Category: Main Courses

“Don’t compare yourself with someone else’s version of happy or thin. Accepting yourself burns the most calories.” ~ Caroline Rhea

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As mentioned earlier in the week – all I am craving is the “sweet stuff” but man can’t live on sugar alone (although goodness knows I could but my waistline could not) so…….

I found a couple recipes from Cooking Light I would like to try and tonights will be Walnut and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken.

  • ¼ cup low fat buttermilk
  • 2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
  • 4 (6 ounce) chicken cutlets
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
  • 2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
  • ¾ teaspoon minced rosemary
  • 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
  • cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425º.

Combine buttermilk and mustard in a shallow dish, stirring with a whisk.

Add chicken to mixture, turning to coat.

Heat small skillet over medium-high heat. Add panko bread crumbs to pan, cook 3 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently.

Combine panko, nuts, cheese, rosemary, salt and pepper in shallow dish. Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture and dredge in panko mixture.

Place a wire rack on a large baking sheet, coat with cooking spray and arrange chicken on rack; spray chicken with cooking spray.

Bake for 13 minutes or until chicken in done.  I served mine with wild rice and a salad.

Having this for dinner (292 calories, 9.6 grams fat/serving) made me feel better about all the Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies I ate!

I hope to try more Cooking Light recipes soon!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

abp

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” ~ Helen Keller

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Ok, I am feeling adventurous today – maybe it’s the wisdom I feel because I’m a year older this week…….

In any event – I am trying a recipe I found in bon appétit. Although I love reading this magazine – this will be the first recipe out of it that I have ever attempted. They are usually a little too involved, they include ingredients that are either too hard to find or too expensive or they are something that not a whole lot of people would have to eat on an average day.

But alas, I found one that I thought would be a good fit for me and my family, especailly coming off our trip to Italy.

Garganelli with Fennel and Pork Shoulder Ragù. (sounds fancy, huh??)

I did change up a few things though.
The first being the garganelli pasta which is a hand shaped egg based tubular pasta. Well, I’ll be using dried penne pasta. Also – I do not like the taste of fennel so I replaced that ingredient with celery which is common replacement because I’m one of many who is not of fan of the licorice flavor.

So with that being said, here’s what we got.

Gargnelli Penne Pasta with Fennel Celery and Pork Shoulder Ragù

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 1Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1½ cups minced celery
  • 1½ cups minced onions
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1½ cups dry white wine
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 6 ounces (half a can) diced tomatoes
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 8 oz Penne pasta
  • grated parmesan cheese
  • extra virgin olive oil

You start by mixing the pork and 1 tsp of salt by hands until sticky, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

After chilling, roll pork mixture into 8-9 large meatballs (about 1/4 cup each).

Heat olive oil in large, heavy, deep pan over medium-high heat.  Cook meatballs until all sides are brown. Adjust heat so the brown bits on the bottom do not burn.

Drain meatballs on paper towel lined plate. Reduce heat to medium and scatter celery, onion and garlic in pan. Return meatballs to pan and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, or until vegetables are translucent and juices have evaporated.

Add wine, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan and bring to a simmer.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until the wine has reduced by 3/4.

Add the chicken broth and tomatoes. Return to a simmer, once again scraping up brown bits.  Continue to simmer with the lid slightly ajar for about 2½ hours, stirring occasionally.

When finished cooking, remove meatballs and break up into small pieces and season with salt and pepper. Then return to pan.

Add cook pasta to ragù, mix well.

Serve topped with cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Such a hardy and unique meal.  It tasted very authentic – and I can say that since I still can taste all that yummy food with had in Italy (more on that next week).

This took a little time but it was well worth it!

Hope everyone has had a great week! TGIF!!!!

abp

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ~ Dr. Seuss

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Saturday. 6:15 a.m.

WHAT am I doing AWAKE???

Never fails – I can’t sleep when I can sleep in but am always snoozing when the alarm goes off during the week. Oh well. Might as well be productive! (As long as I can be productive from the comfort of my pillow loaded bed) 🙂

I actually have a pretty full day ahead of me but that can not get started until the DH and my cute pumpkin of a stepson wake up. (lucky boys)

There’s both an Alabama and Auburn game on today we have to watch, we wanna go to the Moundville Native American Festival and also try to take in a movie – we’re thinking Hotel Transylvania or Pitch Perfect. But first on my list today is going to the grocery store. I am itching to make a recipe I found on Normal Cooking written by a great girl named Lindsay (even if she is an Auburn fan) 🙂 You really need to check out her page! I’m so impressed with her – she cooks and post like everyday!!! I aspire to be more like that!

Garlicky Baked Shrimp is the recipe that I will be trying tonight.  It looks to be simple but very, very tasty! Thanks Lindsey for sharing.

Garlicky Baked Shrimp

1 lb. raw shrimp, deveined and peeled (I pull the tails off beforehand too)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. white wine
salt and pepper
1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) melted butter
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. fresh Italian-leaf parsley, chopped
Juice of half of a lemon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º

Start by combining the garlic, lemon juice and wine.

Mix in shrimp until completely combined.

Pour into baking dish and spread evenly, season with salt and pepper.

Then mix butter, Panko crumbs and parsley (I didn’t have fresh so I used dry italian seasoning).

Sprinkle Panko mixture evenly over shrimp.

Cook at 350º for 15-18 or until shrimp are cooked through. (I had to broil mine a bit at the end to get the browness I wanted)

I served this with a salad and fettuccine spaghetti alfredo (one of the pumpkins favorites).

It was delicious! Once again I thank Lindsay of Normal Cooking for sharing this recipe. I look forward to trying more of hers!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

abp

(p.s. we did see Hotel Transylvania – very cute movie and then went to see Argo on Sunday night – very good, I see Oscars in it’s future!)

“Food is not about impressing people. It’s about making them feel comfortable.” ~ Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa)

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Italian food ranks right up there as being my favorite type of food but I have to admit when we got back home from our trip to Italy- I most definitely wanted something that 1) wasn’t Italian and 2) was not ordered in a restaurant.

I wanted good old comfort food and I wanted it in the form of Mexican!

So Mexican Chicken Casserole fit the bill perfectly!

It’s simple, simple and full of flavor.  It can also be adjusted according to the heat you desire.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

  • 2-3 cups of cooked chicken, shredded
  • 8 oz of jalapeno Velveeta cheese, cubed (use regular for milder version)
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can mild rotel tomatoes (hot for spicier version)
  • 1/2 bag Doritos, crumbled

Mix shredded chicken, cheese, soups and rotel in large bowl.

Pour into casserole dish.

Top with Doritos and bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until slightly browned and bubbly.

Serve with Sante Fe Ranch Salad and chow down.

That sure was simple and perfect for this hungry jet-lagged girl.

Glad to be back in the kitchen!

abp

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore

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The calm before the storm.

The next couple days/weeks are going to be pretty crazy for me.
(But in a good way!)

We are going on our delayed Honeymoon – YAY! So this will be my last post for about 2 weeks. I would like to blog about some of the things we do and EAT on our trip but I’m not sure what the internet situation will be like. So until then I’ll send you off with the recipe from last Mondays Peanut Gallery meal.

Chicken and Black Bean Casserole

(recipe adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff)

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup rice
  • 1 ¼ cup chicken broth (divided)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/3 cup diced onion
  • 2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
  • 2 cooked skinless boneless chicken breast halves, chopped
  • 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ground cayenne pepper to taste
  • 2 oz cream cheese
  • 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained
  • 1-2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese-depending on how much cheese you like (pretty much any kind of cheese combo you would like would work well – I’m using cheddar-jack)

Bring rice and 1 cup chicken broth to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until rice is soft and liquid is absorbed.

Preheat oven to 350º and grease a 9×13 casserole dish.

Cook the onion in olive oil over medium high heat until tender.

Then add in chicken, mushrooms and zucchini. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

Cook until zucchini and mushrooms are soft and slightly browned.

Add in chicken, green chilies, cream cheese, ¼ cup chicken broth, black beans, rice and half the cheese.  Stir until mixed well and heated through. (see note below)

****Note***** When doing this again, I would not add rice and beans in to the pan,  I would fold in rice and black beans in a large bowl after the rest was combined. When mixing in the beans over heat it kind of turned everything greyish – not very appealing.

When combined, spread into casserole dish and cover with remaining cheese.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until bubbly and cheese has slightly browned.

One thing I would add next time would be ½ – 1 Tablespoons of diced jalapeno peppers – I like it spicy!

I have to admit – it’s not a very pretty dish (the greyishness doesn’t help) but it’s a  yummy, filling dish that’s not on bad on the diet either!

I will definitely miss you guys for the next couple weeks but I should be back with good stories (and probably 5-10 extra pounds…….)

And for all you would be burglars out there – since I’m telling the whole world wide web that I’m going to be out of town – there will a house sitter staying in our home to take care of things while we’re gone, so no need in getting any ideas.

I’ll see you in a couple weeks!

Ciao!

abp

“If there’s cheesecake in the house, I’ll have some.” – Kelly Ripa

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How was everyone’s Labor Day??

Mine was awesome. Spent the day at the Birmingham Zoo and because of the cloud cover it was very pleasant all day! Then it was off to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner where I showed great restraint when I ordered only a Skinnylicious Caesar Salad! Granted we did order a slice of the new Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake!!!

(before you start shaking your finger – it was split 3 ways)


Can you say awesome???

One of the best desserts I’ve ever had.

So – like I said – great day!

It was back to the ol’ grind today and after a trip to the gym (that makes twice in 4 days – thankyouverymuch) I started on dinner.

On the menu tonight is a recipe I adapted from the blog Relative Taste.

It looked interesting, all the ingredients were things I really liked and it seemed fairly simple. Because of this I thought it would work well for a workday dinner and since I had I postponed the Peanut Gallery meal until tonight due to the holiday I thought it would be perfect.

Teriyaki-Ranch Chicken

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • ½ cup teriyaki basting sauce
  • ½ cup light Ranch salad dressing
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1½ ounces bacon bits

In a bowl mix together teriyaki sauce and ranch. Next salt and pepper your chicken, and using the vegetable oil, lightly brown the chicken on both sides.

Place in baking dish.

Pour sauce mixture over chicken.

Top with cheese.

Sprinkle bacon bits and green onions.

Bake uncovered at 350° for 30 minutes.

I served it with rice (pour a little pan sauce over the rice) and top with the chicken breast.  Any green side would be great.

This was VERY, VERY good. The flavor was unbelievable! I was kind of surprised because it was so simple.

This will definitely be one of my “go-to” quick dinners.

Until next time!

abp

“If I had to narrow my choice of meats down to one for the rest of my life, I am quite certain that meat would be pork.” ― James Beard

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TGIF!!!!

Anyone else as ready for it to be Friday as I am??? Goodness, what a long week. At least it’s been a productive one. One of the most productive things I did was re-signup at the gym. I’ve made a pact with myself.  I MUST go at least twice a week! 3 days would be preferable but I will not beat up on myself if its just 2.

Wish me luck.

I have to admit – I’ve never been one to cook many pork tenderloins. Mainly because they always seem dry.

But alas! I have found one that is not!!!

I made it this past weekend and even though my “pan sauce” separated and didn’t’ thicken as it should – it was still yummo!!

The tenderloin went great with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts!

The marinade is just awesome.  I think I might try it with chicken.

Recipe adapted from Chef Mommy.

Marinade  (I need a good name for this)

  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • Juice from 1 lemon
  • 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 Tbsp fresh parsely (I used dried because it was all I had)
  • 2 tsp dry mustard
  • Fresh cracked pepper, to taste
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed

Mix all ingredients together. Reserve 2-3 Tablespoons. Marinate 1 lb pork tenderloin in ziploc bag for at least 3 hours.

(Mine marinated all day)

I think the longer the better.

Take the pork from marinade and sear all sides for 2-3 minutes in hot skillet over medium-high heat.

Place in baking dish with several tablespoons of the marinade (from the bag – not the reserved marinade) and bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes.

To make the pan sauce (or try in my case)

Take the skillet you seared your pork in and deglaze with ½ cup chicken broth.  Add the reserved marinade and let boil down for 2-3 minutes. Add 1-2 teaspoons of butter (oops! I think thats where I messed up – I did tablespoons). Stir until melted. Pour over sliced pork.

Do you see all the extra butter floating around??? How could you not?!

A little extra butter never hurt anyone……..

As for the brussel sprouts. Just half or quarter them according to size.

Toss with extra virgin olive oil, garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. Place on a foil lined baking dish.

Roast for 20 minutes at 415°.

Turn them 1-2 times during that time.

I like mine a little black and crispy.

Right now would be a great time to sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese!

Even with the ugly looking pan sauce this meal was a winner!

Will definitely make again!

On another note – it’s always great to have these nice meals with all the different ingredients, but I gotta tell you – that grilled cheese sandwich that I made tonight (with plain old white sandwich bread, a cheese slice and butter) was like a little slice of heaven after a long day.  I finished it up with Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk straight from the carton, in my pajamas, watching the first college football game of the season. I am one happy, happy girl. 🙂

abp

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Yves Cousteau

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Good Morning!!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day so far!!!

Does this look good???

Well, it was very good!

Club Sandwiches – so much better than a regular old ham/turkey sandwich.

And not that much harder to create.

  1. 3 pieces of bread, toasted
  2. a little mayo
  3. ham, turkey and cheese
  4. lettuce and tomato
  5. salt and pepper
  6. and of course – bacon!

Also – you have to have the little frilly toothpicks!

But the trick that makes this club better than any other club I have had is that it is sprinkled with good shake of oil and red wine vinegar. Gives it a great kick and keeps it from being dry!

Serve with thin, crispy potato chips and a pickle wedge – takes me back to where I first had this sandwich.  Crackers Restaurant (which unfortunately closed many years ago) – at the Villa’s by the Sea Resort on Jekyll Island (my favorite place on earth).  I always felt so grown when my mom and I (probably around 10-11 at the time) would go there for lunch while my dad was on the golf course. I felt like a lady lunching (is that a word??). I loved it so much, my mom would recreate it for me when we came home and she did it again for me this past Sunday at my request. 🙂

As I have said before – it’s the little things in life that count.

abp

“My idea of bliss is to wake up on a Monday morning knowing you haven’t a single engagement for the entire week. You are cradled in a white paper cocoon tied up with typewriter ribbon.” – Edna Ferber

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Mondays. How quickly they seem to come around. I really don’t mind Mondays – it’s just that Tuesday follows Monday and that’s when the work week starts for me.

Mondays are a great day for me to catch up on everything and get everything prepared for the next week with very few distractions. Also – it’s the day I prepare a new meal to test out on the peanut gallery.

Today’s meal will be:

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

(recipe adapted from foodwishes.com)

  • 2 Tbsp of olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • hot red pepper flakes, to taste
  • 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
  • ¼ cup chopped basil
  • 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 4 oz shredded parmesan cheese
  • 1 (5 oz) package of garlic croutons

Preheat oven to 350°.

You start by pouring olive oil into a baking dish (the size determined by how much chicken you have). Next crush your garlic into dish. Mix garlic in and evenly spread on the bottom.

Sprinkle with hot pepper flakes.

Now place your cut up chicken in dish. The original recipe had it as whole chicken breasts but chicken breasts are so big nowadays that I think one is too big a serving so at least halving them will make the recipe go farther.
Of course, you can always leave them whole if you’re feeding hungry hippos or you could even cut chicken up into smaller pieces. (I think next time – time permitting – I’ll cut into 1 in. pieces)

******note – there has been a few problems of the chicken not being completely cooked because each oven is different so I would definitely cut chicken into bite size pieces and not just halved or whole to eliminate this problem.

Pour marinara sauce evenly over chicken and top with basil.

Layer with half the mozzarella and parmesan cheese. (I also added a sprinkling of dry italian seasoning to both cheese layers)

Top with croutons (I crushed them in the bag with my hands a little first) and the remaining cheese. (Next time, I will crush even more)

Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes. You want to make sure chicken is done, so if the top starts to brown a little too much, cover with foil.

Here you go – Chicken Parmesan Casserole – serve with a salad and Parmesan Knots (see below).

For the Parmesan knots you’ll need:

  • 1 tablespoon of melted butter
  • ¼ cup oil
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 Tablespoons of grated parmesan (the kind in the green can)
  • 2 teaspoons dry italian seasoning
  • 1 can refrigerated buttermilk bisuits

Take each biscuit and pull/roll out into a rope, tie in a knot, tuck ends under and place on a foil lined, Pam sprayed baking sheet.

Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients

Brush mixture onto warm rolls.

Now you have a perfectly simple, perfectly good Italian Dinner.

Thumbs up from the peanut gallery!

🙂

abp

“I love a rainy night, I love a rainy night, I love to hear the thunder, Watch the lightning when it lights up the sky. You know it makes me feel good.” – Eddie Rabbitt

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I hate that I have been MIA for the passed few days but I worked late on Thursday and then the weekend was just crazy busy! In a good way – there just was not any time to sit down at the computer.

Also, I did try a cookie recipe but it was a FAIL. So I didn’t post about that. 😦

It’s been quite rainy here and I love it. Maybe I’m weird but rain makes me happy. Granted I would not want it all the time but I welcome it most anytime – as long as I’m not on a trip sightseeing. Or at the beach. Or Disney World. Or driving a long way. Ok, well maybe I just like it to rain when I’m home or at work or at church. There is something comforting about it.

As fun as the weekend has been and as much as I love to go out and eat, I’m happy to be back in the kitchen.

Tonight I’m trying a Paula Deen recipe. Two actually.

Quick Italian Salad and Chicken Pesto Pasta

The salad is simple.

Grab a bag of Italian blend salad mix and a cup of halved cherry tomatoes. Toss.

(I totally forgot to add the tomatoes in – duh)

Next whisk up the following in a bowl.

  • 1 envelope of zesty italian dressing mix
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons of prepared ranch dressing.

You then drizzle the dressing over salad and refrigerate any leftovers up to 2 weeks.

Of course I must add Parmesan cheese and croutons.

For the Chicken Pesto Pasta you will need:

  • 1 (16-ounce) package fettuccine (didn’t have – so used linguine)
  • 1 pound fresh chicken tenderloins (I used cutlets)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 yellow squash, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • ¼ cup prepared pesto (I used around a ½ cup)

First, cook fettuccine according to package directions, drain, set aside.

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

Remove and cut into ½ inch pieces.

Add onion and bell pepper to skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until tender.

Next, add squash and zucchini and cook and additional 3-4 minutes.

Stir in cream and pesto and cook for 5 minutes – so it is slightly thickened.

Add pasta and chicken, toss to coat and to warm back up.

Serve with garlic bread or these Parmesan Knots that I really like to do – I’ll have to share that recipe with you sometime soon!

As I mentioned last week – the peanut gallery will not be getting dessert since they are getting dinner but I do hope to be making a Creamy Peanut Butter Tart later in the week they can taste test for me!!! Keep an eye out for that!

****This is my take on the pasta (fyi – the peanut gallery loved it), I think the sauce was missing something. That was one reason I added more pesto. I believe it needed to be finished off with wine or chicken broth to give a little more flavor, maybe saute some garlic with it too. It was a little bit too much just cream for me. Get what I’m saying? – no kick. It was really good but next time I make it – I will doctor it up. But hey – that’s just me, some people like it more on the tame side. ****

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. These weeks are just flying by!! Christmas is just around the corner and that makes me hyperventilate.

Don’t get me wrong – Christmas is my favorite time of the year! It’s just that I will be hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner – that plus 3 trees and a Christmas village. Whew. I’m tired just thinking about it……..

~Catch ya later~

abp