Pasta with Peas, Mushrooms and Proscuitto

After another long week of work, a bowl of pasta was right up our alley again. This time I tried recreating a pasta I had at Penne Pomodoro - linguine with peas, mushrooms and prosciutto. I searched for some recipes and settled upon this one from Kitchen Trial and Error. I added roasted mushrooms to the dish as well as swapped prosciutto for pancetta. It was pretty close to what I had at the restaurant except that their sauce was much more saucy and this one was a lot thicker. (Probably because the restaurant had more of a Parmesan cream sauce and this was based on an Alfredo sauce.) I'm still looking for a saucier recipe but this was a good substitute for a quick Friday night meal.

Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Chips

With fall weather right around the corner (which really occurred a couple of weeks ago when I actually made this bread), I couldn't resist making some homemade pumpkin bread with cinnamon chips. I got the recipe from Fake Ginger's blog, which is super cute. I visited two stores searching for cinnamon chips (which I assumed would look like chocolate chips except be cinnamon) but walked away empty handed from both stores. I started doing some searching online and found a lot of people complaining about a "waxy" taste of the cinnamon chips and that most people were unable to find any at all. I took one of the suggested recipes from these answers and just made my own cinnamon chips which was probably a better idea overall.

Cinnamon Chips (approximately 1 cup):

1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon solid all-vegetable shortening (I used unsalted butter instead)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Heat oven to 200F. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with fork until uniform and crumbly. Spread on foil lined baking sheet (I sprayed mine with Pam) and bake until melted and bubbly, about 35 minutes. Cool completely, then break into small pieces. Makes approximately 1 cup.

I left half the loaf at home for Mike and I and took the remaining pieces to work. I wish I could send some to my sister-in-law, Tarah! Pumpkin season is her fave!

A Second Look at Fettucine Alfredo

Back in June, I posted about fettucine alfredo. That dish was made with butter, parmesan and pasta. The one I'm posting about now is made with butter, parmesan, CREAM and pasta. Wow. This is a serious treat. Either recipe is delicious, but if you really want something that's comforting go for the second recipe with cream. You'll only need a small bowl with something this yummy!

Baked Vanilla/Vanilla Donuts

I have been fighting buying a donut pan for some time... I couldn't hold out and picked one up the last time I was at Hobby Lobby. (The recipe for blueberry baked donuts with orange glaze pushed me over the edge... thanks Pinterest!)

My first try was a really simple recipe for vanilla donuts (with a hint of cinnamon) and vanilla glaze with sprinkles. Everything from the dough to the piping to the glaze was simple. The pan works really well. The donuts are a bit softer and less dense than a real cake donut which I think I might prefer... still deciding. In any event, baking donuts at home will be a great substitute for picking up fried donuts on the weekends!

(On a random note - the colored sprinkles melted into the glaze but the gold ones didn't.)

Donut recipes I have been pinning and will need to be made:

• chocolate donuts with buttermilk glaze
• blueberry donuts with orange glaze or lemon glaze
• buttermilk pumpkin donuts
• maple bacon donuts
• cinnamon-sugar donuts
• cake batter donuts
• vanilla donuts with strawberry glaze

Perhaps I need to host a coffee/donuts brunch?

Spicy Chop Beef Sandwiches (and homemade bbq sauce!)

I made these yummy spicy chop beef sandwiches for Mike and I along with the homemade bbq sauce. I really like this girl's blog... how could I not? Its all about Texas!

The brisket can be expensive but the actual work could not be simpler. I don't have a "real" roasting pan so I just used a 9x13 pyrex and everything turned out just fine. The meat is really tasty even before you put the bbq sauce on it. I had mine with just bbq sauce while Mike wanted his a lot fancier... jalapenos, onions, jalapeno jack cheese and sauce.

(I also was able to freeze enough for two sandwiches for a rainy day!)

Mongolian Beef & Thai Fried Rice

More uses for the wok - Mongolian Beef and Thai Fried Rice.

(yes, we do keep chopsticks at the house)

I thought the rice, while pretty salty, tasted a lot more like take-out rice than a lot of other recipes we have tried in the past (I think next time we'll either decrease the fish sauce or use low-sodium soy sauce). Mike liked the beef more while I preferred the rice. I like the meat to be a bit more tender than this turned out to be but I really enjoyed the sauce that the beef cooked in more than the beef itself.

Fat, Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Alright, I don't know what is going on with my biscuits but they never seem to be as tall as the photos of the recipes I use. I'm not sure if I'm rolling them out too thin or the baking soda/powder isn't working correctly. In any case, I made these while my parents were in town. Taste great but I don't think I've found "best" biscuit recipe out there yet. The search (and baking) is still on (no complaining either... I clearly have a love for southern biscuits).

Here's the recipe from Bakergirl and a photo of hers... they just look much more scrumptious than mine!

Pig & Fig Pizza

So... another fab recipe from Pioneer Woman, Prosciutto & Fig Pizza with Arugula! So good. Such an interesting mix of salty and sweet, gooey and crunchy. My parents were in town recently and my mom and I wanted to try something new. We grabbed a ready to roll-out pizza crust from Central Market (which is one of my favorite things... its ready to go for $1.99 and so fresh!) plus the rest of the short list of ingredients. Thew the pizza in the oven for less than 15 minutes and had a delicious dinner.

(photo from Pioneer Woman... I've really been slacking on the pics lately!)

Hospital Survival Gift (plus Sea Salt Caramel Corn)

My cousin Stephanie is having her second baby today! Joel should arrive sometime today. Paige, Laura, Stephanie and I grew up together so the girls and I put together this care package for Stephanie's hospital stay.

We included... an outfit and two onesies for Joel; a book, snack and "big sister" badge for Grace; a magazine and chocolates for Stephanie; and homemade sea salt caramel popcorn for Stephanie and her husband Shane.



I made the badge for Grace as well as the caramel popcorn. Get the recipe here. I didn't add the M&Ms this time but I am thinking of doing red & green ones and giving it away with Christmas gifts during the holidays.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

We've finally had some cooler weather in Dallas! Coincidentally, I planned to make chicken tortilla soup from P-dub for a dinner with some girls I used to work with. Catching up was good but my pup was not good! She was so overly excited for new people and jumped all over everyone. Hopefully the soup made up for it.

Note: My soup wasn't nearly as dark or brothy looking as hers below... flavor was still good!

(photo from P-dub)

Snickerdoodle Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream

I made this yummy cake for Ann's birthday. Its so good and literally smells just like snickerdoodle cookie. I added some gold sprinkles just for fun :)

I didn't have any good photos so this photo is borrowed from the original author, Always with Butter. (Which has so many recipes that I'm dying to try, anyone else need a birthday cake??)

Vegetable Pad Thai (+ Chicken)

I made Martha's vegetable pad thai this weekend for something quick/lighter and to use up extra ingredients we had in the fridge. (I also baked a chicken breast that I marinated in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and brown sugar so Mike wouldn't starve.)

I'm not an expert on Thai food so I do not know how authentic the recipe or taste is. I thought it was pretty yummy and really simple to make though. I omitted the peanuts from my pasta but otherwise followed the directions. I really liked the green onions and cilantro. And, we got to use our wok for the first time!

Macaron Afternoon

Mitzi, Ann and I have been wanting to try macarons for a while now. Lots of bloggers talk about how temperamental they are and how a lot of the time they collapse and aren't very pretty. In P-dub fashion, we did an afternoon of baking at my house. We had a REALLY good day and luck on our side and were able to successfully make 3 kinds of macarons!

We started out with Bravetart's French macaron recipe. Ann and I stuck with vanilla and Mitzi added 25 grams of cocoa to hers to make them chocolate. I filled mine with blackberry buttercream while Ann filled hers with pistachio buttercream and finally Mitzi filled her chocolate ones with marshmallow frosting (for hot chocolate macarons).

Pork with Parmesan & Sage

I made these parmesan & sage pork chops for dinner last week. We did some nights with salad only and other nights with mashed potatoes, corn and green beans.

Really easy plus its from Cooking Light. The recipe says each serving (1 thin sliced pork chop) has 272 calories.

ingredients
1 slice white (I substituted wheat) bread, pulsed into breadcrumbs using a food processor
1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 tbs chopped fresh sage
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tbs prepared mustard
2 large egg whites beaten
4 thinly sliced boneless pork loin chops
1 1/2 tbs canola oil

Set up a breading station: 1st plate with flour, mustard and egg whites in the 2nd plate and the breadcrumbs, cheese, sage, salt and pepper. Dredge chops one at a time first in flour, shaking off excess, then in the egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off, and finally into the breadcumb mixture. Repeat with remaining pork chops. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan, swirl to coat. Cook pork 3 minutes on each side until done. (I actually found mine to be undercooked at that time so I put all 4 into a 300 degree oven for another 10 minutes to keep finish the cooking process.)

Bourbon Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Well, ice cream attempt number two was another good one. This one was a real, egg based ice cream that took a little work but was really good. (I got a little impatient and shaved an hour off the cool time to get it into the machine and freezer hoping to serve it after dinner. It is a little softer than real ice cream which may have to do to the shortened cooling time or its due to the bourbon, not sure.)

The recipe from Serious Eats doesn't specify the amount of bourbon to add. I used 5 tablespoons then added an extra at Mike's request. Its got a serious bourbon-y kick.

Sauceless Pizzas

I spotted this fancy hawaiian pizza recipe at A Cozy Kitchen and it looked too good to not make. Plus, its got "fancy" in the name so that's usually a good sign. Since I had the ingredients on hand, I also re-created rocket arugula pizza I had in San Francisco.

The only changes I made to the fancy Hawaiian pizza were to use the red onions raw and sprinkle lots of chili flake on top after baking. The rocket arugula pizza consists of mozzarella, proscuitto and arugula all sprinkled with red chili oil.

Cake Batter Blondies

After making the cake batter ice cream, I had a little over half a box left of yellow cake mix. Not wanting to just toss it, I made half the recipe for cake batter blondies found on pinterest. Yum.

Cake Batter Ice Cream

As if Mexican Thanksgiving needed anything else, I also whipped up a batch of cake batter ice cream. There's nothing smarter than making a new recipe with a new contraption right before friends come over for dinner right?

Well, that's generally what I end up doing. Sometimes it doesn't work (case in point the Friday night before when I made artichoke and white bean crostini for my cousin and girlfriend which promptly ended up in the garbage due to its weird smell). Sometimes it does work, like with cake batter ice cream.

I think this was a great recipe to try my new ice cream maker attachment since its a total cheat... it uses milk, cool whip, and yellow cake mix. It came together like a charm and froze right up. I had mine with sprinkles and the boys had theirs with chocolate chips and sprinkles... Erica just ate Nick's after protesting she was too full. Lesson learned - You just can't say no to ice cream that smells like cake batter.

Queso Blanco

We had a little "Mexican Thanksgiving" with Nick and Erica over 4th of July weekend... aka we again made too much food for the 4 of us in the form of beef and chicken fajitas and way too much queso.

I tried making queso blanco for the first time. The recipe was really straightforward but I think it really needs more kick. It also got REALLY thick after just a few minutes off the stove/no stirring so I think it needed more milk or something but its a nice recipe to start from...



Since I'm not in love with the original recipe... here are a few others along with it for other options:

recipe 1
recipe 2
recipe 3
recipe 4

Dallas Style Brisket Tacos

I was first introduced to brisket tacos when I moved to Dallas. They are so good and it turns out pretty simple to recreate at home. I used the Homesick Texan's recipe along with homemade black bean dip and salsa for Mike and I this week. Serve in corn tortillas with onions, poblanos, monterrey jack and a little of the pan juice.




One 3 lb brisket has a lot of meat so I froze some of the meat with extra broth for a rainy day when we're scrambling for something to eat.