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Pepperoni Parmesan Croutons

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This is the season for salad lovers, and we have been enjoying lots of salads at the convent with the daily fresh picked lettuce, herbs, and cucumbers from our gardens.

To add interest to them I’ve come up with my own croutons. If you like crisp and crunch, and you savor the flavor of Parmesan and pepperoni you’re sure to like these.

They are simple, quick and easy to make, add great taste to your salads, and served as snacks, they disappear in no time.

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Pepperoni Parmesan Croutons
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COOK TIME
10minutes
PREP TIME
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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Tear bread into bite sized pieces to equal about 4 cups.
  2. Toss with seasonings.
  3. Spread out on 9 x 13 pan.
  4. Sprinkle with cheese and torn pepperoni.
  5. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or until golden all over.
  6. Cool and break into pieces.

Baked Chicken Nuggets

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For years I have been making what I called crispy chicken strips, the result of an idea that came to me out of the blue and one that was very successful after simply trying it out on my own without any recipe. I used them a lot as appetizers along with chutney or sweet and sour sauce. Sometimes I top a salad with them for a nice lunch, and often I add Italian spices and grated Parmesan cheese to the crumbs and serve them with a favorite pasta and sauce for a main meal. I liked my original idea and have been quite pleased with myself for having come up with something that tasted so good and was exclusively mine or so I thought . . . until a while ago when flipping through a friend’s recipe book and look what I found: “Baked Chicken Nuggets” – almost identical to what I’d been making, only using bread crumbs instead.

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Baked Chicken Nuggets
SERVINGS
15chicken nuggets
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chicken nuggets
COOK TIME
10-15mins.
PREP TIME
READY IN

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Cut chicken into 1½ inch pieces.
  2. Season well with onion salt.
  3. Dip chicken in butter, then in crumb mixture, adding in optional Italian spices and Parmesan cheese for a Mediterranean accent if desired.
  4. Place on baking sheet.
  5. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes – just until golden but still plump and juicy – not dry.

Italian Strawberry Crostata

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We’ve been cooking up lots of strawberry jam for Christmas gifts with this summer’s bountiful crop of berries from our garden.  One of our sisters has been dying to make a strawberry tart with it and today she did.

I loved the looks of it when it came out of the oven. I loved the taste of it even more, as did some of the other kitchen sisters who sampled it. The unusual flavor of fresh lemon zested crust was a taste treat in itself even without the filling.

“Leave it right here”, I said “I’ll be back in a minute to take a picture. This has to be a blog!”  Locating the camera as quickly as possible I returned to take this photo…..

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Italian Strawberry Crostata
The pastry for this simple jam tart is made with olive oil and flavored with vanilla, lemon rind and a little alcohol, which makes it tender. It is an easy, smooth dough to handle and does not go hard when stored in the fridge.
SERVINGS
1pie
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
pie
COOK TIME
30mins.
PREP TIME
READY IN

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt on a clean surface. Lightly beat together eggs, oil, vanilla, alcohol and rind. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the egg mixture.
  3. Using your hands, work the flour in gradually to form a dough. Work dough lightly until it comes together into a smooth ball.
  4. Divide dough into 3 pieces. Roll out all pieces to about 1/2 inch thickness. Press 2 of them into the base of 9-10 inch sallow baking pans. Spread each generously with jam.
  5. Cut remaining piece of dough into very thin long strips. Form a ring around edge of dough and make a criss-cross pattern on top of the tarts. Cut tiny diamonds of leftover dough and place into the center of each criss-cross.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes, until lightly golden.

Notes:

P.S. — We added a few fresh berries on top of the jam the second time we tried it, and felt it added yet another dimension of wonderful flavor.

Hot Chicken Salad Sandwich

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What is it about sandwiches that make so many people so happy? It seems to me that the very same food served on a plate often gets less positive response than it does in a bun, on a roll, or even on a loaf of bread, as it was last night at the convent.Chicken salad was on the menu for our dinner and the cook of the day chose to serve it as a hot open faced sandwich, which surprised everyone. She sliced loaves of Italian bread lengthwise, placed a layer of chicken salad on each, topped them with grated cheese and melted them under the broiler for a few minutes. When they came out they were met with exclamations of “WOW, FANTASTIC, WHAT FUN!”

Because the meal was an informal picnic type, the loaf was served whole, allowing each person to decide what size piece they wanted cut for them. For a more refined touch it can be sliced in diagonal pieces and plated, and still be a sandwich!

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Hot Chicken Salad Sandwich
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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Combine chicken, onion, celery, almonds, grapes, water chestnuts.
  2. Mix mayonnaise, wine, salt and pepper; toss with chicken mixture.
  3. Spread chicken salad on bread, top with a layer of your favorite cheese and melt under a broiler.

Strawberry Napoleons

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It’s strawberry time, and our strawberry patch has been producing tub after tub of beautiful berries every morning . . . a delight to look at, let alone to eat. Of course, no strawberry dessert will ever top old fashioned strawberry shortcake, in my opinion, but if you’d like to try a creation that runs it a close second, these strawberry napoleons are simple to make and delicious to eat.

Strawberry Napoleons

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Strawberry Napoleons: Recipes From A Monastery Kitchen
SERVINGS
3servings
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
servings
COOK TIME
15minutes
PREP TIME
READY IN
20minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Thaw folded pastry sheet for 20 minutes.
  3. Open sheet and cut along folds to make three equal strips; halve each strip to make six rectangles.
  4. Space apart on baking sheet.
  5. Bake in center of oven about 15 minutes until well browned and baked through.
  6. Remove to rack to cool.
  7. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whip heavy cream and powdered sugar together until cream is stiff. Set aside.
  8. In another bowl, whisk pudding mix, milk, and extract together for 2 minutes; fold in whipped cream and blend thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate.
  9. Carefully split each piece of pastry in half horizontally.
  10. Cover bottom halves with almonds, then pudding mixture and sliced strawberries, dividing equally.
  11. Cover with pastry tops. Dust with powdered sugar.
  12. *You could double the pudding mixture and use both sheets of puff pastry for more Napoleons. I ended up using all of my puff pastry to be able to have additional layers for each Napoleon.

Dinner Rolls

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There is no meal so plain or so elaborate that cannot be enhanced by the addition of freshly baked homemade bread. Whether it’s a simple soup and salad lunch or a full oven rolls is guaranteed to bring exclamations of joy from the eaters. It seems to convey a sense of special care and attention that warms their hearts.

We served these beautiful, easy-to-make rolls to a retreat of ladies for lunch today and their response was absolutely overwhelming.

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Dinner Rolls
SERVINGS
36rolls
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
rolls
COOK TIME
PREP TIME
READY IN
1 1/2 - 2hours

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. This recipe is best made in a standing mixer with a dough hook.
  2. Dissolve the yeast in some water with a pinch of sugar and let sit for approximately 5 minutes to proof.
  3. Add milk, sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, salt and eggs. Mix well.
  4. Add flour as needed and mix well.
  5. Blend at medium-low speed for about 5-10 minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl once or twice.
  6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let rise in bowl about 1 hour or till doubled.
  7. Remove the plastic wrap and turn mixer on low to “punch down” the dough; if you wish, you can let the dough rise a second time as it makes for a more flavorful roll.
  8. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 36 rolls. The dough will be very sticky.
  9. Place rolls, edges just touching, in a buttered 9″x13″ or 9″ round pan.
  10. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 30-40 minutes.
  11. Brush with reserved butter before baking or an egg wash.
  12. Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit convection oven or 350 degrees Fahrenheit conventional oven until golden.