Tag Archives: Susan Prendeville

Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake Recipe

3 Oct

Who doesn’t need a wonderful, delicious chicken casserole recipe right about now?  I know I do!  As the weather here in Madison gets colder (and wetter!) – nothing seems to warm you up like a good old-fashioned casserole.  Am I right or am I right? 

Don’t let a big casserole intimidate you.  Is it only the 2 of you?  Cut this recipe in half and make in little ramekins.  

This recipe is my sister-in-law, Susan’s recipe and it’s adapted from Better Home & Gardens.  

 

Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake

6 servings

GET IT:

bow tie pasta – 8 ozs

onion – 1 small, chopped

eggs – 2

butter – 2t

milk – 1 1/4c

crushed red pepper – shake

dried Italian seasonings – shake

chicken  -2 c cooked + chopped

monterey jack cheese – 2 c, shredded

artichoke hears – 14 oz can

spinach – 10 oz, fresh

oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes – 1/2 c drained and chopped

panko  bread crumbs – 1/2 c

paprika – 1/2 Tsp

parm cheese – 1/4 c

MAKE IT:

Preheat oven to 350.  

Cook pasta according to directions, drain. 

In a medium skillet cook onion in 1 tsp of butter over medium heat about 5 minutes, stirring every so often.  remove from heat, set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, seasoning, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.  stir in chicken, cheese, artichokes, spinach, tomatoes, half of the parm cheese, pasta and onion.  get in there with your hands and stir it up – a spoon can’t do it justice! transfer to a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Fix a glass of wine.

Bake this baby, covered for 20 minutes.  

In a small bowl, combine remaining parm cheese, bread crumbs, paprika, and 1tsp butter melted.  sprinkle mixture over pasta.  Bake for 10 minutes more until golden!

WATCH IT:

Here is Susan showing how to make it!

adapted from better homes and garden

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cook it: crab cakes w/lemon dill sauce

4 Aug

cook it this recipe is designed for the person or couple who wants to cook but have a hard time deciding what to cook and frankly, how to cook.

sometimes you just gotta say “cook it!” and dive right in.

it is the perfect time of year for this recipe!

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this is a perfect recipe to do this saturday.  so read the recipe, buy the ingredients and then saturday mid-morning, after you’ve slept in a little bit and had your coffee:

grab all your ingredients

read the recipe again

put together your mise en place and

make your sauce and your cakes

then you just put them in the fridge.  when dinner time rolls around, well, aren’t you fancy?!  just pop those cakes in the oven, prepare a little baby spinach salad with a light vinaigrette and plop two cakes down on top, swirl your lemon dill sauce on the side and you’ve got one hell of a dinner.  easy.

this recipe is from my wonderful sister-in-law susan who is an excellent cook.  check out the video she filmed of her making these for us at the bottom!

****

yield: 4 reasonably sized people

prep time: 30 min

total: 2 hours and 30 min

lemon dill sauce

get:

mayo – 1 cup

buttermilk – 1/4 cup

dill – 2t chopped fresh

italian parsley – 1t chopped fresh

lemon zest – 1 t

lemon juice – 2 tsp

garlic – 1 clove minced

make: combine all the ingredients above in a bowl and stir well.  put in fridge and let it chill out.  sauce will thicken as it chills. 

crab cakes

get:

butter – 3t

scallions – 3 chopped

red bell pepper – 2t chopped

garlic – 1 clove minced

heavy cream – 3t

dijon mustard – 1t

egg – 1

italian parsley – 1.2 t chopped fresh

cayenne pepper – a dab’ll do ya

bread crumbs – 1 cup

parmesan cheese – 1/4 cup

crabmeat – 1 lb.

make: melt 1t of butter in a skillet over medium heat.  

saute’ the scallions, pepper and garlic for about 3 minutes. in a bowl, 

mix together the cream, mustard, egg, parsley, cayenne pepper, 1/2 the bread crumbs and the vegetables you just sautéed.

gently fold in the crabmeat.  form mixture into 8 patties.  

in a mixing bowl, combine the remaining bread crumbs (1/2 c) and the parm cheese.  pat this topping onto both sides of the patties.  refrigerate until firm – at least 2 hours. 

you can cook these on the stove in a little bit of oil or bake them which is what we do. 

top each patty with a small pat of butter and bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.  serve on a bed of spinach with a dollop of lemon dill sauce on the side. 

are you ready to impress your loved one with this awesome dinner?  here is susan making both the lemon dill sauce and the crab cakes.  make them this weekend and post a pic to instagram and tag me.  i dare you…!

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cook it: yogurt parfait with mint and pistachio 

25 Aug

if you’re like me, you eat the same breakfast every morning.  except those days you get the bacon, egg and cheese mcgriddle from mcdonalds…just kidding…of course i don’t eat that crap!

this week’s episode of COOK IT comes with a tasty twist of routine.  it’s the best combo ever.  watch my lovely sister (in law) and one of my bestest friends prepare this scrumptious delight.

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cook it: chicken florentine artichoke bake

21 Jul

cook it

thank god the weekend is almost here.  i’m ready for it.  while i haven’t been traveling too much this month, i find it hard to work from home.  anyone else think that as well?  i seems i need people, action and inspiration.  that’s why it was so much fun to have my sister-in-law hang out for a while this summer.  we had a lot of fun together.  we cooked up a storm, both at home and while taking a cooking class at sur la table.  

this week’s episode of COOK IT is a casserole and it’s perfect to make on sunday.  just saying that word, casserole,  is comforting.  one dish of love wrapped up with all the things i love.  pasta, artichokes, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, paprika.

just kidding, who loves paprika?

Cook

chicken florentine artichoke bake

6 servings

get it:

bow tie pasta – 8 ozs

onion – 1 small, chopped

eggs – 2

butter – 2t

milk – 1 1/4c

crushed red pepper – shake

dried italian seasonings – shake

chicken  -2 c cooked + chopped

monterey jack cheese – 2 c, shredded

artichoke hears – 14 oz can

spinach – 10 oz , fresh

oil packed sun dried tomatoes – 1/2 c drained and chopped

panko  bread crumbs – 1/2 c

paprika – 1/2 tsp

parm cheese – 1/4 c

do it:

preheat oven to 350.  cook pasta according to directions, drain.  in medium skillet cook onion in 1 t of butter over medium heat about 5 minutes, stir every so often.  remove from hear, set aside.

in a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.  stir in chicken, cheese, artichokes, spinach, tomatoes, half of the parm cheese, pasta and onion.  get in there with your hands and stir it up – a spoon can’t do it justice! transfer to a 13 x 9 baking dish.

fix a glass of wine.

bake, covered for 20 minutes.  in a small bowl combine remaining parm cheese, bread crumbs, paprika and 1t butter melted.  sprinkle mixture over pasta.  bake that puppy for 10 minutes more until golden!

eat it!

here is susan showing how to make it!

adapted from better homes and garden

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best chicken recipe ever. like ever.

20 Jun

i’ve had this blog for two years now, and you need to know that this has been my most popular blog to date.  like off the charts.  so now, i’m going to repost the heck out of it.

just kidding.

this is my sister-in-law’s recipe that i have made and can attest that it is so delicious.  don’t go get that burger king for dinner tonight, print this out and make it.  let me know how it is.

& susan, can’t wait to see you soon!

trish’s italian chicken and love roll ups

thin sliced chicken breasts

mozzarella cheese, sliced

flour

egg and water, beat

bread crumbs

butter

parmesan cheese

pasta

marinara sauce (I buy prepared or you could make your own, lol)

roll thin chicken and a slice of cheese and secure with a toothpick. dredge each roll in flour, then egg and water and then bread crumbs. place rolls in a baking dish, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and put a small pat of butter on each. you don’t need to add love separately, if you have gotten this far, it is already in there.

bake @ 425* for 20-25 minutes. cook the pasta separately and heat the sauce.

i add a vegetable or salad and italian bread for a yummy meal. this is my husband mike’s and my son bill’s favorite meal. i have made it for them many times. i have also made it ahead of time for a buffet, to pop in the oven for 50 people. the point… it is easy and a good recipe for few or many.

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new york botanical gardens escape

16 Oct

while in NY for business, i got a chance to stay until saturday at my sister/brother in-laws house in chatham, nj.

you can’t beat new jersey in the fall.  you know, now that i think about it – new jersey and detroit are very similar.  yes, one is a state and one is a city but they both have totally skewed perceptions about them.  you’d think (from the media) that the minute you step in new jersey a mad housewife is going to come yelling at you or a snookie is going to bump into you at the grocery store.  but new jersey is gorgeous.

detroit – same thing.  while some of it true – it is still the murder capital of the country and all – no one ever mentions how fantastic the neighboring towns are.

anyway, fodder for a future post.  i was thinking it, so i wrote it.  

susan and i went to the beautiful new york botanical gardens in the bronx (hello…the bronx y’all!)  last week we stole away for a few hours and walked the grounds where there was a monet exhibit and had a wonderful lunch.  we also rode a tram (freezing cold!!) around the entire grounds.  who knew it was started in the 1800’s?  not i.

this picture above was not made in the future.  yes, it is only october, 2012 not 2013 but i can’t change it or don’t have time to – so please ignore.  thanks mom for letting me know!

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mugging down

1 Aug

i’ve always wanted to collect something.

but could never decide on what.  my sister collected hotel supplies (there’s a story behind that) and shot glasses (so 1980’s).  my aunt is a great collector of various themes.  my mom had dabbled in various interesting artifacts.  i used to gather matches from places we’ve been to but no one hands out matches anymore – i guess so they don’t encourage smoking.  they also take up a lot of room.

well, the wait is over, folks.  i’m collecting city mugs by starbucks.  this DOES NOT MEAN i am a fan of starbucks.  i most certainly am not.  way too mainstream for me.  i am a coffee snob.   however, these mugs have driven me slightly coo-coo obsessive.  ask my friend and sister-in-law, susan and her husband , mike. i dragged them to 3-4 (maybe 5?) starbucks in desperate search of a san antonio city mug.  as it turned out – they were out.  like in the whole city.

i find this fun because i travel a lot and i’m starting to get quite a fun collection of colorful mugs.  this does not mean i won’t accept them from friends/family across the country (hint hint) as susan sent us an awesome indianapolis mug (because someone who shall remain nameless forgot to bring me back one when he was there) and a new york (!!) mug.

they have these all over the world and i’d love to get a paris one – obviously from visiting paris.   oh yeah – these are useable mugs.  ROF and i drink our morning joe from these each day.

snagged at the airport starbucks with a screech of sheer joy

got this yesterday, at the airport, once again. this was way up top, like on display and the lady looked at me like i was nuts asking her to get it down for me.

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appreciating: family and keeping it real

9 Jul

“the strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.”  

MARIO PUZO, The Family

there is nothing more loving and more heartbreaking than the dynamics behind families.  and everyone has a story.  no family is without defect.  sure, families love to portray a perfect picture – especially around holidays or weddings but the truth is not one family is perfect.  not one – no matter how many pictures you post on facebook, your not fooling anyone.  the key here is: the goal is not to strive to be perfect.  it is in that striving that a lot of hurt happens.  you never measure up to this leave-it-to-beaver existence and it hurts.  it is only by being vulnerable about your family’s imperfections that you find (maybe) the purpose in which you probably are going through them in the first place.  to help others.  to be able to offer your learnings of getting through a particular situation to someone else going through the same thing.  you can extend words that hit home because you know what it’s like.

it is kind of like death or divorce or cancer.  if you haven’t gone through it, you don’t know.  and (please) don’t pretend you know.  and don’t offer advice.  however, if you have gone through it – your insight is priceless.  it could be one of the reasons we go through what we do.  who knows.

i remember being in my office after hours about 7 years ago.  i thought i was the only one in the office and decided to have a good cry.  my dad was dying of cancer and there was nothing i could do but be with him until the very end.  hold his hand.  tell him jokes.  tell him i will always love him.  i thought i was alone in my office but i wasn’t.  a new girl whom i didn’t know very well was there too.  her name was yareli.  she came in my office and hugged me and told me that she knew what i was going through because her mom had died in a car accident just 3 years earlier.  she didn’t tell me her whole story then and there but the empathy she showed in her action and her words told me that i wasn’t alone, i wasn’t stupid for crying in my office late at night.  i had a friend who knew how to say more than “i’m sorry”.  i will always love my friend for reaching out that night and not just slipping out or writing me an email.

it’s the same with families.  speaking of families, this past week ROF and i got to spend some extra special time with ROF’s sister, susan and his brother-in-law, mike.  susan has written some awesome articles for this blog which you can read here, here and here.  susan and ROF have a wonderful relationship that i know means so very much to both of them.  we had a blast this past week starting with the 4th of july and going until yesterday.  here is a photo diary of the past few days.

breakfast @hypnotic donuts in dallas

4th of july at the blue goose in dallas

4th of july at the blue goose in dallas

headed down to san antonio

dinner the first night – no where else but Rudy’s BBQ!

playing “tumbling tower” (or jenga) at hyatt hill country resort – awesome!

me – goofing off and playing with templates

there is nothing in the world like a loving family.  ROF and i were so thankful to be able to spend time with susan and mike this past week!

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feeling appreciative

28 Jun

if you read my “bio” or whatever you call it in the upper right hand corner, you will see that i’m the appreciator because i wasn’t sure what to focus my blog on.  i started writing this for background info as part of my job – so that i would actually know how to do it.

how i came up with that idea of “the appreciator” is:

ROF and i were taking a walk through our neighborhood.  it was about a year ago now.  and as we’re walking i’m asking him what could my focus could be…because you know, you have to have a focus.  the conversation went a little bit like this:

“so i’m thinking of writing a blog” (me)

“really?  that’s cool.  about what?” (him)

“that’s the thing, i don’t know” (me)

“why do you want to do it?” (him)

“well, my CEO wants some information on writing a blog and i want to be able to say i know how…from my perspective” (me)

“ok.  well you are a good at a lot of things” (him)

“awe.  that’s sweet.  go on.  like what”  (digging for more…me)

“well, social media for one.  you love it, believe in it and know it.  (him)

“yeah.  but that’s work.  there’s more to me.  here’s the deal.  i appreciate nice music but i don’t write it.  i appreciate great design but i’m not a designer” (me)

“go on” (him)

“and i love DIY stuff but i don’t actually DIY” (me)

“and….” (him)

“and… i love photography but i don’t do it professionally.  love good food but don’t cook professionally – but i appreciate it all!” (me)

“i know” (me)

“i’m the appreciator” (me)

“there you have it” (him)

and there i had it.  so going back to the basics, here is the short list of things i appreciate.  

my relationship with God.  my Father and hard core foundation.  thank Him that i don’t struggle with “the meaning of life”.  i have it.

husband, ROF.  Sappy and all – he is whom i appreciate the most

mom & sister.  not a “given” they are built-in friends for life and beyond. soul-mates

awesome extended family.  susan, mike, mike, bill & sarah.  wonderful people whom i love being connected to (6 more days, susan!)

wonderful aunts & uncles & cousins – seriously fun people i wish we were all a lot closer

career and all the people who have supported me and taught me and pushed me to the limits (you know who you are)

career and all the people who believe in what we do and work hard to support “the cause”! (you know who you are A & S)

friends – you know who you are too

house, i never stop appreciating you

max and wrigley.  my babies.  i love you to death

flying all over the country

flying in first class

flying in first class on vacation with a bottle of red wine

playing gin with #1

cooking dinner with #1

clean cut grass

white sheets 

being organized

our new MAC computer suite (kiss kiss kiss)

massive storms when i’m with people i love or like a lot

massive storms when there is red wine involved to calm me down

colorado – feeling little teeny tiny in a land of big mountains and low valleys and knowing that man had nothing to do with the beauty

turbulence

poached eggs

the food network

mad men, damages, restaurant impossible, anthony bourdain

chevy dealers all over the country

the geigers in madison wisconsin

the dallas cowboys (ROF, stop laughing, i mean it)

the night before you go on vacation

the night before holidays

friends who surprise you on your anniversary by toilet papering your house at midnight and then ringing your doorbell while you’re watching ghost adventurers (EEKK!) and showing up with a bottle of good, no great, champagne.

knowing that your prayers are answered

central market and whole foods when no one else is in the store

church when you sing that hymn and it hits you in a way that you have to cry but no one knows your crying

remembering the feel of your dad’s hands and smiling at the thought of his “funny tooth”

a big Christmas dinner over at a big families’s house with lots of food, drinks, a bonfire and love

the east coast -hills and chills and history

woody allen

the movies: network, manhattan, annie hall, guess who came to dinner, manchurian candidate and more

good wine

bad wine

great music – house, electronic, rock, mix tapes, playlists, hip and cool

going out to eat

louie and louie’s

chicago

costa rica

the joule

making ROF coffee in the morning

are you still reading?

magazines and all the nuggets of information they contain

ideas and the execution of ideas

smart clients

smart people

passionate thinkers

forgiveness

ok, i’m tired now and i’m going to go.  this was not an exhaustive list by any means.

it felt good to capture some of this.  wish you would share with me some of the things you appreciate so i can too!

xxoo 

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