A Meal Fit for a King... (or Queen...)

Beef Wellington.

I first heard about this one day while watching an episode of Take Home Chef. It sounded fancy, and being a French dish, I thought it would be hard. But watching, it didn't seem to bad. So I decided to try it. 

My hubby hates mushrooms. No joke. He will pick them out of everything. And sometimes once he picks them out, he gives them to me. I could eat mushrooms on almost everything, or just raw. Yum. But even though he hates them, I thought maybe this would be a way I could "sneak" them in without him noticing, and if he liked the flavor I could spring it on him and he'd decide they weren't that bad?! It was worth a shot. 

Well my pastry didn't work out so well.. I tell you, I'm not a baker. Anything dough related and I just don't get along. It was too thin and too small and I did the scores too deep. Needless to say, it completely fell apart during cooking. I took the broken pieces and ate them with my meat anyway, but my hubs didn't even try them (the mushrooms came off with the pastry).

And preparing for this meal was an adventure. I have never purchased wine before and had no clue what I was doing. Because of our religion, (and our choice not to)we don't drink wine, or any alcohol for that matter. The thing about cooking with wine is you cook out all the alcohol and are left with the flavor. I picked up a cheap bottle of the same kind they used on the show and checked out. And who do I see as I'm leaving the store? The Missionaries, of course! Of all the days to run into them in the middle of the Southern Bible Belt. What are the odds? Crazy. 

I get everything out and start preparing the meal and I ask my hubs to work on opening the wine bottle. Only problem, we didn't have a cork screw. He tried sticking it with a nail, screwing it... nothing worked. He eventually had to run to the store for one.

Even with all the mishaps, it turned out delicious and definitely something I want to try again (I'd better... I have a more than half-full bottle of wine sitting on my cupboard! It will add a nice flavor to tomato sauces as well!). 

You don't have to use a Beef Tenderloin. I didn't. I found a cheaper roast with little fat that was a uniformly round size. I would recommend cutting all fat off first, no matter what piece of meat you choose. 

I hope you find the courage to try this, it is really delicious and a meal in itself. I paired it with sauteed spinach (1TBS butter in a frying pan, add the spinach, a little lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook just until wilted.). And we used the left over beef for French Dip sandwiches the next day, mixing our wine sauce with an Au Jus packet. 

Yum!

Fish Fry Friday

 --- Fish Tacos two ways, plus sauces... in recipe card form.

Let me know what you think of the new recipe card look... Would you rather me post them this way, or the old way of typing everything out? These can be printed as regular 4x6 photos, then placed into a photo book turned into recipe book.
We had this for dinner last night (grilled version). It was delicious. I didn't have yogurt for the white sauce, so I used sour cream. It wasn't as runny as it should've been... but it had a nice kick to it. The salsa makes a ton, so be ready with a couple of bags of chips (which we are lacking... so not cool). I think this is going on the menu again for next week, it was just that good.

Chipotle Chicken

This chicken has a serious KICK to it... and it's so good as a taco, burrito, or enchilada filling. Move over Cafe Rio... 

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

3 Chipotle Peppers + a little juice

2C tomato juice (or 1 can sauce + 2C water)

1 onion, chopped

1 can diced green chiles

1/2 bunch cilantro (optional)

3 juiced lemons +1/2 rind

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot (or crock pot). Add a bit of water to completely cover the chicken, if necessary). Bring to a boil, lower heat to simmer and cook for an hour and a half to two hours (if using crock pot, cook on high 4 hours), stirring occasionally. Remove chicken from broth, shred into large bowl or pan. Add a little of the broth, discarding the whole peppers and lemon rind. Place on tortillas, top with guacamole and sour cream or yogurt.

And a new feature here at Dancing in the Kitchen... I will provide a printable recipe card! Show some love would ya?!

Happy Birthday brownies!!

 Hi there! So this is the reason I've been MIA for the past 5 months. Isn't she adorable? She's two months old now and such a wonderful addition to our family!

What better recipe to re-start my blogging than with the brownies I made for my birthday yesterday. So easy, so delicious... and going to be so bad for my hips!! The frosting recipe comes from the Take Home Chef, Curtis Stone... 
I have many other recipes I've been trying to get posted... but a newborn and a potty-training toddler take up most of my time these days!

For the brownies:

1 box brownie mix, prepared accordingly

1 3.5oz bar of chocolate (see pic below)

Instructions: 

Basically, follow the package directions but add the bar of chocolate, broken into bite-size pieces. Bake according to package directions. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.

For the Frosting:

8oz cream cheese, softened

2/3C light corn syrup

8ish oz. good quality chocolate

Instructions:

1. Using an electric mixer beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until light and smooth. Beat in the syrup. Place the chocolate in another bowl and place the bowl over a small pot of boiling water. Stir constantly until the chocolate melts.
2. Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and beat just until blended, stopping the machine and scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure the mixture is well blended. Spread the frosting generously over the top of the cooled cupcakes. Garnish with fresh strawberries and serve.

If you haven't tried this chocolate, you are seriously missing out. It is so delicious... even just by itself! Try it. Curtis Stone uses it.... that should be enough!!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Easter menu

I feel like such a slacker. I have been meaning to post this for a week now... so please forgive me for not getting it up in time. I realize Easter was LAST weekend and it may be pointless to even post this now... but it was so delicious, it deserves to be up.
I had never cooked a ham before, but it didn't seem that hard (and it's not). You don't even need a recipe, the little card attached to it will tell you exactly how to cook it. But I wanted mine to be EXTRA special. Start off by finding a decent 10lb-ish spiral sliced ham. Mine was from the Springfield brand. Highly recommended, and not overly-priced like some of those "Honey" brands. I will also list the recipe for "funeral potatoes take 2" and a super yummy dessert salad.

For the ham:

1 (10lb) fully-cooked spiral cut ham
2/3C brown sugar
1/3C apricot jam
1 tsp dry mustard powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Place ham cut side down on sheet of foil that has been placed on a rimmed baking sheet. Mix together the sugar, jam and mustard in a small bowl (here I added half the bag of glaze from the ham). Brush onto ham using a pastry brush. Reserve any leftover glaze. Enclose the foil around the ham.
3. Roast for 2 hours, or 14 minutes per pound if your ham is a different size. Apply the remaining glaze 20 minutes before the ham is done.

Note: if making funeral pots, start them when you add the final glaze and they will be ready for the oven when you pull the ham out.

Funeral Potatoes - take 2

Ingredients:

1 large bag frozen hash browns
1/2C butter, plus extra for buttering dish
1 can cream soup
1 pint sour cream
1/2C chopped onion
2 C shredded cheese (I like to add about an extra cup)
1C smashed corn flakes
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the soup, sour cream, and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Add onions.
Butter a 13x9 baking dish and add the potatoes. Pour cheese mixture over and combine well. Cover with corn flakes. Bake for 45 minutes.


Apple Dessert Salad

Ingredients:

1C shredded coconut
1C mini marshmallows
1C pineapple tidbits
1C mandarin oranges
1C cored, diced apples
1C sour cream

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients well and allow to chill at least an hour.

3-Cheese {Manicotti}

So these aren't technically manicotti shells, but those would work too. I happen to like the jumbo shells better. They're easy to cook and cool and fill. And much easier to serve! I would have taken my own picture but after I covered them with sauce, you couldn't really see the shells anymore...

I've made manicotti (and jumbo shells) before and it's never tasted this good. This is the best recipe I've found. Thank you Food Nanny for restoring my faith in you. The sauce takes a bit of time to prepare, but it all works out with the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta. It really is quite simple. Sided with frozen garlic bread and a simple green salad... it's the perfect Monday night Italian dinner.

Three-Cheese Manicotti (made with Jumbo Shells)

Ingredients:

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4C sm onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2TBS canola (or olive) oil
1 can tomato sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp salt
24 Jumbo shells, uncooked
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2C Ricotta or cottage cheese
2C shredded Mozzarella, divided
1/2C grated Parmesan
1/4C fresh parsley, chopped (I used dried, almost worked better)
1/4tsp salt
1 pinch black pepper

Instructions:

Optional step: pulse the tomatoes in a blender, until crushed and set aside.
To make the sauce: cook the onion and garlic in the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, until the onions are tender but not browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, oregano, thyme, bay leaf and salt. Bring to a boil, decrease the heat, and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring often. Add water if needed to thin.
While the sauce is cooking, cook the shells according to package directions, being careful not to overcook. Rinse in cold water and drain. Separate the cooked shells and lay them out on a sheet of foil (you will use the foil to cover the baking dish with).
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine the filling ingredients: eggs, ricotta/cottage, 1C mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper. Working on the foil, stuff the filling into the shells with your fingers. Do not over-stuff.
Discard the bay leaf from the sauce and pour half the sauce into a 13x9 baking dish. Arrange the filled shells in the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover the dish with the foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Shells may be prepared and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.

Chicken Pot Pie

.... from scratch? Well... it was supposed to be. And there won't be a picture for you... sorry.

I was nervous to make this recipe as I don't make dough... but I was excited to use my handy-dandy food processor my wonderful hubby gave me for Christmas for the first time making this pie dough. The machine did a GREAT job. It was like watching the chefs on TV make their dough...
The dough on the other hand... was terrible. I followed the instructions perfectly, but I could not get it to roll out without sticking to EVERYTHING (even with flour everywhere). And the Food Nanny expected half the dough to be able to fit the bottom and up the sides... ya right. With that dough, I was lucky to get it to fill the bottom of the pan. And for the top, there was NO WAY I was going to be able to roll it out and be able to pick up and lay it across the pan. It just crumbled. I admit, I broke down. I cried. My poor husband had to run to the store to get the refrigerated pie crusts (heaven-sent I tell you!). 9pm and dinner still wasn't done. And when I was grocery shopping I thought I should just go the easy route... should've listened to myself.

So here's my opinion on the matter... if you're really good at making dough and you feel comfortable doing so, go ahead and follow the recipe. If you're like me and don't bake... and certainly don't make dough... go ahead and cheat and go with the already-made stuff. I could've saved myself 2 hours and a ton of frustration.

The insides, however, were DELICIOUS. And this will definitely be something I will make again, just minus the homemade dough.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

2 1/2 C flour
1/4 C chilled butter
2 bone-in chicken breasts
2 carrots, sliced crosswise (I used about 1 C baby carrots cut in half)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4C cold water
3/4C shortening
1 tsp salt
4 TBS ice-cold water
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/4C flour
1/2C frozen peas

Instructions:

To make the crust, stir the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening and butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with the ice water, a TBS at a time, and stir with a fork to moisten all the dough. Gather the dough into a ball with your hands. Divide the dough in half. Roll out one half on a lightly floured surface and fit it into a 9in pie dish. Roll out the other half and set aside.
Put the chicken breasts in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 18 minutes. Remove the chicken to a cutting board or plate. Add the potatoes and carrots and return to boiling. Decrease the heat, cover, and simmer until they are tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, tear or cut the chicken off the bones into bite-size pieces, discarding skin, fat and gristle.
Remove the veggies from the simmering broth with a slotted spoon and set aside with the chicken pieces. Measure the broth and add water, if needed, to make 2 1/2 Cups. Return to the pan and simmer, stirring in the bouillon and the salt.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Stir the flour into the cold water in a small bowl or measuring cup. Stir into the broth and increase the heat to medium. Stir constantly until the broth thickens. Add the chicken to the broth along with the potatoes, carrots and peas. Stir to combine.
Pour the filling into the pastry-lined pie dish. Cover with the top crust, seal and flute the edges, and cut a slit in the top for the steam to escape. Bake 40 minutes, or until the crust is light brown.


Here is what I would do instead:
Use refrigerated pie crusts for the bottom, make the filling according to instructions, but add 1 tsp. each: onion salt, celery salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Top with 2nd crust, and drizzle with melted butter and bake according to pie crust instructions on box.