Creamy Orange Chicken Pasta

Chicken is sauteed in butter, then seasoned generously with salt, pepper, and a little ground red pepper.

2 heaping tablespoons of Orange Marmalade are mixed in.

& a tablespoon of Dijon Mustard.

Heavy Cream is stirred in and sauce is allowed to thicken.

 Tyler and I started dating in college.  Coming from a family where the expression, "The way to a man's heart is through his belly," is touted as being most definitely truth, I was eager to cook for Tyler.  His mom gave me a few recipes for easy dishes that he liked and that I would be able to prepare in my make-shift dorm kitchen--toaster oven, hot plate, and electric skillet. This pasta is great for a weeknight dinner because it is so fast to whip up and only requires a few ingredients.  It is also surprisingly tasty.

Creamy Orange Chicken

3 chicken breasts, cubed

2-3 T butter

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

dash-1/8 t. ground red pepper

2 heaping T orange marmalade

1 T dijon mustard

2 c. heavy whipping cream

3/4-1 lb. prepared pasta, depending on how "saucy" you like your pasta

Sauté chicken breasts in butter.  Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper.  After chicken has started to brown, stir in marmalade and dijon mustard, coating chicken cubes. Add in heavy cream and allow sauce to simmer until thickened.  If sauce gets too thick, thin out by adding a splash of water or milk.  Serve over pasta.  (OPTIONAL: Top with sliced or slivered, toasted almonds)

Fabulous Chicken Marsala

Despite having an impending organic chemistry final tomorrow, at a weak moment I logged onto Pinterest. I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest.  I love it because it has so many wonderful ideas, but hate it because it has the tendency to lead to hours and hours of procrastination.  

Ah, procrastination.  Why do today what I can do tomorrow? 

PROCRASTINATORS UNITE, right?!

 Of course, after scrolling through all sorts of flavorful fare, I just had to try out one of the new recipes I pinned.  And so, suddenly needing a break from my study of Nucleophilic Substitution reactions, I decided that I would make this Chicken Marsala for dinner!  It did not disappoint! 

Chicken Marsala

For the pan-fried chicken:

1-1/2 lb. chicken breasts

salt & pepper

1/2 c. flour

vegetable oil

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, coat with flour, and pan-fry in a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat. (If chicken breasts are thick, slice in half or pound out before frying.)  Allow cooked chicken to drain on paper towels. Reserve drippings for sauce.

For the marsala sauce:

3-4 strips of bacon, chopped

8 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T. tomato paste

1-1/4 c. Marsala wine

1/2 c. chicken stock

4 t. lemon juice***

4 T. butter

salt & pepper

To drippings leftover from chicken breasts, add your chopped bacon.  Fry until crispy and remove--drain on paper towels.  Toss in sliced mushrooms.  Saute until soft and golden over medium heat.  Drain off any excess oil, especially if there is a lot (I prefer blotting with paper towels).  Add in garlic, continue sauteing until golden.  Add tomato paste to sauteed mushrooms, and stir to dissolve paste and coat all of the mushrooms.  Allow the tomato paste to brown a little bit (~1-2 minutes), then deglaze the pan with marsala wine.  Over medium-high heat, allow the sauce to come to a simmer and begin reducing.  Add in chicken broth.  Continue simmering and reducing.  After a couple of minutes, once sauce has reduced and is no longer a thin liquid, cut heat to low and stir in lemon juice and butter. Add crisped bacon. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Return chicken breasts to pan.  Turn to coat with sauce.  Best served with egg noodles.

***The original recipe called for lemon juice.  Although I did add it, it seemed pointless.  I think the tomato paste provided enough acidity, and the lemon flavor was also masked by the wine, for the most part.  If you don't have lemon juice on hand, then I would consider skipping it altogether.  

Adapted slightly from Pass the Sushi

Better Than Spaghetti

Ground Beef & Italian Sausage

Marinara sauce

Spaghetti noodles

& Parmesan Cheese

The cast of members for a well-known favorite.

Spaghetti.

Inexpensive, fast, simple, family-friendly, and comforting. 

However, whenever I say I'm going to cook spaghetti for dinner, I usually mean something more like this sausage and pepper pasta.  While it's not really spaghetti, the boyfriend and I have both agreed that we like it much better than spaghetti!  

I used to make this as my Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers. I would brown sausage and ground beef, mix in acini de pepe or orzo and some marinara, and add lots of sauteed bell peppers.  However, it was a little too rich and heavy on it's own.  I love the conversion of this to a pasta dinner, and the leftovers are great!  I used colorful peppers in this because they are sweet and beautiful, but you can definitely try it out with green bell peppers.  You can also sub in regular pasta noodles in place of the egg noodles.  

Just have fun with it!

Forgive my lousy photography skills--the pictures just don't do this dish justice.

Sausage & Pepper Pasta

4-5 sweet italian sausage links, casings removed

2 T. olive oil

3/4 c. onion, diced

1/2 ea.--red, yellow, orange bell pepper, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 c. white wine 

2-1/2 to 3 c. marinara sauce

1 t. Italian seasoning

1 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

pinch crushed red pepper 

1 T. sugar

2 T. fresh parsley, chopped

4 T. fresh basil, ribboned

12 oz. egg noodles

Brown italian sausage.  Drain. Drizzle olive oil in large skillet.  Saute onions until slightly translucent.  Add in peppers.  Continue sauteing until tender, yet crisp.  Add in garlic and saute for 2-3 more minutes.  Toss in cooked sausage. Add in seasonings (no sugar) and white wine.  Allow white wine to reduce almost completely before mixing in marinara sauce.  Heat until warm and bubbly.  Add in sugar to cut the acidity of the marinara sauce, followed by parsley and basil.  Serve over cooked egg noodles.  

Sorry about the clutter in the background!

I prefer to leave my sausage kind of chunky. 

 

Chicken Tortellini Soup

This is seriously in my Top 3 Favorite Soups EVER!!!!
Its hearty, delicious, and easy.
I had this soup last summer when I was renting a room with an oral surgeon and his family.  His awesome wife made it and I fell in love with it!  However, I knew I could do a few things to make it even better.
Every time I make it, I prepare it a little different.   And it always turns out fabulous! This is just the general recipe I follow.  Sometimes I add more broccoli; sometimes more carrots; sometimes more chicken.....you get the idea.

I'd love to hear how this turns out for you!

Chicken Tortellini Soup

5-6 Chicken Breast tenderloins (3/4 lb)

1 T butter

2 T EVOO

1 t minced garlic

3/4 t Italian seasonings 

5 cups prepared chicken broth (or 1-lg. carton)

2 cans Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup

12 oz. baby carrots 

1 large head of broccoli

8 oz. tortellini (I use 3 cheese, from Costco)

1/4 t pepper

salt, to taste

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Dice chicken.  Sautee in pot with butter and EVOO.  When it's almost cooked through, toss in garlic. Season with Italian seasoning.  Add in broth and soup.  As soup warms, it will uncondense.  Add carrots and cook over medium heat 10-15 minutes.  Add in broccoli and tortellini.  Cover and continue cooking until tortellini is no longer chewy and broccoli is tender. Season with salt and pepper.  Garnish with parmesan cheese, and serve with warm dinner rolls.

For an ugly, but delicious chicken 
dinner recipe, click HERE!

Christine's UGLY Chicken

Summer Vegetable Ricotta Pasta

I made this for dinner a couple of nights ago because it seemed simple and delicious. I pinned it from this website--http://rantingchef.com/2012/07/01/no-chipmunk-cheeks-here/

& only made a few adjustments. 

First and foremost, I just added chicken because I felt like it needed some sort of "meat."  I also didn't really measure out anything exactly, as it's really a hassle to measure out 74 different seasonings and I'm not much of a "by-the-recipe" person.  As with almost all hearty pasta dishes, the leftovers were awesome and reheated well.  Lastly, if I make this again, I will probably up the quantity of vegetables I use.  If you are a veggie lover, then I would advise you to also add more than the quantities mentioned below.  

Anyway, here is the general procedure I followed:

Summer Vegetable Ricotta Pasta

• Preheat oven to 400 
• Cook about 3/4 of a 1-lb. box of your preferred pasta in a large pot with salted water--really, any pasta will work (rigatoni, ziti, macaroni, penne, etc)
• In a large saute pan over medium heat:
• Drizzle with EVOO
• Toss in the first round of bite-size veggies, in this order:
• Onion ( I used 1/4 yellow onion)
• Zucchini (I used two medium zucchini)
• Yellow Squash (I used one medium squash)
• Add in diced chicken breast (I used about 5-6 chicken breast tenderloins)
• Season with: 
• salt
• pepper
• Italian seasonings
• pinch of crushed red pepper
• whatever your heart desires!
• After a few minutes, add in a second round of veggies:
• 2-3 cloves of minced garlic
• tomatoes (I used 4-5 Campari tomatoes from Costco)
• In a medium bowl, prepare the sauce by combining:
• 1 egg
• 8 oz. whole milk Ricotta cheese (I used 1/2 of a 15 oz. container)
• 1/3 c. parmesan cheese
• splash of half & half
• fresh, chopped basil (I used ~3T)
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• Assemble dish:
• Place cooked pasta on bottom of baking dish 
• Cover pasta with cooked vegetables and chicken 
• Pour in prepared sauce
• Toss a few times to incorporate everything
• Sprinkle with a generous helping of cheese (I used pre-shredded 6 Italian Cheeses Blend)
• Bake for about 15-20 until cheese is melted and starting to crisp up

Chicken Caprese Pasta

With this dish, classic flavors unite to form a delicious and comforting meal.

A favorite to both me & the beloved boyfriend.

Grilled Chicken 

Cherub Tomatoes

Fresh Mozzarella

Basil

Pasta

Creamy Tomato Sauce

What's not to love???

Chicken Caprese Pasta

6-8 Chicken Tenderloins, grilled or sauteed

16 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese

1/2 package Cherub Tomatoes

1/2 C ribboned basil

1 jar pasta sauce, your choice

1-1/2 C half-and-half

1 lb. pasta

Couple handfuls Italian Blend cheeses

• Cube chicken & mozzarella cheese.  Cut cherry tomatoes in half or quarters, depending on size.  Roll several basil leaves together, then slice into ribbons.  
• Heat pasta sauce over low-medium heat.  Add in half-in-half to desired creaminess.  Toss in a handful of Italian cheeses.
• Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish.  Top with grated cheese blend.  
• Cover with foil and bake @ 350 for about 25 minutes.  Remove foil and continue baking for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted through.  

Enjoy :)

{all of these quantities are estimates--if you prefer more tomatoes and basil, add more!}

For another hearty chicken pasta dish, click HERE!

Creamy Ricotta Pasta with Summer Vegetables