Chicken Cordon Bleu

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Occasionally I ask my children what they want to put on the menu, and occasionally they give me an answer that isn't "spaghetti" or "pizza." A few weeks ago I asked Noah what he wanted to eat and he said "Chicken Cordon Bleu."

I really didn't have a particular recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu -- I think I've used three or four and never really became attached to any one. So I decided to go looking for a really good recipe, or at least one that looked like it might be four or five stars.

This one, I do believe, is it -- the keeper. It's different than other Chicken Cordon Bleu recipes that I have prepared. The others have involved breading and baking, which leaves a tasty, albeit dry, piece of chicken. This recipe involved neither and it was not only tender and juicy, but there was sauce. "Oooooh," my family said, "sauce!" This recipe was lovely enough to serve company, but not so much work as to keep you from serving it on a week night.

The recipe came from allrecipes.com and I made it exactly as directed (except I used only four boneless breasts because two were so large I split them in half horizontally). Sorry about the picture -- I really don't like that color green, but my white platter was busy. I also think it could use a little parsley garnish.

Chicken Cordon Bleu
serves 6 adults

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
6 slices Swiss cheese
6 slices ham
3 T. all-purpose flour
1 t. paprika
6 T. butter
1/2 c. dry white wine
1 t. chicken bouillon granules
1 T. cornstarch
1 c. heavy whipping cream


Pound chicken breasts to about 1/4 inch, being careful not to pound holes in them. Place a ham slice and then a cheese slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Roll the chicken breast, tucking the edges in around the cheese and ham. Secure with toothpicks (count the toothpicks when they go in, so you know you've got them all out at the end). Mix the flour and paprika in a small bowl, and lightly dip the chicken pieces.

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat (I added a tablespoon or so of olive oil so the butter wouldn't burn), and cook the chicken until browned on all sides.


Add the wine and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Transfer the breasts to a warm platter and remove the toothpicks. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm with noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice.

Source: allrecipes.com

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Salisbury Steak

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Be it ever so humble, there's nothing like a Salisbury Steak for supper. This is my family's idea of a good, stick-to-your-ribs dish -- tender meat and beefy gravy, with an extra spoonful over the mashed potatoes.

According to foodreference.com, Salisbury Steak was name after 19th century American physician James H. Salisbury. Apparently Dr. Salisbury believed that many of our ills come from our food (probably pretty much correct) and thought that especially vegetables and starchy foods to be the problem (maybe not so much). He thought they "produce substances in the digestive system which poison and paralyze the tissues and can cause heart disease, tumors, mental illness and tuberculosis." As a result of his beliefs (and the belief that because we have meat teeth, 2/3 of our diet should come from meat) he strongly encouraged the consumption of meat, and created the Salisbury Steak to be eaten three times a day, "with lots of hot water to rinse out the digestive system."

I don't know about three times a day, but it is a good dish to be enjoyed occasionally -- especially if made fresh at home and not eaten from a TV dinner tray. This recipe is my family's favorite -- the meat stays tender because I use fresh bread crumbs instead of dry, and the gravy has just a little tang from a tiny bit of ketchup added. It's simple, budget- and kid-friendly. What more can you ask for? No, it's certainly not glamorous.

Salisbury Steak
serves 6

2 T. butter, divided
3 T. olive oil, divided
1/2 c. minced onion
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 egg
salt and pepper
6 T. flour, divided
2 cups beef broth
3 T. ketchup
1 T. Worcestershire


In a large skillet, heat 1 T. butter and 1 T. olive oil until butter is melted. Add onions and cook for a few minutes over medium heat until onions are soft, but not browned. Turn off heat and cool for a few minutes.

Place meat, bread crumbs, egg and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper in a bowl. Add slightly cooled onions and mix up with your hands until all ingredients are well combined.

Form into patties -- I can get six from this amount of meat. Place four tablespoons of flour in a shallow dish. Heat remaining butter and olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Lightly dip each patty in flour and then place in hot oil. Allow patties to cook until each side is browned, turning just once.

In a bowl, combine 1 1/2 c. beef broth, ketchup, and Worcestershire. Pour into skillet with patties and bring to a simmer. Turn heat down to med-low and cover, keeping at a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove cooked patties from skillet to a serving platter. Whisk remaining 2 T. flour into remaining 1/2 c. beef broth. Add to skillet and cook over medium high heat whisking to dissolve any lumps. When gravy comes to a boil it will thicken. Cook for a few minutes, then pour a few spoonfuls over patties and pour the remaining gravy into a gravy boat. Serve with hot mashed potatoes or noodles.

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Trick-or-treat Brownies

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If you have any chocolate candy left over from trick-or-treat, chop it up and add it to this brownie batter for a double chocolate delight. I added 1/2 cup chopped Three Musketeers, but peanut butter cups, Snickers, Milk Ways are all good, just to name a few. I would have thrown some M&Ms on top for color, but my husband objects to M&Ms on top of baked goods. He's such a killjoy. ;-)

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Weekly Menu

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This has been quite a week. Peach came down with a mysterious illness on Tuesday and we've pretty much been home all week long. I don't mind a home week, in fact I definitely prefer it to running around.

We had a couple of really good meals and some very yummy pancakes -- all new recipes, so I'll be sure to share as soon as I can. I have a backlog of pictures on my desktop -- evidence that I'm behind posting recipes. I can't be running up and down the stairs for Peach and posting recipes though. Hoping she turns a corner today -- I think she has watched almost every children's DVD we own and she's very tired of being stuck in bed, even if it does mean meals are delivered on a tray and mama comes when she rings the bell.

Saturday
Lunch: Skyline Chili
Dinner: BBQ Chicken Pizza, salad

Sunday
Lunch: BLTs and chips
Dinner: Lidia's Chicken and Potatoes, Peas and Bacon, Crunchy, Chewy, Delicious Bread

Monday
Lunch: grilled cheese and tomato soup
Dinner: Taco Salad (I like to make mine with Wendy's-style chili instead of taco meat. It's healthier with the beans and vegetables than plain meat and spices) with guacamole and chips

Tuesday -- Feast of St. Leo the Great
Lunch: pancakes
Dinner: Tortellini Soup (something like this -- I'll post my version with pictures), Italian bread, Lion Cake

Wednesday -- Feast of St. Martin
Lunch: chili
Dinner: Greek Burgers, roasted potatoes, Greek salad
If weather permits, we'll have a Martinmas bonfire and maybe some s'mores.

Thursday
Lunch: quesadillas
Dinner: Pulled Pork Sandwiches (prepared in the crockpot), Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Cabbage slaw

Friday
Lunch: egg sandwiches
Dinner: Salmon Nicoise Salad, Pan de Horno (cheese pizza for kiddies)

* Tried and true
* New to me

Julie & Julia, the book

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A few weeks ago I told you that I had been to see the movie, Julie & Julia. I enjoyed it. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD -- I think I'll own it (a rarity, I assure you).

Because I so thoroughly enjoyed the movie, I decided to reserve the book at the library. I started it about a week ago, and today, as I reached page 147 out of 307 pages, I quit. I will read no further.

There are a variety of reasons, and because my mother taught me that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, I won't bash the author. Let's just say that the character portrayed in the movie by the cute, perky, virtuous Amy Adams, is nothing like the real deal.

As you may have heard, there is a lot of language in it. The majority of which is the F word. Blech.

There is also a lot of Republican bashing. And I'm not talking about jokingly. I'm talking serious hate. There's just no reason why I should continue to subject myself to it voluntarily, and on page 147 I decided I just couldn't read another word when I read this sentence: "Aunt Sukie is a schoolteacher in Waxahacie, Texas, and one of those smart, kind people who nonetheless mystifies you by continuing to vote Republican."

Another disappointment was the lack of quantifiable information about Julia Child. Most of the information about Julia in the movie must have come from the screenwriter's researchers because maybe three percent of the book, at the very most, was about Julia directly.

I will sum up the tone of book with the author's own statement about herself. I think it says everything you should know before you read it. It might be confusing as she is referring to one of her best girlfriends before she makes the statement about herself in parenthesis.

"It's not as if Gwen is some uncontainable libertine, Falstaff personified as an impressively bitter, petite blond with fashion sense (and I say this as a person with nearly depthless reserves of bitterness)."

As bitter as a square of unsweetened baking chocolate, I'd say.

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Romaine and Pepita Salad with Cilantro Ranch Dressing

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Last Friday we had friends over for a simple get-together to visit and begin celebrating the feast days ahead. Pizza was on the menu, a variety of choices to satisfy everyone's tastes, and I had a tossed salad in mind but had to work out some kinks in my recipe. I did some internet hunting and came up with just the recipe I was looking for. Years (and years) ago when we ate out at restaurants (when all of our children could eat from a children's menu), we enjoyed Don Pablo's, a family-style, chain Mexican spot nearby. On the menu, they had a salad that I just loved. It was a simple salad, I think topped with grilled chicken (but I could be wrong on that -- it's been a long time) and pepitas (pumpkin seed kernels) and a fabulous spicy ranch dressing. The dressing was the one thing I had not previously figured out, but now I have it down. I served it to our friends on Friday and everyone really enjoyed it. I skipped the chicken because it was not a dinner salad, but I will keep it in mind for next summer when a grilled chicken salad is just the thing.

If you prep your salad ahead of time, like I did, hold off on the pepitas until you serve so that they don't get soggy. The actual ingredients of the salad can vary -- it's the basic romaine, pepitas and dressing that count the most. I kept it simple with carrot coins and sliced red onion. You can add diced tomatoes, zucchini rounds, whatever sounds good to you.

Romaine and Pepita Salad
makes six side salads

5 c. cleaned, chopped romaine lettuce
2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin coins
3 slices red onion, quartered
1/3 c. pepitas, roasted and salted (buy them roasted and salted)

Cilantro Ranch dressing

3 fresh tomatillos, peeled and cut into quarters
2 cloves garlic
1 pkg. Ranch Buttermilk Dressing mix
1 c. mayonnaise (you could use sour cream also)
½ cup buttermilk
3/4 c. fresh cilantro
heavy dash cayenne pepper


Place tomatillos and garlic in food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
Add mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix, buttermilk and process until smooth. Add cilantro and cayenne and pulse until cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

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Spoon Bread

Pardon my absence...I am only now recovered from a busy weekend.

Today's recipe is a southern dish known as Spoon Bread. I had never had Spoon Bread until I went to Williamsburg, Virginia, on my honeymoon. It's a very southern dish, and even though I spent many of my formative years in the south, we lived in Florida which is too far south to be south. Make any sense?

While on our honeymoon we ate at Christiana Campbell's, one of the historical Williamsburg venues. Servers dress in period costume and the menu is inspired by traditional colonial foods. When our server brought our meal, he told us, "This is Spoon Bread and it looooves butter," in his sweet southern drawl. We learned it's a soft custardy corn bread and it does indeed love butter. We also loved it. I purchased a Colonial Williamsburg cookbook while we were there, and have enjoyed this lovely dish for the past 24 years. It's a very homey dish, and both simple and very inexpensive to make. If you like cornbread, I guarantee you'll love it.

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern Spoon Bread

1 1⁄ 2 c. boiling water
2 c. milk
1 1/2 t. sugar
1 1⁄ 4 t. salt
2 T. butter
1 1⁄ 2 c. cornmeal
5 eggs
1 T. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a large shallow dish.
Combine milk and water and heat to simmer.
Add the cornmeal, salt, sugar and butter and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens (the recipe says five minutes but it never takes that long for me).
Remove from the heat.
Beat the eggs with the baking powder until they are very light and fluffy, then add them to the cornmeal mixture. Mix well.
Pour into prepared dish.
Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot -- and with butter.

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Source: The Williamsburg Cookbook

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Weekly Menu

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I'm a little last posting my menu this weekend. In fact, I actually did my shopping before I planned everything out. I had a rough idea, however, and plan to make this a livin'-off-the-fat-of-the-land week -- in other words, the freezer and pantry are too full to pack another thing in.

Tonight is our traditional preTrick-or-Treat chili night. We eat it with Fritos or spaghetti -- your pick. So do stop over before you head out for some candy!

Saturday
Lunch: subs and chips
Dinner: Chili (my mom's) with Fritos or spaghetti

Sunday
Dinner: Roasted Cauliflower soup and Dough pretzels

Monday
Lunch: sandwiches and apples
Dinner: Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans

Tuesday
Lunch: tamales (frozen/heated)
Dinner: Cheese ravioli and sauce, bread, salad

Wednesday
Lunch: Wendy's chili
Dinner: Pancakes, bacon and sauteed apples

Thursday
Lunch: soup and grilled cheese
Dinner: Chicken Cordon Bleu, buttered noodles, Mashed Butternut Squash

Friday
Lunch: scrambled eggs and toast
Dinner: Black Beans and Rice, bread

* Tried and true
* New to me


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