One large carrot peeled and diced. One stalk of celery diced. One quarter to one third of a white onion cut into strips. 3 baked bone in skin on chicken breasts.
Earlier in the evening I baked the chicken. I sprayed the glass baking dish with avocado oil spray. I added the chicken and sprayed the top of each chicken breast before I sprinkled approximately 1 1/2 tsp of Fresco Spice Blends Penney’s Little Italy over the tops. Baked uncovered at 375 for 35 minutes
Back to the stock. Add water to cover about 8 cups. A splash of Reisling leftover from our son’s wedding weekend ❤️ probably 1/4 cup or less. If you are doing dry January skip the wine. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours overnight or whenever you have 10 hours to spare. Wake up to chicken broth and the beginning of a nice chicken soup.
I’m going to take the skin off and debone the chicken later today and dump it all (minus the bones and skin) in a stock pot on the stove to simmer and smell nice until dinner! I will also add in more carrots that are peeled and diced, diced celery, and some minced garlic and maybe ginger briefly sautéed in a little olive oil or butter.
Add more water throughout the day when you think it needs more.
Add the noodles at in the last 10 minutes of cooking when you’ve brought the soup to a boil. Follow the package directions for the noodles that you choose. That’s dinner!
chicken with olive oil and Fresco Spice Mexicali salsa blend
Geez, it’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything! Supposedly life had slowed down over the past year and a half but I don’t buy it. I’m still rushing around trying to put dinner on the table.
Roasted potatoes with Fresco spice blend Everyday Seasoning
Pre heat your oven to 425. Cut up 3 Russet potatoes into small pieces and mix with olive oil and whatever spice you like best. I really like the Fresco Spice Blends. I used 1 tablespoon of their Everyday Seasoning. Mix well and spread evenly on a rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking you can cut up carrots and broccoli. I was lucky in that I already had diced carrots in the fridge. Set aside.
Above are photos of my time saver, frozen pre cut chicken that I simply thaw and combine with olive oil and my favorite spice blend. This week I’m loving Fresco Spice Blends Mexicali Salsa.
Either bake the chicken in a pan at 375 for about 25 minutes or saute (fry that is) in a pan over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.
While the chicken is cooking steam the vegetables in the microwave for about 3 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the pan and put in a bowl to serve later. Pour about 1/4 cup of chicken stock into the pan while it is still on low to medium heat. Use a utensil that works best for the type of pan you used. My pan is non stick so I used a wooden spatula. Scrape the browned chicken bits and mix with the chicken stock. Let the liquid cook for a minute or two and then add the steamed carrots and broccoli and mix well. I added one teaspoon of Fresco spice blends California Fresh seasoning and continued to cook until the carrots were as tender as I liked.
Ta da! A complete meal in about half an hour. It definitely helps to have frozen pre cut chicken on hand, as well as vegetables that were already cut ( at least the carrots were), and using boxed chicken broth.
It’s chilly outside this morning so time for coffee with foam. Yum!
A mix of Trader Joe’s Autumn Maple Coffee with Starbucks French Roast, topped with 1% milk foam made in the Nespresso and topped with a sprinkle of Maple Sugar from Ben’s Sugar Shack. The perfect Saturday morning coffee for a cold November morning.
What to do with leftovers? It’s the perennial question in almost every kitchen.
I made a big bowl of black bean salad to serve as a dip along side Super Nachos and my guilty pleasure hot crab and artichoke dip. The next day the salad was staring back at me in the fridge. After numerous swipes with tortilla chips and a couple tortilla roll ups made with the salad my husband and I knew we had to figure something else out. The missing ingredient was right there in the fridge all along, eggs.
Scrambled eggs with black bean salad, served with salsa to continue the Southwestern vibe or the diner favorite, ketchup.
Of course I had to add cheese. A little bit of colby jack improves so many things.
Here’s the recipe for black bean salad. A lot of chopping but worth it!
1 red bell pepper,1 yellow pepper, and 1 orange pepper, all diced
1/2 cup red onion diced
1 can corn ( approx 15 oz) drained
1/2 tsp jarred minced garlic. ( You can also substitute 1 clove of garlic minced.)
1 tsp cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
4 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 tsp lime juice
1 can black beans drained
In a glass bowl combine peppers, onion, corn, garlic, and cilantro. (If you put the beans in now as well it won’t make a difference)
Add olive oil, vinegar, and lime juice and toss together.
Add black beans and toss if you haven’t added them already.
Serve with tortilla chips. And the second day serve with eggs!
Nothing says Happy Valentine’s Day quite like pancakes….said no one…. until now. My daughter wanted heart shaped pancakes for dinner so I told her to make them. We used the recipe for buttermilk pancakes from the Joy of Cooking and spooned the batter into a squirt bottle and this is the yummy result.
Highly recommend for adults pairing it with Irish coffee. Of course the bacon can be enjoyed by all!
When the game is on it’s not easy to get the family to actually sit down at the table for lunch or dinner. So we snack.
Sausage roll and Pepperoni roll
Potato skins from smaller Russet potatoes topped with Ossian bacon, Gouda, and Colby-Jack cheese are one of my favorite snacks in the world. I called them two bite in the caption above but that second bite is not necessary for this mini-size.
These are so easy. Bake the potatoes in a 450 oven for 45 minutes. Let cool enough so that they aren’t too hot to handle. Cut them in quarters and scoop out some of the potato for each quarter. Lay them cut side up on a baking sheet. Top with Gouda, bacon pieces, and Colby Jack cheese. Then bake at 400 again for 5 minutes. Monterey Jack cheese is a good substitute for Colby-Jack. The leftover potato that you scooped out, save it to mix with spices and bake again as quick hash browns for some other meal.
Sausage roll and pepperoni roll both made with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese were the result of leftover pizza dough from the night before. The crust on this sausage roll…not sure if I can duplicate the crusty perfection.
Both versions are easy to make. Roll the dough out into a rectangular shape. As you can see my dough looks pretty free form around the edges. Just go with it. Put your toppings on each piece of rolled out dough.
Roll the dough up along the longer side.
When you have them rolled up, place them on a baking sheet. Bake them in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.
Then slice and enjoy! Usually I serve them with pizza sauce or marinara sauce. These can also be frozen to enjoy later. I don’t have a great idea of how long these rolls can stay in the freezer. Each time I’ve had the opportunity to freeze rolls I’ve made I’ve taken them out for a quick dinner within a month.
My mom sent us home with a bowl full of baby red potatoes. We were also given a couple leftover grilled Italian sausages to bring home to our daughter who stayed home to study for her CPA exams. The next day we still had both of these ingredients so I decided to roast the potatoes with olive oil and a tablespoon of A Bit of Tuscany from the Fresco Spice Blends. They probably roasted at 450 for about 30 -40 minutes. The next time I roast these little guys I will cut each one in half and roast them cut side down to get that nice carmelized flavor. These were good but cut in half might be better. I’ll let you know. I was just lazy with this dinner.
We sliced the sausage and ended up with maybe one and a half cups of slices.
I baked some previously cut up chicken that I had in the freezer. Again I just used olive oil and seasoning. I think I used Coast to Coast seasoning from Fresco Spice Blends. If it isn’t obvious yet, I love their spices. I didn’t measure but it seemed to be about 2 cups of cooked chicken after it was baked at 375 for 25 minutes and cut into smaller pieces.
I added the sausage, chicken, and a teeny-tiny bag of frozen diced ham to a Zatarain’s jambalaya mix and in about half an hour dinner was on the table. The ham is not pictured because it was literally a pint size freezer bag that was only maybe a quarter full of leftover diced ham. It just didn’t seem photo worthy. Dinner however was amazing with really minimal effort.
I’m late to the banana bread party that happened early this Spring but this stuff is good. Really good. My family will eat it for breakfast, lunch, an after school snack, or even dessert. So now you too can make this easy recipe and wow your family and friends.
Banana bread starts with you guessed it, bananas. When the bananas are past their prime I don’t always have the time to make banana bread. So I freeze them. Yes, I put them directly into the freezer brown spots and all and after a while when they are good and frozen the bananas will look a lot like this.
When I decide to make banana bread I usually double the recipe so I can make one loaf to eat right away and another loaf to either give to someone else or freeze for another day. So the following recipe will make two loaves but you can divide it in half and just make one if you so choose.
The process is not pretty. Frozen bananas are ugly and slimy but oh so necessary for banana bread. Take the 6 bananas out of the freezer and let them defrost for an hour or so in a bowl. Put them in a bowl or they will eventually leak all over your counter. You’re welcome for that small tip.
Cut open the bananas. I use a pair of scissors for this. As you peel the skin off the banana hold it over the bowl you want to mix it in. They are a squishy mess at this point and will likely fall into the bowl. If Obviously throw the empty skins away. I’m sure there is something out there telling us what can be done with banana skins but this is not that blog. Once you have peeled all your bananas mix them well. I use a Kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment.
When the bananas are well mixed add 2 cups of granulated sugar, mix again until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle, mix again briefly and then add 1 cup of oil. I use coconut oil but canola or another neutral oil will work as well. Mix again until the oil is mixed in and not floating on the top.
Add 4 eggs and mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle and mix again before adding 6 TBSP of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. I don’t think it’s important which type of milk is used. Regular, 1%, almond milk, whatever type of milk you have in the fridge will work. If someone tries buttermilk in this recipe let me know how it goes. Mix again.
Add 2 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, and 4 cups of all purpose flour. Mix again. If up to this point you have ignored my advice to scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle attachment right now is when you should listen to me. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle, making sure that you get all the way down to the bottom of the bowl because you want everything to combine together.
Use a non-stick spray to coat the insides of two loaf pans before you evenly pour the batter into the pans.
Bake on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 350 for an hour.
Check to see if it is done by using a long toothpick and poking it in the center of the bread on the top. If the toothpick comes out dry you are good to go. Otherwise if it is still gooey bake for an additional 5-10 minutes and then check again.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before you slice it. These freeze really well and can be made in smaller mini loaf pans. If you use a smaller loaf pan start checking to see if the bread is done after 40 minutes.
Homes In Progress 