Broccoli and Rice with Chicken

Inspiration for Broccoli and Rice with FriChik came from this thread on the Garden Web Cooking Forum:   Anyone have a good broccoli-rice casserole recipe?

Ingredients

6-8 large broccoli florets
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup powdered milk
2 Tbs sour cream
1/2 tsp dill
salt and pepper
1 cup cooked rice (optional)*
3 pieces Worthington canned FriChik, small dice, reserve liquid

Directions

1. Clean broccoli florets and cut into small stems.  Boil for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking.
2. Saute onions and celery in butter until clear but not browned.  Add garlic and saute 30 seconds.
3. In a measuring cup combine water, reserved liquid from the chicken, powdered milk and sour cream. Mix well.
4. Coat skillet mixture with flour.  Cook and stir 1 minute.  
5. Add liquids to the skillet all at once and stir until combined.
6. Sprinkle dill, salt and pepper (to taste) over the sauce.
7. Add chopped FriChik, cooled broccoli and rice*.  Combine well.
8. Can be served over a variety of things: whipped potatoes, biscuits, english muffins...
   We had it over buttery fresh herb croutons.  

Recipe made enough for supper. We also had carrot and raisin salad.

*If not using cooked rice, I would increase the amount of chicken and broccoli by half.

The Sweet Potato Gnocchi Coincidence

I am a disaster at meal planning. When we are entertaining or having family in, I write out a menu and shop specifically for that/those meal(s).  Otherwise, I never plan meals.  My pantry is stocked with all kinds of rice and pasta as well as dried beans. Almost all the vegetables are store-fresh, whatever looks good that week. Wish I had a big garden!   Having protein sources on hand is easy because we are vegetarian. About the only perishable (refrigerated) protein I use is tofu. The rest is frozen or canned.  Meals are inspired by the GardenWeb cooking forum, a cooking show once in a while, or something I concoct in a hurry.

Yesterday Trader Joe's had samples of sweet potato gnocchi that was so good.  Lots of butter, onion, sage, thyme, and sweet potato. By coincidence, the frozen sage and thyme herb bread dough I had given up rising was ready to bake about bedtime last night. Ugh!  I stayed up and baked it.  A coincidence tasting the gnocchi, but inspired by it none the less, we had sweet potato-herb bread-sausage stuffing for supper.




Then there are the nights, last night for example, when I plan to be home by afternoon, but I am still away when Mr. C gets home. A quick call to tell him to make his own supper.  Frozen pizza - his life saver.  :~) Thankfully there were a few pieces left when I finally got home.

SWEET POTOTO DRESSING*


2 medium sweet potatoes, peel and cut sweet potato into 1/4-inch cubes
6 Tbs. butter
1/4 large onion, small dice
2 celery stalks, small dice
3 cloves garlic, mince
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. sage
1/8 - 1/4 tsp thyme
About 2 cup  Herb bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 MSF Breakfast patties, thawed and crumbled
3/4 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil sweet potatoes 2-3 minutes to slightly soften.
2. Melt 3 Tbs. butter in non-stick skillet.  Saute onion and celery until soft. Add garlic and saute about 30 seconds.
3. Add sweet potatoes to skillet.  
4. Melt 3 Tbs. of butter in the same skillet and add cubed bread. Coat bread with butter and cook until just beginning to brown.
5. Sprinkle herbs to taste.
6. Pour chicken broth over mixture. Warm through. Add additional chicken broth as needed.
7. Add crumbled breakfast patties to the skillet mixture.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.

Made enough for 2 servings and a little left over for lunch.

*I did not measure ingredients when making this dressing. This recipe is a starting point. Use as a guideline and adjust to your taste. 

Probing Bread

Today was a Rhome day. (See previous post.)

We consulted, commiserated and crabbed about our 

GE Monogram ovens 

for months in an attempt to get the baking results we expected
from the ovens. One frustration was/is uneven baking. 

Neither of us managed to get the ovens to perform to our satisfaction.

She successfully got GE to buy back her ovens.
Sadly, I did not have the same blessing. 

She now has Wolf ovens, and recently she discovered the probe could
be used for bread.  Her blog post is here. I was anxious to give it a try
today with Potato Bread.

I began intending to follow her instructions. But, I was anxious to put the 

probe in the bread and tried inserting it after 7 minutes of baking. 

The bread structure did not hold the probe.
It made a sizable hole.

After baking the bread about 10 minutes,
I inserted the probe in the upper hole.
The bread reached 200 degrees internal temperature
on both the probe and the instant read thermometer.
This is how the bread turned out.

I will definitely use that technique again. 

Thanks, Rhome.

Bread

The Bakery and the breads aisle in the grocery store 

are always bypassed.  Home baked breads 

are more flavorful and have more substance 

than store bought air bread.  

And, I know what is in it.

When the breads are in the oven baking, 

the aroma in the house is heavenly. 

(When will the techies learn to put aroma on a blog?)    

Last Sunday I made 

Buttermilk Bread and Honey Wheat Bread

Not by accident, the bread was done at supper time.

We love fresh bread with butter.

Winging It

I needed to make bread today. I wanted a recipe that could be made with ingredients on hand, and not expensive ingredients such as eggs, milk, butter. Now doesn't bread made with eggs, milk and butter sound devine?  Challah? Sweet Rolls?  The buttermilk in the fridge needed to be used so I made Buttermilk White Bread. The aroma is wonderful!

Buttermilk White Bread

           2 cups Buttermilk
1/3 - 2/3 cups Water
          2 Tbs.  Butter
          6 cups  Bread Flour
          3 Tbs.  Sugar
          1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
           2 tsp.   Salt
           1 Tbs.  Yeast

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl, mix dry ingredients: bread flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.  Dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup warm water.  Warm buttermilk and melt butter.  Add liquids to dry ingredients and mix well adding water or flour as needed to make a soft (not sticky) dough.  If kneading by hand, turn on to floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  Using dough hook, knead in stand mixer until smooth and elastic.

Let rise until double.  Degas gently and shape into loaves.  Cover lightly to keep dough from drying, and let rise until almost double.

Bake at 375F about 30 minutes.

This recipe made 3lbs. 8 oz. of dough. Yield  two 1 lb. 4oz. loaves and one 1 lb. loaf.

Supper

I made a casserole from these things in the fridge that needed to be used up. There isn't a recipe, I make it up as I go along. Adjust the ingredients to your liking.

Cheesy Rice and Vegetables

Onion
Garlic
Celery
Carrot
Mushrooms
Eggplant
Zucchini
Red Pepper
Corn
Tomato Paste
Prime Patty w/sauce (veggie)
Sour Cream
Basil
Thyme
Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Pepper
Rice (from Sunday)

The vegetables were diced small, softened in olive oil and seasoned. Tomato paste added to the skillet and saute until it begins to stick to the skillet.  Add sauce from Prime Patty and enough water to deglaze the skillet.  Mix in cheese. Reserve a little for the top of the casserole. Bake at 350F until bubbly and cheese is brown.

As long as the oven was on, I baked the last of the Pineapple Cookies and frosted with the last of the Cream Cheese Frosting.

Everything was good!  I'll try to do better with pictures.  Today was a bit of a hurry to go vote before the polls closed.