This was another one of those impromptu sides I managed to come up with in my head and on the fly. I don't do much with beans, but these turned out so good!

Ingredients:

1 can of white kidney beans (canellini beans) 

1/3 cup of white wine

1 medium-sized tomato, diced

1/4 red onion, diced

2 Tablespoons of pesto

1 Tablespoon chopped oregano

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

In a skillet, on medium heat, sautee the onions in the olive oil until softened, about 3 minutes.   

Add the tomatoes and sautee another 3 minutes. 

Add the beans, pesto, and oregano. Sautee another 1-2 minutes to encorporate the pesto.

Add the wine. Simmer until the wine has reduced to about half and the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper and serve. 

Optional: Sprinkle with your favorite cheese (parmigiano-reggiano, feta, etc.)

Aglio e Olio with Mussels and Shrimp

Ok - I take some of my food shots with my iPhone and the pictures aren't the best. Deal with it. I don't have time to set up my camera all the time and take pictures. I just want to eat!

Aglio e Olio

1 cup angel hair pasta - cooked to package directions; reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

salt/pepper to taste

wedge of lemon

In a saucepan, add the olive oil and garlic. Gently sautee the garlic in the olive oil - do not allow to brown. Add the red pepper flakes and stir. Add the cooked pasta and pasta water - toss to coat.

Sqeeze a little lemon on top and toss. Add fresh, chopped parsley if you choose.

Steamed Mussels
1 cup white wine

1/2 cup of water

1 sprig rosemary

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon of butter

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a steaming pot and place the mussels inside the steam basket. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until mussels have opened up. Remove the garlic and rosemary sprig from the simmer water and add the butter. Allow butter to melt and then pour over mussels. When adding mussels to the pasta, do not add any additional liquid to the pasta.

Sauteed Shrimp

6 uncooked, peeled and deveined shrimp

olive oil

creole seasoning

Toss the shrimp in the oil and creole seasoning. Sear in a pan coated with olive oil. Flip and sear on the other side. Add to pasta.

P-Dub's Bowtie Lasagna - Remix

I revamped this "Pioneer Woman" recipe to be as healthy and low-cal as possible. Fortunately, it's not low on taste!

Ingredients:
1 pound 93% Lean Ground Beef

5 cups Whole Wheat or Barilla Plus Bow Tie (Farfalle) Noodles (cooked to package directions)

3 cups Jarred Spaghetti Sauce

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoons Garlic Powder

½ cups Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese

½ cups Fat FreeSour Cream

Nutritional Info:
Fat: 13.4g
Carbohydrates: 53.6g
Calories:453.1
Protein: 31.3g

Fry ground beef in small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.

After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce. (I can’t guarantee your results on this, because I’m spoiled; I am a “home canner” and have the BEST sauce on my shelf, a home canned marinara sauce that I use for lots of stuff—pizza, spaghetti, and of course, THIS.)

Add your fried hamburger, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Number of Servings: 6

Chicken Cacciatore

You can't go wrong with Ina Garten. You can't go wrong with Giada DeLaurentiis, either. This is my version of Giada's Chicken Cacciatore. As rich as it looks, it's a pretty light dish - even moreso if you don't bread the chicken.

4 chicken breasts (skinless/boneless)
2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1/2 cup all purpose flour, for dredging
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 ( 28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice (San Marzano works best)
3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons drained capers
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour to coat lightly. In a large heavy sauté pan, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and sauté just until brown, about 5 minutes per side. If all the chicken does not fit in the pan, sauté it in 2 batches. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside. Add the bell pepper, onion and garlic to the same pan and sauté over medium heat until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, broth, capers and oregano. Return the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them to coat in the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Continue simmering over medium-low heat until the chicken is just cooked through, about 30 minutes for the breast pieces, and 20 minutes for the thighs. Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a platter. If necessary, boil the sauce until it thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Spoon off any excess fat from atop the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken, then sprinkle with the basil and serve.

Pizza Night!

Last night, we decided we wanted Pizza but didn't want to drive 30 minutes to get some. So, we made our own! Josh is rather traditional and stuck with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese. I went with my favorite - white pizza - with riccotta cheese, fresh mozarella, spinach, garlic, and tomatoes.

Pizza Crust

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 package of dry yeast

2/3 cup warm water

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 tablespoons cornmeal

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flour, cornmeal, oil, and salt to yeast mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons bread flour, as needed, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; shape into a ball. Lightly respray bowl; place dough in bowl, turning to coat top. Cover; let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 30 minutes.

Giada's Linguini with Chicken Ragu

My husband and I saw this on an episode of Everyday Italian and tried it right away. Since then, I've made it several times and it's a regular menu item!

Giada's Linguini with Chicken Ragu

I make the marinara sauce described in the recipe, however, I put it in a food processor after it's cooked to make it smooth.

Zuppa Toscana, My Version

Okay...so this is my version of what you can get at the Olive Garden. I've lowered the calories and fat by using turkey sausage and skim milk and the end result is practically the same!

1 pound of turkey sausage

1 large can of chicken broth

4-5 yukon gold potatoes (sliced thin)

1 small onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

1 cup of skim milk

1 cup of chopped kale

Crumble sausage and brown in a skillet.

Place the chicken broth, potatoes, onion, and garlic in a soup pot and simmer for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Add the sausage and simmer 10 minutes more.

Add the kale and milk and simmer until kale is tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Homemade Spaghetti & Meatballs

I learned how to make spaghetti sauce from my mommy when I was very young. At the time, I was so naive that I thought the onion she put in the sauce was an egg! Like any good spaghetti sauce recipe, this one also evolved over time.

Ingredients:

1 can crushed tomatoes (I like San Marzano)
1 can diced tomatoes (San Marzano)
1 can tomato paste
1 quart of tomato juice
1 small onion (peeled but left whole)
2 bay leaves
5-6 fresh basil leaves (chopped)
oregano (fresh is good, but if you have dried that’s fine – I put it in to taste, so no measurement here)
¼ cup sugar
olive oil ( about a tablespoon or 2)
salt/pepper

Place all the ingredients into a crock pot and allow to simmer on low for 6-8 hours. I like to put mine on the lowest setting and let it cook while I’m at work. If you don’t have a crock pot, you can do this on the stovetop, but just simmer for about an hour, stirring frequently.

My meatballs are also a basic, family recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound of lean ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup of Italian Seasoned bread crumbs

2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

salt/pepper

Mix all ingredients by hand in a large bowl. Form into 1.5" balls. I usually just drop these in the sauce and let them cook - flavoring the sauce and being flavored by the sauce!

Giada's Vodka Sauce

Yes, I love Giada. She is a culinary genius. The other night was my first attempt at vodka sauce and no better recipe to use than Giada's!

Giada's Vodka Sauce Recipe

This recipe comes from foodnetwork.com and instead of using penne, I used mini cheese and mini meat ravioli. I also made Giada's simple tomato sauce, which is the base of this recipe and had a bit leftover for a future use. The simple tomato sauce is pretty darn tasty and it'd work well on it's own.

Sometimes my plates look fancy, other times, they look "real"...because they are real! I usually snap a quick shot right before dinner. I'm not here for 'chef of the year'...just to keep my recipes in an easily-accessible place.

Chicken Marsala

My recipe for chicken marsala is almost famous! I've given this to a few friends and it's on the top of their weekly menus quite often!

Ingredients

1 pound of skinless, boneless chicken breasts (Cut into thirds)

1 carton of baby bella mushrooms

1 cup of Marsala wine

1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

1 clove of garlic, diced

1 small shallot, diced

1 tablespoon of butter

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 eggs

1 cup of flour plus 2 tablespoons for sauce

salt/pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme

Mix 1 cup of flour with the paprika, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet.

Dredge the chicken pieces in the eggwash and then coat with the flour mixture.

Brown in the skillet on both sides (3 minutes per side)

Place the chicken pieces in a glass baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, use the same skillet as you fried the chicken and melt the butter. Sautee the shallot and garlic until transparent.

Add the mushrooms and sautee until tender.

Add the Marsala Wine and let simmer 5 minutes.

Add 1 cup of chicken broth and let simmer 5 minutes.

Add the fresh thyme.

Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with the remaining 1/2 cup of chicken broth and whisk until smooth.
Add the flour/broth mixture to the skillet and simmer lightly until thickened, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the marsala sauce over the chicken breasts and egg noodles.

My Favorite Panino

This is sort of a "caprese" panini, but with a twist. I've tried so many different types of panini and this is my favorite...and everyone else raves about it too!

2 slices of Panera 3-cheese bread (I normally use foccacia, but this is what I had on hand)

3 slices of fresh mozzarella

2 slices of tomato

pesto sauce

salt/pepper

Spread the pesto sauce on each slice of bread. Place the tomatoes and cheese on the bread and press into panini press. That's it!! I have a Breadman panini press....$40 at Target!

Nutrition Information

Pesto Sauce

I've started making my pesto sauce. As you can see, I had quite a harvest of basil!



I don't measure this. What I do is add a handful of pine nuts, 3 cloves of garlic, a couple handfuls of basil leaves, salt, pepper, and grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese to the food processor. Then I start streaming in extra virgin olive oil as it's processing. I let this go until it's the consistency I want.

Giada's Balsamic Brown Butter Ravioli

We all love Giada!!

18 to 20 ounces store-bought ravioli (cheese, mushroom, or squash)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup toasted, chopped walnuts*
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally. Drain ravioli onto a large serving platter.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan cook the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the foam subsides, and the butter begins to turn a golden brown, about 3 minutes, turn off the heat. Let cool for about 1 minute. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Transfer the ravioli to the pan saucepan with the balsamic brown butter. Sprinkle walnuts and Parmesan over the top. Serve immediately.

*I didn't use walnuts. I chopped up some sundried tomatoes (in oil) and sprinkled on top.