15 minute Creamy Avocado Pasta

I got this recipe from Oh She Glows!  There are awesome step-by-step pictures on her blog post! 

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
1/2 lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish
2-3 garlic cloves, to taste (I used 3 and it was quite garlicky, but if you are not a big fan of garlic use 1 clove)
1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
~1/4 cup Fresh Basil, (probably optional)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta (I used 3oz of spelt and 3 oz of Kamut spaghetti)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. 

Serve noodles plain or I think it would be great with a Grilled Chicken or Shrimp

Makes 2 servings.

Please note: This dish does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce. Please serve immediately.  However, I did have some extra sauce and put it in a container and it did store well for over a day in my fridge without browning (I'm assuming cause of the lemon in it).  So, I do believe if you cooked new noodles and then added the cold sauce to the noodles it would be fine.  

Let me know if anyone tries it!.

Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas

I got this recipe from my friend, Brenda's, cooking blog.  I changed a few minor things.  This was seriously good!  I loved the little kick that it brought with each bite!  Thanks Brenda and enjoy everybody!  


I totally forgot to snap pictures, but you can click over to Brenda's site to see her pictures!  I'll take some next time I make them and add pictures!


*Note:  I like a lot of sauce, so I generally 1 1/2 times the topping recipe.


Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas

2-4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 packet Fiesta Ranch dip (by the Hidden Valley Ranch packets), divided
2-3 tbs butter, melted
1 small can green chilies ( I didn't use the whole thing)
1/2 - 1 onion, finely chopped (to preference)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup Monterrey Jack Cheese, divided
1/2 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 can green enchilada sauce
1/3 cup half and half or heavy whipping cream
8-10 tortillas
sour cream (optional)

Chicken:
Mix melted butter with 1/2-3/4 fiesta ranch dip packet.  Pour over chicken in crock-pot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.  Shred chicken.  Save the extra butter/fiesta ranch mixture.  

Filling: 
In a small pan, saute onion and garlic for 1 minute, until fragrant.  Add green chilies and warm.  Add reserved butter/fiesta ranch mixture you used to cook the chicken in..  It will look a little runny, but turn the stove to medium-high heat and add the shredded chicken.   


Topping:
Mix green enchilada sauce and half and half in same pan used to saute onion to grab the remaining bits of flavor.  


Assembly:
Poor about 1/4 cup of the topping onto the bottom of the greased pan.


Pour a tablespoon of topping into the center of the tortilla.  Add chicken filling, then sprinkle on some cheese and roll up.  Put open side down in the pan to hold the roll.  Repeat.


Pour remaining topping over enchiladas.  Sprinkle with Cheddar and rest of the Monterrey Jack Cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.  To get a slightly crisp and browned top, broil for 3-4 more minutes; watch carefully so it doesn't burn.  

Sour cream topping:
1/4-1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup fiesta ranch packet


Sprinkle sour cream with fiesta ranch packet.  Keep tasting and adding to get it as strong of a flavor as you like. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve on top of enchiladas.

Brazilian Lemonade

My friend, Lisa, made this for us when we had a BBQ a couple weeks ago.  It seems like it would be too sweet but its actually really refreshing. You will not regret trying this!

5 limes
6 cups water
1 c sugar
6 Tbsp sweet and condensed milk


Juice limes and lightly zest skins into juice. (Most recipes have you grind the entire lime but Lisa was told that it made the batch bitter as time went on. With juicing and only using the zest it does not get bitter).

Mix with water and sugar. Right before serving stir in sweet condensed milk. Serve over ice.

Chicken Lasagna

I referenced a couple different recipes and combined the parts I liked to come up with this little version.  I loved it.  I think next time I'm going to try to add a vegetable, probably asparagus.  This wasn't as much work as I thought it would be.  I prepared it in the afternoon and then just popped it in the oven 30 minutes before we wanted to eat!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

8 Lasagna Noodles

1 cup chicken broth
1 can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 cup Colby Jack Cheese (or whatever you have on hand)

8 oz package of cream cheese

1 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayo

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped parsley

3 cups diced, cooked chicken meat (I used rotissiere this time and it worked great)

1 1/2 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs

Directions:

1.  Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling water until done.  Drain.

2.  Mix soup, broth, and poultry season in a saucepan.  Heat through.

3.  Beat together the cheeses, sour cream, and mayo.  Stir in olives, onions, green pepper and parsley.

4.  Place half the noodles in a 9x13 inch pan.  Layer with 1/2 cream cheese/cottage cheese mixture, 1/2 cheese, 1/2 chicken, and 1/2 soup mixture.  Repeat.  Top with bread crumbs.

5.  Bake at 375 dgrees F for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Creamy Pesto Crockpot Chicken

Thank you to my friend, Jaesi, for this little beauty!  


1 pound chicken tenders or breast
1 can cream of chicken or mushroom
1 cup prepared pesto (Im sure you could use a dry mix, but prepared is what I had on hand)
1 can of artichoke hearts drained and quartered (I used Hearts of Palm, cause it's what I had on hand)
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes cut into small bits
1/2 cup milk or cream (more or less to desired sauce thickness)
salt
pepper
garlic powder
a handful of pine nuts

Add to crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours. Serve over pasta and along side a vegetable. 

Enjoy.

Pretzel Jello

This is my MIL's recipe!  It is a great side to any dinner and the adults will be fighting the kids for it!!

Crust:
2 cups crushed pretzels
2/3 cup nuts
3 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup butter

Crush the pretzels to whatever texture you want.  Mix together with nuts (I like walnuts) sugar and butter.

Press onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan and bake for 10 minutes at 350.

Cream Cheese Layer 
8z cream cheese
1 cup sugar
Small Cool whip or make some fresh from whipping cream

Mix the cream cheese and sugar and fold in the cool whip.  Layer on top of crust.

Jello Layer
1 Large or 2 Small jello packs in your choice of flavor
2 cups boiling water

Combine boiling water and jello and mix.  At this time you can add any fruit as well. I like to add Strawberries, Bananas or Raspberries!

Let it cool in the fridge, but don't let it set too much or it won't poor onto the cream cheese layer good.  But, if you poor it too soon then it will sort of melt the cream cheese layer!

Pour onto cream cheese layer and put back in the fridge to allow the Jello layer to finish setting!

Enjoy!

Pizza Dough #2

I got this recipe from my friend, Tawnya.  This is a more traditional pizza dough recipe. So, if you're looking for a more "Italian" pizza dough go with this one!  It was delish!

Makes 4 large pizzas

8 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 cups water
1/8 c oil
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 Tablespoons salt
1/4 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients together and add whatever seasonings you would like.  The recommended seasonings are Oregano, Basil and Garlic.

Divide dough into 4 balls and put in the fridge.  Pull it out 1 hour before you want to shape it and bake it.

Roll out into a pizza, add sauce and toppings.

Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes