Chicken Parmigiana

Ingredients

6 chicken breast halves or the equivalent of chicken tenders (I just fill the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan).

I pint of spaghetti sauce

½ bag of Kraft Finely Shredded 4 Italian Cheeses

2 bay leaves stuck in the sauce.

Instructions

Lay the chicken in the pan, this works with frozen chicken as well as fresh.  Sprinkle the cheese on the chicken and pour the spaghetti sauce on top.  I have used Ragu Spaghetti sauce when I’m out of my own or don't have time to make the fresh.

Bake for one hour at 350°F.

You can cut the sauce recipe into smaller portions, and make it fresh and use it without canning it.  It is really easy to make in small batches.  I rarely use commercial sauce anymore.

You can sprinkle parmesan cheese of this before serving, but I can’t get that past my nose, and I ate this after the pictures were taken.  Plain mozzarella cheese works on the chicken for backing, but then it isn't parmigiana.  I don't bread the chicken, as I wanted it to be low calorie, and low carbohydrate.

This is good with veal or eggplant.  

Food as Medicine:

This is very low carb, high protein, diabetic friendly and downright good.  This has an extra load of lycopene if you use the sauce recipe linked here.  Lycopene is a great antioxidant.  I like to think of my recipes as good preventive medicine.  Good eats, with good nutrition value.  Free range organic meats are best for you.  I can't help thinking that hormones that plump up chickens and cows, can't help but do the same to us.  The ratios of omega 3 to omega 9 are much higher in the free range animals.  The omega 3 is what is so good for you, and also found in Salmon.  Omega 9 is what will raise you cholesterol, but coupled with the higher Omega 3 and in lower proportions the impact is far less when eating red meat.  I am not a doctor, or nutritionist, but you can look these facts up on the web.  It is easy information to find.  Here is a link to one of my favorite places for grass fed and free range meats.  They deliver to where I live, and I get over into their neck of the woods on occasion.  I don't work for them, but the advantages are worth looking at.  It is also good for the environment.

I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zucchini Boats

Ingredients

One Quart Italian Tomato Sauce, I use my own sauce

1 pound ground meat-beef, turkey or chicken

1 Cup Cheese, I used the Cheddar and Colby Jack for this photo, but mozzarella works great also.

4 Medium Zucchini

Preparation

Heat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

Brown the ground meat, and add the Italian Sauce to the meat.  I use really lean meat, but if there is lots of grease or water drain that off.  I have used almost any kind of canned sauce for this, but prefer my own home canned.  Keep sauce warm on the stove while prepping the other ingredients.

While the sauce is warming up, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise.  Use a melon baller to remove the seeds, and make the boat shape.  Be sure to leave some of the zucchini for the flavor.

Place the zucchini in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  I don't like to cook tomato sauce  in a metal pan unless it is coated with ceramic or enamel.  Tomatoes are acidic, and will corrode metal pans, and give your dish a metallic taste. Yuk.

Fill the zucchini's center cavity with the meat sauce.  And sprinkle the cheese on top.

Bake the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until a fork stuck into the zucchini indicates that it is cooked completely.  The zucchini should be tender, but not mushy.  If the zucchini are really large, don't put the cheese on right away.  You really only want to melt it, so wait for the last 10 to 15 minutes to add it.  If you stick with the medium size, then I just add the cheese right away and save myself some time.

Since I'm a cheap date, I like to serve this with Riunite Lambrusco wine, and a salad made with my own homemade Herb Salad Dressing:

Juice of One or Two lemons, about 1/4 cup of juice
1/2 Cup of Good Light Olive Oil
1 teaspoon of Penzey's Italian Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder

If you like a sweeter dressing I use some Stevia Powder, just a small pinch, but sugar will also work if you don't have a problem with it.  I don't recommend Truvia or any Xylitol sweetener as this puts the flavor off.  I sometimes want some sweet, and other times not.

Place all ingredients in a jar and shake to emulsify the dressing.  If you add some citric acid (Fruit Fresh), or vitamin C crushed up it will last about one month in fright, but will last two weeks in the refrigerator with no preservative.  (Chemist meets Food Science.) Yes, I used the word "preservative", however, citric acid and vitamin C are good for you stuff; see the links.  It is all that stuff with the weird names, that aren't good for you.

I hope you enjoy these.  I grew one zucchini plant this year for the first time.  I have enough zucchini to feed an army.  I have frozen tons of it, and use it in everything I can.  LOL

Fresh Italian Tomato Sauce for Canning

It’s easier than you think.

INGREDIENTS

20 pounds of Roma Tomatoes[1]

2 medium onions

2-6 garlic cloves-to taste or Substitute 3 tablespoons Tastefully Simple Garlic-Garlic

Scant 1/2 cup of Good Olive Oil

2-187 mL Merlot Red Wine[2]

3 Tablespoon Italian Herb Mix-I prefer Penzy’s as it is very good quality.

2 Tablespoon Dried Sweet Basil-also from Penzy’s

4 Bay Leaves

2 Teaspoon of Ground Stevia[3]

2 Teaspoon Sea Salt-for low sodium users, but it is still marvelous,add to your              taste. You really don’t need any salt to can this.

Fresh ground pepper mélange to taste-black will be adequate if no mélange is available.

1 Teaspoon High Quality Cocoa Powder[4]

1 Teaspoon ground red pepper flake.  Just process with the flat blades of you magic bullet or other such grinder.

INSTRUCTIONS

Tomato Pereparation

Use the large jar on a magic bullet, or a blender.  I prefer the magic bullet as it pulverizes them better, but you can get more in the blender.  Clean the roma tomatoes, and take most of the seeds out ( don’t worry if they don’t all come out.) 

I leave the skins on the tomatoes, as they are pulverized in the processor. This dramatically increases the lycopene in the sauce; as the skins are where most of it is.  It also reduces the preparation time.  You won’t even know the skins are in there.  Along with a couple of bullets full I will throw in the onions and garlic, if used, to also pulverize.  That way all those finicky eaters will not even know they are there (read grandson here.)

I squish as many tomatoes into the jar of the bullet as possible, and shove the blades into the jar and whip it up.  If you are using a blender, don’t pack it in like that as it won’t process as easily.  There may be some small chunks, but they will cook down, and disappear. Pour this into a non-resistive pan, like ceramic, or enamel or Teflon (without scratches).  You do not want to cook tomatoes in a metal pot, as they pick up the metallic taste, yuk.  Tomatoes are extremely acidic, and will actually begin to corrode a metal pot, which is what gives it a metallic taste when cooked for as long as this sauce will need to cook.

Once all the tomatoes, onions and garlic are ground up, I add all the rest of the ingredients.  Let this cook uncovered for at least 2 hours or more, until it is reduced to a consistency that you like.  Make sure that you stir this occasionally as it might burn, but if the heat is low enough to prevent it from splattering all over the stove, then it shouldn’t stick or burn.  I will taste this about 1 hour into the cooking, and adjust the seasoning.  Make sure you let this cook in a while before going to the next step.

This is enough for about 7 pints.  You will process these according to the instructions found on-line from USDA or the Ball Blue book.  I will add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the can.  Some things to think of are removing the air bubbles with a knife or tool designed for this, by running it down the sides of the jar; fill jar leaving ½ inch head space.  Sanitize the jars and tools by placing them in the boiling water of the canner, I just leave the empty jars in the water until I’m ready to fill them. 

If you want to make more, just increase the seasonings accordingly.  I find this to be an excellent size for how my home garden produces tomatoes.  By the end of the season I will have about 28 pints, with very little effort.  I use an organic growing method, so my tomatoes don’t require enormous amounts of cleaning.  If you use commercially grown tomatoes, clean them well.  I would even remove the skins from those, just to reduce the amount of pesticides that I ingest.

Ideas for Use

I add ground beef to mine for meat sauce.  I make spaghetti and baked zucchini boats.  This is also good as a sauce for chicken or veal parmesan.  Recipes on the way shortly, just have to make them so I have pictures for the recipes. 

I always leave a little out for a meal instead of canning it all.  This is wonderful the next day; it actually improves with age, as do most tomato based sauces.  

Enjoy.  

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[1] You can use others but they all have more water, so add a few more pounds of tomatoes, and longer cooking time. I did find that having some sweeter tomatoes like early girls and grape in the batch improved the taste a bit.

[2] I use two of the bottles from the small 4 pack bottles; the sauce is richer because of this.

[3] This is Green powder, but white powder if adequate if it isn’t available; this cuts acid in tomatoes without added calories.

[4] Use this in all your tomato based sauces, soups and stews to add a rich flavor to the sauce, but no chocolate taste.

The Perfect Reading Nook

Just a glimpse of my favorite nook in the house.  I love to sit there and read.  All of my friends wanted to know how I got the dog to pose for that picture.  Well it wasn't hard.  For one thing, it is also his favorite place in the house when his "Bad Daddy" isn't home; for another, the rug was made by "Bad Daddy", and has his scent all over it.  So there is not difficulty finding him rolled up there.

I wish the picture of the dog was better, but it gives the idea that I like.  I've got some other ideas to improve this picture, but need to wait for darkness to get them.  Aren't blogs wonderful, you can start a project and just keep adding to the process.  I love it.

This is my recharge station, and it is just so relaxing that I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night there.  Then I go to bed.  LOL.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

Good Deeds

Today I had the opportunity to watch someone perform a good deed.  I remember hearing somewhere about how good deeds just brighten everyone's day.  Not just the person for whom the good deed was done, but also for the person who performs the good deed.  What I found interesting in all of this is just how wonderful it made everyone in the store feel to see it happen.  I know it made my day.

The good deed was, a woman with a couple of small kids had ran out of money to pay for her groceries.  Now this wasn't a huge sum of money, and the woman behind her handed her the cash to cover the rest.  The look on the woman's face was worth a thousand words.  She didn't appear to be in desperate need, and said she could run home and get the money.  The other woman just said, "I hate dragging the kids all over, this will just save you the headache of doing that.

Every mother within hearing distance had to be feeling the thrum and thinking, Oh yeah take the money and be grateful for the effort.  I know that I always offer to help when and opportunity to aid someone who needs a hand.  It doesn't need to be money, but a hand with lifting and carrying things.  Putting an old person's cart back for them.  Shoveling the widow next door's sidewalk.  It doesn't take much, but it does so much for everyone involved.  I know it makes me feel wonderful when some youngin' does something nice for me.  Well it also might be and oldster who offers help too.

Thanks to all the do gooder's out there.  You make my day, in a really good way.

Namaste

The Best Roast Turkey “Ever”

I have been making this turkey for years.  I got the original out of the Meijer's Thrifty Acres add years ago.  I know that it was part of a spice company add, I think McCormick, but I have updated the processes a bit to keep up with the times.

Ingredients 

1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning

2 Teaspoons Seasoned Salt

1 Teaspoon Dry Ground Mustard

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

½ Teaspoon Pepper, Fresh Ground if you have it.

1-approximately 12 pound Turkey-Adjust seasoning for much bigger bird

2 Bay Leaves

2 Stalks of celery

1 onion, quartered

1 small orange quartered-I prefer the Florida juice oranges, and well washed

1 to 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil-I prefer a good expeller pressed olive oil

Instructions

1.     Preheat oven to 325°F.

2.     Combine first 5 ingredients.

3.     Wash the turkey and remove giblets.

4.     Place turkey on a rack in a shallow baking pan.  Shallow is 1 ½ inch sides or less, just remember they will make drippings, so you want to make sure that those are all caught.

5.     Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of dry seasoning mix from step 1 inside the turkey.

6.     Stuff bay leaves, celery stalks, onion and orange inside the turkey.

7.     Rub oil over the surface of the entire bird.

8.     Loosen the skin on the breast and rub 3/4 of the remaining rub under the skin, and sprinkle with rest of the seasoning mix on the legs, thighs, and bottom.

9.     Tie the legs together with bakers twine, and tuck the wings under the bird.  Wrap the small part of the leg with foil to keep it from browning too quickly.

10. Loosely tent with foil, I like the heavy duty type best.  Bake for 3 ½ to 4 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 180°F in the meaty underside of the thigh closest to the body.  Get close to the bone, but do not touch it.  If you have a pop-up device, so much the better.

11. Baste several times with pan juices during the baking time.  Remove foil during the last 30 minutes of cooking.

12. Let the turkey set for at least ½ hour before carving.  This gives you time to make gravy from the drippings and set up the food on the buffet or table.

Notes:  I have used lemons instead of oranges, and that was good.  I have placed a couple of slices of the orange and bay leaves under the skin, and this kept the breast a little moister during the roasting process.  I have added Teaspoon of ground bay leaves to the rub mix, which was really nice.

I tried roasting it breast down once, and we didn’t like that.  It didn’t do well in a roasting bag either.

I use the giblets to make broth for the gravy, and add pan drippings to that.

Ah Herbal Flavored Lemonade

2 Cups of Water

1 Heaping Tsp. Fresh Lavender Tops or a 2 inch sprig of Fresh Rosemary

¼ Cup Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice.

¼ scant Teaspoon of pure Stevia Powder, with no fillers, or 1/3 Cup Sugar (you can use whatever substitute you wish in the amount to give you the sweetness you like.  The measurements I give are what I like in mine.)

Pour boiling water over the herbs and let steep for 10 minutes.  Stir in the sweetener of choice to hot water during the steep time, this allows it to melt properly.  Pour all the ingredients into a quart jar, and add sufficient water to fill the jar.

Let this cool in the refrigerator until cold, and serve over ice.  Very Yummy, and very good for you.

You can serve this with a sprig of the herb that you used for a very elegant presentation.

I’m really fussy about my Stevia.  I don’t want any other ingredients with it.  I look at the ingredient list, and if it has anything but Stevia Extract listed, I don’t buy it.  So the minute amount of the Stevia listed here is plenty for the lemonade.  If you have on that has fillers, then you should use the equivalent of the 1/3 cup of sugar.  I actually would start out it ¼ cup sugar, as that seems like a lot for the amount, and adjust the sweetness if necessary.