Bruschetta chicken pasta!

I've been craving something and not knowing what it was for days. Tonight, I figured it out! It's this pasta.

You're going to need :

3 chicken breasts, sliced
Angel hair pasta

Bruschetta :

3 large tomatoes, chopped
20 fresh basil leaves, chopped
3 garlic cloves, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
A few dashes of pepper
A dash of salt

Balsamic drizzle :

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cups packed brown sugar

Before you do anything else chop up all of your bruschetta ingredients and go ahead and prepare your bruschetta and set it to the side.

Pull out a big skillet and heat up about 1 tbsp of olive oil. Once your oil is heated up, toss in your chicken.

While your chicken is cooking, start your water for your pasta. Cook as much pasta as you'll need for your meal. We are only 2 people so we don't need very much.

In another saucepan add the ingredients for your glaze and heat on medium low heat. Once it starts bubbling take it down to simmer for about 2 minutes then remove from heat.

Your chicken should be about done by now. If it is add your bruschetta to the skillet with your chicken and just heat it for about a minute. You don't want your tomatoes to get mushy.

Drain your pasta and serve it out, then top with your chicken and bruschetta mix, drizzle your balsamic glaze, and if your feeling frisky add some shredded mozzarella cheese on top.

This is literally the only picture I have of this meal due in large part to the fact that we devoured it!

Chicken & white bean chili

You know those recipes that say add a dash of this and a splash of that? This is one of those recipes. Also, if you're looking for something healthy.. LOOK AWAY! This is in no way for the "health nut", but I went to the gym so it's ok, right? Right.


Let's get to this.

What you'll need :

3 chicken breasts
3 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
Around 32 ounces of chicken broth
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
1 onion, diced (pick your poison on this, I used a sweet onion"
1 bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded & diced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups corn

Spices:
Adobo
Black pepper
Chili powder
Salt
Cumin
Garlic powder



Alright, what you're going to do first is one of these options, either pre-heat your oven and bake your chicken breasts OR boil them in a big pot. You're just wanting them to be cooked so that you can shred them. I baked mine, if you want to make it exactly how I did.

NEXT! Get out a big pot. Go ahead and heat up your vegetable oil and saute your pepper and onion. One they are nice and cooked (your onions are pretty transparent), toss in the diced jalapeño and the diced tomatoes. Once you start to smell the jalapeño add your cannellini beans, chicken broth, cream cheese, and spices. With the spices I basically just added until it looked and smelled right. (Mine had more Cumin than anything else.) Let it come to a boil. Once it's boiling take it down to a simmer for a good hour. Once your chicken is done go ahead and shred it. You can do this either using a stand mixer OR you can do what I did in order to not have to use a transformer and use 2 forks and just pull it apart. Before you add your chicken to the pot you're going to take all of the contents IN the pot and put it in either a food processor OR a blender and just let it get nice and blended and creamy. Pour it all back in to the pot, then add in the chicken, black beans, and corn. Let it simmer for another 20 minutes, and BAM. You have delicious chili.

This was what it looked like in the pot just before serving it

Sorry for the scatterbrained "recipe". We'll just chalk it up to me being a terrible blogger the past month. But there are many more recipes to come!

AND this was right before we all but inhaled it.

We added just a little bit of shredded sharp cheddar cheese and sour cream,

because at this point, why not?

Too soon?

Ok, so there is one thing about thanksgiving that I ALWAYS look forward to. Corn pudding. It is my favorite of all favorites! Now, I know it's not thanksgiving, BUT patience is not one of my gifts. So the other day I busted out my favorite recipe of the season. I was not disappointed. I do have to warn you that there aren't any pictures of the process of making this because I was just too excited to pop it in the oven. It's really easy though, so don't fret!

You're going to need :

1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 large can corn
1 large (or 2 small) can cream corn

Start out by preheating you're oven to 400. Now, the process of making this is basically as easy as it gets. Take all of your dry ingredients and mix it up in a casserole dish, then add your wet ingredients one at a time, then add your corn. Mix it all up. Simple as that! So easy right? And so deliciously unhealthy. Pop it in the oven and let it cook for a good 45 minutes, and bam!

Weekend hiatus

So, usually I still cook on the weekends, we aren't huge go-er out-ers because well.. I like to cook. This weekend was an anomaly. We went out not only Saturday, but also tonight. Party animals in the house! So excuse the lack of recipes, I will however be back tomorrow. So get excited! Mkay?

Oh, soup.

Last night when I went to bed it was raining cats & dogs. All I could think was "I want soup." Because  that's everyones thoughts at 2 am, right? SO! Today when I woke up ( after I went and bought some AMAZING wicker chairs) I set out on making a soup that would be my perfect rainy, dreary, cold weather fix, and boy did I succeed. Get ready for it!


You're gonna need :

Whatever kind of sausage you like, I used pepperidge farms turkey sausage, sliced
Roughly 2-3 cups potatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
3 carrots, peeled, sliced, & halved
1/2 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup milk
3/4 cup cream
1 1/2 tbsp butter
Thyme
Majoram
Basil
Oregano
2 tbsp flour
Cracked pepper
Salt


Got all of that? I might of gotten a little carried away with ingredients. BUT, once you're done with chopping everything up, you actually get to cook it!

First, grab your big skillet, drizzle some olive oil in there, and throw your sausage in. While your sausage is cooking up, get your big pot and toss your potatoes, corn, chicken broth, milk, cream, and butter all up in there on medium high heat. Once your sausage is nice and cooked, add your sausage to your soup pot.

Your next step is to put your carrots, onions, garlic and herbs (don't be chintzy, you'll love me for it later.)  in the skillet your sausage was in. If you need to, drizzle a little more olive oil in there. Make sure to stir continuously to help everything not to stick to your skillet. Once that is all finished (your onions will be translucent), put it all into your soup pot too. Sprinkle in your flour, and some salt & pepper to taste. Turn it down to simmer, and let it get all nice and delicious for a good hour or 2. Resist the urge to shove your face into the pot and drink it! Seriously, the smell is brilliant.

And, when all is said and done, you have soup!

Enjoy!

I'm baaaaaaaack!

Ok, ok. SO! I have been TERRIBLE at keeping up with this. But, I have been sick for 5 weeks, and I was in the states for 2 weeks. SO, That's a good excuse right!? Right. I do come bearing delicious recipes though!


Tonight I made some of the most delicious pasta I have ever eaten, EVER. It's a spicy thai pasta.


You're going to need :

1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup sesame oil
6 tbsp soy sauce
7 tbsp honey
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup green onions
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
Angel hair pasta

Seriously, I am the king (er, queen) of chopping things.

To get started, go ahead and get that pasta cooking. Now grab another sauce pan and heat up your sesame oil and crushed red pepper on medium heat. Keep an eye one it, because you don't want the pepper burning. Once that's done, strain the peppers out of your oil.  NOW! Mix your sesame oil (the one you just got all of the peppers out of) soy sauce, and honey. Finish up your pasta, it should be ready to strain about now. Here is the hard part! (or something) mix your sauce and your pasta. It's going to look a little liquidy, that's not even a word, but you get it.

 Throw in all of the stuff that you've chopped up, and you're done! That's literally it. Easy right!?

Now, I am going to warn you. This pasta is not for the faint of heart. SO! If you're not in to spicy things either omit the crushed red pepper all together OR if you like pizazz but only in small quantities maybe use a quarter tbsp.


We had ours with salmon that was rubbed with soy sauce & brown sugar. If you want to have the salmon also, preheat your oven to 425, lay out a piece of aluminum foil put your salmon on it splash a little soy sauce, sprinkle a little (or if you're me, a lot) brown sugar on it. Cook it for 15 minutes, and voila! If you've never done salmon before you can tell it's done by just placing a fork on the fish and dragging it to see if it flakes. Easy, huh?

And this is it. Admit it, you wanna eat it.

Enjoy!

A little fish?

I love seafood of any kind really. In Germany it's been really hard for me to find a variety of it, SO we eat lots of tilapia. Our favorite way so far basically punches you in the face when you eat it. We love spicy food, so it's right up our alley, but if you don't this isn't for you!

We use just enough for us (so just 2 filets). Turn your oven on to 400, and let that sucker heat up! Spray a baking sheet with your olive oil/water mixture (or any kind of cooking spray) now here is the "complicated" part. It's really not complicated at all! We sprinkle both sides with salt ( a very small amount because we aren't salt eaters), cracked black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder. Pop those babies on the baking sheet and put them in the oven for what seems like forever, but is really only 7 minutes..  YES! 7 minutes. Gotta love how quickly fish cooks.

I served ours with some homemade spicy rice.

Enjoy!

20 minute soup!

So I was looking at all of these pictures of soups for WEEKS! Soups are some of my favorite things to cook/devour. So I got to pinterest-ing [ it's a real thing, don't judge me.] and I found this creamy tortellini soup. HEAVEN IN A BOWL! And it literally took me 20 minutes to make it AND the garlic bread. I changed it a little, so I'll tell you how I made it.

You'll need :
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cans of tomato soup
2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups frozen tortellini

GET COOKING!

Heat up olive oil in a large pot, once it's heated up toss your garlic in there. Let it get nice and brown. NOW! Add everything [except the tortellini] and bring it to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, toss in your pasta, and cook it in the soup by the directions on the package. Once it's cooked for the time it says [mine was 5 minutes] take it off of the heat, and serve it up!

I served mine with a garlic bread. I bought a french baguette [ yes, I was lazy and didn't make my own bread.] sliced it down the middle, put on my spread, and broiled it at 350 for 3 minutes.



Spread :

1 stick of butter, softened
1 clove of garlic, minced [you can use garlic powder if you're not a garlic lover.]
3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped



I didn't take any pictures during the process of cooking this beautiful creation, but I did control myself long enough to snap on before I all but inhaled it.

[Not sure why I served orange soup in a yellow bowl.. It really looks a lot better than this picture]

A little italiano

Sometimes I just NEED to raise my italian flag and let it fly. Last week I had one of those nights. Yes, last week. If you live anywhere near me, you know that it was hell on earth here this past week in the heat area. Meaning : There was no way my oven was being turned on. So, tonight you get 2 recipes! Lucky little you!


So I made a little bit of a pasta dish. I attempting to keep up with how much of this and that went where. BUT! Sometimes I get a little out of hand when I'm making italian food, and I just go crazy with smelling everything, and putting in what smells like it belongs. The nose, knows.

Here is a picture of everything that went in it. [post sniffing it out] <-- Nose of a blood hound.



And the list :

Jumbo shell pasta
2 cups mozzarella cheese


Sauce :

Large can tomato sauce
Can diced tomatoes, undrained
Small call tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
3 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp adobo (if you're in to that sort of thing, which you should be)
ANNNNNND.
The spice mixture = basil, oregano, margoram, & thyme.

Filler (?) I guess :

1 1/2 cup ricotta
4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper to taste
3/4 cup parmesan

Alright, start out by making your sauce. Mix up all of those ingredients, and bring it to a boil. Then turn it down to low, and let it simmer for a good 45 minutes to an hour. 

In the last 20 minutes of your sauce getting delicious, preheat your oven to 350, and start your pasta. While your water is coming to a boil, mix up your filler in a separate bowl. 

Grab your casserole dish, and give it a nice spray with oil. Put your cooked noodles in first, then add your filler, top it with sauce, and sprinkle that mozzarella cheese a lllllllll over it! Let it bake for 20 minutes (or until your cheese is all melty) 

Serve it up, and enjoy!

Sabbaticle

Ok, ok. So, I was doing really good with this whole blogging thing. THEN the busiest/hottest weekend of the summer happened and I was running around like crazy, and if I wasn't running around like crazy, there was no way on this great earth that I was going to turning on my oven. I do have a recipe from thursday, but that'll have to wait until this thursday, because I'm detoxing. AND DEAR LORD I'M HUNGRY!

My dinner from tonight.

Now, if you're thinking "EWWW BEETS!" You better eat your words and wash them down with a side of beets! I love beets. It made my day that I got to eat them. It's the little things. 

SO! Long story short, I'll be back on thursday and there miiiight just be a double recipe whammy if Germany decides to not be as hot as hades anymore so I can turn on my oven.

I can't believe it's pork!

Ok, so I'm always looking for a good pork chop recipe. It's the meat that I have the most problems coming up with ways to cook it. So I went on a little snooping expedition to see what I could find. This is what I found, and it is PHENOMENAL! I modified it sliiiiightly, because that's how I roll.

Here is what you're going to need :

2 - 4 thick cut pork chops
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
12 ounces of beer, I used Kolsch
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup water

To start out, get that olive oil in your skillet, heat it up on medium high, and pop those pork chops in there. You're going to brown the pork chops on each side, then turn your burner down to medium low. While your pork chops are browning, mix your beer, brown sugar, and ketchup. [ Don't be alarmed when it starts to foam like crazy!] Now go ahead and add that sauce to your pork chops and let that simmer for a good 30 - 45 minutes, uncovered.

Meet my skillets transformation [thus far]

Once you've gotten those pork chops cooked, pull them out of the skillet. [ FUN PART!] Mix the water, and the corn starch. Make sure it gets blended thoroughly! Now, add it to the sauce that you still have in that skill and crank your stove up to medium. You're going to notice it thickening. Put those pork chops back in there, and give them a flip. 

Here are what mine looked like.

Now, we had ours with some homemade mashed potatoes. If you've never made them, they're easy, and you should do it! I made super simple ones, because they were not the star of this dish!

You'll need : 

Potatoes

Butter

Milk

Salt

Pepper

Fill a medium sauce pan about half way full with water. Then peel (if you don't like peels in your potatoes), and chop your potatoes. Once the water is boiling, go ahead and throw those potatoes in there! Stick your fork in them, if they're done (seriously.. how funny am I?) strain and mash them. Here is the tricky part. We like really smooth potatoes, so I used about 4 tbsp of butter, and a 1/4 of a cup of milk. If you like them chunky, use less. Play with it, and make them perfect! Season them to taste with some salt and pepper. Plop that pork chop on there, and chow down!

Seriously, it's begging you.

Enjoy!

Comfort food.

I'm old now, and my friends are having babies.
Which gives me an excuse to make food! 

Yesterday I brought one of my friends,
who now has 3 littles,some homemade mac & cheese. 

Because seriously, what's better than that!?
After making some for her family,
I KNEW we needed to have mac & cheese for dinner.

So, we did a simple meal last night, because sometimes

it's nice just to have a relaxing, 20 minutes and done meal. 

If you're into homemade mac & cheese like I am, here's my recipe!

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups of macaroni noodles

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp ground mustard

1/4 tsp worcestershire sauce

2 cups milk

2 cups cubed cheddar cheese (I used a mild cheddar)

In a medium sauce pan, boil some water, and get that macaroni cooking.

While your water is getting ready, grab another sauce pan 

and over low heat melt the butter. 

Once the butter is nice and melted, stir in the flour, salt, pepper, 

ground mustard, and worcestershire sauce. Let that heat up until it's smooth.

[ Smooth as in doesn't look lumpy, it will not be a liquid]

Now you're ready to add your milk. Bring it to a boil. Stir constantly. 

After your milk is boiling, add all of that cheese. 

Let it heat until your cheese is all melted. 

Since I know you've already finished your pasta, pour that amazing cheese sauce 

that you just made into the pan that you have your pasta in, mix it up and eat it! 

Enjoy!

Some sort of record.

TWO RECIPES IN ONE DAY!?

I'm a lot better at this than I thought I would be!

Tonight, this is what our table looked like. Who says you have to be in italy to get good italian food?

I'm basically in love with seafood alfredo, it's one of my favorite foods. 

So, if you like to do theme nights, 

and you're lacking a little inspiration, 

give this one a whirl! 

Alright, SO! Here is what you're going to need. 

Fettucini noodles (or whatever kind of noodle you prefer.)

1 lb shrimp

1 lb scallops

4 tbsp olive oil

1 stick of butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups heavy cream

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Now that the boring part is over!
Start heating up 2 tbsp of the olive oil on medium heat. 

Toss your shrimp and scallops in there, and let them get nice and cooked. 

Kiiiiiiind of forgot to take a picture of them cooking.. but this is pre cook!

While you're protein is cooking, start your pasta, and get started on your sauce! Put the other 2 tbsp of olive oil and the stick of butter into a medium sized sauce pan. 

Heat it on medium heat until the butter is nice and melted.

 Now toss in your garlic, cream, and pepper. 

Heat it for about 5 minutes, then add your parmesan cheese. 

It should look a little bit like this. 

[You should be just about ready to pull your shrimp off of the burner.]

Let it cook for a good 8 minutes, 

then add the mozzarella cheese and give it another 5 minutes. 

Once your sauce is done, pour it in the pan with your shrimp. 

As soon as your pasta is done, mix it all up, toss it on a plate, and devour it!

Isn't this just begging you to eat it!?

And if you want to have our exact meal, we had a salad 

(with some copy cat olive garden dressing, I DIE!) 

&& a sweet red wine with it. 

Enjoy!

If you would like to make your own dressing as well, 

here is where I found the dressing!

http://www.thecountrycook.net/2012/01/olive-garden-salad-dressing.html

The only thing I did different was double the italian seasoning, and the pepper.

A salad?

Ok, so every once in a while I get really lazy and we have a salad. They're just so easy, and delicious!

Sorry it's so close up.. it was half eaten when I remembered to take a picture. 

Here's what I did to make it a even more tasty. (And please ignore the fact that I only remembered to take one picture of the cooking process. I'm new to this!)


What you will need :

2 chicken breasts
Head of lettuce
1 large tomato, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 carrot , I meant to use this and forgot! Shredded
Rice noodles
Almonds

Sauce for chicken :
5 tbsp white vinegar
5 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp water


Getting started :

Before you get ready to slice up your chicken, heat up about 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet on medium high. While that's heating up, pull out your chicken breasts and get to slicing. You're going to want to slice them into thin strips, once you're done toss them into the skillet and let them get to getting delicious.  <-- You can sprinkle them with salt and pepper if you're into that kind of thing. Periodically check on it, and flip it all to make sure it isn't sticking to the pan, or burning.


Next, let's make that sauce, it's going to be really hard, ready?? Take those 4 ingredients up there and mix them up in a bowl. (If you get confused, refer to the ONE picture that I remembered to take below.)  Whew, it was hard just typing that. No, really though. It's REALLY easy, and you're going to be amazed at how delicious it is.

If you're wondering : Yes, I do watch movies while I cook 

(note the laptop) don't judge me.

Check on your chicken, and if it's cooked, go ahead and pour that sauce on it and let it work it's magic. Cook it for about 3 minutes, pull it off the burner and let it sit there for about 2 more minutes. You're going to notice that sauce thicken, that's a good thing! Mix it all up one more time, and pop that chicken on your salad, that I know is already made, because you're good like that. 

NOW, I didn't use salad dressing, because it's literally THAT good. It wasn't needed. Jason used a raspberry vinegarette and LOVED it. So, It's completely up to you, but I say try it without at first! 

Enjoy!

Beef & Broccoli

Since this was the recipe requested, I'll go ahead and do it first even though it's not what's for dinner tonight! SO, maaaaybe you'll be getting two recipes today.

Here is goes!


Marinade that meat :

• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb sliced sirloin

Mix all of the above ingredients ( minus the meat) in a medium size mixing bowl. Once that is done, toss your beef in there and get dirty with it! Make sure the meat is nice and coated with your marinade, cover the bowl with some plastic wrap, pop it in the refrigerator, and forget about it for a good hour.

Create your sauce :

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 generous tbsp brown sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp cooking sherry (or a dry white wine, or rice wine)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix that all up, set it aside, and try not to drink it! Yes, it smells THAT good.

NEXT, pull out that wok (or large skillet) and add a couple tbsp of vegetable oil. Let it get nice and hot, and throw in your broccoli. ( 2 heads of fresh, or about 3 cups of frozen)

[Disclaimer: If using frozen broccoli, first put it in a sauce pan, cover it with water and cook it until it's no longer well.. frozen. But don't cook it all the way!]

Cook your broccoli for a good 2-3 minutes, remove it from the pan, and set it to the side. Don't stress about it cooling off, because you're tossing it back in the pan in a few minutes.

NOW! In the same pan used for the broccoli, heat up another tbsp of vegetable oil, toss in the meat that's been getting delicious in the fridge with half of that sauce you've been smelling since you mixed it up. [prepare to be drooling]

And finally, once your meat is nice and cooked through, toss that broccoli in there, add the rest of that sauce, let it become friends, then eat it!

See? Easy pea-sy.

Enjoy!

It's about to get really tasty around here

Here is where I will officially be forgetting to blog my recipes! ..or something like that. 

But seriously. I'm going to try to keep up with it and share all of the delicious creations that come out of this kitchen. So, if you'd like to take them, use them, share them, be my guest. AND let me know what you think.

Recipes are coming soon! So stock up those pantries, dust off those oven mitts, and get ready to get down wit'cha bad self.