Chicken Scallopine and Blueberry Baked French Toast

Update on the Tres Leches cake: I decided not to make the icing. I was just too lazy to pull the mixer back out. And I'm rather glad I didn't. I've been slicing strawberries and laying them on top of the cake, and it's the perfect blend of sweet and tart. I love it! I've eaten half a cake all by myself! (Not that this is a bad thing by any means.) B and I even had cake and strawberries for breakfast yesterday. I figure it has all the same ingredients as french toast, give or take, and is therefore more nutritious than cereal. At least that's what I told myself as I was eating the cake. :)

So, last night I made Chicken Scallopine. No side, though. At least I made dinner. It was a relative success. I find myself wondering if my sauce isn't quite right because I'm substituting chicken broth for white wine. This is the second time I've made it and I find that it's just too runny. I'll have to experiment further to find the right mix of sauce ingredients. But it was well received. Eli liked the chicken. I never imagined he'd go anywhere near the scallopine part of the dish. Brayden tore up some chicken. And he ate the capers. Just the capers. Well, and the mushrooms. Although most of the mushrooms were consumed uncooked as I sliced them. I had to chase him off before he ate them all! I think next time I'll saute the mushrooms in butter before I add the other sauce ingredients. I love the taste that results when mushrooms and butter marry! I think it would add significantly to the dish. My favorite part of cooking this is pounding the chicken flat. You should have seen the look Eli gave me when he came into the kitchen to see what was going on! He thought I had lost my mind as he watched me go at the chicken with a hammer! (I don't have a meat mallet or a rolling pin, so I use the broad side of a hammer and it works great.)

I also prepped Blueberry Baked French Toast last night and cooked it this morning. I loved it, as usual. I've eaten half of it since this morning. Brayden liked it well enough, but I think I'll let him have plain ole cereal tomorrow. He just isn't liking these strange breakfast dishes as much, and as a result, he's getting cranky from low blood sugar and we have a bad morning. Anyway, love the French Toast. It's a bit unusual to make, but yummy! I love that the tartness of the blueberries keeps it from being overly sweet. Add some maple syrup and I'm in heaven. (BTW, I use about 3 times as many blueberries as the recipe calls for, which is 3 small boxes.)

Tonight is Savory Chicken Breasts. And B and I are making Forgotten Cookies for his teachers. You'll certainly want to come back for the cookie recipe! A family favorite for sure! (And I mean the ENTIRE family.)

Here are the recipes for the Chicken Scallopine and the French Toast:

PW’s Chicken Scallopine

1 pound linguine
6 boneless, skinless, trimmed chicken breasts
Flour
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
12 ounces white mushrooms, sliced thin
1 cup dry white wine
Chicken broth (optional)
1 lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream (can use half & half)
1 heaping tablespoon capers
chopped fresh Italian parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions.
Flatten chicken breasts to uniform thickness. Salt and pepper both sides, then dredge in flour.
Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken breasts until golden brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Throw mushrooms into the pan and stir. Immediately pour in wine, then squeeze juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon. Stir to deglaze the pan, then cook vigorously for 1 minute, until sauce reduces.
Pour in cream and stir, then add capers and parsley and stir. Turn off heat. Stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Don’t undersalt!
Place pasta and chicken on a platter and top with every last drop of sauce. Generously sprinkle Parmesan Cheese over the top.

Blueberry Baked French Toast

INGREDIENTS

1 Family Size Bag Stacy’s Pita Chips - Simply Naked

7 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

6 oz fresh blueberries (optional)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (use a little more)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

DIRECTIONS

Grease 9 x 13 inch baking pan with butter. Pour in bag of pita chips and arrange evenly.
In a bowl mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.
Pour egg mixture over pita chips. Cover pan tightly with foil and place in refrigerator overnight, or at least six hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove pan from refrigerator. Sprinkle blueberries over the top.

Mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Slice butter and add to bowl, then use pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture.

Sprinkle flour mixture over the blueberries and make sure it’s evenly distributed.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Chips on top should be crispy and crunchy.

Remove from oven and cut into squares. Drizzle with blueberry or maple syrup and serve warm.

Tres Leches Cake

So, I went into the kitchen to start on the Chicken Scallopine for dinner and realized that I didn't have any chicken broth. So, instead, I did Macaroni Grill Creamy Basil Pasta out of a box instead. But I did make a Tres Leches Cake. PW posted the recipe a couple days ago and I was dying to try it. It's a sponge cake soaked with a three-milk mixture. I've never made a cake from scratch, so this was interesting. I wish I had realized before I measured out the flour, baking soda, and salt that it is essentially self-rising flour - because I actually have self-rising flour in my pantry. (BTW, you can turn all-purpose flour into self-rising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt per 1 cup flour. Just in case you're ever baking and find you need to know.) So, as of right now the cake is baked, cooled, and soaked. Brayden loved helping pierce the cake before I soaked it. In fact, he started to get a little overzealous with the stabbing and I had to reign him in lest he destroy the cake. He then proceeded to scoop himself up a big chunk and eat it, whereby he declared it "yummy, tasty"! I haven't made the icing yet. But I did try a bite and it is rather yummy. Almost a little too sweet for me, though. I'm not a big sweet fiend. I think that with the icing (which is essentially whipped heavy cream) and some strawberry slices on top, the sweetness will be more manageable. I'll let you know how it works out. In the mean time, here's the recipe for Tres Leches cake as per PW.

Tres Leches Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

1 pint heavy cream, for whipping
3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla.
Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into other mixture very gently until just combined.
Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small pitcher.
When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.
Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Dinner Menu

Here's my menu for the rest of the week. We get paid on Thursdays, so my menus will run from Friday to Thursday.

Sunday - Chicken Scallopine with Steamed Broccoli
Monday - Savory Chicken Breasts with Roasted Cauliflower
Tuesday - Chicken Wiki with Steamed Broccoli
Wednesday - Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower
Thursday - Mac Grill Basil Pasta with whatever veggie I find at the store today

Somewhere in there I'm making Baked Blueberry French Toast and a Tres Leches cake.

Roasted Asparagus

We had a lazy sort of night tonight. Brayden woke up from his nap hungry and we had a friend over to play, so the only thing I cooked was asparagus. I love roasted asparagus. I made a whole large bundle and ate it all myself tonight! (In my defense, no-one else in the house likes it.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Rinse asparagus and remove bottoms. Many people will tell you to cut off the bottom just above the tough part...but I always want to ask - where exactly is that?! I tried that once or twice and always ended up with a few bites of the tough, bitter end that I missed. Instead, break the end off by hand. The asparagus will naturally bend and snap off at just the right place. (OMG! The Bend & Snap! Works every time! - Kudos to any who know where that comes from.)

Lay the asparagus in a line on a baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO and toss to coat. Lay them back out all nice and neat so they are touching but not overlapping. Add spices. (To me, spices are more of a generalization. I don't usually measure - and certainly not for asparagus. Besides, it's really influenced by your personal preference.)

Lightly salt and pepper. Add a generous amount of garlic powder. (Don't ward off any vampires, but this is your main spice.) Add about 2/3 as much paprika as garlic powder. Add just a touch of chili powder. Be careful, this stuff is strong. You just want to give it a slight kick.

Bake for 15-20 minutes - a tad longer if they are really thick stalks.

That's it. Totally yummy asparagus!

Friday Night for Dinner

So, I've decided to start blogging tonight.

For dinner I made Macaroni & Cheese and Roasted Green Beans. I've never cooked fresh green beans, so it was a new experience. I just sort of made it us as I went. The Macaroni & Cheese is based off a recipe The Pioneer Woman posted a few months ago. But she calls for a couple spices I didn't want in my Mac & Cheese. As a Mac & Cheese aficionado (ask my mother what food is responsible for the bulk of my existence growing up), I want to taste noodles and creamy cheese. I don't want strange flavors taking over and making me wonder why it tastes funny. Don't get me wrong, I like me some good spices. but Mac & Cheese shouldn't have a tang IMHO. So anyway, here's how you make homemade Mac & Cheese.

First off, you need a heavy bottom pot (the sauce needs to heat evenly without any hot spots to cause it to burn) and a whisk. (Note to self: I need to buy a small balloon whisk. My large one just ain't cuttin' it.)

Start by boiling water for the pasta and cooking it according to the package directions. While the pasta is cooking, continue with making the sauce. There will be a few minutes lull later where you can drain the pasta.

Before you begin making the sauce, be sure to measure everything out and have it nearby. You don't want to get to the point where you're ready to pour in the milk and then have to measure it out - the roux will burn. (Ask me how I know this.)

On an aside, a roux is a thickening mixture made from flour and fat that is the basis for many sauces and gravies.

So, you need to melt 1/4 cup butter in your pot and whisk in 1/4 cup flour. Cook over medium-low heat for five minutes, whisking constantly. Make sure to whisk every part of the roux evenly or it WILL burn. Just before it is ready, you will notice that the consistency begins to thin and it starts to take on a slightly golden color. (I said slightly. If it starts to turn from golden to brown, it is burning! Ask me how I know this.)

Pour in 2 1/2 cups milk and whisk until smooth. (Don't pour it in slowly or it will burn. Wanna hazard a guess how I know this?) Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.

Grab the bowl that has 1 egg, beaten, in it. Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into the beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the egg. What you are doing is tempering the egg. If we dumped the egg straight into the sauce, the heat would cook the egg on contact. By slowly pouring a little of the sauce into the egg first, we are gradually bringing the temperature of the egg up. Now pour the egg mixture slowly into the sauce, whisking constantly. Stir the sauce until smooth.

Dump in the 1 lb. cheddar cheese you have shredded and sitting nearby and stir to melt completely. Add a bit of salt to taste. PW says not to under-salt, but having ruined a batch by over-salting, I'd rather have mine lacking in that department than not.

Now add in your cooked and drained macaroni. Don't just dump it all in. Add it in batches and stir in between additions. You may or may not need all the macaroni, and it's better to have more cheese than macaroni than not enough.

(For those who are wondering how I know all these faux pas: Yes, I have made this at least a dozen times. I mentioned before that I am a Macaroni & Cheese aficionado. I should probably amend that to say that I am a Mac-&-Cheese-ophile.)

For the green beans, I cooked them much like I do asparagus.

I preheated my oven to 400 degrees. I snapped off each green bean at the tips and spread them out on a baking sheet. I drizzled them with enough EVOO to coat, and tossed them to coat well. I sprinkled a pinch of salt and pepper and two generous pinches of sugar. Yes, sugar. It complimented the natural sweetness of the green beans well. Then I sprinkled them with paprika. I wanted a spice that would add impact without overpowering the sugar. In hindsight, I wish I had used more paprika. I sprinkled them semi-liberally, using appx. 1/2 tsp for two to three servings of green beans. Next time I will fully coat them on one side with the paprika - using 1 - 2 tsp.

Then I stuck them in the oven. I gave them about 25 minutes, but they came out a little more tender than I would have liked. 18-20 minutes would have been just right.

It was a good dinner. Brayden didn't eat the mac & cheese - predictably. He is a mac & cheese snob. He only eats mac & cheese that comes out of a blue box - and then only if it's mixed with peas. I don't ask. But me, I'm quite stuffed from eating too much. It was yummy.

My New Cooking Resolve

I am in desperate need of cooking at home more. It's killing our budget all the eating out. I always have the best of intentions to cook, but between not having a good daily routine and then forgetting dinner needs to be made until the last minute, I end up ordering out instead of cooking the food that's sitting in my fridge. So, to help keep me accountable, I'm taking a cue from The Pioneer Woman and This Week for Dinner and I'm going to make a weekly menu and share it here. And then I'm going to let you all know how new recipes go - for better or worse! I really enjoy cooking, and I find tons of wonderful recipes. So I'm going to share. I'll get my game plan together for the rest of the week and start posting tomorrow. Feel free to follow along!