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Chicken Kiev

INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil
4 chicken breast boneless, skinless
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 tablespoons chilled butter
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 lemon
Salt
Pepper Plain
Toothpicks

DIRECTIONS
1. Flatten chicken breasts with meat mallet between sheets of plastic wrap until about 1/4" thickness.
2. Combine herbs and garlic in small bowl.
3. Cut 4 (1 1/2 tablespoons) pieces of cold butter and roll each piece in the herb garlic mixture.
4. In three separate bowls, set out flour, beaten eggs with a splash of cold water and bread crumbs.
5. Squeeze a lemon juice over chicken breasts. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
6. Place an herb-covered piece of butter on each piece of chicken.
7. Wrap and roll chicken breasts tightly up and over the butter cubes. Secure stuffed chicken with toothpicks.
8. Roll stuffed breasts in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs.
9. Put about an inch and a half of vegetable oil in a large skillet, heat over medium high heat.
10. Fry chicken 7 to 8 minutes on each side until deep golden brown all over.

Chicken Marsala

INGREDIENTS
4 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless
1/2 cup flour
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Oregano, to taste
4 Tbsp oil
4 Tbsp butter
2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Marsala wine

DIRECTIONS
1. Flatten chicken breasts with meat mallet between sheets of plastic wrap until about 1/4" thickness.
2. Combine flour, salt, pepper and oregano in a mixing bowl. Put chicken pieces in the flour.
3. Heat oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken breasts on medium heat for about 2 minutes on the first side, until lightly browned. Turn breasts over to cook other side.
4. Add mushrooms to skillet. Cook breasts about 2 more minutes, until both sides are lightly browned. Continue to stir mushrooms.
5. Add Marsala wine around chicken pieces.
6. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Shrimp fried rice

2 Cups rice (that is measured uncooked) Cook according to box
2 Pounds peeled, deveined, uncooked shrimp, cut in half
5 cloves garlic, chopped
4 Tbsp Onion, Chopped
1 Cup Peas & Carrots (frozen or can)
1/2 Stick butter
Soy sauce to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook rice according to directions then set out uncovered allowing it to cool and dry a little. In saute pan melt butter, add shrimp and half of garlic and saute until shrimp is done (probably a good idea to taste it while cooking for doneness). Remove shrimp and set aside leaving butter and juices in pan. Add rice to pan with garlic, onion, and soy sauce. Cook over medium low heat. Don't stir it a lot, allowing rice to get fried and change colors to a slight brown. When rice is almost done add in shrimp, peas and carrots and toss until all is heated through.

Blackberry Sour Cream Scones

Warning...This one gets a little messy! But then again, all good cooking should.

Yields: 8 large scones or 16 small scones

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup for dusting
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
A pinch of cinnamon
A dash of nutmeg
5 tablespoons butter, cubed, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1 cup blackberries (you can substitute any berry for blackberries), slightly smashed
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar in the raw or decorative sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Add the cubed butter until a coarse meal forms. Pulse in the sour cream and egg yolk until just combined.

Turn the sticky dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough comes together into a ball. Cut the dough into 2 parts. Gently pat or roll the dough down into a 1/2 inch thick square shape. Spread 1/2 of the berries over the dough, then fold in the sides of the dough and smoosh (technical cooking term, remember that one!) together. Spread the dough out and with a large knife cut into 4 large triangles. Repeat with second half of the dough. If you want smaller scones you can cut each large triangle in half.

Transfer the triangles onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, placing 1 inch apart. Brush the tops of each scone with heavy cream and sprinkle it with some sugar in the raw or decorative sugar. This creates a shiny and crunchy top for the scones. Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes until the bottoms of the scones are light brown.

Remove from oven, cool slightly on the sheet pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I like serving these with a little lemon curd and whipped cream (the real stuff, not the stuff from a can).

Coming this week

Part of my New Years resolution was to make weekly menus. It is helping me save money. I used to have a habit of going to the store 2-3 times a week and coming home with over $70.00 in stuff and still not having 7 days worth of food while at the same time having 49 days worth of junk I wouldn't eat. So I put my husband in charge of cleaning out the garage freezer and I went and stocked it all up (still need to hit up Sams club for chicken), but basically I have Pork Spare ribs packaged in two serving portions (for me two portions is dinner and left over for hubs lunch since I don't eat it, you may want to package into 3-4 portions for left overs, it will save you a ton on lunch), steaks, chicken with bones and chicken with out. I don't keep fish in the freezer that is something I buy fresh the week I want to make it. I keep rib eye for my husbands friday meal (I'll explain later) and tri tip for any week night steak meals as I can make left overs out of that. I also have a pretty well stocked pantry so I only have to buy a few sides or veggies that don't store well over a week. Here is this weeks menu it starts on Sunday so that he has left overs for monday

Sunday: Quick beef tostadas
Monday: Pork rib adobo
Tuesday: Italian garlic chicken with asparagus & mashies
Wednesday: Husband wants to go buy sushi
Thursday: Roasted asian pork tenderloin with white rice (as a bonus I will post a recipe for a second meal made from this dish)
Friday: Rib eye with mushroom bacon sauce and finger potatoes
Saturday: Husband will talk me into getting KFC or some equally gross fast food to make him happy

I sat down to make my grocery list and realized that I already had the ground beef, ribs, chicken and steak in my freezer. That meant all I had to buy was the pork tenderloin, I got a big one so it cost a whopping $5.00. Then I just had to buy some salad stuff, asparagus, finger potatoes, and other random veggies. Everything else I bought was just normal house staples, milk, creamer and macaroni. I barely spent any money and I was in and out in no time. I've already started a menu for next week and what I hope to eventually do is have about 6-7 different weekly menus that I can start rotating through. Anyway this is my weekly menu and it was really cost effective. I will be using a Lawrys premade marinade but I already had those in my pantry. Walmart sells them for about a buck fifty so I stock up on them when I go there. I like to do that because its one less thing I have to buy later on plus it helps give me ideas on meals if I base them around the different yummy marinades I have.

Like I said I stock up on certain things in my freezer. I don't stock up on ground beef I usually buy that fresh the Sunday before cooking. However I always keep a few staples that I know are diverse.

Pork spare ribs

• Pork adobo
• Slow cooked ribs
• Grilled ribs (this is also a great staple for my husband on days he wants to cook for himself)

Tri tip

• BBQ tri tip (duh)
• Fajitas

Rib Eye

• Fancy fun friday night meals

Chicken bone in skin on

• Fried chicken
• Roasted chicken
• Grilled chicken
• Stuffed chicken

Chicken boneless skinless

• Tacos
• Pastas
• Stuffed chicken
• Quesidillas
• Salads

So you see once you have a nice freezer built around these staples all you really need is a few sides. I ALWAYS have potatoes, and green sauce for quesidillas, Onions, Garlic, marinades, tomatoes in a can, and red pasta sauce (this stuff is soooo diverse). That means when I go to the store I really only need some veggies to complete a meal. I hope this helps you start planning weekly meals and save a few bucks here and there. Good luck!

Chicken and Gnocchi in Cream Sauce

INGREDIENTS
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
4 chicken breasts, sliced in strips
2 small branches rosemary
4 garlic clove, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup ricotta cheese
1 pint heavy cream
1 package gnocchi (I like Monterrey Pasta Co., Parmesan) Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine garlic, lemon juice, rosemary and chicken in a mixing bowl. Let marinate for about 2 hours.
2. Combine Parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese and heavy cream in a mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Add EVOO, onions, bell peppers, and zucchini to pan on medium heat. Saute until onions are translucent.
4. Add marinated chicken and cook until slices are brown on all sides.

5. Reduce heat and add sauce mixture. Bring to a simmer.

6. Cook gnocchi according to package directions.
7. Drain cooked gnocchi and add to pan with chicken, vegetables and sauce. Stir to coat gnocchi with sauce.
8. Serve topped with extra Parmesan cheese.