Mushroom Chicken Soup

It's easy to make mushroom soup from a can, right? All you have to do is add water, and voilà! Instant soup! But what if you want something new? This recipe gives a new twist to mushroom soup, and it's really simple to make!

This also goes well as a gravy for leftover meats if you have nothing else to eat with it (see picture on right). It gives that wonderful flavor to each bite and gives the meat a savory taste. Best if you have rotisserie chicken left over from last night, the flavors from the already seasoned chicken will soak into the soup, giving the mushroom soup a new kind of taste.

You can also use other meats besides rotisserie chicken, but I prefer this one because it's already cooked and seasoned.

What You Need:

small pot

wooden spoon

knife

chopping board

Ingredients:

about 1 breast (or more) of leftover rotisserie chicken

1 can Campbell's cream of mushroom

3/4 can chicken stalk

1/4 cup water

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic

1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper or to taste

Instructions:

• Preparation - Peel and chop onion and garlic on a chopping board with a knife and set aside.
• Preparation - Chop up chicken into half inch cubes and set aside. Leave out skin and bones (unless you prefer to leave them in the soup).
• In a small pot over medium-high heat, add cream of mushroom, water and chicken stalk, and stir until mixed smoothly. You can disregard Campbell's instructions since you don't need to follow them.
• Add in chopped chicken, garlic, and onions to pot and stir occasionally until soup boils.
• Once soup starts boiling, lower heat to medium-low/low heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent skin formation. NOTE: You want the onions to become transparent and sweet to taste when soup is done cooking.
• Once done, you can serve soup with a bit of rice. To spice up the meal, you can use the soup as a gravy on top of leftover rotisserie chicken and serve with rice (see picture).

Quick & Easy Garlic Alfredo Sauce with Cheese Ravioli (2 Servings)

Have you ever found yourself in a predicament where you have too much pasta and too little Alfredo sauce? Throwing away the pasta would be such a waste, wouldn't it? Or what if you didn't want to eat what was in your fridge?

Well, I've concocted up a quick and easy fix for that savory craving! My boyfriend and I was rummaging in the fridge for a "midnight snack" (it was one of those nights where you don't want to eat anything in the fridge but you look anyway) and we couldn't find anything we wanted to eat. So we kept searching, and in the back of the fridge, someone oh-so-lovingly left behind a jar of pre-made Alfredo sauce. The freezer had some precious bag of cheese ravioli sitting in one corner so I had to have it!

So why is this quick and easy? It's because you will most likely find all these ingredients in your fridge! This recipe will have you wanting more! Trust me, I know my boyfriend loved it! Enjoy!

What You Need:

small pot

fork/wooden spoon

small chopping board

knife

food processor

serving bowl

Ingredients:

4 cups water

1/4 tsp salt

10 oz frozen cheese ravioli OR any leftover noodles

2 tbsp olive oil

1-2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp of butter

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

1/4 cup leftover Alfredo sauce

1/8 cup parmigiana

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Instructions:

• Preperation - Peel garlic from skin and chop coarsely with a knife on a chopping board. Set aside garlic.
• If you have frozen pasta, follow instructions on bag to boil pasta to al dente. If you already have some pasta ready, set aside with chopped garlic.
• If you do have some frozen cheese ravioli, boil 4 cups of cold water in a small pot with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Once the water comes to a boil, add the frozen ravioli and cook for 3-4 minutes. Any longer than 4 minutes in boiling water would make the ravioli soggy. Drain ravioli/pasta and run under cold water for 1-2 minutes to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
• In the same pot (wiped clean from the water), heat up olive oil over medium-low heat. Extra Virgin Olive Olive is also a good replacement, but if you don't have either of the two, canola oil and vegetable oil can also work on a high heat setting (The taste might be a bit different though). Add chopped garlic and sauté with a wooden spoon until garlic is almost brown. You don't want to overcook the garlic, otherwise your pasta will have burnt garlic flecks all over!
• Add butter. Now, I know this sounds weird, but it'll actually taste really good. Butter and oil doesn't really blend well, but try to do your best.
• Into the concoction, add the pre-made Alfredo sauce and stir occasionally until it simmers. Add pamigiana, italian seasoning, and cracked pepper to sauce (you can readjust to taste).
• Turn off the heat, and pour mixture into a food processor. Blend well until oil and butter incorporated.
• In a serving bowl, add the cooled pasta and Alfredo sauce. Toss lightly with the wooden spoon until all pasta is coated well and serve.

Bell-Pepper Chicken (10-12 Servings)

This dish is quite filling for those with a crave for a twist in the chicken marinara. This dish, however doesn't need noodles, cheese, or too much tomatoes; the bellpeppers make the chicken sweet to the pallet.

The sauce isn't dense as most would think. It's more saucey than a spaghetti sauce.




What You Need:
medium-size pot
large wooden spatula/spoon
large knife
chopping board

Ingredients:
1 large onion
3 large cloves of garlic
1 (5lbs. or less) whole chicken
3 large bellpeppers
2 fresh tomatoes
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Preperation - Rinse and cut the vegetables with a large knife on the chopping board. With the garlic pieces, use the side of the knife to smash the garlic to release and peel skin. Dice garlic into small pieces. Dice onion and tomatoes. With the bell peppers (any color is fine), remove stem and seeds by cutting the bell peppers in half vertically and cut into 1/2 inch slices (or thinner if you prefer) vertically. Set aside.
2. Preperation - With the chopping board and the large knife, cut the whole chicken up into cubed pieces. It doesn't really matter what size it is, just as long as the shapes are uniform so that the chicken can cook evenly. If needed, use a cleaver to chop the harder pieces of chicken bones. If you're like me and is self-concious of the oil and fat, remove the chicken's skin before setting it aside.
3. Set the stove to medium-high heat. Add a thin layer of canola oil into the pot and heat. Add garlic and onions, saute until almost see-through. Stiring occassionally so the garlic will not burn.
4. Include the bell peppers and tomatoes in the mix and stir until peppers are almost soggy. NOTE: Don't get upset if the tomatoes start to fall apart, this will thicken the sauce.
5. Now add the chicken into the mix. I prefer adding EVERYTHING (including insides) of the chicken so that the flavor comes out more. Stir occasionally. and cook until you can't see blood on the chicken anymore.
6. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, salt and pepper; adjust amount if needed. If you want more sauce, add a 1/2 cup of chicken broth/vegetable broth/water.
7. Low temperature to medium-low heat and let boil.
8. Once it boils, lower the temperature again and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes. The reason for this to happen is so that the chicken can absorb the flavors in the sauce. After this is done, it's ready to eat! Eat it by itself or with rice.

The Incredible Hulk

For those of you who are thirsty, here's a sweet little drink that'll give you a fruity kick. Guys don't have to be gay to drink this baby!
This is also one of my first drinks when I turned 21; so it's, by far, my favorite, aside from the White Russian drink.

What You Need:
2 oz. Hpnotiq vodka
2 oz. Henessy Cognac
ice (optional)

Instructions:

1. Pour both parts and stir.
2. DRINK!

Homemade Tuna Onigiri

For those of you who love sushi and onigiri (or ANY Japanese food), here's a little piece that I found to be quite easy to make. I came across this when my sister taught me how to make tuna onigiri.

Most items are store bought at oriental stores or specialty stores, but you can also find them at Lucky's or Safeway. Simplistic and a tad time consuming, especially if you're making this little number for a small party.

Trust me, you try this out, you can wow your friends and family, and you didn't need a professional sushi chef to do it for you!

What You Need:
large bowl
2 small bowls
plate
microwave
teaspoon
large fork

Ingredients:
3 c. cooked white rice (any type is fine)
1 pkg. of roasted 8x7inch seaweed (nori)
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 can of tuna 7 oz.
Nori Fumi Furikake rice seasoning/Ebi Fumi Furikake (optional)
water
salt
pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook rice as you usually do but add a tad bit more of water to make the rice slightly sticky. Once it's cooked transfer the rice into a large bowl for easy access. Let the rice cool for 30 minutes.


2. With the small bowl, fill it 3/4 full with water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and cook in the microwave for about 2 minutes or until the salt has dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.


3. While the rice and water are cooling, prep the nori (roasted seaweed) by cutting the sheet into 1-inch wide strips. Prepare the tuna by adding the mayonnaise and the tuna into a small bowl and mix with a fork. Add salt and pepper according to preference.


4. With the rice and salted water cooled to room temperature, wash hands and dip both hands into the salted water so rice will not stick to fingers. Grab a handful of rice gently flatten into a triangle shape into the palm of your hand.


5. With a teaspoon, scoop out a small round portion (the size of the spoon, slightly heaping) and place in the middle of the rice triangle.


6. With the free hand, dip into the salt-water again (keep hands moist at all times while handling the rice), and scoop out another handful to top and cover the tuna. Press sides down together to create the triangle shape. If necessary, turn onigiri over to press other sides together to create shape. Keep turning and pressing until satifactory.

Remember: You don't want to squish it too much to flatten it, nor do you now want to have your onigiri to fall apart when it isn't pressed together enough.

1. While the onigiri is still moist, wrap the nori along the thinner side of the onigiri. If the nori is too long, cut of what you don't need and set aside on a plate.


2. Repeat process until you have enough.


3. OPTIONAL: With the Ebi Fumi Furikake rice seasoning, pour a thing layer onto a saucer and dip onigiri on one or both sides in seasoning. This will create a slightly sweeter taste to the tuna onigiri.

I also think that this recipe can be used as a family-bonding experience where everyone can have fun creating their own onigiri. Of course, if you want to increase the amount, double or triple the ingredients. You can also switch the tuna for other types of food like shredded chicken or beef. It's best if you use seafood types as filling.

Cranberry Vinaigrette Salad with Dressing

As my first ever recipe post, I thought I'd start off with a simple salad and an even more simple salad dressing. With this refreshing taste, you'll immediately fall in love with this recipe I've came up with. I do hope you'll love this as well as I do.
What makes this salad so delicious is that it's so flexible with a person's taste because you can add or subract ingredients the way you like. You don't have to take my word for it, try it out yourself.
Takes about 15 minutes to prep, and 5 minutes to enjoy! Lol!

Cranberry Vinaigrette Dressing (2-3 Servings)
The reason why the servings are so small in size is because the dressing has a strong taste. If you would like to make more to save and bottle, just double or triple the amount of ingredients according to taste.

What You Need:
cutting board
food processor/blender
knife
measuring cup
tablespoon

Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic
1/4-1/2 shallot (1/4 white onion)
2 tbsp. dijon mustard (sweet or mild preferred)
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1/8 c. dried cranberries
2 tbsp white granulate sugar/honey
salt
pepper

Instructions:

1. With the cutting board, use the flat of the knife to crush the garlic and peel off the skin. Dice garlic and shallot (or onion) and transfer into blender.
2. Measure the amount of dried cranberries in a measuring cup and transfer into blender as well as the rice vinegar.
3. Add the dijon mustard and the sugar/honey to the blender by measuring accordingly with a tablespoon (or whatever you have on hand).
4. Include the salt and pepper according to your own preference (I, myself add a few dashes of each).
5. Close the food processor with the lid and blend until smooth. If you're like me, I prefer a little chunks of cranberry in my dressing.

You don't have to follow the recipe exactly as I have here. If you prefer a more tart taste rather than sweet, add a little more rice vinegar or dijon mustard. For more sweetness, add more dried cranberries, honey, or sugar.
You can store this dressing for up to two weeks in the refridgerator in a bottled container (I have mine in a glass dressing jar).

Cranberry Vinaigrette Salad
Now that you've created your own dressing, the salad, my friend, the salad is even more simple. Try this out; and again, this can be according to your own taste.

What You Need:
cutting board
knife
paper towel
strainer
large bowl
tongs/fork

Ingredients:
cranberry vinaigrette dressing
half can of pitted olives (sliced or whole)
lettuce/spinach (prepackaged preferrable)
sweet grape tomatoes
cremini mushrooms
boiled eggs
dried cranberries
walnuts/sliced almonds

Instructions:

1. Wash the leaves under cold water in a strainer. If necessary, cut up leaves in small portions if leaves are too big. With a few sheets of paper towel, pat dry the leave and transfer into a large bowl.
2. Add the cranberry dressing according to taste to the bowl. Toss the leaves to coat evenly with a pair of tongs.
3. Slice boiled eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives if necessary and add to the large bowl. Include walnuts, dried cranberries, or almonds. Add as much as you like!

Didn't I tell you it was easy? Now, there's no correct way to slice, dice, or cut any of the ingredients. If you like a chunky salad, go for it. Or if you like, small pieces are fine as well. If you don't like some of the ingredients mentioned here, you can always add your own to the mix. This salad is flexible for anyone's taste.

Enjoy!

Hello! I'm Jo!

Hey there, folks!

I'm still fairly new at this, so I thought I'd do something a little different from the ordinary blog. I don't really know how many others have an online recipe 'book' so I thought I'd give it a go.

I can't really promise that I'll post everyday, being so busy and all. But I'll at least try to post up recipes that I really want to share with you. It may not be so much as a YouTube account where visual aid helps, but I think this will work out just fine.

So I hope you'll bear with me as I start off this new recipe blog for the first time ever!