Run Chicken Run!!!!!

Why did the chicken cross the road? He was running from Mel’s clever! Bahahahaha! There are a million more jokes about chickens, most centered around breasts and thighs that we will not mention.

Although I love chicken dearly, I have never actually killed one. I’ve heard stories the most humane way to kill a chicken is to hold it by the neck and swing it around in the air like a sports towel at a football game. I’m not sure whose definition of humane THAT would have been, but in any event, I love poultry. I actually raise chickens for layers and have poultry pets. They will curl up and nap with you just like cats and dogs. Believe it! Chickens are not the brightest creatures in the world but can provide great entertainment at parties watching how easily they are hypnotized.

We’re not here though to discuss the traits of a chicken as a pet or as a productive member of farm society, but rather to discuss how many things you can do with just one dead chicken. I must admit since beginning this weight loss journey I have had crazy strong cravings for protein. My beloved layers have seen the gleam in my eye, and have run from me fearing for their life.

Instead of the usual hen in a crock, I opted to see just how far I could take four Cornish game hens. The results even surprised me! The results were as follows. From four cornish hens in a crock pot you can…
1. Throw some carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions in the crockpot with the birds. Not only will they add flavor, you can have the veggies with two of the roasted birds for dinner.
2. Take your third bird and make chicken salad for lunches. I chose a curry chicken salad with cashews and cranberries.
3. Take your fourth bird to use for chicken & dumplings, a chicken pot pie or whatever else strikes your fancy. If you don’t use it, you can freeze it for later, or just use the meat for chicken sandwiches.
4. We’re all out of birds, but NO, we are NOT finished! If you have some leftover vegetables from the first meal, or a package of frozen veggies, place them on standby. Take the stock from the crockpot and any leftover bones, skins or the entire carcass and thrown them back in a pot. Add about 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce until you have a nice chicken stock, then drain out the undesirable items! You can use the stock for chicken & dumplings, chicken soup, veggie soup, ANY soup or stew, or you can freeze the stock in individual ice cube trays to use as seasonings.
5. You can always fry the liver and gizzards for dessert!

Bon a petit’!

Lacey's The Long and The Short Roasted Chicken

Here is the long and short of it: I've committed myself to getting healthier, losing weight, eating better, going to the gym, etc. This means that I get home later each night and attempting to cook a full on healthy dinner for a family of three so that we can eat before 7pm is next to impossible. It drives me crazy.


Recently I started preparing as much food as I could on the weekends in an effort to combat this feeling of "screw it, I am not cooking, fend for yourselves husband and three year old!" Sunday was no different, so I got to cooking...

The Long Chicken: I got out the chicken, rinsed it off, rubbed some evoo and spices all over it and took a look in the fridge to see what I could shove inside it for flavor and wrap around the outside for a whole meal. It took about 1/2 hour to prepare all this, not so bad.
http://s971.photobucket.com/albums/ae191/laceyhardyhar/?action=view¤t=Pictures1174.jpg
(Sorry, I had WAY too much fun with text boxes in photobucket this week!)

Inside:
salt and pepper inside the cavity
a whole apple cut in quarters
a lemon quartered
half an onion chopped up
couple garlic cloves

Outside:
evoo, sea salt and herbs de provence rubbed generously over the skin
finger potatoes quartered
chopped carrots
chopped lemon
a whole thing of garlic because you knows I loves gaaahlic. On anything.
A drizzle of evoo over the veggies

Put lid or tinfoil over it, bake in oven on 350 for 45 minutes. Take lid off and let brown. YOu can use a thermometer to make sure chicken is thoroughly cooked, but I chose to throw fate in the wind and took it out at an hour. It was juicy goodness, so we ate. And I smeared garlic on bread and the chicken. Then we put the rest of it in some tupperware and shoved it in the refridgerator for later.



Here is where it gets all tricky. I had dreams of roasting tomatillos and making chicken spinach enchiladas with tomatillo sauce. But I live in Oregon, and we are in month 1.5 of the 6 month rainy season, so there was no grilling anything on the bbq. Except maybe the every constant drizzle, or downpour, depending on the day.

Come Wednesday night the tomatillos were still in the fridge, I was all sweaty from the gym and tired and did. not. want. to. cook. Hence, The Short Chicken (aka - left overs). I literally dumped out all the chicken, potatoes, garlic, onion and carrots onto a platter, and heated it in the microwave. The broth was all apply and lemony and oniony and great poured over the chicken and veggies.
While my husband really liked the addition of the apple into the mix, this was a new venture, I am not too sure about it. It competed way too much with my friend Lemon.
http://s971.photobucket.com/albums/ae191/laceyhardyhar/?action=view¤t=Pictures1176.jpg&newest=1

And there you have it. Sure you could make chicken spinach tomatillo enchiladas and be all fancy, but who has the time when you are busting your lady humps at the gym every night!

Nikki's Banana Nut Oatmeal Custard MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I love oatmeal. It brings back memories of Saturday mornings with Mom, she'd fix us big bowls of oats, doused in whole milk and smothered in brown sugar, and served with a peice of buttered toast.

To this day that is by far my favorite way to eat it, however trying to eat healthier tends to put the nix on milk & sugar smothered anything so I've been attempting to branch out. A few months ago one of the chicks (Kim I think) found a recipe for an oatmeal custard (and while we love to credit blogs that we see cool things on I'm afraid I can't remember where this one came from!!) where the blogger had stirred an egg into her oats and declared her obsession with the rich custardy flavor the egg adds. Over the holidays I was looking for easy to make, filling things I could have at breakfast, that my nephews would eat too (they come to my house in the mornings before school), that would apease my sweet tooth and keep my cravings at bay in the face of all the Christmas goodies at the office. In my experimentations I've thrown in everything from banana's to appleasauce to frozen strawberries and by far my favorite so far is banana nut.

Ingrediants:

1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup liquid eggwhites (eggbeaters or 1 whole egg work good too, but if you use a whole egg dont stir it in until the end or you'll have scrambled eggs in your oats!)
1/2 a banana diced
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup quaker oats (quick cook or old fashioned)
1 tbs chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon (plus a little more to sprinkle on top!)
1 packet of stevia (or sweetener of your choice)


Combine all of your ingrediants in a saucepan and cover. Cook on medium-high heat until oats just begin to boil (stir a couple times to keep milk from settling on the bottom and scalding!). Remove lid and reduce to simmer, stiring until thickened. Sprinkle a little extra cinnamon on top and enjoy!


(p.s. check out my pretty new dishes!!!)

I really can't say enough about how great this dish is, super easy, can be made in bulk in advance and nuked for a minute which is great for mornings when I'm running late and dont eat until I get to the office. This WILL keep you full until lunch, I am a hardcore snacker and I didnt even think about food until about 11am after eating this at 6:30am (usually I'd be rumaging in my desk for lonely lost chocolate bars by 9!).

Now lets break this down for you so you can see how seriously good for you this meal is!
Protein: 18 grams
Fiber: 7 grams
*Fiber & Protein are GREAT for helping you to feel fuller, longer*
Calcium: 14 grams
Iron: 12 grams
Potassium: 536 grams
*Potassium has been shown to reduce the risk of hypertension & stroke as well as aiding the body in healing muscle damage which will help you recover from your workouts!*
Fat: 10 grams
*which sounds like a lot but most of it is coming from the walnuts, the fat in walnuts is nearly 75% polyunsaturated fat which is helps lower cholesterol*
Calories: 340
*if this number scares you, drop it to 311 and cut 2 grams of fat by switching to skim milk, and reducing the milk & egg to 1/4 cup, and increasing the water to 1/2 cup*

Plus: studies have shown that cinnamon can help regulate blood sugar levels in diabetics as well as lowering cholesterol!

Melissa's Cheer"ies" to Oatmeal

CHERRY ALMOND OATMEAL
Oatmeal. I am one of the few Americans who did NOT grow up with this as a staple. I was strictly a grits (Girls. Raised. In. The. South.!) girl. When I got married my husband, who WAS a Child of Oatmeal, thought it sheer blasphemy that not only did I NOT prepare this for breakfast, but thought it was totally and utterly….DISGUSTING! Even with pleading his case, oatmeal was not allowed in my kitchen or on my table until several years later.
When I began my weight loss journey and learned what a powerful food oatmeal could be, I began a mission to acquire the taste for oatmeal. I decided that if I could convince myself that raw fish was a delicious delicacy and red wine was to be adored, I could, I WOULD, find a way to love oatmeal. Having finally made the decision, I began the long, long road to oatmeal respect.

This was not going to be easy I decided. It did not have the “trendyness” of raw fish, nor the buzz of red wine. Hmmm. Why should I like this? What DID it have again? I asked my husband what his choice would be and he promptly answered Quaker instant oatmeal with cinnamon and apples. Yum, I thought. I like cinnamon. I like apples. And soon I found that not only did I really like these things, but how much I REALLY, TRULY HATED, HATED, HATED instant oatmeal! Can anyone say Wallpaper paste? Um, no thank you.

A few weeks went by and I decided to try again after reading yet another report touting the benefits of oatmeal. I called an oatmeal connoisseur friend and asked many questions. It was then I learned of steel cut oats. After much trial and error which included an oatmeal implosion in my microwave and an hour long cleaning frenzy of my kitchen ceiling, (I’ll spare you the remaining details and leave those up to your imagination), I FINALLY found a way to not only EAT oatmeal, but to ENJOY oatmeal. Maybe it was my taste buds finally giving in to what was being repeatedly forced upon them…..maybe it was my body relishing in the goodness I had provided it…maybe it was true love...ok not really. Whatever it was, it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t wallpaper pasty. Then again, it wasn’t the best thing that ever crossed my lips either. What it is though, is a way I can eat the stuff that’s not bad. A way in fact I do not have to force myself to swallow. So, here’s the recipe for non-pasty, adequate oatmeal with a decent cherry flavor. That’s all I got to offer yall on oatmeal.

Cherry Almond Oatmeal
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups boiling water
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon low-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon cherry butter
1/8 cup dried cherries
1 tsp. almond extract

Directions:
In a large saucepot, melt the butters and add the oats. Stir for 2 minutes to toast. Add the boiling water and reduce heat to a simmer. Keep at a low simmer for 25 minutes, without stirring.

Combine the milk and half of the buttermilk with the oatmeal. Stir gently to combine and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Add the almond extract. Spoon into a serving bowl and top with remaining buttermilk and dried cherries.

Don't Give Up On Us!

With the holidays here, the Four Chicks have been a little busy.  We're cooking of course, but we just haven't had time to blog it.  So keep checking back.  We'll get our butts in gear soon and get back to what we came here for...
To see what Four Chicks, scattered across America, who are NOT Martha, can come up with when we throw a few things in a bowl! 

Until then, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to our readers!

Pie in the Sky (week)!

Week of Thanksgiving...can you say CRAZYNESS in the extreme? Each of the Four Chicks made a pie but all forgot to take pics till the very end. So, we say take a look at your own dern pies and pretend we baked them for you. Okay?

Up next week: Ummm..check the schedule on the right.

Toodles,
XOXO

Oh Meatloaf How I Love/Hate You So....

Meatloaf is a sore subject for me. When I very first got married to my wonderful husband I had such high hopes. I grew up with a Grandmother & Aunt were were fantastic cooks, great at down home style from scratch cooking who never seemed to need a recipe to create beautiful & delicious meals, a mom who, while extrodinarily culinarily challenged (adding extra cheese to her kraft mac was about as adventerous in cooking as she got) dabbled in vegitarianism and introduced me (via wonderful local restaurants) to such delights as: tofu & bean sprouts, and a wonderfully endulgant dad who was willing to try whatever concoction I dreamed up, and praised each dish as a culinary masterpiece... looking back I'm sure he exagerated... but only a bit! So when I got married I was just sure that while my husband was accustomed to white bread, meat & potatos I would quite soon open his eyes to the wonderful world of creative cooking. I mean with my background & the obvious hereditary cooking skills where could I go wrong?

Well for starters I could go wrong with meatloaf. Shortly after my dear husband and I moved in together I announced that I was going to make him a delicious meatloaf dinner. Being a meat & potatos man, he was understandably excited as meatloaf is a far cry from the fish, veggie burgers & chicken dishes that he was beginning to fear were the only things I could (or would) make. Now I have never made meatloaf before but it can't be that challenging, everyone has a family specialty and I had never tasted one that was actually awful... maybe dry & bland but certainly they were always edible. I called around for tips and finally settled on my sister's Meatloaf Florantine. I subbed out a few things to make it easier & uber healthy and ended up with a turkey meatloaf with spinach mixed in and topped with a mix of italian cheeses. I was pretty proud of it, it was healthy, fairly tasty and while not traditional, it was technically a loaf of meat... I did not consider for a second that my husband might take offense to me messing with one of his favorite meals. He was not impressed and 2/3 of the EXTRA large loaf (I made lots because I just KNEW he was going to love it) went in the trash.

Since that fateful day I have learned just which dishes are strictly off limits to my creative tweaking (meatloaf, chili, pasta & tuna salad to name a few) and how to sneak in healthier choices into even the most sacred of dishes without getting caught. Meatloaf has still been a bit of a challenge, after a few more tries I came up with a version of a friend's recipe that involves a traditional meatloaf cooked potroast style surrounded in carrots & potatoes in a tomato based sauce. I've been making that one for the last year and a half thinking it was acceptable until I told hubby that our next post was meatloaf and he requested (several times over the course of several days and even after I agreed reminded me several more times) to make a "normal" meatloaf without the "extra stuff" with just the "normal" stuff. He also just about begged me not to add spinach (seriously that was over two YEARS ago!). SO this was another experimental recipe and I'm happy to say that I rocked it :)


Ingrediants:

meatloaf base:
1lb lean ground beef (90/10 or leaner)
3 hot italian turkey sausage links, squeezed out of the casing
1/2 cup coursly chopped portobella mushrooms
1 medium onion diced small
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup bread crumbs

Put all ingrediants into a bowl and smoosh well to mix. I HIGHLY recomend smooshing by hand, but if you're squeemish you can use a mixer... but seriously now what red-blooded woman doesnt like to get her hands in there and smoosh some meat?? Now I made my meatloaf base with plans to top with ketchup to make my darling husband happy BUT after hearing Lacey raving about her salt crusted meatloaf I wanted to attempt something similar. I was loathe to have another meatloaf florentine incident so I split the base in half and made two smaller loafs on my baking sheet. Here are your topping options:

Parmesian & Sea Salt crust:
Mix the following in a small bowl
1/4 cup parmasan cheese
1/4 cup course sea salt
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp basil

Generously coat the outside of the meatloaf in the mixture, pressing it into the loaf so it sticks. Dump the extra on top and spread around evenly.

Traditional (ish) ketchup topping
Coat the loaf in brown sugar, you'll probably use about 1/3 of a cup
Top this evenly with about 3 tsp Hickory Bacon Salt (If you've never heard of Bacon salt you have been sorely deprived, J & D's bacon salt had changed my life, and it can change yours too! they have come up with a Kosher Certified way to make everything-even your envelopes-taste like bacon)
Spread 1/2 cup of ketchup over the top and sprinkle with a little more bacon salt (seriously, you NEED to try this!)

Whichever option you choose, or if you decide to be like me and split the loaf and use both (in which case use half of everything!) pop that bad boy in the oven at 375 for 50 minutes (if spitting the loaf cut cooking time to 40 minutes) allow the loaf to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into the beefy goodness and enjoy. I personally thought both loafs were phenominal, the hubby preferred the ketchup topped loaf and polished off the leftovers within 3 days. That my dears is what I would call culinary success!!!!!!

Lacey's Smokey Cumin Chicken Couscous Soup

Couscous week. Huh. Filler food. Hmmm. Tried it once a while back, didn't like it. Bland. Boring. Blah. Not into this. At all. But in the effort to be a blogging fourchick team player I find a recipe that looks promising. (Sorry, I'm feeling a bit snarky bitch on this fine Wednesday night).

I come home cranky and ready to break open that expensive chocolate bar I've been hoarding in the top of the spice cabinet (yes, I really do have a whole three shelves dedicated to spice), and some wine, but try my damnedest to evade, evade, evade. So I get out my ingredients are start cookin'. Is damnedest a word?!?
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast (mine was already cooked)
2/3 cups couscous
1 sweet potato
1/2 onion
1 shallot
2 green onions
2 zucchini
1 can tomatoe puree (I have organic)
4-6 cups broth. I used veggie and chicken stock. If you like your soup more dense, add less.
3 teaspoons of cumin or more
1 teaspoon of curry powder
fresh thyme and italian parsley
juice of two mini limes (apparently they are key limes)
1 heaping teaspoon of really good smoked paprika (don't skimp on the crappy stuff, trust me)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste

I chop the onion and shallot and cook in some olive oil. Doesn't shallot sounds like a french version of shat? Good thing they don't taste like shat or this soup would be a total waste, get it? ha ha.
Onions done, add in rest of veggies, chicken, spices, etc. etc. etc. And the couscous.


Let it all simmer together for about 1/2 hour and dish it up. It's goOod. It's healthy and whole grained nutritious. It's smokey. It's cuminy and curry-y. And spicy and sweet. The filler...um couscous...was even good for texture in relationship to the crunchy zucchini and sweet potato.

So when you come home in a snarky bitch mood like I did and all you want is some freakin' chocolate, but you can't because you're trying to lose weight, cook this instead. Just taste testing the broth while it was simmering was enough to pull me out of most of my SBM. Not enough to forgo the glass of white wine tonight, but enough to forget about the chocolate. (That was because I ate too damn much soup and am stuffed, but we won't tell anyone that!)

Oh yeah..I found this recipe at http://www.foodandwine.com/ and then changed it to my tastes at the time. Lime for my sour mood. Paprika for my devilled egg craving. Curry powder because I made pineapple fried rice the other night with it and am still on a big curry kick. Thyme and italian parsley because they were in my fridge....you get the idea.

Couscous Can be Creative!

Couscous.


It’s a funny word for a funny little food product. What is couscous you ask? It is a dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat (sweet corn) and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. The finished granules are about one millimetre in diameter before cooking. It’s probably not your common, everyday food product served in American homes, but it’s a very tasty dish, very popular in Morocco and in the Middle East. It can be eaten alone, flavored, or plain, warm or cold (e.g., mixed with tabouli), or as a side dish. So, who wants to place bets on how each of the four chicks will cook theirs? Gourmet? Organic whole grain? Boxed mix? Sweet or savory? Tune in this week to find out! Whatever method it is prepared, it promises to be completely MARTHALICIOUS!!

Lacey's Salt Crusted BBQ Chili Verde Sauce Meatloaf

There really isn't a good way to make a loaf of meat smothered in some sort of sauce look great on a photo. In my opinion at least. So there it is...
When making meatloaf I always look in the depths of the fridge and bottom most shelf in the door to see what bottled sauces have been lurking around a little too long so I can use them up. This time I found bag of shredded carrots, thai chili sauce and some gluten free Chile Verde BBQ Sauce I had picked up on my last trek to Whole Foods Market in the search of wheat and dairy free items my daughter could eat. And let me be honest here, I HEART Whole Foods. I wish it wasn't so far away (100 miles) because the store inspires me every time to try new foods and cooking methods. And their cheese section? O - M - G!
Grabbing the carrots, Chile Verde sauce and the rest of the ingredients on my meatloaf recipe roster, I tossed them all in a bowl:

Two packages of 7% all natural hamburger
2 eggs
small squirt of ketchup
about 3/4 cup of oats
1/2 cupish of bread crumbs
salt and pepper
around 1 cup of the Chile Verde BBQ Sauce
Pre shredded carrots I chopped up even finer - 3/4 cup
I put on some rubber gloves and got to work mushing and mixing it all up, saw it was too runny and added another dump of oats in. Perfect.

Get out the cookie sheet, place some parchment paper on top and dump out the meat mix. Form into a loaf with your hands (hence the "meatloaf" name). This time I got creative and got out my smoked Hawaiian Sea Salt and patted a good helping into the top of the loaf and it was definitely worth the use of the expensive salt.
Pop the meatloaf in the oven on 375 for about an hour. Mine took over an hour because the loaf was bigger.

I prefer this method over placing the loaf in a bread pan because all the juices and fat and stuff can run off the meatloaf rather than it baking in its own grease. And I've never had an issue with it turning out anything other than perfectly moist.

This version was much sweeter than my standard issue loaf, but that is to be expected with the Chile Verde sauce and the carrots. The salt crust on top made each bite a savory treat, I won't be forgetting to add that little marvel in again any time soon! We always have left overs, our favorite part. We enjoyed meatloaf sandwiches on roasted garlic sourdough bread all week for lunch. YUM.

Melissa's Magic Turkey Loaf

So this week the gals have decided to loaf around…with some meat huh?! This surely DOES mean trouble! When I decided to lose weight the first thing that was banned from my home was meatloaf and mashed potatoes because I simply cannot control myself with the combination. It makes my mouth water just to THINK of mama’s meatloaf and I have been known to clear an entire pan in a mere 24 hours…or less!

Although mama made one hell of a meatloaf, I think I can improve just a bit on her perfection and create it a little more healthy at the same time. ...At least we’re gonna try! So what CAN we possibly add to make a meatloaf MORE delectable, MORE tasty, MORE gourmet”ish”, MORE comforting AND keep it from causing a major artery clog? How about layer it with bacon and fill the center with 4 kinds of ooey, gooey cheese! Turkey bacon and reduced fat cheese that is...TOTALLY works for me! The magic of this meatloaf is how quickly it will disappear! Bon apetit’!

Magic Turkey Loaf

2 rolls 97/3 turkey sausage

1 package Onion Soup Mix

1/4 cup diced bell peppers

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

2 eggs

8 slices turkey bacon

1/2 cup reduced fat mozarella cheese

Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

1 tbsp. Worchestershire sauce

1 tsp. brown sugar

Whisk until well blended.

Directions:

Saute veggies in about 1 tbsp. evoo. Let cool , then combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl except bacon and cheese. Really get your hands in your meat and knead well. Place 1/2 of the meat mixture in a baking pan. Layer with half the bacon and half the cheese. Top with remaining turkey mixture, remaining bacon and remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes. Top with sauce and bake another 15 minutes until glaze is thickly coating the loaf and meat is done throughout. This is excellent served with curried sweet potatoes as shown above.

Four Chicks Just Loafin' Around

This week the gals have decided to loaf around…with some meat! Ahem…the kind that goes well with mashed potatoes. Dang ya’ll.

Meatloaf is an all time, absolute, favorite, universal comfort food that makes taste buds tingle and dance with delight. Add a side of creamy mashed potatoes with bites of tangy tomato sauced meat and a little onion; how can you go wrong with that?! Not to mention you can use anything in the kitchen to make one, except maybe the sink.

So let's see what spin these four crazy chicks from across the country can put on mama's classic. Anytime the Hooker Cooker, Alternative ala Carte, Wild Card and the Gifted Gourmet get in the kitchen and play with...ahem...meat..., there's BOUND to be trouble!!!

Winter Squash Week!

Squash is a racquet sport played in an enclosed space. There are apparently five different kinds of balls used in the game, can you even imagine?? The court is encased in an effort to ensure onlookers don't get their own nads knocked off by the fast flying.....Okay, OKAY! WRONG SQUASH.
While The Four Chicks do sometimes like to envision balls flying (especially this week), we are not about sports on this blog. We are about food.

Hence: Winter Squash Week.

Whatever will we cook or bake? What kind of squash will we choose? Do we even like winter squash? Read on and find out!

Nikki's Belated Apple Squash Bake

I love squash and finding reasons to sneak it into any recipe I make is a guilty pleasure of mine (any way I can possibley trick the hubby into eating uber healthy food is exciting to me!). While squash on its own is tasty, a light, slightly sweet flavour, it readily absorbs other flavours from sweet to spicey.

This weeks surreptitiously healthy recipe is a spin on my grandma's baked apple recipe. Aside from tasting great, this stuff smells orgasmic... must be the cinnamon in it- did you know that the Queen of Sheba used cinnamon to lure King Soloman? Powerful stuff :)

Ok, first things first, I must include a disclaimer: you will be working with a sharp object, there will be cutting & peeling... The Four Chicks will take no responsibility for missing and/or maimed appendages. Any of you (and you know who you are!) who should not be trusted with a sharp object, please obtain assistance from a loved one for the cutting portions of this weeks recipe!!

Step One: Assemble your Ingrediants:
1) one small or 1/2 of a large butternut squash
2) 3 apples (you want equal parts squash & apple slices)
3) 2 tbs flour
4) 2-3 tsp cinnamon (I use 4 but I REALLY love cinnamon!)
5) 1/4 cup agave nectar (you can use honey or maple syrup, just make sure you don't use an artificially flavored Mrs Butterworth's-style syrup, use the real thing!)
6) 1/4 cup brown sugar
7) 3 tbs lemon juice
8) 1/4 cup apple cider (you can use apple, grape or cranberry juice instead, just stick with the 100% juice varieties)
9) 3 tbs cold butter

Step Two: Slice & Dice!

Cut the squash in half (please see disclaimer above) and scoop out the seeds. Cut the squash into large chunks and then slice off the skin (I tried using a veggie peeler but it really doesn't work well, using a knife is the easiest way but for the butterfingers out there, its also slightly dangerous... please dont lose a finger!). Next slice the big chunks into thin slices (you'll want them to be no more than 1/2 inch thick). Slice 3 tart apples (I used macintosh apples, granny smith would be good too) and slice them to the same size & thickness as your squash. I left the skins on mine, if you're not a fan of apple skins you can peel it off.

Step Three: Assemble!

Spray a thin layer of Pam in the bottom of your baking dish and spread the apple & squash in the dish, mixing it up evenly. Sprinkle about 2 tbs flour over the apples & squash. Over the top of that sprinkle 2-3 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup agave nectar & 1/4 cup brown sugar, next sprinkle 3 tbs of lemon juice then 1/4 cup apple cider. Next slice 3 tbs cold butter into thin slices, and cut each one of those in half and place them in the squash & apple (slide them down into the crevaces... wait that sounds dirty...).

Step Four: Bake!

Cover the dish with foil and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes (until the squash is soft). Pull the dish out and let it cool for 5-10 minutes, as it cools the sauce will thicken a bit, now enjoy!

Melissa's Chicken and Squash Dumplings

If you were limited on the potential of squash, you won't be after this week's posts! Squash isn't just for casseroles anymore! There are so many varieties and it is such a versatile vegetable. Don't get me wrong, I love a good squash casserole that just screams Southern Comfort Food. This week however, we are taking squash in a very different comfort food direction...and we have selected the amazing butternut variety to accompany us!

Melissa's Chicken and Butternut Squash Dumplings

1 large hen

water to cover

1 tbsp. thyme

1 tbsp. basil

1 tbsp. sage

1 tbsp. pepper

1 tbsp. paprika

1 tbsp. seasoned salt

1 tbsp. parsley

1 tbsp. bay leaves

1 tbsp. turmeric

Place hen in pot, cover with water then add all of the spices. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer about an hour or until meat is thoroughly cooked and falling off the bone. Remove the chicken and set it aside. When cool enough to handle, skin and bone the chicken and shred or cut it into bite sized pieces.

Dumplings:
2 cups flour

1 cup cooked butternut squash, mashed

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup water

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the flour baking powder and salt. Add your squash.
Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it's well combined. Add water and knead 8 to 10 times. You can add small amounts of flour if the dough becomes sticky. Roll the dough out to and cut into 1-inch x 5 inch strips. Bring the broth back to a rolling boil, drop in your dumplings, cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer. Cook for 10 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked. Add your chicken and remove from heat. Cover for 30 minutes to allow your broth to thicken.

A great accompaniment for these chicken and dumplings are another squash favorite...Squash Pickles! This recipe calls for your simple yellow crook neck squash:

Southern Squash Pickles

6 medium crook neck squash - sliced

1 small jar mustard seed

3 cups sugar

3 cups white distilled vinegar

Bring sugar, vinegar and mustard seed to a boil stirring constantly so sugar will dissolve and not burn. Add your squash, and let cook for approximatley 5 minutes. You do not want to over cook the squash and you will end up with mushy pickles. Prepare your canning jars by washing and placing in hot water, One at time, add pickles and firmly pack your jar. Fill with your juice. Remove all air bubbles, then wipe rim and seal with lid and band. Process the canned pickles in a boiling water bath for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool overnight, the check for solid seals by gently pressing the centers of the lids. If they do not press in at all, you have a good seal. If they have not sealed you can either attempt to reprocess or refrigerate. You can also add pimentos to this recipe for color and Viadlia rings for contrast if desired.

Lacey's Chipotle Acorn Squash Sauced Enchilada's

2009 is the first year I've ever experimented with any kind of winter squash. I grew up on zucchini, yellow squash and my all time favorite patty pan's, but winter squash? Well...I can barely handle one sliver of pumpkin pie much less eating a winter squash as the main thing on my dinner plate. Ew. But this year however, I've rocked the winter squash. I made a ton of butternut squash and bleu cheese raviolis which are to die for good. This recipe though, this is one of the best things I've made in a very long time. Not. Kidding. (And it's not something to be baked really, so it was a shoe-in that I wouldn't fuck it up!)

Ingredients for the Enchilada Sauce:
1/2 baked acorn squash pulp- I love that you can buy them and pretty much ignore them for a month and they are still going to be good, unlike most veggies.
1/2 can Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce
1 garlic clove
1/2 yellow onion
sea salt to taste
1 tbsp butter (organic)
1 tbsp evoo (organic)
1/4 cup cream (organic)
3/4 cup chicken or veggie broth (organic)
Put this all in a food processor and blend the heck out of it till its creamy and smooth. It will be thick. You can thin it out if you prefer by adding more broth. A note here about the cream, you could use milk I suppose, but I had dipped my finger in the adobo sauce and it was super spicy. Cream helped tone down the spiciness of the sauce while keeping the richness of the squash intact. That is what I wanted. Milk=less calories. Cream=creamy goodness and better flavor. You choose.

At this point you could choose to use hamburger or turkeyburger, etc. but this sauce ain't your mama's enchilada sauce in a can. No Ma'am. Get buck wild! Go in a different direction.
Filling:
1 precooked chicken breast (yes, organic)
1ish cups of Chantrelle mushrooms (no I didn't go out and pick them myself. Costo people!)
2 cups fresh spinach chopped (organic)
Evoo
Cayenne powder to taste
1/4 cup enchilada sauce
Saute everything together in a pan until the mushrooms are just cooked and spinach is wilted.


As we are a family of three, one of whom is 3 years old and has Hand Foot and Mouth Virus at the moment (talk about a total freaking nightmare), I used 8 corn tortillas and saute'd one side of the tortilla in the enchilada sauce and evoo to soften them up.

I grated up 2/3's cup of 3 year old smoked gouda (Costco), filled the tortillas with meat, mushrooms and spinach mixture and layered the enchiladas into a cookie sheet. Down the middle of the enchiladas I spooned more sauce on top of the shells, sprinkled the gouda and put in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes. I didn't spread the sauce all over the tortillas because I wanted the outside edges to be crispy deliciousness. And they were, they were!
There is nothing not to love about these enchiladas. They are creamy. They are spicy and rich. They are fantastic!


Credit where credit is due, I got this idea from my mom. Mom called to tell me about seeing Emeril make some enchilada dish with a squash this week on tv. So credit by way of mom by way of Emeril this sauce is an inspired delicacy.
As my husband and I were sitting at the table munching our enchiladas (more like inhaling them!), we came up with another idea for this sauce. Because it is thick and spicy and rich already, I am adding 1/2 cup of peanutbutter to it tomorrow night and using it over rice noodles, al dente veggies and shrimp for a thai peanut sauce!

Melissa's Drunken and Smoked Up Fudge

Melissa's

Drunken & Smoked Up Fudge

Sounds like this fudge has a bit of a substance abuse problem! All I can say is after one taste of this decadent fudge, you may walk away with an addiction of your own...IF you can still walk!

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

16 ounces Ghiradelli Chocolate

1 cup chopped Smoked Almonds

1 1/2 tablespoons Chambord Liquor

1 1/2 teaspoons Creme Fraiche

1/2 teaspoon almond extract


Directions:

Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with plastic wrap. Combine 4 tablespoons butter, sugar, cream, and salt in a saucepan. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Continue boiling, stirring frequently, to a temperature of 230 degrees F. This will take about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate with a whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Add 1 cup chopped almonds and the liqueur and flavorings; stir to blend. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 to 3 hours. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap and flip the pan upside down on a cutting board or platter. Let stand at room temperature for a few minutes then cut into small pieces.

Lacey's Jameson Soaked Raisin Bread Pudding

First and foremost: Heat up the left over coffee in a mug, pour a knuckles worth of Jameson's in, add some cream and sugar and get yer drink on. Drinking Jameson's while using it to cook is a must. A must.
Second, put 1/2 cup of raisins in a bowl and pour enough of the same Whiskey over them to just drown them. Cover with cellophane and set aside on counter for 48ish hours. Keep drinking those Jameson's and coffee (aka Irish Coffee). They are good and good for ya. I know from personal experience.
Jameson family motto "Sine Metu" - Without Fear. In other words -this Irish Family does not fuck around with their booze making. Drink it at home. At least that way you can stumble to your own bed if you drink too much of it. It can hit you hard and fast and you won't even know it. The good thing about this recipe is that the alcohol bakes off (I think), so it's safe to eat at for breakfast or bring to a potluck. (Slip a flask of the whiskey in your pocket and you're golden).

Ingredients

In a bowl mix the following:
2 cups milk
1 cup cream
vanilla
nutmeg
cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar (I prefer brown but only had white at the moment)
3 eggs
3 tbsp melted butter
1/2 sliced and diced peach (optional)
Jameson soaked raisins and the whiskey they marinated in
Another pull of whiskey (optional, but come on! Do it!)

Cut up half a loaf of french bread and dice it into cubes no bigger than an inch. Dump the bread in the bowl with the liquid and stir it up so bread is evenly coated.


Pour bread mix in a casserole pan. Mine is a pretty green deep set dish that will have to cook longer. I believe this much woulf fit into a 9x9 pan. (At this point I prefer to put the casserole pan in the fridge for 24 hours before I cook it so the milk miture really soaks into the bread and becomes more custard like, but I didn't have time for it today). Bake it for 35ish minutes on 350 degrees. Once the top is crusty and golden it is done.


If you don't have any Jameson's in the house and don't want to spend $25ish for it, you can buy a cheaper brand of whiskey, bourbon or even rum to use. If you don't drink simply leave the alcohol out all together.
I've never met a person who didn't like bread pudding in one form or another. Personally savory bread puddings are my favorite to make and eat, but this was a nice change. And since I had my parents over night it worked out perfectly to serve for breakfast!

Booze Week!!!!!!

“Scuuuuse me occifer *hiccup*…I didn’t MEAN to drive *hiccup* (while swaying) into the back of your cruuuuusier…I certainly HAVE NOT been drinking…I just had one too many Irish Crème brownies or maybe too much Irish Creme IN my brownies…*hiccup*”

Brownies you say? Yes, brownies. Or whatever food we may whip up with a little booze.

Last week, 3 of the 4 cake recipes were cake-zasters. Maybe we should’ve gotten a little liquored up before we started. Anyway…we love cooking with alcohol. Sometimes, we even put it in the food.

Liquor and liqueur can add a distinctive flavor to both savory and sweet recipes without making you tipsy. There are a vast number of wonderful recipes which use some form of alcohol as an ingredient in sauces, marinades or as a main flavor ingredient. In general, the main reason any alcoholic beverage is used in a recipe is to impart flavor. Alcohol causes many foods to release flavors that cannot be experienced without the alcohol interaction. Beer contains yeast which leavens breads and batters. Some alcoholic beverages can help break down tough fibers via marinades. Other dishes use alcoholic content to provide entertainment, such as flambes and flaming dishes.

Our recipes this week will feature some sort of booze in them. Check back and see what we can do with a little alcohol

In the meantime, click here to enjoy the drinker’s alphabet. Drinker's Alphabet

Now GO!!!! Get ya drink on! (Or your brownies...)

Melissa's Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake

Melissa's
Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake

Who doesn't love a good pound.....cake? I do. Pound cakes are one of my specialties. But again, my role here is to evoke and encourage you to step outside your comfort zone...push yourself to new culinary heights...bake a pound cake like one has never been baked before! So, this will NOT be your grandmother's traditional, sissy pound cake nibbled with tea or coffee. Oh no, THIS will be a masterpiece of epic proportion....WE ARE USING MEXICAN CHOCOLATE WITH CAYENNE! Yes, we are. YES, you ARE. ....and you will like it!

***WARNING: If you are not familiar with baking pound cakes, I will advise you they are highly temperamental. Do not run, jump, shut a door, walk through your home, have any type of physical relations, turn on the water, multi task of any sort, yell, hell whisper for that matter, or breathe heavy. Your best best is to leave your home from the time you place the cake in the oven until it's time to come out. I am not kidding. I have lost many a pound cake to a good solid Carolina Gamecocks Touchdown. (Think I'm kidding...um, no.) If you do any of these things the cake WILL know. It will fall...Just to prove a point. Pound cakes will throw a two year old temper tantrum and you will be stuck with a pan of half baked, half fallen, half crusty....goo.

So with that said, let's get baking!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup Mexican Cocoa with Chilis
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cayenne (YES that says Cayenne...TRUST ME!)

DIRECTIONS
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and shortening with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder, cocoa and cayenne. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and vanilla to the butter mixture. Mix well. Pour into greased tube pan without removable bottom. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 15 minutes before removing cake from pan. Cool on wire rack.

Now comes the best part. You HAVE to taste test while it's warm. If baked correctly you'll have a nice crispy top crust with an amazing chocolate flavor heightened by the cayenne. This will not burn you a new asshole as one might think, as long as you only use the amounts given.

I will tell you this...I entered this cake in the state fair this year and boy THAT cake gave Judge grandma quite a surprise!!! Bon apetit'!

PS: Unlike my counterparts, this is a successful cake recipe you can absolutley try at home!