Month: October 2021

Chicken and Dumplings – Truly Tasty!

This was definitely a comfort food week for me. I discovered this recipe on Tasty at the beginning of this year, and now that Fall is in full swing, I decided to give it a try.

Easy, satisfying and delicious, this is comfort food at its best. There are many different versions of chicken and dumplings out there. However, I like this one because it’s very simple to put together, and the dumplings are really delicious without a lot of extra herbs in them. Let’s jump right in!

What you’ll need:

Soup

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 1 cup diced sweet onion
  • 1 cup sliced carrots
  • 3 cloves garlic cloves, chopped/minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 ½ cups frozen peas
  • 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Dumplings

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • 1 ⅓ cups heavy cream

Instructions

First, let’s prep our ingredients. Slice enough carrots to make one cup, this is usually about two carrots. 

Dice enough onion to make one cup, depending on the size of the onion, this could be 1/2 to 1 whole onion. I like to use sweet onions, but you could use yellow if you prefer. ·  I used the Rapid-Prep Mandoline to slice the carrots AND dice the onions – makes the prep work easier!

I used the Manual Food Processor to chop about five garlic cloves. The recipe calls for three, but we like garlic so I added more.

Next, slice your boneless skinless chicken breast into cubes.

Now we’re ready to cook!

Heat two tablespoons olive oil in 6-Qt Dutch Oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned on both sides. Remove from Dutch oven and set aside for now.

Add carrots and onions to the pot, cook for about 3 minutes.

Add in your garlic, cooking only one minute just until fragrant.

Reduce heat to medium-low, and add 5 tablespoons unsalted butter and six tablespoons all-purpose flour. Stir continuously for 3 minutes to avoid any lumps.

Add back chicken and any juices that have accumulated while resting into the pot and stir to coat.

Next, add the chicken broth, cream, thyme, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer.

Once the soup is simmering, add in the frozen peas. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, chop enough flat parsley to make four tablespoons.

Now we can move on to the dumplings! Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and Enrichables Pea Protein in a large bowl.

Stir in the heavy cream until the dough is formed.

Use the large scoop to make each dumpling.

Place the dumplings into the simmering soup.

Add in the parsley, cover and let the soup cook for 15 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked through.

All done! Ladle into your bowls, I used my stoneware bowls as they kept the soup nice and warm. 

Please let me know if you try this recipe, it is so good and it also freezes very well. That is, if you have any left over! 

My recipe video is at the bottom of this post, along with link to this wonderful recipe. 

Listed below are the products I used for this recipe. Please feel free to go to my website to purchase any or all of them here (please note I make commission if you do): https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/marianielsen

PLEASE NOTE: If you want any of these items, but DON’T want to pay full price, I would be happy to help you with a party on our NEW platform TABLE, so that you can get some products FREE and discounted! I am now scheduling parties for October! For the month of October, 2021, anyone who hosts a party with me on TABLE will be entered to WIN the Family Pizza Set! Let’s make great food together!

Link to original recipe: https://tasty.co/recipe/cozy-chicken-and-dumplings

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Easy Pot Roast in the Quick Cooker/Instant Pot – Pioneer Woman

Six years ago, I was searching for a pot roast recipe. I had tried a couple, but I was looking for one that did not have celery or potatoes in the ingredients. Our family likes to have mashed potatoes on the side with our meats, and rather than adjust a recipe I found, I was really hoping that I could find one that didn’t use either. 

Enter Pioneer Woman!!

Many of you have probably heard of her, but if you haven’t, I encourage you to go visit her and check out all of her delicious recipes. This one is my old-time favorite though, but today I have adjusted it so that we can cook it in our Pampered Chef Quick Cooker!

Our Quick Cooker is a pressure cooker, just like an Instant Pot. Ours has a six-quart capacity, 16 pre-programmed settings. The body stays cool, and I love that the handles are on the bottom, which makes it very easy and safe to carry to the dinner table. It can also function as a slow cooker! 

The first time I made this recipe, I did it exactly as stated. It was easy, but it definitely takes a long time to cook. Doing it the way I did cut the time by more than 50%, which is great when you decide you want pot roast for dinner, but it’s 2:00 PM already! I hope that you will love this recipe as much as I do. Okay let’s jump right in!

Please Note: The recipe ingredients and directions here reflect the changes I made in order to cook this in the Quick Cooker/Instant Pot. I will provide the original recipe and link below my video.

What you’ll need:

  • 2.5 to 3-pound chuck roast
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, cut in half
  • 6-8 whole carrots, unpeeled
  • 1 cup red wine (can sub beef broth)
  • 3 cups beef broth
  • 2-3 sprigs rosemary
  • 2-3 sprigs thyme

Instructions

Cut your onions in half, wash and slice your carrots into 2-in pieces.

Cut your chuck roast into several pieces. You don’t have to do this; it’s just how I like to do it. If your chuck roast fits in your pan, you can certainly leave it whole. Season with salt and pepper.

Set Quick Cooker to SEAR, heat oil. Add onions to the pot, lightly browning them on both sides. Remove onions, set aside.

Next, add carrots into the pot, just for a minute until they’re very lightly browned, remove and set aside with onions.

Sear your roast on all sides until browned. Remove and set aside.

Add 1 cup of wine (or beef broth if you’re subbing with that) to the pot to de-glaze. Be sure to scrape up all the goodness!

Turn off SEAR. Add roast back to the pot, along with three cups beef broth. Add onions, carrots, rosemary and thyme.

Cover Quick Cooker, set to BEEF/PORK, 55 minutes, Press START.

That’s it! The hardest part was waiting for this delicious meal to be ready. It did not take long to come up to pressure, about 12 minutes and then another 55 minutes to cook. I let it natural release for 10 minutes, and I probably could have let it go more, but we couldn’t wait. The meat was so amazingly tender!

If you enjoy pot roast like we do, I promise you will absolutely LOVE this!!

My recipe video is at the bottom of this post, along with link to this wonderful recipe. 

Listed below are the products I used for this recipe. Please feel free to go to my website to purchase any or all of them here (please note I make commission if you do): https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/marianielsen

PLEASE NOTE: If you want any of these items, but DON’T want to pay full price, I would be happy to help you with a party on our NEW platform TABLE, so that you can get some products FREE and discounted! I am now scheduling parties for October! For the month of October, 2021, anyone who hosts a party with me on TABLE will be entered to WIN the Family Pizza Set! Let’s make great food together!

Link to original recipe: https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a10342/pot-roast-recipe/

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Best Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin – It Really Is! From Recipeteacher.com

This was a recipe that I had stored February 23rd, 2020. I don’t know what happened, but I never got around to trying it. In fact, I forgot all about it until the other day when I went to the store and bought four pork tenderloins for $12.80. Yes,  the price of pork tenderloin is exciting to me! Here we are, @ 21 months later, and all I have to say is that I am sorry I did not try this sooner!!

This was one of the easiest dinners I’ve made. Definitely something we will come back to on our rotation, So I went over to check out the blog Recipeteacher.com, and it looks like there are several folks who share this blog, but the first one I read about was Jason. I really enjoyed what he had to say, about being a cook who likes to find the most basic ways to cook something, but still getting the “wow” factor. I can get behind that!

The one thing that I changed for this recipe has to do with our Air Fryer. Since ours comes with a spit, I chose not to preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes. As the meat was constantly rotating, there was no need to preheat and it came out perfectly.

Now that I’ve tried this recipe, I will definitely go back there to check out what else they have available. Again, this was so easy, and they results were delicious! Let’s jump right in!

What you’ll need:

  • 1.25-1.75 lbs pork tenderloin
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground mustard
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Whisk all dry ingredients together.

Remove any silver skin from pork.

Brush pork with oil on all sides.

Press rub into pork.

Skewer the tenderloin onto the spit. I then rolled the tenderloin around the cutting board just to pick up any little bits of seasoning still lying around.

Place the spit into the air fryer, set it to Air Fry for 20-22 minutes, or until the temperature reaches 145°.

Be sure to rest the tenderloin for 5 minutes before slicing.

All done! Please let me know if you try this recipe, and what you think of it. Would you change anything, add anything? Be sure to head over to Recipeteacher.com and check out their recipes.

My recipe video is at the bottom of this post, along with link to this wonderful recipe. 

Listed below are the products I used for this recipe. Please feel free to go to my website to purchase any or all of them here (please note I make commission if you do): https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/marianielsen

PLEASE NOTE: If you want any of these items, but DON’T want to pay full price, I would be happy to help you with a party on our NEW platform TABLE, so that you can get some products FREE and discounted! I am now scheduling parties for October! For the month of October, 2021, anyone who hosts a party with me on TABLE will be entered to WIN the Family Pizza Set! Let’s make great food together!

Link to original: https://recipeteacher.com/best-damn-air-fryer-pork-tenderloin

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Classic Cheesecake, AKA Why You Shouldn’t Go Out For Cheesecake In a Blizzard When 8 Months Pregnant

As I’m sure you have probably guessed, I seem to be on somewhat of a dessert kick lately. I wanted to try a lot of full recipes for all of you, but one of my personal favorite desserts is cheesecake, Thanks to my daughter. That is a pretty funny story…

You see, when I was pregnant with her, I had cravings for three things: White Castle burgers, hot dogs and cheesecake! I know, that sounds really awful, lol. I normally eat pretty healthy, but for some reason during that pregnancy, I just wanted those foods. In fact, I was 8 and 1/2 months pregnant when I really want a cheesecake at 10:30 at night. Her father was leaving to go to work (police overnight shift), and he was running late and said he could not go to the diner about three blocks down the road to pick up the cheesecake. It had snowed already a couple days before. The roads were icy, and right then we had blizzard like conditions. I said okay, waited till he left, and then put boots on my swollen feet, grab my coat and an umbrella, and waddled my way down the icy road in the snow at 10:45 p.m. to go get my cheesecake. 

It took me a while, as I had gained 60 lb and I was pretty big and unbalanced, and am normally clumsy anyway. But I took my time and it had started to snow and it was windy, but I made it. I was so happy, and I opened the door to the diner and it was nice and warm and I waddle in and who do I see there, but a policeman holding a bag with cheesecake in it for me, and he was very annoyed with me!!!

Fortunately, my beautiful daughter survived my cheesecake escapade, here is a photo of her now with a dear friend (she’s the one with the shock of red hair!):

Moving on, I looked high and low for a recipe to try, as my goal is to try recipes from a variety of food bloggers. However, I was super nervous as I had never made a cheesecake before. Well, I made several no-bake cheesecakes, and they were good, but there’s nothing like the lusciousness of a baked cheesecake in my opinion.

As you can see, I kept coming back to Sally over at Sally’s Baking Addiction. The reason was simple. Sally gives the best laid out directions that I have ever seen. I am so bad at reading and following directions, but I really wanted this to turn out right. Sally explains why you need everything in this recipe to really be followed, she doesn’t just say you have to do it this way, she gives very good explanations. For example, having everything a room temperature makes everything blend together much better. The water bath that she recommends to bake the cheesecake in has a reason behind it. So this time, I followed her directions, and I can say that it was worth it! This cheesecake was the creamiest, most delicious I have ever had in my life. You won’t be disappointed, I promise! 

What you’ll need:

For the Graham Cracker Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 full sheets of graham crackers)
  • 5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup sugar

For the Cheesecake:

  • Four 8-ounce blocks full fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • Toppings that you like. I made cherry sauce and I will share that recipe very soon.

Instructions

Make sure to put one of your racks to the lower middle position in your oven. Preheat your oven to 350°.

To make the crust: I used my Flex+ Multi-prep to process the graham crackers into crumbs. 

Next, I added the melted butter and the sugar and gave it a quick pulse to combine.

Press the mixture into the bottom of your 9-in Springform pan. I used our meat tenderizer to press down the crumbs evenly, letting some come up the sides just a little bit. Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes.

When done, remove from the oven and wrap aluminum foil around the outside of the pan. This protects your cheesecake while it’s baking in the water bath, as you will see.

To make the filling: 

I used the Flex+ Multi-prep again to mix the cream cheese and sugar together on medium high speed for about 2 minutes.

Next, I added the sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice, mixing until fully combined.

Lower the speed to medium, and add your eggs one at a time. Please note: only mix until the eggs are incorporated. Sally stated that if you over mix, your cheesecake can deflate and crack as it cools. Once my eggs were barely incorporated, I turned off the mixer and finished the rest by folding them in. 

Okay, I forgot to mention you should grab a large roasting pan to prepare a water bath. I grabbed my enameled cast iron pan, and heated up enough water for our purposes.

Pour your cheesecake batter into the springform pan. Place in the roasting pan, and fill around your cheesecake with 1-inch of HOT water.

Bake at 350° for 55 – 70 minutes, or until center is almost set. One thing, I did not pay attention as well as I should have due to my own oven, so the back half of my cheesecake was slightly browned, but this did not affect the taste at least to me. But just keep an eye on that, and if you notice that it is browning, you can cover it with foil halfway through.

Once the cheesecake is done, turn the oven off and open the door just a little bit. Let the cheesecake sit in the water bath while the oven cools down for another hour.

Remove from oven and let cool completely. Once cooled, cover and refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours, or overnight. I couldn’t wait that long, so I did 4 hours. Seriously, who has that kind of willpower?

Remove the rim from the springform pan. I used the slice and serve to, well, slice and serve the cheesecake! Sally points out that it’s easier to slice if you dip your knife into warm water and clean it between each slice.

I made an easy cherry sauce (recipe coming soon), but you could top your cheesecake with whatever you like, I did top some with melted dark chocolate and that was delicious. It was also really delicious plain. Why yes, I did have three slices! No regrets. 

Did I mention that my daughter HATES cheesecake?? She has never liked it, perhaps because I ate a LOT of it while pregnant with her. More for me, at any rate. lol. Please head over to Sally’s Baking Addiction to check out this amazing recipe, link below. She goes into great detail and I found this to be so very helpful in my first baked cheesecake adventure. I was so happy it did not deflate or crack on the top! Please let me know if you give this a try, and let Sally know, she is so kind and appreciates the feedback.

My recipe video is at the bottom of this post, along with link to this wonderful recipe. 

Listed below are the products I used for this recipe. Please feel free to go to my website to purchase any or all of them here (please note I make commission if you do): https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/marianielsen

PLEASE NOTE: If you want any of these items, but DON’T want to pay full price, I would be happy to help you with a party on our NEW platform TABLE, so that you can get some products FREE and discounted! I am now scheduling parties for October! For the month of October, 2021, anyone who hosts a party with me on TABLE will be entered to WIN the Family Pizza Set! Let’s make great food together!

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/classic-cheesecake/#tasty-recipes-66517-jump-target

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Apple Spice Cake

Today is national dessert day! I thought I would share with you a recipe I found for apple spice cake. I actually saw it on Pampered Chef’s Instagram page, a recipe from Alana over @sleepingmakesmehungry. It looked so delicious, I wanted to give it a try. Plus, it allowed me to give my new Flex+ Multi-prep product a real workout!

I never would have thought to put grated apples in a cake, but this is why I look for new recipes, lol. Let’s jump right in!

What you’ll need:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nut
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/3 cup warm milk
  • One cup melted butter
  • Three cups grated apples, preferably Granny Smith
  • 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
  • Caramel sauce, optional

Here we go!

Preheat your oven to 325° F. Spray your 9-in Springform pan, then line just the bottom with parchment paper.

Mix all of your dry ingredients together. Please note that I added Enrichables Pea Protein and Super Veggie Protein, of course.

Peel and core 1 lb apples to make three cups grated. I LOVE my Apple Corer, makes it easy to do!

This was where I brought in the first part of my Flex +, the food processor portion. It’s really nice, as you can see in the video, because it’s easy to put together and it’s cordless!

Next, add warm milk, melted butter and vanilla to dry ingredients. For this I use the second part of the Flex +, the mixer.

Add in your grated apple and mix until The apples are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Pour batter into pan and smooth the top with your scraper.

You can add apple slices if you like, but you don’t have to.

Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until the center is cooked.

At this point, I grabbed my Deluxe Cooking Blender, and made some homemade caramel really quick with heavy cream, butter, brown sugar and a little vanilla. Of course, you don’t have to use caramel to top but if you do you can make your own with the Deluxe cooking blender, or buy a jar at the store.

Once your cake is cooked, let it cool for 5 minutes and then remove the outer portion of the Spring form pan.

If you are using the caramel, now is the time to pour it over the cake while it is still warm.

Cool completely, then slice and serve. That’s it! This cake was gone within a day. It made the house smell amazing, too! I believe that this would freeze well, however we did not find out if this was the case, lol.

My recipe video is at the bottom of this post, along with link to this wonderful recipe. 

Listed below are the products I used for this recipe. Please feel free to go to my website to purchase any or all of them here (please note I make commission if you do): https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/marianielsen

PLEASE NOTE: If you want any of these items, but DON’T want to pay full price, I would be happy to help you with a party on our NEW platform TABLE, so that you can get some products FREE and discounted! I am now scheduling parties for October! For the month of October, 2021, anyone who hosts a party with me on TABLE will be entered to WIN the Family Pizza Set! Let’s make great food together!

Link to recipe: https://www.sleepingmakesmehungry.com/blog/apple-spice-cake

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Apple Cider Donuts

It’s that time of year, time to pick some apples! I love to bake, and found a great recipe in the New York times by Erin Jean McDowell for baked apple cider donuts. Sometimes I find it difficult to get hold of a recipe from them, as they constantly want me to subscribe, lol. However, this time I was able to get this recipe with no problem. Hope you enjoy it. Here it is:

What you’ll need:

  • 1 ¾ cup/225 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
  • ¾ cup/165 grams light brown sugar
  • ¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup/120 milliliters apple cider

    Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, 1 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg; Set aside.

I also added in some Pea Protein -shhh!

In another bowl, mix together 10 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup white sugar and all of the brown sugar. Mix on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Be sure to mix thoroughly between each addition.

Add in your vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture and small increments, being sure to combine thoroughly without over mixing.

While the mixer is running, pour the apple cider into the batter in a slow stream. 

Brush your donut pan lightly with a neutral oil.

Use the easy accent decorator to fill the donut wells.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until donut springs back when touched and cake tester comes out clean when inserted.

Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool 10 minutes more.

Mix the remainder of granulated sugar with the remaining cinnamon, whisk well.

Melt the rest of the butter in one of the coating trays. Place cinnamon sugar in another coating tray. Dip each donut first into the melted butter, then into the cinnamon sugar.

All done! Please let me know if you try this recipe, and what, if anything, you would add or change.

If you have any left, you can freeze them for a couple of months, or store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
My recipe video is at the bottom of this post, along with link to this wonderful recipe. 

Listed below are the products I used for this recipe. Please feel free to go to my website to purchase any or all of them here (please note I make commission if you do): https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/marianielsen

PLEASE NOTE: If you want any of these items, but DON’T want to pay full price, I would be happy to help you with a party on our NEW platform TABLE, so that you can get some products FREE and discounted! I am now scheduling parties for October! For the month of October, 2021, anyone who hosts a party with me on TABLE will be entered to WIN the Family Pizza Set! Let’s make great food together!

Link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019593-baked-apple-cider-doughnuts

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