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!