Buffalo Chicken Salad ...p34

This recipe introduced me to two ingredients I've never used before:  Frank's hot sauce and Panko breadcrumbs.  I've kept a bottle of Frank's in my fridge since - like Tabasco with body.....and I plan to use Panko more often.  It's oxymoronic.  Is that a word?  The crumbs are soft, yet crunchy..... 


A really great combination with a slightly tangy dressing of blue cheese and yogurt - you'll enjoy it if you like chicken wings with a side of blue cheese. 

Hardy Appetit!

Cashew Chicken ...p53

Most of you readers are probably too young to remember when Cashew Chicken was about the only Chinese cooking we did at home!  Before woks were readily available at Walmart, Target....oh, we didn't have those stores then either.

We did have local stand alone butchers where we could choose our chicken (live) and have the butcher slaughter it on the spot.  Our local Detroit butcher was Vergote's.  We kids would hide behind mom's skirt listening to the squawk as the butcher's ax fell with a thud across the chicken's neck.  Then we'd eagerly open our eyes to watch the chicken run around the little kitchen with his head cut off.  By the time we studied descriptive phrases in English, we knew what the figurative "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" literally looked like.

Compare that to this conversation between modern kids, "yeah, we went to Walmart, where mom walked the rows and rows of packaged chicken and tried to decide, 'breasts? thighs? wings? boneless breasts?' It's as if she'd never seen a chicken before!" 

The combination of cashews with chicken is still a winner.  The critic loved this simple but tasty recipe.  NOTE:  The ingredients in the cookbook don't list the rice (which from my picture, you can see I didn't have!), lettuce, green onions, and most important, cashews, or their respective quantities, so be sure to determine quantities you'll need before leaving for the store!  And there is a typo in the cookbook, Fry the chicken, don't dry it :-) 

Hardy Appetit!

Mumsy's Super Chicken Soup ...p22

After a brief stint in the hospital, what should I serve the critic?  Chicken soup, of course.  Healing for the bones and warming to the heart, chicken soup dishes up comfort and better health for pennies on your health insurance dollar.  Though many argue over just why soup helps - be it the heat, the steam or the concentrated nutrients, few argue whether it does.  According to Dr. Mao, with soup you can lose weight, build your immunity and detoxify your body;

according to my husband, he just feels better when he eats soup. 



Mumsy's Super Chicken Soup packs in the nutrients above and beyond your traditional chicken soups by the addition of lots of vegetables and tomato juice, with just a wee bit of alcohol in the form of sherry, to clear the throat.  Which turned out to be the critic's reason for snickering just a bit at this soup, "it tastes too much like vegetable soup!"  "It's good, but not yum - I like just the traditional chicken soup." 

So once more, I have to disagree with the critic.  This is definitely one of my favorite soups - and don't be tempted to leave out the sherry - it really adds kick to the taste - in fact, if you can get a real bottle of dry sherry to use rather than the store-bought cooking sherry, all the better.  When prepping the vegetables, chop up the eggplant first and let it soak covered in salt water while you fry up the bacon and chop the remaining veggies - at least that's the way Mumsy always did it!

Sprinkle a little freshly grated Parmesan on top and you have a yummy - nontraditional - chicken soup.  Let us know whether you agree with the critic or me - leave a comment.

Hardy Appetit!

Chicken & Bean Burritos with Pineapple Salsa ...p59

The burrito expert in our family would be my 18 yr. old son who one might think taste tests the local burrito trailers for a living....  He proclaimed these chicken & bean burritos "delicious."

I, on the other hand, thought they were too wet.  Maybe I didn't let the tomato mixture cook down enough, or kept too much broth, but my taste preferences are drier.  Having said that, the corn/black bean filling and the pineapple salsa tasted great!  Since the critic doesn't care a whole lot for burritos, unless they're made a la cheese enchilada, I served the components separately to her on a bed of rice.  When I asked her what she thought of it, she said, "you don't see anything left on my plate, do you?"  I take that to mean wrapped up in a burrito, you all might be left with an even cleaner plate!

Pre-Cholula

Post-Cholula (decorates every burrito in our home!)

edible wrapping paper!

Hardy Appetit!

Chicken Stir-Fry Wraps ...p56

You're gonna have to trust the veggie lady on this one.  Our critic is once again off sampling the culinary delights of siblings elsewhere, so it is left up to her to critique what I cook.

I thought this recipe would be similar to P. F. Chang's famous lettuce wraps - I can't really recall what goes in theirs - rice sticks and chicken - but I've always loved them.  This recipe doesn't call for the rice sticks, and without those, it seems more like stir-fry atop a lettuce leaf.  That being said, this recipe will please any palate desiring the contradicting crisp-cool lettuce wrapped around soft-spicy chicken.  Dress it up with more soy (or gluten-free tamari) and Sambal Oelek, and be sure to have washed and chilled your lettuce leaves (wrap in foil and refrigerate for at least one hour for the best chill!).  You might even add rice sticks to your wrap, though I found you really don't need them after all!

Hardy Appetit!

Chicken Roll-Ups ...p53

MMM...  Corn Flakes, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Crescent Rolls all make this recipe fairly easy to make.  The most difficult tasks:  turning Corn Flakes into crumbs and pressing crescent triangles into rectangles and rolling said neatly around the filling.  Make double - they're as good as pizza rolls for lunch the next day!

As a little side note, did you know that Corn Flakes were invented quite accidentally?  Some of our worst mistakes turn into our most fortunate successes....there's hope out there folks.  Check out the Kellogg brothers' story at http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/kelloggcf.htm.

So simple, yet delicious.


Hardy Appetit!

CHICKEN PIE ...p56

"Exquisite"
"Tastes like chicken with cookies on top"
"This is delicious!"
and subsequent midnight raids on the refrigerator to savor what little was left.

And whoever said "less is more" hit it on the mark with this recipe.  With just six everyday ingredients, we enjoyed one of the most commented on meals of the book.  The dish was so simple to make that I thought it would be a flop - but it wasn't - everyone loved it.  The critic asked how I made the gravy - very impressive.  When I responded with Campbell's Cream of Celery soup, she was surprised, thinking it was far more complex. 

Let's face it, everyone loves the smell of chicken stewing in a pot.  Therein lies the most labor of the recipe - deboning the chicken - having accomplished that, the rest is easy.  But I made it a little more challenging by throwing the picked-over bones deep into the woods, hoping that I, like Linda, might attract a chupacabra.  Seems Linda has one lurking in her woods - sighted by both her husband and her separately....  Before she even knew about the legend, she described this eerie, frightening creature they saw devouring chicken bones she had put out at the woodline for her cats.  The description prompted a "that's a chupacabra" from my daughter.  Sure enough, looking at the internet picture confirmed the identification. I'll let you know if one shows up in our yard.

Hardy Appetit!

Chicken Fricassee and Dumplings ...p58

Does any of my generation remember Grandma Alma's Chicken Fricassee and Dumplings dish?  I remember as a child, disdaining the chicken left on the bones and having to pick it apart while I ate.  Now, of course, I love this bit of authenticity - this extra flavor to the stew.  This Hungarian dish made me realize the dull flavor of my customary chicken and dumplings recipes that use only boneless white meat, and reverted me back to the days of my youth where there was a whole chicken in every pot, skin, bones and all.

Jon thought the dumplings were the best he'd ever tasted and I dare say, the critic concurred.

Hardy Appetit!

Tortilla Soup ...p29

Simple to make, simple to intensify or enhance to individual tastes, this soup is a winner in all our books.  I laid out an array of add-ins:  sour cream, finely chopped jalapeños, chopped green onions, cheese, Cholula (our favorite pepper sauce) and, not having any fresh cilantro, coriander chutney.  In case you are wondering, coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant and is used often in Indian and Asian foods.  My husband is not wild about cilantro, so I usually use little in cooking, lots in garnish.  Coriander Chutney's strong flavor adds the bite I love, especially when dolloped on top of sour cream. 

Hardy Appetit!

Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad ...p33

What's not to love about a salad that combines mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, bleu cheese and romaine with chunks of warm pecan crusted chicken?  Family loved it, the critic loved it, but truth be told, with all those yummy ingredients, I found it confusingly lacking something.  Maybe just the need for someone else to cook it.  You know how food always tastes better when someone else cooks it?  So why else would there be restaurants?

Or....... maybe the missing ingredient was my zing.....  I'm missing my kitchen partner.  You know who you are!

Exciting news:  my sunflower has blossomed and my, what a seedhead!  The seed catalog said the stalk would be a 10-footer, and, true to form, mine measures in at 115 inches (just shy of 10 ft.).  If you haven't followed its growth, take a look at my previous post.  I don't know much about TALL sunflowers so when the head started to droop, I assumed it was mimicking my own behavior as our zing flew the coop.

Make this chicken salad yourself; or better yet, have someone else make it for you,  then tell me what you think.

Hardy Appetit!

Indian Chicken Curry ...p57

I've never tried to blend my own curry spices, didn't do so this time, but the recipe itself seemed close enough by combining yellow curry with a load of other spices.  Next time I might "kick it up a notch" by blending Emeril Lagasse's curry recipe.


I happen to love curry; my husband disdains it at home, but he will enjoy it cooked in an authentic Indian restaurant.  I hope that doesn't reflect on my [lack of] ability to make a good curry.  That being said, the whole family enjoyed this recipe.  I do think I may have let it simmer a bit too long rendering it thicker than I am used to with curry. 

My 5-yr. old grandson ate with us - reluctantly at first - didn't want his curry on his rice and didn't want the curry at all.  Until his highly-esteemed Uncle Jon sprinkled his with shredded unsweetened coconut and raisins.  He soon followed suit and tried a few bites before opting instead for Aunt Jenny's Spruce Tip Jelly on top of toast....  Those who wanted their curry hotter, sprinkled chopped jalapeños on top.

Hardy Appetit!

Chicken Stroganoff ...p77

Pleasantly simple and absoLUtely delicious.  What more can I say?

Well, ok, for posterity's sake, 

I'll tell you Tricia's favorite 

mushroom joke.

This is for you, Trish!

A mushroom goes into a bar and sits down to order a drink. 

The bartender walks over and says, ''I'm sorry sir, but we don't serve your kind here.''

The mushroom sits back and asks ,''Why not? I'm such a fun guy (fungi)!"

Hardy Appetit!

Garlic Chicken Mozzarella ...p58

Isn't it funny how sometimes the simplest combination of ingredients produces the tastiest results.  Just shows to go ya that quality has nothing to do with quantity.  That's how it is with this recipe.  Simple, but tasty.  And I just love the "prep time: 3 min."  Serve it over hot pasta - I used bow-tie pasta.

Hardy Appetit!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole ...p57

What's in my freezer?  Chicken.  What's in my fridge?  Tortillas.  Typical Texan (no, no, no - I hear ya!  Beef!)

Either way, I found a recipe for which I had all the ingredients WITHOUT going to the store. 
I must admit I have made this recipe a gazillion times - it's truly an old standby in our house, but a worthy favorite.  It's relatively quick, easy, feeds a crowd, but is yummy.  IMHO.  Check out the recipe for Nana's (INHO).

Changes I made?  Corn tortillas - mixed opinions in our house.  Some like corn, others flour.  I do like to pour a bit of sauce on the bottom of the pan before adding the first layer though, as sometimes I've had the bottom layer tough.  I have never let it "marinate" overnight and omitted this step again.....so perhaps that is my real problem with the bottom layer?  Whatcha think, Kimber? No doubt the kitty wanted some........

My daughters informed me that my favorite local antique store was closing down and everything was marked way down; so, between the daily activities, we managed to run down there where I scored a cute copper heart mold for $2.00.  It was a nice touch to my valentine theme.

Hardy Appetit!

Italian Chicken Over Rice ...p54

So Superbowl Sunday brings out the cool Brees with a Saints amazing win over the Colts.  Whodat Nation uprising!!!  A crazy day dashed my ambition to prepare some snacks, and without a crowd coming over, I said, "ok, who cares?" Well, the family did - unfortunately, the day before they snacked on my chips for Kimber's 7-layer dip, hence that recipe was eliminated from our Superbowl line-up. 

While the first two quarters raged on, I prepared the Italian Chicken, Healthy Potato Skins and Pecan Tassies....all finished appropriately for a half-time dinner.  I was a little frazzled, but not nearly as much as the Colts!

Back to Italian Chicken over Rice....what can I say?  I love chestnuts.  I love chicken.  and I love anything Italian. Try it, you will too.  I did have to guess at the quantities, as the ingredient list was either left off the recipe or intended for one or hundred :-)

Hardy Appetit!