Dust

Wow.

Two years have passed.

So much has happened. So much has changed. So much has broken.

Time to clear of the dust and cobwebs and write again.

He Cooks: Todd's Chicken parmigiana (Chicken Parmesan)

 Okay, so after working at Macaroni Grill, I became very unimpressed with their Chicken Parm. It always tastes bland to me. The recipe they make is mostly breaded chicken in the pomodoro sauce. meh

So.. I set out to make a more interesting and tasty version at home in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• Italian Seared Chicken
• Butterfly cut Chicken breasts
• Spices: minced Garlic, salt, pepper, tiny bit of red pepper
• Olive Oil/Butter
• a few spoonfuls of Costco's Spinich Artichoke Parmesan cheese dip (I've used Tostitos Spinich dip a few times, but the Costco dip is way better)
• Italian bread crumbs
• Shredded Parmesan (Don't be lazy, shred it yourself! Pre-shredded tastes like.. over busy toe nails)
• Shredded Mozzarella

Method:

Get a skillet warming up and melt some butter into some olive oil. Spice the Butterfly cut Chicken breasts on one side. Once the Skillet is nice and hot, do a quick sear on the spiced side of the chicken breasts. Spice the otherside while searing. 

Flip the chicken once the down side is a bit browned and add the cheese dip and some cheese to the browned side. Once the cheese and dip are nice and melty, cover in bread crumbs. Let the bread crumbs melt into the cheese for a moment and then Flip back (otherside should now be browned). Cover this side in a bit of Parmesan and again, once melty, cover in bread crumbs. 

Let the cheese dip side get a good crust on it, and then carefully flip with a spatula so the freshly breaded side goes down. Also let it get a good crust. 

Once crusted carefully pull off and serve ontop of Angel hair (Thin spagetti). Pour the prego on top and the shredded Moz.

I like to pair this with oven roasted parmesan breaded zucchini and sauteed Crimini or baby bella mushrooms.  

Garnish with Italian Parsley if you like pretty looking things. 

He cooks: Peach/Apple Crambler

So, Cobbler isn't... enough for me. It needs to have more substance and crumble/crisp is too much. Crisps are too dry and don't work with the fruit well enough. So instead, I try and do something in the middle to get the best of both worlds.

Ingredients:

1 cup Bisquick (To try next time: Cake mix)
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 cups Fresh Sliced Peaches

Directions

1. Heat Oven to 375
2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add butter
4. Add milk
5. Add peaches.
6. Dump into a casserole dish
7. Bake for 30 minutes

He cooks: Italian seared Chicken, with Pesto Tomato topping.

So I've been making a home styled "Chicken under a brick" at home for a few years now and it's one of the fastest, easiest, and tasty-ist meals we do at home. Tonight though we wanted something a bit different with Jena's pregnancy cravings and she wanted a Pesto Tomato dish. While looking online, I realized that most dishes want "baked" chicken, which in my opinion is just horrible and most often flavorless. So instead I decided to combine our recipes and make something truly spectacular.

Daddy's Italian Seared Chicken

• Chicken Breasts (Butterflied) 
• Garlic Salt
• Pepper
• Red Pepper
• Onion Powder
• Olive Oil
• Butter

Let the skillet and olive oil get pretty hot. While it's getting hot spice the chicken on one side.
Chicken needs a quick and fast sear on the grill, and the oil should be nice and hot just before the chicken goes in. Add the butter and very soon after the Chicken. Spice the other side while the chicken is in the pan. Always use tongs to turn the chicken, piercing food lets out important moisture. Sear one side, then flip. Sear the other side. If necessary, repeat until chicken is cooked throughout.

Serve over rice or pasta.



Pesto Tomato Topping

• Basil pesto
• Seared Tomatos (with garlic and salt)
• Grated Fresh Mozzarella 

Spoon the Basil Pesto onto the chicken, place the seared tomatoes on top, Top with cheese while in the pan doing the last part of the sear. Let the cheese melt.

If you'd like to get fancy pre heat the oven while cooking the chicken, and pop this in the oven to get a crisper cheese on top.

Serve on top of angel hair.

I'd have pictures but we ate everything to fast. I'll add pictures next time.

He Cooks: Paul's Pork chops (and even better Chicken Simmered)

This was a Sunday favorite of my step-dad while growing up. Pork Chops end up often dry and difficult. So he simmered this for around three hours and they turned out amazing! As I grew up, Jena doesn't like porkchops, so I started doing this with chicken instead. It makes the chicken so tender it just falls apart and tastes amazing. We served onto of Rice, but easily could be tried on a Pasta.

(I'll add pics next time I do this)

Ingredients: (If more desired, use multiple pans)

• About 4 Pork chops OR 2 Defrosted Chicken Breasts and if large, Butterflied (Cut in half through the thickness, making 4 pieces)
• Olive Oil (Or vegetable, canola if that's your thing)
• Chicken Broth
• Chicken Bouillon
• Fresh Garlic
• a whole Sweet Onion
• a Cup or so of flour (I'm tempted to try one of the following Breadcrumbs/Panco Breadcrumbs/Italian Breadcrumbs)
• Pepper
• Garlic Salt
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Lots of Butter (salted)
• I like to add mushrooms

Method:

1. First create a breading with the flour, pepper, garlic salt, garlic powder, onion powder. Cover the Chicken Breasts thoroughly on each side. (This is often done by drying the breasts or chops and "dipping them in the flour". )

2. Heat the pan with butter and oil. Oil will help keep the butter from burning. Once the pan is rather hot, sear the breaded chicken on both sides until you start to see a good browning. At this point while searing the chicken, I often can't resist doing a quick re-spicing of the Garlic Salt, Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder. As always.. spice to taste.

3. Add can of Chicken Broth into the pan, ensure not to wash off the breading. Cover with water and chicken Bouillon (as per the ratio on the Bouillon) and let simmer uncovered on low.

4. Begin the Caramelizing of the Onions.

(https://toddandjena.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=W815aFIBAAA.oxlYz0eqbVT4WqzYbQ0XxGVoESt8XlYH-AXycyVgyvvMuo7y9kxQXpvTbtINFvEBgCYqxZJDLZXYiK7Ic0Q4xA.OSnPPBs6JPgYpQC6CZUu2Q&postId=972292900587017590&type=POST)

As a reminder: 

Heat Oil and butter in a separate skillet
Add Julienned Onions ( I like to add a bit of wine right away instead of later to let the sugars from the wine help the onions along)
When Onions begin to turn golden brown add salt and pepper
Just before they are finished add wine to de-glaze the pan and finish.
With the left overs in the pan, This is when I do a quick saute on the Mushrooms with the left over wine butter sauce. I also add a bit of Garlic Salt and Pepper to the Mushrooms, and add all of it in) 

5. Add the everything else (Fresh Chopped Garlic, Onions and Mushrooms) into the skillet with the porkchops/chicken.

Once simmered, serve on rice or Fetuccini and use the broth mixture to flavor. (could be reduced into a thinker gravy sauce if necessary)

He Cooks: Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas

I prefer Chicken Enchiladas to Ground Beef and wanted to continue finding better ways to improve on my previous Enchilada recipes. So now onto Chicken!

Chicken Enchillada Mix

Time: 2 1/2 hours. (Mostly unattended simmering)

Ingredients:

• 3 Large Breasts
• 1 Can of Green Enchillada Sauce
• 1 Can of Green Chillies
• Onion Soup Mix
• 1 cup of Chicken Broth
• 1 Can of Cream of Chicken
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 1 Cup of Frozen Corn
• 1 1/2

--------------------------------------
Start by placing the roast in a pot or large saucepan that has a good lid. Pour the water over the roast, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Increase heat to medium/high, and brown the roast on all sides.

Once the water mostly has boiled away, (keep just a bit of the beef water) pour the beef broth, chili powder and Cumin in. Cover tightly and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (set a timer!) or until the beef falls apart when you try to pick it up.

Take the beef out of the pan and shred the beef, using 2 forks or your fingers.

Place the now shredded beef back into the pan. There should be some great broth in with the shredded meat, to this add the Crushed Garlic, Garlic Salt, Butter, and Mixed Seasonings. Keep the everything on low, and stir everything together and let sit for a few minutes.

Turn off and let everything come down enough in temperature to use in where ever it's going.

Cats > Dogs

I am more of a cat person. They're self-cleaning, independent, etc. I don't dislike dogs, I just don't automatically love them. They jump all over you, they smell (don't try to deny it), they slobber, they need you to take them outside at all hours of the day/night, they're messy, they're loud, etc. I just prefer cats. That being said, I still like dogs and will pet and play with them when I visit friends and family. When I was a teenager, we adopted a black lab puppy and when I came home from work she would crawl into my lap and sleep. She still tried this full-grown. I loved that dog. I like most dogs and mostly tolerate their I-just-met-you-and-must-lick-you enthusiasm. I can enter a room with four other people (including babies and small children) and invariably the dog will seek me out first. It's almost as if they can sense my wariness. I'm certain they can smell it. The second I sit down they are up on my lap and sniffing my head. It often takes the owners several minutes to realize my predicament. I laugh and don't usually mind.

Usually.

I went over to a friend's house the other day. She has a small dog. I think small dogs tend to be on the yappy side in order to make up for their size. They need to be fierce (in dog mind) because they are small. I don't like most small dogs. Dachshunds, Malteses, and terriers are pretty much the only exceptions. Aside from their yappiness, they are plain ugly. Especially the ones that look like a door was slammed in their face. And yes, there ARE ugly cats too, but we're not talking about cats right now. Stay focused. This particular small dog wasn't ugly, but she isn't cute.

As soon as she was allowed out to inspect me, she began licking every piece of exposed skin she could find. I couldn't sit down because she was especially intent on my ears. She started jumping up my leg as if I had a squirrel hidden in my hair somewhere. Her owner would get her to stop, so I could go and sit down. So she'd resume jumping all over me like a toddler who has spied you eating Oreos. Then I'd stand up and the owner would call her off. This cycle was repeated several times until I passed her interrogation. Once I was allowed to sit down, she decided I was now her best friend. She climbed up on the pillow next to my head and presented her rear end to my face several times. She took no less than 1,000 turns around the pillow and finally settled down.

I thought I was in the clear.

All of a sudden, there was a new threat in her doggy mind. The location of this threat was her crotch. So intense was her focus, that all other noise was eclipsed by her determined chewing, licking, and snorting. "The butt nugget must die! I must find it and neutralize it! ALL THINGS DEPEND ON THIS!!!"

The minutes ticked away as I prayed for cessation. I was enjoying conversation with my friend when out of nowhere, A TONGUE WAS IN MY MOUTH. My new best friend decided I must sample what she had been enjoying for the last 30 plus minutes. "Taste the butt nugget, Human! Don't you think it tastes dangerous?!?!" I gagged and did my best to wipe my mouth out discreetly.

The rest of the evening passed without incident. Until then. Came then.

After a brief nap, the dog resumed her crotch patrol. After a while, she stopped. I breathed a sigh of relief, until I noticed her having difficulty getting the last swallow down. All my senses were on high alert for the millions of hours it took. She then stretched and started to stand up. She put her front paws down on my leg, indicating she wanted to crawl into my lap.

Three things happened in the next millisecond.

One: The dog started heaving.

Two: My brain started screaming at my body, "WE ARE AT DEFCON 1. NUCLEAR WAR IS IMMINENT. MOVE NOW!"

Three: The dog regurgitated all of its last meal and all of the butt nuggets it had worked so tirelessly to remove.

Because I had started to get up, the landing area was mostly on the couch. Sadly, my leg was also a casualty. All I could do was sit there, with dog vomit soaking into my pants, while my friend put the dog outside and grabbed some paper towels. All she could manage to say was, "Sorry my dog threw up on you." And truly, what else can you say at that point?

The dog was relegated to the outdoors for the rest of the evening and made sure we knew how much this displeased her.

At least cats have the decency to puke on the carpet or your bed.