Creamy Chicken Marsala Pasta

This is the first time I’ve made any sort of chicken marsala dish. Now that I have marsala wine in my cupboard I will be on the lookout for new recipes to use it with! I apologize for not taking a photo, we were quite hungry! ;-) I adapted this recipe from What’s Cookin’ Chicago so if you follow the link you will find a photo of the dish there.

I only changed the recipe slightly. The pasta to sauce ratio was just way off, so I split the pasta amount in half. Also, the sauce came out very thin- so I had to change a few things as I was cooking. The way I have it written below will have it come out creamy and delicious! It had great flavor- if you make it let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 pkg. sliced mushrooms (about 8-10 ounces)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup Marsala cooking wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 pound dry whole wheat penne (to make it a bit healthier!)
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese + more for serving
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• minced, chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet. Cook chicken until lightly browned. Transfer to plate when done. 

Boil water and cook pasta according to the directions.

Melt additional 1 tablespoon of butter in large skillet, add garlic, mushrooms and onion and cook for about 6 minutes. Add cooked chicken back into the skillet. Add the Marsala, chicken broth and cream and bring to a nice boil. Let boil for about 5 minutes. Then bring down to a simmer until sauce is slightly thickened.

Drain pasta, and add to skillet with the mushroom/chicken mixture. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Cook a few minutes until the pasta has absorbed some of the sauce. It should also thicken up a bit more.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with additional Parmesan cheese (yum) and a garnish of chopped parsley.

Stuffed Mushroom Casserole

This casserole is absolutely delicious! I made it as a side dish for dinner last night. I am in love with stuffed mushrooms which is practically what this is- just in casserole form. I think this a bit more simple to make and I will definitely be making it again soon. In the mean time, I wanted to share the recipe with others who have the same love for stuffed mushrooms as I do! Enjoy!

*Both the photo below and the recipe are from the blog An Edible Mosaic.

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

• 1 oz grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 lb button mushrooms (or any kind you like), thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary (or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves)
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4 oz sharp Cheddar, shredded (divided)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F; lightly grease small casserole dish with butter. Transfer 2 tablespoons of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to a small bowl and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add the celery and cook 3 minutes, then add the onion, salt, pepper, and bay leaf and sauté 7 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cook until all the veggies are tender and the mushrooms are browned, about 7 to 10 minutes.  Add the garlic, rosemary, and thyme and cook 1 to 2 minutes more; cool slightly.

Stir together the veggie mixture with the breadcrumbs, egg, Worcestershire sauce, the larger portion of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and half the Cheddar in a large bowl.  Place the stuffing mixture in the casserole dish.  Sprinkle the remaining Cheddar and the reserved 2 tablespoons of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top.

Bake until the cheese is melted and golden brown in places on top, about 10 to 15 minutes.  (Broil it for a couple minutes if you want it to have more color.)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

While making dinner tonight I decided I also wanted a dessert. :) I recently came across a recipe on Pinterest that looked extremely tasty and I happened to have a can of pumpkin left over from the holidays… so below is the recipe I followed. They are very quick & easy to make. The original post was by Let’s Dish. Oh, and you could also refrigerate them before you eat them! Enjoy!!!! I am now, with a glass of milk. ;)

INGREDIENTS

Cake:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
2 large eggs 
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin  
1/4 cup water 
2 cups flour 
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
1/4 cup granulated sugar  
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
1 large egg

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and water until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin/butter mixture and combine until well blended. Spread about 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the pumpkin batter. Dollop the remaining pumpkin batter over the cream cheese batter and spread out as evenly as possible.  Use a table knife to swirl together the cream cheese and top layer of pumpkin batter.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the center of the pumpkin batter springs back when touched. Cool completely in pan, then cut into bars.

Orange Marmalade Pork Roast

* These measurements aren’t exact, as I didn’t actually measure anything, but I would say they are pretty good estimates. Adjust to your liking.

Put roast in slow cooker. Sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Combine all remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Pour over roast. Cook on low for about 6 hours.

Cholula Lovers Salsa

I love salsa and have been craving it like mad lately. We usually buy the Tostitos brand. I get medium and sometimes add a little cholula hot sauce. I put cholula on a bunch of things, but my favorite thing to put it on is pizza! I actually found a recipe for fresh salsa on Pinterest a while back and decided to make it yesterday. I refrigerated it overnight, and WOW- it’s amazing.

I’ve been using fresh ingredients a lot more lately. Everything just tastes better and is usually VERY easy to make. Plus, it’s fun to create things yourself rather than buying everything ready-made from the grocery store. Then you have the ability to play around with ingredients and adjust the taste to your liking. Can’t wait for the summer.. maybe we can start a little garden. :)

Here is the recipe. Enjoy! : Cholula Lovers Salsa

December!

Usually once November rolls around, I start feeling ‘blah’, get bad headaches, and just overall hate life and can’t wait for summer to come. THIS year however, was different. Maybe the lack of snow helped a bit. Maybe it was all the baking, christmas movies (more specifically- Home Alone), finding out we’re getting a NEW niece or nephew, or getting to spend time with Whitney! Whatever the reason- I thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas season. :)

We saw a play at Trinity Rep in Providence. We usually go there to see A Christmas Carol, but they had a It’s a Wonderful Life this year! It was performed as a radio play broadcasted on Christmas Eve in 1949. There were only 5 actors playing over 50 characters, and a live sound effect guy- which was my favorite part. It was awesome, and my favorite thing we did this month. If you’ve never been to Trinity Rep you need to! They have two theaters, both are small and it’s a very intimate setting. I think the one the show was in this year probably had only about 200 people there! They perform year round.

We took the train into Boston on the one year anniversary of Cody’s proposal. Did a bit of Christmas shopping, visited Quincy Market, the big Christmas tree where he proposed, and ate dinner at the same restaurant as we did last year. It was a very nice day. Even the weather was perfect!

Even though I did most of our Christmas shopping last minute, and waited til the 23rd to start wrapping, it was still a lot of fun. Christmas Eve with Cody was amazing, as always. We decided to open our gifts to each other at midnight :) And boy, did we receive one of the best gifts, excuse me- THE best gift! We are very thankful for everything this year has brought us. We spent Christmas morning with Cody’s parents, opening up gifts and eating b-fast & hot chocolate. I got a sewing machine! Then we spent the rest of the day with my family this year- mom, aunt, uncle, cousins and grandparents. I have nothing to say except for the fact that it was a wonderful time and I have been waiting a few years for a day like that to happen with my family. It was just really awesome, and I am extremely thankful. I hope everyone had a nice holiday!!!

I have to work tonight, but afterwards we will be ringing in the New Year over at our friends house where they will be hosting a ‘taco night’. Umm.. awesome! 2011- it’s been real, but I’m really looking forward to 2012 and everything it has to offer- see ya!!