Guest blogger: Becki D!

I suck.
There, I said it. I’ve been a horrendous blogger. No real reason other than being exhausted and kind of burned out on the computer as a whole. No lie. Where I once used to come home from work and spend the night religiously on the computer blogging, reading other’s blogs, I now avoid the computer entirely.
It’s crazy. I know.

But I promise I’m going to try harder.
Because in all honesty, I’ve missed you guys.

And even though I’m blogging right now, this is still a tad bit of a lie. Because Becki D. from becki bakes is taking over after this point to guest blog for me.

So thanks guys. Thanks for sticking with me and my sheer laziness. And now, I’m turning the mic over to Becki and her insanely delicious Chicken Alfredo and Dip’Um Recipe.

***************************************************************************************

Elastic Waistband Club: Man-Pleasin’ Meal

Let’s be real – this meal is definitely woman-pleasin’, but it makes me feel better if I can blame the consumption of this creamy, buttery, carb-loaded goodness on the Hubs. 

So.

Dave’s absolute favorite home-cooked meal: Chicken Alfredo and Dip’Um (Lauren’s name for spicy oil and vinegar bread dip).

Chicken Alfredo with Artichoke Hearts
Ingredients:
-1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
-1 box mini bowtie pasta (or pasta of your choice)
-1 can artichoke hearts, drained (optional, but they are totally awesome)
-1 stick butter
-1 cup heavy cream
-1 1/2 cups fresh grated parmesan cheese
-3 tbsp olive oil
-2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:
-Pour olive oil and minced garlic in large saucepan over medium heat. Saute diced chicken until thoroughly cooked.
-Bring saucepan of water to boil while cooking chicken.
-Add artichoke hearts and butter, continue stirring until it is completely melted.
-Add pasta to your boiling water and cook as directed on package
-Add cream and parmesan to chicken, stirring until everything is completely incorporated and sauce has slightly thickened.
-Drain pasta and pour into large serving bowl, pour chicken mixture over top and mix thoroughly.

Dip’Um
Ingredients:
-1 cup extra virgin olive oil
-2/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 1/2 tbsp dried basil
-1 tbsp dried oregano
-1 tsp dried thyme
-1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
-1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Can be made up to 1 day in advance – the further ahead you make it, the better the ingredients meld. Though we often make it right before dinner, and it’s good that way too!

Serve with warm, crusty Italian bread.

Thanks so much to Becki D. for sharing this butter filled pasta goodness!

Lazy recipe

I don’t know about you, but I’m always wishing for more hours in the day.  You get up, go to work, spend far too much time on a commute, get home, attempt to unwind, walk the dogs, cook dinner, goof around on the computer, go to bed.

Either I’ve got too much on my plate or I’m completely inept at time management. So most nights all I want to do is snap my fingers and have dinner magically appear on the table.  Unfortunately, I’ve yet to conjure up that fairy.  So I make my fallback dish.

Pasta.

In some form or another, we eat a lot of pasta in my house. It’s cheap. It’s easy. And it’s incredibly hard to screw up.

This may also be the reason why I gain weight.  Ah, at least I’m happy.

So for this one, you need 5 ingredients:
farfalle (bow tie) pasta
pesto
chicken
olive oil
sundried tomatoes
(salt and pepper)

directions:
heat oil over medium heat.
dice chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook in oil until browned.
meanwhile, boil pasta until al dente. drain.
once chicken is cooked through, add pasta, sundried tomatoes, and pesto.
toss together to coat well.

Optional extras:
crushed red pepper
minced garlic

And now you can go have that glass of wine you want while you unwind instead of wasting anymore time slaving over a hot stove.

C&O Trattoria, Venice

I give up. I’ve been fighting the back to reality, reality since Sunday night. As Ali from three baking sheets to the wind put it, “keep the daydreamy vacation bubble floating”…and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Because, to quote Ben Stiller, reality bites.

So I’m going with it…I’m reliving my mini-vacation through this here blog…photos, foods, and all.

Our second to last night out West we went to C&O Trattoria over in Venice. It’s just one of those places that makes you happy to be there. The atmosphere, the food, the environment make the restaurant what it is.
Well, that and the garlic knots.

The plate, after plate, after plate…of garlic knots. No, seriously. It’s like they keep an endless supply of “butter balls” in the kitchen. It’s just not right.

And the rigatoni al forno, which I attempted to recreate tonight (attempted being the operative word)…

And the sausage penne in cream sauce…

Can I just stay in this vacation bubble forever?

It’s much prettier here.
Promise I’ll write and tell you all about it.

Prosciutto Ravioli

These days, the food I’ve been making (for blogging purposes, of course) really has increased my need for elastic waistband pants. No, really.

So my grocery list today included things like plums, squash, water, strawberries, and Lean Cuisines.

I got home, drank a liter of water and felt better about things. Even took the dogs for a walk.

Then I decided to make dinner.
And what do I make?
Pasta. Carb filled pasta.

Will and power are two words NOT in my vocabulary.
Clearly.

It’s obvious that pasta is my kryptonite. If it’s the same for you, then I hope you’ll make this dish. Because even though I felt guilty about eating pasta….filled with prosciutto, spinach and ricotta…this dish was simple and delicious.

And just remember, the diet can always start tomorrow.

That’s what I keep telling myself.

Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurenttis – Prosciutto Ravioli.

Chicken Florentine

Clearly I’m a healthy girl. I made yet another pasta dish for dinner the other night. And the best part is that this recipe didn’t even call for pasta, I just felt inclined to serve the dish that way.

See, that’s me…the poster child of good health. And a growing waistline.

(I’m thinking it’s time to actually start working out. That is, if I’m going to continue to eat creamy sauces, fried desserts, and pasta. Hmm, there’s a novel idea.)

So enough self-loathing for the moment. How about another recipe!

I found this recipe for Chicken Florentine over on allrecipes.com. If you haven’t checked it out, do.  It’s pretty user friendly. Or you can just keep coming here and I’ll do the legwork for you.

Chicken Florentine (casserole)

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup butter (I used less just so I wouldn’t feel like a total pig)
3 teaspoons minced garlic (again, your call depending on your love/or hate of garlic)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (low sodium)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed
fresh mushrooms (your call here)
bacon bits (yes, I used pre-packaged bacon bits. don’t judge.)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the chicken breast halves on a baking sheet; bake 20 to 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat, and set aside. (Or…you could saute your chicken in some olive oil over medium heat until cooked through.)
Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasonings, half-and-half, and parmesan.
Then spread the spinach over the bottom of a 9×9 inch baking dish. (Make sure you’ve squeezed out all the water beforehand.)
Add the mushrooms on top of the spinach.
Pour half the cheese mixture over the mushrooms.
Top with the chicken and then pour remaining sauce mixture on top.
Sprinkle with bacon bits and top it all off with mozzarella.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is lightly browned.

And if you’re like me, you’ll want to serve it over a bed of pasta.

{take you…} on a cruise

My parents just returned from what might be one of their best vacations ever. The ‘rents took a cruise around the Mediterranean and saw some insanely amazing destinations…
Rome (my personal favorite), Turkey, Athens, Cinque Terre…you name it, these kids experienced it.

But…because they were on a cruise, this particular vacation was all about the food.
The copious amounts of food.

The tarts, the danishes, the pasta, the omelets, the lamb, the tuna, the sorbets…
Food was king on this cruise. As I’m fairly certain it is on all cruises.

So knowing this, why have I never been on one?

Clearly, this would be my mecca, right?

{thanks to mom and dad for taking tons of pictures so that i could blog about it. you guys are the best!}

Baked Chicken Parmesan

No story to go along with this one kids…

Just a good old fashioned recipe….that I stole borrowed from happylifehappywife.

To be fair though, her version is slightly healthier.  (Click on the link above for the original.)

Otherwise, stick with me and then we can all jump on treadmills when we’re done.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

You’ll need:
boneless chicken breasts
one egg slightly beaten (w/ a splash of milk)
italian bread crumbs
olive oil (to coat the pan)
marinara
mozarella, shredded or slices
grated parmesan

To make:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Season the chicken with a little salt and pepper. Dip the chicken in the egg wash then coat in the bread crumbs. You want these bad boys covered.
Meanwhile, coat the bottom of a baking dish with enough marinara to cover.  Then heat your saute pan with the olive oil.
Brown both sides of the chicken until golden brown.
Remove chicken to baking dish, top with more sauce.
Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.
Top with mozarella, then bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted.
Garnish with parmesan.
Serve over spaghetti.
…have a seat and enjoy.

Stumble It!

Z’s Baked Ziti {your recipes}

On our first night in the suburbs, our dear friends, Mark and Emi, invited us over for dinner.  Mark had spent the afternoon making Baked Ziti, one of my all-time favorite dishes.

Because I love Mark and Emi … and because I love me some Baked Ziti, I asked him if I could include his recipe as part of my Your Recipes series. He kindly obliged.
Now without further adieu, here is Z’s Ziti. { Did I forget to mention that we’re calling it Z’s Ziti? Because we are. So make sure for all future reference this ziti will be forever known as Z’s Ziti. Oh just go with it people. }

Ingredients:

1 box ziti
1 jar Newman’s Own Sockarooni
1 jar 5 cheese (Alfredo) sauce
1, 8 0z pkg shredded mozarella
1, 8oz pkg ricotta
1 box frozen chopped spinach
1 lb ground sirloin, chuck, beef (whatever you can easily find at the store)
2 red peppers, diced
1 sweet onion, diced
ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Defrost the spinach
Sautee the onion and red peppers in butter or olive oil and season to taste.
Brown the sirloin in a larger pan and also season to taste
Once the meat in browned, mix in the peppers and onions
Use 3/4 jar of each sauce and mix it in with the meat/peppers/onions and bring to boil. Mix often
Simmer that mixture for 20 minutes and still mix often

While that is simmering, boil 3/4 package of the ziti. When finished, drain

In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, some ground pepper, 3/4 package of the spinach, and 1/2 package of the mozzarella cheese

When the mixture is done simmering, use a very large bowl and mix the ziti with the meat sauce

In a baking pan, use 1/2 of the meat/pasta mixture and spread it across the bottom of the pan
Use all of the ricotta cheese mixture and spread it over the meat/pasta mixture
Use the remaining meat/pasta mixture and spread it over the ricotta cheese mixture
Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on top

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

And as always, have a seat and enjoy.

A food recap

It’s a good thing I’m not on a diet because this weekend would have brought me to my knees. Friends, it got ugly. Really, really ugly. Let’s recap, shall we?

Friday, as you may remember, I ate nachos.  But that wasn’t enough apparently, because I followed up the nachos by making these.  I’ll tell you all about those later though.  And the husband and I rounded out the day with dinner at a local deli and pub.

Saturday makes Friday look tame by comparison. Kids, this one’s a doozy. 

We started off the day at Chick-Fil-A

Then I lunched with some friends at a wedding shower. For dinner, Ash and I went back out to eat.  This time it was pizza. Oh and did I mention the cherry on top?  Yeah, the cherry on top of the Chick-Fil-A milkshake I had for dessert.

This morning, ugh, this morning we polished off cinnamon raisin biscuits and scrambled eggs.  Lunch was nothing but Friday night’s dinner reheated.  Dinner will be spaghetti and meatballs.

That’s right kids.  I’m a foodaholic. It’s nice to meet you.

So now, now I’m going to jog in place for the next 45 minutes.  Then I’m going to follow that up with 100 sit-ups.  Then 100 push-ups.I don’t know about you guys, but I’m thinking it’s time I started to eat some of these…

and these…

and maybe even some of these…

Who’s up for me posting the occasional healthy recipe?

All in favor, say aye.

A dinner challenge

It used to be that I was the queen of the weekly dinner menu. Every Sunday I’d cozy up to my cookbooks, put pen to paper, and plan out a week’s worth of meals.

That’s what I used to do.

Now I’ve become what I hate most… the procastinating cook.

So tonight, after getting home at 630p from work, walking the dogs, and settling in, I realized I still hadn’t planned dinner.

The dinner challenge had been set.

I opened the pantry, the freezer, and the fridge.
I had a can of cream of mushroom soup.
No Yoke noodles (ha! I just got that! Get it? No Joke? No Yoke? Okay, never mind.)
Chicken breasts
Shredded colby jack cheese.

And before I knew it, dinner was served.

To make you’ll need:
two chicken breasts, cooked
1/2 cup shredded colby jack cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup no yoke noodles

Boil noodles until cooked through. Meanwhile, mix cheese and soup together.
Place cooked noodles in a small casserole dish, top with chicken. Pour soup/cheese mix on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Have a seat and enjoy.