Applesauce Muffins

I've really been in the mood to bake the past couple of days. I had been looking all over for a muffin recipe that caught my eye. I came across this recipe on All Recipes and since I already had some applesauce in my fridge, I figured I'd give it a try. I made it last night and was so anxious to try it that I dug in as soon as they came out of the oven. At first I was a little disappointed. I thought it was kind of bland. But this morning I ate one for breakfast and quickly changed my mind. These are best room temperature. You can really taste the cinnamon and allspice. I changed the recipe only slightly. I love brown sugar so I used 1/2 white and 1/2 brown sugar. I also topped the muffins before baking with a little brown sugar. I love the brown sugar topping. This recipe was really easy and I'll definitely make them again.


Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 eggs
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, allspice and baking soda; set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, applesauce and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
3. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove to a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins. Adapted from All Recipes.

Greek Omelet

I don't typically think about making breakfast for dinner. I'm not sure why. But I was in the mood for something a little different this week. When I came across this recipe on Eating Well, I knew I'd have to give it a try. Eggs and potatoes together, yum!  The recipe says it's Greek, but I'm not sure what makes it Greek other than the feta. I debated adding spinach or tomatoes but in the end I kept the recipe as is. The recipe calls for hashbrowns which make me think patties but I used shredded potatoes because I like them better. This was really easy to make and had great flavor. I did feel like it was missing a little something but I wasn't sure what, maybe just a little extra feta.  I'll definitely be making this again.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 cup shredded potatoes
• 1/3 cup chopped scallions
• 4 large eggs
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and cook, shaking the pan and tossing the potatoes, until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add scallions and cook for 1 minute longer. Transfer to a plate. Wipe out the pan.
2. Blend eggs, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in feta and the potato mixture.
3. Preheat broiler. Brush the pan with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil; heat over medium heat. Add the egg mixture and tilt to distribute evenly. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the bottom is light golden, lifting the the edges to allow uncooked egg to flow underneath, 3 to 4 minutes. Place the pan under the broiler and cook until the top is set, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Slide the omelet onto a plate and cut into wedges.

Serves 2. Source Eating Well.

Island Chicken and Rice

Several weeks ago I found these recipes from Annies Eats for Island Chicken and Brown Rice with Black Beans. The recipe was great but I haven't had time to post about it since then.  The chicken had great flavor and both recipes were really easy to make.

Island Chicken

Ingredients

• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1½ Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2-4 chicken breasts

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except chicken in a mixing bowl or large airtight plastic bag.  Whisk or shake well until the marinade is well mixed.  Add the chicken breasts to the bowl or plastic bag so that they are covered by the marinade.  If using a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap.  If using a plastic bag, press out all the excess air and seal the bag tightly.  Refrigerate and marinate up to 10 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Place the chicken breasts in a baking dish and pour the excess marinade over them.  Bake in the oven until cooked through and the internal temperature reaches 165° F, about 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Source: Annie's Eats

Brown Rice with Black Beans

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 cup onion, chopped fine
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2¼ cups water
• 1½ cups long-grain brown rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• ¾ cup corn kernels (fresh from cob, or frozen and thawed)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Adjust an oven rack to the middle position.  Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned and tender, about 12-14 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
2. Add the chicken broth and water to the pan.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Remove the pot from the heat, stir in the rice and salt, and cover.  Bake until the rice is tender, 65-70 minutes.
3. Remove the pot from the oven and uncover.  Fluff the rice with a fork, stir in the beans and corn, and replace the lid.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Mix in the cilantro and black pepper.  Serve.

Source: Annie's Eats

Creamy Pork and Mushrooms

My friend made a crockpot meal last week with pork and cream of mushroom soup, something my mom made all growing up. It was so yummy and I've been craving it ever since. My only thing was that I really wanted to cook from scratch and not use a cream of mushroom soup. My mom is in town visiting and we looked up some recipes online and then came up with something of our own. I found this recipe that used sour cream, which I already had that on hand, and we just modified it to our liking. I really wanted a shredded pork but I rarely cook pork so I didn't know what cut to use. We went with Boston Butt and it worked well. This was delicious!!! I will definitely be making it again. It almost tasted like a pork stroganoff.

One thing I'll note is that there was a lot of fat that wouldn't blend into the sauce. We drained it off a little bit. My mom actually took paper towels to soak up the grease and that seemed to work well.


Ingredients

• 3(ish) pound Boston Butt Pork Roast
• Garlic Powder, Paprika, Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 8 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 cup Chicken Broth
• 8 oz sour cream
• 2 Tablespoons flour

Directions

1. Place onions and mushrooms in the bottom of a crock pot. Add Chicken Broth.
2. Season pork with garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. Place on top of onions and mushrooms fat side up. Cook on low 9 1/2 hours.
3. After 9 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 170 degrees. Remove the pork from the crock pot into an oven safe dish. Place in oven to keep warm.
4. Mix sour cream and flour. Add to the juices in the crock pot. Cook on high for another 15-30 minutes on high until it's thickened and creamy. Serve over egg noodles and enjoy!

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Oven Baked Risotto

Matt's been sick so I wanted to make something that would be comforting. My mom makes a baked beef flavored risotto the she and my dad love. That got me interested in finding a recipe for a baked chicken risotto.  I wanted a quick recipe that wasn't as time consuming as typical risotto.  I found one recipe from Martha Stewart and one recipe from Ina Garten. I used both of these recipes to come up with my own recipe. The flavor was great.  It was so easy to make and definitely a comforting meal. I've never had a true risotto so I'm not sure how it compares. But I enjoyed this dish a lot. The recipe can be easily modified to whatever you want.  Use beef broth and stir in beef at the end. Add shrimp instead of chicken. There are many possibilities!

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 5 cups chicken broth, separated (4 cups and 1 cup)
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup  + 4 Tablespoons dry white wine, separated (1/2 cup, 2 Tablespoons, and 2 Tablespoons)
• 4 Tablespoons butter, separated (3 Tablespoons and 1 Tablespoon)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 8 oz Baby Bella mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack set in center of the oven.
2. Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook several minutes until onion is tender. Add the rice, stir to coat in oil and cook for 1 minute.
3. Stir in 1/2 cup dry white wine.  Cook for about 1 minute until all the liquid is evaporated.
4. Stir in 4 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes. Most of the liquid should be absorbed. The rice should be tender but still slightly firm.
5. While the rice is baking, melt 1 Tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and garlic powder and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add 2 Tablespoons white wine and cook until liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat.
6. When rice has finished baking, carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven. Stir in remaining 1 cup of chicken broth, 2 Tablespoons white wine, 3 Tablespoons butter, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, chicken, and mushrooms. Risotto should be creamy. If more liquid is needed, add either more chicken broth or white wine. Serve immediately.

Mexican Rice

I was looking for a Mexican Rice recipe to go along with my White Chicken Enchiladas. When I found this recipe on Food.com, I got excited. It looked really easy, but it also called for a dutch oven to be used on the stove and in the oven. I just got a dutch oven for Christmas so I couldn't wait to give it a try. The recipe was really easy but really good. It will definitely be a staple recipe. Matt and I usually eat brown rice though so I'll have to figure out if there's a way for me to alter the recipe to use brown rice or if that would just change the taste of it too much.

Ingredients

• 1 can 14.5 oz Diced Tomatoes
• 1 medium white onion
• 2-3 medium jalapenos
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 lime

Directions

1. Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350.
2. Process tomato and onion in processor or blender until pureed and thoroughly smooth. Transfer mixture to measuring cup and reserve exactly 2 cups. Discard excess.
3. Remove ribs and seeds from 2 jalapenos and discard. Mince flesh and set aside. Mince remaining jalapeno. Set aside.
4. Place rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear- about 1 1/2 minutes.Shake rice vigorously to remove excess water.
5. Heat oil in a 10 inch Dutch oven with tight fitting lid over medium high heat about 2 minutes. Drop a few rice grains in and if they sizzle then it is ready. Add rice and fry stirring until rice is light golden and translucent, about 6-8 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and 1-2 minced jalapenos and cook , stirring constantly until fragrant, about 1 1/2 minutes.
7. Stir in broth, pureed mixture, and salt. Increase heat to medium high, and bring to a boil.
8. Cover pan and transfer pan to oven. Bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 30-35 minutes.Stir well after 15 minutes.
9. Stir in cilantro, minced jalapeno, and lime juice to taste.

According to the recipe, you can also freeze. To freeze: Cool, portion and freeze in a ziploc bag. To reheat from frozen: Place in a pyrex dish and warm in the microwave, stirring every 2-3 minutes until heated through.

Source: Food.com

White Chicken Enchiladas

We had some friends over for dinner the other night. I wanted to make something fairly easy and yummy. I've made these white chicken enchiladas which I adapted from All Recipes several times and they've always gone over well. They were just as good this time, despite a few mistakes that I made. The recipe calls for 2 cans Cream of Chicken soup. As I was opening the cans I realized I had one can of Cream of Chicken Soup and another can of Cream of Mushroom soup. Oh well, that didn't make much of a difference. Then, to the filling you're supposed to add sour cream and to the sauce you're supposed to add milk. As I put everything in the oven, I looked around and saw an unopened sour cream container and realized I never used sour cream or the milk. Oops! Oh well. I just served it with sour cream on top and at least it got the flavor.  For the chicken, I used my shredded chicken recipe, but also added a packet of taco seasoning. This gave the chicken a lot of great flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken
• 1+ cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
• 6 (12 inch) flour tortillas
• 1/4-1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking dish.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles, cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside. To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.
3. Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
4. In a small bowl combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

Adapted from Allrecipes.com