Creamy Chicken and Rotini Primavera

I just made this great recipe that my cousin showed me. It's easy, cheap, and delicious! My husband is a big fan, so I'm a big fan. The original recipe is found here.

Creamy Chicken & Rotini Primavera

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 pound dry rotini
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast - cubed (I use less)
1 pound frozen vegetable mix - thawed
4 ounces Neufchatel cheese (reduced fat cream cheese)
1/2 cup lite Italian dressing
1/2 cup 2% fat milk

Directions

1. Cook rotini per package directions to desired doneness. Drain well and keep warm.
2. Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken cubes and cook until no longer pink.
3. Combine cream cheese, dressing and milk and whisk until smooth.
4. Add thawed frozen vegetables to chicken along with sauce mixture. Stir well and heat through - about 5 minutes. Serve. 

Tasty Breadsticks

I've been using a really simple, no-rise breadstick recipe since I've gotten married. I liked it because it was easy and quick, and I didn't have to remember to start making it a long time before dinner. Well I tried a new recipe that my sister-in-law loves, and I'm definitely switching over. These breadsticks were AMAZING! And they're quite easy even though they do rise for 45 minutes. The dough was a lot easier to work with, softer without being sticky, and they are so yummy with the topping. Here's the original link.


Breadsticks


Ingredients
Dough:
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/4 t.)
4 1/4 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 T unsalted butter, softened
2 T sugar
1 T fine salt


Topping:
3 T. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of dried oregano

Directions

Make the dough:

Place 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a mixer; sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, butter, sugar, fine salt and 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water; mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 minutes.

Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until very smooth and soft, 3 minutes. Roll into a 2-foot-long log; cut into 16 1 1/2-inch-long pieces. Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7-inch-long breadstick; arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a cloth; let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Make the topping: 

Brush the breadsticks with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt with the garlic powder and oregano. Brush the warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.

Cinnamon Rolls...or white bread

I use it to make cinnamon rolls, bread and cinnamon swirl bread.  It does make a lot (hard to halve with just one egg) but we just freeze the loaves or invite people over. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c powdered milk
4 cups boiling water
1/2 c sugar
2 T salt
1/2 c oil
2 packets yeast
12 cups flour
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
1. Scald dry milk with boiling water, add sugar, salt, oil and let cool.
2. While cooling, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and add 1tsp sugar.
3. Put cooled milk mixture in mixing bowl, add 4 cups flour gradually and mix to develop gluten.
4. Add beaten egg and yeast mixture and blend throughly
5. Add flour 1 cup at a time, beating after each cup.  Knead when dough is too stiff to beat.  (Add flour until dough is the right consistency, not sticky but not too dry. Should be near 12cups flour total in recipe)  Knead 8-10 minutes.
6. Spread dough with light coat of oil and let rise twice. First time: 2 hours.  Second time: 40 minutes
7. For bread, divide into loaf size portions, back about 12 minutes at 400F (204c) degrees until brown and then turn down heat to 350F (176c) and back 25 minutes.

*For cinnamon rolls, after the dough has risen a second time, roll the dough into a rectangle.  Spread entire surface with a generous amount of butter (just softened, not completely melted butter or you'll get soggy rolls).  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon sugar (1/2c sugar to 1T cinnamon).  Roll up, pinch the edge and cut about 1 in slices with string, dental floss or softly with a knife.

Put in pans and let rise again, about 1 hour. I like to put them in the fridge overnight.  When they rise overnight they can be placed in the oven first thin in the morning. Bake at 325F (160c) until lightly golden (about 20 minutes). Frost when warm if desired.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Over the weekend I went to a party and tasted sopapilla cheesecakes. They were fantastic! Like so amazing. You need to try them. Found here. 

Sopapilla Cheesecake

3 cans Pillsbury butter crescent rolls
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter (melted)
Cinnamon & sugar
(this recipe has so many possibilities, you could add raisins or nuts or whatever you want inside with the filling. I think these would even taste good with some syrup and make it like a pancake! be creative!)

Instructions:

Unrolled and spread 1 & 1/2 can crescent rolls on bottom of un-greased pan. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread mixture over crescent rolls. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. 

Cream of Broccoli Soup

My sister-in-law made this soup for us last summer, and we loved it. Yummy! I love it with breadsticks.
Some great tips from my sister-in-law for this soup are: "We LOVE this soup and make it whenever broccoli is on sale. It's easy to half, and the proportions don't have to be exact. Often we do it without celery, and I always saute chopped up broccoli stems with the onions. And red onions are the best for this soup. The cream mixture always takes longer than you think it should, but it usually comes 'round. Here's the original link."

Cream of Broccoli SoupIngredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
8 cups broccoli florets
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1.Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2.Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
3.In small saucepan, over medium-heat melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour and add milk. Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup. Season with pepper and serve.

Heavenly Eggs

I found this breakfast recipe online and tried it. It didn't make as much as I would've liked, but it was really good. It was great because I had some extra marinara sauce in the freezer that I needed to use. It's a good breakfast for dinner that isn't sweet. My husband isn't a fan of sweet dinners. Oh, and I've decided that Parmesan cheese makes everything better.


Heavenly Eggs

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 ounce pancetta, chopped (optional, I didn't use this; I couldn't find it.)
• 2 cups prepared marinara sauce
• 4 large eggs
• 6 large fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces (I just sprinkled dried basil on.)
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 slices whole-wheat country bread, toasted

Preparation

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and pancetta (if using). Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add marinara and adjust heat to maintain a simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl, taking care not to break the yolk. Make a well in the sauce roughly large enough to hold the egg and slip it in so that the yolk and most of the white is contained (some white may spread out). Repeat with the remaining eggs, evenly spacing them around the pan. Sprinkle the sauce with basil; cover and cook until the eggs are the desired doneness, 6 to 8 minutes for medium-set. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with Parmesan and pepper.
3. To serve, top each slice of toasted bread with an egg and sauce. Serve immediately.

One-Ingredient Homemade Ice Cream

I heard about a one-ingredient ice cream from another blogger and was pretty skeptical. I looked it up and decided to try it; it's only one ingredient so I wouldn't be spending lots of time or money on it.
All you do is chop up four very ripe bananas and freeze them. Then blend them up in a blender, and you've got ice cream! It's pretty cool, and we really enjoyed it. We mixed in some Oreo crumbs, and it was delicious. It's an easy, healthy dessert!
Go to the recipe to see pictures and other mix in ideas.