Quick Chicken and Dumplings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon butter
  1/2 cup pre chopped onion
  2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts
  1 (10-ounce) box frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
  1 1/2 cups water
  1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  1 bay leaf
  8 (6-inch) flour tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch strips
  1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken and vegetables; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.
   
2. While chicken mixture cooks, combine water, flour, and broth. Gradually stir broth mixture into chicken mixture. Stir in salt, pepper, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in tortilla strips, and cook 2 minutes or until tortilla strips soften. Remove from heat; stir in parsley. Discard bay leaf. Serve immediately.

From My Recipes.com…

Happy Eating…

Cedar Planked Salmon - Fire Day Friday

I don't like salmon but my family absolutely LOVES it, so I make it for them often.  One of their favorite ways is when I cook the salmon on a cedar plank on the grill.  The smoldering plank provides additional seasoning to the already zesty potlatch seasoning and it also makes for an interesting presentation.

Cedar planks used to only be found in specialty stores like Williams Sonoma or grill stores but these days I have seen them in some grocery stores. 

Cedar Planked Salmon

Potlatch seasoning adapted from Bobby Flay

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets 
• 4 cedar planks, soaked in water for one hour
• 1 lemon, cut into 8 thin slices
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper
• 3/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp roasted cumin
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flake
• 1/4 tsp dried tarragon
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp dried minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano

Instructions

1. Preheat a charcoal grill set up for direct heat at 350f.
2. Mix the spices together for the potlatch seasoning.
3. Place the salmon fillet skin side down on planks and season liberally with the potlatch seasoning.   Depending on the size of your fillets, you might have a little extra seasoning leftover.  Top each fillet with two lemon slices.
4. Place the planks on the grill, close the lid and cook until the internal temperature of the salmon is 120-130f.  
5. Remove from the grill and serve immediately.  You can serve directly on the planks or remove it from the plank.  if the skin wants to stick to the plank, no big deal, just use a spatula to separate the fillet from the skin.

Tips
Here are several ways to test for doneness when grilling fish.  The tips are from the Cooking Fish Fundamentals lesson at Rouxbe Online Cooking School.

• Test for doneness early and often.
• A rough guide is 10 minutes total per inch of thickness.  
• Cook to an internal temp of 120-140f but fish with dense flesh (tuna, salmon) can be done at 120f.
• Check the inside flakes at the thickest place

Season rather heavily.

The spicy rub, salmon and smoke are a nice combination.

GERMAN PANCAKE aka DUTCH BABY ~ CLASSIC GOOD EATS

GERMAN PANCAKE
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted + a little to coat the pan
1 teaspoon vanilla
Juice of 1 lemon
Powdered Sugar

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Coat the inside of an ovenproof 12 inch skillet with butter or PURE. Be sure to remember to edges and sides.
• In a mixing bowl beat the eggs until well blended.
• Add the milk and blend again.
• Sift together the flour and salt and gradually fold into the egg mixture.
• Add the melted butter and vanilla, blend until smooth.
• Pour batter into the buttered skillet.
• Bake 15 minutes.
• Reduce heat to 350 minutes and bake another 10 minutes until pancake has billowed high and turned golden brown.
• Sprinkle with lemon juice and powdered sugar. You can also use regular maple syrup or molasses or I especially like it with Blackberry Pineapple Dipping Sauce or Lemon Sauce.
• Serve immediately.

Try a New Recipe: C-3PO Pancakes

Santa brought my boys the A Star Wars Cookbook last Christmas, and they have been having a blast with it! So far every recipe we've tried has been good, but I think our favorite has to be the C-3PO Pancakes. Yum. I think they would eat these almost every morning, alternating only with Princess Leia Danish Dos (that's right, they are rolls shaped like Leia's hair).

Not only does the cookbook have good recipes, the photos are particularly inspired. Princess Leia shooting her gun over a pile of Danish Dos, Han Solo squirting ketchup out of the Millennium Falcon onto one of his Han-Burgers. Fun! Buy the book for the pictures, keep it for the recipes! Your Star Wars fans will be ecstatic.

The boys think these look like C-3PO's eyes...

C-3PO Pancakes
Makes 8 pancakes

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cans (8 1/4-ounces each) pineapple rings
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
butter and maple syrup for serving

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Put the butter in a small saucepan and switch on the heat to low. When the butter has melted, turn off the heat. Let the butter cool slightly (5 minutes).

Meanwhile, open the cans of pineapple. Drain off the juice from the cans into the sink. Set aside.

Put the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed.

Break the eggs into a medium bowl. Add the milk and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter. Whisk until well mixed. Slowly whisk in the flour mixture until well blended.

With a pastry brush, lightly brush some of the remaining melted butter in a large skillet. Set the skillet on the stove and switch on the heat to medium-high.

Fill a 1/3-cup measuring cup with batter. When the skillet is hot, after 1 minute or so, pour in the batter. Cook the pancake until golden underneath and bubbles burst on the top, about 3 minutes.

Place 1 pineapple ring in the center of each pancake. Using a spatula, carefully flip the pancake. Cook until golden brown on the second side, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer the pancake to a baking sheet. Using pot holders, put the sheet in the oven. Repeat until all pancakes are cooked, then serve warm with butter and maple syrup.

Don't forget to visit me at The Bad Girl's Kitchen for more fabulous recipes!

Dark Chocolate Brownies

These brownies are a joy.  Dark, rich and gooey they are a delicious chocolatey treat.  Enjoy on it's own or with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream on top!

2 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
2 sticks unsalted butter
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoonful vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoonful baking soda
Pinch of salt

Heat oven to 350F

Grease a 13x9 pan.

Heat the butter and chocolate very gently in a pan over low heat until melted. 

Set aside to cool a little.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together for approx 3 minutes.

Add the vanilla extract to the chocolate mixture and combine.

Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and gently but thoroughly combine.

Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into the chocolate egg mixture and fold in gently.

Pour the mixture into the pan and place in the oven for approx 20 minutes.  The mixture should wiggle in the middle when you remove it from the oven.

Leave to cool thoroughly in the pan before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

TAILGATING TIME

We have decided to make a change this year in the way Tailgating Time will work. Instead of a new linky for each week we will be using the same linky to keep all the great recipes in one place. This will provide easy access to the recipes and create one big awesome recipe index collection. There is no limit to how many you add - of course we hope you will add a new recipe each and every week! Tailgating Time will generally be posted each week on Sundays at noon.


It doesn't matter if you are a football fan or not, great party food is always a good thing. Bring over your grilled goods, chips and dips, appetizers, chili and chowders, cocktails, or any recipes that would be great for the football party buffet!

If any of you would like to host along with us you can click --> get the InLinkz code to add the linky to your blog too. You can post it once in awhile or every week during football season, that's up to you. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment here to let us know you are co-hosting, and that you visit and comment on as many of the participants as you can.

We can't wait to see what you will bring to the party. Let the games begin. Whoo-hoo!

Braised BBQ Beef Sandwich

Braised BBQ Beef Sandwich adapted from Simply Recipes
1 3lb chuck roast, rinsed and dried
2 medium onions, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 18oz bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 sandwich or hamburger buns

Directions:  In a large, heavy pot, heat olive oil on medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, roughly chopping them in the pot.  Add the bbq sauce, increase heat to medium high and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the chuck roast.  Bring to a low simmer, cover and slow cook until meat is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours.

Remove the meat from the pot.  Use a fork and knife to separate the roast into small pieces. Set aside.

Increase the heat on the pot to medium/medium-high, uncover, and reduce the liquid until thick.  Stir often to prevent burning.

Return the meat to the liquid in the pan.  warm both thoroughly.  add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on buns.  Makes approximately 12 sandwiches.

Here's what you'll need:

Chop up an onion

Saute in a deep pan with some oil.  Make sure the pan is big enough to slow cook the meat in.

Add a can of tomatoes.  The recipes says to add the can and then roughly cut them up while they are in the pan.  It would have been much easier to give them a rough chop beforehand.

Add the bbq sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the meat and slow cook for about 3-4 hours.

Pull out the meat and shred it and then put it back into the sauce.  Keep on low until ready to serve.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:

This beef was very tender but also had a few "burnt ends" which were fantastic, as well.  While it didn't have the smokiness of being cooked in a smoker, being slow cooked on the stove gave the meat a very tender, fall apart texture that really soaked up the sauce.

I used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle Sauce which had a nice little zing at the end but you can use whatever sauce you love the most.  Perfect for a day of football, family, and friends.