Tag: Special Occasion

Lasagna

So delicious! Wonderful flavors, makes great leftovers, and freezes well. Great for special occasions or Sunday, but it does take a fair amount of time.

If you’re making it gluten free, you can certainly try gluten free lasagna noodles. I’ve never found them in the store, though, but I haven’t looked very hard. I usually end up making gluten free rotini or penne, and layering it like I’d layer regular lasagna. It bakes nicely and is delicious.

Make it a meal with:

  • Garlic Bread or Breadsticks
  • Corn
  • Green Salad
  • Jell-O

Lasagna

  • Servings: 9
  • Difficulty: medium
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Delicious, great leftovers, and freezes well.

Ingredients

  • 9-10 cooked, drained Lasagna Noodles
  • ½ lb-1 lb Cottage Cheese
  • 3 c. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
  • Spaghetti Sauce (homemade)
  • Parmesan Cheese

Directions

In a greased 9×13 pan, place a thin layer of sauce. Layer 3 noodles, sauce, 1/2 the cottage cheese–not too thick–use a spoon to shake on over the top, then a light layer of mozzarella cheese. Repeat previous layer. Last layer: put on 3 noodles and remaining sauce. Put heavy layer of Mozzarella cheese and sprinkle with parmesan cheese to finish. Bake covered at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 more minutes until cheese is lightly browned. Do not over brown. Let sit 10 minutes before cutting and serving.


Orange Chicken (Panda Express)

This is adapted from the Original Orange Chicken by Panda Express recipe on Tasty. It’s very delicious. But in typical Tasty fashion, there were things wrong with the recipe that they don’t show in the video. Like the fact that you have to double the liquid for the batter or you’ll basically have biscuit dough. But it’s a really great recipe that I’ve made many times, gluten free and regular. I’ve even made the chicken and just served it with sweet and sour sauce for a sweet and sour chicken. And frankly the chicken is so good and salty that we have a hard time not eating it all like popcorn chicken as it comes out. I usually make a huge batch and freeze one gallon bag of leftovers because it takes quite a while to make.

If you’re making it gluten free, of course use gluten free flour and gluten free soy sauce or tamari. Luckily it fries up and tastes the same if it’s gluten free or regular.

Make it a meal with:

  • Rice
  • Broccoli
  • Egg Rolls
  • Fortune Cookies

Orange Chicken (Panda Express)

  • Servings: 10
  • Difficulty: medium-hard
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Wonderful, but it takes lots of time.

Ingredients

  • 4 lb. chicken breasts, cubed into 1″ x 1″
  • 1 Tbsp. Salt
  • 1 tsp. Pepper
  • 1 c. Cornstarch
  • 3 c. Flour (or gluten free flour with xanthan gum)
  • 1 Egg
  • 3+ c. Water
  • 2 Tbsp. Oil
  • 6 c. Oil for frying (or however much to fill the electric skillet appropriately)

Orange Sauce

  • 3 Tbsp. Oil
  • 1/2 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
  • 3 Tbsp. Minced Garlic
  • Pinch of ginger (optional)
  • 3/4 c. Sugar
  • 3/4 c. Brown Sugar
  • 3/4 c. Orange Juice
  • 3/4 c. White Vinegar
  • 6 Tbsp. Soy Sauce (or gluten free soy sauce/tamari)
  • 1/4 c. Water
  • 1/4 c. Cornstarch

Directions

In large bowl, mix salt, pepper, cornstarch, flour. Add egg, water, and oil until it reaches consistency of pancake batter (may need to add more water). Add chicken to batter and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Heat oil to 375° in electric skillet. (You  may want to go below the max fill line because it takes longer to heat the oil and doesn’t hold the heat as well if it’s fuller, I’ve found.) Add chicken and cook 5-6 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove chicken from pan with a slotted metal spoon or tongs and transfer to a paper towel lined cookie sheet.

For sauce, heat heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat and add oil. Once the oil shimmers, add red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Careful, the garlic turns dark quickly. Add sugars and stir to combine. Add orange juice and allow sugars to dissolve, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar and soy sauce and stir to combine. In a small bowl, add cornstarch to water, and whisk to combine. Add to pan with sauce and stir (if it thickens too much, add more water). Continue to cook sauce until it’s thick like maple syrup. Spoon a little sauce over the chicken and see how strong the sauce tastes on the chicken, adding more as desired.

To freeze leftovers, keep chicken and sauce separate. Freeze the chicken in a gallon bag and the sauce in a quart bag. You can also freeze a quart bag of cooked rice and put all the bags together in a grocery bag in the freezer.

To reheat from frozen, I find that the chicken holds up the best and retains its breading best when you microwave for 2 minutes, then heat on the stove. Heat some oil in a pan and warm up the chicken. Try not to stir a lot because the breading does tend to fall off if there’s a lot of movement. Place the sealed bag of sauce in water to thaw. You may need to add some water to the chicken pan and cover with a lid to steam. Once the chicken is hot, add the desired amount of sauce and heat through. To reheat frozen rice, poke some holes in the bag with a fork and microwave for 5 minutes at a time until hot.


Pesto Chicken

Man, I love pesto chicken SO much. It’s one of my very favorite meals. Garlic, basil, cheese, and tomato combine so well. You can make this as separate chicken breasts in a pan, or you can mix cubed chicken and cut up tomato with sauce in the pasta. Either way is delicious, but the separate chicken breasts in the pan seems a little more special for special occasions.

And good news, this one is naturally gluten free–just serve it with gluten free noodles.

Make it a meal with:

  • Pasta
  • Garlic Bread or Breadsticks
  • Corn or Green Beans
  • Fresh Fruit

Pesto Chicken

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Absolutely delicious, great for special occasions or weeknight dinners.

Ingredients

  • 3 large Chicken Breasts, fileted in half so they’re half the thickness (6 total pieces)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 10 oz. jar Basil Pesto
  • 2 large Tomatoes, sliced
  • Sliced or shredded Mozzarella
  • Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

Place the fileted chicken breasts in a greased 9×13 pan and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the pesto over the chicken. Then cover each chicken with 1-2 tomato slices (salted and peppered), and top with cheese. (Optional: Sprinkle parmesan over all.) Cook at 375° for about 30-45 minutes or until the temperature reaches 165°. Also broil to melt the cheese until slightly golden brown at the end. Serve with pasta, and make sure to spoon the delicious liquid from the pan over the pasta.


Crepes

Crepes are always a lot of fun and are great for special occasions. We often make crepes for date night, and we always make them on Christmas for a brunch with family. Haha, usually when we make them for date night, we end up standing the whole time while we eat because we stand by the stove and eat them as they come off the pan. They do tend to cool down very quickly, so we try to add Nutella quickly so it’ll melt a little. If you’re going to make a lot for a big event, make sure to start a long time before the event (like an hour) because they do take time.

For date night, we usually stick to ham, cheese, and broccoli crepes for the savory. Then for the sweet ones, we usually fill them with Nutella, peanut butter, and bananas. And sometimes also strawberries. And of course whipped cream.

But for Christmas, we go all out and make a crepe bar with all sorts of toppings. For example, we might have the standard ham and cheese, cooked broccoli, bananas, strawberries, Nutella, peanut butter, other berries, rotisserie chicken pieces, peppers, scrambled eggs, salsa, sausage, bacon, green onions, nuts for sweet crepes, whipped cream, powdered sugar, jam, and even pizza toppings like pasta sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni. You can also have some sides with it, like rosemary potatoes (which works well if we have leftover baked potatoes from Christmas Eve dinner the night before) or wild rice. I’ve even made the sauce from our cordon bleu recipe, which tastes great with rotisserie chicken crepes, but I think most people weren’t sure what the sauce would taste like and so avoided it. Since the crepes cool so quickly, you may want to have an electric skillet out to heat up the crepes or let people microwave them to melt the cheese.

If you’re making it gluten free, of course replace the regular flour with cup for cup gluten free flour and add a tablespoon or two extra to make it the right consistency. We’ve done it a few times without adding the extra flour, and it’s been so thin that they ripped like crazy. But it works well when you add a little extra. Of course if you’re having an event with both regular and gluten free crepes, just be careful if you’re trying to avoid cross contamination to make your gluten free crepes first and take your toppings before everyone else. And make sure to use fresh or dedicated peanut butter, Nutella, jam, etc. so you don’t end up with people’s crumbs from previous uses. I’ve also made it dairy free with almond milk.

Make it a meal with:

  • Sausage
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • Rosemary Potatoes
  • Juice

Crepes

  • Servings: 10?
  • Difficulty: easy
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Fun for dates and special occasions, but they get cold quickly.

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ c. Milk (or almond milk for dairy free)
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 c. Flour (or gluten free flour with xanthan gum, plus a few tablespoons extra)
  • ¼ tsp. Salt
  • 1 Tbsp. Oil

Topping suggestions

  • Ham Slices
  • Cheese Slices or Shredded Cheese
  • Cooked Broccoli
  • Rotisserie Chicken
  • Nutella
  • Peanut Butter
  • Sliced Bananas
  • Sliced Strawberries
  • Whipped Cream

Directions

Place liquid ingredients in the bottom of a blender, then add rest of ingredients and blend until very smooth. About 3 Tbsp. of batter per crepe makes 10-12 crepes. Heat a pan over medium-high heat and butter the bottom of the pan. Then add the batter and swirl around to cover the bottom of the pan. When the edges are starting to peel away from the edge, use a spatula to flip. For ham, cheese, and broccoli crepes, now is the time to add about 2 cheese slices to the pan, then 4 slices of ham on top. Then add a few broccoli florets and roll up the crepe. For sweet crepes, take the crepe out of the pan after flipping, and while it’s hot, spread Nutella and peanut butter down the middle of the crepe, then add banana and strawberries, then roll up.


Cordon Bleu

I like to make cordon bleu on Sundays or special occasions. They do take a little more effort because you have to pound out the chicken and assemble it, but I often make a big pan of 10 cordon bleus and freeze the leftovers with sauce.

I generally like to have everything laid out and ready at the beginning so it goes fast once you start. Also, I take out the exact number of ham and cheese slices beforehand that I need so that I won’t contaminate the whole package with my chicken-covered hands. It’s a messy job to assemble the cordon bleu–you can use latex gloves or try the technique of having one “dry” hand for breadcrumbs and one “wet” hand for dipping in butter. But it’ll be fairly messy no matter what.

You can use regular breadcrumbs or Italian breadcrumbs. Growing up we always had plain, but lately I’ve really enjoyed the extra flavor from the Italian. You can always make your own Italian breadcrumbs by shaking some Italian seasoning into plain breadcrumbs. Also growing up, we used to secure the rolled up chicken with toothpicks. But I’ve found that if I roll them and pack them fairly tightly (like 10 in a 9×13 pan), they’ll cook and hold their shapes. Then you don’t have to pull out the extra toothpicks before eating.

If you’re making it gluten free, just swap out the breadcrumbs for gluten free breadcrumbs or crushed Rice or Corn Chex. You can still add Italian seasoning if you want more flavor. And if you’re making the sauce, use a gluten free cream of chicken soup.

Make it a meal with:

  • Baked Potatoes, Risotto, or Pasta Roni
  • Green Beans
  • Waldorf Salad

Cordon Bleu

  • Servings: 10
  • Difficulty: medium-hard
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A nicer, fancier meal that takes more time but also freezes well.

Ingredients

  • 5 large Chicken Breasts, fileted in half so they’re half the thickness
  • 10 Ham Slices
  • 10 Swiss Cheese Slices
  • 1/4 c. Melted Butter in a bowl
  • 1/2 c. + Bread Crumbs with extra Italian seasoning if desired (or gluten free breadcrumbs or crushed Corn Chex) in a bowl

Sauce for Topping (I often double this if I’m making 10, depending who likes sauce)

  • 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (or gluten free cream of chicken soup)
  • ½ c. Sour Cream
  • 1 tsp. Lemon Juice

Directions

On a cutting board, cover a fileted chicken breast with plastic wrap to prevent splashes. Then pound out chicken so that it’s thin and even. Put down one slice of ham on the flattened chicken and then one slice of cheese. Roll tightly then dip in bread crumbs, then butter, then bread crumbs again. Place in greased glass 9×13 pan. Pack tightly to keep cheese from melting out too much. Cook at 375° for about 45 minutes to 1 hour when tightly packed or until the internal temperature reaches 165°.

For the sauce, mix the ingredients and bring to a gentle boil. Spoon over cordon bleu.


Pot Roast

Since pot roast and beef soup have basically the same ingredients, you can make a soup out of this if you just cut up the beef and vegetables beforehand. Also, for pot roast, I love to make gravy with the tons of leftover juice. It’s wonderful to freeze the gravy and use later for Hamburger Gravy, Beef Pot Pies, or Beef and Gravy served over noodles.

If you’re making it gluten free, make sure to use Members Mark Beef Base or Better Than Bouillon (or gluten free bouillon cubes if you can find any), and make the gravy with cornstarch.

Make it a meal with:

Pot Roast or Beef Soup

  • Servings: 8?
  • Difficulty: easy
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It’s basically the same ingredients for beef soup or pot roast.

Ingredients

  • 3-4 lbs. Beef (chuck roast or brisket for pot roast)
  • 4-6 Potatoes, chopped large
  • 3-4 Carrots, chopped large or 4 c. Baby Carrots
  • 1 Onion, chopped large
  • About 4-6 c. Water (to cover)
  • 4-6 Beef Bouillon Cubes (or 4-6 tsp. Members Mark Beef Base)
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 1+ tsp. Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste
  • Optional: Flour (or cornstarch) for gravy (such as 1 c. cornstarch, 1 c. water, depending on how much broth you have)

Directions

For pot roast, place beef in slow cooker and cover with water. Chop all the vegetables large so they don’t get mushy after the long cook time. Add the remaining ingredients except the flour. For the soup, you can use any of several kinds of beef, including rump roast or sirloin–it just needs to cook a long time to get tender. Cook for 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low until the meat is tender enough. If using a big pot rather than a slow cooker, cook soup for 1 hour (beef may be tougher with this method). Remove bay leaf before serving.

For pot roast gravy: Remove everything from the juice, then pour the juice through a strainer into a pot. Bring to a boil. In a bowl, whisk together flour or cornstarch and water until no lumps remain, then add to the juice, whisking constantly. If the gravy is too runny after it comes to a boil, add more whisked flour and water. Salt and pepper to taste.