Easy French Dip Sandwiches

Source: All Recipes

A few years back, I made a very complicated French Dip recipe, which included cooking a roast in a crockpot and shredding the meat myself. And to be honest, the end result was...average.



This version is far easier, and may be the easiest recipe I make. It's delicious!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yields: 4 servings

Easy French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 can of beef broth (or enough to cover roast beef slices)
1 pound thinly sliced deli roast beef
8 slices provolone cheese
4 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise

1. Set the oven to broil. Place the hoagies, inside up, on a cookie sheet and broil for a few minutes until the rolls are toasted. Remove and set oven to 350 degrees.

2. While the rolls are under the broiler, bring the beef broth to a low boil in a saucepan. Add in sliced roast beef, and warm for about 3 minutes, or until hot. Remove with tongs, draining, and place the meat on the hoagie rolls and top with provolone cheese.

3. Bake the sandwiches in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese just begins to melt. Serve the sandwiches with small bowls of the warm broth for dipping. Enjoy!

Linguine with Chicken and Sauteed Vegetables

Source: All Recipes

I found this recipe a couple of years ago--I've made some modifications to the original, but I really like the resulting flavor. 10 cloves of garlic seems like a LOT, but as long as you mince them finely and cook until golden, they seem to lightly flavor the vegetable oil and add the right taste to the dish without being overpowering. It comes together quickly and is a great weeknight dish!



If using frozen vegetables, cook the chicken first in the oil until cooked on the outside, then add the vegetables.


I think one reason I LOVE this dish is tossing the noodles with the garlic oil and sprinkling them with salt makes them SO tasty! If you have garlic oil on hand, you could do this with other pasta dishes as well.

Chicken with Chicken and Sauteed Vegetables

Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Ready In: 40 Minutes
Yields: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
10 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 (12 ounce) package uncooked linguine pasta
salt to taste
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 cup sliced green beans
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 pound chicken tenders, cut into bite-size pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Mix in garlic. Cook and stir until golden. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place linguine in pot and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Set aside 1 tablespoon garlic oil and toss remainder with pasta to coat. Season pasta with salt.

4. Heat reserved garlic oil in skillet over medium heat. Mix in chicken and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Cook until chicken juices run clear. Mix in vegetables and remaining soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with linguine, and enjoy!

Pioneer Woman's Whiskey-Glazed Carrots

Source:The Pioneer Woman

First off...this recipe is DELICIOUS. I have more of a "salty" tooth than a sweet tooth (see exhibit A: popcorn and sunflower seed addiction) but I just LOVED these sweet, but crunchy carrots! Such a nice addition to the table!

Even though they almost set my kitchen on fire.



Well, not the carrots, but Mr. Jim Beam himself. As I was adding it to the very hot skillet, I don't know quite what happened, but flames shoot up from the pan (as my camera was pointed at it, no less). My husband, fortunately, is much more level-headed than I. He knew the flames would die down quickly, but we didn't escape without the smoke detectors going off. And smoke filling the house. And things had been going so WELL.

Anyway, fire scare aside, I would most definitely make these again! I probably just need to be a little more careful when pouring the whiskey and turn down the heat a bit.



Pioneer Woman's Whiskey Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:
2-3 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into thick circles
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup Jack Daniels or other whiskey
3/4 to 1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add carrots in 2 batches, cooking for 60 to 90 seconds each batch. Remove from skillet.

2. Pour in whiskey and allow to evaporate 30 seconds. (Tip: do not set your kitchen on fire in the process.) Reduce heat to medium, and add remaining butter. When butter melts, sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Stir together, then add carrots to skillet. Cover, and continue cooking for 5 minutes.

3. Remove lid and add salt and pepper. Continue cooking until carrots are done and glaze is thick, about 5 more minutes.

4. Pour onto a platter and serve immediately. Sprinkle with chopped chives if desired.

Campbell's Green Bean Casserole

Pretty basic stuff here...we were denied green beans on Thanksgiving, so my husband requested it for Christmas. I went with the Campbell's version, easy to prepare and always good! Alternatively, if you love cheese as I do, omit the soy sauce and add 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese to the bean mixture, and top with a little bit more when you add the final onion topping.

I made this hours ahead of time and refrigerated it until I needed to cook it--it turned out perfectly! I also used frozen green beans and cooked them in the microwave per the package instructions.

Campbell's Green Bean Casserole

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake: 30 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/4 cup french fried onions

Directions:
1. Stir the soup, milk, soy, black pepper, beans and half the onions in a baking dish.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the bean mixutre is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture and top with the remaining onions.

3. Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

Garlic Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes

Source: The New Best Recipe

First of all, I know I have already posted a recipe as "Best Chicken Ever," but if I had to pick one to compete, this would be it.



My favorite thing about my New Best Recipe cookbook is the FLAVOR each dish ends up having. The flavors for the chicken melded nicely, and neither the garlic nor the rosemary were overpowering. They just...were. It was divine.

But backing up a bit, this is the first year my husband and I have been on our own for Christmas. I didn't want to do a giant spread, but I wanted to have a few good dishes. So after thinking about it, these were the dishes I decided on:

Garlic Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes
Green bean casserole (my husband's favorite)
Pioneer Woman's Whiskey Glazed Carrots
Side salad

Overall, it's not very much, but I make maybe two simple dishes, max, per meal, so I knew the key to making this was to prepare as much as possible in advance. So early Christmas morning, I prepared the chicken brine, and while the chicken was soaking, I made the green bean casserole and put it in the fridge, cut the carrots, and sliced the potatoes, then put everything back into the fridge until it was time to start cooking the bird.

Also, I had planned to cook both the chicken and the green bean casserole at the same time. Turns out our oven only has one rack, which I figured out as I was about to put the chicken in. So I cooked the casserole first, covered it, and then cooked the bird. Once that was done, I put the casserole back in and heated it for about 10 minutes. It worked out perfectly. But I do need a new rack!

Also, in reading The New Best Recipe, one thing they talked about was a V-rack for roasting a bird. Instead of just laying the chicken in a roasting pan, it cooks much better if it can be elevated and the air can circulate around it constantly--plus, the bottom of the chicken doesn't soak in the drippings. I have a Calphalon stainless steel roasting pan which came with a V-rack, but I'm pretty sure you can purchase them seperately.



On a last note: brining. This flavor brine results in a VERY tasty and moist chicken, but the downside to brining is your chicken may lack a crisy skin. The solution to that is to brine as early as a day in advance and then let the chicken air out in the fridge, in a pan with a rack, or turning every so often and patting dry. My chicken aired out for about 5 hours before I cooked it, and the skin was pretty good.


I had also kind of thought of the potatoes as a "throwaway" dish. I mean, nice and all, but nothing mind-blowing. However, I really enjoyed them! They ended up being a whole seperate side dish, lightly seasoned with the salt, pepper, garlic, and chicken drippings. Yum!

I was pretty pleased with my first Christmas dinner. Other than almost lighting the kitchen on fire...but that's a story for my whiskey glazed carrots recipe!

Garlic Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes

CHICKEN
1/2 cup of table salt
10 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), trimmed of excess fat, chicken rinsed and patted dry, giblets removed and reserved for another use

GARLIC-ROSEMARY PASTE
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

POTATOES
1 1/2 pounds red or Yukon gold potatoes
10 cloves unpeeled garlic cloves
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. FOR THE CHICKEN: Combine the salt, garlic, and rosemary in a zipper-lock bag; seal, pressing out the air. With a meat pounder or rolling pin, pound the garlic cloves until crushed. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, stockpot, or Dutch oven and stir in 2 cups of hot water; let stand 10 minutes to release flavors. Add 1 1/2 quarts cold water and stir until the salt is dissolved. Immerse the chicken in the brine, cover, and refrigerate 1 hour. (I had a 6 pound bird, so I let it sit for an hour and a half.)

2. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Set a V-rack in a small roasting pan and lightly spray the rack with nonstick cooking spray.

3. FOR THE PASTE: Stir the rosemary, garlic, salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the oil together in a small bowl. Rub about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the paste in the cavity of the chicken. Carefully loosen the skin over the breast and thigh on each side (I had to make a small cut in the skin): slip half of the remaining paste under the skin on each side of the breast, then, using your fingers, distribute the paste over the breast and thigh by rubbing the surface of the skin. Tie the end of the drumsticks together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings behind the back. Rub all sides of the chicken with 2 teaspoons of the oil and season with pepper. Set the chicken, breast-side down, on the prepared V-rack and roast 15 minutes.



4. FOR THE POTATOES: While the chicken is roasting, quarter 1 1/2 pounds of red or Yukon gold potatoes; toss the potatoes, 10 unpeeled garlic cloves, 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper in a medium bowl. After the chicken has roasted 15 minutes, scatter the mixture in a single layer in the roasting pan and roast for another 15 minutes.

5. Remove the roasting pan from the oven; decrease the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Using tongs or wads of paper towels, rotate the chicken breast-side up, brush the breast with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Stir the potatoes. Continue to roast until the chicken is medium golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast and thigh registers about 160 to 170 degrees, respectively, 20 to 25 minutes, adding more water to the roasting pan if the liquid evaporates. Transfer the chicken to a large plate. (My chicken took about 40 more minutes to reach 160 degrees at 6 pounds.)

6. While the chicken rests, transfer the potatoes and garlic to a large paper-towel lined plate and pat with additional paper towels. Carve the chicken and serve with the potatoes and garlic. Enjoy!

Pasta Pomodoro

Source:All Recipes

It's Christmas Eve! I have a fairly complex spread planned for tomorrow, so I really didn't want to cook anything too complicated tonight. I had all these ingredients on hand, so this pomodoro fit the bill!

Very simple. I added in the chicken WITH the chicken and onions, but in retrospect, I should have added the chicken in the beginning, browned it, and then removed it to cook the onions and garlic.


I made quite a few changes from the original recipe based on the reviews, but I loved the end result! The pasta is a little "wet"; if you'd like a more creamy sauce, you might substitute the diced tomatoes for crushed and add in some Italian seasoning.

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 15 Min
READY IN 30 Min

3 chicken breasts, sliced
2 (8 ounce) packages angel hair pasta (I used linguine)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 can chicken broth
1/2 cup of white wine
Crushed red pepper to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente; drain.

2. Pour olive oil in a large deep skillet over high-heat. Brown chicken slices and remove from pan. Saute onions and garlic until lightly browned. Reduce heat to medium-high and add in the cooked chicken, diced tomatoes, vinegar, chicken broth, and wine; simmer for about 8 minutes.

3. Stir in red pepper, black pepper, basil and cooked pasta, tossing thoroughly with sauce. Simmer for about 5 more minutes and serve topped with grated cheese.

Apple pear martini

I drank this at a bar the other night and it was SO GOOD! I think it tastes very "holiday" because of the cinnamon. This is my go-to martini right now!

Apple pear martini

1 shot of pear vodka
1 shot of apple juice
A couple of dashes of cinnamon

Pour the vodka and juice over ice in a shaker and shake cinnamon over the mixture. Shake and pour into a martini glass. Top with a dash of cinnamon. Enjoy!