Lemon (Heavenly) Pasta!

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken
adapted from allrecipes.com via Clouse Cousins Cookin’

Serves 4-6

3 cups shredded or cubed Lemon Garlic Chicken (see recipe below for chicken)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 (16 ounce) package tube pasta (I used rigatoni)
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the garlic powder and pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.

Stir chicken into cooked pasta, along with the cream, parmesan cheese and lemon zest. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly before serving.

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Lemon and Garlic Grilled Chicken
from Erin W.

Juice of 1 lemon, approximately 3 tablespoons
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic, about 2 medium cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound chicken breasts (I usually cut really thick chicken breasts down to thin them out and make the pieces a little smaller so they absorb the marinade better)

Combine all marinade ingredients. Place chicken in a ziploc bag and pour marinade over chicken. Seal bag and place in fridge overnight. Grill (or cook in frying pan). Serve with sides of your choice or cut into bite sized pieces and add to desired recipe (I’ll be sharing a few with you soon). Note: If you cut your chicken into smaller, bite-sized pieces and then marinate it, you can get away with only letting it marinate for 5 or 6 hours instead of overnight.

best bread sticks

a while back, a few (or maybe a lot) of us would get together once a week and have dinner together. we would rotate houses/hosts so we got to eat a variety of really good food. i always hoped this family would make these bread sticks because they are my favorite. i was so happy they were willing to share their recipe. thanks, angie!

mix 1 1/2 C warm water, 1 T yeast and 1 T sugar and let it bubble up good.

add 4ish C flour, 1/3 C sugar and 1 t salt and knead till you've got good dough* and let rise 20ish minutes. (the more you let them rise, the fluffier they'll be.)

you can shape 'em however you want. i always roll the dough out and cut them into strips. then i put some butter/margarine and garlic salt on them. i'm sure parmesan cheese and whatever other yumminess you can conjure up would be delightful as well. it's up to you and your fluffiness preference if you want to let them rise after this step or not.

bake on 400 til golden, about 10 minutes.

*i've finally figured out that around here, you have to put less flour in than you think for bread or it will be dry and gross. so if it's a little bit sticky, that will be perfect and you can just use extra flour when you roll out and/or shape.

Potato Flakes Recipe 2: Crispy Potato Flakes Pork Chops

2/3 cup potato flakes, instant
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoon milk
4 medium pork chops
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray pan with nonstick spray.

Wash pork chops; set aside.

Beat egg and milk together. Place potato flakes in shakable container. Dip pork chops in egg mixture, then into potato flakes. Lay in pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle paprika on top to brown. Bake approximately 45 minutes or until done.

**Cover for first 1/2 of baking time and then take the cover off. Leaving it on the whole time will make it too soggy; leaving it uncovered the whole time will make the meat tough.

Potato Flakes Recipe 1: cinnamon rolls

I decided to take a page out of Jamie's book and let you all know which new recipes I am trying solely for the sake of using potato flakes. This recipe turned out amazing well. Like AMAZINGLY well. Yes, I would even put them on par with Geraldine's cinnamon rolls.

Some differences between the two recipes:

1. This recipe is not quite as sweet. Personally, I liked this better because I didn't feel overloaded with sugar
2. The flavor is different than Geraldine's...but not in a bad way. I liked it just as much if not better but in a different way.

I used raisins this time and I've never used raisins in Geraldine's recipe...so maybe that changed some flavor action for me too. Also, I substituted unsalted butter for the shortening. Other than that...I followed the recipe exactly!

Source: Southern Living Magazine; November, 1999

FOR THE ROLLS:
1/2 cup potato flakes
1 cup water
2 envelopes dry yeast
2 cups warm water
9 1/2 to 10 cups flour
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening, melted
1 Tbsp. salt
FOR THE FILLING:
1/2 cup butter softened
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
4 tsp. cinammon
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Glaze (powdered sugar mixed with a small amount of milk or water)

Stir together potato flakes and one cup water; microwave (high) three minutes, stir.

Combine yeast and two cups warm water; let stand five minutes.

Combine the mashed potato mixture, four cups flour, eggs, sugar, shortening, and salt in very large bowl. Stir in yeast mixture until blended. Gradually stir in remaining 5 1/2 to 6 cups flour until soft dough forms. Cover and let rise in warm place one hour or until doubled.

Divide dough in half. Roll each portion into an 18x15-inch rectangle Spread each with half of butter. Sprinkle each rectangle with 2/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 cup pecans and, if desired, raisins.

Roll up, starting at long end. Cut each roll into 12 slices (for huge rolls). Put into two 13x9-inch pans. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 25 minutes or until golden. Cool.

Drizzle with glaze.

Note:
Unbaked rolls may be frozen. Thaw 8 hours in fridge before baking.

(I froze 6 of my rolls .... I thawed out one of the rolls on the pan I was going to bake it on, and let it thaw out on the counter overnight and in the morning it was doubled in size---it turned out great)

***Instead of rolling it out on flour, I spread a little melted butter on the counter and rubbed it around with my hands. Then I rubbed it on the rolling pin and all over my hands. The dough didn't stick to ANYTHING and it was great. :-) ***

Danish Hotcakes

First off, sorry Jamie that it has taken me SO long to post this. I am so behind with my to-do lists that it is depressing. :-)

This is the recipe for the traditional breakfast that my family makes on Christmas, New Years, and Conference Sundays. I know this goes as far back as my great-grandpa making them, but I don't know if it goes back further than that.

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Put in a large bowl:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. nutmeg

Add:
4 1/3 cups milk. Mix lumps out with wire whip.
3 eggs - beat eggs one at a time into batter (really does make a difference!)

Grease pan...if it sticks, turn up temperature a little. (We use melted shortening to grease the pan. Grease pan before cooking each hotcake. Stovetop should be on medium (about a 5.)

Each scoop of batter is about 1/2 cup. Pour batter on hot pan and swirl pan around to get batter evenly across pan.

This is how we prepare them once they are cooked: (now mind you, these are super yummy, not super healthy!) Spread hotcake with butter, sprinkle with sugar, and then pour on half and half cream...spread around. Roll up hotcake, cut, and enjoy.
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That is the recipe. Here are the hints:
*The batter is really thin...the hotcakes are thin like crepes.
*We use a special pan (cast iron), but in Australia we did them in a frying pan and that worked pretty well. I haven't tried it, but I am thinking that you could also use a crepe maker, but the hotcakes would be a little smaller.
*Flip the hotcakes when there are little holes forming on the top...a long thin spatula is best. They flip best if you go around the outside edges with spatula first so the sides don't stick.
*It isn't as confusing as I am making it out to be...there is just kind of a technique. If you have any questions, let me know.

We May Have a Winner

So everytime I make banana bread (and it seems like it is quite often because of ripe bananas on my counter), I try a new recipe...not that any of them taste THAT different, but I have wanted one that I really, really liked. Yesterday I came across this one and we are loving it. (I can't remember the website I got it from, so sorry that I can't credit the right person.) I didn't put in the nuts, because we are a no-nut household, but we did add the chocolate chips, and my husband loved it. I halfed the recipe because I only had 3 ripe bananas, but now I wish I had had 6!

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening (I used butter)
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1-Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease two 9x5 loaf pans (after I greased the pan, I sprinkled inside with cinn/sugar.

2-In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in the mayonnaise and bananas. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.

3-Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean (approx. 50-75 min.) Cool loaf in the pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.