Broccoli Cheese Chicken

I tried this recipe out last week and everyone liked it. I remember Stacie making this for her family in years past and thought it would be a good menu item. I followed Stacie's recipe except I didn't grill the chicken (no guys were home and I don't know how to grill), and I used fresh broccoli because I didn't have the frozen kind. Oh, and I at least doubled the recipe (and maybe a little more) because we like leftovers for lunches.



Getting the chicken ready to saute. I probably should have cut the chicken up a little smaller, but it was good anyway. I used the wonderful garlic infused oil I got from Bob and Syd. The chicken was pretty darn good just on it's own. Very tasty.

1 cube butter
1 med. onion, diced
1 10 oz. pkg. chopped broccoli
1 1/2 C. uncooked minute rice (don't use regular rice!)
1 c. diced, cooked chicken (grilled is best)
1 c. milk
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 oz. velveeta cheese
salt and pepper to taste
 
Saute onion in butter, then mix in broccoli and rice till coated with butter.  Add remaining ingredients, except chicken, and stir till cheese has completely melted.  Add chicken.  Put into lightly greased casserole dish and bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Some more of the ingredients as I got ready to put this all together.




I took the chicken out and set it aside after it was done.



I grew out of the pan, so after I knew the rice and the broccoli were well coated with butter, and the velveeta was melted, I transferred it all to a big bowl. Then I mixed in the soup and milk until everything was well mixed and then transferred it all to a baking dish.



We all loved the casserole. I think I might try it with real cheese next time, and top it off with a scant layer of cheese because I am not a huge fan of velveeta. And for Grumpy and I, I will not increase the recipe. It would be plenty just the way it is for us.

After talking to Summer, we think either buttered bread crumbs or maybe even crushed up canned french fried onions would be good on top.

Really a good dish for big families too. The broccoli was awesome, and we liked the chicken sauteed too. I really should learn to grill one of these days.

The All Time Favorite…Mac & Cheese

I remember when Grumpy and I were dating and I decided to make him dinner. I asked him what he wanted to eat and he said Macaroni and Cheese. I was pretty shocked, but went and got a couple of boxes of Macaroni and Cheese. When he arrived for dinner and saw I had made boxed mac & cheese he was very rudely amused. I asked him what he expected and he said you know - cook the noodles and make a sauce and it goes in a casserole pan to be baked in the oven. I didn't know these things as we never had mac & cheese at our house. (Papa was not a fan of pasta dishes in those days). So I decided to learn to make "real" mac & cheese. Found a recipe for a basic cheese sauce and came up with one of our families favorite comfort foods. It is the number 1 requested item for birthday dinners, hands down. I will be making this for Ryker on Sunday for his birthday dinner, so thought I would post the how to. I no longer use a recipe, so went online to find a basic cheese sauce recipe and tweaked it to be what I do. I usually make Mac & Cheese in an oversized casserole pan, like a lasagna pan as leftovers are never a problem. 

Fill your baking pan up to a generous half full of your dry macaroni. Regular size elbow roni works, but we have found we like the larger elbow roni pasta. Put your water on to boil and pour a little olive oil in it. Boil the noodles until tender. Remove from heat and rinse throughly in cool water. Return noodles to your large pasta cooker, or put them in a large bowl. Set aside. 

Make the Cheese sauce. The recipe below will make enough for a normal 9x9 cake pan size. Adjust the quantities according to the size pan you are making.

Basic Cheese Sauce Recipe 

Yield 2 Cups (I double this and then some for our large pans of Mac & Cheese)

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black or white pepper
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup grated mild Cheddar Cheese

Preparation:

Melt butter; remove from heat. Stir in flour and seasonings. Gradually add milk, stirring until well mixed. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Cook for 5 minutes longer; add cheese. Stir until smooth and well blended. If you want a thicker sauce increase flour, if a thinner sauce is required add more milk
Makes 2 cups. I always put in a bit more cheese than called for. I like a cheesy sauce. 

Pour Sauce over noodles and mix well. If the sauce is fairly thick, I sometimes add a little water to get it consistency I like to bake. Spray your baking dish with Pam or some kind of cooking spray. I put half the noodles in the pan and layer a generous amount of grated cheese on top. The rest of the noodles go in and a really generous layer of cheese tops it off. Bake at 350º uncovered for about 30 minutes. I sometimes let it bake a little longer to get a lightly browned, crispier cheese on top. 

The other shocker that night at dinner long ago with Grumpy was to find that he liked ketchup on his mac & cheese. I couldn't fathom that, but then again don't knock it 'til you try it. I have grown very attached to my ketchup and roni. All our kids and many of our grandkids are fellow addicts. Grumpy graduated to salsa instead of ketchup which is not bad, but I like the ketchup still. 

Of course we must have frozen peas with Mac & Cheese because that is just how it's done. Still and forever I suppose. Nana used to like to come over and eat when I made this. I think even Papa Kanaga likes this now. Gramma Dorothy still makes her version (the one she grew her family up on) of Mac & Cheese for the many times she takes dinner in to people. I'm happy I get to make this for Ryker, and all the other grandkids who love their Mac & Cheese. 

Chocolate Icing - Simple and Sweet

I am going to write out the recipe for Nana's Chocolate Cake icing.  Freaks that we are, we love this icing on a german chocolate cake (or a milk chocolate cake; not so much anything dark chocolate), put the cake into a glass and pour milk over it.  Scoop it up with a spoon for a little bit of heaven.  Hey, don't knock it if you haven't tried it.  It's kind of like a chocolate cake milk shake, only not as cold as ice cream. It is something my Dad brought to the marriage. Cake in milk. Who'ave thought?

I guess you could be boring and eat it on a plate with a glass of milk, but now you have to wash two things instead one.  Here goes:

4 T. butter or margarine (the stick kind)

4 T. Hershey's cocoa powder

1 t. vanilla

powdered sugar

a little bit of milk

In a saucepan ( on low heat) melt the butter and stir in the powdered cocoa until dissolved.  Add vanilla and maybe 2 T. milk.  Stir in 2 cups powdered sugar until dissolved and creamy.  Keep adding powdered sugar and milk until you have enough to frost your cake and it is thick and creamy. I learned the hard way to remove the pan from heat while mixing the milk and the sugar.  Only put it on the heat long enough to melt the sugar into the mixture now and then.  If the mixture gets too hot it will set up like concrete and you will have to use a jack hammer to eat it.  (Yes, it was embarrassing when I did that very thing, and took it on a picnic to impress a date.)  I usually double the above quantities for a two cake mix cake in a long pan.  The measurements are just a guideline, you can use more butter or vanilla to taste.  It take less than a quarter cup of milk total to almost a whole poly bag of powdered sugar.  

Variation: If you make it without the chocolate in it, it is great icing for sugar cookies.  You may have to warm it up a little as you ice the cookies to maintain a good spreading consistency.  Of course you can color it any color for this.

I know Nana used to sometimes make up a small batch of this chocolate frosting and put it between graham crackers or vanilla wafers for a treat for the kids/grandkids. Of course there were always "dibs" on licking the pan, the spoon, spatula, whatever.

It's not hard to make, just takes a time or two to get the hang of it. Lick the spoon, the pan - Gotta love it

Nana's Fried Chicken

Ahhhh, Nana's fried chicken. So many memories of her wonderful fried chicken. I remember her old square sunbeam electric frying pan. She would pack it up, along with potato salad, chocolate cake, and some bread and off we would go to cook lunch at the barn for Papa when he was farming in Queen Creek. Everything went on a table he had up in the barn and she would fry chicken. When it was done, she would make her wonderful chicken gravy and we would tear up a piece of bread and put that milk gravy over the top. Holidays like the 4th of July, Easter, Father's Day, etc. were often fried chicken with all the trimmings. She made awesome mashed potatoes too. I made fried chicken today for our house full of sickies. It is the second most often requested birthday dinner from the grandkids. I found myself thinking of Nana's advice when I was learning how to make fried chicken, so I thought I would post her tried and true method.

She would start with a cut up frying chicken. We most often use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but I still think chicken tastes better when I do it with the bones in it. She would do a whole batch of legs once in while as Papa really likes dark meat.

Of course the chicken was always washed clean and salted and peppered. Then she would get out a paper sack, put about a cup of flour in it and drop a few chicken pieces in it. Gather up the top of the sack, and shake it a few times. Now coated in flour, put it in a skillet with some hot oil in it. I now use extra virgin olive oil, Crisco Vegetable Oil, or whatever else you like will do. I put the heat on medium and let it heat up before putting the chicken in. I also use a bowl with flour in it, or even a ziplock to dredge the chicken in as paper sacks are hard to come by these days. I occasionally put a little powdered garlic in with the flour for our tastes.

Nana always said to brown the chicken light brown on both sides and then put a lid on the skillet so the inside of the chicken would get done. I assume the steam created by the lid on would cook the chicken through. Don't put it all the way on the pan though. Set it cock-eyed so there is still air getting into the pan. If the lid goes all the way on, too much steam is created and the crusty part of the chicken comes off in the pan leaving you with naked fried chicken. Not good. As she acquired good pans, she moved from the electric skillets to a good stainless steel frying pan with a heavy bottom. The chicken really browns well in those kinds of pans, and some are even called chicken fryers.

She always said to make sure the chicken is on the fire for at least 30 minutes so it is done all the way through. If the chicken is done, but not as brown as you want it, take the lid all the way off and let the chicken get brown. I turn it often so both sides get really brown.

I love all the little crunchies that get left in the pan that make the gravy so good. Once the chicken is all done and out of the pan, turn the heat up a little and if you need to deglaze the pan, now is the time. Just put a little water in the pan and it will loosen all the crunchies that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan. I use the dredging flour to add to the chicken drippings. Brown the flour good and add some milk. I keep adding flour and milk (sometimes some McCormick Chicken Gravy Mix I keep on hand for more chicken flavor) until I get enough gravy to make me happy. Milk will thicken the gravy and water will thin it. If you have the quantity you need, but it is too thick, just add a little water. Salt and Pepper it and you are done.

I have made many memories over the years with my kids and fried chicken. I know it has been on many a lake trip, many 4th of July dinners, lots of Sunday dinners and is very often the choice of grandkids for their birthday dinner. Today it was comfort food for the sickos in the house that are trying to get better. I wish I had thought to take some pics, but I didn't.

Simple stuff. I love that it is something she taught us to love. I will never forget those days eating chicken for lunch with my dad on the farm. She always went "to the trouble" to do those things for us.