Tortellini Soup

This is a delicious and hearty soup perfect for a cold winter's day, which happens to be just the kind of day we are having today in DC! The recipe is easy, as well, since it calls for prepared tortellini (I used dry pesto tortellini from Trader Joe's--I bet refrigerated cheese or mushroom would be delicious in this recipe). Here is the recipe. I love the swiss chard in the soup! I added a half of a chopped onion which I sauteed with the carrot before adding the broth and other ingredients. I actually omitted the chicken (I just used prepared chicken stock) and thought the soup was totally filling without it. You could easily make this a vegetarian meal by using vegetable stock.

Sweet Potato Wedges

This is another dish I made for Thanksgiving. We always love having sweet potato fries so I thought I would do something along those lines instead of a sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone seemed to love these and they were easy, too! Here is the recipe.

Pear, Cranberry Salad

This is a salad I made for Thanksgiving. It was a hit with all the dinner guests and it is one of my favorite combinations. Here's what you need:

One bag Spring Mix salad
Three very ripe pears, sliced into thin wedges
Candied Pecans or Walnuts
Dried Cranberries (I like using Trader Joe's Orange Flavored dried cranberries)
Goat Cheese
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil

Combine vinegar and olive oil to make dressing. Toss other ingredients in bowl. Drizzle with dressing just before serving.

Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs

Wow--I must have been studying up on my food photography during my blogging hiatus. I wish--I copied the picture from the food network website. I have been neglecting my blog lately but I do have many new recipes to share! For Christmas, my mom gave me an autographed copy of Giada's newest cookbook, New Italian Favorites. An awesome gift! Giada's Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs was the first dish I tried from the book and it was amazing. Keep in mind, it was in the "(Not) Just for Kids" section of the book so I'm sure everything else in the book is even more delicious! You can find the recipe in the book or here, on the Food Network site. I used ground turkey instead of chicken and mini shells because I could not find orecchiette. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. Making and cooing the meatballs is quite a bit time consuming but really, I thought it was totally worth it. It is delicious and different and I love that the chicken broth, tomatoes, pan drippings, Parmesan, and mozzarella end up making this amazing sauce. The recipe makes a ton but really, we could have eaten this for three days in a row and not gotten sick of it (We finished it in two). I loved it, Matt loved it, and Jack loved it. It's a winner!

Penne with Squash and Prawns

When my mom was visiting, she used this recipe to make a delicious meal. It is so different and flavorful. We made a few changes. We mashed the squash right in the pan witn a potato masher instead of pureeing it. We used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock and didn't needed to use milk since we used about two cups of stock. We omitted the basil and it was still delicious. We used penne instead of rigatoni and two pounds of shrimp rather than one. This was a great meal!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Okay, so I know BBQ chicken pizza is nothing new but I thought I'd post this because I was so happy with the change in regular pizza and the ease of prep for this meal. I made crockpot bbq chicken sandwiches earlier in the week (chicken breasts plus a bottle of bbq sauce). A few days later, I rolled out a pizza dough, spread on a small amount of bbq sauce, then topped the pizza with mozarella and the leftover bbq chicken. The pizza was scrumptious!

Sweet Potato Ravioli

I came across this recipe in Cooking Light magazine and thought it sounded delicious. I loved using the wonton wrappers (after much searching and the help of great Wegman's employees, I found these in the produce section). We all loved these as a side dish and Jack and I had them for our lunch the next day. The filling is similar to a sweet potato casserole filling, sweet and fragrant. I didn't make the sage butter but just drizzled a little melted butter on top. Very good and different!

Baked Acorn Squash

I adapted a recipe from this website for an easy and delicious Fall side dish:

Baked Acorn Squash

1 Acorn squash

1 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 T Honey

Preheat oven to 400. Cut the acorn squash in half, lengthwise, from stem to end (It's easier if you zap it in the microwave on half power for a few minutes). Scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff in the center of each half. Score the insides of each half several times with a sharp knife. Place each half in a baking pan, cut side up. Add about a 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the baking pan so that the skins don't burn and the squash doesn't get dried out. Coat the inside of each half with 1/2 a Tbsp of butter. Add a Tbsp of brown sugar to the cavity of each half. Drizzle the honey on each half. Bake in the oven for about one hour, until the squash is very soft and the tops are browned.

Back to the Blog with Chocoalte Cake!

Oh my goodness, I've been the biggest slacker on my blog lately. It's been over a month since I've posted anything. I have made a few new things in the past month so I'm going to get a lot of posts done right now. First up, a fabulous dessert! Thanks to Taryn for this recipe for a chocolate cake. I made it for Matt's birthday and it was delicious and so easy!

Chocolate Cake to "Dah" For:
1 box chocolate cake mix (any kind of chocolate, I used Devil's Food)

3 oz. milk chocolate instant pudding (must be instant pudding)

8 oz. sour cream

9 oz. chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)

1 cup oil

1/2 cup water

3 eggs

Mix cake mix and pudding, then add all other ingredients. Bake @ 350degrees for 60 minutes. (Check @ 50 minutes) Do Not Overcook.

I baked the cake in two 9-inch rounds and put a layer of chocolate whipped cream in between the layers. Then, I frosted the cake with plain, sweetened whipped cream. Delicious! Taryn suggested chopping up your favorite candy bar to add in between the layers and sprinkle on top.

Cocoa Chimichanga

What a delicious, easy, and different dessert. Try this recipe. Adding whipped cream probably ruins the whole "healthy dessert" idea but I couldn't resist.

Chicken with Tomatillo and Cilantro Sauce

Okay, I don't blame you when this picture does not entice you to try this recipe. But, this chicken is actually delicious! If you like cilantro, you will love it! The tomatillo and cilantro make such a fresh, tasty sauce. I cut back the onion to about a quarter and it was still delicious. Try this for a new take on chicken breasts!

Rosa Mexicano

A few Saturdays ago (well, maybe it was about two months ago, time flies!) we drove into DC to walk around and find some place to eat. We ended up in the Gallery Place/Chinatown area. We stumbled upon Rosa Mexicano and decided to try it out. It was great! Matt had the carne asada tacos al asador and the steak was delicious! I had the Budin de Pollo and the dish was excellent. The sauce was fantastic! We ended the meal with the Paraiso de Chocolate which was a very rich, dark chocolate souffle. Very decadent. I recommend it only to those who love dark chocolate. I do so I loved it. And, the sweet tomatillo sauce that accompanied it was very different! We saw that the most popular item on the menu is the guacamole that they make at your table in big black stone dishes. We didn't think we would be able to eat it all ourselves but next time we go we'll definitely try that. We really liked the fancy twist on mexican food at this restaurant. It was excellent! To top it off, Jack was so good and the waitstaff was very friendly to him. What a great evening!

Black Bean Stoup

I love this soup recipe from Rachael Ray. I like to serve it with grilled cheese. Yum!

Cajun Flounder Caeser Salad

This is a quick and easy meal that we always love. Dust fish filets (I have used salmon and flounder but I think this would work with just about any fish and would also be great with shrimp) with Cajun seasoning. Put into oven to broil. Meanwhile, make and dress a Caesar salad (I keep it simple with romaine, tomatoes, bottled dressing, and shredded parm). Divide salad between plates and when fish is cooked, place on top of salad. I like serving this with garlic bread.

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with White Beans

I came across this recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine and was surprised at the short ingredient list and even more surprised that I had all the ingredients (this rarely happens for me with a Martha Stewart recipe). I used boneless, skinless breasts and had a little bit of a hard time making the pocket for the bean mixture, I haven't tried that before. This chicken was delicious! It was so flavorful and different. I used kalamata olives which gave the bean mixture a nice strong flavor. I found the cooking time on the recipe to be a little too long but I did have the rack on the lowest level, so that might have been my problem. This is a really tasty way to dress up a chicken breast. I'll definitely be making this again.

This Week's Menu

Monday 9/22:
* Stuffed Chicken Breasts
* Spinach Salad
* Rice

Tuesday 9/23:
* Mexican Lasagna
* Corn

Wednesday 9/24:
* Cajun Flounder Caeser Salad
* Garlic Bread

Thursday 9/25:
* Stuffed Shells
* Steamed Broccoli
* Garlic Bread

Friday 9/26:
* Black Bean Stoup
* Grilled Cheese

Saturday 9/27:

Sunday 9/28:
* Chicken Enchiladas
* Salad

Caramel Banana Cupcakes

Thank you to Erin for sending me this recipe for this amazing cupcakes. If you like bananas and caramel, you will love these. Oh my goodness, the frosting, I can't even tell you how good it is (probably because it's pretty much pure butter, but really, if you're going to have dessert, you might as well really have dessert!). These cupcakes take a lot of work so if you do make them, be sure to have a good amount of time set aside, and know that you will be washing your mixing bowl a few times throughout the process (I don't think I would have made these without my stand mixer). I made the full batch and came out with 16 cupcakes. For the frosting, I cut the butter to 1 1/2 sticks and still had extra frosting. I also needed to cut the cooking time down by about 5 minutes (probably because I have a hot oven and was using a dark, non-stick pan). After you make these you will probably want to stick a caramel in the middle of all of your cupcakes. I loved biting into them and finding the gooey caramel! Let me know your secret if you're able to restrain yourself from sneaking a few caramels while your making these. I certainly wasn't.

Chicken Stir Fry

My mom suggested this recipe. It is really simple and delicious and a new way to prepare chicken. She used broccolini and sliced red pepper and I tried that combination which was great, especially since we're not the hugest fans of mushrooms. You can really use whatever vegetables you want; It's the sauce that makes the dish good. I recommend doubling the sauce and slicing your chicken very thinly. I served this with chow mien noodles.

Baked Ziti

I adapted the recipe on the back of the pasta box to make this baked ziti which turned out really well. You can cut down the ricotta so you only have to buy a 15-oz container. I really like using a bit more, though.

1 pound ziti, cooked and drained

1 28-0z can marinara sauce (TJ's is the best!)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 T dried basil

1 T dried parsley

1 t oregano

20 oz low-fat ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

1/3 cup shredded parm

Adjust seasonings to taste and combine all ingredients besides 1/2 cup mozarella and the parm in the pasta pot until all fully incorporated. Transfer to greased 9x13 pan. Top with remaining mozarella and parmesan. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes.

Feta Chicken with Zucchini

I normally don't love the recipes from Real Simple but since I had all the ingredients on hand, I tried this one. I used on zucchini and one yellow squash. The lemon is really strong in this dish so don't make it if you don't like lemon. The best part is the warm feta cheese on top. The feta I used had herbs and spices mixed in and that added a lot.