This is such an easy recipe, it almost doesn’t even count as a recipe. But, since you all asked, I’m here to oblige.

I recently tried a Cook’s Illustrated beef brisket recipe that turned out some outstanding barbeque…it involved a spice rub and a pound of bacon (you top the brisket with strips of bacon).

Nothing that calls for a pound of bacon is ever bad, in my opinion.

However, you might not want to eat that type of barbeque on a consistent basis.  And bacon isn’t exactly cheap.

So, when you’re feeling slightly less indulgent, this version is a good option. Because the roast cooks in the crockpot for 8-10 hours, this barbeque requires very little hands-on time, but it does require you to plan ahead. My mom likes to cook hers overnight, but I soured on that practice during my pregnancies (to a nauseated pregnant woman, the aroma of beef roast at 2 am is, well, less than pleasant).

If you don’t want to cook your beef overnight, you could always start it really early in the morning, or you could cook it the day before so that it’s ready for the next night’s dinner.

I use chuck roast for my barbeque because I think it’s pretty much the best beef roast out there, and it’s not terribly expensive.  Happily, the quarter of the local cow I bought included a lot of chuck roasts.  Yay!

Cut your chuck roast up into pieces, about like this.

Come to think of it, I wonder if it really is necessary to cut it up.  My roasts come with a bone in them and won’t fit into the crockpot otherwise, but I imagine that if space was no issue, you could just put the whole roast into the crockpot.

Hmm.

Put the beef into your crockpot and top with some barbeque sauce.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the beef is fall-apart tender.

The nice thing about a chuck roast is that it’s sort of impossible to overcook it.  It’s better when it’s cooked for a really long time, actually.  If you check your beef and it looks done, but it’s not tender, cook it longer.

Once the beef is done, remove it from the crockpot, let it cool, remove any extraneous fat/gristle, and shred the meat (it should practically shred itself if you’ve cooked your roast long enough).

At this point, you can add in your favorite barbeque sauce and call it done.

Or, you can make the sauce from my grandmother’s recipe, add it to the beef, and let it cook in the crockpot for another hour or two.

Serve on buns, of course.

Any leftovers freeze very nicely for a future quick meal.

Crock Pot BBQ Beef Sandwiches

3-4 pound boneless chuck roast

1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon. chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons sugar

Cut roast into large chunks; place in slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove beef from pot and let cool. Remove gristle/fat, and shred beef.

Add your favorite barbeque sauce to taste and heat, or combine above sauce ingredients, add to beef, and return beef to crockpot to cook on low for 2 more hours.

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Today’s 365 post: A different angle (I completely broke the one-picture-a-day pattern with this post.)

Joshua’s 365 post: A Reptile Show with a Surprise

When I shared my dinner photo with you the other day as evidence that I had indeed resisted takeout temptation, a lot of you asked for the recipe, and I’m here to oblige.

This recipe comes compliments of my aunt, and she got it from someone at church, and that means I haven’t the faintest idea why it’s called Shrimp Veiness.  Googling it only turns up results from my own menu plans, so that’s no help.

EDIT: My aunt just emailed me to let me know I’ve had the name written on my recipe card wrong all these years.  I’m so embarrassed.  Hee.  The correct name is Shrimp Viennese, which does indeed make waaaay more sense.

Basically, though, it’s a rice casserole with a delicious shrimp and mushroom cream sauce.

(I just want to say that creamy sauces are pretty much the best thing in the whole world.)

I don’t have step-by-step pictures, but I’m sure that if you can read, you can manage with the photos that I do have.

Ok.  So, to make this, you need shrimp.  That automatically puts this into not-so-frugal territory, but as shrimp dishes go, this one does stretch ‘em more than usual.  So, you could think of it as frugal if you’re comparing shrimp recipes to shrimp recipes.

Just don’t compare it to a lentil soup recipe.

Anyway.

For the tastiest shrimp experience, do yourself a favor and buy raw shrimp.  Pre-cooked, pre-peeled shrimp are handy, to be sure, but they just do not taste as delicious.

The recipe calls for a pound of cooked, peeled shrimp, but I just steam a pound of raw, unpeeled shrimp and call it good.

To help the shrimp distribute through the dish well, slice them in half lengthwise.  They should still have their shrimpy shape…they’ll just be thinner.  You could just chop them in half, but that wouldn’t look as beautiful.

You’ll also need cooked rice.  The recipe calls for 3 cups, but since I like my rice to be sauce-erific,I only use 2 cups of rice. More sauce, less rice, I say!

You can use white or brown rice, but I usually use brown.  Because when I’m making a recipe that calls for cream and a stick of butter, health is clearly my top priority.

Speaking of butter and cream…

That’s the sauce.  Making it is pretty simple…it’s a lot like making a cream soup base (like we do for Baked Potato Soup.)  You saute chopped onions in butter, stir in flour, stir in the liquids, bring it to a boil while stirring, and boil it for a minute to thicken it up.

After the sauce is done, stir in the cooked shrimp.

Pour the sauce over top of the rice.

Cover with foil and bake at 350° F for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.  Be careful not to overbake it because that will dry your shrimp out.  You’re not trying to cook anything; you’re just bringing it all to a even temperature.

Dish up onto your $0.50 white Goodwill plate and admire how beautiful it looks.

How many this serves sort of depends on how hungry your diners are, but I’d say that you could easily feed 4 adults with this recipe (it serves the six of us just fine, but my children definitely don’t have adult-like appetites at this point in their lives!)

This dish is definitely best the day it’s made because the chilled sauce doesn’t reheat all that well and because it soaks into the rice, making the dish not as creamy.  So, don’t make an enormous pan of this unless you’re feeding a lot of hungry people.

Shrimp Viennese

Printable Shrimp Viennese

2 tablespoons onion
6 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white cooking wine
1 teaspoon dill

1 pound shrimp, cooked, peeled, and sliced in half lengthwise
2-3 cups cooked rice

In a saucepan over medium heat, saute onions and mushrooms in butter until onion is softened. Whisk in flour. Whisk in chicken broth, cream, lemon juice, wine, and dill. Cook and stir over medium heat until sauce boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute to thicken sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste (I usually add none, but if your butter and broth are unsalted, you may need to add salt).

Stir shrimp into sauce. Place rice into an 8×8 inch baking dish and pour the sauce evenly over top. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350° F for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.

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Today’s 365 post: Do you notice clouds?

Joshua’s 365 post: Pizza Smile!

When I posted the pizza bagel picture on my 365 blog, a couple of you were wondering where you could find the recipe.

Normally if you’re trying to find a recipe I’ve posted, you can use the search box over there on the right, or poke through the recipes category (I even have a pizza category).  But you couldn’t find this recipe using those methods because I hadn’t posted it!

At least, not until now.

Pizza bagels are super simple to make, and they’re great for when you don’t feel like messing with making your own dough or don’t feel like heating up your oven to eleventy-billion° F.

The method is really similar to the one that I use when I make French Bread Pizza, but I thought maybe it deserved its own post.

I usually buy cheap bagels for this…the Lender’s brand from the frozen section work great.  You could make your own bagels, I suppose, but that would sort of make this recipe not quick and easy.

Heat your oven to 350° F, and place the bagel halves, cut side up, onto a baking sheet (I use the Vollrath Cookie Sheets that Cook’s Illustrated recommends.  Love, love, love!).

Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the bagels.

Top with mozzarella cheese.

We like to sprinkle pizza spice onto ours at this point.  You can buy prepared pizza spice in a jar, but I usually make my own by combining oregano, basil, parsley, garlic, and some Parmesan cheese.  Use whatever you love!

You can top the cheese with pretty much anything you’d put on a regular pizza…things like pepperoni, sausage, veggies, ham and pineapple, and bacon.

Bake the bagels for about 8-10 minutes, then turn on the broiler, and broil for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese has browned a bit.

Totally delicious, totally easy.

This is kind of a non-recipe, but here are some directions that you can copy, paste, and print if you so desire.

Pizza Bagels

bagels
tomato sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
desired toppings

Heat oven to 350 F. Place bagels on an ungreased baking sheet, cut side up. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over bagels, then top with cheese and desired toppings.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until heated through. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until cheese is spotty brown.

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Do you have any great pizza alternatives for the dog days of summer? Share in the comments!

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Today’s 365 post: I was pretty proud of these biscuits.

Joshua’s 365 post: Captain Cook

disclosure

When I was growing up, my mom occasionally made sloppy joe sandwiches, but for some reason, I never really got into the habit of making them myself once I left home.

I got a Cook’s Illustrated cookbook from the library this past winter, though, and decided to give their version a try.

Like most Cook’s Illustrated recipes, this one is a winner, especially if you use some lovely local ground beef.    Because it’s also fast and easy and uses pantry ingredients (plus you just need some buns in your freezer), it’s a good meal to pull out when you just don’t feel like bothering with much in the kitchen.

First, heat a tablespoon of oil in a 12-inch frying pan over medium high heat.

Add chopped onion and saute until softened.

Add minced garlic.  I lurve my garlic press (it’s a Kuhn Rikon Easy-Squeeze Garlic Press, recommended by Cook’s, actually).  Very sturdy and super easy to clean.  If you need a new press, definitely consider buying this particular one!

Anyway, add the garlic and chili powder, and cook for about 30 seconds (just until you can smell the garlic and chili).

Add ground beef, salt, ground pepper, and brown sugar, and cook just until the beef is no longer pink.

(Oddly enough, the online version of this recipe says to cook it until it’s just pink, which confuses me.  Isn’t raw beef kind of pink? Or maybe it’s considered to be red.)

Anyway, I’ve cooked it until it’s just turned brown (usually with bits of pink remaining) and the results have been delicious.

Stir in tomato puree, ketchup, and water and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Serve on buns, with plenty of napkins.  They’re not called Sloppy Joes for nothin’.

By the way, if you like your food spicy, top your sandwich with some hot sauce…I love it that way!

The recipe says it only makes 4 sandwiches, but we always get more than that out of a recipe probably because I use a whole pound of beef instead of the 3/4 pound the original recipe called for.

Sloppy Joes
printable Sloppy Joe recipe

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 pound 85% lean ground beef
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 cup tomato puree
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water

Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet on medium high heat.  Add the onion and cook until softened.  Add garlic and chili powder and saute about 30 seconds.

Add the beef, salt, pepper, and brown sugar.  Cook and stir until beef has almost no pink left.

Stir in tomato puree, ketchup, and water.  Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened slightly.  Add more salt or pepper to taste.  Serve on hamburger buns.

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Today’s 365 post: Zoe’s rear gets wet in 3…

Joshua’s 365 post: Water

(garlic press link is an Amazon affiliate link. I get a small commission if you purchase something after clicking on the link. Regardless of how you buy one, though, I think you should own that garlic press if you’re in the market!)

(note: this post contains some pictures of raw hamburger, so if that sort of thing squicks you out, you should probably stop right here.)

I put this meal on my menu plan so regularly, I thought it might be nice to actually have the recipe on my blog so that I can link to it.

I found this recipe on Cook’s Illustrated’s website (the only site I pay for…it’s sooo worth it.  Lurvity-lurve Cook’s, I do!) a number of years ago, and I’ve been faithfully using it ever since.

Cook’s developed the recipe to turn out burgers that remain juicy even when they’re well done.  Since none of us here at Chez Frugal Girl are big fans of rare burgers, this is perfect for us.

If you’ve been grilling pre-formed, frozen patties, I don’t think you’ll ever want to go back once you try this. It’s not hard to make your own burgers, and you’ll know exactly what went into them.

The food wizards at Cook’s found that making a panade out of bread and milk was key to keeping the burgers juicy (you probably use a panade when you make meatloaf or meatballs).

Before you start with the burgers, though, you should heat your grill. Burgers cook better on a grill that is thoroughly heated, and I usually find that mine is perfectly heated by the time I’ve mixed up and shaped the burgers (of course, if you have a charcoal grill, you’ll probably need to start it earlier).

To make the panade, tear up enough white bread to make 1/2 cup (I’ve used sandwich bread, French bread, and leftover buns with equal success.  Just be sure to remove the crusts.) and pour in 2 tablespoons of whole milk (I have used milk with a lower fat content and the burgers were fine).

Mush it all together with a fork to make a homogenous mixture.

Next, stir in the salt, pepper, crushed garlic, and steak sauce.  This will make a sort of disgusting-looking mixture which will make your burgers very much the opposite of disgusting.

Add the panade mixture to your ground beef, and mix until the panade is evenly distributed (I like to use a fork for this).

Cook’s recommends using 80% lean ground chuck.  I use beef that comes from the cows that graze here:

So I haven’t the faintest idea what the lean/fat percent is.  Whatever the balance, it’s super duper good beef.  Local beef makes good burgers, people.

Shape your meat into patties. The original recipe calls for making 4 patties, but since some of us (Sonia and Zoe) prefer slider-sized burgers, I make six patties of varying sizes.

Before you put the burgers on, scrape the grill clean, dip a small wad of paper towels into some vegetable oil, and run them over the grill grates (using tongs, of course).

(I didn’t come up with that idea…Cook’s did.  It does seem to help keep the burgers from sticking, though, so I recommend it.)

Cook the burgers for 2-4 minutes on the first side, them flip them and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve on buns with desired toppings (I’ve recently discovered that avocado slices make a very delightful burger topping).

Well-Done Grilled Hamburgers
printable version

1/2 cup chopped or torn white bread (remove crusts)
2 tablespoons whole milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons steak sauce (I use Aldi’s brand)
1 1/2 pounds 80% lean ground chuck

(before you start, turn your grill on so that it has 15 minutes to heat)

1. Place bread pieces in a bowl, and pour the milk over the bread. Using a fork, mash the bread and milk together to make a smooth paste. Add salt, pepper, garlic, and steak sauce, and mix until smooth.

2. Add ground beef to the bread/milk mixture, and gently combine, using a fork.

3. Shape the beef into patties.

4. Using tongs, dip a wad of paper towels into a small amount of vegetable oil, and run them over the grill grate.

5. Place burgers on grill. Cook for 2-4 minutes on the first side, flip, and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until burgers reach desired doneness.

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Today’s 365 post: This is how many pencils…

Joshua’s 365 post: Paper Dolls

Yes. In May.

I’m sorry. I know this would have been 62% more appropriate to post in January when we were all freezing (and when you were asking for the recipe!), but sometimes things just don’t work out the way we want them to.

And since I’m in charge of this here blog, I can do things like posting soup recipes in May.

So.

This recipe is sort of a highly (highly) modified version of a recipe I got from All Recipes.  I did try Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe for Clam Chowder, but after making it twice, I came to the conclusion that I just do not prefer bacon in my clam chowder.

Bacon is the bomb in Baked Potato Soup, but I cannot manage to love it in clam chowder.

So, this is a bacon-free clam chowder.

It is not a fat-free clam chowder.  In fact, it calls for a stick of butter and and a quart of half and half.  It tastes delicious, though, and really, if you’re looking for a low-calorie dish, clam chowder should probably not be on your radar.

I made this on a really busy day, so I don’t have step by step photos.  It’s not super complicated, though, so I think you’ll be ok.

Basically, you’re going to make two different pots of stuff and then dump them all together in a big pot with the clams.

Or, if you are more brilliant than me, you’lluse a big pot for one of these mixtures and save yourself a dish.

To make the first pot, saute celery and onions until they’re soft.  Add a minced clove of garlic and saute it for 30 seconds.  Stir in a bottle of clam juice plus the juice from two cans of clams along with 4 cups of potatoes (I use red potatoes.  Russets will be too mooshy.).  Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

To make the second pot, melt 1/2 cup of butter and stir in 1/2 cup of flour.  Cook and stir it until it’s bubbly, and then gradually stir in 1 quart of half and half.  Stirring regularly, bring it to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

Combine the potato mixture and the half and half mixture along with the clams.  It looks like it won’t come together properly at first, but if you gently mix it, it will turn into a lovely, creamy soup.

Add pepper to taste and salt if you feel it’s necessary. I usually find that the butter and clam juice provide plenty of salt, but your mileage may vary.

Heat the soup just until it’s warm. Of course, I think you should serve it with some good bread. Braided Cheese Bread was my choice that day.

Clam Chowder
Printable Clam Chowder Recipe

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup celery
1 tablespoon butter
1 minced clove garlic
4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1 bottle clam juice
2 10-ounce cans minced clams, drained with juice reserved

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 quart half and half
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste

Saute onion and celery in butter until softened. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add potatoes, clam juice (include juice reserved from cans). If necessary, add enough water to cover potatoes. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

In a large, heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in half and half, and bring to a boil, stirring regularly. Boil 1 minute. Add potato/clam juice mixture along with the sugar, black pepper, and reserved clams. Salt to taste. Heat to desired serving temperature.

Today’s 365 post:Bagless Shopping

Joshua’s 365 post: Baby Carrots

When I did my review of The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, one of the recipes I made were these Shrimp Burgers.

Unfortunately, I took only one (not-so-good at that!) photo, and we all know I can hardly bear to share a recipe without some photos.

However! I made them for dinner again last night and I’m here with the requisite photos.

(note: If raw shrimp grosses you out, you should stop reading right here.  I apologize.  There’s just no way to make raw shrimp look really delicious.)

I’d never had shrimp burgers before I tried the ATK recipe, but they appealed to me because they seemed sort of like a crab cake, and I do love a good crab cake.  They remind me of a cross between a crab cake and a fish sandwich (especially if you top the burger with tartar sauce), and I think they’re really tasty.

Of course, a recipe calling for a pound of shrimp isn’t exactly frugal, but since a lot of you wanted the recipe, I’m just going to post it anyway.  And hey, if you compare the cost of this recipe to the cost of prepared, frozen seafood, though, or to the cost of takeout, it does seem downright frugal (you can practically eat lobster at home every night for the same cost as restaurant food!).

Ok!  To start off, whisk together the mayo (the recipe calls for light, but I just used regular), green onions, parsley, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Process a slice or two of whole wheat bread in the food processor to form crumbs.  You’ll need 3/4 cup of crumbs, but the number of slices needed to produce this amount will vary depending on the type of bread you use.  You could use white bread to make your crumbs too.

Shake the crumbs out of the food processor bowl and process the shrimp until there’s a mixture of finely chopped pieces and larger chunks.

Gently fold the bread crumbs and shrimp into the mayo mixture.

Gently form the mixture into patties.  ATK recommends making four, but when I did that, I had a harder time getting the insides of the patties cooked through without burning the outside.  So this time I made more burgers and made them a little thinner, which worked a lot better when it came time to cook them.

Cover the patties and refrigerate them for 30 minutes.  You can refrigerate them longer, but don’t refrigerate them less.  They need time to firm up and become a little easier to handle…otherwise, they fall apart super easily.

I made mine mid-afternoon and put them in the fridge while I headed to the gym.  I was pleased with myself for being that organized and ahead of the game (cooking when I get home from the gym is uninspiring to me!), but that all quickly faded when I got to the gym and realized I’d left my shorts at home.  Rats.

I briefly considered working out in my jeans, but trashed that plan after about 2 seconds.

So, I ran some errands, and came back home to cook my burgers.

A nonstick pan is really useful for this recipe.  You can use a regular pan, but you’ll need more oil or butter, and your burgers might stick even then.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat (the recipes calls for canola oil, but I prefer butter, thankyouverymuch).

Gently place the shrimp patties into the pan and cook for about 3-5 minutes on each side.  The cooking time will depend on how thick your patties are, of course.

Serve as-is, with lemon wedges on the side, or on buns with lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce.

Shrimp Burgers
Serves 4
Printable Shrimp Burger Recipe, courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen
It is best to buy shell-on shrimp and peel them yourself. Prepeeled shrimp are often treated with a
sodium solution, which affects their flavor and gives them a rubbery texture. (Kristen’s note: totally agree! Raw, unpeeled shrimp taste the best.)

1 slice high-quality whole-wheat sandwich bread, torn into 1 inch pieces
1 pound extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined (I used 51-60 shrimp…way cheaper, and the burgers were still very tasty)
3 tablespoons light mayonnaise
2 scallions, sliced thin
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons canola oil (um, or butter)
Lemon wedges (for serving)

1. Pulse the bread in a food processor to coarse crumbs, about 4 pulses, and transfer to a bowl (you
should have about 3/4 cup crumbs). Wipe the food processor clean, and pulse the shrimp until there is an
even mix of finely minced and coarsely chopped pieces, about 7 pulses.

2. Whisk the mayonnaise, scallions, parsley, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and cayenne together in a large bowl
until uniform. Gently fold into the processed shrimp and breadcrumbs until just combined.

3. Scrape the shrimp mixture onto a small baking sheet, divide it into 4 equal portions, and loosely pack each into a 1 inch-thick patty. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. Heat the oil in a 12ıinch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Gently lay the
shrimp burgers in the skillet and cook until crisp and browned on both sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Gently
transfer the burgers to a platter and serve with the lemon wedges.

Per serving: Cal 190; Fat 7g; Sat Fat 1g; Chol 175mg; Carb 5g; Protein 24g; Fiber 1g; Sodium 370mg

Today’s 365 post: Zoe’s socks, though Joshua’s lens and mine

Joshua’s 365 post: All new! Socks with ventilation!

disclosure

I got this recipe from a Taste of Home magazine a while back, and it’s become quite a favorite of our family.  Joshua and Sonia always ask for seconds of this, and that’s saying something because they’re not normally big main dish fans.

This dish isn’t at all hard to make, and it tastes kind of like Chicken Cordon Bleu, except I like it better!  I think the chicken coating has a better texture and flavor and the chicken is usually more moist as well.  Plus, you don’t have to fuss with trying to roll up chicken breasts.

I got the recipe from a Taste of Home magazine, and it’s also available on their website.  However, I made a few minor changes, and the version that follows reflects that.

First, you’ll need to crush up some Ritz crackers.  I don’t really like any off-brand Ritz crackers for eating as crackers, but they do work fine in this application so I use whatever type I have on hand.

An old cereal bag works great for crushing crackers with a rolling pin.  Cereal bags are often more tear-resistant than even freezer Ziploc bags (so your crackers won’t poke holes in the bag), and they’re free with a box of cereal!

Place the crumbs in a round cake pan or pie plate and add salt.

Next, whisk an egg in a separate bowl.

The original recipe calls for regular chicken breasts, but as you regulars know, I hate cooking whole chicken breasts.  I fail at cooking them evenly.  I also hate trying to pound a chicken breast to 1/4″ thick, so I just cut mine horizontally into thin cutlets.

Anyhow, to bread the chicken, dip each piece into the beaten egg and then into the cracker crumbs, coating each side.

Now, the recipe says to melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet, but I don’t think 1 tablespoon is enough.  I use several.

Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side or until it’s browned and cooked through, adding more butter as necessary.

Move the cooked chicken pieces to a wire rack set on a baking sheet.

If you like mushrooms (I don’t but Mr. FG does), saute them in the skillet until they’re softened.

Place a small piece of Swiss cheese on top of the chicken to hold the ham in place, then top it with ham, then mushrooms (or not if you don’t like them!), then more Swiss cheese.

Broil the chicken 4-6 inches from the heat for several minutes, until the cheese is melted.

A salad and some yummy homemade bread enhance the deliciousness of this chicken, just so you know.

A couple of ingredient notes:

1) Chicken breasts are not all created equal.  Local, small-farm chicken breasts taste the best and are the most responsible choice but if you need to buy commercial chicken, the Tyson brand is the tastiest option.* (I learned this from Cook’s Illustrated and have found it to be true).  I know Tyson is much-maligned, but I don’t think their practices are any worse than other commercial chicken producer’s practices (buying Perdue or off-brand chicken isn’t taking the high road).  And I figure that if you’re going to buy commercial chicken, you might as well buy the kind that tastes the best.

*I’m not going to be around much today to check in on the comments, so if you have something unhappy to say about factory-farmed chicken, be a dear and keep it polite so that there’s not a flaming war going on here when I return!  Shanks.

2) Deli ham is not a cheap food.  But the recipe only requires a small amount (I use half a slice for each piece of chicken usually), and lunch meat ham is cheap at Aldi and often goes on sale at other stores.  Also, nitrate-free versions of deli ham are available at regular grocery stores (Hormel makes it and perhaps other companies do too).

Swiss Mushroom Chicken
printable version

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
1 egg
1 cup crushed butter-flavored crackers (about 25 crackers)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons butter, divided, plus more as necessary
4 slices deli ham or thinly sliced hard salami
4 slices Swiss cheese

Flatten chicken to 1/4-in. thickness or cut chicken lengthwise into thin cutlets. In a shallow bowl, lightly beat the egg. Combine cracker crumbs and salt in another shallow bowl. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in crumbs; set aside.
In a large ovenproof skillet, saute mushrooms in 1 tablespoon butter until tender; remove and set aside. In the same skillet, cook chicken over medium heat in remaining butter for 3-4 minutes on each side or until no longer pink.

Top each chicken breast half with a small piece of cheese, a ham slice, mushrooms and a cheese slice. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Today’s 365 post: I would want to buy this because…?

I am really not a big fan of fish.  I know I should be, I know that fish is nutritious, but I just do not generally love it.

However, I do like fish when it’s prepared this way, and my kids really, really love it.  They rarely ask for second helpings of a main dish but when this is on the menu, they almost always want more!

The recipe comes from the Betty Crocker Chinese cookbook I bought when I was a teenager, and despite the fact that Betty Crocker is probably not the most authentic source for Chinese food, a lot of the recipes in the book are really tasty.

You don’t have to use tilapia in this recipe, of course…the original recipe called for walleye or sea bass, and I imagine many other fish fillets would work just as well.

First, pat the fish dry with paper towels and sprinkle with a mixture of cornstarch, salt, and pepper.

Refrigerate the fish for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix white wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil together to make the glaze.

And while you’ve got the time, mince the garlic and the gingerroot so it’s ready to use later.

Heat a large skillet until it’s very hot and add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, tilting to coat the surface of the pan. Add the fish and fry several minutes on each side until the fish is browned (the time this takes will vary depending on the thickness of your fish.)

I usually end up needing to add more oil to my pan during the cooking process, and even then, I still manage to mangle my fish pieces some. Fortunately my family doesn’t care too much!

Remove the fish from the pan and add garlic and gingerroot. Cook for 30 seconds, and stir in the sauce ingredients.

Add the fish back to the pan and spoon the sauce over the fish.

I apologize for the kind of boring end product picture…I must have not been feeling too inspired when I took these photos.

So, you’ll just have to take my word for it. This recipe is yummy and even if you don’t like fish, you might like it this way!

Asian Glazed Tilapia
Printable Asian-Glazed Tilapia Recipe

1 pound tilapia or other mild fish fillets
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I use cooking wine because I am just that sophisticated)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons roasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped gingerroot

Pat fish dry with paper towels. Mix cornstarch, salt, and pepper; sprinkle evenly over both sides of fish. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Mix wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil together in a small bowl.

Heat a large skillet until it’s very hot, then add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add fish and cook on both sides until fish is browned and flakes easily with a fork. Remove fish from pan.

Add garlic and gingerroot to pan and cook 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture.

Return fish to pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, spoon glaze over top of the fish.

I know…it’s Wednesday.  But I’ve been busy sanding, painting, and priming, which means there’s not been a lot of time for baking.  I do have a super delicious recipe for Cinnamon Crisps that I desperately want to share with you (well, mostly I want an excuse to make them again because they were so delectable), but that will have to wait until next week.

So, for now I’m going to share a recipe for a simple, light main dish salad that we enjoy in the summertime.  It’s similar to the chicken salad served at Wendy’s, and I found the recipe online a number of years ago (I’d give credit but I did a search this morning and came up with nothing).

It’s not that hard to come up with the salad part of this…lettuce, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, and chow mein noodles aren’t rocket science.  But until I found this recipe, I couldn’t figure out how to make a yummy Asian dressing to pour on top of the salad.

I considered trying to figure it out myself, but I’m glad I didn’t go that route, because I’d never have thought to combine this many different ingredients.

The dressing is really easy to make if you own a blender (though I suppose you could do this by hand as well.).  Basically, you just combine everything except the oil in a blender.

Then with the blender running, you slowly add the oil, which turns the mixture into a slightly thickened, honey-colored dressing.

Yum.

The dressing keeps in the refrigerator for a remarkably long time, which is good because I find that the dressing recipe makes way more than we need for one meal’s worth of salads.  So, I just keep in in a jar in the fridge and use it instead of bottled salad dressing, or I sometimes halve the dressing recipe.

Since this makes a fairly light meal, I like to serve it with a good bread, like Pull-Apart Garlic Bread or Glazed Honey Pan Rolls.  Really, though, any number of breads from the Yeast Bread category would be tasty alongside (ok, maybe not the overnight cinnamon rolls!).

Mandarin Chicken Salad-serves 4
Printable Mandarin Chicken Salad Recipe

Dressing
1/2 cup corn syrup (you could try subbing honey if corn syrup freaks you out. This isn’t high fructose corn syrup, though, and only a small amount makes it onto the salad anyways)
3 tbsp. white distilled vinegar
2 tbsp. pineapple juice
4 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. paprika
dash garlic powder
dash ground black pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. sesame seeds (I don’t usually add these)

Salad
4 chicken breast fillets
1 large head iceberg lettuce, chopped
4 cups red leaf lettuce, chopped (I just use green leaf lettuce)
1 1/3 cups canned mandarin orange wedges
1 cup rice noodles
1 cup roasted sliced almonds (I forgot to add these to the pictured salad!)

Prepare dressing by combining all dressing ingredients except vegetable oil and sesame seeds in a blender on high speed. Slowly add oil to mixture (to create an emulsion). Add sesame seeds and blend for 2-3 seconds. Pour dressing into a covered container (I like to use a small Mason jar) and refrigerate.

Rub each chicken breast fillet with oil, then lightly salt and pepper each piece. Grill on medium/high heat until done. Chill chicken breasts in refrigerator until cold.

In 4 large salad bowls, layer lettuce, chicken, orange wedges, rice noodles, and almonds. Serve with prepared dressing.

Today’s 365 post: Sneak Peek