Chicken Strata

This chicken strata is not a photogenic food. It's one of those casseroles that just look funny. Add the fact that it's evening and all the natural light is gone so I had to take my pictures under the yellow light of the energy-efficient bulbs in the kitchen. But it tastes wonderful, and it was fun to make.

This recipe came from the More-with-Less Cookbook, which is rapidly becoming my go-to book for inexpensive and tasty recipes.

Chicken Strata
8 slices day-old bread
2 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey (good use of leftovers)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (optional)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I omitted this; I didn't want the extra calories. It turned out wonderful without it)
3/4 tsp. salt
Dash pepper
2 slightly beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (can use powdered)
1 can cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup (or substitute one batch of white sauce made with chicken broth)

Lots of ingredients, but it's not as scary as it looks.

Set aside two slices of bread (homemade is best - I used the bread machine). Cut the remaining six slices into 1-inch cubes. Place half in the bottom of an 8x8-inch baking dish.

In a bowl, combine the chicken, onion, green pepper, celery, mayonnaise (or don't add the mayo, I think it's better without it), salt and pepper. Spoon over bread cubes. Sprinkle remaining bread cubes over chicken mixture.

In a small bowl, combine eggs and milk. Pour over bread cubes and chicken mixture in pan. Cover and chill 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325. Spoon cream soup on top of casserole. Spread butter on remaining two slices of bread and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Sprinkle buttered cubes on top of soup. Bake at 325 for 50 minutes or until set.


This came out tasting similar to stuffing. The topping was crispy like croutons, and the bottom had the texture of bread pudding or a breakfast casserole - just like you'd expect from a casserole made of bread cubes soaked in egg and milk, go figure. Anyway, it was easy to put together and it tasted great.

Cheaper Breakfasts (and Granola Recipe)

Jeff and I have decided that we are trying in earnest to save money for a down payment. We're tired of living in apartments and want to try to buy a house in the somewhat near future. That means really buckling down on our budget, and pinching pennies as hard as we can. One of the first things to be drastically reduced was meat - it's expensive so we just don't buy it or use it as much. I'm working on incorporating alternate sources of protein into our diet in place of meats - beans, whole grains, eggs and dairy, etc. (though we will buy meat when it's dirt cheap - yesterday Jeff saw that turkeys were 25 cents per pound, so we have a 20-pound turkey thawing in the fridge waiting to be roasted and frozen in meal-sized portions). Besides meat, another obvious-to-me food item to be cut from the budget is cold cereal. To me, it just can't be considered a good buy. I've been discovering all sorts of other ways to feed myself and my children a good breakfast without simply pouring a pile of flakes into a bowl and topping it with milk.

This morning, for instance, I made "square cereal with rice." At least, that's what I told Zaylee it was - she likes foods with fun names. I took some leftover Malt-O-Meal from yesterday and cut it into bite-sized cubes (hence the name "square cereal"). I fried the cubes in a small amount of oil with some leftover rice from yesterday's egg curry. Then I scooped that into our bowls, topped it with brown sugar and milk, and we ate a wholesome and delicious breakfast made entirely out of leftovers. We all loved it!

I plan to make a lot more hot cereals for breakfasts. Not just oatmeal and Malt-O-Meal, but also corn meal mush, cracked wheat, millet, barley, and I'll probably experiment with other grains as well. All of these can be cooked up and served with milk and sugar, jam, or fruit for a delicious and healthy breakfast that not only costs less than cold cereal, but leaves you feeling fuller and more satisfied as well. Another yummy breakfast I'll be revisiting from childhood is bread and milk - tearing pieces of homemade bread into a bowl and eating with milk and sugar. This also works well with corn bread.

Of course, some mornings I really do enjoy the convenience of cold cereal, because it requires no planning ahead or effort of any kind! So I will compromise by making my own cold cereal - granola. I have loved granola ever since I was a child, so I'm excited to start making my own. Here's a simple recipe from the More-with-Less Cookbook. It was easy to make and tastes great, and it will satisfy the desire for the convenience of cold cereal without having to use expensive, store-bought cereal.


Simple Granola
2 cups whole wheat flour
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup coconut
1 cup wheat germ (I substituted wheat bran)
1/2 cup water
1 cup oil
1 cup honey or corn syrup (I substituted 3/4 cup brown sugar and a little extra water)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut, and wheat germ. In another bowl, blend together remaining ingredients. Add blended liquids to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Spread out onto 2 greased cookie sheets and bake 1 hour, or until dry and golden. I like mine a bit more crispy, so after the hour of baking I stirred it around and toasted it an additional 30 minutes. Store in covered containers.


This is a very basic recipe, which lends itself to adding things like nuts, seeds, raisins or other dried fruits. One to two cups of nuts and seeds can be added with the dry ingredients, but make sure to add any dried fruits after baking.

Tomato and Egg Curry

Make a thick tomato sauce seasoned with curry. Add halved hard-cooked eggs, heat through and serve on rice.

That's the exact wording for this dish in the More-with-Less Cookbook. Above the actual recipes, there are little meal ideas and tips scattered throughout the cookbook. This was one of them. It sounded tasty, simple, and inexpensive, so I gave it a go for lunch today. Here's my take on this simple meal idea.


Tomato and Egg Curry
4 eggs
1 cup rice
1 tbsp. margarine
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1-2 tsp. cornstarch
Curry powder, turmeric (gives it that fun yellow color!), and cinnamon to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Cover eggs with water in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Turn off heat, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook rice according to package directions.

After the eggs are done, drain and remove from pan. Set aside to cool slightly. In saucepan, melt butter and add onions. Saute until transparent. Stir in tomatoes and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Season to taste with curry powder, turmeric, cinnamon, salt and pepper.

When eggs are cool enough to handle, peel and cut in half or quarters. Gently add to tomato sauce. Heat through, and serve over rice.

We all thoroughly enjoyed this unique curry, even my toddlers Zaylee and Thomas.

4 servings
290 calories per serving, including rice

My Kitchen My World - Azerbaijan

I was a bit flummoxed when I saw that this week's My Kitchen My World country would be Azerbaijan. I had no idea what I was going to make - I didn't even know where Azerbaijan was, let alone what kind of food they ate there! But I got right to work looking for ideas when I came across this wonderful blog - Farida's Azerbaijani Cookbook. I fell in love with the first recipe I saw, it looked simple to make and very delicious. From there I found a bread to go with it and a dessert as well. I cooked this all up on Tuesday, and spent the rest of the week impatiently anticipating when I could post it!

So I present our Azeri menu for this week: Toyug Chighirtmasi (Chicken with Eggs), Tendir Choreyi (Tandir or Tandoori Bread), and Tenbel Pakhlava (Easy Baklava).


Toyug Chighirtmasi (Chicken with Eggs)
3 spoons vegetable oil
2 spoons butter (or margarine)
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 pounds boneless or bone-in chicken parts, cut into about 10 serving pieces (I used boneless skinless chicken breast - we rarely buy this, but do on occasion for a special treat)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon, or more, to taste, ground black pepper
4 medium ripe tomatoes, finely chopped, with their juices
3 eggs, lightly beaten ( the bread and dessert each use an egg yolk for brushing, so I used the two egg whites in place of one of the eggs here)
chopped cilantro (coriander) or parsley, to garnish (I forgot to garnish mine...)

In a medium frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until it is light brown. Transfer the onion to a bowl and put aside.

Add the remaining oil and the butter to the same frying pan and heat over medium heat (Note: butter alone tends to brown when you melt it. Adding some fluid oil to the pan along with butter will prevent that). Add the chicken pieces and fry for about 20 minutes, or until they are brown, turning them once to cook on both sides.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the cooked onions and chopped tomatoes with juices to the pan. Cover and turning only occasionally, simmer over medium heat for about 25 minutes, or until the chicken is tender.

Pour the beaten eggs over the chicken, slightly tilting the pan to distribute the eggs evenly. Cover the pan and let cook for about 5-7 minutes (do not stir!) or until the eggs are set. Serve immediatley, garnished with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley. Chicken with Eggs is delicious with bread or rice.



And speaking of bread, here's the bread that I made to go with the Chicken and Eggs.


Tendir Choreyi (Tandir or Tandoori Bread)
1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour, plus extra for kneading
1 egg yolk, for brushing
1 teaspoon poppy or sesame seeds

In a small bowl, mix yeast with water until the yeast is dissolved.

Sift flour into a large bowl. Add salt and mix well. Gradually add the yeast-water mixture and stir in using your hand until a rough ball forms (This is such a fun step!).

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Press any loose dough pieces into the ball and knead the dough, punching it down with your fists, folding it over and turning. Knead for about 8-10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball and put it back into the large bowl. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or a plastic wrap. Leave the dough to rise in a warm spot for about 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in bulk. The dough should look puffy and be soft when poked with a finger (This is one of the only doughs I've made that really did rise well. I'm not very good at kneading so my dough doesn't always rise very prettily - but this one did!).

Punch down the dough, then transfer it onto a lightly floured surface. Shape the dough into a ball, and with your hands flatten slightly and stretch it lengthwise. Using a rolling pin, start rolling the dough beginning at one end until you obtain a long flat bread about 1/2 inch thick, 14 inches long and 8 inches wide.

Carefully transfer the bread onto a non-stick baking sheet, fixing the shape as necessary. Leave the dough to rest on the sheet for another 15 minutes before baking.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Using a knife, make shallow crosshatching slashes on the bread, 4 from right to left and 4 the opposite way, each at a slight angle. Brush the bread evenly with the egg yolk and sprinkle with seeds.

Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake the bread for 20-25 minutes, or until it is golden on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom (At this point, I realized that maybe my bread was rising too well; it turned out much fluffier as a finished product than Farida's, but it was still delicious).


While the main dish and the bread were delicious, the star of the meal was the dessert - Baklava!


Tenbel Pakhlava (Easy Baklava)
Dough:
3 cups flour
8 oz (2 sticks) butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
1 cup sour cream mixed with 1 teaspoon baking soda
2 egg yolks
Filling:
2 cups sugar
2 egg whites
2 1/2 cups (10 oz) walnuts, finely chopped (they should be somewhat crunchy in the pie, so do not grind finely - I chopped mine by hand, I was so proud of myself!)
To Brush:
1 egg yolk

Prepare the dough. In a large bowl, combine flour and butter. Using a fork, or a knife (or pastry blender, if available), cut in the butter until the mixture forms large crumbs the size of large peas.

Add sour cream/baking soda mixture and egg yolks and continue tossing until the dough comes together in a mass. It should be gentle to touch.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts, forming each one into disks. Wrap each disk in a plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and egg whites. Using a balloon whisk or electric mixer, whip vigorously until well blended. Add chopped walnuts and mix well with a spoon.

Lightly grease the baking pan with oil or butter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Using a rolling pin, press firmly to roll the dough from the center in all directions until you obtain a rectangular (or round, if you are going to use a round baking pan) about 8 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick, or just the size to fit your pan (Farida mentions that this dough is very easy to work with and rolled out quickly - I have to agree, it was very nice).

Carefully transfer the round into the pan, pressing it against the bottom and the sides. Baklava releases juices when baking, so slightly stretching the dough to the sides and sealing them tightly will keep the juices inside. If there is any tear in the dough, repair by pressing a small piece of dough over it. Spread half the filling over the layer.

Roll the second disk in the same way and place it in the pan on top of the walnut filling. Spread the remaining filling over the second layer.

Roll the third dough disk and place it on top of the walnut filling. Brush this layer with egg yolk. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, carefully cut the baklava in cross-hatching diagonals to make diamond shapes, cutting through the filling all the way to the bottom. Place a whole or half a walnut in the middle of each baklava piece.

Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes or until golden on top. Times may vary, so take extra care not to overbake - baklavas will harden and will not be that juicy if baked for too long. Remove the pan from the oven. When cool enough to handle, remove the baklava diamonds from the pan and serve. Store in a covered container - the baklava gets even more moist and delectable when it has been stored for a while.

The baklava before storing overnight - delicious!

Traditional baklava is made with many layers of very thin dough, phyllo dough. This baklava is much easier, and is literally translated to mean "Lazy Baklava." It isn't quite as flaky as traditional baklava, but it was so delicious nonetheless! Again, store covered at least overnight to get it really moist and syrupy - and heavenly!

The baklava after storing overnight - absolutely incredible! See how much more moist it is? Sticky, syrupy ... perfect.

Farida gives step by step photos for these recipes on her blog - they were very helpful in making sure I did things properly. I'm so glad I found her blog. This was my first experience with Azerbaijani cuisine, but I'm sure it won't be the last! Nush Olsun!

To see what the other MKMW-ers made this week, check out our blogroll.

National Pie Day!

This is one of my favorite National food holidays - National Pie Day! I love pies - everything from apple pie and peach pie, to lemon meringue and key lime, to banana cream pie and coconut cream pie and chocolate cream pie. I love pumpkin pie and pecan pie at Thanksgiving, simple pudding and cool whip pies, even shoofly pie. I haven't yet learned to appreciate the flavor and texture of mincemeat (did you know that it has real meat in it? Weird!) but besides that, I pretty much haven't met a type of pie that I didn't like. And the last time I tried mincemeat was years ago before my palate had expanded to enjoy things like beets, Brussels sprouts (yes, I like them), and Hawaiian pizza. So maybe I should give mincemeat another try sometime before I say I don't care for it...

I digress. Today being National Pie Day, I of course decided to make a pie. I tried to find one that didn't include a double pastry crust because of the high calorie content in that kind of crust (yes, this pie day is a special occasion and definitely calls for a splurge but I don't want to go too far). I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and decided to give it a try. It's an apple pie that forms its own crust while baking. The recipe had mixed reviews, most of the complaints being that the filling was kind of dry and bland. So I just increased the cinnamon and didn't go into it expecting a wet, syrupy pie. I don't like my pies to be dripping with juice anyway, so I was okay with that.


Fireman's Apple Pie
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (increased to 1 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Beat in the egg. Mix in the cinnamon, salt and flour; stir until smooth (it will be firm/dry - similar to cookie dough). Fold in the apples, then pour mixture into a 9 inch pie dish (It didn't say whether the pan was to be greased, so I didn't).

Bake in the preheated oven for one hour.

Servings: 8
Calories per serving: 254


Easy peasy pie! There was no pastry to roll out, no crackers to crush, it was a very simple and straightforward recipe. And the smell coming out of my oven while it was baking was so fabulous!

How did the pie turn out? Kind of like a pie-shaped cake. The top and bottom crust were rather cake-like. But it did have the wonderful flavor of apple pie; it was delicious! It would have been even better with some ice cream or whipped topping, but even by itself it was fantastic. I still prefer a regular double-crust apple pie when there's time and motivation to do the crust, but in a jiffy, this is definitely a pie I'll make again.

Soup - Good for the Budget, Good for the Diet

I have really learned to love making soup. It's so easy and delicious, and you really don't have to follow a recipe. Soup is especially great for a couple of reasons particularly pertinent to me at this time. First, you can make it by just throwing in whatever you have on hand and therefore it can be extremely inexpensive. And second, when you make it full of vegetables and avoid high-calorie additions like cream, it can be very low calorie and super healthy!


Last night I made the perfect example of this type of soup (I like to call it "anything" soup because you can put anything in it). I chopped up a couple potatoes, some baby carrots (purchased on sale), and some onion. As these were boiling, I got to work adding all the fun stuff. Some leftover lentils from the fridge and a couple handfuls of texturized vegetable protein (TVP, a meat substitute) upped the protein, while chicken bouillon and a couple teaspoons of cider vinegar enhanced the flavor without adding calories. Last of all, when the potatoes and carrots were almost ready, I added some pasta. When it was tender, the soup was ready. It was delicious and filling, inexpensive and healthy.

To make your own "anything" soup, start with whatever fresh vegetables you have, put in a pot and start boiling. Carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, greens, etc. all make great soup - try to add as many colors of vegetable as you can! Add any leftovers you think might go well in soup (leftover meats and vegetables are good in soups, but don't discount stuff like casseroles or other random things - you'd be surprised what you can put in soup!). A small amount of vinegar (about a teaspoon or two per quart) really enhances flavor. You can add noodles or rice for a starch, or even make dumplings. If you do the dumpling route, make sure there's plenty of liquid in the soup because dumplings absorb lots.

I can't wait until Saturday, the day we post about My Kitchen My World. I cooked our MKMW meal on Tuesday night and it was so delicious, especially dessert! So keep an eye out for that. And in the meantime, go make some soup! :-)

Depression Cooking

I recently found the neatest series of YouTube videos. They are called Depression Cooking with Clara, and it's a woman in her 90s sharing recipes that her family ate during the Depression. She is so cute! And her recipes are just my style - they're simple, no frills, just good and inexpensive. I'm excited to try her Pasta with Peas, Egg Drop Soup, Cooked Bread, and Poorman's Meal. Click here to see the Depression Cooking videos.