Rice Pilaf

I grew up eating the boxed rice pilaf and I had a craving for it the other day. The boxed stuff has a lot of sodium so I was curious about making it at home from scratch. This was so easy and I don't know why people use the boxed mix.

I will give you a warning...red onion turns green so you should use the white onion.

Rice Pilaf

Adapted from All Recipes 

Serves 4

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup orzo pasta
1/2 cup diced white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
2 cups chicken broth or veg broth

1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Melt the butter in a lidded pot over medium-low heat. Stir in almond and orzo pasta until golden brown. Add onion and cook until onion becomes translucent, then add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Mix in the rice and chicken broth. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Meat Lasagna

I found this Lasagna recipe on AllRecipes. I made a couple tweaks but nothing major. I omit the parsley and used oregano instead of basil. I used spicy sausage and ground turkey. I reduced the sugar from 2 tbsp to 1 tbsp and I think the sauce was still very sweet. Next time I will omit the sugar completely and add some red pepper flakes.

Served with my Italian Bread recipe!

Update 9/2015: I've made it again, yummy! I will say it is better if you keep it covered while cooking for almost the entire time as it doesn't dry out as much. Instead of making one large pan I split it into two 9x9 pans and froze the other. To reheat - defrost overnight in the fridge and bake covered for 1-2 hours.

Meat Lasagna

Makes a heaping 9 x 13 baking dish

1 pound Italian sausage (sweet or spicy)
3/4 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves (or oregano)
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1 box lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large pot, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned.

Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange noodles over meat sauce. Spread with one third of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with handful of the mozzarella. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella and repeat the layers.

Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Peanut Noodles

I have never tried any of Melissa d'Arabian's recipes because I wasn't a fan of her show (Ten Dollar Dinners or her cooking on Food Network Star). But this recipe is great and I think I'll try some more of her recipes later on. This is her Peanut Noodle recipe which was delish! I will be making this again. It was very easy and came together in about 25 minutes.

I added chicken to the meal for protein and I increased the peanut dressing to make sure it would cover the additions. Tofu would also work nicely. This could be a great base to add any veggies wilting in your fridge. I think the sauce would also be good with rice too... but then again I just love peanut butter.

Enjoy!

Peanut Noodles

Serves 2 very hungry people

3 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)

12 ounces linguine
2 chicken breast

Salad:
1/2 cup loosely-packed chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/3 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup roughly chopped skinless roasted peanuts, for garnish

Peanut Dressing:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Sirracha
1 ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime

Directions:
Chop and combine salad ingredients, put into a large strainer. 

Heat medium size frying pan. Add a little oil, soy sauce, and sirracha. Stir occasionally and cook until chicken is done (about 8 minutes). Set aside.

Put the peanut butter in a medium size glass bowl. Microwave about 15 seconds to soften. Whisk in with the soy sauce, vinegar, canola oil, ginger, honey, Sirracha, sesame oil and lime zest and juice in a small bowl.Thin with the starchy pasta water if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. (Dressing should be thick, but pourable.) 

Toast sesame seeds in a frying pan until light golden in color, 4 to 6 minutes, and set aside. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente. Pour the pasta over the salad in the strainer. The hot water will soften the veggies. Put back into the pasta pot. Pour the peanut dressing over the pasta and veggies, combine.

Top with the chopped peanuts and toasted sesame seeds and serve.

Pasta Sauce: Tomato + Onion + Butter

I started to eat then realized...wait! Picture! :)

I read about this pasta sauce recipe on Smitten Kitchen and since I have an onion lazing about on the counter... I decided this would be perfect for lunch!

I cracked open 2 cans of tomato sauce, chopped the onion in half, cut a hunk of butter and plopped it all into my pot. Let it simmer for 45 minutes and volia! Time to eat!

I will say that I was skeptical to make pasta sauce without any Italian seasoning or garlic...but I gave it ago! Next time I would add it just for the taste test opportunity.

This sauce was very very rich and very very good. I was very surprised at how much onion flavor came through and now I will never feel the need to chop up an onion for pasta sauce again!

Now what to do with the soft, sweetened, tomato sauce coated onion? I tried a nibble of the onion and it was quite tasty. One of the suggestions was to eat the onions on some warm bread.

Pasta Sauce: Tomatoes, Onion, and Butter
serves 3

2 cans tomato sauce (or diced tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes, plus juice)
5 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes.
Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.
Remove from heat and take out the onion.
Add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Chicken Rice Soup

While it is almost 90F… fall is coming! I swear it! So here is a quick and easy chicken soup recipe that you can quickly assemble for those cool evenings. The roux will create a creamer thicker broth for the soup.

If you are cooking for picky kids puree the onion, garlic, and celery in the food processor. You’ll get the flavor but none of the texture. Rice can be substituted for pasta. Left over chicken would work too. And any veggies that may be having a slow death in your crisper drawer could be included in this as well! Flavors that would be tasty would include a few slices of ginger in the broth while cooking (remove before serving) or lemon juice in the broth.

This soup freezes well, just omit the rice/pasta. When you are ready to eat make the pasta/rice when the soup is heating up and then combine. This prevents the rice/pasta from being gummy and mushy.

Chicken Rice Soup
Makes 4-6 servings

2 tbsp oil
Small Onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 carrots, sliced
3 stalks of celery, sliced
4 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp seasoning (oregano, Italian seasoning, or parsley)
1 can of corn (optional)
4-5 cans of chicken broth (it seems like a lot of broth but it will absorb and thicken as then soup sits in the fridge)
3 chicken breasts (cooked)
1 cup brown rice (uncooked)
Salt and pepper

To Cook Chicken:
Preheat oven to 350F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook for about 30 minutes. When it is done take it out and let it cool. Shred and put aside.

To Cook Rice:
1 cup rice in 1 ½ cups of liquid (I do a split between water and chicken both). Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. When liquid is mostly absorbed (after approx. 25 minutes) turn off the heat and put aside.

To Make Soup:
While the chicken and rice are cooking, start making the soup! Heat large pot. Add a little oil and add in the garlic, onion, carrots, and celery. Season with salt and pepper. Let it sauté 5 minutes. Add butter and stir into the veggies. When melted add in the flour. Stir to coat the veggies. Add in seasoning of your choice. Season with salt and pepper. Add ½ can of broth and stir so the broth doesn’t become lumpy. When broth is smooth add in rest of the broth. Add chicken and rice when they are done cooking.

Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti

We just bought a basil plant, so we have to make some fresh Italian food! Manicotti was on the list, it is a bit of a pain but makes for a special meal. I'm OK with making lasagne instead for a faster meal.

Spinach Ricotta Manicotti
Makes 10

15 oz ricotta cheese
1 bag baby spinach
1 bag Italian mix cheese
5 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Egg
Basil
Salt and Pepper
Jar of sauce
1 box of Manicotti pasta shells

Combine everything except for the sauce and the shells. I put the filling into a zip top bag and then sliced off a corner to pipe the shells.
Layer sauce in the bottom of pan. Fill each shell and place into the pan. Cover with remaining sauce and some cheese.
Bake at 350F for 30-45 minutes. Serve hot!

Cheesy Tomato Sauce

You know when you the cooking gods are smiling and you make something really really tasty? Well this pasta sauce was created on one of those lucky cooking days. It is a simple semi-homemade sauce recipe for when you need to make dinner with limited ingredients!

Cheesy Tomato Sauce
makes 4-8 servings

1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, diced
2 big cloves of garlic, minced
1 Thai chili pepper, small mince
3 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp dried or freshly chopped basil, oregano
1 jar of pasta sauce (I used tomato basil)/Canned no flavor tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oil in large frying pan. Saute onion, garlic, and pepper together. Once starting to soften add the meat. Season with the worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Cook meat until done. Add spices and tomato sauce and let it simmer until you are ready to eat. If you want to make it cheesy, stir in the mozzarella until it is combined and melted. Let it simmer for another 10 (ish) minutes then serve over pasta!

Cilantro and Garlic Lemon Pasta

You may have seen my previous post for Garlic Lemon Egg Pasta, and since then I have made this several times. We are trying to use up a big bundle of fresh cilantro - so you will see lots of cilantro in the next few posts! 

The cilantro adds a nice flavor and lightens up this pasta dish! 

Happy eating!

Cilantro and Garlic Lemon Pasta

makes 2-3 servings

1/2 box of pasta noodles
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup white or red onion
5 cloves of garlic, smashed in the press
a few dashes of Salt and Pepper
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Lemon (1/3 cup lemon juice)
1/2 to 3/4 cup Cilantr, chopped
3 eggs (3 egg whites, 2 yolks), "beaten in preparation for scrambling" 
1/2 bag of baby Spinach

Cook pasta according to directions. Once the pasta is cooked, drain but reserve about a cup or two of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan on medium. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Once onion is translucent lower pan to med low and add in eggs, cilantro, and lemon juice. Stir and let the eggs get to a soft scramble stage. Feel free to add in a small bit of butter at this point too. This should get wet puffy egg mixture. Add in spinach and wilt for a minute, it will continue to cook down once you add the pasta. Combine with pasta and add in a little pasta water to thin out the sauce.
Combine with pasta and add the pasta water a little at a time until the sauce is the consistency you want.

Chicken Piccata

Are you ready for some restaurant style chicken piccata? In less than 30 minutes I couldn't believe that I made!  I read a bunch of recipes to determine how I would go about creating this dish.  I looked at Giada de Laurentiis's recipe and this blog.  

This tasted just like from the restaurant and was very straightforward to make.  This will be added to the regular meal rotations, as these are regularly stocked ingredients.

I tried to butterfly the chicken breast, but it wouldn't cut evenly. We had several smaller pieces that I tried to make flatter, but I didn't really understand what I was doing... Next time I will be patient and cut the chicken right. The flour parmesean breading was tasty and was nicely golden once I added in more oil. Before I added more oil the chicken was cooking but not getting any color or looking very moist.

I wanted to have some sort of green vegetable in the dish so I tossed in some arugula leaves at the very end so it would wilt.  This part took maybe 2-3 minutes as leafy greens can overcook very quickly.

I was reviewing recipes and they recommend using either a white wine sauce or chicken broth for making the lemon sauce.  Originally, I was going to use the chicken stock, but at the last minute, I went for the white wine sauce.  It was a great choice!

orig from 5/30/2013
updated 4/3/2015

Enjoy!

 

Chicken Piccata
Serves 2

~2 cups dried pasta
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup flour
Fresh cracked pepper
4 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth
3 Tbsp lemon juice (or a w hole lemon if you want)
1/4 cup brined capers
Arugula/Spinach

Start to boil the water for the pasta. Cook pasta according to directions.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.
Cut the chicken breast halves horizontally. Pound flat or butterfly them to about 1/4-inch thickness. 
Mix together the flour, pepper, and grated Parmesan. 
Dredge chicken pieces in the flour mixture, until well coated.
Add the chicken pieces, brown well on each side, about 3 - 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve to a plate. 
Add the white wine, lemon juice, and capers to the frying pan used for the chicken. 
Reduce the sauce, generally I let it cook until the pasta is done.
Melt in the butter, wilt arugula/spinach. 
Add the drained pasta to the sauce. Plate the pasta and add chicken on the top!

Cilantro Lime Pesto

Cilantro is going bad! What uses up lots of fresh herbs? Why pesto of course! This recipe is from The Washington Post and is a great starting point pesto ideas. The recipe below omits any cheese and the arugula, but I think they would both be great additions for next time I attempt this recipe.

How do you serve pesto? 
Pasta: One night we served it over this new quinoa pasta we wanted to try. The pasta was good and tasted like regular pasta, but when I read the ingredients label it didn't really seem much better than regular pasta. But I didn't look to far into it - it tasted yummy! Add about 1/2 cup for 1 lb of quinoa pasta. 
Rice: Another night we served it combined with left over white rice. Heat rice in a skillet over medium with a little olive oil (1 tbsp) and some water (2 tbsp). Once rice is softened and back to its sticky consistency, add the pesto and stir until pesto is mixed in and rice is hot. The rice was served with homemade tortillas and salsa poached chicken.

You may be wondering about the paprika, I included it but I didn't really taste it. Next time I would add more or omit it to see if I notice a difference.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Pesto

Cilantro Lime Rice

Cilantro PestoMakes about 1 cup

1/3 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic, to taste
1 large bunch cilantro, roots and larger stems trimmed, washed and thoroughly dried
Squeeze of ½ lime
¼-1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
 ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

Place nuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add cilantro and lime, and pulverize. Add oil, going gradually; stop machine and taste for herb/oil ratio. Add more if it feels “dry.”

Scrape down sides of bowl as needed, and transfer pesto to a small mixing bowl. Season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika, if using.

Citrus Bow Tie Pasta

Warm weather is upon us! This is a light and fresh meal that takes only as long as the pasta takes to cook!

While the pasta is cooking you can slice and chop up the rest of the ingredients. When the pasta is done toss it all together, and dinner is ready!

What did I change? Overall I kept with the main recipe, I just made changes to my preferences. I sliced a couple cherry tomatoes since I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes. Since we had cilantro from other recipes, I used some more of that. Parsley is also an option however. You can swap the lemon juice for lime juice as well. I didn't mix the feta into the entire bowl since I'm not a fan, but it was pretty sprinkled on top of the food.

This is great served warm or cold. This will be ok for leftovers the next day, but won't last much longer than that. Once the avocado is turning brown - toss it!

Next time I might try using sundried tomatoes instead of fresh or even try some basil and fresh mozzarella!

Citrus Bow Tie Pasta

recipe adapted from Whole Foods
Serves 2

1/2 pound bow tie pasta
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed  

4 green onions, both green and white parts, chopped
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
a couple diced cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup packed chopped cilantro
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon
1/3 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse the pasta. Place hot pasta in a large mixing bowl. Add avocado, green onions, feta, tomatoes and cilantro. Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil and drizzle over the warm pasta. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm or cold.

Garlic Lemon Egg Pasta (Carbonara?)

This was a combination from recipes such as Lemon Spaghetti by Gianda De Laurentiis,  Baked Lemon Pasta by the Pioneer Woman, and Spaghetti al Limon by Smitten Kitchen. Additionally I looked at carbonara recipes because I wanted to add some protein to the meal and there were only eggs in the fridge. Since I don't really cook with cheese and there was no bacon... it isn't really a carbonara. But for the sake of this meal - carbonara it is!

We added carrots but some broccoli or asparagus or peas would have been a nice addition. Fresh basil or some parsley would have been great too!

Garlic Lemon Egg Pasta (Carbonara!?)
1/2 box of Pasta
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tbsp Butter
5 cloves of garlic, smashed in the press
a few dashes of Salt and Pepper
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Lemon (1/3 cup lemon juice)
Veggies (optional)
3 eggs (3 egg whites, 2 yolks), "beaten in preparation for scrambling"

Cook pasta according to directions. Once the pasta is cooked, drain but reserve about a cup or two of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan. Add 1/2 tbsp of butter. Once melted add salt, pepper, and a few red pepper flakes. Add the veggies and the lemon juice.  Turn frying pan to low. Pour the eggs in the frying pan and stir until it is combined with the butter and oil mix. This should get thicker and all take on the same consistency as it gets scrambled .

Combine with pasta and add the pasta water a little at a time until the sauce is the consistency you want.

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna

Wow! Life can sure get hectic! Kind of dropped the ball on my 100th post and celebrating the blog's 1 year! Hope you enjoy post # 99 and stay tuned for 100!

Here is a veggie lasagna which used the Hearty Vegetable Lasagna recipe for inspiration. I added in extra veggies and followed some of the reviews ideas for flavors. This was very filling and straightforward to make. Easy make ahead meal as well. Be cautious when freezing veggie based lasagnas because they produce a lot of liquid and can get soggy. If anyone has any tips for making them freeze better, please let me know!

Previous Vegetable Lasagna using zucchini, squash, eggplant, and spinach.

Veg!

Spread some sauce/veg in the bottom

Layers of noodles, ricotta, veg, and sauce

Continue and top with cheese

Golden bubbly goodness!

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna 
makes 12 slices

 1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles

2 tablespoons oil

1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

¾ cup chopped green bell pepper

½ cup carrots (or whatever is left over in your fridge)

¾ cup chopped onion

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

½ zucchini, sliced

½ bag baby spinach

2 (26 ounce) jars pasta sauce

1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse with cold water, and drain. (OR use no cook lasagna noodles)

In a large saucepan heat oil. Cook and stir mushrooms, green peppers, carrots, onion, garlic, and oregano, season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened. Add in zuchini and Wilt several handfuls of spinach over the warm veggies, stir to combine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread 1 cup tomato sauce and some of the veggie mix into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer on top of that: noodles, veggies, sauce, and ricotta until nothing remains. There will be approx 2-4 layers. 

Top with the mozzarella cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes (but keep an eye on it, if it starts to get too brown cover with foil and let it continue to cook). Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

A big winter storm blowing in up north... So I thought I'd give you guys a new recipe to warm up with! Pretty much this is a chicken noodle soup but with lemon added to the broth. But it is a light meal if you have a bigger lunch and this can be prepared very quickly!

I adapted this recipe from two blogs (Panera's Low Fat Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup and Two Peas and Their Pod) to create the recipe below.

To adjust this to a faster cooking time use precooked chicken (left overs or store bought rotisseree chicken). If you have fresh chicken instead, cook it in the skillet while the onions/carrots/celery are cooking and the broth is starting to come together. This also would have a been a great soup minus the chicken too, just add in some extra veggies and it would be so flavorful!!
 
I didn't have orzo so I broke up some pieces of linguine and used that instead. I had a small bit of broccoli left over so I added that in the pot. Some baby spinach or green beans also could have been a nice addition. I might sub in chickpeas or cannellini beans next time fo the chicken.
 

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Makes 2-3 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced

4 cups of chicken broth
Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/3 cup)

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups orzo pasta

2-3 cups diced chicken

1 tsp dried flat-leaf parsley

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery until tender, about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken broth, lemon zest, and bay leaf and bring to a boil.

Add the chicken and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Add dried parsley and lemon juice.

Meanwhile, cook pasta separately according to the box directions, and then combine into the soup when serving.

Discard the bay leaf prior to serving. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve!

Creamy Tomato Basil Sauce

Here is a quick and easy tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes and left over cream cheese (from the Lime and Coconut Cupcake frosting!).

 Tomatoes, oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder. I also added in 1/4 cup of water

 Mash as they cook down. Then pulse in the food processor until pureed. Pour back into the pot. Add in basil.

 I added in spoon by spoon the cream cheese. I added in a little under 1/4 cup of cream cheese. But basically go until it tastes how you'd like it to.

The rest of the meal... I seasoned the chicken with garlic powder, oregano, and sauteed in olive oil for about 8-10 minutes. Pasta was whole wheat spaghetti which cooks in about 4-5 minutes.

Next time maybe add in a few red pepper flakes for a little kick. 

Tomato Basil Sauce
Makes 3 servings

8-10 Tomatoes
1 tsp each Onion powder, garlic powder, oregano
1/4 cup cream cheese
Basil

Heat pan with tomatoes and spices. As tomatoes heat through mash them down with a spoon, about 5 minutes. Puree in the food processor. Stir in cream cheese until its reaches the desired creamy taste and let simmer until rest of meal is ready to eat.

I served over pasta with a side of chicken.

Pasta Verde (plus summer squash & eggplant)

I have a bunch of veggies remaining from previous dinners so I decided I wanted to make a primavera. I searched a few recipes but they need milk or cream and I didn't have that. Then I saw Martha Stewart's Pasta Verde here. I even had all the ingredients (and a few extra)!

I prepped the eggplant. Sliced or cubed the veggies (summer squash, zucchini, onion, snap peas).

Eggplant: Slice, Salted, Sits for 30 minutes, Rinse, Squeeze liquid out

Heated the frying pan, added oil, and then some garlic powder. Added the onion. When the onion started to look translucent I added the other veggies.

Meanwhile I cooked some pasta.

When the veggies were just about tender I wilted in some spinach and added in the snap peas into the pan.

Combine ingredients for dressing

Then I added the dressing. The dressing was ok, I just don't really like Dijon mustard. I tossed the pasta in with the veggies and served.

Next time I would try using less Dijon mustard. And maybe more vinegar.

Pasta Verde
makes 4

Dressing
1 tbsp Olive Oil, 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard, 2 tbsp Cider Vinegar, Salt & Pepper

Pasta
Olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Onion, diced
Eggplant, salted/strained then sliced/cubed
Summer Squash, cubed
Zucchini, sliced
Spinach
Snap Peas

Cook pasta according to directions
Combine ingredients to make dressing
Heat olive oil and garlic powder in frying pan. Add onion. When translucent add veggies. When tender add a handful or two of spinach and snap peas.
Combine dressing, veggies, and pasta.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Snap Peas

Found this recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food June 2012 edition here. Made it for dinner the other night in under 15 minutes. Great light dinner when you are in a rush!

I used thin slice chicken breast pieces which cooks very quickly. I seasoned them with salt and pepper, then cooked them in olive oil with some garlic powder. Once the chicken started to get golden I added the vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes.

Meanwhile, I cooked up spaghetti which is one of the faster cooking pastas.

When I added in the pasta I added the snap peas and basil. When the pasta was done I added it into the frying pan with the chicken and peas, added some olive oil and a little sprinkle of garlic powder and tossed it together.

I didn't know about the cider vinegar but this was a sweet dish with a little kick from the red pepper flakes.

Seasoned with salt and pepper

Flip!

Seasonings

Add seasonings and vinegar to pan

Add snap peas

Toss with pasta

Enjoy!

Chicken and Snap Peas
Serves 2

Olive Oil
3 pieces of think sliced chicken breast
salt & pepper
1 tsp garlic powder (some for chicken, some for coating at the end)
1/4 cup of cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp red-pepper flakes
snap peas
basil leaves

In a large skillet heat oil and some garlic powder. Season chicken with salt and pepper, cook until deep golden, about 5-7 minutes. Add vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes.

Cook pasta according to box directions. Add snap peas to

Add pasta back into frying pan and toss with remaining garlic powder and a drizzle of olive oil.