Saturday, March 27, 2010

A couple more keepers! ;-)

Spring Break came and went, the week after spring break my sister Tori came to visit us! She was delightful to have around here and she also got to learn a few tricks of the kitchen trade! I was happy to be able to help someone learn a skill! The week before that was spring break and I really enjoyed sleeping in and taking it easy with the girls. I have made a few new recipes and a few old ones since the last time I posted so, I don't want to overwhelm my page - but I'm anxious to get these few recipes on here!
The first, and probably one of the best ones I've cooked was a Fettuccini Alfredo with Grilled Chicken that I got off one of my favorite recipe website blogs called Mommy's Kitchen. I think I have her link posted somewhere on my website. My sister Tori was anxious to learn how to make an alfredo sauce and it was the only thing she asked that I cook. So, I knew my favorite website blogger wouldn't steer us wrong! Here is the recipe.

Fettuccini Alfredo with Grilled Chicken

8 oz of fettuccini pasta
3 tablespoons real butter, divided (I used margarine and it was fine)
4 to 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts grilled (kind of more like just cooked in a skillet)
salt and pepper OR
Coronado Seasoning, or any poultry seasoning you like.
1 Tablespoon minced onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 cups light cream or heavy cream
1/4 cup italian blend cheese
1 tsp parsley
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil


Cook the pasta according to package and drain. I have found that little bit of oil or even Pam sprayed on the noodles helps keep them from getting all stuck together when left in a colander. If you have a stove top grill or want to grill the chicken outside, that is definitely a great option. I wasn't able to do that so I just put the chicken in slices in a skillet with the olive oil. Put whatever seasoning you like or chose to use on the chicken. Cook and brown on both sides until done and juices run clear. Remove from skillet when it's done and place on a plate lined with a paper towel.
For the sauce add 2 tbs butter, onions and garlic to a medium to large saucepan. Cook one minute and add cream (I used a combination of half and half and heavy cream) and cook for three minutes until reduced a bit. Add cheese and parsley and stir well with a whisk or a fork until the cheese is blended. Add remaining tbs of butter and stir until all is combined. Then add the cooked noodles to the cream. I served this dish by adding the chicken on top because it looked pretty but you could stir the chicken in there and stir with noodles and sauce if you wanted.

This recipe really was good! It's also easy to fix if you cook it to thick or thin because you can either add a bit more cream or a bit more of the Italian cheese (which I had never used before but was pretty awesome).






Next, I cooked lasagna because it feeds a lot and everybody loves lasagna! My sister came with my sweet nephew on Wednesday and he loves lasagna. It's just a standard recipe and I'm sure everyone has one but I thought I'd post it just because I know it's good and I like not having to cook the noodles before I make it!

Lasagna

1 lb of ground beef or turkey (I always use turkey)
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I use super chunky mushroom by Ragu and it's great)also I use most of the big jar.
4 cups mozzarella shredded and divided.
16 ozs of cottage cheese (I always use more b/c I love that stuff)
1/2 cup of parmesan grated
3 eggs
1/4 tsp parsley and/or italian seasoning
9 lasagna noodles
1/4 cup of water


Brown your ground meat and drain - add spaghetti sauce and about 1/4 cup of water. This is so that you don't have to cook the lasagna noodles in a pot before you make it and it saves a big step. Sometimes, you can add diced tomatoes to the spaghetti sauce and the liquid from that is enough to help boil the noodles, if you don't like the idea of adding water to your spaghetti sauce mixture.

Next, put 3 cups mozzarella, all of cottage cheese, all of parmesan, 3 eggs and parsley or whatever italian seasoning you like. and mix it well in a bowl.

Put about 1/2 cup or 1 cup of your meat sauce in the bottom of a greased lasagna pan. Layer 3 noodles on top of that sauce, another cup of spaghetti sauce on top of those 3 noodles. Spoon half of the cheese mixture on top of that and spread evenly.

Layer again with noodles, meat sauce, cheese and on top layer 3 more noodles, the last bit of the meat sauce and top with the left over cup of mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil (so the noodles will cook) and cook at 350 for 45 minutes. Take the foil off and pop back in for 15 more minutes to melt that mozzarella on top really well. If it doesn't seem like the noodles are soft enough when you stick a fork in the noodles, pop them back in covered and they should soften.

Sounds hard but it really isn't and it's super good! So, I'm gonna go ahead and post these recipes and later I'm going to post poppy seed chicken, chocolate chip cheese ball and a dip. ;-) Thanks for reading!

4 comments:

  1. now this I have to try the fettuccine with chicken!!

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  2. very nice blog....welcome to the world of food blogging!!

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  3. You have a fun and very yummy blog!

    xoxo

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  4. Thanks so much!! I'm new to all of this, but I can't stand not to share a recipe that I know to be good and relatively easy even if it looks or sounds intimidating. And Vincent, I'll be sure and add the petitchef to my blog.

    Happy Cooking!!

    Misty

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