Smashed Chicken Surprise

Even when trying new recipes almost every day, it is hard to cook outside the box. I tend to see recipe feeds with the same cuisines over and over again. The goal of this adventure was to cook new and exciting meals, meals not every having been served on the dinner plate before, meals having never ordered at a specialty restaurant before. Meals and recipes from around the globe!

As it turns out, recipes from around the globe is difficult as ingredients are regional. Not gonna find a lamb rump in this neck of the woods, banana leaves at the local ethnic market, or anything other than ham, turkey, salami, or roast beef, Havarti, Swiss, or cheddar at the deli. Ethnic meals are therefore limited in selections. Tonight, in my never ending efforts to be global, was a Russian (possibly?) Squashed Chicken Surprise.

Modifications Made:

Ten gold potatoes replaced baby potatoes. They were boiled as instructed, cut in half width wise, and smashed with the palm of my hand. Bacon was doubled, sun-dried tomatoes were omitted, Hungarian paprika replaced smoked paprika.

Scaled for Likability: Great

This tables final result did not look anything like the original posting as mine was not swimming in moisture and tasty juices. In rereading the instructions, I am not really sure as to where the clear liquid would have come from as no additional chicken broth or water is added. In fact the only liquid at all is from one cup of heavy cream. Lest not, the dish was moist and flavorful and had a great combination of textures. The bacon, the chicken, the mushroom, the potatoes, all wrapped up in cheese. The best part, unlike all previous attempts at cooking bacon inside of a dish, this bacon remained crunchy!

In cooking the dish again in the future, one cup of chicken broth will be added to the chicken and veggie mixture before placing in the skillet. Chives will be added atop for a nice onion hint at thee end as well as a brightness of green splash against the red and yellow background.

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes for flavored tomatoes, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one can tomato sauce, two low sodium chicken and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots, juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender. Green beans and corn tossed in, heat t

Way Too Rich, Extra Heavy Cheesecake

Pictures are deceptive. What this picture of this recipe does not show is how old and faded the print out paper is, how many stains are smudged across various spots, and the numerous notes written in the top right corner with the first one dating back to college days in 2001. Yikes, twenty years ago makes this paper print out old, no wait, that makes me old. Eek. Sadly, my current living quarters do not allow for cooking of this cheesecake. In fact the last time this recipe has been made have been close to six or seven years. That is just too long. Too long. Luckily, we are spending Spring Break at family with a real oven. A family who will help eat this oh so rich, very decadent, supremely yummy cheesecake. Modifications Made: There are four keys to a successful cheesecake. ONE: all ingredients must be room temperature. If your house is ice chest cold, then warm the ingredients on the stovetop. TWO: do not over mix. Excessive mixing creates air pockets resulting in split mi

Layered Lemon Curd Loaf

Good grief us heat loving Texans have made it. What a week it has been. Winter is over and Texas winter is back. Last night to celebrate the end of The Great Freeze 2021 with heating pads, electric blankets, and space heaters we indulgently ate ice cream. Yes, it was 32 degrees outside but directly in front of the space heater it was bliss.. Tonight it was back to everything lemon with The Best Lemon Curd Loaf Cake using this Lemon Curd recipe. Modifications Made: For the bread, sugar was reduced by a quarter cup, greek yogurt was used instead of sour cream, lemon extract instead of lemon zest, and glaze was omitted. Scaled for Likability: Good Love this lemon curd. Have made several versions and this is by far the easiest. Bread was not excessively sweet, had a moist, crumby inside, and a crunchy top layer. Layers of bread to curd was good but the addition of a sweetened cream cheese would have been better. Bread was served cold and would have been great with a drizzle of lemon

Eating Waffles

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