Sausage & Pepper Pasta

 SAUSAGE & PEPPER PASTA

1 box pasta

1 jar pasta sauce

1 bell pepper

1 link sausage (I used low-fat kielbasa)

parmesan cheese

Cook & drain pasta

Slice pepper into thin strips

Cut sausage into bite-sized slices

Combine all four ingredients in large skillet until heated thoroughly.

Serve with parmesan cheese

FAILURE!

I love the ingredients in this concoction, but they are much better individually than together.

It wasn't a horrible failure, it just wasn't all that good- and not worth keeping around past dinner last night.

I cooked the pasta, cut the kielbasa & peppers and then combined all 4 ingredients in a large skillet.

I used a whole jar of sauce...it was too much.  

I can't put my finger on it, but it just wasn't that good.

Maybe I'll try some adjustments next time.

Or maybe I'll retire this recipe.

Hiatus

So, I have a feeling my recipes are going to be few & far between in the weeks to come.  We have our house on the market, and in order to keep the kitchen immaculate, we're not doing much cooking at home these days.  

I predict this will only last a few weeks- not because I think our house wil sell that fast, but because eventually we won't be able to afford to eat out all the time.  

Don't worry- I won't be gone for long!

Fruit Pizza

I had the most delicious fruit pizza at the Super Bowl party we attended a few weeks ago.  Our friend Dawn gave me her recipe and this is the second time I've made it since.  It is so yummy and easy to make.  I used strawberries and blueberries, but you could obviously use whichever fruits sound good to you.

FRUIT PIZZA

Pillsbury cookie dough

1 block cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar (I used Splenda)

1/4 tsp. vanilla

fresh fruit 

Roll cookie dough out onto a baking sheet. (I dusted it with flour to make it a little easier, and baked it on a Silpat, so it would be easier to remove from the cookie sheet.)

Bake cookie as directed.

Allow cookie to cool thoroughly.

Mix cream cheese, sugar & vanilla

Spread mixture over top of cookie

Decorate with fruit. (Next time I will probably cut the strawberries into smaller slices.)

Chicken Salad

I enjoy chicken salad, but I rarely eat it.  This is primarily because of my peanut allergy.  I know- there aren't peanuts in chicken salad, but sometimes there are other kinds of nuts and sometimes they are processed near peanuts.  

And I could die.  

Chicken salad just isn't worth it to me.  

For some reason, I always assumed chicken salad was tough to make.  Uh- it's not.

My mom's friend made some for us while I was in SC last week, so I took her lead & made some of my own.  I don't really  have a "recipe"- I just threw 3 ingredients together and voila!  

I made some last night and Stephen & I ate the entire bowl (with spoons...we were out of sandwich bread), so I made more tonight & hopefully it'll stay around so I can have some for lunch tomorrow.

CHICKEN SALAD

1 lb. chicken breasts or cutlets

5 stalks of celery (this all depends on how much celery you want...I love the stuff)

1 heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise

salt & pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil

Place chicken breasts in pot & boil for 20 minutes

Cut chicken into bite size (or smaller) pieces

Cut celery into bite size pieces

Mix chicken & celery in a bowl with a heaping spoonful of mayo (the mayo is to taste- I don't like a ton, so as to keep the chicken salad mixture on the chunky side)

Add salt & pepper to taste

 

Chicken & Chorizo Tostada

It figures that right after I told people about this blog, life would get in the way and I'd be unable to post here.  It's not that I haven't been cooking (although I haven't been cooking a lot).  It's that I've been cooking my "go to" dishes.  I've been cooking the things that require no thinking, no photography, and no writing.  

But I have returned.

There are few foods that my husband actually has on his list of loves.  But, chorizo sausage is one of them.  So, when I found this recipe in Real Simple, I was quick to put it on the list to try.

This was a tasty dish, but is definitely intended to be cooked and served immediately.  Unfortunately, I cooked it & was ready to serve it, but Berkley was not ready for bed yet, so I kept the food in the oven to stay warm, and ended up overcooking it.  The taste didn't really suffer, but it wasn't as pretty and the cheese wasn't as gooey.  

Still, the meal was a success.

CHICKEN & CHORIZO TOSTADA

1 lb. chicken cutlets (I actually used turkey & it was great)

4 Small tortillas

1 lb. Spanish chorizo, thinly sliced (I just bought a link from the butcher, and cut into slices)

2 cups cheddar cheese, grated

EVOO 

salt and pepper

sour cream

fresh cilantro

Season chicken cutlets with salt & pepper

Cook cutlets in olive oil over medium-high heat until golden.

While cutlets are cooking, cook chorizo slices

Cut chicken cutlets into bite-sized pieces

(I crumbled chorizo slices into even smaller pieces after they were cooked.)

Broil 4 small tortillas until crisp.

Top tortillas with chicken, chorizo and cheddar cheese

Broil until cheese melts.

Serve with sour cream and fresh cilantro.