Another comfort meal here. A real tummy warmer. We’ve actually had a little rain here in San Diego lately. Shock, right? So this is one of those meals that I happen to like on a rainy day.

This chicken dish is some good stuff. It’s good with rice or noodles, but I will pick rice every time! Ohhhh, when that hot rice absorbs that creamy sauce. Holy crap it’s so good.  This is such an easy dish. I prefer chicken thighs, but chicken breast works just as well. You could of course make your own mushroom sauce, but why???!!! This is supposed to be a quick meal, so I just use the soup in a can. Seriously, it works just fine. I like making homemade soups, but when you’re making a casserole type dish, the canned soups work just fine.

Let’s get to it….

Quick Smothered Chicken

4 chicken thighs or half breasts
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
2-3  cloves of fresh garlic, minced or 1/2  tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 to 1 cup milk, depending on how thick you want your sauce
cooked rice or noodles

Place 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large skillet, over medium heat, brown the chicken on both sides.

In a bowl, mix together the garlic, soup, milk, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the chicken and heat to a medium boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover the pan and allow to cook for about 30-45 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Serve over or with rice or noodles.

Lemon, yes. Orange yes. Lime, yes. I love citrus anything. To me, there is nothing that smells as good as freshly grated zest from lemons, oranges and limes. Ahhhhhh, I just love that smell.

I make an orange muffin that is just heavenly.  But I decided to add some other citrus flavors this time. So, thus the LOL  muffin….lemon, orange and lime. These are so good. I sprinkled them before baking, with a mixture of the 3 fruit zests and sugar. YUM!

These are super easy to whip up and I think you will love them. They must be healthy, right? Full of vitamin C? Hmmm, I think we’ll just go with that.

LOL Muffins (lemon, orange, lime)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup orange juice
1 Tblsp milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
2 tsp each, of fresh grated zest of orange, lemon and lime

Fruit Sugar
3 Tblsp granulated sugar
1 Tblsp of a mixture of Lemon, orange and lime zest
Mix together with a fork till well mixed

Heat oven to 375. Lightly spray muffin pan (bottoms only) with non stick spray, or lightly grease with oil. You can use baking cups if you prefer.
In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the orange juice, oil, milk, zests and egg. Add the wet to the dry flour mixture. Stir JUST until dry stuff is moistened. It’s ok if your mixture has lumps…..it should. Lumps are good. Fill the cups 3/4 full. If you are using the orange sugar topping, sprinkle on top of muffins and bake for approx. 17 minutes for the extra large muffins and 12-14 minutes for the regular size . Check with a toothpick cuz you DONT want dry muffins. Blekh. Cool just for a bit in the pan. Remove and enjoy.
Makes 5 very large muffins, or 8 regular size.

Shishito peppers are very popular right now. You can find them on many restaurant menus. If you haven’t had them, you are missing out. They are delicious. They’re a mildly sweet, wrinkled Asian pepper and they are so flavorful. They aren’t spicy at all. The best way and the most popular way to serve them, is to lightly stir fry them with a little soy sauce. I like to get them a little charred and add a bit of heat….like some chili paste or red pepper flakes.

It’s a great appetizer or side dish. Seriously, they are so full of flavor. I love these things. I love to eat them with a hot bowl of rice. Yum!

If you’re looking for something different, you should definitely give these a try. Most grocery stores carry them and of course you can find them at a good Asian market as well. Try em out!!

Stir Fry Shishito Peppers

1/2 lb fresh shishito peppers
2 Tblsp oil (vegetable, olive, etc(
2 Tblsp soy sauce
red pepper flakes (optional)

Heat oil in a skillet. Add peppers and cook until a little blistered and soft. Toss with soy sauce and serve.

Dunk, count 1-2-3, chomp. Dunk 1-2-3 chomp. Repeat and repeat and repeat. Whether you’re a coffee drinker or a tea drinker, these crunchy things are good. Quite some time ago, I posted a recipe for another chocolate biscotti recipe. They are delicious….made from scratch of course. But these here, are made from a boxed brownie mix. Super easy.

You can  add nuts, chocolate chips, dried cherries, dried cranberries, orange zest (delicious), espresso powder, etc. My favorite is pistachios! Make it your own. This isn’t one of those teeth breaking, hard, dry, flavorless biscotti. Seriously.

Get the coffee or tea brewing and get ready to dunk! Remember to dunk 1-2-3 chomp.

Chocolate Brownie Biscotti 

1 box brownie mix, any brand will work (I used Duncan Hines Chewy fudge)
1 stick of butter melted
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup almonds and/or mini chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325.
Dump everything in a mixing bowl. Using a mixer or a wooden spoon, mix until everything comes together. Shape into 2 long logs and place them a few inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 325, for 35 minutes. Remove and let set for 10 minutes.
Slice into ¾” slices. Lay the slices on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. turn off oven and leave them in oven for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, just try it to check for the crunchy factor. If they aren’t as crunchy as you would like, turn the oven back on to 325 and let them bake for another 5 or 10 minutes.

Allow to cool completely and then seal tightly.

Yep, butter spaghetti. Ok Carol P. Finally I am posting this. I think the last time I made this, was 20 years ago. It’s not exactly healthy, but I have been craving it lately.

I had a neighbor years ago who made this for me one day. She brought over this huge pot of spaghetti. But I noticed right away that it wasn’t the usual thick red sauce pasta that we all know and love. This was very juicy and had bell peppers. Well, I love spaghetti a gazillion different ways, so I was excited.

OMG, my husband (at the time), my daughter and I ate that entire pot. I ran next door and asked my neighbor “what was in that spaghetti that made it so good and juicy!!?” She laughed and said “well, it’s real simple and not very good for you”. Hahahah.

She was right. It’s ground beef, canned tomatoes, bell peppers and a stick of butter. Yes!….a whole stick of butter. The flavor is amazing. It became a family favorite and we had it often. One night, I made it for my friend Carol and her hubby Rick. They LOVED it. Especially Rick. Ok Carol, I have to tell the story. So Carol was always trying to cook a bit healthy. Well, one night, Rick called me and said “hey betty, Carol made your butter spaghetti tonight and it sure didn’t taste like yours.” I asked him to put Carol on the phone. I asked her how she made it. She said “Rick’s being picky.” She proceeded to tell me this, “Well, I used ground turkey, spaghetti, tomatoes and Country Crock”. I busted out laughing and told her “Uh, it’s not called Country Crock spaghetti, it’s called butter spaghetti and you need to use ground beef”. We laughed about that for years.

Well anyway, I know this is not exactly a healthy dish, but it’s so good. You definitely taste the butter and the bell peppers. The pasta just sucks up all that flavor…….just like you will suck up all that juicy pasta!

Oh, and I should warn you…it’s best not to have any leftovers. Hahahah, because if you do and put the leftovers away in the fridge…..welllll, the butter solidifies of course and you will be shocked to see all that butter! 🙂

Butter Spaghetti

1 large 28 oz. can diced or whole tomatoes
1 stick of butter
1 lb. ground beef
3/4 of a 1 pound box of spaghetti
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, sliced (I used orange, but red or green will do)
salt and pepper to taste

Boil your pasta. While that’s cooking, to a large skillet, fry the ground beef and garlic. Add the pepper slices and give it a toss.  Add the tomatoes and once it starts simmering, add the butter, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer. Pour in the drained pasta.

Give it a good toss until the pasta is all coated. Simmer at low, for about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Then go jog a mile…or 2. Hahahah. Just kidding.