Archive for ◊ June, 2010 ◊

15 Jun 2010 Smoked Chicken Almond Sandwiches
Author:  |  Category: Poultry, Sandwiches  | Tags: , ,  | 6 Comments

My daughter, Abby, loves this sandwich. She longs for it. Dreams of it. She gets really excited and happy when I make it. I love that about her! Now I am putting it in her cookbook so she can make it for herself in her apartment.

The sandwich is has bold, hearty flavors from chopped smokehouse almonds. I use really good bread from a really good bakery for this sandwich. Don’t marry a from scratch, great quality filling to some cheap, tasteless bread. I suppose you could dress this sandwich up a bit with crisp lettuce and sliced tomatoes, which would probably be delicious, but we’ve never had time. Once we have the filling made, we want to eat a sandwich!

This recipe includes instructions for poaching the chicken, but if you have already cooked chicken, use that. If I am BBQ-ing chicken I always make extra to use in this recipe. The BBQ-ed flavor in the chicken makes the sandwich even better.

The original recipe came from Epicurious.com, but I fixed it! The Epicurious.com recipe is for tea sandwiches, cut with a circle cutter, and then rolled in chopped almonds. NAH! Too fussy. Enjoy it my way!

Smoked Chicken Almond Sandwiches

3 cups chicken broth or water plus 1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts

OR 2 cups chopped cooked chicken (BBQ-ed is especially good)

1/2 cup mayonnaise (original recipe called for 1 cup, but I thought that was too much. Add more mayo if you’d like…)
1/3 cup minced shallot (if you don’t have a shallot use minced green onion OR minced red onion soaked in ice water for 10 minutes and drained before adding to the chicken mixture)
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
salt and pepper, to taste (and you will need some)
1/2 cup finely chopped smokehouse almonds (about half of a 6 oz can–chop the nuts, then measure 1/2 cup)

If you need to cook the chicken, in a large skillet bring the water or the chicken broth to a boil. Add the chicken breasts in one layer. Reduce heat and poach chicken at a mere simmer for about 7 minutes. Turn the chicken over halfway through the cooking time. Remove pan from heat and let chicken cool in the broth for 20 minutes. Drain the chicken from the stock. (SAVE the stock-refrigerate or freeze it-to use in another recipe). Discard any skin, and dice the chicken.

In a medium bowl stir together the cooled and diced chicken, mayonnaise, shallot OR onion, tarragon, and diced almonds. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread onto that good bread you just picked up from the bakery. Leftover filling can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for about 3 days.

Makes four to six sandwiches (depending on the size of the bread and how much filling you put in each).

15 Jun 2010 Homemade Frostings for Cynthia
Author:  |  Category: Cakes & Cupcakes, Sweets  | Tags:  | Leave a Comment
I received a request for some homemade frostings for a little girls birthday cake. Here are a few…, Vanilla Bean Butter Cream, Vanilla Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter, Creamy Mint and Maple. Hope one of them pleases the princess (and her Mama) on her (their) special day!

Vanilla Bean Butter Cream Frosting

1 lb. box powdered sugar
1/2 cup to 1 cup butter (taste preference. I always use 1/2 cup–but sometimes I make a cream cheese frosting by using 1/2 cup butter PLUS 8oz. Cream Cheese)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod (optional–if you have them, use them…but they can be expensive to buy)
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream (might need up to 4 T…, just keep adding 1 T. at a time until you get the spreading consistency you need)

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Peanut Butter Frosting

¾ cup peanut butter
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 lb box powdered sugar
8 – 10 tablespoons milk

In a large mixing bowl, mix peanut butter with vanilla. Then add in 1/3 of powdered sugar, then ½ milk, then 1/3 powdered sugar, then ½ milk, then remaining powdered sugar until you have a smooth spreadable frosting.

Creamy Minty Frosting

1 1/2 1-lb. boxes powdered sugar
1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. peppermint extract (not mint extract, peppermint extract)
1/4 c. milk or cream, approximately
1 box Andes Mints, unwrapped and chopped

Combine powdered sugar, butter, extract, and milk/cream in a mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy, adding more milk or cream, 1 tsp. at a time, if needed to bring mixture to spreading consistency. Spread the frosting on the cake and then sprinkle with chopped Andes mints.

Maple Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
3 tablespoons real maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon imitation maple flavor
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

In small bowl, combine all frosting ingredients except powdered sugar and walnuts; beat at low speed until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until mixture is of spreading consistency. Frost cooled cupcakes. Immediately sprinkle with 1/4 cup walnuts. Store in refrigerator.

13 Jun 2010 South Texas Flour Tortillas
Author:  |  Category: Breads  | Tags: ,  | Leave a Comment

I saw this post at Om-Nom-Nomnivore, laughed out loud, and took up the challenge. Thirty minutes later I am sitting here with soft and warm flour tortillas bathed in melted butter. YUM! There’s only 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in the whole batch of one dozen tortillas, so I’m not feeling too badly about the melted butter on top…

I need some practice, no doubt about it. I have no idea how to roll a 2 oz. ball of dough into an even 6 inch circle, but what the heck. These tasted good. They were easy. They’d be great for the kids or company to make while you pulled together the meat, fish, beans, veggies, guacamole, salsa…, whatever, to wrap in the tortilla for taco night or burrito night.

I read these keep for 5 days wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator. Not sure mine will last that long. Think I will try some cinnamon and sugar on top of this melted butter now-(always been a favorite of mine) and maybe when Abby comes home she’ll spread a bit of peanut butter on hers…, and we do have a lot of leftover BBQ chicken in the refrigerator.

I think I’ll show my 19 year olds how to make these, college students do run out of money from time to time. It would be good for them to know how to make these, just in case.

I’m just going to copy the post from the Om-Nom-Nomnivore site…, maybe it will inspire you to crank out your first batch, too!

South Texas Flour Tortillas

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (NOT bread flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup hot milk

1. Light up the stove or griddle. Get a large non-stick surface hot and ready to go. I like these to cook fast, so fire that baby on up. Set out a heavy plate (that will hold heat) and a spatula to handle the hot bread.

2. Put a smidgen over 3/4 cup of milk into the micro and set on high for 60 seconds and leave it. We’ll cover why it’s just over 3/4 cup shortly…

3. Measure out all of the dry ingredients into the mixer of your Kitchen Aid or a large bowl that you can mix in by hand.

4. Add in 2 tsp of vegetable oil. Yes, vegetable oil. No, I don’t mean butter. It works, trust me. Now mix those items together just a bit.

5. Slowly mix the hot milk in until the dough ball comes away cleanly. You may need to add a little more or less and you may need to adjust with additional flour.

6. Mix the dough for 3-4 minutes then turn out on a floured surface and knead once or twice to shape it some. (Note: To this point you should have taken no more than 5 minutes tops! Yes, the clock is running, come’on! Didn’t you read the post title?)

7. Divide the dough into 12 equal balls, if you are measuring with scales each ball will be somewhere around 2 oz in size.

8. Here’s the fun part! You may want some help with the first couple of times. Roll each ball into a 6″ circle on a lightly floured surface and cook them on the skillet/griddle. Each one will take about 30 seconds per side to cook so you can put one on and roll out a second tortilla. Once the second one is ready you can flip the first one and place the second one on the surface. By the time the third one is ready the first will come off and the second will be ready to flip. Lather, rinse, repeat until done.

9. Be standing at the door, when your SO walks in, with one of these lathered up in butter and waiting for him/her. Don’t ever send him/her to the store again for something that’s so easy for you to whip out. Seriously, that’s just mean 🙂

13 Jun 2010 Fresh Blueberry Lemonade
Author:  |  Category: Drinks, Fruits  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | One Comment

Thought I might like this…and I was right! Loved it. The blueberry taste is not pronounced, but the color they give to the drink is fantastic. Bbbb…b…bbut…the lemonade is pinkish RED, not blue! Surprise! Our delightful 4 year old guest, who was dressed as a doggie AND a superhero (yes, at the same time!) drank 10 cups of this (at least), and she called it Pink Lemonade.  I was going to follow her lead, but that would be even MORE confusing…so Blueberry Lemonade it remains!

I found this concoction to be more refreshing than straight up lemonade. It’s not as harsh, not as much acidity, I think. Yep, this recipe is a winner, a keeper. Be sure to make a batch for the July 4th picnic. Make several batches as once, in “concentrate” form, so you can serve it up when it is most needed and wanted without any fuss or bother.

This recipe was pulled together from two sources. My original long-relied upon lemonade recipe from “Too Busy to Cook” (a cookbook from the 80’s or 90’s) and a recipe from Family Fun Magazine attributed to Anne Coleman.

Fresh Blueberry Lemonade

1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest of two lemons
1 sliced lemon
extra handful of blueberries (for garnish, if desired)
Additional water, about 6 cups.

Combine blueberries, sugar and water and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until blueberries soften and release their color, about 5 minutes. Strain liquid and discard solids. Let cool. Stir in lemon juice,lemon zest, and sliced lemon along with enough water to have liquids measure 2 quarts. Flavor from lemons develops over time. Let mixture sit for a few hours or overnight. Serve over ice with a slice of lemon and a float of 5 or 6 blueberries.

Make your own Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate!

Make the sugar-blueberry-water syrup. Strain. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Freeze. When needed just add 1 sliced lemon and enough water to made 2 quarts of drink, stir briskly to dissolve the concentrate. YUM. How impressive would that be to pull out on a Tuesday night?!

Thanks for visiting!

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