Two-Pepper Macaroni and Cheese

This is one of my favorite new recipes-- I just love macaroni and cheese and this is a great variation on it.

Two-Pepper Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

5 cups uncooked pasta, I use whole-grain rotini (16 ounces uncooked pasta)

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon finely chopped pickled jalapeño pepper

1/2 cup sliced green onions

Cooking spray

2 slices wheat bread

one small dash of each: ground nutmeg and ground mustard (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, and drain.

3. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add to pasta.

4. Add flour to pan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add cheese, stirring until cheese melts and mixture is smooth. Stir in jalapeño. Add cheese mixture to pasta, tossing well to coat. Stir in green onions. Spoon pasta mixture into a baking dish coated with cooking spray.

5. Place bread slices in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure about 1 cup. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Combine butter and breadcrumbs in a small bowl; toss until blended. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta mixture. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned.

6. Enjoy! I usually pair this meal with thin ham slices.

Creamy Ham and Potato Chowder

I'm putting one of my new favorite (and low-calorie, might I add) recipes up today.

Creamy Ham and Potato Chowder

3 c. frozen Southern-Style has brown potatoes (such as Ore-Ida, I use Potatoes O'Brien and it's delicious!)

2 1/2 c. 2% milk (I use skim and it's still good)

1/4 t. salt

1 c. diced ham (such as Cumberland Gap)

1/4 t. black pepper

1/2 c. (2oz) 50%-less-fat shredded sharp white Cheddar cheese (such as Cabot)

1/4 c. chopped green onions

Combine first 3 ingredients in a meduim saucepan; cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.

Stir in ham and pepper; cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Mash potatoes slightly using the back of a spoon (I skip mashing the potatoes); stir in cheese and green onions.

Makes 5 servings, 1 c. each.

Enjoy!

Baked Chicken

Not to toot my own horn or anything (toot toot!) but I made some pretty tasty chicken for dinner tonight. It was a new recipe, so I didn't post it earlier in case it didn't turn out. It is also a Weight Watchers recipe so it's not so bad for you either. I will definitely be preparing this meal again!

Baked Chicken

Use fresh herbs and lemon juice to give plain baked chicken fantastic flavor. This combination of flavors also works well with turkey cutlets or white fish filets.

♥ 1 lb uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (four 4 oz pieces)

(I actually used a lb of chicken breast tenderloins-- they're small and nicely sized, just like chicken fingers, and cooking big hunks of chicken breast kind of creeps me out because I'm always afraid of undercooking it)

♥ salt and pepper

♥ 1 t. olive oil

(I omitted the oil and just spritzed the chicken with olive oil cooking spray)

♥ 2t. lemon juice

♥ 2 t. rosemary

♥ 2 t. parsley

♥ 1/4 c. chicken broth

(I used chicken stock, as the commissary was out of broth)

♥ 1/2 medium lemon, quartered for garnish

(I nixed the lemon quarters)

1. Preheat oven to 400. Coat a small, shallow roasting pan with cooking spray.

2. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken to prepared pan and drizzle with oil; sprinkle with lemon juice, rosemary and parsley. Pour broth/ stock around chicken to coat bottom of pan.

3. Baked until chicken is cooked through, about 30 to 35 minutes.

It was absolutely delicious! I served it with steamed peas and carrots that I seasoned with chopped onion, salt, pepper, and parsley. I love parsley and put it into everything I can, ha! It was a pretty tasty, low-calorie meal.

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In other news, I started today off with a wonderful surprise-- I won Crazy Shenanigan's pillow case giveaway! I was so happy and can't wait to get it. They're absolutely lovely and I think that I'll purchase some in the future for gifts. I absolutely love bed linens! Thanks again, Jennifer!

Also, Christine is starting a blog review of The Husband Project by Kathi Lipp tomorrow and I can't wait to do that. I've been meaning to for a while but haven't. I haven't even started the project officially but I read the book and it's already had such an impact on our marriage. I'll be doing a review for The Marriage Project soon and am excited about that too!

Dirty Rice and German Chocolate Cupcakes

A few people have asked for the Dirty Rice recipe, and those cupcakes I made for E were so good that I thought I'd share that recipe too!

Dirty Rice

1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage (I use smoked turkey sausage instead and cut into slices)

2 cups water or chicken broth

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped

1/2 cup finley chopped celery

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

butter or oil

1. Brown sausage in skillet 6 to 8 minutes.

Or, if you bought smoked sausage links instead, cook according to package directions.

2. Melt butter or place oil in a pan and saute rice until golden. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, stirring occasionally until rice is tender.

Enjoy!

The German Chocolate Cupcake recipe

can be found by clicking on the picture:

Mexican Pasta Skillet

This is one of my favorite recipes, and I just happened to find it tucked in a small corner in one of the back pages of Woman's Day magazine.

Mexican Pasta Skillet

(it's essentially Mexican goulash)

heat 1 t. oil in skillet. Brown 1 lb (or 1/2 a lb... that's a lot of meat) ground turkey with 1 small onion, chopped and 2 t. cumin.

stir in 1 can (10 oz) mild enchilada sauce, 1 can (11 oz) Mexican-style corn (I use Southwestern-style corn since it has black beans, which I love, in it) and 1 c. cooked pasta.

add 1 T. cilantro to skillet and cook until mixture is heated through. Garnish with shredded Mexican-style cheese blend.

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In other news, I found the most delightful cleaning product today. Is it sad that I get excited over such things? Anyway, I was perusing the aisles of the PX when I saw this. I thought it was a bit pricey at first but when I read the bottle, I saw that it's concentrated and when diluted it makes 8 gallons of cleaner... that's a dollar a gallon! It's smells SO good and leaves everything clean and smelling fabulous. To top it off, it's not full of harsh, nasty chemicals. The Lemon Verbena scent is on sale and I'm really tempted to try out a few other products.

Buckeyes

Recipe found here.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups confectioners' sugar
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar. The dough will look dry. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.

2. Press a toothpick into the top of each ball (to be used later as the handle for dipping) and chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

3. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until smooth.

4. Dip frozen peanut butter balls in chocolate holding onto the toothpick. Leave a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them look like Buckeyes. Put back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until serving.

Enjoy!

Chewy Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I made these cookies last night and they are very soft and chewy, like a good cookie should be. And they're just so cute!

{image/ recipe found here}

INGREDIENTS

2 bars (4 oz each) bittersweet chocolate, broken into 1-in. pieces

2⁄3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour

1⁄4 tsp each baking powder and salt

1⁄2 cup mini–semisweet chocolate chips

mint- or coffee-flavored buttercream*

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with nonstick foil or parchment paper. Put chocolate in large glass bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute, stirring every 20 seconds, until chocolate is melted and smooth.

2. Stir in sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla; mix well. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt until blended. Stir in mini-chips.

3. Drop level tablespoons 11⁄2 in. apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes until cookies are puffed and set. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

4. For each sandwich, spread 1 Tbsp buttercream frosting onto bottom of cookie; press another cookie on top. Refrigerate in an airtight container with wax paper between layers.

*Buttercream Frosting Recipe

3 oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp butter, softened

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 Tbsp milk

1⁄4 tsp vanilla extract

PREPARATION

Beat ingredients in medium bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Then beat on high speed 1 minute until fluffy.

Mint Use 1⁄4 tsp peppermint extract instead of vanilla; add a few drops of green food color.

Coffee Dissolve 1 Tbsp instant coffee in 1 Tbsp hot water; add instead of milk.

Apple Instead of milk, add 1 to 2 Tbsp apple juice until spreadable.

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These were very good and E liked them a lot-- I'll definitely make them again because they are just so cute! :)

--Becky