Creamy Pesto Pasta

I went to the Farmers Market at Shaw and Blackstone this morning. When I walked in the area I smelt basil. I love the smell of basil and decided that I needed to make something with basil in it tonight. So I made a creamy chicken pesto pasta.

The ingredients I use for my pesto sauce.

Pesto sauce

Creamy pesto pasta


Recipe:

1 bunch basil
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup white wine
chicken or shrimp
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Get your pasta going. You can use penne, fettucine or whatever you like or have on hand.
2. If you are using chicken you can grill it, use precooked chicken or cook it in a skillet with salt and pepper.
3. For the cream sauce. Add 2 tbsp of evoo into a sautee pan and add 2 cloves of garlic and simmer. Add your white wine and reduce for a couple of minutes. Add your heavy cream and simmer. While that is simmering start your pesto sauce.
4. In a food processor or blender, add 1/2 to 3/4 of your basil depending how big the bunch is, add your pine nuts, 2 cloves garlic and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Add a little evoo. Place the lid on and blend, streaming more evoo while blending until it is a nice consistency. I like a little bits of nuts etc.. in it, so I don't blend it all the way.
5. Add 1/2 cup parmesan to your cream sauce, when the parmesan cheese is melted add your diced chicken to warm through. When the pasta is done add the pasta to the cream sauce. At the end, pour your pesto into the pasta and cream sauce and mix with the heat off. Just mix well and serve.

My favorite cookie

These are my favorite. They are soft and moist because of the honey!




Recipe:

1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 cup peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup honey
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix peanut butter, butter and vanilla until creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients until combined then add chocolate chips. I used mini chocolate chips today and I like having little bits of chocolate through out my cookie.

Bake 10 minutes. Take them out when they are barely turning golden brown. They are suppost to be soft. After the 1st batch, I check on them after 9 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for a minute and transfer to a cooking rack.

Super Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Cost: $11.00
Time: 20 minutes prep 20 minutes bake
Feeds: 6 people

Last night I was watching Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network (yes, I watch that channel a lot) and they were making chicken pot pies. I have been in the mood for fall and thought that would be a good fall type meal. What made it interesting was they used puffed pastry for the top of the chicken pot pie, how easy is that!

This is what it looks like after it bakes. Nice and puffy and golden brown.

I put chicken, potatoes, onions, peas, carrots and seasonings in the filling.

As you can see, it was a hit.


Recipe:

1 rotesserie chicken from the store ($4.99 at Costco)
3 potatoes
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
frozen peas and carrots mix (1/2 bag)
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
2 sheets of puff pastry

1. Shred your chicken and put it to the side. Cut up your potatoes (small cubes), onions and garlic and heat a skillet with olive oil. Sautee the onions for a couple of minutes, add the potatoes and garlic. Add salt and pepper. Cook on medium high heat until the potatoes are tender (not soft).

2. Add the chicken to the mix with the peas and carrots and warm through. Add the cream, milk and seasonings and bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Unroll your puff pastry (make sure you thaw it out for atleast 40 minutes). Put an egg in a bowl and add some water to make an egg wash and set aside.

4. Spoon the chicken filling into a 9 X 13 pan. Add some egg wash around the outside of the puff pastry and put that side down on top of the filling. On the top, brush the entire pastry with the egg wash.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. So easy and good!

Project for little missies room

When it cools down a little more, this is the next project I am going to tackle. This dresser had been in the basement forever and the paint is not in good shape. I love this dresser and would love to keep the details but it needs to be sanded and painted again. I may try to duplicate the design since I really like it. This will go into little missies bedroon once completed. If you have any ideas for me, please let me know. I need some creative help and want to make it cute!

The top of the dresser is in the worst shape.

I love the flowers and colors on the dresser.

I would love to duplicate this design.

Chili Verde

Cost: $15.00
Time: 30 min. prep 2 hour cook time
Serves: 6-8 people

Grilling the tomatillos, anaheim chiles, jalapeno peppers and onions until charred.

After blending all of the ingredients, I browned the meat and added the chili verde sauce and simmered for 2 hours.

Served the chili verde on top of spanish rice and melted jack cheese over the top and served with tortillas.


Recipe:

4 pounds pork butt, trimmed and cubed into 1-inch pieces
2 yellow onions
4 anaheim chiles
2 jalapenos
4 cloves garlic
1 pound tomatillos
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup chicken stock plus a little while cooking
2 tbsp ground oregano
2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp salt plus more at the end, taste for seasoning
1 tbsp ground pepper

Grill your onions, chiles and tomatillos until charred on the outside on a grill or under a broiler. Place the anahiem chiles in a Ziploc bad to sweat for 20 minutes. When the chiles are cooled down, skin and seed the chiles and chop them up and place in a blender. Chop up the onions, jalapenos (seed as well) and tomatillos and place in the blender. Add the rest of your ingredients and blend until desired consistency.

Add pork butt to a dutch oven or heavy skillet over high heat until browned on all sides.

Add the chili verde to the pork and simmer for 2 hours. If the sauce is getting too thick, add some more chicken stock while cooking. Taste for seasonings and add if needed.

You can also prep everything the day before. The next day, brown the meat and place it in a slow cooker on low with the chili verde sauce for 7 hours.

This was very good. Have to say I like the carnitas better.

First day of Preschool

Little man's first day of preschool was today and he LOVED it! He got to play outside, which the teachers told me that he would not keep his shoes on. I should have warned them that he does not like to wear shoes. Already something to work on. He learned about the letter "U", colored and got popcorn and a lolipop!

At the house before we left. Can't you tell he is very excited!

In front of his preschool, he was a ham!

Already playing with the tool set.

I pray that he will make great friends and enjoy his time in preschool.

Blackened Salmon

Time: 30-35 minutes
Cost: $18.00
Feeds: 2 adults 2 kids plus leftovers for lunches

I posted this recipe in June, so if you want the recipe, just go back to June. I love this dinner because it packs a lot of flavor with minimal time. It took about 30-35 minutes to make and that was because of the green beans. I like to blanch them and carmelize the onions and saute everything together. I also made fettucine with alfedo sauce. I used the fettucine that only takes 3 minutes and for the sauce I used garlic, a little white wine, heavy cream. parmesan cheese with some of the left over blackening spice from the salmon. Hit it with pepper at the end and tossed together.

This is the salmon once turned. It has a crust on the outside and it is moist and flaky in the inside. I just put salt and pepper on the kids and it picked up enough spice from the other two to give it plenty of flavor with it not being so spicy.

All plated up, salmon, green beans and fettucine alfredo.

The kids enjoying their dinner. Little man loves to destroy what he is eating first. "He is cooking."

I have to say it is a messy dinner.

Back to school clothes

for me. Yes, hubby went out and bought me some new clothes for going back to school. He did a good job. I love this fabric from Eddie Bauer. It is light and soft. He got everything on sale too!

This jacket was regularly $69.99 and he got it for $19.99. I put the shirt underneath to show it off a little better. I thought this would look cute with jeans or black pants. So hard to think about wearing a jacket and pants right now.

He got me 2 pairs of capris and I already had a pair like this and love them. Now I have cacky, grey and tan. All neutral I know, but I can wear them with anything.

The skirt $9.99. Love it!

Thanks hun!

Ebelskiver (Danish filled puffed pancake)

Lately I have been the beneficiary of some cast iron cookware from my moms friend. She gave me a Ebelskiver pan, so I thought I would try it out! I just used Bisquick pancake mix and in the center I added applesauce since I had it on hand. The first batch I threw away. I used butter and the tops of the pancakes stuck to the pan and flipping them was a bit tricky. By the third batch I had the right temp, used Pam and got the flipping thing down. Next batch I am going to use a buttermilk pancake mix with blueberries.

This is the skillet and the batter before flipping.

Finished product. I sat them in warm syrup and dusted them with powdered sugar.

Little missie ate 4 of them! I think she liked them. Little man only had 1, he thought they were donuts at first, so I think he was dissapointed.

The Best Carnitas Ever!

I have been looking for a good carnitas recipe and I hit the jack pot! It takes a lot of prep and has to marinate overnight, but it is worth it! This is better than any restaurant carnitas we have had in Fresno.

This is how it looks before sticking it in the frig to marinate overnight. The secret ingredient is Pepsi.

You have to have a heavy skillet or dutch oven. You need to heat the oil until it is smoking and brown the meat on all sides before adding the marinade.

You simmer it for 2 hours adding Pepsi to keep the pork covered. I used a 20 oz bottle.

Dinner is served. I served it with tortillas, sour cream, tomatillo salsa, cilantro and green onion mixture, cheese and rice. For the rice I added about 3/4 cup of the marinade to 1 cup of rice and 1 1/4 cup of chicken broth. Complimented the carnitas.

The Best Ever Carnitas Recipe #111230
This is an adopted recipe from Mean Chef. This looks really great to me and can't wait to try it, as I really enjoy Carnitas. Mean Chef word's are: The special ingredient is Pepsi and this is fabulous. you can use carnitas in tortillas, serve like BBQ pork or great at a picinic on rolls. Recipe from Rio Bravo
by Sheri-BDB
2½ hours | 30 min prep

SERVES 6 -8
3 lbs pork butt or pork shoulder
1 orange, quartered
1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup Pepsi, plus
more Pepsi, as needed
3/4 cup oil or shortening
Fuego spice mix yields 1 cup use 1T
1/4 cup paprika
2 teaspoons cayenne
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons white pepper
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic granules
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons oregano
Agua Negra Marinade yields 3 1/4 cups use 1 cup
1 cup soy sauce
2 cups pineapple juice
2 tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1.Fuego spice mix (recipe# 66927): Combine all ingredients, mixing well.
2.Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
3.Agua Negra Marinade (recipe# 66927): combine all ingredients with a whisk.
4.Stores in the refrigerator for 2 days.
5.Carnitas: Trim away excess fat from pork and cut into 3 inch cubes.
6.Dust meat with Fuego spice mix and press to adhere well.
7.Squeeze juice from oranges into an airtight nonreactive container, add peels, garlic,pepper, pepsi and Aqua Negra marinade- mix to combine well.
8.Add seasoned meat and refrigerate overnight.
9.Remove meat from the marinade (reserve marinade) the next day when you are ready to cook.
10.Heat oil/shortening in a large heavy skillet over high heat until fat is smoking; add pork and brown completely on all sides- about 15 minutes.
11.Add reserved marinade and simmer for about 2 hours or until pork is tender and dark brown- add additional Pepsi as needed while cooking to keep meat covered.
12.Remove meat and chop into 3/4 inch pieces.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Tomatillo Salsa

Easy tomatillo salsa:
1/2 cup cilantro
8 tomatillos
2 jalapenos
1/2 yellow onion
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sugar
1 lime juiced
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Finished product: Tangy with a little heat

The ingredients, just put in the blender and blend.

Roast the tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic under a boiler for 7 minutes until they look like they are in the picture. Cut in half or quarters depending on the size and add to the blender.

Taste and adjust seasonings. Best if made 3 hours before hand.

Side note: This is the best cookie sheet ever for broiling. It is probably 40 years old and is well seasoned! Whatever I put on it becomes golden brown on the bottom. That is why it looks the way it does. LOL!

Planting a garden

Little man has been asking me if we can plant a garden, so today we went to Gazebo gardens to get what we need. We got soil to mix into our dirt to fertilize the soil and herbs and seeds. He helped me by digging 12" into the ground turning the soil and getting all the roots out of the ground. We came home and added the soil and turned it into the dirt. About 2 weeks ago we had added mulch to the soil too. We can't plant the carrot and butternut squash seeds until next month when it cools down a bit. We did plant the herbs today, basil, thyme and rosemary.

Herb garden


This is where we are going to plant the carrots and squash.

I'll post pictures once the veggies are in. And if the herbs grow well, I will plant more. Maybe chives and cilantro since I use them so much. It has to be cooler though.

Many First

As I sit here and reflect the time we have spent together as a family I am very grateful for being able to spend the last 9 weeks together as a family. There were many firsts this summer. Little man got to go to VBS and is still listening to the music and singing along and little missie knows some of the words too! Little man learned how to pray himself and thanks God for growing him and for all the good stuff to eat like popsicles!

Little missie is talking more and more every day and enjoys being around her big brother learning from him. She may be more challenging but she can light up a room with her smile!

We got to take 3 beach trips this summer! We love the Central Coast and love taking the kids. We have established many traditions and hope the kids will remember the happy times they spent as a family at the beach. Little missie knows where she is when we get there and asks to see the animals at the "Hay Farm" and ice cream!

Little man starts pre-school in 2 weeks and is so excited about that. I can't believe it! You can see it in his eyes how eager he is to learn. I love watching him grow and saddened at the same time because my little boy is growing up. I cherish the time I have spent at home with him. I am happy to have some time with little missie, just me and her having fun and sharing girl time while brother is away at school.

I can't believe how fast these 9 weeks have gone! Hubby is going back to work on Wednesday, so back into the routine of things. I start school on Monday nights in two weeks too. I will miss the summer we had this year!

Morro Bay

We went to Morrow Bay for 6 days and stayed at a house. We left one day late since little missie had the flu. The first day we just stayed in and watched the Incredibles and took it easy. Little man enjoyed playing in the backyard and with new toys. The next day my parents came with my nephew. The boys went to the beach and I hung out with my mom while little missie slept. Poor little thing did not feel herself all week. It was tiring at times for me.

We had fun anyways. Played at every park we came across. Went to the park in Morro Bay 3 times. Little man went to the beach everyday since it was walking distance from the house. Little missie only went twice. She liked the parks the best this year.

My parents with the kids at the Natural History Museaum

The kids eating hot dogs at Dinosaur Park in Shell Beach. This is little mans favorite park. They had a Farmers Market and bounce house that day. Lots of fun.

Little man driving his sister. Scary to think that this will happen!

Little man having fun in the dirt, now off to the beach!

Sickies

Well, little missie got the flu yesterday and yes we were supposed to be leaving today. Our friends canceled on us because they do not want to be around the kids so that is a bummer. We wanted to meet them there tomorrow since little missie temp is down and she has not thrown up since last night. What are you going to do? Of course the kids have been healthy all summer and she gets sick right before a trip!

Right now she is napping and we will see how she is feeling when she wakes up to see when we are going to go. Little man was crying since he knew we were leaving today and he is so excited to go. Now I am just spraying everything down with Lysol and hoping that no one else gets sick. Bring on the Airborn!