Skinnier Cajun Chicken Pasta

I love cajun chicken but every recipe I've seen has a bunch of heavy cream which I'm sure is delicious but also not something I need to be eating.  Then I saw this recipe for a skinnier version of cajun chicken pasta & knew I had to try it.

It was a little bit runny the first night we ate it but was a much better consistency when it was reheated.  When I make it again, I think I'll make it the night before & reheat it both times we eat it.  One thing is for sure: I will make it again!

Ingredients:
Whole wheat pasta (I used penne), cooked
1 lb. chicken, cubed
Cajun seasoning (cayenne pepper, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, white pepper, cumin)
1 red bell pepper, thinnly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinnly sliced
1/2 large red onion (I didn't have 1/2 a red onion so I used some red, some yellow), thinnly sliced
2 medium roma tomatoes, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. low sodium chicken broth
1/3 c. skim milk
1 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. light cream cheese
green onions, chopped

Directions:
Season the chicken generously.  I completely covered all the chicken.  The dish was fairly spicy but that's how I like it!

Spray your large pan/dutch oven with nonstick spray & cook the chicken.

Remove it from the pan & set it aside.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan & cook the veggies & garlic.  It's nice because they can get some of the remaining seasoning left in the pan from the chicken. 

While the veggies are cooking, make a "slurry" -- you may ask me what that means and I will tell you I have no idea!  That's just what the original recipe calls it & I am going with it.  Sounds fancy, huh?!  The slurry is made by blending together the flour, milk & cream cheese.

Veggies should cook for 3-4 minutes.  Then add the tomatoes & cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.  The veggies should end up softened but not too tender.  I like them to be fairly crisp when I bite into them.

Reduce heat & add chicken broth & slurry.  Stir for about 2 minutes.  See how runny that is?  It's still tasty but just not the same consistency as it was the next day.

Add chicken & cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Add pasta & toss to coat.  Top with green onions & enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese

Happy Fat Tuesday, everyone!

This year I am giving up pop, cheese & sweets.  It's a little ambitious, I know.  But I have different reasonings for each one.  I don't give things up for a religious reason but rather because I think it's healthy to give things up for a period of time in hopes of establishing better habits.  Furthermore, I think giving up things you love is important in keeping perspective.  And I hope to always keep perspective.

So, that being said, I am giving up sweets because I have been eating more than I normally do & I think it'll be healthy to give them up.  I am giving up cheese & pop because I love them & think it'll be nice to give up things that I love.

It's Fat Tuesday & in honor of that, I am drinking tons of Diet Sunkist, eating something sweet & enjoying a buffalo chicken grilled cheese sandwich.  With two slices of cheese.  Ooh yeah!

Directions:
Yesterday I boiled a chicken breast & shredded it so that I could easily make the sandwiches today.  I microwaved the chicken (yes, I used a microwave -- crazy, I know) along with some Frank's & red onion. 

I buttered four slices of bread & placed a slice of American cheese on them.  I then added the chicken mixture to sandwich.

Finally, I added a slice of muenster to each one & made my grilled cheese.  This was the perfect Fat Tuesday meal.  See ya in 40 days, cheese.  Oh how I will miss you.

Avocado Chicken & Caprese Avocado Salad

I didn't have to work today which was awesome because it was BEAUTIFUL.  I took my little sister to the new aquarium which was awesome.  We had such a good time!

Then I went for a run by the lake which made me long for summer.  In that spirit, I made dinner. 

I didn't take many photos because I was watching reruns of One Tree Hill & was distracted by Nathan & Haley's love for each other.  Just when you thought I couldn't get more lame, I do!

Avocado Chicken:
I seasoned panko bread crumbs with seasoned salt, garlic powder, chili powder & pepper.  I then coated the chicken breasts with the mixture.  I pan fried them in just a bit of olive oil & baked them at 350 until just done.

I layered basil, sauteed onions, avocado and a slice of mozzarella on top of the chicken breasts & put them back into the oven for 3 minutes.

This is the only photo I have:

Caprese Avocado Salad:
I mixed cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, fresh mozzarella pearls, basil, balsamic vinegar & olive oil together.  This was pretty good & definitely made me want summer so badly & everything that comes with it!

Again, sorry about the lack of photos.  Blame the greatest love story ever told ;)

Candy Bar Stuffed Cookie Cups

This crazy dessert started with an email from one of my taste testing boys titled "Challenge for Tor" and had a link to a chocolate cupcake stuffed with an oreo & peanut butter cup.  The body of the email read "think you can recreate?" -- either my darling taste testers are getting smarter & are intentionally playing into my need to please & to be able to do everything or they just got lucky.  Either way, the end result was delicious.

I don't like cupcakes in general but definitely not chocolate ones so I thought I'd change it up a bit.  A few months ago I made blondies with toffee & reese cups & I really liked the batter so I decided to use that instead of the cupcakes.  Very good choice on my part!
Let me just start the photographs with this thing of beauty.  A friend from work lent me her KitchenAid -- oh. my. gosh.  I absolutely NEED one of these.  Just look at her:

I'm in love.

So, I don't know if it was the KitchenAid or just my normally crazy behavior but my thought process was as follows: I initially made 12 cookie cups.  Then I thought I should take them over to a friend's house for his birthday.  Then I thought that they were too aggressive to pair with the cake that another friend made.  Then I thought that they were too delicious not to share.  Then I thought I could use my mini muffin tin to make smaller, less aggressive versions.  Then I did.  Crazy, I know.  Between my newfound love affair with the Kitchen Aid & the fact that Amanda wasn't here to balance out the crazy, I just couldn't control myself.

The recipe that I'm going to give you is the for the big cookie cups.  I halved the batter for the minis & eliminated the oreo crust.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks of butter (healthy, huh?!), melted & cooled
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
12 mini candy bars (I used reeses & snickers)
12 oreos, halved & with cream remaining

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

You are going to get really good at halving the oreos.  I wasn't as good as I normally am so I had to use a knife to scrape the cream from one side to the other.  Place the oreo halves, cream-side up, into a well-greased cupcake tins.

Cream the butter, sugars & vanilla until light & fluffy.  Add the eggs & beat well.

Whisk together the flour & baking soda.  Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Check out that batter!  YUM.

Scoop the batter into the oreo-lined cupcake tin until about halfway full.

Press the candy bar into the batter.

Scoop the remaining batter onto the filled tins.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges are just starting to turn golden.

They will sink considerably once they've cooled which is fine since we heated them up and put vanilla ice cream on them.  Why not add more calories?! ;)

I didn't try one until today but they've been getting rave reviews.  After trying one, let me just say... yowsa!  Sooo delicious!

These are the mini muffins before they've been cooked.  Because they're smaller, I placed the cookie in the bottom, the candy bar on top & didn't place any more cookie over top.

They cooked for 12-15 minutes.  They, too, sunk a bit but not as much as the big ones.
With the big ones, I forgot to mark which were Snickers & which were Reese's so it was a surprise every time!  Oops!  With the minis, I put crushed Oreos over the Reese's ones...and then I forgot what the Oreos meant when I was serving them.  Fail.

I wasn't a big fan of the frosting.  I tried to cover the sunken-ness with the frosting but next time I would just deal with that without the frosting.  It was just too sweet.
Check these out though.  Soo good.

Raspberry Cheesecakes

This is another pinterest find.

I've obviously been a little behind on my posts (not like anyone noticed because, let's be honest, very few people read this blog!) since this recipe is from the Super Bowl.  I really like making desserts in cupcake liners, mostly because I enjoy looking for seasonally and/or event appropriate liners.  But they're also nice because they're smaller portions and don't need a plate and fork. 

These were delicious.  A friend of mine who doesn't like cheesecake liked these -- that's the mark of a tasty treat!  And also made my night... yes, I have problems.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
6 oz. raspberries
2 tbsp. sugar
2 lbs. cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs, room temperature
Event-appropriate cupcake liners

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees & line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.  I was making these for the Super Bowl so, of course, I had to find event-appropriate cupcake liners.  How perfect are these?!

Line a muffin tin with the cupcake liners.  Melt the butter then combine with the graham cracker crumbs.  Put about a tablespoon of the mixture in the bottom of each tin.  I used a meat mallet to press the crumbs down.  Place in the oven & bake for 5-8 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack.

To make the raspberry puree, combine the raspberries & sugar in a food processor & blend.
Set it aside to use once the cheesecake is made.

To make the cheesecake, beat the softened cream cheese until it's fairly fluffy.  Add the sugar & beat until it's smooth.  Mix in the salt, vanilla & eggs -- add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full with the cheesecake mixture. 

I added about a teaspoon of the raspberry puree to each cheesecake but in hindsight, I would've done more.  I placed the raspberry puree in dots so that I could swirl it but shockingly enough I was running super late & the swirling turned to quickly mixing it with no regard for aesthetics.

In my rush, I took no photos of the finished product.  All I can say is that everyone at our party loved them.  They are definitely going to be made again!

Beef & Quinoa Soup

Here is how I do my grocery shopping when I find a recipe: I think about any changes that I want to make  & then I directly follow the ingredient list.  I do not deviate, even if I am skeptical.  Sometimes that causes problems in terms of the outcome.  This is one of those times.

I found this recipe on Pinterest & decided to make it for us for lunch this week.  The only change that I made ahead of time was to use ground beef.  For everything else, I tried to keep it the same...and then I had to try to fix it at the end.  The recipe calls for water and no broth.  Before my alterations, the "soup" tasted like, well, beef & vegetables in water.  If I made this again, I would definitely use beef broth or at least a combination of water & broth.

Ingredients:

2 tbs butter

1 c. onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 c. green pepper, chopped

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground white pepper

1lb ground beef

10 c. beef broth/water combination

1 c. frozen peas

1 c. frozen corn

2 c. cooked quinoa

4 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.

Add the onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers & seasonings.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the beef & cook for a few more minutes, until pink is gone.

It is here that the pictures stop because it is here that things started going awry.  I added the water and boiled it for probably 20 minutes, mostly because I kept hoping something other than beef & veggies in water would magically appear.  At this point, I abandoned my recipe & started flying by the seat of my pants.  {Much to the chagrin of my parents!}, I am most comfortable {in too many aspects of my life} when flying by the seat of my pants. 

I added some soup base (chicken flavor, because it was all I had) in hopes of giving it some flavor, along with some seasonings -- garlic salt, seasoned salt, chili powder, cayenne pepper, basil, pepper & paprika).  I didn't measure anything, I just kept adding it.  Then tasting it.  Then freaking out at the water taste.  Then adding it.

Add the potatoes, peas, corn & quinoa.  Reduce the heat & let it simmer for 25-30 minutes.  I set the timer for 5 minute intervals to taste test it.  I probably added seasonings 4 more times before being satisfied.

I really enjoyed the quinoa in soup (something I didn't think about combining) and the beef & quinoa combination.  I also really liked the flavor in the end.  And I probably would still use mostly water with just a few cups of beef broth.  I would also go into it being mentally prepared (so I could avoid a freak out) to use tons of seasonings because ultimately the seasonings are what gave the soup the unique flavor.

Honey Mustard Crusted Chicken

I found this recipe on Pinterest & it's actually a Weight Watcher's recipe.  It was super easy, super quick & super tasty!

Ingredients:
1 lb. of chicken (I used these super lean tenders from the West Side Market -- they're perfect for people who hate cutting fat off their meat!)
1 c. of corn flake crumbles
2/3 c. honey mustard
1 green onion (who is surprised that I am cooking with green onions?!), finely sliced
seasonings (dill, chili powder, paprika, seasoned salt, pepper)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Crumble up corn flakes.  This takes a lot longer than expected.  I did it when we were starving.  It felt like it took hours.

Mix the honey mustard, green onion & seasonings.  Divide the mixture in two -- one part will be used to coat the chicken; one part will be used as a dressing.  Let me tell you, this little mixture was delicious!

Dip the chicken in the honey mustard & then in the dip then in the cornflakes.

Line them up on a cookie sheet & bake for 15 minutes. 

I had the oven at 400 degrees because I had sweet potato fries in there too.  In hindsight, not a great idea.  They didn't crisp up as much as I had hoped so I decided to broil them.  And then I burned them a bit.  Whoops -- ya live & ya learn!

Even for a bit burned, they were DELICIOUS.  Chicken? Good. Honey mustard? Good.  Green onions? Gooood.  Friends reference? GOOD :)