Clam Chowder

Clam Chowder

Serves 6-8

2 C water
1/2 C finely chopped onion
1 C finely diced celery
2 C finely diced potatoes
1 medium carrot, grated
3 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams with juices
1/2-3/4 C butter
1/2-3/4 C flour
1 quart half-n-half
1 1/2 t salt
1 t ground black pepper
1 t garlic powder
2 T red wine vinegar

Place water, vegetables, and clams with juice in saucepan. Cover and simmer over medium heat until barely tender.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and blend; cook, stirring constantly to form roux. Slowly add cream stirring constantly with a whisk until smooth and thick. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. Keep stirring until heated throughout or until it boils. Add un-drained cooked vegetables and red wine vinegar. Season with additional salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Turn heat to low and continue heating and stirring until heated throughout.

Turkey Caesar Wraps

This is one of the few recipes that I can genuinely claim as my own, thus it's not an exact science, but you'll get the idea.

Turkey Caesar Wraps

Raw tortillas
Sliced mushrooms
Sliced Swiss cheese
Sliced oven roasted turkey
Mixed greens
Caesar dressing

Saute the mushrooms until they release their liquids and get nice and brown and wilty. Heat a large skillet or griddle to medium heat. Put the tortilla on the pan, put a few slices of cheese running down the middle of the tortilla, and a few slices of turkey on top of that. Let it heat up until the tortilla is golden brown on the bottom side and the cheese is starting to melt. Remove from heat. Add mushrooms, mixed greens, and drizzle with Caesar dressing. Wrap it up and enjoy!

Chicken Milano

Here is it folks, the dish that I credit with helping me to understand that cooking can be loads of fun. I don't know where the recipe originally came from. All I know is that I made it for my brother and his girlfriend (now wife) for a Valentines Day dinner (he found the recipe and taught it to me), and I've been making it for friends and family ever since. This is one of those recipes that EVERYONE loves, and generally asks me for the recipe.

Chicken Milano

Serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 C flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 C Italian bread crumbs
4 T butter
3 C marinara sauce
1 C heavy cream (milk works too)
1/4 C fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 C fresh mozzarella cheese
1/4 C Swiss Cheese

Put the flour and Italian bread crumbs each on a separate plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. In a large skillet melt the butter over medium-high heat. Place the breaded chicken breasts in the heated pan just until the bread crumbs turn golden brown, approximately 2 minutes each side. Transfer the chicken to a baking dish. Combine the marinara sauce and cream, pour over chicken breasts. Sprinkle each of the cheeses evenly over the chicken breasts. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

**Notes from Em**
Make sure to check the dish during the last 10 minutes of cooking. If the cheese is starting to brown, put a sheet of tinfoil over the top. Just be warned if the cheese touches the tinfoil it'll stick to it.

My personal favorite way to serve this recipe is with sauteed vegetables, such as carrots, zucchini or yellow squash, pea pods etc. Simply slice the vegetables fairly thin, put them in a skillet on medium-high heat, throw in 1 T or so of butter, some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion, and saute it all until the veggies are just starting to soften. It's also fun to put the chicken on top of a bed of angel hair pasta, or serve some yummy crusty bread on the side.

Steak

I haven't posted anything in a while because we've been eating left overs and fairly generic recipes. Tonight wasn't much different, but it turned out really well so I figured I would at least tell you about it. Tonight was steak night. My husband LOVES meat, especially beef, and I've been trying to make a really good steak for him for a few years now. We usually season them with Adobo, and they turn out pretty well. Tonight I went back to my "roots". I remember my parents always seasoning steak with salt, pepper, and a slosh or two of soy sauce. So I tried it. I put the steaks in a pyrex dish, put some salt, pepper, and soy sauce on each side, then let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to marinate and warm up. Then I threw them on a grill at about 350 for roughly 6 minutes on each side. (Truth is they were thick cut steaks so they were on longer than 6 minutes) They turned out GOOD though. I let them sit for a few minutes after I got them off the grill, and we had instant loaded mashed potatoes and "Steph" salad with the steak, and it was a very satisfying dinner.

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp

From Lion House Classics

Makes 12 to 15 servings

Topping:
1 C butter, cold
1 C brown sugar
1 C flour
1 C oatmeal
1/4 t baking powder

Filling:
6 C canned apples or 6-8 fresh apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 C sugar
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon

In a large bowl, mix butter, brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, and baking powder just until butter is broken up and ingredients are mixed. Mixture should be crumbly. Set aside.

Place apples in a 9x13-inch pan. SPrinkle with sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Crumble crisp topping on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. (If fresh apples are used, bake 45 minutes.) Serve warm or cold, with whipped cream or ice cream.

**Notes from Em**
I made this recipe a couple of times this last summer, and I used melted butter instead of cutting in cold butter. It made it easier in preparation, and still turned out well, though you will get a more crumbly crumb topping if you use the cold butter.

Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry

Thai Kitchen

Serves 2-4

2 chicken breasts, diced
1/4 C bamboo shoots
1/2 C frozen peas
1/3 C chicken stock
14 oz coconut milk
1/2-1 T green curry paste
1-2 T fish sauce
2 T brown sugar

Heat a large, lightly greased wok or pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until mostly done, stirring occasionally. Add bamboo shoots and frozen peas, stirring occasionally. While the chicken mixture is finishing, combine coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce and brown sugar in a sauce pan. Whisk until well combined and set over medium heat. Add chicken stock. Once the sauce begins to boil add it to the chicken mixture. Allow it all to come to a simmer, then serve over rice.

**Notes from Em**
I like to add carrot, green pepper, cashews and pineapple to my curry, and I don't use the chicken stock or peas. Other vegetables that would be good in this recipe are tomatoes, sweet potatoes, egg plant or zucchini.

Oven-Roasted Canned Tomatoes

Oven-Roasted Canned Tomatoes

Serves 4-8

2 28 oz cans peeled whole tomatoes, drained, halved, and seeded.
1/2 to 2/3 C extra-virgin olive oil
14 large fresh basil leaves, torn
2 4-inch branches fresh rosemary
1/2 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
5 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 300F. Spread out the tomatoes in a large shallow pan (a half-sheet pan is ideal) and sprinkle with other ingredients, turning to coat them with oil. Bake 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours, basting and turning the tomatoes several times. They're done when their color deepens to dark scarlet and they taste mellow and very rich. Don't let them brown, nor allow the garlic to brown -- it'll turn bitter.

Transfer the tomatoes and their oil to a glass or china bowl. Let them mellow at room temperature up to 6 hours. The flavor will ripen in this time.

Refrigerate the tomatoes up to 4 days, or freeze up to 3 months. Serve the tomatoes at room temperature, or tossed with hot pasta.

Crepes

Crepes

Serves 6-8

1 1/3 C flour
3 T oil
2 C milk
4 eggs
1 tsp salt

In mixer combine oil, milk, eggs and salt. Mix until well combined. Slowly add flour to egg mixture and combine until there are no lumps. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Remove cover and whisk until the crepe batter is well mixed - it will have separated while refrigerating. Heat a small, non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Pour in just enough batter to cover about half the bottom of the pan, tilt the pan until the batter covers the entire bottom. Once the crepe looks dry flip it over and cook the other side for about 30 seconds. Remove crepe from pan and continue cooking until all the batter has been cooked.

Fill crepes with desired fillings such as cream cheese, Nutella, yogurt, or fresh fruit. Roll and enjoy.