Tuesday's Tips & Tricks: Cream Cheese

Cream cheese is one of my favorite ingredients to use in recipes.  Not only does it make decedent desserts, but it also makes sauces taste richer and creamier.  I could go on and on about how I like to cook with cream cheese, but instead I will get right to the cooking tip.

A chef friend of mine gave me a couple of tips for when I use cream cheese in a recipe.  He said to always use cream cheese at room temperature.  That's not a new tip; my mom taught me that one, and I am sure yours did too.  The chef also said to beat the cream cheese until it is light and fluffy, before you add it to your recipe.  Don't add eggs or other ingredients, just beat it by it's self.

Measure the room temperature cream cheese before you whip it.  After it is whipped, you will not get a correct measurement, and it could affect your recipe. 

Do you have any other cream cheese tips you could share?

Check back on Friday for my,

Creamy Caramel Dip recipe.

Enter my Giveaway for your chance to win the

Joy Bauer's Food Cures Book!

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  She also has a great Giveaway on her blog! Stop by and check it out.  You'll be happy you did!

New Mexico Breakfast Strata

New Mexico Breakfast Strata

1 pound bacon
1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
1 (16 ounce) loaf French bread, cubed
1 (16 ounce) package shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chile
2 cups milk
12 eggs

Cook and crumble bacon and sausage in separate skillets.  Drain grease.

Coat a 13x9 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Arrange sausage in the bottom of baking pan.  Spread half of the bread cubes over sausage.

Arrange the bacon over bread.

Sprinkle cheese over bacon.  Spread green chile over cheese.  Arrange remaining  bread cubes over top.

In a large bowl, combine milk and eggs.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.

Pour egg mixture evenly over top.

Push bread down into pan.

Cover with aluminum foil.  Place in the refrigerator overnight.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 30 minutes.

Remove foil.  Bake an additional 30 minutes.

If you like breakfast burritos, then you are going to love this recipe.  It has all of those delicious southwestern flavors, wrapped up in one dish, that you can prepare the night before.

 

This recipe is on the mild side.  The green chiles that are in it, add pepper flavor, but not the pepper heat.  If you walk on the wild side, it is easy to spice this recipe up.  We like to top the strata with salsa.  You could also serve it with slice jalapenos to give it an extra kick, or even swap out the green chile for your favorite chile pepper.

Stop back by on Tuesday, for my

Tuesday's Tips & Tricks post.

Enter my Giveaway for your chance to win the

Joy Bauer's Food Cures Book!

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  She also has a great Giveaway on her blog! Stop by and check it out.  You'll be happy you did!

Tuesday's Tips & Tricks: Chopping Bacon

I think everyone has at least one task in the kitchen that they do not enjoy doing.  For me, it is chopping bacon.  I hate it!  The bacon is greasy and it moves around on the cutting board as I try to slice it.  There had to be an easier way to do this.

I had just finished using my kitchen shears to cut up some herbs, so I grabbed them and decided to try it on the bacon.  It worked great!  Now I only use my kitchen shears to cut the bacon into the size I need.  I cut it right into the skillet that I will be using to fry it in.  It is so easy!  You get perfect cuts and less mess by using this method.

Sometimes I stack the bacon and other times I just get it straight from the package.Then I chop away with my kitchen shears.

Which kitchen task do you enjoy doing the least?

 Stop back by on Friday for my,

New Mexico Breakfast Strata

Enter my Giveaway for your chance to win the

Joy Bauer's Food Cures Book!

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Baked Rosemary Chicken

Baked Rosemary Chicken

4 pounds whole chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced, or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary and garlic salt.  Mix well.  Set aside.

Place the lemon that you juiced for the 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in the cavity of the chicken.  If you are using fresh rosemary, add a few sprigs to the cavity also.

 Place chicken in a roasting pan and rub 1 tablespoon olive oil over chicken.

Bake chicken for 1 hour.  Remove from oven.  Brush the rosemary mixture over chicken.

Bake an additional 15 minutes.

Have you ever purchased a roasted chicken from the grocery store, get it home, and have to scape the herbs off of the top of the chicken, because the herbs were burnt and bitter?  By brushing the rosemary mixture over the chicken and baking it for only 15 minutes, you add flavor to your chicken, and keep the herbs tasting fresh and delicious.

Stop back by on Tuesday, for my

Tuesday's Tips & Tricks post.

Enter my Giveaway for your chance to win the

Joy Bauer's Food Cures Book!

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  She also has a great Giveaway on her blog! Stop by and check it out.  You'll be happy you did!

Tuesday's Tips & Tricks: Rosemary

I had a lot of fresh Rosemary left after making the Rosemary Chicken recipe.  I figured if I had some Rosemary leftover, that maybe there was others who also had leftover Rosemary or other herbs too.  I typically do one of three things with leftover herbs.

1. I will freeze them.  I remove the leaves from the stem.  Place them in a ziplock bag and pop them in the freezer.  You can also fill up an ice cube tray with olive oil and the herbs.  Freeze them, then put them in ziplock bags.

2.  Another option I use for leftover herbs, is to dry them in the microwave.  I wrote a post about how to do it last year called, Drying Fresh Herbs.

3.  My other option is to use the leftover herbs in another recipe.  That is what I did with the Rosemary.

Check Back on Friday for my,

Baked Rosemary Chicken recipe.

Enter my Giveaway for your chance to win the

Joy Bauer's Food Cures Book!

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  She also has a great Giveaway on her blog! Stop by and check it out.  You'll be happy you did!

Rosemary Chicken

Joy Bauer's Food Cures: Rosemary Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless chicken cutlets, pounded to 1/8" thick (I used chicken tenders)
kosher salt

Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat or heat an out door grill.

In a small bowl, mix the oil, rosemary, paprika, chili powder, and pepper.

Rub the spice mixture over the chicken and season with salt.

Grill the chicken, turning once, for 8 minutes, or until no longer pink and the juices run clear.

Per serving: 227 calories,  40 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate, 6 g fat (1 g saturated), 98 mg cholesterol, 263 mg sodium, 1 g fiber

It was hard to pick just one recipe from, Joy Bauer's Food Cures book.  The recipes are all easy and sound delicious.  I finally settled on, Rosemary Chicken, and was excited to get the ingredients and begin cooking.

When I arrived at our local grocery store, they were almost out of chicken.  I was shocked!  All they had was a package of cut up chicken pieces and one lonely package of chicken tenders.  That seems to be a problem I am running into more and more.  Stores are just not ordering enough stock. 

I didn't have time to go to another store, so I settled for the chicken tenders.  It turned out perfect.  The chicken was full of flavor without being spicy.  I will be making this recipe again!

Stop back by on Tuesday, for my

Tuesday's Tips & Tricks post.

Enter my Giveaway for your chance to win the

Joy Bauer's Food Cures Book!

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  She also has a great Giveaway on her blog! Stop by and check it out.  You'll be happy you did!

Giveaway: Joy Bauer's Food Cures Book

 This book is incredible!  It is like getting five books in one.  It has something for everyone.  From losing weight to feeling and looking good, this book covers it all in easy to understand and navigate text.  There are recipes and tips and FAQS throughout the book.

Joy Bauer is the author of seven books on food and nutrition, including two New York Times bestsellers. She is the resident nutrition expert for the Today show and Yahoo.com, and a contributing editor to Parade and Woman’s Day magazines. She has built one of the largest, most advanced nutrition centers in the country and is official nutrionist to the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.

Overview:  Comprehensively updated with cutting-edge research and expertise from one of the country’s foremost nutritionists, Joy Bauer’s Food Cures shows you how common health concerns- from beauty issues to life-threatening diseases- can be managed, treated, and sometimes even cured by the foods you eat. Inside you will find easy-to-follow 4-step food prescriptions, customizable and convenient meal plans, and delicious recipes for your favorite meals and snacks. With Joy’s wisdom and practical, medically sound advice, you will learn how to use food as nature’s ultimate medicine.

The rules for the Giveaway are super easy.

1. You must follow my blog with Google Friend Connect or Facebook.

2.  Leave a comment on this post.

Bonus:  If you follow both with Google Friend Connect and with Facebook, mention that in your comment to receive an extra entry in the drawing.  If you don't, it is not too late to start!

A winner will be drawn on January 31st.  Good Luck!

Check back on Friday for Joy's

Rosemary Chicken recipe.

Visit my friends blogs!

You will love Bo and his blog,  Bo's Bowl.  Not only does he host great giveaways,  his recipes are incredible!  One visit to his blog and you will see why I faithfully follow it.

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!