Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Super Simple Bacon, Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I made this for a dinner with some friends.  Start to finish 20 minutes.  It is great if you are in a hurry.  I used bagel chips but you could serve it with chips, crackers or bread chunks. 

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bacon
  • 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1 (10 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
  • 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned and crisp, about 12 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Cool; chop coarsely.
  2. Stir together the bacon, spinach, artichoke hearts, sour cream, mayonnaise, and Parmesan cheese until well combined. Serve immediately, or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Super-Simple-Bacon-Spinach-and-Artichoke-Dip/Detail.aspx

Friday, February 4, 2011

Brandy Carrots

Again a big thank you to Linda Hallman for this recipe.  Super duper easy to make and gives cooked carrots a new spin.  Of course the carrots can be cleaned and cut up ahead of time which makes for an easy vegetable dish the day company is coming.

1 1/4 lbs carrots - cut into strips
1/4 c. melted butter/margarine
1/4 c. brandy
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Put carrots in an oven safe covered dish.  Mix other ingredients together and pour over carrots.  Cover and bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.

Opulent Chicken

Shout out to Linda Hallman for this recipe.  This is an awesome recipe.  And with the advice from Linda, it is perfect to make the night before and warm it up the next day.  We (Bf and I) made this on Wednesday night and put it in the fridge over night.  Then when we were getting ready for our dinner guest we put it back in the oven to reheat.  You couldn't even tell it was made the night before.

We used chicken thighs instead of chicken breast.  Either will work.  Please don't let the artichoke heats scary you away.  I'm not a fan of artichokes either but once everything is cooked you can't even tell they are in the dish.  I actually forgot they were in the chicken dish until we were clean up dinner, then it dawned on me.  We served with Brandied Carrots and part wild rice and part white rice.  Makes a fancier meal that can be done ahead of time.  My 6 qt. dutch oven worked perfect for this recipe and fit 8 chicken thighs with no problems.

8 chicken thighs or breasts
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
1/4 lbs butter (1 stick)
1 - 15oz can of artichoke hearts
1/2 lbs fresh mushrooms
1 pinch tarragon
3 tbsp flour
1/3 c. sherry
1 1/2 cups chicken bouillon

Slather the chicken in paprika, salt, and pepper.  Saute in 1/2 stick butter until golden brown.  Place the chicken pieces in a large serving casserole and add the artichokes among them.  Put the mushrooms and the remaining half of the butter in the same skillet you used for browning the chicken.  Season with the tarragon ans saute for about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle the flour in gently and add the sherry and bouillon.  Simmer for 5 minutes and pour the sauce over the chicken and artichokes.  cover the casserole and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.

Recipe taken from Saucepans and the Single Girl

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Fun tip I learned today.... pan sizes

How much does a 9x13-inch pan make?

• A 9x13-inch pan holds between 12 and 14 cups and has 117 square inches of surface area.
• Therefore, halving pretty much any recipe that goes into a 9x13-inch pan means that you need a pan that holds between 6 and 8 cups and has about 60 square inches of surface area.
• Fortunately, most of us have such a pan! An 8x8-inch pan holds 8 cups of volume, and has 64 square inches of surface area.

The 8x8-inch pan is just slightly bigger than a halved 9x13, so if halving a recipe you may want to reduce the baking time by about 5 minutes, and check on the casserole then. But ultimately, this has always worked well for me. When halving a basic 9x13 casserole, cut the recipe in half and bake it in an 8x8-inch pan.

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/halving-casseroles-tips-for-reducing-the-size-of-a-recipe-137981

Beef Stew Bake

This is one of my favorite recipes my mom makes.  It is great because you can use leftover stew or buy stew in a can.  This recipe would be easy to cut in half as well.  You would use a 8x8 pan and reduce the cooking time.

Beef Stew Bake

1/2 cup butter
3 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese
2 tbls. sugar
1 large can dinty moore beef stew
(3 cups of left over stew can be
used in place of canned stew)

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a 9x13 pan in the oven.  Combine all ingredients, except the beef stew.  Pour batter over melted butter. Spoon the beef stew over batter, leave some of the batter exsosed.

DO NOT STIR.
Bake for 6o to 65 minutes.