Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli

Yummy!!! I also added chicken.

Recipe here.

Pasta Salad

...with left over rotisserie chicken, tomatoes and German yogurt dressing.
...with garlic & butter croissants.

Gnocchi di Ricotta - Part 2

I've made these again and they turned out even better. The trick really is not to over flour them and you'll have a fluffy gnocchi. These are baked and instead of using parsley I used dried sweet basil; just enough to taste it - don't be scared to tasted the mixture before adding the flour to it. Remember to always use fresh organic eggs.

Once I've completed step 6, I melted about a stick of butter in a skillet and added 4-5 crushed cloves of garlic to it. Cook until fragrant - don't burn. Add cooked gnocchi and top with graded cheese, any cheese. Bake in the oven 18-20 minutes.

Chili A La Hard Times

Hard Times Restaurant is a popular chili restaurant in the DC area. My husband loves chili and used to drag me there all the time when we first started going out. We don't eat out any more, so therefore I have to cook a lot of "junk" food at home. Hard Times traditionally serves their chili over spaghetti. Here's where I got the recipe from. PS: I also added corn and garlic to the pot.

3 onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 pounds ground beef chuck
1/3 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (i wish i used less of this)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground mace (none used)
1 bay leaf 3 cups water 1 (16-ounce) can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses (not used)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Spaghetti, kidney beans (used white beans), chopped onion, grated Cheddar, and oyster crackers as traditional accompaniments, if desired

1. In a large heavy kettle cook the onions and the garlic in the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the onions are softened, add the beef, and cook the mixture, stirring and breaking up the lumps, until the beef is no longer pink.

2. Add the chili powder, the paprika, the cumin, the coriander, the allspice, the oregano, the cayenne, the cinnamon, the cloves, and the mace and cook the mixture, stirring, for 1 minute.

3. Add the bay leaf, the water, the tomato sauce, the vinegar, and the molasses and simmer the mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally and adding more water, if necessary, to keep the beef barely covered, for 2 hours, or until it is thickened but soupy enough to be ladled. Discard the bay leaf and season the chili with salt and pepper.

4. The chili may be frozen or made 4 days in advance, cooled, uncovered, and kept covered and chilled. Serve the chili as is or in the traditional Cincinnati "five-way" style: Ladle the chili over the spaghetti and top it with the beans, the onion, the Cheddar, and the oyster crackers.

Swedish Meatballs

It got this recipe from " the taste of home cooking" blog. Love her site. It's full of new ideas. I really enjoyed this recipe, which is sort of surprising, since it's a Rachel Ray. I find that most of her recipes are half-a$$ed. Sorry, but they are just thrown together, no thought or good taste behind it. BUT, it seems that maybe her cookbook is a different story. This recipe is from her "Comfort Foods: Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals". Maybe she actually sat down and developed some eatable recipes for once. This one's a keeper!
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Meatballs

1 pound ground chuck, or ground beef, pork and veal mix

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1 small onion, finely chopped (or grated on a box grater)

A few drops Worcestershire

Salt and pepper

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Sauce

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour (increased by 1/2 tablespoon)

1/2 cup dry sherry (is used white wine)

1 cup beef broth

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 cup sour cream (had to use whole milk instead)

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1 bag wide egg noodles (used thin spaghetti) .... gosh I need to go grocery shopping!

1 tablespoon butter

A handful of chopped parsley

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Cook egg noodles according to package directions. While waiting for the water to boil, make the meatballs and sauce.

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To bake meatballs: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix ingredients for meatballs in a medium-size bowl. Form bite-size balls and place on nonstick baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.

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To cook meatballs on the stovetop: preheat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Mix ingredients for meatballs in a medium-size bowl. Form bite-size balls and add directly to the pan as you roll them. Once the last ball has been rolled, give the pan a good shake and place a lid or aluminum foil over the top. Cook meatballs 10 to 12 minutes, turning them occasionally. Remove meatballs to a paper towel-lined plate, wipe out pan, and return to heat to make the sauce.

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To make the sauce: melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle in flour and continuously whisk until a smooth paste is formed. Slowly add sherry while continuing to whisk sauce; cook until sherry reduces by half. Add broth in a slow stream and continue to whisk until sauce thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon. Turn off heat and whisk in salt, pepper, Dijon mustard and sour cream.

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Once the noodles are cooked, drain them and toss with butter and parsley. Add meatballs to the sauce, stir to coat, and serve over the noodles.

Chicken Francese

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 small onion, minced (about 1/3 cup)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry white wine or vermouth
1/3 cup lemon juice from
2 lemons
2 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Table salt and ground black pepper

Chicken:

1 cup all-purpose flour
Table salt and ground black pepper
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 200 degrees. Set wire rack on a foil-lined, trimmed baking sheet and place sheet in oven.

2.FOR THE SAUCE: Heat 1 tablespoon butter in medium nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour and stir until light golden brown, about 1 minute. Whisk in wine, lemon juice, and broth; increase heat to high and bring to boil, whisking constantly. Lower heat to medium-high and cook, whisking occasionally, until mixture is reduced to 1 1/2 cups, 10 to 15 minutes. Strain sauce through mesh strainer, return to saucepan, and set aside.

3. FOR THE CHICKEN: Whisk together flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in pie plate. In second pie plate, whisk eggs and milk until combined. Season both sides of each cutlet with salt and pepper. Using tongs and working with 2 cutlets at a time, coat cutlets in seasoned flour; shake off excess flour. Transfer cutlets to egg mixture; coat evenly and let excess run off. Return cutlets to seasoned flour; coat evenly and shake off excess flour.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon each butter and oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; when foaming subsides, place 4 cutlets in skillet. Cook until well browned, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Carefully flip cutlets and continue to cook until lightly browned on second sides, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer chicken to wire rack in oven. After transferring chicken to oven, wipe out skillet with paper towels.

5. TO FINISH SAUCE AND SERVE: Transfer sauce to now-empty skillet and set over low heat; cook until sauce is heated through, about 1 minute. Whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons butter; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove baking sheet with chicken from oven; transfer 4 cutlets to skillet, turn to coat with sauce, then transfer each serving (2 cutlets) to individual plates. Spoon 2 tablespoons additional sauce over each serving and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately, passing extra sauce separately.



This was excellent. The chicken melted in your mouth and the sauce was to die for. What got me, was seeing the picture of the chicken. To me, it almost looked like a giant breaded scallop. I forgot to strain the sauce, but other then that, I kept right on track. I used angel hair pasta. Here is where the recipe came from.

What Goes Into Your Meatballs?

People seem to add the most 'random' things to the their meat mixture when making meatballs from scratch. I was wondering what tips or tricks other people had for making great meatballs.

I add fresh bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, egg, cooked onion and garlic and parsley.

I baked them in the oven for 15-20 min at 400 degrees.

I can't stand the store bought sauces. Making a sauce at home is so much healthier and tastier. I kept mine simple, onions and garlic, topped with basil at the end. I frankly can't think of anything else that you could put in there, besides a little bit of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes.....

Gnocchi di Ricotta

Ingredients:

1 egg
8 oz ricotta cheese, well drained
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus extra for sprinkling
1/4 cups parsley
2 garlic cloves, mashed through the garlic press
pinch of salt & pepper
1 teaspoon of olive oil

3/4 cup of flour or more if needed

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients then add flour last. Work ingredients together with your hands to form a dough.

2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured working surface and knead lightly for 2 to 3 more minutes, gradually adding a little more flour if the dough sticks to the board or your hands. The dough is ready when it no longer sticks but is still somewhat tacky to the touch and soft.

4. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll into balls. Using both hands, roll out each ball of dough into a log about the width of your index finger. Cut each log into 1/2 inch pieces.

5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a teaspoon of olive oil oil and the gnocchi.

6. Cook, uncovered over high heat until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water, about 2 to 3 minutes.

I tossed mine in a olive oil, sauteed garlic and chopped tomato sauce and sprinkled with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and fresh Italian parsley. Che fantastica mangiata!

Chicken Pesto with Peas

I found this recipe in one of my cookbooks. Not my favorite pesto pasta, I must say. 9 cloves of garlic is a bit excessive, don't you think?


If you like Ina Garten's stuff, give it a try.

Chicken Alfredo

INGREDIENTS:
Coarse salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream or half and half
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 pound of your favorite pasta
Salt and pepper
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DIRECTIONS:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add heavy cream and cheese. When cheese is melted, add egg yolk. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.
Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to package directions. Drain pasta and transfer to a large serving platter. Pour sauce over pasta, salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

For the Chicken:

I boiled the chicken and it turned out very moist and tender. Grilling for this recipe doesn't work for me, since it becomes too though and dried out.