Main Dish
This was crazy easy and crazy delicious! I loved this dish for the ease, but Jim loved this dish for the flavors! I was VERY skeptical when I read the recipe if it was really going to come together with the water and peanut sauce cooking down together. Guess what it did?… and it was a fantastic dinner!
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
8 ounces or half box of thin spaghetti (dry)
4 cups of water
3 scallions diced
2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
1/2 cup chopped peanuts or cashews, optional
PEANUT SAUCE
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup of rice vinegar
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 Tablespoon sriracha
DIRECTIONS
Mix all peanut sauce ingredients together until smooth. Place spaghetti, water and peanut sauce in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water is boiling, turn the heat down to medium and stir every couple of minutes. Continue cooking until the sauce thickens and pasta is cooked, about 15 minutes. Add the chicken and scallions to warm through. Garnish with peanuts and serve warm.
Enjoy!
With all of the hot humid weather we have been having, I did not want to heat the kitchen up so this was the perfect recipe on a hot summer day. I served this with jasmine rice. This recipe is sweet, but still has as much heat as you want to put in with the addition of red pepper flakes. We really enjoyed this dish and will be making this again. We also made this into a wrap the next day!
INGREDIENTS
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup blackberry jam
3 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or to taste
1 Tablespoon corn starch
Rice, cooked as directed
DIRECTIONS
Arrange chicken on the bottom of the slow cooker so they are not over lapping. In a medium bowl whisk together honey, soy sauce, blackberry jam, hoisin, olive oil, garlic, onion and crushed red pepper flakes. Pour mixture over the chicken, cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours until chicken is cooked through. Using tongs remove chicken from slow cooker, reserving the liquids and place on a cutting board. Shred the chicken placing the chicken in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk the corn starch with 3 tablespoons of water to make a slurry.
Transfer the liquid from the slow cooker to a small saucepan. Set over medium high heat and whisk in the slurry.
Bring the sauce to a boil and cook until reduced to your desired thickness. I left my sauce slightly loose so it would cover the rice slightly. Put the chicken back in the slow cooker along with the sauce and mix to coat. Serve warm over rice.
Enjoy!
This recipe comes from www.justataste.com
Pioneer Woman is one of my favorite Food Network personalities. Not only is she down to earth, she and her family also like a little spice in their food as much as we do. This casserole does take a bit of time but it makes a lot and is great to split it and share with a friend or neighbor! Well, unless you are feeding a group of teenagers! In this case we shared. This definitely hits all the notes of a lasagna, but takes it a little further with the spice level, but still not over the top. We all enjoyed this. A simple salad with garlic bread and dinner is done!
INGREDIENTS
12 ounces of pasta, I used a spiral pasta
1 pound hot Italian pork sausage
1 pound lean ground beef
1 large onion diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (28 ounces), diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (14.5 ounce), tomato sauce
1 can (6 ounce) tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
15 ounce, ricotta
1 large egg
4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
3/4 cup grated Parmesan, divided
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley for garnish, optional
DIRECTIONS
Cook the pasta according to package directions, just until al Dante. Drain in colander and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking brown sausage and ground beef in a very large skillet with tall sides over medium to medium high heat. Break up the meat as it cooks. When the meat is almost cooked through, drain and discard the extra fat drippings from the skillet. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste along with oregano, basil, thyme, red pepper flakes, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Let simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Fold in drained noodles and place half of the noodle mixture in a large casserole dish.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk together ricotta and egg until well combined. Stir in two cups of the shredded mozzarella, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, 2 Tablespoons minced parsley. Spread ricotta mixture evenly over the pasta mixture leaving a one inch boarder around the edge, then top ricotta with the remaining noodles mixture.
Cover the hot dish with foil and bake 30 minutes or until the dish starts to bubble a bit. Remove foil and top with remaining mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the top with the Parmesan. Place back in oven and bake another 10-15 minutes uncovered until cheese is melted and bubbling hot. Sprinkle with fresh parsley if desired.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
Recently Jim really wanted to have a lobster bake with our friends. The hard part was we were getting together at their house and did not want to completely disrupt their kitchen and wanted an easy way to boil the seafood…so guess what? We used our TURKEY FRYER! Say what? Yes, that turkey fryer that is sitting in your garage waiting to be used. This will bring new life to that fryer and something NOT deep fried and completely delicious! Dig out those deep fryers you are going to thank me! The best part is you can make as much seafood that will fit in that huge pot! (Adjusting the liquid of course) you will be the hit of the party with this! We have done this twice already and have plans to do it again!
My measurements serve 4-5 people
INGREDIENTS
1 pound small red potatoes
4 ears of corn, cleaned and broken in half
1 pound of kielbasa, sliced into 1 inch rounds
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, deveined with shell on
1 1/2 pounds little neck clams, cleaned and soaked in room temp. water for 20 minutes
6 lobster tails
1 onion, diced
6 beers (we used blue moon)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
3 Tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1 stick of butter, melted and used when serving
Lemon wedges for serving
DIRECTIONS
Connect your deep fryer to the propane tank outside and away from the house. Add the beer, garlic salt and Old Bay seasoning to the bottom of the pot. In the basket of the fryer add the potatoes, onion and kielbasa and bring to a boil. Add corn, clams (removed from water)and lobster and cook five more minutes, add the shrimp and cook an additional five minutes or until the shrimp are pink and cooked through. Using oven mitts as the handle will be very hot, remove the basket from the pot and liquid and pour everything onto a baking sheet or large platter. Serve with melted butter and lemon wedges.
Enjoy!
I made this salad with what I had in my fridge and it was delicious! I had three teenagers that all enjoyed it, so that says something! The fried goat cheese is AMAZING! If you have never tried it, I highly recommend it. Our family likes goat cheese and I use it often but this was really a nice change. Crispy and creamy all in one bite! I also marinated the chicken for a couple of hours, so it’s a good idea to plan ahead a little bit for this.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE DRESSING AND MARINADE
1 cup of blackberries
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of honey
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
FOR THE SALAD
8 ounces of goat cheese, sliced into rounds
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cups Panko bread crumbs
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
4 cups romaine lettuce, shredded
2 cups arugula
2 cups blackberries
1 cup cashew halves
Canola oil, to fry
DIRECTIONS
Mix all of the dressing and marinade ingredients together muddling the blackberries. Marinate the chicken with one cup of the marinade and store in the fridge. Reserve the remaining dressing for later also storing in the fridge.
Pre-heat your grill to medium high heat. Mix the romaine lettuce, arugula, 2 cups of blackberries and cashews in a bowl and set aside. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat with enough canola oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Slice your goat cheese into at least 1/4 inch thick rounds, flour all sides of the goat cheese and dredge in the beaten egg. Lastly coat the round of cheese in Panko Crumbs. Do this for each round setting them on a plate until they are all coated and you are ready to fry. Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade.
Grill the chicken on both sides until cooked through and no longer pink on the inside. While the chicken is grilling add the goat cheese rounds to your heated canola oil and quickly fry both one side of the cheese until golden brown and turn the cheese to the second side until golden brown. Remove from heat and add to your Romaine mix.
When the chicken is done slice and add to the romaine mix. Drizzle with the remaining balsamic dressing.
Enjoy!
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