You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.
-Julia Child (1912 - 2004)

The first law of dietetics seems to be if it tastes good, its bad for you."
-Isaac Asimov

Chick Food Chicken Salad

THIS is the chicken salad recipe that I made for my girlfriends on our trip to Stoke-on-Trent. I call it's My Chick Food Chicken Salad because of the grapes and cashews. I find that men don't enjoy fruit in their salads...then my husband surprised me and told m,e how much he enjoyed it. Then he really surprised me with his request that I make this for other occasions.

Side note- I like to take short cuts where I can, especially when it comes to food preparation. It's even better when they save you time and money!

Things you need:

• 2 Whole Roasted Chickens from the grocery store- meat plucked off the bone and shredded! Don't worry about the seasoning of said roasted chickens, it doesn't matter (sweet huh)
• 2 cups seedless grapes- Black or Red, I personally prefer Black grapes because of their sweetness and firm texture but either one of these are fine. BEWARE-Green grapes are too tart for this recipe.
• Cashews- chopped (this will be the topping for the salad)
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ cup sour cream or creme fraiche
• ¾ cup mayonnaise

Lets get cooking!
All of your cooking is done because you bought those lovely roasted chickens from the grocery store! Simply pluck the meat off of the chicken and shred! Slice grapes into halves or quarter them if they are large. Chop the celery but not too fine. Mix All 3 together in large bowl. Mix the lemon juice, sour cream and mayonnaise together, pour over chicken mixture in bowl and toss. I've not added any salt to this what so ever, if you feel that it needs some salt add only at the very end . I like to use the salted cashews as a sprinkled on topping, they add a great crunch factor and just the right amount of salt to this recipe. Serve it on croissants or on Bibb Leaf lettuce leaves (also called Boston or Butter Leaf lettuce). It's perfect for baby showers, bridal showers, church socials, coffees and luncheons.

Baked Potato Soup

One of my favorite simple meals is making stuffed baked potatoes for dinner. Potatoes can be used in so many ways and here's a great recipe to get that great baked potato meal in a soup- enjoy!

Here's the list of goodies you'll need:

• ½ pound bacon cut into small pieces
• 1 medium sized onion chopped
• 1 small shallot chopped fine
• 3 cloves garlic put through a garlic press
• 3 Tablespoons flour (the all purpose type)
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 very large baking potatoes - baked, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup half and half cream
• shredded cheddar cheese

Now to cook it up:
In a large saucepan- cook bacon until crisps, drain, reserving 1 T. of drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute the chopped onion and shallot in the bacon drippings until tender. Stir in the flour, salt (to your own liking) basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add in the broth stir so you won't have lumps in your soup. Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Add potatoes and cream, heat thoroughly but no not boil. Garnish with bacon and cheese.
Serve this with a small garden salad and some crusty french bread and make an apple crisp for dessert...m'm!

Popovers

This recipe is one of my favorites from my childhood. I've been baking these since I was 11 years old. I never let my mom make them for me, this was my special treat that I would make all on my own.

Things you will need are...

popover tins- although muffin tins will work too.

• 1cup flour (the all purpose kind)
• ½teaspoon salt (I use kosher salt for all of my baking and cooking)
• ¾ cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon melted butter (I use unsalted butter in all of my recipes)
• 2 large eggs- beaten

Preheat oven to 425º this recipe makes between 8 to 12 popovers.
Coat the popover/muffin tins with butter, set aside. Mix flour and salt together. Add milk, honey and melted butter, mix well. Add in beaten eggs, mix well.
Fill each popover tin to just under half full. Bake 25 to 30 minutes OR until the popovers are golden brown. Do not open the oven door to peek- turn on the oven light and look through the window instead... or your popovers will fall and not rise again :-(
Serve hot with with honey and butter, YUM!

Pasta e Fagioli

This soup recipe is my Hannah's favorite soup ever! There are days when I know that my girl will come home from school simply exhausted. There's nothing like a pick me up of this Italian classic with a couple of slices of garlic bread to pick her back up!

you'll need...

• 2 large sprigs fresh Rosemary
• a good sized bunch of fresh Thyme
• 1 large red onion finely chopped
• 2 (14½) can red kidney beans
• about 3 ounces of Pancetta chopped
• 5 to 6 cups of low sodium chicken broth
• Black pepper to taste
• rind of Parmesan Cheese
• 1 cup elbow macaroni

Let's make some soup!

I like to put my rosemary and thyme in a sachet bag (can be bought in any cooking store or in your grocers kitchen utensil section). If they don't have it then place in some cheesecloth and tie up with some cooking string.

Heat the olive oil and butter and saute the onions until translucent, add in the pancetta and cook until crisp.
Next add in the chicken broth and kidney beans, add in the sachet of fresh herbs and your cheese rind. Put lid on pot, bring to a boil then bring down to a low simmer for about 10 minutes.
While soup is cooking I like to make my pasta separately- boil the elbow macaroni until al dente. Put pasta in bowls then ladle the soup over the pasta. Sprinkle with some fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano and if you like, drizzle a little olive oil on top just before serving.

Serve with a side salad of fresh greens and a couple of slices of hot crusty garlic bread. What a wonderful meal on a cold or blustery day!

Something that I do for myself

I copied this in whole from my "scrapbooking" blog because as I see it, it's about dishes and pottery and it should have been posted here instead of there, enjoy the read!

I see it as being rather funny how so many of women friends save their China for that "special occasion". I have many friends who either have it and don't use it or they use it only once a year for Christmas dinner. Maybe this is an American thing- being that I don't have all that many British friends and the ones I do have, well they think I'm a nutter with all of my pottery (and that's okay so do my American girlfriends -and I still adore them all).

My thing is this...make YOU a priority. You're someone special aren't you? The next time you make yourself some tea and lunch- serve it up on that lovely china you that you've been saving for that "special occassion".

Quiche-any way you like it!

This is my no fail make it for brunch, lunch or when ever I want something that is easy and will make a good impression on new friends recipe. You can do this a few different ways with the crust...

• buy a box of pre-made pie crust
• buy the frozen pie crust in the pie tin
• or make your own pie crust from scratch

you will need the following items;

• 4 jumbo eggs
• 1¼ cups heavy cream
• 1 small onion diced
• ¼ to ½ cup of cooked crumbled bacon
• 5 ounce bag of shredded Swiss Cheese
• 2 Tablespoons of butter
• salt and pepper to taste

I use pre made pie crusts and will be giving directions for them...

Pierce crust with fork all over...lots and lots of times as this will let the steam out when baking. I also covers with aluminum foil and fill the pie (over the aluminum foil) with beans to keep the crust from rising up. After 10 minutes remove from oven, take out aluminum foil and bake until golden, could be as little as 6 minutes or more than 10 depending upon your oven. Set aside.

Saute onions in butter until transparent. Beat eggs and cream together, add salt and pepper. Place the cooked onion and crumbled bacon on bottom of pie crust, even spread the shred Swiss cheese over the top. Pour egg and cream mixture over the top. Bake at 375º for 30 to 40 minutes or until quiche is set and is no longer jiggly and can be cut cleanly with a knife.

There's no hard set rule as to what you can and can't put in a quiche. Omit the onions if you don't like them, try various things such as asparagus, mushrooms, ham or broccoli. Just remember to have the items precooked and drained before putting into you quiche!

I use a deep dish ceramic pie plate -mine is by Home Laughlin China Company- better know for it's #1 selling line Fiesta dinnerware...I simply love to bake in it! Now if you use the frozen pie crusts that are already in a pie tin you will need to divide the ingredients as those pie tins are quite shallow and this recipe will make 2 quiches in a shallow pie dish. The pie plate from Portmeirion will also do very nicely- although I've only used mine to make cottage pie- but that's another recipe story ;-)

Scones

This is my tried and true recipe, I've been making scones from this recipe for about 16 years now. Got it from a girlfriend when we were stationed at Dyess AFB, Texas.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1Tablespoon sugar
• 6 Tablespoons butter (slightly softened-do not put in microwave)
• 2 eggs well beaten
• ½ heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt for all of my baking)
• ½ teaspoon Vanilla
  

Mix dry ingredients well, work in butter with a pastry knife. Add in wet ingredients making sure that eggs are well beaten before adding. Stir until well blended. Dust kneading area with flour, kneed on cold surface for one minute. Roll out to ¾ inch thick, cut into wedges or use round cookie cutter for a more neat appearance. Here I used a 2½ inch round cookie cutter.
Heat oven to 400º, Bake on baking stone for 8 to 10 minutes until golden.
Cooking times do vary in different ovens. I've moved several times over the years and every oven has it's little differences.

You can serve these fresh right out of the oven with butter (this is how my children like them) or the way they serve them here in England- cold with clotted cream and strawberry or raspberry jam. Either way they are a tasty treat!

Chili Corn Bread Salad

Chili Corn Bread Salad
From the Kitchen of Alisha C.

1 pkg. (8 and ½ ounces) corn bread muffin mix
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1/8 tsp. cumin
1/8 tsp. oregano
Pinch sage
1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans whole kernel corn, drained
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup green onions, chopped
10 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Prepare corn bread according to package directions. Add green chilies, undrained, cumin, oregano, and sage. Bake in greased 8-in. pan at 400 degrees for 20 -25 min. Let cool. In a small bowl, mix mayo, sour cream and dressing mix. Set aside. Crumble half of cornbread in a 9X13 pan. Layer with half of beans, mayo mixture, corn, tomatoes, green peppers, green onions, bacon and cheese. Repeat layers (dish will be very full). Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Makes 12 servings.

Beef and Ale Pie- revised!

There's a running joke about the food here in England...it's served piping hot so you'll burn your tongue so you won't know that it's bland. That's simply NOT true! Sure they serve the food scalding hot but that's just the way they cook out here. Now as for flavor... I find that it depends upon what you go and what get. For myself, I like to have what's considered to be classic "Pub Food". You can't go wrong with this pub food classic- Beef and Ale Pie. I did some searching on the internet and with my knowledge of meats and veggies along with spices and the workings of my stove or "cooker" as it's called here in England I've come up with a rather nice Beef and Ale pie recipe of my own. Oh for my Friends back in the states, your Pyrex measuring cups should have the ml measurements.


So here's what I've come up with...
Butter- salt free
salt and pepper
Worcestershire sauce- just a dash
pre-made pie crust (I like Pillsbury but you could also make your own)
1½ pounds of lean beef (I used a lovely lean roast) cut it into cubes
2 med to large red onions- chopped
1 cup of a nice brown ale (I used Old Hooky)
1 400g can of diced tomatoes
26 ounces Swanson 33% less sodium Beef Stock
1½ to 1¾ lbs carrots- diced
½ to ¾ teaspoon of dried Grated Orange rind
3 Tbs cornstarch to thicken



Now lets get cooking!

Add some butter to a skillet and brown those beef bits! Do it in small batches or else you'll end up steaming your meas instead of browning them- salt and pepper your meats at this time. Place browned beef bits in a dish, saute the raw veggies, add the meats back in and add the canned tomatoes, ale, dash of worcestershire let reduce. Add in the beef stock and smimmer until the sauce reduces.
Use 1 Tablespoon cornstach to 2 Tablespoons COLD water, stir until there are no lumps and cornstach is well mixed,add in to meat mixture in pot stir until thickened. Place in pretty ceramic pie plate. Put a pie crust on top, cut some cute shape into the top of it (I usually make a heart) and bake in the oven until the top of the crust is golden brown. Follow directions on the pie crust to achieve desired effect. Remember your "pie filling" is already cooked.

This recipe makes enough for 4 people.

Tips from Sandie...
♥you can do a couple of different things to make a beautiful golden brown crust- brush crust with milk OR with a beaten egg, either one works well.
♥if you have oven proof bowls why not bake your beef and ale piein them! It's easy to bake individual servings that way! Just another reason why I love my Fiesta-ware!





**I've gone and revised the recipe for this dish- after having ate a few more pies in some various eating establishments and through trying various ingredients I've gone and changed up a few things. The secret ingredient in this recipe is the orange rind- it really helps to balance out the flavor (weird but true)