Look Who’s the Foodie Now

I am always sending my cubicle neighbor friend Kelli links to my blog, to give her dinner ideas. The other day she told me she wanted to make a mushroom-based sauce to put over noodles. I, of course, had the perfect solution:

Chicken, Mushroom and White Wine Crock Pot Meal
A.K.A Tommy & Mikey Dennis’ Favorite Chicken Dinner

1 lb. chicken breast, cut into chunks
¼ C. white wine
1 can cream of mushroom
1 C. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 C. sour cream
¼ C. flour
Rice or noodles
S&P to taste

Place chicken pieces in crock pot. Season with salt and/or pepper. Mix wine and soup, pour over chicken. Add mushrooms. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours. Go out and enjoy the day!

Half hour before dinner: Remove chicken to warm serving platter. Stir together sour cream and flour. Mix sour cream mixture into mushroom gravy. (If you don’t have a warm serving platter, return chicken to the crock pot.) Continue heating as you prepare the rice or noodles. Enjoy!

*Mrs. Dennis, my first grade teacher, gave me this recipe.

It looks like Kelli might be turning into a little foodie herself.

That’s Amoré

I’m in love with Sur La Table. My mom and I visited the LA location, which is in the heart of the legendary Farmer’s Market at 3rd and Fairfax. I’d love to work at this place—dishin’ out sweet kitchen gear to all the foodies.

Among several other purchases, the grandest of them all was a pizza stone that is safe to use right on your barbeque. Brilliant. Joe and I made this:

Yea, that’s right. We started with whole wheat pizza dough (making it from scratch is a snap too, check back for that recipe) and covered half with marinara sauce and the other half with basil pesto. From there we added some grated and fresh mozzarella cheese, red and yellow bell peppers, heirlooms, toasted pine nuts and prosciutto.

Sliding the toppings-loaded dough onto the stone was made much easier with a large pizza peel. The crust was perfectly crisp, all the cheese got nice and gooey and the prosciutto crisped up quite well.

...Right Back Where She Started From

My mom's in town! This means one thing -- we will be doing A LOT of cooking in the next few weeks. I picked her up from LAX last night around 10 and had a "big spread" (as my Papa would say) prepared for her when we returned home.

Whenever I go back home to Michigan, regardless of what time my flight lands, my mom always has a gourmet meal waiting for me. Needless to say, I felt the pressure to perform.

Last night I made a version of caprese salad where I took an heirloom baby tomato, a fresh basil leaf and a balsamic vinegar-marinated fresh mozzarella ball and stuck them all on a toothpick.

Also, I rolled a cucumber skewer, feta cheese and fresh ground pepper up in tissue paper thin prosciutto slices.

We also had mini kiwis (a must-try, Trader Joe's), strawberries and almonds.

Welcome home, mom!