a kitchen adventure - spontaneous spaghetti

When I cook I almost always find myself just throwing things into pots and pans with no real recipe. This is my method. Sometimes it doesn't work out how I wanted it to and sometimes I surprise myself. I had a big surprise about a week ago when I wanted to make tomato sauce with spaghetti. This is a thrown together recipe, so use your own taste while making it!

Ingredients:
2 small chicken breasts
9 oz spaghetti
1 whole roasted red pepper, diced
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
4 roma tomatoes at least, diced
half a medium onion, cut into strips
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
handful of fresh basil, cut into strips OR 2 teaspoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsely
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice to taste (I used at least 1 tbsp)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions:
Saute onions until translucent with Italian seasoning.
Add tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, parsely, salt, pepper, mushrooms, lemon juice and sugar.
Simmer covered for 10-15 minutes.
Add chicken breasts to pan, cover and cook until juices run clear and remove.
Roughly blend sauce with immersion blender.
Cook pasta halfway and finish in sauce.
Put chicken back in pan to warm and add cheese until melted.

cinnamon rolls in the waffle maker - how about cinnamon sticks?

I first saw this idea on Pinterest about a week ago. It stuck in the back of my mind because I adore waffles and their texture. What person wouldn't want cinnamony goodness in waffle form? Well, I was pretty sure that person would be me. The best part of a cinnamon rolls is the soft doughy center and squishy goodness topped with freakin' sugar sauce, I mean, come on. Then I thought, okay just because you try the cinnamon rolls as waffles doesn't mean you still can't enjoy the doughy squishy goodness some other time. So when the craving for something sweet came upon me, I set out to make these cinnamon roll waffles.
I hate store bought cinnamon rolls because they are so salty and processed, blech. I didn't feel like going on the marathon of cinnamon roll dough making that I normally would so I went the very waffely way and used pancake mix. I'll give you a rough ingredient list, but I have some very important things to tell you.

Ingredients:
Pancake/Waffle mix
Milk
Butter
Cinnamon
Sugar

Now, my main goal of this dough was to make it as moist as possible. I was hoping that I could achieve a similar effect as the moist and squishy cinnamon rolls that I prefer. I used butter and milk to bring the pancake mix to a consistency just before stick-to-everything moist. I rolled it out to about 1/4 inch thick and started on the cinnamon goodness part. My first batch was unfortunately lacking in the cinnamon flavor I wanted, so don't be shy with it. I also added a lot of melted butter along with the cinnamon on top of the rolled out dough. No really, a lot of it. I was hoping that as well would keep the texture moist and sort of doughy. I finally rolled the dough up and cut it into about 6 pieces. I put 4 at a time into my waffle maker and hoped for the best.
The result wasn't what I had hoped for in my mission for squishy goodness. It tasted great and the texture was a little denser than a normal waffle. I wasn't a fan of pouring the icing all over the waffles either, it didn't soak in the way I wanted it to. But I did have this flashback to my childhood home and all those mornings I had to eat french toast sticks nuked in the microwave. I look back at those with a sort of fondness as I do with all of the foods I ate as a kid. After reflecting, I had an idea. I made the cinnamon roll waffles the same way, but this time I cut them into strips and dipped them into the icing. Sure, I'm eating the same thing I didn't really like before; but, I was viewing them in the wrong perspective.
All in all, this was not a bust because I found something sweet to snack on that isn't hard to make at all. I can also guarantee that my teenage brother would eat an entire batch of these - as waffles or dippers.

Icing Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
Milk to consistency
Small squirt of maple syrup

Directions:
Whisk. Add milk to desired saucey consistency.

a secret family recipe, sort of - corn casserole

I'm going to let you guys in a big secret (look at me acting like more than 1 person reads my blog). This is one of those recipes that you make as a side dish, but in your heart you would rather have a heaping plate full and forget about all of the other junk.

When I think about the foods that I grew up on, I instantly flash back to the family dinners at my grandparents home. This was the staple side dish in our buffet style family dinners. Hamburgers on cheap buns with homemade pickles, green beans with tomatoes and bacon fat that had been simmering all evening, and colorful pasta salad with olives and spicy pepperoni accompanied this sweet, buttery, corny casserole. It is so good that my grandma used to make at least one extra to split up and send home with everyone.

This recipe is by no means something I created or even that my grandma created. This is just a recipe that is no fail and always DELICIOUS.

This is no time to be skimpy with your money either, buy the good canned corn - the sweeter the better. All in all, you probably won't notice because this recipe is so budget friendly.

Jiffy mix - 50 cents

Creamed corn - 1 dollar

Whole kernel corn - 1 dollar

Sour cream - 50 cents

Eggs - 50 cents

Butter - 75 cents

Total price - $4.25 (and I used the more expensive brands of corn and butter!)

Ingredients:

1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

1 can creamed corn

1 can whole kernel sweet corn, drained

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 pinch of salt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in large bowl, don't over mix. Don't even think about using a hand mixer. 

Pour into greased 9x13 casserole dish and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean at 350 degrees.

Serve as a side with a little bit of butter, salt and pepper.

To make muffins: Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

kitchen experiment - chicken and bell pepper soup

Sometimes you just have to do some kitchen experimenting. This soup was one of my better ones and I'm pretty excited about it. My boyfriend went nuts over this soup and he keeps bugging me to remake it. 
I sit around surfing through recipes on Pinterest and the recipes on some of my favorite blogs for hours on end when I actually have free time. I see food I want to make food I never want to see again and food that gives me ideas. These ideas sit in the back of my head waiting for a day when the time is right, the ingredients are in the kitchen and my boyfriend is bugging me to make something (his special culinary creation is the peanut butter sandwich). I had been searching through soup recipes and many of them included carrots as part of the base of the soup rather than a chunky ingredient. I love carrots in any form. So the day came where I was ready to make a soup with carrots as part of the base and that was the only definite thing I had decided about the soup when I set out to make it. The bone in chicken breasts called to me and so did the bright red bell peppers. In the end I came up with this recipe. I was cooking from taste so maybe your soup will turn out a little different, but that is the fun part. Use your buds (taste or otherwise) to help you bring this soup full circle. 

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs bone in chicken breasts (about 2 chicken breasts)

Half an onion, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 or 2 quarts chicken broth (must have 2 quarts of liquid, chicken broth and water or all chicken broth)

¼ tsp cumin

1 tablespoon dried basil

½ tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 cups carrots, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

2 cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked)

Directions:

Dice half an onion and add to large pot. Cook until translucent. Add 2 quarts chicken broth or water and bring to a boil. Add chicken breasts and boil until cooked (internal temp of 165 degrees or no pink). Remove chicken breasts and save for later.

Add cumin, basil, parsley, garlic powder, chili powder, diced carrots and ONLY 1 diced bell pepper to chicken broth. Simmer until carrots and peppers are soft and use immersion blender (or regular blender) to blend as much as possible. Add the second diced bell pepper and simmer until cooked halfway, will still have some crunch. Remove bones and shred or chop the chicken breasts and add back to the soup when the bell peppers are halfway done. (I preferred the chicken shredded)

Start rice: Boil water in small saucepan and add rice. Reduce to simmer and cook until tender. (I wait until there is almost no water left visible in the pan to check the doneness of the rice.)

Mix cooked rice into soup OR keep rice separate and add to individual bowls This will keep the rice from becoming mushy if you’re keeping soup for later. It also allows you to choose how much rice you’d like and appease picky eaters.

Serve with a light salad or a grilled cheese if you’re feeling frisky.

Other suggestions/substitutions for this soup:
Add frozen or fresh corn
Add canned/fresh diced tomatoes
Use small pasta in place of rice
Cook rice/pasta in the soup to add extra flavor 
Add eggplant
Cook down broth after chicken is removed to make soup thicker