Vegetable Pasta Stuff

As some of you may know I'm a pretty big fan of vegetables in my diet but not so much pasta. However, I liked this dish because it has a shiz load of vegetables so here it is, pasta with a shiz load of vegetables.The recipe is actually called Cajun Chicken Pasta but I was too lazy to thaw and cook the chicken so I just did without.

Cajun Chicken Pasta 

8 ounces uncooked linguine (I used whole wheat spaghetti)
1 pound chicken breast strips
1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (or to taste)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced (or whatever color of bell peppers you want)
1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup  chicken broth
1/3 cup  milk
1 tbsp flour

4 oz cream cheese

 pepper
2 scallions, chopped
salt to taste

Cut all your vegetables. Make a slurry (whatever the muff that is) by combining flour, milk, and softened cream cheese. I wisked this briefly. Set aside. Season chicken with cajun, salt, and garlic salt then set aside. Cook your pasta of choice according to the directions. Heat a skillet to medium high with olive oil and cook half the chicken for 5-6 minutes. Repeat with the other half. Set chicken aside and then add a little more olive oil and saute the onion, garlic and peppers for 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and tomatoes and saute for an additional 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium and add your chicken broth and your slurry, stirring for about two minutes. Combine chicken, pasta, and vegetables and heat through for about two minutes. Top with chopped scallions.

Turkey Pesto Sandwich

This is a pinterest success! I love it cause it takes like 5 minutes to make, it's delicious, and healthy! Sorry I have to pictures. It was so good I could not control myself enough to hold back shoving it in my mouth so I could take a snap shot.

Ingredients:
1 jar of pesto
Turkey lunch meat of choice
Mozzarella (I prefer fresh, but regular works great too)
Tomato
Bread (The crusty italian stuff is really good, but I usually just use regular wheat)

I take 2 slices of bread and spread about 2 teaspoons of pesto on one slice. Then I put a few tomato slices on top of that. Next I slice some mozzarella and layer that on top of the tomatoes. Then I finish it off with a slice or two of turkey. I spray both sides down with some EVOO (baby mama anyone?) and grill on my George Foreman. Sometimes I even put parchment paper down so I don't have to clean it up.

Caramel Corn!

So here is the deal. I love popcorn in all forms, but especially caramel. Luckily my dear sweet mother gave me an awesome air popper from the 80's that works fantastically. If you don't have an air popper I'm sure you can use microwave popcorn (probably 2 bags), and I would try to get something without butter or at least the "light" version.

 So I start out with a big bowl of popcorn...voila!

 You will need Karo Syrup, Brown Sugar, Vanilla, Butter, Salt, & Baking Soda

 I start out by melting a cube of butter, then I add the brown sugar, salt, vanilla, and karo syrup.

Once the mixture mooshes together it should be a dark brown (like syrup).

 Remove from heat, then add the baking soda. It looks a little like baby poo color, but it's cool. At this point some people bake their carmel corn for a more shiny brittle effect. I like my stuff gooey so I usually forego this step. 

Then I take really attractive photos of myself eating it for social media so everyone can know how great my life is compared to theirs. 

Ingredients
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 cups popped popcorn

Directions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Over medium heat, combine first 4 ingredients and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and baking soda. Stir well. Pour over the pop corn. Stir to coat well. Bake in large roaster or pan for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to dry.

Why is everything with pineapple automatically Hawiian?

Hey Ladies, I was inspired by the pizza. So here is a delish recipe that is oh so easy! Long live the blog!

Pineapple Pork (crockpot style)

Ingredients

• 1 boneless pork loin roast (3 to 4 pounds)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 3 tablespoons canola oil

• 2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice

• 1 can (8 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple, undrained

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup sliced celery

• 1/2 cup cider vinegar

• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

• 1/4 cup cornstarch

• 1/3 cup cold water

  Directions Cut pork roast in half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown roast in oil on all sides; drain. Place in a 5-qt. slow cooker. In a large bowl, combine the pineapple juice, pineapple, brown sugar, celery, vinegar and soy sauce. Pour over the roast. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or until meat is tender. Remove roast and keep warm. Strain cooking juices; transfer to a large saucepan. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into cooking juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with pork. Yield: 8 servings.  If you are wondering "wow this thing is jacked up!" I did copy and paste. And I'm challenged/lazy and don't want to fix the format. Anyways I made this deliciousness the other night and put it over sticky rice. Pretty darn good.

Homemade Margherita Pizza

Remember how we haven't posted on this blog since September? Or do we hate school for getting in the way of being faithful to our blog? I can speak for myself by saying yes with my whole soul. As it turns out I decided to try to make a homemade pizza. Deysha loves the Margherita pizza but none in Logan have satisfied her needs like the pizza cart in Cedar City does. Anyway I tried to my best to duplicate it. Obviously it still doesn't compare to the pizza cart but that's ok. I just made stuff up so if you find ways to better this recipe by all means please do and then teach me your ways.

 

 

Leesa try not to be disgusted by the crappy quality of this photo.

Homemade Margherita Pizza 

Makes 2 pizzas

Crust (I used my Mama's recipe)

2 C. Luke Warm water 

2 packets yeast 

2 T. sugar 

Add together and then let bubble 

1/4 C. oil 

2 tsp salt 

5 C. flour 

1 jar of tomato basil pasta sauce (I was too lazy to find the pizza sauce also I definitely didn't use the whole jar) 

5 roma tomatoes 

Dried basil seasoning 

Fresh basil leaves 

8 oz of fresh mozzarella cheese (you'll need more if you want to make two pizzas)

Before church I sliced the tomatoes and seasoned them with the dried basil seasoning, salt and pepper and left them in the fridge. I did this because I wanted them to dry a little so they didn't make the pizza soggy. I don't know if they would make the pizza soggy anyway but it's better to be safe than sorry I told myself! I spread the sauce on the dough and sprinkled more dried basil seasoning for the heck of it. I layered the tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and sliced the fresh mozzarella on top.  Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until done.

It was pretty easy but let me know if you make this and make it better!

White Chicken Chili (not because I'm racist)

White Chicken Chili

1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped
2 cans (14 oz. each) chicken broth
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilis
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cans(14 oz.each) great northern beans, drained, divided
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Chopped Jalapeno pepper, optional

1.  In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook onion in oil for 10 minutes
or until tender.  Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the chicken;  cook
until no longer pink.  Add chicken broth,green chilis, cumin, oregano and
cayenne.  Bring to a boil.
2.  Reduce heat to low.  With a potato masher, mash one can of beans until
smooth.  Add to saucepan.  Add remaining beans to saucepan.  Simmer for
20-30 minutes or until heated thoroughly.
3.  Top each serving with cheese and jalapeno pepper if desired.


I used half cayenne pepper and half chili powder
Instead of green chilis, I added a bottle of green chili salsa
I used more broth, too.
Also I use canned chicken a lot of the time because cooking chicken is boring and messy.

Chicken Cordon Bleu/Grape Salad Goodness

This is Tyson's all-time favorite meal. We're talking birthday dinner status here. So I thought I'd make it today for Sunday dinner and share it with you guys.  It was so delicious!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken breasts

Ham

Slices of Swiss cheese (or provolone)

1 cup flour
Salt, pepper, garlic powder

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

Olive Oil

More milk
(You may also need chicken bouillon granules.)

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Pound the chicken breasts until they are about 1/2 inch wide all around.  Lay them out on a plate and season with salt and pepper. 

3. Take the sandwich ham and lay a few pieces on each  chicken breast followed by a slice of cheese.  I then usually sprinkle some basil over everything.

4.  Roll up the chicken, ham, and cheese and place toothpicks into the combination to keep everything together. 

5. Crack an egg into a bowl and add 1/4 cup milk and stir it all together.

6.  In another bowl, put the flour in and add generous amounts of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and any other seasoning that smells like it would fit in. When I say generous, I mean like you should feel uncomfortable about how much seasoning you are adding to the flour, but trust me it needs it! Sometimes I get crazy and put some thyme in, but honestly good old salt and pepper and of course garlic powder are sufficient.  Also, BEFORE you put any raw chicken into this flour, reserve around 1/4 cup for later.

7. Next take your rolled up chicken breasts and roll them around in the egg wash.  Then dredge them in your nicely seasoned flour.  Repeat with all of your chicken breasts.

(7 1/2. I send all of them through the eggs and flour again, just for good measure.)

8. When you are done giving your chicken breasts a nice flour bath, set them aside and let them rest for 10 minutes or so, just to let everything soak in.  While you are waiting you can heat up a nice frying pan with a generous amount (maybe 1/4 cup?) of olive oil in the bottom so when you add your chicken it sizzles.  

9.  Fry your chicken breasts in the olive oil turning so all sides get browned.  You're not trying to cook it all the way through, you just want to get some color on them.  It usually amounts to about 3-4 minutes per side.  

10.  Place your nicely browned chicken breasts in an oven safe dish and get ready to throw them into the oven.  

11. Take the 1/4 cup seasoned flour and add it to the pan you just fried your chicken in. (***If you don't have much oil left over from frying your chicken, add some more into the pan and let it get hot.) When your roux is made, add milk into the pan and stir everything together until it starts to thicken.  You'll want to make at least 3/4 of a cup gravy for each chicken breast so plan accordingly.  

12.  Once your gravy is nice and yummy (make sure to taste it and see, if its lacking in flavor, sprinkle some chicken bouillon granules in there to spice things up), throw it on top of your chicken breasts.  Place everything into the hot oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.

13. Make sure the chicken is cooked through, and then enjoy the deliciousness!! 

Grape Salad
Ohhhh.. this salad. SO GOOD!
A lot of grapes
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Brown sugar for sprinkling

1. Remove the grapes from the stems and wash thoroughly. 

2. In a bowl combine the cream cheese (it helps if its at room temperature), sour cream sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

3. Add grapes to the cream cheese mixture and stir around until all grapes are evenly coated.

4. Layer some grapes in the bottom of the bowl and sprinkle some brown sugar on top.  Repeat with as many layers as your heart desires with as much brown sugar as your heart desires.  

5. Stuff your face

*Oh, you may want to refrigerate it first; it usually never makes it that far in our house.

Here are some pictures of the dinner we ate! So good!!