No- Peek Chicken and Rice

What's better than chicken and rice that cook in the same pot?  The leftovers of this dish were even better than the first day.

No Peek Chicken

1 6 ounce package long grain wild rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cans water
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 13 x 9 pan.( Or I used my enameled cast iron pan with a lid and sprayed it)
Combine the rice, soups and water in the baking dish.  Arrange the chcken on top of the rice.  Season well with the salt and pepper.  Seal tightly with aluminum foil.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours.  Check that the rice is done. Don't peek before then!

In - N- Out Spread

Love an In-N-Out Burger animal-style?  Love that special sauce they put on their burgers or fries animal-style?  Here's the Copycat recipe for that delicious spread.

In-N-Out Burger Spread
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons Ketchup
2 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp vinegar

Mix together.  Refrigerate for about an hour before serving.  It tastes just like theirs.

I have made this several times.  It is perfect on sweet potato fries, hamburgers, hot dogs, . . . whatever needs a spread.  

Hamburger Stew

This is a delicious stew for the meat and potato lover.  I have been tweaking this recipe for many years. This is a winner!

Hamburger Stew
2 lbs. lean hamburger
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
1 box mushrooms, sliced (opt.)
Garlic, large spoonful of the minced or crushed in a bottle
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Crumble the raw hamburger into a casserole dish with a cover.  You could also use a 13 x 9 pan and cover with aluminum foil.  Then add other ingredients and combine. Cover.  Bake at 350 for about 1 1/2 hours.  Serve with bread.

My husband LOVES this dish.

Easy Baked Salmon

Kristen makes this nutritious dinner for her family.  She says it is so easy and delicious!

Easy Baked Salmon
1 salmon filet, about 1-2 pounds
1 12- ounce bag frozen Brussels sprouts in steamable bag
15-20 asparagus spears
2 T. olive oil
Garlic Salt
Salt Pepper
Seafood seasoning
2 T. butter, cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 400.  Spray a 9x13 pan.  Place the salmon, skin side down, in themiddle of the pan.  Preapre the Brussels sprouts by steaming them in the bag in the mocrowave according to package directions.  Open the bag and put the sprouts on one side of the salmon.  Spread the asparagus on the other side of the salmon.  Drizzle olive oil over all and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Sprinkle the salmon with the seafood seasoning. Dot the salmon with butter pieces.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the salmon is flaky.

Kristen has six children, so the picture shown is double this recipe.  She says her whole family loves this easy dish.  She got it from The Six Sisters Cookbook.  

Barbecue Chicken in the Crockpot

I highly recommend you try this one.  I used bone-in thighs (very inexpensive and delicious.)  The package had 5, but you could easily double the chicken.  There was plenty of sauce.  I put the chicken in frozen solid and it was done- on low- about 4 hours later.  

Crockpot BBQ Chicken
4-6 Chicken breasts or thighs (can be frozen)
1 bottle barbecue sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's)
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder

Mix all the sauce ingredients.  Put the chicken breasts in a sprayed crockpot.  Pour the sauce over.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.  
Serve over hot rice.

Sunday Eggs

There was no fresh basil in the store because of the pandemic, so I used dried.  I'm sure fresh would have been much better.

  I recently read or actually listened to a book by Marcus Samuelson called Our Harlem. You may recognize the name of Marcus Samuelson.  He is a judge on the show, Chopped.   Marcus owns a restaurant in Harlem and shared this recipe in the book.  It is delicious! It is poached eggs in a very delicious and unique tomato sauce.  It has a lot of unusual ingredients that blend together and make it really tasty.

Sunday Eggs
Olive oil, about a Tablespoon
1/2 cup chorizo (I wasn't even sure what chorizo was.  It kind of looks like sausage)
1 onion, diced
1 rib celery, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 14 1/2 oz. can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 T. capers
3 olives, chopped
1 chipotle in adobo, minced (these babies are spicy.  One should do it!  I freeze the rest of the can)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsps. horseradish
Kosher salt and ground pepper
8 eggs
4 slices good bread, toasted
8 oz. fresh mozzarella, cut into cubes
olive oil
Fresh basil, about 4 leaves, torn

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the chorizo, onion, celery, and later the garlic and cook until the onion softens.  Add the tomatoes, capers, olives, chipotle and water and stir and cook for about 5 minutes at a simmer.  Then add the horseradish and salt and pepper.  Mix well and simmer.
Crack the eggs into the simmering sauce and cook until the whites are set.  It will take 5-6 minutes.  Put a slice of toast on each of four plates.  Put two eggs on each toast and then divide the sauce among the four plates.  Top with the mozzarella cubes and drizzle with olive oil.  Top with the torn basil.

This was taken while the eggs were cooking.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is my grandson, Jacob- Kristen's son.  He recently made these delicious and healthy muffins for his family.  He said it was really fun and that they were delicious!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 cup flour
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips
1/2 cup regular chocolate chips
4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg
1/2 cup vanilla or plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup very ripe bananas (2-3 bananas), mashed

Preheat oven to 350
Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray, then dust each cup with cocoa powder.  Remove 1 Tablespoon of the flour.  Toss the rest of the flour with the cornstarch, soda, salt, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips.  Stir.
Whisk together the egg and yogurt.  Stir in the melted coconut oil, vanilla, brown sugar, and mashed banana.
Make a "well" in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in.  Mix until just combined.  Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cups.  Bake for 18-23 minutes or until a pick inserted comes out clean.  Allow to cool  You may have to use a knife to gently remove each muffin.  When ready to eat a muffin, microwave for 15-20 seconds.

Watergate Salad

This pistachio salad was all the rage back in the 70's.  The very name tells you when it was popular  We made it all the time.  It had been years and years since I made it.  I was looking through my old cookbook and saw the recipe and decided to see if it was as good as we remembered

Watergate Salad
1 small package instant pistachio pudding
1 can crushed pineapple
1 8 oz carton cool whip
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup miniature marshmallows

Mix the pudding and pineapple together.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together.  Let set in the fridge for a short time.

Veggies and Noodles

My friend, Meredith shared this delicious, simple recipe with me.  I will be making this a lot.

Veggies and Noodles
2 T. olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced or mashed
Veggies of choice.  The original recipe suggested:
4 green onions, chopped (I used 1 onion, chopped)
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 cup snap peas
I used what I had in the fridge: broccoli, asparagus, carrots, onion, and wished I had had mushrooms.  Summer squash would be good, too.  Can't go wrong!

Sauce:
2 T. brown sugar (I used more like 1/4 cup)
3 T. soy sauce (I used more of that,too)

9 oz. rice noodles (I used angel hair pasta and will again.  It was delicious), cooked

As you can see, I made this recipe my own, as can you.

Heat the oil in a skillet.  Add the garlic and other vegetables and saute until the veggies are soft.  Add the brown sugar and soy sauce and mix well.  Then add the cooked noodles.  Stir until mixed well.  Garnish with chopped green onion.

Sweet Potato Fries

We love Sweet Potato Fries.  They are easy to make at home.

Sweet Potato Fries
Heat oven to 425
Peel 2 large sweet potatoes
Cut them in strips or wedges
Put them in a bowl with about 2 T. olive oil with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.
Mix all together with your hands.
Put parchment on a baking tray, and pour the fries on it and spread around evenly on pan.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the fries are soft.  Serve with fry sauce.  Serves 2-4 as a side dish.

Utah Fry Sauce

Did you know Fry Sauce is a Utah thing? At least it started in Utah and has spread to some other Western states. In the East, they don't even know what you're talking about. It's easy to make. Just put about 1 part ketchup to 2 parts mayonaise in a bowl. Mix well. Put in a small amount of dill pickle juice (this is very important if you want it to taste like Utah Fry Sauce) Put a little in and taste it. If you feel like you just were transported to Artic Circle in your hometown, then you got it right. Add more if needed. You can also put in some finely chopped dill pickles if desired, but really, why? It's so good just creamy and smooth.

Japanese Egg Salad

I miss the Japanese egg salad that we had often in Japan.  It is simple, but makes a delicious side dish. It was served as one of many little side dishes.
Japanese Egg Salad
6 boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
Mayonaise (they used kewpie)
Mustard, to taste
Vinegar, about  1 T.

Mix all together and serve as a side dish. The amounts are to taste, but it should be very moist.  Sometimes they don't put the mustard in.   We especially like it with hot dogs or hamburgers.  If you cook the eggs in the Instapot, you can have this made in just a few minutes.