Chicken Cacciatore

 Chicken Cacciatore

 Ingredients

• 1  teaspoon  onion powder
• 1  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1  teaspoon  dried basil
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt
• 3/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 6  bone-in chicken breast halves (about 3 pounds), skinned
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 2  cups  sliced mushrooms
• 1 1/2  cups  red bell pepper strips
• 1 1/2  cups  green bell pepper strips
• 1  cup  thinly vertically sliced onion
• 1  tablespoon  balsamic vinegar
• 2  bay leaves
• 1  (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 1  (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 6  cups  hot cooked penne (about 3/4 pound uncooked tube-shaped pasta)
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Combine first 6 ingredients, and sprinkle 4 teaspoons oregano mixture evenly over chicken. Set remaining oregano mixture aside.
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from the pan. Add mushrooms, bell peppers, and onion to pan; sprinkle with remaining oregano mixture. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar, bay leaves, tomatoes, and tomato paste; stir to combine. Arrange the chicken over tomato mixture, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 50 minutes or until the chicken is done.
Place 1 cup pasta in each of 6 shallow bowls; top each serving with 1 chicken breast half. Ladle 1 cup sauce over chicken, and sprinkle each serving with 4 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese.

Artichokes Stuffed with Sausage

Artichokes Stuffed with Sausage

Serves 4

juice of 2 lemons, strained
8 globe artichokes
3 Tbs olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
generous 3/3 cup of pancetta, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprig,chopped
1 onion, chopped
31/2 ounces Italian sausages, skinned and crumbled
1 cup of broth
salt and pepper

Preheat the over to 350°F.  Half-fill a bowl with water and stir in the lemon juice.  Trim the artichokes, reserving the stems, open out the leaves slightly and place in the acidulated water.  Remove the tough stringy parts from the stems and chop.  Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the pancetta, garlic, parsley, onion and artichoke stems and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.  Add the sausages, season with salt and pepper and cook over very low heat for 5 minutes.  Drain the artichokes, place upright in an ovenproof dish and stuff the sausage mixture.  Drizzle with olive oil and pour in the broth.  Cover with foil and bake for about 1 hour, basting occasionally.

* I substituted pancetta for Canadian bacon

Almond Cake

 

 Almond Cake

Ingredients:

* 3/4 cups of butter

* 1 1/2 cups of sugar

* 2 eggs

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 teaspoon vanilla

* 1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

* 1 1/2 cups of flour

Topping:

* 1 Tbsp sugar

* 3/4 cup of SLICED almonds

Procedure
* Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

* Melt butter.

* Pour melted butter in a bowl and stir in sugar. Stir it

* Add eggs . Stir till creamy.

* Add all other ingredients (but not the topping ingredients!).

* Grease bottom and sides of pan. I use a springform - but you can use a 9 inch also.

* Spread the batter in the pan.

* Sprinkle the almonds over the top and add sprinkle the sugar.

* Bake for 40 mins.

 * I substituted sugar for Splenda.  Not many prep pictures because it is so easy, all one bowl.

Coming soon:

Chicken Cacciatore

Artichokes Stuffed with Sausage

Almond Cake

REVIEW: Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizzas

I cannot stress enough how DELICIOUS these little bites of heaven were...  I am not a huge sugar cookie fan, but they were SO good.  I think next time I would substitute the sugar with Splenda.

Rating: 5 out of 5

REVIEW: Mexican Mancotti

The Mancotti was okay.  They next day I used the left over filling in flour tortillas.  It was SO MUCH BETTER...:)

Rating 2 out of 5 (5 with flour tortillas)

Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.                                   

Toppings

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1-3/4 cups whipped topping
• 12 sugar cookies (3 inches)
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 cup chopped peeled kiwifruit
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Directions

• For glaze, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, pineapple juice, water and lemon juice until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Transfer to a small bowl; refrigerate until cooled but not set.
• In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth; fold in whipped topping. Spread over tops of cookies. Arrange fruit on top; drizzle with glaze. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled. Yield: 1 dozen.