This is a very easy, delicious and healthy recipe for the upcoming summer months. 

 I will be cooking this for a group this weekend

 and had a wonderful friend come over for my trial run. 

20 minutes tops, I spent most of the time plating to perfection :) 

Crunchy Mediterranean Wedge Salad

 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

1 tbsp (15 mL) canola oil 

 2 tbsp (30 mL) Greek Rub 

2 small vine-ripened tomatoes 

 1/4 seedless cucumber 

1/2 small red onion 

2 heads iceberg lettuce 

 4 oz (125 g) feta cheese 

Sliced kalamata olives and Crunchy Pita Strips (optional)

 Dressing 

2-3 lemons 

1/3 cup (75 mL) canola oil 

1 tbsp (15 mL) Greek Rub 

 3/4 tsp (4 mL) sugar

 

Directions 

1. Brush chicken with oil; sprinkle with rub. Arrange chicken in Small Ridged Baker; cover with Parchment Paper.  * I used my deep covered baker without parchment paper.

2. Microwave chicken on HIGH 5-6 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165ºF (74ºC). Set aside to cool. 

 

 3. Slice tomatoes with Simple Slicer on #3 setting. Slice cucumber on #2 setting and slice onion on #1 setting. Cut vegetable slices into quarters.

 

 4. Remove outer leaves of each head of lettuce. (Do not core heads of lettuce.) Using Chef’s Knife, cut each head of lettuce lengthwise into three 1½-inch-thick (4-cm) slices; arrange slices on Large Bamboo Platter. 

5. For dressing, juice lemons using Juicer to measure 1/3 cup (75 mL). Process juice, oil, rub and sugar in Manual Food Processor until blended. 

6. Remove chicken from baker to clean Cutting Board. Cut chicken crosswise into ½-in. (1-cm) slices with Santoku Knife. 

7. To assemble salad, place chicken and veggies on top of lettuce wedge, crumble feta with Easy Release Cheese Crumbler. Drizzle with dressing and serve.  *I added sweet potato chips as garnish instead of crunchy pita strips

Mine doesn't look too bad compared to the recipe photo :)

Marinara Chicken - Making my first homemade tomato sauce

I have the great advantage in life of having parents who have a magnificent garden!  I am able to get fresh tomatoes, squash, melons, corn and a variety of other goods just by visiting for the weekend.  My mom makes lots of fresh salsa and tomato sauces, but I have never done it myself.  After a late night of watching PBS cooking shows with a friend and seeing a chef make a cherry tomato sauce, I knew I could do this my own way and really enjoy it :)

WARNING THIS IS A BLEND OF INGREDIENTS TO MY PERSONAL TASTE 

 - NOT AN ACTUAL RECIPE.

The Ginger Princess wanted to cook with me tonight :)

First I seared some cut chicken breast in a little olive oil
and Garlic Parmesan herb blend.  

When complete, the chicken was placed in a dish to the side.

To the chicken juices, I added 3 cloves on fresh pressed garlic.   I placed about 5 fresh frozen tomatoes that I had thawed out for the sauce and used my simple slicer to prepare my onions.  

I also added some fresh frozen, previously prepped multicolor bell peppers.  I cooked on medium high for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I then added basil paste, oregano, a little salt, roasted red pepper flakes 

and some white wine.

 (Chateau St. Michelle - Harvest Select Sweet Riesling)

When the sauce was just about the right consistency - I use a spoon and like to see about 1/2 of what I scoop up continue sticking to the spoon when pouring back into the pan. - I reintroduced the chicken to the sauce.  I made a quick box of garden salad pasta for a little more color and served with the chicken marinara sauce.

Perfecto!

This was so easy.  I believe it took me only 30 minutes to cook the entire meal and it was most definitely Happy Husband Approved!

Steak & Guinness Pie

I received this cookbook from my best friend on my 1st wedding anniversary.  He had moved to the NYC area and fallen in love with Tea & Sympathy.  It is a quaint little shop, 1 half sweets shop and cup'a tea to go and the other half exquisite eatery and tea service.  This past December, upon visiting him we made a few stops to this fine establishment, I fell in love too!  The tea, the desserts, the Steak & Guinness Pie :)  We had the privilege of speaking with the Grand Madam, Nicola, herself and she assured me that if I followed her recipe I would have superb Steak & Guinness Pie at home......I was terribly excited to try, but knew I wanted to wait until St. Patrick's Day.

Enjoying some Rose Tea while awaiting my Steak & Guinness Pie

 - Tea & Sympathy December 2013

 After my success with my RockCrok Dutch Oven when preparing French Onion & Mushroom soup a few weeks ago, I decided to test the great versatility of the pot again with this recipe.

 First I cubed my steak, I can't recall the cut of the meat as my husband is the one who purchased it.  You don't want anything too thick and want to cut into small cubes.  Adding 1/4 c. butter and a splash of olive oil to my dutch oven on Med-High heat, I seared the meat until brown and mostly done.

As the meat cooked, I cut my onions.  I usually do all my onions by hand, but decided to try my Simple Slicer.  I will rarely cut onions by hand again.  This little device was amazing to use and easy to clean ( I have been using it non-stop now for a week )

When the meat is done, scoop into a dish a set aside.  Now place your onions and garlic into the meat juices and continue to cook.  I don't like my onions mushy soft, so when they were brown and to the consistency I appreciate, the meat was replaced to the dutch oven. 

Meat, onion and garlic

To the meat, onion and garlic combination, I added flour, paprika, brown sugar and tomato puree.  Cook for about 5 minutes to make sure all ingredients are combined. 

Flour, brown sugar and paprika

 Now add 2 1/2 c.  Beef stock and 2 1/2 c. Guinness  - for the Guinness this is roughly 2 bottles.  

Stock and Guinness added

I added my herbs and bay leaves, turned to a Med-Low to simmer, stirring occasionally.  

I took a quick taste test.  I prefer savory tastes, so did go outside the recipe and added 1 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper to help eliminate the brown sugar sweetness.

Next for the Pastry:

I am not a pastry making person and knew this could be the challenge for me.

Sift your flour and salt into a bowl and "rub" butter and shortening in until your mixture has the consistency of crumbs. Create a well, add your cold water and mix until a dough forms.  Roll quickly into a ball with your hands and place in cellophane and in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, I rolled my dough out on the counter with a well floured counter top and rolling pin.

I used the dutch oven lid and a faux cookie cutter for the pie.  This is where I learned that the RockCrok Everyday Pan or the Deep Dish Pie Plate may be better options.  I had troubles creating a seal of the crust around the outside of the dutch oven. 

 Make sure to brush a little egg on your pastry and then bake for about 1 hour.

I dyed left over dough and hand cut shamrocks for a lil flare.

Regardless of the small pastry struggle, this recipe was amazing!  My husband and I were both pleased with the results and he was happy for my addition of cayenne pepper to offset the sweet.

 

Fabulous French Onion & Mushroom Soup

**French Onion & Mushroom Soup **

-6 Tbsp Butter (3/4 stick), divided
-6 oz French bread, sliced into 16 (1/2") slices
-8 oz cremini mushrooms, quartered
-5 large sweet onions
-3 garlic cloves, pressed
-1 Tbsp sugar
-1 Cup dry red wine (such as Cabernet Sauvignon)
-3 Tbsp flour
-8 Cups unsalted beef stock
-2 tsp salt
-1 tsp ground black pepper
-3 sprigs fresh thyme, plus 1 Tbsp leaves
-6 Oz Gruyere cheese, shredded (1-1/2 Cups)

Directions
1. Melt 1 Tbsp of the butter in Dutch Oven over medium heat. Toast bread 1-2 minutes per side or until light golden brown; remove bread; set aside.

2. Add 1 Tbsp of the butter and mushrooms to the Dutch Oven; cook, uncovered 8-9 minutes, or until mushrooms are deep golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove mushrooms.

3. Meanwhile, slice onions with Simple Slicer on #2 setting. Add remaining 4 Tbsp butter, onions, garlic and sugar to Dutch Oven, cook, uncovered 25-30 minutes or until onions are dark brown, stirring occasionally.

4. Add wine; cook, uncovered, 5-7 minutes or until liquid is no longer visible, but onions are still moist. Stir in flour, cook 1 minute. Stir in stock, salt, pepper, and mushrooms. Insert thyme springs into Herb Infuser, add to soup. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook, covered, 8-10 minutes or until soup comes to a gentle boil. Remove from heat and remove Herb Infuser.

5. Preheat broiler. Arrange toasted bread over soup; sprinkle evenly with cheese. Place Dutch Oven 2-4 inches from the heating element; broil 2-4 minutes or until cheese is bubbling. Remove from oven; sprinkle with thyme leaves.

~This recipe comes with the RockCrok, which is why there is not a recipe link.  If you would like the traditional Pampered Chef French Onion soup, the recipe is  HERE - (French Onion Soup). ~

Yes, that is a BACON hand towel on my oven door :)

I will say that this recipe took me almost 90 minutes from start to finish, but it was truly an act of love.  I enjoyed every moment of preparing and eating this dish!  To start, I opened my bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, poured myself half a glass and let the bottle continue to breath as I prepared my vegetables.  I also made myself a little snack, using balsamic vinegar, olive oil and Pampered Chef garlic/Parmesan seasoning and the end of the loaf of bread :)

Treat yourself like a Pampered Chef and enjoy the experience!

Melt your tablespoon of butter on medium heat in your pan and toast your slices of bread (2 mins on each side)  Covering the bottom of the pan to toast your bread will make sure you aren't wasting bread that won't fit on top in the end.  When toasted, set aside on a plate.

Add another tablespoon of butter and your mushrooms to the pan. 

Cook uncovered for about 8 mins. until golden brown.

 

Slice your onions and garlic as your mushrooms are cooking down, stir them occasionally.

When mushrooms are done, remove them and place in a bowl to the side.

 Add the rest of your butter, garlic, onions and sugar to the pan.

Cook for 30 minutes or until the onions are dark brown or cooked to your liking. 

I prefer my onions to still have a fleshy texture.

Start

Finish

 Add wine and cook down, add flour and cook for 1 minute,

 then add your stock (veggie if you prefer) and mushrooms.

Wine added

Stock and all other ingredients ready...we have soup!

Pre-Heat your broiler.  

Top the soup with your toasted bread, sprinkle with shredded cheese ( I used mozzarella)

Broil for 2 minutes until cheese is bubbly and delicious!

And SHAZAM!  Amazing French Onion and Mushroom Soup!

Happy Pampered Chef!

Great for our cold South Dakota day!

I feel like this recipe definitely earned me kitchen goddess experience points! 

 ~ Happy Husband Approved ~

Egg Salad, in the form of a tea sandwich

I had a co-worker once that loved egg salad sandwiches, and the idea seemed awful to me.  But as I continued to think about it; I like deviled eggs and potato salad...it can't be all that different or bad, right?!  Well, I wanted an excuse to try my Cut & Seal to use for tea parties in the future and just happened to have some eggs in the fridge....so here we are :)

Egg Salad

Now in hard boiling eggs, my preference is 15 minute boil.  I add 1/4 salt to my water and IMMEDIATELY put eggs in an ice bath after the 15 minute boil.  I have found that this combination will make for easy peeling for even farm fresh eggs.

This is a simple recipe and I believe most people would have the general ingredients already available in their homes. I didn't add celery, pickle or red bell pepper because I didn't have it on  hand, nor do I really want that in my sandwich.....maybe I will try it next time. I just happened to have Dijon Mustard left from a recipe I made a few weeks back, but otherwise I would have used regular mustard.

 I mixed up my eggs, mayo and mustard...a little salt and pepper.

 I attempted to place an even scoop on my bread.  I used my favorite 12 grain bread, but realize that a nice soft white without seeds would have made for an easier press with my Cut & Seal and would have turned out looking a bit prettier.

 For my first attempt at egg salad and using my Cut & Seal, I was pretty happy.  Next time I make tea sandwiches, I will definitely use a different type of bread.

I approve of this recipe, as this was my lunch last week Friday :)

Soup du jour -- Mean and Green for St. Paddy's

This week was cold and snowy....March came in like a LION for sure.  I eat a lot of soup in the cold months, I enjoy a hot meal and soup usually isn't terribly high in calories.

This week I made:

Spinach Tortellini Soup

This is a super easy soup recipe, which again I took my own liberties with :)  For this recipe I used frozen spinach, as it is something we keep on hand.

For this recipe, my husband chose his favorite tortellinis...3 Cheese by Buitoni. 

We have 2 cans of chicken broth - you could substitute veggie stock to make this a vegetarian meal.

A can of reduced sodium Northern beans, garlic and frozen spinach.

1 good pot....I used the RockCrok from Pampered Chef.

I added 1 tablespoon olive oil to my pan with my fresh pressed garlic and let that warm and infuse prior to adding the chicken broth and water.  

The broth was brought to a boil and then I added my tortellini, cooking about 10 minutes. 

 I turned down the heat; added my spinach and drained beans. 

The soup was cooked for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Spinach has many health benefits and is great for Mean Green St. Paddy's soup du jour!

~The Ginger Princess was not impressed, but my husband was!~

Cucumber Lime Dip - So simple, my 10 year old can make it!

That's right!  My kids love cooking with me, so I employed the power of my eldest to make the next recipe.  This is honestly one of the easiest and most delicious items I have ever made!  Eat it on crackers or use as a veggie dip.  I am eating it on a salad right now :)

 Cucumber Lime Dip

My son has everything ready -notice we do not have an onion....

the boys don't like them, so we are leaving them out.

Start with one package of room temperature cream cheese.  Cut your cucumber in half (both long and short way), so you have 4 parts.  Scoop the seeds out (the seeds hold the water and you don't want runny dip).  

Cut the cucumbers into cubes and place in your manual food processor.  

Give it a few hearty pushes to get that cucumber processed and add to the cream cheese.

Use your garlic press and add a few cloves of garlic to your cream cheese.

Then squeeze in the juice of a lime (as desired for taste).

The Pampered Chef citrus press is amazing, but we don't have that yet...so we did it by hand.

Mix, chill and serve!

Easy and Delicious!

Great to serve at BBQs this summer.

The Ginger Princess was not so impressed, but it gave all 3 of my boys (husband and 2 sons) BIG SMILES!