Slow Cooker Olive Chicken

Yesterday morning I put three chicken breasts into the crock pot with a bay leaf, a jar of Spanish stuffed olives, juice and all, a drizzle of olive oil and some cracked pepper. I set it on low the entire time I was at work and when I returned I had the most tender, tasty chicken and olives, complete with a sauce to ladle over the top of my mashed potatoes.

It's that easy! I can eat for several days and don't have to cook all week now.

However, I will note that this recipe is better with a whole chicken. I haven't uploaded the picture yet...but will do so. I got this recipe from my uncle when I was about 10.

My nice slant on it, when I cook it in a sautee pan is to add a deglace of vodka to create a dirty martini chicken dish that is devine with potatoes or rice. I'll also post that sometime. It's prettier as well.

Hot Beef Sandwiches

Last night I took an eye of the round tip roast out of the freezer to thaw so that I could put it in the crock pot for beef sandwiches tonight.

This morning, I put the roast into the crock pot, poured a bottle of whatever beer I had on hand over the top, then poured an entire jar of Greek pepperoncini with the juice in the crock pot as well. I added two bay leaves, salt and pepper and turned the crock pot on low for 11 1/2 hours, the entire time I would be away from the house, door to door, to work and back.

When I got home, the second picture is what it looked like after I gently cut it up with a knife and stirred it around a bit in the juices, removing the bay leaves.

I toasted a hard Italian roll and arranged some beef on the roll along with some roasted red pepper and mild giardinara. As you can see, I ate it for dinner with a handful of chips and a root beer. I'm telling you, this is way too easy to be this good.

I got this recipe from my sister. Not sure where she got it, but right on, Heather!

Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

I have some leftover ham in the freezer stored in a few 1 lb portions for later use. I took some out to make an omelet and still had most of that pound left, so I need to use it up. One of my favorite comfort foods from childhood, and one of the cheapest, easiest things to make for an entire family is this dish.

Tonight I made a small casserole dish of scalloped potatoes and ham, because I know I'll only eat it tonight and then for lunch a couple of times this week. You can double or triple it to your needs.

I preheated my oven to 350 degrees and sprayed a small casserole with cooking spray. Then I peeled about 6-8 smaller potatoes, the Idaho variety, and then sliced them fairly thin and put them all in the casserole dish. I then finely chopped about a quarter of a large, sweet onion and sprinkled it over the top of the potatoes in the dish. I seasoned the potatoes and onions with a little salt and pepper.

Then I took my ham, about 1/2 a pound spiral sliced, out of the frig and cubed it up roughly in bite sizes. I added that to the casserole and tossed the ingredients together.

In a medium sauce pan, I melted about 1/3 stick of butter and then added 1 heaping teaspoon of flour, and let it come to a bubbly roux. I kept whisking it, about 2-3 minutes, to release its thickening powers, and then I added about 1 1/2 c. of milk and whisked the mixture until it came to a boil. This gives it full thickening power. I added a little salt and pepper to the cream, whisked it again, and then poured it over the casserole mixture.

I placed the lid on the casserole and baked it in the oven for an hour, until bubbly and starting to get golden and happy on top. The potatoes should be fork tender and in a bubbly cream sauce.

You can eat this all on its own, or serve it with a nice, crusty bread and/or some fresh veggies. Tonight, I'm going to eat it by itself. I'm eating alone, and I have devils food bundt cake left over from having my parents over last night.

At your option, you can elect to add cheese to this dish. I didn't tonight, because I like the traditional pauper's dish that this is.

Happy New Year!

I was offline for the holidays and then lost my modem for about 10 days, but I'm back up and running today. Here's to great food to share with friends and family in 2009!

Homemade Hot Cocoa

SP did a lot of shoveling over the holiday season and over the past few weeks. He dug out at his house, then went to his aunt and uncle's house and shoveled there, then dug out his sister's house, then stopped to dig out my parent's house, then finished mine up when he got here. It was cold, too!

While he was outside clearing my walk, I got into the habit of making us some hot cocoa from scratch. It's really easy, and I always have extra milk to use up. This is a tasty way to use that half gallon of milk that's about to expire.

In a medium saucepan, stir together 1/2 c. granulated sugar and 1/3 c. baking cocoa powder over low heat, slowly adding 1/3 c. of milk until it forms a warm, smooth paste, then stir in 3 2/3 c. more milk and warm to nearly boiling while constantly stirring or whisking. Remove it from the heat and add 1 t. vanilla extract (add 1/2 t. mint extract if you like that kind of thing), and ladle into Irish coffee mugs. Top with a generous dollop of real whipped cream and share with someone you love.

This is the best pose of 5 shots I took of SP enjoying his hot beverage. I told him he'd wind up on the internet with his tongue hanging out. He raves over this hot cocoa. Give it a try.