Paula Deen's Chicken Bog

I'm going to say it.

It's so much fun being a mom.

Tell me how you can look at a sweet baby face like that and your heart not melt.

Brent and I used to think having fun meant going out with friends, usually involved spending a lot of money and staying up way too late. Now, fun is getting a smile like this. We still enjoy seeing our friends, we went to a party Friday evening, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather play with Caleb. Because I need to get as much of this baby love in as I can before he grows up.

Since my weekends are filled more with things like playing with Caleb and *gasp* housework than they used to be, I don't have as much time to cook fancy meals. When I do cook, I try to find recipes that make a lot of food so we can have leftovers for a few days. My mom reminded me of this Paula Deen recipe that been a standby of hers for years and has always been a family favorite.

Chicken Bog
Source: Paula Deen

Ingredients:

3 pounds chicken thighs

1 pound smoked link sausage

1 cup chopped onion 1 stick butter

2 teaspoons Seasoned Salt

2 teaspoons Paula Deen's House Seasoning

1 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 bay leaves

8 cups water

3 cups raw white rice

Directions:

Slice the sausage into 1/2-inch pieces. In a stockpot, combine the chicken, sausage, onion, butter, seasonings and bay leaves. Add the water, bring to a boil, cover, and cook at a low boil for 40 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool slightly. Pick the meat from the bones, discarding the bones and skin. Add the rice to the pot and bring to a boil, stirring well. Boil for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the rice is done. Remove the bay leaves, and return the chicken to the pot.

Shrimp Enchiladas

To say that my husband likes enchiladas is an understatement. The last time I made these, he ate most of the batch, I'm talking eighteen enchiladas, in just over 36 hours. He also loves seafood of all kinds, so when I saw this recipe for shrimp enchiladas I knew I had to make it for him. He's been going through a hard time lately and I thought it would be nice to do something special just for him.

They were a huge hit! They weren't any more difficult to put together than the chicken enchiladas I like to make and they were MUCH better. I'm going to use the steps in this recipe to make my chicken enchiladas from now on. No more cream of chicken soup for us, we are movin' on up to the homemade cheese sauce.

I made several changes to the original, so make sure to click back to The Piggly-Wiggly blog for her take on the recipe.


Shrimp Enchiladas
Inspired By: The Piggly-Wiggly

1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, minced
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp Paula Deen's House Seasoning
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
8 ounces shredded Monterey-Jack cheese, divided
8 ounces Pepper-Jack cheese, divided
1/2 cup sour cream (Used fat-free)
1 Tbsp butter
1-1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (next time I'll use fresh)
(9-inch) flour tortillas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sauté peppers and onion in the butter until crisp-tender (approximately 3-4 minutes). Add oregano, house seasoning, cream and flour; blend well. Continue cooking for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add half of the cheese mixture; stir until melted. Add sour cream, stir to blend. Set aside.

In another skillet, melt the 2 Tbsp butter. Sauté shrimp until pink. Remove and chop; return to butter. Add tomatoes and 1/2 of the cheese sauce. Spoon 1/3 cup shrimp mixture into each tortilla. Sprinkle cheese on top of shrimp mixture. Roll up tightly. Arrange seam side down in a 13x9 glass baking dish.

Spoon remaining cheese sauce over tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

I don't bake very often, in fact, I found this bundt pan in the very back of my pan cabinet. It was a wedding present; given to us three and a half years ago, and it was still in its packaging. When I saw this chocolate cake recipe one one of the blogs I follow, What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen, I decided to time had arrived to unwrap the fleur de lis bundt pan and bake a cake!

I haven't had a piece yet, I'm saving it for dinner tonight with my in-laws, but I did sample, okay more than sample, I ate most of it, the cake that I cut off the bottom to make it level on the plate. It was so moist and chocolatie, I can't wait to have a slice with ice cream tonight.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Source: What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen

Originally from: The back of the "Bakers & Chefs" brown sugar bag

Ingredients:

3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup boiling water

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Combine the baking chocolate, butter and boiling water in a small bowl; stir until chocolate and butter are melted. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients; blend well. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla; beat one for one minute at medium speed. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Invert the pan onto the cooling rack and let cool the rest of the way.

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Cups

My mom came down for a long visit this past weekend, she didn't have to work Columbus Day so she was able to make it a three night weekend! We went to the Tulsa State Fair, shopped, relaxed and played with the baby. We had a long list of all kinds of stuff we wanted to do, including cooking a fun breakfast, but the real reason mom came down was so that Caleb could show her his newest discovery:
His feet!

Ever since he discovered them it's been impossible to keep socks on him. And when he does have socks on, they are usually soggy wet. I love watching him playing with his feet, the concentration on his face when he is doing it is priceless.


My mom had this idea for our fun breakfast creation, she said she used to make them all the time, but I have to tell you, I don't remember ever having them. Her and dad had all kinds of fun PK :-)

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Cups
Source: My mom

Ingredients:

Twelve slices of white bread, crusts removed
Melted butter
1/2 package maple bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
6 eggs
A splash of milk
Grated cheddar cheese, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush both sides of the bread with a little melted butter. Lightly press into muffin tin cups, forming a little bread bowl. Bake until lightly browned and able to retain their shape. Remove from the oven and the muffin pan and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon pieces until desired doneness. Combine the eggs and milk with a whisk and scramble. Mix together scrambled eggs and bacon, putting mixture into bread cups. Top with the shredded cheese.

Mushroom and Leek Frittata

This recipe really fit the bill for our dinner the other night...it came together quickly and tasted great. However, I had no idea leeks were so expensive! Four dollars for two of those suckers. I think I'll reserve using leeks for special occasions and stick with plain ole onions. Also, the recipe called for basil which I'm sure would have been wonderful, but my basil plants have been gone for a month or so now, and yet again, store-bought basil is something I'll reserve for a special occasion. (Can you tell I'm grocery budgeting, is anyone else?) The directions call for using a couple pans and a bowl...I used one frying pan and everything turned out nicely.

Mushroom and Leek Frittata
Source: Elizabeth's Edible Experience
Originally from: Cooking Light

Ingredients:

Cooking spray (I used a little olive oil)
3 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
1 1/4 cups thinly sliced leek (about 2 large)
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
2 teaspoons butter, melted
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 large egg whites
3 large eggs
2 cups hot cooked linguine (about 4 ounces uncooked pasta)
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray or a tablespoon olive oil. Add mushrooms and leek; cook 6 minutes or until leek is tender, stirring frequently.
Combine milk and next 5 ingredients (milk through eggs) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add leek mixture, pasta, and basil; toss gently to combine.

Heat pan over medium-low heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add egg mixture; cook until edges begin to set (about 4 minutes). Gently lift edge of egg mixture, tilting pan to allow some uncooked egg mixture to come in contact with pan. Cook 5 minutes or until almost set. Sprinkle evenly with cheese; wrap handle of pan with foil. Bake 7 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into 8 wedges.

Penne alla Vodka

Yes, this is another guest post, but this time from my friend and (soon to not be) neighbor, Leslie, a.k.a. West 95! Leslie is sporting the cutest baby bump you've ever seen, she makes me wish I were pregnant again...whoa, did I say that? No, not really. Leslie is blessed with an easy beautiful pregnancy. Soon she'll moving WAY west away from me, all the way across town, and across the river, and there will no longer be 42 paces between her refrigerator and mine (for a glass of chilled wine, ya'all). I will miss her much, but I can't wait to take my baby boy to go visit her baby boy and watch them play in the mud together and eat bugs. Life will be grand.

***

Enjoy your noms! :)

Penne alla Vodka

Source: The Nest.com

Ingredients:

4T EVOO

1 med red onion chopped

1/2 cup vodka

2 cups basic tomato sauce (marinara)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 lb penne (i used rigatoni)

1 cup grated parm

1. Bring about 6Q water to a boil and add about 2T salt

2. In large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat until just smoking. Add onions and cook until light golden brown, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the vodka and cook until liquid reduced by half, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and cream and cook until the sauce has reduced by a third, about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water for 1 minute less than the package directions indicate. Drain the pasta and add it to the saucepan. Stir together over very high heat for 1 minute, until thoroughly coated. Remove pan from heat, add grated parm and toss to mix well. Divide the pasta among four bowls, grate fresh parm over each bowl and serve immediately.

Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com this morning. We wanted soup for dinner since today was so fall-like. The recipe turned out great and the broth was so incredibly flavorful, it was wonderful to eat it with a crusty piece of bread. Then it happened...as I was cleaning the kitchen, I looked once more at the recipe I'd printed out. I'd forgotten to include the tortellini in the soup! It was still sitting in it's package in the refrigerator and dinner was over and done with. Even though I have no idea how I managed to forget the title ingredient, it was still great. I'm sure the pasta and cheese would only make it better!

I made several adjustments to the recipe which I will note below. For the original recipe, tortellini and all, go to Allrecipes.com.

Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini
Adapted from: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

3/4 pound hot Italian saugage
1/4 pound pork sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water
1 cup red wine
2 16 oz. cans petit diced tomatoes
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
8 ounces tortellini pasta

Directions:

In a large stock pot, brown sausage. Remove and drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings.

Saute the onion until nearly translucent. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute. Stir in broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, tomato sauce and sausage. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 50 minutes.

Skim fat from the soup, add the tortellini and simmer another ten minutes. Garnish with Parmesan before serving.