Spicy Chicken Pasta

Actually, not so spicy if you ask me. Still quite yummy though. This was a pretty easy recipe, and actually meant to serve one. I just doubled it up and that means that it was easy to split between two and not worry about portion control. I'll probably make it again, probably with even more red pepper next time.

Spicy Chicken Pasta
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 1












Coarse salt
1/2 cup penne or other short pasta
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
1 plum tomato, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
3 cups baby spinach
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

• In a large pot of boiling slated water, cook penne until al dente, adding chicken during last 2 minutes of cooking. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water. Drain chicken and pasta and return to pot.
• To pot add tomato, tomato paste, garlic, olive oil, red-pepper flakes and spinach; season with salt. Cook over medium, tossing until spinach is barely wilted, about 1 minute. Remove post from heat; stir in lemon juice and enough water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta. Season with salt, if necessary, and serve immediately.

My notes: Like I said, I'd probably like it a bit spicier, so more red-pepper flakes for me next time. This would be an easy enough dinner to make in a pinch, as I've always got a variety of pasta and usually have chicken in the freezer and spinach in the fridge.

Nacho Ordinary Dinner

Uh, so yeah. Long time no post. Well, you know how it is- you get busy, things come up, and some things sort of slip through the cracks. Like cooking, plating your food, taking pictures of your food, editing the pictures, and putting together a post all about it. Don't get me wrong, I have been cooking. But it's the kind of stuff that's so easy and convenient that I would even think of putting it up on here. Or repeat recipes, some that I've even posted repeatedly on here. Or stuff pulled from the freezer (I do have a recipe for one of those meals, coming soon). But I've got at least a few photos in the can, so there'll be a bit more posting to come. This definitely falls in the category of easy and convenient, assuming like me you always have tortilla chips and pepper jack cheese (why wouldn't you?). Last Friday night I was going to make my favorite Bean, Corn and Tortilla Salad for dinner. But my lettuce was looking a bit raggedy, to say the least. So, I thought to myself, "What do I have when I remove the lettuce?". The answer of course was some pretty good nacho toppings.

Nachos
Adapted from Everyday Food by me












Tortilla Chips, your personal favorite
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 10 oz. frozen corn, thawed
1 small bunch scallions, diced
1/3 cup salsa, your personal favorite
1 or 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and cut to your preference- sliced, diced, chopped
Shredded Cheese- I used a little cheddar, a lot of pepper jack

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a small bowl mix together the beans, corn and salsa. Warm in the microwave for about a minute.
• In a baking dish (I used a pie plate), lay out a layer of tortilla chips and sprinkle with scant amount of cheese. Top with half of bean mixture, then scallions and tomatoes. Top generously with cheese. Repeat for one more layer, using rest of bean mixture.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, will warmed through and cheese is well melted.

My notes: Maybe next time I'll do it in just one layer and we can each have our own pie plate of nachos! I also had an avocado, which is part of the salad recipe. I just diced that up and served it on the side as a nacho topping for us. Guacamole would be preferable, but the whole cilantro and hot pepper thing tends to put a damper on that.

Still Peachy: Whole-Wheat Peach Muffins with Pecan Crumble Topping

This weekend I went on a bit of a produce binge. But what better time of the year, right? We got our usual fruit staples- apples and bananas, but accompanying those home from the store were grapes, cherries, watermelon, lemons, limes and peaches. Blueberries were supposed to be on that list. I hadn't made blueberry muffins in a long time and thought they would be a great weekend treat. Apparently, since blueberries were on sale, everyone else thought so too and beat me to them. Undaunted, I grabbed the peaches instead and decided to figure out what to do with them later. So Sunday morning when I woke up I went in search of a muffin idea. I went straight to Everybody Likes Sandwiches. I've been getting lots of recipes and ideas from her lately, and I knew I'd find something great to start from. I landed on her recipe for Blackberry Muffins with Crumble Topping and decided it was just the thing. And with a few minor changes I had some really awesome muffins coming out of my oven!

Whole-Wheat Peach Muffins with Pecan Crumble Topping
Adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches; Makes 12-16
















Batter:
2 cups white whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 peaches, peeled and chopped

Crumble topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons oats
2 tablespoons chopped pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter

• Preheat oven to 375. Grease or line muffin tin.
• In a medium sized bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• Prepare crumble topping in a small bowl by combining dry ingredients and then crumbling butter into the mix with your fingers until everything is all crumbly. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat together sugar and eggs until pale and creamy. Add yogurt, oil and vanilla and mix well. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Gently fold in blackberries until evenly distributed throughout batter.
• Add batter to prepared tin, filling them 3/4 full. Sprinkle topping on each muffin and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 20 minutes or so. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My notes: I used plain yogurt, because that's what I had. I added the pecans and omitted 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg from the crumble topping, I'm not crazy about nutmeg. And I had to MacGyver my oats. Realizing that I had used the last of them when I made another ELS recipe I reached for one of my husband's flavored instant oatmeal packets. I dumped it into a fine mesh sieve and sifted away all the powdery flavoring and it actually worked, ha. I certainly wouldn't suggest this option when you need a lot of oats, but for my 2 tablespoons it was a good solution. These muffins had a really great crumb, not too moist to where it stuck to the roof of your mouth, but not too dry either. Definitely making them again!

P.S. I served my muffins on the awesome platter I got from my Favorite Things swap partner Ginger. Thanks Ginger!

Cuban Sandwich Cheat

Is it the summer heat? Blog burn out? Stray radio waves frying my brain? Who knows, but in the continuing saga of lazy cooking I bring you my new favorite sandwich. Recently I found myself with a strong and impossible to ignore craving for a Cuban panini. One just like what I had at a restaurant on the Upper West Side on our NYC vacation. The prospect of cooking a pork tenderloin in order to make sandwiches? Not promising in the big picture sense. But I did remember that there had been a single page in the back of one of my Everyday Food issues about a quick version of the Cuban. Just eliminate the pork, and that's just what I did. Good golly, this is so easy and fast. And I so love it. Right now I'm making a mental note to buy more ham on my next grocery store trip. And the next time I want to make a pork tenderloin I will remember to save some for some real sandwiches.

Cuban Sandwich
Recipe from Everyday Food












Good sandwich roll, baguette, whatever your bread preference really
Sliced ham
Swiss cheese
Dill pickle, sliced lengthwise
Dijon mustard

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice your bread in half horizontally. Spread each slice with Dijon mustard. Layer bottom slice with ham, swiss cheese and pickle slices. Top with other bread slice and press down. Place on parchment lined baking sheet, top with another baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes. Enjoy!

My notes: We had our sandwiches with some salt and cracked black pepper potato chips, mmm. But of course this sandwich could be enjoyed with a variety of sides. So good. Really, I wish I had everything so I could make one as soon as I get home. :)

Spaghetti Dinner

Oh my goodness! Things have been super hectic at work, so you'll have to forgive me for not coming round more often. In fact, fast and easy cooking hasn't been more helpful as it has the past week or two. I wanted to get this posted since it really helped me get dinner done and in my tummy in a hurry last night. Super simple, super fast, and best of all, super yummy! Pic here is courtesy of Martha. Definitely gonna keep this recipe in my back pocket.

Herbed Spaghetti
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4
















Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 pound thin whole-wheat spaghetti
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, and chives

• In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente according to package instructions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Return pasta to pot.
• Stir in butter, lemon zest, juice, and herbs; season with salt and pepper. Add some of the reserved pasta water to adjust consistency, if needed. Serve.

My notes: I used parsley, and I forgot to keep any of my pasta water, so I just added a little extra butter. Mmmmm. Hopefully things will be slowing down soon, and I'll have more free time to devote to getting recipes up on here. :)