Pumpkin Pie with Homemade Crust

Ok, I searched and searched for the perfect pumpkin pie recipe and when I finally found one that I wanted to try it turns out it's the one on the can of pumpkin. I wish I had known that cause it would have saved me a lot of time. :) But you know it's good if it's the one the canned pumpkin company recommends. It's the pie that pumpkin was made for.

I did make my own crust. It's the same crust from the Apple Tart.

Total Cost: $3.83

Crust (.96)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (.15)
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut up (.75)
1 tablespoon sugar (1 cent)
1/4 tablespoon salt (less than a penny)
1/3 cup very cold water (free)

Filling (2.87)
3/4 cup sugar (.14)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (.04)
1/2 teaspoon salt (less than a penny)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (.03)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (.05)
2 large eggs (25 cents)
1 (15oz) can of pumpkin (1.08)
1 can (12oz) evaporated milk (1.28)

1. Place all crust ingredients except water in food processor; pulse until butter is broken up but still in larger pieces. Add water; pulse just until combined. (It becomes a ball)

2. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough into 13 inch round about 1/8 thick. Place in 9 inch; deep dish (4 cup volume) pie plate. Put in fridge until needed.

3. Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie crust.

4. Preheat oven to 425. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake for 40 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Maddy's pasta surprise

Maddy found this in a kids cook book and wanted to try it. She mostly made it herself, with my help of course. She went totally nuts over it which I found hilarious. If I had cooked it myself it would have been the grossest thing I've ever created. But she loved it and even wanted to take the leftovers to school for lunch.

1 box bow tie pasta
1 jar alfredo
1 can peas
8 pieces of bacon.

Cook pasta and bacon. Mix everything together.

Apple Tart with Brown Sugar Streusel

I know this looks odd. There wasn't a picture in the magazine but I read the directions about 1700 times and I did everything just as it says, so I'm guessing that is what it's supposed to look like. Either way it's delish. It's apple crisp inside pie crust. Seriously... Yum! I put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side and ate it with my eyes closed.

I had never made pie crust before, and it came out pretty well so I was happy. I was kinda nervous to do something so... cookish. But it turned out.

Crust
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut up
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup very cold water

Filling
4 apples (2 lbs) such as Fuji or Braeburn, peeled, sliced, halved, cored, sliced crossways. (you will have thin half circle slices)
2 tablespoon sugar

Topping
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut up
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 walnuts (I left these out.)

1. Place all crust ingredients except water in food processor; pulse until butter is broken up but still in larger pieces. Add water; pulse just until combined. (It became a ball of dough)

2. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough into 13 inch round about 1/8 thick. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

3. Chop slices from 1 apple into 1/4 inch pieces; place in center of dough. Arrange remaining apple slices, rounded side out, overlapping, starting from the outside and working toward the center, leaving a 2 inch border around the edge.

4. Fold dough border over apples, forming pleats every two inches and smoothing dough where cracks or holes form. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over apples and pastry. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, heat oven to 400. Bake tart 30 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, beat all topping ingredients except walnuts in medium bowl at low speed until mixture begins to look moist and butter is almost broken up. Stir in walnuts.

7. Sprinkle topping over apples; bake and additional 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown on edges and bottom. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes before serving.

Ice Cream Cake

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday! Happy Birthday Honey! So I slaved over a cold stove and made him an ice cream cake. Mmmm. Who doesn't love an ice cream cake, but the ice cream shops charge and arm and leg for them. So when I saw this recipe in a magazine last month I knew I had to give it a shot. As you can see my chocolate drizzle was more of a chocolate glop, but hey, chocolate is chocolate right? I doubt anyone will complain. :)

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Filling:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups bitter sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream or 1 1/2 (1.75 quarts) cartons

24 soft chocolate chip cookies, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, divided.

Heat oven to 325. Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and cinnamon in medium bowl until crumbs are moistened; stir in mini chocolate chips. Press into bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake 6 minutes until set. Cool completely on wire rack.

Meanwhile, heat cream in medium saucepan over medium heat until hot and steamy. Remove from heat; add bittersweet chocolate chips. let stand 1 minute; stir until melted smooth. Stir in vanilla. Cool to room temp, about 20 mins.

Place ice cream in fridge for 20 minutes or until slightly soft. Spread half of the ice cream over crust; quickly spread with spatula to level. (Ashley here: I had lots of trouble with this part. I got impatient with the ice cream and didn't wait for it to be soft enough. It has to be pretty soft before you can spread it with a spatula. If this gives you trouble just keep in mind that ice cream and cookies taste good, even if they aren't in perfect layers.) Sprinkles half of the cookies over ice cream. Quickly spoon 1 1/4 cups of the chocolate sauce over cookies and ice cream; spread with spatula to cover. Freeze 15 minutes to firm sauce.

Quickly spread remaining ice cream over sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cookies; drizzle with remaining sauce. (If necessary warm sauce in microwave to loosen)

Freeze 2 hours to firm sauce. Wrap tightly; freeze over night or up to 1 week. Place in fridge for 20-30 minutes before serving to soften slightly. Cut with warm knife. Store in freezer.

Cheesecake

I don't have a picture of this because it was eaten faster than I could click. Picture spinning spinning pie plates and people lying around with graham cracker crumbs on their chins. But think of the last cheesecake you saw, it looks like that. :)

Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted.

Filling
2 eggs
2/3 cups sugar
12 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 sour cream
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

1. Heat oven to 325. Spray 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray. Combine crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon orange peel in medium bowl. Stir in melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Press into bottom and up sides of pie plate. Bake 6 minutes.

2. Process eggs and 2/3 cups of sugar in food processor 1 minute or until smooth. Ad cream cheese, pulse to break up. Process 15 seconds or until smooth. Add all remaining filling ingredients; process until smooth. Pour into crust.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until top is firm when gently shaken and outside edge is slightly puffed. Place on wire rack; cover with paper towels. Cool 2 hours. Remove paper towels and cool to room temp. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 5 hours or overnight.

Banana Bread

I made this recipe for my classmates on the last day of class and it was gone in about two minutes. I don't even think everyone got some. It was delicious and super easy.

Banana Nut Bread

• 1 cup sugar
  


• 1/2 cup shortening
  


• 2 eggs
  


• 2 cups flour
  


• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  


• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  


• 3 soft, ripe bananas, mashed
  

Cream sugar and shortening; add eggs, flour, soda, bananas, and chopped nuts. Pour banana bread batter into 1 greased and floured loaf pan. I took some extra sugar and nuts and sprinkled them on top before putting it in the oven. Bake at 325° for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. This banana nut bread recipe makes 1 loaf.

Shepards Pie

I got this recipe from my best friend of 20 years. This was a staple at her house when we were growing up. She included the recipe in a cookbook she gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I had to halve it because it was way too much food for us, even cut in half we still have leftovers. It’s just solid down home cookin’.

I’m willing to bet there are about a billion variations of this dish. It’s one of those types of dishes you can really get creative with. Let me know if you make another version, even if it isn’t especially frugal. I’d love to try it.

Shepard’s Pie

2.5 lbs of potatoes

1 can creamed corn

1 can corn

1 lb hamburger

¼ cup milk

¼ cup butter

salt, to taste

garlic powder, to taste

onion powder, to taste

Peel potatoes, chop and put to boil. Cook hamburger, adding garlic powder and onion powder if desired, drain. When potatoes are soft, drain and add salt, milk, and butter. Mash potatoes.

In a 8 x 12 casserole dish layer hamburger, corn, then mashed potatoes on top. Bake at 350 for 25 mins.

Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies

These are a favorite around my house. This recipe was handed down from my husband's grandma. It's written on a piece of notebook paper that is probably as old as I am. What I really love about these cookies is that since the dough is frozen you can keep them on hand and make as many or as few as you want.

Another bonus is the frozen dough is also a great treat, even if you're not in the mood for actual cookies. I made this recipe the other day and when I went to make cookies today most of the dough had mysteriously disappeared.

Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 lb margarine (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups quick oatmeal

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Combine wet and dry mixes together. Fold in oatmeal.

Wrap dough into 3 long rolls using wax paper (saran wrap works too) and freeze overnight. Slice thinly and cook on ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 350.

Crock Pot Minestrone Soup

This is actually a few different recipes in one. I took the things I liked out of each Minestrone Soup recipe I found. Some veggies that were in the other recipes that I chose not to use were cabbage, peas, lima beans, zucchini, kale, chickpeas, white kidney beans, and veggie broth rather than beef broth. So mix and match as you see fit. I'm sure there isn't a veggie that wouldn't be good.

Since this cooks for a really long time I cut up all the veggies before bed. That way I could throw it in the crock pot before I even fed the kids. I would think it would be a great meal to come home from after work. It's really chunky and hearty.


Minestrone Soup

• 3 1/2 cups beef broth
  


• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
  


• 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
  


• 1/2 cup chopped onion
  


• 1/2 cup chopped celery
  


• 2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
  


• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
  


• 16 oz red kidney beans, drained
  


• 1/2 box spiral macaroni (or any kind you like)
  


• 2 Tbsp. parsley flakes
  


• 2 tsp dried basil
  


• 1 tsp dried oregano
  

Combine all ingredients except macaroni in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low for 10-16 hours, or on high 4-6 hours. Cook macaroni according to directions and add during last 30 mins of cooking.

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

This is the recipe that made me fall in love with muffins. Despite the lemon and raspberries they aren't overly tart. I added the sugar topping to sweeten them up just a bit. Besides I think all muffins should have a crispy sugar topping, don't you? The recipe states they can also be made with blueberries, I bet strawberries would be good too.

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup half and half cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries (I use frozen, do not thaw before using)

Topping:
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl combine the eggs, cream, oil and extract. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in raspberries.

Fill greased muffin cups two thirds full (use an ice cream scoop). Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes. While muffins are still hot, dip tops in melted butter and then into the remaining sugar. Yields 16 muffins.

Parmesan Potato Wedges

I found this recipe in a magazine a few weeks ago and we have made these potato wedges several times since then. They are so yummy. Last weekend I started the dishes while my two year old was finishing his dinner. I glanced back at him and he had pulled the serving bowl to his spot and was eating the wedges right out of the bowl. That's how much he likes them.


My favorite part of them (other than being cheap and easy) is that they have cilantro. I love cilantro. It smells and tastes so good. I've noticed that it loses it's smell as it ages. So smell it at the store. It's a good way to tell how fresh it is.

Parmesan Potato Wedges

2 lbs unpeeled russet potatoes (about 6 medium) cut into 3/4 inch wedges.
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup finely cut cilantro


Heat grill. Toss potatoes, 2 tablespoons of the oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Make a tin foil packet with the potatoes inside. Grill covered on medium heat or coals for about 15 minutes. Flip packet over half way though cooking. (I imagine you could also cook them in a skillet on the stove, but we haven't tried that)

When finished grilling, place potatoes in large bowl and toss with Parmesan cheese, cilantro, and remaining oil. Serve immediately.

Strawberry Cake

This cake is perfect for the Fourth of July. I'm a total sucker for red, white, and blue themed food around this time of year. If you are going to a Fourth of July party this would be an awesome thing to take. The bottom is ooey gooey with berry goodness and the top is crisp and delicious. Moist is this cake's middle name. Serve it warm with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream and it's pure heaven.

Strawberry Cake

Filling:
3 cups strawberries, quartered
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup blueberries

Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 almond extract
1/2 cup milk

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 11x7 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Combine strawberries and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl, spoon into baking dish. Sprinkle with blueberries.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Beat 3/4 cups sugar and butter in large bowl at medium sped 1 minute or until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extract. At low speed, beat in flour mixture alternately with milk just until combined, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon over berry mixture; spread gently to cover berries. (The more little globs of dough you put over the berries the easier it is to spread)

3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in golden brown edge comes out clean and toothpick inserted in light brown center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Thai Turkey Burgers

I love these burgers. I make them about twice a month, they are very tasty and super healthy.

The pineapple salsa is cooked with a touch of sesame oil. I think it really adds something and I like to use it, but if anyone out there knows of a cheaper substitute please let me know. If you don't like the taste of sesame or are just trying these out for the first time and don't want to go splurge on bottle of sesame oil I'm sure another kind of oil would work. I also just guessed on how much pineapple I use. I usually cut up a small bowl's worth in bite size pieces for the kids to munch on and then use the rest for the salsa. The salsa should be mostly pineapple.


Thai Turkey Burgers

Pineapple Salsa
2/3 fresh ripe pineapple ($2)
1 tablespoon sesame oil (41 cents)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. (less than a penny)
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped. ($1.40)
1/4 red onion, finely chopped. (15 cents)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (7 cents)

Burgers
1 and 1/3 ground turkey breast ($3)
1 inch fresh gingerroot peeled and grated, or 2 pinches ground ginger (30 cents)
2 cloves garlic, minced (12 cents)
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (20 cents)
2 teaspoons curry powder (50 cents)
course salt to taste (less than a penny)
4 cornmeal topped rolls, or 4 toasted sandwich-size English muffins ($1.50)

Drain pineapple and cut into pieces that will fit in food processor. Place in processor and process to a coarse, chunky texture. heat sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes in a skillet over medium-high heat until oil smokes. Add bell pepper and onions and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add pineapple and heat through. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Let the salsa hang out in the warm pan while you cook burgers.

Heat a non stick skillet or griddle pan over medium-high heat. Combine turkey, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, curry powder, and salt. Form into 4 patties and cook on skillet. 4 minutes on each side. Serve on rolls with lots of warm pineapple salsa.

Cinnamon Doughnut Muffins

About a year ago my mother in law bought me a muffin cookbook and started me on my muffin obsession. These are great. I love the cinnamon sugar topping. Mmm...


They have another feature I love in that all the ingredients are things you can keep on hand.

A word of advice, the first time I made these I thought I knew better and put more than a teaspoon of jelly inside each one. But then there was so much jelly inside that the muffins couldn’t stay together.

Muffins
1 ¾ cup flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
¾ cup milk
10 teaspoons jelly
10 muffin papers

Topping
¼ cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In a small bowl, combine sugar, oil, egg, and milk; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups half full (use an ice cream scoop!); place 1 teaspoon jam on top. Cover jam with enough batter to fill muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Place melted butter in a small bowl; combine sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. Immediately after removing muffins from the oven, dip tops in butter, then in cinnamon-sugar. Serve warm. Yield:10 muffins.

Garlic Lime Chicken

Here is a recipe for Garlic Lime Chicken. It's super flavorful and really quick and easy to make. One thing I like about this recipe is that you can make as little or as much as you like. The recipe is intended to make 6 servings but if there are only two of you, you can just cook two servings. Sometimes it's good not to have leftovers.

When I make the spice mixture I make a quadruple batch and keep the extra in a little Tupperware container in my spice cabinet. That way I have it on hand all ready to go. It makes this recipe really easy to just whip up in about 15 minutes. I usually serve it with mashed potatoes. I like to get a bite of chicken along with a bite of potatoes together on my fork... MMMMM.

Garlic Lime Chicken
Serves 6

• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon pepper
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  
• 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
  
• 4 tablespoons lime juice
  

In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.

In a skillet heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Turn down the heat, remove the chicken (keeping warm) and add the lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve.

Chicken Chasseur with Egg Fettuccine

This was yummy. I had the baby carrots leftover so I cooked them up too. I thought the sauce had too much wine but my husband liked it the way it was. So here it is just as the recipe called for it. I didn't have all the spices I needed so I went without those. I really liked the pasta, I forgot how much I love egg pasta.

Chicken Chasseur with Egg Fettuccine

Pasta
Salt to taste
1 pound fresh egg fettuccine
3 tablespoons butter
1 large shallot, finely chopped
12 blades fresh chives, chopped
A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Chicken
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets, cut into large pieces (3 per breast)
2 tablespoons butter
10 baby carrots, thinly sliced
1 rounded teaspoon sugar
2 large shallots, minced
1 cup dry red wine
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
4 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves stripped and chopped.

Put a large pot of water over high heat for the pasta. When water boils, add salt and pasta. Cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain.

Start the chicken: Mix thyme, salt, pepper, and flour in a dish. Coat chicken in flour, set aside. Discard flour. Heat olive oil and butter in large , deep skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken 4 minutes on each side and remove. Put carrots in pan, sprinkle with sugar, and cook 1 minute. Add shallots and cook 3 to 5 minutes to soften. Add wine and cook to reduce by half. Add tomatoes and tarragon and return chicken to pan. Give the pan shake. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, another 3 to 5 minutes.

Back to the pasta: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and cook 5 minutes. Add herbs and toss in egg fettuccine. Serve along side chicken.

Nutritional stuff as determined by me:
Servings: 4
Calories: 933
Fat: 41 g
Carbs: 55 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Protien: 77

Apple Streusel Muffins

I made these tonight and they are delicious. I skipped the nuts because my family doesn't like nuts but I think that would really add a little something. My family loved them, I hope you do too.

Apple Streusel Muffins

1 package apple cinnamon muffin mix
1 large tart apple, peeled and diced
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoon brown sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (If the topping isn't crumbly add more flour until it is)
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Glaze
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Prepare muffin mix according to package directions; fold in apple.

Fill greased muffin cups three-fourths full. In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, brown sugar, flour and butter; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Combine the glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm muffins.

Nutritional stuff as determined by me:
Servings: 8
Calories: 224
Fat: 8 g
Carbs: 37 g
Dietary fiber: 1 g
Protein: 2 g

Chicken Parmigiana

I over came my fear of the cutlet with this meal. And it was worth it. The "cutlet" is such an undefined term I never knew quite what it was. But I took my regular chicken breast and cut it in half widthwise. I hope that was right. Either way, it came out great! It also gave me this great Marinara recipe that I added to my Baked Rigatoni which made that extra yummy (and cheaper!).

Chicken Cutlets Parmigiana

1 pound of spaghetti

Marinara Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cans (28 oz each) crushed tomatoes
15 to 20 leaves fresh basil, roughly cut or torn
A handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Chicken
The juice of 3 lemons, or several tablespoons bottled lemon juice
1 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Romano cheese
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
Freshly ground black pepper
A pinch crushed red pepper flakes
A handful chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 & 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets
2 cloves garlic, popped from skin and left whole
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced.


Start a big pot of salted water to boil for pasta. Cook according to package directions, until al dente.

Meanwhile, throw your sauce together by heating garlic and crushed red pepper in olive oil in a pot over medium heat. When the garlic speaks by sizzling in the oil, add tomatoes and fresh herbs. Bring to a bubble, reduce heat, and let the sauce hang out over low heat while you prepare the cutlets.

Squeeze lemon juice into a shallow dish. Mix Parmigino, bread crumbs, black pepper, red pepper, and parsley on a large plate. Turn each cutlet in lemon juice, then press and coat in breading.

Heat 2 whole cloves garlic in olive oil in large skillet or frying pan over medium heat. When garlic sizzles, remove cloves and saute chicken cutlets for 4 minutes on each side. When the cutlets are done, arrange on an oven proof serving dish covered with a layer of sauce. Dot each cutlet with a little more sauce and a slice of fresh mozzarella. Place platter under broiler to just melt cheese.

Nutritional stuff as determined by me:
Servings: 6
Calories per serving: 854
Fat: 31 g
Carbs: 81 g
Dietary fiber: 7
Protein: 64

Baked Rigatoni

This is the one and only recipe I consider to be my own. I started making this dish about a year ago but it has morphed into something totally unrecognizable from the original recipe. It's delicious and it makes tons of leftovers. I hope you enjoy it!

Baked Rig

1 lb Rigatoni
1 lb ground beef
4 cups Italian blend cheese, shredded
Salt
Pepper

Marina Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (2oz) petite diced tomatoes (or another can of crushed)
15 to 20 leaves fresh basil, roughly cut or torn
A handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Cook Rigatoni per package directions. While the Rig is cooking start to brown the ground beef. When the ground beef is just about browned add salt and pepper to taste.

While the pasta and meat are cooking make the marinara sauce. Heat garlic and crushed red pepper in olive oil in a pot over medium heat. When the garlic speaks by sizzling in the oil, add tomatoes and herbs. Bring to a bubble, reduce heat, and let the sauce stand on low heat until you need it.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Add meat, marinara sauce, and half the cheese to the pasta. Mix well. Pour mixture into a 13x9 casserole dish that has been sprayed with non stick spray. Top with remaining cheese. Cover the dish with tin foil slightly tented so it doesn't touch the cheese.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. You can remove the foil for the last 5 minutes to brown the cheese if you want.

Nutrition stuff as determined by me
Servings: 6
Calories per serving: 772
Fat: 32 g
Carbs: 81 g
Dietary Fiber: 13
Protien: 44 g

Lemon-Thyme Chicken

I made this tonight for the first time and it is delish! The lemon and the thyme together gives the chicken a very fresh and summery taste. This dish had a lot more lemon flavor than I expected. The sauce is nice and thick so you can top your chicken with as much or as little as you like. (I like lots).

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste (I would say I used about a half teaspoon or so)
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 & 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion
1 cup chicken broth
the juice from 2 lemons. (4-6 tablespoons of lemon juice, I used 6)
6-8 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stem and chopped.

Put flour, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning in a big plastic bag. Pat chicken dry and drop inot bag. Give the chicken a good shake to lightly coast he breasts. Remove chicken from the bag and set aside, saving the flour.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a big nonstick skillet. Add chicken and cook 5 minutes, flip, and cook another 5 minutes. Remove chicken and add 1 tablespoon butter and the onions to the pan. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add reserved flour and cook 1 minute more to incorporate flour, squeeze lemon juice into sauce. Add thyme and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Add chicken back to pan and let simmer while you get everything else settled.

Nutritional stuff as determined by me:
Servings: 4
Calories per serving: 582
Fat: 32g
Carbs: 11g
Dietary fiber: 1g
Protein: 60g
This is assuming you eat a quarter of the sauce with each serving.

Hello

Over the past 18 months or so I have been teaching myself how to cook.

I knew nothing when I started but I kept at it and learned a little bit every week. Over time I have built up a collection of recipes that are easy to make and taste great.

I hope you enjoy them!