Cream of mushroom soup. Easy.

  • 1/2 lb button mushrooms, white or brown, sliced
  • 1 medium onion, diced (or 1/2 large)
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp dry parsley.
  • 14 ounces low sodium chicken broth
  • 10 ounces evaporated milk
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  1. In a deep pan, melt butter over medium heat
  2. Add mushrooms, onions, parsley. Lightly sprinkle with salt cook until lightly browned.
  3. Add broth. Bring to a boil & Simmer until most of liquid is gone. You want about half a cup of liquid left in the pan.
  4. Purée the soup until as smooth as you like it. Use immersion blender or regular blender.
  5. add canned milk & stir. Return to heat to warm through.
  6. Serve.
Sliced mushroom & onions.
Mushrooms, onions, & parsley in the pan
Broth added.
Finished product.

Creamy dill dressing

  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 4 tbsp sour cream
  • 1 tbsp dill weed
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp celery salt
  • 1 tbsp white vinegar
  • 1-2 tbsp milk
  1. Mix all ingredients except milk. Add just enough milk to thin to consistency you like.
  2. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or more.
  3. Taste. Add salt if needed.

Best served on butter lettuce and garnished with crumbled gruyere cheese and grape tomatoes.

Tacos: ground beef

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 onion (about 1 1/2 cups) minced
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 4 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 pound extra-lean ground beef
  • 3 Oz tomato paste
  • 1 cup chicken or beef broth
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
  • 16 corn tortillas
  1. Heat large cast iron skillet on medium high. Add oil and heat to shimmering. Add onion and cook until soft
  2. Add garlic and spices and cook 30 seconds stirring well into the onion
  3. Add ground beef. Using stiff spoon, break meat into smallest possible pieces and stir to coat with spices. Cook until browned through, stirring occasionally and breaking chunks apart. About 10 minutes. Drain off fat.
  4. Add tomato paste and stir into meat about 30 seconds. Add broth and vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, on cast iron skillet, heat corn tortillas over medium high heat. Cook about 30 seconds a side or until light brown spots appear and tortillas look toasted and warmed through.
  6. Place on towel lined plate and cover with towel to keep warm while roasting tortillas.
  7. Serve a small spoon of meat (about 2 tablespoons) in center of tortilla. Fold. Top as desired. Suggestions: shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, taco sauce or Tapatío hot sauce.
Cook diced onions until soft
Add spices and cook 30 seconds to increase flavor
Fully cooked just before draining fat
Simmered with tomato paste, broth and vinegar.
Toast tortillas in cast iron skillet.
Don’t overfill taco. Leave space for toppings.

Spanish inspired rice

  • 2 cups rice
  • 1 cup jarred red salsa
  • 4 cups chicken broth (3 if using a pot)
  • 2 tbsp oil
  1. Heat oil on medium in a large pan (or pot if you don’t have a large pan)
  2. Toast rice in hot oil until lightly brown and opaque.
  3. Add salsa and broth. Stir.
  4. Cover and simmer on medium low for 30 minutes or until rice is absorbed and tender.
Lightly toasted
Liquids added
Done and a bit steamy

If you taste, and it’s not tender and the liquid is gone. Add another cup of liquid and cover and cook until liquid is gone. This can happen if you boil it and lose too much liquid to steam. Do not boil. Gentle simmer.

Heat and seasoning is brought by the salsa you buy. If you want spicy, buy a hot salsa. I usually use Herdez brand, but any will do.

Kitchen tip. Seasoning bone in chicken breasts

This is not a recipe so much as a tip. I bought nine in chicken breasts because I think they taste better, but seasoning them so the flavor gets into the chicken means a lengthy brine or injecting the chicken, so I have a weird method.

Slice the chicken open but don’t cut all the way through. Then open it up.

Sprinkle seasoning liberally. I used Szeged chicken rub for this.

Adding the run directly to the meat helps the flavor actually get into the meat. Putting the rub in the skin makes the skin tasty, but not the meat. Close it back up and place in a cast iron skillet. Bake in the oven on 400 or in the pan the grill. When it was fine, I added a tablespoon of butter to the hot pan. Remove the chicken and make a reduction sauce if you want.

Carve up the chicken. These were very large, so I was able to feed four people with two breasts. Served with salad, vegetables and rice.

Butterflied/spatchcocked roast chicken with lemon garlic injection.

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 small sweet potatoes or 2 medium
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • Using a sharp knife or kitchen shears, remove the backbone from the chicken. You may discard. I retain and roast it with the chicken so it’s fat renders into the pan
  • Lay chicken flat in roasting pan and push down in breast a little to make it lay flat.
  • Mix butter, garlic powder, salt, and lemon juice together
  • Using a flavor injector, inject mixture into breasts and thighs.
  • Let sit uncovered in fridge for two hours.
  • Slice onions and sweet potatoes into thick slices. Lift chicken up and arrange slices on roasting pan and lay chicken back down in slices.
  • Roast at 400 for 60 minutes. Baste halfway theough with melted butter Test and continue cooking until thermometer reads 165 in thigh near bone. Depending on the size of your chicken this can take up to 30 more minutes.
  • Let chicken rest ten minutes.
The only picture I took.

I was so busy with side dishes I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. It was mildly flavorful and very moist. We use the roasted onions as the “sauce,” because they’re so soft and spreadable and probably my favorite part.

I hate over marinated chicken, so I bought an injector, and it works great to really penetrate throughout the meat. I usually hold the injection hole closed with one finger for a few moments to give the fluid a chance to seep into the meat without oozing all out. Injecting just before cooking will yield very little flavor. Make sure you inject a few hours ahead.

All purpose grilled chicken breasts.

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • Juice from one lemon
  • 1 tbsp garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp dried parsley or 1/4 cup fresh minced
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp ground thyme
  • 1/2 tsp table salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts or 3 smaller

Mix all ingredients in bowl. Pour into shallow dish or ziplock. Add chicken. Marinate 30 minutes. If in a dish, turn chicken after 15 minutes.

Grill on medium direct heat for 20 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through. Check with thermometer that chicken registers at 160f.

Mixed.
Marinating.

Easy and quick and great with a Greek salad or served with pasta.

Chocolate date bars-no bake updated! Even better.

  • 9 oz dates
  • 2 ounces dried apricots
  • 2 ounces dried cherries
  • 1.5 ounces sunflower seeds
  • 2.5 ounces unsalted almonds or pecans
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 4 freeze dried raspberries.
  1. In food processor, pulse dried fruits until texture of raw sugar (will take about a minute. Rough chop fruit before processing to speed it up.
  2. Add nuts and freeze dried fruit if using and pulse until finely chopped but not into dust.
  3. Add melted coconut oil and cocoa powder and process until well mixed.
  4. Press into wax paper or parchment paper lined 8×8 pan.
  5. Press with hands or bottom of glass until firmly packed
  6. Freeze for 30 minutes.
  7. Lift paper out of pan onto cutting board. Cut into bars. Store in freezer or fridge in airtight container.
First grinding. Fruits only.
Pressed into wax paper lined dish.
Cut bars.

You may substitute other dried fruit for the apricots and cherries but leave the dates as is. Choose a dried fruit without added sugar. You can also use other nuts and seeds like pecans and pumpkin seeds.

Very easy and healthy alternative to a candy bar.

Updated. I made these again this week but cut them into smaller squares to eat as a candy replacement. I upped the cocoa powder by a tablespoon and used pecans instead of almonds and now I’m addicted.

Chicken Diane

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning (optional)
  • 1 large onion diced medium
  • 1 pound sliced white or brown button mushrooms
  • 3 tbsp dried parsley
  • 3 tbsp fresh chives or 2 tbsp dried chives
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 cup brandy
  • 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
  • Salt
  • 2 tsp lime juice
  • One green onion sliced OR 2 tbsp snipped chives, optional
  • 12 grape tomatoes cut in fourths, optional
  1. In large high sided skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter until melted. Cook mushrooms and onions until well browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
  2. In same large skillet, add chicken breasts seasoned with Trader Joe’s Everyday seasoning or just salt and pepper. Use a generous sprinkle. Cook 4 minutes each side.
  3. Add mushrooms and onions back to pan.
  4. Mix together herbs and seasonings.
  5. Whisk brandy, mustard and broth together.
  6. Sprinkle herbs in pan and pour brandy mixture in pan.
  7. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove cover and simmer five more minutes. Add lime juice and stir.
  8. Serve with rice, pasta or potatoes and green vegetable. Top with diced tomatoes if desired. And fresh chives or green onions.
Onions and mushrooms in cast iron skillet
Cooked onions and mushrooms
Added herbs.
Cooked…
And served

I was craving my mom’s steak Diane recipe which calls for cream and also flaming the brandy. This omits the cream and adds lime juice. I also added the brandy the way I would wine. I’ve had a house burn down once, so I’m not taking chances with a flambé!

This wasn’t like steak Diane, but it was really good. I can tell because my husband started to dance in his seat as he ate. I think this would be good with brown rice, but I served with white because I was out of brown. I spooned extra sauce over the rice when serving. I cooked broccoli rabe/rapini and asparagus with it. The combo worked well.

I topped with some diced tomatoes and snipped chives for looks. Plus I love raw tomato on foods like this.

I also made some no knead bread in a Pyrex today, and used the Pyrex with crust residue for the set aside mushrooms to avoid dirtying another bowl.

No Recipe Pasta

  • 1 pound pasta of your choice preferably a flat pasta. Campanelle works as an in between and is my pasta of choice for this.
  • 1 raw egg beaten
  • 3 oz fresh grated Parmesan
  • 1 zucchini per two people eating.
  • 5 oz of cherry or grape tomatoes per 2 people eating
  • 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe’s
  • Olive oil
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1 minced garlic clove (optional)
  • Parmesan for garnish (optional)
  • minced fresh parsley (optional)
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
  2. Mix beaten egg and Parmesan.
  3. Drain pasta and immediately return to hot pot over low heat and add butter and egg/cheese mixture. Toss well to both cook the egg and coat all the pasta. Use tongs for long pasta or a spoon for short pasta.
  4. Slice zucchini in circles about 1/8” thick. Not too thick. Not too thin.
  5. Halve tomatoes.
  6. Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in nonstick skillet. I used a large 12” skillet. Heat for a minute on medium high and add zucchini. Cook tossing until soft and some slices are browning. Sprinkle with 21 Seasoning Salute (or just salt and pepper if you don’t have it). It’s about 1 tbsp if cooking for four. A little more if cooking for more people.
  7. Remove zucchini from heat. Add garlic. Toss until dispersed. Add tomatoes. Toss until well mixed. Set aside.
  8. serve pasta and top with vegetables. Garnish as desired with more cheese and/or parsley.
Served here with a couple slices of chicken breast.

How do I write a recipe for food I never use a recipe for? It wasn’t easy. Like I don’t measure my seasoning, I just … season it! But since I’m writing these not just for my future reference but for my kids as well, I thought I’d include one of my “no recipe recipes.”

Tonight I measured out what was left of packages I used so I’d know how much cheese I used. I also used a beautiful fresh heritage chicken egg with the most beautifully rich yolk, so I’m sad I didn’t take a picture of it.

The 21 Seasoning Salute is something I recently bought on a whim at Trader Joe’s, and it’s the most amazing vegetable seasoning mix I’ve ever used. I will be buying this again. Before, I’d just use salt and pepper, so this will be fine.

I also cooked a couple chicken breasts in the instant pot and sliced them for some added protein. We only used 2-3 slices of chicken per person. The veggies and pasta are the star. The chicken is not really needed.

You’ll note in the photo I used curly parsley. Feel free to use flat leaf. Most people prefer it. I have a fear of accidentally buying cilantro, so I always use curly leaf.

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