White Bean Chili

3-4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 T. oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 small cans green chilies
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. whipping cream

Combine chicken, garlic, oil and onion in skillet and heat until chicken is cooked. Add beans, chilies, spices and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes. Add sour cream and whipping cream and heat through.

Alterations: You can use canned chicken and any other kind of beans that you have on hand.

Chocolate Frosting

There are a lot of good recipes out there for homemade chocolate frosting. I've definitely taken the best the web has to offer and modified it to my own recipe. Not only is this good on cake, I'm sure it would be good on cookies and I know it's especially tasty when pretzels are dipped into it.

Milk Chocolate Icing:
2 sticks softened butter
4 tablespoons good cocoa
1 and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted in the microwave and cooled a bit
4 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons of milk

Mix the butter and the cocoa until you have cocoa butter. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk. Mix well. Add more sugar and milk. Add melted chocolate chips. Add more sugar or milk until you get the consistency you're looking for because it's frosting....not exact science.

This is enough to frost about 28 cupcakes or a decent 9" cake.

It also looks pretty pipped like little stars on a cake.

Home made croutons

I love bread. I love croutons. I love olive oil and garlic and balsamic vinegar. It's only natural then that every once in a while I get on a crusty crouton kick and go a little crazy.

Any sort of day old bread (or fresh for that matter, but a little stale is better) will work, but definitely do not use your run of the mill loaf of bread from the grocery store. You need something more airy and rustic, like ciabatta, focaccia or a good loaf of skinny french bread.

Cut the bread into thin strips without squishing it. You'll need a good knife. Place strips on a parchment lined cookie sheet and preheat your oven to about 325 degrees.

While the oven is heating in a small bowl mix olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Coat each sliced piece of bread, on both sides with the mixture (if you don't have a kitchen brush, you could use a new paintbrush or maybe even just a spoon). Once it's ready to go you can add a little extra salt or even some balsamic vinegar to taste.

Put the bread in the oven for 5 minutes and watch it. After 5 minutes check to see if the bread is getting golden and crusty and then just watch it every additional two minutes or so until it's looking like you want it.

Pull out of the oven and let cool. As the bread cools, it will get even more crusty.

These are great to eat alone with an ice cold diet coke for lunch or you can actually put them on a salad.

Or load them up with some bruschetta and enjoy a nice appetizer.

Meat and Potatoes

In our family, we grew up on starchy staples and meat for every meal. Though I cook very differently than my mother, I still enjoy such a meal every once in a while. Okay, every day.

Not really.

When I was a kid my mom fixed, "cracker meat". It was cube steak heavily breaded in Ritz crackers. It was a crumbly buttery mess of flavor. My version is a bit lighter but just as tasty.

Here's what you'll need:
Cube steak (1 per person)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
bread crumbs, home made or store bought
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions:
place the eggs in one shallow bowl and the bread crumbs in another. beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are combined. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper to the bread crumbs. Coat each piece of meat in the egg and then press it into the bread crumbs, coating both sides.

In a frying pan (or an electric skillet) heat about 4 tablespoons of olive oil until it sparks when you sprinkle some water over it. Add the meat to the hot oil and cook each side for 5-8 minutes depending on the heat and how crispy you want the outside.

Serve with green beans, potatoes, salad, or grilled asparagus.

Orange Julius

I love orange julius - especially from home. Once you fix this, you'll never drink that made in the mall stuff every again.

This is my mom's recipe and we grew up drinking it for breakfast on lazy Saturday mornings with waffles and bacon. Fix it for some family and friends and they'll be amazed that you so quickly whipped up such a delicious concoction.

You'll need:
1 can FROZEN orange juice concentrate
milk (can be whatever you drink from whole to skim and soy and rice, etc.)
water
ice
sugar
vanilla

Cut the can of OJ concentrate in half. Scoop 1/2 of the concentrate into your blender. Use the empty can half to measure your milk and water. Fill the can with milk and add it, then with water and add it to the blender. Next, add some sugar. I like my julius sweet so I add about 2 tablespoons of sugar to the mix. Add a cap full of vanilla. Finally add about 1 and 1/2 cups of ice, crushed if you've got it.

Mix well in a blender until all the ice has been chopped up.

This serves about 3 large servings or 5 small. If you've got a big group, then prepare the other half of the concentrate. If not, put it back in the freezer for another day.

Quick Cheese Steaks

Okay, some background. I love cheese steak sandwiches. Really love them. My love for them didn't really develop until the first time I ate a cheese steak at the Dairy Cottage in a suburb of Philadelphia, Penn. At the Dairy Cottage you either ordered a 12 or 24 inch sandwich and they didn't really recommend sharing.

That sandwich, featured in the above picture was divine. I've been to Philly several times and eaten lots of steaks, but this one takes the cake over all others.

(Admittedly not the best picture. Sorry)

We regularly have a homemade version of a cheese steak for dinner.  It's fast and easy to prepare and makes everyone happy.  I've experimented a lot with different meat (deli meat, cube steak, steak thinly sliced) but I think I found the right combination of steak and cheese (we always use provolone but last night I used Swiss) and marinade and they were pretty awesome last night.

Here's what you'll need:

Good rolls - 2 per person if they're small.  We like the Ciabata rolls from Harmon's

Stir Fry beef already cut into strips.  Buy it that way at the grocery store or see if the butcher can do it for you.

1 large sweet onion

1-2 red peppers

For the Marinade:

salt

pepper

garlic or garlic salt (depends on your tastes)

1 tbsp soy sauce

2-4 tbsp worcester sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

First, place your strips of steak in a zip lock and add the marinade ingredients.  Let it stew for 10-20 minutes.  

Slice the onion into rings and the red pepper into very thin strips.  Place the onion and pepper into a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil.  Cook the veggies to your liking....I like them black and caramelized.

Take the onion and pepper out of the skillet and cook the meat.  Because of the thin strips it will cook fast.  Give it about 3 minutes and toss.  Then add the onion and peppers back into the mix for another 3-5 minutes.  

Once everything is good and juicy and smells like heaven then add your cheese.  Last night, we used Swiss.  Let the cheese melt into the meat and then serve to family and friends.  The whole process takes about 20 minutes and everyone will walk away full and happy.

Stove top potatoes with paprika

Oh, how I love potatoes. My sister once told me that if she were to open a restaurant, it would only serve potatoes.

These potatoes are super yummy and smokey and even though they are cooked on the stove top the taste like they were roasted in the oven.

Here's what you'll need:
2-4 Russet potatoes, washed and cut into 1 inch cubes
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 teaspoon paprika

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the cubed potatoes. Cook the potatoes in 5 minute intervals, covered with a lid. Every 5 min shake and flip the potatoes. You'll do this for 20-30 minutes. The potatoes are done when they are soft enough for a knife to go through them. With about 5 minutes left, sprinkle the paprika over the potatoes and shake to mix.