FYI

Suddenly Pasta Salad is divine! If you're short on time and cash this salad is everything you need it to be! Just add mayo or water and it's done! You can fancy them up with some chicken, tomato, olives or zuki too. Give it a try!

(I can't take credit for this picture, but you get the idea. Thanks Google image search!)

Creamy Chicken Pasta

I can't take the credit for this one either, but my friend Kim made this for Bunco and it was divine! Try it. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Creamy Chicken Pasta
12 to 16oz of penne pasta or bowtie pasta cooked and drained
1/8 cup diced sundried tomatoes in oil. (drain the oil off)
8oz fresh mushrooms sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas (thawed)
2 to 3 chicken breasts
1/8 cup roasted red peppers diced
1 small package pine nuts

Sauce1 cup half and half (you can use fat free)
2 TBS butter
3 garlic cloves diced
1/2 tsp basil
3/4 cup parmesan cheese (I have also used an Italian cheese mix)
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper

Directions:
Chicken: pound chicken with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin until about 1/2 inch thick. Season with McCormick steak seasoning. (I have also seasoned with lemon pepper or diced garlic clove and salt and pepper) Broil chicken on broilin pan until done. About 15 to 20 minutes. (I am honestly not sure because I rarely time anything) Let chicken cool and then cut into bite sized pieces.

Sauce:
Melt butter. Saute garlic in butter. Pour half and half into the pan and stir constantly. I have the heat at or below medium so as not to scorch the milk. Add parmesan cheese and continue to stir. Add basil, salt and pepper and stir until the cheese is melted. Add pinenuts.Put it all together. Saute mushrooms in about 1 to 2 TBS of extra virgin olive oil. After all other ingredients are diced, thawed, and cut into pieces, add them to the drained pasta and pour sauce over the top. Mix it all together and you have creamy chicken pasta. ENJOY!

Delish Meatballs

I got this recipe from a friend. It's to die for! I promise. I'd take a picture, but my camera is MIA. Not a happy mom right now!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs
1 bag (80 ct) frozen home style meatballs (other flavors work fine too)
1 c. Ketchup
1 c. brown sugar
2 tsp liquid smoke (you can find this by the BBQ sauce)
1 tsp. garlic powder
2-4 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 cups cooked rice

Place frozen meatballs in a baking dish. Mix ketchup, b. sugar, liquid smoke, garlic powder, and vinegar. Pour over meatballs and stir to coat. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Hot Artichoke & Spinach Dip

1 cup mayo
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
12 oz artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed, drained and roughly chopped
chopped tomato, for garnish (optional)

Combine all ingredients. Spoon into baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Serve with chips, crackers, or bread.

Who wants cookies?

Cake Mix Cookies-A quick alternative for baking cookies!

1 box any flavor cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil

Mix together, drop onto a cookie sheet, press them down a bit, and bake at 350 degrees for
9-12 minutes. I came across a 4th of July mix at Target and had to make some festive cookies for the holidays! I always like to mix up my cookies plates, so I whipped up some no bakes...

No Bake Cookies

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 TBS cocoa
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup rolled oats---don't use quick oats for they won't set up

Bring to a rolling boil butter, milk, sugar and cocoa for 1 minute. Add peanut butter and stir.
Remove from add and mix in oats. Spoon onto wax paper and let them sit for about 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Chicken and Broccoli Dish

I came up with this last night. It was really yummy! (Sorry about the bad picture).

Chicken and Broccoli
4 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
1 cup noodles- I used penne, but bow tie would be fun too
1 cup broccoli-I used frozen, but fresh would be good too
1 1/2 cup cheese
1/2 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Boil noodles and chicken together. Strain and separate. Dice chicken. Add back into sauce pan noodles, chicken, broccoli, soup, sour cream and 1/2 the cheese. Stir together then pour into a 9x9 baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes. Serve with a delish side salad.

Freezing Fresh Basil

First, you've got to have some basil growing that needs to be harvested. Here's how my basil looked before I trimmed the plant and pulled off the big leaves.
These instructions came from this blog. It thought it was too useful not to share.

Basil will actually produce more if it's vigorously trimmed a few times each year. Just be sure to leave on a few leaves (remember high school botany, that's where the plant gets its food.) Here's my plant after I trimmed it.

I pinch off all the basil leaves, discard the stems, and wash the leaves very well in a salad spinner. Spin them as dry as you possibly can.

Put a couple of handfuls of the basil into the food processor at a time.
Drizzle about 3 T extra virgin olive oil over the basil and pulse about 15 times, until all the basil is coarsely chopped and coated with olive oil

I have two sizes of these little plastic containers with tight lids that I use to freeze the basil in. This was 6 bushy plants worth of basil.