Side Dish Side Note.....

Meant to mention with the Spicy Beans blog - this side salad was super cheap and super tasty. I know making pasta salad from 'scratch' is a snap - but when I saw boxes of Suddenly Salad on sale for 98 cents a box, I grabbed 2 for a super-duper fast side dish to go along with the beans and salmon. But I wanted to boost it just a bit, you know? I wished I'd had feta cheese on hand as this was a new 'limited edition Greek Style' Suddenly Salad - but I didn't . Howebver, I DID have string cheese and tomatoes! So....

I sliced up two string cheese sticks and one roma tomato (and coulda put in extra sliced olvies but I hate'm) and it jazzed up the salad quite well! Makes it look a little more homemade - and taste a little richer and more flavorful. You can add whatever you like to these box mixes - good way to use up leftovers! Have fun with'em!

Chicken Peanut Noodles

We had the most awesome dinner on Sunday night. I’d wanted to make the dish several days earlier, but for one reason or another, it kept getting delayed. So by the time we got around to making it was a real treat. I expanded on a recipe I found on a blog I frequent called ‘battersplattered’. Battersplattered had posted a recipe for Spicy Peanut Noodles which was right up my taste bud alley. I love the combo of chicken and peanuts though and wanted to make it more of a one pot meal rather than just a side noodle dish. Because I added the chicken, I also tweaked the sauce to add a little more spice/heat and volume in general so the chicken could swim around in and soak up the peanuty, saucy goodness. It was to die for….OMG…SO good! And the leftovers the next day for lunch were just as good as the first night – my husband actually liked day number 2 better! Try this – we had ours with an egg roll on the side - you will love it!

Chicken Peanut Noodles

Ingredients:

6 T peanut butter

3/4 to 1 c chicken broth

4 T rice vinegar

4 to 5 T soy sauce

2 1/2 T sugar

1 T sesame oil

1 t ground ginger

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1 to 1 ½ t garlic powder

1 t red pepper flakes (optional)

1, 1 lb (16 oz) box of linguine

2 large (or 3 small) chicken breasts very thinly sliced while raw

1 T olive oil

1 envelope fried rice or Asian seasoning (I use Sunbird fried rice seasoning)

salt, pepper & garlic powder

1 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 c sliced green onions, cut on the bias

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 c chopped salted peanuts

Directions:
Combine first 10 ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Set dressing aside. The peanut butter will soften as the mixture sits after that first whisking. Give it a good whisking again before combing it with the chicken and noodles later.

Begin cooking the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until done (I prefer just past the al dente point – but not in no way mushy!)

While pasta boils, heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high and add the thinly sliced chicken. Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and the envelope of the fried rice seasoning (or approx 1 T Asian seasoning). Stir frequently until just cooked through. Add sliced orange bell pepper and combine (you want a little crunch to the pepper so if your pasta is quite a ways from being done, hold off adding it just yet – and turn the chicken down in this case as well).

Once pasta is done, strain it and add it to the chicken/pepper mixture. Whisk the sauce once more and pour over the chicken & pasta. Toss to coat thoroughly. Keep heat on medium and heat until sauce thickens slightly. Add sliced green onions and stir to combine.
Serve in bowls and sprinkle with cilantro and peanuts if desired (and DO desire it...these two additions are the crowning glory!).

Get ready to drift off into deliciousness!

Inspried by Costco......

My husband and I found out our Costco card had expired when, back in February, we were checking out and the gal behind the register said out card had been ‘dead’ since October! Because we were only buying like $17.00 worth of goods, she allowed us to make our purchase, then took my husbands card and sent us on our way. Times being what they are, we didn’t renew our cards then and still haven’t to this day. I have to say, I’ve missed Costco. Now, we’ve never walked out with a full cart (although I’ve always half envied/half wondered about the people who do) – heck – we’ve walked out with a $6+change double bag of yakisoba noodles! I don’t know anyone who walks out of Costco with just a bag of yakisoba and a receipt for under 10 bucks! Anyway….as I said, I’ve been missing Costco a lot lately but am in no way prepared to pony up 50 smacks to go walk through the door let alone make a purchase! But….I had a way in anyway.

Back in February, checker-girl never asked if I had a card! So, yesterday, my husband and I walked right through the front door, I flashed my expired card and we browsed those lovely isles till our heart’s content! We had a little lunch consisting of a wonderful multigrain tortilla chip dipped in my favorite mango-peach salsa, a single, perfect, cheese-stuffed tortellini, a ¼ ‘sandwich’ of thin-sliced ham on an awesome whole wheat ‘bunbread’ thingy and a tiny paper cup of a chocolaty, coffee frappy concoction. Let me tell you, if you abstain from Costco for months at a time, this kind of outing can be a real treat! We walked out of the store empty-handed, of course, but I did take one thing with me……a love for their tortellini.Now, one doesn’t just go home and make tortellini from scratch when they’ve never made it before…but they do, apparently, dive into scratch ravioli ‘cause that’s just what I did! Well…..I had played a few games of backgammon first , but then the urge was just to strong and I HAD to do it!

We’re totally into trying to really utilize the food and ingredients we have on-hand at home and I knew I could probably eek out some tastily-stuffed pasta pillows. This was my first-ever attempt at any kind of pasta and I have to say, it was fun, pretty gosh-darn easy. My daughter came downstairs just as I’d finished them and I said, “I made ravioli!” . She stared at them and said, “You just like…made’em?!”, like I’d just gotten a wild hair to whip them up outta thin air to which I replied, “Yup!”, it was so fun! Although more practice wouldn’t kill me, for my first try, these were awesomely good! My husband and daughter cleaned their plates (we had fresh-caught salmon too…thanks, Kelly!) and that’s always a sure sign of success! So without further delay….here’s my virgin pasta pictorial!


On VERY clean counters (thanks Hubs!), you mound 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons salt and make a well in the middle - just like you always see them do on TV.
You add three egg yolks and one whole egg. Next, you begin mixing it all by hand, adding between 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water till it comes together in a nice yet rather ugly mass - then you knead it to be a bit smoother, 'cuz it's kinda lumpish. Also, I don't know if the rulle of pastry applies here - you know the one about too much handling make a tough dough? But just in case, I didn't handle mine very much. I'd have taken a pic but my hands were waaaay coated!

Once you have a pretty good looking ball, cut it in half. One half will become the bottom of the ravs and the other, the top!

You want to roll out the dough as thinly as possible. A challange without a pasta machine - but this was a nice 1/8th inch roll-out if not less. I got it thiiiiin.....

Then I used my small-sized scoop and plopped out my filling. I had about a half a large container of ricotta left from a prior use, then addded a handful of shredded cheddar, about 1/3 cup parm, some fresh chopped thyme and chives, some dried basil and oregano, a tiny bit of salt, some pepper, three cloves of pressed garlic and a dash or two of cayenne. This was all by the seat of my pants - you can fill'em with whatever you like!

Then I rolled out the other piece of dough, trying to get it pretty close in size and shape as the firt piece. I used a pastry brush to paint all around each filling mound, then laid the second piece of dough atop the filling-plopped dough.

I pressed around each mound - *note: make sure you don't seal a pocket of air in with the cheese mound. If you do, go back and poke a hole in the dough by the filling and 'squeeze' out the air and press/seal the hole.

I used a pizza cutter to trim the rough edges of the raviolis, then cut them into individual, lovely, little pouches-o-pleasure. Using a small off-set spatula, I lifted each ravioli and dusted their tacky bottoms very lightly with flour so they wouldn't stick to my cooling rack while they dried. Now, I don't know if ravioli really needs to dry like regular pasta noodles (Betty Crocker says to let thin pasta strips dry for two hours), but I decided it couldnt hurt - and it wasn't dinner time anyway. So I let mine sit a total of about 3 hours. When I was ready, I boiled them in salted water for only about 4 minutes (fresh pasta cooks super fast!), till they'd floated for a minute or so. Then I transfered them to a hot skillet that had melted butter, garlic , pepper and parmesean cheese waiting to greet the little fellows and they got a good tossing around before being slid onto a warm platter in the oven. Normally you could serve them right out of the pan, but I boiled my ravs in two batches so as to not over crowd them in the water or the buttery garlic ;-)And here they are! They were so savory and hot and cheesy and yummy! I wish I had cut one in half and shown you the molten insides....but what can I say...they just all went right down my gullet! They were too good! This will NOT be the last time I make these though...I can assure you of that. They're cheap, easy and delicious - it doesn't get much better than that!

Happy New Year - A Little Late...

Well...it's been a while! I've been feeling bad about not posting lately - there was stuff to put in...pics of the ever deepening snow in our yard the week before Christmas, New Year's wishes and pics etc.... But time seems to get away from me or I feel what I have to say isn't "all that" and next thing you know, weeks have gone by.

Anyhoo...enough of that - let's get down to business. Things have taken a turn back to the healthy at our house. Earlier this year, I very happily melted off 30 pounds. I felt terrific, but something about hitting that number, even though I wanted to rid myself of another 25 or so, made me pretty darn pleased with myself and I stopped working to lose weight and let myself sit with the 30 for a while. Well, over the holidays, the 30 lbs has back-peddled to about 22 (yes, I'm guessing...there's no way I'm stepping on the scale to see the actual goodie-damage. I'm not stupid!) So....right about January 3rd, the pantry and fridge were cleansed of their evil carbs and sugars - and low fat, whole wheat, sugar-free, fresh-from-the-farm items took their place. I have to say...it feels great to eat better. It's actually a relief to not eat fat-laden crap. I already feel better - popping right up the stairs rather than trudging, rising easily in the morning instead of feeling like a sack-a rocks. I've truly missed steanmed broccoli and taking a few pieces of fruit to work with a great-tasting, mayo-free sandwich. 2009 is off to a terrific start!

So - in coming up with new ways to cook up ground turkey and chicken etc, this awesome new dish came out of my kitchen last night. Its low fat, uses whole wheat pasta and is full of rich, chickeny flavor. I'm not one for resolutions...they seem to set you up to fail -but I'm calling this dish Resolution Chicken Pasta because if you are one to make resolutions of the diet kind, this one will fit the bill!

Resolution Chicken Pasta

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion - halved & sliced (not too thick, not too thin)
1/2 red pepper - diced
4 cloves garlic - chopped (or minced)
4 medium, skinless chicken breasts - sliced into thin strips while raw
3 - 4 T flour
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (your choice low sodium, fat-free etc.)
1 can 98% fat-free cream of celery soup (undiluted)
1/2 can 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup (undiluted)
1/2 t dried basil
1 t celery seed
1 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
salt (used throughout)
pepper (used throughout)
1 box (13.25 oz) Barilla Whole Wheat Thin Spaghetti

Begin by filling your pasta pot with salted water and keep the heat high enough so that the water boils quickly later on for your pasta. Heat oil in large frying pan over medium high heat and add sliced onions and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper and cook until onions start to loosen up - about 5 minutes. Add chicken pieces, a bit more salt and pepper and stir to combine then refrain from stirring for a few minutes so the chicken can pick up a little color on the bottom. After about 4 minutes, add the garlic and stir the mixture so the chicken just cooks throughout. Next, add the flour and stir well to combine. The flour will coat everything in the pan and make is rather tacky and kinda pasty - this is exactly what you want to have happen. Let this cook for a couple of minutes so the flour picks up the flavors in the pan and won't just taste like flour. Next, pour in the chicken broth. Stir well and scrape your stirring implement along the bottom of the pan to get up all the brown and wonderful 'leavings'. Stir until the mixture bubbles and you'll notice it will get thick pretty quickly in just a minute or so. Add in the two cream soups and stir well to combine. You can now turn the heat down to medium. Add in the basil, celery seed, red pepper flakes, onion powder and garlic powder. Stir well. Allow the mixture to bubble for just a few minutes - taste it for salt and pepper, then you can turn it down to medium low or low until the rest of your dinner is ready. The rest of this dish is the pasta. While the flavors of the chicken dish marry, crank the heat on the pasta water and once boiling, cook the entire box of whole wheat thin spaghetti (I like to break my spaghetti in half). Cook acording to package directions then drain, drizzle with a little olive oil if desired (just so it doesn't stick together). To serve, put the desired amount of pasta on your plate and ladle the chicken mixture on top. Then, twirl your fork into the hot, steamy, creamy deliciousness and enjoy!

Happy healthier eating in the new year!

Sausage, Peppers & Pasta.....

I made up a dish several months ago. When I make up a dish, I gotta make it a few times before I know I have it right . It needs to taste the same and be good each and every time. Well, I have this one down. It doesn't have a name...so I call it Sausage, Peppers and Pasta because it has , well, sausage, peppers and pasta in it! But it also has garlic, onions and lots of good seasoning. I love this dish. It's easy and not too fattening as I like to use turkey sausage - but you can use any sausage you want. The key to the sausage is to use two kinds...I use sweet and hot. Makes each bite a little more interesting! The brown bits that coat the pan end up making the 'sauce' for the dish so it's very flavorful. My picutre doesn't do the color justice...should be nice a caramely.....lighting wasn't great. :-( Also, the sausages come 5 to a package...I use four of each kind for this recipe, but cook all of them, sending one of each in my husband's lunch the next day (if he doesn't eat them before dinner's ready!). If you end up really liking this recipe, you could always increase the pasta by a half a package or so and use all of the meat and have even more for leftovers. My family of three gets two dinners out of this recipe 'as is'. Anyway.... without further delay, here's my recipe for.....
Sausage, Peppers and Pasta ~
2 packages Italian turkey sausages - one sweet, one hot (should be three to 4 sausages in each package - use regular pork sausage if you like)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red pepper - seeded, sliced into 1/4" strips and strips halved
1 green pepper - seeded, sliced inot 1/4" strips and strips halved
1 large yellow/sweet onion - halved and sliced fairly thin
3 cloves garlic - peeled and sliced very thinly
1 pound (16 oz. package) linguini
1/2 teaspon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoons Pampered Chef Crushed Red Peppercorn & Garlic seasoning (if you don't have this, use a comparable spicy, red peppercorn seasoning from your local store's spice isle)
3/4 - 1 cup water
Fill a large pot with water and begin to heat the water for boiling the pasta so it boils super fast later - don't forget to salt the water. Drizzle olive oil in a large pan (chicken fryer size) and once heated, add sausages to pan and cook over medium heat. Turn sausages regularly to brown them evenly. They should get really nice and brown but not black - you want lots of yummy brown coloring on the bottom of the pan, but not burnt coloring. When sausages are almost done, crank heat up on your pot of water so it begins to boil. Once the sausages are done, remove them from the pan to a cutting board and - your water should be boiling by now, so add the pasta (broken in half) to the water and cook it acording to package directions. Put the sliced red & green peppers and onions into the sausage pan and stir them in the brown, yummy drippings. After about 2 minutes, add about 1/2 cup of water - this will begin to deglaze the pan and get all that sausage flavor into the veggies. At this time, add all of the dry seasonings and the sliced garlic. Stir frequently until veggies are cooked through - but not super soft - you don't want mushy veggies. They should be nice and brown from the deglazing process. Add more water to the pan if any brown bits remain stuck to the bottom of the pan. You want to have a 'sauce' from the drippings...you may add up to a cup or so of water, total. Some of this recipe is an 'eye' thing...so judge for yourself, this is not a 'dry' dish - but not 'soupy' either. Turn heat down on the veggies if the they progress too quickly before the pasta is done. Slice the sausage you set aside, into 1/4" slices - I cut mine at an angle. Add sausage slices back into veggies and stir to combine. Once pasta is done, use one of those 'claw' type tools or a pair of tongs to lift pasta from the pot and put it, 'claw-scoop-by'-claw-scoop' directly into the sausage/veggie pan (this allows a little pasta water to drip in with the pasta...a little more liquid at this point is just fine. Draining the pasta can leave it too dry and it can get sticky). Once all of the pasta has been transferred, use two large wooden spoons to toss and coat pasta into the veggies, sausage and 'sauce'. Your delicious dish is ready to eat! Serve it hot with a crispy, fresh salad of greens and some hot, crusty bread. Soooo good! Enjoy!