Eggs Benedict with Crispy Pan-Fried Potatoes

Eggs Benedict adapted from MarthaStewart.com
Crispy Pan-Fried Potatoes adapted from Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook

I absolutely love breakfast foods. I could eat them all meals of the day. I named this blog entry "Sunday Brunch," but it was actually a late lunch for us today. Aubrey told me that it was one of the best breakfasts that he's ever had, so I was pleased. I poached the eggs a bit longer than the recipe says to because I like mine a little thick in the middle. The potatoes were perfectly crispy. The recipe says to season them with garlic and parsley, but I omitted them because I like mine plain with just salt and pepper.



Eggs Benedict

Ingredients:
Serves 2
1/2 cup vinegar
4 large eggs
4 slices Canadian bacon (1/4 inch each)
2 English muffins, split and toasted
Hollandaise Sauce (recipe below)
1 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, for serving
Crispy Pan-Fried potatoes for side

Directions:
In a large saucepan, bring vinegar and 10 cups water to a boil over high heat; immediately reduce heat to a low simmer.
Crack each egg into an individual bowl, checking for shells. Working in two batches, gently drop 2 eggs, one at a time, into simmering water (they will look like flying saucers) and cook for 2 minutes (I did about 3 min). Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat process until all eggs are cooked. Let water continue to simmer.
Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook Canadian bacon for one minute on each side; remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
Return eggs to simmering water until heated through, about 1 minute. Place each English muffin face up on a plate. Top each muffin half with a slice of Canadian bacon and a poached egg. Top eggs with Hollandaise sauce and garnish with chives. Serve immediately with potatoes.

Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients:
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Coarse salt
Cayenne pepper
Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
In a heatproof bowl, set over (but not touching) simmering water, whisk together yolks with 1 tablespoon water until fluffy and doubled in volume. Whisk in butter until melted and well combined; mixture should thicken and coat the back of a spoon. Season with salt, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice (make sure you add a little at a time so you don't add too much... I probably added a large pinch of cayenne, a large pinch of salt and maybe 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice). Let stand at room temperature until ready to use, up to 1 hour.

Crispy Pan-Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 large medium-size russet potatoes
1 cup peanut oil
Salt and pepper
1 garlic clove, peeled (omitted)
Small handful parsley sprigs (omitted)

Directions:
Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3/4-inch cubes. Boil them in a large pot of generously salted water until they are tender when pierced with a knife, but still retain their shape. Drain and cool. Warm an 8-inch cast iron pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil and heat until the surface of the oil just begins to ripple. Add enough potatoes to cover the bottom of the pan and fry them undisturbed until they begin to brown. Carefully turn the potatoes and continue to cook, shaking the pan occasionally until they are golden on all sides, about 10-15 minutes in all. Drain on absorbent paper and keep warm in a low oven. Just before serving, finely chop together the garlic and parsley. Pile the potatoes onto a warm platter, sprinkle with salt, freshly milled pepper, and the garlic and parsley, and serve.

Roasted Asparagus

This is one of the easiest and most delicious side dishes. It's best when you can find the asparagus on sale because it can get pretty expensive. My favorite is the pencil asparagus. The thicker ones tend to be tougher. Since it only takes minutes to cook these, I would wait until the main dish is just finished, and pop the asparagus in the oven. It tends to get cold really quickly after cooking. If I serve this with chicken, sometimes I'll put the asparagus on the plate first and then place the chicken on top to keep the asparagus warm.

Ingredients:
1-2 bunches fresh asparagus, rinsed with water and dried
Olive oil flavored cooking spray
salt to taste

Directions:
Snap the tough ends of the asparagus and discard. Place the asparagus in a single line on a baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Broil for 5-7 minutes.

Roasted Chicken

Adapted from Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook

This was my first time working with a whole chicken. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but that's probably because I bought the chicken that had all of the organs already removed. For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm willing to spend a few more pennies if it means I have to touch less gunk. Yes, I'm a wimp when it comes to that.
I do want to say that this recipe says to roast the chicken for a total of 55 minutes. I don't know what kind of oven they used, but I want that oven. It took a good 2.5 hours to roast. We ended up having a late supper, but it was well worth the wait. Aubrey said that it was one of the best chickens he has ever had. It fell right off the bone and had a hint of rosemary taste.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 roasting chicken, weighing about 3 and 1/2 pounds
1 TBSP salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper (I think I used more)
A few sprigs thyme or marjoram (I used rosemary)

Directions:
Remove any organs from the cavity and reserve for another use. Rinse the bird with cold water and pat dry. Liberally salt and pepper the entire bird, inside the cavity and all over the surface, including the back, wings, and inner and outer thighs. Carefully loosen the skin from the breast meat with your index finger. Stuff tender sprigs of thyme or marjoram (or rosemary) under the skin. Tie the legs together with butcher's twine. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before roasting. Preheat the oven to 450-degrees. Place the chicken, breast up, in a roasting pan or earthenware baking dish, and roast for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temp to 350-degrees and cook for another 45 minutes (but for a regular oven... 2 and 1/2 hours), turning twice during the cooking, so each wing side is up in turn. This will circulate the juices and fat and keep the meat moist. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.
Note: Do not ignore the delicious caramelized drippings in the pan. After the fat is poured off, the pan can be deglazed with white wine and the juices added to a sauce or vinaigrette. Variation: Flavor the chicken with lemon, garlic, and rosemary, both under the skin and in the cavity.

Blog Award (blushing)

Okay, so my friend Jenny sent me this award to post on my blog. Tehehe. I had to get her to tell me how to put it on my blog. Anyway, I gotta say that she is the sweetest and boldest girl you'll ever meet, and it's because she loves Jesus. She loves Him so much, and has taught me a TON!!! When she was teaching my Bible study class at church, we would go in the church closet and just pray before the class started. I'm telling you that the Lord has taught me so much through this girl and how learning about Him is so much fun! Thank you, Jesus for my friend Jenny!
Since I'm kinda new to this blogging, I don't even know how to put a link to her blog, but you can go to: http://jennyhope-jennyhope.blogspot.com/ to get to it. There's a picture of her cute baby girl on the top of her blog. I promise, you will learn a lot from her.

Homemade Marshmallows

Adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Since Valentine's Day is tomorrow, this was the perfect opportunity for me to make marshmallows. I made some marshmallows around Christmas time, and they were a big hit. These are perfect in a mug of hot chocolate or dipped in a chocolate fondu. Instead of vanilla extract for the original marshmallow flavor, you can also use peppermint, almond, or any other flavor you like. The peppermint ones were really good in hot chocolate at Christmas time. It's almost mandatory that you have a stand mixer, or else your hands may wear out. I added red food coloring to give the marshmallows the pink color, but you can use any color or just leave it white. The recipe says to use one rectangular pan, and the marshmallows are about 2 inches high. My heart cookie cutter was too small for that, so I used 2 rectangular dishes so the marshmallows would be thinner.

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
4 packages (1/4 ounce each) unflavored gelatin
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (I used 1 TBSP vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites
I also used about 15-20 drops of red food coloring

Directions:
Coat a rectangular glass dish with cooking spray and set aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; let mixture come to a boil. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 3/4 cup water in a heatproof bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Set the bowl with the gelatin mixture over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in extract (I stirred in 1 tsp extract now and saved the rest for adding later); set aside.
Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Whisk gelatin mixture into sugar mixture. With mixer running, gradually add to egg whites (this is where I add the remaining 2 tsp of the extract and the food coloring). Mix on high speed until very thick, 12 to 15 minutes.
Pour mixture into baking dish, working QUICKLY to spread it out (it will thicken pretty quick).
Spray a piece of parchment paper (large enough to cover baking dish) with nonstick cooking spray and press down on top of the marshmallow mixture in the dish. Rub back and forth to make a smooth top. Let marshmallow stand at room temperature until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. Cut into squares or cut out with a cookie cutter.

Rosemary-Glazed Pork Chops

Adapted from Bay Tables cookbook from the Junior League of Mobile, Alabama

Yes, something other than chicken. I'm branching out. I had to use more wine that the recipe called for because the sauce started to burn a little bit. I would just keep the wine next to you and add more if it starts burning. I served this with steamed vegetables, but garlic mashed potatoes would be really good with it. I'm just trying to be good.

Ingredients:

1 TBSP dried rosemary, crushed
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
4 center-cut pork loin chops
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine (I used more... almost double)
1 TBSP finely chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tsp dried rosemary

Directions:

Mix the rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Rub the rosemary mixture on each side of the pork chops, pressing into the pork chops. Melt the butter in olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork chops. Cook on each side until brown. Remove the pork chops to a heated platter. Drain the pan drippings, reserving a thin film of the drippings on the bottom of the skillet. Add 1/2 cup of the wine. Bring to a boil. Return the pork chops to the skillet. Reduce the heat. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until cooked through, basting occasionally with the pan juices. Remove the pork chops to a warm platter. Add the remaining 1/4 cup wine to the skillet. Bring to a boil. Boil until the liquid is reduced to a syrupy glaze, stirring to deglaze the skillet. Reduce the heat. Stir in the parsley (or rosemary). Return the pork chops to the skillet. Heat until the pork chops are warm and coated with the glaze.

Chicken with Lime Sauce

I tore this chicken recipe out of a Cooking Light magazine several years ago, and I'm just getting around to cooking it. I love the sauce, and it would be really good on fish, too since it has a good citrus flavor. I chose to steam carrots, but you can steam any vegetable. I also made a little extra sauce to drizzle on the carrots (I'd double the sauce recipe next time).

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp olive oil

Cooking spray

3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 TBSP brown sugar

3 TBSP lime juice, divided (I used 1 lime, and it was 3 TBSP exactly)

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 TBSP water

1 tsp cornstarch

1 TBSP butter

Directions:

1. Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pount to 1/4 inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy sillet. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan; keep warm.

3. Add chicken broth, brown sugar, 2 TBSP lime juice; and mustard to pan; cook over medium heat, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.

4. Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add cornstarch mixture to pan; stir well with a whisk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 1 minute or until sauce thickens slightly. Whisk in remaining 1 TBSP lime juice and butter, stirring until butter melts. Return chicken to pan; simmer 2 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly heated.

5. Place chicken and vegetables on the plate and drizzle with sauce.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 2 TBSP sauce).

calories 260; Fat 7.5g; Protein 40.7g; Carb 5.4g; Fiber 0.1g; Chol 106mg; Iron 1.8mg; Sodium 382mg.

Chicken & Dumplings

The ultimate comfort food!!! For some reason, I always think of Sundays as the day to eat comfort food. Go to church, come home and eat lunch, and take a good Sunday afternoon nap! These chicken and dumplings taste just like they did from childhood. Aubrey makes the best biscuits, so he made the dough today. I must say that he did a great job!!!



Ingredients:
Soup:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8-10 cups chicken broth (you can use the broth that you cook the chicken in plus a couple of chicken bullion cubes)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 TBSP flour
1/2 cup milk
Dumplings:
2 cups self rising flour
1/4 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
3/4 cups buttermilk
Extra flour for rolling out dough

Directions:
Soup:
Boil the chicken in water with bullion cubes until cooked throughout (while this is cooking you can make the dough). Once the chicken is cooked, pull them out and shred or cut into small pieces. Place the dough into the broth one piece at a time so they don't stick together. I put about 10 pieces in and wait 5 minutes and repeat until all are in the broth. Let the dumplings cook until they are done (about 15 minutes after the last batch is placed in). I would taste one just to make sure they are done. Dissolve 2 TBSP flour in 1/2 cup of milk and pour into the broth to give it more of a gravy consistency (you may repeat how ever many times you want to get the consistency you like. Once the dumplings are cooked, place the chicken back into the pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Dough:
Mix the flour, Crisco vegetable shortening, and buttermilk together with the hook attachment on the electric mixer (or knead it with hands). Once combined, place on a floured surface and roll out the dough to 1/4 in. thick. Cut into 2 inch squares.

Source: Jenny Bishop

Chinese New Year

Homemade Chinese Takeout
Wonton Soup adapted from recipezaar.com
Beef and Broccoli adapted from recipezaar.com
Fortune Cookies adapted from marthastewart.com


Happy Chinese New Year!!! 2008 is the year of the rat.... whatever that means. The good news is that if any of you have broken any of your New Year's resolutions, you have another chance.

Since I got a wok for Christmas, and I thought this was a perfect night to try it out. I'm a big fan now. I chose this meal because it's Aubrey's favorite Chinese dish and what he always orders. It tasted very similar to the take-outs, and this won't be the last time I make this meal. Aubrey and I were both cooking tonight, and we had a blast! I actually made the fortune cookies last night, and they taste so good.... much better than the ones you get from your take-out meals. I wrote Bible verses and "Happy Chinese New Year" on my fortunes. You could easily put a small amount of red or blue food coloring in the batter and make "It's a girl" or "It's a boy" fortunes. Be creative!

Wonton Soup

Ingredients

2 green onions

1/4 lb lean ground beef

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

1 TBSP finely chopped fresh parsley

1/4 tsp salt

1 dash pepper

12-18 wonton skins

6 cups chicken broth (we used ~8 cups)

1/2 cup spinach or bok choy, leaves halved lengthwise,shredded

1/4 cup shredded carrots

Directions

Reserve one green onion top for garnish; chop remaining green onions. Combine chopped onion, ground beef, celery, parsley, salt and pepper in a small bowl; mix lightly. Place approximately 1 TBSPof ground beef mixture in center of each wonton square
Lightly dampen edges of square with water. Bring together opposite corners to form a triangle; pinch to seal. Then fold over the bottom corners of the triangle. Press with a fork and set aside.
Bring broth to boil in large saucepan; reduce heat to medium. Add the chopped spinach or bok choy and the carrots (we added extra green onions). Then add 1/2 of wontons; simmer 4 minutes (we simmered ~15 min because the meat wasn't cooked with only 4 min). Remove cooked wontons with slotted spoon; keep warm. Repeat with remaining wontons. Place wontons in soup bowls. Top with broth mixture and garnish with green onions.

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Beef and Broccoli
The ingredients for the sauce below is doubled from the original. Most of the reviews for this dish say that they either doubled the sauce recipe or wish they did. Good choice!

Ingredients

1 lb flank steaks

4 TBSP soy sauce

2 TBSP dry sherry (can substitute 2 Tbs. orange or pineapple juice with a dash of vinegar)

1 tsp cornstarch

1 (16 ounce) package fresh broccoli

1 garlic clove, minced

1 slice fresh ginger, finely minced

2 TBSP peanut oil

salt

Directions
Slice the steak against the grain into very thin slices. Combine the soy sauce, sherry, and cornstarch and pour this mixture over the steak. Marinate the meat for 15 minutes. While the meat is marinating, slice the broccoli at a diagonal and mince garlic and ginger. Heat a wok or large frying pan for 30 seconds, add oil, wait about 20 seconds, and add minced garlic and ginger root. Fry over high heat, stirring constantly for about 20 seconds more, then add the beef. Stir-fry, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute. Add broccoli and stir-fry for another 4 to 6 minutes, until the broccoli is cooked but still crisp and still dark green. Serve hot. This is low in carbohydrates.

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Fortune Cookies

Makes ~15

Ingredients
5 TBSP unsalted butter
4 large egg whites
1 cup superfine sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted (you can just run a whisk through it several times in a bowl)
Pinch of salt
3 TBSP heavy cream
1 tsp almond extract
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet liberally with cooking spray. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine egg whites and sugar, and beat on medium speed, about 30 seconds. Add flour and salt, and beat until combined. Add butter, heavy cream, and almond extract, and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.
Pour 1 TBSP of batter onto half of the baking sheet, and spread with the back of a spoon into a thin 5-inch circle; repeat on the other half of the sheet. Bake until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown, about 8 minutes.
Transfer baking sheet to a heat-resistant surface. Working as quickly as possible, slide a spatula under one of the cookies. Lift it up, and place it on a clean kitchen towel. Lay a fortune in the lower middle of the cookie, and gingerly (they will be hot) fold in half to make a semi-circle. Bend the edges up toward each other to make a crescent. Drag the crease across the rim of a small measuring cup, with the ends facing down. Cool in mini muffin tins to hold shape until crisp. Repeat with remaining batter.
To speed up the process, bake four cookies at a time, staggering two cookie sheets by 4 minutes to give you time to shape. To avoid wasting batter, practice folding with a circle of paper first.

Favorite Fruit: Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cupcakes and Frosting
From Allrecipes.com

For those of you that know me, you know very well that my favorite kind of cake is strawberry cake with strawberry icing. When Catherine (my sister) asked me to help her make these cupcakes, I was all over it!!! I would recommend chopping up the strawberries before incorporating them into the recipe. They can get a little bulky. Also, strain the frozen strawberries and reserve the juice. You may need this juice for the icing depending on the water content of the strawberries. Some of the reviews for this recipe say that their icing was too runny, but we had the opposite problem. However, when we added the reserved juice, it was perfect. These are so good, and I think I'm on sugar overload right now (at midnight).

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin mix (Jello)
3 TBSP all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 (10 ounce) package frozen strawberries (chopped & drained... reserve juice)
1/2 cup butter
4 and 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350. Place cupcake papers into muffin pan.
In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, gelatin mix and flour. Make a well in the center and pour in water, oil, and eggs. Stir in half of the container of strawberries. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter 2/3 into the papers.
Bake in the preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
To make the strawberry frosting:
In a large bowl combine butter, confectioners' sugar and the remaining half of the frozen strawberries. Beat on high speed until creamy. If you need more liquid, add the strawberry juice a little at a time until it's the right consistency of frosting.