Chicken Avocado Casserole

I rarely make chicken because I don't like it. My boyfriend and most of my houseguests do like it.

Last night I had some chicken breasts in the fridge and I pulled out a past successful recipe - Chicken Avocado Casserole. I got the recipe off a box of Morton's Kosher Salt. I've made it before and Andy really liked it. It's featured on allrecipes.com.

It's called a casserole, but it's more like baked chicken breasts with mushrooms and really good sauce. I served it with rice and snap peas. I use vegetable broth rather than chicken broth in the sauce. It's just too chickeny otherwise. I also only used 4 chickens breast, and doubled the amount of broth to make the sauce less thick, but made everything else the same. I don't really like chicken, but it's nice to learn how to cook it at least.

I also made blackberry cobbler for dessert. I found that recipe on myrecipes.com and it was very good. I only made a half recipe since blackberries are so expensive right now.

Chicken Avocado Casserole
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Avocado-Casserole/Detail.aspx

Blackberry Cobbler
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=659315

Traditional Tuna Casserole

I just made some more of that iced tea. We're having a heat wave and it's very refreshing.

This week I made a tuna casserole that turned out quite nice. It was simple and we enjoyed it.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
http://www.bhg.com/recipes/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=R115597

Per's Refreshing Minty Iced Tea

When the weather starts to warm up I like to make iced tea to have on hand for a refreshing break on a sunny day. I learned this recipe from my good friend Jan Perry, who I affectionately refer to as "Per". I've known Per my whole life and she's always has a big patch of mint growing outside her back door. When Andy & I visited her a few years ago in Connecticut he tried some of her iced tea and loved it. So I got the recipe for our enjoyment out here on the West Coast.

Ingredients:
2 Liters Water
Handful of fresh mint leaves - about 20
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
5 Roses tea bags - or whichever brand you prefer

Directions:
1. Put 2 Liters water on to boil.
2. In small saucepan combine 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water and torn up mint leaves. Put on low heat and stir until sugar is disolved and small bubbles form. Turn heat off and let sit. You will have a minty syrup.
3. Place tea bags in pitcher and add boiled water. Let steep for 5 minutes and remove tea bags.
4. Pour mint syrup through a strainer into iced tea.
5. Serve over ice cubes immediately or allow to cool.

Mint grows like crazy and will take over your whole yard. It's best grown in a container. Just about everyone has mint growing in their yard or neighborhood, so don't buy it. It's readily available for free most of the year.

I've always bought Rose's tea because I like the figurines that are included in the box. Lipton or Tetly is fine too. You don't need fancy tea for this recipe.

Fake Meat Products

I've mentioned before how much I like Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon on a BLT. Another product that Morningstar Farms makes that is excellent is the Grillers Recipe Crumbles. It is textured vegetable protein that substitues seemlessly for ground beef in a recipe.

A simple week night meal for us is tacos with Morningstar Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles.

I start out my chopping up a red onion and sauteeing it in a teaspoon of canola oil. Then I add my recipe crumbles and heat through. I throw in some taco seasoning, which comes in little packets, and some water and simmer for about 7 minutes.

I like to serve the tacos on warm 6" corn tortillas with sharp cheddar cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado and cilantro.

This turns out a very yummy & flavorful meal. My boyfriend who is a meat-eater, says he can't tell the difference between the Recipe Crumbles and real ground beef when used in recipes.

I've also used the similar Boca Burger product and it is also very good. I just buy whichever is on sale.

Enchilada Follow-up

The enchilada recipe I tried last weekend turned out to be delicious. We had it for dinner and also used it for several other meals through the week.

The Whole Enchilada

Tonight I'm making Black Bean, Corn and Zucchini Enchiladas. This is a new recipe for me and I'll report back on how it goes. Here are the links to the enchilada recipe and the accompanying enchilada sauce. I have made other types of enchiladas before and they are always better when you make your own sauce. I'm hoping this one turns out well.

Black Bean, Corn and Zucchini Enchiladas:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1611704

Enchilada Sauce:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1611705

A Simple (Almost) Summer Meal

If you watch Food Network, you are familiar with Giada DeLaurentis's show "Everyday Italian". I've watched a lot of Food Network shows and tried a lot of the recipes. Giada's recipes I find actually taste good when made at home and involve relatively simple ingredients. I also like Ina Garten's recipes from Barefoot Contessa, although her ingredients tend to be really expensive.

About a year ago Andy & I watched Giada make really simple Baked Caprese Salad. We made it and really enjoyed it. See the link below for Giada's original recipe. We usually enhance it by carefully reducing about a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar while everything else is cooking and brushing that on top at the end. The balsamic vinegar becomes syrupy and sweet, be careful not to burn it. We've also added olive tapenade from Trader Joe's underneath the tomato.

We just had this meal again on Thursday night because the tomatoes in the store are finally decent and basil is also coming into season.

Baked Caprese Salad:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33449,00.html

Breakfast for Dinner

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I last posted. One of my fans has been complaining. I really haven't cooked anything lately that hasn't already been shared. Last weekend my parents were visiting and I redid my Easter Brunch for a crowd of 10. Everyone really enjoyed the Spinach Gruyere Strata again, that recipe really is a winner. I had some buttermilk left over from my Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls and decided not to let it got to waste - everyone is being careful in this economy ;)

So we had breakfast for dinner. I made Mom's Oatmeal Blueberry Pancakes. (I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and not from my own Mom.) The reviews of the recipe were good and I gleaned a very good suggestion from reading them: once the batter is mixed up it should be allowed to sit for about 30 minutes to allow the oats to absorb some of the liquid.

This was a very simple recipe. Andy & I both enjoyed it alot and we'll be making it again.

Mom's Oatmeal Blueberry Pancakes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moms-Oatmeal-Blueberry-Pancakes/Detail.aspx