Caprese Pasta with Grilled Chicken

Here's another great recipe from How Sweet It Is...Its just delicious!!! I love caprese salads so when I saw a pasta dish with the same name....OH YEAH!!! And I even used whole wheat noodles and tomatoes from my garden. 


Ingredients

1 pound whole wheat pasta (noodles such as penne work best)

1 cup of your favorite pasta/tomato sauce

1/3 cup heavy cream or half and half

1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese + more for garnish

4 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into cubes

1 pint of grape tomatoes (I cut some in half and left some whole)

1 bunch of fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Boil water and cook pasta according to directions.

While pasta is cooking, heat tomato sauce over low heat in a large saucepan. Once warm, stir in heavy cream and grated parmesan. Once pasta is done cooking, drain and dump into the sauce, mixing to coat and turning off heat. Fold in mozzarella cubes and tomatoes, then chop 3-4 fresh basil leaves and add them in too. Once combined, spray a baking dish with non-stick spray and pour the entire pasta mixture into the dish. Top with fresh mozzarella rounds. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly.

Top with additional fresh basil and grated cheese. Serve with garlic bread. You can also add in chicken, steak or seafood for some protein.

Whiskey Peach BBQ Chicken

I love The Pioneer Woman...she is fantastic! She is like the all-time best food blogger...or something like that. She just got her own show on the Food Network that premiers next weekend. Anyways, she makes some fantastic food. I browse her recipes and save them on my iPad and will cook them all at some point. I did come across a BBQ chicken recipe that caught my eye. Anysort of meat that has a whiskey sauce is great to me :-) This one was slow cooked in BBQ sauce, Jack Daniels, peach preserves, and onion. YUM!!! I did make mine with chicken thighs; however, next time I will do skinless, bone-in chicken breasts...you could also do this is a crock pot. Either way is great!

Ingredients

• 12 whole Chicken Thighs, Bone-in, Skin-on
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced
• 1-½ cup Whiskey
• 12 ounces, fluid Barbecue Sauce
• 1 jar Peach Preserves
• ½ cups Water
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 4 cloves Garlic, Peeled
• 3 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Heat oil and butter in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Place chicken thighs, four at a time, in the pot, skin side down. Brown both sides, then remove to a plate and repeat until all chicken is browned.

Pour off half the grease, then return pan to stove. Add onions to pan and stir, cooking for 2 minutes. Pour whiskey into the pot, being very careful if you’re using an open flame. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan, allowing whiskey to reduce for a minute or two. Pour in barbecue sauce, peach preserves, water, and Worcestershire sauce. Throw in garlic cloves. Stir until combined, then return chicken to the pot, skin side up. Cover and put pot in oven.

Cook for 1 1/2 hours, then remove from oven.

Serve pieces of chicken over a big pile of smashed potatoes. Sprinkle sliced green onions over the top.

Chicken Enchiladas

I love Mexican food...its one of my favorite foods to eat! I do have a hard time making it at home and it tasting like a restaurant. I have tried many different chicken enchilada recipes and they have been good, but not great. One of my new food blogs reads, How Sweet It Is, has this recipe on their blog and I tried it the other day...GREAT!!!! Its easy and delicious. You can make a lot and freeze some to cook later or you can serve a lot of people. I doubled the recipe and made 12 enchiladas but took 8 to a friends house who had surgery. I actually made mine with whole wheat tortillas to add a little extra fiber :-)

Ingredients
1 T butter
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies, drained
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
8 8" tortillas
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (* pepperjack would be good too)
1/2 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Melt butter in large skillet, add Rotel and sauté 1 min. Stir in cream cheese and let melt. Add chicken and cook, stirring for 2 min. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and drizzle cream over entire dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 min. Take foil off and cook another 15 min or until top is golden. ENJOY!!!

Millionaire Shortbread

OMG!!!! That's really all I can say about these. Claire Robinson on the food network made these the other day and said they were addicting...she was right!!! They do take a little of time because you want to let them chill in the fridge first, but its SO worth it! Really if you think about it, anything that has shortbread, caramel, and chocolate HAS to be good. And for those who can't have regular chocolate, white chocolate could work too! I halved the recipe because I didn't need 2 pans of this sitting around (well it wouldn't be sitting around for long and then Jillian Michaels would kick my butt extra hard tomorrow)!!! Anyways, you HAVE to make this for your next dinner party or potluck or weekday dessert.

Ingredients

1 stick of cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
1 T butter

1/3 lb semi sweet or dark chocolate

Shortbread: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or coat with cooking spray 1 (8in) square pan. Place flour, sugar, and salt in food processor and pulse once. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles peas. If you don't have a food processor, use either two knives cutting the butter into the flour or a pastry cutter. Press shortbread mixture into pan and bake until golden brown around edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool COMPLETELY.

Caramel: In a heavy bottom saucepan, combine milk and butter. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil and stir CONTINUOUSLY. This will burn if its too hot or you don't keep stirring...I burnt the first pan :-) Continue stirring for about 10 min or until a caramel color...it will get thicker. Spread over cooled shortbread. Cool to room temperature.

Chocolate: Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second intervals until completely melted. Poor over caramel. Put in refrigerator and let cool completely. Cut into squares and serve at room temperature!!!

Creamy Corn Salad

Summer is known for corn, tomatoes, peaches...everything fresh! I seem to buy an abundance of fresh fruits and veggies and sometimes can't figure out what to do with them all. This was the case this week when I had tons of corn and tomatoes. Instead of snacking on chips or cookies, I would prefer something a little healthier. I decided that a cold corn salad would be good. Its super easy and can even be made with canned corn. I sort of looked at a few recipes and made it my own.

Ingredients

4 cobs of corn, cut kernels into bowl
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 cup mayonaise
salt and pepper to taste
1 T fresh dill (optional)

Cut kernels off of cobs and mix with remaining ingredients. You may need to add more salt and pepper after it sits for a while. I also added a splash of rice vinegar to give a little added flavor.

Parmesan Crusted Salmon

One thing that I enjoy doing is reading food blogs, food magazines, cookbooks, and anything food. I really like finding different ways to cook some of my favorite foods. How Sweet Eats is a food blog that I just recently found and they have some really fantastic recipes. This salmon recipe was fantastic, healthy, and quick...serve it up with some roasted veggies and brown rice and call it a meal. I did change up the name because I think I would use parmesan cheese versus asiago (that they used).

Ingredients

1 lb salmon
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 T dried parsley (or fresh)
3 T grated parmesan cheese
1/2 T chopped garlic
1 T chopped shallot
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix yogurt, parsley, cheese, garlic, and shallot. Spread over top of salmon. Bake until fish flakes...about 15 min.

** Spray bottom of baking dish with cooking spray to keep salmon from sticking

Mascarpone and Lemon Gnocchi...with scallops

As you know I sort of love the Food Network!! I don't get to watch my favorite cooking shows nearly as much as I'd like due to my little loves, but occasionally I'll watch a little while they nap. I watched Giada the other day, who by the way is one of my favorite chefs, and she was making "Mascarpone and Lemon Gnocchi". I love gnocchi but I've never had the courage to make it...until now. This was a light little dumpling with a fresh lemon flavor and a mix of parmesan cheese.  The original recipe called for a sauce of olive oil and basil. I didn't think I would like that very much so I browned some butter and tossed the gnocchi in that afterwards...added a nice nutty flavor.

I decided to serve it with pan seared scallops and roasted asparagus...it was delicious. The recipe calls for quite a bit of parmesan cheese...I think next time I may cut back a little bit (I adjusted the recipe below to reflect less cheese). Don't get me wrong...I LOVE parmesan cheese, but it was almost over powering. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!!!

Ingredients 1 Cup mascarpone, at room temperature (8 ounces) 1 Large egg, at room temperature 1 Large egg yolk, at room temperature 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 2 Large lemons, zested 3/4 Cup grated Parmesan  1 tsp kosher salt 3/4 Cup all purpose flour, plus extra for forming the gnocchi 1/2 Cup grated Parmesan, for serving Directions For the gnocchi: In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone, egg, egg yolk, nutmeg, lemon zest, Parmesan, and salt. Using a hand mixer, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in 3/4 cup flour until the mixture forms a soft dough. Sprinkle a pie pan or rimmed baking sheet with flour. Using 2 small spoons, drop 1 teaspoon sized pieces of dough into the pie pan. Shake the pan gently to cover the dough with flour. Gently roll the pieces of dough into oval shapes. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a simmer. In batches, carefully add the gnocchi. The gnocchi should sink and then float to the top. As soon as the gnocchi begin to float, cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and place in a large serving bowl. For the sauce: In a small saucepan, brown 4 T of butter...toss gnocchi in butter before serving. Add the cheese to the gnocchi and gently toss until coated.