My Sweetest Things

I visit my friend Wendy’s blog daily. She shares so many wonderful tantalizing recipes! She posted a recipe for Sausage Roasted Vegetable Penne that sounded scrumptious. She adapted the recipe from Melissa d’Arabian on Food Network.  I  made a few changes to the original recipe to fit the ingredients I had on hand. The original recipe calls for Penne Pasta and I had Gnocchi so I used that instead. I only recently started buying Gnocchi after I tried a Trader’s Joe’s version of it. Gnocchi is a potato dumpling. It is made from potatoes that have been boiled  and pushed through a potato ricer. Once the potatoes are processed, flour and salt are added to make a dough.  To cook the Gnocchi simply drop into gently boiling water. When it floats to the top it is done. Real simple quick process. I am a Gnocchi fan.

Ingredients I used for this recipe. Wendy’s version can be found here.

1 sweet onion, cut into wedges

1 medium zucchini, sliced in 1/2 lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, cheeks removed and sliced into strips

1/2 pound button mushrooms, stemmed

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Roma Tomatoes – Sliced into thick strips  (I would have liked to use grape tomatoes but they were $4.99 for a small container!)

1 package Sweet Italian Sausage

1 bag Gnocchi Pasta

1/4 cup white wine

Parmesan Cheese for Garnish

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Cut the onions, mushrooms and zucchini and place in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil. Toss to coat and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Arrange on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes so they start to  caramelize. (You want them to brown deeply.) Start getting your tomatoes ready by slicing them if you are using Roma or if you are using grape then toss them into a bowl with the remaining olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. When your 15 minutes timer is beeping at you, take out the veggies that are cooking, flip them over and add the tomatoes. Cook all veggies together for another 15 minutes.

Cook the sausage. Love that sweet sausage. Start boiling your water for the pasta/Gnocchi.

Pour yourself a glass of white wine. Proceed to drink. Turn up the heat on the sausage and deglaze with white wine. Sip your wine as you stir the meat.

Hello Gnocchi!

When the veggies are ready, set them to the side to cool for a bit. Chop them up to get ready to meet the sausage.

Add the veggies to the sausage, add your pasta and mix together. Add your freshly grated Parmesan on top and you are ready to eat!

Wendy you are so right! This dish is a winner! Thanks for sharing and friends hop on over to see Wendy at Kiss That Frog. That girl  has  got it going on in her kitchen!

It’s all good ~ Donna

Taco Salad is one of my favorite go to quick dinner recipes. The spicy meat, crunch of the chips, and fresh veggies is a tasty meal. In the past I have picked up packaged taco seasoning for convenience. Turns out convenient sometimes is not so healthy. I came across a homemade taco seasoning recipe from Annie’s Eats. Simple ingredients and just a few minutes of my time and we had homemade taco seasoning!

This a package of the quick seasoning mix I used to pick up. Some of those ingredients I hadn’t heard of and we had been eating that mess.

These are the ingredients to make your own homemade taco seasoning.

4 tablespoons Chili Powder – (My Dad says Gebhardt is the best so he sends it to me from Texas since I can’t find it here in Georgia.)

3 tablespoons Ground Cumin

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Paprika

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Onion Powder

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Mix all the ingredients  together to blend.

You get this pretty color mix that smells so good!

To prepare taco meat I cooked 1 pound lean ground beef, added 2 heaping tablespoons of the spice mix and one cup of water. I cooked until most of the liquid was gone.

For this taco salad I added a can of corn and black beans rinsed and drained. I served up with Tostada chips, avacado, lettuce, tomato, cilantro and topped with cheese.

So fresh and tasty. I love the flavor of this seasoning mix and no more store bought for us! Thanks to Annie for sharing the recipe and stop by her site. She has many wonderful other recipes to share!

It’s all good ~ Donna

On one of our recent Sam’s Club runs I stopped by the book section like I always do. They have such a great selection of books at terrific prices. Most of my teenage vampire novels have come from there! Yes, I read teenage vampire novels. You know you love Twilight! Team Edward! Anyhoo, back to the book section….I came across the book Cook This Not That!. This is one of the best little cookbook guides I have ever purchased! It lists dinners that you would find out at restaurants and it breaks down the price and calories you would be eating if you ordered the listed menu items. I was really not that surprised at how many calories are consumed eating out. Have you seen the Red Lobster commercial where they dip that lobster in that vat of butter? So good but yet so bad. We have tried many recipes in Cook This Not That and have not been disappointed yet!

In this book you will find many great recipes covering  ethnic dishes, appetizers, vegetarian dishes, breakfasts, desserts and beverages.

On the bottom of the page you will see the  calorie difference between the restaurant version and the home cooked version as well as the price difference of cooking at home.

For the Thai Lettuce Wraps you will need

12 oz flank, skirt or sirloin steak

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1 tbsp hot sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce – This smelled so bad but tasted really good when cooked!

Juice of one lime

1/2 red onion sliced

1 jalapeno pepper – I left this out

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 carrot grated – I thinly sliced baby carrots because that’s all I had.

1 head Bibb lettuce, leaves separated

Heat the grill or pan over high heat for at least 5 minutes. Season the steak with salt and pepper and toss onto grill/pan. Cook for 4 minutes on each side until it’s firm but yielding to the touch. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Combine the hot sauce, fish sauce and juice of one lime in a small saucepan over low heat.

Slice the steak thinly and drizzle half the sauce over it. Use the lettuce leaves like tortillas and fill with the steak, carrots, onion, and cilantro. Drizzle a bit more sauce on top and add just a squeeze of lime juice.

These were so delicious! We did not have any other sides as this meal was all in one!

If you are out shopping at Sam’s Club look for this book. It was $10.00 and so worth it. I also saw it at Target for $18 but I’m sure most book stores will carry it and there’s always Amazon where it’s currently selling for $13.47. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

It’s all good ~ Donna

It was another “What’s for dinner?” night. Bah. I had one of those days where I just wanted to be lazy but yet dinner duty called and I had chicken breasts ready but not sure what to do with them. Fried Chicken sounded good but I was not feeling like dealing with the extra work and mess so I  reached for the bag of French’s Fried Onions. I do admit to  pulling out the shake and bake for pork chops so I thought I could do the same with the French Fried Onions. On the back of the bag is a super quick recipe that’s crunchy and delish. Oh, and you can snack on those crispy onions while you are waiting on the chicken to bake. It takes less than 30 minutes for this recipe, unless you decide to photograph the whole process which can then lead to slight time delay!

Ingredients – Quick – I can’t stand the look of raw chicken!

Chicken Breasts

French’s Fried Onions

Egg

That’s it. REAL Simple!

Pour  some fried onions into a baggie and smash them up! This particular tool I got way back sometime in the

1990’s at a Crab Shack outside of Corpus Christi, Texas. Ah. Good Times!

Take that egg and scramble it up, pour it into a dish. Throw those breadcrumbs on a plate.

You can also shake the chicken in the baggie if you have that nifty gallon size which I did not use so plate it is!

Dip the chicken in the egg….then the breadcrumbs and place in baking dish.

Bake chicken uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or

you can…..

Take your camera out of Aperture Priority Mode because you decide you

 want to shoot Manually and have this happen!

OR this!

BAD IDEA!

Well, this dinner was a good idea. Very flavorful and crunchy and yummy!

Even better when your husband kicks in and whips up a Caprese Salad! Sliced Beef Steak Tomato, Mozzarella Cheese,

Basil from our garden, splash of Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Salt and Pepper. Another fast super easy dish!

Dinner is served!

This is Mia, who could care less what we eat for dinner and is giving me the evil eye. Perhaps that hat

has something to do with it?

It’s all good.

~Donna

We have chicken for dinner in our house a few times a week. In a year, that’s a whole lot of chicken dinners! I was in a chicken rut and needed some chicken change so I searched for recipes and found this  recipe from a site called Simply Recipes. Growing up I do not recall having Parmesan Chicken for dinner. I certainly remember lot’s of rice, beans,  tortillas and grilled meats but nothing that came close to chicken in a lovely coating of Parmesan, garlic, butter and herbs. It’s not a meal I have ordered out at dinner and while I have had a bite or two, I have not served this meal for family dinner and it did sound delish, so I gave it a try.You will most likely have the ingredients in your pantry and it is a very simple recipe. I used three chicken breasts and ended up with extra bread crumbs. The next time I make this I will keep some of the bread crumbs out on the side and use as needed to coat the chicken. I ended up having to throw them out since I dipped the raw chicken in them. It is a wonderful blend of herbs and spices that could be used in other dishes. Meatloaf perhaps?

Anyhoo, Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Parmesan Chicken!

List of Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 stick unsalted butter melted

1 cup dried bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

A large pinch of Italian Seasoning

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 lbs of skinless, boneless chicken – I used chicken breasts

Melt butter and add minced garlic.

Add the dry ingredients and kindly introduce them.

Mix them around so they can mingle!

Dip the chicken in the butter and garlic. This shiny chicken is grossing me out but it is part of this chicken

adventure so I quickly paste the image and move on..

Dip  the chicken in the crumb mixture to coat. “Hey who invited this chicken to our mix?”

Place coated chicken in a baking dish and bake in a preheated 450 degree oven.

But wait! I forgot to drizzle the left over butter, garlic mixture over the top of the chicken, so make sure you do

that before you bake.

After I put the chicken in the oven, I looked over and saw this mess. So what did I do?

Put off doing the dishes and took pictures of my favorite things in my kitchen!

This little coconut  mask got damaged in our move but still has a place in my heart.

I snapped this photo and saw the nice cobweb and thought I should dust but kept doing this…

Taking more photos!

The coconut masks I personally carried across the Mexican border. When I lived in

San Antonio a visit to Mexico was a short trip and the shopping was awesome.

This little switch plate, I crafted myself! Yes. I did. I will show you how in another post.

But….after a little diversion…here is the Chicken Parmesan!

I baked for 15 minutes and then another five and when the juices ran clear it was ready and it was Tasty!

It’s all good.

~Donna