Chicken Picatta

Recipe & picture from ourfamilyeats.com.

Ingredients:

-2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

-salt

-black pepper

-1.5 cups all purpose flour

-4 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

-1 clove garlic, minced

-1 cup chicken broth (I used Swanson's reduced sodium broth)

-2 lemons

-2 tbsp capers, drained

-1/4 cup parsley, chopped

-3 tbsp unsalted butter

Rinse chicken breasts under cold water & pat dry.

Season both sides of chicken with salt & pepper.

Place a baking dish in the oven & preheat to 200 degrees.

Place flour in a bowl & set aside.

Slice one lemon lengthwise & trim off the ends of one half. Slice the lemon half into small slices & set aside.

Juice the other lemon half & the whole lemon into a small dish & set aside.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Lightly coat chicken breasts in flour & shake the excess off of each piece.

Place chicken in skillet & cook 3-4 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

As each batch of chicken is cooked, transfer to oven dish to keep warm.

Once all the chicken is cooked, add 2 more tbsp oil to empty skillet & reduce heat to medium.

Add garlic & cook until fragrant, stirring constantly, careful not to let it brown.

Add chicken broth & lemon slices.

Cook on medium heat 3-4 minutes or until liquid has reduced by half.

Add lemon juice, capers & parsley.

Cook until liquid has reduced by 1/3.. about another 2 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, add butter & stir until it melts.

Pour sauce over chicken breasts, garnish with lemon slices & serve immediately.

Tortellini Alfredo

Recipe & picture from http://joelens.blogspot.com :]

Ingredients:

-1.5 cups heavy cream

-2 tbsp unsalted butter

-Salt

-1/4 tsp black pepper

-9 oz. fresh tortellini (I used Bertolli's 3 cheese)

-3/4 cup (or more) shredded Kraft Parmesan/Romano/Asiago cheese

-1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

-1 cup frozen peas, slightly thawed

-7 or 8 pieces of bacon, chopped

Bring 1 cup of heavy cream & the butter to a simmer in a 3-4 quart sauce pan over medium heat.

Reduce heat to low & simmer until mixture reduces to 2/3 cup.. about 12-14 minutes.

Turn off the heat & stir in 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 tsp salt & 1/4 tsp black pepper.

While cream is reducing, bring 4.5 quarts water to a boil in a large pot.

Add 1 tbsp salt & tortellini to the boiling water & cook until just shy of al dente.

Set aside 1/4 cup pasta water & drain.

Return cream mixture to a simmer over medium high heat.

Reduce heat to low & add pasta, cheese, nutmeg, peas & bacon to the mixture.

Cook on low 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted, pasta is coated & cooked al dente.

Serve immediately.

:D So delicious.

I love finding recipes with kale.

UM.

Next time I make shrimp & grits I'm definitely going to try this recipe:

http://www.fakefoodfree.com/2011/01/shrimp-and-grits-with-kale-chips.html

DO. WANT.

Shrimp & Grits!!!

Obviously I didn't take this picture. I haven't taken any of these pics. I haz no camera at the moment!

Anyway, believe it or not, last night I was my first attempt at making shrimp & grits. I'm a little ashamed that I've never made it before.

They were delicious & Bailey-approved! Very much so actually.

I got the original recipe from lanascooking.com.

Ingredients - Shrimp & Sauce:

- 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled & halved lengthwise

- 6-7 drops of Tabasco Sauce

- 4 slices chopped bacon

- 1/2 onion, finely chopped

- 1/4 green bell pepper, finely chopped

- 1 clove minced garlic (I added a little more because I love love love garlic)

- 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 1 cup chicken broth

Ingredients - Cheese Grits: (I may have made a little too much.. but oh well)

- 1 1/3 cup quick cooking (NOT INSTANT) grits. I used Jim Dandy.

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 5 1/3 cups water

- 1/4 tsp black pepper

- a couple dashes of garlic powder

- 3-4 oz. grated sharp cheddar

GO!!!

Shrimp & Sauce

-Put shrimp in a bowl, squeeze the juice of one lemon over them & add tabasco sauce. Set aside.

-Chop onion, green pepper and garlic & set aside.

-Start on the grits! (recipe below)

-Cook chopped bacon in a large pan on medium heat until brown but not yet crisp.

-Add onion, green pepper & garlic. Cook about 3-4 minutes or until veggies are tender.

-Sprinkle flour over mixture & stir until coated. Let cook another 3-4 minutes.

-Stir in chicken broth & salt. Cook for a couple of minutes until sauce thickens.

-Add shrimp & cook until completely opaque. 3-4 minutes.

Grits

-In a saucepan bring water & salt to a boil. Add grits using a whisk or you will definitely get clumps.

-Cover pot & simmer on low heat. Cook according to package directions.

-When they are done, stir in pepper & garlic powder.

-Add grated cheddar & stir until well blended.

Ladle a generous amount of grits & cover with shrimp & sauce! Enjoy!

Let me know what yall think!

Grilled Chicken Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce

This is our favorite recipe so far! I probably make it once a week now. haha.

I got this one from kevinandamanda.com too :]

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/grilled-chicken-pasta-in-a-tomato-cream-sauce.html

Their recipe is great but here's how I do it exactly:

Ingredients:

1-1.5 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts

Montreal Steak Seasoning

1.5 of penne pasta [or more.. whole grain or regular.. it's delicious either way]

butter or margarine

olive oil

minced garlic [I've been using pre-minced garlic]

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 8oz. can of tomato sauce

1 cup heavy whipping cream

kosher salt

pepper

1 tbsp. basil

1 tbsp. parsley

I don't usually buy basil & parsley fresh just because.. it's less trouble. I buy fresh garlic but mincing it is a nightmare so if a recipe calls for minced, I have a jar of pre-minced garlic.. which I spilled ALL over my kitchen floor tonite. :[ My kitchen and living room smell pretty overpowering at the moment.. which I'm trying to remedy with fall candles!

Anyway, RECIPE.

-Rinse chicken breasts & pound with the smooth side of a tenderizer mallet until they are an even width throughout.. this way they will cook evenly.

-Season both sides of chicken breasts with Montreal Steak Seasoning.

---((((You can grill the chicken but I haven't tried that yet.. there are directions for that under the cut for the link))))---

-Heat a large skillet on medium heat & add 2 tbsp of butter & 2 tbsp of olive oil.

-Once butter & olive oil is melted, add chicken breasts & cook about 5 minutes on each side (or until done of course)

-If your skillet isn't big enough to cook them all at once, add another tbsp each of butter & olive oil before starting on the next batch.

-Boil a large pot of water & add 1 tbsp of salt. Add pasta and boil for about 12 minutes

-After chicken is cooked, add another 2 tbsp of butter & 2 tbsp of olive oil to the skillet (still on medium heat)

-Add about 1.5 tbsp of minced garlic & cook until tender.. doesn't take long AT ALL

-Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth & turn heat up to medium-high

-Let broth reduce by HALF

-Once it has reduced, pour in tomato sauce & heavy whipping cream

-Stir it all up & add about 1 tsp of salt & 1 tsp of pepper.. more salt if you prefer. Taste it to see!

-Turn heat to low and add parsley & basil to sauce and mix it up.

-Slice chicken into pieces & add pasta, sauce & chicken together and EAT.

I just ate a big bowl and I'm a happy girl right now. :)

HELLO! Pan-Seared Salmon & Roasted Broccoli with Smashed Garlic

Ok, I started to set this up a few weeks ago but got cold feet?? Why? No idea. I just want to make it clear that this isn't a "food blog".. I'm not coming up with amazing recipes out of thin air & taking amazing pictures of them with my $2000 camera. lol. I'm just trying out a ton of recipes and posting them for my friends who might want new recipes that have been approved by my household! :D

ANYWAY! Last night I made pan-seared salmon & roasted broccoli with smashed garlic!

I got the recipe for the salmon from kevinandamanda.com :]

The full recipe is at the bottom of the page but this is how I made it.. just a few small changes & I'm not gonna lie.. I cheated and used frozen salmon.. whateverrr:

Ingredients:

--Salmon Fillets [however many you want duh]

--Reduced Sodium Dale's Steak Seasoning [the first time I made this, I didn't have Dale's so I googled the ingredients & made it myself! It was just as good!

--McCormick's Grill Mates Steak Seasoning.. it should be in every house.

--olive oil

--butter or margarine

Marinate salmon filets skin side up in Dale's Seasoning for 30 minutes. The fillets were almost completely submerged when I made it.. oops.. oh well.

After marinating for 30 min, remove & season fillets with McCormick's seasoning.

Heat a large skillet over high heat & add 2 tbsp each of olive oil & butter.

Once butter melts, drop heat to medium high.

Add fillets skin side down & cook for about 5 minutes until skin is browned.

Drop heat to medium, or just above.

Flip fillets over & cook for 4 minutes.

Remove skin while the other side is cooking. I use two forks to do it because I'm spastic as hell.

Season skin side with McCormick's seasoning.

Flip fillets and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until done.

Next recipe!!!

Roasted Broccoli with Smashed Garlic from skinnytaste.com:

We are OBSESSED with this broccoli!!! It's soooo delicious.

I stick pretty close to this recipe. I usually fill up one 9x13 baking dish with broccoli & I make a bigger batch of the garlic / olive oil / salt / pepper mixture to put all over it. Sometimes I add some pre-minced garlic in with the smashed garlic. I definitely use fresh garlic though because.. MMMMMMMMMMMMM :D

Let me know if any of yall make either of these & what yall think!