Sunday, November 29, 2020

Apple Muffins and Other Tasty Eats

Phoning in this blog post? Why yes I am.
First is the Apple Muffins. I followed the Carrot-Apricot muffin recipe from Hy-Vee (grocery store chain in my area), but did diced apples instead of carrot and left out the apricot. It was tasty, but I liked the carrot version better.
For my son's birthday, I made this Butterfinger cake. I originally did a blog post back in 2012. This time around I amped up the box cake recipe by adding an extra egg, used butter instead of oil, and used milk instead of water. I can tell that making these changed made the cake more like a light pound cake. Really tasty. I might of added extra vanilla, but I don't remember. This time around I folded in some Cool Whip in with the pudding. So to recap on how I made this cake. Made a yellow cake (with the amped up changes),  made a small box of instant vanilla pudding and folded in a small tub of Cool Whip. Once the cake was cool,  I topped with the pudding mixture. Topped with crushed Butterfinger.


I have seen Chicken-a-la-King being made on T.V. and I decided I needed to make it. Despite the title, it is a humble chicken dish that is that all that fancy. I had searched Pinterest for a recipe and decided on this one.  I served this with homemade noodles.


Here is the recipe from the site:

Ingredients

  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns (optional)
  • 4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless
  • 6 tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onions
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup Half and Half
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried mustard
  • Salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas

To Serve: Biscuits, Rice, Texas Toasts or Baked Puff Pastry Shells (optional)

    Instructions

    Poaching the Chicken

    • In a pot over medium heat, bring the broth, bay leaf and peppercorn to a boil. Add the chicken breast (they should be in a single layer for even cooking), cover the pot and lower the heat. Poach them in the simmering liquid for about 12 to 15 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through.
    • Remove the chicken from the pot and let it cool until you can handle it. Shred the chicken. Discard the bay leaf and peppercorns and reserve the poaching liquid. 

    The Rest

    • In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the onions, mushrooms and bell peppers and saute stirring often until the vegetables are tender, about 5 - 6 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the skillet and set aside.
    • Add the rest of the butter to the skillet and when it melts, whisk in the flour. Cook for about 2 minutes stirring constantly. 
    • With a ladle, slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of the poaching liquid. The mixture will get thick immediately. Slowly, pour in 1 additional cup of the poaching liquid whisking constantly. A sauce will start to form. Slowly, whisk in the Half and Half.
    • Cook the sauce on low heat for about 5 - 6 minutes, stirring often. Add the ground mustard and season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.
    • Add the cooked vegetables, shredded chicken and frozen peas to the sauce and mix to combine. If the mixture is too thick, add more of the poaching liquid until desired consistency. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Check for seasoning and serve hot.

    To Serve

    • You can serve over rice, cooked pasta, egg noodles, or with biscuits. You can also fill baked pastry shells with the chicken mixture.

    Finally I have eggless Nutella Cookies. The recipe for this is found here. Even without the eggs, it turned out tasty. After all, it is Nutella. 

    O.K. I lied, the final tasty eat is leftover Thanksgiving croquette. It has leftover turkey, Stove Top stuffing, some cheese (because I felt like adding cheese) held together with a rue. Surprisingly no potato, which is traditionally found in most croquette. We just did stuffing instead of potato. I also had leftover green been casserole, but I thought it would just get to weird.  I fried them in the air fryer. This is the first thing I made in the air fryer that actually got crispy. It took a long time to air fry in comparison to frying them in oil. I guess that time is the compromise with healthy frying.



    2 comments:

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