Chicken, Chorizo, and Tortilla Stoup

You may have noticed in the title that this is a stoup-one of Rachael Ray's crazy words. Its between a stew and a soup.  However this is her recipe as well. I got it from my in-laws who got it from one of their friends so I thought I would beat them to it and make it before anyone else did. Man, its so delicious and spicy, we needed a box of kleenex at the dinner table!  There is such a variety in flavors in this stoup that it is almost better the second day around. 

INGREDIENTS
•1 pound chicken tenders
•Salt and pepper
•3/4 pound chorizo sausage (in packaged meats case near kielbasa at the grocery store)
•2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
•3 cloves garlic, smashed
•1 red bell pepper, chopped
•1 medium onion, chopped
•6 small red potatoes, diced
•1 can fire-roasted chopped tomatoes (15 ounces)
•1 can dark red kidney beans (15 ounces), drained
•2 teaspoons hot sauce (We used Cholula)
•1 quart chicken stock
•1 bag blue corn tortilla chips
•2 cups shredded pepper jack or smoked cheddar
•Suggested garnishes: chopped scallions, chopped cilantro, and sour cream

PREPERATION
Pre-heat medium soup pot over medium-high heat.  Chop tenders into bite-size pieces. Wash up after handling raw meat, then season chicken with salt and pepper.  Dice chorizo. Add olive oil and chicken to pot. Lightly brown chicken two minutes, then add the chorizo and garlic. Cook another 2-3 minutes, then add peppers, onions and potatoes. Cook five minutes, then stir in tomatoes, kidney beans and hot sauce. Add chicken stock and bring soup to a bubble.  Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Ladle soup into shallow bowls and top each bowl with a generous handful of crushed tortillas and cheese.

Double Chocolate Cookies with Cherry Cordial M&M's

I think seasonal candy is so great for baking!  The cherry cordial M&M's were a Christmas item at our store, and when they went on clearance for 85 cents a bag, I bought about 6 bags :)  I always knew chocolate and cherries went together so I had to try making these cookies.  They turned out wonderful and were a big hit with the family!

-2 1/4 cups flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 cup cocoa
-2 sticks butter, softened

-1 cup brown sugar

-3/4 cup sugar
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 eggs
-1 cup chocolate chips, melted
-1cup M&M's

Heat oven to 375. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and melted chocolate.  Beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy.  Blend in eggs and vanilla. Mix well and add dry ingredients.  Stir in M&M's.  Drop dough with cookie scoop onto greased baking sheets.  Press several more M&M's into each cookie.  Bake for 9-11 minutes.  Enjoy with a big glass of cold milk!

Roast Beef with Shallots and New Potatoes

Here's a tried-and-true winter roast, with a straightforward and quick preperation with a side of potatoes.  You only need green beans to complete the meal!  To be honest, I have never had a shallot until I made this meal, but oh my goodness! they are amazing and are such a great pair with the potatoes.

Serves 4 - Prep time: 15 Minutes - Total Time: 1 hour

1 1/2 pounds small red new potatoes (10-12), halved and quartered

1 pound shallots, peeled and trimmed, halved lengthwise

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

1 1/2 pounds eye-of-round roast beef

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes and shallots with the oil, season with salt and pepper.



• Push the potatoes and shallots toward the edges of the baking sheet; place the roast in the center.  Turn the roast to coat with the oil on the pan and season generously with salt and pepper.

• Roast, tossing the potatoes and shallots occasionally. Cook for 40-50 minutes. Let the beef rest, loosley covered with foil, before slicing.  Serve with green beans.

Tostadas Salsa Verde

Ok let me tell you that these look good, but taste even better! I guess its kind of like our mexican pizzas, but I'm not gonna lie, a whole lot yummier :)  Super Super Easy and they have a great kick to them with the green salsa. 

Ingredients:

-4 flour tortillas

-3/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
-2 1/2 cups shredded poached chicken (we just bought 1 lb of chicken breasts, cooked them and shredded, but for convenience, you may also use a rotisserie chicken)
-1 cup jarred green salsa, plus more for serving
-1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

-1/4 tsp ground cumin

-1 cup shredded lettuce
-3 plum tomatoes, diced

-1/4 cup sour cream

1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the tortillas on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the tortillas; bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes.
2.)  Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss the chicken, salsa, the 1/4 cup cilantro and the cumin.  Spoon the mixture evenly over the tortilla; bake until heated through, about 8 minutes.

3.)  Top with the lettuce, tomato, and sour cream.  Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro. Serve immediately, with additional green salsa.

Lemon-Parsley Pork Chops and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Work lunches are always hard to make when you have the same thing all the time. These pork chops were a simple way to change it up a bit and only takes 25 minutes to make!

You will need:

1 lemon, zest removed*

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 bone in loin pork chops

1Combine the minced lemon in a small bowl with the parsley, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp ground pepper. Set aside.

2Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Cook in the skillet until browned, 2-3 minutes per side.

3Add 1/2 cup water to the skillet; bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium-low;cover and simmer gently until the pork is cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Transfer the pork chops to a platter or serving plates; drizzle with the pan juices as desired, and sprinkle with the lemon parsley mixture.

* Use a vegetable peeler to remove the lemon zest in long strips. Use a sharp knife to cut into smaller strips, then dice, cutting crosswise.

For the garlic mashed potatoes:

about 6 russet potatoes

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp garlic powder/salt

Cut potatoes in half, and then quarter them. Do not peal the skin off. Using a large pot, boil water and add potatoes, cooking until soft, 10-15 minutes (they will fall apart when you stab them with a fork). Then, in mixer put cooked potatoes, milk and butter. Turn on a high speed and mix until smooth. Then add about 1 tsp garlic powder or salt, and mix again for about 15 seconds. If needed add more garlic to taste.  Enjoy!

Easy Birthday Cake :)

Ryan always. Always. Requests a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday. So thats what he got. But I wasn't about to buy a box mix anymore. No offense, but there is nothing like a homemade cake!  This is from the Kitchen Aid cookbook but if you dont have one, any mixer is fine. Oh, and don't mind the decorations although they are quite priceless. Star Wars was Ryans favorite growing up and we decided to do a fun, kid themed party.

For 1 Cake:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup low fat (1%) milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

1.) Combine dry ingredients in bowl of electric stand mixer. Add shortening, milk and vanilla. Attach flat beater to mixer. Turn to low and mix about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Add eggs. continuing at low speed, mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn to medium and beat about 1 minute.

2.) Pour batter into a 9x13 greased baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a cooling rack.

For Chocolate Butter-cream Frosting:

(makes about 4 cups)

6 cups powdered sugar

2 sticks of butter, softened

4-6 squares unsweetened chocolate,

melted and cooled slightly

8-10 tablespoons milk

1 tsp vanilla

1.) Combine 3 cups powdered sugar, butter, melted chocolate, 6 tbsp milk and vanilla in bowl of electric stand mixer.  Beat at medium speed until smooth. Stop and scrape down sides.

2.) Add remaining 3 cups powdered sugar; beat at high speed until light and fluffy, adding more milk, 1 tsp at a time as needed for good spreading consistancy.

Lefse Making!

Lefse is a tradition in many scandinavian homes, especially the Melling home. The best way to make it, is to prepare the potatoes and refrigerate the night before cooking.  You also need a lefse grill, lefse stick and pastry board.  Most of you won't be buying this stuff but I had to document for family's sake!

Here is the basic cooking method, however Grandpa Duanne has his own way of making it and others may not entirely follow the exact recipe but it always seems to turn our wonderful! Just make sure to get all the lumps out!!! My first time making it here in Colorado, we didn't know what we were doing totally so we ended up with lumps and that made it harder to roll the dough and cook it.

We usually triple the recipe, so that there is plenty to go around at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. It stores well in the fridge or freezer.

5 large white potatoes

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

1 1/2 cups flour
         -extra flour for rolling pin and pastry board

*makes about 18 pieces

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender (they will fall apart when you stick a fork in them);drain.  Mash potatoes until smooth-this works best in a Kitchen-Aid mixer but whatever you have is great too. Beat in milk, salt and butter.  Refrigerate covered, several hours or overnight if possible.  Work in 1 1/2 cups flour to mashed potatoes; shape into a ball. Let stand 3 munutes. Knead lightly on floured surface until springy about 2 minutes.  On a heavily floured cloth covered surface (The Bethany Co. sells a great round board made just for lefse) using a rolling pin with a pastry sock on it, roll 1/4 cup dough into thin 10 inch circle. Lift lefse with lefse stick onto lefse grill, baking until golden brown spots appear. Flip over using lefse stick and cook the same way on other side. Continue until all dough is used. 

Now, there are different ways to serve lefse, but our family prefers butter and cinnamon & sugar.  So spread butter over whole piece of lefse and then sprinkle on the cinnamon mixture. We found that a pizza cutter works best to cut it, so cut into quarters and roll. Wah-lah! Some other options are to roll up deli ham in it, jam, plain butter (Grandma's favorite) nutella or anything else you can think of.  If you ever get a chance to make this, take advantage and learn a part of our culture!

Spritz Cookies

A classic for Christmas time, you can't go wrong with the Spritz cookie! It's probably on the top of the list for easy cookie making.  You will need a cookie press. Wilton makes them, but wherever you can find an electric one, or an old fashioned one like we used, those are the two best kinds.  We came home and bought one of the manual ones from Walmart, but I would save your frustration and spend a little more on an electric press. It got jammed and the lid kept coming off so I spent a good couple hours in the kitchen making just one batch of these!!!

 1.) Mix all the dry ingredients together (powdered sugar, salt, and flour) in mixer and slowly add in wet ingredients (egg yolks, butter, almond extract and vanilla extract).

2.) Place the dough into Spritz maker, and screw the top on. You will have to screw it so that the dough is all pushed to the tip and your ready to start.

3.) Using baking sheets, place the Spritz maker onto the sheet and lift after you feel a little pressure. You will also be able to see the dough come out as in the picture above.

5.) Decorate with candy sprinkles.

4.) Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until slightly golden.

Lia's Butter Toffee

The Pioneer woman has posted some great recipes but this happens to be the first that I have tried. Mom, Micaela and I made it on our trip back to Minnesota.

Prep Time is about 10 minutes, Cook time about 30 minutes, and boy is it HOT!

*You will need a candy thermometer which you can find it at Bed Bath and Beyond or Walmart for about ten dollars. Rest it on the side of the saucepan.

Ingredients:

4 sticks of butter (dont worry, everything is better with butter!)

2 cups + 2 tbsp granulated sugar

6 tbsp water
1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups of chopped pecans ( you can also use candy canes, sea salt etc.)

4 cups of dark chocolate chips

Preperation :Combine butter, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook over moderate heat, stirring gently, until candy thermometer registers 298 degrees. remove from heat and stir in vanilla until well combined.  Pour the mixture onto a silicone baking mat or good parchment paper. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to spread quickly before the toffee sets. Spread thinly. Allow toffee to cool completely. Blot with a paper towel to remove excess oil from the surface. Coat surface with half of the melted chocolate and immediatley sprinkle with chopped nuts.  When chocolate has totally set, carefully flip over (it's okay if it falls apart a bit) and coat other side with the rest of the chocolate. Sprinkle remaining nuts immediatley. Allow to set and then break into bite-size pieces.

La Dolce Vida Candy Cane Truffles

Ok, FINALLY!!! My computer has been down with a virus for a little over a month and i've been itching to blog the many things that we have made over the holidays! I also started reading Julie and Julia which has also made me anxious to get back at it. This is an abundance of chocolatey deliciousness :) Super easy but a little time consuming. We doubled the recipe because it barely made anout 30 small truffles.

All you need is 5 ingredients:

-8 ounces of chocolate chips
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-2 tsp peppermint extract
-1/2 cup cocoa powder for dusting
-1/2 cup crushed candy canes

1.) Combine extract and cream in a microwave-safe cup and microwave for one minute.
2.) Add the chips to the hot mixture. Whisk until smooth and well-blended. Refrigerate until firm (At least 4 hours).
3.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a teaspoon, drop small, rounded spoonfuls of mixture onto the sheet.
4.) Place the baking sheet in the freezer for aprox. 45 minutes, or until the rounds are firm. Remove and quickly roll each spoonful into a ball.
5.) Place the cocoa powder into a small dish and gently roll each ball into the powder until covered.
6.) Chill in the freezer until firm again.
7.) We found that you need to roll the balls again, rolling the cocoa into the balls or else the candy canes won't stick. Repeat the process with the candy canes.
8.) Finished! Store in an airtight container and serve in small paper cups.