Week 5~ Lustful Creamy Chicken Fettuccine

 Monday's in our house have traditionally been a pasta dinner night. Sooooooo, I found an interesting twist for a chicken alfredo in a great cookbook titled "Bite Me." ( Gotta love that title for a cookbook) I will definitely be making this recipe again!

Marinade 4 boneless chicken breasts with the following: ( for one pound fettucini)

2 TBS olive oil

1 large clove garlic

2 TBS lemon juice

1/2 dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Tomato cream sauce:

2TBS olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2- 14 oz cans of italian stewed tomatoes, pureed

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup heavy cream ( I used half and half)

1 cup fresh parmesan cheese 

fresh ground black pepper

Allow chicken to marinate at least 30 minutes before grilling. Cook as desired. Set aside and keep warm; slice or dice the chicken.

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook fettucine as directed.

For sauce, heat olive oil over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Cook until softened.

Stir in pureed tomatoes and add red pepper flakes, cook for 10 minutes.

Turn heat to LOW and add cream. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese, season with pepper.

*Note: I drained the pasta and kept it separate from the sauce, added the sliced grilled chicken to the sauce. This would allow you to add as much chicken/sauce to your pasta.

Bellisimo!! :)

It's the Weekend !!! Here's an appetizer for you!

And guess what? Somebody cooked for ME !!! But I couldn't resist the temptation to make a new appetizer! Easy and colorful, this made me wish for summer even more.....

Isn't this pretty?? I went to our local farmer's market and they had fresh basil and grape tomatoes. I cubed mozzerella cheese and with a toothpick, created these adorable little Caprese Salad bites!!
Drizzled with some olive oil, these little bites were a perfect appetizer as a  starter for our amazing german dinner we had cooked for us!!

Roasted Goose, mashed potatoes, apple stuffing and an amazing cabbage dish! :)

Week 4~Green-Chili Pulled Pork Sandwiches

This recipe comes from my Slow Cooker Bible! Soooooooo easy and delicious!!

3-4 pounds pork loin or shoulder
ground black pepper
1 can( 14 oz) of diced tomatoes w/green chilies ( I used Rotelle)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 water
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp chili garlic sauce

Also need: hard rolls, 1/2 cup sour cream, and and avocado

1. Season pork with black pepper and place in crockpot.

2. Combine can of tomatoes w/chilies, onion, water, cumin, garlic, and chili sauce in  bowl.

3. Pour over pork and cook on low for 7-8 hrs or until pork shreds easily when poked with a fork.

4. Shred pork. Serve on rolls topping with sour cream and a few slices of avocado.

This combo was really tasty! It was a spicy pulled pork dish and the sour cream and avocado really added an interesting taste to the sandwich. I was pleasantly surprised that we all enjoyed it. Served with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli.
PS~ those of you who know me, can you guess the secret ingredient in the MASHED POTATOES??

Week 4 ~ Beef with Orange-Chili Sauce

SURPRISE!!! I am showing off a dinner on the first day of a new week! Do any of you like to stir-fry? This is super yummy if you make it with homemade fried rice. What do you think?

Make a sauce:
1/3 cup of chicken or beef stock
2 TBS soy sauce
some zest from your orange
2 TBS cornstarch

Mix these together and set aside.

4 TBS vegetable oil
12 dried red chili peppers
1 carrot, peeled and cut into long strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 lb flank steak or london broil sliced thin
1 orange ( I tried clementines and they were good!)
3 green onions thinly sliced

Saute the dried red chili peppers in oil until they turn dark red; remove from oil and set aside.

Saute carrots and red bell peppers until tender; set aside with chili peppers.

Add meat, cook briefly 2-3 minutes. Then add your sauce.

You may need to add more oil to the pan. Toss in all the vegetables.

Add the green onion and orange, once the sauce is thickened.

Serve over rice~

Week 3~ Sausage and Tortellini Soup

This is a very delicious soup! I have a FAVORITE cookbook called "Dancing on the Table". I have not tried a recipe that I did not like. It was relatively easy to make.  The first picture is the sausage that I cooked with the vegetables. I love all the colors !!

This is the soup with the tortellinis added. I made a crusty french bread to serve with it in my breadmaker. :)
I was unsure about a full tablespoon of both basil and oregano, but surprisingly, this really made the soup have a very unique flavor.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb sweet Italian sausage , casing removed
1 cup chopped onion
2 large cloves garlic, minced
5 cups beef stock
2 cups chopped tomatoes
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 small squash.(zucchini or yellow) quartered and sliced
1 carrot, diced
1 medium sized green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red wine :)
2 TBS dried basil
2 TBS dried oregano
10 ounces of cheese tortellini
grated parmesan cheese

1~ saute the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, for 10 minutes, breaking up the meat. Add the onion and the garlic, cook for 5 more minutes.
2~ add tomatoes, squash, carrot, green bell pepper until slightly tender.
3~ add beef stock, tomato sauce, red wine, basil and oregano.
4~ reduce heat and cook on low for 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
5~ turn up heat and add tortellini; cook approx 8 minutes or until tortellini is al dente.

Serve this in shallow soup bowls and garnish with parmesan cheese!! YUMMY

Week 3~ Preview for tonight's dinner :Beef Bourguignon

So, today I chose a modernized recipe for Julia Child's famous "Beef Bourguignon". I found it in my Slow Cooker Bible cookbook and it smells AMAZING!!

Some preparation pics for you! Doesn't this beef look delicious?!?

It took me approx 30 minutes to prepare, but I think it will be well worth it by dinner time!!

Here's the recipe:
6 strips bacon
3 pounds beef rump roast, cut into one inch cubes
1 large carrot, sliced ( I used approx 10 baby carrots)
1 medium onion, sliced
3 TBS flour
10 ounces condensed beef broth
2 cups of red wine ( LOVE IT !! )
10 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound small white onions (I used frozen pearl onions)
1 TBS tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 whole bay leaf

1. Cook bacon in skillet until crisp; remove and set aside.
2. Brown beef cubes in same skillet, place in crockpot.
3. Brown onion and carrots in skillet. Transfer to crockpot and season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir in flour, add beef broth and stir in bacon.
5. Add wine, mushrooms, pearl onions, tomato paste, garlic, thyme and bay leaf.

Cover and cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours.

It was DELICIOUS!! :)

Week 2- Creole Pork Chops

So, a yummy bread calls for a delicious dinner to go with!! What do you think? We are also hooked on basmati rice. These pork chops are soooooooo easy to make, yet look pretty impressive, con't you think?

Week 2- Cheddar-Sriracha Swirl Bread

Do you like spicy?? Well this bread has it! Our oldest son got us hooked on this spice. So much that we found him an entire cookbook with Sriracha sauce recipes. This was the first one we tried and it was DELICIOUS!!

Week 1 - Lemon-Orange Chicken

This was a very yummy, orange flavored stir-fry. My kids LOVE Asian food, so I try to make things I think they will enjoy!