Zucchini Alfredo

This is a nice change of pace when you have zucchini up the wazoo this summer.

Zucchini Alfredo

1 (12 ounce) package uncooked egg noodles
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (I substituted with dried)
salt and pepper to taste
shredded Parmesan cheese

1.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2.Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic, and cook 2 minutes. Mix in zucchini, and cook 10 minutes, until some of the moisture has evaporated.
3.Pour the milk into the skillet, and stir in cream cheese until melted. Mix in basil. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve over the cooked pasta.

recipe from allrecipes.com

Country Style Grilled Ribs

I made these last night for the J who is a big rib fan. He and his friend both thought they were go-od! They're easy to make but ribs do take time so you just have to plan ahead a little.

Country Style Grilled Ribs

3 lbs country style pork ribs

Salt & pepper

1/2 C water

1 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)

1 C water

1 C ketchup

1/4 packed brown sugar

1/4 C cider vinegar

1/4 C Worcestershire sauce

1/2 Tbsp celery seed

1 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce

Dash black pepper

Rub ribs with salt and pepper to taste. Put 1/2 cup water and the garlic in shallow roasting pan, add ribs to pan. Cover and bake at 325˚ for 1-1/4 hours or until meat thermometer reads 160˚.

Toward the end of the cooking time, combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove meat from oven and discard water. Pour 1 cup of the sauce over ribs, turn to coat and let sit for 15 minutes.

Grill ribs over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, basting with remaining sauce and turning occasionally. Serve with any remaining sauce.*

*There’s not too much sauce left with this so if you want sauce to serve on the side you might want to make an additional half recipe or so.

Ravioli Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce

Another yummy pasta dish!

Ravioli Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce

Recipe altered from Our Best Bites

12 oz bag Cheese & Spinach Tortelini
4 oz bacon or pancetta, (about 4 strips bacon)*
3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced
2 Tbs flour
2 C milk
¾ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1 C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil.  Add ravioli and cook according to package instructions.
Place bacon in a medium sized skillet on the stove-top at medium-high heat.  Cook until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and set on paper towels to drain.  Reserve two tablespoons bacon drippings in pan and discard the rest.  Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute.  Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.
While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon.  Then cut lemon in half and remove juice.  Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce.  Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat.
Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot.  Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture.  Add spinach, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.  Add sauce and gently stir to combine.  Place pasta mixture in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan.
Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout.  Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle bacon pieces on top before serving.

Creamy Cajun Pasta with Blackened Chicken

This recipe is really tasty! We had it with the missionaries and they even asked for the recipe haha. I didn't measure out my Cajun seasoning, I just sprinkled the chicken with a good amount of it before cooking it.

Creamy Cajun Pasta with Blackened Chicken

1-2 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves, sliced into thin strips
2-3 Tb Cajun seasoning
1 Tb canola or olive oil
8 oz. gemelli or penne pasta
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes with onion and garlic
1 tsp dry basil1tsp sugar
2/3 cup cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (plus more for garnish)


1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and keep warm.  Pour tomatoes into a small sauce pan and add dry basil and sugar.  (*If using fresh basil, stir in at the end.)  Reduce the tomatoes over medium-high heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. 
2. While tomatoes are cooking, rub chicken breasts with desired amount of Cajun seasoning. Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium high heat (careful not to burn the oil).  Add chicken and cook 7 minutes on each side or until juices run clear when pierced. 
3. Once the tomatoes have thickened, reduce heat and stir in cream. Heat through but DO NOT BOIL!  Toss with pasta and parmesan cheese. 
4. Serve sliced chicken on top of pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Cinnamon Swirl

This is a really quick substitute for homemade cinnamon rolls that tastes just like them but takes much less time.  A & B thought it was fun to help with poking the topping into the batter.

Cinnamon Swirl

Batter:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 T. yeast (or 2 pkgs)
2/3 c. very warm milk (120-130)
2 T. butter, melted
2 T. oil
1 egg

Cinnamon mixture:
3 T. butter, softened (or melted)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Icing:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 -1 T. milk
1/2 T. butter, melted
1/4 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, mix all the batter ingredients.  Pour and spread into a greased 8-inch pan.  Let rise 10-15 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine cinnamon mixture in a small bowl mixing with a fork. 
Top batter evenly with cinnamon mixture.  Using fingers, poke topping thoroughly into batter.
Bake by placing in a COLD oven; set temperature to 350.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned and firm in center.  Cool 10 minutes.  Combine icing ingredients and drizzle over warm cake.
Yield: 9 servings

Recipe slightly altered from Fleischmann's

Hominy Taco Chili

This makes a big batch so you can freeze half and eat half - very efficient. This chili has a good flavor and for those of us who don’t care for beef I think it would be great w/o the beef (and with onion powder not icky onions, of course).

If you have never tried hominy before, don't let it scare you. It looks like giant corn, has a mild taste and it makes a nice addition to soups, chilies, etc. You can use either white or yellow hominy in this chili.

Hominy Taco Chili

1/2 lb ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

1 can (15.5 oz) hominy

2 cans (14.5 oz each) petite diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn (or a can if you’re not a corn snob)

1 can (15 oz) chili beans, undrained

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 C water

1 envelope taco seasoning (or 1/4 C from a Costco sized jar...)

1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Optional Toppings:

Corn chips, sour cream, guacamole, shredded cheese

In a large Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients (except toppings). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve half of the chili with toppings for dinner. Cool the remaining half and freeze it for dinner on one of those crazy nights when you have no time for anything else!

To use frozen chili: Thaw in the refrigerator. Transfer to a large pan; heat through, adding water if needed. Serve with toppings.

Each batch serves 4-6.

Altered from a recipe in Taste of Home.

French Almond Cake with Berries and Cream

We had this tasty confection for dessert on Easter. Mmmmmm...mmm! It was really good. A very nice combination of flavors here....but how can you go wrong when berries, almonds and cream are involved? :) The leftovers (if there are any) also make a great breakfast the following day. Or, uh, so I've heard. hee hee.
(We couldn't find raspberries anywhere so we just doubled the blackberries.)

French Almond Cake with Berries and Cream

Almond Cake:
4 ounces almond paste
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1/2 C. (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3 large eggs
1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Topping:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 C. confectioner's sugar
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp almond extract

Sweetened Berries:
1/2 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 C. raspberries
1 C. blackberries
2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/4 C. seedless raspberry jam

Prepare the almond cake: Preheat oven to 375°. Grease and flour 9-inch round non-stick cake pan. Crumble almond paste into food processor fitted with blade attachment. Add granulated sugar and pulse until almond paste is finely ground. Add butter and process until smooth. Add eggs and process until combined, occasionally stopping processor and scraping down sides of bowl. Add flour, baking powder and salt, and process until blended. Spoon batter into prepared pan and spread out evenly.
Bake 20 minutes or until cake is browned and top springs back when lightly pressed with finger. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes then invert pan onto cooling rack to remove cake. Cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare cream cheese topping:
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese at low speed until smooth. Add confectioner's sugar and beat on low speed until blended. Add cream and extract; increase blender speed to high and beat mixture until thick and fluffy. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Prepare sweetened berries:
In a large bowl, combine berries with confectioner's sugar. Toss gently to combine. Let stand 10 minutes to allow sugar to dissolve and flavors to blend.
Place cake on serving plate. Spread jam on top of cake to 1/2 inch from edge. Spoon cream topping over jam, spreading to cover. Spread berry mixture over cream. Serve immediately.


Recipe from Good Housekeeping