Saturday, May 30, 2015

Chicken Tetrazinni

We started off with a dessert in my first blog. There is nothing like fresh strawberries to say spring. I do hope you enjoyed it.  A scoop of ice cream with a dollop of whipped cream is perfect! I encourage you to let me know how you like the recipes after trying them. Don't be afraid to change things up if you don't like an ingredient.  Let me know how it goes.

 Now it is time for a main entree. This is a family favorite.  It is Chicken Tetrazinni.  My girls loved this growing up. One of them hated mushrooms.  So...you can leave them out or put them on half.  The rest of us loves mushrooms, so I put them on half! Everyone was happy this way.
Chicken Tetrazinni

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Ingredients

1 whole chicken
1 onion
2 ribs of celery
pepper...salt if you feel you need it!

Put chicken in a large pan with onions, celery and pepper.  Add water until chicken is covered.  Place lid on pan and bring to boil. Reduce hit and simmer until chicken is done.  Remove chicken from pan and cool.  Remove chicken from bone.  Dice up into bite size pieces.  Save broth.  You will need it.
After you remove the chicken from the pan, remove 1 cup of broth.  This is going to be used in the sauce.  Bring the remaining broth to a boil.  You are going to cook your spaghetti in the broth.  Cook according to directions on your box of spaghetti. *I don't like angel hair spaghetti in this recipe.  Drain pasta and place in a buttered 9x13 pan.
 In the mean time.....

 In a large saute pan...
1 stick of butter ( I use unsalted butter)
1 chopped onion
1/4 pound mushrooms sliced....I use more.
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cuped chopped celery
1cup whipping cream
1 cup chicken stock (use the broth from cooking the chicken)
2 Tablespoons flour
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (it is ok to use the bottle stuff if you don't have a lemon)
1/2 box of spaghetti
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese ( I use much less...1/4 cup because this has a very high sodium content)
Saute onions in melted stick of butter.  Add sliced mushrooms.  Next add parsley, celery and flour. Blend and stir until smooth.  Add chicken stock, cream and lemon juice.  Add chicken and remove from heat.

Pour the sauce mixture over the spaghetti.  Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!


                                                                   

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

This is my first post!  I am excited to share a recipe that I really like. It had to be a dessert recipe since those are my favorites. It is Strawberry Yogurt Cake.

Strawberries are in season and are delicious this time of year. This is a cake recipe using fresh strawberries. This cake is very moist and resembles a pound cake.  Your guests will be wanting seconds.

When following the directions below, it is important that you use Greek yogurt.


This is the final product.



  I love to cook!  I have been cooking since I was 8 years old. The first thing I made was a grilled cheese. I was hooked from there! Brownies were dad's favorite dessert.  I made those every week.  I think he finally got sick of them.

   I don't like fancy things...just simple down home cooking.  I try to use ingredients that I have on hand. I have a medical condition that keeps me from consuming more than 1000 mg of sodium per day.  Do you read labels?
Salt is in EVERYTHING! I was shocked to learn that there was sodium
in my glass of milk.
    Processed food contains tons of sodium. A lot of my recipes will not contain any salt. Instead, I love to use fresh herbs and spices. If I don't have that on hand then I pull out Mrs. Dash!!!  Trust me...you will get use to it.  I did!
 This blog will not be all about sodium free food. Some of the recipes though will have a lower salt content.
I love spring and summer.  There are so many fruits and veggies available. I have a garden that I grow a lot of my veggies.  Take advantage of farmer's markets to get wonderful, fresh produce. 

I hope you enjoy some of my favorite recipes. Don't forget to add a few teaspoons of love to everything you cook!

***All the pictures you see in my blog are ones that I have  taken so you can see what you will be preparing.