A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Gene's Christmas Eve All Favorites Thank You Dinner

2012 has been a long year at our house. While we've had our share of blessings in many ways, my health was not one of them.  After a year or more of not feeling well, constant fatigue, and intermittent chest pain, palpitations, high blood pressure, and vomitting, we found out this fall after numerous trips to several doctors, an ER visit with overnight observation, and a full cardiac work up that all of that chest stuff was caused by, drumroll please, gall bladder dysfunction.

Say what?  Yup, you read that right. All that false path heart fear was really just my silly ole gall bladder acting up. I never had abdominal pain at all! Crazy, I know.

So an operation, pneumonia, and several weeks off work to recupe my stamina, I'm back in the groove and can remember who that energetic fun Glenna used to be and is again!

As a small thank you to my wonderful hubby, Gene, who waited on me hand and foot, took over all of the house chores, and did everything to take care of me while I was depressed, shaky, and pukey all the time, I didn't volunteer to work Christmas Eve like I often do, but instead stayed home for a cozy Christmas Eve dinner of all of his favorite foods as a small token of thanks for his help, his sense of humor, and his patience helping me through this awful year health-wise. Thank you, Honey!

Gene's Christmas Eve Thank You Dinner Menu

Oven Fried Chicken

Mashed Potatoes

Corn

Creamed Spinach (Okay, that one's my favorite)

Dinner Rolls

Nannie's From Scratch Banana Pudding

(chicken and creamed spinach recipes follow, banana pudding tomorrow!)

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Chili over Rice

From my Pinterest board to yours....

Found this recipe from Rita's Recipes on Pinterest and it looked like the perfect no work Crockpot/slow cooker recipe for dinner tonight, on this cold and dreary rainy day in the Ozarks.  It was! 

It's  a little different style from most of the dishes I make but Gene's always game and always honest.  Not rude, but honest. If he doesn't like something, like the stuffing I made the other day, he'll be honest and and reply to my "Did you like it?" with a simple and direct "No, I did not. But thank you for making dinner tonight."  The reason why I make a point of telling that is that I was curious to see how he'd react to this new recipe.  He chose to heat up leftover mashed potatoes instead of spooning it over rice, but he cleaned his two chicken breast bowl like a big boy begging to get dessert.  He even said about halfway in, with a full mouth no less, "This is surprisingly tasty!"  (I think he assumed that creamy would mean boring but it's not)   Lots of flavor and perfect comfort food.

I made a few changes to the recipe, mainly spicing from my spice rack since I don't keep packets of ranch dressing mix on hand, more chicken for my meat-eater hubby, and I used chickpeas instead of kidney beans. It was delicious. I think any type of bean would work well in this dish.

Thank you to Rita for blogging this dish (Gene thanks you too).

Indian Butter Chicken or Chicken Tikka Masala

When I knew I'd be having gall bladder surgery and not eating or cooking much for a few weeks, I put out the call to my friends and family asking for them to photograph their own dinners and send me recipes to use on the blog.  One of the great side effects of that was finding new recipes for myself and which family and friends to hit up for dinner soon.   (If only they knew they'd be called upon to reprise their menus--I'm not above begging!)

James sent me this fabulous photograph of his dinner of my friend and fellow blogger, Monica's, family recipe for Indian Butter Chicken (or Chicken Tikka Masala).  Wow!  That was my first response to both the photo and the recipe.  I'm definitely going to ask James to make this for me (we might invite Gene) and the photograph is amazing. But I would expect nothing less from James, since he is a professional.

Thanks James and Monica!

 

This or That Recipes: Fast Creamy Tuna, Chicken, or Bacon Pasta

One of the greatest kitchen skills my Mother taught me was the skill of substituting ingredients in recipes.  I did not realize until sometime in my 20's that not everyone knows how to do this. I know several wonderfully talented home cooks (and some professionals too) who cannot extrapolate beyond the printed recipe in front of them.  That's not a criticism, merely an observation.

The ability to look at a recipe and match up the ingredients in it with ingredients in the pantry that are similar but not the exact items is a learned skill. This recipe is a perfect example. The final dish is simple, with few but specific types of ingredients that are quickly prepared and easily modified into numerous recipes all containing  the elements of:  cream, starch, vegetable, and protein.

For this recdipe, I used rotini pasta, light cream cheese with grated Parmesan, frozen peas, and Hormel bacon pieces.  For stove top tuna casserole, I use elbow macaroni, light cream cheese with shredded cheddar/monterrey jack mix, a large can of tuna, and either peas or frozen broccoli that I've chopped up smaller to heat through faster. But as long as you have something creamy, a pasta or rice, and a colorful vegetable, you can make a fast, easy, and tasty meal..

Restaurant-Style Chicken Piccata

My very very favorite meal in the world is Chicken Piccata. I first had it in an Italian restaurant in Las Vegas.  When I came home I found it on Macaroni Griil and Zio's menus but they've since taken it off.  What's a girl to do?  Learn to make it herself, of course!

The dish, in its most simple form, is easy to make and complex in flavor:  sweet, savory,salty, and tart all at the same time.  The definition of the culinary term "piccata" is actually a buttery lemon sauce with parsley.  Capers have become a de rigeur part of the equation, giving more tartness and a bit of brine to the overall dish.  Other flavors restaurants often add, as I do at times also, are pancetta, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, fresh spinach, and/or pine nuts.

I chose this as my first adventure back in the kitchen following my gallbladder surgery and it was almost a religious moment to taste those flavors again that I love so much.

Lucy Approved Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce

My cousin, Colleen. posted this collage to Facebook with the caption "Lucy approved!" so I had to blog them. The enchiladas look divine and Lucy's adorable enthusiasm about them say this recipe is definitely a winner!  I'm adding rotisserie chicken and tortillas to my grocery list for this week.

Simple preparation with complex flavor, this a great work night family recipe and could even be prepared the night before for more dinner hour ease the next night or even frozen for a later date.

Thanks for sharing with us, Colleen and Lucy!.

Copycat Benihana Fried Rice

 Just like a kid, I love having dinner at Japanese steakhouses like Benihana but sometimes I want the rice and/or veggies without the 1 1/2 hour program and all that food in the different courses.  When I have the desire but not the patience, I make my own at home.  Chicken Fried Rice is a great one-pot meal in the style of Jambalaya or other stove-top one-potters.

Easier and faster than it looks, just think about how quickly those Japanese chefs whip up the fried rice before moving on to the steak/chicken/shrimp entree.  And the leftovers are great for lunch the next day or my work lunchbox.

 

David Chan, Chinese Restaurant Fan, Eats Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

(Photo from Springfield News Leader)

David Chan, the man who was profiled in L.A. went virule for having eaten at over 6,000 Chinese restaurants in his city,  traveled to Springfield Missouri last week as a guest of the Convention & Visitors Bureau to have a taste of the Ozarks.

He ate at Leong's on Saturday with both David Leong, creator of Springfield-style cashew chicken, and David's son, Chef Wing Yee Leong.

 

 

For the complete story, see this article in the Springfield News Leader:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20120826/NEWS01/308260032/L-A-man-Chinese-restaurants-Springfield-cashew-chicken?nclick_check=1

For my personal Springfield-style cashew chicken and/or cashew chicken casserole recipes, click here:

http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/voice-of-america-embraces-springfieldstyle-cashew-chicken.html

 

American Classics: Julia Child's Deluxe Chicken or Turkey Salad

 

Nobody's perfect. We all have the opportunity to learn and grow our skills in everything in life.  Gene has admitted a couple of times over the years that my chicken salad is, well, a little boring.  He likes the way I make potato salad, devilled eggs, and tuna salad, but says my chicken salad is "just okay".  Not that he's a jerk. He's my most enthusiastic supporter and eater, and over 25 years my cooking has put 20 lbs on his once too-skinny frame, so I take no offense.  He loves my cooking but I took this as an opportunity to improve my skills.

I added a rotisserie chicken to his grocery list this weekend while I was working, just for this purpose, and decided to go back to the basics and re-learn how to make a good, basic, no frills, chicken salad.  Who better than Julia Child to teach me? 

After reading over a dozen recipes that were either similar to my way or added more frills (pineapple, grapes, nuts, pasta, etc) than I wanted for a classic dish, I hit upon Julia Child's "Deluxe Chicken or Turkey Salad from her book The Way to Cook.  The ingredients are basic but the preparation is not.  Julia uses a two-step method with a ten minute recess that does, indeed, produce a classic, no frills, but delicious and flavorful chicken salad perfect for the classic all-American "Iron Kids" sandwich.  With Julia's method, she tosses the chopped meat with olive oil, herbs, and seasonings, and lets those ingredients get comfy with each other before coming back and binding it together with the mayo.  The two step method makes a world of difference in how the final dish's flavor resonates. The chicken and herb flavors take the lead and happen to be bound together with mayo rather than mayo flavor dominating.  Adding the fruit, nuts, etc, would also work well with this recipe but for those like my hubs who like it on the "classic" side, this is the recipe and method we'll be using, and he agrees. (Personally, I love the walnuts in it--I love the crunch!)

In four days, August 15th will be the 100th anniversary of Julia Child's birth. We are all better cooks for her enthusiasm and her career. Thank You, Julia!

Good & Good For You: Garlic & Brown Sugar Baked Chicken

I saw this recipe from Food.com on Pinterest and immediately thought we'd like it since garlic gets very sweet when baked and one of our other favorite chicken recipes is Curry Honeyed Roast Chicken which is delicious. I was also intrigued by the simplicity of this recipe.  With only four ingredients:  chicken, olive oil, fresh garlic, and brown sugar, it doesn't get much easier than that.

The verdict: DELICIOUS! Both Gene and I loved it and will be making it again and again. The oil covers the chicken to keep it moist and the garlic and brown sugar caramelize the chicken into sweet goodness. Serve it with something creamy like mac & cheese and something crisp like a great salad, and you've hit the comfort food trifecta.

Thanks to Alexis who posted this on Food.com and to all the pinners who repinned until I saw it. Yummy!