Party Quesadillas ~ page 134

Do you sometimes make a recipe you haven't made in a very long time, then when it turns out so delicious and easy you wonder, "Why did I wait so long to make these again?" Although it does seem like these quesadillas could be everyday fare, I really do only make them for summer parties outside. Maybe that is because I first ate them at my nephew's daughter's first birthday party, packed out with lots of family. My nephew cooked these on the outdoor grill. They were so wonderful, I got the recipe from him. Really though, it is not so much a recipe as simply a list of ingredients and a method.

 To make the chicken quesadilla mixture, add whatever amount of cooked chicken hunks (rotisserie chicken works well) and some black olives into the food processor and give it a whirl to coarsely chop everything.

Now add either red or green canned enchilada sauce--just enough to hold everything together. After another quick whirl, then dump out the mixture into a bowl and stir in the grated cheeses. I use sharp cheddar cheese, and then the Mexican cheese, queso fresco, if I have it, or else mozzarella or Monterey jack--basically, any white cheese.

I usually add in some bean and cheese quesadillas along with the ones with the chicken mixture. This can all be assembled outside, if you are cooking on the grill...or in this case, on a pancake griddle!

This was my first time to try these on the griddle. It was too much work to start the grill (which is charcoal, ugh!) and too hot to use the oven inside, so I came up with the idea of using the pancake griddle moved outside. This worked so well, I think I will always cook Party Quesadillas this way! Oh, I also used two kinds of tortillas--a spicy jalapeño tortilla, and a regular white flour tortilla.

I tried using refried black beans for the first time, and liked them just fine. I used a fire roasted enchilada sauce, and added some of this sauce to the beans, along with the cheese. It is nice to be able to offer a platter of two kinds of quesadillas to your guests. Notice in the background is a pizza cutter--great for cutting the cooked quesadilla into quarters.

Here are some of my toppings: pico de gallo, avacados (that were supposed to become guacamole, but didn't make it that far), and a homemade green tomatilla sauce. An offering of sour cream would have been nice if I had some...

And here all the leftovers after the party was all done.  Pop them in a covered container in the fridge, and later heat them on a baking sheet and you can have another party the next day! Not only do these heat up nicely, but they also freeze beautifully and thaw quickly for a fast snack. Oh, just one more thought--I served these at my party with fresh corn on the cob, iced tea, and watermelon.  It was a perfect hot-weather light meal. ~Janice

Nutty Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry ~ page 146

If you are really tired (from being sick, in my case), and don't want to spend much time cooking, yet you want a warm, comforting, delicious meal--this dish will take care of you. After a week of not cooking much, this was my first real meal to make. I think I had the first bite in my mouth in 20 minutes flat!

Get everything ready before you start cooking, because the cooking part goes fast. The peanut sauce is easy to mix up and set aside. Cut up your veggies, and get the water to boiling for the noodles. This recipe calls for Ramen noodles, which you know cook super fast--but you can also use other kinds of noodles. I live near an Asian market which has a complete isle of strange noodles you never saw before--so I love to try different kinds of them. I used a quick-cooking noodle I found there instead of the Ramen noodles, just to try something different. Don't worry about leftovers--they will be just as yummy as the first go round.

Oh, here is one more picture for you (it has nothing to do with this recipe!)--Lillian brought this tray to my house the other day--this is the after school snack she made completely by herself and wanted to share. She informed me she even used a sharp knife to cut up the tomatoes all on her own. She was very proud of herself! ~ Janice

Chicken Cacciatore ~ page 110

Years before Carissa and I wrote down all our recipes for What We Cook, we talked about writing a cookbook of dishes that are good to take to a church pot luck, or to a friend that needs a meal. We never wrote that cookbook, but if we ever do, this will be one of the recipes in it. This is a wonderful, comforting meal to take to a friend that has had a hard week. Be sure to make enough for your own family though, as the smells from your kitchen will draw them in wanting some!

Start by browning your chicken pieces. I sort of doubled the recipe, so I browned chicken in two batches.

I had these little colorful sweet peppers, so I threw some of those in with the veggies. Be sure to cut your chunks of vegetables into pretty big pieces, so they don't get lost in the sauce.

Remove the browned chicken, and add the vegetables to the pot to sauté.

My granddaughter, Lillian, wanted to stir...

But as soon as I turned my head, she did some tasting...unfortunately, with a big blop of red sauce down her white shirt! We tried to clean it up before her momma saw it...

At the very end of the simmer time, add in the black and green olives. I didn't have green olives, so I used capers, which have kind of the same flavor as a green olive. The olives are what makes the flavor of this dish really stand out.

Here is the full meal I put together--I added the Green Bean Toss ~ page 97, and the Rosemary Dipping Bread ~ page 287.  This is a light, but warm and tasty dinner that will pack up easily to take to the home of someone that could use a good meal at the end of a challenging week.

Mona gets cooking...

Our sweet friend, Mona, has been doing some cooking and telling me (Janice) about it, but I can't seem to get her to post on her own, so I am putting on her comments to share with others! She wrote a good synopsis of the recipes she has liked: 

Carissa's Lasagna - excellent. Easiest lasagna recipe I ever cooked. It didn't quite fill the pan of a 9x13 when I was assembling it (which made me nervous) but it of course expanded when the noodles cooked in the oven and came out lovely. What was great was how it was not too "saucy" when I served it right out of the oven. Mine is usually so messy and never looks pretty til the second day. And it was sooooo easy to assemble.

Carissa's Chicken Picatta - I loved it - but I forgot Phillip doesn't like capers so he wasn't thrilled with it. Plus it was too tart for him. Possibly, because I only cooked two chicken breasts but didn't reduce the sauce, maybe that's why it was so lemony. (4 breasts might have absorbed the sauce better). But I really loved it. If I only make it with two breasts next time, I might cut back on the lemon juice and capers for Phillip's benefit.

Carissa's salmon for two was wonderful. We had it last night. But I didn't buy two 12 ounce filet's. I bought a one pound piece of salmon (skin on the back). It was on sale. Anyway, the one pouud piece was more than enough for us. I was surprised she had two 12 oz filets because I know you guys do not overindulge and cook huge portions. But it was really tasty. I used my fresh basil from my potted herbs. Only change I made was the last couple of minutes I opened up the foil and turned the broiler on to dry the top of th salmon just a bit.

 

I'm really loving your recipe book. I am going to order one for Shannon for Christmas. Would love to see more beef/pork recipes because we eat so much chicken and I like to change things. I  like using the book because most of the recipes are easy with ingredients that I usually have around.  I think my next recipe to try will be the Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta.

Crispy Baked Chicken Breasts ~ page 140

Carissa blogged about this wonderful chicken a few months ago..but I thought I would add my two bits, plus a few more pictures. Remember that you can look at the archives or the search box on the blog to find recipes that have been blogged about to get all the tips and pictures that aren't in the cookbook!

I made this for my grandsons, thinking that anything with rice crispy's would be loved by kids--and this was, although it is really a very sophisticated tasting chicken dish. Your are supposed to slightly crush the cereal, but I forgot to..I spread the crispy's along with the flour and seasonings on a tray to mix and coat my raw chicken it.

I only made half the recipe because my chicken breasts were quite large. The combination of the rice crispy's and butter make for a luscious crunchy coating. Don't overcook the chicken, so that when you cut into them they are juicy and moist. These were perfect!

I served this chicken with the Cheesy Scalloped Potato Sticks (pg. 93), and some steamed broccoli. The combination made for an outstanding and fast meal for kids and adults.

Chicken Cacciatore ~ page 111

This sounds complicated, but it really comes together fast! I should have taken a picture before I added the parm cheese so you could see how pretty all the olives and mushrooms were in the sauce. My 5 year old gobbled it up...now the 2 year old didn't so much like it, but she is just weird sometimes! The leftovers were even better the next day for lunch.

Even though Evelyn wouldn't eat it for dinner she sure loved helping make it.

Chicken Tikka Masala ~ page 138

I know this recipe has already been blogged about, but I made it again today and had a change that I made that I think made it better. In the recipe it says to cook the chicken and discard the marinade...well, it is quite difficult to separate the marinade from the chicken since it is thick yogurt. Most of the marinade gets sautéed in with the chicken. The recipe has you taking out the chicken after it is cooked so you can make the sauce then add the chicken back in. When you are ready to dump the chicken back in the sauce try draining the juices off first... it is all the marinade that turned watery while cooking. Check out the photo below...there was alot of juice to pour off. This reduces your simmering time since the sauce is thicker without the juicy marinade.
I tried out a new brand of coconut milk today ...GOYA, I really liked it. I am having an Indian Dinner Party tomorrow night and wanted to get a head start on cooking, so I made this today and put it in the fridge...I think the flavors are gonna be even better tomorrow!

Italian Chicken Sandwiches ~ page 69

This isn't your typical chicken salad. The food processor makes this so fast to make, all you do is marinate the chicken, saute', then process with bacon...how much easier do you want? The meat has so much flavor you don't have to chop onions, or celery, or anything else you would normally put into a chicken salad.

Don't skip the bacon, it is important for the overall flavor!

I almost bought croissants like the recipe called for, but I was after a lower fat sandwich. This was actually made on my Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread from page 288, but any sandwich bread will do. Give this recipe a try, it makes alot, so it feeds a crowd. --Carissa

Mediterranean Chicken Pasta ~ page 133

This is soooo fast and easy to throw together! The trick is to have all the ingredients measured and cut up and ready to go. It goes together fast! The leftovers have great flavor. We were fighting over them! Even my kids gobbled it up. I used sun dried tomatoes in oil and thought they had a little more flavor than dehydrated ones....you just gotta pay a touch more for them. The other great thing about this meal is that you can have all these ingredients on hand. I bought the stuff to make this 3 weeks before I actually got around to making it. The feta cheese lasts for months. I did have fresh basil in my garden, but I think dried basil would do fine in a pinch. Give it a try! --Carissa

Chili's Lettuce Wraps Recipe ~ page 143

You can buy this dish at Chili's restaurant--or make it yourself at home! It is healthy, easy, and delicious. Carissa and I fixed this meal together last week--it is a good meal for group cooking and fun eating!

Make up the two dipping sauces first--this can be done well before the meal. Round up enough little cups for each person to have their own set of the sesame ginger, and the peanut dipping sauce.

Cut the cooked chicken breast into small dices--you don't want hunky pieces that will fall out of the lettuce. All the seasoning for the chicken is in the stir fry sauce that you add in. (It is very tasty!)

We added small diced carrots to the finished chicken and sauce. We wanted a little crunch in the carrot, so we did not cook it, just let it warm in the sauce. Here is a wrap ready to roll up...

Just roll some chicken mixture in a lettuce leaf, dip in sauce and eat. These wraps make a filling, yet light meal for four. There was a bit of both of the sauces left over, but I will think of something to use them in I am sure. All the flavors going on here with the sauce and dips are bright, lively, and oh so good.

Note: The stir fry sauce calls for 1/4 cup water mixed with the cornstarch, but we find it is better to reduce the water to 2 tablespoons mixed with the 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, to thicken the sauce.

Comments from Sharea...

We had two wonderul dinners so far this week! I cooked Honey Pecan Chicken (wasn't sure what basmati rice was) and Nutty chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry. Both yummy! Can't wait to try out other recipes!
Sharea

Speedy Chicken Piccata ~ page 136

Yummy! That is what we had for dinner tonight! The chicken was so tender and juicy. The directions say to cut each chicken breast in half, but it doesn't say which way...it needs to be lengthwise. That way you only have to pound them flat a few times for each breast. Below shows my trick of using a plastic cereal bag, the are so much sturdier than plastic wrap for pounding. The cookbook says 4 servings, but it is really more like 6 servings, or even 8 if one thin chicken breast is enough for you. It is so good, you may just want the other half of your breast! :)

After they are split and pounded, I salt and pepper them and then dust them with flour. ( I only had 3 breast in the freezer.)

Once sauteed they are so juicy.. here is the one I was cutting up for my kids, don't know if you can tell or not from the pic, but it was very moist.

I searched online for what to serve my chicken with and apparently the popular choice is polenta. So I pulled out my Giada De Laurentiis cookbook that Adam gave me for Mother's Day several years ago and found a recipe for polenta in there. I changed it to make it a little lower in fat, and it turned out REALLY good! My kids were licking their plates! I just had to include a pic of my 2 year old Evelyn dressed up for her royal dinner of Chicken and Polenta! The polenta turned out so good, I just had to add it to the "New Recipe" tab at the top of the blog....so now everyone can have polenta. When you got a chance, check out the tab. I am excited to try out fried polenta in the morning with my leftovers. --Carissa

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta ~ page 127

This was quick to throw together tonight for dinner, not many ingredients. I think this would be really yummy with shrimp for something different. At first I thought there was a typo in the amount of cream, it seemed a bit runny, but once I stirred in the pasta, and got the table set, the pasta had soaked up all the extra. It was very yummy!
The only change I did was to use fresh basil instead of dried. I also used sun dried tomatoes that were packed in oil instead of dehydrated ones. I think they have more flavor, although beware, they are more expensive! Below is a picture of how the tomatoes come in case you have never bought them before.

I cut them in slivers...

Lillian, my 5 year old LOVES to stir while I'm cooking!

I cut the chicken into bite-size strips for easy eating at the table without knives.

For the kid friendly report....They both loved it! Here the 2 year old is literally shoveling it in!

Now, they both drank twice as much milk as they usually do at dinner to off set the spicy chicken, but the heat didn't seem to be to much for them, I used 3 1/2 teaspoons of the Cajun seasoning.

You can keep these ingredients on hand for a really quick week-night meal! --Carissa