Italian Chicken and Crusty French Bread

Posted on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 03:08

 A friend and I were talking the other night, and somehow the conversation turned to food.   I can't imagine why, LOL!  To tell the truth, food and I have a love affair lasting much longer than I care to remember.  Perhaps that is why I need to lose fifteen pounds or so!  Ah well, I digress!  I promised my friend I would post this recipe here for her, so here it is!

Italian Chicken

4 chicken breasts, halved, and skinless

1 bottle of Italian dressing of choice.

1 clove garlic

1 small onion sliced into rings

1 cup cornflakes, crushed

1 egg

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375

Divide chicken breast in half, and place in a gallon size baggie or large bowl with lid.  Cover with 2/3 bottle of Italian dressing, cover and let and let marinate in fridge overnight.  Save other 1/3 of Italian dressing for sauce.

Drain chicken, set aside.  Whisk egg and milk together, then dip chicken peices.  Coat with cornflake mixture.   Place in a shallow baking pan, coated with non-stick olive oil spray, or that of choice.  Cover with sliced onion rings and crushed garlic, being sure to evenly distribute over entirety of chicken. Bake until golden brown, and chicken is done, about 45 minutes to an hour.  Hint:  If the chicken coating is getting too brown for your taste, cover with tinfoil.

Sauce:

1/3 bottle of Italian dressing, about 6 ounces. 

 1tsp honey.

3 tblsp tomaoto paste.

Whisk ingredients together, until the sauce is creamy.  If you like, you can add another tsp of honey, for a sweeter taste.

Cook in microwave on high for about 1 minute.

Crusty French Bread

Ok, I have to admit, I cheat here, sometimes! 

1 loaf of French bread, divided

2tblsps butter, or margerine, softened

1 cup romamo or parmesian romano blend chesse

Place bread halves on a baking sheet, spread tops with softened butter and cheese and toast to a golden hue.

Serve with garden peas, sliced green beans, or salad. 

Delish!

Shrimp Gumbo, and Charleston Grits

Posted on Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 10:20

I love shrimp!  Like the guy on Forest Gump said, "fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, etc. etc. etc."  They make a wondeful meal all by themselves, with just a litle bit of cocktail sauce, but woo whee, there is no better eatin' than shrimp gumbo and Charleston grits! 

Every Southern woman has her own recipe for gumbo, I think, and I am no different.  Mine has been handed down by my grandmother, and tweaked to suit my family's unique taste buds.  I hope ya'll will enjoy it!  Happy tummy to you!

Shrimp Gumbo, Misty's Recipe

2lbs. deveined shrimp, medium sized.

2 medium or one large white onion, diced

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

2 20 oz. cans of diced tomatoes with juice

1 clove garlic, grated very fine

1 bay leaf

Salt and Pepper to taste

3 tablespoons sugar in the raw, or honey

2 or 3 dashes of a good hot sauce, or if ya'll are like us, 2 or 3 tblsps

In a six quart saucepot, bring four cups of water to a rolling boil, and boil shrimp just until pink.  Remove shrimp and save 1/2 of the water.  Place shrimp in fridge after they are done.    Bring water to boil again, adding all other ingredients.  Cook until peppers, and onions are soft, about 30 minutes, over a medium heat.  When veggies are fork tender, remove bay leaf, and allow to cool, until no longer boiling.  Add shrimp and cook for three to five minutes over medium heat.  If you add the shrimp for too long they become tough.

Serve over Charleston Grits or rice.

Charleston Grits.

2 cups of stone-ground yellow grits

4cups water

2tsps salt

1 1 /2 tblsp butter

1 tblsp sugar

Cook grits in water for twenty minutes over a medium-low heat.  If they come to a fast boil, turn the heat down some.  Stir often and if the water gets a little low, add 1 tblsp at a time, to keep at a smooth consistency.  When the grits are fluffy and a golden yellow hue, add a tblsp of sugar and one tblsp of good ole' butter. 

Serve hot, and enjoy!

Banana Butter

Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 10:10

Almost everyone has heard of Apple Butter.  It is a wonderful spread for toast, muffins and the like.  However, while doing my cleaning, I was going through my cookbooks, trying to decide which to keep, and I found a "banana butter'" recipe I just had to share.  I plan on making some Monday, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

This recipe comes from my BH&G Home Canning Cook Book, published in 1973.  This book is definitely a keeper!

BANANA BUTTER

3 1/2 lbs ripe bananas

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 cups sugar, (I would think you can use Splenda, as well)

1/2 cup marachino cherries, diced very small

1 tsp butter

Thoroughly mash bananas; measure four cups into a 4 to 6 quart dutch oven, or saucepan.  Add sugar, lemon juice, cherries, and butter; mix well.  Bring to a hard rolling boil, stiring constantly.  Reduce heat: and simmer very gently for twenty minutes, uncovered and stir often. Pour into hot sterilized jars, leaving a half-inch headspace.  Adjust and tighten lids.  Process in a boiling bath canner for ten minutes.  Makes six half pints.

Corn and Bacon Chowder

Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 09:20

This is one of my favorite cold weather soups.  Chock full of corn, and smoky bacon, it is a delicious way to fill a tummy that needs comfort food! 

This recipe makes eight good sized bowls of chowder.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole kernel corn

2 cups creamed corn

1 large red or white onion diced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced, and two stalks celery finely chopped

4 cups milk, or if you prefer, 3 cups half and half, with 1 cup water (The half and half makes a richer and heartier version, but I use milk because it has less fat)

12 slices of thick cut bacon, fried crispy and well drained, chopped into 1 inch slices

1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese, grated fine

In a large stock pot, over medium heat bring corn, onion, celery, carrots, and milk to a slow boil.  Cook, stirring often, until the soup begins to thicken, and veggies are fork tender. Remove from heat and add bacon.

Over a low heat, cook until the bacon is no longer crispy, but soft and tender, about thirty minutes.

Top individual bowls with cheddar cheese.

Some great variations can change this from a comfort food to a southwestern taste sensation!

Just add 1 cup diced red bell pepper, and 1 cup very finely diced jalapeno peppers to the veggie list. Then mix in  the  cheese while the bacon is completing its transition to soft. 

I like to serve cornbread, of flatbread with this recipe, and a cold chocolate pudding for dessert. 

My family loves this chowder, and it does, indeed, hit the comfort spot!

Enjoy!

The Homestead Kitchen, circa 1850! Be It Ever So Humble...

Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 11:34

  Hey, ya'll!  I thought I'd share some really cool information I found about the homestead kitchen, circa late 1800's, that is!  So come along wth me, as I explore how our fore-mothers, made a home and hearth from very little, yet still made meals that raised a generation of brave pioneers. 

Well, as most of you know, this era was a time of travel and exploration, for many hearty souls.  "Move west, young man," was soon to be the cry all along the Eastern seaboard.   Many families sold their homes, packed up their meager belongings, and headed into the wild unknown.  And with them, traveled the mothers, and daughters, of a generation of pioneer women, who would one day make their mark on our hearts and minds because of their dedication to home and hearth.  Whether it was by wagon, or foot, they made home whever they happened to lay their heads.  To this day, the image of those brave women is burned into our hearts, and we can not help but admire their courage and fortitude.

While working on a new unit study for my little Pumpkin, I read some terrific articles about those ladies, and how their spirit of "make-do," helped to change, and further expand,  this country.  Somehow, in the middle of nowhere, and with an ingenuity born of necessity, they made not only filling meals, but, at times, sumptuous feasts, as many of the diaries and letters to kin folk tell us.

One of the most interesting stories I read had to do with kitchen utensils of the 1850's.  In it, I found out that many things we think of as modern inventions, actually had their prototypes in this time-frame.

For instance, most of us know that the toaster was invented in the early 20th century, yet we fail to realize that a version of it has been around for centuries.  While I do not remember the name of the first type, the "toaster," was said to have two iron bar sides, with a tong-like closure, that you could place a peice of thick sliced homemade bread, close,  and then hold over the coals of a low-burning fire.  Highly recommended by the way, when bread became stale. 

Another cool invention was the fore-runner of our modern convection ovens.  It was made from four peices of tin, welded together in the fire to form a bottom, a top that curved over, and latched, and the two sides.  Although generally only available to the most wealthy of families, a few were carried on the wagon trains.  You could place a large chicken or small turkey inside, and place it near the open fire to "bake" the meat.  I do imagine the ovens saw many a guinnie fowl, and duck, too, when they were handy.

Speaking of bread, can you imagine the ingenuity it took to make bread, especially white bread, without a fairly modern oven?  Well these women found a way!  Once a week, when the wagon train stopped for rest, they would build an oven from mud and water, letting it dry into an oval shape, with an opening in the center.  Then they would place it on top of a fire, over a grill of some kind, and place the loaves inside for baking.  You might have gotten a few pieces of baked dust too, but I bet that bread tasted wonderful, after a long day of walking, or riding in a wagon seat that lacked the conveinence of springs.  "Oooooh, my aching bottom!," must have been the cry of many of those familial matriarchs!

As for the cooking of meat, an open fire, and a spit, either of some very green, peeled wood, or a peice of metal that was carried from place to place, was the method of choice.  Sometimes, if time allowed, the ladies would pull out their cast iron dutch ovens, and stew some meat with the dried vegitables they had brought with them.  That is,  if they found a good water supply nearby.  If not,  well,  they might fry it in some rendered fat,  from one of the animals brought along for the purpose of feeding the people on the journey. 

Can you imagine the difficulties these women must have faced?  Poor water supply, a lack of fresh ingredients, and rancid butter or tallow with which to make a meal.  I have to tell you, these women had to have some mighty faith, to make it through with all of that!  Yet, many did, and when they arrived at their destinations, they often lived in their wagons, or tents for several more months before they had a home with a real roof, much less a kitchen.

When the cabin, or soddy was built, depending on the destination, and the availability of wood, the home was generally one or two rooms.  Sometimes the "kitchen" was a tiny shed attached to the side of the house by a "dog run."  Sometimes it was nothing more than a fire pit dug in the back yard.  No matter where it was, or how primitive,  these women fed their families well.   Many of their recipes have been handed down from one generation to the next, and on and on.  We fix many of the same meals today, without ever realizing the great contribution of these wonderful women.  They crossed a continent with two things: Faith and fortitude.  May we be remembered the same by our families, as we prepare the meals that they eat, and give our thanks to the Father for providing for us!

I always think of "Little House on the Praire," when I think of a homestead kitchen, for some unknown reason.  Caroline Ingels bent over the firplace, stirring a pot with a huge wooden spoon, her little daughters sitting nearby, reading their primers.  However, upon further study, I have learned this was not really typical.  Most of the young girls began to help their mom's prepare the meals at an early age.  Remember, there were no microwaves, no iceboxes...so if you had an animal slaughtered, you had to begin the preservation process right away.  Venison, and wild game were smoked, or dried.  Fish and pork  was placed in large crocks, and barrels,  then salted heavily, to keep the meat from spoiling.  Everyone had to help, if the supplies were to last through the coming winter months.

Canning did not become really poular until just before the Civil War.  Even then, you might very well get botulism from cans that were damaged.  Not to mention the cans themselves were made from lead.  Talk about food being a dangerous thing!  So, as a result, most vegitables, and fruits were dried, or kept in a "root celler," to keep them edible.  I would think that when spring finally arrived, those lovely ladies were absolutely thrilled, to have a change of menu, and fresh ingedients!

Those early homestead kitchens varied mightily from ours today.  Yet one thing remains constant.  The kitchen, whether modern or primative, is a place that we nuture our families with more than just good food.  It is a place to give thanks, spend precious moments with our loved ones, and do something we all love...eat!  

I hope your homestead kitchen is blessed with many  happy memories, and that wonderful "make-do" spirit, too!

                                                                  Mistypearl