Pesto Sauce

Shayna was able to get me a whole ton of fresh basil for pesto this week. Here is my recipe:

Basil Leaves (2 or 3 cups packed)

Extra Virgin Olive oil

1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

3 large cloves of garlic

kosher salt to taste

Rinse the basil leaves and remove any stems/buds. Put in blender or food processor. Next add olive oil, I usually start with 1/3 cup and then add more (if needed) so that it starts to process/blend. Add in cheese, nuts, garlic, and salt and process until smooth. That's it!

Now, what to do with the pesto sauce?

- toss with pasta: add in some more Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese

- make a sandwich: roasted red pepper, spinach, a slice of fresh mozzarella

- drizzle on eggs (for real, it's good)

- make a cream sauce: add pesto to some butter/heavy cream

- make a red sauce: add pesto to red sauce (maybe use to make lasagna)

- baked pasta and vegis: in a casserole dish toss cooked pasta, pesto, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced summer squash, spinach, (any other vegis you have?) and sprinkle mozz. cheese on top, bake till vegis are tender

- add pesto into homemade meatballs

- use as a topping for burgers

- pesto pizza? yes please!

- pesto combined with butter (maybe a topping for corn on the cob)

- pesto in your tuna melt? why not?

- pesto and clam sauce on linguine

- a spoonful of pesto stirred into homemade (ore store bought) hummus, dip fresh vegis in :)

- pesto cornbread: add three tablespoons into the batter and bake as normal

- pesto as a topping for a baked potato

- rub into chicken before baking

ALSO, pesto freezes great! At the end of last summer I made a whole ton and froze it in an ice cube tray. Once frozen I popped out the little cubes of pesto and stored in a freezer zip lock bag. We had fresh pesto all winter (actually, I think it only lasted till February, this summer I'll freeze more!)

Ranch Chicken

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used Italian seasoned)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I omitted since my breadcrumbs were seasoned)
4 pounds chicken pieces (legs, thighs, whatever you like)
1/2 cup ranch dressing

In a large bowl put the chicken and ranch dressing, toss with your hands to get chicken coated. Let marinate in the refrigerator for about an hour. In a bowl mix together breadcrumbs, cheese, cornmeal, and seasonings. When chicken in finished marinating coat with breadcrumb mixture and put in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

The Verdict? I was hoping for more ranch flavor, there was lots of crunch and the chicken stayed very moist. Jason loved it, he thought you could definitely taste the ranch and it was delicious. I'll make this again!

Maple Carrots

Not too sweet and very delicious!

8-9 Carrots (washed, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch circles)
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer covered for 8-9 minutes and then uncovered for another 4-5 minutes or until juices reduce to a glaze. Enjoy!

50!!!

We just hit 50 posts :) Yay us! Keep 'em coming!

Birds Nest Cookies/Kids in the Kitchen

The kiddos that I'm watching this Summer have been baking and cooking up a storm already and are going to be sharing some of their favorite recipes on their blog- Kids in the Kitchen - including these adorable (and delicious) Birds Nest Cookies that Kaleb chose to make last week. Check it out, follow the blog, and leave comments if you feel so inclined (I'm sure they'll be excited to see their counter going up and new followers throughout the Summer). Cookie recipe coming tomorrow- pics up today! Oh, and you can see their cool new fish pond gadget at the top (move your mouse and feed the fish). Pretty cool, huh? :D

Lasagna

I'm astounded that we haven't posted a lasagna recipe yet, given that it's one of our favorites and something that I've made more times than just about anything else (aside from scrambled eggs and smoothies) in my cooking/baking/kitchen-semi-savvy lifetime. I usually make it pretty much the same way, although once in awhile, I'll switch it up a bit. This time, I put ground meat (beef) into half of it, since I know Kyle grew up with meat lasagna and prefers it, and I like to have the option between the 2 (Note: I would never make the meat lasagna if my sister and her husband- who both keep kosher- came over for dinner. Check out kosher dietary laws here to find out why). So here's the lasagna recipe that I follow- 10 minute prep and no boiling pasta, and I don't think it's lacking in any way:

2 containers (15 oz. each) ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (about 8 oz.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 jars (26 oz. each) pasta sauce (I usually use Prego, which is funny because the recipe that I have in my kitchen is a copy of a Ragu sauce ad I found in a magazine when I was about 12)
12 uncooked lasagna noodles (I usually get the oven-ready kind)
**optional: basil, garlic, oregano, rosemary, parsley, thyme, etc. (I actually have a seasoning blend called Mrs. Dash- Italian Medley- which I love!)

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Combine ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan and eggs
2. In a 13x9" baking dish or pan, spread 1 cup of sauce. Layer 4 uncooked noodles, 1 cup of sauce, and 1/2 of the ricotta mixture.
3. Repeat step 2.
4. Top with 4 uncooked noodles and 2 cups of sauce. Reserve remaining sauce; heat and serve with lasagna.
5. Cover with foil; bake 1 hour. Remove foil; sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake uncovered 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.

We served our recent lasagna with garlic bread (which I'd love to say I made myself, but I actually bought it at Giant- already spread with garlic butter- and it was just perfect). If we'd waited a little longer to serve it, it might not have fallen apart like the piece in the picture, but the good thing about lasagna is it doesn't have to look perfect- it just has to taste good...and somehow, it always does.

Happy layering!

Honey Corn Muffins

I woke up wanting corn muffins last Saturday and upon initial inspection, I had everything I needed for the recipe I found online here. I started mixing everything up and got down the milk when I realized that we didn't actually have any. Since I'd already started and was committed to my muffins, I made a quick Turkey Hill run, and we were good to go- so good, in fact, that after these scrumptious muffins were devoured (by the end of the day Sunday), I decided to make another batch! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
*The 2nd time I made them, I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon into the mix. Yum!

Equipment:
Muffin tin, paper muffin cups, mixer (or a spatula/whisk), mixing bowl (I used my Tupperware Mix N' Stor Pitcher, which is quickly turning into my very favorite TW tool).

Here's What You Do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. (Add cinnamon here if you'd like)

Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Evenly divide the cornbread mixture into the papers. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.

If eating at a later time, warm up in the microwave (or even better, the toaster), top with butter or jelly, and indulge. Happy Summer!

Fruit Kabobs

We made these a few weeks ago when we had friends over and I've been hoarding the pics without sharing their delicious sweetness (sorry for the delay). I was between making cookies and brownies and ran to the store for a few things when I spontaneously nixed both ideas and decided on fruit. Fruit and dip. I didn't want to buy dip though, so I pulled out my trusty (well, most of the time, anyway) iPhone and looked up dip recipes. I decided on one that had:

an 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
a 7 oz. jar of marshmallow fluff

Not the healthiest dip, but keep in mind that we only used a tiny bit per bite of fruit, maybe, and that I still have more sitting in my fridge (although I think it's about ready to go by now)

Anyway, you just blend them up, it gets fluffy and sweet (but not too sweet) and according to Kyle, you can't even taste the cream cheese (which is good, bc he doesn't like it).

It was a hit, and the last-minute bamboo sticks that I grabbed at Giant (i think they were only $.99 and will last us awhile) were fun to load up with all kinds of fruit. We put out apples, strawberries, grapes and mango, all amazingly sweet and fresh :)

Just a nice Summery idea, and there are tons of dip recipes online (including one for a pumpkin spice dip which I think I'll pull up again in the fall...mmm)

Flag Dessert- Happy 4th of July :)

I have a cookbook called Just For Kids which is lots of fun :) There's a great dessert recipe with pound cake, whipped topping, strawberries and blueberries in a flag design and I wanted to make it for the 4th. I loath Cool Whip, so I looked into some other whipped topping options and found that it's pretty easy to make yourself. So I did. And it's delicious. Here's the recipe:


Whipped topping: (from here)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
**Note: I got a quart of heavy whipping cream. It was barely enough and I could've possibly used a bit more.

For the cream, I just blended everything together until it forms stiff peaks (wait, it'll happen) then refrigerated it until I was ready to assemble my dessert.

For the dessert:
1 12 oz. pound cake (although I think I got a 16 oz. family size one, and it was fine)
2 pints fresh strawberries
2 cups fresh blueberries

For the dessert, cut the pound cake into 16 pieces. Spread 8 of them in the bottom of an 8x12 dish/pan, then cover with 1 cup of sliced strawberries and 1 cup of blueberries. Spread half of whipped topping, then 8 more pieces of cake, then the rest of the whipped topping and make your flag design with the remaining berries (slice those strawberries in half). Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Be creative, have fun, and enjoy- it's amazing :) Happy 4th of July!