7 posts tagged “cooking”
This came from Taste Of Home's Cooking for 2 magazine. It's really good, reheats well, and goes together quickly. I usually double the peppers and mushrooms in it and have added a small finely diced onion to the mix. Enjoy!
Veggie Chicken Linguine
INGREDIENTS
6 ounces uncooked linguine
3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 to 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons butter
4 large fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 medium green pepper, julienned
1/2 medium sweet red pepper, julienned
1 green onion, chopped
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Dash pepper
Shredded Parmesan cheese, optional
DIRECTIONS: Cook linguine according to package directions. Meanwhile, place the chicken and Cajun seasoning in a large resealable plastic bag; shake to coat. In a large skillet, sauté chicken in butter for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, peppers and onion; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until chicken juices run clear and vegetables are tender. Stir in the soup, milk and seasonings. Cook 2-3 minutes longer or until heated through. Drain linguine; toss with chicken mixture. Garnish with Parmesan cheese if desired. Yield: 3 servings.
Show us a spice in your kitchen.
Submitted by homebody.
Yet another recipe that I wish I could take credit for. This one came from the USA Weekend supplement in the Sunday paper a few months ago. I had been carrying the clipping around for weeks before finally making it. It's paraphrased slightly since I forgot to bring the clipping in with me, but here goes:
Coconut Pecan Chicken
2/3 cup panko
2/3 cup lightly sweetened coconut
½ cup finely chopped pecans
1 ½-2 cups plain yogurt (fat free is ok too)
1 ½-2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into strips
Preheat oven to 450.
Combine panko, coconut, and pecans in shallow dish. Dip the chicken strips in the yogurt and roll in crumb mixture. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Spray top of pieces lightly w/cooking oil spray. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes or until lightly golden and done through. You may want to run it under the broiler for a minute or two for a crispier crust.
I ate it with some green beans and grape tomatoes, but peas & rice would be good too.
I made this last night. Easy, fairly quick, totally delicious. Adapted from one of the Moosewood restaurant cookbooks, found on Culinate:
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cups milk (skim, whole, whatever. I used ½ & ½ since that’s what I had on hand)
1 tsp vanilla
Mix the 1st 4 ingredients well in a heavy sauce pan. Whisk in the milk, making sure the mixture isn’t lumpy. Heat over medium, stirring constantly, until boiling. Reduce heat and continue to stir for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into bowls/ramekins/whatever, and serve warm or chill for a few hours and serve cold. (you may want to press plastic wrap over the surface if you chill it to avoid a skin forming on top)
Theoretically serves 4.
I just can't quite get my reading groove back on track, but here are a few of the books I've made it through in the last few weeks.
I've still managed to read a fair amount, just not the level I usually do.
Sweet Far Thing- The conclusion of a Victorian-era series about teenage witches. Not the happy ending I wanted, but that's kind of a good thing. Life doesn't always have a happy ending.
Love Letters From A Duke- yet another silly romance. good escapism.
The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry- A look at a student's experiences at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. I attended a culinary school that didn't have the prestige of Cordon Bleu and consequently didn't endure the turmoil the author did. I also didn't have that much passion about food and as a result, rarely cook anymore.
Book of Imaginary Beings- was mentioned in a book in an earlier post (Secret of Lost Things), so I got it out of curiosity. It wasn't nearly as interesting as I'd hoped.
Welcome to the Nerd Farm- I love Doonesbury. Alex has grown on me as she's grown up.
Christmas Letters From Hell- the library finally got this to me, only 3 months after the fact. It was amusing, but I was expecting to see real letters, not ones that were obviously made up. (the letter from Satan & family, for example)
Silent Sanctuary- This one I loved. Lady Julia Grey & her family are an interesting lot. Nicholas Brisbane is still being enigmatic and broody. Yum.
Year of Living Biblically- A J Jacobs is lucky his wife hasn't killed him. I would have. I love the mention of how she does finally snap at one point and what she does to him.
I Just Hope It's Lethal- broody poetry
Well, after pulling an all-nighter at work- and it was ungodly busy-I dropped by the grocery store before I went home and crashed for a few hours Saturday morning. The cats were not amused.
Called Chad to confirm our standing Saturday night plans only to find out that he was being summoned to a command preformance at our friend Bryan's house. B's wife actually WANTED him to come over....because she needed his help with drawing up their budget. Chad is good at that sort of thing.
So, left to my own devices, I went to the library. Turned in a ton of books and checked out a bunch more. I currently have 45 out, which is about normal. But the sad thing is, I have a dedicated shelf at the circ desk for my holds. And the newbie working there has already learned to recognize me and heads for the shelf before I even get to the counter.
That done, I headed over to Whole Foods for my biweekly cheese pickup. I'm kind of in a rut- bought Havarti & Drunken Goat again. I like them, but I really should branch out some more. I wanted some of the goat gouda, but it was a little too pricey for the budget this payday.
After a quick stop at Aldi's (a discount grocery store near home), I managed to get everything put away. Since Chad wasn't going to feed me dinner, I had to cook. I'd bought a nice looking package of pork spareribs, so I thought I'd give them a go. They turned out OK, but didn't have nearly as much meat as it looked like they did. And Nightshade got her first spanking- the little snot snuck up on me when I was watching Felicity, snagged the meatiest rib on the plate, and tried to make off with it. She'd never done that before- it's usually the other two that I have to defend my dinner from!
I spent the rest of the night reading.
Sunday was a lazy day. I spent most of it sprawled out reading. We had good weather for a change- it was around 70 degrees, so I opened the doors & windows to let the house air out. Got some of the laundry done too.
Then I went to dinner with my friends Brent & Jessica. We went to an Irish pub, Brendan's, that had Woodchuck cider on tap. I rarely drink- don't care for the taste of most alcohol- but Woodchuck is one of the few things that I DO like. I only had one since I had to drive myself home (and they were $4.75 a glass), and that was almost enough to do me in. ( I was good and giggly) The food was terrific-I had Shepherd's pie and Jess let me try her fish & chips- and there was a celtic band playing, so it was a fun atmosphere. The highlight of the evening was our server hitting on me as I was leaving.
After dinner we went back to B & J's house to watch Stardust. I love that movie. Then we talked until the wee hours of the moring and it occurred to me that I DID have to work today.
So there you have it. My weekend in a nutshell.
It's been a while since I've done this, so here is a sample of some of the books I've read in the last 2-3 months.
This was good- very British and I found few, if any recipes I would make, but it was a fun read.
I think I found this one in the reading group I joined here on Vox. i'm only about 1/3 of the way into it, but it's wonderful!
I hate that nearly EVERY supernatural themed book that comes out today has a cover like this. However, the story itself was good, despite the slight excursion into the world of S&M (another pet peeve- why do they ALL have to involve that?) and I'm actaully looking forward to the sequel.
So, I'm still trying to get back to London this year. What better way to feed the addiction that to look at some places to go blow my money if I make it?
After seeing the title and cover, I nearly skipped this one. Luckily I decided to give it a shot. It's a somewhat different take on the supernatural world that I'm so fond of.
Yes, I've dived back into the fantasy genre and not come up for air. Very good collection, with a few stories that didn't do a lot for me.
I am a big fan of Scott Adams- this, sadly, is not some of his best work. It's mostly a collection of things from his blog and while some of it IS laugh out loud funny, it's mostly just a blah read. Of course, it could have just been the mood I was in when I read it....maybe I'll give it another shot in a few months.
I love the PostSecret books. The idea that you can unburden yourself so anonymously, yet publicly appeals to me. I haven't sent my own secrets in yet, but I'm considering it.
Book 2 in a series with a fresher take on the vampire genre. I can't wait for book 3.
I just don't have the discipline to do what the author & her partner did. But it was food for thought.
Quite good! What's not to love about an intrepid heroine, a VERY dysfunctional family, a theatrical troupe, and a possible serial killer?
And last, but not least, my favorite of the bunch! I love this series- if you haven't read any of the Pink Carnation books, think Posession meets the Scarlet Pimpernel meets Bridget Jones. (If you haven't read Possession or the Scarlet Pimpernel, seek help or go get them!) There was a twist att the end that didn't play out quite the way I thought it would. And I like the way that Lauren Willig closed the story- it could be the end of the series, but there are plenty of openings to allow her to come back to it.
Whew! I'm typed out for a bit.See you next time for another installment of "I have too much time on my hands"
