French Onion Braised Chicken Soup

A few years ago, I sat at home one night with a very distinct problem: my pantry was full but I had nothing to make.

Seriously.

Yea, we could have had lemon chicken or barbeque chicken or ramen or chicken salad or stove-top tuna casserole or maybe even fish, but really? Having the same dish, even with a little variety list, over and over? It gets boring.

So I pretended I was on an episode of Chopped. Or maybe I just decided to play around and experiment; it's been awhile, so I don't really remember. I do know that this turned out to be a nice little hit and, after a few minor tweaks, I have a delicious recipe to fall back on when the meals get to be too predictable and bland.



4 - 5 Pieces Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Pepper
Fresh Oregano
Fresh Thyme
Minced Garlic
1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts
1 Packet French Onion Soup Mix
2 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Bag Craisins

Wild Rice (or Long Grain Rice)
(cooked per directions)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic pepper in the bottom of an 8 x 8 dish. Place chicken breasts atop the seasonings. Sprinkle the French Onion Soup Mix on top of the chicken along with the minced garlic, walnuts, oregano, and thyme. Gently pour chicken broth into pan. Top with a few hand fulls of Craisins (quantity depends on your taste. Craisins will reconstitute during cooking, so be careful!).

Braise for 35 to 40 minutes.

Put rice into bowl. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and put on top of rice. Ladle desired amount of soup into bowl with rice and chicken.

Makes:
About 4 servings

Pancakes!

We'll start simple, basic: breakfast! Seriously, you can't go wrong with this ultra-easy pancake recipe. This comes from one of the cookbooks on my shelf - the Better Homes and Gardens recipe binder my mother gave me when I moved out. I always have to make a double recipe, even when it is just me and the husband! This base recipe can be altered to your liking by sprinkling your favorite additions (like chocolate chips or pecans) into the batter or directly to the pancake once it's first poured on the griddle.

My favorite twist to these? Smear them with peanut butter (creamy!) while they're hot, pour on the maple syrup, and chow down!

1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 Cup milk
2 Tablespoons veggie oil

Combine all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. In smaller mixing bowl, stir together eggs, milk, and oil; add to dry ingredients all at once. [If you want to make a full batch of all one flavor, add that in here, too! If you want to make various pancakes, save the additions on the side!] Stir together until mixed, but still slightly lumpy.

Lightly grease griddle or skillet with butter. When heated, pour 1/4 Cup batter onto pan for standard size pancakes or roughly 1 Tablespoon batter for dollar-size pancakes. [If you are, like me, making many kinds of pancakes, this is when you add the toppings. Gently sprinkle the nuts or chocolate or dried fruit over the batter on the griddle.] When batter has bubbly texture and slightly dry edges, flip with spatula until underside is lightly brown.

While still warm, spread layer of butter on top of pancake. The butter will melt into the pancake for added flavor. [When the butter is soaked in, I spread a layer of peanut butter on top and let it melt in, too.] Stack as many high as you can eat and pour syrup atop.

Makes:

  About 9 Standard Size Pancakes

  About 36 Dollar-Size Pancakes

Usually, when I want pancakes, I make this recipe, however, I must admit, when I am out and about for breakfast (and I'm not munching on their French toast), I'm enjoying the red velvet pancakes from IHOP. They really are pretty good! Just needs a big glass of milk to help cut all the sweetness! I know that  everyone loves pancakes in some form or another, so tell me: what's your favorite variation? 

Welcome to Delicipes!

I've blogged a bit off and on for the past few years (well, almost 10 years...!! Really?!) and I've had multiple styles and types of blogs with a huge variance in readership from one to the other. This place will, in a way, replace another I once had long ago. I'm just fine with that.

Here at Delicipes I will post random recipes that I have found delicious (did you catch that?) and/or that I have created. I can't promise any specific time table for posts, so please bear with me and the upcoming sporadic behavior! I will try to post at least once a week, I just can't promise which specific day each week (the hazards of working full time and going to school for an engineering degree).

My husband and I love hanging out in the kitchen and we are constantly looking for new recipes to try. We have no specific "likes" when it comes to food - to us, it's all good (except spicy hot stuff. We disagree there; he loves it, my stomach hates it). We currently rent a teeny-tiny apartment but dream of building a huge home...centered around a grand kitchen and dining space (and a massive library, but that's another tale).

Join us, now, around the dining table. We've a bookcase full of cook books nearby and the entire Internet at our fingertips - let's explore them all and take a bite out of life.

~TM

What would you like to cook?

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