What's Cooking in the Cauldron-Fresh Green Beans *Touched by Elsa

Hello Blogland! Hope your weekend is starting out magickal.

Today, in the Cauldron, I have cooked up some wickedly delicious fresh green beans given to me by one of the employees at my store. As luck would have it, the Hubs put them in the fridge in the exact spot that for some unknown reason, things freeze.

I say they are touched by Elsa.

In the photo below the dark green beans are the frozen ones. We have turned the fridge down but things still continue to freeze in that spot on the second shelf. I could see maybe the top shelf, but the second shelf?  

Creepy.

But this did not foil my creative efforts for a yummy pot of beans for the Hubs to consume.

First I cut up some bacon. Now I prefer to cut the bacon when it is frozen. This bacon was in the freezer & not the second shelf of the fridge!

I cut off an end of the bacon while frozen & then make slices.

The bacon is so much easier to deal with this way  in my opinion.  No extra cutting is required. I toss these in the pan & the bite size pieces separate as they thaw & start to cook.

Add half of a medium sized onion chopped.

Cook them together in the pan.

While that magick is happening, I snap the beans & wash them.

Once the bacon & onion have cooked enough for the onion to become transparent & the bacon a bit crisp, add the beans.

I like to have them cook with the bacon & onion for just a bit before adding liquid.

My secret ingredient is chicken flavoring. I use a teaspoon for every cup of water. You don't want the flavoring to over power the beans, just add that special something to make the eater think, "Hmmmm....what is this I taste"?

Next I add a couple of shakes of crushed red pepper for that extra added kick!

Once they start to simmer, put the lid on but leave a bit open for the steam to escape. 

Cook on low heat for about 20 minutes & if your family is like my Hubs, the will be gone in a flash. Way before you get the chance to take a picture of them on a plate!

One day maybe we will get rid of that "Elsa" spot in the fridge.

Sharing this with some wickedly awesome sites!

I Heart Naptime

Don't forget to leave a comment. I love hearing from wickedly

awesome people like yourself. Become a follower of 

Wiccan Make Some Too & be part of an amazing group of folks. Hey, all the"cool" kids are doing it!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Morning Blogland! I am sure quite a few of you have seen the recipe for the bacon wrapped chicken with cream cheese filling. Well, your truly did & I decided that I so had to try that wickedly delicious looking concoction. Of course being the creative soul that I am, I had to change it up a bit. Started off with the cream cheese & green onion:

I nuked my cream cheese for about 30 seconds for easier mixing. Hey, why make it hard on yourself!

And since I don't follow directions all that well sometimes, I added more stuff to the cream cheese & green onion filling!

Yup, my ever handy Thyme & Marjoram! Plus some fresh ground pepper & some garlic powder. I put no salt in this since the chicken would be wrapped in bacon. No sense tempting the fates, right?

Meanwhile, bacon was getting slightly cooked. Don't forget to save the bacon grease & put in the fridge! I use mine for frying eggs or seasoning green beans & such. Is my cholesterol high? Probably.

Since buying our house, certain items have not yet been located. Like my meat mallet. So it was time to improvise!

Instead of pounding the chicken breast like I was Mike Tyson in the ring, I opted to cut them in half, thickness wise. (does that make sense to you? thickness wise? cause it does to me but hey, I am me) The chicken breasts were slightly frozen, making it much easier to preform the task.

Setting them aside to finish thawing, I mixed up my cream cheese mixture. I like to bruise (smoosh) my spices to release some extra flavor & smells. Just a bit in the palm of your hand.

Using the heel of my other hand to smoosh the spices, releasing the most wonderful of aromas throughout my kitchen & house.

Used the same palm sized amount of marjoram & thyme. Maybe a quarter tsp of garlic powder, & a few wookah wookahs with the pepper. (wookah wookah is the sound that the grinder makes. at least in my head anyway)

I have no idea why the chicken in the upper part of the frame looks so gross. Lighting I  imagine. Cause I don't ever serve anything funky! Just ask my Hubs.

Place your cream cheese mixture on the chicken & roll it up, tucking the ends under neatly! (yea....right!)

Place your pan in a preheated 350 degree oven, uncovered for about 35-40 min.

Did somebody just use bacon & chicken in the same sentence?!?!?!?

Before serving, I spooned a bit of the juices over the chicken. Cause I do stuff like that!

If planning on doing a bit of photo journalism, feed a snack to hungry Hubs first so he doesn't dig right in before you have a chance to snap a pic!

Hope you try my version of this wickedly awesome recipe! Let me know how it turns out.

Don't forget to leave a comment. I love hearing form wickedly awesome folks like yourself!

Become a follower of Wiccan Make Some Too. Hey, all the cool kids are doing it!

Stick to your Ribs Potato Soup

I have always loved Potato Soup & have been making it since I was tall enough to reach the stove. Mom's belief was if you were tall enough to be able to see into a tall pot while standing on a chair next to the stove (not a safe practice...do not try this at home) , you were the newest cook in the house. I remember on my 9th birthday my mother asked what I wanted for dinner that day. I told her & a few hours later found myself in the kitchen on my birthday making pork chops, mac & cheese & corn. Anyway I digress. On to the Potato Soup!

First to go in the big ol' pot is the bacon. I like to use about a half pound of bacon. (Sorry, I am not counting calories or making a heart healthy dish here. I am going for flavor) I let my bacon just start to get crispy & add chopped onion to that. Ahh the smell of bacon & onion cooking together throughout the house just screams "Something yummy is being made"!  Ok so I got the bacon & onion to pose together right before the bacon went into the pot 

Quite the couple!

After the onion starts to get translucent I add a 1/2 gallon of milk then fill the  1/2 gallon jug half way with water & add that. Let it get just to boiling point & reduce heat to simmer. Don't want that milk to scorch. Stir frequently during this process.

While that was going on I chopped up this stuff.

I used five potatoes & made small cubes out of them. Be sure to wash them good first. Sometimes I remove the skin, today I did not. Add these while the your milk is heating. I like to cook my potatoes with the soup & not before adding cause the starches help with the flavor.

I used eleven baby carrots & chopped them up. I am not a real big cooked carrot fan but the Hubs is so these are all for him. If I get a carrot while ladling soup for myself....it gets dumped back into the pot.  Remember to stir the soup.

I decided to chop about 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes to add to the soup. If I happen to have sun-dried tomatoes in the fridge, I use them in darned near everything.

  

The pic is not real good but this is four chicken bullion cubes just covered with water. I put this in the nuker for a minute & then I can smash up the parts that did not dissolve thus eliminating chasing the bullion cubes down in the soup pot to be sure they dissolve properly. I mean these babies are super glued together or something. Are you feeling my pain here? You can skip this & just add the cubes to the pot if you prefer. I just don't happen to prefer.

Did not get a pic but next I mix about a 1/2 cup of flour into some hot water & add this to the soup pot. Your soup should still be simmering. Now you have to stir more frequently while the flour is thickening the soup. 

I had some fresh kale in the fridge & decided to chop that up mega small removing any thick stems & ribs first.  But before that I had the taste tester, Bandit D. Bunny make sure the kale was good enough for my soup.

I let the soup simmer for an hour or so still stirring often so nothing burns on the bottom of the pot & assuring my soup does not get ruined.

I toasted some sourdough baguette I had in the freezer, slathered it with butter & voila ....I present to you dinner! 

Eat up & enjoy! 

I ended up freezing half of this soup for dinner at a later date. The Hubs came home, saw this & fell in love with me all over again.

I am thankful for the Drive Thru Convenience Store in my area that had the milk I forgot at the store the day before saving me from having to change out of my skull lounge pants & for my kale freshness tester. Oh & for large plastic butter tubs to store & freeze soup in.   

Don't forget to leave a comment. I love hearing from cool folks like yourself.
Become a follower of Wiccan Make Some Too, I love the company!