Chicken and cheddar soufflé

Ok, I know, I know.  I haven't been here for a while.  My husband and I are going through the special kind of hell known as buying a house.  It's our first (and hopefully last) home we are trying to buy.  Everyone we talk to says that they have never heard of anyone having such a hard time trying to buy a house, but you know how that goes.

I would also like to announce that last week our new nephew came into this world.  He is beautiful, sweet, and everything you would ever want in a baby.  So between the hoop jumping for the house, the new nephew, and life in general, I've been a little busy.

In all honesty I haven't cooked much in the last few months.  I have been running all over the place getting estimates, checking on repairs (someone broke into the house and stole all the copper because they suck), and working overtime.  So by the time me or Matt get home, neither one of us want to even walk into the kitchen.

We have been trying new things, and recently found out that we love sushi.  Matt is a total daredevil when it comes to trying new sushi.  He's eating eel and octopus, and I'm all like "hey this tuna is awesome".  This is the one thing that Matt is really getting into more than me.  

Anyway... I made this soufflé last night and it was phenomenal! I was shocked at how well it turned out, mostly because we all know how fussy soufflés can be.  I wanted to make something that was filling and light, and this hit the spot.  I served it with a light salad of arugula, carrots, and shallots   I made a vinaigrette out of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme.  It was peppery and delicious, and I loved the contrast between the crispness of the salad, and the buttery softness of the soufflé.

Here is what you will need to make this delectable soufflé:

6 eggs (whites and yolks separated)

1 & 1/2 cup milk at room temperature (I used skim and it turned out fine.  You can use whatever you have on hand)

1/4 cup butter (that's half a stick)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cups chicken cubed or shredded (I used rotisserie chicken because I had a coupon but you can use any kind of chicken you want)

1 & 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup parmesan cheese*

3/4 cup breadcrumbs*

Nutmeg**

Salt and pepper to taste

Turn your oven to 400F degrees.  Butter a soufflé dish and set aside.  It is really important that you use a soufflé dish because they are made for baking soufflés in.  If you must use another dish your soufflé will not cook properly.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Wait until the butter stops bubbling, this lets you know that the water has cooked out and when you add the flour it won't clump.  Add the flour and whisk.  Keep whisking until the mixture turns a light golden brown and smells nutty.  Add the milk slowly while still whisking.  The mixture will thicken, and once it can coat the back of a spoon it's done.  Grate in about 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. (Look at you!  You just made a béchamel sauce! Do you know how awesome that makes you?  Now you can do so many things with this sauce, make cheese sauces, sausage gravy, and a million other things. Hello versatility!)  Mix well and set aside.  Beat egg yolks till light yellow and sit aside. Add chicken, cheese, and breadcrumbs to sauce (butter and flour mixture) and stir well. 

Now the mixture is cool enough to add the egg yolks.  If you didn't wait to add the yolks you would have scrambled the eggs, which is not good.  You can either wait until it cools, or you can temper the mixture.  To temper you would add a small amount the sauce to the yolks and whisk.  You would keep doing this until the temperature of the yolks had increased enough to add the entire bowl to the sauce.  Slowly raising the temperature of the egg yolks helps to ensure that they won't scramble when you add them to the sauce.

It is now time for the whites!  Don't be afraid it is super easy, and once you learn how to whip egg whites, you can make meringues too!  Place the room temperature egg whites in a glass or metal bowl (don't use plastic bowls or utensils when you're going to be whipping egg whites) and add a pinch of salt.  You can hand whisk the egg whites, but that will take 10 years so I suggest using a hand mixer.  Start slowly until the eggs become frothy, and then increase the speed.  You want to be able to pull the beaters out of the egg whites and have stiff peaks at the end of each beater. A stiff peak means when the whites stand on their own and don't slide off the beaters.  It will look like the top of a dairy queen cone.

Please, please do not over whip your egg whites or they will be nasty.  After they start to gain volume start to check them about every 30 seconds by turning the mixer off, and lifting the beaters out to check.

Next we are going to take 1/4 of the egg whites and mix it into the sauce.  Now you can use that big plastic spatula that I told you to put down earlier. Stir the egg whites into the sauce.  We are sacrificing some of the whites to make the sauce lighter so that it can take the rest of the whites.  This will be the last time that you stir! Understand?

Add 1/3 of the remaining whites into the sauce.  You are going to FOLD the whites into the sauce by sweeping the spatula down and then up, while slightly turning the bowl.  When you have turned the bowl twice, it is time to add another 1/2 of the whites.  If you stir instead of fold, all the beautiful bubbles that you whipped into your eggs will be smashed, your soufflé won't rise, and your life will be ruined.  So be very gentle.  Add the rest of the whites, and fold them in carefully.  It is ok if there are still streaks or specks of white left in the bowl.  Leave them alone.  They will bake out.  It will be ok!

Carefully pour the mixture into the butter soufflé dish. Do not shake, bang, or jiggle the dish.  You don't want to pop anymore glorious bubbles.  Place the dish in the middle of the oven and check after 30 minutes.  Insert a butter knife into the center.  The bottom may still be a little gooey, that's fine.  The residual heat will finish cooking.  If the top or middle is still gooey, put it back in the oven for 5 minutes and not a minute more.

Now you may enjoy a hearty yet light lunch, dinner, or brunch.  You have basically mastered French cuisine now, and you can cook anything.  Check back for new recipes and pictures.

* I have been majorly into couponing lately.  The breadcrumbs and cheese I got for free with coupons. I used the new Kraft combinations (these can be found next to the cream cheese) which was rosemary and Italian herb flavored.  It was awesome because I just ripped the package open and dumped it in.  I didn't have to measure at all, and it turned out fantastic.  I do always have parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs in my pantry, but free is free right?

**Do not use that crappy ground nutmeg.  First of all it tastes like, well crap and second it doesn't have any of its true nutmeggy essence when it's pre-ground.  Buy a small bottle of the whole nutmegs and you will be rewarded.  It smells heavenly when you grate it yourself, and it is a great confidence booster when you feel like you really have a handle on things in the kitchen.  It lasts sooo much longer when it's whole, and it's a powerful hallucinogen (if you eat 3 whole nutmegs), so if your family gets out of line... Never mind.

New world lasagna

This lasagna is slap-your-momma good! I like to serve it this way for a couple of reasons.  The first being that I think it's gorgeous, and the second that, it's just me and the hubs so we don't need that much.  As much as I love my cooking, I don't want to eat lasagna for 2 weeks.

This particular lasagna is meat-free.  It's nestled in a creamy garlic bechamel sauce, and the filling is ricotta cheese and sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and arugula.  The marina sauce is home made (it cooked for 14 hours so it's delicious .  The only thing that may make this better (if it's even possible) is some shaved pecorino cheese or a balsamic reduction.

To make this decadent dish you will need:

lasagna noodles
flour
butter
milk
crushed tomatoes
mushrooms
basil
oregano
balsamic vinegar
sugar
grated carrot
onion
celery
ricotta cheese
spinach
arugula
garlic

Bring salted water to a boil and add noodles.  Cook till al dente  drain and rinse.  Saute mushrooms, spinach, and arugula in oil (I prefer bacon fat for more flavor, but olive oil works just as well). I like to make my marinara sauce in a crockpot.  Combine crushed tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, carrots, celery, onion, basil, oregano  and sugar.  Cook for a minimum of 4 hours.  Mix vegetables with ricotta.  In a sauce pan add butter and flour.  Cook till golden brown, then slowly add milk.  Stir until smooth, and add chopped garlic.  Place this sauce on the bottom of serving dish.  Add a piece of lasagna noodle, then ricotta mixture, then sauce.  Repeat and enjoy!

Ashley

The best mashed potatoes you will ever taste

When I'm sick there is nothing that I want more than ginger ale, mashed potatoes, and the remote.  I'd say that I want my husband to take care of me, but let's face it, men don't take care of women.  And if they're sick, they turn into whiny, snot filled babies.  Anyway... These mashed potatoes are just what I want when I'm sick.  And I'm talking about those boxed freeze dried potato flakes either.

When I find a good deal on something I buy them out.  Meijer had a great sale on potatoes ($2.00 for 10 pounds), so I bought a bunch.  I decided that I was going to prep all these potatoes so that I could freeze them and use them when I wanted.  If you freeze stuff right it will last a LONG time in that frigid air box above your chill chest.

I diced most of the potatoes and par-boiled them.  You have to partially cook them or they will turn black when you freeze them.  Plus it makes this faster when you pull them out.  By the time they get thawed out their practically cooked!  I also shredded some of them so I could pull them out and put them on the waffle iron (more on that later).

To make these velvety mashed potatoes you will need:

potatoes
half and half
evaporated milk
butter
sour cream or cream cheese
garlic
salt
pepper

Dice potatoes and put in a pot with cold water and salt.  Potatoes cook the most even when they start in cold water.  Cook till fork tender and then drain.  In a separate pan mix half and half, evaporated milk, and butter.  Bring up to a simmer.  Use a masher to break up the potatoes and slowly add some of the dairy mixture. Use the masher to mix everything together, and add sour cream, salt, pepper, and garlic.  Add dairy mixture as needed until desired consistency is reached.

The whole point of this post, besides giving you the recipe was to explain that I freeze these mashed potatoes, so I can pull them out whenever I want them.  I cooked shredded potatoes (hash browns) with a waffle iron because it cooks them at a high temperature and makes them super crispy.

Give 'em a try.  Let me know what you think.

Ashley

Chicken parm sandwiches

There are few things I love more than a good chicken parm.  I guess my husband is one of those things, but chicken parm is a close second.  I have this obsession with tomato sauces.  I love pizza sauce, marinara sauce, and spaghetti sauce.  It's all divine and delicious and I want it all!  A good sauce can make or break a dish.  Would you eat spaghetti topped with a mediocre sauce? I think not.

These sandwiches were just the thing to heat us up on a cold Ohio night.  Here's how to make em':

Sub or hoagie rolls
diced chicken
marinara sauce (homemade is best!)
parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese

I found a really good deal on chicken breasts this week, so I bought them up.  I had just regular chicken breasts, skin on, with ribs attached.  I know what you're thinking.  Oh my gosh, skin on, are you trying to have a heart attack?  No, I'm trying to have a flavor explosion  I roasted my breasts with some italian dressing, salt, and pepper.  Then I removed the skin, and stripped the meat from the bone.  The chicken was so tender and juicy from leaving it on the bone with skin on! My husband was like, "what did you do to this chicken? It's awesome!"

I keep the bones to make stock with, and portioned the chicken into containers to freeze or use for the rest of the week. Then I skimmed the fat off of the liquids and saved that too! So much good stuff from just a good ol' chicken breast.

I toasted the rolls in the oven, then added the chicken, sauce, and cheese, and baked for 20 minutes.  The rolls were super crunchy and the inside was melty and satisfying.  Give it a try. Let me know what you think!

Oh and by the way, being a chicken parm aficionado;I hate when you get a chicken parm anything, and there's no parm! What the hell? It's part of the name! Don't try to just cover it with mozzarella cheese and serve it to me.  There better be plenty of salty, nutty parm on that chicken (other cheese is ok as well, as long as it is used in conjunction with the parm).

Ashley

Cheesy Quinoa

I don't know about you, but I get tired of boxed mac and cheese.  I wanted something new and exciting.  And since we didn't have any meat in the house this is the perfect solution.  Quinoa is a really interesting grain (well really it's a seed) because it has a ton of fiber and protein.  Here's how to make this creamy goodness:

evaporated milk
ground mustard
cheddar cheese
chicken stock
nutmeg
butter
flour
eggs
quinoa

Bring chicken stock to a boil (you can use good ol' water, but this give it more flavor). Add quinoa and cook until all the water is gone.  As far as I know, it's really hard to over cook quinoa.  In a separate pan, melt the butter.  Once melted add flour and stir.  Let this cook on medium heat until it is a light gold color (this is usually a good way to know that the flour taste has cooked out of your roux).

Slowly add evaporated milk.  Keep stirring as you add the milk.  Once you have added all the milk and the mixture is smooth, beat 1 egg in a cup.  Add a little of the mixture and stir, do this 3 times.  Slowly pour the egg mixture into the milk mixture and stir.  Add the mustard and nutmeg.

Now it's time to add the cheese.  Add a handful at a time and don't add more until the previous handful has melted.  Mix the cooked quinoa and cheese sauce together. Now enjoy!

Ashley

Creamy tomato capalini with a lemon arugula salad

This pasta dish was so easy, scrumptious, and light.  It took about 20 minutes to throw together, and I made it with  items I already had on hand.  Let me show you the way.

capalini pasta
basil
crushed tomatoes
parmesean cheese
half and half
white wine
butter
onion
mushrooms
garlic
arugula
lemon
olive oil

Bring a pot of water to boil.  Season with salt.  The water should taste like the sea, that's how you know it's seasoned correctly.  Cook the pasta al dente.  Drain.  Melt butter in pan, add mushrooms and onions. Season with salt, mushrooms are like sponges so add plenty of salt.  Add crushed tomatoes and wine.  Lower to a simmer and reduce by half.  Add a splash of half and half, lemon juice, basil, and garlic.  Add capalini pasta, and combine.  Mix arugula with a drizzle of olive oil, add lemon zest, basil, and parmesean cheese. Serve with small salad on top of pasta.

This dish is gorgeous.  I love the play of color, and the brightness of the flavors.  Let me know what you think.

Ashley

Asian pork lettuce wraps

These little beauties are sooo easy, it's ridiculous   First off, if you're looking for some PF Chang's style lettuce wraps, you're in the right place.  I love going to restaurants  finding dishes I really like, and recreating them at home for so much less money.  This is what you'll need:

butter lettuce
ground pork
chopped garlic
water chestnuts (diced)
rice wine vinegar
secret ingredient

Brown the ground pork in a skillet.  Once it is cooked through, add garlic and water chestnuts.  When those are heated through add a splash of rice wine vinegar and the secret ingredient.  Put in a leaf butter lettuce and enjoy.  It is truly delicious.  If you would like to know the secret ingredient sign up for a following via email, and drop me a comment.  You won't regret it!

Ashley

Ham Gravy

There's this magical stuff called ham gravy.  I look forward to the holidays because of ham gravy. I don't care about presents, or seeing family until I've had my ham gravy.  I know, I know, it sounds really weird and or gross. But it is soooo good.  And once you try it, you'll be a believer too!

My dad makes a ham for Thanksgiving and for Christmas, so we get it twice a year.  There's a secret ingredient, and I swear if I was allowed to tell you I would, just so you could experience the magic yourself.  But I can't, it's a family secret, just like his awesome potato salad.

I told everyone at work about wondrous properties of ham gravy, and they didn't believe me.  Fast-forward to my co-worker, Sommer coming to my parents house for Thanksgiving last year.  I told her to trust me, try it, and let me know what she thought.  I swear that gravy boat wasn't more than an arms-length away from her the whole night!  She put it on everything!  I made her a believer, and I can make you one too.  Leave a comment, and maybe I'll tell you the secret ingredient.

Ashley

Chicken tortilla soup

So I put sour cream and crunchy tortilla strips on top, and called for my husband to come take a picture.  And... it all melted before he got there.  So this isn't the best looking picture, but the taste is there.  It's a simple recipe.

I used a rotisserie chicken of course.  I stripped the meat and then simmered the bones and such for a couple hours.  Then I drained off the stock and put it in another sauce pan.  I'll explain that later.  I rough chopped some onions and added some olive oil to my dutch oven.  I let those cook down and then added some chipotle peppers.  Chipotle peppers are just smoked jalapenos  but they add a nice smoky depth and heat to the soup.  Let those cook for a few more minutes.  Add a ladle of stock from the sauce pan.  I used my immersion blender to smooth everything out.

At this point I added about 5 small corn tortillas that I cut into strips.  Let these soak up the chicken stock, and slowly break down.  Add more stock as needed to keep everything smooth.  Once all the tortilla strips have dissolved, add the rest of the stock.  Throw in the chicken meat that you striped earlier. And ta-da! A delightful chicken tortilla soup that is super creamy and flavorful.

Ashley

BBQ Chicken Crunch Wraps

This my friends, is a BBQ chicken crunch wrap.  I'm not sure if you can see all the delicious things going on here, so let me brake it down.  Yes, I know the wrap looks weird, no the color isn't off.  It's a spinach wrap and they're delightful.  Definitely more healthy than a good ol' flour tortilla.

Next we have rotisserie chicken smothered in my own homemade Carolina BBQ sauce.  That's surrounded by shredded cheddar cheese, homemade ranch dressing, and crispy tortilla strips.  I would normally put shredded lettuce in these bad boys, but you know how husbands are.  He wanted to eat it right now.  And then he wanted another one.  He's pretty demanding.  Tell me what you think!

Ashley

Roast Beast

I make some pretty awesome pot roast.  And that means something because I have loathed pot roast since I was a kid.  I hated the way my dad made it, and I'd always get yelled at for wanting to put barbecue sauce on it.  But this roast, this is smack yo' momma good!  I can't take all the credit for this roast because I found a basic recipe from allrecipes.com and I added some this and that to it to make it my own.

I know I've said this before but this is a husband approved recipe.  Let me tell you a little something about my husband, and why it means so much to me that he loves my food.  He is THE pickiest eater I have ever met.  When we first started dating, he only wanted to eat burgers, fries, pizza, and wings.  Pretty much anything you would find at a sports bar.  Gross.  Throw some salad in there once in a while.  Jeez.  It was so bad that this mother would cook him a separate dinner because he wouldn't eat what the rest of the family ate (in my opinion, he should have starved).  Anyway now he's eating all kinds of different things, thanks to me.

Before I give you the basics to my roast, let me warn you.  The ingredients sound really weird.  I was skeptical at first, but try it, you'll love it!

1 package brown gravy mix
1 package Italian dressing mix
1 package ranch dressing mix (do NOT get the ranch DIP mix, it's too salty and super gross in this dish)
1 gigantic roast beast
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Celery
Parsnips
1 cup of water

Mix the mixes with the water. Peel and cube all the veggies except the potatoes.  Wash and quarter the potatoes. Put all the veggies on the bottom, potatoes on top, and the roast on the very top (fat cap up).  Pour the mixture over all of it.  Cook on low for 5 hours then open and switch the roast and potatoes (this makes the roast very tender because it's not in directed contact with all the heat).  Cook for 3 more hours. Enjoy!

Ashley

The secret to getting your kids and husbands to eat vegetables

Crush em', shred em', obliterate em'!  That's how I get my husband to eat veggies without him knowing.  I make chili that most people wouldn't eat if they knew what all was in it.  But the thing is, they do eat it, with a giant smile on their face, cause it's DELICIOUS!  I put broccoli stocks, mushrooms, celery, and carrots in my chili.  Along with ground turkey.  It cooks for so long it no one knows what's in it because they don't care.  There is literally no fat in the chili I make because of the ground turkey, seasoning, and veggies.

The same thing goes for my spaghetti sauce.  Authentic spaghetti sauce is made with a mirepoix, which is carrots, celery, and onion.  I use my food processor to chop all my veggies into tiny itty bitty pieces.  I certainly don't want to chomp down on a huge piece of celery whilst enjoying my delightful spaghetti and meatballs. My husband stuffs his face with all this healthy food, and my nephews happily scarf their food down too.

I do this with most of my sauces or soups unless another consistency is desired.  So there it it is.  The secret  to getting your family to eat their veggies.  Let me know if you have other secrets about how you get your family to eat things they don't want to.

No cooking on weekends

I usually do most of my cooking on the weekends.  That is on the weekends that I don't work.  We have this lovely 3 week rotation thing going on, and this last weekend was my turn.  Ughh. I'm so tired after I get off work I don't feel like doing anything.  So I promise there will be more posts this coming week.  Well not tonight because it's my father-in-law's birthday.  But the rest of the week.  Promise.

Mushroom Risotto

This was my first attempt at making risotto, and since I've never had it, I must say it turned out pretty damn good.  My husband said it needed more cheese but, he thinks everything needs more cheese.  I like to think I'm a pretty accomplished cook for having no formal training.  My dad would cook dinner when I was little, and I would watch.  That's how I learned.  Ohhh, and I watched way too much food network growing up.  Alton Brown is my hero.  I love how he combined science and cooking to break it down and make it understandable.  He explains why you do the things you do when you're cooking so you know how important it is to not skip steps.  I wish you could have seen my face when my husband gave me two of Alton Brown's cookbooks for our anniversary!  He thinks I'm lame because for Christmas I asked for a can opener.  Oh well, it's my life.

Any way back to the risotto.  Start with any mushrooms you like, and some onion.  Chop em' up.  Saute with a little butter and olive oil.  Next add the aborio rice.  Stir it around so it can get some onion lovin' as I like to call it.  Slowly add a ladle at a time of warm chicken stock (I prefer the low sodium so it's not too salty by the end).  You need about a 4:1 ratio of stock to rice.  Stir everything around until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid then add more until it doesn't seem to be able to take anymore. At this point I add the finishing touches.  Check for seasoning, add parmesan cheese and garlic. Mmm.  I also made a balsamic vinegar reduction to plate with.  I felt like the risotto is kind of heavy and super creamy with the cheese, so I wanted something to cut through that richness.  Hope you like it!

Ashley

Lemon chicken and rice soup

Edit: I found out a little to late that I didn't have any rice, so I made lemon chicken and orzo.  Just as good, but not the same.


I know what you're thinking.  LEMON chicken and rice soup. Eww.  Sounds gross. I thought the same thing.  Until I tasted it.  It was the BEST chicken and rice soup I've EVER had.  I decided to ramp up my already awesome chicken and rice soup, and my husband loves it.  Now let me tell you, my husband does not do soup.  He doesn't like hot liquid (that's what she said! Haha!) So for him to like this, it's a damn miracle.  What's really good about this recipe is that you can have straight chicken and rice, or you can have it as a soup.  So everyone's happy right? Right!

I take a rotisserie chicken from Kroger for $5 (which are half off after 7PM, if they have any left), and I completely strip it. I always let it cool down completely before I start.  I tend to get way more meat off of it if it's cold enough for me to handle.  I separate the meat from the bones. The left overs (bones, skin, and fat) go into a stock pot.  Cover with water, add some salt and pepper, bring to a boil then drop to a simmer.  Let it simmer a minimum of two hours.  The longer, the better, you will be rewarded.  I drain the junk from the stock using a mesh strainer (there are so many small bones, and I don't want my darling husband to choke.)  Throw in some rice, shredded carrots,lemon juice, and diced onions and call it a day.  It is so warm and filling, and the best thing is, if you have leftovers they're even better the next day! I'll post some pictures, be sure to check them out.

Ashley

New Years Food

I think that everyone has their own traditional food that they make for both New Years Eve and New Years Day.  Ever since I've been married, we've merged our traditions together.  So now on NYE we have about 10 different kinds of dips, and 2 different kinds of lil smokies.  I know, I know, super healthy way to start the new year.  As for NY I usually make some sauerkraut,  polish sausage, and pirogi.  My husband hates sauerkraut  so he complains all day, the moment it goes into the crock pot,  I would love to hear what you all make!  So please tell me what you like to eat!

Ashley

Our very first post!

Hello all!

I'm not entirely sure how to do this.  I am the owner/operator of Discovering Delicious; a small business that provides in-home cooking lessons and catering.  I love to try new things especially new foods, and I try to learn and grow from all of my experiences, whether good or bad.

Food is a passion of mine, and has been ever since I can remember.  My faithful husband Matt, is my guinea pig, and will almost always taste anything I thrust towards his face.  My friends and family have come to learn that, there's always something cooking, and you should stick around so that you get to try some.  I never mind feeding them, in fact I encourage them to stop by because they are my critics.

So please be patient, I will be working tediously on this blog, getting it ready for other human eyes to view.  Please let me know if you have any questions about anything pertaining to Discovering Delicious.

Thanks,

Ashley