Pasta Primavera

I love this dish! It is originally from the "Cook Yourself Thin" cookbook and TV show that was on Lifetime in 2009. I bought it because there were so many recipes that I wanted to try out! I have made some changes to the dish that make it a little more filling and switched out some vegetables for ones that I like better. I have also added some chicken for extra protein. This can easily be made vegetarian by swapping the chicken stock for vegetable stock and leaving out the chicken. Just skip over the chicken steps and start right in with the asparagus!

I think this dish is pretty easy to make and doesn't require much prep time.

My picture is missing the chicken breasts, but I used 3 large chicken breasts. While starting the rest of the recipe, get a large pot of water boiling to cook the pasta. Once it is boiling and you have added the pasta, cook it about 2/3 of the way (about 6 minutes). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and the drain the pasta.

After slicing the chicken up, season with salt, pepper, and garlic and brown it up in a pan with enough olive oil to coat the pan. 

Once it is browned, add about 1/2 cup of white cooking wine. Let the wine cook out for about 4 minutes. Then, transfer to another bowl or dish. 

In the same pan, add the asparagus and 1/4 cup of chicken stock. Cover and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes so that the asparagus is still crisp. Transfer the contents of the pan into another bowl or dish. 

In the same pan (again!), heat the olive oil and then add the garlic. Brown for about 30 seconds to 1 minute over low heat. I added some red pepper flakes to make it a little spicy!

Add the pasta into the saute pan along with the rest of the chicken stock. Add the asparagus back into the pan...

Along with the spinach and peas. If you need ore liquid you can some or all of the pasta water back into the pan. The reason for using the pasta water instead of more stock or just water is that the starches in the pasta water thicken the sauce as it reduces down during cooking. 

Once the spinach, peas, and asparagus are mixed in and starting to thaw add the chicken and juices back into the saute pan. Reduce the liquid bay half, about 2-3 minutes, and add in the parmesan cheese. 

Bon Appetit!

Pasta Primavera

3-4 large chicken breasts

1/2 cup white cooking wine

salt, pepper, and garlic to season

1 lb. pasta, in any shape (penne, farfalle, or shapes that size work best)

1 bunch asparagus, tough ends cut off and remainder cut into 2-inch sections

15 oz. chicken stock

about 4 tablespoons olive oil

5 cloves garlic

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen spinach or 6 oz. fresh baby spinach

1/2 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese

This recipe can serve at least four, but probably can feed 5-6 without leftovers.

*A delicious addition are sun-dried tomatoes which can be chopped and sprinkled in right at the end of cooking. I didn't have any so I didn't add them, but I wish I did because I love them!

What I Ate Wednesday

This is my first what I ate wednesday post!

Breakfast

I had a piece of toast with organic peanut butter and a drizzle of raw honey. I also had some blueberries and a cup of green tea. I ate at 8:30 am.

The bread I used is a 21 grain organic bread that is hearty and tastes yummy too. We get it at Costco.

Lunch

Peter and I tried a new French sandwich place for lunch. I had a half of this sandwich for lunch. It is on French bread with pesto, goat cheese, and seasoned greens. I ate lunch at 12:30 pm.

Snack

I had a piece of a chocolate danish we bought at Trader Joe's a few days ago. I ate my snack around 3 pm.

Dinner

I made a family favorite for dinner: Pasta Primavera with chicken! This is one of my favorites! The recipe will be up on my blog this week. I had my dinner around 7:30 pm.

50th Birthday Cake!

This past weekend my mom and I made a cake for her best friend's 50th birthday. We have been getting some practice making cakes which I like! We are really learning a lot about baking, filling, stacking, and decorating cakes.

The birthday girl, Mary Jo, wanted a cake to feed 40 people. So we made it a two-tier cake, a 6-inch tier on top of a 9-inch tier. She also wanted each tier to have a layer of chocolate and a layer of vanilla.

We filled the top tier with chocolate cream cheese frosting just like this cake.

And we filled the bottom tier with buttercream and strawberries. The buttercream recipe is the same as the one we used on this cake.

We covered the cake in buttercream and added fresh flower details.

Everyone loved the cake and thought it was delicious!

We also brought some petite sweets with us because we know everyone loves them!

Baked Parmesan Chicken with Salad

This baked parmesan chicken is a very versatile recipe that my mom usually makes for salads, but can also be eaten with pasta, veggies, with or without a sauce, or anyway you want!

This time we ate it with salad. We start with two to three large chicken breasts sliced and pounded thin. 

The bread crumb mixture contains 1/2 cup plain (or italian or parmesan flavored!) bread crumbs, 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (we love it extra crunchy!), 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tsp basil. 

The chicken can be dipped in egg or milk before being dipped in the bread crumbs, but it isn't necessary. Sometimes my mom and I do dip it in liquid first, this time I didn't. 

My mom has devised a way to cook the chicken in the oven without it getting soggy. The chicken is surrounded by heat in the oven and clean-up is easy because of the foil. It doesn't need to be fried on the stove first (but it definitely can be for a browner color).

She stacks a cooling rack with legs on a baking sheet lined in foil.

Baked Parmesan Chicken Recipe

2-3 large chicken breasts

1/2 cup bread crumbs 

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp basil

Mix the last 7 ingredients together and coat the chicken in mixture. Bake at 450 degrees F for about 1 hour, flipping the chicken over halfway through cooking. 

Vietnamese Iced Coffee

Peter has become obsessed with vietnamese iced coffee! He loves it. He has tried every iced coffee that he can get his hands on recently. So today I tried making him some myself!

We went to Lee's Sandwiches to pick up this coffee filter that is traditionally use to make Vietnamese coffee. It was only $3.50! I think that's a pretty good deal. 

I put about 1 tablespoon of coffee grounds into the filter to make about 4 ounces of coffee. I think that was a good ratio, but next time I might run it through the filter an extra time to make it really strong. 

I put about 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk into the glass and filtered the coffee directly into it.

I stirred it up and then poured it over ice.

Peter liked it so I think it was a success!

Wedding Cake!

My mom and I got our first order for a wedding cake at Les Petites Sweets! The request is for a rustic wedding cake that the bride will provide flowers for. We have the cake next to a wine bottle for scale.

We made this cake as a practice run because we don't have much experience making cakes. It's good to know that we can make simple and uncomplicated cakes if that is what a customer is looking for. The cake we made is an 8 inch round on top of a 9 inch round. We would like it to look more balanced so when we do the final wedding cake we are going to do a 6 inch round on top of a 9 inch round.

Our first step was, of course, to make the cake batter! We used our super moist secret recipe!

We made a white cake filled with chocolate cream cheese frosting and coated in a luscious vanilla buttercream.

I found the chocolate cream cheese buttercream recipe on the blog "Cupcake Project". It was sooo good and everyone who tried it loved it. You can find the recipe here.

I found the vanilla buttercream buttercream recipe on the blog "i heart eating". It was so smooth and light. It didn't taste heavily of butter or sugar like the typical buttercream. You can find the recipe here.

We are excited to provide a cake and petite sweets for this upcoming wedding!