Free Christmas Cards

I just wanted to spread the good news that Shutterfly is giving away FREE Christmas cards if you blog about it! I can't wait to get mine!

These are some of the beauties I like.....what about you?

I'm sooooo excited! Thanks Ann-Marie for the tip. You're a real gem!

Sign up HERE for yours.

Baked Pasta with Roasted Summer Veggies

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1– red bell peppers, diced
• 1–2 zucchini(s),
• chopped yellow onion
• chopped summer squash, diced (can also substitute/add summer squash, carrots, eggplant, mushrooms, etc.)
• 2 T. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb. penne pasta
• 1 c. ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese)
• ½ c. parmesan cheese
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 T. fresh oregano, chopped
• ½ lb. mozarella, cubed or shredded (or less—½ lb. is VERY cheesy)
• ½ c. bread crumbs (optional)

Preheat oven to 425. In a large bowl, toss olive oil, garlic, red pepper, and zucchini, with salt & pepper to taste. Place vegetables on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes. While vegetables are roasting, boil and drain pasta. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, oregano, parmesan, and nutmeg. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Coat pasta with 2ish T. EVOO and then mix with chesse mixture. Gently toss in vegetables.
Transfer mixture to a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle the top with additional parmesan and bread crumbs. Bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and bubbling (about 20 minutes). Serve immediately.

Cheesecake Factory Santa Fe Chicken Salad

4 cups romaine and leaf lettuce

1/4 cup cilantro

1/2 can black beans, rinsed

1/2-1 cup grated Jack cheese

1/4 cup teriyaki marinade

2 chicken breasts

1 cups toasted corn tortilla strips

1/2 cans whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cups diced, seeded tomatoes

Marinate chicken one hour in teriyaki marinade. Broil and baste chicken aprox. 15 minutes, cool, cut into bite size pieces or shred. In the bowl add lettuce, cilantro, cheese, beans, tomatoes and corn. Mix salad with lime dressing (see below). Add chicken & tortilla strips. Drizzle with peanut butter dressing (see below).

Lime Dressing

1/2 t lime zest

2 T lime juice

1/4 cup snipped cilantro

1/4 t salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 c olive oil

Process until well blended

Peanut dressing

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 T brown sugar

2 T soy sauce

2 t Hot chili oil

1 1/2 T red wine vinegar

3T chunky peanut butter

3T sesame oil

Process until well blended

New foodie blogs

I have a couple new blogs that I am loving
homesicktexan.blogspot.com
ourbestbites.blogspot.com.
Happy eating.

Old Spaghetti Factory Mizithra Pasta

• 1 c. butter
• 1 c. Mizithra cheese (a greek hard cheese)
• pasta of choice

Cut 2 sticks of butter into 8 pieces and place in a sauce pan. Place the pan of butter over medium high heat. Bring the butter to a slow boil. Once the butter begins to boil, stir constantly to prevent residue from sticking to the bottom of the pan. As the butter cooks, it will start to foam and rise. continue stirring, otherwise the butter foam could overflow (about 5 minutes).
Once the butter stops foaming and rising, cook until amber in color (another 1-2 minutes). It will start to smell like caramel. (yum). Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the burner. Let the sediment settle to the bottom then pour the browned butter Through a strainer into a small bowl. Do not distrub the residue at the bottom of the pan.
Boil your pasta of choice (we use spaghetti noodles). Drain pasta and divide into four servings, then spread 1/4 c. of Mizithra over each pasta serving. Top with 1/4 c. hot browned butter.

****In the restaurant you can order this dish with another sauce along side. That's how I like it. So I made some fresh meatballs and served those with marinara, and then this along side. Delish! However, because I did this, I probably didn't even use 1/4 of the butter it calls for. Next time I'll cut it in 1/4. Oh, and I also bought fresh pasta----WOW--I'm not sure I'll be able to go back!

Thai Sticky Rice w/ Mangoes

1 1/2 cups glutinous (sweet) rice
1 1/3 cups well-stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large ripe mangoes (chilled whole in refrigerator)*
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted lightly
Edible flowers or mint leaves for garnish

*Try to get yellow-skinned "Manila" mangoes. Fresh ripe peaches may be substituted for the mangoes.

To prepare the sticky rice: Working in the sink, put the rice into a large bowl with plenty of water; stir well by hand. When the rice has settled to the bottom, pour off most of the cloudy water, refill and repeat until the water runs fairly clear. Soak the rice in plenty of water (so the water is approximately 2 to 3 inches above the rice) for 6 to 8 hours, preferably overnight (the grains will absorb water and grow in size). When ready to cook, drain rice well in a sieve. Set sieve over a large deep pot of simmering water (sieve should not touch water) and steam rice, covered with a kitchen towel and a lid, approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until tender (check water level in pan occasionally, adding more hot water if necessary). When rice is translucent and somewhat tender, it's done. NOTE: Can also use a shallow heat-proof dish on the steamer rack. You can also purchase the special sticky rice steam baskets (steaming baskets and pots are available from Asian markets).

While rice is steaming, in a small saucepan bring coconut milk to a slow simmer, stirring constantly (hard boiled coconut milk will curdle). Add sugar and salt; stirring until sugar is dissolved; remove from heat. Keep mixture warm. Reserve approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut-milk sauce; refrigerate until cool and thicken slightly.

Transfer hot cooked rice to a bowl and stir in coconut-milk mixture. Stir well with a spoon to make sure all the grains are well coated. Let rice stand, covered, approximately 20 to 30 minutes, or until coconut-milk mixture is absorbed (the rice should be a little mushy). NOTE: Rice may be prepared up to this point 2 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature.

Just before serving, peel mangoes and then thinly slice by cutting lengthwise through flesh to the stone; discard the stone. NOTE: Peel the mangoes carefully so as not to bruise the fruit. Slice in half as close to the seed as possible, then slice each half into 1/2-in (1-cm) slices.

Serve at room temperature. To serve, mold 1/4 cup servings of sticky rice in the center of individual dessert plates (an ice cream scoop works wonderfully). Drizzle reserved coconut-milk sauce over the rice mounds and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Arrange mango slices around the rice. Garnish with edible flowers or mint if desired.

NOTE: The finished dish can be kept, covered at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. Do not refrigerate or the rice will harden!

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Chicken and Dumplings

This was great,  easy and comforting.
Here is what I did.

In my slow cooker I layered
1.  medium sized whole red potatoes
2. 1 quartered onion
3 Frozen chicken breast
4 carrots,  ( celery and leeks would be good too.)

Then I mixed
1 can cream of chicken
about 1/2 can of broth
some poultry seasoning  1 tsp maybe
2 teaspoons about of Susie Q seasoning
and dumped it over the chicken.


Dumplings
These were so good and light! 
1 C Flout
3/4 C cake flour (softaskilk)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t soda
3/4 t salt
3 T shortening
I mixed these in my kitchenaid with the cake paddle untill it was crumby (just go slow!)

Add 1 large egg
3/4 C butter milk.

about 40 minutes before serving,  turn it up to high,  and twenty minutes before serving use a big spoon to shape a dumpling and place it ON TOP of  a piece of chicken or potato.  If you just put it on the sauce it will just disintigrate. 
They don't brown so just give a little toothpick test.  
So Yummy