Hen Party

Anyone that knows my family knows that we love to cook and we love to entertain. My step –mom is always throwing get together with her girlfriends that she calls “Hen Parties”. Which consist of all her girlfriends and mine get together at our house and bring over different wines and hors d’oeuvres for us to try. We play games, gossip, dance, we just like to have a good old time. My dad was feeling left out especially with his recent retirement, so the women started to bring their husbands and the “men folk” would have their beer watch ESPN and do manly things.

This past weekend we had a Gumbo party. My dad made his famous gumbo which was the bomb. My mom made crab cake bites and well I made Chocolate and Peanut butter chip pretzel or walnut cookies. I made these cookies before with pretzels but my mom was not impressed so I made a batch with walnuts just for her. As people started to show up she was finishing up the final touches for the food. She fried some fish with homemade coleslaw and cut slices of store bought 7 up cake. I love 7 up cake it the top 3 cakes that stay on the top of my list. (Linda’s Fudge cake, Grandmother Apricot Brandy Pound Cake, and 7 up cake) I seriously would be the fattest person in the world if these cakes were in my house on a consistent basis.

As the night unfolded jokes were told and compliments to the chefs were made. They thought that we just sit around and cook all day. I have to say my weekends consist of baking and coming up with inspiration for some new baking ideas. Baking is my stress reliever and being praised on good food is always a plus. Here are some pictures of the awesome food!

                                                   

Sweet Cherry Pie

  

This past weekend I wanted to bake something sweet. I had originally planned on baking some fudge-y brownies but I guess God had other plans for me this weekend. My mother sent me on some errands (a nice bit of “me” time while she watched my little guy), and one of the stops was Sam’s Club. I love going to Sam’s club, because they give away free samples. When I was a kid my parents would go on Saturday morning to stock up on groceries and odds and ends and I would wander around the store collecting the free samples, a scavenger hunt for tasty morsels. Then I’d run and tell mom or dad get this or that. Even as an adult I still love samples, especially fruit, meat, and veggies.

Fast forward to this weekend, running my errands, I was getting some unsalted butter for some upcoming baking projects and I saw sweet cherries on sale. With trepidation, I snagged one of the cherries for a taste test. I hate it when so-called sweet fruits end up being anything but. To my surprise, they were sweet and the first thing that springs into mind is that song “Sweet Cherry Pie” by Warrant. I grabbed a box of cherries and was singing that tune, earbug that it is, all the way home.

Once back at my parent’s place, I realize that I’ve never baked a pie from-scratch with homemade crust. Busting out the Google, I researched flaky pie crust. Some recipes called for lard or vodka and I didn’t want to add any of that so I just created my own dough with some simple ingredients: ice, water, flour, butter, and sugar, all pulsed in the food processor. I separated the dough into halves and placed in the fridge for 45 minutes. The recipe calls for pitted cherries. Let me tell you: this pie was a labor of love. I pitted every cherry by hand and tried my best to keep them pretty (I don’t have a fancy-schmancy cherry pitter). By the time this little labor of love of mine finished baking and cooling, I had successfully made a beautiful cherry pie! My dad came into the kitchen and grabbed a huge slice with ice cream, and my step-mom, who doesn’t even like cherry pie, proclaimed her love for the filling I’d whipped up.

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe!!!

Ingredients

4 Cups of pitted cherries

2 Tablespoon of corn starch

2 Teaspoon of tapioca

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ Teaspoon almond extract

¼ Teaspoon lemon extract

½ Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter (cut them in to little squares)

1 of your favorite buttery flaky crust recipes

1. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Start pitting your cherries. As I said earlier this is a labor of love. Once all the cherries are pitted, combine them in a large bowl with the sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn starch, tapioca, vanilla, almond, and lemon extracts.

2. Next roll out your dough and place in pie pan and pour your cherry mixture in. Take the cut slices of butter and spread across the top. Roll out the second piece of dough and layer it on the top of the cherry mixture. Take egg wash dab it across the top and sprinkle sugar on top. Cut a slit in the middle of pie.

3. Place pie in the oven bake for 25 minutes. Then turn heat down to 350F and bake for another 25-30 minutes. Take pie out and let it cool. Enjoy.

Cilantro Lime Teriyaki Chicken

 

Today was just another manic Monday, and after coming home from a long day of work I just wanted to relax. My son was happy as a clam, just watching mommy in the kitchen while he played with his food . Being on the downhill slope of a hectic Monday evening, I prepped out some chicken, but I had no plan of how to finish it . Then I thought what would my dad do? I looked around the kitchen for some inspiration. I turned the broiler on and decided to pound out the chicken breast. That was actually so much fun for me to let out the frustration from work by pounding out the chicken. I lined the baking pan with foil and started tossing thing into the bottom of the pan. I figured that the flavors I was combining should be interesting. I served this with mixed vegetables and day-old rice, mixed in a mixture of cilantro lime teriyaki chicken. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as my son and I did.

Ingredients:

3 Chicken Breast (pounded)

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Lime Juice Concentrate

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon of Pepper

½ Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

3 sprigs of Cilantro chopped

1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar (and a little for sprinkling over the top)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your broiler to high. Take a shallow bowl and mix together the soy sauce, lime juice concentrate, Worcestershire, pepper, Cayenne pepper, and Cilantro and brown sugar. Taste to make sure the you’re getting the flavor you’re after and adjust to taste.

2. Pour the mixture over the chicken, then flip the chicken to make sure that it’s is completely covered with the mixture. ( You can also marinate the chicken for an hour)

3. Put the chicken in the oven for about 30 minutes or until down. I poured the mixture over day-old rice and served the chicken and rice with mixed vegetables. Enjoy!

Whatever Chicken Soup

Whatever Chicken Soup

This past week has been a very sickly one. My son recently turned one, and at his yearly checkup we found out that he had the start of an ear infection. This is his first ear infection, and I am hoping the last one, though it likely won’t be. Since I’m a first time mommy and never experienced an ear infection before, I did some research and found out that not only would my little man have a sore ear but symptoms of a cold to boot. As the week went on my son was complacent staying with his grandparents instead of going to daycare (read: spoiled), and even starts to feel a bit better just as we all start to come down with the common cold. Everyone knows the tell-tale signs: achy body, cough, sore throat, and sinuses all congested. Returning to work after the weekend I almost regretted all the love and hugs and kisses I gave to my little boy. Almost… He is my world, after all!

Sitting at my desk thinking of ways to feel better and buck this awful summertime cold, childhood memories of my dad begin to well up. When I was little—actually, even as an adult–my dad would make his homemade chicken noodle soup to help me feel better. I called this soup “Whatever soup”. My dad is an extremely resourceful cook, and he would find odds and ends in the pantry, leftovers in the refrigerator, and whatever else he could scrounge up and he was able to whip up a tasty soup. Sometimes he would add barley to give a little the concoction a little extra rib-sticking consistency. You can also substitute the red pepper flakes with cayenne. The recipe calls for canned chicken in water, but you can use boiled chicken breast if preferred. Like I said before, my dad would grab whatever is in the pantry to make this soup.

Well I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do. It does always seems to make me feel a million times better!

Whatever Soup Recipe

1 Yellow Onion chopped 3 Stalks of Celery chopped 4 Cloves of Garlic thinly chopped 8 Chicken Bouillon cubes crumbled 1 Bay Leaf 1 Tablespoon of Basil 1 Tablespoon of Thyme 1 Teaspoon of Red Pepper flakes 2 Cups of Frozen Vegetables 2 Large Chicken Breast / 1-2 Can of Chicken in Water 1 Tablespoon of Butter

Pasta (spaghetti, fettuccine, egg noodles) 10 Cups of Water Olive Oil

Instructions:

1. Grab a medium size pot, cover the bottom of the pot with olive oil, and add the onion, celery garlic, chicken bouillon cubes crushed, bay leaf, basil, thyme, red pepper flakes, and mix all together.

2. Add the frozen vegetables, chicken breast/canned chicken. Turn the pot on high heat and cook until the chicken is almost done and the onions are translucent.  Add water and butter (the butter binds everything together) let it cook for about 45 minutes or until vegetables are almost cooked. Taste the broth to make sure it’s seasoned to taste. If not add another bouillon cube or a dash of whatever it takes to get it there for you.

3. Add pasta and cook until it’s tender. Serve with crackers or toast. Enjoy!