Stoney's Crew: Tortellini Al Forno

The Stoney's Crew Italian sauce I make for Tortellini can also be used for other pastas such as shells (like Casa's Con Quatro Formaggi) or vermicelli (wide spaghetti noodles.) We just happen to like Tortellini for a special treat and it reminds us of a fabulous dish at Papa Vino's. You can buy premade Tortellini in the dairy section of the grocery, but I have discovered that in our local Wal-Mart frozen food section (look for the sign PASTA) bags frozen for about 1/2 the price...so you know where I pick it up. A bag of the frozen, says it serves 5. Since the sauce is so rich, we can usually get at least 6. I see no reason why you couldn't use the frozen cheese ravioli for this as well.
In a lot of ways, this is a "when you see the whites of their eyes" recipe. Organization is key. Have the side salads all made up and in the fridge ready to go. Before beginning the first step in the sauce pan set a pot of water on another burner and begin heating. (I cover and turn to high.)

In your skillet, pour a trip (or 2) around the pan of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add 2 tablespoons butter, 3 (at least) cloves of minced garlic and lightly begin a saute.

Add 8 oz of sliced fresh mushrooms to the pot. Let saute lightly. When the mushrooms are cooked you can add a sprinkle of pepper. Don't add salt, it will dry out the mushrooms.

Make a roux...I do this by tipping my skillet up on the burner cover behind the burner I am working on and pushing all of the mushrooms and garlic to the top. In this instance I used 3 tablespoons of butter and about 3 tablespoons of flour over the heat. Using a whisk, work the flour and butter together to cook the flour (it will be very lightly golden brown in color.)

Now add 2 cups cream, half and half, or milk. You could mix half cream and half skim milk too, that works. On low heat, mix together the roux, cream, and mushrooms.

Simmer until reduced to the consistency that it will coat the back of a spoon. Sprinkle in about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (Just enough to "track a rabbit".)

Add about 2 cups your favorite shredded cheese. For this, I have used Mozzarella, "Italian Blend" and even cheddar. Whatever I have that was on sale that week, but to keep it a "white cheese sauce" use Mozzarella or "Italian Blend". Stirring with your whisk, add about 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and for a bit of tang I add about 2 tablespoons of crumbled Feta (Feta is optional, I always have because we like it on our salads.)

Your sauce is now basically ready, turn to low and keep an eye on it. When you "see the whites of their eyes" (actually it is when I hear the garage door opening signaling that Stoney is home) put the pasta of your choice (in this case Tortellini) into the boiling water and cook no longer than 5 minutes. (5 minutes is usually "al dente," cooking pasta longer doubles the glycemic index--making it the same as eating sugar to your body)

If your sauce starts to get too "stiff" you can ladle in some of the hot water from your pasta pot to thin it back down. This can be repeated as needed. When the pasta is ready drain and add to the sauce.

You have just created a magnifique pasta dish that is ready to serve.

Options
Instead of mushrooms, you could brown ground sausage (whatever flavor you like); chicken (cubed), or green, red, and/or yellow peppers, garden veggies such as broccoli, zucchini and squash would work too.

The salad?
In true Papa Vino form, use the Simply the Best Salad Dressing, 1/8 a head of lettuce per serving, along with other fresh vegetables of your choice, such as tomatoes, onion, peppers, olives, and 2 teaspoons of Feta cheese and homemade croutons. The croutons are nothing more than stale bread that I have cubed and baked in the oven until toasted. (Added benefit to using stale bread to make croutons? it warms up the kitchen!) I don't bother seasoning the croutons...I zing them through the food processor to make meatloaf, meatballs, or other recipes. The toasted flavor adds a nice nutty background and it is cheaper than buying breadcrumbs. I store them in a ZipLock bag.

Special Occasion? Don't forget to have warm rolls, bread sticks or garlic bread!

Stoney's Crew: The Price of a Chicken in Every Pot!

Well, I have run the numbers every which way I can think of and still cannot figure out how to come up with the costs of the stock made from that bird...so I'll call it FREE as a by-product of my original quest of chicken.

Yield and Cost:
This is what I have come up with as the yield and the costs of that bird:
13 cups of Chicken meat
4 quarts of stock

Broken down, that is 50 cents per cup of chicken or $1.00 for most recipes. The cost of a 10-12 oz can of chicken meat is about $2.50, so I believe I saved $1.50 for each recipe.

The cost per servings:

$6.50 divided by 34 (including noodles without meat meal) 19 cents a serving.

Exclude the Noodles meatless meal and it is 22 cents per serving.

And, no, that does not include the ingredients to make the meals or the meals themselves. But I have to say...that bird was cheaper per recipe than a can of tuna would have been!

This is the best per total meal cost (includes ingredients, side salad at 25 cents and a veggie or starch in most cases) that I could come up with. I am not an accountant folks, so bear with me!

Plain Chicken with salad, vegetable & potato (round 1) 90 cents per serving
Enchiladas with salad and rice $1.07 per serving
Subs with salad and green beans $1.25 per serving
Chicken Pizza (The FLOP!) was a jaw dropping $2.88 waste per serving (saw that one coming a mile away!)
Chicken Noodle Casserole served with a side salad was $1.88 per serving
Egg Rolls with Fried Rice was 90 cents per serving
White Chicken Chili with side salad was $1.15 per serving
The healing Chicken and Noodles (used stock only was) less than 40 cents to make the Noodles from scratch if you call the stock free.

There you have it. My number crunching efforts...I snagged another chicken this week for 98 cents a pound, slightly higher initial investment, but if I get the minimum 13 cups of meat then I am still ahead with a cost per cup of 55 cents a cup! Don't worry, this week's chicken is being divided like normal in 2 cup portions and put in the freezer for retreval as needed...although I am trying to convince myself to make a huge batch of egg rolls and stash soooo, we will have to see what I decide in the morning of the bone pickin'!

BTW, I used the last of the Cream of Mushroom Soup (1 pint) last night for Swiss Steak Recipe...oh, and yeah it was good!

Stoney's Crew: Monday--Menu Plan & Mourning!

How could this have happened? Stoney's Crew is heartbroken...the Colts lost the Super Bowl. Not only do we have to deal with the sorrow of that sad turn of events, we have the leftovers too!

The Kid left this morning to return to college (Monday class not until after lunch--lucky dude) and a bag of things like Hamburger Helper, packaged chicken meal kits, instant potatoes, coupons, and a Valentine gift of Amish Peanut Butter went with him. Even The Pooch (a Cocker Spaniel) is recovering from this visit...he has been snoring ALL DAY!

Well it is that time to announce the week's menu for Menu Plan Monday...yes, I know I still owe you some info on the ongoing saga of the "How many meals in that Chicken? Challenge"...we'll get to that in a moment. Menu for the week first...





This Week's Menu:
Monday, 2/8: Leftovers! (doesn't mean they have to appear in the same format does it?)

Tuesday, 2/9: Tortellini Al Forno, Salad, Fruit

Wednesday, 2/10: French Toast, Bacon, Fruit

Thursday, 2/11: Fried Rice, Egg Rolls (yep, didn't get served last week!)

Friday, 2/12: Swiss Steak, Baked Potato, Corn, Salad

Saturday, 2/13: Tacos, Salad

Sunday, 2/14: Lasagna, Salad, Vanilla Spice Texas Sheet Cake



Chicken Meals Update
So far from that bird Stoney's Crew has reported on: Slow Cook Chicken, Chicken & (Homemade) Noodles, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Subs, The FLOP! of the week, and Chicken Noodle Casserole (made with homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup using the Chicken Stock). For a total of 21 servings or meal equivalents. Today, we are going to review the White Chicken Chili.


This is based on my own In a Rush Chicken Chili:
1 10 oz can chicken
1 14 oz can chicken broth
1 24 oz or larger jar of Great Northern Beans
1 4 oz can of chopped green chilis
3 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 softball size onion chopped
1 teaspoons Chili powder (or more)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Normally, for this recipe, I put everything in the pot (except the sour cream and cheese) and bring to gentle rolling boil and cook until onions are transparent. About 10 minutes before serving, I add the sour cream and cheese stirring until melted.

For this adventure I used 2 cups homemade chicken; 2 quarts chicken stock from another experiment that I will report on later in the week. I used dry beans; 2-1/2 cups dry navy beans--soaked all night the night before. I put everything into my slow cooker (except sour cream and cheese) and let cook on low about 8 hours. About 10 minutes before serving I added the sour cream and cheese just like the faster stove top method.

I served with Chili Onion Cheddar Corn Muffins (add a little chili powder, a bit of finely diced onion, and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese to muffin mix and bake at 350 until done). A dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese on the Chili completed the meal. And yes, The Kid walked in the door and I forgot to get a picture! I promise to be more diligent this week!

This tasty and hearty meal serves (at least) 8! This chicken total is now up to: 29! All but 5 of the servings (the Chicken & Noodles) contained meat. Remember Stoney was sick with a sore throat, so no meat in that meal, just stock! And yes, there is still enough there to make the Egg Rolls promised last week, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...If I had I am sure Stoney and I would be clucking! He was definitely ready for beef Saturday. I will share the Spanish Sloppy Joe Sauce recipe that I made on Saturday in tomorrow's edition of Stoney's Crew!

Stoney's Crew: Chicken Noodle Casserole Experiment!

Well, after the debacle yesterday, one must do a couple of things. Go Shopping! and "Get back up on that horse!" The shopping part was easy for me. I am a firm believer in retail therapy--but that does not mean that I purchase anything everytime I wander out into the retail world. Yes, folks, I am very selective on my purchases. (Stoney finds my need to browse difficult to comprehend.)

After a month of Pantry Challenge (or least a Stoney's Crew version of it), some of the inventory was beginning to thin considerably. Folks, Stoney's Crew was even out of ground beef in the freezer. First time for everything I guess. That means...Amish Shopping!

Yes, here in the land of Stoney's Crew (northern Indiana, in case you haven't guessed!) is a large Amish community. Allen, Noble, Stueben, DeKalb, Elkhart, LaGrange, and Kosciusko counties of Indiana all have many Amish and Mennonite families. The largest populations seem to be in the Elkhart, LaGrange and Stueben counties with the shopping mecca being Shipshewana, Indiana. Shipshewana is about an hour's drive from Stoney's Crew and there are many, many stores to browse through in this little town.

Arts, crafts, quilts, home decor, furniture, antiques, and, you betcha, FOOD! I will do a post in the near future about some of the sights, sounds, and fun to be had in that area. Today, I was on a quick mission, so I only visited Yoder's Meat & Cheese and E&S Sales. I had to make tracks back to the Stoney's Crew homestead to work on today's chicken challenge. The things that I do for you! And yes, it was snowing today...quite a bit actually. The Stoney's Crew Colt looks nasty after the trip...a bath for that steed when it warms up for sure!

One of the sites that I lurk at (monitor) is Kitchen Stewardship. I noticed a recipe for Cream of ... Soups so I thought that I would give it a try. Of course, I have to modify...the Stoney's Crew kitchen is a lab remember. (Mahwwwaaaaah!)

The major modifications? Quantity reduction (1/2) and Yoder's had Dried Sliced Shitake Mushrooms for $1.11 for .055 lb. knowing this was less expensive than the previously planned fresh (8 oz $1.99 on sale) I decided to try it! Reconstituting the mushrooms was easy. The package directions were: rinse in cold water, cover in boiling water and soak for 15-20 minutes before draining. 1 oz of dry mushrooms is the equavilant of 4 oz. fresh.

Stoney's Crew Cream of Mushroom Soup
3 tablespoons butter (divided)
3 tablespoons flour
2 cloves fresh minced garlic (or more we like garlic!)
1/2 a chopped onion (mine was a softball size onion)
Reconstituted Dried Sliced Shitake Mushrooms (or equivalent 4 oz. Fresh sliced mushrooms)
2 cups milk (skim)
1 cup chicken stock (yeppers, some of that fab stuff from the bird)
Dash of ground nutmeg, salt, and pepper

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan, add onion and mushrooms. Saute until limp. Move to side of pan. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in pan, add flour and whisk...do not brown the flour. Add the milk and chicken stock stir. Simmer 15-20 minutes until thickened. After it has thickened, put into blender, food processor or use an immersion blender if you have one to "cream".

Good thing these bunny slippers move fast--a near catostrophe was narrowly averted when I discovered that the bottom of my blender was not affixed tightly after pouring a bit in. Oooops! That is why Every Day is an adventure!

Wellah! you have now made approximately 2 pints of cream of mushroom soup. I probably would have produced a bit more than the 2 pints without the ooops! When using in a recipe, please keep in mind that this is not condensed, so you may not need as much milk or liquid that a recipe calls for.

Stoney's Crew version of Chicken Noodle Casserole is about as easy as you can get!

Stoney's Crew Chicken Noodle Casserole
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (in this case a scant pint or half of above recipe, refrigerate other half)
2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken
1 cup frozen peas (or peas and carrots)
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 to 1 cup milk
1/2 bag of store bought noodles (I have never tried my homemade in this!)
1/2 cup crushed croutons
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook noodles according to package direction, drain. Mix chicken, vegetables, cheese with the noodles. Pour mixture and milk into 9x9 casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Sprinkle croutons on top and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, a picture would have been nice--but it slipped my mind. Sorry folks!

Overview of the day's events:
Shipshewana: thumbs up! No surprise on that one!
Dried Mushrooms: thumbs up for soup, I will continue to use fresh for Alfredo and Al Forno sauces/meals.

Number of servings from casserole: 5.

Chicken Meal Counter: 21!

GO COLTS!

Stoney’s Crew: The Healing Power of Chicken & Noodles

Uh oh! Stoney is feelin’ poorly. Yep, he is complaining of a sore throat and cold. That can only mean one thing…BREAK OUT THE CHICKEN & NOODLES. Good thing I just cooked that chicken isn’t it! There is a fresh batch of broth and making noodles is quick, easy, cheap, and nothing tastes better when you aren’t feeling the best.

This recipe is the recipe that my Mom always made when I was a kid. She snagged it from Auntie Helen. Oh, the memories of the excitement in the house when Mom was making a batch…and the dirty looks we got when we would snitch a few as she was rolling them out! Yes, priceless! (Pizza Cutter? Trust me just keep reading!)




This is how the official recipe reads:
Aunt Helen’s Noodles
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
1-1/2 cups flour
Beat eggs good. Add salt and melted butter—add ½ cup flour and beat with egg beater. Stir in the rest of flour with knife. Cut right away.
*just as an FYI, use Butter folks. Trust me you don’t want to ruin this perfect recipe by substituting margarine, butter spreads, or oil!

Now-a-days, I use my mixer (it has a dough hook) and depending on the size of mixer you have, you can double, triple, or quad the recipe. I try to keep it to no greater than double at a time here at Stoney's Crew. The dough can start to stiffen quickly, and I am getting slower at rolling it out! Also note that the flour quantity is a rough estimate. It depends on the weather. Yep, the weather has a lot to do with the quantity of flour required. Sometimes I have found in the dry winter months less flour is needed; so it is best to add that last cup a little bit at a time! You will want nice soft dough. I ultimately usually choose to make an entire stick of butter in a day (a quad if you’re feeling ambitious, or break that down to a couple of batches like me!). The remaining noodles will freeze well after they dry. Just try to get as much extra air out of the bag as you can. On this day, I only made a double. I hadn’t planned on making Chicken & Noodles with this particular bird!

Here are a few pics on how the process works:
Always crack your eggs in a separate bowl rather than just adding to the recipe you are working on...if you get a nasty spoiled egg, you won't ruin the whole recipe that way. Hint: I also usually break the yolks a bit before adding to the mix.

Exciting isn't it?

Yep, this is what it looks like when it is ready to roll out!

Throw some flour on the counter and put the ball of dough on top and commence rolling!

Yep, here it is rolled out. Two things, a double batch of dough is really too big to roll out at once, so I cut in half. (See it there on the left?) Roll the dough to about 1/8" thick. Cut the dough into fourths. You will see why in a moment.



Yep, fold the pieces over one another right to left, and then repeat top to bottom...or bottom to top!

See what I mean?

Yes, folks, this was a moment of brilliance here at the Stoney's Crew lab! Use a really good Pizza Cutter (mine is from Pampered Chef) to cut the noodles. In preparation to make the noodles, I opened the drawer to get the knife out and...the little voices in my head spoke and said, "USE THE PIZZA CUTTER!" It is just amazing sometimes, I have been making noodles for more years than I care to admit, and I just made this discovery. That is what makes EVERY DAY an adventure here in the lab!

Oh my, there they are in all of their freshly cut glory. Yes, go ahead snag one and pop it in your mouth and savor that rich, buttery goodness. (I know, there is raw egg in them, but if people can put a raw egg in a protein shake, you can ingest a noodle's worth of it.) Now roll the other half of the dough.

If you are truly bound to have straight noodles, you can carefully keep them all lined up to dry. Here we like curly!

Ideally, you can let the noodles dry a bit (Grandma H always tried for overnight—or all day if she made them early in the morning and there were no kids around!); but this isn’t always a possibility. If you can let them dry an hour or two that is fine too. I went the short route this time. It was an emergency after all. Stoney was sick!

Now for the cooking!
Bring your broth to a rolling boil. When using homemade stock, skim the fat off of the top; pour the rich homemade gel/stock in the pot and add at least an equal amount of water. I used a quart of stock gel, so I added a quart of water. If you use purchased stock, don’t water it down.

When the stock** comes to a rolling boil you can begin SLOWLY adding the noodles. Try to shake off some of the extra flour, too much flour in your pot and your broth will turn to gravy quickly. Add the noodles a slow, gentle handful at a time; so that the stock has a chance to return to a boil. Adding all of the noodles all at once will create a big solid mass of noodle dough in the pan or worse.
The object is to make NOODLES not A NOODLE the exact shape and size of your pot! Slow and steady wins the race! After the noodles are all in the pot turn the heat down to simmer and put the lid on for approximately 5 minutes. Check on the noodles, if they are absorbing a lot of liquid too quickly, you can add a little more water a bit at a time. Let the noodles simmer for awhile.

**You can most certainly add 2 cups of chicken meat to the stock before bringing it up to a boil. I didn’t today because Stoney was having difficulty swallowing; otherwise, yep, that bird would have made an appearance in the pot!

At GG’s we always let the noodles simmer all morning on New Year’s Day so we could watch the Rose Parade! Just check their status periodically. This is an “Eyeball It” program folks. You know what looks like “needs a touch more liquid” is. If you want to make soup, use double the stock, but at Stoney’s Crew we would rather have this version and save the other quart of stock for other recipes! Yeah, if you really want to you can use a combo of store bought and homemade stock, but when a member of Stoney’s Crew is feelin’ poorly, I don’t want to put those extra unpronounceable chemicals our bodies.

About Noodle Making
Grandma H used to roll out the noodles on a day old newspaper. This helped to dry the noodles, and it made them more portable after she cut them (she rolled out on the kitchen table, and moved to another room to dry). DO NOT use newspapers today. The inks now do not absorb into the newspaper. The ink lays on top of the paper. Yep, if you use a newspaper, you will have gray/blackish noodles and ruin the healthy benefits of the homemade noodles by adding unwanted and dangerous chemicals to your body. If, for drying purposes, you want to make the noodles more portable move to parchment paper or a clean piece of plain white paper table cloth after cutting. I personally am spoiled. I have a large island in the kitchen that I can leave the noodles on to dry. Some folks use “noodle dryers or racks” to hang the noodles over to dry. I can’t see the need of such a thing occupying the valuable cabinet real estate in my kitchen for storage of one. It’s your kitchen; you decide what works best for you.

Here in the land of Stoney’s Crew we grew up with a dinner menu comprised of Chicken (or Beef) and Noodles (with meat included), Mashed Potatoes, Corn or Peas. (A side salad and fruit too!) There are those of you that think that is starch overload, well, o.k. maybe, but don’t knock it until you try it…

Grocery Round-Up!
Today is Wednesday, that means grocery ads in this neck of the woods! I shop at any of the following stores: Marsh, Martin’s, Meijer, Target, Publix, Wal-Mart, and Winn-Dixie have quick and easy loading sales fliers Kroger/Owen’s/Scott’s not so much… I find their site so lacking in ease-of-use that I won’t even provide the link here, I resort to the old-fashioned newspaper ad. And it is sad, because I loved shopping at Scott’s before they were purchased by Kroger. [Sigh!] I like to use the online circulars to begin the “ponderation” of menus incorporating loss leaders whenever possible.

This batch of noodles made 5 servings.

The official adult meal count for the current Chicken Challenge is 7.

Go Colts!