Ingredients

• 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 cup Brown Rice
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 3 stalks of Celery
• 1/2 a package of Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage (regular or mmm maple flavored. Defrost if necessary.)
• 2 medium-large Onions
• 10 Mushrooms
• 1 cup Breadcrumbs (I used unseasoned or Panko)
• 1 clove of Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tbsp Fresh or Dried Thyme

First off, measure out the 1 cup of rice…

and 2 cups water and put it in a small pot. One cup of rice seems small, but remember, rice bulks up significantly with the water! General rule of thumb- 1 part rice, 2 parts water.Sprinkle in pinch of salt and a pat of butter. I don’t use rice with a shorter cooking time (minute rice, I think it’s called?) so it takes about an hour. Cook to your package cooking instructions.

Next, chop up all the delicious veggies. I really love the flavor added by the celery and mushrooms.

You can cut the chicken before or after you prepare the stuffing, or better yet, have someone else cut it while you are sauteing the vegetables! Take a VERY sharp knife (and be very careful- watch those fingers) and cut the breasts in half lengthwise.

Next, add the vegetables to the skillet with some olive oil and the chopped garlic.

Saute until the celery is softened, but not mushy.

Add the sausage and break it up as it cooks.

Cook until the sausage is no longer pink.

Once the rice is finished (all the water is absorbed), add the rice to the veggies in the skillet and mix together. I like to melt 1/8 cup of butter and mix it in.

Spoon the stuffing onto the open chicken breast.

Fold the chicken half over and pin with toothpicks or skewers. Drizzle some more melted butter on top of the chicken and then sprinkle with breadcrumbs and thyme.

Bake in the oven on 350 until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juice runs out clear. (About 15-20 minutes depending on your oven.)

MMMM Enjoy. It’s good. I promise!

So Snickerdoodles you say? What kind of a name is that? I did some snooping around and thanks to Wikipedia, I have a possible answer! Snickerdoodles are most likely German and the name perhaps comes from a mispronunciation of Schneckennudeln, or cinnamon-dusted sweet rolls called “snail dumplings.” The German word Schnecke means a snail-like shape. Well there’s some fun trivia…but on to the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Shortening
• 1 1/2 cup White Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 3 cups All Purpose Flour (sifted)
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Coating

• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 tbsp White Sugar

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Cream together the shortening and 1 1/2 cups white sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt (and cream of tartar if you want to use any, about 1-2 tsps is enough).

I like to add a little vanilla…it’s not in most traditional recipes, but who doesn’t love vanilla extract?

Slowly add the flour mixture into the sugar mixture. Pausing to stir 2-3 times.

Once the dough is mixed , you can stick it in the fridge for 10 or so minutes while you clean up. You can butter 2 baking pans, too.

Then, mix the 2 tsp of cinnamon and 2 tbsp of sugar in a small bowl.

Take the dough out of the fridge and scoop it into 1″ balls. Toll between the palms of your hands and then coat in sugar.

Twelve fit nicely on a baking sheet!

Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and a knife comes out of the center of a cookie clean.

Look at the cinnamony goodness! Enjoy!

This recipe also uses some white wine. Another favorite of Mom’s. You know that saying “I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food”…Yeah that’s about my Mom.

Great dinner anytime and great as leftovers too…

Ingredients:

• 2 Fresh Broccoli Crowns
• 5-10 Fresh Mushrooms
• 1 Onion
• 1 Red (or orange) Bell Pepper
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• 1/4 cup of White Wine
• 2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
• Salt
• Pepper
• Goya Adobo Seasoning
• Olive Oil
• 1 Box of Any Pasta (this dish works well with penne, bow ties and other smaller piece pastas)
• 1-2 cups Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

First things first- put water on to boil for the broccoli. We use a metal pot that has a strainer that fits inside. This way, we boil the broccoli in this water, and can save the water to then boil the pasta. If you don’t have a pot like this though, it’s alright- you can strain out the broccoli with a handled strainer, or just dump the water into a colander.

After the water is on to boil, turn on your electric grill (we have a good ol’ George Foreman). If you don’t have one of these, you can put the chicken breast in the broiler instead- or buy a grill below…

Trim the chicken breast and rinse it. Season it with Goya seasoning, salt and pepper and a little olive oil on each side. Grill the chicken for 7-10 minutes, or until it is no longer pink in the center.

Chop it up and put it to the side.

While the chicken is cooking and the water is heating up, chop up the bell pepper, onion and mushrooms. Keep them separate.

Cut the broccoli into equal sized spears and peel the stems so they are tender after cooking.

When the water comes to a rolling boil, put the broccoli in for only about 4 minutes. You just want the broccoli to cook slightly, but still remain somewhat crisp.

While that is cooking, heat up some olive oil in the skillet. Once hot, add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.

***Remember to watch the broccoli. If it is ready before it is time to add it below, just strain it out and put it to the side. Remember to keep the water on the side for the pasta. Once you take out the broccoli, you can bring the water back up to a boil, and once boiling, add the pasta (with plenty of salt) and cook to package directions.

Add the wine to the mushrooms and saute for a few minutes until mushrooms are tender but still firm.

Remove the mushrooms and put them to the side. Add some more olive oil. Once hot again, add the onions and peppers and saute until tender.

Add two cloves of garlic from the garlic press. We add this near the end so it does not burn.

Add the mushrooms, the broccoli (if it’s ready) and the chopped chicken.

Saute for under a minute just to warm everything back up. Season with salt, pepper, more olive oil, and plenty of pecorino romano cheese.

***Remember the pasta! Remove from the water whenever it’s ready…simply pour on a platter and spoon the vegetables and chicken on top.

Serve immediately on a big platter and enjoy!

You are probably asking yourself, “what is goop?” Goop is my family’s word for a stewy, ragu-like concoction. Basically, the kind of dish that you need bread or biscuits with because you have to dip the juices up. I am the butt of jokes when it comes to goop dishes because I will load my plate up, and still dip in the main dish. I like to call it a self-preservation technique…basically, I just love to eat

The great thing about goop is you can make it with anything really. For example, we altered this edition by adding our leftover potato leek soup from a couple nights ago. We are a big leftover family. Make enough for a few nights, then you always have something to munch on, or add to the next nights meal somehow!

Ingredients:

• 1-2 small Roasting Chickens
• 5 medium Potatoes
• 1 large Onion
• 1 15oz can of Sylvia’s Specially-Seasoned Field Peas with Snaps
• 1 15oz can of Sweet Peas
• 1 15oz can of or 2 cups of Baby Carrots
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika
• Olive Oil
• 2 1/2 cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock
• 1-2 cups Leftover Potato Leek Soup (Optional)

Preheat the oven (on bake) to 350°F.

Chop the onion(s) and potatoes. In a large roasting pan, saute the chopped onions and potatoes in some olive oil with salt and pepper on medium heat. We used the roast pan on the bridge burner of our stove.

Add the carrots, peas and seasoned Sylvia’s Beans. You don’t have to drain the liquid in the cans, add it right in!

Saute this mixture until the onions begin to soften.

While the onions etc are sauteing, season the small roasting chickens with salt, pepper and paprika.

Add the chicken broth and, if you’re using it, the leftover potato leek soup.

Once the oven reaches 350° insert a meat thermometer into the chicken and bake the chicken and goop until the inside of the chicken reaches 150°.

This recipe is great with biscuits or fresh bread! Slice some chicken and dredge it through the delicious stew with biscuits and mmmmm.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 medium-large Potatoes (white)
• 3-4 large Leeks
• 1 Ham Steak
• Bulb of Roasted Garlic
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Flat Leaf Parsley
• 4 cups (1 quart) Chicken Stock/Broth
• 4 cups (1 quart) Water
• 3 tbsp Butter (room temperature)
• 1 tbsp Flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

The first step is to roast the garlic, and this takes a good hour, so make sure you either do this earlier in the day or at least before you start anything else.

Chop the potatoes, keeping the skin on, into small chunks about 1/2-1″ thick. Put to the side.

To prepare the leeks, chop off the root ends. Then chop off the greener top stalks.

I like to chop the leeks first, and then soak them to get out the sand. Mom on the other hand, she’s a little more anal. She likes to scrub the leeks before AND after they’re chopped. Whatever you have time for or prefer…

Chop the leeks in even rings.

Put them all in a bowl of water and agitate, separating the rings to get all the sand out. Strain out the water, and repeat if you like. Leeks tend to be fairly sandy. Put the leeks to the side.

Roughly chop the parsley and set aside.

Place a tbsp of olive oil in either a skillet, or roasting/soup pan and heat it up. We use an oblong deep pan so we can keep all the ingredients in one pan and not lose ANY flavor.

Once the oil is hot (medium heat), put the ham steak in and brown on each side. You don’t want to burn the ham steak, just brown each side and reserve some of the fat in the pan.

Once the ham steak is cooked, take it out and put it to the side to cool a bit. De-glaze your pan with the white wine and scrape up the ham bits to incorporate into the mixture.

Then add the leaks and coat with a little olive oil.

Chop the ham steak and return it to the pan with the leeks.

Add the potatoes, chicken stock, and water.

Turn the heat up to high and simmer the soup for 20 minutes.

While this is simmering, whip up the flour and butter into a little paste.

About 20 minutes into the soup simmer, add this paste a little at a time, making sure it dissolves. Add the roasted garlic paste.

Continue to simmer for another 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

Take the soup off the heat and mash together with a stick blender. If you don’t have this magical appliance, you can use a potato masher or a slotted spoon…OR you could buy a stick blender below…

Add the chopped parsley as a garnish, and enjoy! MMMM.

Delicious!!

Roasted garlic has a much mellower flavor as most of the pungency is roasted away. It is also transformed into a butter-like paste. You just squirt it out of the paper!

This takes about an hour, and it’s well worth the wait! mmmm garlic…I’m an addict.

Ingredients:

• Whole bulb of garlic
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Foil (don’t eat this, please )

Preheat the oven to bake at 400ºF.

Alright, you need a sharp knife. If your knife is dull, even a little bit, TAKE THE TIME TO SHARPEN IT! Alright, take your garlic bulb, rotate it on its side, and cut it ALMOST in half. You want to be able to open it all the way, but have a sort of paper hinge.

Baste on some olive oil to cover the exposed garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

Close the bulb back up and wrap it up in foil.

Place it in the heated oven for 1 hour.

Take it out, unwrap the foil (careful, it is hot).

Once it has cooled, you can just squirt out the garlic…it’s that easy!

mmmm Roasted Garlic…

Ingredients:

• 3-5 Boneless Pork Chops
• 1 cup Flour
• 1/4 cup Chopped Parsley
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Goya Adobo powder
• 2 gloves garlic

Add salt, pepper and Goya powder to the flour to season. Dredge your pork chops through the flour.

Then pat on some chopped parsley.

Heat up some olive oil in the skillet with chopped garlic.

Simply sautee your chops for 4-7 minutes on medium-high.

Flip once, your garlic will get crispy and the chops will be a lovely golden color.

Yum, enjoy! Goes great with a light salad.

To make any kind of roast, it’s important to remember that meat keeps cooking after you take it out of the oven. Because of that, it’s really important to use a meat thermometer – especially for beef if you want it rare and delicious. This roast beef is not any kind of intricately seasoned dish, but the timing and temperature ensures the entire roast is cooked to perfection.

Ingredients:

• 1 (Or 2 or 3 or 4) Eye Round Cut Roast Beef
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Pepper
• 1 tbsp Goya Adobo seasoning
• 1-2 cups water (for the bottom of the roast pan)

Preheat the over to convection bake 350°F.

Take the rack out of your roast pan and pour the seasoning in the bottom and mix together.

Unwrap the meat and simply roll it around to cover it in spices. Once it’s covered, return the rack to the pan, stick in the meat thermometer, and put the roast in the pan.

Fill the bottom of the pan with water, just deep enough not to touch the meat. The water helps disperse the heat in the pan better and keeps the pan from torquing under the heat of the oven.

Set the thermometer to beep when the inside of the roast is 118°.

Take the roast out, slice, and enjoy

Ingredients (Oatmeal) 

• 3/4 cup White Sugar
• 3/4 cup Brown Sugar (packed/sifted)
• 2.5 cups flour
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 Eggs
• 2 room temperature sticks (1 cup) of Butter (if you use salted, don’t add any salt, if you use unsalted, add a pinch of salt)
• 2 cups Oats
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Butterscotch Chips

Ingredients (No Oatmeal)

• 1 3/4 cup White Sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 2 Eggs
• 2 room temperature sticks (1 cup) of Butter (if you use salted, don’t add any salt, if you use unsalted, add a pinch of salt)
• 1 Tbsp warm water (At the end I like to add a bit of warm water, especially if the dough is thick)
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Butterscotch Chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cut the butter into chunks in your bowl and whip it together to make sure it will mix well.

Add the sugar and whip together. (These pictures depict the oatmeal recipe, if you are making the original, use all white sugar)

Add the vanilla extract and mix in.

Add the eggs. It’s better to add one at a time and beat them just until they are mixed. Over mixing can sometimes lead to flatter cookies.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt (if applicable).

Add flour mixture to the cream mixture in slowly and in sections. Mix in each section until all the flour is blended and add some more flour.

When the flour is all mixed in, add the oatmeal (if applicable). Mix well.

Then add in the chips and mix just until chips are evenly dispersed in the dough.

This recipe yields around 4 dozen cookies. Since I don’t have 4 different cookie sheets, I just butter up 2 at a time and reuse them.

So, butter up the sheets- I just take the whole stick in my hand and “draw” the butter on the sheet. Take a spoon, or a small ice cream scoop, and spoon up a glob (about 1″ diameter) roll it in your hands into a ball, and place it on the sheet. 12 to a sheet

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remember, they keep cooking even after you take them out of the oven.

Let them cool on a wire rack, and ENJOY!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Flour
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Vanilla or Almond extract
• 2 cups Milk
• 2 tbsp Melted Butter for crepes
• 5-7 tbsp melted butter, to grease pan
• 3 Eggs

For Chocolate Crepes: Substitute 1/2 cup of flour for 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.

Mix together the eggs, milk and vanilla (or almond) extract in a bowl. (If you are in a hurry, you can just combine all ingredients in the food processor). In the picture below, I made two batters, the right is vanilla, the left is almond.

Sift in the flour.

Then add the sugar and melted butter. Whisk thoroughly so there are no clumps of flour.

Now, take the 5-7 tbsp of melted butter, and with a paper towel, grease the bottom of your round pan and let it heat up (Medium heat).

The first crepe is usually a test one – you want to make sure the heat is right, not too hot to burn. You also want to get the right amount in your ladle so you can fill the pan completely, but not too much or the crepe will be more like a pancake.

When you ladle the batter in the pan, pick the pan up with one hand, and pour the batter in close to the pan with the other. Still holding the pan, tilt it around to cover the entire bottom. Check out the video tutorial below:

You’ll know they’re ready to flip when the edges stiffen and the center bubbles.

Don’t worry if they aren’t perfect, they’ll taste perfect!

We like to fill our crepes with fresh whipped cream, chopped fruit (strawberries, bananas, mixed berries), nuts, chocolate, maple syrup and even some sweetened condensed milk- it’s a milky creamy sugary syrup that’s used to make flan and custard. Just open a can and spread some on.

You can fold the crepes up like a burrito (like below) or fold them in quarters and stack them, or just crumple them up and stuff them in your mouth.

Happy Eating!