Dinner
Do you ever see a recipe or watch some food TV and think I need to go to the store right now and get the ingredients to make that right now? Well that happened to me when I was watching Food Network! Giada
De Laurentiis was making this amazing dish! Jim and I both loved this! Jim went back for seconds almost immediately and dinner time was very quiet. We all know what that means! Delicious dinner!! If you can’t find pancetta you can also use bacon but the pancetta really is perfect in this dish as it adds so much flavor and crisp texture.
INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoon olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, chopped
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
4 large eggs
1 pound rigatoni
Fresh cracked black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté until brown and crisp. About 8 minutes, remove pancetta from the pan and set aside. Add the onions to the same pan you used for the pancetta and cook until golden brown and lightly carmelized. This will take about ten minutes. Add the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, cook two more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl combine and whisk the Gruyere, whipping cream, Parmesan, lemon zest, eggs and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt and add the rigatoni and boil on high until the rigatoni is al Dente about 8-10 minutes. Drain but, RESERVE ONE CUP OF PASTA WATER. Add the pasta back into the pot along with the onions, cream mixture, 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water and the pancetta. Toss over low heat until the sauce is thick and coats the pasta. Adding pasta water as needed (I only used 1/4 cup). This only takes about two minutes. Do not boil. Season pasta with fresh cracked paper and serve warm.
Enjoy!
A couple Sunday’s ago Jim and I were getting caught up on some work around the house and Jim decided he was making dinner. He knew exactly what he wanted and was off to the store gathering the ingredients before I could say a word! Not that I would ever complain about having dinner made for me!! I love days like that as it does not happen often, not because Jim is not a good cook, he is a fabulous cook, but just never has the time!
So the BBQ sauce is a recipe Jim’s dad did for every family BBQ, although Bob is no longer with us, all of his kids still make this recipe and it is enjoyed just as much now as it was years ago! This sauce is simply two ingredients and is terrific with grilled chicken, as the sauce brings the sweet and tangy flavors to your BBQ!
This is one of my favorite pictures of Joan and Bob.
The butter recipe is also just a couple of ingredients, but makes corn on the cob much more interesting and delicious ! Jim is not a huge fan of cilantro so he did not add a lot of it to the butter, so feel free to add more if you enjoy cilantro!
BBQ Sauce Ingredients
18 ounce bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce (we used honey BBQ)
15 ounce can of cling peaches
DIRECTIONS
Combine the BBQ sauce and peaches (don’t drain the peaches) in a blender and blend until well combined and smooth. Baste both sides of the chicken as it is being grilled. Be sure chicken is fully cooked first. Remove from heat and serve warm.
Cilantro Butter Ingredients
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp.
1 Tablespoon (or more) diced fresh cilantro
Salt
DIRECTIONS
Combine butter and cilantro until well combined. Jim grilled our corn by wrapping each corn in tin foil and placing on the upper rack of the grill and grilling for 15 minutes, turning occasionally! When corn is cooked remove from heat, remove tin foil and run the cilantro butter over the corn and salt as desired. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
The heat and hot weather does not want to give us a break, so this is a recipe that I found on Pinterest and really liked the idea of a quick, one skillet dinner. Overall we enjoyed this dish and the fresh ingredients. I also LOVE anything with balsamic in it! I did this in a skillet, but I think it could easily be done in a wok, just as easy, if not faster!
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of Italian salad dressing (I used Wishbone Robust)
3 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey
Small pinch of red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
1 1/2 cups matchstick carrots
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, whisk together salad dressing, vinegar, honey, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and place the chicken in the skillet. Cook chicken about 6-7 minutes turning pieces half way through. Cook until chicken is done and no longer pink inside. Add half of the dressing to the chicken and stir to coat the chicken. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside. Add asparagus, carrots and tomatoes to the same skillet, season with salt and pepper and cook until crisp and tender, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer veggies to a plate and set aside. Add remaining sauce into the skillet and cook for 5 minutes letting it reduce, add the chicken and veggies all back into the skillet and coat with the thickened sauce. Once everything is warmed back through remove from heat and serve warm.
Enjoy!
Some friends and I went for a girl’s lake weekend at our friend Cathy’s house. The “camp” was just over two hours away and we had some great food plans! One of our plans was grilled pizza for dinner. Well, that did not work as we had gone out for breakfast at a fantastic place that you will hear about next week, then we had a late lunch…then …well, after a few hours in the lake and in the sun we had all slowed down and none of us were very hungry. I think we were more water logged!
Speaking of water logged, Cathy’s dog, Putter, who is the sweetest dog ever, kept us busy! He loves the lake and loves to fetch ROCKS in the lake…yes, this dog fetches rocks at the bottom of the lake and brings them up on land and has such a good time with it! The first day we were there he brought out 12 rocks…no joke! 12! Do you see the size of that rock?
Such a silly, sweet pup! He wore us out that day!! Actually, we found out later that poor Putter got swimmers tail! Yes, it is a real thing. As Cathy said, “Putter broke his Rudder”! Poor guy was on medicine and rest for a week!! Not an easy thing for this guy! You will all be happy to know he is well and fine and back in the water!
So as we sat back and pondered about the lack of dinner we wanted, we decided on instead of grilled pizza for dinner… to have grilled pizza breakfast! What a great idea that was, especially since Leanne brought fresh eggs from the chickens that she raises! We all loved it, and when I got home and told Jim about it he was feeling a little jealous and left out. I think he will be having grilled breakfast pizza very soon! This is definitely something you can make for breakfast, lunch or dinner with any combination of meat and veggies!
Note: We cooked and crumbled the sausage in advance. If you don’t like raw onions or veggies go ahead and sauté those as well. That can also be done in advance.
We cooked the farm fresh eggs sunny side up just before finishing the top of the pizza.
INGREDIENTS
Pizza dough
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of “hot” Jimmy Dean sausage, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup of diced Canadian bacon
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 eggs fried, yolks still runny (or you can do an over easy)
Salt
Pepper
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your clean grill to medium heat. Roll out your pizza dough. I made it more of an oblong shape to go on the grill a little easier. Brush both sides of the dough with the olive oil and place the dough directly on the grill. As the bottom of the dough starts to cook the top will bubble up just a little bit. That is the sign the bottom is cooking and almost ready to turn. When the bottom side of the dough is cooked through turn the dough to cook the other side, I let this cook just a couple minutes before adding the toppings. When it is time to add the toppings go ahead and add the cheese first, covering the entire crust. Close the grill lid and let the cheese begin to melt, about a minute or two. Then add your meats, tomatoes and onion. Add your already cooked sunny side up or over easy eggs, to the top of the pizza. Close the grill and continue until the bottom of the crust is finished cooking through. You can also add a little more cheese on the top at this time if you want to, along with some salt and pepper to taste. Remove from grill. Slice so each person has an egg on their pizza and serve warm.
Enjoy!
This is another fabulous Taste of Home Magazine recipe. I modified it slightly by using crispy chicken tenders instead of shredded chicken. Either way works perfectly for a quick and easy dinner! I will say I did like the crunch the crispy tenders gave to the dish. This is an adaptable dish, so make it your way!!!
INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) tube of refrigerated crescent rolls
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken (crispy or rotisserie)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup diced, fully cooked Canadian bacon or diced ham
2 Tablespoons honey mustard
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll crescent dough and separate triangles onto an ungreased 12 inch pizza pan or stone. Arrange the triangles in a circle with the points toward the outside and the wide ends over lapping slightly. Press the over lapping dough together to seal. In a large bowl mix the mayonnaise and the honey mustard together to combine well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until all ingredients are nicely coated with the honey mustard mixture. Spoon the chicken mixture across the wide ends of the triangles and fold pointed ends over the filling to form a ring. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
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