Cajun Chicken Pasta

I originally saw this recipe on Pinterest from the blog SkinnyTaste with pictures that are obviously way prettier than my cell phone shots.  I made a few changes - left out mushrooms and used spaghetti noodles instead of linguine, marinaded the chicken, etc.

 

Ingredients

1.5 lb Chicken breast tenders

2/3 box Dreamfields Spaghetti Noodles

1/3 C milk

3 T cream cheese

1 T flour

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 clove elephant garlic, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 C chicken broth 

3 scallions chopped

olive oil

Salt

Cajun seasoning

Garlic powder

First I coated chicken breast tenders in cajun seasoning, garlic powder and salt and refrigerated for several hours.

Blend together flour, milk and cream cheese.  I used my nutribullet for this step but you could do in a blender or by hand.

In large frying pan, cook chicken tenders and set aside.  This took me 6-7 minutes and I just cooked it til the tenders were cooked through and slightly blackened.  Set aside.

Cook noodles according to package instructions.

Add olive oil to pan, then add peppers, onions & garlic and saute over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.  Sprinkle with cajun seasoning, salt, and garlic powder.

Add tomatoes and cook for 3-4 additional minutes.

Add chicken broth and milk mixture and stir together for a few minutes.  More cajun seasoning, salt and garlic powder.  Reduce heat.

Add chicken and let cook over low heat a few more minutes.

Strain noodles and add to pan.  Mix all ingredients together.

Top with scallions.

 

 

Bacon Pesto Gnocchi

I tried a new recipe last week that was delicious.  I know it was good because not only did I like it, but Eric had gone back for seconds before I'd even finished mine.  This recipe was posted earlier this week on Kevin & Amanda's blog.  You can find another of my favorite recipes here - Spicy Sausage Pasta- which I also got from their blog.  Anyhow, I love gnocchi.  I love bacon.  And I love pesto so I knew this was the perfect recipe for me.

Ingredients:

1 pkg gnocchi (I used whole wheat)

8 slices bacon 

1/4 C pesto (find my pesto recipes here:  basil pesto or kale pesto)

1 C chicken broth

1-2 T butter

1/4 C heavy cream

Parmesan shavings 

First cook your bacon.  I baked the bacon in the oven for the first time ever.  I had been seeing people do this on blogs and Pinterest a lot lately.  400 degrees for 20 minutes and no grease splatter issues.  When bacon is cooked, crumble and set aside.

Mix pesto and chicken broth together. 

Melt butter in a large pan.

Add gnocchi to pan and cook approximately 5 minutes.

Add broth/pesto mixture and bacon.

Bring to a simmer,  reduce heat & cover.

Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Remove from heat & stir in cream.

Sprinkle with Parmesan shavings.

Italian Pasta Bake

I needed a simple dish to make for dinner last night since I was between two nights of working and this is what I came up with.

Ingredients

1 box rotini noodles

1 lb hot Italian sausage

1 jar sauce, I used spicy red pepper blend

Bread crumbs

Parmesan & mozzarella 

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

Brown meat.

Add sauce to meat and simmer together for a few minutes. 

Add pasta to meat mixture. Mix together.

Spread in a 9x13 dish.

Top with bread crumbs and Parmesan & mozzarella cheeses.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. 

Macaroni & Cheese

My mom used to make this macaroni when I was a kid and it is so good.  Of course when I was little I preferred the fake cheesy stuff from the box.  Now I know that this is much better.  My mom never makes it anymore so I made it for Thanksgiving.  My dad and brother were pretty excited, especially when there were plenty of leftovers.  I will tell you that this makes a HUGE portion.  Half of the recipe definitely makes more than enough for a family of 4.  I think the portion must be so large because growing up my mom's family had 6 kids and 2 adults to feed.  The whole portion makes a 9x13 pan (a deep one at that - I use a Le Creuset stoneware dish), half portion can fit in an 8x8 square pan.    

  Ingredients 6 cups uncooked macaroni noodles 1 stick butter 1/2 C flour 4 C milk 1 T onion flakes 1  T worschestire  1/8 tsp garlic powder 1/8 tsp pepper 16 oz American cheese or mild cheddar
Cook noodles according to package instructions. Melt butter. Add flour and stir together until mixed.


Add milk, onion flakes, Worcestershire,  garlic powder & pepper.  I never measure these ingredients and I definitely think I use more garlic powder and pepper than called for. Heat mixture over medium high heat until boiling and thickened, stirring constantly. Add 1/2 of cheese to mixture and stir until melted. Strain macaroni and stir together with sauce.  Spread in casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.   Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.


 

It Doesn't Get Much Simpler than Baked Spaghetti

This will be a quick little post because this is a pretty simple dish.  For some reason I thought about how I used to make this all the time when I lived at the 201 and that I haven't had it forever so we had it for dinner Monday & Tuesday. 

Ingredients
Spaghetti Noodles
Sauce - any sauce will do, Eric made homemade tomato meat sauce on Sunday. 
Italian Cheese Blend

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions.  Heat Sauce.  Mix together noodles & sauce.  Spread in a baking dish.  Top with cheese.  Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted & dish is warmed through. 

Smart me...I forgot the end picture which is kind of what makes the dish.  This picture is pre-cheese & baking.  We actually made the spaghetti and put it in the dish the night before and then baked it on Monday so ours had to cook for a little longer than if you just bake it right after you make it.
 

Eric's Tomato Sauce

Eric has made homemade tomato sauce a few times recently.   This recipe is a work in progress as it gets adapted a little bit each time.  You can adjust the amount of tomato paste & cooking time depending on how thick you want the sauce to be.  The pictures below are a thicker sauce.

 

Ingredients
1/2 C grated parmesan/romano cheese blend
15 basil leaves
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C onion, diced
Heat 1 T olive oil.
1 T tomato paste (or more for thicker sauce)
10-12 whole peeled tomatoes (see bottom for how to peel tomatoes)
1 C red wine
1 dried oregano
S&P  

 

  Heat olive oil in pan. Combine garlic & onion. Saute for 2 minutes. Crush tomatoes, you can do this just by squeezing in your hand. Add tomatoes, fresh basil, tomato paste, oregano, red wine, cheese, salt & pepper. Simmer for 30-60 minutes depending on how thick you want the sauce to be.  

     We ate this a few weeks ago on our sausage & peppers and we are using it for our baked spaghetti tomorrow.  If you make a big batch of sauce you can freeze some for later use.   

 (above picture is a meat version of the sauce)

Tips on peeling tomatoes...  

 

1. Boil pot of water.
2. Place tomatoes in water for approximately 30 seconds.
3. Wait until tomatoes cool.
4. Core the potatoes by cutting the middle out with a knife & peel tomatoes with your hands.  When you cut the core out the skin will come off fairly easily.

Tortellini Salad

If you read my pumpkin dip post you already know my Gramma was in town a few weeks back so I was cooking some things for a potluck at my parents.  The second dish I made was a tortellini salad.  I saw a picture of this on Pinterest and adapted it from this recipe on the Dream Home Cooking Girl blog.  

 

Ingredients
1 20 oz pkg refrigerated cheese tortellini
3/4 cup cherry or other small tomatoes, halved (I used currant tomatoes)
1 C fresh mozzarella, cubed
1 1/2 C mini pepperonis

1/4 C fresh basil, chopped
3/4 C creamy Caesar dressing

    Cook tortellini in salted water according to package instructions.   When finished cooking, strain from water and rinse under cold water.  

  Mix tomatoes, mozzarella, basil & pepperoni in bowl.  

  Mix tortellini and tomato mixture together in large bowl.  

  Top with Caesar dressing and stir together.  

  Allow time to refrigerate before serving so that flavors can meld together.     I tasted this as soon as it was finished and then I ate it the next day.  It definitely tastes better the second day once all the flavors are mixed together.  I got a lot of compliments on this past and it was pretty simple.  I'll definitely make it again.    

Meal Planning Monday!

Today I will share our menu for the week and review last week's plan and how we did with it.  

Monday: Salad with Grilled Flank Steak & Luscious Lemon Cake

Eric's mom's birthday was Friday and we had her over for dinner tonight to celebrate since I worked all weekend.  Check back tomorrow for the Luscious Lemon Cake recipe...

Tuesday: Steak Salad Take 2
We have leftovers and the flank steak is so good so we are going to eat it again.

Wednesday: Sausage & Pepper Sandwiches
With the leftover sausage & peppers from Sunday.

Thursday: Bowling Alley

Friday: Zuppa Toscana
I am going to attempt to copycat the Olive Garden recipe.

Saturday:  Going out to dinner!  May switch with Friday.

Sunday: Grilled Pizza
Not sure what flavor yet, probably either BBQ Chicken or Buffalo Chicken

  Last week in review...  

Monday Plan: Baked Ziti

We had baked ziti Monday night.  I made this recipe up myself and it doesn't use ricotta since Eric doesn't like it.  It has chicken sausage and spinach in it and is so flavorful.  I made it in 2 pans and delivered one frozen to friends who just had a baby.  We had some garlic breadsticks with this dinner too.

Tuesday Plan: Scwhan's Chicken Enchiladas

This was a frozen dinner that had been in our freezer for a little bit.  Just popped it in the oven about an hour.  It's no homemade enchiladas but not bad at all.

Wednesday: Leftover Baked Ziti 

Thursday: Dinner at the bowling alley

Friday Plan:  Gnocchi
The plan was gnocchi but we had Chipotle instead.  With it being Eric's mom's birthday, we wanted to stop by and bring her her birthday present before I had to go to work which doesn't leave much time for cooking. 

Saturday Plan:  Mom & Dad's

My Gramma was in town so we went to my parent's house to visit before I had to head to work.  We had BBQ, tortellini salad, etc.  I made this Pumpkin Dip which was so good.  I also made a Tortellini Salad which I will post a recipe for down the road sometime.

Sunday Plan: Banh Mi
We didn't have Banh Mi.  Nunnie, a family friend of Eric's makes the best sausage & peppers we have both ever eaten.  Well she was kind enough to share her recipe with us - although it's her secret so I won't be sharing it on this blog.  But I promise you it is amazing.  Eric made this Saturday while I was sleeping and then on Sunday he cooked the gnocchi and we had gnocchi with sausage & peppers.  He also made his own tomato sauce and I will try to come back and share that recipe later this week as he took pictures of his cooking process & wrote his recipe down as he went for me!

Overall we didn't do too badly this week.  We made one substitution of the sausage & pepper gnocchi for the banh mi and we ate out once when we planned a meal for home. 

 

Meal Planning Monday!

  There is no meal plan to review for last week since we were on vacation.  But this is the plan for the upcoming week.  It is subject to change as always.  I'll post a review next week.

Monday: Baked Ziti with Chicken Sausage & Spinach

This has been one of my most viewed recipes on the blog and one of the first recipes I ever posted.  I am making it today in 2 square pans instead of a large rectangle one so I can freeze half for my friend's C&T who had a baby last night

Tuesday: Scwhan's Chicken Enchiladas

We have had this enchilada meal from Schwan's in our freezer for a while so we are going to cook it for dinner tonight.  And by cook it I mean heat it up.  Easy peasy!

Wednesday: Leftover Baked Ziti 

Thursday: Dinner at the bowling alley

Friday:  Gnocchi
With homemade noodles/gnocchi.

Saturday:  Mom & Dad's

My Gramma is in town from Florida for one day only so my parents are having people over Saturday afternoon to visit.  I have to work but we are going to try to head over there for a little bit before and we will eat while we are there.

Sunday: Banh Mi
I couldn't begin to tell you how to make this but we had Banh Mi from a food truck back in July and it was so good.  Eric immediately researched multiple recipes for making it.  He made one a couple months back with pork tenderloin and now he said he has a recipe with ground pork that he wants to try.  If you live in Charlottesville check out the Hanu Food Truck.  Soooo good!

 

Shrimp & Chorizo Pasta

As with most of my new recipes, I found this one on Pinterest and  I had everything on hand except for the chorizo.  If you live nearby I highly recommend you try Croftburn Market for different kind of sausages or any meat really.  So I ran by there and picked up some chorizo.  I love both shrimp & sausage so I have been meaning to try this recipe for a while.  Here's my version...

Ingredients

 1/2 lb penne pasta

2 T olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 links chorizo (or 2 or 4!)

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 C chicken broth

1 tsp cornstarch

1. Prepare pasta according to package instructions.

2. Cook chorizo, if it is not already cooked when you purchase it.  I ground mine up because it was easier.  But you could also cut it in slices as is done in the original recipe.  I just browned it up in the same pan and set it aside on a plate while I did the next step.

3. Place olive oil in skillet.  When warm, add garlic and cook a minute or so until golden.  

4. Add chorizo and cook for additional 5 minutes.

5. Add shrimp and cook until slightly pink.

6. Add chicken broth and simmer for a few minutes.

7. Add cornstarch to thicken the liquid slightly.

8. Mix shrimp mixture with pasta in a bowl and serve.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

On my way home from work this morning I was able to swing by the store and pick up a few things I needed to make this spicy sausage pasta.  I originally found it here on Kevin & Amanda's blog then later ended up buying the America's Test Kitchen The Best Simple Recipes Cookbook where the recipe originally came from and have made several very good meals from it.  If you are looking for a new cookbook, I would recommend it as the recipes are easy and often can be made in one pot/pan which saves a lot of time on cleanup (my least favorite part, especially since we don't have a dishwasher).  Anyways, back to the spicy sausage pasta,  here's my version...

Ingredients

1 T olive oil

1 lb smoked sausage (I used turkey)

1.5 C onion, diced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

2 C chicken broth, (I used low sodium)

1 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilis (Rotel)

1/2 C heavy cream

1 pkg penne pasta

S&P to taste

1.5 C pepperjack cheese

1/3 C scallions, sliced

Slice sausage into pieces.

Heat oil in dutch oven.  Add sausage and onion.  Cook until lightly browned.

Add garlic.  Cook for another 30-60 seconds.

Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, and S&P and stir together.  Bring to a boil.

Cover and reduce heat to medium.  Cook approximately 15 minutes or until pasta is tender.

Stir in 3/4 C cheese.  Top with remaining cheese and scallions.

Broil for 5 minutes or so until cheese is melted.