Sausage Peppers Onions and Potatoes

February 12th is my Son Sammy's Birthday. He wanted to have a little party so I am making Sausage Peppers and Onions. This  is a great meal to make for a party, it is pretty easy to throw together and you can make it ahead of time. I am actually making it a few days ahead and freezing it and then I will take it out and heat it up for the party. I should have cut the peppers and onions in bigger pieces they cooked down a little too much. Now you can make this is in a frying pan if your just making a small amount or if you prefer the sausage browned. Even making it in the oven you can brown it before hand if you like. I cut up my peppers, onions, sausage and potatoes and put it in a lasagna type pan. I added a few cloves of garlic chopped up, some basil and oregano, salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum foil and put it in the oven for about an hour or until it is cooked well, take off foil about 15 min before finish time to evaporate some of the juice. If there is too much juice you may want to drain some out. This is delicious and easy to make.
If your not sure how much to make follow these guidelines, if this is the only main course you are making
use 1 sausage, pepper onion and potato per person. If you have other meal choices you can do half of each per person. ENJOY!

Fast Food Vs. Mom Food

Did you ever think about how much money you spend on Fast Food, or eating out in general?
This is the meal I made for my Grandson.

McDonalds

Home Cooked

 This is a package of Chicken Tenders I purchased at the store. It had 15 Tenders in it. So I figured that one Chicken Tender costs about 35 cents.

 Dip chicken in flour, egg wash ( beaten egg and a little milk) and bread crumbs.

Fry in a small frying pan in some Canola oil.

                                                                                       


Did you know you could cook corn on the cob in the Microwave? I just recently learned this it comes out great, but you have to eat it right away.

Corn on the Cob
                                                                             Just put the corn in  the Microwave for  3-5 minutes leaving the skin on.

Half carrot, I had these leftovers, but you could also use raw carrots, kids love em.

I added some ranch dressing for dipping and a banana.

Mom's meal   1.50              Restaurant    6.00

Now this is a Happy Meal!!

Isn't my Grandson a doll?  Oh and the rest of the chicken tenders? I made chinese food, but that is another story!! Enjoy

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Murphy

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Murphy: The first time I had Chicken Murphy was in my Father - law's restaurant The Sanford Lounge, then later changed to Riposta's. It was probabl...

Candy Apples

 Candy Apples!!
The trick to making Candy Apples is that you have to have a candy thermometer. I remember when I was a little girl, my mother made a few attempts at making Candy Apples, but the candy never was quite right it did not get hard enough.
As an adult I decided to buy a package and try it myself and found that the trick was the candy had to reach the correct temperature. The easiest way to be accurate was a candy thermometer. They are not too expensive and can be used for other things as well. If you want to be the Best Mom, and the Favorite Grama, you have got to make candy apples.





They are a nice treat in the fall around
                                                                      Halloween or Thanksgiving.

 Buy the Candy Apple kit in the store and follow the directions. I know you will be nervous when you see the sugar heating and you will think you should turn off the heat but don't. It must reach 300 degrees to make perfect candy Apples. Who is your favorite Grama?

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Murphy

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Murphy: The first time I had Chicken Murphy was in my Father - law's restaurant The Sanford Lounge, then later changed to Riposta's. It was probabl...

Chicken Murphy

 The first time I had Chicken Murphy was in my Father - law's restaurant The Sanford Lounge, then later changed to Riposta's. It was probably brought to them by one of the cooks they had employed over the years. Now that I think about it, the one Chef who taught us most was Tony Catrabone. I am not sure if that is the correct spelling, but he was good. I recently had a conversation with a friend about Chicken Murphy and I discovered that it might not really be a known recipe, so I looked it up and there is such a dish, seems to be a popular N.J. dish. The couple of recipes I looked at were very different than mine, in that they all had sausage in them and mine just has chicken. Quite frankly I think adding sausage to this dish would be a little too much.

 You start with boneless Chicken Breasts and cut into 1 " cubes.( Don't forget to save the small pieces and scraps for your homemade soup!) dredge the chicken pieces in flour add a little black pepper and salt if you wish. I don't usually cook with salt, but I know some people like to.

 Brown the chicken in a frying pan in a little olive oil. When brown remove from pan and place in bowl to add back later.

 Peel 3 large potatoes and cut into pieces and fry in oil. Set aside.

Cut 3 large Peppers, 3 large onions into 1" pieces about the same size as the chicken pieces. Slice a pound of mushrooms. 2 cloves of garlic chopped. After removing the chicken, from the pan add all of the above. Peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic and saute' until cooked. Stir often so they don't burn. Add a quarter stick of butter for flavor. Add hot cherry peppers, depending on how hot you like it.

Once the vegetables are cooked to your liking add the potatoes and the chicken. Continue to stir and add 1/4 cup of white wine, a few table spoons of vinegar and or splash of the juice from the hot peppers, and juice of one lemon or lemon juice in a bottle. As this de glaces the pan it will create a nice sauce. once the chicken and potatoes are hot it is done. be careful not to overcook it. If liquid evaporates just keep adding more wine, lemon or a little water. This is what the finished product looks like.  Mangia!!

I am Italian I don't have a recipe..........

Cook with Concetta: Next up is the Chicken Cutlets Parmagian. Now I kn...

Cook with Concetta: Next up is the Chicken Cutlets Parmagian. Now I kn...: "Next up is the Chicken Cutlets Parmagian. Now I know a lot of people who insist on pounding the cutlets out until they are paper thin. Not n..."

Next up is the Chicken Cutlets Parmagian. Now I know a lot of people who insist on pounding the cutlets out until they are paper thin. Not necessary! We thinned them out when we trimmed them, a lot less messy than hitting those breasts with a meat thingy, hammer thing. lol. So you take your chicken and you are going to apply the coating. Now the proper way is to dip in flour, egg and then bread crumbs. Well guess what, if you skip the flour no body will die, yeah go ahead skip it if you like, live dangerously. Now here is  Something I had heard about but never tried, if you don't have egg, you can  coat it in mayonnaise then bread crumbs. My daughter tried this tonight and it came out great. Take the chicken cutlets and saute in olive oil, until golden brown, turn and cook the other side until golden as well. Place mozzarella cheese on top and bake in oven until melted, then top with tomato sauce. Serve with pasta and some grated cheese.

So the two larger cutlets became chicken parmagian. You see again the elbow macaroni that I had on hand. Normally if I was having a big family gathering or guests over, I would of course be more meticulous, but the subject today is cheap and easy and fast.
The two smaller cutlets, my son and I had for lunch, I had some sweet and sour sauce with mine and he had barbecue sauce with his. They also would have made a nice sandwich on a bun with lettuce and tomato, or a topping on a salad. This took very little time maybe and hour at the most. I hope I can help you to save money and cook it yourself.

Concetta

Cook with Concetta: Cook with Concetta: Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretch...

Cook with Concetta: Cook with Concetta: Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretch...: "Cook with Concetta: Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretcher : 'I am going to show you how you can make a lot of food for a little bit of money. I n..."

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretcher

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretcher: "I am going to show you how you can make a lot of food for a little bit of money. I never throw any leftovers or extra food away. I bought..."

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretcher

Cook with Concetta: Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretcher: "I am going to show you how you can make a lot of food for a little bit of money. I never through any leftovers or extra food away. I bought..."

Chicken Breasts Dollar Stretcher

I am going to show you how you can make a lot of food for a little bit of money. I never through any leftovers or extra food away.
I bought these untrimed chicken breasts at a little local store called Quality Thrifty Produce, for only 1.59 a pound. That is a really good price even for untrimmed chicken breasts. I actually shared a package with my daughter. So I have here less than 3.00 worth of chicken.
I trimmed the fat and loose skin and all the odd pieces off. This will later be Chicken Soup. Then I sliced the thick side off the breast these are sometimes called tenders.  Below you can see on the right 2 nice large Chicken Cutlets, on top right is the smaller cutlets and below that the scraps for soup.

To make Chicken Soup take the scraps and put them in a pot with what ever vegetables you have in your house. Onions, Celery, Carrots, what ever you have that you think would taste good in the soup. If you don't have any fresh vegetables a can of mixed vegetables works too. Remember this is cooking on the fly, no recipe, no rules. Here is what I found in my refrigerator, onion, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, Zucchini, cooked elbow macaroni, ( you could use rice ) or potatoes too.

You will also need some chicken base, bullion cubes, what ever you might have. Even an envelope of cup a soup or ramen noodles, think out of the box. Put it all in a pot add water. except the macaroni because it is already cooked and you don't want it to get to soft. 1 bouillon cube to a cup of water, but make sure you taste it, cubes can be salty. Add what ever spices you might like, parsley  paprika, pepper.

 I made enough soup to feed a family of 4 add some bread and quick and easy dessert and your set.
This soup was made with parts you usually might throw away, and stuff I had in my refrigerator. I never throw away any left overs. I can always make something with them. So this soup really didn't cost me anything to make.

Check in tomorrow for what I did with the rest of the chicken.    Concetta

Cook with Concetta: If you would like to order a loaf of Zucchini Brea...

Cook with Concetta: If you would like to order a loaf of Zucchini Brea...: "If you would like to order a loaf of Zucchini Bread, I can freeze and send second day air. To place your order contact me at Riposta@hotmail..."

Concetta Dolores Riposta

Concetta Dolores Riposta

Cook with Concetta: Tomato Sauce

Cook with Concetta: Tomato Sauce

Cook with Concetta: Tomato Sauce

Cook with Concetta: Tomato Sauce: "There was a time not too long ago, that I would not be caught dead, with a jar of tomato sauce. I guess I was an Italian cooking snob. lol...."

Tomato Sauce

There was a time not too long ago, that I would not be caught dead, with a jar of  tomato sauce. I guess I was an Italian cooking snob. lol. Those sauces used to be horrible, but honestly today, I do use them, they are great in an emergency, most times when I do use them, I will use it as a base and add my own on top of it. Ragu with onions and garlic is a pretty good one, even the store brands that are plain are pretty good.
If I am in a hurry to make sauce, I will open the jar put it in a pot and add to it what ever I have, in the pantry such as diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, paste and some water. I also add my own seasonings, oregano, basil, fresh garlic and chopped onions. This really cooks up quicker than just starting from scratch.
You could also add fresh or canned mushroom, wine, or what ever you have that you might like.
If you want to make meat sauce using one of these sauces, it is simple and easy. Take your ground beef at least a pound or more, and brown it in a frying pan. Drain some of the fat that comes out from the meat, and add the sauce. If you like you can add some of the spices and vegetables we mentioned before, maybe some grated cheese. Pour over your choice of cooked pasta, 1 lb and you have a very inexpensive and fairly quick dinner.
Serve with salad and some Italian bread or rolls.
The cost of this meal is including salad and bread will be about  $3.00 per person.

If you would like to order a loaf of Zucchini Bread, I can freeze and send second day air. To place your order contact me at Riposta@hotmail.com.  Cost including shipping is 15.00 each.

Cook with Concetta: I don't use spray stuff in my baking pans I am old...

Cook with Concetta: I don't use spray stuff in my baking pans I am old...: "I don't use spray stuff in my baking pans I am old fashioned, I use shortening or oil and flour. Rub the pan with shortening then sprinkle w..."