Luthien's Original Recipes (and a few old classics)

[Luthien]

I've decided to start a blog to celebrate becoming a valued 100 post+ member.

For now I will be sharing some of my favourite recipes. Most of these either came to me by intuition when I was looking at a cupboard of odds and ends, or I dreamed them up as I slept. I will note the ones that are old classics from other people, otherwise you'll have an original recipe.

I believe it is possible I was a chef in another life, as my recipes, and cooking skill, were not taught, and seem to have come out of nowhere.

I am currently writing a cookbook that I plan to have published. Some of these recipes will be in it, so feel free to use them, but please do not publish them before I do, or I will cry.

Enjoy!

~Luthien

 

[Luthien]

Ingredients:

2 Cups cooked pasta (I like to use rotini)

2 Large boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 tsp garlic powder or 2 fresh cloves crushed

Black pepper to taste

1 cup broccoli cut into smallish pieces

1 cup carrots sliced into rounds

1 can corn Niblets

1 can diced plum tomatoes

1 1/2 cups tomato or v8 juice

1 1/2 cups water

2 chicken stock cubes

1 cup shredded yellow cheddar cheese

If you're ommiting the pasta (as I do now) add 1-2 cups any other desired veggie (cauliflower, green pepper, white zucchini all work well)

Method:

Set pasta to boil as you are cutting and dicing all other ingredients.

Brown chicken breast with 1 tsp canola oil. Add garlic and pepper as it browns. when finished, set aside.

In a large pot add all veggies, the corn, can of tomotoes, the juice, water, and chicken stock cubes. Bring to boil and allow veggies to cook about 15 mins

Just before veggies reach desired doneness, add chicken breast and pasta.

Allow to simmer 10 more mins.

Serve each bowl with cheddar cheese to taste.

Enjoy!

P.S. I shared this recipe with my older sister, and she now uses a bag of Green Giant Garlic flavoured frozen pasta with veggies instead of fresh ingredients. She omits the garlic from the recipe and reduces the juice and water by half a cup each.

This saves only the chopping time for the veggies, though, and does reduce the taste quite a bit.

 

[Luthien]

This is one of my all time favourite salad recipes. It is meatless, though you could add chicken or beef if you'd like.

This recipe is always a HUGE hit at parties, and it is a staple in my home, and I frequently make a meal of it.

Ingredients:

Romaine lettuce torn (about 2 cups)

Iceburg lettuce torn (about 2 cup)

1 medium green pepper seeded and thinly sliced

1/4 of a small red onion(or less) sliced VERY thin

2 medium tomatoes diced (vine ripened or plum taste best)

1 firm, but ripe avocado diced (optional)

Fritos corn chips. (These are the one thing you shouldn't substitute)

1 cup shredded chedar cheese

1/4 cup your fav salsa (I always use Pace Piquante medium
gives best flavour)

1/2 to 1 cup regular sour cream (fat free and light taste awful for this)

Method:

Mix lettuce together and put in large bowl.
Spread all remaining veggies over the lettuce.

If all salad will be consumed at once, add as many frito corn chips as you would like (at least one full cup, more is better) and cover with the cheese cheese, otherwise put these in separate bowls to be added as served.

Mix sour cream and salsa together. Add salt and pepper to taste. (This is the dressing to be spooned over the salad while serving)

Enjoy!

 

[Luthien]

This is one I haven't thought of a good name for...I dreamed I was eating this once, and it stayed in my head for weeks..When I finally got around to making it, it was even better in real life. It took several attemps to perfect the recipe...here's what I came up with.

Cookie Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese softened

1 pkg instant vanilla puding

1 1/2 cups cold milk

1 tbsp fruit sugar (it's very fine and disolves easily)

2 cups strawberries, or other fruit sliced

1 pkg fruit glaze


Mix sliced strawberries with fruit sugar in a bowl prior to beginning. Place in fridge

Preheat oven to 375F and grease a pizza pan.
Sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix butter and oil with the sugar together (this is called creaming) Add egg, milk and vanilla to creamed sugar and blend well.
Add dry mix to creamed mix slowly, and mix until well combined, do not over mix. Pat this mixture onto pizza pan to form a large cookie. Poke holes all over with a fork. Bake for 12 mins or until very lightly browned. allow to cool.

When cookie is completely cool, mix pudding with 1 1/2 cups of cold milk make sure it is well blended. Beat softened cream cheese and 1/4 tsp vanilla into pudding once it has began to thicken. the final product should be the consistency of icing, add milk to achieve this consistency if needed.

Cover cookie with cream cheese topping then cover with strawberries and fruit glaze.

You will need to follow the directions on the fruit glaze packet, I recommend reading this before you get out the strawberries.

(If you have homemade strawberry jam, you can eliminate the fruit glaze by just mixing fresh sliced straberries into the jam right before they are needed instead. The whole thing tastes a million times better, but realistically, who has homemade strawberry jam lying around? DO NOT TRY THIS WITH STORE BOUGHT JAM)

This recipe is best of made a day ahead, as it lets all the flavours blend together and allows the cookie to soften up for cutting...this has only ever happened once for me though, because my family isn't capable of letting it sit in the fridge that long.

Enjoy!