Yummy foods

I have been trying to do a MUCH better job of cooking lately and feel I have been pretty successful! haha. I need to get better about adding them to here, it's really easy to have John look at the list and tell me what he wants for the week :D Here are some of the foods that I have tried that we have liked! 

Buffalo Chicken Pasta- 

This one was delicious. We really like buffalo flavored anything, so we thought pasta would be fun to try- very yummy, but not that healthy. Its a treat kind of meal. haha. I didnt really use much of a recipe, I used one for guidelines but then made my own recipe up, so I am not really sure about quantities. 

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast

4 oz cream cheese (I used neufchatel cheese)

Frank's Red Hot Sauce- I used a lot, but add to your liking

Blue cheese dressing- just a little (and next time I would leave it out)

Milk- I used it to thin the sauce

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

Pasta- I used penne

Instructions:

I cut the chicken up into bite sizes and cooked it in a pan. 

I cooked the chicken in some hot sauce to give it flavor. 

Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta according to the package instructions. Drained and set aside.

In the pan another pan, I melted the cream cheese, hot sauce, blue cheese, and milk together. I added milk a little at a time to thin the sauce.Then I added the garlic, paprika, and pepper. I cooked until everything was creamy and added the chicken. Then I poured it over the pasta. 

YUMMO!

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Roll-ups-

Ingredients:

10 lasagna noodles

2 1/2 cups alfredo sauce (I made some with a packet mix)
2 cups cooked shredded chicken

spinach
oregano

garlic salt
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese or 3 cups cheese, of your choice

Instructions:

Cook noodles according to instructions and prepare the alfredo sauce you are planning to use. When the noodles are done, lay them out flat. Spread about 2 Tbs. alfredo sauce over each noodle. (refrain from placing too much sauce; you will have a big mess on your hands) Sprinkle oregano and garlic salt on top of sauce. Take 1/9 of the shredded chicken and some spinach and spread it out evenly over each noodle. Add approximately 3 tablespoons cheese. To roll up, start at one end and roll the noodle over the toppings, lifting the noodle a little to prevent squishing out the inside ingredients while rolling. Place the roll-ups in the prepared pan, one by one, seam-side down. Once they are all in the pan, pour the remaining alfredo sauce over the top. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted on top.

SO GOOD!

London Broil-

For this one I didnt really follow a recipe either. I let it marinate in Lipton Onion Soup overnight. Then broiled it until it was done. It wasnt done in this picture, so I ended up cooking it a little longer. It was really good though. I added some green beans around it to soak up some of the soup for flavor. Really good!

Shrimp salad!

John actually made this one. I'm not sure how he flavored the shrimp, but YUM. I'm sure you can do it however you want. Then he just threw a salad together. Lots of veggies! He did some potato thins on the side too. We havent been able to get those right yet, so I wont post how to do those until they are better. haha. 

Twice Baked Cauliflower-

Ingredients:

1 large head cauliflower
4 oz. low fat cream cheese (do not use fat free)
1/2 cup low fat sour cream (do not use fat free)
1/4 cup minced green onions
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 
6 slices bacon, cooked until very crisp, fat blotted with paper towel and then crumbled
1 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Cut out stem and core from cauliflower, and cut into small pieces. Cook in large pot of boiling salted water until cauliflower is tender, but not overly soft. Drain well and mash with potato masher, leaving some chunks. Mix in light cream cheese, light sour cream, green onion, Parmesan, and 3/4 of the crumbled bacon.

Spread evenly in a medium-sized glass casserole dish. Sprinkle with low-fat cheddar cheese and reserved bacon. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Johns not a big fan of cauliflower, but he really likes this! Me too!

Lemon Blackberry Bread-

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

3 tbs lemon juice

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

2 tbs grated lemon zest

1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries

2 tbs lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F. This recipe makes 1-8x4 inch loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, lemon juice, and eggs. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into egg mixture, alternating dry mixture and milk. Fold in lemon zest, and blackberries. Pour batter into prepared pan.Bake in oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pan for 10 minutes.Combine lemon juice and sugar in a small bowl. Remove bread from pan and drizzle with glaze. Cool on a wire rack until the glaze looks milky and slightly crusted.

Homemade Apple Pie!-

Ingredients:

Crust Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour (can substitute 1/2 cup flour if you don't have almonds)

16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, chilled in freezer for at least 15 minutes

1 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar

3 to 6 Tbsp water, very cold

Filling Ingredients

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 pounds of 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices of peeled and cored good cooking apples 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Egg Wash

1 large egg yolk

1 Tbsp cream

Instructions:

In a food processor, combine flour, almonds, salt and brown sugar, pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again.

Remove dough from machine and place on a clean surface. Carefully shape into 2 discs. Do not over-knead the dough! You should still be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These bits of butter are what will allow the result crust to be flaky. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F.

Combine sugar, flour and spices in large bowl. Use your hands and mix in the apples so they are well coated, then add vanilla extract.

Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12 inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, use a metal spatula to check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Gently fold in half. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.

Spoon in apple filling, mounding slightly in center.

Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Gently turn over onto the top of the apples in the pie. Pinch top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Trim excess dough with kitchen shears, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold dough under itself so that the edge of the fold is flush with the edge of the pan. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with a fork.

Stir yolk and cream in small bowl to blend. Brush over top of pie. Cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape. Bake pie until crust begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F. Tent the rims with aluminum foil or a pie protector if the edges are browning too quickly. Bake until crust is golden and juices are bubbling, anywhere from an additional 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the type of apples you are using. Transfer to rack; let stand 1 hour. Serve pie warm or at room temperature.

I think for my first homemade pie, it came out very well! There are some adjustments I'll make next time, but it was pretty good :D

More recipes to come! :D