Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken with Steamed Asparagus and Pierogi (Polish Dumplings)

The last part of winter hung on and the cold weather really hasn't let go.  So far, it has been a cold, damp spring with snow still in the forecast.  Last night and this morning, heavy thunderstorms with rain advisories are rolling through.  While it isn't perfect outdoor weather, it is a great time for me to do a bit of home canning and baking, especially breads.  Mid-February through to the first week of May, we are in overdrive mode working 16 to 18 hour days 7 days a week, more so my husband for the past couple of years.  We are in bed before 8 PM and while he drifts off to sleep immediately, I sip on camomile tea and play a hidden objects game or crochet before going to sleep by 8:30 PM.  He's up at 3 AM and out the door 20 minutes later.  I'm usually up the same time, sometimes a half hour later.  I have dinner ready for 5:30 PM and these days I am relying on home cooked comfort foods.

Homemade shake & bake chicken is one of our family comfort foods.  It's quick, easy, no muss, no fuss, and just downright good!  What you may not know is homemade shake & bake chicken reheats nicely so you can cook extra one night then simply reheat for a quick meal another night.  To reheat, place the cooked shake & bake chicken pieces in an oven proof casserole dish.  Cover with aluminum foil.  Heat in oven at 350°F for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and serve.

I used four bone in chicken breasts for homemade shake & bake chicken, 2 each for Saturday and Sunday's dinner.  The first dinner I served the chicken with steamed broccoli, baked potatoes and homemade creamy coleslaw.  The second dinner I served the chicken with steamed asparagus, potato and cheese pierogi and a small garden salad.

Pierogi are Polish dumplings made with unleavened dough stuffed with a potato filling that are either boiled, or boiled then baked or fried.  Traditional pierogi are filled with a mixture of potato, meat and sauerkraut.  Sour cream or caramelized onion pieces are popular toppings for pierogi.   I have not made pierogi from scratch as they are not something we have very often, as in once a year if that.  I bought frozen pierogi this time to serve as a guideline in making them from scratch.  This is a handy tip for getting an idea of how the final product should be prior to making your own from scratch.  I did the same thing when learning to make fresh pasta by comparing it to store bought fresh pasta and when first attempting certain artisan breads.  At any rate, a 1 kg bag of frozen store brand pierogi costs $1.79.  There were about 30 pierogi in the bag but I used almost half the bag for dinner leaving me half to use in my testing.  Homemade pierogi should come in less expensive with a fresher flavour.  One recipe on Food Net work uses 3 c of flour and 3 eggs for the dough which would cost me 99¢ plus the filling so an estimated added 50¢ for potato and cheese, which gives a total cost of $1.49 for 72 pierogi.  So, based on this homemade pierogi should be under half the price of store bought.  I'm off to do a bit of experimenting so will report back on the results later this week.

Hidden Valley® Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix Clone

A couple of weeks ago, I was chosen to be a contestant in the Hidden Valley® Recipe Challenge.  I wanted the Hidden Valley® dry mix to use for one of my potential entries.  We live in a small urban area with two grocery stores (No Frills, Sobey's) and a Wal-mart.  I checked all three stores without any luck finding dried salad dressing mix.  I know at one time these were quite popular.  The salad decanters with markings as to how much oil and vinegar to add were sold right beside them.  None of the stores carry them any more.  In order to make this dish I really needed the dry mix so I sent out an SOS to my family and friends then set about finding a dry mix ranch mix online.  A friend came to the rescue with a packet of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix but before using it I noticed a tear in the package so decided against it.  It definitely came from the US as there was no mandatory French labeling as required on Canadian products.  I compared the ingredients on that package to that of the recipe I had found then created my own recipe.  Clone recipes are born out of necessity either to save money or because the original is not available in your area.

The recipe I found online had paprika and  fresh ground pepper but closely inspecting the original packet showed no signs of either.  The recipe I found had no buttermilk in it even though the original packet listed buttermilk as a main ingredient.  Based on that, I set about getting creative.  MSG was listed on the original packet but I didn't use that in my clone recipe.  The dry clone version tastes (finger tip test) very much like the original packet mix.  The clone recipe makes a bit more than the original packet so adjust the dressing as required for consistency.

Hidden Valley® Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix Clone
source: Garden Gnome

2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp organic sugar
1½ tsp parsley flakes
2 tbsp buttermilk powder
½ tsp citric acid
¼ tsp xanthum gum

Dressing:  Combine 1 c milk and 1 cup mayonnaise in a blender.  With the blender running, slowly pour in ½ c of the clone mix.  This is necessary for the xanthum gum to thicken the dressing.  Blend on high until well mixed and thickened.  Keeps 3 to 4 weeks in refrigerator.

Dip:  Combine ½ c of the clone mix with 2 c of sour cream.  Mix well.  Refrigerate for one hour to allow flavours to blend.

Make Your Own Bisquick Mix

Homemade mixes are something I have stressed on this blog because they save both time and money as well as being eco-friendly with no packaging.  These mixes are easy to make, cost a fraction of store bought and perform just as well if not better than store bought.   I came across this video on YouTube demonstrating just how easy it is to make your own Bisquick baking mix.  My comments follow the video.

First, here is the recipe used in the video:

Homemade Bisquick
source:  Homestead Series

8 c flour
1½ c powdered milk
¼ c baking powder
1 tsp salt
1½ c lard (or shortening or butter*}

Place ingredients in mixing bowl.  Mix with pastry blender until well mixed.  Store at room temperature.  Use as you would Bisquick.
*if using butter, store in the refrigerator

This is a very quick, easy to make and low cost baking mix but is it cost effective?  I did the math and yes, you do save money by making your own Bisquick plus you eliminate that pesky packaging.  Bisquick ranges in price from 8¢ per ounce to 13¢ per ounce depending on where you buy it.  The current price here at our No Frills location in southwestern Ontario is 8¢ per ounce.  The homemade version varies in price per ounce depending on whether you use lard, shortening or butter as well as whether it is brand name or store brand..  Butter is most expensive and shortening is the cheapest if using store brand.  The same applies to the powdered milk but it is even cheaper if bought at the bulk food store.  The price works out to 3.4¢ per ounce to 5¢ per ounce for the homemade Bisquick.  Even using higher priced ingredients you will be saving 3¢ per ounce.  Consider if you make biscuits using 2 cups of the homemade mix you end up saving 48¢ and if you make those same biscuits once a week the savings amounts to $24.96 over the course of a year.

The nice thing with homemade mixes is not only are you saving money, you know what ingredients are in the product.  It's a way of being able to have all the convenience of store bought mixes without the added cost and packaging.  All around, homemade mixes are a win/win that will save you both time and money.

Kitchen Quick Tips - MYO Self-Rising Flour

Don't pay extra for self-rising flour.  Make your own instead.  For each cup of flour mix in 1½ tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt.

Beau Monde Seasoning Mixes

I make a lot of my own spice and herb blends which means not only am I on the lookout for common blends I'm also looking for those that aren't quite so common.  One day I was looking for recipes and came across a recipe calling for Beau Monde Seasoning blend.  Beau Monde is French for Beautiful World.  Now with a name like that how could I not try this seasoning blend?  A bit of research found that there are actually two versions of this seasoning blends and they are not interchangeable!  Most newer recipes calling for Beau Monde seasoning don't take into account there are two versions of this seasoning blend so unless specified use the New Beau Monde seasoning blend.  I decided to make a batch of each so will post recipes using each as I use them. 

Old Beau Monde Seasoning Blend is a spicy, warm blend suitable for poultry, beef, fish, vegetables, sauces and dips.  It was originally made by Old World Seasonings but is no longer available.   It smelled wonderful making the blend!  This blend adds a warm, spicy, aromatic, bolder note than the new beau monde version that follows below.  I also think it would be a bit overpowering for fish and dips so use sparingly to get the flavour you want. 

Old Beau Monde Seasoning Blend
source: unknown

1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp ground bay leaf
1 tbsp ground allspice
 2 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground mace
1 tsp celery seed
2 tbsp ground white pepper

Combine the ingredients and mix well. Pour into a container to use as desired.

New Beau Monde Seasoning differs radically from Old Beau Monde Seasoning.  This is the beau monde seasoning that was originally put out by Spice Islands and used mainly for dips and sauces.  It is light enough to be used for some fishes as well.

New Beau Monde Seaoning
source: Garden Gnome

1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp celery seed
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp organic sugar

Mix the ingredients together.  Pour into spice jar to use as desired.

Homemade Vanilla Syrup

My gosh have you ever had one of those total duh moments when you could easily made a homemade substitute for a store bought item at the fraction of the cost. I posted awhile ago that one of my new favourite drinks was London Fog that is supposed to use vanilla syrup but I was just using a little pure vanilla extract. After doing a bit of research I realized there were a multitude of beverage syrups available for flavouring teas and specialty coffees. Most were priced in the $10 price range but since you use so little that didn't look like a bad price until my frugal bone reminded me that flavoured syrups are quite easily made at home at a fraction of the cost of store bought.

Vanilla Syrup Ingredients

I decided to make vanilla syrup for my London Fog drink. The general ingredients for any syrup are sugar, water and flavour. I had two 100% pure vanilla extracts to work with, one a clear and the other dark vanilla extract my husband brought back from the Dominican. I reserve the clear for those dishes where I don't want an off colour imparted to the dish. I decided to use the dark extract for this syrup.

I keep most bottles and jars especially the cute ones to reuse just for this type of purpose. A funnel is really helpful for filling the bottle. Other than that no special equipment is necessary.

Homemade Vanilla Syrup

Making an unflavoured syrup is as easy as mixing equal amounts of granulated cane sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring that to a low boil then reduce heat and simmer 5 to 7 minutes until it slightly thickens. Remove from the heat and let cool until the outside of the saucepan. Using a funnel pour the syrup into a bottle of your choice. Add ¾ tsp pure vanilla extract. Cap the bottle then gently shake. Allow the syrup to cool completely then refrigerate. Use as desired for flavouring beverages. The dark pure vanilla extra gave a light amber hue to the syrup but that is fine for the purposes it will be used.

Homemade Stovetop Stuffing

I am very much a scratch cooking most of the time. One thing that has always been a concern is coming across a recipe I want to try that calls for a convenience packaged food that in most cases I would never purchase. The bottom line is two fold. First I don't like using convenience packaged food that tends to be heavily laden in excess salt, sugar, artificial flavour and colour as well as preservatives. Second, I want to make a recipe with foods I have on hand rather than make a mad dash to the grocery store. One ingredient that I've come across in some recipes is StoveTop® stuffing.

Bread Prep

I decided to make a clone recipe of StoveTop® stuffing. After all it could not be that difficult since the ingredients are quite simple. I honestly don't know how much a box StoveTop® stuffing is going for so I'm going to guess $1.50 per box. Here I made pretty much the same amount as 3 boxes for about $1 or 33¢ each but that was because I was working with store bought rolls rather than homemade bread. Had I used homemade bread the cost would be more in the range of 10¢ per jar of stuffing.

Method: I cut the dinner rolls into cubes then baked at 180ºC/350ºF until golden brown. Then I let the cubes cool.

Ingredients

Aside of the left over dinner rolls I used sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, dried onion flakes and homemade poultry seasoning. This combination is directly related to the way I make stuffing in poultry. Additional ingredients are dried parsley and instant bouillon mix. I used a tsp of parsley per jar but no instant bouillon to keep the sodium level low and since I want to use homemade stock when making the stuffing I didn't want an actual meat flavour being added. This will allow me to make any flavour of stuffing I want. This is also a great way to use up homemade bread that is just on the stale side.

Homemade Stovetop Stuffing

This will be a nice homemade pantry product! Now I can make a couple of those recipes I want to try using the convenience of my homemade version! It should substitute nicely. The homemade stovetop stuffing is quite easy to make. After the toasted bread is cooled I filled 3 - 1 L canning jars with the bread. I added a sprinkling of sea salt, couple of twists of fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1 tbsp poultry seasoning and 1 tbsp dried minced onions. Then I vacuum sealed the jars and wrote the instructions on the lid. When I want to use a jar I will add 1 tbsp butter and 1½ cup stock of choice.