A Jeanne in the Kitchen

We all live very busy lives, yet we want good home cooked meals too. Sometimes the best way to blend these two realities is to bring out the slow cookers and go live life. I did just that and made a slow cooked chicken with a sweet and sour orange and mushroom sauce. I served it over wild rice with green beans on the side and a dry white wine to complete the meal. Delicious!

With the sweet and sour sauce, this chicken dish had a little bit of an Asian vibe to it.

Chicken with Oranges and Mushrooms

1-2 lbs chicken breast

1-2 TBSP flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1-1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/4 sliced onions

1/4 bell pepper, any color is fine, sliced into thin matchsticks

1/2 cup orange juice

red pepper flakes to taste

2 TBSP orange balsamic vinegar

1 TBSP garlic

1 1/2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 can of Mandarin orange segments

Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika together and coat the chicken. I cut my chicken into smaller pieces.

Get a skillet very hot and add a combination of butter and olive oil or sesame oil to cook the chicken. Cook for about 4-5 minutes per side or until it is completely browned.

Remove and add to the slow cooker, which has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Add the mushrooms to the butter and oil and saute for about 3 minutes, or until browned, then add on top of the chicken pieces.

Combine the peppers, onions, garlic and oranges and add on top of the mushrooms.

Combine the orange juice, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and pour over the chicken and vegetables.

Then depending on how long you want to go out to do other things, you can either cook this on high for about 3-4 hours or at a low temperature for about 10-12 hours. Either way, it is going to make your house smell so good and the chicken and vegetables will come out so tender and full of flavor.

Cooking dinners in the slow cooker is sometimes the best of two worlds. You are not missing out on any of life’s adventures, but you are also still able to enjoy a good home-cooked meal too. Perfection! Whoever created the slow cooker was a genius. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

There is something just magical about the combination of cherries and chocolate. It’s like a match made in heaven. Chocolate and cherries are one of my favorite combinations. I paired them up again, only this time instead of using fresh cherries, like I normally do, I used maraschino cherries instead.

These cookies were full of cherries and cherry flavorings as well as chocolate. Each cookie was stuffed with a maraschino cherry that was stuffed with a chocolate chip. So each bite was a cherry chocolate explosion. YUM!

Chocolate Cherry Bombs

24 maraschino cherries, patted dry

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup or 1 stick softened butter

1 egg

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 TBSP maraschino cherry juice

1 tsp cherry extract

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Beat the butter and brown sugar together until creamy, then add the egg, cherry juice, vanilla and cherry extract and continue to mix until all blended together. Add the flour 1/2 at a time and mix until everything is well incorporated together.

Place in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

Carefully stuff 1 chocolate chip into the center of each maraschino cherry.

Preheat the oven to 350*F or 190*C. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

When the dough is ready, take 1 TBSP of dough and roll it into a ball in your hands. Repeat with the remaining dough. With your thumb, press into the center of each cookie and make a well. Place a cherry in the center of each well, then carefully wrap the dough completely around the cherry.

Bake for about 15-80 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Allow the cookies to cool completely before adding the chocolate ganache topping. For the chocolate ganache topping, melt the remaining chocolate chips together with the cream, over a medium heat, stirring constantly until the chocolate is completely melted and is smooth.

Then either dip the top of the cookies into the melted chocolate or spread it on with a knife. I found it was easier to spread it on with a knife.

Once all the cookies were topped with chocolate, I placed them in the refrigerator for a bit to set. This is optional, but I wanted to stack them, so I needed them a bit more firm.

I used dark, bittersweet chocolate, but milk chocolate is fine too. It is really just a personal preference and whatever you prefer.

It’s a good thing I tried one before I served them today. They were ALL gone! I heard a lot of compliments on them too. I guess they were a big hit. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

It is such a gorgeous day out. The sun is shining brightly, the skies are blue and it’s not too hot. In other words, it was a perfect day to go walk-about. We took Juneau, and she was having fun taking in all the scents and smells. While Juneau was leading the daddy dog around, and I was busy taking pictures.

It was also a perfect day for the little “duck-a-lings” to be out for a swim too. There were two groups out swimming with mom. One was a small little family of three, while the other had eight little ones swimming alongside mom. Both moms were so proud.

Tis was the first duck family.

And this is the second duck family.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

The spotted Sandpiper is not a new bird for our lakes, but I do not see them all that often. They like to call our lakes and muddy flats home in the spring and summer months, from April – September. I was lucky enough to see not one, but two the other day, though I could only capture one with my lens. I’ll take it though. I will gladly photograph whatever comes my way and I will always appreciate the opportunity to do so. As you all know, photography is yet another passionate hobby of mine.

I did not get a lot of photos, and I had to really zoom in + he was one the move. So I apologize for the quality of the photos.

Mother Nature offers us so much beauty. It is all around us. All we have to do is open our eyes and look. If you let yourself, you’ll be amazed at what you see. 🙂

Have a beautiful day and take in all that beauty that is around us everyday. 🙂

It is that time of week once again where I am in baking mode for my Sunday coffee cart. I usually offer three things per week. This gives variety as well as provides enough snacks and goodies for everyone to enjoy (hopefully, though I made need to start increasing what I make). Every now and then others contribute as well, but overall, I provide it all, and I enjoy doing it. It is my way of giving back to the community. Plus, I am good at it. I feed people. That’s just what I do. 🙂

One of my features for this week is a strawberry cream cheese coffee cake. Once again, this recipe was an inspiration from our very own, Ohiocook and her blog https://beatcancer2010.wordpress.com/. As always, thanks for the great idea. Also per usual, I changed it and made it my own too.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Strawberry season is starting and the berries are coming out bright red and sweet. What better way to celebrate the season than by putting them to good use, such as in a delicious coffee cake, right?! 🙂

The Streusel

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 3/4 cup flour

Mix all the ingredients together and crumble until it all resembles coarse sand. Set aside. I had just enough streusel topping leftover from the last time I made a streusel, so I avoided this step. Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins

Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz cream cheese, or whipped cream cheese or strawberry cream cheese – I used strawberry cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything together with a mixer and set aside.

The Cake

1 2/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup or 1 stick softened butter

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2-2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced thin

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 190* C.

Spray a 9×13 cooking pan with cooking spray.

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Mix the sugar and butter together until creamy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, mixing in between each addition, then add the vanilla and lemon juice. Add 1/2 the flour mixture and mix, then add 1/2 the sour cream and mix, and repeat until it is all incorporated into the mix.

Spread 1/2 the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly to cover the bottom.

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the top and spread evenly over the cake batter.

Layer the strawberry slices over the cream cheese.

Add the remaining batter over the strawberries and carefully spread out to make it even.

Evenly sprinkle the streusel topping over the cake batter and place in the oven.

Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the center is set.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan and slicing. Share with friends and enjoy.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

You all know how much I LOVE my cookies. I think part of my love for cookies, cookies of all kinds, comes from when I was a little girl, and the very happy, fond memories I have of my friend’s mother making cookies for us everyday. My friend Kathy and I have literally known each other our whole entire lives, and we are exactly 1 year apart. We grew up next door to each other and were raised as sisters. Her house was my second home while growing up, and everyday, her mom, Mrs. Nash, was baking cookies. The house always smelled so fragrant and delicious. We always had fresh, homemade cookies for a snack and/or treat. I still love my cookies to this day. Cookies will ALWAYS, hands down, be my favorite dessert.

I make a lot of cookies too. I don’t bake them everyday, but I do bake a lot, especially for my weekly coffee cart. Today’s cookies, and some of this week’s cookies are a batch of tropical coconut macadamia cookies.

Once again, I was very pleasantly surprised and the recipe actually made the amount it said it would. This rarely happens. But this recipe made 5 1/2 dozen cookies, just like it said it would. AMAZING!

Coconut Macadamia Cookies

1 cup or 2 sticks of softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups old fashions oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat the oven to 350*F or 190*C.

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Chop the macadamia nuts and set aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Mix the butter and sugars together until creamy, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between. Add the vanilla and 1/2 the flour mixture and mix. Then repeat until everything is mixed together.

Fold in both the chopped macadamia nuts and coconut.

Take about 1 TBSP of dough and roll into a ball with your hands and place on the lined baking sheets. Lightly press the dough to flatten it out.

Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until they are set and are slightly golden around the edges.

Allow them to cool slightly before removing them from the pan, then gobble them up and enjoy these tropical sensations. Make sure to share them with fiends too. In fact, the more you share, the more friends you will probably make. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Right now I am looking out the window and my view is grey, cloudy, overcast and rainy. They say April showers bring May flowers, and I totally agree. Lately we have had a lot of showers. In fact, the weather statistics are showing that this is going down as one of our wettest months. But because of all these showers, we have some bright, beautiful, colorful flowers all around, and on days like today, when it is grey and cloudy, I appreciate all these beautiful flowers even more.

Have a beautiful and colorful day.

We have two kinds of turtles that live in our lakes. We have the bigger snapping turtles and we have the smaller red-eared sliders. When the sun is shining and the weather is warm, I see a lot of turtles out basking in the sun. When the skies are grey and the weather is cooler, they tend to stay “indoors” more.

Red-Eared Slider

The Snapping Turtles really look like something leftover from the prehistoric days.

Look. He’s smiling for the camera.

My turtles are saying it’s time to come out of your shells and enjoy the beautiful days ahead.

Larry was in the mood for shrimp again, but he wasn’t really sure how he wanted them prepared, other than he wanted them bacon wrapped and for me to use some of our roasted hatch green chilies. So I created this delicious recipe on the spot, making it up as he was calling out what he wanted. Fortunately, I have years and years of experience of thinking on the fly, so this wasn’t as daunting as you may think.

I served the shrimp over a bed of rice and corn with some green beans on top, and of course a dry white wine on the side. Larry’s was topped with feta cheese. I opted for just some roasted pepita seeds on mine.

Southwestern Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

1 1/2-2 lbs large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup lime juice

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili lime seasoning

1 tsp corriander

1 TBSP garlic

red pepper flakes to taste

2 TBSP lime olive oil, optional

2 TBSP olive oil

1/4 cup chopped roasted Hatch green chilies

1 lb bacon

Mix all the wet ingredients and spices together and let the shrimp marinade for about 15-30 minutes.

While the shrimp is marinating, cut the bacon in half and par cook it. Bacon takes longer to cook than shrimp and no one wants to eat raw bacon. Cook it for about 5-7 minutes, or just until it starts to lightly brown. If it is cooked too much, you will not be able to work with it. You want the bacon to still be pliable and soft.

Once the bacon is ready, lightly spread a little of the chopped Hatch green chilies on the bacon, then carefully warp it all around the shrimp and skewer them up to put on the grill.

When the shrimp is all skewered, pour the rest of the marinade over them, then grill them on a hot grill for about 5-7 minutes or until the shrimp and bacon are cooked, turning them over at the half way point.

Each bite will have a little sweet shrimp with the salt of the bacon and just a hint of heat from the chilies. Heat the marinade up and bring to a boil, then pour over the cooked shrimp. Delicious!

You can serve these over anything you like, such as pasta or rice and beans. You can even serve them with steak or chicken on the side for a Southwestern surf and turf too. They are quick and easy-peasy and I promise you’re going to love them. You can also do the same thing with chicken or salmon bites for something a bit different as well.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I am just so intrigued by the brightly colored and beautiful little barn swallows. They are here for the season and I see them all over the place. I love their vibrant blue and rust and tan hues. As with all my other birds lately, I am seeing more and more of these beautiful little birds all around our lakes, and I love it.

Have a great day and make everyday great. ‘Til next time.