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!

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. 

Shish Kabobs: My Family Recipe

Last night Peter and I cooked dinner together! This is one of my favorite meals and I knew he would love it too.

The first step is too cut up the meats you are using into chunks. They should be about 2-3 inch sized chunks. They need to be about the same size so that they cook evenly. You don't want burned and/or raw pieces.

The next step is to mix up the marinade.

These are the ingredients for the marinade. On the left is ginger and the right garlic.

Peter minced them up for me because he is a super helpful boyfriend and he does the parts that I like the least!

We divided the marinade up between the chicken and beef chunks and put them in air tight containers to marinade for about 5 hours. 

After they were done marinating I put them on skewers with onion and bell peppers that I cut into the same sized pieces. I like the flavor that the onion and bell peppers give, but I don't like to eat them. Peter does so I put extra on his. 

I had some zucchini in the fridge so I grilled them too. I think the chunks I cut were a little too big because they didn't cook all they way through. Next time I would cut them a little thinner.

We put the chicken on the grill first because it takes longer to cook than beef. I like it really well done. I know was over-cooked to some peoples' standards, but that's how I like it! I think the chicken cooked for about 30 minutes and I'm not sure how long the beef took. The zucchini only took a few minutes.

This is Peter's dinner. He really like the grilled veggies and refuses to eat brown rice so he had white rice.

And this is mine! I'm going to go have some leftovers now because writing this made me hungry!

Shish Kabob Marinade Recipe:

6.5 oz soy sauce

1 tsp ground ginger (I used fresh and about the same about of minced ginger as garlic)

1 tsp dry mustard powder

2 tsp sugar

4 Tbsp oil (I used grapeseed because it is a healthy, neutral oil)

4 garlic cloves (I used 6 because I love garlic and always used more than a recipe calls for)

Whisk all of the ingredients together and let beef, chicken, or whatever you want to use marinate for 4-6 hours. Any longer than about 8 will ruin your meat. It soaks in the salt from the soy sauce and will be inedible. 

Omelette Attempt

Today I made an omelette for breakfast! Sort of. I wasn't so good at flipping it.

I stayed over at my parents' house last night to watch the cat while they went to Vegas (and also bake some treats because my mom and I got an order, but that's another post). So I was looking through the fridge this morning and found these ingredients: eggs, milk, chicken, cheese, and frozen spinach. Perfect for an omelette!

I mixed together the egg, milk, cheese, chicken, and spinach in a measuring cup and seasoned it with salt and pepper. The chicken was leftover from when my brother made himself chicken tacos. He cut it into chunks and cooked it on the stove with salsa. It actually tasted like chicken cacciatore to us, but it was yummy either way. 

Then I put some butter into a saute pan and poured in my mixture. I cooked it over medium low until the bottom was set. Then came the flipping...it didn't work. I ended up with a scramble because the egg stuck to the bottom of the pan so I had to use a spatula. 

So I just let it cook the rest of the way and formed it into an omelette shape. I kind of stayed together and I'm sure the taste wasn't affected so I might try again with anther pan next time or maybe I should have added 2 eggs and not so many toppings. 

Anyway, I enjoyed it. The chicken gave it a really good flavor!

My completed breakfast.

Omelette:

1-2 eggs

splash of milk

some cheese (I used sharp cheddar and didn't measure)

chicken, cut into bite-sized chunks

frozen spinach

salt and pepper

I put my egg and milk into a measuring cup and mixed them up then added all of my other ingredients. I heated up and saute pan, added butter, and cooked the mixture on medium low. This isn't really a recipe but more of a guideline. You can add any ingredients you want, any veggies, cheeses, or meats. You can season as much or as little as you want and cook it to your preferences. If you decide to use frozen spinach like I did I would recommend patting it dry before adding it as my omelette was slightly runny. I just let the water cook out and it didn't really bother me, but it's something to consider.  

Serves 1.