Pesto Béchamel Pasta

I made this up because I was craving Italian and wanted to make a nice dinner for Bill. It's a definite remake. The béchamel sauce makes it creamy but not too rich.

1 box of angel hair pasta ( I like the protein noodles to make it healthier)
Pesto in a jar ( mine had pine nuts)
Cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
One tablespoon of red wine
Sea salt
Minced garlic fresh or from a jar
1 1/2 tablespoon of flour
1 bouillon cube
Pepper
1 teaspoon Basil
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Okay so you can't go wrong with these ingredients. I am going to give you the basic framework but you may want to double it.

Make angel hair pasta.
Meanwhile wash and thinly slice the tomatoes. Next heat about 3 tbs of olive oil in a frying pan on medium high. When oil is hot, throw in tomatoes.  Careful not to burn yourself from the oil :) Leave on medium high heat for one more minute and add wine. Sprinkle sea salt on tomatoes. Next, drain pasta and add pesto (look on jar for proportions.) Add 1 Tablespoon of garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk 1 tablespoon of flour in until all the lumps are out. Next, pour in 1/2 cup of milk whisking continually. Add bouillon cube and spices.

Serve the béchamel sauce in the middle of the bed of pesto noodles with the sautéed tomatoes on top.

Homemade Yellow Cake with Dulce de Leche Icing

Bill’s birthday was Thursday and since it’s our first married birthday,I just had to make a good cake. Not an okay cake, but a really good. Fortunately, earlier in the week I bought the most recent issue of Real Simple and would you believe it, they had a whole section on how to make the best cakes. This recipe has it dialed in! Seriously, I even called Bill over to look at the batter because it was a creamy whip. I know, who talks about what batter looks like? Just make this cake and you will know what I am talking about.

I didn't think to take a picture of the cake itself, but here is a picture from Bill's Birthday dinner.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature,

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, leveled

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup whole milk ( I combined 2% and half and half because that’s what I had)

Directions

   1. Heat oven to 350°F. Butter the and flour pan(s) well.

If you don’t have good non-stick pans, I would recommend lining the bottoms with parchment, butter again, and dust with flour, tapping out the excess. (For cupcakes, there is no need for parchment or rebuttering.) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

   2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

   3. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).

Take a look at that batter!

   4. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.

   5. Real Simple’sBaking times: For two 8-inch rounds: 25 to 30 minutes. For two 9-inch rounds: 22 to 25 minutes. For one 9-by-13-inch rectangle: 25 to 30 minutes. For 24 cupcakes: 15 to 20 minutes.

***My 8 –inch rounds took longer to cook

Serves 12 people or makes 24 cupcakes.

Carmel Frosting :

Ingredients

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted

1/2 cup prepared dulce de leche (found in the baking aisle or in Mexican food aisle)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

pinch kosher salt

Directions

   1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add the sugar, then the dulce de leche, vanilla, and salt, and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

***If you are making a round cake: I’d recommend putting a dab of the icing under your first layer of cake, so it doesn’t wobble.

Paula Dean's Brie en Croute

My friend, Gwen, made this for one of my wedding showers and I loved it. When it was my turn to host a shower, I decided to make it too. I took this recipe from www.foodnetwork.com and I've tweaked it just a tiny bit.

Ingredients
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (comes with 2 sheets- so you can just make this twice!)
1 tablespoon of butter
1/4 cup of chopped pecans
1 8- ounce wheel of Brie
1/2 cup of Raspberry Jam
1 egg beaten (her recipe calls for two eggs, but that was way too much when I made it.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Unfold and defrost 1 sheet of puff pastry for 15 -20 minutes.  Next, melt your butter in a frying pan and over medium heat. Saute the nuts in the butter for about five minutes. Place nuts on top of the Brie and spread jam on top of nuts. Carefully roll the pasty with a rolling pin to add about 1-2 inches on each side. Brush both side of the sheet with egg. Place the Brie in the center of the pastry sheet and bring all the corners above the brie and twist. Here Paula recommends for you to tie it with a cooking string. However, since I am not even sure what cooking string is, I just made sure the pastry sheet was totally covering the Brie. That worked good enough for me! Bake on an ungreased cooking sheet for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with nice crackers.

Enjoy!! It was a hit at my shower and it really is very simple. Now, that I've made it once, it will be even easier.

Allison's Amazing Banana Bread

This cold-ish weather made me want to bake today! And this recipe is seriously fantastic. My friend, Allison, made this banana bread in muffins for our class during finals. Of course I had to get the recipe!

Allison's Amazing Banana Bread
2 cups of mashed bananas ( I used four bananas)
3/4 cups of oil
2 cups of sugar

3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla ( I probably used 1 tablespoon...don't judge me. Vanilla makes everything better.)
2 cups self-rising flour
1 box banana cream instand pudding (I just used the Kroger brand.)
Add nuts to taste if desired

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mash bananas in small bowl. Set aside. Combine all other ingreidents (except nuts) in a seperate bowl mixing well. Add bannnanas and nuts. Pour into 2 lightly greased and floured loaf pans. Sprinkle tops lightly with sugar. Bake for one hour. Check the middle of the bread and make sure toothpick comes out clean.

Mine turned out super yummy. However, for one for the loafs I tried to dump it out too early and it cracked. I didn't use the right kind of pan for it, though. If you are entertaining, it may be easier to make muffins.

Mexican Fiesta!

As some of you may know, Bill really likes loves  Mexican food, so I make it a lot....and of course I enjoy it too!
In fact, we even decided to have our rehearsal dinner at a Mexican restaurant! 

I have so many good and fun variations of tacos, enchiladas, and salsa that I thought I would just make one big post about some of my favorites. The great thing about Mexican food is that once you find flavors you like, you can switch it around. My dad always said it's just the same ingredients packaged differently, but I  am not sure if that's exactly true. However, I do like the concept!


Basic Chicken Enchiladas (with green sauce)
This recipe is adapted from Real Simple 

Ingredients: 

• 1 Rotisserie Chicken cut up(or two boneless chicken breasts cooked and shredded)
• 1 16-ounce jar mild salsa verde
• 1 onion (white) chopped (sometimes I just use the chopped onions from the freezer, if I am limited on time).
• 3/4 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 cup of half and half
• kosher salt and black pepper
• Flour tortillas ( also good with corn tortillas)
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 1/4 cups grated Monterey Jack (5 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic (Again, I just use the fresh garlic in a jar for connivence)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil on medium-high in a frying pan. Once oil is hot, cook  your onions. Meanwhile, cut up chicken. Combine chicken, cooked onions, cumin, salt and pepper,  1 cup of cheese and garlic in a bowl. Next, combine half and half, green salsa, and tomatoes in a bowl. Pour 1/2 of your salsa mixture into the chicken bowl. The chicken mixture is your filling for your enchiladas. Place tortillas with filling  in a pyrex dish. I think its best to heat the tortillas in the microwave for 15-30 seconds if you are using flour. Top with the remaining sauce and cheese.  Cooking 15 minutes. 


I served this with Mexican rice with peas and homemade salsa(recipe following) ! Sooo good! 

Simple Homemade salsa ( I think this is my Aunt Terry's recipe.)

This recipe is really not hard and very refreshing! 

1 32 oz can of whole tomatoes, drained

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of vinegar

1 jalapeno pepper

1/2 tablespoon of garlic

1/2 bunch of cilantro (less if you don't love cilantro like we do).

4 teaspoons of olive oil

Seed the jalapeno and cut up. Combine ingredients in the blender. If you want the salsa spicier add the seeds left over. 

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

2  large sweet potatoes cooked, peeled and cubed

1 cup of low fat sour cream

1/2 cup of green salsa

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 tablespoon of chili powder 

1 1/2 teaspoon of garlic

1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

1/2 onion chopped (optional)

dash of salt and pepper

Flour Tortillas

Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook onions  in a frying pan with a tablespoon olive oil. Combine cubed black sweet potatoes and black beans together with seasoning and onions. Combine salsa and sour cream. Add more salsa if you like it spicier. Pour half of the creamy sauce in to the bottom of a square pyrex dish. Fill tortillas with potato and bean mixture and place on top of sauce. 

After placing on the tortillas in the dish, spray the tops with cooking spray (this helps to give them a crunch, not mushy, flavor). Cook for 7-10 minutes. Add remaining sauce and cheese. Cook until bubbly.

Cheese Enchiladas 

Last night I was craving cheese enchiladas, but I didn't have a recipe. This is what I came up with and they were really good. The only only thing I didn't like was the color, but since Bill and I throughly enjoyed them I thought I'd share. Plus, they are supper easy.

1 onion minced

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1/teaspoon of pepper 

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1 tablespoon of garlic

1 can of tomato sauce

1/2 Salsa Verde (noticing a trend??)

3/4 cup of low fat sour cream

1 cup of cheddar cheese

Corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut up and onion and cook over medium high heat until tender. Combine 1/2 of the can of tomato sauce, cumin, garlic, and chili pepper.

Next fill tortillas with cheese, onions, and tomato mixture. The tortillas will crumble, but that's okay. Spray with cooking spray; I use Crisco. Cook for ten minutes.

Next combine remaining tomato sauce, green salsa, and sour cream. I sprinkled more cheese on the top too.

After cooking for ten minutes cover enchiladas with sauce and cook for 15 more minutes.

Jenn and Shanna's Amazing Black-eyed Pea Salsa (picture above)

My friend Jenn shared this recipe with me and it was amazing. When I made it, I did not have a red onion, so I added fresh lime and sugar. I think I will do that again, but I will definitely put in red onion next time too. I think I will probably use cilantro too. It doesn't need it, though!

1 can black-eyed peas, drained

1 can tomatoes (with jalapeno/chilies)

1 pkg Good seasons Italian dressing (dry)

1/2 cup red onion, chopped fine

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

green peppers, chopped

Mix together and chill.