Angel Hair with Roasted Fennel and Mozzarella

So good I had to post it! I also added chicken.

1 medium fennel (anise) bulb
1 whole garlic, cloves peeled (and cut in half if large)
2/3 cup diced canned tomatoes
1 Tbsp fennel seeds
1/8 - 1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb angel hair pasta
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup - 1 cup of diced bocconcini cheese (fresh mozzarella)
1/3 - 2/3 cup of fresh grated parmesan

Cut fennel into small pieces (omitting frizzy parts and cutting out the core). Toss fennel, garlic, tomatoes, fennel seeds, half of the olive oil and the red pepper flakes and then spread on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 to 450 (depending on your oven) for 35 to 45 minutes. Fennel should be tender and a bit browned. Cook pasta, drain and toss with remaining olive oil, roasted mixture, basil, mozzarella and parmesan.

Artichoke & Spinach Alfredo Chicken Lasagna

Jar of Alfredo sauce (I use 1 1/2 jars)
3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
14.5 oz artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
10 prepared lasagna noodles
2 cups packed raw baby spinach leaves

Combine chicken and next 4 ingredients. Spread small amount of alfredo sauce in bottom of 9x13 pan. Top sauce with 5 noodles, 1 cup of spinach leaves, 1/2 chicken mixture, and 1/2 remaining alfredo sauce. Repeat layers. Bake at 350 covered with foil for 45-50 minutes. uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

Ice cream cake

A few weeks ago I was headed over to Kim and Brad's after work and was supposed to bring dessert. About 4 minutes before I had to go, I still had not decided on anything. A coworker told me about this, and it was a hit! Super easy and tastes great!

9 x 13 pan
2 packages of ice-cream sandwiches (12 count)
Cool whip-the bigger one
1 jar of caramel sauce
1 jar of chocolate fudge

Start by lining the bottom of the pan with ice cream sandwiches. Next layer the caramel and chocolate-the more the better. Put another layer of sandwiches on top. Spread cool whip over that and then drizzle remaining chocolate and caramel on top. Put back in freezer. It looks like a cake when you are finished. You have to work quick, because the ice cream sandwiches start to melt and everything begins to slide around!

Breakfast strata

We had a St. Patrick's Day potluck at work and I was told to bring a breakfast food in. Yes, told. Not asked.

My friend, Linds, sent me a recipe for a strata. I knew what they were, but I have never made one before. I thought it was delicious! It's so easy and you can do a million different things with it. Just make the basic strata and then add whatever you want to it. For work, I made bacon and cheddar. Just make sure that if you have any sort of meat, you cook it beforehand.

Basic Strata recipe:

Cut bread into 1/2 inch chunks. You may also slice it-personal preference. You can also choose whatever kind of bread you would like. I used french bread.

Spray Pam in a 9x13 pan. Layer bread on the bottom. Next, layer the filling of your choice. Layer bread again.

Whisk 6 eggs and 4 cups of heavy cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over bread.

Bake at 350 for 45-1 hour, until golden.

Valentines weekend

This past weekend was Valentines Day, which actually slipped my mind completely. It’s a cute holiday, and I love the colors, but it really doesn’t hold too much weight in our house. People should be nice to their loved ones every day, not one day a year! Kenny mentioned that he thought we should make a nice dinner on Saturday night and I asked him why. Oh, yeah. It’s a holiday.

We decided on mussels and scallops, so onto www.Foodnetwork.com I went. I found a basic white wine and garlic mussel recipe and looked for something a bit different to try with the scallops. Success! The scallops were amazing. I would even go as far as to say they were fancy restaurant quality! Kenny and I really enjoy cooking, and we are even getting better at doing it together.

Sunday, we headed up to Breckenridge to go snowshoeing. It was fun and exhausting. After about 2 ½ hours of that, we headed to lunch in Breck and then home.

Monday, we met Bonnie at Starbucks for a drink before she headed back to NYC. It was a gorgeous day so we took the girls down to the dog park to play for a while. I love Bear Creek dog park. They have a separate area for small dogs that is completely fenced off. It’s a huge area with trees and bushes where the girls can just run wild!

Kenny doesn’t get too many weekends off anymore, so I really enjoyed being able to spend time with him. We have a lot of fun and I never take advantage of our time together.

There are a few pictures from the weekend on our page -------->

Braciole

We had a spare london broil steak in the freezer and couldn't decide what to do with it. Kenny found this recipe for Braciole (bra-shol). It was easy and fantastic. He also made fettuccine and we had broccoli as well. The perfect dinner!

Lamb ravioli

Every time we eat pasta, Kenny has to make it. We have not purchased any for at least a year. He loves breaking his pasta maker out and whipping up some noodles. The other night, on Good Eats, we watched Alton Brown make ravioli and decided we could totally do that. The next night we made lamb ravioli and it was delicious! There are a few things we would change next time, but for our first try, they were great! It was a bit time consuming, but really enjoyable! If you have a pasta maker (the hand crank kind) I would suggest giving this a go. If you have to roll your pasta out by hand, I would not suggest this. That would take FOREVER.

Shepherds pie

We are going camping this weekend and I was trying to think of something different to make. We usually have the normal stew, brats, burgers, etc.....

I decided on Shepherds pie. It has always been one of my favorite meals. Comfort food is the best!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

I totally realize that is sounds kindof weird, maybe even gross, but it so good! My supervisor brought it to work one day and I could have eaten the whole thing.

2 C crushed pretzel sticks
3/4 C melted butter

3 Tbsp sugar

8 oz cream cheese

1 C sugar

8 oz Cool Whip

1 (6 oz) pkg. strawberry banana Jello

2 C boiling water

2 (10 oz) pkgs. frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Mix first three ingredients and press in bottom of a 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees (metal pan) or 325 degrees (glass pan) 8 minutes. Let cool completely. Beat 1 cup sugar and cream cheese. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over pretzels. Mix Jello and water until dissolved. Add strawberries. Stir into Jello, then set aside for 10 minutes. Pour over cheese mixture. Chill.

Buttermilk Pie

Last Thanksgiving, my mom and I went to my Aunt's house in Fort Worth, TX. They had this pie ready and waiting. We don't have buttermilk pie here in Colorado, and I'm pissed. It is so good! Healthy? Not in the least. But, frankly, who puts the words healthy and pie together?

Rebelling pants and a recipe

Have you ever had those days where getting dressed, or even ready in general, is such a task? I could not do it this morning. Putting pants on, ugh. One leg in, and then the other. What a chore. My hair, frankly, is a disaster-up in a ponytail with a bandanna to hold back my stupid bangs that are still growing out. And, picking out a shirt? I don't even know if I match. I don't even care.

Anyways, here is a perfect breakfast, french toast casserole. Sooooo good with eggs and toast.

Grilled Banana Chocolate Marshmallow Sandwiches

Kenny and I love these. I think we would probably make them every night if they wouldn't make us gain 25 lbs. per week. No, no. I am positive we would make them every single night. Maybe just eat these for dinner, with a milkshake. Then for dessert, we could have ice cream sundaes. Too much?

Gruyere Potato Gratin

I love cheese, so if I'm given an opportunity to add it to my food, I'm all over it.

1 pound large red potatoes
3/4 cup coarsely grated Gruyere (about 3 ounces)
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk, heated just to boiling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 1-quart gratin or shallow baking dish.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Peel potatoes and cut into thin slices (about 1/8-inch thick). Add potatoes to boiling water and cook approx. 4 minutes (a bit longer in high altitude). Drain potatoes well in a colander.
In gratin or baking dish, arrange potatoes, overlapping them, in 3 layers, sprinkling first 2 layers each with 1/4 cup Gruyere and salt and pepper, to taste.
In a small bowl whisk egg and add hot milk in a stream, stirring constantly. Season mixture with salt and pepper and pour evenly over potatoes. Sprinkle the potatoes with remaining 1/4 cup cheese and bake until top is golden and potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes

French Onion Soup

I have made this soup completely from scratch and it took a few hours. Why bother when you can do Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals? I have made this a few times and it is pretty delicious! Start to finish took me just under a half hour! Not bad, not bad at all!

Butter Tarts

So, apparently, I am a very busy girl when it comes to Friday's. This is the second week in a row I have to post my "Friday Recipe" early!

This is one of my favorite desserts ever in the entire world. A lot of my family is Canadian, so I was brought up with sugar pies, maple candy, and butter tarts. As you can see, they are not the most beautiful dessert in the world, but they are so delicious! Many recipes online call for raisins, but I never use them. I also just buy the Jiffy pie crust. You can make it from scratch, but this is just what we have always done! Another thing is to make sure the butter is room temperature. If it is cold, it will not bake right. I have made this mistake more than once!

Pie crust (recipe of choice or boxed)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

2 TBS butter-ROOM TEMPERATURE

2-3 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Make pie crust as directed. Roll out and cut into 4 inch circles. Put into cupcake span. I can usually make 10-12 out of this recipe.

For filling:

Mix everything together except the eggs until smooth. Add egg and mix. Fill tarts 3/4 full. Bake for about 25 minutes. Super easy!

Coconut Cake with 7 Minute Frosting

(I will be gone tomorrow through Sunday, so this is getting posted a bit early. Deal with it.)

I made this cake for Kenny's birthday dinner this Wednesday past. I can't believe he is turning 30 on Sunday! I will have known him for 9 years come April 27th. I met him on his 21st birthday right before his drunken debauchery (which I did not attend because I was 17). Cradle robber.

Banana Pudding

I L.O.V.E this recipe! My good friend, Nicole, gave it to me one day and I make it whenever I can. Everyone loves this super quick and easy dessert! The only thing with this is that you need to make it right before you serve it (within a few hours). The cookies will get soggy and the bananas will brown if you make it the night before. I use the low fat or fat free version of pretty much everything and it is still delicious!

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have decided that I am going to make Friday recipe day. Here are some amazing muffins that I found on another site (Thanks Danielle!). I made them last night and they are awesome! You are welcome.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

(Cooking Light)

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (or Splenda)

1/2 cup packed, golden brown sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2-3 large, ripe bananas, mashed-enough for 1-1/4 cups banana

1 cup milk (I used 1%)

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (I used reduced fat)

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chunks)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, put together, flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and the cinnamon; combine. In another bowl, combine mashed bananas, milk, peanut butter, egg, oil, and vanilla; mix well. Add this to the dry mixture previously prepared; mix just enough to combine. Stir in chocolate chips. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray and fill tins until almost full. This will make 12 perfectly sized muffins. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.