Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Every now and then I think back to my childhood, and remember my favorite meals that my mom used to make.  Tuna Melts, Sloppy Joes...and Chicken and Broccoli Casserole.  I have made a few modifications to this recipe over the years, but the flavors and textures remain the same.  This is a relatively easy recipe, sure to please even the picky little ones in your family.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 -3 large broccoli crowns, flourettes only
1-2 medium onions, chopped
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheddar/jack cheese
3 tsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Meanwhile, set a non-stick skillet on medium to medium-high heat with olive oil.  Once oil has thinned, add chicken breasts and brown both sides, 8-10 minutes.  Then remove chicken to a plate to rest.

In same pan, add onions and cook until translucent and slightly carmelized, 5-7 minutes. 

Then add soup, milk, butter, and remaining seasonings, and stir until smooth.  Consistency should be of a thin gravy, not lumpy (aside from onions).  If its too thick, add a little bit more milk until it is thinned out.  Adjust seasonings to your taste.  Add 1/2 of the cheese at this point, and stir until incorporated.

Meanwhile, chop chicken into cubes, and then add into sauce.

In a 9x12 glass baking dish, lay broccoli flourettes in an even layer across the bottom.  Pour sauce/chicken mixture over broccoli, make sure all broccoli is covered.  Sprinkle remaining cheese overtop.

Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly browned and bubbly. 

Serve with freshly steamed basmati rice (add a touch of butter and garlic salt to water, prior to boiling for a nice hint of flavor).

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

About a week ago, a hex hit my house.  As in, my nearly 2 year old daughter and my husband both came down with a bug that knocked them out of commission for nearly a week.  Somehow, miraculously, I was unscathed.  I think it was so that someone other than the dogs could keep them alive.  I don't think Maddy or Jazzy could cook food, go get gatorade, spoon mylanta, or attend to the myriad of other things that were going on in the house...so lucky me.  I did make a huge portion of Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, complete with homemade egg noodles to sustain my poor, sick babies...and it lasted a good week.  I just poured out the remaining 2-ish cups of it last night.

This recipe is fairly easy, just requires that you taste your stock to ensure it has enough flavor for you, and add to it as you see fit for your taste.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's what I used:

1 5 lb whole chicken fryer
1 bag baby carrots (or 4-5 peeled/chopped large carrots)
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
4 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves only
S&P
Chicken Bullion

Egg Noodles (recipe below or store bought)

Here's what I did:

Preparation for this recipe consists of chopping all vegetables, and feel free to add veggies that you like to this, and omit what you don't.  Also, rinse and pat dry the chicken, discarding innards.  At this point, I cut the chicken into 4 main pieces, breasts, and thigh/legs.  Alternately, you can buy a chicken already cut up, to save on time.

Then, in a large stockpot, place chicken and all vegetables.  Add cold water, until chicken pieces are fully covered.  Allow chicken and vegetables to boil on med/high for about 20-25 minutes.  Remove chicken at this point, and take off and discard skin and bone.  Chop chicken into bite-size pieces, and add back into stockpot.  Set eat to a low simmer.

At this point, take a taste of the stock.  Its probably pretty bland.  Add salt, pepper and chicken bullion cubes or powder until you reach desired flavor profile.  Add cajun seasoning if you want a little more kick.

Homemade Egg Noodles

Here's what I used:

2 cups AP Flour
3 large eggs, beaten

Here's what I did:

I used my Kitchen Aid mixer, and simply added the flour and eggs to the bowl, and used paddle attachment for 30 seconds.  I did not need to add any extra water or flour to get the right consistency.  Test dough with finger, if its too sticky/gooey, add flour by the tbsp until dough is tacky, but not gooey.  If its in small balls, add water by the tsp until dough begins to bind together.

Remove dough from mixer, and hand knead into a ball.  Wrap with saran wrap and let sit for 15 minutes to 2 hours (as time permits).  You can make dough ahead of time, and then begin the soup.  That way, as soup boils, you can be forming your noodles. 

At this point, I again used my Kitchen Aid mixer, and added pasta roller attachment to the front.  Divide dough into 6 even sections, and keep unused sections covered by saran wrap or dish towel until ready to use.  Generously flour the dough, and feed it through the roller, starting at the widest section, #1, and continuing twice per setting until #4.  Continue this for all sections of dough, laying flattened pieces down on a floured surface, and covering with a dish towel.

Once all sections have been flattened, I added my linguine pasta cutter attachment.  Feed each section of dough through the pasta cutter, and then hang the pasta groups to dry.  I have a pasta drying rack, but you can also drape the noodles over the side of a large mixing bowl until ready to add to the soup.

Now, by this point, the soup should be ready for the noodles.  I simply took each section of fresh noodles, and with kitchen shears, cut the noodles over the stockpot, and let them fall into the soup below.  I made each set of noodles about 2" long.  I did this with all groups of noodles, and then let simmer for 5 minutes.

Test your noodles to ensure they're fully cooked.  If you opt to make them by hand, make sure the dough is rolled out very thin, and then hand cut with a butter knife.  These may take longer to cook, as they will probably be thicker.

Again, check seasoning and adjust to your liking.

Sydney was requesting "nooo-ols" for days afterwards.  This keeps and microwaves beautifully, so it provided us with 4-5 days of soup for both Nick and Sydney.

Seriously Good Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Red Potatoes & Onions

As with most of my cooking decisions, I got a good price on a 3 lb pork tenderloin.  I was able to find two recipes that I combined to create possibly the most tender and moist pork tenderloin I have ever eaten.  No joke.  Even days later, I'm eating slices of the pork loin cold as a snack - an activity I usually reserve for leftover filet mignon, still scrumptious cold.

My recipe is an adaptation of a Giada de Laurentiis recipe "Roasted Pork Loin with Fig Sauce" but without the Fig Sauce, using the leftover seasoning that I had from the Fiorientina recipe that I posted last Monday.

Here's what I used:

3 lb pork tenderloin
6-8 red potatoes, halved
2 small onions, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken broth

Fiorientina Rub:

1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp dried sage
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp black pepper

Here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cover roasting pan in foil to save cleaning time.

In a small mixing bowl, combine Fiorientina Rub with olive oil and blend.  Place pork loin in roasting pan, and coat with rub and oil mixture.  If tenderloin is in more than one piece, wrap with cooking bands (as seen in picture below).  Add potatoes and onion to remaining rub mixture and stir to coat.  Add vegetables to pan around pork.

Roast for 45 minutes, turning pork every 15 minutes to evenly brown the meat.  At end of cooking time, meat should register 145 degrees.  Once removed from oven, place pork on a cutting board and tent with foil to keep warm and allow to rest another 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, add chicken broth to pan with vegetables and meat drippings and stir to remove browned bits into the broth.

I plated this with some quick cook brown rice, and drizzled the sauce over the plate.  This was seriously good pork.

Ribeye Steaks with Sauteed Onions and Red Potatoes

Nick found a great deal at our local grocery store the other day. One ribeye steak was half off, and the other was .16. Yea, someone made a boo boo, but we reaped the rewards. Sweet. This is like every coupon mom's midsummer night's dream.



Ribeye Steaks with Sauteed Onions and Red Potatoes

Here's what I used:

2 ribeye steaks
1 cup soy sauce
2-3 tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp butter

2 medium onions, cut into rings
3 tbsp olive oil
S&P

12 small red potatoes, skinned
3-4 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese
2 scallions, chopped
1 tbsp butter
S&P

I marinated the steak in the soy sauce and steak seasoning for about 20 minutes, flipping once to get both sides. Also threw skinned potatoes in stock pot of water, and set to high (added salt to water).

Meanwhile, I added olive oil to a saute pan at medium heat and added the onions. Sauteed onions until they were browning on the edges and limp/translucent, about 15 minutes. Sprinkled with S&P.

Removed onions from pan and put them on a plate to rest, and inverted another plate over top to keep them hot. In same pan as used for onions, I added another tbsp of olive oil and and 2 tsp butter. Immediately added my steaks and let cook for 3 minutes per side. I pulled them off and allowed them to rest for another 10 minutes.

Once my potatoes were done (check by piercing a potato with a fork, it should split the potato easily) I drained them into a colander and added them back to the stock pot. Added butter, cheese, scallions & S&P. Then I covered the stock pot, and gave the mixture a few good shakes. I find this an easy way to incorporate ingredients w/ cooked potatoes, it gives the dish a "beaten" texture/quality which keeps it more rustic but still really good.

I don't think there were any complaints from this meal. My steak was a little overcooked, but my piece was thinner (I suspect it was also the .16 piece. Hmph.) The potatoes and onions were delish.