Wisconsin Trio and Chicken Divan

I am really pumping these recipes out! I am getting so close to the end that my motivation has increased substantially. I am cooking two to three times a week and sometimes two to three recipes each time. I am so happy to have  friends who are willing to come over and scarf down. I know, it is a difficult friend duty. Pat and Ryan came over and Jeff and I made a delicious combo for dinner.

Jeff concentrated on the Wisconsin three-cheese fondue as he is a fondue expert. Once it was time for the picture, things got a little hairy. In order to get good light, I usually hold the dish up by the stove light with one hand and take the picture with the other. Making sure the whole time to hold steady so I don't end up with a blurry photo. I tried to do it on my own, but low and behold...I don't have three hands. Ryan volunteered to step in. I held the bowl and the camera while he dipped a piece of bread in the cheese...over and over and over again. You would have thought I was from Hell's Kitchen, "No, hold it, hold it, okay dip again....not so hard, no really turn it in the cheese, now pull up, SLOWLY!" Ryan was a great sport and the above picture is the last one we took. I am so glad we got the shot!

I made Chicken Divan which is a recipe that comes from my great aunt Jean. This recipe is pretty easy, mostly healthy and tastes great!

Chicken Divan

• Steamed Broccoli (about 10 large piece with stems)
• 6-8 boneless breasts of chicken cooked and cubed or sliced
• 2 cans cream of chicken or 1 each chicken and mushrooms
• ½ cup Mayonnaise
• ½ tsp. lemon juice
• ½ tsp. curry powder
Mix all but broccoli, Put broccoli in bottom and on rest. Top with grated cheese and bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Fall Dinner: Orange-Lavender Chicken with Parmesan Potatoes

Here is something from a few months ago...

You know those beautiful fall evenings when the air is a little crisp, you light a cinnamon candle, cook dinner and watch a movie with a loved one.....I just had one.

I will admit it, I am terrible about having really high expectations and I let life pass me by sometimes. For example, if Jeff and I plan to go on a date I have a unrealistic image of how the night should go...he arrives just on time with a rose, whisks me away to a wonderful dinner and we catch a inexpensive funny movie later, there is no traffic and the weather is just perfect...OK maybe I am not THAT bad but close. So this week I decided to consciously make an effort to no have expectations...to let the pieces fall where they may. I relaxed! Amazing huh? So due to this relaxation and letting go of the desire to plan EVERYTHING....I had a great night. Jeff cooked his meal (even though I was sceptical of the ingredients) we ate later than I usually do (I ate chips so dinner wasn't such a rush) and everything just fell into place. So here is what resulted in me "letting go"...

We took the short walked in the cool crisp Autumn air to the grocery store. We had a rough plan, but let the images at the store help add to the recipes. Our total was under 20 dollars and we walked home. Jeff cooked up lavender-orange-tarragon chicken with carrots and I made Parmesan potatoes (recipes at bottom). Leave it to me to use potatoes and cheese...I am not surprised.
So this is where the story gets really good....we cooked in about 30 minutes and finished at the same time with our individual dishes....and then (Gasp!) we only had 2 pots to clean.  It felt like the Twilight Zone. Jeff and I usually can't keep it together in the kitchen....my potatoes are burning...his chicken is taking forever to cook and we are left with 10 dishes to clean (mine even have things burnt on them).

So we sat down to a WONDERFUL dinner. We were pretty surprised about how tasty the food was and couldn't believe that it came together so well. These dishes are seriously good! The colors of the food reinforced the fall theme. Have I told you that I love fall yet? Then we watched a fantastic movie, Milk.

Jeff's cooking base of  fresh orange juice, shallots, garlic, tarragon and fresh lavender

Now with the chicken breasts

The fresh lavender

Sparkling water to drink (to keep the Candidas at bay, I opted out of wine)

My Potatoes....MMMM Cheese!

Jeff's Lavender, Tarragon, Orange Chicken
-2 cloves chopped garlic
-2 cups chopped carrots
-1 cup chopped shallots
-2 tablespoons tarragon
-2 tablespoons lavender
-Juice of 1 orange
-2 chicken breasts
-Salt and pepper to taste

Sautee garlic, carrots, and shallots in a bit of olive oil and add half the tarragon, lavender, and orange juice. Clear room in the middle of the sautee pan for the chicken breasts and add the remainder of the tarragon, lavender, and orange juice while the chicken breasts cook.

Toasted Parmesan Potatoes
-5 little red potatoes
-shredded Parmesan (none of that powder stuff!)
-2 cloves fresh chopped garlic
-olive oil
-salt and pepper

Slice the potatoes and coat in olive oil and put in a microwave safe container. Cook the potatoes for 4 minutes, then stir and cook for 4 more minutes. Top with 2 cloves garlic, salt and pepper to taste and a hefty layer of cheese. Bake in a glass container in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Then broil the potatoes on high for 5 minutes to slightly brown the cheese. Don't leave the potatoes unattended...the broiler will burn them pretty quick.

Olive Dip and Chicken Casserole

I made a Chicken Casserole (Midwestern delight) that comes from family in Chicago. If you have a large group that is really hungry…look no further. This dish is filling! (Not super healthy though, think 2 sticks of butter and Velveeta). Jeff assisted me in cooking up this dinner that we shared with our friend Pat. Jeff did all of the chicken cutting and cooking (obviously) and I took care of the rest. The recipe calls for six chicken breasts, so Jeff’s part was a little time consuming. Jeff was also so sweet and made some Olive Dip because the cooking was taking a little longer than the boys wanted to wait for food. So in the end I was left with about one serving in one casserole dish and a whole other casserole dish! I decided to keep the one serving for leftovers and pawn the rest off on Pat. He has two other male roommates so I was confident they could do the job. I better get my casserole dish back!

Guest Recipes!

Spicy Chicken - Dan (it has Ranch in it!)

Spicy Corn - Dan (not in the recipe book, but yummy and beautiful)

Potato Casserole - Liz (so cheesy and great)

BBQ Sausage - Jan (easy and good)

No Bake Cookies - Jenny

Kori's World Famous Nachos - Kori (duh!)

Hashbrown Breakfast - Jan (best way to start the day)

Cinnamon Crisps with Apple and Orange Chutney - Me (a semi-healthy dessert)

Queso - Ryan (kinda of a dark picture...this is a great party snack)

Peach Cobbler - Gretchen (Seriously good summer dessert)

Bruschetta Chicken Bake - Brian and Jamie

Strawberry Pie - Grandma Alice (this looks way better than my attempt)

Brownies - Mystery (I overcooked these, oh well!)

Guest Recipes!

Chili-Lime Meatballs - Penny (prepared at a Pampered Chef Party)


Cinnamon Crisps - Penny (prepared for a Pampered Chef Party)


Hot Fudge - Jenny


Bannana Cake - Jenny


Lasagna - Jenny (I had two large helpings!)


Quinoa, Blackbean, Cilantro Mix - Jennifer Tree (talk about healthy)


Tandori Spiced Tofu Wrap with Cilantro Yogurt (SPICY!)


Red Velvet Cake - Made by Debbie and Bob (favorite birthday dessert of Jenny)


Sante Fe Chicken - Bob and Debbie


Baked Mac and Cheese with Truffle Oil and Nutmeg - My beautiful cheese creation!


Turkey Wrap - Penny (it was too easy of a recipe for me to screw up and write about)


Oyster Crackers - 'J' Family recipe, made this day by Josh


Tequila Sunrise

Chicken Pot Pie, Raspberry Blue Cheese Salad, Peanut Clusters

Chicken Pot Pie, Raspberry Blue Cheese Salad, Peanut Clusters

First of all can I say, watching the Nuggets and other teams in the playoffs is cool and all…but please don’t schedule the games over Bones! TBS from 5-8 is Bones time…get it straight.
So I coerced Jeff into going shopping with me and helping me cook. We stopped at Kings with a massive list of recipe items and other normal items we needed. For the most part we stuck together; but Jeff went off to go get cashews and sunflowers from the ‘fill your own bag’ area. He comes back with a gigantic bag of both, the cashew bag costing over $13! Having both of us shop before dinner was not the best idea and we ended up with the highest grocery bill I have ever had. True we got a lot of items we don’t always get (detergent, toilet paper, paper towels etc.) but I felt sick to my stomach about the bill. I called my mom to try and make me feel better; she said ‘don’t worry, that included food for Saturday right?’….it didn’t. Bahumbug. I am cooking for my little sister Shannon and her boyfriend for their prom dinner; should be posted next week sometime (teaser: baked macaroni).
We started cooking, Jeff on the meat and the chopping and me on the cooking and organizing. I am pretty sure I screwed up the chicken pot pie. The directions made it seem like I needed to cook the piecrusts before I added the innards. It didn’t seem right, but I did it anyway. Turns out that wasn’t right. When the instructions told me to seal the edges of the bottom and top pie crust I knew I was screwed…they were cooked! I couldn’t mold them. So instead of a beautiful chicken pot pie with slits in the top and warm steam escaping I got a broken, maybe a little overcooked, pie crust plopped on the top. So much for the picture I was hoping for! It all still tasted the same and Jeff mentioned multiple times, “This is one that you should make again!”
Jeff made most of the Raspberry Blue Cheese Salad (from my cousin Christie). It had green apples, avocado, blue cheese, green onions, dried cranberries and raspberry vinaigrette. I thought it was pretty good sans the dried cranberries (I love fresh cranberries and cranberry juice, but hate the dried ones). Jeff was in heaven and started and finished his meal with a serving of this salad.
The peanut clusters (Jenny) were pretty easy. I had to call Jenny first though, “so I have all the ingredients listed but not really any instructions”. As it turns out you melt the chocolates, add the peanuts and form a cluster…hence the name peanut clusters. Jeff and I decided to go to Target to pick up Avatar but could not leave the peanut clusters to dry out in the open. Max would have had a hay day and probably would have been very sick or maybe even dead (at least I would get some sleep that way…oh gosh, I can’t believe I said that, I am a terrible mommy). So I laid the clusters on my bed and shut the door to avoid disaster.
I finished the night ‘watching’ Avatar and by watching I mean falling asleep 30 minutes in. This cooking business is hard work!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and White Chocolate Fudge

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and White Chocolate Fudge

My great plans to make dinner have been in the works all week. Unfortunately, a trip to the Italian restaurant Pasta Jays seemed like a better idea. Here comes Wednesday and I have to do a recipe though! I will fall behind if I don’t. The cooking has just been overwhelming. Jeff mentioned that I was talking in my sleep the other night…’the recipes… the recipes’ I mumbled. Jeff asked, ‘what about the recipes?’ and I responded, “I just want to be free of them!’
So Jeff started to drive to the grocery store. We were on a side street where traffic was backed up really far. The left lane had the traffic and we were moving in the right lane with no traffic. One guy traveling the other direction decided to turn left very quickly and not bother to look to see if anyone was coming. We were going to hit him, dead on. Jeff braked, but realized soon that we were not going to stop in time. He bumped up over the curb, we were now headed straight for a light post, he veered right as we skidded and was headed for a fence now, then steered a little left. We ended up on the sidewalk, an inch from the fence and 1 foot from the light pole. The guy who caused this whole thing just gave us a thumbs up to ask if we were okay. Jeff gave him a half hearted thumbs up mumbling (what an idiot) and we drove to a parking lot to check the car. The tires were surprisingly fine after the curb and there was no damage. What a relief! What makes this whole thing worse is I was lazily sitting with my foot up on the dash. If Jeff hadn’t navigated expertly, then I would have had A. a knee to the skull B. a broken leg or C. injury to my hips or back from the awkward position. It is a good lesson learned though; keep your feet planted firmly on the car floor!
So after all that, there was still grocery shopping to be done. We took to King Soopers and indulged in cheese samples. An older gentlemen gave me a great strategy; take the toothpick and stab two cheese cubes at one time…genius! Also at the store I got a Bamboo plant for my sister Shannon’s birthday. I held the little plant like a peace offering to try and not spill the water and referred to the plant as a bamboozle for the entire car ride home until I was asked politely to please stop saying that!
Jeff cuts up the chicken for me and gives me a lecture about sharpening the knives (which I do, thank you very much!). I grab an onion in a bag from the veggie drawer to make the Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (Grandma). Once I set it down the bag I realize there was a brown liquid all over it which had transferred to my hands. I take a whiff to identify the substance…..sick!!!!! It is old meat juice that leaked out of a ground beef container. SICK SICK SICK. I immediately start gagging, move to the other side of the kitchen and gag and cough. Jeff starts screaming at me, “Go to the bathroom! DO NOT throw up in the kitchen”. I don’t move, if I move I will lose it. Max is staring at me in alarm. I cough and gag again….’Jenna go to the bathroom!’ Jeff grabs my wrist and pulls on me to leave the kitchen, but I stop gagging and regain my composure. Close call. I refuse to touch the meat bag that I had somehow thrown in the sink in my panic. Jeff takes care of the meat bag and I request that he please clean out that drawer, because obviously I can’t handle it. After the onion incident, the enchiladas went well. Although, the only tortillas I had left were low carb and whole wheat. So I took these healthy tortillas and stuffed them with a bunch of cheese. The enchiladas filled a whole casserole dish and I expected leftovers but when we were down to the last two Jeff asked if I wanted them. No I do not want them, we just ate a full meal! Then he proceeded to finish the enchiladas.
I was making the white chocolate fudge (from Jake) to have for dessert for my parents coming to dinner on Thursday. I inherited all the ingredients in a gift exchange my family does. Well actually my Dad received the recipe and ingredients but passed them down for me to make. The cooking got off to a rough start, the recipe said a bag of truffles was needed (8.1oz), but the bag I had was only 5oz. The recipe was saved though by some truffles I had received from my grandparents for Christmas. The pack was multi flavored, but Jeff and I were able to pick out 6 more white chocolate ones to complete the recipe. So I cooked and everything was going fine until I needed two cups of sugar. The recipe had come with a bag of sugar, but I didn’t know if it was measured or not. Alright measuring cup….in the washer, 4 cup bowl….dirty from dinner, 2 cup bowl….dirty from dinner. Crap! I need to measure this sugar, all the while, I have to stir my mixture constantly or it will burn. “I don’t have a measuring cup, I told you to help me with the dinner dishes, figure something out!” The stress turned me into a wicked witch and some fighting words were shared. We quickly rinsed a measuring cup and I was able to measuring the sugar bag…which was 2 cups all along. Boo for unnecessary panic!

Shrimp Ball, Spinach Dip, Tequila Lime Chicken, Cheddar Cheese Soup, Chocolate Mocha Trifle

Shrimp Ball, Spinach Dip, Tequila Lime Chicken, Cheddar Cheese Soup, Chocolate Mocha Trifle

I think I put too much on my plate for this night of cooking (pun intended). I am going to Ali and Rob’s house on Friday and wanted to bring them as much food as possible. Those mountain folk need some good eats after a full day of tipping cows and sitting in their overalls. But instead of getting right down to it, I went to a Happy Hour with some ladies from work. We had so much fun, good drinks and good food; but when 7:30 rolled around I was just leaving to grocery shop. I spent a long time trying to find canned shrimp and felt disgusted that canned shrimp even existed and even more disgusted that I was purchasing canned shrimp. Turns out it’s in the canned food aisle…tricky. I then picked up a package of chicken breasts which apparently was not sealed very well and I had no idea you were suppose to bag them up. GROSS! I had chicken juices all over my hand and nothing to wipe it off with. I choose my pants, and forgot about the leaky chicken in my cart. As I checked out, the poor bagger guy got the short end of the chicken stick and was covered as well in chicken juices. I apologized for forgetting to tell him but he was not amused. I got home after 8 and was discouraged by all the cooking I had to do. The Shrimp ball was from Gretchen, the Tequila Lime Chicken was from Penny and the rest were from my mom. I was cooking quick and dirty, trying to get done with the whole ordeal. I broke down and just touched the chicken. I tried not to think about it. The recipe calls for tequila as stated in the name, and my cooking frustrations got the best of me. I sloppily took a few swigs straight out of the bottle; maybe this is why the chicken cutting was easier?
In my drunken haste I used my special technique for juicing limes and oranges. I cut them in half and squeezed as much of the juice out as I could, then I bit into the rind with my teeth to help get the rest of the juice out. It really doesn’t spread my germs because I never bite all the way through the rind. It is an effective technique, but tastes like crap and something in the rind made my lips burn like crazy. I finished the limes and oranges with sore lips and took another swig of tequila to help the pain. OUCH! The alcohol just made my lips burn even more. I HATE COOKING!
I made a cheddar soup which had a heavenly cheese sauce added to it. The Spinach dip and Shrimp ball were easy enough (except for Max’s obsession with the shrimp). The Chocolate Mocha Trifle was a little bit more work but will taste amazing. I tried to buy toffee bars to crumble in this dish, but accidentally bought chocolate bars with soft toffee in the middle. At the beginning of this whole process I may have worried about it, but at this point, it will have to do. Dessert is dessert! I only made it through 5 of the 6 recipes I had planned on making but I couldn’t cook any longer. I stood defeated in the kitchen wearing sweatpants, a Lockheed Martin Pluto shirt, my apron covered in citrus juices and bright red lips. What a sight I was!

Chicken Nuggets, Baked Potato, Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Mary’s Easy Bars, Homemade Croutons