Special of the Day

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Vegetable Soup with Black-Eyed Peas and Grilled Chicken

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 55 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 2)
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 large onions, diced (about 2 cups)
3 large carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
2 medium parsnips, diced (about 2 cups)
1 bulb fennel or anise, trimmed and diced (about 1 cup)
4 cups Swanson® Chicken Broth (regular, Natural Goodness™ or Certifed Organic)
1 can (about 15 oz.) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Lightly oil the grill rack and heat the grill to medium. Grill the chicken for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, turning the chicken halfway through cooking. Remove the chicken to a cutting surface. Let cool for 5 minutes. Cut into strips. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a 6-quart saucepot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, parsnips and fennel. Cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the broth and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender.

3. Stir in the chicken, peas and parsley and heat through. Season to taste. Divide the soup mixture among 8 serving bowls.

Recipe from campbellskitchen.com


Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Yield
4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces young spinach
2 large eggs
8 pieces thick-sliced bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large white mushrooms, sliced
3 ounces red onion (1 small), very thinly sliced

Directions

Remove the stems from the spinach and wash, drain and pat dry thoroughly. Place into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Place the eggs into an electric kettle and cover with cold water by at least 1-inch. Turn the kettle on. Once the water comes to a boil, the kettle will turn itself off. Leave the eggs in the water for 15 minutes. Remove and peel off the shell. Slice each egg into 8 pieces and set aside.

While the eggs are cooking, fry the bacon and remove to a paper towel to drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the rendered fat. Crumble the bacon and set aside.

Transfer the fat to a small saucepan set over low heat and whisk in the red wine vinegar, sugar and Dijon mustard. Season with a small pinch each of kosher salt and black pepper.

Add the mushrooms and the sliced onion to the spinach and toss. Add the dressing and bacon and toss to combine. Divide the spinach between 4 plates or bowls and evenly divide the egg among them. Season with pepper, as desired. Serve immediately

Recipe - Alton Brown - foodnetwork.com


Corn Bread

Yield
Makes 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising cornmeal
2 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup butter

Preparation

Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl.

Melt butter in an 10-inch cast-iron skillet in a 425° oven 5 minutes. Tilt skillet to coat evenly with butter.

Pour cornbread batter into the buttered skillet.

Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until golden. Remove cornbread immediately from skillet, and let cool.

Recipe from Southern Living, NOVEMBER 2002


White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (6 ounces) white baking bars, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks
1 jar (3 1/2 ounces) or 2 bags (2.25 ounces) macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

Heat oven to 350º F degrees. Beat sugars, butter & shortening in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and egg.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, chopped white chocolate and nuts. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture a third at a time until all is flour is moistened or absorbed. Do not over stir.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (use a 1 inch scooper) about 2 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes, until LIGHT, light brown on the edges. Cool 1 to 2 minutes BEFORE removing from the cookie sheet. Continue cooling on wire rack.

Recipe form the Betty Crocker Cookie Book

NOTE: It’s important to bake these cookies on the light side. They should look under cooked in the center and light brown on the edges. They will finish setting as they cool on the cookie sheet and have a smoother finish. I didn’t learn this until I baked the last batch of cookies. As you can see from the photo above, the cookies have cracks. This does NOT affect their flavor at all. But I noticed that the last batch of cookies baked for 9 minutes had a creamier texture than the cookies baked for 12 minutes. The smooth 9 minute cookies are shown below, they were eaten immediately after the photo was taken.

By now, all the cookies are gone. No one cared about or even mentioned the cracks, they just kept going back for more cookies. The extra chopped nuts really make these cookies hard to put down. They weren’t so rich that one cookie was enough. Unfortunately.