I have always been intimidated to try to conquer the makings of risotto. Is that crazy or what?! I think it has something to do with Chef Ramsay screaming “You messed up the risotto!!!” on Hell’s Kitchen! Well, my brother has experience with this dish and with his guidance we made a hearty & delicious meal! Here’s what we came up with! Try it out!

 

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Tip: Buy a rotisserie chicken instead and chop breast meat only. Saves a lot of time!)

16 oz chicken stock

3 tbsp olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium sweet onions, chopped

1-1/2 cup short grain rice (arborio rice)

1 quart baby bella mushrooms, half minced, half quartered

12 oz sweet peas

3 tbsp butter substitute (I prefer Benecol spread)

2 cups parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Put a splash of olive oil into a large skillet. Saute chicken until browned on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet, cover and set aside.
Bring chicken stock to boil in a medium sauce pan. Brown garlic in oil over medium heat in skillet. Add onions and cook until about half way to the desired final consistency. Salt and pepper lightly. Add rice and stir mixture until oil is practically absorbed. Slightly lower burner temperature; Take your time with this part. The longer it takes, the better it tastes! Add enough boiling stock to nearly submerge rice. Stir and allow rice to absorb stock. Repeat until rice is to desired bite, I prefer it al dente but you can cook your risotto how you like. Now, if you start to run low on stock, just add some water to the boiling stock. No one will know the difference.

Sauté minced and quartered mushrooms separately in butter and set aside. Warm sweet peas and set aside. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.
Once the rice is finished, remove from heat. Mix butter, cheese, minced mushrooms, and chicken into the rice mixture. Extra salt, cheese, or butter to taste. Top with quartered mushrooms, peas, and grated cheese.

Don’t forget to add love, it makes all the difference!

I stopped in an Italian restaurant for a quick meal and ordered a bolognese. The flavor was amazing! I immediately began a search for the perfect meat sauce recipe! Here’s what I came up with… (I double the recipe when I’m cooking for the family and leftovers taste even better!)

Ingredients:

16 oz  italian sausage

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

6 oz can tomato paste (optional amount)

1 onion, chopped chunky

15 cipollini onion, peeled (Tip: soak onions in a bowl of cool water for several minutes for easier peeling!)

4 cloves garlic, chopped chunky

6 oz baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and quartered (clean with damp paper towel)

Extra virgin olive oil

Italian seasoning, to taste

Salt & pepper, to taste

Sugar, to taste

Parmesan, freshly grated (optional amount)

 

Give your skillet a splash of olive oil, add in garlic and onions over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms to skillet. There should not be a need to add in more olive oil. The mushrooms will brown better this way. Saute until mushrooms are slightly browned. Add sausage, heat until thoroughly cooked. I like the meat slightly browned as well. Add crushed tomatoes and a tbsp of tomato paste. Add more paste as needed. Add in seasoning, salt & pepper, and a dusting of sugar. Simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over pasta with freshly grated parmesan.

Don’t forget to add love, it makes all the difference!

 

 

 

Das Dutchman Essenhaus is a restaurant in Middlebury, Indiana serving up Amish style meals. It’s a favorite in my family! If you’re unable to stop by, check out the website and have the noodles shipped to your front door! Nothing says comfort food like chicken & noodles!

www.essenhaus.com

Ingredients:

16 oz Essenhaus Noodles

29 oz Essenhaus canned chicken

Essenhaus chicken base ( to taste)

 

Bring 3 1/2 quarts of water to a boil. As water warms, stir in small amounts of chicken base. Be sure to taste as you go, the base is salty and a little goes a long way. When liquid is brought to a boil, add in noodles and return to boil. Lower heat and simmer until desired tenderness (12-20 minutes). Add in chicken. Heat and stir until chicken begins to fall apart. Serve over mashed potatoes, add some green beans and you’ve got yourself one delightful little comfort meal!

 

Please note, this content uses referral links for products I have used and loved.

 

Don’t forget to add love, it makes all the difference!

Acquiring a taste for salmon took me some time, I’ll admit. Now that I like it and actually crave it from time to time, I look for new ways to spice it up a bit. I had a similar version of this at a wedding recently. It was so good, I had to make it at home!

Ingredients:

2 (6 oz) salmon fillets

1 bottle Shiitake Soy Ginger sauce (“Annie Chun’s”)

 

I like to remove the skin before marinating. After the skin is removed, rinse if needed.  Place salmon in baking dish and cover with entire bottle of sauce. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 40-60 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork. Serve with roasted sweet potatoes and asparagus.

Don’t forget to add love, it makes all the difference!

I made this recipe in honor of Julia Child’s 100th birthday last month. I absolutely love French recipes and knew that this one would not disappoint! My only criticism was that I wanted more onions, carrots and mushrooms. I will say that it is very time-consuming. Since it was my first time trying this recipe, it took 6 hours start to finish. I recommend starting in the late morning if you want to have this for dinner. Also, for those of you who are afraid of trying new recipes…

“If you’re going to have a sense of fear of failure, you’re just never going to learn to cook.” -Julia Child

So, be fearless and try this recipe! You’ll be so proud of yourself!

 

Ingredients:

1 (6 oz) piece of chunk bacon

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 carrot, sliced

1 onion, sliced

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone, Burgundy or Bordeaux)

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cloves mashed garlic

1/2 teaspoon thyme

A crumbled bay leaf

18 to 24 white onions, small

3 1/2 tablespoons butter

Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)

1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered

 

Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons. In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat. Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust). Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees. Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily. While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet. Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly. Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet. Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside. Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms. Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat. When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top. Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

Don’t forget to add love, it makes all the difference!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon-8222804

 

I saw Carla Hall’s smothered chicken recipe on “The Chew” recently and thought it looked tasty! I love me some comfort food! MmmMmm!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (I always use chicken tenders)

salt and pepper, to taste

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 lemon, for the lemon zest (optional)

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup lactose free milk

1 box frozen peas

1 carrot, sliced into coins

1 box frozen pearl onions

2 tablespoons butter substitute (I prefer Benecol)

1 tablespoon flour

 

Saute chicken in olive oil. Add onions and season with salt & pepper. Remove chicken. Keep cooking onions until tender. Add stock, milk and  flour. Once stock and milk are hot, add lemon zest, then add chicken back and cook until done. While chicken is cooking, steam carrots until tender. When carrots tender, add carrots, peas, & pearl onions to chicken and sauce. Mix together and heat for several minutes. Serve it up with some mashed potatoes!

Don’t forget to add love, it makes all the difference!

I ordered this at a restaurant recently and liked it so much, I thought I’d try to recreate it at home! Simple and delicious! I didn’t use any measurements with this recipe…just added as I went along.

Ingredients:

Extra virgin olive oil

Baby bella mushrooms, sliced

Grape tomatoes, sliced

Fresh spinach, chopped

Onion, chopped

Garlic, grated

Angel hair pasta

Salt & pepper

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add angel hair and cook according to instructions. While water is boiling, add olive oil to skillet. Add garlic and onions and saute over medium heat for a 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and continue to saute for 2 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add spinach and tomatoes and continue to saute until all ingredients are cooked evenly. When pasta is done, combine with skillet contents and mix well. Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve!

Don’t forget to add love, it makes all the difference!