Cajun Chicken Pasta

We love this pasta dish, and it reheats well the next day. 

CLICK HERE TO PRINT 

Ingredients

 3 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Cubes
 3 teaspoons Cajun Spice Mix, More To Taste
1 pound Fettuccine
 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
 1 whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Sliced
1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Seeded And Sliced
1/2 whole Large Red Onion, Sliced
 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
 whole Roma Tomatoes, Diced
 2 cups Chicken Broth
 1/2 cup White Wine
1 cup Heavy Cream
Cayenne Pepper To Taste
 Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
 Salt To Taste
Chopped Fresh Parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun spice over chicken pieces. Toss around to coat.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet over high heat.

Add half the chicken in a single layer; do not stir. Allow chicken to brown on one side, about 1 minute. Flip to the other side and cook an additional minute.

Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a clean plate.

Repeat with remaining chicken. Remove chicken, leaving pan on high heat.

Add remaining olive oil and butter. When heated, add peppers, onions, and garlic. Sprinkle on remaining Cajun spice, and add salt if needed.

Cook over very high heat for 1 minute, stirring gently and trying to get the vegetables as dark/black as possible. Add tomatoes and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Remove all vegetables from the pan.

With the pan over high heat, pour in the wine and chicken broth. Cook on high for 3 to 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze.

Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in cream, stirring/whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium-low heat for a few minutes, until cream starts to thicken the mixture. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, and/or salt to taste. Sauce should be spicy!

Finally, add chicken and vegetables to sauce, making sure to include all the juices that have drained onto the plate. Stir and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until mixture is bubbly and hot.

Add drained fettuccine and toss to combine.

Cake Pops

We love cake pops. What is not to love? Tiny little cakes, with bright colors and pretty sprinkles. What can I say? I am a child at heart :)

PRINT RECIPE HERE

Here is how I make mine:

Bake a box cake according to the package directions. 

Once the cake is cool, tear it up into pieces and put into your standing mixer:

Turn the mixer on and crumble the cake until it resembles course breadcrumbs:

Next you need some frosting:

I use half of the can:

Turn the mixer on again and beat until the mixture turns dough like:

Prepare a cookie sheet covered with freezer paper.

Take the dough and roll into small balls like so:

Line them all onto your prepared sheet:

Next, stick them into the freezer for about 10 minutes:

Next you need lollipop sticks and candy melts.

(I get mine at Walmart in the party aisles where all the cake decorating things are. The lollipop sticks are $1.75 and the cake melts are $2.49)

Take a little bit of the candy melts (about a 1/4 cup) and melt:

Swirl one end of the lollipop stick in the melted candy:

And stick in the center of the balls:

All done.

Stick back into the freezer for about 20 minutes:

After the 20 minutes is up:

Melt the rest of your candy melts

Prepare a Styrofoam

Prepare any sprinkles you will be using

Next I just swirled the cake pop in the candy melts:

And tapped off the access:

(if your candy melts get hard just stick them back into the microwave for a couple seconds)

Then I just dunked them in the sprinkles while they were still wet:

Pretty :)

Poke each stick in your styrofoam to dry standing up:

They dry really quick, then I just moved them into a vase.

I like to eat them cold, so I store them in the fridge.

Enjoy :)

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Pasta Fresca

This is my sons favorite dish, he can smell when I am making it because of the fresca sauce. Noodle Co used to make this pasta, but they stopped :( So I started making it now atleast every other week.

Click here to print the recipe. 

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups pre-cooked penne or rotini pasta
• 1/4 cup cubed roma tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon diced red onions
• 2 dashes kosher salt, and
• cracked pepper
• 1 ounce baby fresh spinach
• 1/4 cup fresh garlic
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup sweet white wine
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Prepare fresca sauce: 1/4 cup balsamic vineger, 1/4 cup of white wine, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 2 tsp salt, 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
2. In a very hot sauté pan, add: extra virgin olive oil, pre-cooked pasta, roma tomatoes, diced red onions, kosher salt & pepper.
3. Sear noodles, stirring occasionally until steaming hot.
4. Add: baby fresh spinach and fresca sauce.
5. Toss to combine, serve with freshly shaved parmesan cheese.

Sugar Cookies

My favorite cookie is the Sugar cookie, its chewy soft and so pretty with the sprinkles.

It is not only my favorite, but my kid's favorite as well, until recently I could not find a good recipe. So I just bought the pillsbury frozen cookies. Well my friend gave me the recipe, and it is everything I have been looking for: soft and chewy.

You won't be disappointed with this one :)

PRINT RECIPE HERE

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 CUP of unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 

Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. 

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in flour mixture until well mixed. 

Drop teaspoonful on a un-greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sprinkles and bake for 9 minutes.

Minestroni Soup

One of my favorite soups is the minestrone soup. This is the perfect recipe. It is very similar to the minestrone soup in Olive Garden, Which I love. (in fact I think mine is better ;) )

PRINT RECIPE HERE

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium minced onion
• 1 cup of chopped zucchini
• 1 cup frozen cut italian green beans
• 3 stalks of chopped celery
• 2 carrots chopped
• 4 cloves minced garlic 
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 can small white beans, drained
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 2 large tomatoes grated
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 cups hot water
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup small shell pasta

Directions:

1. 1 Heat three tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot.
2. 2 Saute onion, celery, garlic, green beans, carrots, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes or until onions begin to turn translucent.
3. 3 Add vegetable broth to pot, plus tomato sauce and grated tomatoes, beans, carrot, hot water, and spices.
4. 4 Bring soup to a boil,  then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
5. 5 Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes or until desired consistency. Taste your soup and adjust salt and pepper if you need to.
6. 
   

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

These chocolate cupcakes are amazing! 

Click HERE to print the recipe. 

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar

1 ¾ cups flour

¾ cup baking cocoa

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup  vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350

2. Prepare cupcake pan with liners

3. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on med speed for 2 min. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin) 

4. Fill cups 2/3 full of batter. 

5. Bake for 22 min

Chocolate frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter

2/3 cup Hersheys cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt butter in microwave, stir in cocoa, alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on med speed. Stir in vanilla extract. Use a pastry bag to pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes.