Dinner

Now that the sight or thought of food doesn't make me feel nauseous I am able to cook dinner again. And now I can eat anything I want now that I am on Prilosec- Hallelujah. Here are a few of my favorites I have been making the last few days:

Chicken Piccata- Mia's favorite dinner

Crockpot Chicken Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches - One of hubby's favorites

 

And tomorrow I am going to try a new recipe in the slow cooker for Orange Chicken. Looks amazing doesn't it??

Picture Via

So glad I am finally able to make dinner and actually eat what I make!

Chicken Pesto Paninis

We received a panini grill as a wedding gift almost 5 years ago. To be honest, when we opened that gift I thought it was kind of dumb. What on earth was I going to do with a panini maker? All I could think was that it was going to take up space in my then tiny kitchen. It pretty much sat in storage for 3 whole years until we moved into our house last year. I actually have space in my kitchen to put it somewhere. So I decided to pull it out when we moved in. First of all, what on earth was I waiting for? I love paninis so why didn't I pull it out sooner? One of my favorite paninis to make is a Chicken Pesto Panini. I love how quick and easy it is and when I don't feel like cooking a big elaborate meal (like yesterday) these are perfect.

What you need:
Ciabatta rolls-  or just your favorite bread. Ciabatta rolls are just the perfect bread for paninis. You should be able to find some in your grocery store's bakery section.
Sliced Tomatoes
Cooked Chicken- I quickly pan sauted chicken tenderloins in some EVOO and S&P, let it rest for a few minutes and tore it into pieces
Pesto- your favorite store bought pesto or homemade if you are feeling up to it.
Butter

Assemble the sandwiches. Spread just a little bit of butter on the top bun. Place in the panini press and grill until toasty and melted.

Easy as that.

ENJOY.

Crockpot Thai Chicken & Potatoes

A few weeks ago for dinner I experimented with the crockpot. I had some potatoes that I needed to use up and so I decided to put them in the crockpot with some chicken. I didn't want it to be boring chicken and potatoes though so I decided to give it a Thai twist. Since I was experimenting I wasn't really sure how it was going to turn out. Well, hubby ate it all up, said he loved it and that I should put it on my regular rotation. Then I told him I made it up. He didn't  believe me. Ok, so I can cook but coming up with my own recipes sometimes doesn't work out, this time it did. Thanks hubby for your faith in my recipe making up skills, ha ha.

Here are some ingredients you will need:

I love using Coconut milk. Since I love Thai & Indian food I almost always have a can of this in my pantry.

The color of this dish is so vibrant!

Thai Chicken & Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs of chicken. Use whatever you like. I used chicken breast because that is what I had but chicken thighs would be very moist in this!
5 red potatoes; chopped into 1 in bite size pieces
1 bottle of Peanut Satay Sauce
1 can of Coconut milk, lite (full fat is good too, but use lite if you want to cut calories)
1 T fresh minced ginger
3/4 t garlic powder
3/4 t onion powder
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t curry powder
pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 C sour cream
Parsley for garnish

Place potatoes on the bottom of the crock pot. Salt and pepper the potatoes generously. Don't be too shy with the salt, remember that you have to salt the chicken & potatoes. Then place chicken on top of potatoes. Salt & pepper your chicken. Mix together all spices, peanut sauce & coconut milk and pour over chicken & potatoes. Cook on low for 5-6 hrs or until potatoes are tender. The last 30 minutes add sour cream. Serve and garnish with parsley on top.

ENJOY!

XOXO,
Whitney

deLITEful Garden Vegetable Frittata

Have I mentioned before how much I love The Food Network? Ha ha. I know, I swear I mention it almost every time I post. It's probably getting old but I guess when you love something you just can't stop talking about it. Anyways, I love watching and getting new ideas for recipes. The best part about trying out new recipes is when they are successful. Usually every Sunday I visit my family or my in-laws and enjoy Sunday dinner with them. This last Sunday my Mr. was going to do some work from home so we decided to stay in. That meant I was in charge of making Sunday dinner. Growing up I've always known Sunday dinner to be special and different from the rest of the meals all week long. If you can only imagine growing up with a chef as a dad and having an amazing Sunday dinner each week, it's as amazing as you would hope. So I was a little nervous to make Sunday dinner even though it was only for a little family of 3. I wanted it to be something different but I also didn't really plan on making dinner for that particular Sunday so I didn't feel super prepared. A few days before I was watching Kelsey's Essentials on the Cooking Channel and the episode was all about eggs. She made a Frittata that looked to die for and coincidentally I happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry so I decided to go for it and make that for our Sunday dinner. I have never made a Frittata because I was always a little intimidated by them but it was quite simple. The only real "work" you have to do is chopping and preparing the veggies. You want to make sure you slice your potatoes super thin. If you have a mandolin slicer I would definitely use it for the potatoes. (I need one of those!) Then after cooking the veggies a little you pour in your eggs and cheese and finish cooking it in the oven.

And... VOILA

Since it was a meatless dish I was worried my hubby wouldn't care for it. He loved it. He said it would be even more amazing if it had pancetta or bacon in it. (Sorry, never going to happen because I HATE bacon/pork/anything that comes from a pig) And I was in heaven. It was fresh, light and full of flavor.  I will most definitely be making this again. And if my Mr. is lucky maybe I will make him some with pancetta...ok probably not.

XOXO.
Whitney

Garden Vegetable Frittata
Recipe Courtesy of Kelsey Nixon; Cooking Channel

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 5 small red potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch green onions, trimmed and sliced
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced
• 1 cup baby spinach, torn
• 1 clove garlic, crushed

• 8 eggs
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish
• 1 to 2 cups shredded Asiago cheese, plus more for garnish
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced potatoes to the skillet, saute for about 6 to 8 minutes, until tender but firm. Remove the potatoes from the skillet. Add another tablespoon olive oil, and add the green onions, tomatoes, spinach, and garlic. Saute for an additional 1 to 2 minutes or just until the spinach is wilted. Season the vegetables with salt, and pepper.

In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, basil, cheese, salt, and pepper. Pour into the skillet over the vegetables. Reduce heat to medium-low and scramble the eggs for 1 minute. Return the potatoes to the skillet. Cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, or just until the eggs start to set around the edges. Drizzle olive oil around the edge of the pan to ensure easy removal.

Finish cooking in the oven for an additional 10 to 12 minutes, until the eggs have completely set in the center. Serve straight out of the skillet, or flip onto a serving plate. Garnish with shredded Asiago cheese and fresh basil.

Pear Poppyseed Salad with Grilled Chicken

So, its snowing outside...like crazy. Literally in 5 minutes the weather went from overcast to full on blizzard. Ok, maybe blizzard is a stretching it a little but still is crazy out there. It is dinner time and I am wondering if it is still ok to eat salads for dinner even if it is cold outside??? Well in my book it is. I love salads. They are so versatile and I feel healthy when I eat them. I  Ever since I got my Cuisinart Food Processor I have been making my own salad dressings and let me tell you.... they are so much better when you make them yourself! One of my favorite salad dressings is my dad's Poppyseed dressing. He actually used to own his own salad dressing company Le Parisien Vinagriette. When I was younger I used to go and help him bottle and package them. They are by far my favorite salad dressings. So for dinner I whipped up my dads recipe of Poppyseed dressing. I started with some Tender Garden lettuces which is a mix of baby spinach, arugula, and other baby greens (which are all my fav), topped it with some glazed walnuts, diced pears, grilled chicken and my favorite cheese Extra Sharp White Cheddar.

YUM

What you will need for your salad

Tender Garden lettuce or baby spinach lettuce mix
Pears, diced
Extra sharp white cheddar
Glazed walnuts
grilled chicken
poppy seed dressing (Recipe to follow)

Poppyseed dressing:

1 C sugar
1/2 T dry mustard
1/2 t salt
Blend dry ingredients and set aside

1/2 C + 1/8 C honey
1  1/4 C cider vinegar
1/4 C lemon juice
1 T finely pureed onions or you may substitute w/ onion powder
Place these ingredients in food processor and blend for 30 seconds. Add dry ingredients, blend until all combined for another 30 seconds. Slowly drizzle in:
3 C canola oil

When completed add:
1 t Poppyseeds
Blend for 20 more seconds. Place in the refrigerator until 1 hour before serving.

XOXO,
Whitney

Garlic Cheese Sticks

One of my favorite places to go to lunch with my mom is Francesco's. I grew up going there. We always get the same thing. I order a chicken caesar salad and my mom orders a green salad with their house italian and ranch dressing (They are really delicious when you mix them together). The salads are great but the real reason we go there? Garlic Cheese Sticks. They bring you out a complimentary order of cheese sticks when you sit down and are ordering. Then, we ask that instead of garlic bread with our salads that they please replace it with garlic cheese sticks. Seriously folks, it is the best garlic cheese sticks, ever. The other night I was craving it and decided I would experiment and try to make my own version of it. UM.... amazing. It was a hit with the hubby and he doesn't really like pizza of any kind. It was even yummy to eat it cold the next day. I used fresh basil which gave it even more flavor. And homemade pizza dough is always  better. If I am going to eat pizza I would rather eat homemade any day over restaurant pizza.

Glad it was a success so that I didn't have to drive 20 minutes to get my Garlic Cheese Stick Fix!

XOXO,
Whitney

Here is the recipe:

Garlic Cheese Bread

Ingredients:

For the Dough:
½  T yeast
¾  C warm water
½ tsp salt
½ T honey
1 ½ -2 C flour

 For the topping:

4 garlic cloves

1 1/2 C shredded parmesan cheese
¼ C EVOO
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 C mozzarella cheese
½ C Fresh basil, chiffonade cut

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 425° F.

In a large bowl dissolve yeast into warm water. Add salt and honey. Mix well. With a wooden spoon stir in flour. Knead dough until smooth. Separate dough into 2 halves. On a floured surface roll out the dough until desired thickness of crust is reached. No raising is necessary for the dough.  Lightly slater dough with EVOO and bake pizza dough for 4 minutes. Remove from oven.

Combine garlic, 1 C of parmesan cheese , EVOO, and salt & pepper into a food processor. Pulse until all combined. Spread mixture onto pizza dough. Add mozzarella cheese, remaining parmesan and top with fresh basil. Bake in the oven for approximately 12 minutes or until golden.

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce over Cheese Ravioli

The other day I was shopping at Costco. The thing about shopping at Costco is that when I go there I usually make a day out of it. I like to walk around and see what new promotional items they have and snack on the samples. I think they plan on their customers spending a lot of time and money at Costco so the samples are more of a "Thank you, please stay longer now that you aren't hungry". It is almost impossible to go to Costco and just come out of the store with only the items on your shopping list. I somehow end up buying more than what I came for (especially if the Mr. comes along). While I was parading up and down the aisles I came acrossed the pasta and "sauce aisle" and saw some Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. I picked it up, read the ingredients... it sounded amazing, but then again I love Butternut Squash if you didn't know already. I was tempted to buy it and it almost went in my cart but then I placed it back on the shelf (or pallet...whatever you want to call it.) The thing is... I have this thing about making my own pasta sauce. I never buy store bought pasta sauce. It tastes so much better when you make it yourself. So instead I grabbed a bag of the Kirklad Four Cheese Ravioli:

Then, I headed over to Smith's and bought some produce, including butternut squash. My plan was to create my own version of Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. I did the other night. Sometimes I like flying by the seat of my pants and making stuff up as I go. Sometimes I am successful...other times...not so much. It just so happens that this was one of the times that was a success. And I paired the sauce with the ravioli, which was perfect because the sauce needed a little love and the ravioli literally takes like a minute to cook so they balanced eachother out. I would say dinner was a hit.

If you love Butternut Squash as much as I do then you will love this too. 

XOXO,

Whitney

Recipe:

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:
1 Butternut Squash

1 can of tomato paste

1 C chicken stock

2 C half & half

1 T dried thyme

2 T butter

Salt & Pepper to taste

EVOO

1/3 C onion; chopped

3 garlic cloves; chopped

1 C parmesan cheese; finely grated

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel squash and cut it lengthwise. Remove seeds and cut into chunks. Place squash on a baking pan, sprinkle with salt, pepper, a little bit of thyme and butter. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until soft.

Remove squash from the oven and puree in a food processor until smooth. Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, heat EVOO. Saute onions for 2 minutes and then add garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Add to butternut squash in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add squash mixture back into your saucepan. Over medium heat add chicken stock and tomato paste, stir until well combined. Bring to a boil. Add cheese, half & half and seasonings. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 3-5 minutes. Add butter. Turn the heat to low. Test taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Also, depending on how large your squash is you may need to add more liquid.

Top over Ravioli or your favorite pasta. Sprinkle with some more parmesan cheese if desired and enjoy!

Crockpot Chicken Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

Lately I have been using my crockpot a lot. It just makes life a little bit easier some days. So I have been experimenting with new recipes. There are so many great blogs with amazing slow cooker recipes. The thing I love about cooking with a crockpot is that usually you can just literally throw everything in there, turn it on and walk away from it for hours! This last week I have tried a few new Indian recipes in the crock pot... amazing. While I was searching for recipes I came across a recipe for Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. It sounded good and something different than the usual. The only thing was.... I didn't have steak. And, in general, I am not a huge red meat fan so I usually like to switch it out for chicken. The thing about recipes is that I see them more as a place to build off of rather than a set of exact guidelines you have to follow. So I took that recipe and kind of made it my own.  For the sandwich I bought some delicious bread from our local bakery at Smith's and chose a Pepperjack cheese to top it off. Can I just say it was unexpectedly amazing? I used chicken thighs and by the time it was done cooking it shredded so easily and it was super moist. Very unexpected. My Mr. said we should add it to our list of "usuals". I definitely will because you can't go wrong with easy and yummy.

This was such a great way to change it up a little during the weeknight. I will definitely be making this again.

XOXO,
Whitney

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs, mine were frozen solid!
1/4 C Cooking white wine
1/4 C Worcerstershire sauce
Fresh Ground Black Pepper approx 1 tsp.... or to taste
Salt to taste - I would wait until the end to add the salt. You may not need it at all.
2 Red Peppers, sliced
1/3 C onion, chopped

Bread/Hoagie
Cheese- I used Pepperjack

Throw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker.
Cook on high for 3-5 hrs or low for 4-6 hrs (This all depends on how hot your crockpot gets, mine gets pretty hot!)

After the chicken is done cooking take 2 forks and shred it. It should fall apart pretty easily. Take your bun/hoagie, butter it and toast it on an electric griddle. Melt the cheese onto the bread, add the chicken and enjoy.

Easy as Pie

Today I was planning out my meals for the next week. There are so many new recipes that I found and want to try (especially some Indian ones!) I was hoping to get to the grocery store today but my poor baby girl has not been feeling great, Darn ear infections! I didn't really want to drag her to the store, poor thing. And she was being extra clingy so I knew I had to make something that was quick to prepare and something that I had ingredients for in my pantry. Well, I almost always have sour cream, chicken, and cream of chicken soup in my pantry. I was feeling in the mood for some mexican but didn't really have time to roll out some enchiladas since I only had a few minutes where my baby girl let me do something without holding her. I have this recipe for Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Pie that I use from a neighborhood cookbook and I love it. It is so easy and my husband actually likes it a ton better than Chicken Enchiladas. It's not a glamorous meal but its tasty and when you haven't made it to the grocery store yet its a good recipe to fall back on.

And my baby girl even tried a bite of it. I was surprised because I haven't been able to get her to eat anything all day. I'm just glad that tomorrow is Friday and its Superbowl weekend!!! My dad goes all out and puts on a big feast. Can't wait to stuff my self silly and I need to find out what I will need to bring on Sunday! And tomorrow? I'm making some Homemade Thin Mints, who needs Girl Scouts?

XOXO,
Whitney


Here is the recipe:
14 oz chicken, cooked and shredded
1 small can of diced green chilies
1 T butter
1/2 tsp onion powder
3/4 C sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 C chicken broth
5-6 tortillas
1 1/2 C cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan, heat up green chilies and butter over medium heat. Add onion powder. Pour in soup and chicken broth.  Stir and cook until smooth. Add sour cream and remove from heat.

Grease a 9x9 or 9x13 pan. (I used a 9x9). Tear up 1/2 of the tortillas and lay them across the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/2 of the chicken, soup mixture, and cheese. Layer the remaining tortillas, sauce, chicken and top with cheese. Place in the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes.