Creamy Parmesan Sauce

In a previous post I mentioned my famous 'white sauce.' Like most of my cooking, my white sauce varies depending on the ingredients I have available in the fridge or in the pantry. My white sauce has also changed through the years. What began as basically a cheesy white gravy has evolved into a rich and delicious creamy Parmesan sauce.
I wouldn't necessarily call this sauce an Alfredo sauce because I don't make it in the same manner, nor do I use the same ingredients as Alfredo, but it is very similar.
The ingredients and measurements haven't changed too much lately except for the use of evaporated milk. It was an accidental discovery one evening upon realizing I didn't have enough milk on hand. What I discovered was that the evaporated milk made the sauce creamy like half and half or whipping cream and gave a richness to the flavor.
The only other substitution I have made o late is the garlic salt. Sometimes I will use fresh pressed garlic instead of the garlic salt and use very little salt (1 tsp) to the sauce instead. I like it both ways. The fresh garlic does make the sauce MUCH more garlicky ;)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup or 1 stick butter
1 Tbs garlic salt with herbs (or less to taste)
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (fresh)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (canned)
1 can evaporated milk

Directions:
Melt butter in a medium sauce pan.
Add flour, garlic salt, and pepper.
Stir with whisk to combine and make a roux.
Add milk all at once.
Stir constantly until sauce begins to thicken.
Add shredded Parmesan cheese.
Stir with a spoon until cheese melts (Cheese will stick to the whisk).
Add grated Parmesan cheese and stir.
Add evaporated milk in small increments as sauce begins to thicken. Whisk to blend after each addition.
Taste sauce and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Over Rice

Some ingredients just work together. You know, like peanut butter and jelly, hot dogs and ketchup, tomato and basil, or cheese and broccoli. This combination of ingredients has always been a 'kid pleaser' in my house. The kids love the cheesy sauce and they even like the broccoli! I've used these ingredients to fill bread rolls, crescents, as a casserole with pasta, and over rice.









Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts (depending on size) chopped into 1" pieces
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cups broccoli florets, chopped
1 cup Velveeta cut into cubes
1 can Cheddar Cheese soup
1/2 cup milk



Directions:
Heat 1-2 Tbs oil in a large skillet. Add pieces of chicken and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook and stir the chicken just until pink is cooked out. Press garlic into the pan and stir. Add diced bell pepper and stir. Allow to simmer for a couple minutes until the peppers just begin to soften.







Add broccoli pieces and stir.











Make a well in center of pan by pushing all ingredients to the sides. Add Velveeta and allow to melt a bit.










Add can of soup and stir cheese into the rest of the ingredients. Add milk and stir to combine. Lower heat and cover with a lid. Simmer on low 5 mins. Serve hot over rice. Top with shredded if desired.

Pizza Roll Ups

I'm always looking for new ideas to keep the kid's lunches not only interesting and fun for them, but nutritious. We haven't bought school lunches for about two years now. Even with the recent changes to school lunches to make them more nutritious, I still don't want my kids eating the packaged, processed foods the school cafeteria serves. I make their lunches everyday but you can only send sandwiches with them to school so many times before they get sick of them. One of the things I have started sending with them is crescent roll ups. This 'recipe' or really just idea for the kids lunches uses packaged crescent rolls, pepperoni, and sliced provolone/mozzarella cheese.

Directions:

Roll out the crescent dough without separating any seams. Press the seams together with your fingers and roll dough flat to about 1/4" thickness.

Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into 1" strips.

Place 3 pieces of pepperoni on each strip.

Slice the cheese into 1" strips and lay over the pepperoni. Roll up the dough and place on a baking sheet.

Cook according to the crescent dough packaging or until golden brown.

My Favorite Muffins

Orange Cranberry

I have a lot of "go-to" recipes... The tried and true, never fail, never disappoints, always produces delicious results kind of recipes. This is my favorite muffin recipe. It's quick and easy at 5:30 a.m. while preparing breakfast for the kiddos AND its easily changed up to create different kinds of muffins. I like to think of the base recipe for the batter as a blank palette to create with.

Lemon Blueberry

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1 cup milk

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg. Add oil and milk and gently whisk to combine.
Make a well in center of dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into center. Stir with a fork just until combined. Batter will be thick.
Bake at 350º for 20 minutes.

Variations:

Orange Cranberry White Chocolate muffins - add 1 tsp orange extract to wet ingredients. Add 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips to batter.

Lemon Blueberry muffins - add 1 tsp lemon extract to wet ingredients. Add 1/2 cup dried or frozen blueberries to batter.

Apple Spice muffins - add 1 Tbs cinnamon and 1 tsp nutmeg to dry ingredients. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to wet ingredients. Add 1/2 cup diced fresh apple chunks to batter.

Carrot Cake muffins - add 1 tsp vanilla extract to wet ingredients. Add 1/2 finely shredded carrot, 1/4 cup raisins, and 1/2 cup walnuts to batter.

Gringo Mexican Rice

Gringo Mexican Rice

I have never been very good at cooking rice. I don't know what it is! It doesn't ever turn out right when I cook rice on the stove. I've tried rinsing it, not rinsing it, adding a drop of oil, adding a tsp of butter, adding salt and not adding salt and it is either sticky or not cooked all the way through. Until I found this baby! Turns out PERFECT every time! If you can cook rice, I salute you! If however, you're like me and you need a little help, I would suggest a rice cooker. Money well spent!

Gringo Mexican Rice

This is the quickest, easiest way to cook Mexican rice! It's not the authentic way of preparing it, but the flavor is right and my family loves it.

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup stewed tomatoes, blended
Garlic salt, to taste

Directions:

Cook rice and set aside. Using a large skillet, heat oil over high flame. You'll want the pan nice and hot.

Saute' onions

When the oil and the pan are hot, add the diced onions and saute' until they are translucent and almost caramelized.

Add rice

Add rice and combine with the onions and oil, stirring constantly, coating the rice with the oil.

Mix veggies in

Add veggies and stir to combine.
Cook for a few minutes until the frozen veggies soften. Season with garlic salt.

Add tomatoes

Add the blended stewed tomatoes and stir to combine the rice with the tomatoes.

Combine tomatoes

Cook and stir constantly until the tomatoes are heated through and everything is combined.

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Sometimes I come up with homemade recipes out of pure disgust of the ingredients found in processed foods on the shelves at the grocery store; and other times I come up with stuff at home out of necessity. Like when I want to make a mexican lasagna and I don't have any enchilada sauce in the pantry!

This super simple enchilada sauce is so flavorful and comes together in just a few minutes, with just a few ingredients.

Ingredients:

3 tbs vegetable or olive oil
1 tbs flour
1/4 cup chili powder
2 cups chicken broth
1 sm can tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

In a small sauce pan heat oil over medium flame. Add flour, stir until smooth. Cook roux for 1 minute.

Add chili powder (you can use less than the 1/4 cup... for less 'heat' use 2 tbs) cook and stir for 30 seconds.

Add chicken broth, tomato paste, cumin and salt. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Sauce will thicken. Add a little water or chicken broth to reach desired consistency.

Sauce will keep in an air tight container in the fridge for a couple weeks... but why?! Use it on enchiladas, in mexican lasagna or casseroles, or if you're like me and you love a spicy late night snack... spoon this sauce on top a plate of cheesy nachos! YUM!

Sopapillas

Several years ago I discovered a delicious pastry treat at Bertha Miranda's, a Mexican restaurant in Reno. The waitress came over after dinner and asked if we'd like something for dessert and listed all the options for us. One was "Sopapillas" (Soh-pah-pee-yahs). I didn't know what that was and she explained it as a little fritter or donut and 'highly recommended' it. When it arrived at the table it did not disappoint! It was a little puff of dough shaped in a rectangle and the waitress also brought us butter and honey. She said to bite the corner off and put the butter and honey in the pastry. YUM!

Since first having sopapillas in Reno, we have been unable to find anything similar at restuarants here in California. One night we found sopapillas on the menu at a restaurant and when the plate came we literally laughed! It was a plate of cinnamon and sugared flour tortilla chips! That's not a sopapilla!

It became a mission of mine to find a recipe and make them at home. Once I found one that I liked and that produced the puffy little treats I remembered, it became a tradition to make them on New Years Day. I make up a batch and we enjoy them every year while watching the Rose Parade. :)

Sopapillas

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs shortening
3/4 cup warm water
4 cups oil for frying

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening with a knife or pastry blender until combined. Stir in water; mix with a wooden spoon until dough is smooth, use clean hands if necessary to incorporate all the flour. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3 inch squares.

Heat oil in sauce pot or deep fryer to 375º F. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels and serve hot. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

*Yields one large plate of pastries. This recipe can easily be doubled for a larger batch.