Creamy Chicken Alfredo

Some people requested the main dish recipe that was served at the May W&D so here it is - I essentially made this.  I usually make a variation of this (aka the dairy free version) which is that recipe except it is dairy free cream cheese and from scratch cream of mushroom soup which I got the recipe from here...   The following seems a bit lengthy but it's all quite easy.

Step 1 - Cream of Mushroom Soup
Make your own cream of mushroom soup!  My personal opinion is if you don't make your own you should because it's pretty easy, cheaper, and easy to freeze and then pull out of the freezer whenever you need it!  Also you can make it dairy free which is great.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs mushrooms
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 4 cups milk (use Lactaid if you're going for dairy free)
• 3 T lemon juice (or juice from 1 lemon)
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t pepper
• 1 T dried minced onion
• 2 T Italian seasoning

Directions

• You have a few different options for the mushrooms you can buy fresh ones from the store, used canned mushrooms, dehydrated mushrooms, etc.  I found a big carton of dehydrated various types of mushrooms at Costco that I use along with a small can of mushrooms.  Using various types of mushrooms adds something nice I think. 
• Add all of the above except the milk to a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours.
• After 8 hours use an immersible hand blender to blend the soup. 
• You have the option to add the milk at this point or, what I do, is scoop out 1/2 C of the soup and put it into ziplocks to freeze.  You should end up with 8 or so ziplocks. 
• When you unfreeze your ziplock add 1/2 C milk to the bag and squeeze the bag to mix the milk into the soup.  You now have a cup of cream of mushroom soup!  A can of cream of mushroom soup is 10 oz so you can pretty much substitute your own cup of soup in any recipe that calls for a can of cream of mushroom soup.

Step 2 - Creamy Chicken Alfredo Pasta
Easy and delicious way to make chicken alfredo in the crockpot!

Ingredients

• 2-3 chicken breasts (frozen or unfrozen)
• 1 cup of your homemade cream of mushroom soup! (or a can of the store bought stuff if you're not going for homemade or for dairy free)
• 1/2 C Italian dressing
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 6 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 8oz block of cream cheese (use Tofutti's lactose free version if you're doing dairy free)
• 1/2 - 1 bag of frozen peas or broccoli
• 1 lb noodles, like rotelle noodles

Directions

• Put first 5 ingredients in the crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours on low.
• After 6-8 hours shred chicken, add cream cheese, cook on low for another 1/2 hour.  Meanwhile start cooking the pasta.  
• A few minutes before the noodles are done add whichever veggie you've chosen to the boiling water with noodles.  
• Drain veggies and noodles once both are cooked/unfrozen, stir into crockpot alfredo mixture and enjoy!

Hope you like it!

Eclair Cake

I got this recipe from a friend in choir who brought it to one of our rehearsals.  During a rehearsal break a few weeks ago I kind of went a little nuts over the cake and she admitted that it was embarrassingly easy and passed along the recipe.  It is embarrassingly easy, but soooooooo tasty!

Ingredients for Pudding:

• 1 lb. box graham crackers
• 3 1/2 C milk
• 2 small packages of instant vanilla or french vanilla pudding
• 1 (8 oz.) tub of Cool Whip
• Optional: add 1 tsp. of either orange or almond extract

Ingredients for Frosting (Beat all ingredients until smooth)

• 2 squares of unsweetened bittersweet chocolate, melted
• 2 tsp. light corn syrup
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 T. butter
• 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 3 T. milk

Instructions

1. Spray 13"x9" pan with non-stick cooking spray.  
2. Line the bottom with a layer of graham crackers.
3. Mix pudding with milk, beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Blend in Cool Whip
5. Pour 1/2 the mix over graham crackers
6. Place 2nd layer of graham crackers over pudding.
7. Pour remaining half of pudding
8. Cover with the final layers of graham crackers
9. Refrigerate for 2 hours
10. Frost
11. Refrigerate overnight

And that's it!  Make it lighter by using low-fat or fat free ingredients.  Make it easier by buying a can of frosting at the store rather than making your own.  Stays good in the fridge for several days afterwards.  :-) 

Caramelized Onion Dip

This easy-to-make caramelized onion dip was well received at the Garrett's Wine and Dine last weekend. I hope you enjoy it too!


Ingredients:

• 1 & 3/4 C mayo (I use the reduced fat olive oil mayo)
• 2 C swiss cheese 
• 1/2 sweet onion (about 2 cups)
• 1 T butter
• 1 T paprika

 Instructions:

1. Thinly slice your onion into about 2 cups. 
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and sautee with onions until caramelized.
3. In a medium bowl, combine mayo and cheese. Slowly stir in the caramelized onions.
4. Spread into a pie pan or 8x8 baking dish. 
5. Sprinkle paprika on top.
6. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

It's really that easy. Serve with crackers and enjoy!

May Sauvignon Blanc Wine & Dine

We had a great time hosting the May Wine & Dine!  Good food, great company, and of course wonderful wines!  This month we tasted Sauvignon Blancs exclusively.  When grabbing a white wine from the store shelf what do you usually grab?  For us it wasn't usually a Sauv Blanc however when we tasted a certain Sauv Blanc at a local wine tasting we wondered why weren't we grabbing the Sauv Blanc?!  They're great!  So we set out to have a wine and dine where we could learn more... :-)

We started out by tasting two Sauv Blancs side by side - Capitello's Walnut Ridge (Oregon) and their Marlborough (New Zealand) varietals.   We tasted these side by side to fully appreciate the difference!  These two wines were the same year, and made in the same style by the same wine maker.  The real difference is where they were grown and they tasted very different!  The majority of us preferred the NZ varietal to the Oregon one.

We then moved on to another New Zealand SB by Nobilo.  This wine is highly rated by Wine Spectator and was very well received, many named it as their favorite of the night.  NZ is quite well known for their Sauv Blancs and this bottle clearly shows why.  

 Next was the Foucher LeBrun Sancerre Le Mont.  Sancerre, much like a Champagne, must be grown in a specific region in France in order to have this label of Sancerre.  The Sancerre region only grows grapes for two types of wines, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.  Much like Champagne is a specific sparkling white wine, Sancerre is a specific Sauvignon Blanc.  This wine was well received and also more difficult to find in stores because it is so specific.

Next was Los Vascos from Casablanca, Chile.  Unlike the other SB's that were grown at 40-47 degrees latitude this wine is grown at 33 degrees latitude, a bit different than your typical Sauv Blanc.  This one was also quite good and well received.  SB's are Chile's second most produced wine and are quite tasty!

We finished off by circling back around to another New Zealand SB, by Kim Crawford.  This wine was also highly rated by Wine Spectator. 

Technically our last wine, although we didn't have an official tasting of this, was Trader Joe's Coastal Sauvignon Blanc.  Honestly it's hard to give an opinion of this seeing as everyone was 6 tastes in at this point... although, I think our general impression was that it was okay but clearly not as notable as any of the others.  Fun fact - TJ Coastals are always distilled in steel barrels -not oak- and from California.  If you find a TJ Coastal you love read the label carefully to find out which CA winery it's from! :-)


We had some great dishes brought as well that very nicely complimented the wines.  We had some cream cheese/humus wrap appetizers, an onion dip appetizer, lots of tasty veggie sides, creamy chicken alfredo pasta, a delicious layered eclair dessert, and chocolate cake.

I hope everyone was able to find some good Sauvignon Blancs they liked as a result of this tasting!  I know we did.