Chicken Piccata Toss

Dan & I love chicken piccata, and this recipe was even better! It was easy besides cutting the chicken, we will definitely be making this again!

Chicken Piccata Toss
Source: Rachel Ray



Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/3 pounds chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup chicken broth or stock
3 tablespoons capers, drained
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 pound penne rigate pasta, cooked to al dente
Chopped or snipped chives, for garnish

Directions
-Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and the chicken to the pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken until lightly golden all over, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return the skillet to the heat.

-Reduce heat to medium. Add another tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter, the garlic and shallots to the skillet. Saute garlic and shallots 3 minutes. Add flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in wine and reduce liquid 1 minute. Whisk lemon juice and broth into sauce. Stir in capers and parsley. When the liquid comes to a bubble, add remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter to the sauce to give it a little shine.

-Add chicken back to the pan and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss hot pasta with chicken and sauce and serve. Adjust salt and pepper, to your taste.

Modifications: For 2 people, we used 1/2 pound of chicken & about 2 cups of pasta. This way there was enough sauce & no leftovers! If you do this, you will want to use less capers, also :)

Source: Rachel Ray.

Lemon Pasta Bake

This recipe was a great summer pasta recipe! It was really light and tasted even better as leftovers. We got the recipe off the Pioneer Woman's website...I would definitely make this again. It was super easy too!



Baked Lemon Pasta
-1 pound thin spaghetti (I used fusilli)
-1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-Juice of 1 lemon
-Zest of 1 lemon
-2 cups sour cream (I used low fat)
-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired
-Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese
-Flat leaf parsley, chopped
-Extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.
In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT.
When butter is melted, add minced garlic.
Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.
Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.
Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.
Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)
When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top.
Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley.
Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end

Source: Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Pomegranate Mojito

This is a fun balcony happy hour drink! Plus it has to be healthy because it has pomegranate juice in it right?



2 oz pomegranate juice
2 oz white rum
1 tbsp sugar
4 oz club soda
6 mint sprigs
cracked ice

1 -In a cocktail shaker, combine all ingredients except the mint and shake well.
2 -Muddle the mint in the bottom of a cocktail glass & add sugar.
3 -Strain the pomegranate mixture into the glass with the muddled mint, and serve.

Recipe found on this blog. Enjoy!!

Cheesy Chicken Skillet

This recipe was surprisingly good & super easy! We made the entire thing in about 25 minutes!



Cheesy Chicken Skillet
Ingredients

-2 cups of pasta
-3/4 lbs chicken, cut into pieces
-1 can Healthy Request cream of chicken soup
-1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
-1 cup of skim milk
-1 tsp black pepper
-1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Cook the pasta as directed. Heat oil in 10 inch skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken & cook thoroughly. Reduce heat to medium; stir in soup, tomatoes, milk and seasonings. Stir in cooked pasta. Cook about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until bubbly & heated through. Sprinkle with cheese. Reduce heat, cover & let stand about 5 minutes.

**Modified to use less milk, & Italian style tomatoes instead of adding seasoning separately

Source: Lauren's Kitchen Blog

Homemade gnocchi

This is a recipe I tried a while back & it was HARD to make. But I wanted to give it a shot. They totally fell apart, but I'd like to try them again sometime.





I have no idea what recipe I used, but I didn't have a ricer and I used a cheese grater instead. I definitely need to attempt this one more time!

Dante helping us cook!

This is our favorite video - Mom was visiting and we were making gravy, meatballs & lasagna. Dante helped out by cleaning out the ricotta container!!!

Cocktail Meatball Appetizer

Cocktail Meatballs

Easiest, most delicious appetizer! There are never leftovers!

Ingredients:
1 bottle 12 oz chili sauce
12 oz ketchup
1/2 can jellied cranberry
Bag of frozen appetizer meatballs (We use Trader Joe's Party Sized Mini-Meatballs)

Put ingredients in pot on the stove, let cook. Add meatballs, simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Source: Not quite sure...

This dish does not take pretty pictures :)

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe from Dan's childhood that he wanted to make. I was skeptical of the orange & chocolate chips, but it was delicious!!


Orange Drop Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: 1975 Betty Crocker Cooky Book

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons orange zest, grated
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
1)Heat oven to 400F
2)Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3)In another large mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar and egg thoroughly. Stir in orange juice and rind.
4)Sift dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend together.
5)Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet.
6)Bake 8-10 minutes or until delicately browned on edges.
7)Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Chicken Parm Meatball Subs

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
1 tablespoon various seasonings
1 large egg
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
EVOO
Salt
Pepper
Crusty sub rolls
Sliced Mozzarella

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place chicken in a bowl and season. Add egg, grated cheese, bread crumbs, and a serious drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil to the bowl. Mix the meat and form 12 large meatballs. Squish the balls to flatten them a bit like mini oval meatloaves. Be careful not to form the balls wider than your bread. Bake the meatballs 15 minutes until golden and firm. Switch the broiler on.


Cut sub rolls making the bottom a little deeper than the top. Hollow out a little bread and lightly toast the sub rolls under broiler. Fill the bottoms of the breads with flattened balls and sauce. Cover the subs with cheese and return to broiler to melt the cheese until golden.

Adapted from Rachel Ray

Recipes to try in 2009

Here are some recipes I'd really like to try in 2009:

Chicken Parm Meatball Subs

Parmesan Orzo

Chicken Stuffed Shells

This will be good for Superbowl!
Buffalo Chicken Dip

Thai Style Chicken Fried Rice

Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato Cream Sauce

Weight Watchers Penne Vodka

I hope I have a chance to try them all! So many cooking blogs out there & so many fun recipes :)