Penne with Shrimp

We made this dish for New Years, and it was the perfect dish to celebrate the New Year. This dish was easy to make and so good. We couldn't stop giggling while we were eating it because it was just that yummy! You may see whipping cream and think this is a heavy sauce, but don't be fooled it is light and so flavorful!

Ingredients

• 1 pound penne pasta
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, and deveined
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
• 1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the shrimp turn pink and is cooked through, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the shrimp and set aside.

Add the tomatoes, 1/4 cup basil, 1/4 cup parsley, and the red pepper flakes. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine, chicken stock, and heavy cream. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, the cooked shrimp, the cooked pasta, and the remaining herbs. Toss together until all ingredients are coated. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve immediately.

Chicken in a basket

I saw this recipe this summer and knew I wanted to try it. Well this morning I finally did. This dish was wonderful and would be perfect to make for house guests because it looks gourmet but is soo easy.

Ingredients

• 3-4 cups of shredded hashbrowns
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter melted
• salt and pepper
• cooking spray
• 6 slices of prosciutto
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup shredded provolone

Directions

1. Special equipment: Jumbo sized muffin tin
2. Mix defrosted potatoes with melted butter and salt/pepper.
3. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Press the potatoes evenly into the bottom and sides of the muffin tin, making sure it covers the whole inside of the muffin tin.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until hash browns are crispy.
5. Meanwhile mix proscuitto with maple syrup in a bowl and lay on a cookie sheet, set aside.
6. Remove potatoes from oven and crack an egg into each cup. Cook for another 6-8 minutes until egg whites set and yolks remain runny.
7. Remove from oven and put oven to broil. Sprinkle cheese on top of egg. Put both cookie sheets under broiler and cook until cheese is melted and proscuitto is crispy, about 1 minute.
8. Top eggs with crispy proscuitto and serve immediately.

High on Yum, low on calories: Cheddar Chicken Chowder

This recipe is one of my favorites and a special recipe to me. I know it sounds weird that a recipe can be special, but it is probably one of the first recipes to inspire me to cook. You see, my first year out of college I worked at a brokerage firm with all men, weirdly enough, all of these men LOVED to cook. My boss would actually bring me his old Cooking Light magazines and this was a recipe that I saw and knew I had to try. Ever since then I have loved the magazine and cooking. I have made this recipe numerous times throughout the year and is perfect for a cold fall or winter day. It was also great to find a chowder recipe that was healthy since we all know that the were chowder usually equates to unhealthly. I hope you try this recipe this fall and enjoy it as much as I do!

Ingredients

• 2 bacon slices
• Cooking spray
• 1 lb boneless chicken breast cubbed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper (or whatever color you prefer)
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 4 1/2 cups chicken broth (the 32 oz boxes only have 4 cups so I usually use 1/2 cup water)
• 1 3/4 cups diced red potatoes
• 2 1/4 cups frozen corn
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups milk ( I use 1% even though it asks for 2 %)
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Cook bacon in a dutch oven coated with cooking spray until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, crumble and set aside. Add chicken, onion, bell pepper, and garlic to bacon fat in pan, saute 5 minutes. Add broth and potatoes, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add corn, stir well.
2. Place flour in a bowl. Gradually add milk, stirring with a wisk until blended, add to soup. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Stir in cheese, salt and pepper. Stir in crumbled bacon. Enjoy!

(306 calories for a 1 1/2 cup serving)

Slow-Roasted Tomato Marinara...perfect to make on a rainy day inside.

This year was a disappointment for tomatoes. I did better than most people but it still wasn't a great year. I didn't get enough this year to can but still had enough to make some sauce with. I saw this recipe in my November issue of Cooking Light and knew I had to try it. You have to make it on a day you are not leaving the house since you roast the tomatoes for 7 hours but boy is it worth it. What flavor and such a beautiful color the sauce has after roasting the tomatoes all day. Other than the long hours the tomatoes roast this recipe is pretty much hands off and easy to make. Give it a try and you will not be disappointed, I promise!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 lbs plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise (you can really use whatever tomatoes you want)
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup water
• 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup dry red wine
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, tossing gently to coat. Arrange tomato halves, cut sides up, on a jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake tomatoes at 250 degrees for 7 hours. Remove pan from oven. Add 1/3 cup water to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Place tomato mixture in a food processor or blender. Blend and keep warm.
3. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and next 3 ingredients (through garlic); saute 5 minutes or until tender. Add wine; cook 3 minutes or until liquid nearly evaporates. Stir in tomato mixture and 2/3 cup water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in salt and pepper.
4. Serve with your favorite pasta!

Acorn Squash: A yummy and cheap fall side dish!

We made this special meal a couple of saturdays ago, Brian happened to have a rib-eye steak from this summer he wanted to eat so I went to the store and treated myself to my favorite steak the oh so yummy filet! This post is not about steak though, I'm the last person who would want to tell you how to cook that. Someday I will branch out and try to cook it but it still scares me. Who wants to spend a pretty penny on a good cut of steak only to ruin it...not this girl.

This post focuses on one of the sides, the simple acorn squash. I was at the store and noticed a big bin of them and they were some so cheap! Like 30 cents! So I knew how much my mom loves them so thought I would give it a try. I'm glad I did, it was delicious and very simple. I already have a fall rice dish from a new cooking magazine that I want to try with chunks of squash in it. So if you haven't tried squash before, branch out this fall and give this recipe a try!

Ingredients

• 1 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place halves of acorn in a shallow pan, flesh side up. Put a little water in the pan. Put 1/2 tablespoon of butter in each half and one tablespoon of brown sugar in each.
3. Bake about 45 minutes until fork tender and the brown sugar/butter has started to caramelize.

Brown sugar and mustard glazed salmon

What better gift can someone give a foodie than freshly caught salmon? I was so lucky to receive an awesome slab of salmon from a co-worker last week! I haven't ate such a delicious fish in quite a while! I was spoiled in college to have a bunch of Alaskan fishermen as friends so I took for granted the quality that comes from an ocean caught fish. This was the perfect meal to end a week!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 4 (6 ounce) boneless salmon fillets
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven's broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from broiler. Spray broiler pan with cooking spray. (If you don't have a broiler pan, just line a cookie sheet with foil and then spray).
2. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Whisk brown sugar and dijon together in a small bowl. Spoon mixture evenly on fillets.
3. Cook under pre-heated broiler until the fish flakes easy with a fork, 10-15 minutes!

Birthday Chicken Quesadilla

For his birthday I will make Brian whatever he desires for dinner. This is the second year he has chosen his favorite meal, a simple chicken quesadilla. Easy enough for me, he even requested it to be rotisserie chicken from Costco, so that made it one step even easier! This is a simple refried bean, chicken and pepper jack quesadilla. The fun thing about quesadilla is you can really chose whatever ingredients you love and it would turn out great. That would be a fun Mexican themed dinner party, have a build your own quesadilla bar and have a whole bunch of fillings for your dinner guests to chose from!

I did make homemade guacamole and salsa to make this dinner a little more special=).

Salsa- diced fresh tomatoes, diced onion, juice of one lime, a couple cloves of pressed garlic, handful of cilantro chopped. Let sit in fridge for a bit before eating.

Guacamole- 1-2 ripe avocados mashed, juice of one lime, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onion, 1/2 tomato diced, a couple dashes of garlic salt and a handful of chopped cilantro. (I also make it without the onion and turns out great too).