Recipes

Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken

Ingredients
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¹⁄₂ teaspoon seasoned salt (I use lemon pepper seasoning)
¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
¹⁄₄ cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced

Instructions
1. Combine oregano, salt, and pepper. Rub all mixture into chicken. Brown chicken in butter in skillet. Transfer to slow cooker.  (You can skip this step if you wake up in the morning and realize you forgot to thaw your chicken.  If you do skip the browning, just add everything directly to the slow cooker.  Oops.)

2. Place broth, lemon juice, and garlic in skillet. Bring to boil, loosening browned bits from skillet. Pour over chicken.

3. Cover. Cook on HIGH for 2 to 2 ¹⁄₂ hours, or LOW for 4 to 5 hours.

4. Add parsley and baste chicken. Cover. Cook on HIGH 15-30 minutes, until chicken is tender.

Comments
This is a nice, simple slow cooker chicken recipe that is full of good flavors.  I would like to figure out a way to turn what is left in the slow cooker into a nice sauce, but I haven’t spent too much time trying to figure that out.  I think that simmering it for a while and then adding a roux could work well.  Or maybe simmering it to thicken and then adding some sour cream.  I’ll experiment a bit more the next time I make it!

Shown here with Spaghetti Squash with Lemon and Capers (sans capers since I forgot them).

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Grilled Chicken with Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto

Ingredients
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups baby spinach leaves, about 2 ounces
¹⁄₄ cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons lemon zest
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
¹⁄₃ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions
1. Heat grill pan, griddle, or skillet over medium high heat.  Lightly oil the pan.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Cook the chicken until cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the breasts.  

2. Combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice, and zest in a food processor.  Lightly pulse.  With machine running gradually add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil, blending until the mixture is creamy.  Add salt and pepper to taste and pulse.  Stir in parmesan.  

3. Spread pesto over each piece of chicken and serve.  

Comments
I found this Giada De Laurentiis recipe a few years ago and I’ve been making it with great success ever since.  It’s a family favorite and a great dish to make when you’re in the mood for pesto but basil season has ended.  

Usually I serve this with pasta tossed with sundried tomato pesto, but this time we just tossed the pasta with the spinach pesto with great success.  This is a delicious dish that is ridiculously simple to bring together if you’ve got a food processor.

Internet - Giada De Laurentiis

High-Heat Roasted Turkey

Ingredients
12-15 pound turkey, thawed
Salt
5 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions
1. Position a rack at the lowest level of the oven. Preheat the oven to 425*F.

2. Remove the giblets and neck from the turkey, then rinse inside and out and pat dry.

3. Generously rub the body and neck cavities and sprinkle the skin with salt.

4. Truss the bird if desired but at least tuck the wings under the bird, this will make it easier to turn. Place it in a heavy non-stick roasting pan and brush all over with butter.  (I’ve always used a pan with a V-rack and it’s wonderful.)  

5. Arrange the turkey so that it rests on one of its sides, using aluminum foil balls to prop it up if necessary. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove turkey from the oven. Protecting your hands, rotate the turkey to the other side.

6. Baste all exposed skin with pan drippings, then roast for 30 minutes. Turn and baste twice more so that the turkey roasts twice on each side, for a total of 2 hours. Note: If using a heritage turkey, reduce this time to 20 minutes per flip from 30. 

7. Turn the turkey breast side up, baste and roast until an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh reads 175*F, 10 to 30 minutes more.

8. Remove turkey to a platter and let stand, tented with foil, for at least 20 minutes before carving.

Comments
This recipe comes from the 1997 Joy of Cooking.  I’ve been using it since 2001 and I have always been thrilled with the results.  The rotation yields moist and tender white meat and dark meat since it allows the dark meat to get extra cooking time and the juices to move throughout the bird during cooking.  

One year I did try brining the bird, but I was extremely let down by the results and did find the meat to be much saltier than usual.  

The one downside to this cooking method is that you do need a smaller bird.  It wouldn’t work well with a 20 pound turkey, for instance.  Try to keep to the 12-15 pound range.  I also opt to not stuff the bird because that makes it more difficult to turn.  Instead I mix some of the drippings into the stuffing in a separate pan to ensure the stuffing will be nicely flavored from the turkey.  

I have also found, with the turkeys I usually get, that the cooking time in step 7 is often extremely short, so make sure you have your thermometer on hand.

I recommend using leftovers to make Turkey Tetrazzini.

Note from 2009: I used a silicone band for both the legs and holding the wings to the bird and it was a cinch to turn as a result.  I need to remember to do this again next year.

Joy of Cooking (1997)

Cream Cheese and Chive Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
6 cups potatoes (1 ¹⁄₂ pounds), cubed
¹⁄₂ cup milk
8 ounces cream cheese
¹⁄₃ cup freeze-dried chives
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt, or to taste
¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper

Instructions
1. In a large pot, cook the potatoes in enough water to cover them by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain immediately.

2. Return potatoes to pot and add remaining ingredients.

3. Mash with a fork or potato masher for lumpy potatoes.  (I end up just stirring them really well with a spoon since the potatoes fall apart.  And I like lumps.)

Comments
I found this recipe in one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks – 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles.  I believe that I made it for my first Thanksgiving as an adult and I’ve made it almost every Thanksgiving since.  I think the only year I skipped was the year we spent with my parents in Ocean City, Maryland.  Even then we ended up doing a small Thanksgiving meal in mid-December since we missed getting to eat our Thanksgiving favorites.  

This is one of those favorites.  They’re rich, creamy, and go great with turkey gravy.  If you prefer peeled potatoes, go ahead and peel them.  I prefer the little bits of peel throughout the dish.  

The serving size on this recipe claims that it serves 4 people, but I don’t believe it.

1,000 Vegetarian Recipes

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 cup whole milk
6 large egg yolks
³⁄₄ cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
³⁄₄ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Instructions
1.  In a medium saucepan, gently warm 1 cup of heavy cream, milk, sugar, and salt, until the sugar has dissolved. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warmed mixture and add the bean as well. Cover the saucepan, remove from heat, and let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, pour the remaining cup of heavy cream into a large bowl and set a strainer on top. Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl (one that can fit the bowl with the 1 cup of heavy cream) with ice and water.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.

4. Slowly pour the warm cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then carefully pour the mixture back into the saucepan.  

5. Set the saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Heat until the custard thickens. When it’s ready it will coat the back of the spoon and when you draw your finger across it, it should leave a definitive trail.

6. Pour the custard through the strainer, into the heavy cream. Stir the cream and custard to incorporate. Take the bean from the strainer and add it to the final mixture. Add the vanilla extract.  

7. Put the bowl into the ice bath, and stir until the mixture has cooled.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a lid) and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.  I recommend chilling it overnight.  

8. Freeze the ice cream according to your ice cream machine’s instructions.  (Mine, which is a Cuisinart, takes about 20-30 minutes.)  

9. If you prefer soft serve, eat at this point.  Otherwise freeze until hardened, about 3-4 hours.  

[photo forthcoming]

Comments
This is the ice cream base from the delicious Stracciatella recipe.  It’s fantastically rich and just about the perfect vanilla ice cream, in my opinion!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients
For the Crust
³⁄₄ cup graham cracker crumbs
¹⁄₂ cup pecans, finely chopped (Replace these with additional graham cracker crumbs if serving someone with a nut allergy)
¹⁄₄ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
¹⁄₄ cup white sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Filling
1 ¹⁄₂ cups pumpkin (Not pumpkin pie filling)
3 large eggs
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons cinnamon
¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground ginger
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3 (8 ounces each) packages cream cheese, cut into bits and softened
¹⁄₂ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Make the crust: In a bowl combine the cracker crumbs, the pecans, and the sugars, stir in the butter, and press the mixture into the bottom and ¹⁄₂ inch up the side of a buttered 9-inch springform pan. Chill the crust for 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350*F.  

3. Make the filling:  In a bowl whisk together the pumpkin, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and brown sugar. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the cream cheese and the white sugar, beat in cream, cornstarch, vanilla, and the pumpkin mixture, and beat the filling until it is smooth.

4. Pour the filling into the crust, bake the cheesecake in the middle of the oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the center is just set.  Let the cheesecake cool in the pan on a rack and chill it, covered, overnight. Remove the side of the pan and serve.  

Comments
I’m not entirely sure where I found this recipe, I’m sure it was online somewhere.  Pumpkin pie is one of those things that I love in theory, but in actuality it’s never that fantastic.  This has all the best aspects of a cheesecake combined with the parts of pumpkin pie I do like, and the results are delicious.  The tang of the cream cheese and the lightness of cheesecake combine very well with the flavors of pumpkin and pie spices.  

I make the crust without nuts so that there is at least one dessert Lance is able to eat.

Shown here with Pecan Pie.

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Bundt Coffee Cake

Ingredients
For the Cake
1 box cake mix, flavor of your choice
3 ounces instant pudding mix, complimentary flavor of your choice
4 eggs
³⁄₄ cup vegetable oil (I’ve used olive oil with no problem)
³⁄₄ cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter flavor

For the Nut Topping
¹⁄₂ cup pecans, chopped
¹⁄₄ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
¹⁄₂ teaspoon butter flavor
¹⁄₂ teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Mix cake ingredients. Mix nut topping ingredients.  Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray.  Layer the cake mixture with the nut topping in the pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  

2. Mix glaze ingredients and glaze when cool.

Comments
This recipe has been in my family for at least my entire life.  It’s traditional Day After Thanksgiving breakfast, along with scrambled eggs.  It’s moist, easy, and a family favorite.  I have fun varying up the flavors by picking different boxes of cake mix and pudding mix.  It’s hard to go wrong!

The coffee cake shown here was made by my mother using lemon pudding and lemon cake mix.  It was delicious!

Person - Mom

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups sugar
¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
²⁄₃ cup water
1 cup oil (I have used olive oil with no problems)
3 ¹⁄₂ cups all purpose flour
15 ounce can pumpkin (Not pumpkin pie filling)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  

2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and pour into 2 greased bread pans.

3. Bake for one hour or until done.

Comments
This is a recipe from Art’s mom and it has always been a favorite of his.  Like most quick breads this is dense, moist, and super flavorful.  

And, if you ever cut into a loaf and realize it’s lighter than it should be because you left the can of pumpkin sitting on your counter at home instead of adding it to the batter… well, it makes a delicious pumpkinless spice bread as well.  Not that I know from experience or anything.  ;)

Person - Art’s Mom

Bread Machine Olive Oil Bread

Ingredients_
-- 1 ¹⁄₂ Pound Loaf –_
For the biga starter
³⁄₄ cup water
1 ¹⁄₂ cups bread flour
¹⁄₂ teaspoon bread machine yeast

For the dough
¹⁄₄ cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 ¹⁄₂ cups bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon gluten
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
1 ³⁄₄ teaspoons bread machine yeast

-- 2 Pound Loaf –
For the biga starter
1 cup water
2 cups bread flour
¹⁄₂ teaspoon bread machine yeast

For the dough
¹⁄₂ cup water
¹⁄₄ cup olive oil
2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons gluten
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Instructions
1. To make the biga starter, place starter ingredients in the bread pan. Program for the Dough cycle and set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer rings, press Stop and unplug the machine. Let the starter sit in the machine for 12 to 18 hours.

2. To make the dough, with a rubber spatula, break up the starter into 6 or 8 pieces and leave in the machine. Place all the dough ingredients in the bread pan. Set crust on dark and program for the French Bread cycle; press Start. The dough will be moist and smooth, but flaccid.

3. When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Comments
This recipe is from my best beloved bread machine cookbook - The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook.  I love breads that use a starter but I’ve never had the motivation to keep up with a proper sourdough starter.  This, however, is an extremely easy starter-based bread to make and has great flavor.

Shown here with Bread Machine Sweet Potato Bread.   (Olive Oil Bread is on the right.)

The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook

Bread Machine Basic White Bread

Ingredients
-- 2 pound loaf –
1 ¹⁄₂ cups water
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour
2 ¹⁄₄ teaspoons yeast, active dry, instant or bread machine yeast

-- 1 ¹⁄₂ pound loaf –
1 ¹⁄₄ cups plus 1 tablespoon water
1 ¹⁄₄ teaspoons salt
3 ¹⁄₂ cups bread flour
2 ¹⁄₄ teaspoon yeast, active dry, instant or bread machine yeast

-- 1 pound loaf –
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
³⁄₄ teaspoon salt
2 cups plus 6 tablespoons bread flour
2 teaspoons yeast, active dry, instant or bread machine yeast

Instructions
1. Add ingredients according to manufacturer’s suggested order. Set machine to white bread setting (or French/Italian) and select light or medium crust.  Select loaf size and press start.  

[photo forthcoming]

Comments
This is a very basic bread recipe and it’s what I use for Turkey Stuffing/Dressing.  Most bread sold in stores has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, so I find it easier just to bake my own bread instead of risking it on Thanksgiving.  It also lets me cube the bread the way I want it to be, which is a nice bonus.  This recipe is from the booklet that came with my bread machine.

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