Toothwhale

Chicken 'n' spinach bake

Chicken 'n' spinach bake is one of the dishes that friends from our old neighborhood brought over after Harper was born. They came by with three meals and diapers and we sat around admiring her little pink sleeping head. Not long after they visited, she woke up, started screaming, and didn't stop for about eight weeks. It was brutal. Anyway, I was as grateful as I could have been for those meals, and Jake and I especially enjoyed eating this one. I got the recipe way back when, but I hadn't made the dish myself until now. You know what? Chicken 'n' spinach bake still is a goodie.

 

Ingredients:

8 ounces rigatoni

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast

1 (14.5-ounce) can Italian style diced tomatoes

1 (8-ounce) chive and onion cream cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

*I used nearly double the amount of rigatoni and only 2 cups of chicken because that's what I had. I don't think it compromised the taste of the recipe.

Directions:

Cook and drain rigatoni.

Spread oil on bottom of 11 by 17-inch baking dish; add onion in a single layer.

Bake onion at 375 for 15 minutes. Transfer onion to a large bowl and set aside.

Drain spinach well, pressing between paper towels.

Stir rigatoni, spinach, chicken, and next four ingredients into onion in bowl. Spoon mixture into baking dish and sprinkle with mozzarella.

Bake, covered, at 375 for 30 minutes; uncover and bake for 15 more minutes or until bubbly.

*I baked it covered for about 20 minutes (plus the uncovered 15 more) and it still came out plenty hot.

 

For more Mouthwatering Monday recipes, visit Rachel at A Southern Fairytale. 

Easy mulligatawny soup

So many recipes, so little time. I've had this one for Easy Mulligatawny Soup in my recipe notebook for years but hadn't tried it until tonight. It's from the December 2004 issue of American Baby magazine. If I dig deeply into the recesses of my mommy brain, I can remember tearing it from the issue in my obstetrician's office. I'm glad I got around to making this simple version of the classic curry-flavored Indian soup because it's really good. Jake thought so, too. We love Indian food, but the flavors are so mild that you shouldn't shy away from it even if you don't. Once you have the ingredients prepped, it's quick to prepare. Plus, there's nothing in it that you could feel guilty about eating. The only thing I thought it lacked was a side of naan.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup chopped apples (2 small)

1 cup chopped carrots (2 medium or 2 handfuls baby carrots)

1 cup water

One 7 1/2-ounce can tomatoes, cut up (diced would work well; I used a 15-ounce can)

1/2 cup chopped celery (1 stalk)

1/3 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 Tbsp. snipped fresh parsley

1/4 cup raisins

1 to 1 1/2 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. coarsely ground pepper

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey (a chicken breast is about one chopped cup; I used double because I had it)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients except chopped poultry.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat.

Cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

Stir in chicken or turkey; heat through. Serve immediately. 

For more mouthwatering recipes, visit Rachel at A Southern Fairytale.

Pecan shorties

Before I tell the story of making pecan shorties, I want to tell another story.

There was a time about four years ago when the oldest of my three younger sisters was coming to Nashville to visit me and Jake and a baby Henry. She was flying into Nashville International Airport in the late afternoon on a Thursday. Jake and Henry and I were living in our old house (by old, I mean both former and old, as it dated to 1930), which, according to my husband because I'm clueless about this sort of thing, was about 7 miles from the airport. But -- and this is an important but -- part of those 7 miles was interstate.

If you know me, you probably already know I have a thing about driving on the interstate. The thing being that I (almost always) get lost. Because of my thing, if getting somewhere requires interstate driving, it's not me who does the driving if we can help it. But, this particular time four years ago when my cake-making sister was coming to visit, it really kind of needed to be me.

Because I knew there was a good chance I'd end up lost and panicked, and because Henry was in a phase of disliking his carseat, we decided to get a sitter for him while I drove to pick up my sister. The whole screaming baby thing can make stressful situations more stressful. That afternoon, the sitter came, and directions in hand, I set out to the airport.

I apologize for how long this is getting. Please bear with me.

I started out fine. Then somehow, somewhere, I got off track. I knew right away I had gone wrong, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how I had. And the thing about the interstate -- the thing I really hate about the interstate -- is that once you've gone wrong, it's hard to go right. At least it is for me. So, realizing that I've gone wrong, I get off at the first exit I can. I haven't gone too far; I'm only downtown. I head home from downtown by familiar roads, and not yet running too late, and definitely not wanting to admit defeat, I start again. Again, I start out fine. And again, I get off track. These were the days before GPS -- and for me, anyway, -- the days before a cell phone. So, there was no way to be rescued in process. So, I drove back home. Again. And this time, I was defeated. I can't remember if I was crying, but I'm sure I was.

I went inside the house, alone, and paid the confused babysitter. Jake was by this time getting off work, and he called to say so. I told him what had happened. He left work and went to the airport. He rescued me.

And it's the rescuing that this story has in common with the pecan shorties. Because when I made the batter for these cookies on Sunday night, I had to call him for help. I had called my mom and told her, hysterically, how I couldn't form balls with the buttery dough. It sounded like I had done everything right, she said, but maybe I wasn't pressing the dough enough. "It can't be right! There's nothing right about it!" I screamed into the phone. "There's no way to press them more! There's no way to do it!" I got off the phone with her and called out for Jake. He came down from upstairs and saw me, surrounded by the kids and a buttery, floury mess.

"What are you trying to do?" he asked.

"I'm supposed to press the dough into balls, but I can't figure out how to do it!" I said.

He grabbed a glob of dough, mashed it between his palms, and handed a ball to me. "Like this?" he said.

Yes. Like that.

So ... if interstate driving comes naturally to you, by all means, make these delicious cookies that look like snowballs and taste like a piece of heaven. And if it doesn't, please make me feel better by telling me so in the comments section.

Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter (two sticks)

2 cups flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup broken pecan meats

powdered sugar

Directions:

Soften the butter to room temperature, and beat it until fluffy (also known as "creaming the shortening).

Stir in the flour and nuts. Stir in the vanilla.

Shape the dough into small balls.

Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. (The cookies will be only very slightly browned.)

While the cookies still are warm, roll them in powdered sugar. Cool before serving.

Black-eyed peas and red beans

Black-eyed peas aren't a New Year's Day tradition for us, but knowing that they are for lots of people put me in the mood to eat them. I consulted my cookbooks and found this recipe for black-eyed peas and red beans in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (mine is the 11th edition). Because the recipe calls for dry peas and beans, it's probably one that you'll want to try on a weekend day. I served the dish as a side with pork chops and salad, but I think it would go nicely with other meats and veggies, or in place of meat along with rice. My husband and I really liked the slightly spicy mixture, but if I'm being honest, the kids didn't eat it. Just that much more for us for the next day's lunch.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dry red beans

1/2 cup dry black-eyed peas

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 slices bacon

1 cup chopped red, yellow, and/or green sweet pepper

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Dash ground black pepper

Directions:

Rinse red beans. In a large saucepan, combine red beans and 3 cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour.

Drain and rinse red beans. Return beans to pan. Add black-eyed peas, bay leaf, salt, and 3 cups fresh water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until beans and peas are tender. Drain; discard bay leaf.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet. Crumble cooked bacon; set aside.

Add sweet pepper, onion, garlic, thyme, red pepper, and black pepper to skillet. Cool and stir until vegetables are tender. Stir in red beans, black-eyed peas, and bacon; heat through. Makes about 4 cups (3 main-dish or 6 side-dish servings).

*I doubled the recipe because I had so many dry beans and I figured while I was at it, I may as well make extra. If you double the recipe, remember to also double the amount of water you use to boil the beans and peas.

**I cooked the bacon in the microwave (so I used a little canola oil for cooking my peppers and onion), and it turned out great. I may never go back to the greasy mess of a bacon skillet. Lay the bacon on a couple of paper towels across a microwaveable plate, cover with a few more paper towels, and cook for about a minute per slice of bacon.

 

Visit Rachel at A Southern Fairytale for more Mouthwatering Monday recipes.

Coconut macaroons

If you celebrate Christmas, I would bet that there's at least one kind of cookie that you associate with December 25 and the days leading up to it. Maybe it's iced sugar cookies, or thumbprints, or Italian waffle cookies. For me, it's these coconut macaroons of my mom's. I've had other macaroons, but never any like hers. They're exceptionally sweet and magnificently rich -- a unique addition to a tray or tin of your tried-and-trues.

What cookie do you think about when you think about Christmas?

 

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 large (14-ounce) bag sweetened coconut flakes

Optional: red and green sugar sprinkles

Directions:

Stir vanilla, sweetened condensed milk, and coconut in a mixing bowl until combined.

Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture onto two baking sheets that have been rubbed with butter or lined with parchment paper. The parchment paper makes the cookies easy to remove from the sheets and helps with cleanup, but I think the cookies benefit from the buttery flavor.

Decorate with red and green sugar sprinkles, if desired.  

Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes, or until the outside edges of the cookies are lightly browned.

Allow cookies to cool before removing them from baking sheets.

Visit Rachel at A Southern Fairytale for more Mouthwatering Monday recipes.