Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew, Oh How I Adore You

I was craving Stew. Not the one that comes to mind when you read the word Stew, the kind with big hunks of chewy, tough beef that simmers for hours on your stove while the vegetables turn to mush. When my Mom made Beef stew I would eat the vegetables and leave the meat. I am not a fan of beef or pork. Unless it’s classic Italian-girl fare like a meatball or sausage. No, not your Mama’s stew. I meant this kind of stew. Hunks of sweet, meaty vegetables and tender chicken, in a creamy, herb broth flavored with spicy black pepper; sweet thyme and sage. A warm, steamy bowl full chased the chill out of my bones; warmed my tummy and tastebuds; and nourished the craving I had brewing in my soul.



Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew
by Reeni

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 slices bacon
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 and ½ cups peeled, cubed (1-inch) sweet potato
1 and ½ cups cubed (1-inch) potato (I left my peel on)
2 carrots sliced ¼ inch thick
1 rib of celery, diced
¾ cup corn, canned or frozen
1 cup milk
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried sage
1 bay leaf
½ cup heavy cream

In an extra-large heavy duty skillet(or stockpot) brown the chicken(season well with salt and pepper first) with the bacon, butter and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Remove the chicken and set aside. Remove the bacon and dice.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet, the onion, garlic and bacon. Saute for 3-4 minutes minutes.

Add in the chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, corn, milk, chicken broth, spices, including the bay leaf, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Add enough water to cover the stew.

Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and fork soft. Taste and re-season with salt and pepper if needed. Add the cream and bring back up to a simmer, immediately remove from heat. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Scintillating Sausage Stuffed Squash

When I saw this on Esi’s blog Dishing Up Delights last week I knew immediately that I was going to make it. I had brought home an Acorn squash from the market that very same day and had no specific plan for it. It must have been fate. I changed the recipe a little bit to fit what I had on hand. Even though squash is quite delicious as is I get bored eating it the same way. This way of preparing it is more inviting, especially if your family isn’t fond of their veggies. Even the pickiest eaters will love this. Hot sausage would spice this up a little, if I had some on hand that would have been my choice. This would work wonderfully with Spaghetti squash too. I can’t wait to play around with that idea in the kitchen. There are a lot of textures to experience here. The dense, meaty sausage; the kind of chewy, stringy mozzarella; and then the soft, smooth creaminess of the squash. Acorn squash are the shape of hearts. I dub these little heart-filled squash the ideal comfort meal!



Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash Parmigiana
(Adapted from Dishing Up Delights)

1 medium acorn squash
1 medium onion, diced
¼ cup diced green pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil, for sauteing
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 ounces Italian Sausage, casings removed and crumbled
½ cup Tomato sauce
½ cup shredded or diced mozzarella plus another ounce or two for topping
1 teaspoon dried Rosemary
1 teaspoon dried Basil
1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon Red pepper(optional)
Grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash, cut side up in an 8x8 baking dish. Add about a 1/2 inch of water to the dish, cover with foil and bake the squash for 40-50 minutes until the squash is fork tender, but not mushy.

While the squash is cooking, saute the onions, pepper, and garlic in a large skillet with some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sausage and cook through. Turn off the heat. Add the tomato sauce, ½ cup Mozzarella, Rosemary, Basil, and red pepper if using, mix well.

Remove the squash from the oven. Drain the water. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees. Fill each squash half with the sausage mixture. Top each half with mozzarella and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden. Serve with Parmesan.

Tyler's Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

It’s TFF time again! Tyler Florence Friday! A few weeks have passed since I have been involved with this group. And that’s O.K! That’s one of the things I love about TFF. The flexibility. Post anytime you want with the recipe of your own choosing. Sound good? Come join me and the awesome group of food bloggers who are a part of TFF. You don't even need to own one of his cookbooks! A huge amount(1,146 to be exact) of his recipes can be found on the Food Network. You know what else makes me happy? Tyler is a comfort cook. He has hundreds and hundreds of comfort food recipes to choose from. My entry this week came out of a need to use up the huge amount of leftover food we have from Christmas. Tyler’s Shrimp Scampi was delicious, fast, and easy to make. Garlic and olive oil are two of my favorite things. Toss in some shrimp and linguini for the ultimate comfort meal. I made one mistake that didn’t affect the outcome as far as I can tell. I left out the reserved pasta water, oops! I didn’t even notice until I was typing up the recipe for this post.



Shrimp Scampi with Linguine
adapted from Tyler Florence

1 pound linguini,
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 large shallot, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
one pound of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails off
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves

For the pasta, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When it has come to the boil, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and the linguini. Stir to make sure the pasta separates; cover. When the water returns to a boil, cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the pasta is not quite done. Drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of water.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) until the shallots are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan; set aside and keep warm. Add wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil. When the butter has melted, return the shrimp to the pan along with the parsley and cooked pasta and reserved pasta water. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil and serve immediately.

Happy New Year!

Iron Cupcake: Earth - Chocolate with a Twist





My entry this month was a Chocolate Cherry-Filled Star Cupcake covered in Chocolate Ganache.



PLEASE VOTE FOR ME NOW!!!! Through Friday, January 2 at 12 noon CST at Noone Puts Cupcake In a Corner. Voting is on the sidebar. Their are new voting rules beginning this month. You can now vote for up to three of your favorites. You must check out Bakearella's entry Edible Snowglobes while your there, they are so inventive and gorgeous!
Thanks for your votes! The Kitchen Cat, Moon thanks you, too!

I saw the following on Mystique's Moments and I had to re-post it. It reminded me to count my blessings and be thankful for my wonderful parents who put a roof over my head(and Moon's), let me(and Moon) eat from their fully-stocked pantry, and love me no matter what life may bring.

Why should we be grateful?
Because...

*If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...

You are richer than 75% of this world.

*If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and a spare change in a dish some place...

You are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

*If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...

You are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

*If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation...

You are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

*If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death...

You are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

*If your parents are still alive and married...

You are very rare, even in the United States.

*If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful...

You are blessed, because the majority can, but most do not.

*If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...

You are blessed because you can offer healing touch.

*If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore...

You are blessed because over two billion people in the world cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings and pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

You are wished a prosperous New Year!!!


Moon is trying to read his fortune for the New Year! What do you think it says?


HAVE A SAFE AND VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Did Someone Say Caramel?

I think my Dad is totally in love with Dulce de Leche. And granted I can’t blame him. He is very fond of my Dulce de Leche Cheesecake. Two weeks before Christmas he began mentioning how he would like it for the holiday. My response being that I was going to make a Caramel Cake instead. He at one point asked my Mom if she would make the Cheesecake, that didn’t go over well either. I made the Cheesecake and the Caramel Cake even though it was a lot of caramel! Not much variety. Would you like caramel or caramel with that? Even though we still have both the Cake and Cheesecake present in our house my Dad had a piece of Caramel Apple Pie while out to dinner tonight. My Dad has gone Caramel Crazy, and it’s my entire fault!

This Caramel Cake is heavenly. I have watched Paula Deen make this many times with her son Bobby for his Birthday. It has been on my ‘to bake’ list for a long time. Of course I made changes and added my own spin to suit my purpose. The following is my recipe adapted from hers.

The flavors in this cake intensify with time. I had a piece yesterday and compared with the piece I had for dessert on Christmas the flavors were magnified and the cake even moister. I recommend making the cake a day or even two or three before its serving time. There is a problem with that-even the smell is intoxicating. Hide it from your family if you want to save it for a special occasion and hide it well. The slightly nutty, intensified taste of the browned butter kicks up the caramel flavor adding a whole new dimension to its flavor. Three layers of dense cake and a deep, rich caramel taste to every bite will bring such happiness to your mouth and tummy.




The Caramel Syrup is not necessary for the cake, it would be fine if you omitted it. It is not a part of the original recipe.

Caramel syrup

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup boiling water

Melt the one-third cup sugar in a heavy skillet, stirring constantly until deep-brown syrup is formed(the sugar will harden into little clumps and then begin to melt). Remove from heat and slowly stir in boiling water, being careful that steam does not burn your hand. Set syrup aside to cool.
Let it cool before adding to cake batter or it may seize up.

Kicked Up Caramel Cake
adapted from Paula Deen

For the cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
3 cups sifted self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Caramel syrup

For the filling:
1 can Nestle Dulce de Leche or use Paula's recipe

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy.
Add granulated sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and all of the caramel syrup and continue to beat until just mixed.
Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above counter dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

For the frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream, or more if needed
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until brown and bubbly, continously stirring. It will bubble and sputter in the pan. Once it reaches a caramel color, remove from the heat. It is recommended that you pour through a sieve to remove any small particles that may be in the bottom of the pan. If you do this place back in pan afterwards. Here is a link if you have never worked with brown butter before with some tips and pictures.
Stir in brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil, and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until it reaches a spreading consistency. At this time it may be necessary to add a tablespoon of heavy cream, or more, if frosting gets too thick. The frosting will still be warm at this point, once it cools it will thicken and harden up a little.

Use half of the Dulce de Leche between each layer. Frost and top with nuts.




Moon loved it, too!