This is actually two recipes that are all my own and it’s heaven on a plate when you serve them together for dinner like we did tonight. You can use any kind of soft cheese but I picked up a wedge of jalapeno havarti this weekend to snack on with crackers and fell in love. And then I started thinking….

Ingredients for chicken:

4 breast halves, bone in and skin on
1 bottle fat free Italian salad dressing
salt & pepper
4 slices of havarti cheese (with jalapeno or herbs)
olive oil

Directions:

Place chicken in a large ziplock bag and coat with salad dressing. Let sit in fridge overnight or all day.

Remove from fridge and pound the breasts a couple of times with a heavy rolling pin to break them down a little bit, then remove from the ziploc bag to a cutting board.  Loosen  the skin carefully. Place slice of cheese under the skin. Drizzle with olive oil and massage into the breast. Salt & pepper to taste.

Place on parchment lined baking sheet and cook at 375 for one hour until chicken is nicely browned and skin is crisp.  Let rest for 10-15 minutes under foil. To serve, drizzle with rendered juices.

Ingredients for pasta:

1 can diced tomatoes, drained thoroughly
3 cloves garlic minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 lb. pasta
1 cup parmesan cheese
fresh parsley

Directions:

In the morning drain the tomatoes in a collander and then pat dry on paper towels to remove any excess water. In a small glass bowl, whisk olive oil, garlic cloves and salt & pepper. Add tomatoes and blend. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter at room temperature and soak in the flavors all day.

When your ready to prepare the pasta, cook according to directions. Transfer to a large skillet, add the tomato and olive oil mixture and toss over low heat. Add 3/4 cup parmesan cheese and fresh parsley. Toss and serve with a little more cheese on top.

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It was interesting to hear your comments, it seems that Pinterest is as popular as I thought. Food Network not so much! This surprised me since I’m a total addict but the growing fascination with food blogs is certainly good news and encouraging to folks like me. And, as expected, most of us have some sort of favorite family cookbook that we rely on for meals that are guaranteed to please. I know I have several, they are dog eared and food stained and I would hold on to them for dear life if my house caught on fire and I was on my way out the door with only a few things tucked under my arms. I truly loved hearing from each and every one of you and there will be more contests coming so stay tuned – this was fun!

On Friday night I made a fantastic dish called Brown Butter Chicken Parmesan Linguine. Oh my. This is sheer goodness. I found it on one of my favorite food blogs “How Sweet It Is” so be sure to check out the website, it is full of wonderful recipes that you’ll love.  I’ll be making this recipe often because it wasn’t difficult and I found it to be really satisfying without being too terribly rich. I opened a nice bottle of wine, popped a loaf of french bread into the oven and put a movie I’d been wanting to see into the DVD player. Voila! It was a perfect Friday night. You’ll find the recipe under Main Courses.

A dear friend and coworker has been rendered couch bound by her doctor as she counts the minutes until her twin boys arrive some time in the next few weeks.  A group of us at work all got together and packed up lots of meals for Stacy and her husband Trey and I delivered them on Saturday. One of my contributions was a Strawberry & Blackberry Tart that you’ll find under desserts. It looks impressive but it’s so easy to make and you’ll definitely want to master it when the spring produce is abundant in the next few months.

In the spirit of celebrating my cookbook event, I whipped up Pioneer Woman’s Flat Apple Pie this morning. I did make some changes and adaptions to the recipe but it’s still Ree’s baby – rustic food at it’s best. Check it out under desserts. We’ll be having a slice tonight with a little ice cream on the side. Did I say something about counting calories???

I have some new ideas up my sleeve for next week so don’t go away for long. And as always, thank you for reading my blog and for sharing my love of food and for what really matters most of all…family

Happy cooking everyone!
MMD

This is from The Pioneer Woman and I cut the quantity since she obviously cooks for a MUCH larger crowd than I do most days. I also added lemon zest because that’s the secret to my Mother’s apple pie recipe and I threw in some cinnamon too. Then I read the reviews on this recipe on The Food Network Website and noticed that a lot of cooks remarked that there was excess leakage and I didn’t want to lose any of the juice since that’s where the flavor comes from in an apple pie. I made an egg wash with some heavy cream which created a durable seal to keep the juice inside the crust and it really wasn’t a problem. I also drizzled a little caramel sauce over the pie when it came out of the oven piping hot. It was begging for it and the sauce was calling my name from the fridge. And I must confess, I have a busy day planned so I pulled out a roll of Pillsbury Pie dough (not the kind in a pie plate) and used it instead of making Ree’s crust.

Ingredients:

5 granny smith apples peeled and sliced
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
zest from one lemon
juice from 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 roll Pillsbury Pie Crust
5 tbsp. butter
1 egg
1 tsp. heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. caramel sauce (I used Kraft)

Instructions:

Put the prepared apples in a large bowl, add next 6 ingredients.  Toss until the apples are thoroughly coated.

Put pie dough on a floured surface and roll out to create a thinner, more rectangular crust. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet, place dough on the sheet. Place apples in the center. Top the apples with pats of butter. Fold the dough creating a 2-3 inch border of crust.

Make the egg wash and brush thoroughly over the pie crust. Massage into the crust making sure that every crack is completely sealed and all of the crust is coated with the egg wash.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove and cover the pie with a piece of aluminum foil, return to oven for a final 10-15 minutes until the center is bubbly. Drizzle with caramel sauce while still hot. Let cool before serving.

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I make this tart throughout the year with whatever sounds good at the time. Strawberries and blackberries were available in my market this weekend so I made this for a friend who is at home awaiting the arrival of twins.  I thought a slice of this with a dollop of whipped cream would make her feel better about being forced to stay off of her feet for the next few weeks.

Ingredients for the crust:

1 1/4 cup flour
1 stick butter room temperature
2 tbsp. sour cream

Instructions:

Pulse the flour, butter and sour cream in a food processor until it forms a ball. Flour your hands and press into a 10″ tart pan that has been sprayed with Pam. Bake at 375 degrees  for 15 minutes.

Ingredients for filling:

1 1/2 cups Strawberries sliced in half
1 cup blackberries cut in half
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour1/8 cup sugar

Instructions:

Slice the fruit and fan it around the tart pan.  Blend the egg yolks, sour cream, sugar and flour. Sprinkle sugar over the top of the fruit and pour the blended filling over the top. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees and bake for one hour.

Ingredients for glaze:

1/2 cup apricot jam
1 tsp. water

Instructions:

After tart has cooled, brush the glaze over the top and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

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One of the things I love about food blogging is the chance I get to stumble on to other foodies who come up with great recipes and who, more importantly, amuse me with their narratives when I get to read their blogs.  This delicious creation is from How Sweet It Is and you need to cruise through Jessica’s website when you get a chance.  I did what I always do and failed to recreate the recipe to the letter.  This time I didn’t change anything, I just left something out. I didnt have any parsley on hand and I was too lazy to go the store to pick some up. Don’t be like me.  A fresh green garnish is definitely called for so, GO PARSLEY!

Ingredients:

1.5 to 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 1/2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
6 tbsp. butter
1 medium sweet onion thinly sliced
8 oz. mushrooms sliced
3/4 cup white wine
4 cloves garlic pressed
1/2 lb. pasta (preferably whole wheat linguine)
2/3 cup parmesan cheese (plus more for serving)
fresh parsley

Instructions:

Prepare your chicken by dicing and dredging it in a large bowl with the seasonings. Toss until well coated. Brown in a large skillet with the canola oil until cooked, about 10 minutes depending on the size of your pieces.  Remove from skillet. Turn the skillet to low and carmelize the onions, remove to another bowl. Add 1 tbsp. of butter to skillet and add onions, brown until the mushrooms are soft and then add the garlic. Toss for a minute or two until the garlic is fragrant, add the onions back into the skillet. Add wine, deglaze the skillet and then bring to a low boil for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat while you cook your pasta and prepare your butter sauce.

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.

Melt 5 tbsp. butter in a saucepan, whisking until the butter starts to darken and form brown bits at the bottom. I continued whisking (per Jessica’s instructions) for another minute after it turned brown to prevent burning.  My own personal observance was that this can go from ninety to nothing FAST so watch it! Just when you think the butter is never going to do it’s thing…bingo! You’ve got brown butter. Don’t take your eyes off the prize.

Once the butter is prepared just toss everything together in the skillet – pasta, chicken, butter, mushroom sauce and finally the parmesan cheese!  And if you are prepared…beautiful, green, fragrant parsley.

This is really, really delicious folks. Thank you, Jessica.

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Ree is from the  heartland and actually lives in close proximity to the place where my Mother grew up. We both love the same kind of food, some of it healthy and wholesome, some not so much. But it is always, in my mind anyway, as delicious as it is comforting to the soul.  I have no doubt that I will love this addition to my somewhat extensive collection of cookbooks and I think you will too.

Want a copy of The Pioneer Woman’s new cookbook for free? Just follow the rules below and a winner will be chosen at random by noon this Sunday (02/19/2012)!

1. Tell me where you are finding your favorite new recipes these days. Are they from a cookbook that is your tried and true go to? Are you having good luck on food blogs (like mine and so many others) or on The Food Network Website? What about Pinterest? Are you a regular visitor to Foodbuzz and Tasty Kitchen? I really want to know and would love to hear your feedback.  Leave a comment at the bottom of my blog today and you’re in the running.

2. All entries must either subscribe to my site or “Like” MMD on Facebook. You’ll find both options on my home page.  Tell me in your comment which option you’ve chosen.

3. If you’ve already subscribed and/or you’re already a Facebook follower no worries. You can enter by simply leaving a comment below to be entered in the contest. Just be sure to let me know in your comment that you’re already a follower.

To be clear, The Pioneer Woman wouldn’t know yours truly if we ran smack into each other on the street.  I’m just a fan who happens to think my Oklahoma Girl rocks!

MMD