What I've Been Cooking This Weekend

This weekend I made 3 lasagna's and some carrot raisin bread. If anyone would like the recipes, reply to this and I will email them to you. The bread recipe is from a cookbook and it is a clone of the Mimi's Cafe carrot raisin bread. The other recipe is from Robin Miller on the Food Network and it's great because you can either make 3 lasagna's or 1 lasagna, 1 batch of sloppy joe's, and 1 batch of taco's with the filling. So cool!

Lion House Inspired Chicken Bake

I have one of the Lion House cookbooks and usually I'm kind of scared to try some of the stuff in it because I'm afraid of new things. But, I tried a chicken bake and I changed a few things so here is what I did and it turned out super good. I would totally make this again. I made egg noodles and broccoli to go with in and the sauce goes great on the noodles.

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast, mine were still a little frozen and they were huge
Kosher salt
garlic salt
paprika
2 cans cream of chicken soup (it calls for one can of cream of mushroom)
1 large can evaporated milk (it calls for 1/2 c. of this but I like extra sauce)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9 x 13 inch pan, sprinkle some Kosher salt, garlic salt, and paprika evenly all over the bottom. Then place the chicken on top (this way you don't have to bother with touching the chicken a lot by turning it over to season both sides). Sprinkle Kosher salt, garlic salt, and paprika evenly over the tops of the chicken. Mix soup and milk. Pour over chicken. Bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes but check for doneness after one hour or if you have thin chicken, sooner. Yum. This is way good!

Roast Beef

Last week I purchased a 5 lb. rump roast from Macy's grocery store. They were on sale for 1.99 a lb. which is fantastic. I sprinkled it very liberally with kosher salt and fresh, cracked pepper. I put it fat side up in a 9 x 13 inch pan and browned it in a 475 degree oven for about 30 or 35 minutes. Then I turned the oven down to 250 and roasted it until it was done. I think that it took a total of about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It was so nice because the first day we had the roast w/ mashed potatoes, gravy, and broccoli. The next two days we used the thin slices and made French dip sandwiches. So yummy!

Here's how I make gravy:

If you follow the recipe above, you will have lots of dark bits and juice in the pan after the roast is finished. Remove the roast to a cutting board and cover with foil for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile, put your pan over two burners. I use the water from cooking the potatoes and add about 2 cups or until it is right color and a good amount of gravy. I put the burners on med. high and bring everything to a boil as I scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan. Once the liquid is bubbling, I add some cornstarch that has been mixed with cold water. I just add enough so that the consistency is how I like it. Just be sure to stir while you add the cornstarch water or you will have lumps and be sure to have the liquid boiling. Cornstarch doesn't reach it's full thickening power until it reaches the boiling point. Then season if you need to with salt and pepper.