Chicken Mole (Southern Living 1981)

Lindy picked this dish for us. It sounded fun, but with a SUPER long ingredient list...a little intimidating! I started off by changing the directions to suit my fancy. Or taste. Or whim.

Anyway, I started with cooking chicken breast (enough for 2 nights' dinners) in the crock pot. Have I mentioned how much I love slow cooking? Set it and forget it! I threw in some of the extra onion and bell pepper from this recipe and a little pepper.

Next I sauteed the onion and pepper until tender (Hey! I followed directions on that one!). I then added the following friends to the pan:

Y'all. Check out the measuring cup in the above photo. I have to brag on myself right here. Sorry, not sorry. The last time I cooked a whole chicken...I. Saved. The. Broth. I know, revolutionary, right? Then, y'all. I took it one step further. I froze that stuff into ice cubes! So now I have a bag of yellow ice cubes in the freezer. I had all kinds of ideas for labels for the bag, but I settled on "chicken broth ice cubes" and the date. I'm original like that. Plus, I didn't want to freak out and/or encourage the boys.

The chocolate and cinnamon and nutmeg kinda weirded me out. I had a bad experience with cinanmony main courses with Lindy's Bengalese Chicken. My family HATED it. I did too. Just being real. Maybe I overdid the spices or something. I totally followed directions on the spices in this recipe. Except for not really measuring the spices. I also added cumin because it just felt right. Maybe I wanted the smokey flavor of the cumin with the smokey flavor of the "smoked" Tabasco. I added about a total 2tsp of cumin.

Back to the mole.

That's when it looked like this:

And I was concerned. J-Boy does not like having "weird" vegetables (read anything but carrots or corn) in his food. Junior doesn't like ANY vegetables. I knew this would be a NO GO.

I had to do something! I had already planned to try to hide the flavor of the mole in quesadillas, but this would make dinner last for 2 hours while the boys picked at the vegetables with disgust and horror. 

SO.

I skipped the cornstarch step, grabbed the immersion blender and went to town. 

I don't have a picture of it blended up because it was apparently at this point that I lost my phone, had a baby on one hip, was trying to cook while conducting a math lesson, checking spelling, talking on the missing phone, etc. 

I tossed the newly immersion blended mole into the fridge. When the chicken was done, I shredded it and moved half of it to the fridge for the next night's dinner. I mixed the mole into the chicken that was still in the crock pot. Upon tasting it I knew I needed more cumin and a bit of salt. And some pepper. Then, YUM!

I made quesadillas so the boys would eat it. Maybe. So, the verdict?

The Hubs - loved it, wants it again

Junior - said it was too spicy. I think he might think vanilla pudding is too spicy.

J-Boy - liked it. Because...I kinda tricked him....it went down as follows:

J-Boy poking at dinner with wrinkled nose: "Hey...what's in this quesadilla?"

Me: "Chicken and cheese" (which, P.S., is completely truthful)

J-Boy takes a bite: "I like it."

J-Boy turns to his brother: "It CANNOT be spicy. Chicken? Not spicy. Cheese? Not spicy. Duh."
Me to myself: VICTORY!!! I HAVE CRACKED THE CODE!!!!!

 Baby Girl - ate about 1/49256426 of the 1/4 I gave her. Victory. She eats only pizza, ice cream, some baby foods that have fruit, hummus, cheerios, crackers, and bread. Anything else that passes her lips is a sheer miracle.

Me - I liked it. I would do it again for sure. I liked that I could break it down and prep the mole even the night before and then have the chicken in the crock pot. Having it as quesadillas was a total win for our family, plus it stretches the chicken a bit further, which is nice! 

Country Pride Pork Cops (Southern Living 1979)

Country Pride Pork Chops (slightly updated) = delicious

I can almost guarantee that I'll always vote for something that comes from off the grill.   This recipe did not disappoint.

We have eaten this recipe twice in the month of July, trying it with different cuts of pork chops.  The first time we made this recipe, we used thin sliced pork loin chops.  We had about six pork chops weighing in at a little more than 1.2 pounds.  Using this cut of meat, the meat was definitely well marinated.  The pork chops tasted really good.  We used more sugar the first time, too, than the second time.  We all agreed it was better without as much sugar, because you could taste the smokiness of the grill a little more.  And why grill something if you can't tell it's grilled?  The second time, we bought two center cut pork loin chops that weighed in at just a little over one pound.

The verdict?  The thinner pork chops definitely had a stronger taste of the marinade.  However, we actually preferred the thicker cut of meat - taste-wise and presentation-wise.

 K-man said this is a recipe that could impress people.  Easy to prepare and impressive?  Is there a better combination when it comes to a meal? 

This recipe did need some tweaks - I mean, do people actually still cook with MSG?  I do remember our mom having a small jar of MSG growing up, but I do not have MSG on my spice shelf and do not plan to keep it around.  So, here's how I updated Country Pride Pork Chops. 

Country Pride Pork Chops (Updated from Southern Living 1979)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup red cooking wine
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/16 teaspoon ginger
1-2 pounds center cut pork loin chops

Combine first 7 ingredients in a 1 gallon ziploc storage bag; mix well.
Place the pork chops into the ziploc storage bag; close and refrigerate overnight.  Our meat ended up marinating at least 18 hours for each version of this recipe. I do recommend flipping the bag over when you wake up in the morning.
Grill chops 6 to 8 inches from heat.  Ours only took about 30 minutes to cook.  However, this can all depend on how hot your grill gets - so make sure that you use a meat thermometer.  Don't want anybody to get sick from undercooked pork!

This recipe is a winner.  Quick, easy, delicious. 

Lindy

Baked Chicken Nuggets (Southern Living 1981)

Lindy assigned me this recipe. It was one I had scoped out and planned to make if no one assigned it to me. Chicken Nuggets? Win! 

Here's the original:

 

I used a mixture of panko and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. It was simply what I had on hand. Because I used the Italian breadcrumbs, I left out the thyme and basil. It was good! I'm sure there would be no harm in doing both, but we're a family who likes to dip our chicken, and the light Italian-y flavor was good for those who like to dip. I also tried dipping half in milk and half in butter (like the recipe instructed).

 

On the pan ready to be cooked.

But no picture of already cooked. Sorry! I'm 0-2 or 3 this month. eck. 

The Hubs loved these. He preferred the dipped in butter ones, while the boys preferred dipped in milk. The ones dipped in butter were crispier, but I thought both were very good. The Hubs said they were way better than the kind you buy in the freezer section at the store (man, does this guy know who makes his dinner or what?!?).

We'll definitely have these again. Easy, tasty, and bake up quickly. It would probably be a good one to make and freeze either baked or unbaked!

~Audry

Chops in Sherry (Southern Living 1979)

Very good and very easy.  That about sums up this recipe.  The picture I took of it wasn't very good, but this is something that's definitely worth trying.  Tweaks included choosing thin sliced pork chops, which allowed the cooking time to decrease.  The major tweaks were that I skipped the mushrooms and used white cooking wine instead of sherry. 

Chops in Sherry
6 thin sliced loin pork chops
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white cooking wine
1 cup carton low-fat sour cream

Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper; brown on both sides in well-sprayed skillet.  Remove chops, and place in shallow casserole dish.  Combine sherry and sour cream.  Cover and bake at 375F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until done.

This main dish was a big hit with K-man and the kids.

Lindy

Savory Beef and Vegetables (Southern Living 1979)

For some reason this recipe caught my eye in the July section of the 1979 Southern Living cookbook.  Not sure why, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to cook it like it prescribed.  Mushrooms?  A jar of onions?  Pepper strips?  No, I knew none of those things would work for my (picky) husband or even for my not-so-picky children.  Did I mention that I don't like mushrooms either?  Despite these "minor" issues, I wanted to give it a go.  And with all my tweaks this was a huge success for my family.  When I asked K-man what I could do to make it better, his response was "nothing."  :-)

Savory Beef (adapted from Savory Beef and Vegetables (Southern Living 1979))
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1-2 t brown sugar (I used closer to 1 t)
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1-1/2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T white cooking wine
1 pound steak (I used sirloin), cut into 1-inch cubes
1 T cornstarch
Noodles (I used whole-wheat rotini)

Combine tomato sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and wine into a gallon size ziploc bag; mix well.  Add steak; make sure the steak is well coated with the liquid mixture.  Marinate overnight in refrigerator.  Mine marinated about 19-20 hours.
Remove steak from marinade.  Add cornstarch to marinade, stir well, and pour into a skillet.  Add steak to skillet; simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile, cook noodles.
Serve over noodles.

Lindy

Creamy Ground Beef Casserole (Southern Living 1981)

When I picked this recipe, I wasn't too sure if the boys would like it. It seemed bland enough...tomato sauce, cheesy stuff, ground beef, noodles...but they didn't like this one! Although I do think the great offender in that recipe was the green chile. This one didn't have green chile...but as I was reviewing the recipe I thought...it doesn't really have FLAVOR! I didn't want the chili incident of 2014 to come back to haunt me, so I made some changes to this recipe. In interest of flavor. You know how it is.

Here's the original:

 

First of all, I used a lot of what we had on hand. One of the reasons I picked this recipe for this week was that I had that leftover cottage cheese. Which, it turns out, The Hubs likes! You can see my noodles are definitely not elbows and the cheese is definitely not sliced.

I added a bit of flavor! I used garlic, oregano-y tomato sauce (in the can. at the store. you know what I'm talking about.) 

Then, in the layering, I did a layer of flavor...after the (shredded, it was what I had!) cheese I sprinkled dried oregano, basil, and marjoram. 

It was smelling good!

Out of the oven...

 

On my plate...  

The. Boys. Liked. It. Y'all! J-Boy said it was BETTER THAN PIZZA! If you know this kid, you know that is SAYING something. He LOVES pizza. More than life itself. Junior said it was best on french bread (piled a la a sandwich). He also said he would like to try it without the noodles. I think the smaller noodles would be better. The Hubs even uttered the phrase "when you make this again". It was a great dinner night in this household!  

~Audry

Crusty Oven-Fried Chicken (Southern Living 1979)

As you can see, this recipe was from the April section of Southern Living 1979.  Since the end of April and the entire month of May were quite busy around our house, I'm still playing catch-up on telling you about some of our yummy meals.  This one was good - easy to put together, but it did take a little long in the oven, even with an increase in temperature.

I really didn't change much with this recipe - only that I halved it and used about a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts rather than a "broiler-fryer, cut up".  I also chose to eliminate the "optional" parsley.

Crusty Oven-Fried Chicken
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 t salt
1/8 t garlic powder
1/8 t pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup butter, melted.
Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, salt, garlic powder, and pepper.
Dip chicken in butter, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture.
Place chicken in 13x9 casserole dish.
Bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes, or until juices run clear.

If I were going to make this recipe again, I would choose thin-sliced chicken breasts, because they cook faster.


Lindy

El Dorado Casserole (Southern Living 1981)

June in my 1981 Southern Living is heavily laden with a vast array of casseroles. Junior and J-Boy hate casseroles. In fact, when they ask what's for dinner and it includes the word "casserole" in the title, I try to think of something else to call it. It rarely works. They know a casserole when they see it. They are hard to fool.

This casserole seemed harmless enough, and I figured The Hubs and I would like it, so we might as well give it a go!

  

 I used ground beef I cooked when purchased and then froze (my favorite cook-ahead cheat). 

I think this dish would have been improved by using taco seasonings or enchilada sauce with the tomato sauce. I added cumin (because I love it) (and because I though only a pinch of dried onion and a touch of garlic powder was and would never be enough seasonings). (I was right).

Don't judge the tee-ninsy amount of dried onion. The jar is small and running out something fierce. 








 

 This dish is all about the layering. Layers in progress!


On my plate.































The verdict: 
The Hubs wanted more flavor on the beef. I concur heartily. He said he thought the addition of enchilada sauce would be nice. I think more cumin. Maybe both! J-Boy said it was terrible. He said it would be 100% better if I left out the green chile. Junior said it was good only with thousand island dressing. He has standards.

This is also gluten free! Although I know Chery won't eat it because of the beef...but it might be one to try with chicken. I think that would actually be better. I'm a fan of chicken with green chile. I think that stems from our mom's love of white chicken chili which has green chiles in it. I remember hating it as a kid. Now I love it. My kids hate it. This is what we like to call Coming Full Circle. 

Hi mom! I am so so so so so sorry about complaining about dinner! I really did love it! Every single one! They were delicious! Please come cook at my house!

Sorry.

Back to the verdict.

I would do this one again, but add the enchilada sauce, more cumin, and I think I would skip the cottage cheese in favor of more sour cream. Honestly, I don't know what the cottage cheese did that more sour cream couldn't do. Plus we don't really eat cottage cheese around here. Maybe we do. I'll have to ask The Hubs. I just realized I don't know if he likes it...



~Audry

Green Enchilada Casserole (Southern Living 1979)

Overall a good recipe - relatively a quick meal from start to finish - if the chicken is already prepared.

Green Enchilada Casserole
6 (6-inch) corn tortillas, broken into pieces
Equivalent of 2 cans of homemade cream of chicken soup (new recipe, which was very good)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 pound chicken (I boiled mine and cut into chunks)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Arrange tortillas in bottom of 9x13 casserole dish; set aside.
Prepare the homemade cream of chicken soup.  Once thickening begins, add milk, chicken, and chiles to the saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring often.
Pour chicken mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Lemon-Fried Chicken (Southern Living 1979)

A variation on our chicken meals, this recipe from the May section of Southern Living 1979 was good and very easy to put together.  It was nice to have Little Miss help make the lemon sauce, and then we were able to just pour it over the chicken and do other things together while it simmered.  A quick and tasty dish is always refreshing for a weeknight meal.

Lemon-Fried Chicken (Southern Living 1979)
1 pound chicken breasts
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1/4 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/8 t paprika
1/8 t prepared mustard
Dash of garlic powder

Brown chicken on both sides in well-sprayed skillet.
Combine remaining ingredients in plastic container; close securely and shake well.  Pour lemon sauce over chicken; cover and simmer 30 minutes or until tender.

Lindy

Cheesy Pizza Meat Loaf (Southern Living 1981)

Pizza Meatloaf! How can you lose?

Like this. 

Wah! Someone help me! 

I cannot. CAN. NOT. MICROWAVE MY MEATLOAF! Surely there are laws...rules...something.

I couldn't bring myself to even try it. Now the cookbook did a great job of trying to convince me that microwaving a meatloaf is a great idea. It saves time! It saves clean-up! It saves animals! It saves the environment! It saves your sanity! Oh wait...never mind on the last few. I got carried away.  

So, pizza meatloaf! With a few changes.

I had to leave out mushrooms (of course...because mushrooms are an Evil Vegetable). 

The ingredients ready for the mix!

I mixed this up with one of my trusty assistants (J-Boy this time) during Baby Girl's morning nap. 

I had it ready in the fridge to pull out at baking time. I guessed on baking time - I did about an hour and a half at 350 then 375 at the end. I pulled it out about 15 minutes before it was done and added the rest of the tomato sauce and some cheese on top. After I sliced it I added a bit more cheese to each slice. 

The verdict?

The Hubs said it was too salty (and it was pretty salty)...I think it was the sausage. If I did it again I would try to find low sodium sausage. Junior liked it. But the surprising vote to me was J-Boy. He DID NOT like it. DID NOT. This is the boy who at 8 years old can eat half of an extra large pizza. This is the VERY first time he has ever, ever, ever NOT liked something that had pizza in the title. Seriously. He said it was "too hot" meaning too spicy. It was the sausage for him, I'm guessing. Although he said the tomato sauce was too hot and he didn't think it tasted one bit like pizza. We have a meatloaf recipe that everyone likes, so I'll probably just stick with that one in the future. 

~Audry