chicken from the marinade and coat both sides in the breadcrumbs.  **At this point, you can move the chicken to a cooling rack set over a baking sheet and move the whole thing to the freezer.  Allow the chicken to freeze completely on the rack, about 3-4 hours.  After that time, remove the chicken and place in a clean ziploc bag and stash in the freezer for dinner another night!**
Place chicken on a foil-lined baking sheet.   Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through and gorgeously brown and crunchy.
**If baking from frozen, simply up the cooking time by about 10-15 minutes!**

Homemade Dried Breadcrumbs

I've finally stopped eating the heels of the loaves of our bread.  I realized that "sacrificing" in this way was really pointless and I could partake of the regular bread for my morning toast.  But I always hesitated to throw them away.   Surely I'll make breadcrumbs...someday?  That hesitation became utter motivation one day when my "ingenious" boys tried to use the entire loaf of bread as a step stool in order to reach the peanut butter.  They succeeded in ruining an entire loaf of bread.  That loaf went into the freezer and, today, became dried breadcrumbs.  (And eventually, our chicken nuggets.)

Homemade Dried Breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 275.  

Start by tearing your bread (heels, inside pieces, whatever you have- crust and all!) into pieces and placing them into a food processor.  I only have a mini-chopper, so I have to do this in batches.  Pulse until you have fine crumbs.  Spread your breadcrumbs into a single layer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  

Bake breadcrumbs for 30-45 minutes, turning the crumbs every 10 minutes, until they are dried out and lightly golden.  Your time will vary depending on how much bread you use.  My 3/4 of a loaf of bread took a full 45 minutes, at which point I turned off the oven but left the pan of crumbs in there to finish drying out while I put kiddos down for naps.  

Place your breadcrumbs in a ziploc and bag and freeze it!  Pull them out whenever you need breadcrumbs for your favorite chicken nuggets or weeknight chicken dish.