Chicken Enchilada Pasta

I stumbled across this gem of a recipe several months ago (my picture file says June) on a website called My Kitchen Cafe. I was frantically searching through my files trying to find a recipe to post. I stumbled across this one and can't believe I've neglected it before now! It's so super good. I was skeptical when I first read it because I thought, "Enchiladas and pasta? Together? Really?" But the combination is a perfect marriage of texture and flavor. It's just perfection.

This dish has the potential to be super spicy, depending on what kind of enchilada sauce you use. I use mild because I'm a wimp.....er, I mean, because my kids don't love spicy food. I made it once using medium enchilada sauce, and even that was a bit much for us. So if you're not big into spicy, make sure you use mild.

Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
4-ounce can diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 (10-oz) cans green chili enchilada sauce
2/3 cup red enchilada sauce
1 can large black olives, cut in half
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
16-20 oz. penne pasta

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook the pasta until tender. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet and cook the onion for 2-3 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for another 2 minutes, until pepper is barely tender. Add the cooked chicken, green chilies, spices, enchilada sauces and olives. Let the sauce simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Add the sour cream and cheese and heat through, until the cheese is melted. Be careful not to boil the sauce, otherwise your dairy will curdle. Pour the sauce over the hot pasta. Garnish with extra sour cream, cheese, diced tomatoes, green onions, crushed tortilla chips, diced avocado, shredded lettuce, etc.

Have you ever tried something that originally sounded weird, but you ended up loving it?

Baked Spaghetti

This is another recipe I found on Full Bellies, Happy Kids. And oh. my. goodness. It was GOOD! Super good. I might need to get the cookbook she keeps referencing!

This is definitely not healthy food. But man alive, it is delish! It's totally worth the 5 hour workout you'll need after consumption to burn all those calories! ;-)

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
3 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes with liquid
1 2.25-ounce can sliced ripe black olives, drained
1–2 tablespoons dried oregano, according to taste
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
12 ounces thin spaghetti, cooked and drained
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (5 ounces)
1 10-ounce can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon until slightly crisp, then chop into smaller pieces. Remove bacon from pan, then saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper in the bacon drippings until tender. Add the tomatoes, olives, oregano, bacon, and cooked ground beef. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Place half of prepared spaghetti in the prepared baking dish. Top spaghetti with half of the meat mixture, then sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Repeat layers.

Mix the canned soup and water until smooth, then pour evenly over the top of the spaghetti. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Try not to eat it all in one sitting!

What's your favorite pasta recipe?

Spaghetti a la Philly

First off, I'm sorry about the lack of posting (again with the lack of posting!). It's finals for me right now, and it's just been a bit crazy. One week left! Woo!

A few weeks ago, I told you about the hot corn dip I found from Full Bellies, Happy Kids. Well, since then, I have tried many of her recipes and have really enjoyed them all! Today's is also from her site. She said she originally found it from Love My Philly. I have yet to check out that site, but I'm going to. We always have cream cheese on hand, and I'd love to come up with new ways to use it!

So this recipe was super simple and tasty. It's a perfect quick weeknight meal. It really intrigued my kids that their spaghetti had cream cheese in it. My kids love spaghetti anyway, but this made it even more kid-friendly. Admittedly, my husband was very skeptical ("Cream cheese in spaghetti? Are you sure about that?"), but he even said it was yummy after we were finished.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound spaghetti
1 pound ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Cook noodles according to package directions. While noodles cook, brown ground beef in a saute pan; drain. Add spaghetti sauce and cream cheese, and cook until cream cheese is melted.

Drain spaghetti, and toss with sauce. Serve topped with Parmesan.

Rigatoni with Bacon and Asparagus

My husband randomly bought a bunch of asparagus a few days ago when he saw it on sale. I didn't have it on the menu for the week and wasn't sure what to do with it. Until I got my newest Healthy Cooking magazine, that is! This was yummy and came together in a flash.

Ingredients:
1 package (16 ounces) rigatoni or large tube pasta
1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and coarsely chopped
8 bacon strips
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2/3 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, saute asparagus in butter. Remove from pan. In the same pan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. When bacon is done, put on paper towels to drain, then crumble. Saute garlic in the oil until fragrant. Stir in cream and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 3-4 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Stir in mozzarella. Drain pasta and add it to the sauce. Then add salt, asparagus and bacon. Sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley before serving.

Do you like asparagus?
Do your kids like asparagus?

Zuppa Toscana

This post will hopefully convince Arizona's weather to turn fall-y so I can enjoy incredible soups like this WITHOUT running the air conditioning!

Whenever I go to Olive Garden, I always have to get this soup. It's so insanely fantastically delicious. Several years ago, I had a wicked craving for this soup but couldn't go get my Olive Garden fix. I decided to look it up online. I wasn't expecting to find a recipe nearly as good, but I found one! I love it even more, because it costs way less to make and I get several meals of this soup instead of just a single bowl.

The only problem I had with this recipe was that the original said you can use spinach or kale. The very first time I made it, I used spinach. It. was. disgusting. The spinach got completely slimy in the soup and didn't hold up well at all for leftovers. So do NOT use spinach as a substitution. It's gotta be kale.

Now that I'm on blood thinner medication, I have to be super careful about eating foods high in Vitamin K. When the pharmacist tole me that kale has the highest Vitamin K out of any of the dark greens, my mind instantly started mourning the fact that I won't be able to eat this soup as much as I normally do in the winter. Well, as much as I used to eat it in the winter, before I moved to the gosh dang desert.

Ingredients:
1 pound hot style bulk sausage
1 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
5 cans chicken broth
6 potatoes, cubed
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 bunch kale

Cook sausage and red pepper flakes. Drain excess fat and remove sausage from pan. Using the same pan, cook bacon. Remove bacon, leaving a few tablespoons of drippings in the pan. Cook onion and garlic in bacon drippings until tender. Add chicken broth and potatoes. Cook for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, then add cream and sausage. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in kale just before serving. Serve with rolls or breadsticks!

What's your favorite soup?

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

K, the more recipes I try from my new cookbook, the more I love it. It is so awesome! Seriously, go get a copy! Are you sick of me raving about it yet? Go get a copy and I'll stop! ;-)

A couple of days ago, I was so busy that my day flew by, and it was dinner time before I knew what was happening or had anything planned. I had the bare minimum in the fridge and pantry, so I scoured my cookbook to see what I could possibly make. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. I saw a cooking show years ago (Rachael Ray, I think?) where the chef made this dish, but I've never tried it. It was so easy and really yummy! Perfect quick, weeknight supper!

A word about the cheese. Just buy a bag of the pre-shredded Parmesan blend, which has the Pecorino and Parmesan already. It'll save you a lot of time and money, rather than buying a block of each.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken stock
salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, cheeses and garlic together. Set aside. Then cook the bacon and olive oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat until the bacon is crisp, about 8 minutes. Add the wine (or chicken stock).

Simmer until it is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cover.

Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water before draining the pasta. Toss the pasta with the bacon mixture and the cheese mixture. If needed, add additional pasta water to loosen the sauce before serving.

My kids inhaled this. My 4 year old literally had 4 helpings. Not kidding. Spaghetti and bacon? Yes, please!

What do you think of our new blinkie? Have you added one to your blog?
Let us know if you have!

Gnocchi

Every time I make this, it always makes me miss having cable. I got this recipe from the Food Network channel years ago. Good ol' Giada. I used to love Everyday Italian. I'd never tried gnocchi before and always assumed it took a painstakingly long time to make. Boy, was I wrong.

Normally, when I'm in the mood for Italian food, my brain automatically wants fettuccine Alfredo. I loooove me some Alfredo sauce. Considering my hips/waist/thighs/rear don't love Alfredo sauce as much as I do, it's great that I found a yummy alternative. Speaking of Alfredo, I'm going to try topping my gnocchi with it next time I eat it!

This is super kid-friendly, too. My kids gobbled this up. And had second helpings. Second helpings!! We ate it plain the first night (with just butter and shredded Parmesan), but then my husband and I ate more for a late dinner last night, and we topped it with tomato sauce (spaghetti sauce works, or you can use tomato sauce that you season with oregano, thyme, etc). Either way, it's delish.

It would be a big hit at a party! Perfect finger food (well, skewered with toothpicks). It's great as a main dish (which is how we ate it this time) or as a side dish.

ALSO (did you know there was so much to say about gnocchi?!), since it's made from potatoes (starch), it's super filling. And it's a meatless meal. I'm always on the lookout for meatless meals, so that's another reason why I love this dish. Cheap, meatless, yummy, easy, perfect.

Ingredients:
3 pounds potatoes (mine were on the smaller side, so I used about 8 potatoes)
3-4 cups flour
1 egg
salt

Put whole potatoes in a large pot of water (you won't be eating the skins, so you don't *have* to wash them, but I do anyway). Boil for 45 minutes.

While still warm, peel the skins off (they're so soft that you can just use your fingers -- after letting them cool a bit first!).

Place in your mixer and whip with your whisk attachment. If you don't have a mixer, you can just use a large bowl (or the pot) and a potato masher. But when I first did it that way, it was too chunky, so I used my mixer instead. Perfect consistency that way. After it's blended, make a well in the center. Crack the egg into the well and then sprinkle with flour (start with 3 cups and add more if you need it).

Then you knead. Knead until it all comes together. Add more flour if you need to. Now, this next part you can do one of two ways (i.e. the traditional way or my made up way). The traditional way is to take softball size balls of the dough and roll them out into long strips (like as snake). Then you cut them into 3/4" size pieces. I didn't really like doing that, so what I do is just take a portion of dough and roll them into balls in my hands (probably 1-1.5" balls). Much bigger than the traditional size, but I like them better that way. Plus, I have young kids, so it's easier for them to stab their forks into that way.

Next, you drop them into a few inches of simmering water. Do it in batches so you don't overload your pan (which will lower the cooking temperature of your water and make the process take longer). Swish them around a bit while they cook so they don't stick together. When they float, they're done.

Drain, and then brown them in a couple tablespoons of butter until lightly browned.

Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan (or tomato/spaghetti sauce) and serve!

What's your favorite starch?

Lasagna

I'm back! Did ya miss me? ;) Like April said, we bought our first house 2.5 weeks ago, and things have been a bit crazy since then! But we're officially unpacked now, and once our %*&!@ couch finally arrives at the furniture store for us to pick up (it was supposed to be in on Saturday, but no), we'll be good to go.

I've had tons of fun in my new kitchen already. The inspiration for this recipe (I only changed a few things) was another one I found out of a cooking magazine I got recently, and it's extremely delicious. I made it for dinner one night, then we ate it for dinner again the next night, and I'm eating more leftovers for lunch today. My kids normally love lasagna at restaurants, but of course when *I* spend an hour slaving away in a hot kitchen to make them a fantastic lasagna from scratch, not one of them will touch it. Punks.

Making lasagna isn't quick. It's not difficult, by any means, but it's a process. It took me a good hour to do. But it's so worth it! It's definitely one of my ultimate comfort foods.

Ingredients:
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
12 ounces ground beef
1/2 pound bulk hot sausage
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 15 ounce container ricotta
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups mozzarella, shredded
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook sausage, beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain any excess fat. When meat is done, add tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, basil and pepper. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, combine egg, ricotta, parsley and salt.

Drain noodles. Spread 1 cup meat sauce in the bottom of a greased (I used butter, but you can use cooking spray if you want) 9x13 baking dish. Top with 3 noodles, then 2 cups meat sauce, 2/3 cup ricotta mixture, 2/3 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Repeat twice. (The ricotta won't spread extremely well without messing up the layer of meat sauce you already have down. So what I did is just "dot" the ricotta around evenly with my fingers, if that makes sense.)

Sprinkle any extra parsley on the very top.

Then cover and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer, or until the cheese gets a little golden brown tint to it. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I was tiiiiiired after standing in the kitchen for that long, so I served mine simply with some frozen Texas cheese toast. But if you're really motivated, serve it with these breadsticks and a green salad!

What's your favorite comfort food?

Garlic Chicken Spaghetti

Yet another shout out to my awesome cooking magazines! I'm not sure I'll ever have time to go back to my cookbooks if I keep finding yummy recipes like this. My husband said this was "amazing", and my kids all ate it up. My 7 year old picked at it a bit, but she's going through a doesn't-like-anything-but-chicken-nuggets phase, so we'll just pretend she thanked me profusely and asked for another plate. :)

This one was pretty easy and is pretty versatile. You could take out the chicken for a meatless meal. You can use any tomatoes you have on hand -- I used stewed tomatoes that I diced up, but you could use reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes or even fresh tomatoes. You could substitute 1/2 cup white wine for the broth (so use 1/4 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup wine).

Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup tomatoes
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 pound chicken, cubed (I used 3 breasts, which was the perfect amount)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 ounces mushrooms, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. While spaghetti cooks, place flour and garlic salt in a large bag, add chicken and shake to coat. Saute chicken in 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet until browned.

Remove chicken from pan. Saute mushrooms and garlic in remaining olive oil until tender.

Add broth, parsley, basil, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir in chicken and tomatoes. Add spaghetti and toss to coat evenly. Top with cheese before serving.

Do you like sun-dried tomatoes?

Zucchini Pasta

While I'm on a low-fat kick, I might as well share another delicious, low-fat recipe. Again, this came from one of my magazines. I thought it was a really great, easy, meatless meal. My kids even gobbled it up. I've grown a new appreciation for cooking with plain yogurt. It really does make things very creamy without adding tons of extra fat and calories. And, really, you can't tell a difference -- I told my 7 year old it was Fettuccini Alfredo, and she totally bought it! :)

I did change a few things to this one. First of all, I used less zucchini. The original recipe calls for 4 cups of zucchini, which I thought would be too much. My kids scoff at anything even remotely healthy-looking, so I have to disguise it a bit better than 4 cups worth. I used about 2.5 cups, which was perfect. Another thing I changed was I used regular sharp cheddar. I don't really care for the taste of low-fat cheddar cheese.

Also, the sliced garlic may freak you out a bit, but biting into them in this dish is amazing. It really gives a perfectly glorious punch of flavor in your mouth. I don't think the dish would be the same with minced garlic, but you can certainly do it that way if sliced isn't your thing.

Ingredients:
8 ounces uncooked linguine
2-3 cups coarsely shredded zucchini (about 3 medium)
4 teaspoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook linguine according to package directions. Shred your zucchini, then remove excess moisture (squeeze in a kitchen towel, like you would with spinach, or just put it in a colander and press down). Pat dry.

In a large, non-stick skillet, saute zucchini in oil for 2 minutes. Add garlic, and saute for 1-2 minutes longer, or until zucchini is tender.

Transfer to a large bowl. Add yogurt, cheese, salt and pepper. Drain linguine and add to zucchini mixture. Toss to coat and serve.

Do you use fresh garlic much?
Or are you more of a garlic powder/salt person?

Sweet Potato Fries

Happy Monday! I'm so excited to have my camera back to be able to blog again! I didn't realize how much I'd missed blogging until now. I've got so many great recipes to share that I've had a hard time deciding on which ones to post first!

I was recently given a bag full of lemons by a good friend of mine. As I was trying to figure out what to do with all these lemons, this recipe came to mind. So throughout this week, I'll be posting recipes that use fresh lemon juice. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have. Thanks again, Lisa!

On we go.

We love fries at our house (who doesn't??). In an effort to keep our arteries unclogged, I read over lots of online recipes, trying to find healthy alternatives. We invited some friends over for dinner a few years ago, and my husband wanted to make some yummy burgers. I figured that was the perfect time to debut this recipe I found on Foodnetwork, courtesy of Giada from Everyday Italian. Everyone loved it, even my kids. They gobble these up every time I make them.

Ingredients:
5 sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons basil leaves, chopped OR 2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe Garlic Mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut sweet potatoes into fries that are about 1 inch wide by 5 inches long. This doesn't have to be too precise or anything, but the thicker you cut them, the more limp they'll be when they're done cooking -- so you want them pretty thin.

Place fries on a foil lined baking sheet and toss with the oil. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Combine basil, salt and pepper in a small bowl. When fries are done, sprinkle them liberally with the salt mixture. Serve with garlic mayo for dipping.

Fries that are good for you? Yes, please!

Italian Cream Cheese Chicken

I got this recipe probably about 2-3 years ago from an online forum called Cooking For Your Family. It is so yummy! It's so creamy and delicious. I just love recipes that have very few ingredients but can still turn out so tasty. Add to that the fact that it's also a crock pot recipe, and you've got yourself a serious winner!

Now, I've mentioned before that I really prefer chicken thighs to breasts. However, this recipe is one of the few times where I actually prefer chicken breasts. So definitely use breasts for this one.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
6 ounces cream cheese, brought to room temperature and cubed
1 package dry Italian seasoning

Put your chicken breasts in your crock pot. Mix soup and Italian seasoning and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 hours. Add your cubed cream cheese. I just scatter the pieces over the top of everything, put the lid back on and then let it cook and get really soft for another hour.

After that hour is up, remove chicken from crock pot and shred. Then whisk the cream cheese into the sauce. Return chicken to crock pot and mix well to combine. Then serve over noodles. You could also serve over rice, but I like it over noodles best.

Garlic Chicken Pizza

My husband and I went to Olive Garden a few weekends ago, and I was inspired to make this after looking over their menu. I'm a huge fan of Fettuccine Alfredo and pizza, so why not combine the 2? I think Olive Garden has it right on the money. Delish.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, sliced
1 recipe Alfredo Sauce
1 recipe breadstick dough, prepared through the second rise
green onions, chopped
extra Parmesan, for topping pizza

You can either make one large pizza or divide the dough in half to make 2 smaller ones. If you make one large pizza, you'll need to give the dough about 7-10 minutes head start in the oven so it's not raw in the center and then increase the cooking time just a bit. If you do decide to make 2 pizzas, divide the dough in half before the second rise.

Cook chicken breasts in a little bit of olive oil. I seasoned mine simply, with just salt and pepper. While chicken cooks, roll dough into desired pizza shape.

To give the dough some extra yummy-ness, I drizzled the dough with olive oil and then sprinkled it with garlic salt. Then I spread some sauce on the dough. Okay, a lot of sauce.

Then scatter the cooked chicken on top of the pizza.

Bake at 425 for about 7 minutes. Then pull the pizza out, sprinkle the top with extra Parmesan and chopped green onions and return to oven for another 5-7 minutes. The pizza pictured below is one I made without green onions for the kids.