Easy Chicken Alfredo

This is a good super easy and quick meals for those crazy or lazy nights!

Chicken Alfredo

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast tenders

1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning (or other poultry seasoning)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 box Fettuccine noodles

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

Directions:

Season the chicken with the Cajun seasoning and cook through in a pan over medium heat with the olive oil.  May add a splash of white wine towards the end for extra flavor.  Yes... do that.  Yum.

While the chicken is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the flour and whisk until foamy to make a roux Add the milk at this time and keep whisking to get rid of any clumps.  Simmer until it starts to thicken and add the cheese.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Might as well add some white wine to this too!! Do it when you put in the milk though.  So the alcohol is cooked off.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water, and add the noodles.  Cook about 12 minutes, or until noodles are al dente.  Strain the pasta and add the sauce back to the pot with the noodles.  Cut up the chicken into cubes or shred it and add it to the sauce and noodles.  Mix thoroughly.  Plate up and add parsley on top for garnish.  

Cinnamon Apple Chips

My favorite part of having parties as a kid was all the nasty junk food!  Potato chips and cheese or ranch dip were my all time favorite junk foods.  Yum!!

I haven't bought a bag of potato chips in years.  I honestly don't know what would happen to my body if I ate like I did in high school these days.  Let's not find out.

Kind of went a little heavy on the cinnamon, but it was still amazing!

Instead... with the help of my new incredible dehydrator, Let's make healthy and delicious apple chips!!  Don't worry if you don't have a dehydrator.  You should go out and just buy one, but if you don't want to, you can also bake these in the oven instead.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Apple Chips

Ingredients:
4-5 large apples cored and sliced thinly (using a mandolin helps to keep them the same size)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 cup water
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

Directions:
Mix together the water and lemon juice.  Once the apples are sliced, soak them in the lemon juice mixture for about 3 minutes. Place the apples on your dehydrator racks being sure not to overlap.  Lightly sprinkle cinnamon over apples.  Turn dehydrator on 135 degrees for about 6 hours.  Be sure to check back towards the end because if you over dehydrate the apples, they lose some nutrients. Let cool and snack away!!  These are seriously my new favorite go-to snack! Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  

If baking:  After soaking apples in the lemon juice mixture, place on a baking sheet (using parchment paper), sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours, turning once after an hour.  Let cool on a cooling rack.  
 

Butternut Squash Ravioli With a Yellow Curry Sauce

I've been wanting to make a butternut squash ravioli for a while now, but I really can't stand the brown butter sage sauce that everyone pairs it with.  Maybe because the last time I made that sauce, I didn't brown the butter enough so it just tasted like nasty butter soaked ravioli.  Anyway, this time, I wanted to make a yellow curry sauce because curry goes with pumpkin so well and butternut squashes are similar to pumpkins. 

Anyway, this turned out really really good, however I do have some crucial changes that need to be made.  Notice in my photo that the raviolis are sitting in the curry sauce.  Don't do this.  Just drizzle a tiny bit over the tops of the raviolis.  Otherwise the curry overpowers and you want to taste the squash. yum! Also, make sure to buy a high quality yellow curry paste (or make one yourself!).  I used the cheapest kind in the store (not my fault, Nick picked it out) and you can see it's very oily.  You never want an oily curry.  And lastly, I think when the curry sauce is complete, just pop it in the blender or food processor to puree.  That way, it's nice and smooth and creamy. Yum!

Butternut Squash Ravioli Yellow Curry

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1/2 butternut squash

1 large potato

2 inch piece of ginger, pureed (I use a zester)

salt and pepper

1 can of coconut milk, divided

25 wonton wrappers

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon coconut oil (can use olive instead)

2 teaspoons of high quality yellow curry paste (found in your local Asian market) 

2 tablespoons parsley

3 tablespoons roasted peanuts

Directions:

Take half your butternut squash and place it in a 9X13 inch pan filled with 2 inches of water.  Pierce with a fork and bake at 400 for about 40 minutes.  Pierce the potato with a fork a few times and bake along side the squash on the rack.  Let cool.

Scoop out the squash, and potato into a blender or food processor and add the ginger, salt and pepper to taste, and 1/2 cup of coconut milk.   Puree until smooth and creamy.  Place 1 tablespoon of mixture onto the middle of  a wonton wrapper and seal the edges, dipping your fingers in water will help.  Set aside.

Heat up the garlic and oil in a large pan and add the curry paste.  Stir in the oil until foamy.  Add the onion and let them cook until tender.  Add the rest of the can of coconut milk and let simmer for 5 minutes.  Transfer to food processor and puree until smooth and creamy.  

Bring a large pot of water to a medium boil and add the raviolis, making sure not to overcrowd the pan.  Once raviolis float to the top, they are finished.  Repeat with remaining raviolis.  

To serve, place raviolis in a dish and drizzle lightly with curry sauce.  Top with parsley and peanuts!

Curried Butternut Squash Bisque with Grilled Apple and Gruyere Sandwiches

Tis the season for butternut squash and apples! 

Honestly, this soup is ridiculously easy and delicious.  Looks like baby food.  I think Nick had low expectations for this and he was super surprised when he took his first bite.  "Holy cow, this has so much flavor! I wasn't expecting that!"  Soup is always best when you just use a bunch of stuff from your cupboards.  This soup was so delicious, and paired with grilled cheese and apple sandwiches... yum! Enjoy!

Curried Butternut Squash Bisque

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 medium sized butternut squash

1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons of butter, cubed

1 medium sized onion

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 inch piece of ginger, pureed (I used a zester)

2 tablespoons of coconut oil

2-3 cups of vegetable broth

1 can coconut cream

1 tablespoon curry powder

salt to taste

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 and slice butternut squash in half, remove seeds.  Place cut side up in a 9X13 cake pan.  Pierce inside with a fork and add cubed butter, drizzle with maple syrup, and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Pour water into the pan about 2 inches up.  Place squash in preheated oven for about 40 minutes to an hour until soft. 

Place coconut oil and garlic in a large soup pot and turn on to medium heat.  Stir for about 2 minutes and add onion and ginger.  Cook until onion is tender and scoop in the butternut squash.  Mash and stir and add the vegetable stock, curry powder, and coconut cream.  Place in a large blender or food processor (wait till it chills a bit) and puree.  Transfer back to soup pot and heat.  Add toasted pumpkin seeds to each individual bowl and salt to taste. 

Grilled Cheese and Apple Sandwiches:

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

8 slices of home made Focaccia Bread (Click here for recipe)

1 cup grated or sliced Gruyere cheese (I cheated and used Swiss, but it was still good)

1 apple thinly sliced

2 tablespoons of butter

Directions:

Butter the focaccia bread and top with cheese and apples.  Grill on medium-low heat covered so that the apples soften and cook.

Pumpkin Tiramisu!

Well, I've been planning out our Thanksgiving dinner for about 2 months now.  It's just what I do.  I have to do a test trial of everything and make sure it's good for the big day.  Last year, we had one guest... the year before that we had no guests.  This year... we are going to have 3, yes 3 guests at our place for Thanksgiving.  It's kind of a big deal.

Anyway, I have never been a pumpkin pie person, not really a pie person in general.  Please don't judge.   Last night, I asked Nick what his favorite dish at a Thanksgiving meal is and he couldn't really answer, but he did say that pumpkin pie is his least favorite.  Which confirms why I always go out of the box and make other delicious pumpkin desserts for Thanksgiving.  I've made pumpkin cheese, pumpkin ice cream pie, and this year... I believe I will make this Pumpkin Tiramisu.

Unfortunately, no store around here sells ladyfingers yet.  I know right?  Who wouldn't sell ladyfingers... come on people.  Anyway, I had all of the ingredients but the ladyfingers so I used my imagination and some soft snicker doodle cookies that I found at Trader Joes.  I honestly think that next time I make this recipe, I'll use these instead.  Be warned that there are only 12 in a box, so if you're going to make this in a spring form pan, buy at least 2 boxes of cookies, probably 3 so you can enjoy some while making the dessert.  I bought one box, which is why I made little Tiramisu parfaits instead.  mmmmmmm.... Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Tiramisu

Makes 4 Large Servings (Probably would serve 8 in a pan)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chilled whipping cream

3/4 cup sugar

1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone cheese (found mine in the cream cheese section at Trader Joes)

1 (15-ounce) can pure organic pumpkin

3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg)

2  boxes of soft snickerdoodle cookies from Trader Joes (or homemade chewy, cake like cookies)

1/4 cup rum (We bought "whipped rum."  It's delicious!)

1/4 cup strong coffee

2 ounces crushed amaretti cookies

Directions:

Beat whipping cream and sugar until peaks form. (Using my awesome KitchenAid mixer, it was about 4-5 minutes) Add mascarpone cheese, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice; beat just until filling is smooth.

Line bottom of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with 1 package of cookies, overlapping and crowding to fit. Mix the coffee and rum together. Sprinkle cookies with 2 tablespoons rum/coffee mixture. (I actually just soaked the cookies for a little bit in the coffee, then poured the rum over top) Spread half of filling over cookies.

Repeat with second package cookies, remaining 2 tablespoons rum, and remaining filling. Smooth. Wrap tightly in plastic, then foil. Chill overnight.

To unmold, run knife around inside edge of pan. Release pan sides; sprinkle with amaretti cookies. 

UPDATE!!!! I admit, I never tried the tiramisu before blogging it.  After eating it... it's pretty amazing.  However, I would like to point out that while the snickerdoodle cookies are quite tasty, they don't soak in the coffee flavor or rum flavor that traditional tiramisu has.  I think I'll use ladyfingers next time to see the difference.  If you're in a bind though, they are great, maybe just soak them for a little longer.  Also, my parfaits were huge!  I couldn't even finish half.

Thai Pizza

Mauer couldn't wait to get his hands on this pizza!

Nick and I used to make Thai Pizza all the time so I was really excited to have it on this week's menu.  It's so delicious and you can use basically any ingredient.  You can even make your own peanut sauce, but I just used store bought this time, because I was being lazy. 

I wasn't even going to post this because it's just one of those Saturday night "go to" meals, but after I ate a piece, I was just in love so I put my plate down and took a photo.  I used a different method for the crust than I usually do, and I think that's what made this pizza amazing.  I got this idea from my good friend Mario Batali, and I thank him dearly for this awesome crust technique.  Enjoy!

Thai Pizza

Crust: 

1 package of active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp. if you use the yeast in the jar)

1 tsp white sugar

1 cup warm water (100 degrees F)

2 1/2 cups bread flour (I used organic unbleached flour)

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp salt

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with a large baking sheet inside (I put mine at 400 because I think it runs a little on the hotter side). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Stir in flour, salt and oil. Stir until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Take the large baking sheet out of the preheated oven (with a potholder... just in case you needed reminding) and lightly oil it.  Stretch out the dough onto the pan.  I thought this would be really hard to do because the pan is hot, but I amazingly didn't get burnt.  

Top the crust with the peanut sauce (I actually mixed about 1/3 cup of my peanut sauce with about 2 tablespoons of coconut milk, it was delicious), then top with desired toppings and cheese.  Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and crust is crispy. Take out of oven and let cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Toppings we used:  Shredded chicken, carrots, mushrooms, onions, green onions, red pepper mozzarella cheese, crushed roasted peanuts.

Apple Pie French Toast Casserole

With the remainder of the apples that we got last weekend from the apple festival, we decided to make a breakfast casserole.  We were actually planning on making this last weekend, but we went to 2 different stores to get Challah bread and neither of them had it!  So I had to make it myself.  I would have included that recipe, but my Challah didn't raise up, it raised out, so it looked pretty goofy. Anyway, it was still delicious in this lovely breakfast french toast casserole.  A perfect thing to make for a potluck brunch!

Apple Pie French Toast Casserole

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

1 16oz loaf Challah bread

5eggs

1 cup whole milk

3 tsp cinnamon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 cups of apples (I used Honeycrisp!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 9x13 baking dish, set aside

Cut challah bread into 1×2″ cubes. Transfer to a large bowl. Mix eggs, heavy cream and 1 tsp cinnamon. Poor over bread, toss with your hands to coat well.

Peel, core and slice apples into cubes. Add 1 1/2C apples to bottom of your dish. Sprinkle with 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Cover with half of the soaked bread cubes. Layer with half of the remaining apples and more cinnamon and sugar. Create one more layer with bread cubes, apples and cinnamon and sugar.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes. Serve hot with maple syrup! Yum!