My New Favorite Fettuccine Alfredo

I love Fettuccine Alfredo -- it's my favorite dinner. Making alfredo sauce at home that I actually like has been...challenging. I found this one on Pinterest, and I was seriously stoked that it tastes so good!

Fettuccine Alfredo

Pasta of your choice (fettuccine is classic)

1 stick butter

1 clove minced garlic

1 pint heavy cream

1 cup Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp cream cheese

salt and pepper to taste 

Cook the pasta in boiling water while making the sauce in a separate pot. In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter and add the garlic, then cook for 2 minutes. Add cream and cream cheese and heat until bubbly, but not boiling. Add the Parmesan and stir until the cheese is melted in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over hot pasta. Great over grilled chicken and broccoli! 

Pan Fried Tilapia

This is a super yummy fried fish that's light and crispy.

Pan Fried Tilapia
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp seafood seasoning or Lawry's seasoning
1 tsp salt (omit if using Lawry's)
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1-1/2 lbs fresh tilapia fillets
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Heat oven to 300F to keep fillets warm after frying. In a shallow baking dish, combine flour, seasoning, salt and pepper. Add the tilapia and lightly coat each side. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Shake off excess seasoned flour and place in skillet. Brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Place tilapia on a baking sheet lined with paper towels or a brown grocery bag, and keep warm in the over while preparing sauce.

Turn down the heat on the pan to low and add the butter. Melt the butter, then add the garlic, lemon juice and parsely and saute for 2 minutes. Serve the tilapia warm and drizzle with garlic butter sauce.

The Beer Cheese Soup Experiment

A few of my friends made comments today about Beer Cheese Soup, which immediately triggered a craving for Beer Cheese Soup. After ransacking my pantry and freezer, and Googling "beer cheese soup recipes," I stumbled upon several that I had most of the ingredients for. So, of course, I decided to wing it and see what I could make out of what I had. This is the result, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I served it with skillet-grilled kielbasa and baguette.

Beer Cheese Soup
1-1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 (12 oz) can or bottle light beer
1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups half-and-half
1-1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1-1/2 cups shredded mixed cheese -- I used a taco blend with Cheddar and Monterrey Jack 
1 tsp garlic salt (to taste)

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and Worcestershire sauce and stir well. Add the beer and raise the heat to high and boil for 3 minutes to evaporate the alcohol. Add the chicken broth and bring the soup back to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer.

While the liquids are simmering, combine the cornstarch with 3 tbsp water and stir until smooth. Set aside.

Add the half-and-half and shredded cheese to the pot. Stir constantly until the cheese melts, using a whisk if necessary. Then stir in the cornstarch mixture. Stir constantly with a whisk until the soup is thick, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic salt to taste. Serve hot.

Snickerdoodles!

I love snickerdoodles -- they are my favorite cookie, and I've been having a massive craving for them. I like them soft, with a bit of chewiness to them. This recipe produces perfect cookies. I found it on Food.com, where it also receives rave reviews.

Snickerdoodles
1 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2-3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
3 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix butter, 1-1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture. Chill dough and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge. Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture. Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes. Remove from pan immediately.

Creamy Crockpot Tilapia

This is a recipe several friends of mine are fond of, and I've been hearing them talk about how yummy it is for years. It's from A Year of Slow Cooking. I kept putting off trying it because every time I make fish, I ruin it. Not this time. This recipe was so incredibly simple and so wonderfully tasty. Both my young sons gobbled it up and told me they loved it. My husband, who doesn't like fish, cleaned his plate as well. We'll definitely be making this again soon.
  

Creamy Crockpot Tilapia

3 or 4 fillets of tilapia (or other favorite white fish)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup shredded cheese, preferably Parmesan

juice of 2 lemons

4 chopped garlic cloves

pinch each of salt and black pepper



Mix all ingredients except for the fish in a bowl. Lay out a piece of foil. Rub a generous amount of the sauce mixture on both sides of the fish. Fold the foil over and make a little packet for the fish. Place the packets into the crockpot and cook on LOW for 2-4 hours; fish should flake easily with a fork. Take care when taking the packets out of the crockpot and when opening -- they will be hot.

Chicken Pot Pie

Photo taken with my iPhone. @modernsimplicty

Yesterday was cloudy and a bit dreary, and I had a craving for chicken pot pie. Thankfully, I was able to dig out a super easy version that tasted great, with only about 10 minutes prep time and 30 minutes in the oven.

Chicken Pot Pie
1-1/2 cups frozen mixed veggies
1-1/2 cups chopped chicken
1 10-3/4 oz. can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup Original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400F. In a skillet, saute chicken until fully cooked. Mix chicken and frozen veggies in ungreased 9-inch glass pie pan. Stir together soup, Bisquick, milk and egg with a fork until combined and pour over chicken and veggies. Bake uncovered 30 minutes, until golden brown.

Pressure Cooker: Chicken and Dumplings

I've been wanting to make Chicken and Dumplings for years, but I could never seem to get it right. This pressure cooker version came out very tasty, and I'll definitely be making it again and fine-tuning the recipe! I'm still looking for a reliable crockpot version, so please pass it along if you have one!

PC Chicken and Dumplings
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 large chicken breasts, whole
2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1-1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup shredded carrot
2-1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 can buttermilk biscuits

Combine flour, salt and pepper, and coat chicken lightly with flour mixture. Melt half the butter in the pressure cooker on Browning mode, then cook chicken 5-6 minutes on each side to brown. Transfer chicken to platter and melt remaining butter, then select Saute mode. Add onions, celery, bell pepper, and thyme and cook until the onions are translucent.  Stir in carrots, chicken broth, wine, parsley and bay leaf and return chicken to the pot. Cover and lock lid in place. Select High Pressure and set timer for 10 minutes. When the timer sounds, use the Quick Pressure Release to release the pressure and remove lid carefully once pressure is released fully. Remove bay leaf. Select the Saute mode. Open the can of biscuits and tear each biscuit in half, rolling each half into a ball and dropping it into the pot. When all the biscuits are in the pot, cover loosely and cook for 10-15 minutes on Saute mode, until the dumplings are puffed and thoroughly cooked. 

Pressure Cooker: 16-Bean Soup

I got a really nice Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker for Christmas, and this bean soup was my first ever attempt at pressure cooking. I was nervous -- I'd heard all the stories about pressure cookers blowing up, sending soup and stew all over the ceiling. This was amazingly simple though, and the result was some of the best bean soup I've ever had. I'm actually looking forward to leftovers today!

PC 16-Bean Soup

5-6 slices bacon, sliced into 1/2 inch chunks

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 lb dried 16-bean soup variety beans (I buy them in the bulk bin at the natural food store)

6oz can tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes with juice

Salt, pepper, Lawry's Seasoning to taste

In an electric pressure cooker, sauté chopped onion and sliced bacon in olive oil until the onion is clear. Add the dried beans and tomato paste and cover with water, about 2" over the beans. Secure the lid and turn on high pressure for 35 minutes. When the time is up, use the quick pressure release,  add diced tomatoes and season to taste. Simmer 5 minutes and serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

Note: To make this soup vegetarian, simply omit the bacon.

Whole Wheat Bread/Bread Machine

Basic whole wheat bread in the bread machine.

Whole Wheat Bread

1-1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp honey or sugar

4 tsp butter

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

1 tsp salt

1-1/4 tsp dry active yeast

Layer ingredients according to your machine's directions. Use the whole grain cycle or basic white cycle for 2-lb. loaf. Makes one 2-lb. loaf, about 22 slices.

Italian Bread/Bread Machine

Great recipe for basic Italian bread and subs in pretty well for French bread too.

Italian Bread

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

3 tbsp water

1 tbsp butter

3 cups bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp active dry yeast

Layer all the ingredients according to your machine's directions. Use the basic white cycle. Makes one 1-1/2 pound loaf, about 16 slices.

White Bread/Bread Machine

I've been experimenting with making our own bread and building a collection of go-to recipes for my bread machine. Here's a great recipe for basic white bread.

White Bread

1-1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup room-temperature water

2 tbsp butter or olive oil

4 cups bread flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1-1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Layer ingredients according to your machine's instructions (generally liquids on bottom, dry stuff on top, little well of yeast on very top). Bake on basic white cycle for 2-lb. loaf. Makes one 2-lb. loaf, about 22 slices.

Green Smoothie 1.0

I love green smoothies, particularly Naked's Green Machine. My mother-in-law recently lent me her juicer, so we've been busy in the kitchen trying to make a Green Machine of our own. Here's attempt #1. While it doesn't really taste like Naked's version, it's still really tasty and full of vitamins!

Green Smoothie 1.0

2 handfuls leafy spinach

4 handfuls green grapes

2-3 small green apples

2 carrots

6 celery sticks

1 tbsp finely ground flaxseed

In a juicer or blender, juice the spinach, grapes, apples, carrots and celery. Pour into your cup or pitcher, and mix in the flaxseed. Chill thoroughly before drinking. Makes about 3 cups ~ 2 servings.

Crockpot Apple Butter

Somehow, we ended up with a ton of apples to use up, so I brought out the crockpot to save the apples from wasting away. Apple butter is so incredibly easy (only 3 steps!), and I ended up with 5 jars worth for the pantry. Apple butter, of course, means fresh biscuits, which made my sons happy, so we have been merrily snacking for days. 

Crockpot Apple Butter

1. Peel and chop a bunch of apples.
2. Put them in the crockpot with 1/2 c to 1 c. water, a healthy sprinkle of cinnamon and a mix of half white sugar, half brown sugar to taste (usually 1 c. total is enough for sweet sauce).
3. Cook all day until brown and thick. Use a whisk to smooth, stirring every hour or so.

Chilled Cream of Cucumber Soup with Dill

One of my summer favorites:

Chilled Cream of Cucumber Soup with Dill
3 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
1/2 cup chilled buttermilk
1/2 cup chilled lowfat sour cream
2-1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh dill or 1/2 teaspoon dried, crumbled

In a blender, puree the cucumbers, then mix in the buttermilk, the sour cream, the vinegar, the oil, the dill and salt to taste. Chill the soup, covered for at least 30 minutes. Whisk the soup to recombine, then divide the soup between 2 chilled bowls.

The Best Greek Salad Ever

We love Greek salad in the summer, and we're to the point that we've made it so much we no longer follow a recipe -- we just toss whatever's available from the garden or the produce bin into the bowl. But this has to be the yummiest Greek salad I've ever made, so I had to list the ingredients out for posterity. And so I can make it again every weekend this summer...take a look and tell me this doesn't look divine...

The Best Greek Salad

cucumber

tomatoes (cherries cut in half, or larger tomatoes cut into chunks)

olives (we like a combo of green olives and katamala olives)

fresh parsley -- lots of it

olive oil, just a drizzle

dried basil

dried Greek seasoning blend (if you have it)

sea salt or kosher salt

dried thyme

feta cheese

Combine ingredients in a large bowl (to taste) and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serve cold. Leftovers taste even better the next day! Makes a great side dish or a light lunch entree.

Turkey Meatballs

I don't cook with ground turkey often, but this experiment worked out so well that it's going into regular rotation. This recipe can go over pasta or on rolls for meatball subs (which is how we had it). So delicious, and healthy too! I did not measure as I was tossing stuff in, so all measurements are approximate. The next time I make it, I'll try to be more precise so I can update.

Turkey Meatballs
1 lb. ground turkey
2 slices day old bread, ground into crumbs
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp diced garlic
2 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp + olive oil, plus more for frying
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp dried celery seed
a bit of salt and black pepper

Sauce (can use premade spaghetti sauce or use ingredients below):
16 oz tomato sauce
16 oz can whole tomatoes or large diced tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp dried basil
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp garlic salt

Mix ingredients from ground turkey down to salt and pepper together in a large bowl, then roll the mixture into meatballs with your hands. Brown in olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat, just a couple of minutes on each side. Transfer browned meatballs to crockpot. Pour in premade spaghetti sauce or sauce ingredients listed above. Simmer on High for 2 hours or Low for 4 hours. Serves 6-8.

Pantry Potato Soup v2 (Crockpot Style)

I ended up working on another creamy potato soup recipe, in large part because I had leftover chicken and turkey stock in my fridge and half a bag of potatoes that I didn't want to waste. Also, the last experiment worked out so well, I was eager to find a similar version that could be made in my BFF, the crockpot. Here's what I came up with -- it's similar to the stove-top version I made last week, but it's designed to simmer in a crockpot all day long, perfect for workdays! The ingredients are a bit different, because once again I was raiding the pantry for supplies.

Pantry Potato Soup v2 (Crockpot Style)

5-6 medium white potatoes, cut into chunks

large handful of carrots, cut into chunks

6 cups stock or broth (I used a combo of homemade chicken and turkey stocks or use veggie stock for vegetarian)

16 oz. frozen sweet corn

7 oz. can green chiles

1 tbsp celery seed

2 tbsp minced onion

1 tsp ground black pepper

8 oz. package cream cheese

2 triangles Laughing Cow cheese (or other soft cheese)

3-4 tbsp Lawry's seasoning salt (to taste)

Toss potatoes through black pepper into crockpot, and simmer on low for about 8 hours. Stir in cream cheese and other soft cheese, then raise heat to high until cheese is melted. Use an immersion blender to cream soup. Stir in Lawry's to taste. Simmer another 5 minutes on low, and serve hot, with fresh bread or tortillas.

Pantry Potato Soup

When I threw together this soup last night, I wasn't trying to make a recipe. I was just trying to make a meal using whatever I had in the pantry, fridge and freezer. The result was amazing, and despite my general dislike of leftovers, today's leftover soup lunch was just as tasty. Paired with fresh homemade bread, this is an excellent meal. Sorry, I didn't take notes as I prepared it, so I don't have exact measurements for anything. I will definitely be paying more attention to the details next time so I can update!

Pantry Potato Soup

6-8 medium white potatoes, cut into chunks

large handful of carrots, cut into chunks

8 cups stock or broth (I used a combo of homemade chicken and turkey stocks, or use veggie stock for vegetarian)

diced onion, green pepper and celery (I used a frozen bag of the combo)

2-3 tbsp Lawry's seasoning salt

1 tbsp celery seed

1 bay leaf

8oz package cream cheese

2 triangles Laughing Cow cheese (or other soft cheese)

In a large stock pot, boil all veggies and seasonings in stock until potatoes are fully cooked (about 15 minutes). Stir in cream cheese and other soft cheese until melted. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to cream soup. Simmer another 5-10 minutes on medium low, and serve hot, with fresh bread.

Potato Corn Chowder

I first got this recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Centsational Girl. It sounded easy enough, and with fall most decidedly here, it sounded warm and cozy. And it was both. So delicious that even my picky 4-year-old cleaned his bowl. And the leftovers were even better! Of course, being me, I couldn't just make the recipe as it was posted (sorry Kate!). I had to tweak it and make it my own. So here it is, Centsational Girl's chowder with Sandy's modifications LOL!

Potato Corn Chowder

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 small yellow onion (or 1/2 large yellow onion), diced

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

6 medium potatoes

3/4 teaspoon thyme

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 tbsp Lawry's seasoning salt

Salt to taste

1-1/2 cups frozen corn

2 cups half-n-half

1/4 cup flour or cornstarch

Crumbled bacon (omit if vegetarian)

Sour cream for topping

Heat olive oil and butter in pan. Soften the diced onion in butter/oil mixture for 8 – 10 minutes on medium low heat. Meanwhile peel your potatoes and chop them into small cubes. Add chicken broth to your softened onions and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and thyme and cook on medium heat (low boil) for 15 minutes until potatoes are soft. Mash up your potato mixture using an immersion blender, regular blender or a manual potato masher. Add the frozen corn and half & half, Lawry's, white pepper and salt to taste. Mix a little chicken broth with the flour/cornstarch until smooth, then mix everything together in the pot. Let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Ladle into bowls, the top with a dollop of sour cream and bacon crumbles. Mmmmmm!

Lemon Cream Scones

Yummy. This will be a new favorite in my house, I can tell already. Even my 1-year-old is wandering the kitchen saying, "skont? skont?" It's so cute to watch him wandering around, scone in hand, nibbling happily. Special thanks to my friend Yvonne for sharing this recipe with me at our recent visit!

Lemon Cream Scones

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1-1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 425F and have a large ungreased baking sheet standing by. Whisk together all ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and roll dough flat about 3/4" thick (make thinner if you fold each scone in half). Cut 10-12 circles with round biscuit cutter or the top of a glass and place at least 1/2" apart on baking sheet. Brush tops with some cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425F for 12-15 minutes.

These are awesome alone or with a little blackberry or strawberry preserves!