Framed Cooks - My life. One recipe at a time.

Chicken and Stuffing Baby Pot Pies

March 1, 2015 by Kate Leave a Comment

There are few things in life that make me happier than a warm and wonderful chicken pot pie, full of tender veggies and big chunks of chicken. However! I think I may have discovered a couple of those few things. First, when the pot pie has a crust not made of regular piecrust, but instead made of crunchy on top, soft on the bottom stuffing. And second, when the pot pies are made in individual ramekin dishes so that you have your very own baby chicken pot pie. Because when it comes to chicken and stuffing pot pies, it’s tough to share!

Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Baked in Milk

February 26, 2015 by Kate 5 Comments

THIS CHICKEN CHANGES EVERYTHING. I think I ran around my kitchen saying that over and over again after I snuck the first bite (okay, the first 5 or 6 bites) as I was serving it up. This comes from Jamie Oliver’s recipe, and I had heard about it so many times that I finally had to see what all the rhapsodizing was about. Cooking a chicken in milk is a little offbeat, but the Southern husband and I love cooking pork chops in milk – we’ve done it for years – and so I thought what the heck. I got myself a chicken and some milk…but little did I know that this was going to be one those days that a recipe rocked my world. I love it when that happens.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

February 24, 2015 by Kate Leave a Comment

The Southern husband and I are great lovers of oatmeal for dinner. Warm and wonderful, quick and filling, and when we have it for supper we usually jazz it up in a savory way instead of going sweet – our favorite is with some cheddar cheese and a soft-cooked egg. But given the Winterpacolypse that we are currently smack in the middle of, one particularly blustery night I decided the only thing left to so was do was go straight for the dessert-meets-dinner with an apple pie version of oatmeal. Which by the way would be perfectly perfect for breakfast and lunch, too!

Brown Butter Walnut Pasta

February 22, 2015 by Kate 2 Comments

This is one of those simple simple simple ingredients that I make when I don’t want to give more than 2 seconds thought to dinner. I always have the ingredients, it is ready in two shakes, it couldn’t be easier to make, and most importantly, it tastes like HEAVEN. The heaven part is due to the miracle of brown butter, which is butter that has been lovingly melted on the stove until it turns, yes, brown. Brown butter has a nutty taste that is indescribably delicious, so I won’t even try…but it did give me the idea of adding some nuts to this pasta dish. Just when I thought heaven couldn’t get any more heavenly…it did.

Buttered Tarragon Chicken

February 19, 2015 by Kate 4 Comments

This is the time of year when I really, really, REALLY miss my trusty whiskey barrels of herbs that are outside my kitchen door. They are still there, but currently they are under a good 18 inches or so of mean-looking frozen snow, and the lovely friendly basil, rosemary, parsley, sage, mint, thyme and tarragon that live in them during the summer are just misty memories. So every once in a while I fork over the money to buy a handful of whatever herb I am craving, just to remind me that one day I will be able to just run outside and snip myself a handful. This time I was jonesing for sweet anise-tasting tarragon, with some brown butter braised chicken.

Buffalo Chicken Nachos

February 17, 2015 by Kate 2 Comments

Just when you thought that both football and buffalo chicken and nacho everything season was behind us, I thought I would give us all one last hurrah with a mash-up of both buffalo chicken AND nachos. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, there is nothing like the look on your significant other’s face when you tell them that you are making nachos for supper. (Can you say, pure happiness?) Second, I don’t think I have ever had a buffalo chicken anything in my life, and after weeks of football season where I heard the words “buffalo chicken” millions of times, I figured I better find out what all the fuss was about. Better late than never, right?