Tuesday Tastiness #9 - Kings Ranch Chicken (healthier version)

I love this week's recipe! I modified it from the Ranch House Chicken Casserole recipe I found on Crystal's website. I have thoroughly enjoyed everything I have learned from this homesteading mama as I search for ways to modify my lifestyle and cooking. 

The biggest change from a typical Kings Ranch Chicken recipe is the homemade sauce that replaces the canned "cream of..." soups.  There is very little nutritional value in those little cans, but there is wonderful nutritional value in the homemade sauce below! And it tastes delicious!

Kings Ranch Chicken (healthier version)

2 T olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 large green pepper, choppped

1/2 chicken (cooked, deboned, and cubed)

5 cups (approx. 1 lb.) shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever you like or have on hand. I use a lot, so you may want to cut yours back to a smaller amount.)

12 corn tortillas (someday I will make my own and see how well they work!)

1 can Rotel (we use mild)

Sauce (see below)

Sauce:
6 T butter (grass-fed raw is best, but use what you have)

6 T whole wheat flour (or whatever you use)

2 T chili powder


1 - 1 1/2 t salt or seasoning salt (depends on whether or not your chicken broth/stock is already salted)

Pepper, to taste

1 cup chicken broth (I use the broth from the pot I cooked the chicken in)

2 1/4 cups milk (I use raw - straight from the cow - when I'm able)

In a frying pan, heat olive oil and saute onions and green pepper until soft. Stir in cooked chicken and set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour, chili powder, salt, and pepper and stir with spoon or whisk until the mixture is smooth. Add chicken broth and milk. Turn up heat if necessary and stir until the sauce is thick and bubbly. Remove from heat.

To assemble, layer half of the chicken mixture on the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish and cover with half the tortillas, half the sauce and half the cheese. Add the rest of the ingredients in the same order. (Make sure the tortillas are completely covered with the sauce to avoid making them tough after cooking.) Cover with Rotel, using about half the liquid.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 for one hour.

Serve with salsa, chips, sour cream, avocado, salad, corn, tomatoes, etc.

Enjoy!

This post linked to

Real Food Wednesday at Cheeseslave

Tuesday Tastiness #8 - Honey Applesauce Cake

Well, I'm excited to be posting Tuesday Tastiness recipes again! This week is a cake that I love to make because the only sweetener used is honey and I can use my home-canned pearsauce in place of the applesauce and feel very Laura Ingalls Wilder-ish in my modern-day kitchen. (And if this blog-gig doesn't work out for me, I can always become a food photographer, right?)

Honey Applesauce Cake

1 cup honey (I use local purchased from a beekeeper in our town)

1/2 cup butter, softened (real grass-fed butter is the most healthy!)

3 eggs, beaten (I have used 2 with good results) (farm-fresh, free-range eggs are best!)

1 t. vanilla

1 cup applesauce (I use pearsauce I make and freeze/can from a neighbor's pear trees)

2 cups flour (I use unbleached when I bake. Even fresh-ground  whole-wheat is a little too "earthy" for me in a dessert)

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. powdered cloves

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. powdered ginger

1 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans from our trees!)

Cream honey and butter. Blend in eggs, vanilla, and applesauce. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, then stir gradually into creamed mixture and add pecans. Put in a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes (till a toothpick comes out clean).

I don't put an icing on this cake for my family, but you could sprinkle with powdered sugar if you need that little something extra. Or serve with vanilla ice cream.

Very, very good!

This post linked to

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
 
Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Tuesday Tastiness #7 - Wassail

Wednesday evening doesn't seem to be the proper time to be posting a Tuesday Tastiness post, but here I am! Yesterday really got away from me with lots of duties out of the house and today has been a busy day at home.

I am excited about this wassail recipe! A friend gave it to me a couple of weeks ago and my daughter and I just love it! It is perfect for the holidays and with our weather here in southern Oklahoma being colder than normal for December, it really hits the spot.

So without further adieu, here is ONE AWESOME WASSAIL RECIPE:

Wassail

1/2 gallon apple juice

2 c orange juice

2 c cranberry juice

1/4 c lemon juice

1/2 c sugar, or to taste (I used 1/4 c honey instead of sugar)

1 cinnamon stick

5 or 6 whole cloves (You can put in a teaball or cheesecloth. I just let them float around loose.)

Mix all together and heat. I put ours in the crockpot till heated through and then the next day heated it back up in a stainless steel pot. It was delicious both days!

Try it! You just might like it!

This post linked to:

ann kroeker - Food on Fridays
 
The Grocery Cart Challenge
 


WFMW at We are THAT Family

Tuesday Tastiness #6 - Holiday Pretzels (or Oyster Crackers) (or Goldfish)

We love baking and cooking at Christmastime here at our house! Over the next few weeks until Christmas, I will be posting some of our favorite holiday treats. But be forewarned, I am not always the healthiest cook on the planet when it comes to holiday recipes!

We really enjoy these pretzels. I have tried to make a healthier version than the original by foregoing the usual "packet mixes" and substituting ingredients purchased, as much as possible, from companies that produce quality herbs and spices "unadulterated by sulfates, irradiation, or extraneous material" (quoted from the Azure Standard catalog). One of these days, I may try this recipe with healthy homemade crackers. When I get ambitious. And just a little crazier.

Holiday Pretzels (my variation)

16 oz. pkg. of pretzels (or any combination of pretzels, oyster crackers and/or goldfish)

2/3 c. light olive oil (or a little less)

1 t. lemon pepper

1/8 - 1/4 t. cayenne pepper (or to taste up to 1 t. if you like it really spicy)

1 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. salt, optional (there is usually plenty of salt on the pretzels)

1 t. parsley

1/2 t. dill weed

Toss all together and put in a container with a lid. Flip every 15 minutes for an hour.

Very good for taking to Christmas parties or just for snacking on at home.

This post linked to:


Real Food Wednesday at Cheeseslave

Food on Fridays at ann kroeker  

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Tuesday Tastiness #5 - Basic Muffin Recipe

I was going to take a recipe-posting break this week due to all the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving Day preparations, but decided that a quick breakfast muffin recipe for those of you who may be thinking about everything BUT breakfast this week might be a great idea!

This is my basic muffin recipe using honey in place of sugar. You can create different kinds of muffins using your limitless imaginations. This week would be a great week to make PUMPKIN muffins!

Basic Muffin Recipe

2 c. flour (using any combination of white, wheat, pastry, etc. that you prefer)

1 T. baking powder (I use aluminum-free)

1/2 t. salt (I use Real Salt)

2/3 c. honey

3/4 c. milk (I use raw when possible)

1 egg (farm-fresh is best!)

1/4 c. oil (coconut or light olive are my recommendations. Possibly butter, but I've never tried it)

Possible add-ins:

Nuts -and/or-

1 c. fresh fruit (bananas/blueberries,etc.) -or-

1 c. grated cheese and 1/4 c. cooked, crumbled bacon -or-

1 c. pumpkin, 1 t. cinnamon, 1 t. nutmeg (GREAT for Thanksgiving week or anytime during the Fall!)

Stir dry ingredients together in large bowl. In another bowl, combine honey, egg (mix w/fork), milk, and oil. Mix well and add to dry ingredients and mix w/fork until moistened. (Batter will be lumpy, but don't use mixer.) Stir in your add-ins. Pour into muffin pan and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

This post linked to Real Food Wednesday over at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Tuesday Tastiness #4 - Pecan Pie

What is Thanksgiving without pecan pie? And is it possible that you can make a healthy pecan pie??

In my quest for a healthier diet for my family, I have begun looking for recipes that don't include white sugar, corn syrup, and most especially high fructose corn syrup as sweeteners. I know that all sweeteners should be consumed in limited quantities, but I do have a hard time believing that "sugar is sugar so it really doesn't matter".

So - how can you make a pecan pie without corn syrup? I've got a recipe! It calls for honey (raw would be best) and real maple syrup (not maple-flavored syrup). Honey and maple syrup are sweeteners that have had less refining and are in their more natural state. I would love to do a post someday on this topic, but for today, please do some research for yourself if you are interested at all in why and how any of this even matters. And in the meantime, enjoy this wonderful pecan pie!

Pecan Pie

1 unbaked 9 " pie shell, chilled (homemade with whole wheat flour and healthy fats or oils - not Crisco - would be best)

2 T butter

3 eggs

1/2 c honey (or a little less)

1/3 c maple syrup

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 c broken pecan pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt butter and let cool.  Beat eggs, then beat in honey, maple syrup and vanilla.  Add cooled butter and nuts.  Pour mix into pie shell and bake 10 minutes at 400, then reduce heat to 350.  Bake for an additional 25 minutes, until set, but not dry.  Cool to room temp before serving.

I love this pie!

This is also posted over at Cheeseslave - Real Food Wednesday


ann kroeker - Food on Fridays

Tuesday Tastiness #3 - Beef Barley Soup

I made this delicious beef barley soup last night, alongside some homemade garlic bread rolls, and thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Very, very, very tasty. And yummy, too.

As usual, I doubled the recipe (used two pots) so we could eat it for lunches throughout the rest of the week or to possibly freeze in lunch-size portions to have available later on instead of buying cans of soup at the store. (Remember we homeschool and my husband works from home, so we're always here at the house for lunch!)And there's always the option of freezing the whole extra pot for another soup supper meal later in the month, but I don't see that happening.

Beef Barley Soup

1 lb. hamburger or stew meat (I use grass-finished beef as much as possible)

4 cups beef (or chicken) broth/bone broth* (I keep these on hand in the freezer)

1/2 cup barley (dry, not cooked)

2 cups of your own frozen or canned tomatoes OR 1 14 1/2 oz. can petite-diced tomatoes

2 cups corn

1 can Rotel (we use mild)

1 carrot, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

onion, diced

1-2 cups green beans

Mrs. Dash, to taste

Salt and Pepper, to taste (approximately 1 T. salt)

Water to fill a 7-quart stock pot almost full after all ingredients are in

As always, change up the measurements to suit your family's preferences. (If you prefer more corn and less green beans or what-have-you, just make those adjustments. Soup recipes are very forgiving!)

If using stew meat, I usually put the meat on to cook in some water at least an hour before I start adding other ingredients. This helps to make the meat tender and good. After cooking the meat, but before adding the other ingredients, chop it into small pieces or shred it. (Shredding is faster and easier and I don't even have to take it out of the pot, just use two forks and pull it apart. Personally, I prefer to shred.)

If using hamburger, brown it with the onions, carrots, and celery and then add all the other ingredients.

Simmer for about an hour (or more) to blend the flavors and then enjoy your wonderful meal.

*Using homemade broth serves at least two purposes. It brings a richness to your soups that you will not get from canned broth from the store. Also, it has nutritive properties that help boost your immune system and keep your body healthy.

This post linked to The Grocery Cart Challenge