Chicken Rolls

I have made these twice in the past week... I guess I must like them!

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 1 1/2 C. cooked chicken, cubed
• 6 oz. cream cheese
• small diced celery (as much as you want)
• crushed corn flakes

Combine and stir until moistened. Place spoonful of chicken in the center of each roll and pinch shut. Roll each roll in melted buter and then roll in crushed corn flakes. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes until browned.

Smothered BBQ Chicken

• 4-5 Chicken Breast Halves
• 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
• 6 Slices cooked Bacon, cut in half
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, chives, or olives (optional)

Grill the chicken breasts until tender but not pink, (I use my Forman) about 6 minutes on each side on medium heat. Prepare bacon and set aside. Place chicken breast halves onto a cookie sheet and use a spoon to spread on BBQ Sauce on top of the chicken breast halves. Place 2 pieces of bacon on top of the breasts and use about 1/3 cup of shredded cheese to smother each one. Put in oven until cheese melts. You may add the sour cream, tomatoes, chives, or olives to you liking.

Sloppy Joe's

My sister asked me for this recipe...

It is such a yummy meal for the summertime!

• 1 lb Hambuger, ground
• 1/2 Onion, chopped
• 1 8 oz. can Tomato Sauce
• 2/3 cup Ketchup
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Mustard
• 1 Tbsp Vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp Worchestershire Sauce

Brown hamburger and drain excess oil, add onion and saute until soft. Add all other ingredients and simmer on medium-low for about 30 minutes until thick. Serve on buns. Makes about 8 sandwiches.

pot roast--in a pot.

i mentioned in the comments on chellae's post that a friend had made a delicious pot roast for me last summer. i emailed him to request his recipe. i'm posting his email below:

Dr. Rob's Pot Roast:
Use a chuck roast or a 7-bone roast no smaller than 3 pounds...bigger if you can. Salt and pepper the meat well...I sometimes use seasoning salt as well.

In a heavy Dutch oven or pot just a little bigger than the meat heat some oil (2-3 Tbs any kind) and brown the meat on all sides...this will help develop a rich flavor...add 1-2 cups of red wine (there is no alcohol in it at the end) which is needed for the acid component for tenderizing and a can or two of beef broth (homemade is better...and chicken broth will work too!) until there is liquid covering half way up the meat...add a couple of quartered onions on top and bring to a simmer...

cook covered on low (also can be done in the oven at 320F) for 3-5 hours turning the roast after 2 hours...the meat will be almost falling apart when it is done...remove meat from pot and wrap in foil and keep warm...

in the pot with the remaining liquid, add quartered waxy potatoes and baby carrots (one medium potato per person and about 1/8-1/4 pound of carrots per person) as well as 2-3 quartered onions (the ones you used before are almost mush by now) and a little salt and pepper and cook until just done (sometimes you need to add some more broth)...Remove vegetables and keep warm...

Thicken gravy/jus if you like (Burre blanc or a little flour and water slurry) and return meat and vegetables to pot to warm...

Serve with a salad and crusty bread...


i can attest to this roast's tastiness. it was absolutely delicious.

brining

so this is perhaps a bit late, given that yesterday was turkey-day, but i wanted to try it out before sharing it. this year we brined our turkey--which means, essentially, that we submerged it in a sugar, salt, and water solution for several hours before cooking it. i could spell out all the details of how it works, but they're kind of boring. so i'll just say that the idea is that brining the turkey makes it both more moist and tender and more flavorful. and having done this to my family's turkey yesterday, i can attest that we had the most delicious turkey ever, complete with moist, tender white meat (which almost never happens). so here's the details:

the best candidates for brining:
CORNISH HEN: whole, butterflied
CHICKEN: whole, parts, butterflied
TURKEY: whole, breast, parts, butterflied
PORK: loin, tenderloin, chops, fresh ham
SEAFOOD: whole side of salmon (when grill-roasting or smoking), shrimp

how to brine:
1. Mix cold water, salt, and sugar in brining vessel and stir to dissolve salt and sugar.
2. Immerse food in brine, seal, and refrigerate. (If not refrigerating, add ice packs before covering.) When brining a turkey or whole bird, make sure the air bubble in the chest cavity comes out.

formula for basic brine:
1 quart cold water
1/2 cup Diamond Crystal kosher
OR 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Morton kosher salt
OR 1/4 cup table salt
1/2 cup sugar

use 1 quart of brine per 1 pound of food, not to exceed 2 gallons brine**

brine for 1 hour per pound, but not less than 30 minutes or more than 8 hours


formula for brine for high-heat roasting, broiling, or high-heat grilling:
1 quart cold water
1/4 cup Diamond Crystal kosher
OR 3 tablespoons Morton kosher
OR 2 tablespoons table salt
2 tablespoons sugar

use 1 quart of brine per 1 pound of food, not to exceed 2 gallons brine**

brine for 1 hour per pound, but not less than 30 minutes or more than 8 hours


**when brining multiple items, time based on weight of single item (for example, use weight of 1 of 4 pork chops being brined)

***when brining a turkey or fresh ham, rinse it well to remove excess sugar (extra sugar can make the outside of the meat burn)


what you'll need:
in addition to the ingredients (water, salt, sugar), you'll need a few other things, including:

some kind of brining vessel. for small pieces of meat, you can use ziploc bags, usually one- or two-gallon size. for larger pieces of meat (whole turkey, whole chicken, etc.), use some kind of tub or cooler. you need to make sure the meat is completely submerged in the brine, which means either expelling all the air from the bag or weighting the meat in a tub/cooler so it's submerged. you can also put a large piece of meat inside a trash bag and tie it off so there's no water left.

a method for keeping your meat cold. when you're working with a big piece of meat, especially for a holiday meal, it's not always possible to store a big tub of brine + meat in the fridge. you can put your brining bird (pig, fish, etc.) in a cooler full of ice packs so it stays down around 40 degrees. we used a trash bag for the turkey and brine and surrounded it in a cooler with ice, which worked great. make sure you don't let ice melt and dilute the brine if you take the cooler option.

after it's brined:
you can put your meat right in to cook after brining. however, if you like crisp poultry skin, you probably won't get it if you cook right away. instead you should brine ahead of time so you can let the bird air dry for at least several hours (best if you can let it air dry overnight) before cooking it. to let the bird dry, remove it from the brine and rinse well (to remove excess sugar). pat it dry with paper towels. place on a rack inside a rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan. refrigerate. the rack allows air to circulate around the bird.


so there it is. how to brine your bird (or pig or fish). it's not effective for red meat or fattier birds (duck, for instance) because those meats have sufficient fat to compensate for the drying that happens during cooking. i can't tell you how much it improved the turkey yesterday. my brother-in-law was carving the turkey and i was stealing snippets of white meat, amazed at how tender and juicy it was. try it for christmas!