Bethie's Kitchen: Chicken Devan Casserole

Comfort foods....we all have them. Foods our mom's made us growing up or food that was a treat when we went to our grandparents house for a family gathering! I have countless memories of my Grandma making this for us when we came to visit in Michigan as kids. My sister would ask for it every birthday and that's what my mom would make. Recently, it's really taken on the role of comforter food. You come home from a trip? Mom had chicken devan waiting! You want to bring a meal to someone who needs to be shown some love? Bring chicken devan!

I think maybe what I like best about this meal is that it seems to be something that most people like....and it's easy to make ahead, transport and even freeze!

Before I give you the recipe I will clarify that what I have typed out makes 1 9x13 pan of this casserole. When I make it for my hubby and I, I make 2 squares instead and freeze one. If I have to feed more than 6 people I make two. You can do whatever to suit your needs.

One final note is that the cooking time is a guideline. If you make a small one, use less time. If you cook from frozen, use more. The general rule of thumb is that the cheese on top should melt and the crumbs should brown. I serve this with rice usually but any type of carb would do; or just eat it alone! It's yummy!

~Bethie

Ingredients: (for one rectangle 9x13 or two square pans)
-1 head of broccoli
-1 pre-cooked rotisserie bbq chicken (the kind you can buy at Costco or the grocery store)
-2 cans of cream of chicken soup
-mayo
-shredded cheddar cheese
-bread crumbs
-seasonings

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Wash and chop the broccoli into bite size pieces and lay on the bottom of the pan.
3.  Pull apart the chicken and layer on top of the broccoli.
4. Smoother the entire casserole with sauce. *See recipe below
5. Cover with shredded cheese and bread crumbs.
6. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the cheese has melted and crumbs are browning.
7. Let stand for 10 minutes.
8. Serve over white rice.

Sauce:
1. Empty the cans of cream of chicken soup into a bowl.
2. Add two generous tablespoons of mayo and stir until well combined.
3. Season using a dash (or 1/4 tsp.) of curry powder, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.

1. Combine

Bethie's Kitchen: Quick & Easy Pasta Salad

It's a gorgeous day here! The sun is shinning, it's mild, and the sky is blue and cloudless! Not bad for Windsor in February! It reminds me that spring and summer are coming and that soon I can enjoy picnics, BBQs and summer nights outside! But hey, who ever said you can't enjoy summertime favorites in the winter? So today for lunch I am making quick pasta salad using my Grandma's recipe.

My husband comes home for lunch everyday and usually just reheats leftover or has a sandwich. So today I thought I'd surprise him with a mini "picnic" in February. Also, my sister has been begging me to make this for her and she had a big test at college this morning so I thought she could use special surprise lunch!

I love this pasta salad recipe for many reasons. One, it's my Grandma's. Two, it's fast and easy. Three, it's versatile. I use the same dressing recipe for pasta salad, potato salad, chicken salad and egg salad. Today we are doing pasta.

So, first things first. Cook the pasta. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta.

Usually I use penne for this but today I used those curly noodles.

Curly Pasta

Once the pasta has cooked, you need to cool it down and stop the cooking process. For this I use an ice bath. I strain the pasta, run my pot under cold water to cool it off, add cold water and ice and then throw my pasta back in. While my pasta is cooling, I can made the dressing.

Pasta cooling in an ice bath

The ingredients for the dressing are:

L-R:  Dijon mustard, paprika, yellow mustard, Lowry's seasonging salt, mayo, garlic powder, sea salt, onion powder, pepper

First I add to generous tablespoons of mayo, a quirt of yellow mustard and a squirt of dijon mustard. Then I mix. The mustard to just slightly change the color of the mayo.

Mayo and Mustard

Then I season with fresh ground sea salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, a dash of Lowry's seasoning salt, and a dash of paprika.

Then I add my cooled pasta, mix and serve! This whole process took me about 20 minutes and I have a homemade salad for lunchtime!

You can also make this ahead of time and chill it in the fridge. Usually if I make this for a crowd, I do it the day before and let sit in the fridge. I also add veggies such as celery and green onion or whatever you happen to like.


Off to have lunch with my hubby!

~Bethie

Babbling and Beauty: wedding and concealer

Last night we had the privilege of attending a beautiful wedding reception for a long-time childhood friend of mine!

The reception was held at a place very special to Rob and I - The Henry Ford Museum - in Dearborn, Michigan.  The hall was absolutely gorgeous and the food was fabulous! Our evening began with some of the most amazing hors d'oeuvres I have ever seen. It was hard to believe that we still had a sit down meal coming.

Upstairs in the ballroom, we were treated to a meal like I have never seen before! Here is a brief outline:

First Course: Pear salad

Second Course: Butternut squash bisque
Intermezzo Course: Mango sorbet

Main Course: Salmon and blue cheese filet mignon with chef accompaniments
Dessert: Wedding cake and a best of Detroit dessert bar 

The amazing cake

First Dance

As with most weddings, enjoying the dessert bar, popcorn station and gourmet coffee while enjoying the party made for a rather late night. However, I have a beauty product rave that saved me this morning - Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser.

I had walked by this product in the drugstore too many times to count but after seeing many reviews on it, I bit the bullet and purchased it in the brightening shade! It's a light pink color that covers the dark under-eye area amazing! The key is applying it over foundation/powder to see it's full affect and voila! No more dark circles! It's like a magic beauty product and I definitely recommend it!

Well, I've been editing my blog layout all day and am very sleepy so off to bed I go!

~Bethie

Bethie's Kitchen: Chicken Alphabet Soup

You know those dreary winter days that make you want to sip hot tea on the couch with a good book and just hide away all day? Today has been that kind of day here! Which...means it's a perfect day for homemade soup!

This process actually began 2 nights ago with making the stock.  Making your own chicken broth is way easier than I thought it would be and has become something I actually enjoy doing. I have made it simple by using a bbq chicken that you can buy cooked at the grocery store. I am able to get 2-3 meals from it by using the meat for various dinners and then boiling the stock for soup!

Soup ingredients all ready to go!

To make the stock, place the chicken carcass (skin, bones and all) into a big pot. In this particular case, I had two of them.  Fill the pot with water so that all the chicken is covered.  Then you add the aromatics that give the broth flavor. I added 3 celery stocks, two red onions, and 3 carrots to the pot. 

Chicken carcasses into the pot 

All ready to boil 

I covered the pot and let it boil for an hour. Once it's done boiling, simply strain to another pot or glass bowl. I use Cornningware dishes so that they can easily fit into my fridge once the broth has cooled. Then just throw away the "mush" left behind in the pot! 

Cooling on the counter

The "mush" left behind in the pot

Once the broth has chilled, you need to let it sit in the fridge at least overnight. Once it has chilled, the fat will become solid on the top. Just use a slotted spoon to skim that off. Then you're all set to finish making the soup.

The fat is on the top and ready to be skimmed off 

Once I have skimmed off as much of the fat as I possibly can, the broth goes back into the big soup pot! This time, we add the veggies that we want to eat in the soup. Today I added: 

2 cups of chopped broccoli
1 and a half cups of chopped celery
1 and a half cups of chopped carrots (I had baby carrots which were quartered)
5-6 pearl onions

Maestro wants to help too!

Everything gets added to the pot of broth and cooked for another half hour. I add salt and pepper to taste. Once the veggies are almost cooked, blanch whatever pasta/rice you are planning to add in a pot of boiling water.  For this amount of soup, I am adding 1 to 1 and a half cups of pasta. Today I am adding alphabet pasta. If you don't cook the rice or pasta quickly beforehand, it will absorb the broth as it cooks.

(I tried this the first time and had NO broth left! Lesson learned - the hard way!)

Once the pasta is al dente, add it to your soup and heat through. Then it's ready to enjoy! 

All done!

Ready to serve!

Hope you enjoyed reading and are now hungry! 

~Bethie

Favorite Places Windsor: Taloola Cafe Review

My friend Christina and I usually frequent Starbucks for a coffee date to catch up. Today we tried somewhere different! Somewhere I hadn't been in quite some time - the Taloola Cafe. For those of you living in the Windsor, LaSalle, Tecumseh area it's definitely a place you should try.

The cafe is quaint, the atmosphere is cozy and the service is excellent... Oh yeah, and the food and drinks are delicious too!

My friend ordered a smoothie and a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich - Cheddar and Fig.

The Luscious Lychee Smoothie

The Cheddar and Fig Grilled Cheese

I think one of the reasons that I love this place so much is their wide selection of loose leaf teas that they serve in a pot! It's so nice to get more than one cup, and for only $2.75!  I ordered my favorite Earl Grey. I was able to get 3 mugs out of the pot and the flavor from the loose tea was fantastic and far greater than from a store-bought tea bag.  

For lunch, I ordered their special - A Bruschetta Sandwich. It was fantastic, although I will say, you must LOVE garlic. It was  sliced boccocini, bruschetta, pesto and garlic sauce on a toasted, thickly cut bread. Yum!

Loose tea in a pot

Bruschetta Sandwich

 They also  have a great website with their full menu www.taloolacafe.com

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

~Bethie