Chicken and Mushroom Wanna be

This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite blogs: The Pioneer Woman! She makes amazing and delicious looking food! I was searching through her blog the other day and got some inspiration and here is what I came up with! Here is her blog address if you want to look her up! http://thepioneerwoman.com

Ingredients:

1 bone in chicken cut into pieces
½ onion rough chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
12 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2/3 cup of white wine
2 cups heavy cream
½ box of noodles (anything you have on hand)
2 tsp. dried rosemary
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Now before I begin telling you the how-to….I must confess that when I made this tonight.. it did not turn out like I had hoped! You see when you’re in Italy, everything is in Italian! Seems like a simple concept till you go to the store and want to buy heavy cream but buy regular milk instead :( If you use milk, it will not work the same! Trust me I KNOW! Ha! So buy the heavy cream! Back to the how to:

How to:
Start with putting your chicken in a pot and covering with water. Turn the heat up high and cook till done. Also, preheat your oven to 375*F and butter a casserole dish-set aside.

While that’s cooking, chop up your onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Then in another pan, put about 2 Tbs. of oil and your onion and garlic in. Use about medium heat because you want your onions to get nice and light brown.



After browning, remove onion, add some more oil and add your mushrooms in. You can turn up the heat alittle here cuz you want your mushrooms to get nice and brown too!
*Don’t you just love multitasking?! *

Okay, at this point you should have brown onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Put these on a plate and set aside.
Now remove your chicken from the water. DON’T THROW OUT THE WATER!! Use this water to cook your noodles while you shred your chicken. **Once again multitasking!* Nothing special about shredding, just make it into bite size pieces.


Now to bring it all together! While your noodles are finishing cooking, using the same pan as you did for your onion and mushrooms, put it back onto high heat. Now pour your wine in. This is going to make a lot of noise and alittle smoke but don’t worry it will settle on its own.
Add in everything but the noodles at this point, so onion, mushrooms, heavy cream, chicken, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer.


Once at a simmer, add your cooked noodles and toss to coat everything. Pour everything in your casserole dish and top with Parmesan cheese! Cook for about 25 minutes or till cheese is melted and slightly brown. ** Remember that my dish is not exactly like the recipe so your picture will look more like mac and cheese consistency than soup!* But if it looks like soup, it is still yummy, I promise! ha**

I like alittle extra pepper with mine and it is a simple garnish!

Serve with more cheese, a side salad or some crusty bread!
Enjoy!

Food Update!!

Food Update!
Well lately I’ve been eating some yummy stuff. First was in my Traditions of Italian Food class. We made chicken with dill and almond. AMAZING! It was delicious and I’m definitely bringing it back to ya’ll.


Our next dish was sweet and sour eggplant. Not quite as good but still yummy. You can substitute anything for the eggplant: zucchini or squash whatever you like! The whole play on this dish is sweet and sour tones. These come from vinegar and sugar added. I really liked this dish and will bring it home to ya’ll as well!


When I was in Siena, we went into this cute pastry shop.



Beautiful creations right?! Now look at these?!!

Yep these are the yummy things I made in my dessert class, in an actual store…BUT I have made these!! So cool!! Haha

Also in Siena, was this random brown hut thing in the middle of Plazza de Campo. Turns out this place, fries little balls of tapioca, then tops them with more sugar! OMG, these are amazing! Worth the 6 euros just to get to Siena. They were incredible!


Last update: to my excitement, my piping skills are getting better!! Now please don’t judge to hard cuz they are by far not perfect but I think with alittle more practice I’ll be writing Happy Birthday on cake before you know it! Hahaha!!

Feeling Chilly?! Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup!

This recipe came from 2 different inspirations! 1- Wedensday in my cooking class we didn't cook so I was craving alittle culinary pleasure. And 2 I keep hearing about all this snow going on in Texas so i figure ya'll could use alittle warming up! So here we go, chicken noodle soup from water to soup! It's amazing and will last you days!!

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken cut up into pieces (you can get this at the store. Just look for a chicken into 8 pieces)
3 stalks of celery
2 carrots
1 medium size onion
1 bay leaf
1 stalk of rosemary
3 whole peppercorns
1 chicken or veggie boulon cube
pasta of your choosing


How To:
Take a large pot, put all ingredients (except noodles) and cover with water. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and let cook for 2 hours. *You can totally leave this going and go to class or run some errands, just make sure the heat isn’t too high and you’re golden.
After 2 hours, strain broth into another pot and cut up all the veggies into bit size pieces and shred chicken. Remove peppercorns and bay leaf-throw away Then put all back into broth and bring back to a simmer. If you are serving this all in one night, then when the water is to a boil, add pasta and cook till the noodles are done. Then serve with fresh parsley!
**If you are only serving a few people and will have left overs, cook pasta in another pot and serve individually with the soup. This will keep your noodles from getting really soggy!
I was in the spirit of styling so here are my attempts to make soup look beautiful! First 2 are just with a bunch of parsley and the 2nd two are with finely chopped parsley.





This was really delicious and great for a cold day! Feel free to add anything else in like green beans, peas, corn, or broccoli! You can even make croutons!

Homemade Croutons

Ingredients:
1 loaf of stale bread
2 Tbs. Italian seasoning
3 Tbs. olive oil

How To:
Pre heat your oven to 400* F. Cut bread into small cubes. Toss with olive oil then toss with Italian seasoning. Spread out evenly on a cookie sheet and toast cubes till golden brown. **Keep an eye on these they could toast fast! Giving them a good shake to rotate every minute or so helps** After nicely toasted, serve on top of your yummy soup or just eat them plain like I do!
**Sorry there is no picture for these. I have made these before but did not make them for this soup..

Amy, Briana and I are thinking about chicken parmesan soon!! Get excited!!

Beginning of Italian Cooking...

Well so please don’t think ill of me for not posting any of my yummy foods yet. Lately when eating comes around its like stuff my face so good, so no pics! Ha! But I have cooked alittle bit here and there. This task is also difficult because my kitchen is alittle inadequate to cook and my fridge is about the size of an American freezer so you get the point.
How ever, this is my latest dish!

Sautéed Chicken with Fresh Green Beans in a White Wine Reduction
Ingredients:
Olive Oil
Italian seasoning
Chicken breast (one per person)
Fresh Green Beans (about a handful per person)
Salt, pepper, and a dash of red pepper flake (more if you like it hotter)
4 Tbs. White Wine (whatever you have on hand, nothing fancy)
Toasted Bread

How to:
Put about a 2Tbs. of olive oil in a pan and heat it to about a medium heat. Once heated, season your chicken with salt and pepper and alittle Italian seasoning. Cook till golden brown and no pink left in the middle. This will be about 4-5 minutes per side depending on thickness.

While that is cooking, if your green beans have stems, remove those and set aside. In another pan, heat about 2Tbs. of olive oil and a dash of red pepper flakes. Once heated, put in your green beans. Cook till done but if you like alittle crunch in your veggies then just keep testing them till they are to your liking!

After you chicken is done, remove from pan and set aside. Take your pan off the burner, and add the wine. Immediately put the pan back on the heat and bring to boil. Using a wooden spoon, scrape anything that has stuck to the bottom( it’s the good stuff, trust me). Once, your wine has reduced( less than when you started) remove and pour over your finished green beans.
Serve chicken and green beans with toasted bread to soak up any sauce that might remain. Sounds fancy but totally do able!

Tomorrow I start my Italian cooking class and then Thursday I will have my Dessert Styling class!! EKKK so excited and I will post pictures and recipes, ASAP!

Peace, Love and Cooking ☺