Adapted from here and inspired by the awesome chowder at a local deli/lunch place on Tuesdays in the Fall/Winter.

1 ring of kielbasa, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
One 14.5-ounce can chicken broth
1 large baking potato (about 12 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup half-and-half
One 1-pound bag frozen corn, thawed
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tsp. cajun seasoning (such as Emeril’s)

Heat a deep skillet or a wide 4- to 6-quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the kielbasa and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add the onions and butter and cajun seasoning to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 6 minutes. Add the broth and potato and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer until the potato is tender, about 10 minutes. Add the half-and-half and corn and cook, stirring, until heated through.

Using a blender or food processor, puree 1 cup chowder until smooth. Stir the puree back into the chowder along with the browned kielbasa and season to taste with salt and pepper.

This is the third installment of the Kitchen’s 2009 Holiday Basket Bonanza (HBB). Last year, I started doing baskets for a few recipients on our holiday list. They were so well received that I decided to do them again this year, but I am switching out a few of the recipes to try new ones! I’ll be making a trip out soon to buy supplies and I’ll be updating the Kitchen with pictures as we go!

Last year’s baskets included Oreo truffles, banana bread, homemade white bread and Stonewall Kitchen jam, spiced pecans, brownies, cookies and seasoned popcorn. This year, I am keeping the banana bread, spiced pecans and the brownies and I will make a different homemade bread with jam. The rest is getting changed up! I’ll be doing truffles again this year, but I’m going to do Almond Joy truffles instead of Oreo. I have a very soft spot for Almond Joys. Mmmm. I’m also making some savory crackers, snickerdoodles and granola.

This week, I’m sharing a recipe for granola.  A few years back, suitNtie and I had the good fortune to get away over Valentine’s Day weekend to Vermont. We found a cute bed and breakfast online and made our reservations.  The Carriage House of Woodstock was everything we thought it would be. Debbie, one of the owners, was a wonderful cook and not only was our breakfast consistently tasty, but the cookies she put out for us in the afternoon were amazing.  suitNtie fell in love with the granola and ate it every morning we stayed there.

I never asked for the recipe, but I did stumble upon it online within the past year and I’ve sworn to make it as a surprise to my husband. I’m including it in our holiday baskets this year because he is quite the granola snob, so I know that if he likes it that it MUST be good!

Preheat oven to 325F. Combine oats, cereal, nuts, coconut, wheatbran and cinnamon. In separate bowl, whisk sugar, molasses, oil, and vanilla. Pour sugar mixture over cereal. Mix thoroughly and then pour into large roasting pan. Bake granola uncovered until toasted, stirring every 5 minutes (about 30 minutes total). Mix in cereal, raisins and cranberries and bake for 5 minutes. Cool granola and then transfer to airtight container. Makes 8 cups.

Today’s meal is a repeat that we enjoyed WAY more than we thought we would based on the ingredients. What’s your favorite type of pie? When I was pregnant with my children, I loved meatball. Typically, I get cheese or pepperoni. Never do I touch Hawaiian.

I’ll be curious to see what others prefer!

Adapted from here.

2 boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded thin
1/2 cup of flour for dredging
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup of milk
3 Tbls of butter
1 Tbls of vegetable oil
1 bunch of broccoli, steamed and cut into florets
4 long green onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
4 baby Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
6 fresh basil leaves, choppped
2 Tbls of lemon zest
Juice from 3 lemons
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of freshly grated black pepper
1/8 cup of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

In a small bowl mix the flour with a 1/4 tsp of salt and a 1/4 tsp of pepper.  In another small bowl beat the eggs and the milk together.  Dip the chicken in the egg mixture.  Dredge the chicken in the flour, shake off the excess flour and refrigerate for about an hour.
Sauté the chicken in 2 Tbls butter and 1 Tbls oil until lightly browned, about 3 minutes on each side.  Squeeze the lemon juice all over the top of the chicken while frying. Be careful because the oil will slightly splatter.  Drain on a paper towel.
In a large frying pan sauté the onions, garlic and mushrooms for 3 minutes in the remaining butter and oil.  Add the cream, lemon zest and basil and simmer for around 15 to twenty minutes until cream is bubbly and thick.  Add the steamed broccoli to heat through for 2 minutes.  Season with the remaining salt and pepper.

Plate the lemon chicken scaloppini and spoon over the broccoli sauce and garnish with parsley.

For those new to the Kitchen, I link recipes that are linkable in my Monday post, but always post the recipe the day it is made and when I can, post a picture as well as my review of it in the comments.  So if you are intrigued by a dinner, come on back to see what we thought!

Also, not every day is a new recipe.  On days where I’m cooking something we already know and love, I try to link to the original post so that you can still try it, but I pose a Question of the Day that I would love feedback on.  On days where we are doing Fend For Yourself (FFY) Buffet, I post something that I “covet” for your review and commentary.

This is the second installment of the Kitchen’s 2009 Holiday Basket Bonanza (HBB). Last year, I started doing baskets for a few recipients on our holiday list. They were so well received that I decided to do them again this year, but I am switching out a few of the recipes to try new ones! I’ll be making a trip out soon to buy supplies and I’ll be updating the Kitchen with pictures as we go!

Last year’s baskets included Oreo truffles, banana bread, homemade white bread and Stonewall Kitchen jam, spiced pecans, brownies, cookies and seasoned popcorn. This year, I am keeping the banana bread, spiced pecans and the brownies and I will make a different homemade bread with jam. The rest is getting changed up! I’ll be doing truffles again this year, but I’m going to do Almond Joy truffles instead of Oreo. I have a very soft spot for Almond Joys. Mmmm. I’m also making some savory crackers and snickerdoodles, and one more savory item TBD.

This week, I’m sharing the recipe for some amazing brownies that I am keeping for this year’s baskets.  The recipe is only slightly adapted from one by Ina Garten.

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
4 ounces unsweetened Ghiradelli chocolate
2 ounces unsweetened Ghiradelli cocoa powder
6 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

Melt together the butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate and cocoa on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.

Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss  12 ounces of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.

I grew up with several holiday traditions. One was my mother (or my Nana when I was very young) making several breads over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Date Nut bread, Banana bread, pumpkin bread…yum! I didn’t know until way later that the pans that those breads were made in were ancient- belonging, at the very earliest, to my great grandmother (known to me as Nana Ollie). They looked like they’d been through a few wars, and were super long.

Over the course of the past 30 (!) years of my life, I’ve begun to notice complaints from my mom. My mom is the “owner” of Nana Ollie’s pans now, but for some reason, she only has one left. She must have brought breads to someone’s house and they never gave the pan back- typical in big families! After a recent bout of complaining, I started doing what I do best- Googling.

And I came across a decent match and realized that it’s more likely that my Nana’s pans are called “Pullman” loaf pans.   I doubt that they will be as strong and durable as Nana Ollie’s industrial strength pans, but my mother will be thrilled. I’m giving her a few for Christmas as well as keeping a few for myself. I had been so confused when registering and bread loaf pans didn’t look how I expected them to. Now, I am searching for a breadmaker that has a longer baking pan. We go through bread so fast here, especially when I make it at home, that I wish the loaves were a more standard size in order that we’d get more than 8-10 slices out of them (or 2, when suitNtie cuts the slices, that man loves his Texas toast slices, oy).

While at the store, I discovered boneless country pork ribs on sale. It’s not a cut I normally buy, but i figured I could find something to do with them, so I grabbed a pack and put it in the freezer.

I found this recipe and figured I would go with it because it seemed relatively versatile, and it’s in the crockpot.  Win/win in my book!

3 to 4 pounds boneless pork country-style ribs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, halved, thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple juice
1 bottle (16 to 18 ounces) barbecue sauce, about 1 1/2 cups

Lightly grease the crockery insert of a 5 to 6-quart slow cooker. Wash pork, trim excess fat and pat dry with paper towels. Put the sliced onions in the bottom of the slow cooker, then place pork on top. Sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper, brown sugar, and minced garlic; turn the pork ribs to coat all pieces. Pour apple juice evenly over the pork. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours. Drain liquids from the pork. Pour barbecue sauce over the pork and stir slightly to distribute the sauce. Cover and cook on LOW for 1 hour longer.

Today’s recipe is a repeat and *might* just be suitNtie’s favorite one that I’ve found over the past 11 (yes, 11!) months of menu planning. Creamy peanut butter is just SO good no matter how you use it.

Many of us grew up with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as staples in our diets. What’s your favorite sandwich now, as an adult? For me, nothing hits the spot quite like a turkey club with well done bacon.  I skip the mayo and usually have a stone ground mustard on it, something earthy.

Post your favorites in the comments!

For those new to the Kitchen, I link recipes that are linkable in my Monday post, but always post the recipe the day it is made and when I can, post a picture as well as my review of it in the comments.  So if you are intrigued by a dinner, come on back to see what we thought!

Also, not every day is a new recipe.  On days where I’m cooking something we already know and love, I try to link to the original post so that you can still try it, but I pose a Question of the Day that I would love feedback on.  On days where we are doing Fend For Yourself (FFY) Buffet, I post something that I “covet” for your review and commentary.