creamy chicken portofino
I didn't use the tomato soup and instead used a can of tomato sauce. I didn't bother to read the recipe carefully for amounts of ingredients and just added things in as I wanted. I also sautéed up some mushrooms to add to it and tossed in a huge bag of baby spinach to wilt right before serving, too. For the chicken, I baked it and then sliced it into pieces to add into the sauce. It was ok - not amazing - but fine for a quick dinner. It had potential though, and I really liked the cream cheese flavor and am a sucker for creamy sauces on pasta, so I would like to try to tweak things a bit to add a bit more depth of flavor to it. I think it needs something fresh - maybe some lemon zest or basil. And maybe a kick from some red chili flakes. But most importantly, I think the chicken needs to add a bit more to the dish. Grilling it and slicing it over the sauce could help.
I didn't use the tomato soup and instead used a can of tomato sauce. I didn't bother to read the recipe carefully for amounts of ingredients and just added things in as I wanted. I also sautéed up some mushrooms to add to it and tossed in a huge bag of baby spinach to wilt right before serving, too. For the chicken, I baked it and then sliced it into pieces to add into the sauce. It was ok - not amazing - but fine for a quick dinner. It had potential though, and I really liked the cream cheese flavor and am a sucker for creamy sauces on pasta, so I would like to try to tweak things a bit to add a bit more depth of flavor to it. I think it needs something fresh - maybe some lemon zest or basil. And maybe a kick from some red chili flakes. But most importantly, I think the chicken needs to add a bit more to the dish. Grilling it and slicing it over the sauce could help.
pork tocino
I thought this was really delicious (unfortunately, the pork was dry, but the yummy flavor made up for it.). Roy and Leighton really liked it, too. Leighton even asked for seconds!!! But Riley wouldn't eat it even though it was pink. Very pink, in fact. I think the blogger must not have used a whole beet - or she used photoshop - the color of hers is way less pink than mine was! Although, the crazy pink color doesn't really come through in my photo either.
BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
I love blueberry muffins. Leighton used to love blueberry muffins but at some point he jumped off the bandwagon and decided he didn't like the cooked blueberries, so I haven't made these in ages even though they are one of my favorite muffins to make. When I made them the other day though, he jumped right back on the bandwagon! Riley? Not so much. I had to pick the cooked blueberries out for her. So, she basically ate a vanilla cupcake!
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups flour (I often use a mix of all purpose and whole wheat)
1/2 cup white sugar (The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup but that's too sweet for me)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I have replaced with applesauce successfully in the past)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (I always end up using 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup to get the right consistency)
1 cup fresh blueberries (I have never tried frozen)
Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder
- Add in oil, egg, and milk
- Fold in blueberries
- Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full
- Sprinkle with crumb topping mixture, if using (I love it, but usually only make it if we are having friends over or if I am taking them somewhere)
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes
**note that this make 9 or 10 muffins, not a full dozen
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder
- Add in oil, egg, and milk
- Fold in blueberries
- Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full
- Sprinkle with crumb topping mixture, if using (I love it, but usually only make it if we are having friends over or if I am taking them somewhere)
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes
**note that this make 9 or 10 muffins, not a full dozen
turkey minestrone soup
I bought several packages of ground turkey at Costco and have been looking for creative ways to use it up that aren't just replacing it in my usual ground beef recipes. I read online about someone using ground turkey in their minestrone soup and figured it was a great idea! Now, as you know, I live with three weirdos. Well, they aren't always weirdos. Just when it comes to soup. It's like a dirty word around here! The kids automatically assume they will not like anything called soup. And Roy often enjoys the flavors but either feels a)pureed soups are too much like baby food a lot of the time or b)soups are not a full meal. I told you they were weird! But, you know what? I LOVE soup. So every now and then I subject them all to soup for dinner! When we were walking home from school and Leighton asked what was for dinner, I held my breath and got as excited as I could to tell him. To my surprise, he was excited! I quickly realized it was because he saw an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Minnie made Goofy some MINNIEstrone soup when he was sick, but I will take enthusiasm any way I can get it! He was also pretty excited when I told him there was carrots and beans and elbow macaroni in there to pick out. And he did like all of that. But his favorite part? The meat! I know! I was shocked too. And I was even more shocked when he wanted leftovers in his thermos for lunch! Riley, on the other hand, was not impressed at all. She only agreed to eat some of it when I took all the individual ingredients out of her bowl and separated them into groups on her plate. Apparently bowls are for cereal and ice cream only in her world!!! Roy really enjoyed it too, and was more than happy to have it for leftovers for lunch the next day. I'd call this one a win!
Pretzel, chocolate, and peanut butter chip cookies
These were pretty good. I used only 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips and am glad I did. I might even go as low as 1/3 cup of each of the chocolate and peanut butter chips if I were to make them again because there were a few too many in lots of the cookies for the ratio I like in a cookie. And I might up the pretzel content to 3/4 cup and keep the pieces larger or omit them because I tasted two different cookies and barely got any pretzel pieces or flavor at all. The pretzels were Leighton's favorite part though, so omitting them wouldn't go over well!
Banana bars with brown sugar icing
This was very tasty and I will for sure make it again. Loved the browned butter frosting - not too sweet like many others. Mine was much browner though, and I have no idea how they were able to get white icing with browned butter … I browned mine on the stove like I always do and used real vanilla, so the two together made for a beige colored icing, not white with brown flecks like the blogger described! Also, there is nothing about these that I would consider a 'bar' - it is delicious, moist banana cake/loaf/bread. And we all loved it and will enjoy having it again sometime soon!
I used sweet Italian sausage in this, but hot Italian sausage or chorizo would really be delicious as well, and I will try that next time, since the kids just wanted the beans and raw spinach anyway. For me, the best part was adding in some spinach right at the end and just tossing it to just start it wilting while retaining some of the crunchiness. Delicious!
Going to make th sausage and bean soup and the blueberry muffins soon! Lgb
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