Chicken in Cajun "Cream" Sauce over Pasta

Each time I cook chicken breasts, we seem to have one or two left over.  If I think someone will eat one for lunch I put it in a container in the fridge, but if it was a rather plain baked chicken I just chop it in bite size pieces and stick it in a freezer bag in the big freezer.  When I have accumulated enough for however many of us are eating on any given night I defrost them and try some concoction using whatever I have readily available.  Sometimes it works well and other times we eat it with the codicil that I will NEVER try it that way again.

To be honest I do not remember the day we ate this dish.  It was several weeks ago and was for no particular occasion other than I had food on hand and just sort of threw things together until I had something that looked and smelled decent.  As it turned out it was more than decent, in fact it was pretty darn tasty.  I am unsure what to call it so if you can think of a particularly clever name please let me know.

Chicken in Cajun Cream Sauce over Pasta

1 tablespoon oil ( I used sunflower but use whatever you like)
1 onion sliced very thin
1 small red pepper sliced thin
1-1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken cut in small pieces
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (divided 1/2 and 1 cup)
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning ( any brand will do)
1/2 teaspoon paprika ( the sauce needed more color but I did not want more cajun seasoning)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons sour cream
enough cooked pasta for four servings

In a medium saucepan saute' the onion and red pepper in 1 tablespoon oil until it wilts.  Add the chicken and mix with the vegetables, add 1/2 cup chicken broth, Cajun seasoning and paprika and stir well.  Heat until the chicken is hot throughout.  Remove from heat.  In a large skillet melt the butter and stir in the flour to cook like a roux, but do not brown it.  Add the remaining chicken broth whisking it until the sauce is smooth and bubbly.  Stir in the sour cream until it is well blended.   Pour the chicken mixture into the pan and stir to incorporate everything.   Serve piping hot over cooked and drained pasta. ( I used spaghetti because I had it on hand.  Any pasta that will hold a heavy sauce would be great to use.  When I make it again, I will use rigatoni or penne since they are a little more substantial.
)  If you fell like you need a bit more color sprinkle with paprika and some chopped fresh parsley.  I did not have any parsley and it would have been nicer visually.

This was a gigantic hit at our house and everyone wants it in the rotation. We seem to eat the same things again and again. ( I get tired of the same foods over and over so maybe this will break up the everyday boredom)

As an aside, I have been looking at our over abundance of food items we have in the pantry and freezer and  have decided the entire month of April will be a grocery free month.  I will cook only what I have on hand and will not purchase anything except milk, bread, fruit and lettuce. (I will only buy fruit after we have exhausted our canned pineapple and fruit cocktail though).

I thought briefly about making all of our bread and I might make some, or not.  That really does depend on my mood since I don't like to bake bread.  So, as of 36 minutes ago I will not be in Publix, The Pig or Aldi until May.  I am hoping we will make a big dent in our food inventory, especially in the freezer.

Come along on our journey and I will try to post at least weekly what we ate and more importantly what we used.  FIngers crossed that this works!

Crawfish Cornbread

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mardi Gras season!  We spent part of Fat Tuesday at the lake, getting the new to us lake place habitable. I am unsure how much I believe those people who talk about how relaxing a lake house is, because so far all I have done is worked my tail off there.  Maybe soon it will be enjoyable.  So on this day of fun and frivolity we were working, but we did stop at Hamburger Heaven for a late lunch on the way home, so I guess there was a tiny bit of fun.

Tonight we decided to have a traditional Cajun dinner, but I was tired and didn't want to do a ton of chopping and stirring and simmering and... so, we cheated and had Zatarin's red beans and rice and I made crawfish cornbread.  To be honest the Zatarin's beans and rice is almost as good as I make from scratch and it is ready in about 35 minutes, compared to cooking the homemade version for most of the day. I did want make  something  and I found a recipe online for the cornbread, but I altered it a good bit so I am just posting the recipe as I made it.

Crawfish Cornbread

1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
3 green onions sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 8 ounce packet of cornbread mix
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/4 cup buttermilk powder and 1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained
1/2 lb. frozen crawfish tail meat, thawed
3 tablespoons melted butter
grated cheese to taste ( I used about 3 tablespoons)

In a small skillet saute the onions and bell pepper in olive oil until they are wilted but not browned.  Set aside.  Mix the cornbread mix, the cornmeal, buttermilk powder ( if using), baking powder and baking soda.  Combine well and then add the egg, buttermilk ( if using), water ( if using buttermilk powder) and the Rotel tomatoes.  Stir to mix well then add the vegetable mixture and the crawfish.  Stir again until everything is evenly incorporated.  Bake at 400 degrees in a greased 9x13 pan. Check after 20 minutes.When well set remove from the oven and pour the melted butter on top of the baked bread.  Sprinkle the cheese on it and return to oven until the cheese melts ( about 1-2 minutes)  Serve hot with additional butter, cocktail sauce or tarter sauce. ( Or use all 3 if that is what you want!)

This was a pretty good addition to the meal.  It had a light crawfish flavor and tasted a bit like a baked hushpuppy.  The 3 tablespoons of cheese was unnecessary and next time I won't use it, but if you really like a cheese topping I would suggest using 1/2-1 cup of grated cheese so you could really taste it.

If you like a sweetened cornbread  use something like Jiffy Cornbread Mix.  If you prefer your cornbread more on the savory side use something like  Martha White  cornbread mix.  Since it is a personal choice I will refrain from any comment except to quote a movie line from an old film. ( Wish I could remember the name of it)  2 dudes were talking about the changing southern life and one said to the other " Your grandsons will be eating cornbread that's sweet and tea that ain't"

This is going on our rotation when we need a little bit added to the meal.  Since this makes a lot of cornbread I might try to half the recipe next time, except I will still use 1 egg since no hens I know of lay half eggs.

Now I am off to indulge in something chocolaty and fudgy before the midnight official start of Lent.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

'

Banana Oatmeal Cookies: Easily Vegan, Gluten Free, No Added Sugar ( except for the totally optional chocolate bits)

According to whoever "They" are, this is the week when New Year's resolutions are broken.  That is why I tend to wait a few weeks into the new year to even think about mine.  Of course I always make the usual resolutions, but my biggest one this year is to be a healthier, better me.  That means eating healthier, with less fat and sugars added.  Boring?

When I saw this recipe on the blog Oh She Glows I  knew it was something I would try. They are called muffin tops on her blog, but after baking them I really think they are more like cookies.  I love sweets but I really love the idea of making something desserty with no added sugar ( except for the tad in the chocolate chips)  I would not call these sugar free because it has quite a bit of natural sweetener, but that being said, it is all sugar in its natural unprocessed fruit form.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

2 ripe bananas ( make that very ripe, almost to the throw away stage)

1/2 cup pitted dates (firmly packed)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup virgin coconut oil

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups rolled oats, divided

3-4 tablespoons non dairy* or regular chocolate chips (no judgement either way) or unsweetened carob chips for zero added sugars

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans

In a food processor using the center blade blend 1/12 cups of the oatmeal until it is a very coarse flour.  Remove from the processor bowl and put aside.  Put the banana and dates in and blend.  Add the coconut oil and the vanilla and continue blending until it is relatively smooth. Because coconut oil remains solid at room temperature you might prefer melting it first.  I did not since I guessed it would incorporate pretty well as it was.  It did. ( Use a spatula to scrape down the sides a couple of times, being sure to turn off the food processor when you do it. Don't just stick a rubber spatula down the chute.  The spatula will lose that battle every time.)  Add the salt, baking powder, and cinnamon and blend a few seconds to mix well. ( Personally, I left the cinnamon out because I do not like chocolate flavors mixed with cinnamon)  Add the oat flour and blend about 5 seconds.  Scrape the batter into a clean bowl and stir in the remaining oats, chocolate bits and the nuts.  Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and scoop  the batter into mounds.  Do not smooth or flatten them. It made 12 cookies.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 6 minutes, rotate the pan and cook for another 7-8 minutes.  Let cool (so you won't burn your mouth) and enjoy.

I am always highly skeptical of recipes like this and thought they would taste like banana flavored sawdust, especially after  I saw the cooked product.  They are not very pretty.  I was actually kind of surprised at how good they tasted.  I had one with a cup of coffee and felt like I was indulging.  What a treat!  But alas, since they are ugly, don't serve them to your Mother-in -law or anyone else you are trying to impress.

I did learn a couple of things while making them. ( I tried a couple of batches to see what I liked better)

Blending the oats into coarse flour helped the consistency quite a bit.  The first batch was a bit more rustic. The ones pictured are the first batch.

I used pecans for the first batch because I had no walnuts opened and I did not want to open a new bag to use such a small amount.  They were good but would have been tastier if I had toasted them first.
In the second batch I added a little orange peel and cinnamon.  They tasted like banana nut bread cookies.  This is something I will make regularly.

It seems each time I buy bananas there is one that gets too ripe for eating.  I always put those, unpeeled, into the freezer.  Since this is so easy to make it will not take but 2 bunches of bananas to have enough to make them.

And this answers the question about my aversion to bananas.  It is not the taste I object to, but the texture.  So, a nice little banana oatmeal cookie works quite well.  Now the only critical question left is why on earth I had 3 pounds of dates on hand!

Chopped Apple Cake

What do you do when you get back from a  trip and realize you forgot to put the apples that were in the fruit basket into the crisper.  I arrived home to a bunch of wrinkled apples, and not just any apples but Honeycrisp which are my all time favorite.  I hated to toss them but they were very wrinkled and felt soft.  I decided to feed them to the garbage disposal and was cutting the first one into disposal size chunks when I realized all they needed was a deep peel.  Inside they were still perfectly crisp and juicy.  After eating one of them, there were still  4 bare naked apples left.  What to do with the remaining four?  Dilemma, Dilemma! (Sung to the tune of "Traditions" from Fiddler on the Roof).  

Years decades ago I bought a cookbook "The Grassroots Cookbook" which consists of recipe collections of women from all parts of the country.  They were older gals with hundreds of cumulative cooking years between them, nice, no frills down home cooking representing each area of the U.S.  Whenever I have had an abundance of apples  I make Annie Poole's Fresh Apple Cake.

Now I don't know Annie or any of her kin and to my knowledge can't think of a soul I know from the Ozark's, but I do like her  area's recipes and the little asides about her life and family. Everything in her book section conjures images of a warm loving family centered in a kitchen smelling of one pot meals, cakes and cookies.  This cake will provide you with those same warm fuzzies plus it tastes delicious.

Annie Poole's Chopped Apple Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cup peeled and chopped apples ( about 4 medium small apples)

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream the butter the add the sugar beating until it is light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and then stir in the apples.  Combine the flour and baking soda and mix with the wet ingredients.  Add the vanilla and stir well.  The batter will be pretty thick.  Spread into a greased and floured (or Baker's Secret spray) 8x8 

pan.  I have used  an 8 inch round also and both work very well.  Spread the batter and bake for about 40 minutes, until the cake is nice and brown and it pulls away from the sides of the pan.  Because this cake is so moist it has to cool before it is cut so put the hot pan on a cake rack until it is completely cool to the touch.  ( Who are we kidding, pull it out of the oven and plop it on a cool burner on the stovetop and save washing a cooling rack.)  Then cut into squares or wedges ( your cake pan will determine that) and serve.   I usually zap it a few seconds in the microwave just to warm it a little. I love it plain, but The Hub loves his with a little vanilla ice cream.

This is a moist light flavored cake.  Instead of spices usually associated with apple cake this tastes like vanilla, apples and butter.  I have served it every season of the year and it goes over well, but I find we like it best in cold weather with a hot cup of coffee or tea.  If you have a piece left and do creative reasoning it makes a fantastic breakfast.  Follow my logic here: apple is the fruit,  egg-protein, the flour is the grain and  butter is the dairy. See, a complete meal!

If you want a home baked cake but don't want a lot of fuss and bother this is the one for you.  And if you make it give me a call.  I can bring the coffee!

Ranch Pesto Pasta Bake

A few days ago I was looking at my Facebook page and saw a link on a friend's status.  Jill has a blog called Cooking What I Pin  and each time she posts I wander over and look at her latest Pinterest conquest.  When I saw this I knew I would be making it soon, just not as quick as I did.  

We had just returned from Portland to meet our new granddaughter (BTW she is the most beautiful, smartest, most athletic, and most loved baby in the entire world.  I know some of you will disagree, which is fine.  Joining the Granny Club is the best thing in the world and I would think any of you who are members would be insane to not think the same of your Grands.)  Time was short and dinner needed to be cooked pretty darn quick and per usual I had not gone to the store and had nothing  defrosted.  Thanks to Jill we actually had supper that was not the take out variety. ( The best part of this recipe is it contains ingredients I have on hand all the time.)

Ranch Pesto Pasta Bake

1 pound pasta ( I used rigatoni) cooked and drained

1/2 cup ranch dressing

1/4 cup pesto

28 ounce can well drained diced tomatoes

2 cups  grated Mozzarella, divided in half

In a large bowl, stir together the ranch dressing, pesto, tomatoes and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese.  Add the pasta and gently toss to evenly coat.  Put it in a baking pan. ( I used a pyrex 9x13 hit with a couple of sprays of Pam) and evenly sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the pasta. Cover with foil.

Pop it into a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake an additional 5 minutes. ( Or do like I did and just put it in the microwave.  I cooked it 3 minutes on full power then an additional 4 minutes on 25 percent power)

I served it with an iceberg wedge and French dressing.  Personally I dislike French dressing, but I am trying very hard to limit food waste and The Hub had bought it and opened it.  So bad salad dressing was what we had. (Mumbles something about hoping this stuff disappears soon! )

Everyone here loved it.  I can always tell whether something is a success by the number of times Son3 refills his plate.  I think he ate the first then grabbed 2 additional servings.  He has asked that we add this to our  regular food rotation.

Next time I plan to add some additional vegetables to the mix.  I think some julienned onion and zucchini would add a vegetable serving without altering the delicious flavor.  I will also reduce the mozzarella topping to 1/2 cup and add 1/4 cup grated parmesan.  Mozzarella is not our favorite cheese so I think the sharper parmesan would be a little more in keeping with our preferences.  I might also add some cubed cooked chicken next time just to see how that tastes.

I would suggest you try this for a quick meal.  Use your imagination and add whatever sounds good to you.  Let me know the results of your experiment.  Play with your food!

Delicious Pecan Bars ( Low Sodium To Boot)

I am still doing a good bit of cooking for my parents.  Mother's low sodium diet is really not that difficult, but Mom tends to think all she can eat is unflavored baked chicken/fish and a green salad with nothing but olive oil and vinegar.  She seems quite surprised when I show up at her door with food that not only smells good but is pretty tasty also.

She has been missing baked goods. I thought it would not be a big deal to leave the salt out of foods but did a bit of research mainly to see if it would alter the kitchen chemistry much.  I am glad I did and was surprised at what all I learned.  I know I did not realize how many mg. of sodium are in both baking powder and baking soda.  I also found there are either sodium free or extremely low sodium alternatives for both available though our good friends at Amazon. ( Is there anything you can't buy from them?)

I have been scouring low sodium web sites and blogs and have found many things to try, but so far have baked only one thing.  Mom said she would like something sweet and nutty.  It was not much of a request but I had no idea what direction I would go.  I wanted something fairly easy to make that would be delicious and not taste like a low sodium dish.  By combining a couple of recipes and a little trial and error I came up with these pecan pie bars.  Ok there is nothing remotely pieish about them, but it was a dang fine substitute, plus not just the restricted diet person ate them.  Everyone ate them, then went back for more!

                                                             Pecan Pie Bars

Cookie crust
1 1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter

Mix the flour and brown sugar together.  Cut in the butter until it resembles cornmeal. Mix to incorporate everything.  ( I used clean hands, but use whatever tool you choose.  Hands just work better with dough.)  If necessary add a few drops of water. Dough will be mostly smooth.  Pat it out into the bottom of a greased 13x9 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees until it is light golden brown.  Remove and spread the topping over the cookie crust.

Pecan Topping
1/4 cup dark corn syrup ( Corn syrup has a fairly high sodium content for sweeteners)
1/2 cup brown sugar ( I used light because I had it.  Dark might taste better)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1/2 cup broken pecan pieces ( can coarse chop if desired)

In a small bowl mix the first 4 ingredients until they are smooth. Add the pecans and stir to mix.  Spread on top of the cookie crust and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool to lukewarm then cut into 36 squares. ( If you let it cool completely before cutting it will break rather than cut)

The entire recipe has about 300 mg of sodium, so each piece has negligible amounts.  2 pieces satisfied my mother's cravings for something delicious, sweet and nutty.  I call it a win-win situation.

Uber Low Sodium Pork Roast

What is the old saying?  If you want to make God laugh make a plan.  I had intended to return to cooking full time after the work at the lake was done.  Instead, I have been busy helping my folks through a difficult time.

 Things are more stable and my stove is going full steam ahead with just a slight difference.  Mom is now on a reduced sodium diet and does not need to be cooking at the moment. Since I live very close  it is easier for me to cook for them and run it down to their house than it would be to cook in their home.  I truly feel grateful that I can do something like this.  They are both so stubborn they refuse to let us help any other way.

One of the things I have learned through this process is how insanely salt laden most commercially prepared foods are.  I am not sure I really looked at packages well enough in the past.  Just check out the labels of whatever you are eating and you will be shocked.  Even something as simple as the chili powder in your spice cabinet most likely has salt added. (Well done Penzy's, who has not one but two chili blends that are totally sodium free!)

Another thing I have learned is how easy it is to mask the true taste of food with salt.  After about 2 weeks of eating what I prepare for Mom and Dad my salt tolerance has really decreased.  I ate some slightly salted popcorn last night and was dying for water to wash the salty taste away.

Today's food is a rather simple pork roast that is packed with flavor.  I found the original recipe on The Pioneer Woman  here.  I did a bit of altering so it would work for Mom.  The result was a truly tasty meal with zero added salt.

                                            Pork Roast With Apples And Onions

2 tablespoons cooking oil ( I used sunflower oil)
1 pork loin roast ( about 3 pounds)
coarsely ground black pepper to taste
3 onions, julienne sliced
3 hard, crisp apples, cored and cut in wedges ( I used Granny Smith because I had them in the crisper drawer )
1 cup apple juice
2 envelopes no sodium beef bouillon
2 cups water
3 bay leaves

In a heavy large pot with a lid heat the cooking oil to medium hot. Generously pepper the pork loin on all sides.  Brown turning so each surface of the roast is uniformly brown.  Put the onion slices in the pan and let them wilt slightly.  Add the apples.  Sprinkle the bouillon powder on the roast then pour the apple juice and the water over it.  When the liquid gets hot add the 3 bay leaves.  Turn the heat down to a medium heat and put the lid on the pan.   Cut the heat down to a medium low and cook until the roast is tender. (About 2-2 1/2 hours)

 Remove the roast to a cutting board.  Using a large slotted spoon remove the onions and apples and put them on individual plates or on one large platter.  Turn the heat under the pan on high and cook until the remaining liquid is reduced by 2/3 and is very thick and sauce like.   Cut the roast into slices and place it on the cooked apples and onions.  Top each slice with some of the reduced sauce.  Serve with whatever starch you prefer and a side green vegetable.

If you prefer a salted version, salt and pepper the roast before browning and use regular beef broth instead of the no sodium bouillon.

This was extremely tasty and quite filling.  The apples tend to turn to mush, which creates the thick sauce.  If you want the apples to have a little more shape and texture, I would add a couple more during the last 45 minutes of the cooking time.

 I served this with a plain boiled red potato and steamed asparagus.  I hesitated to serve it with rice ( I would have used short grain brown rice rather than the wild rice The Pioneer Woman used) because Mom is still balking at the way unsalted food tastes.  I was able to cut her potatoes in fourths  and drag them through the sauce left on the bottom of the plan.  Every bit of flavor counts!  I ate this for lunch and thought it was fantastic but the true test was my salt loving mother's opinion.  She thought it was delicious and actually called me to tell me.  I take this as high praise since she has been telling me how bad most things have tasted so far.  So yeah!  Success that was really good.

Can't wait to see what she thinks of the no salt sausage!