Light Cajun Chicken Pasta

So I spent the past week with a house full of college boys. Haha I'm trying to think of something to follow that with, but I really can't. I was visiting my best friend at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute, so I got to hear all about flying and being a pilot all week (yes, that is every bit as nerdy as it sounds). Anyways, I wanted to make them dinner one night as a thanks for letting me crash with them, so obviously I had to find something really impressive (but still easy and fast and cheap).  I've made this twice before, and I think it might be my favorite recipe yet.

This entire meal cost about $20, served five people with leftovers, it's tasty, its light, and it's relatively healthy. Plus it impressed the boys, so that was a win.  I found the recipe at Skinny Taste, which is an awesome resource for healthy, delicious recipes (and wayy better pictures than mine).

Skinny Cajun Chicken Pasta

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces uncooked linguine (I used angel hair)
• 1 pound chicken breast strips
• 1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (or to taste)
• Garlic powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced (I don't like mushrooms or tomatoes, so I left them out)
• 1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp light cream cheese
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 scallions, chopped
• salt to taste
• Cooking Spray

Directions:

Prep the vegetables. Season chicken generously with Cajun seasoning, garlic powder and salt. Prepare pasta in salted water according to package directions. (I started cooking the pasta about halfway through sautéing the veggies so everything was done around the same time)

In a small blender make a slurry by combining milk, flour and cream cheese. Set aside.

Heat a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; spray with cooking spray and add half of the chicken. Sauté 5 to 6 minutes or until done, set aside on a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken. Set aside.

Add olive oil to the skillet and reduce to medium; add bell peppers, onions, and garlic to skillet, sauté 3-4 minutes.

Add mushrooms and tomatoes and sauté 3-4 more minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Season with 1/4 tsp salt, garlic powder and fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Reduce heat to medium-low; add chicken broth and pour in slurry stirring about 2 minutes.

Return chicken to skillet; add salt and Cajun seasoning to taste, cook another minute or two until hot, then add pasta; toss well to coat. Top with chopped scallions and enjoy!

Fresh Homemade Guacamole

This guacamole is a summertime staple in my house. It is probably one of the more time consuming recipes I make regularly, but only because of all the chopping, but it is definitely worth it. My family eats a TON of it, and make ourselves feel better by telling ourselves how healthy it is for us, but really it just tastes amazing so we can't help ourselves.

A lot of the recipes I find are through Pinterest or Google, but this is a family specialty. The measurements are going to be guesses because we pretty much eyeball it--this recipe is all about personal preference. Depending on who I'm with I might make it more spicy or more sweet... My advice would be to keep some chips handy and take a few taste tests along the way to see what you should add.

This picture so does not do this dish justice.

Famous Phillips Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 6 avocados
• Lemon and/or Lime juice (I usually squeeze the juice from about half of each. You don't want it to be too watery, but the acidity keeps the avocados fresher longer)
• 3/4 to a full Red onion, diced
• Tomato, diced (usually we have cherry tomatoes and we quarter 6-10, probably adds up to maybe one medium tomato... Maybe a little less)
• 1 Bell pepper (orange or yellow)
• 1 fresh Jalapeño (depending on how spicy you want it, and make sure you chop it up very small)
• 1 Tbsp Cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1 Tbsp Crushed red pepper (or to taste)
• 1-2 cloves minced garlic or a sprinkle of garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mash up the avocados, chop all the vegetables (smaller = more flavors in each bite, bigger = chunky... both are equally delicious, just depends on your time and level of skill), mix everything together in a large mixing bowl, grab some chips and stuff yo' face ;)

Sorry for such complicated instructions.....

Turkey Meatballs

I've mentioned before that my sister is the real chef in the family. She can make a gourmet meal out of the most random ingredients you could think of. I was in Palm Springs with the fam last weekend, and my sister made some great meals.
These turkey meatballs were no exception. Healthy, surprisingly easy, and incredibly delicious. I would definitely recommend giving this recipe a try.




Turkey Meatballs


Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs Ground Turkey


• 1 Egg


• 2 tbsp Chopped Onion


• 1 tbsp Parsley


• 1/2 cup Breadcrumbs


• 1/2 cup Pecorino, Romano, and Parmesan blend (or just Parmesan)


• 1-2 cloves Minced Garlic


• 1 tsp Oregano


• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with tinfoil, and lightly grease with cooking spray (trust me-this will definitely help with clean-up later)
Mix everything together in a medium-large bowl. Separate and roll into balls.
Bake on the tinfoil-covered baking sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with a spoonful of pasta sauce and some cheese and return to oven for about 5 more minutes.
It's a good idea to cut one in half to double check they are thoroughly cooked prior to serving.
They would also be good to freeze and heat up at a later time.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Starting this blog has really gotten me to step outside my comfort zone in the kitchen. I am much more ambitious than I ever was (which is awesome). The craziest part is that every time I take on a recipe that I think will be difficult or fancy, it ends up being super easy--which I think impresses me even more.

Take today's recipe for example. This really good Italian place back home makes this incredible, spicy roasted red pepper sauce that I always mix with Alfredo sauce over raviolis, and I have been craving it big time, so I decided I would try it out on my own. This Roasted Red Pepper Sauce is delicious, and surprisingly simple. It is also vegetarian (told you to keep your eyes out for it Margie), and has just enough of a kick from the cayenne pepper to keep things interesting. I ended up eating it all week with different types of pasta (it went really well with tortellini and with angel hair).
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
adapted from Rachel Cooks

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion ( about 1/2 of an onion)
• 1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, sliced
• one 12 to 13 ounce jar of roasted red peppers, about 1 1/2 cups–drained
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• fresh basil leaves to garnish (I just used the jar I had in my spice cupboard)

Directions:

(While pasta is cooking) Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, reduce to medium and cook until the onions are softened and translucent. Stir occasionally.

Place the cooked onion and garlic, drained red peppers, half-and-half and cayenne in a food processor or blender and purée until smooth.

Drain the pasta, return to pan, pour sauce over. Stir to coat the pasta with sauce. Garnish with basil.

Viola! You are a culinary genius.

Courtney's Pizza Crescents

This semester has been hectic already. I am apologizing again for the lack of updates. I have like half a dozen recipes that I want to post, right now it is just about finding time to get around to writing them.

First and first mostly, I have to congratulate everyone who brought food to the Super bowl party last weekend.  The niners didn't come out on top, BUT I had a full tummy so that dulled the ache considerably.  It was pretty much impossible to decide on a winner because everything was so good, so I might end up posting some consolation recipes for the other people who wow-ed everyone with their culinary skills.

In my opinion, everything was great... But one thing stood out above the rest.  Probably because it was entirely gone in about 60 seconds.  We ended up making another batch the a few nights ago and they disappeared just a quickly.  I think helping Courtney make them the second time around solidified her first place finish in the dish off.  It took about 3 minutes to whip them up, and then only about 15 minutes in the oven.  The most awesome snack recipe I think I've ever seen.

Enjoying her Victory

Congratulations Court on winning the first annual College Girl, College Food Dish Off!

Crescent Pepperoni Rolls
(adapted from: Plain Chicken)

Ingredients:

• 1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
• 40 slices (turkey) pepperoni
• 4 pieces of mozzarella string cheese, cut in half
• Garlic Powder
• Pizza Sauce (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Unroll the crescent rolls and separate into triangles. Place 5 slices of turkey pepperoni on each crescent roll and top pepperoni with string cheese half.  Roll up and sprinkle with garlic powder.

Place rolls on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. The original recipe suggests serving with a side of warm pizza sauce, but we just ate them plain and they were awesome.  To be completely honest, they didn't last long enough to make heating up pizza sauce even worth it.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Its GAME DAY people! I feel like a kid on Christmas morning :)

I'm really excited for some football, but I'm also pumped for the grown-up football party we are having today (we even bought themed paper plates and tables cloths, we're going big) Everyone is pretty hyped for the cooking contest, and I'm pretty hyped to eat all the awesome stuff they are bringing.

In honor of the big game, I decided to take on something that for some reason I thought would be a lot more difficult than it actually was: Red Velvet Cupcakes...

Or as I like to call them... 'Kap-cakes'


The recipe was actually really easy. I ended up just buying a tub of cream cheese frosting to save some hassle, but I'll include the icing recipe in case you are more intrepid than I was.

I had some friends over to help with the 49ers themed decorating and some (Stryker) got a little enthusiastic, so some of the cupcakes ended up mounded with icing, but other than they they turned out pretty good I think :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (or add 1 tbsp lemon juice to 1 cup milk, mixed together and let sit for 1-2 minutes)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (I used about 1.5 little bottles which isn't a full 2 tbsp, but they turned out pretty red)
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. (Haha let's be serious... I didn't sift anything. Or use an electric mixer...)

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish (optional)
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Also:
I learned a new kitchen trick I will be posting about making "edible glitter"

Essentially it's just how to make your own colored sprinkles and it is super easy, just put some sugar in a container with a lid, and drop in a few drops of food coloring. Shake it up until it is combined. I baked it for a few minutes to remove the moisture, but I'm not convinced that it was entirely necessary.