Gina's Cajun Chicken Pasta

I'm on a bit of a delay, so we had this after Mardi Gras.  I needed to purchase the mushrooms for this recipe and didn't have a grocery store outing until after the big day.  Chicken breasts were in the freezer, so I pulled them out for a couple hours of thawing, then sliced them.  That's a great trick...having the meat mostly frozen to get some nice size slices cut then defrosting it the rest of the way.  Then some sprinkling of  Penzey's Cajun spice on the chicken, the vegetables sliced and held separately, and this came together quickly upon our return home.

I omitted all the salt mentioned in the recipe.  Scallions were omitted as well. Cajun seasoning from Penzeys was used when I made it.

No fancy new knife like Gina had:)  But the recipe was awesome!  

Love this recipe!
Cajun Chicken Pasta
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Penzey-like Kringle Recipe

Kringle
I had forgotten about kringle...probably because of the nut association.  I used to make this in college...a few basic and inexpensive ingredients coming together for a weekend treat.  As I paged through  the most recent Penzey's catalog I noticed this recipe and thought it would make a great treat for Eleanor.  The picture had a version that included nuts, so she didn't think it looked very good.  I made 1/2 recipe and used diced apples instead of the nuts and surprised her with it after school.

Many changes:
For filling for 1/2 recipe:
I used a scant tablespoon of melted butter
1-2 T each sugar...so about 3 T sugar total
2 diced apples
Seemed like an easy way to decrease the fat and sugar a bit.
Glaze for 1/2 recipe:
1/2 c sugar
milk/vanilla
to a good consistency for a glaze

Hmmm...I'm thinking pumpkin butter kringle may be good..and lemon curd...and fresh berry....

Here's a bit of history on Racine, Wisconsin and the kringle.  I was a bit curious about how Racine got to be well-known for its kringle.  Maybe it isn't that well known outside of the midwest....but I have worked places in Wisconsin and Minnesota....and the native Racin-ians seemed to bring this for a treat.  Due to the nut contamination (or potential for nut contamination), we don't have these at our house.  Hey, why not try making it?  It's been years, but this recipe seemed a bit easier than the one I used in college, so I'm going with this one.  I didn't fact check the link...but it made sense to me, so I linked to it.  Feel free to research this one on your own:)

I tagged this post with a breakfast link, but I can vouch for its yummy snack appeal as well!  It wouldn't take too long in the morning if I had it ready to go from the day before.  The only problem with this is that it's just too delicious....


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Egg Roll/Wonton Skin Crackers

Wonton Skin Crackers
Now, why didn't I think of that?

The days are getting longer, so gardening season isn't too far away.  I really need to have the freezer a bit more empty before the CSA and the garden begins.  I know, I know....I have quite awhile yet.  But it doesn't hurt to start moving some of these items!  I'm still trying to figure out a great use for a tiny bit of cauliflower in there.  On a scale of 1-10....I have a number of uses for cauliflower that rate a 5, but I'm still waiting for the recipe that is a 10!  You know, the one that makes me turn cartwheels when cauliflower arrives.  The cauliflower equivalent of the kohlrabi and ham bake....

This recipe/link came up on foodbuzz.  An awesome site that reminds me that's it is good for me to go to work.  I could get lost on this site and the connected sites and spend most of my days cruising in cyber-space.  I'm not too disciplined that way since the browsing is interesting.   I actually thought about skipping body pump to peruse these sites.  Yikes...close call....back to reality!

I had eggroll wrappers in the freezer from the cookie dough eggrolls.  I'm trying to save my waistline from making those again, so this seemed like a good time to pull these out and try a new idea with them.  I'm not on a full detox for the freezer yet, but it doesn't hurt to start slowly.  I try to keep only things I will use in the freezer...like cooked chicken breasts, chicken, a couple Trader Joe's items, fruit for smoothies, etc.  Even so, it's nice to get to the bottom of it every so often, especially as the days are starting to get longer.  The bittenword dudes are cleaning their food storage areas as well, so it will be fun to see what they dig out of the depths too. Then the fun re-stock can begin.

I did not cut the cool shapes nor make the fruity sauce...just cut the wrappers into rectangle shapes and brushed with olive oil; then sprinkled some with sesame seeds and some with salt.  Delicious with the hummus I made yesterday.  This works for now...but this could go many fun places......lots of ideas for fun crackers in the future....



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Potatoes and Peas in Red Curry Sauce

Potatoes and Peas in Red Curry Sauce
The link will take you to the recipe I made, but I found it in The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker book.

It's been extreme with the new recipes at this house lately.  I think it stems from my fear of running out of blog ideas.....causing me to check out many library books and mark numerous pages.  It seems that the recipes go one way or the other....love it...or not cardworthy.  Eleanor thinks I have hit some duds lately.  I just may have to revert to some tried and true favorites to win her back.  Macaroni and cheese!  Fish tacos!  Greek Chicken Pitas!  Although, these duds have been offset a bit by the clear winner of the month, pumpkin butter and coffee-less pumpkin lattes.

Everything can't be a winner...and now she can appreciate those recipes that are worth repeating.  This falls into the not worth repeating....not bad....not great...perfectly adequate dinner.  I do think something can be done to make this a bit better, so I'm going to think about that for a bit.  It was just....bland.

This recipe caught my eye since it looked warm and hearty.  The split cooking times make it more challenging since I really like the idea of throwing it all in before leaving the house and having dinner ready upon our return.  So, I made it on a day off.  It seemed to work on the timing, since I prepped it early morning and then plugged it in after returning from body pump in the late morning  Before leaving to pick Eleanor up from school (and round two of the Y),  I threw the ingredients for the 2nd half in the crockpot.  That meant that it cooked for closer to 4 hours on this round since there was practice and drylands (and a walk and zumba for me).  When we returned I finished it by throwing in the peas.

My thoughts...it's not so good for a work day dinner even though it's in the crockpot.  Probably better for a Saturday or day off when you're running in and out of the house between activities.I'll keep that in mind as I think about how I should use the rest of the red curry paste I bought for this recipe.  Another thought is that the red curry paste I bought may be the issue...maybe a different brand would have a bit more flavor?

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Chicken and Broccoli Noodle Casserole

Chicken and Broccoli Noodle Casserole
This one looked way better than it tasted....for my version anyway.  Maybe it was my adaptations.  I didn't have breadcrumbs and used skim instead of 1% milk.

It wasn't that this was bad....just bland.  I can do better with these ingredients, I think.
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Cannellini with Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Sausage

Cannellini with Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Sausage 
This looked like a bowlful of nutrients (and a bit of sausage)....beans and Brussels sprouts...yum.  Since this recipe is made up of favorite ingredients I thought it looked like a pleasing, healthy, and quick dinner.

I was especially curious to try the shredded Brussels sprouts since the description was that they were a bit carmelized.  My mini food processor has been getting use this week between the sweet potatoes for the fritter recipe and the Brussels sprouts for this one. The Brussels sprouts I used were frozen, so it didn't quite work as planned to put them in the mini food processor.....the result was a bit more like sprout-mash.  So, I rough chopped the rest.  That would be my recommendation if using frozen...rough chop.

Eleanor and I both liked this.  Liked...not loved.  It was perfectly fine, and it wouldn't be bad to have again; however, I don't think it will be on any regular rotation at this house.  Not because it was bad, but because there are other things to repeat and other things to try.

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The Ready- Made Food Find of the Month....

This is it!  My Trader Joe's find to have in the freezer for a day when you need something good fairly quickly.

Generally I think it is just as quick to make a dinner rather than use something ready made, but I do have those times when a packaged item works for us.  There were just two of us for dinner the night I made this...and a full day it was.  I pulled this out of the freezer in the morning and was able to pop it in the oven following quartet practice.....voila....20 minutes later dinner was done. I wouldn't go for a steady diet of these types of meals, but it really worked well the night we had it.  The package says three servings...and there were two of us here that night.  It really was three servings, so Eleanor had the rest for lunch the following day.

The ingredient list seemed fairly pure...I could pronounce everything on it....feta and olives and chicken, etc.  I will get this again.....it served its purpose.

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