Chicken Pesto Pasta

For today's post I am actually making a dish that I have already tried. I first made it when I moved to Minneapolis, but hadn't started blogging yet so it missed its chance (and naturally, I felt bad). This time I used a slightly different recipe but loved it just as much. Having come from an italian family, this is a dish that reminds me a lot of dinner around my Grandma's table - except I'll never claim to be as good as her. 

Overview:
As I mentioned in my last post - I love garlic. I love it so much I could basically put it in everything. Unfortunately, my mom doesn't have this same love. Even though I couldn't go crazy, I was still able to put in enough so that it had a punch. I also browned some chicken for myself, and baked some "chicken" for my mom (remember, she's a vegetarian) to add later.


Recipe:
2 cloves garlic
2 cups fresh basil leaves (it's important to use fresh and not seasoning)
3 tablespoons of almonds
1 dash of salt and pepper
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese (grated)
1 box bow tie noodles
2 medium sized skinless and boneless chicken breast (or "chicken" for you veggies)
**Optional** Cherries tomatoes, red/green peppers for coloring on top


Directions:
Since I was baking the "chicken" for my mom and it took about 20 minutes, I started with that. I diced a little bit of the cherrie tomatoes and peppers so that they would roast. This lets the juice and aroma get absorbed into what you're baking.


For the sauce I took all of the ingredients (all fresh) and threw them into my blender. Normally you'd use a food processor, but I can't really justify buying something that's $50 when my blender does the trick. After blending for about 30 seconds the sauce was ready. This was super quick and super easy. If you taste the sauce while it's still in the blender don't be alarmed if it seems really pungent. Once you add the noodles the taste will tapper off.


Once my sauce was ready I poured the noodles into boiling salt water and began to simmer the diced chicken breasts on a skillet in some of the olive oil. Make sure if you're cooking the chicken to have the heat on medium, low, and pay close attention. You don't want the meat to stick to the pan.


Before you know it the 20 minutes is up and everything finishes nicely at about the same time! This dish is so easy and quick I really recommend it when you don't have much time or are feeling lazy. 

Hope you enjoy :)

Garlic Pinwheels and Roasted Red Potatoes

I was really nervous about making this meal because it seems like no matter what - when making red meat it's always tough. I thought that it might be because I was buying cheap cuts of meat (but I have since accepted the fact that I was doing it wrong). I've learned that it's really important not to rush cooking meat. Before I had the temperature too high trying to finish cooking quickly. For this meal however, I never turned the temperature above medium and it turned out great!


I also pride myself on my loaded mashed potatoes. But I wanted to try something new with this meal. For the roasted potatoes, I really just grabbed what I had around the kitchen. Next time, I'm going to prepare a little bit more.

Overview:

If there are two things I love it's garlic and red meat. I couldn't refuse a recipe that combined the two. The garlic cream cheese (which I'll admit, I bought), wrapped in the meat tastes delicious. The roasted red potatoes with some vegetables is the perfect side (along with a fresh salad).

Recipe:

1 tub garlic cream cheese (I think any type should be fine)

1 lb. of ground beef (should serve 4)

8 medium to small sized red potatoes

1 onion

Several cherry tomatoes

1 handful of asparagus

1 palmful Garlic Seasoning

1 palmful Lemon Pepper Seasoning

1 palmful Sesame Seeds

1 palmful Italian Seasoning

1/2 stick of butter

1/2 cup of olive oil

Directions:

For this recipe I started by taking 8 small red potatoes and rinsing them thoroughly. At the same time, I began to pre-heat the oven at 400 degrees. After that, I cut each one into quarters. Once all of them were diced, I laid them down on an un-greased baking sheet. I then took all of the vegetables and and cut them (I diced the onion, halved the tomatoes, and left the asparagus whole). I then melted a stick of butter and drizzled it over all of the potatoes. I then added some olive oil on top as well. Next, I took all of my seasonings and covered the potatoes and veggies. 

The oven was set for 15 minutes (I then turned over the potatoes) and then set the oven for another 15. Before I placed them in the oven, I started preparing the meat.

In the meantime I took the ground beef and rolled it out into 4 long strips about 10 inches long. I shook some of the garlic seasoning on as well (remember, it's my fave). I then took the garlic cream cheese and spread it on the strips. Once I was done, I began to roll the meat until it was shaped like a pinwheel. I then placed all of the pinwheels in a skillet with 1/4 cup olive oil on medium-low heat. It's important to leave the meat alone and not continually flip or push down on it (something that I am learning to follow). The timing works out almost perfectly - once it's time to turn the potatoes it's time to flip the meat. Both finished at almost the exact same time. I never thought this meal was heavy on the garlic, but remember it's my favorite. You could easily skip seasoning the meat, or leaving the seasoning off of the veggies.

I really enjoyed this meal - even though I felt a little guilty about cheating :)

Baked Mac N' Cheese

The decision to make this dish caused me a lot of grief. Having had some amazing baked mac n' cheese in the past thanks to grandmothers and others, I felt the pressure for this meal to be good. But hey, I've been doing this for a few weeks now so that makes me an expert right? Haha, no.


Trepidation aside, I confidently decided that baked Mac N' Cheese was this week's meal - and I'm glad I did. While this recipe did not quite match Nana's famous dish, I am very proud. My only issue was that it seemed a little too salty (recommendation for improvement included in the directions). 





Overview
Mac N' Cheese is the perfect comfort food. This is something I've been desperately craving as Minneapolis is still providing me with low temperatures below zero (why did I move here again?). I wanted to make something that was filling and delicious, but also a twist on what I'm used to. In fear that it wouldn't be enough, which it was, I also baked a small chicken breast (this is not necessary). 


The pasta was pretty creamy and different from what I've had. I used italian bread crumbs to sprinkle on top. This caused the top to be very salty. I would recommend using your own bread crumbs or even crumbling up some ritz crackers.


Recipe
8 oz. box Macaroni
1 can Cheddar Cheese soup
1/2 soup can whole milk
8-10 oz shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I shredded almost a whole block)
1 egg, beaten
Breadcrumbs (I recommend 1 sleeve of Ritz Crackers)
1 stick of butter/margarine (I used 3/4 a stick)


Directions
Boil the macaroni until just al denté, barely rinse in a colander with cold water, drain. Be careful not to leave the pasta sitting for too long or the noodles will start to stick together and it'll be hard to separate them.

While the macaroni drains, combine the cheddar cheese soup and half a soup can of milk in a saucepan and heat just until bubbly. 

Once the soup/milk mixture is beginning to heat, sprinkle in about half of the shredded cheese and let the mixture melt together. Set the soup/milk mixture to the side to cool off while you beat one egg, crush crackers and melt butter in small saucepan.

Once the soup/milk mixture has cooled some, combine the mixture with the cooked macaroni and the beaten egg in a large bowl. Pour macaroni mixture into a buttered 9x13-inch pan and cover with the remaining shredded cheese. 

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs (or crushed crackers) on top of the cheese and pour the melted butter over the crackers.

Bake in preheated 350°F oven until bubbly (about 20-25 minutes).