Blog Closed Indefinitely

....due to life being completely taken over by graduate school...

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

I know, I know. Bacon. Alfredo. Pasta. Not the healthiest dinner in the world. But it was yummy! The inspiration for this recipe actually came from DH. We were at the grocery store, and he told me he wanted chicken, bacon pasta with a ranch sauce. So I thought for a second, and this is the recipe I came up with. I didn't want the sauce to taste like ranch dressing right out of the bottle, so I decided to put ranch seasoning into alfredo sauce. DH thought it wasn't ranch-y enough, but I liked it.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning

1 jar alfredo sauce (or homemade)

1/2 lb bacon, fried and crumbled. (I fried up the whole pound, and saved the other half for a different meal)

8 ounces rotini pasta, cooked to package directions

olive oil

2 garlic cloves minced

dried parsley, as garnish

salt and pepper to taste

Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil with 1 tablespoon Ranch seasoning.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Brush on chicken. Let marinate for about 15 minutes.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in medium size pan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

Brown chicken and cook thoroughly, about 7 minutes each side. Slice when cooked.

In a saucepan, simmer alfredo sauce. Add remaining Ranch seasoning to sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Heat through.

Top pasta with sauce, then chicken, then bacon. Sprinkle parsley on top.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza With Fresh Basil

My sister works at a nursing home as an activities coordinator. Her residents planted a garden this summer, and as a result, I have received a bunch of herbs! I love basil, it is my favorite herb, so I was pretty excited to get a bunch of it. I really wanted to make a white pizza with it. Unfortunately, DH is the type to look at a pizza with no sauce, and no meat, and would say "Wow, great garlic bread. Now what's for dinner?" And to be honest, I kinda think that way too. What can I say, we like meat! So the white pizza evolved into a chicken pizza. And then I got adventurous. I decided to make my own alfredo sauce. I looked at a few recipes and came up with one that used what I had in my fridge. It turned out really good! We loved this pizza!

Of course, I used a TON of garlic. Feel free to cut back if its not your thing. It wasn't super garlic-y, at least, not to us! I used about 1/2 cup of the sauce, and we both agreed it could have used a little bit more. Use your judgment!

Chicken Alfredo Pizza With Fresh Basil
Chicken:
4 chicken tenders (or equivalent in boneless/skinless chicken breast)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons dried basil (estimated)
salt/pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups half and half (This is what I started with. It was really thick and I ended up adding a few more tablespoons at the end)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt/pepper to taste

Pizza:
1 tube pizza dough
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 sprigs of fresh basil, coarsely chopped

Heat tablespoon of oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 cloves chopped garlic.
Add chicken, season with basil, salt and pepper.
Cook until chicken is done, about 4 minutes each side.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add minced garlic and saute for about a minute.

Whisk in flour. Let cook for a minute.

Whisk in half and half.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 2 minutes, stirring, until it thickens.

Add cheese, salt and pepper.

Stir until cheese is melted, simmer another 2 minutes to let flavors combine.

Spread pizza dough out to desired thickness.

Spread minced garlic on dough.

Spread desired amount of sauce onto pizza dough.

Slice chicken on an angle into thin stripes and sprinkle onto pizza.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella, covering chicken.

Sprinkle fresh basil on top of cheese.

Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes; or follow directions on pizza dough.

Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Cocktail Meatballs

I made these meatballs last week for a potluck at work. I have wanted to make them for a long time and just never really had a chance to. They were a hit! I think I only had eight left. You can also make them with lil' smokies or sliced kielbasa/smoked sausage. I made them the night before and poured them into a large crockpot. I refrigerated them overnight. At work, I turned the crockpot on high about 2 hours before they were served.

Sweet and Sour Cocktail Meatballs

3-5 lbs of meatballs/lil' smokies/kielbasa (I used about 4lbs of frozen meatballs)

1 32 ounce jar of grape jelly

2 12 ounce jars of chili sauce (I used Heinz brand)

pinch of cayenne pepper, optional

Whisk jelly, chili sauce and cayenne in a large pot.

Bring to a boil and simmer until jelly is completely dissolved.

Add meatballs/smokies/kielbasa and simmer for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Recipe Credit: Kittencal on Recipezaar

Wild Blueberry Chicken Breasts and Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

For the first ingredient challenge on "What's Cooking?" the ingredient was blueberries. I can't say I was absolutely thrilled with this choice (no offense!). I do not make desserts, pies, breakfast-y stuff that blueberries are usually in very often. So I thought I would just sit this one out. But then I decided to look into what recipes are out there for a main dish. I found a few with chicken and decided to give it a go!

DH complained from the get-go that he was not going to like blueberries with his chicken. Now, DH is a converted picky eater. He sometimes forgets that he likes alot of things he didn't use to. So I made the recipe anyways.

It turned out pretty good! Different, yet tasty. Neither of us cared for the mushy texture of the blueberries, but if you don't simmer them as long as I did, they will probably be fine. I worried that the sauce would lose the blueberry-ness if I didn't simmer it enough. This was also my first time cooking with wine (I know, how could I have never cooked with wine before? Well, we are not big wine drinkers, therefore never have it in the house, nor do we search out dinner ideas with wine. So its just never happened.) I was surprised at how much I liked the flavor it gave the sauce! The whole dish was an experiment for me.

So while I will probably not make this dish again, I am glad I did. It was a step "out of the box" for us that turned out well!

I served Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with it. This was also a first for me. I was really happy with how it turned out! To the melting butter, I added half a clove of minced garlic (of course). And then decided that wasn't enough and added 1 1/2 more. But that's optional. I guess.

Wild Blueberry Chicken Breasts

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 3, because my stores only sell packages of 3)
1/2 teaspoon cajun spices (I just sprinkled it on)
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, diced
1/3 cup red wine (I ended up using 3/4 cup of Merlot because it wasn't saucy enough for me)
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt, if desired
salt and pepper, to taste

Dust chicken with the Cajun spices.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until brown and almost cooked through, about 7-10 minutes. If the breasts are thick, you can cover the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes longer.
Remove the breasts from the pan and keep warm.
In the same pan, sauté garlic and onion over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until transparent.
Add red wine and reduce until mostly evaporated.
Add blueberries, zest and salt.
Simmer for 5 minutes. If you are using frozen blueberries, be sure that they are heated through. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Take pan off the heat and let sit for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
Spoon mixture over chicken breasts and serve immediately.

Recipe Credit: Roosie on Recipezaar

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

4 cups thinly sliced potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated cheese, to sprinkle on top
paprika
(I added 2 cloves minced garlic)

In a small sauce pan, melt butter and blend in flour. (Add minced garlic to melted butter)
Let sit for a minute.
Add all of cold milk, stirring with a whisk.
Season with salt and cayenne.
Cook sauce on low until smooth and boiling, stirring occasionally with a whisk.
Reduce heat and stir in cheese.
Place a half of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased one quart casserole dish.
Pour half of cheese sauce over potatoes.
Repeat with second layer of potatoes and cheese sauce.
0Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Top with some paprika for color.
Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 350F.

Recipe Credit: Vicky G. on Recipezaar

Baked Chicken/Roasted Potatoes

One of my absolute favorite flavor combinations is garlic powder and seasoned salt. I don't know what it is, but it tastes good on everything. Meat, potatoes, vegetables, anything! Not the most sophisticated pairing, I know, but I never claimed to be sophisticated anyways.

While this recipe might not be very complicated, it is amazing and is perfect to make on a week day. It is in the oven in minutes, and comes out delicious everytime! Today, I made it for DH, my mom and a family friend. It worked out perfect, timing wise. Came home from work, threw it together, our company arrived, and we were able to catch up while it baked. The recipe is very versatile; use whatever spices and herbs you want, on both the chicken and the potatoes. I have even added parmesan cheese to the potatoes at times.




Baked Chicken

4 chicken breasts (bone in and skin on)
1/4 cup butter/margarine melted
garlic powder
seasoned salt
italian seasoning
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brush the chicken breasts with the butter (use all of it!)
Use as much or as little garlic powder and seasoned salt as you want (I use LOTS, surprise surprise).
I just sprinkle a little Italian seasoning on each chicken breast.
Place in shallow baking dish and bake for 50 minutes to an hour. Sometimes, if the chicken is not getting crispy, I will turn the broiler on at the end.

Roasted Potatoes

6 small/medium potatoes

garlic powder

seasoned salt

steak seasoning blend (I use McCormick)

1/4 cup butter/margarine melted

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cube the potatoes into bite sized pieces.

Drizzle olive oil onto a baking sheet.

Toss the potatoes in the oil.

Drizzle with melted butter.

Season with garlic and seasoned salt. I encourage a heavy hand!

Sprinkle with steak seasoning blend. More will make it pretty zesty.

Bake for approx. 40 minutes, until tender when poked with a fork, and crispy on the outside. Check halfway through and stir the potatoes a little to prevent sticking.

Barbeque Pork Sandwich

So because I just started this blog yesterday, I had huge plans for dinner today. We had half of that pork tenderloin left over. I was going to put it in the crock pot on my lunch today, with some homemade BBQ sauce, make a potato dish, try to be impressive. Well. It was Monday. Long day at work, didn't get to come home on my lunch after all. I can hear what you are thinking. "You could have still made the BBQ sauce." I thought I would! Until I walked in the door. And then I just didn't wanna. And I had such a good bottle of sauce sitting in the fridge, just waiting to be used. So I chopped the tenderloin, threw it in the pot, heated it up and poured half a bottle of sauce on it. I added some garlic powder, just cause I have to and simmered it about a half an hour, breaking up the meat as I went. I served it with some garlic and olive oil noodles. So, its not really a recipe, or very original. But it sure was tasty!