Chicken Caesar Wraps

If you love a good chicken Caesar salad this is the wrap sandwich for you. I have been making this recipe for at least the last decade and it is one of my go-to sandwiches for packing when we have a busy day.

In fact since my daughter is an ice skater and she is competing this weekend; this is what I am packing for us to eat during our busy day. It is super easy because you use one of those pre-packaged salad mixes that has the Caesar dressing, croutons, and romaine lettuce in it, just adding a few ingredients that are normally on hand.

Chicken Caesar Wraps

1 (7 ½ ounce) Caesar salad kit

1 cup chopped cooked chicken

4 flour tortillas (8" to 9" size)

2 Tablespoons freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Begin by crushing the croutons that come in the kit and setting them to the side. In a large bowl combine the remaining contents of the salad kit and the chicken.

Divide the chicken/salad mixture between your tortillas sprinkle with the crushed croutons and the Parmesan cheese.

Roll up and wrap in wax paper or foil. Keep cold until lunch time

Makes 4 tasty wrap sandwiches

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup-cakes

What is it about that delightful combination of chocolate and peanut butter? I know it gets me every time I see it; I just have to have it. This cupcake and frosting combination is one I have been making here for a long time and it is always a real favorite.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cocoa powder

½ cup all vegetable shortening

¾ cup water (or for an extra special flavor use cold left over coffee)

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prepare muffin pan with paper cupcake liners (20-24)

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and add the shortening. With a mixer beat to combine well. Add water and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat another 2 minutes.

Transfer batter to prepared pan

Bake approximately 15 to 20 minutes (test with a toothpick)

Peanut Butter Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

½ cup all vegetable shortening

3 Tablespoons milk

Combine powdered sugar, peanut butter and shortening in mixing bowl and beat to combine. Gradually add milk to make frosting consistency you want, beating for at least 3 minutes to get a nice fluffy frosting.

I prefer to use a disposable decorating bag (or a ziplock storage bag with the corner cut off) to apply this frosting to the cupcakes.

Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles if desired.

Deviled Eggs

I always seem to crave deviled eggs the week after Easter; probably a leftover from when the kids were little and I had a bunch of colored eggs to deal with. This week I made a basic deviled egg to share with you, nothing fancy although it is certainly easy to change up. I used capers because I always have them in the fridge but if you don’t have any or just don’t like them feel free to substitute chopped pickles, chopped olives, chopped green onions or chopped green chilies; just be sure to chop them small (about the size of those capers) so they mix well in the yolk mixture.

Deviled Eggs

6 hard cooked eggs

¼ cup mayonnaise

3 Tablespoons capers

1 ½ teaspoons prepared mustard

Dry dill weed, salt and pepper to taste

Dill and paprika for garnish (optional)

Peel and cut your hard cooked eggs in half lengthwise. In a small mixing bowl mash the yolks with a fork then add mayonnaise, capers, mustard, dill, salt and pepper and combine into a smooth mixture. Using a spoon or pastry bag fill the egg white halves with the yolk mixture. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Sprinkle with additional dry dill and paprika just before serving.

Hamburger and Pasta Skillet

I know I sound like a broken record talking about having foods in the freezer ready to make meals with but I am firm believer in doing this so I am going to talk about it. Today I am sharing a recipe for both a Hamburger and pasta dish that is really so much better than the ones you get in the box (you know what I’m talking about) and really just a quick to get on the table. This recipe relies on a base mix that I try to keep in the freezer all the time. I make this base up every few months in large batches and freeze it to make lots of different types of dishes. This process can be called “freezer cooking”  or “investment cooking” or any of several other terms. They all mean basically the same thing, you cook and freeze to use later. I have been doing this off and on for probably 20 or more years and I have notebooks (literally) filled with my favorite recipes. Today’s “Basic Meat Combo” is really versatile and I will share more recipes to use it in in the near future. It will keep in the freezer for about 3 months and will make 5 dinners each serving at least 4 people.

If you have your pasta and veggies already pre-cooked and in the fridge ready to go you can actually have the Hamburger and Pasta Skillet on the table in about 20 minutes (I timed it while I cooked this time)

Basic Meat Combo

¼ cup vegetable oil or shortening

4 sliced onions

4 garlic cloves, minced (or grated)

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrot

5 pound lean ground beef

5 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

4 cups ketchup

Hot sauce to taste

In a large skillet over medium heat cook the onions, garlic, celery and carrots until tender. Add the ground beef; stir and cook breaking the meat up until the meat is cooked through. Drain off most of the excess fat, Add the remaining ingredients and combine thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasonings. Cover and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.

Cool and evenly divide between 5 pint size containers (pint= 2 cups) use a spoon to stir the mixture in the containers a bit to get rid of any air pockets. Label and freeze for up 3 months.

Hamburger and Pasta Skillet

1 pint container of Basic Meat Combo (recipe above) thawed

3 cups of cooked pasta (any pasta will do, I used whole wheat today)

2 cups cooked vegetables (leftover or frozen ones you have thawed)

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon Italian herb seasoning

½ cup shredded cheese (your favorite)

In a large skillet  over medium heat combine all ingredients except the cheese, cover and cook  until heated through about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Be sure to taste and adjust the seasoning at this point. Sprinkle cheese over top (don’t stir in) cover and allow cheese to melt.

Serves 4 or 5

Ham and Walnut Pasta

I have one more recipe here to help you use up some of that leftover Ham from the weekend. This one came about because I was in the mood to try something new so I began searching through my cookbooks. I came upon a recipe that looked interesting but I had less than 1/3 of the original ingredients on hand. However, the concept (browning some breadcrumbs to add to the pasta) intrigued me. I read through the recipe then headed into my kitchen. I then made choices from what was available in the cabinets, fridge and pantry and this is what I came up with. It really in no way resembles the recipe I saw in the book but we loved it. In fact my daughter and I fought over who got the leftovers for lunch the next day. (We reached a compromise and split it)

Ham and Walnut Pasta

1 pound spaghetti

¼ cup chopped walnuts

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons plain dry breadcrumbs

½ pound cooked ham, cubed

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 cloves garlic, chopped

10 ounce bag fresh spinach

½ cup cooking water from the pasta

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Start by getting your water to cook your pasta in boiling, you will want to be cooking you pasta while you are making the rest so go ahead and add the pasta when the water boils. Drain pasta when it is cooked. Be sure to reserve ½ cup of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, in a sauté pan toast the walnuts until they just begin to turn a bit brown and you begin to smell them. Add the olive oil and breadcrumbs and cook until the mixture browns. Remove this from the nut mixture to a bowl to save for later and wipe the pan out.

In the same pan combine the ham, crushed red pepper, and garlic and cook to brown the meat and toast the garlic a bit. Add the spinach and ½ cup of water that the pasta is cooking in (this will not only cook the spinach but there is starch from the pasta will help the sauce to form) and cover to cook the spinach.

Toss the pasta, the spinach mixture, the nut mixture and lemon juice to combine. Top with some parmesan cheese if desired.

In the Name of Simplicity

I am very lucky to have a couple of wonderful produce stores that I can visit on a regular basis. Today I made one of my favorite stops at E.Z. Orchards just north of Salem Oregon. I try to stop there anytime I am anywhere near it. They not only have some of the best fresh produce I have ever seen they also have a wonderful little gourmet food department and some doughnuts that are to die for (be sure to look for the bowls of doughnut samples as you come in the door) Always a fun stop.

Since I knew today was going to be busy I went in search of veggies to toss on the grill for dinner. When I am on this type of quest I don't go in with a list I simply let the produce talk to me. As I made my trip through the display of wonderful fresh produce I simply chose those that looked the best and that I knew would grill beautifully. The choices I made today were: asparagus, zucchini, green peppers, some baby crimini mushrooms, and a beautiful basket of mixed cherry tomatoes.

When produce is this fresh and wonderful I like to let it stand on its own. I felt tonight a simple treatment was what was in order so I simply cut the zucchini, asparagus and bell pepper into bite size pieces and combined them with the rest of the choices and added a simple pour of good olive oil and some salt and fresh ground pepper. Since dinner really doesn't seem like a meal with just the veggies I also gave a simple boneless, skinless chicken breast (that I had butter flied) the same simple treatment. At the last minute I grabbed a can of sliced pineapple from the shelf and drained the slices well and added them to the rest of the my gathered supplies. As soon as the grill was hot (be sure you have a mesh grill surface so you don't loose any veggies to the grill) I put the chicken breasts on to start cooking. After a mere 5 minutes I turned the chicken and added the veggies and the pineapple. Two and a half minutes later I turned the veggies and pineapple and gave everything another two and half minutes. At the end of the cooking time I had a marvelous treat that highlighted the fantastic fresh veggies.

So take a trip through a produce store or find a local farmer's market and find the treasures of the day. Especially when the produce is fresh a simple treatment and a turn on the grill is the perfect end to a wonderful spring or summer day.

Q & A with Mummsie April 24, 2011

Emma asks: Mummsie, I notice that when you use brown sugar you seem to always call for dark brown, is there a reason and can I use light brown instead?

Emma, you are right in the recipes I write I usually use dark brown sugar and it is simply because at our house that is what we like the best. Feel free to use the light version in my recipes if that is your preference. All brown sugar really is, is granulated sugar with molasses added to it. The dark brown has more molasses so the molasses flavor is more pronounced and we happen to really like that so that is what I tend to balance the recipes for.

Melanie asks: When a recipe calls for butter should I use salted or unsalted?

Well, that depends partly on who wrote the recipe. When I write a recipe I unless I specify unsalted I am using the regular salted (sometimes called “sweet butter”) because that is generally what I have in the fridge. Unsalted butter has a much shorter lifespan so if I do buy it unless I am using it immediately I store it in the freezer.

Elizabeth asks: When I make cookies I can never get them all the same size, what is your secret to getting them all the same size?

That is a really good question, and it really isn’t a secret. I use a cookie scoop; it looks like an ice cream scoop except it is smaller. I use mine for all kinds of things besides cookies too. I use it to portion out meatballs and to fill the holes in my mini muffin pan. I think I paid $5 or less for mine and I love it.