Little Taste of Heaven

For some reason, I was really craving Smores the other night after J made his tri-annual meal for me. Because we don't have a working grill. Well, we don't actually know it doesn't work, it has been in the yard since I met J and yet we have never ventured to turn it on. This could be because I am HORRIBLE at grilling, unless that is, you are having a hankering for hockey pucks on a bun... and if I don't do it that means that...wait for it...J would have to be the grill master...Not likely! So our Smores adventure took place in the kitchen, heating marshmallows in the microwave until they were on the brink of explosion, then scooping them onto the graham crackers and chocolate. Not a bad alternative..Except now I am left with a bag of marshmallows and I am not a big fan of eating just a lone marshmallow (Though I hear they are good for sore throats--anyone have experience with that remedy?)  So while cruising Pinterest--which I must admit is becoming a bit of an addiction! I came across a recipe where you coat marshmallows with melted butter, then cinnamon sugar and roll them in crescent rolls and bake.

I expected a tasty treat for this cloudy afternoon at home, but what I got reminded me of those sticky buns mom used to make every Christmas Morning! Ooooh it was gooood!!!! I am restraining myself from polishing off the remaining 7 before J can have a taste. They are light and fluffy and delicious, oh and super easy!!



To use up one tube of crescent rolls, you make 8 tasty treats so you need...

8 marshmallows
1/2 cup ish sugar
several dashes of cinnamon
1/4 stick melted butter
1 tube crescent rolls

My measurements are vague because I didn't really measure, I eyeballed the cinnamon until I thought it looked acceptable and I just saved the extra cinnamon sugar for use another day!

Bragging Rights Chicken

Since what I am about to share with you has only happened a handful of times, I hope you share my sense of awe! My wonderful boyfriend has many talents, but cooking is not one of them...or so he would like you to think. I have always been the queen of the kitchen in our relationship and he has been king of eating what I make for him. He has made 3 meals for me in the past year and all of them were quite delicious! So this past Christmas, my stocking was stuffed with what we like to call "Tiger Bucks", green coupons that he used during his time as a teacher and for each Tiger Buck, I get 1 meal made by him for yours truly! So now that he has finally settled into his new schedule at work I was able to call in my Tiger Buck!!! And after tonight, I am considering handing over the kitchen for a night or two a week. J's spin on chicken pasta (found on Pinterest) was AMAZING! He marinated the chicken in an herb and garlic marinade with added pesto! Then the sauce was a combo of tomato sauce, half and half, chicken broth and more pesto!

Here is what you need:
2 boneless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch strips
4 Large spoonfuls of Pesto
1/2 bottle of herb and garlic marinade
8 oz pasta

For the sauce:
2 TBS olive Oil
3 cloves garlic
2 spoonfuls Pesto
1/2 cup chicken broth
8 oz tomato sauce
1 cup half and half

Marinate the chicken in 2 spoonfuls of Pesto and the marinade

When ready to cook, place chicken with all of the marinade into a pan and cook until chicken is cooked through. Set aside

Cook pasta as per box directions

Cook the 3 garlic cloves in 2 TBS olive oil
Add 2 Spoonfuls of Pesto
Add chicken broth and simmer until reduced by half
Stir in tomato sauce and half and half
Simmer for 5 minutes
Add flour is it needs to thicken (j did this)

Combine the sauce with the pasta and place chicken pieces over top...SO GOOD!!!!

I promise you will not be sorry you made this one, it is one of J's all time favorite dishes now and he can be a tough critic!! He also was pleased to accompany this dish with some red wine!

Amazing Avocado Season

It is one of those too hot to heat up the kitchen kind of days. This is why my crock pot is currently filled with soon to be pulled pork...I hope.With life settling into a calmer pace I am finding myself back to searching my cookbooks for new dinner options. I wanted summer comfort food..is that actually possible? It is too hot for heavy pasta and meatballs, lasagna or bread bowls filled with any kind of soup. But after a day of cleaning out the basement, wiping down the kitchen and working in the garden, I wanted a something creamy and warm and yummy.This is when I stumbled across a recipe (on Pinterest--yes I am an addict) for avocado pasta. It claimed to be creamy like an Alfredo...hmm the wheels began to spin.... It is avocado season...spinning faster...and I could add chicken...faster still...and I can finally house leftovers! TA DA dinner inspiration! Now, J is not usually a fan of cooked tomatoes--yes he has quite a substantial list of things that won't touch his palate, but I figured he could just pick them out if he despised them (aren't I nice?) So here is how it goes, you need:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 3 TBS olive Oil
• 2 TBS lemon juice ( I used lime since I had it)
• 2 cloves of garlic- chopped
• 12ish quartered cherry or other small tomato ( I will use more next time)
• grated Parm
• Salt and Pepper
• pine nuts-optional
• fettuccine
• chicken

About an hour before I wanted to serve, I quartered my tomatoes, coated them in olive oil and some salt and put them in the oven at 300

With about 30 min left to cook my tasty tomatoes...

I started by cooking cubed chicken pieces on the stove in olive oil.

While this was going, I cut and cubed my avocado and added them to my food processor- man do I need a bigger one of those, is it too early to start my Christmas list?

Next, I added the 2 TBS of olive oil, as I had already used 1 for the chicken- 2 TBS lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper to the processor.

Grind grind grind until smooth and creamy...it does not yet look appetizing!

Cook the pasta of your choice to al dente and stir pasta, chicken, tomatoes and sauce all together in a large bowl.

This is where you may garnish with one nuts if you so desire ( I did not simply because I forgot to buy them) But I did add the grated Parm and plenty of pepper!

Holy Guacamole is this delicious! It took a few bites to really appreciate the flavor, and get over the greenness... but Yumm-o! It really was creamy like an Alfredo sauce but tasted fresher and the tomatoes gave it a nice pop of a different texture. The original recipe did not call for chicken, but we are a carnivorous household and why not add some protein? We both nibbled on some seconds and J requested that this recipe go down in my official recipe book to be made again! He also requested a red wine for next time :)

my little oil covered tomatoes

Simple enough- look at that ripe avocado

As I said- not appetizing yet

A little dark but trust me, SO YUMMY!

Home-Made Simple

In our kitchen it's the simple things in life that matter...like having a functional refrigerator! Oh how I am basking in the simplicity today! Our new fridge was finally delivered yesterday and I am working on stocking the shelves with all things that require a chill. Speaking of needing a chill...I had forgotten how useful a freezer is! There are so many things you can do with ice! J's specialty:  Iced coffee, iced tea, a tall glass of ice water with a wedge of lemon...oh and ice cream! One more great thing about a freezer, spending less money on groceries! I can finally take advantage of those buy one get one...or even more exciting, the buy one, get TWO free sales at Big Y. Today, I got two packs of chicken tenders and 3, yes THREE pork roasts for the price of one... Two are currently residing in my Freezer. I will post the recipe for tonight's dinner later on, but I have left over chicken pockets and left over chicken pocket mix for sandwiches! Oh left overs how I have missed you!

Our Latest Kitchen Addition
But in the past few weeks of not being able to thoroughly use my kitchen due to lack of a cold source, I have taken to browsing Pinterest as I noted in my DIY section. I started with a simple lamp painting project, which I completed today with a shade from Lowes, and found myself searching for creative ways to homey this place up with what we already have. I am beyond happy with my latest kitchen addition (and J loves it too).. A wine glass holder made out of an old rake head that had broken off before my time in the House of J.  I have to share! 

 John used 3 nails to secure the rake and used a hammer to slightly bend the teeth up to keep the glasses from slipping out. I used some of my garden twine to make a simple bow, found a blue wine bottle in the basement from last year's apple picking adventure and picked some black-eyed Susans from behind my garden to bring it all together. We are brainstorming sign ideas for above the masterpiece but have not decided on what it should say.

First Pickings

 

It took some time, and even more patience to see my garden take off this year. I lost my lettuce to the hot weather and some of my veggies decided to be persnickety and not grow as their companions did for no good reason. I saw a sign on Pinterest saying "Grow Damnit!" It will be in my garden as soon as I can find some paint and wood. Today, I finally got J to help me pound in the giant fence posts that he salvaged from an old garden fence in our back woods. From these rusty giants, I strung twine that I was able to tie more twine to for my beans to grow up and to lend support to my tomato heavy vines. While assisting my plants in standing on their own, I noticed my beans had sprung! I had beans reaching the ground, some probably 4 inches long! Yikes!!! I didn't plan beans for dinner, but I came in with a Tupperware of beans, one pepper and a shriveled tomato (poor thing). The first pickings from my garden was an exciting moment in this house and J kindly ate a bean prior to washing and reported them to be sweeter than he thought they would be. So now, I am trying to figure out a way to incorporate beans into our dinner of avocado chicken pasta....May be I will just wait for tomorrow and look at those lovely green beans on my kitchen   counter for one more day!

My herb garden is coming along

First Cucumber!!!!

Crab and Goat Cheese Ravioli

 

We had this amazing dish as one of the first courses for Easter dinner and J and I liked it so much, I dug out my Cuisine at Home and found the recipe to make it at home for just the two of us. The exact recipe is coming soon (as soon as I am back in the kitchen and not visiting CT for the night). But to peak your interest, here are the pictures I took of the process. Making these raviolis was time consuming, but worth it! I would recommend trimming the edges, which I didn't do and making them into circles with a cutter. I also overfilled ours and it was even better! This was served with a lemon cream sauce and left overs were delish

For filling

•  4 oz softened goat cheese
• 2 TBS chopped chives
• 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1 can minimum lump crab meat
• 32 wonton wrappers(I used more)
• 2 Tbs olive oil

For Sauce
2 cloves sliced garlic
1 TBS butter (unsalted)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 TBS lemon juice and fresh zest

• Combine goat cheese, chives, crab meat, salt and pepper in large bowl
• scoop 1 TBS of mixture into the center of one wanton wrapper
• brush edges of the top wrapper with water and place wet side down over mixture
• press edges to seal
• Cut to shape if desired
• Repeat until mixture is gone
• Heat pan over medium heat
• add oil and ravioli in  small batches
• Cook until brown on one side (about 2 min)
• Flip ravioli and add 1-2 Tbs water  to pan and cover to steam 1-2 min
• Remove to plate

       For Sauce:

• Saute garlic in butter for 1 minute
• Stir in cream, increase heat to high and boil until cream is reduced to 1/2 cup
• Stir in lemon juice 
• Season with salt and pepper
• Garnish ravioli with zest

Cheesy Hot Chicken Salad

With the New England heat wave rolling through last week, I was trying to find recipes that would be on the lighter side and yet filling for J who has been a bottomless pit the past few weeks. I also still need dishes that will not leave me with left over condiments as we STILL do not have a full sized fridge... I found myself looking through my cooking magazine binder and just did not want to take the time to make some of the yummy looking dishes, but hot chicken salad popped out at me as I had made it once before. I simplified the recipe, using Philadelphia cooking cream rather than buying both mayo and sour cream. I was able to fit the left overs into a medium Tupperware which fit in the fridge and allowed two days of left overs.

For 6(ish) portions:
4 boneless chicken breasts shredded ( I poach mine if I just buy it for this dish)
1 jar pimentos (chopped)
1 small can water chestnuts slivered
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cup slivered almonds ( you don't lose anything if you opt out of these)
1 1/2 cups Philadelphia cooking cream - I used the Italian favor but any would be delish
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1 bag shredded cheddar
1 small can potato stix
salt and pepper to taste

• cook, let cool, and shred chicken breasts
• In a large bowl, combine water chestnuts, pimentos and almonds
• Add shredded chicken
• In a smaller bowl, combine and mix cooking cream and lemon juice
• Combine the cream mixture with the chicken mixture
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Coat large baking dish with non stick spray
• Spoon into dish
• Top with cheddar cheese
• Bake for 15-20 min at 375
• Sprinkle with potato stix and serve

adapted from Cuisine at Home