Chicken Alfredo

Mindy here and I'm wondering, have you ever assumed a favorite dish you only ordered when you went out to eat was really involved and difficult to make so you never considered making it?

That's exactly how I was about Alfredo sauce. It was so creamy, so decadent that it had to involve a long lengthy process. Then my son was studying for exams and asked for Chicken Alfredo.

Um, okay. Yeah, I'll look into that.

Well, I wasn't about to order out, so I turned to the internet.

What's this? There are only three ingredients in Alfredo sauce? Ingredients I actually have in the fridge?

This was so meant to be.

So I grabbed a couple of boneless chicken breasts from the freezer, thawed them in the microwave and tossed them on the grill. You could also bake them in the oven or simply cut them into cubes and cook them in a skillet on the stovetop. You could even use leftover chicken.

Now for the sauce and those three simple ingredients.

Oops. My bad.

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 -  1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat.

As if you've never seen butter melt before.

Add the cream.

Stir to combine, then add the grated parmesan.

Stir/whisk until cheese in completely melted and the sauce is smooth and creamy.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon sauce over your favorite pasta (the boy prefers penne), add the chicken and enjoy.

And enjoy we did.

I couldn't believe it was so easy. And that I'd never made it before. Now it's one of our go-to quick dishes. Okay, just not on a daily basis. I mean, with all that fat, it's definitely a treat.

The other day Mary Jane was lamenting the heat where she lives. And while we're not quite that hot here, it is summertime in Texas and everyone is trying to beat the heat.

Make that every thing.

The cows are doing their best to stay cool.

Even the bull decided to take a dip.

Now it's your turn.

Have you ever hesitated to make something because you thought it was too difficult, only to discover it was way easier than you expected?

Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband and the last of her five children. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

Picnic food for those who walk on the wild side

Hi everybody!!!

  We've had a heat wave which means we're doing a lot of things outside. Swimming. Sleeping. Eating. Of course BBQ is a favorite around here, but sometimes I need something more than burgers and hotdogs, ya know??

 So, this is a pasta salad recipe that shows up at family functions. If you don't know my family, when you see the recipe, you'll understand. It's a bit... weird. And we're all a bit... weird.

 

First, an egg timer. What? You don't have one of these?? I got this as a bridal shower gift and it's AMAZING. You plop it in the boiling water with the eggs. Then, it changes color and you take the eggs out when the color reaches the setting you want. Ha! Brilliant!

 

Next, several pounds of cooked pasta, firm. I usually use the spinach variety, but we were out. So, plain old corkscrew it is.

 

1/4 cup mayo and 4 TBS vinegar. I thought we might be out of vinegar because the kids were using it for our home made volcanoes. (They did use up all the baking soda, but since I still haven't gone oven shopping, I'm okay with that.)

Green olives, pickled jalapenos, sharp cheddar and sweet onion. Have I lost you yet???

2 TSP thyme. Some people put in marjoram but I'm not a big fan of marjoram.  Mix the mayo, vinegar and herbs together, them mix with the pasta. If this sounds like something you wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, I think it helps to remember it's basically the recipe for Thousand Island dressing without the Worchester and ketchup. Some people put in sweet relish, and sometimes I put in dill relish, but I went for simple and spicy this time.

 

One pound cubed sharp cheese onto the pasta, which was cooled and rinsed in cold water. We don't want to heat up all these ingredients. That would be a whole different flavor. We're going for chilled excellence.

                               
Three large green olives, minced. Sometimes I use garlic, too, but I wasn't feeling the garlic love today.

Mmmmm! Farm fresh eggs! Peeled and sliced roughly. I also add some tasty bits like bacon or pimento or sweet red pepper or celery slices. It's really a versatile recipe after you get the base where think it tastes good. Chill at least 3 hours in a sealed bowl, covered with plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out.

Here's hubby's plate. I like the pickled jalapeno flavor but not necessarily the 'burn your face off' after-effects. So, I layered on the peppers for him and took them off my own.

And this is a picture of what I got one week at the Farmer's Market. YUMMY! See that giant cinnamon roll?? I love local food. Cinnamon rolls may not be quite the "farm fresh" food people think of, but I'm telling you, it's GOOD!

 

 

 

  Ok, you all! Have a wonderful week and don't melt in the heat! I'll be in the kiddie pool if you need me...

 

Beating the Heat, Still Able to Eat!

I hate the heat.

Just hate it. I turn into a beast, my head aches, I get swamped in self-pity and I'm really beyond ridiculous. My level of poutiness borders on obscene. I am a total wuss.

But I love me some nice weather! What a conundrum.

How do you cook and deal with the heat without central air if you're a big whiny-pants like me?

I use my porch. If you don't have a porch, use the deck. Or the stoop. Or the outside cellarway. The grill... Whatever it takes to keep the house more comfortable!

I keep an old table on the porch (and another one in the garage). That's where my deep fryers live...

I use my big roaster oven on the porch to roast things over the summer. We did a turkey on Monday... and had fresh turkey sandwiches on Tuesday and turkey and gravy over Basmati Rice tonight with grilled summer squash and zucchini on the side. Remember the idea of a "Summer Kitchen"? People who heated with wood stoves understood that the human body is not meant to be roasted for 10 weeks/year. Therefore they COOKED OUTSIDE... I love how smart that was! And when I've toured vintage home museums and plantations, even some of the simpler homes had the kitchens off-set from the main house, because there's no cooling a house down if a wood-burning kitchen stove is fired up, right?

All this is done outside to limit my whining! Now you know the real truth!

I do rotisserie chickens and pork roasts on the porch. I just skewer them inside, season them and set up the rotisserie, tuck 'em inside and turn it on. Amazing taste and no heat in the kitchen.

When the kids bought Dave a new grill for Father's Day a few years ago, we got one with the side burner. I use it for boiling potatoes and pasta for salads.

No heat in the kitchen!!! YAY!

I know lots of folks are temperature sensitive. Some hate the cold. Some hate the heat. The important thing is to figure out ways to deal with things and still be considered two shades shy of normal.

So what steps do you take to keep things cool? Take the heat off? If this year is truly going down as the hottest summer on record, let's share whatever advice we can find to get each other through it!