Sometimes I just want a Mexican flavored comfort food during the winter months. Here is what I came up with after perusing a number of recipes. It was great but I am always looking for new twists and suggestions. If you try this recipe, I would love your added expertise.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

2 cans green chopped green chilies, used separately

1 1/4 c. low sodium chicken broth

2 lb. chicken breasts (skinless, boneless)

1 c. chopped onion

1 red pepper, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped or sliced

2 t. oil

1 t. chili powder

1/2 t. cumin

1 can enchilada sauce

4 oz. tub style lite cream cheese

8 oz. bag shredded lite cheddar cheese

1 can evaporated skim milk

1/2 c. chopped cilantro

12 corn tortillas

Combine 1 can green chilies, 1-1/4 chicken broth, 2 lb. chicken and simmer 15 min. or til meat is tender. Reserve the broth, cool chicken and then shred.

Saute 10 min or until tender: onion, red pepper, zucchini, oil, chili powder, cumin, 1 can green chilies.

Add reserved broth, enchilada sauce, cream cheese, 1/2 bag of shredded cheese, shredded meat, evaporated milk and heat through. Remove from head and add chopped cilantro.

Layer 4 corn tortillas in 9 x 13 pan, 1/3 chicken mixture, repeat 2x and end with 1/2 bag of shredded cheese.

Bake 1/2 hour 350. Serve with Cholula or other hot sauce for those who like more kick.

Total calories (not incl zucchini, red pepper, onion and cilantro) 3085. Serves 8+ at about 385 calories per serving.

Chicken Piccata with Garlic Basil Pasta

I have been eyeing this recipe for a while, and I finally made it last night. If there was any left, I would post a picture of it, but we cleared it all out! The flavor of the lemon made it taste so fresh and delicious! I watched an episode on the Food Network a long while ago, and Barefoot Contessa made it. I just recently went on foodnetwork.com and they had the recipe! I will definitely be making this one again!

The Garlic Basil Pasta was from a recipe exchange I go to every summer. The taste of the fresh garlic and basil is wonderful. It is very light, which is nice, going with the breaded chicken!

Chicken Piccata

2 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 extra large egg
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
olive oil
3T unsalted butter
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 2 lemons), lemon halves reserved
1/2 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound out chicken between 2 sheets of parchment paper until 1/4 inch thick. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix flour, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in shallow plate. Beat egg in second plate, and place breadcrumbs in third plate. Dip chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.

Heat 2 T. olive oil in large skillet over medium low heat, add chicken and cook 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place on sheet pan and bake for 5 to 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, wipe out the pan with a paper towel. Over medium heat, melt 1 T. of the butter, then add the lemon juice, wine, and reserved lemon halves, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Boil over high heat until it reduces about half, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 2 T butter and swirl to combine. Discard lemon halves and serve chicken with sauce.



Garlic Basil Pasta
(from Cooking Light)

2 oz. uncooked angel hair pasta
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. minced garlic (I used about a tablespoon)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 T. chopped fresh basil

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 2 T. of pasta water. Combine pasta water and sauce ingredients, toss in pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Week 10: The Old Fashioned Recipe Share

My mother makes fabulous swedish food and this year I have tried to make some of the recipes.  I apparently called enough times with questions that she gave me the most exciting Christmas gift - a copy of the "Orange Cookbook" as she calls it.  Brilliant!  This cookbook holds all the recipes from my childhood smorgasbords at Pilgrim Pines and Christmas dinners with dear friends from PCC.

Today I continued my habit of cooking sweets when it is cold and baked skorpa.  This Swedish toast is very sweet and pairs perfectly, I mean perfectly, with strong black coffee.  I have memories of Mormor eating it up at Bethany Beach in the beautiful dunes near the beaches of Lake Michigan.  Sunsets by the lake are one of the things that feed my soul.  Food is an experience that you have with all sorts of family and friends.  That is one of the things I love about cooking!  Skorpa is what you would get if cardamom bread and biscotti had a baby.  A beautiful baby.  I've put the recipe under breads since it is technically a twice baked bread.

Enjoy with hot hot coffee on a cold cold day!
-Melissa

P.S. If you have a treasured copy of the "orange cookbook" hope you use it well!

Week 9: Foul Weather Cookies

One of the sad things about being in an apartment is realizing that there is no insulation in your roof and that you can see the cold sunshine through the edges of your doors.  Yes, I can see light through my door.  And in the negative-whatever-degree-weather we have been having it is hard to feel warm.  So I find that I am baking more and more sweet treats.

The best cooking gift I received at our wedding was the Cookie Bible.  It sat unused through the summer and then winter hit and I have made dozens upon dozens of cookies from this cookbook.  I tried two new ones this week.  Fresh Orange Cookies and Chocolate Walnut Meringues.  I chose the orange cookies because they required you to chop one whole orange and put it, including the rind, in the dough.  I chose the chocolate walnut meringues because, well, I've been cooking out of my closets only this week and that was the only other recipe I could make.

Chopping the orange was messy and a little disconcerting.  I know that rind can be pretty bitter and I was skeptical.  The glaze ended up being key to the cookies - otherwise they were bitter.  The chocolate meringues would have been better if I left them in the oven, like my mother does, to really dry out.  They ended up tasting like bites of overcooked brownie - not bad, just not right.  Regardless, the house smells amazing.

So what do you cook when it's cold?  If you have fabulous cookie recipes - send them our way!

-Melissa

Week 8: The Value of a Recipe

Traveling is always exciting - especially when it comes to food.  In San Diego there is a wonderful mix of breakfast places that my in-laws have introduced me to.  From World's Best to Brockton Villa, the choices are all fabulous.

Torrey Pines State Reserve

This trip we went somewhere new - The Cottage - in La Jolla, CA.  My mother-in-law had been there celebrating when she finished her Master's degree and her girlfriends had bought her the cookbook that the restaurant sold.  So we returned, years later, partially because the binding was shot on the cookbook.  The tiny little restaurant had coffee and coffee cake on the sidewalk for those of us waiting half an hour at 9:30am to get breakfast.  The ambiance was definitely cheery and the weather was quite a bit warmer than here in Connecticut.  Having read the cookbook on the car ride over, I was aware that they had specialties such as fish tacos and granola.  Interestingly enough, the granola recipe is the ONLY recipe they would not share in the cookbook.  It even said as much in the book.

Well, I ordered the Baja Chicken Hash and it was fabulous.  My mother-in-law asked one of the waiters if she could exchange her cookbook for a new one as the binding was no longer holding the center of the book together.  The young man smiled and kind of laughed a little which through us off.  He said, "We don't sell those anymore.  They're kind of a collector's item now.  Selling for $100 on ebay!" Now I just checked Ebay and I didn't see a single cookbook on there. I did find them on Amazon for $6 used.

Regardless.  It begs the question: what is the value of a recipe?  To me great food at a restaurant is kind of like a seductive secret.  I don't really want to know but it would be interesting to know.  And half the time once you do know, it isn't all that fabulous and you truly can't recreated the initial experience.   Great food is partially great because you share it in a unique setting with the people whose company you enjoy.  A recipe is only as good as the people you share it with.

Next time I visit good ol' San Diego I may end up at a new breakfast place to enjoy another round of great food.  But I won't lie,  that granola was BRILLIANT - which may keep me heading back to The Cottage in the future.  My guess is that the secret is in the cooking method but while it was really good granola, I'm not sure I'd pay $100 for it.

Hope you enjoyed safe travel and fabulous food this holiday season,
Melissa

P.S.  I've posted my toasted granola recipe under breads!