French Dip Sandwiches

I was scrounging around the other day, trying to come up with something to make for dinner. I had been thinking hamburgers, but we were all out of ground beef. We did, however, have a medium size piece of beef. It was thin cut, and said "perfect for pan frying!" on the package, so I figured it had to be good for something. I looked up recipes for beef, and came across a recipe for French Dip Sandwiches.
Now, I love French Dip Sandwiches, so I got all excited and clicked on a few of the recipes. That's when I began to get rather disappointed. Every single recipe called for slow-cooking. Usually, I love slow-cooker recipes, but when I wanted to make a meal *now*, those recipes were no good.
I puzzled for a while, and looked around to see if I could find a recipe that didn't call for 3-4 hours. Nothin' doin'. Also, several of the recipes called for Beef Consumme. Something I didn't have, and could not make.
I considered making something else, but the idea of French Dip Sandwiches was firmly rooted in my mind, and I wasn't going to be swayed easily. Finally, I decided to just improvise, and see what happened.
My grandmother used to tell her kids that they were having "an experiment!" for supper. I like that idea. :D

I started by thawing the beef. Then, I sliced it into thin slices.

Once it was all cut up, I lay them in a frying pan and cooked them.

When they were all cooked, I chopped them up into even tinier pieces.

Then, I put them in a pot with some beef broth (2 cups of beef broth, made from bouillon) and a can of condensed French Onion Soup.

I put it on the stove, on low, to simmer.

While that simmered, I decided to fry up some extra onions with butter. This had the double effect of adding delicious flavor to my meal, and a delicious smell to the kitchen/house.

Once the onions were done, and added, I let it sit and simmer a while longer. Maybe 20 minutes or so. I could probably have been served right away, but I needed to wait until certain people were home from work, for dinner. It certainly didn't hurt it, and probably helped enhance the flavor. :)
Once I was ready to serve it, I toasted some hoagie rolls, and put a slice of mozzorella cheese on it. Any mild cheese would work, but this is what I had handy, so it served. Then, I piled on the beef, and put a small bowl of the broth, or au jus sauce, on the side.

It was oh, so good. :D

Curry Chicken Salad

I have a favorite coffee shop. They have really good coffee. And muffins. And many many other things. One of their specialties is Curry Chicken Salad. Oooooh, it's good! So one day, I got a hankering to have some. Only problem was, I was at home, and really didn't feel like going out. No problem, I'd make my own! I quickly searched all my favorite recipe sites for a good recipe. Many of the recipes called for mango chutney. Well I certainly didn't have any of that, so I kept looking. After wading through many many different recipes, I found a decent looking one of www.cooks.com.

2-3 boneless chicken breasts, skin removed
2 stalks celery, strings removed
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup real mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1/2 medium onion, finely minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
paprika (optional)

Now, before you get all excited and take this recipe and go make it, let me warn you. I did not follow it. Recipes are more like guidelines, anyway! :D
It started with the chicken. I didn't have any chicken breasts, so once again I resorted to a 12.5 ounce can of canned chicken. I'm sure it would have been better with real chicken, but I worked with what I had on hand.
Next, I began in on the other ingredients.

I got the celery and began to remove the strings. Now, I have never done this before. I wasn't even sure how. I had to go online to figure it out. Once I figured it out, I started in on peeling my celery. Who knew celery even needed to be peeled? :P
I wasn't halfway through the first stalk when I called it quits. I decided I rather like the celery strings.
The next thing I changed was the cilantro. I didn't have any. Once again turning to the world wide web, I discovered parsley to be an acceptable substitute. I was fully intending to throw in some dried parsley, but must admit I completely forgot. So much for that.
Then I attacked the onions. What did they ever do to me, you may ask? Well, I happen to not be a big fan of raw onions. Raw scallions, however are a different matter. We have wild scallions in the yard, and I've been known to walk around chewing on them during the Summer. Oh so good. So I added the word 'green' to the recipe and chopped up the scallions.

But I wasn't done there, oh no. More things in this recipe needed changing! First came the garlic. No garlic cloves on hand made me turn to my trusty jar of minced garlic in the fridge. As with the chicken, real garlic cloves would no doubt have been better, but this was wasn't bad.
So pretty much the only thing I kept according to the recipe was the mayonnaise. Even the curry got changed, but I'll get to that in a minute.
So I took all these ingredients and piled them into my bowl.

After mixing them up, I tasted it. Hmmm.... not enough curry. I added more, and then some more. All in all, I estimate I put in just over a Tablespoon, instead of the called for Teaspoon.
The only thing I regret is that I had no red grapes. I really think they would  have made this recipe perfect. I can't complain, though. It was delicious! I put it in the fridge for a while and served it that evening for dinner along with some homemade bread.

It was definitely a success. Have to say it's one of my favorite recipes so far. :D

Chicken and Bacon Sandwiches

My absolute favorite meal in the world is Chicken and Bacon. It's a special recipe my mother makes. I'll probably make it and post it some day, but for now, I decided to put a spin on it. The original recipe takes 3 hours just to bake. When I started making dinner, I wasn't sure exactly what I was making, but I had chicken, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup. I love all three of those things, so I was sure I'd be able to come up with something.
While digging in the freezer for inspiration, I discovered a pound of bacon. That's when I decided to alter the original recipe and see how it worked.
I started by cooking the bacon. I always prefer to cook my bacon in the oven.

Next, I mixed a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, and about a cup of sour cream. I wasn't really sure how much sour cream to put in, so I kinda guessed. It worked out pretty well.

When the bacon was done, I chopped up about half of it. The other half I put in the fridge, and my family enjoyed it the next day for breakfast.

I took about 3 pieces of chicken breasts and that I had cooked earlier, shredded them, and spread them in the bottom of a greased pan. This pan is a bit smaller than a 9x13, but a couple more pieces of chicken, and a regular 9x13 pan would have worked well.

Then I mixed the bacon bits with the sour cream and soup mixture, and poured it over the chicken, mixing it together.

I stuck it in the oven for a few minutes. Since all the ingredients were pre-cooked, I mostly just cooked it on a low setting until it was warm. Then I found some rolls, cut them open, and served the chicken mixture with the rolls. Then I ended up putting the chicken on the roll and eating it as a sandwich.

It was very delicious. Tasted almost like the regular Chicken and Bacon meal. Definitely something I'd make again. :D