Basil Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta

This dish was really different. I am glad I found it searching on the Family Fun Magazine website. It is rare to find a pasta dish with little to no cheese. I also used the Barilla Plus brand of whole grain pasta with extra protein and Omega 3-s. Any type of pasta you have on hand would work fine, though.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 29-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped or 2 tbsp dried basil
• 1 16-oz. box pasta (penne, bow tie or ziti)
• Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)
• Instructions

1. Pat chicken pieces dry with paper towel. Coat chicken pieces in flour and pepper.
   
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, onion and garlic. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and onion is clear.
   
3. Add chopped tomatoes and basil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover pan, and let simmer for 15 minutes.
   
4. While sauce is simmering, prepare pasta according to package directions in a large saucepan.
   
5. To serve, pour sauce over pasta. Garnish with Parmesan or Romano cheese, if desired.
   

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I found this fun recipe on one of my new favorite blogs, "do you know the muffin pan?".  It was a pretty vague recipe, but basically it is a root beer flavored vanilla cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting scooped like ice cream on the top and drizzled with a root beer reduction syrup. I used a french vanilla cake mix from Duncan Hines, substituting the water with root beer. The amount of oil and eggs were the same. Bake 15 - 20 minutes. Make a standard cream cheese frosting with extra vanilla extract (I used a full 2 Tablespoons of Watkins double strength vanilla extract). Refrigerate the frosting so it gets firm and cold (like ice cream). I used my small cookie scoop to top the cupcake with the frosting. Then the drizzle of root beer syrup takes it over the top. I think this step is essential to the root beer flavor of the cupcake overall. I used 12 ounces of rootbeer, put it in a saucepan, let it come to a low boil and let it reduce until it coated the back of a spoon. I let it cool down to room temperature before assembling the cupcakes. The result was a pretty tasty treat. I am ready to try Coke next!

Here is a link to the muffin pan blog. She has a lot of cute ideas!
doyouknowthemuffinpan.com/2011/01/root-beer-float-cupcakes-and-giveaway.html

Shredded Beef Taquitos - Baked!

Remember the "Roast in the Crock Pot" meal from Sunday night? Leftover roast made a wonderful substitute for the ground beef in this recipe from Family Fun Magazine for taquitos. All I did was heat up my leftover roast and shredded it a little more. I heated the tortillas, filled them with the shredded beef and some cheese, rolled up tight and put them on the foil covered baking sheet. Brushing them with oil before baking makes them crispy. I did half corn tortillas and half flour. I was really proud of myself for using up my leftovers instead of just refrigerating them until trash day! We served these with a thin white queso for dipping. These would be great for Super Bowl Sunday in February.

Just in case you'd like it, here's the original recipe that I got the idea from:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for brushing on the taquitos
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1 cup salsa, plus more for dipping
• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 10 (6-inch) flour tortillas
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack (I used Colby-Jack)
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400º. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook them for 3 minutes, stirring often. Add the beef and use a wooden spoon or a spatula to break it up while it cooks, until it is no longer red, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup of the salsa, the chili powder, and the salt and pepper. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
   
2. Place the tortillas on a plate and cover them with damp paper towels. Microwave them until warm and pliable, about 45 seconds. Top each tortilla with 1/4 cup of the beef mixture, spreading it to an inch from the edges. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the beef.
   
3. Roll up the tortillas and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet with the seam sides down. Brush the taquitos lightly with vegetable oil, then bake them until the filling is heated through and the tortillas are lightly browned, about 8 to 12 minutes. Serve them hot with sour cream and/or salsa. Serves 4 to 6.
   

Classic Dinner Rolls

I made these rolls to go with our standard "Sunday roast in the Crock Pot" dinner. It was so easy. The snow has really inspired be to bake a lot lately. And I am loving the results I am getting with the King Arthur Flour. These were light and beautiful rolls! I found it on Allrecipes.com. (Even Jared, Mr. Calorie counter, could not resist!)

Classic Dinner Rolls

Rated:	Prep Time: 40 Minutes	Ready In: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Submitted By: Fleischmann's®	Cook Time: 20 Minutes	Servings: 12

"Who can resist warm yeast rolls, fresh from the oven?"

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour, or more if needed 1 envelope Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast 2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons butter OR margarine

Directions:

1.	Combine 3/4 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Heat milk, water and butter until very warm (120 degrees to 130 degrees F). Add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add 1/4 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
2.	Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; shape into balls. Place in greased 8-inch round pan. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3.	Bake in preheated 375 degrees F oven for 20 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; brush with additional melted butter, if desired. Serve warm.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 1/24/2011

Toast for the New Year

Ok, I know this looks bad. I have cooked since October! Practically all I did from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day was cook and bake. I also made a kajillion cookies and batches of dough for gifts. So many recipes, so little time. We slowed down this week when it snowed 6 inches and school was canceled. On one of our snow days I made this yummy, practically too easy to turn out this well bread. I have started using the King Arthur Flour and it has really made a difference in my baking. Here is the recipe for this wonderful bread that toasts up like no other I have ever made.

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon instant yeast 1 cup milk 1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil cornmeal, to sprinkle in pan 12 3/4 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1/2 ounce sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon instant yeast 8 ounces milk 2 ounces water 7/8 ounce vegetable oil or olive oil cornmeal, to sprinkle in pan Directions 1) Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and instant yeast in a large mixing bowl. 2) Combine the milk, water, and oil in a separate, microwave-safe bowl, and heat to between 120°F and 130°F. The liquid will feel very hot (hotter than lukewarm), but not so hot that it would scald you. As a reference point, the hottest water from your kitchen tap is probably around 120°F (unless your tap water is so hot that it burns you). 3) Pour the hot liquid over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. 4) Beat at high speed for 1 minute. The dough will be very soft. 5) Lightly grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan, and sprinkle the bottom and sides with cornmeal. 6) Scoop the soft dough into the pan, leveling it in the pan as much as possible. 7) Cover the pan, and let the dough rise till it's just barely crowned over the rim of the pan. When you look at the rim of the pan from eye level, you should see the dough, but it shouldn't be more than, say, 1/4" over the rim. This will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour, if you heated the liquid to the correct temperature and your kitchen isn't very cold. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F. 8) Remove the cover, and bake the bread for 20 to 22 minutes, till it's golden brown and its interior temperature is 190°F. 9) Remove the bread from the oven, and after 5 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

Recipe summary Hands-on time: 8 mins. to 12 mins. Baking time: 20 mins. to 22 mins. Total time: 1 hrs 28 mins. to 1 hrs 34 mins. Yield: 1 loaf