Leftovers turned Chicken Alfredo!

If you know me well, then you know I do not like to waste anything.  I like to use all of the scraps that I can.  One thing that I have gotten creative with over time is leftovers.  I do not mind eating dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, but if I still have some food leftover then I like to create something new with it.  Monday night I made a simple meal of, baked chicken, rice, and vegetables.  I had some chicken left over, so I turned it into chicken alfredo and ate it over rice.  This recipe may not be for you, if you are the type that would rather throw it out and start fresh, but the Grandma Kriser part of me will not allow me to do that. LOL.  And anyone that knows my maternal grandmother would completely understand.  Here it goes...

• I put 4 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat.  
  
• I added 1/3 cup of chopped onion.
• 3 cloves of minced garlic.
• 1/2 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger.
• 1/2 teaspoon of fresh, chopped rosemary.

I let these ingredients cook for a few minutes until the onion was tender.  Then I added...

• 2 Tablespoons of flour to the skillet and stirred it in completely with the butter.
• Then I slowly added two cups of milk (if I had whipping cream, I would have used half cream and half milk) to the skillet, stirring while I poured.  I let this thicken while I stirred so that it wouldn't get clumpy.
• Then I added my three left over chicken thighs (you can use whatever chicken you have, I used the chicken thighs because it was what I had) that I had chopped into small pieces to the sauce and let it all heat up evenly.
• I also added salt and pepper to taste at this point.
• Then I spooned my chicken alfredo sauce over my rice that I had warmed up and enjoyed it immensely!  The fresh spices in the sauce made it taste so fresh, I really enjoyed this food makeover!

This recipe will not be for everyone, because I do not think everyone will enjoy using their leftovers like I do, but I was trying to be thrifty and useful with what I had.  You can also make this with all fresh ingredients and eat it over pasta, or spaghetti squash too!  If you thought this was a neat idea, I want to hear about it!

The Famous Monte Cristo

When I was younger I used to LOVE the Monte Cristo sandwich from Bennigan's Restaurant!  When they closed down all of the Bennigan's that is what I missed the most!  I would think about making one of their sandwiches often, but I wasn't really sure of how to go about it.  Then I started cooking more and just recently I got brave enough to try it out myself!

When hurricane Matthew came through a few weeks ago I loaded my girls up along with my mother, grandmother, and my oldest sister; just two days before it was projected to hit our area and drove to my parents' second home in Alabama.  It just so happened that my mom had a spiral ham in the freezer, raspberry preserves in the fridge, and my cousin who also joined us in refuge brought a lot of sliced cheese!  There was also a deep frier there which made this cooking project a breeze.  I decided that it was just meant to be and got to work!

I mixed together two cups of pancake mix for the batter to dip the sandwiches in, I added enough water so that it wasn't too runny.  The batter needs to be sticky and medium thick.  You can use whatever pancake or waffle mix that you have, it doesn't matter.  I have also used milk instead of water to add to the pancake mix so you choose your preference.  I took two slices of bread and put two slices of cheese on it (one on each side of bread).  Then I added a very good amount of spiral sliced ham to the middle of the sandwich.  I cut the sandwich in half diagonally and dipped it into the pancake batter.  I proceeded to drop it into the deep frier and let it cook.  Once it was nice and golden, I took it out and dusted it with powdered sugar and added a side of raspberry preserves.  It was so very very delicious!  I know you are really not supposed to brag about yourself, but this sandwich was SO good!  It is not listed as healthy obviously, but I think almost all things in moderation are okay. LOL  I hope you enjoy this sandwich we loved it so much that I made them again as soon as we got back home!

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Okay so I am going to do a healthy breakfast post today!  I love eating healthy, because I always feel better when I do, but I also like to cheat and splurge every now and too often.  LOL.  Anyway, this breakfast casserole is super easy and delicious, and the great thing about it, is that you can use any kinds of vegetables or sausage that you like.  In this particular dish, I used maple sausage because it was all that I had, but it turned out awesome even though you would think this as a more savory dish. So here is the recipe...

• 1 pound of sausage (you can use any kind you like)
• 1 small orange pepper, diced
• 1 scallion, diced
• 1 handful of spinach (you can chop this if you want, its whatever your preference)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 12 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• Salt and pepper

I browned the sausage in a skillet and then dumped it into a 9X9 baking dish.  While the sausage was cooking I diced all of the vegetables that I wanted to add.  Keep in mind you can use any kinds of vegetables that you would like to.  You can use, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, sweet onion, tomatoes, red pepper, green bell pepper, anything!  The possibilities are endless!  After the vegetables are chopped I dump them in the 9X9 pan with the sausage and stir it all around.  

Then in a separate bowl I added the eggs, the milk, and salt and pepper.  My mom taught me a trick when cooking eggs, she said to add one shake of salt for every egg and one shake of pepper for every two eggs.  This amount seems to work out just right for seasoning.






I then poured the egg mixture over top of the vegetables and sausage and baked on 350 degrees for about an hour and fifteen minutes.

I have to say that the finished product turned out beautiful!  It was scrumptious and I didn't even feel guilty about eating it!  Sausage is Charlie Jo's favorite food, so she loved it too!

French Toast Casserole

         This past weekend, my best friend and I (who happens to also be my cousin) put on a Boo Brunch for our children and their cousins for the Halloween season.  We had a delicious breakfast, read a fun Halloween story, and then we let the kids make monster fruit cups and decorate pumpkins.  It was a blast and we hope to make it a tradition every year!
          One of the breakfast foods that I served was a French Toast Casserole.  I got the idea from a fellow pinner on Pinterest.  Her recipe was called French Toast Bake it is great too, but I didn't like how it turned out for me.  Her directions said to make it the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight, but this made the bread way too soggy and mushy for me.  It was also a little drier on top than I liked so I made my own rendition.  And here it is...

• I loaf of French Brioche bread (I got this from the Walmart bakery) you can also use a loaf of sourdough bread instead (it works great too).
• 6 eggs
• 1 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 1 & 1/2 cups of milk
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla extract

          I cut the bread into cubes and put it in a 9X13 baking dish.  Then I mixed the rest of the above ingredients together and poured it over top of the bread.  I stirred it around so that all of the bread was evenly coated and wouldn't dry out while it was cooking.  

This is the crumble topping recipe:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 & 1/2 sticks of butter (cut into pieces)

          I cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, but you can always use a fork.  I dumped this evenly over top of the bread mixture and put it in the oven on 350 degrees.  I baked this for about 45 minutes.  It may need a little longer.  You can eat it as is, add a drizzle of syrup if you like, or top it with fresh fruit.  I find it delicious in all three ways.

          I didn't get a picture of the whole casserole, but it was beautiful.  I did however, take a picture of the last piece that I was able to enjoy this morning for breakfast!  Everyone raved over this dish at the party, and I hope you find it just as delicious!

Lobster Bisque

Okay so my awesome sister and her boyfriend (whom I very much approve of) went lobstering in the Florida Keys a few months ago and brought us back some lobsters to cook and eat.  Well my mom boiled them three nights ago and I'm like "now what?"  I thought for a second, and I got really excited and said "I can make lobster bisque with them!"  So I took six tails home that night and made lobster bisque for the next day, and let me tell you, it turned out to be super scrumptious!  Even my sister's boyfriend approved!  I just put things in a pot that I thought went well together and wrote the ingredients down as I cooked so that I could share it with you all! This is the recipe that I came up with...

• 1 stick of butter (salted or unsalted, your preference)
• 1/2 of an onion, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced very small
• Sprinkle of smoked paprika
• Dash of salt
• Sprinkle of pepper
• A tiny dash of crushed red pepper
• 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
• 5 red potatoes, cut into small cubes

I put the butter into a pot on medium-low and let it melt.  Then I added the rest of the above listed ingredients.  I let this cook until the potatoes were pretty close to done if not completely done.  Then I added the rest of the following ingredients...

• 3 cups of water
• 3 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 6 teaspoons of chicken bouillon 
• 6 cooked lobster tails (cut into bite sized chunks)

I let this cook on low for about two hours, until it was time for dinner.  Every last drop was eaten, and I think the bisque speaks for itself when that happens.

P.S. I added a splash of fresh lemon juice and a few chopped scallions as a garnish on top.

Veggie Tray Soup

So this is a soup that I made a while back from a left over vegetable tray from a baby shower.  Lets call it veggie tray soup!  How original right?  Well in all seriousness, I took carrots, cauliflower, and cherry tomatoes (I didn't measure the amount, I just used everything that was left over on the tray) and diced them up.   I also diced up a half of an onion and two potatoes that I had at the house and added it to the pile of diced veggies.  I browned a package of maple sausage because it was all that I had at the time.  Once the sausage was cooked thoroughly I added the vegetables and some minced garlic.  From here I added chicken broth and half and half.  I love soup, and this soup was awesome!  I know you may think ewww on the combination of ingredients, but it was great!  The maple flavor of the sausage added a little sweetness to the soup.  It was very yummy if I do say so myself!  Sooooo, if you ever have a leftover vegetable tray and don't know what to do with all the remains, now you can improvise and make soup!

Finally!

So I have wanted to start up a cooking/recipe blog for a really long time now.  I love to cook and come up with new recipe ideas.  I like to use almost everything that I have in my pantry and freezer before restocking.  This makes things interesting sometimes, but we get creative and it's fun!  Most of the time it even turns out delicious!  I hope you can use and enjoy my recipes as much as my family and I do!