Shiitake Chicken Soup

I find it funny when motivation strikes.  Sometimes it’s just a craving, sometimes it’s a audiobook of the Julia Child Biography, “Dearie”, sometimes it’s thumbing through a recent copy of a magazine.  This week, while at work, and part of my job is to keep my area clean, so I was cleaning out a cart, when I came across a free magazine left there.  In the magazine, there was recipe for a version of this soup.  I was motivated to make it, and during the making of it, I had to do a few adjustments, but for the first time, I WROTE DOWN THOSE ADJUSTMENTS!!!! Now rest assured you can make exactly what we had!

(Side Note: My taste tester, recipe trier, and partner in life, had 2 bowls and finished both before I finished my first!-so this recipe is a keeper.)

Shiitake Chicken Soup

2 Qt. Low Sodium Chicken Broth (or so)

2-3 T Olive Oil

1 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts, diced (raw) (I sautéed a few until crispy for garnish)

¾ Shiitake Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 T. Minced ginger

3 Garlic cloves, minced

1 T light soy sauce (or Low sodium)

Salt and Pepper to taste

½ Cup Cream

¾ Cup Green onion, chopped

Prep all items prior to starting recipe

Clean (remove all fat and non-meat parts) and dice chicken breasts.  (I marinated these in some left over PF Chang’s Lettuce Wrap sauce)

Clean and Slice mushrooms

Peel and mince Ginger

Mince garlic

Using a large pot, coat with olive oil, and bring to a high heat. Add in Chicken breast pieces, and sauté until cooked, deglaze bottom of the pan with small amounts of chicken broth.  Add in garlic and ginger.  Sauté until tender, deglazing as you go (deglazing is to remove the browned bits from the bottom of the pan).  When the broth has almost evaporated, add in the mushrooms, and sauté until tender.

Add in the remainder of the broth, and reduce, to intensify the flavor.  Add more broth, as needed.  Cover and allow to simmer 20-30 minutes, if time allows.

Using a hand blender, or small amount in a traditional blender, blend until smooth. 

Right before serving, add in cream, so that the heat doesn’t “break” (separate) the soup.

Serve in bowls with crusty bread, and top with crispy mushrooms, green onions and a few drops of hot chili oil.

Butterscotch Haystacks

Years ago, I remember a “cookie” my mom used to make, but I don’t really remember mom making any cookies, so I’m not sure where I remember this from, but regardless, I love me some butterscotch, and these cookies are AWESOME. 

When we were visiting my best friend in Arizona, she made these, but used Corn Flake in place of the Chow Noodles.  While they were good….nothing beats the crunch of the noodles!

 

Butterscotch Haystacks,

“Ting-A-Lings, or whatever you call them”

 

1 Cup Peanutbutter (crunchy or plain old smooth)

2 Pkg. Butterscotch Chips

1 lb Pkg. Crunchy Chow Mein Noodles

½ - 1 Cup Peanuts

 

Heat peanutbutter then add butterscotch chips, stir until melted.  Stir in noodles and nuts, until coated.  Spoon heaped mounts onto wax paper, and cool until firm.

Savory Rosemary Figgy Scones

Fresh Figs!

Recently, we were invited to our friend’s annual wine tasting party.  This year we decided to stay over, since we have heard about the great food they have the next day for brunch.  I decided to bring some savory scones.  I must say these were a hit, even Craig said, “Can you make these again?”

Savory Rosemary 
Figgy Scones

Ingredients

    ¾ cup well-shaken buttermilk

    ¼ cup pure maple syrup

    ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream

    3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

    ¾ cup sugar

    1 teaspoon salt

    1 teaspoon baking powder

    ½ teaspoon baking soda

    2 oz goat cheese

    2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

    ½ lb dried Calmyrna figs, stems discarded and figs cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups) I also added 4 fresh figs, chopped

    1 spring of Rosemary, stripped and coarsely chopped

    2 large egg yolks

Preparation

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.

Whisk together buttermilk, syrup, and 1/2 cup cream in a small bowl. Mix together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment at low speed (or whisk in a large bowl) until combined. Add butter, goat cheese and mix (or blend with your fingertips or a pastry blender) until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Mix in figs and rosemary, then add buttermilk mixture and mix until just combined. (Do not overmix.)

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and drop 10 (1/4-cup) mounds of batter onto each sheet, leaving 1 inch between mounds.

Whisk together yolks and remaining 2 tablespoons cream, then brush over tops of scones (use all of egg wash).

Bake, switching position of baking sheets halfway through baking, until scones are puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes total. Transfer to a rack and cool to warm.

Chai Pumpkin Spice Thumbprints

These cookie have been posted on Pinterest but I haven't been able to find the Pumpkin Spice Kisses, until a week ago! And I bought enough to make it through the winter!



Chai Pumpkin Spice Thumbprints

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup chai concentrate
1 large egg
1 teas vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teas baking soda
1/8 teas salt
1/2 teas chai spice mix
22-24 Pumpkin spice Hershey’s Kisses

Preparation:
Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and cream at medium speed until fluffy, or with a hand mixer, for about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg, chai concentrate, and the vanilla, mix until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as necessary. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Using your hands, roll the dough into 22 to 24, 1 inch round balls. Place the dough balls on parchment paper lined baking sheets and sprinkle chai spice mix lightly over cookies.
Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, unwrap kisses.
Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately place pumpkin kisses in the center of each cookie. Don’t touch or the kisses will turn into puddles! Cool completely.

Chic-Fil-A Chicken Sandwiches

While this post might take a couple days to get posted understand that I'm still thinking about Sunday nights dinner. (Sorry there are no pictures, I will repost as soon as I remake these.)

My partner, Craig, intoduced me to Chic-Fil-A a few years back. Growing up in Portland we had a Chic-Fil-A, but it was not very successful, and closed after a few years. I've always known of Chic-Fil-A, it was the quickest place to get a soda at the mall, cause there was no line! On a visit to my family, Craig found the last Chic-Fil-A in the NW, at Lloyd Center. We had chicken sandwiches, then the next morning we went back for breakfast! And i think we even went back for lunch. I was hooked. Everytime we visited an area that had a CFA, we had to go. From airports to drive thrus, there was nothing stopping us. We even drove to a college campus for breakfast biscuits, then back for lunch after a quick trip to Canada. That being said CFA, has been in the news a lot over the last couple of weeks. Most of it bad press, so whether or not you follow that news or not, CFA still makes a great product.

That brings me to this post. I found a couple of recipes for the classic CFA sandwich. I merged 2 of the better ones and tried it tonight.

Chic-Fil-a sandwiches

Ingredients

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, split horizontally into 4 cutlets Pickle juice

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons paprika
2 tablespoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons powdered non-fat milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 quarts peanut oil

4 soft hamburger buns, toasted in butter
8 dill pickle chips

Drain dill pickles and set juice aside. Place chicken breasts in a zipper-lock bag and add juice. Transfer to refrigerator and let sit for at least 6 hours and up to overnight.

Meanwhile, combine paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, flour, non-fat milk powder, baking powder, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, and 2 teaspoons sugar whisk until homogenous. Whisk together milk and eggs in a medium bowl.

In a deep fryer, or Dutch oven, preheat oil to 350°F.

Remove chicken breasts from juice and pat dry with paper towels. Dip chicken into milk mixture. Working one cutlet at a time, allow excess milk mixture to drip off then transfer to flour mixture. Turn to coat, pile extra mixture on top of cutlet, and press down firmly to adhere as much mixture as possible to the meat. Lift cutlet, shake off excess flour, then slowly lower into hot oil. Repeat with remaining breasts.
Cook, turning breasts occasionally until golden brown and crisp on all sides, and chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes total. Chicken breast should temp at 160°F. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Place 2 pickles on each bottom bun and a fried chicken cutlet on top. Close sandwiches, then cover with an overturned bowl or aluminum foil and allow to rest for 2 minutes to steam buns. Serve immediately.