Broccoli Corn Chowder with Bacon

I'm loving lighter versions that really don't taste light at all.  This is one of those.  And HALLELUJAH!!! I've gotten Ryan to love bacon!  I don't know why he never liked it until recently, but trying it more often, he has really grown to like it and it makes me so happy.  The three years we've been married, I think I have bought bacon just three times.  Now, I believe it could become a staple in our house :)

This seemingly rich chowder, leaves out the cream, but is thickened with the starch from potatoes, flour and milk.  

Broccoli Corn Chowder with Bacon

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cans (14.5 oz each) chicken broth

1 large russet potato, peeled and diced

1 bag of frozen broccoli, or 1 head of broccoli chopped into bite size pieces

2 cups fresh or frozen corn

1/2 teaspoon thyme 

1- 1 1/2 cups of milk

Salt and Pepper

1.  In a 5 quart Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp.  Transfer to a paper towel to soak up any grease.  Increase heat to medium.  Add onion and cook until softened, 6-8 minutes.

2.  Add flour, cook stirring constantly, 30 seconds.  Add broth and potato.  Reduce to simmer and cook until potato is tender about 10 minutes.  

3.   Add broccoli, corn, thyme, and milk; cook until broccoli is tender, 8-10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve topped with bacon and cheddar cheese :)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

Banana Ice Cream

There seems to always be rotting bananas on our counter.  We can never eat them fast enough.  Besides making banana bread, muffins or some sort of smoothie, my coworkers suggested that I try making banana ice cream.  It couldn't be more simpler to make.  

Cut, slice and freeze about 5-6 bananas.  Place bananas in blender and blend until creamy smooth.  This takes some patience because you don't use any liquid but once it is thoroughly mixed, add chocolate chips, and a couple tablespoons of peanut butter.  Blend once more until all the ingredients are combined.  It tastes like ice cream!!!

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Sometimes, I just need a change from the basic red sauce on pasta.  I wanted to make an Alfredo sauce to change it up last week.  Pioneer Woman has some great recipes, and I think she did well on this one.  It is a pretty easy and basic sauce which was perfect to start out trying since I have never attempted making it before.  I did add some garlic to the recipe because I just felt it might be too plain without it.  This is a pretty indulgent meal for me, with all that butter and cheese but you 

cant go wrong with either of 

those things can you? ;)  

Ingredients

1 stick Butter
1 cup Heavy Cream
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Salt and Pepper, to taste
2 cups Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 lb fettuccine noodles
1 lb chicken breasts

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Cook 2 large chicken breasts over stove on medium heat until cooked through.  Shred chicken and transfer back to pan.

In a saucepan or skillet, warm butter and cream. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and crushed garlic.

Drain pasta and immediately pour it into the pan with the chicken.  Sprinkle Parmesan over top.  Toss a couple of times,then pour warm butter/cream mixture over the top.

Toss to combine, thinning with pasta water if necessary.
Serve immediately as a main course or accompaniment to meat or salad.

Delicious!

Classic Sloppy Joes

The Everyday Food cookbooks are my favorite.  There is a picture to go with every recipe.  It kind of sells you on each food and makes you want to make it.  I mean, its kind of like shopping through a cookbook hehehe :)   Make these Sloppy Joes any day of the week and you'll be sure to please anyone!

Serves 4-PREP TIME: 20 Minutes-TOTAL TIME: 40 Minutes

SLOPPY JOES:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped 

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper

1 pound of ground beef

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Hamburger buns

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion, pepper, celery, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add ground beef to the skillet.  Cook breaking up until no longer pink, 6-8 minutes.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce into the beef.  Simmer until sauce is thickened about 6-8 minutes.
4. Season mixture with more salt and pepper and serve on hamburger buns.  

We made homemade french fries to serve on the side.

Just for the two of us, we used 2 large russet potatoes and sliced into wedges.  Toss in olive oil and season with season salt.  Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes or until crispy.  

Power Breakfast

With my early morning shifts, and with Ryan working long hours, going to school full time, and working out, we both sometimes need an energy boost to start the day right.  I didn't make these on one of those busy days we had, but its perfect any day of the week with all the protein and antioxidants in them.  The smoothie is simple and refreshing.  Here's how to make it:

Blueberry Banana Smoothie:

1 cup of plain low fat yogurt

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

1 banana

1 tablespoon honey to sweeten

1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (any will do)

6-7 ice cubes

Blend until creamy and smooth!

Bell Pepper Eggs: 2 Servings

4 eggs

1 green bell pepper

Salt and pepper

Slice of fresh sourdough or whole grain for toasting

The second part of breakfast was eggs in bell pepper slices.

Slice any color bell pepper width wise into about 4 or 5 slices depending on how big the pepper is.  Next, spray a frying pan and turn on medium heat until warmed.  Set each slice of pepper in the pan and crack one egg into each slice.  Salt and pepper each egg and flip when each side is cooked.  Serve with some toast.

Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Peanut Butter Globs

You know that mood you get in where you just need something chocolate?  Yeah, I really needed some chocolate the afternoon I made these.  I had it on my mind all day at work that I would come home and bake something delicious ;)  I stumbled upon these on the foodgawker app and instantly printed the recipe.  I had to collect a few of the ingredients at the store, so once I had everything, I started making the cookies.  

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 

In a double broiler, melt butter, 6 ounces of chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate, stirring until just melted. Remove from the heat and cool for 15 minutes. 

In the bowl of a mixer beat the eggs, espresso powder, and vanilla until combined. Add the sugar, raise the speed to medium-high, and beat for about 2 minutes, until the batter is thick and falls back on itself in a ribbon.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Combine the 1/3 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and fold it into the chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula.

 In another bowl, combine the walnuts, pecans, peanut butter chips, the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate chips, and the tablespoon of flour and fold it into the chocolate mixture. With 2 tablespoons, drop rounded mounds of batter 1 inch apart onto the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes exactly. Cool on the baking sheets. 

Prepare yourself to indulge in these cookies everyday with a nice warm cup of coffee until they are gone ;)  Or freeze half if you have some control ;)  

(It will make 20-24 cookies)

Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread

This week I downloaded the Blogger app to my iPhone and wanted to see what it was like to post from it... Every week, we try and have a pizza night and I wanted a different take on it this week and decided to make Pizza Monkey Bread. Here's how it turned out! Next time, I'm going to try different fillings and have some fun experimenting. Since I have limited patience for typing everything on my phone, here is the link to the recipe:
http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/7195

Grilled Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Ever since I discovered Pinterest, I have been pinning way more recipes than I think I will ever be able to cook.  But that's ok, there are endless options on there and I think every one I've tried, I've liked.  

This serves 6

Ingredients:

4-5 cloves of garlic, finely minced

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 1/2 teaspoons course salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pork tenderloins (about 1 1/4 lbs each)

2 tablespoons canola oil

This recipe gave the option of grilling or cooking in the oven.  Since we don't have an outdoor grill, we chose to cook it in the oven.  

Stir together garlic, balsamic, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a small bowl.  Rub all over pork and marinate overnight if possible.  If now, a few hours before you plan on cooking the meat.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat oil in a large, heavy saute pan over medium high heat. Brown pork all over, about 4  minutes. 

Transfer pan to oven.  Roast pork until the internal temperature is 160 degrees , about 20-25 minutes.  Transfer pork to cutting board and try to let it rest 10 minutes before slicing.    We served ours with a rice pilaf and salad.  Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili

Here's a 30 minute Mexican style chili that's full of beans, chicken and flavor!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
32 oz chicken broth
2 cans of cannellini beans, drained
2 cans of chopped green chiles
1 tsp oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Dash of cayenne pepper
Shredded cheese of any kind, pepper jack or white cheddar works well!

Step 1) In a dutch oven or large stock pot, heat oil over medium high heat until hot.  Add garlic, onion and chicken.  Cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink.  

  

 Step 2)  Stir in remaining ingredients except cheese.  Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer for about 15 minutes to blend flavors stirring occasionally. 

 

Step 3) Serve topped with cheese and cornbread on 

the side :)

Our New Kitchen

I wanted to share our new kitchen with you so each time you read, you can envision where we have created each new meal we make.  Its come a long way from where it was when we purchased our home, but I'm in love with it!  After a coat of paint, scrubbing and cleaning, and adding our special touches, it really feels like our own!

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm back at it again...! Garlic Roasted Chicken

Here I go again!  Its been way over a year since my last post so I thought it was time to give this blogging thing another shot.  In the last year, we've managed to move back to Minnesota, buy a house, and adopt a puppy!  Its been a crazy ride but now that we are settling down, I've had the opportunity to start enjoying cooking again.  There hasn't been anything to exciting on our menu lately but i'm excited to get back into this and share with you some of our latest recipes :)   I have managed to collect a few more cookbooks over the last year and am finally cracking them open to try some new dishes.  Last week we tried Garlic Roasted Chicken. It was fairly simple but so flavorful and great for a quick, after-work meal.  So here's what you need:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper
2 heads of garlic (this seems  is a lot, but this is where the flavor comes from!)
4 sprigs of rosemary
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1.)  Preheat your oven to 425.  Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Season your chicken with salt and pepper and cook until it starts to brown, only about 5 minutes.

2.)  Separate the heads of garlic into cloves, but do NOT peel.  Flip the chicken and brown the other side for a few more minutes.  Add the rosemary and garlic and transfer to a oven safe baking dish.  Roast in oven for about 20 more minutes until cooked through.  

3.) Once the Chicken is baked fully, drain any juices from pan into a small saucepan and add the vinegar and 3 tablespoons of water and simmer until sauce thickens about 2 minutes.  Pour the sauce and garlic over chicken and serve with a fresh french baguette and salad. 

Squeeze the garlic out of its skin and spread it on your bread.  It tastes super yummy, especially when its smothered in butter :)  Enjoy!