Chicken Pesto

This is a new favorite at our house. The kids cannot get enough of it. My favorite thing about this dish- it's so easy. First I get a rotisserie chicken and remove the chicken. Then I pick my favorite lb. of pasta- in this case penne, but you can use whatever you like or happen to have handy. While the pasta is cooking I take two packages of Knorr Pesto and follow the directions on the package. I drain the pasta and mix everything together in a large bowl along with some grated parmesan (I like parmesan so I use A LOT) put everything into a baking dish, cover it with tin-foil and place it in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Voila!

Roasted Red Pepper Salad

I love this!!! It isn't a very kid-friendly dish so you may want to save it for a social occasion where you need to bring something. OR, you can do what I do and fix this for the adults and make mac & cheese for the kids.
This picture is to help you realize HOW blackened the red peppers need to be. I have gotten mine blacker than this in the past and pulling the skins off was a breeze. I got a little impatient this time around and let them cool off at the point you see below and it was torture getting the skins off. LESSON LEARNED. Be patient and let those skins get nice and black.
A friend of mine gave me this "recipe" which is really a list of ingredients. Basically if you are one of those people who likes to play around with ingredients and amounts (me) then this "recipe" is for you. IF, however, you are one of those people that follows directions down to the last 1/8 of a teaspoonful, well then... you may want to look elsewhere.

Here's the general idea:
2 large red peppers
2-3 hearts of romaine
2 grilled chicken breasts
1 handful pasta of your choice
1/4 C. red wine vinegar
1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. crushed garlic (I buy it in the pre-crushed jar)

to taste:
crumbled bacon
parmesan
salt & pepper

Now- I wrote in amounts trying to gauge about what I do when making this. But if you like it meatier, pasta-ier, more lettuce, etc. It's really not gonna mess this up. You almost can't ruin it. First you cut the peppers in half and broil them until blackened. I would say 7-10 min. (as previously stated, I DO mean blackened, just don't murder them). Let them cool. I baste my chicken in EVOO salt & pepper before grilling and I grill them butterflied (because that's how I like to do it) while the pepper is cooling. Then I peel the skins off the peppers and cut them into slices. Marinate the pepper slices in the EVOO, vinegar and garlic as shown below.
I've always let mine marinate for at least an hour, but again maybe you like your peppers less vinegar-y. The rest is super easy just toss everything (assuming you have also cooked your pasta) in a large bowl. I save the oil and vinegar mixture and pour the desired amount over the salad. Usually the amount it took to marinate is way too much for the dressing- but I don't like much dressing. Be creative- add some ingredients I don't have listed. I've been thinking of trying sauteed mushrooms in this for a while but I always wimp out. Afraid to ruin a good thing I guess.

Now, I know that a close-up picture of a hand isn't very appetizing but I just couldn't leave this out. As I was taking my peppers out of the oven I burned my wrist. This occurred TWO MONTHS before I took this picture. It looked pretty nasty. My daughter was very impressed that it looked like a heart. Please, even if you happen to like hearts, be careful in the kitchen!!! (I realize that most likely no one will ever read these posts except for myself and my daughters so this is a mom speaking to her children down through the years. Be careful. If you are anything like me and I know you are.)

Baby Food Binge

On Monday I went a little crazy making baby food. I wasn't able to finish freezing it all until yesterday. My baby will be happy to know that he has more of a variety to choose from now. I think bananas and rice cereal were getting a little old. Speaking of rice cereal... I found this really simple recipe on line. It's made with 1/4 C brown rice or 3 T millet and a cup of water. I have only tried it with rice. I bought a coffee grinder for around $12 to grind up the rice and a very large bag of rice is CHEAP so I was really glad to find an alternative to the boxed baby cereals.
I can't believe that I bought all of my baby food with the first two! #1 It is so expensive! We did have more money when my first two were babies but it's always a good time to save money. #2 It tastes so much better. I snuck tiny tastes of the girls baby food and it was gross, cereal too. With the homemade stuff I don't mind cleaning off their spoon. That's gotta be better for the baby too. Next step: finding some good recipes and combos once he's had a good sampling of plain fruits and veggies.

Brightening my winter days

I LOVE the Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden. About two years ago I realized that I was going there mainly for the soup and it was costing us a fortune! Quickly I began my on-line search for a comparable recipe. I struck gold with this one:

Zuppa Toscana

1 lb. ground Italian sausage 10 cups water

1 ½ tsp. crushed red peppers 5 cubes chicken bouillon

1 large diced white onion 1 cup heavy cream

4 T bacon pieces 1 lb. sliced russet potatoes (approx. 3 large)

2 tsp. garlic puree ¼ of a bunch of Kale

Saute sausage and pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat and refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients. In the same pan sauté garlic, onions and bacon for approx. 15 minutes or until onions are soft. Mix bouillon and water and then add to pot. Cook until boiling. Add potatoes and cook until soft (about 30 min.) Add onions 15 minutes in. Add heavy cream and cook until heated through. Stir in sausage. Add Kale just before serving.

This was the first recipe I tried and it is spot on. I double this recipe because my husband and I scarf this soup up! It is wonderful whether you are feeling sneezy, wheezy, chilled or in tip-top shape. And the best part: it is inexpensive and VERY easy to make. When I double the recipe I use the whole bunch of Kale (love it!)

Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini- (Amanda Lee)

1 lb pasta (angel hair) ½ pound of mushrooms

1 stick of butter 2/3 C flour

1 large onion sliced 2 cloves of garlic

4 C chicken broth 2 C half and half

4 C diced chicken Parmesan cheese to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Sautee mushrooms, garlic and onions 2-3 T of butter. Set aside. In same pan remaining butter and melt until foaming throw in the flour and whisk quickly until it thickens add chicken broth slowly to combine. Keep heat on medium. Once thickened add s&p to taste and you can add garlic powder if desired. Add cream. Add mushroom mixture and chicken into the sauce. Have cooked noodles in a pan (9 ½ x 13 works with angle hair, with larger pasta either use a bigger pan or place a cookie sheet under it since it may boil over) and dump the sauce on top of it. Take noodle spoon and shake the mixture down into the noodles a little but DO NOT mix. Sprinkle with parmesan. Bake @ 400 for 20 minutes, or 375 for 30.

This is one of my favorite recipes from my marvelous friend Amanda. She likes to slice her onions and mushrooms so that her kids can pick them out if they want to. My kids throw a fit if they see it so I prefer to chop them up fine. To each his own!

This recipe is great if you are having guests because it makes a ton. I made it while my family was here for the weekend. Everyone loved it (even my dad the picky eater) and there were still leftovers. Luckily it heats up nicely.