Garlic Pasta

I didn't get a picture of this because we ate it too fast.  It was so quick and easy.  My husband loves garlic.

Garlic Pasta

Ingredients:
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
8 ounces fettuccine
black pepper, dried oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes, to taste
1 cup finely chopped spinach

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the garlic and shallot and cook until translucent (about 2 minutes).

Add the chicken broth and milk.  Add salt and stir.  Add the dry pasta and gently stir until submerged in the liquid.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened and the pasta is al dente.  Add seasonings.  Throw in the spinach and serve.

You could also add cheese to this or other vegetables.

Aunt Lorett'a Chicken

This was one of my favorite Sunday meals growing up.  

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts

6 thin ham slices

6 pieces of bacon (COOKED!)

Mix:

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

1 pint of sour cream

Do not forget to cook the bacon before you assemble the casserole!

Line the bottom of the pan with ham. Cook the bacon.  Wrap the chicken with strips of cooled bacon.  Place on top of the ham.  Pour on the mixture of cream of mushroom soup and sour cream.  Bake at 275 degrees for three hours.  You can cook it at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time.

Sloppy Joes

This is one of the recipes from my childhood.

Barbecue Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground hamburger thawed if frozen

1/8 tsp. Black pepper

1 c. onion chopped

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

½ c. barbecue sauce

¼ c. water

4 hamburger buns

            Crumble hamburger into a medium skillet.  Sprinkle with pepper.  Add onion.  Over medium-high heat, cook and stir for five minutes or until meat is no longer pink and onion is almost tender.  Reduce heat to low.

            Stir in tomato sauce, barbecue sauce and water.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally.

Angel Hair Pasta w/Chicken

2 T. olive oil

2 chicken breast halves cut into 1-inch cubes

1 carrots, sliced diagonally into ¼ inch pieces

1 (10 ounce) package frozen broccoli florets, thawed

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 ounces angel hair pasta

2/3 c. chicken broth

1 tsp. Dried basil

¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese

        Heat 1 T. oil in a medium skillet over medium heat; add chicken.  Cook, stirring, until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels.  

        Heat remaining oil in the same skillet.  Begin heating water for pasta.  Add carrot to skillet; cook, stirring for 4 minutes.  Add broccoli and garlic to skillet; cook, stirring for 2 minutes longer.

        Cook pasta according to package directions.  While pasta is cooking, add chicken broth, basil and Parmesan to skillet.  Stir to combine.  Return chicken to skillet.  Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes.

        Drain pasta.  Place in a large serving bowl.  Top with chicken and vegetable mixture.  Serve immediately. 

Chicken Pot Pie

Another recipe from my childhood.  My love for Chicken Pot Pies stemmed from the fact that my mom made them individual sized.  I loved that.  I was also in charge of cutting the tops in any way I wanted.  This time we played with cookie cutters.

Chicken Pot Pie

Pastry for single-crust pie

½ c. chopped onion (one medium)

1 12 oz. Can evaporated milk

¼ c. all-purpose flour

¼ c. water

1 tsp. Instant chicken bouillon granules

½ tsp. Dried sage, marjoram, or thyme, crushed

1/8 tsp. Pepper

1 10-ounce package frozen peas and carrots or peas

1 ½ c. chopped cooked chicken or turkey

        On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with hands.  Roll pastry to a 13x 9-inch rectangle.  Cover pastry and set aside.

        Spray a cold medium saucepan with nonstick coating.  Add the onion.  Cook and stir over medium heat about four minutes or until the onion is tender but not brown.

        Meanwhile, reserve 1 T. of the milk.  Set aside.  In a small mixing bowl gradually stir the remaining milk into the flour until smooth.  Stir into vegetable mixture in the saucepan.  Stir in the water; bouillon granules; sage, marjoram, or thyme; and pepper.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in the frozen peas and carrots or peas and chicken or turkey. 

        Transfer mixture to a 12x 8x 2-inch baking dish or 8 ramekins. Place pastry over chicken mixture.  Fold under edges.  Crimp edges of pastry with a fork.  Brush pastry with reserved milk. 

        Bake in a 375 oven for 30 minutes or until the chicken mixture is heated thoroughly and the pastry is golden brown.  Makes five servings.  

Pigs in a Blanket

Every week I ask my family what they want for dinner and every week my five-year-old says, "Hot Dogs."  Sometimes I tell him to come up with something else and sometimes I just let him have hot dogs.  This week we did Pigs in a Blanket to spice things up and it allowed him to help.

I used my favorite bread stick recipe for the dough:

Bread Sticks

1 Tbl. Yeast

1 Tbl. Sugar

1 tsp. salt

1-1/2 cups water

3-1/2 cups flour

I mix this all in my bread machine.  Let rise 30 minutes.  Roll into sticks and cover till they rise some more.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.  

First roll the bread stick dough into balls and let sit while you prep everything else.

I sprayed a little Pam on my counter so it would be easier for my son to roll out the dough. 

Then he just rolled and sometimes we added cheese or mustard before rolling the dough and hot dog up.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Adapted from: Tyler’s Ultimate Chicken Cordon Bleu on the Food Network.

4 chicken breasts skinless and boneless
4 slices of ham (I use just sandwich meat ham)
4 slices of Swiss Cheese
1/4 cup flour

salt and pepper
1 cup Panko bread crumbs (Find these and use them! They make all the difference. They are just by the normal bread crumbs in a box. I'm in love!)

1 tsp. Thymne
1 clove garlic minced
2 tablespoons margarine or butter melted
2 eggs
Extra-virgin olive oil

First off, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.


Lay out some plastic wrap about 6 inches by 5 inches. I put four down so I could just work with the chicken and not have to get the box out again with yucky hands.

Pound the chicken breasts as thin as you can get it with a meat mallet and if you are desperate cut the chicken breast in half width-wise. I did both to get it really thin.  If they are slightly frozen they don't splatter as much.

Put some ham on the chicken breast and a slice of swiss cheese. Then roll it up into a jelly-rollish shape and wrap up in the plastic wrap to keep it all together or secure with a toothpick.  Repeat.  At this point if you are working with fresh meet you could roll the chicken in foil and freeze for later use.  Don't refreeze chicken that was frozen and then thawed.

Then lay out three pans that you can use to dip the chicken in. Also get out a sheet and put some olive oil on it.

Put flour in one dish and mix some salt and pepper into it.

In the second dish mix the bread crumbs, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, and melted butter. In the third dish beat eggs and season with salt and pepper. (Do you detect a theme here?)

Remove plastic wrap and dust the chicken with the flour. Then dip it in the egg and then coat it with the bread crumbs. In my opinion, the more the better.

Place on the sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

 For the sauce I got this from one of my favorite recipe blogs...http://mmmcafe.blogspot.com/

Ingredients: 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (I made my own from scratch this time!)

1/4 cup Mayonnaise

3 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Brown mustard or Whole Grain Mustard (I just used normal)

1/2 tsp paprika (optional)

3 Tbs Milk

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and heat thru, add milk to reach the consistency that you desire. Serve the sauce hot with Chicken Cordon Bleu.

All together it is the best stuff!

Honey Lime Enchiladas

I have a hand full of recipes I'm constantly being asked for and this is one of them.  They also freeze great.  I also won an Enchilada competition with this recipe.

I had a friend just have a baby so I made a giant batch of these babies and somehow made three pans!

Honey Lime Enchiladas

Ingredients:

   For the chicken marinade:

    7 Tbsp. honey

     Juice from two large limes

    1 Tbsp. chili powder

    1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Mix all together in a bowl and set aside.

For the enchiladas:

   4 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded

 small  package of tortillas 

   caramelized onions (1/2 a sweet onion chopped fine and cooked with a Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar on low for 1/2 an hour.)

   24 oz. monterey jack cheese shredded

    20 ounces green enchilada sauce

   1 cup heavy cream

    can of black beans drained and washed.

    Mix the shredded chicken and the marinade together and sit int he fridge for about a 1/2 an hour.  Preheat your oven to 350.    Reserve the extra marinade.  Mix the chicken, beans, and onions together in a bowl.  Spoon the filling mixture into the middle of a tortilla and add a dollop of cheese.  Roll up and place in a 8 x 13 pan with a tiny bit of the green enchilada sauce spread on the bottom.  Fill your pan with the rolled and filled tortillas.  Mix the cream, left over marinade, and the rest of the enchilada sauce and pour over the enchiladas.  Top with the rest of the shredded cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.  

 Enjoy!  To freeze, bake like normal and then let cool completely.  Wrap with foil twice and freeze.  

.

black beans

caramelized onions

marinated chicken

Another Burrito Filling

I made some Sweet Pulled Pork for dinner one night and had a ton left over.  So I decided to try putting it in burritos.  It was actually pretty good.

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Pulled Pork 

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. vinegar

4 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 small pork roast

 Mix first four ingredients together and pour on pork roast in crock pot.  Cook for 4 ish hours until tender.  Shred with a fork and cook for 30 more minutes until juice cook in.

Eat on rice or put in burritos with cheese and white rice.  

Slow Cooked Apple Cider Pork

My roomate used to make us this recipe but with chicken.  You could use either meat.  I adapted it a bit to cook slowly so the pork would be more tender.

Apple Cider Pork

Ingedients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 of an onion chopped.
4 pork tender loins or pork chops
1 Granny Smith Apple peeled and diced
Enough apple juice or apple cider to cover pork (about 4 cups)
2 Tbsp. butter

Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat and add pork chops a few at a time depending on the size of your pan.  I used my dutch oven and cook only cook two at a time.  Cook for 2 minutes on each side.  Place finished on a plate to the side until all are done.  Then in the same pan cook onion and apples until onion is translucent and apples are tender (about 3 minutes).  Then add garlic and cook for one minute.  Then put the pork chops back in the pan.  Pour on the apple juice until it covers all the meat.  Place a lid on your pot and cook on low for 1-2 hours until meat is tender.

Super Easy, Tasty Egg Rolls

I love egg rolls.  When I am pregnant I crave them for some reason.  Don't ask me why.  I have never attempted making them before because every recipe I come across has weird ingredients and seems to complicated but I found a super simple one with just a few ingredients.

Super Easy Egg Rolls

Adapted from a Taste of Home Recipe

Ingredients:
  1/2 pound pork sausage
  1/4 cup chopped green pepper
  1/8 cup chopped onion
  1 tsp. minced garlic
   one small package coleslaw mix
   1/4 tsp. pepper
   1/8 tsp. salt
   Package Egg Roll Wrappers (about 16)

Cook the sausage, green pepper, and onion over medium heat in a fairly large skillet.  When the meat is fully cooked add the garlic.  Cook for one more minute.  Drain.  Add the salt and pepper.  Now here you can combine the pork and coleslaw to make assembly easier or you can leave them separate.  I ended up with extra coleslaw so I'm glad I didn't combine the pork mixture and the coleslaw. 

For assembly have a small bowl of water in front of you, the sausage mixture, the coleslaw, and a large area to fold the egg rolls. 

Place about 4 Tbsp. sausage mixture and the same amount coleslaw in the middle of an egg roll.  Fold up bottom corner and then fold in the sides.  You can add a little water to the edges to make the stick better if they are being difficult.  Then fold down the top or roll up the egg roll.  Add a little water to that last seam just by dipping your finger into the bowl of water and dabbing on the egg roll wrapper.  You don't need a lot.

Assemble all egg rolls and then heat about an inch of your favorite frying oil in the bottom of a skillet or fryer.  It should be around 375 degrees or pop when you add an egg roll.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side of the egg rolls depending on how brown you like them to be.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce.

My package of egg rolls wrappers had more than 16 I think so I doubled the recipe to fill them all.  They store well.  You can even freeze them but reheat in the oven, not the microwave or they will lose their crunch and be soggy and grosse!

Artichoke Stuffed Chicken with Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped canned artichoke hearts
1 Tbsp. basil
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 chicken breasts pounded

Pound out the chicken by placing the breast between two pieces of plastic wrap.  Then make a meat tenderizer and go at it.  Its great when you feel frustrated to let it out on a piece of chicken!

Combine cheese, artichoke hearts, basil, oregano, garlic, and salt. 

Spread cheese mixture in the middle of the chicken breast.  Not too much, about 2 tbsp. depending on the size of the chicken breast. 

Roll up the chicken breast with filling at center.  Roll up into plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 30 minutes or until ready to grill. 

Cook for 10 minutes on each side on grill or in a saucepan.  If on the grill turn down the temperature at the end and close the lid and cook for another 10 minutes.  I did mine on a saucepan because our grill ran out of propane and I put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees to make sure it was done in the middle. 

The internal temperature needs to be 170 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Serve with marinara sauce.  Delish!

Spaghetti Primavera

Spaghetti Primavera

Adapted from Rachel Ray

Ingredients:
5 cups chicken broth and another 1/2 cup for later
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. minced garlic
1 pound spaghetti (I broke the spaghetti sticks in half because they would not fit in my skillet otherwise.)
1 onion thinly sliced
1 zucchini chopped into thin sticks
1/2 cup carrots cut into thin sticks
(It would be better to error on more veggies than less in my book.)
2 tsp. thyme (I used crushed because its what I had, fresh would of course be best.)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup parmigan cheese (fresh is best)
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley chopped

Directions:

In a saucepan simmer the broth over medium heat.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat the olive oil with the butter over medium-high heat.  Stir in the garlic and the spaghetti and toast lightly for about two minutes.  Add the onion, carrots, zucchini, and thyme.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the veggies soften a little, but are still firm.   (About five minutes.)  Add the 1/2 cup broth and cook until completely absorbed. 

Cook like you're making a risotto and add broth a little at a time until absorbed and spaghetti is al dente.  This takes about 12 minutes. 

Stir in the cream, parsley, and the cheese and stir until combined.  Serve.

Birthday Feast Recipes

My Husband just had his 30th birthday and since that is about when his family has their metabolism slow down I made him his last feast.  From now on we have to both be more careful about what we eat.

We started out the morning with:

Pecan Stuffed Waffles and Bacon

    These weren't fabulous after-all so I'm going to play with the recipe before I post anything.

Then for dinner I made him

Teriyaki Chicken and Veggie Kabobs-

      Just cut up how ever many breasts of chicken up into big chunks and marinade in your favorite teriyaki sauce overnight.  Then skewer on kabob sticks and grill for about five minutes on each side with the lid of your grill down.  So good!

(Sorry, about the picture.  These are the day after leftovers.)

     For the veggies I cut up a red onion, peppers, zucchini, and potatoes into chunks, skewered them, drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled them with kosher salt, and grilled those.  They take a little longer than the chicken does. 

Fruit Kabobs with Nutella Dip

Nutella Dip

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Nutella

1 package cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup whipped cream, whipped

Beat the Nutella and cream cheese together until smooth.  Then add the powdered sugar and then the whipped cream.  Serve with any type of fruit, pretzels, bread, or cookies.  I had a friend at dinner who ate a grilled zucchini and onion with it.  Anything goes good with Nutella.

Pasta Salad with Feta-

    I kind of based this recipe off of a pasta salad, but I can't find it on the person's blog anymore.  I changed it so much because we like different ingredients.

You'll need:

     1 12 oz. package tri colored pasta, cooked and drained

     1/2 cup red onion, finely diced

     1/2 cup  fresh Parmesan cheese

    4 Tbsp. basil pesto

     1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts (about 1 cup)  Mine were a little big so I cut them in half

    2/3 cup Caesar dressing

     Feta Cheese to sprinkle on top (optional)

Cook the pasta and then coat with Caesar dressing and pesto while its warm.  Then just add the rest of the ingredients and serve immediately.  Its really better warm.  Other ingredients you could add are: olives, diced Roma tomatoes, or toasted pine nuts.

    

Cheesy Garlic Bread Swirls

        These are courtesy of the blog Best Bites.  Seriously one of my favorite food blogs.  They have the best food on there.  They are also hilarious.  The only thing I have to say about these Rolls is they don't say how much of the spice to use... don't use the whole spice recipe!  I did the first time with disastrous results.  I just spread the butter on the dough and then sprinkled the garlic spice mix lightly on top, added the cheese, and rolled it up and they were amazing this time!

Following with:

Chocolate Mousse Cake

    Another Best Bites recipe.  My husband doesn't like toffee though so I sprinkled the top with chopped up Oreos instead.  I also didn't level the cakes because I'm lazy.

The Mousse was tricky.  Follow the instructions exactly!

Two Recipes- Wild Rice Potato Soup and Linguine with Garlic Sauce

Potato Wild Rice Soup

Adapted from Taste of Home cookbook Simple & Delicious

Ingredients:

1 package long grain and wild rice mix

2 cups diced potatoes (I used Yukon Gold)

½ cup diced onion

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8 ounces Velveeta, cubed

½ pound bacon cooked and diced

In a large saucepan cook potatoes, onion, and rice mix in the chicken broth for as long as the instructions on the rice say and until the potatoes are tender.

Add milk, cream of mushroom soup, and Velveeta.  Stir until smooth.  Serve with bacon as a garnish.

I also added cooked corn to mine, but you don’t have to.

Linguine with Garlic Sauce

Adapted from Taste of Home cookbook Simple & Delicious

Ingredients:

Small box of uncooked linguine

½ pound cooked bacon, diced

5 cups fresh baby spinach

½ cup chopped ion

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 1-4 cups milk

1 package of cream cheese, cubed

2 Tbsp. butter

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp pepper

1 small jar artichoke hearts (optional)

Cook linguine according to package directions. 

Meanwhile, heat 2 Tbsp. of olive oil in a small pan.  Sauté the spinach, onion, and garlic until tender.  About 2 minutes.  Add the milk, cream cheese, butter, salt, nutmeg, and pepper.  Stir until smooth.  Stir in the bacon and the artichoke hearts. 

Drain pasta and toss with sauce.