Chicken Potsticker Soup

I saw an idea online for potsticker or dumpling soup. The idea was to make a broth and add frozen potstickers. Simple. Easy. But in our house, even the simplest of foods needs upgrading! I decided to make the soup heavy with chicken thighs and veggies. 

Ingredients:

• 2.5-3 lbs chicken thighs
• 24 oz chicken dumplings (I used these)
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 12-16 oz mushrooms (portobello or shittake are great)
• 5-6 stalks baby bok choy or 3-4 stalks full size bok choy
• 10-12 cups water
• 3/4-1 cup soy sauce

Spices and cooking oil:

• Toasted Sesame oil
• Orange pepper 
• Chicken bouillon (alternatively you can use chicken stock instead of water)
• Garlic powder
• Ginger powder
• Dark chili powder
• Salt
• Cayenne pepper (optional)

Steps - With Pictures!

1. Season chicken with Orange Pepper, Garlic, Salt and Dark Chili Powder. Cook with Toasted Sesame Oil on your preferred cooktop until you have a nice crust on both sides and chicken is cooked through:

2. Sear your frozen potstickers or dumplings in the fat drippings. This not only heats up your chosen dumpling, but toughens your dough before adding it to your soup.

3. Shred your cooked chicken. I personally recommend using a hand mixer, just make sure you’re using a high-walled bowl. Other options are to cube or use 2 forks to shred the chicken.

4. Add your chopped veggies to a stock pot with Toasted Sesame Oil. If you are using a mix of fresh and frozen veggies, ensure you warm the frozen ones before adding bok choy. Cook until onions are transparent:

5. Once veggies are cooked through, do not cook off or remove any juice from your veggies. Add in soy and half of your water.

6. Add chicken and simmer for 10 minutes. This allows the flavor from the chicken to disperse into your stock. Add more water and season to taste. Seasonings are listed from most to least amount I personally use.

7. Once happy with your stock, add your potstickers and serve!

This is a new favorite in our house. For extra kick, serve with kimchi or sriracha. 

Mexican Soup: Conchitas

One of my favorite dishes growing up is called Conchitas. It's a beef soup that packs alot of flavor and is very easy to make. The name comes from the shell pasta that is used, in spanish "small shells" are "conchitas".

You'll need:

1 - 2 lbs of beef stew meat, lean
1 bag of medium sized shell pasta (12 oz.)
1 can of tomato sauce (8 oz.)
1/4 to 1/2 of a yellow onion
Cilantro, fresh
8 cups of water
Olive oil or Vegetable oil (your choice)
Salt
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Lemon Pepper
Cumin
Beef Boullion
Liquid Smoke, Hickory (you can find it either in the spice aisle or with the barbeque sauce)

I know this isn't as common so here's a picture:

To prepare:

1. Cut your onion into small chunks. Use 1/4 to 1/2 depending on how much you like onions.
2. Put your onions, shell pasta and enough oil to lightly coat it all, into a large pot. Cook on medium heat until onions get a slightly transparent look and shells are getting a little brown.
3. While your onions and pasta are being cooked, cut up your stew meat into small pieces.
4. When the onions and pasta are ready, put in your stew meat (how much meat you use depends on how thick you want your soup). Add more oil to coat, and spice with salt, onion powder, garlic powder and lemon pepper. Cover pan.
5. Once stew meat is cooked (do not brown it), pour in your 8 cups of water and 8 oz can of tomato sauce.
6. Spice with 4 tbs of beef bouillon, minimum. Spice the water as desired with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, cumin, lemon pepper and one cap-ful of liquid smoke (about 1 tsp). Don't forget that the taste will get stronger as the pasta absorbs water.
7. Chop up 4-5 stems of cilantro and their leaves and put them in the pot. Cover pot.
8. Leave on medium heat until pasta is soft.

Serve with a squeeze of lime and corn tortillas to dip!


Enjoy!

Delicious White Bread from Scratch

While pregnant with my little one, I developed a distaste for store-bought loaf bread that did not go away after he was born. :(  So, I experimented. Some recipes came out good; others, not so much. Finally, I found one that was ok and, after some modifications, it's great! So, this is for anyone who wants to try out making fluffy delicious honey-butter bread at home. (As some of you may know, the white flour in bread recipes can be substituted for wheat to make a wheat bread loaf. If you decide to try turning it into wheat, I highly recommend doing a mix: 1/2 white flour 1/2 wheat flour).

You'll need:

1/4 cup water (110-115°F)*
1 tablespoon of active dry yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar (or honey)
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons of butter
3 cups of white all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of salt
1 egg, whipped

9x5x3 loaf pan

Glaze:
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of honey
(if it is pure honey that needs a touch of sweetness, add no more than a teaspoon of sugar)

To prepare:

1. First, prepare your yeast. Heat up your water to 110-115°F. Then mix in your yeast and your sugar. Mix well. Allow to sit until foam appears (10-15 minutes).
2. Heat milk with butter on the stove. Remove from heat as soon as butter finishes melting. Allow to cool until between 110-115°F. *This is very important, as it can kill your yeast in the next step.
3. Pour your milk and melted butter mixture and yeast mixture into mixing bowl. Mix well.
4. Add 2 cups of your flour. Mix well.
5. Add the last cup of flour. It will not mix as well, but do your best without over working the dough (no longer than 2-3 minutes).
6. Add your egg and salt (I missed the salt once! It didn't taste bad, but, still, don't forget it) :)  Mix well.
7. Scoop out onto floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding flour until it doesn't stick unmercifully to your hands and when it stretches without breaking, when pulled. Remember, don't over work the dough, it will still be a tad sticky when it's ready.
8. Butter a bowl. Place your awesome ball of bread dough in the bowl, and make sure to roll it around to get butter all over your dough. I usually butter the bowl, then I rub butter on my hands and pick up my dough ball and pat it all over and put it in the bowl. Either way works the same.
9. Cover your bowl with a thin towel and put it somewhere no one will mess with it. Make sure to eyeball your dough, you're going to want it to double in size before we take it out (about 1 hour).
10. Once your dough has risen, flour a surface to work on. I usually knead it in my hands for about 1 minute before placing it on my surface. Flatten the dough into a rectangle with your hands until roughly 18x9 inches.
Fold the dough in 3, like you would a paper to put in an envelope:

Pinch the 3 folds at each end closed.

11. Place your dough, seam-side down, in a buttered loaf pan. Cover with thin towel. Let rise for about 30 minutes, or until the top of the dough is level with the top of your pan.

During this time, preheat your oven to 350°F. Place a pan (like a cake pan or a small frying pan in the oven below the center rack (where your bread will be). Boil 3 cups of water on the stove and pour into pan (keep your head out of the way of the steam!). This creates a steam bath that ensures a good crust.

12. Dip a sharp knife in flour and cut across the top of your loaf, about 1/8- 1/4 inches deep.
13. Make your glaze by melting the butter and then mixing in the honey. Brush about half of your glaze across the top of your loaf. (If you prefer sesame seeds on top of your bread, brush 1 egg white instead and sprinkle on your sesame seeds)
14. Place your loaf on the center rack, above your steam pan, for 30-40 minutes, or until your bread reaches an internal temperature of 190°F.
15. Leave bread in pan for 5 minutes to cool, and brush on the remainder of the glaze. Remove to cooling rack.

Allow your bread to fully cool before cutting it, otherwise the slices you cut will crumble. I recommend using a sharp knife rather than a bread knife.

I hope you enjoy! I am about to make breakfast for dinner with French Toast, eggs and bacon. Mmmmm...

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

I just made some and wanted to share the recipe. They are the best chocolate chip cookies I've had, pre-made, out of the box or from scratch! I make them large, about 5 inches in diameter and they come out very soft and delicious.

You'll need:

1 cup of butter (2 sticks), room temperature*
1 cup of granulated white sugar
1 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs (extra large)
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 teaspoons of hot water
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 cups of all-purpose white flour
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Non-stick baking sheet(s)
Tupperware*

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 350°F

1. Use a fork to blend the butter and both sugars together. Mash until creamy. *make sure butter is room temperature, do not melt.
2. Mix in each egg separately. Mix well.
3. Mix in vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl or container, mix hot water into baking soda. Add to your mixture.
5. Mix in salt.
6. Now mix in your flour until well blended and then add your chocolate chips. Feel free to eat some awesome cookie dough. :)
7. I like to make my cookies big, so my "rounded tablespoonful" is about 3 inches in diameter:

If you do the same, give yourself about 3-4 inches between each dollop.

8. Bake on center rack for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown.
9. Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes and place in sealed tupperware *to retain softness.

Makes about 18 cookies.

Well, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! I am a chocolate fiend, so I make these at least once a week!


Since we are already talking about something sweet, here is a video of my little Scott!

Have a great day!

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breast Stuffed With Cream Cheese

Well, for my first blog ever, I want to, first, share a little about myself. I am a stay at home mom, I have son who's a few days off of being 4 months old, and I love projects, whether it be a new recipe, baking, crocheting, sewing, painting, etc. This is what I hope to share with anyone who is interested in passing the their time with similar projects and in reading about my adorable son (I am, of course, not biased whatsoever about his adorableness) :)

So, here goes!

Last night, my husband and I tried a new recipe. It was delicious!

It took a little preparation but it was actually very simple to make. You'll need:

2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast
5-8 bacon strips
1 pkg of cream cheese (room temperature)
3 green onions, thinly sliced
3 jalapeños, fresh, sliced and seeds removed
spices of your choice
baking pan or sheet
frying pan (for bacon)

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 375°F

1. Lightly cook bacon on medium low temperature until no longer slimy (if it starts to brown it's been cooking too long)
2. Cut the chicken breasts into 1/4 inch slices (so, they should still be wide and long, just thin) my package had 2 chicken breast and I was able to cut each into 3 slices
3. Prepare your green onions and jalapeños. For the jalapeños, you can use the pickled kind from a jar just make sure to remove the seeds from whichever kind you use. Take a fork to your cream cheese to soften it and make it easier to work with.
4. At this point, you can mix your onions and jalapeños into your cream cheese, or sprinkle them on top after you've spread the cream cheese on your chicken. Spread the cream cheese as evenly as possible on only one side of your chicken.
5. Roll the chicken up, with the cream cheese on the inside, of course, then wrap each with a strip of bacon. You can stick a toothpick through if you feel your bacon strips need to be more secure.
6. Place your chicken on a baking pan or sheet. Lightly season with whatever seasonings you like. I put a little bit of Nature's Season's Seasoning Blend (salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, celery) and a touch Chili Powder. Don't overdo the seasonings this dish has a lot of flavor already.
7. Put them in the oven for 30 minutes in the center rack.

For the a side dish, I made asparagus in the oven, and it was a perfect combination!

This is a new favorite for my husband and I. Let me know how it comes out for you! :)