Quick Chicken Pasta

This is the type of meal my husband would throw together, but its the first time I've ever done it. It was one of those days where we're waiting on payday to replenish the fridge and pantry, but I still need a meal that is going to fill up two growing kiddos. I used only one chicken breast, made a basic pasta sauce based off my spaghetti recipe, and mixed it up with an entire package of penne pasta! The best part? It fed my family of four, plus there were left overs for at least another 5 servings! Yeay!!

So, if you want to make it too...
1 chicken breast, thawed, cut into bite size bits, browned in pan with black pepper and salt, set aside.
Boil pasta, drain.
While chicken and pasta are cooking, pour 12 oz tomato sauce in pan, season with oregano, basil, minced garlic, onion powder and thyme.
When pasta is done, mix chicken into sauce, pour over pasta, toss to coat, sprinkle mozzarella cheese all over, dinner is served!

Granola bars!

Last week, with the intent to control the ingredients and save a buck or two, I tried this snack - homemade granola bars!
I edited the recipe to be 1/2 cup pb, 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup cocoa powder.  I think her comment about cutting the honey is not actually a good idea. They are pretty dry... my daughter will not eat them and she would live off store granola bars if I let her. My husband said they taste good but need a few glasses of milk. My son and are working our way thru the pan. I think they make a decent breakfast!

They are cut into bars here, one cut down the long center and then every 2 inches or so across.

Summer Idea

Somehow we ended up with two open 2-liter bottles of root beer. Okay, I know how it happened but it was not really a good situation, lol.
The point is we ended up with flat root beer, which is not very tasty. But its been unusually hot around here. So I had an idea!

I poured the flat root beer into our little popsicle molds and THAT is a tasty way to cool off!

Grilled Chicken!

Last time I showed the yummy birthday treat. This was my husband's birthday dinner!

That's grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and mixed vegetables, with root beer! yum!

He made the chicken marinade based on what sounded good and what we had on hand.It turned out *really good! All of us enjoyed it. So that's today's recipe! You are welcome! haha!

He mixed together the following ingredients in a measuring cup:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup bbq sauce
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp garlic powder

Then he put three large chicken breasts into bag, poured the mixture over it, rubbed it all around, and allowed the chicken to marinate a bit. He put the chicken on the hot grill, squeezed the remaining marinate mixture into a bowl, and thinned it out with A1. And he brushed the mixture on a couple times while cooking. It was juicy and flavorful and delicious! I strongly recommend you give it a try!

S'mores Cookies!

So my husband's birthday is this weekend. He wouldn't make up his mind and tell me what kind of treat he would like us to make for him so my son and I sat down at the computer and started searching for a yummy sounding new treat. THIS is whaht we picked! This is a website my husband found (I've shared it before on this blog) so I figured that was a good place to start and we had the ingredients on hand to half this recipe! Yeay! haha!
And its a keeper!!

So you mix up the dough, press half of it into the pan. Then you dollop marshmallow creme over it...

 and sprinkle chocolate chips all over it...

 and then crumble/dollop the remaining cookie dough  on top of that!

 Stick it in the oven for a while and voila!

YUM.

Blueberry Muffins from Scratch!

This was my yummy Mother's Day Breakfast!

They look like bran muffins, but they're not. Its just dark from the blueberry pie filling they used! *grin

Like many things my husband makes (if there's a recipe involved) it comes from Alton Brown. Its in Good Eats 2: The Middle Years for those who wonder. If you want to look it up online the episode it comes from is "The Muffin Man Method". The substitutions involved came from the fact of that's what we had on hand.

And here's the recipe...

7 oz sugar

1/2 cup veg oil

1 large egg

1 cup plain yogurt (he used vanilla because that's what was in the house)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp orange zest (he forgot this part)

12 1/2 oz all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 heavy pinch kosher salt (regular old salt in this case)

8 oz fresh blueberries (used about a half a can of blueberry pie filling. Worked really well too!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, egg and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients reserving 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss with the blueberries. Stir mixture for a count of 10. Add 1 cup blueberries to mixture and stir 3 more times. Reserve the 1/2 cup of blueberries.

Using a #20 ice cream scoop, add the mixture to greased muffin pans. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of berries on top of muffins and press down lightly. Place into the oven and increase the temperature to 400 degrees. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove from oven and turn out, upside down on tea towel to cool completely. Serve immediately or store in airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

The link to the original recipe on the Food Network's website can be found HERE!

White Chicken Pizza

Tonight I tried a couple recipes from THIS site once again.
First I used their pizza crust recipe, and then I made the one titled "White Pizza with Chicken". To get to both recipes, click on step 2 and then choose Pizza for your Theme. Both recipes will be listed there.

I only needed 3 cups of flour, and I think stuff like that depends on the humidity level and whatever is in the air. So I did one cup wheat flour, then scooped about 3/4 cup wheat flour into the measuring cup, and topped it off with all-purpose flour, and the third cup was also all-purpose. I kneaded it right inside my bowl, instead of turning it out onto a floured counter. I also rolled it right on to my stone instead of rolling it out on the counter. I really don't like cleaning up, LOL!

Then, in following the pizza recipe, I spread the garlic butter all over the dough, and then baked it about 5 minutes, hoping it might set more, making it easier to spread the ricotta.
I did not mix the ricotta, parmesan and spices because when I complained about making lasagna, that seemed to be my biggest "error". Everyone else just tosses in this and that. So! I spread the ricotta, then sprinkled the parm, then sprinkled the spices.
I decided to use a can of chicken chunks for a couple of reasons...its quicker and easier, plus its cheaper to buy a can of chicken than to buy chicken breasts. So I drained the can, rinsed the chicken and crumpled it up? to make it lots of tiny shredded bits. I only used about half the 13oz can. Then I sprinkled on some mozzarella, and I didn't use anywhere near 3 cups worth! I had a package of 2 cups moz, that we'd already used some from, and I didn't use half of what was in the package. This is what it looked like ready to go in the oven...

and here it is, ready to eat!

I liked it just fine, but I think I would bake it at 350 or 375 so that it cooked more evenly throughout. My son ate without complaint or compliment, lol. My daughter told me that it was "good, but please don't make it again." haha!

Pretzelmaker at home!

Pretzelmaker is my very favorite mall food.
THIS is a darn close imitation, and can be made at home!
(which I'm sure is JUST what I need...hahaha!)
I intended to take pictures of the process but um...that didn't happen. Then I didn't get a picture of the finished product either! They were devoured much too quickly! 

These are about to be boiled...!

....I'll add pictures the next time I make it! hee hee!
Until then, here's my husband's tip. We made salted pretzel bites, parmesan pretzel bites and cinnamon/sugar pretzel bites, as per each of our personal orders, lol. The first pan he brushed with butter and salted...but we were on our way out the door and wanted our pretzels to go with us. We put them in brown paper lunch sacks to go. So for the other flavors, he brushed them with butter, put them in the sack and sprinkled the parmesan or the cinnamon/sugar straight into the bag and shook it up! Ready to go and soooo yummy!

Make your own Quiznos!

Once again, friends to the rescue, when it comes to dinner ideas!
A while ago, my friend told me about this idea she'd done for dinner. I asked her to email me the exact instructions, and then we gave it a try this past week. Here's what she said:

Just got some french bread. Cut it in half. Piled one half high with turkey from the deli and the other side I put probably a half pound of Muenster cheese and half pound of provolone. (I know, LOTS of cheese)

Then I had my oven on about 400 or so, maybe 425 and stuck them on the same cookie sheet, like two open faced sandwiches (does that make sense) and toasted them until the cheese looked melted and then I switched it to broil for about 3 minutes, until the cheese starts to bubble.

After it's been out of the oven just long enough I flip the cheese side onto the turkey side, the turkey side will fall apart if you try to flip that.

I got the french bread and deli turkey and deli ham...and I used the shredded cheeses we had in the house - cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan. Here's how mine turned out:

 and then I cut it into 3rds, (only 3 of us home that night) served it with apples (and lettuce...) and there was dinner!

A twist on french toast!

Here is another recipe from THIS website. This one is easy to find, click on step two and every single time I've visited, this is the first recipe shown! Its called Croissant French Toast. The recipe says you can use a loaf of french bread instead of croissants, and that's what I did - mostly because French Bread is cheaper!

So here's the process....

 and the finished product...

the edits...

I added an egg because the first egg cracked somehow inside the box so I hurried and flipped the box over the bowl and think I got about half an egg... so I had 3 and a half, lol. I left out the sauce because I was totally out of berries. *sniff... That extra half an egg had a LOT of batter left over and I really hate to throw away food so I ended up making 9 bread "sandwiches", instead of the four croissants it says. So all the berries went inside the sandwiches! LOL!
Also, if I make it again, I will half the butter/oil they cooked in. Or use a large electric skillet instead of my frying pan. That was waaay too much.

and the mixed reviews....
I thought it was just fine. It would be super tasty with whipped cream, like when I get berry covered waffles at the diner? lol. And I bet it would have been dreamy with the sauce.
Both of my kids told me it smelled "amazing" and "like heavenly deliciousness" but when they started eating, thought the berries were too sour and the sandwiches were yucky. sad!

My husband thought it was a "good different", and pretty much felt exactly how I did about it.
So if you're looking for a new idea, its worth a try! But no one in my family is going to request it often.

Key Lime Cheesecake

I have mentioned time and again that my husband is an amazing cook. And that he spoils me. My birthday was this week and he happened to see some Key Lime juice at the store the week before, so he made me a Key Lime cheesecake for my birthday cake! YUM!

The recipe he used came from allrecipes.com, and we printed it in July of 2006. So since I don't know if you can still find it, I'm just going to type the recipe and instructions here.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tbsp butter, melted
24 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 eggs
1 tbsp grated lime zest
2/3 cup key lime juice

Combine graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate.
In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer, the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not over beat or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake at 300 degrees F for 55-65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking.
Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in over 30 minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven. Refrigerate cake overnight and up to 3 days.

He even whipped up his own sauce to balance the tartness of the lime! In a mug he mixed some homemade strawberry jam with a little water, a little butter and a little milk, heated in the microwave and mixed with a spoon til smooth. It made maybe 1/3 cup worth of this syrup, and it really is the perfect complement to the cake.
Pretty sure my husband is the best! *grin!

A different lasagna!

I have now entered the world of Pinterest, have you? That is how I found THIS new dinner idea!

We used ground beef instead of chicken becuase we have more beef right now, lol. It was not a hit, but it was okay. It needed more flavor....but maybe feta is a super flavorful cheese? I used shredded mozzarella in place of the feta. My husband thought it needed salt in the mix, but that's not in the recipe. I used my own spaghetti sauce instead of Prego... I'm not sure what we should have done, lol, but it was filling and reasonably nutritious.

If you make it with chicken and feta, let me know how it turns out! :)