Food for Thought

I had never eaten this until I met my husband’s mother. She makes this with curry, but we’re not huge fans of the spice. This recipe is a good alternative chicken casserole that emphases veggies over starch (pasta or potatoes). My mother-in-law makes hers with asparagus, but I prefer it with broccoli. Steamed rice is a great side dish for this meal.

INGREDIENTS

Quick Chicken Divan

• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped broccoli
• 2 cooked boneless chicken breast halves, chopped
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cook the chopped chicken on the stove.
   
3. Place broccoli in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with the cooked chopped chicken.
4. In a small bowl, blend the cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream and lemon juice. Pour the mixture over the chicken. Top with Cheddar cheese.
5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly browned.

Makes 8 servings.

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Sunday Taco Salad

Monday Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa

Tuesday Chicken Divan

Wednesday Chicken Pot Pies

Thursday Leftovers

Friday Dining out (yeah!)

Saturday Leftovers again (I made too much Chicken Divan!)

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I need help in the kitchen. I’m lucky in that I have friends who are willing to teach me the finer techniques of cooking and that my husband loves simple foods. So, here are a few great food websites that I tend to turn to for instruction and inspiration.

http://alicewatersgreenkitchen.com

Alice Waters is a chef who advocates we each grow our own food (or buy organic) and we eat in season. She realizes that there are many people who just don’t know how to cook (like myself), so she set up this website to provide those necessary, basic lessons on the finer points of foods we grow (as opposed to foods we raise). The instructional episodes are also available to download onto your iPod.

http://glutenfreemommy.com/

A well designed blog maintained by a mom who’s all about being gluten free. She offers some creative recipes of favorite foods that can’t possibly be gluten free, but they are.

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

A blog that offers options for yummy fruit and veggies. It’s all about the blending of complementary flavors.

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Even though it has been quite warm here is sunny SoCal, we had (defrosted) taco soup tonight. I originally made this soup a few weeks ago and froze the leftovers. This is the easiest recipe and takes almost no time to make, so it’s one of my favorites. I make this every time my brother comes to town with his large family. I double (or triple) the amount and make this before we go to the beach; when we get back, it’s done!

Taco Soup

Ingredients
1  – 2 lbs of ground turkey
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 can (15 oz) corn
1 can (15 oz) black beans
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies

Topping for soup
tortilla chips
shredded cheese

Cook the turkey according to the instructions on the taco seasoning packet. Use a large pot or a slow cooker and place all the ingredients (including the liquids) into the pot. Let simmer for at least two hours. When you sit down to eat the soup, add crushed tortilla chips and cheese.

Serves 4 – 5 people
Freezes well

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My friend, Holly, uses her 100% whole wheat dough to make the most beautiful and delicious braided loaves filled with nuts and berries. This last Christmas, she taught me how to make these and they were so easy and tasty. I gave one or two away as gifts and people raved about them.

Ingredients
Whole wheat dough (see previous post)
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of cinnamon sugar (three parts cinnamon to one part sugar)
1 1/2 cups chopped nut (pecan, walnut or hazelnut)*
1 1/2 cups berry (raisin, currant, or dried cranberry)*
1 stick of softened butter

* Select only one type of nut and one or two types of berries. Mix the chopped nut and the berries together.

Step 1
Make 100% whole wheat dough (steps 1 – 4 ). The dough should have risen only once prior to beginning step 2.

Step 2
Cut the dough into 4 equal parts. Lightly flour an area so you can roll the dough. Roll it flat into a rectangle shape about 5×7 inches.

Step 3
Brush the “up-side” of the dough with a teaspoon or two of softened butter. Sprinkle the center of the bread with 1 ½ to 2 TB brown sugar and then 1 to 2 TB cinnamon sugar. Place on top of the sugars a 1/2 cup of the nut/berry mix.

Step 4
Take a pizza cutter and make 3-inch-long cuts in 1-inch intervals down each side of the dough. Follow the diagram below for braiding the dough.

Step 5
Cover the braided dough with a lightly damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out. Let the dough rise (30 min to 1 hour until light and fluffy).

Step 6
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min. Brush lightly with butter when you remove from oven (or brush with glaze made of 1 egg white mixed with 1 teas water BEFORE baking).

Makes 4 loaves.

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My friend, Holly, makes the most amazing homemade wheat bread. Here’s her recipe!

Whole Wheat Bread

Step 1
Combine the following ingredients:
1 TB active dry yeast
1 TB sugar (or less)
1 ½ cups very warm tap water

Stir and allow the mix to ferment 3-5 minutes; it should get a bit creamy and bubbly or frothy looking. If there is NO CHANGE in the yeast water mixture, the yeast is no longer active. Discard it and start over.

Step 2
Measure into a large food processor the following:
4 cups whole wheat flour *
2 TB powdered soy drink mix or powdered milk **
1-2 TB brown sugar
2 TB vital wheat gluten (available at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or other premier food stores like Mother’s)
1 TB powdered lecithin – optional (also at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or Mother’s)
1 TB dough conditioner – optional (it’s a whey based product)
1 teas salt

*Option with wheat flour
If you have a wheat grinder and have whole wheat kernels, mill the flour right before you start step 1. This tends to make the bread even softer.  The whole wheat kernels can be purchased at your local LDS cannery.

** These remaining dry ingredients can be pre-mixed into little packets (stored in plastic sandwich bags), so you don’t have to pull out all of the ingredients every time you want to make bread.

Step 3
With the processor running, add liquid in a slow steady stream until dough begins to form a loose sticky ball (a minute or so), this develops the gluten and gives the bread a nice texture. If dough forms a ball that begins to clean the sides of the bowl, then process for 1 minute and go to step 4. If dough is too sticky to form even a gooey ball, add more flour, a TB at a time, processing 10-15 seconds after each addition, up to an additional ¼ cup, then dough should form a ball and begin to clean sides of the bowl. Process for one minute (this continues to develop gluten for a nicer texture).

Step 4
Spray the counter top with oil, turn dough onto counter and knead a couple of times until nice and smooth, then cover and let rest until double in size (20-30 minutes). Punch down dough and knead a couple more times to develop the texture of the dough. Then divide into 2 equal pieces and press into oiled bread pan (or 2 mini-pans) and let rise until double.

Step 5
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

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During my college years, I spent my thanksgiving holidays with friends and their extended families. The grandmother of one of my friend’s made the most amazing cranberry relish. She would make it one week before Thanksgiving in her food processor and let the relish just sit. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, the relish was ready and it tasted wonderful on the turkey, ham and rolls. Now, my holidays don’t feel complete unless I make Grandma Betty’s cranberry relish.

Cranberry Relish

Ingredients
12 ounces fresh cranberries
1 navel orange, scrubbed and cut into 8 pieces
2 apples, peeled and cut into 8 pieces
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1/3 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Wash the cranberries and remove any stems, bad cranberries, or inedible stuff you find. Put half of the cranberries, orange (unpeeled), and apple into the food processor and pulse to chop coarsely. Some larger pieces are okay, but nothing big enough to choke on. Pour into a bowl and process the other half of the fruit. Put it into a bowl, add the sugar to taste, and mix in the pecans. Refrigerate it for a day or two to allow the flavors to develop. The relish will keep for up to two months if refrigerated.

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These are German spice cookies, or the literal translation is “pepper cookies,” and the holidays don’t feel complete without them. I first discovered these through Trader Joe’s, but this year, my local store didn’t have any so I had to find a recipe to make them. My favorite is to dunk them into hot chocolate!

Pfeffernusse

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light molasses
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for decoration

Stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and dash black pepper. In large saucepan, combine molasses and butter; heat and stir until butter melts. Cool to room temperature. Stir in eggs. Add dry ingredients to molasses mixture; mix well. Cover. Chill several hours or overnight. Shape into 1″ balls. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies are done. Remove. Cool. Roll in powdered sugar.

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Welcome to Food for Thought, my food blog.

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