Sunday Dinner, Pasta with a Side of Pasta.

We were on carb overload after this Sunday dinner.  Pasta, paired with another pasta, plus toasted bread and some cupcakes ended up delicious, but heavy on the carbohydrates.

While my sister took on the pastas, my mother and I attempted to make a homemade frosting that involves a candy thermometer and was featured on KARE11 a month or two ago when I filled in for Belinda on a Saturday morning.  The frosting was made by Sweets Bakeshop and is to die for.  To my surprise, it wasn't too difficult to make, especially when you factor in our boxed cupcake mix.

I followed the recipe online for Italian Meringue Buttercream exactly, with one exception.  I omitted the vanilla in favor of some lavender.  Yum!  After topping the cupcakes, I did eat some leftover frosting by itself... it is that good.

On to the main dishes... these two pastas, were both fab.  Although the boys of the group did enjoy the spicy chicken dish a bit more than the light basil and lemon one.  If you ask me, they were both good, both for different reasons.

The lemon basil one was nice and light.  Pine nuts added a great bit of texture.  Plus, you could easily add chicken or another protein if you wish.  Here's the recipe from I Nom Things.

The spicy chicken pasta dish was a great one pot wonder, and using canned sauces are a great time saver.  Next time, I would add even more sauce since the pasta soaked it up quite a bit and didn't leave quite enough on the plate to justify eating a slice of bread alongside it.  :)  Here's the recipe from Tastebook.  We accidentally forgot our frozen peas...

Sunday Dinner, Mother's Day Brunch.

For Mother's Day my mom requested we go to church to see her play in the bell choir, and that we all have brunch.  Easy enough.

Brunch for us consisted of only two dishes, but we were so full that making any more food would have just been a waste.  We made Corned Beef and Gruyere Casserole, as featured by Michael Symon on The Chew and bacon pancakes!

The casserole is so freaking good.  Add Gruyere and some fresh herbs to anything and I bet it would taste good!  Here's the recipe: Michael Symon's Corned Beef Hash Casserole

The bacon pancakes are easy and delicious, and can be made one of two ways.  After mixing pancake batter using your favorite box or homemade mix you can either crumble in some cooked bacon or, lay the bacon slices on a griddle and pour a scoop of batter over each one.  Cook and flip as usual and voila!  I tried the second method and it worked great.  I recommend real maple syrup on the side too!

Homemade (Sort of) Foaming Hand Soap.

Easy DIY is so right up my alley.  This is one of those no-brainer choices...

Foaming hand soap is so much more fun than regular hand soap.  But it can cost like $3 to $5 a bottle!  So here's an easy DIY:

Take an old but clean foaming hand soap bottle and fill it almost to the top with water. (I used filtered water, but I'm sure tap will do as well.)  Squirt in some dish soap.  I'm not one to measure, but I would guess I put in 2-3 teaspoons.  Screw on the cover and gently shake to combine the soap and water.  Voila! 

Pump and scrub away!  Just like a new store-bought bottle!

#Foodtruckforecast

I am so pumped up!  Fork in the Road Foodtruck and I have teamed up for a daily forecast just for food trucks and their patrons. 

As the official food truck forecaster, I'll send out a tweet each weekday at 9:30am and again at 11:30am with the MSP weather conditions for the lunch time rush!  Follow me on twitter @laurabetker and follow the hashtag #foodtruckforecast!

Sunday Dinner: Peach Sauce and Risotto.

So these things don't really go together, but Jenna requested the risotto and Bryan saw this peach sauce on Man Vs. Food the other day, so what the heck!

 

I happen to have a risotto recipe in one of the Giada De Laurentiis cookbooks I have.  It's one of those recipes that once you make the basic form, you can literally add anything to it and it only gets better.  While risotto takes a little time to make, it really is easy.  Here's the recipe I used.  I kept the add-ons simple and just used some fresh herbs.

 

 

Giada's basic Risotto:

4 cups chicken broth

3 Tbsp. butter

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup freshly grated Parm

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Few sage leaves, or whatever fresh herbs you have on hand

In a medium saucepan,bring the broth to a simmer. Cover and keep hot over low heat. In a large saucepan melt 2 Tbsp. butter over medium. Add onion and sauté until tender but not brown, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter. Add the wine and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, 3 min. Add 1/2 cup of simmering broth and still until almost completely absorbed, 2 min. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the net, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total. Remove from the heat. Stir in the Parm cheese, the remaining tablespoon of butter and salt and better.  As mentioned I also stirred is a bunch of fresh cut herbs at this point.  Fab!

The chicken was slightly trickier because they don't give an exact recipe on Man Vs. Food. So, by watching closely and using some general knowledge of making BBQ sauce, I winged it.  Here's the general recipe, but please note that I am NOT a measurer.  A little of this and a little of that, is my cooking method.  Then add a little more until it tastes right.  This sauce is fabulous.  I would be great for wings or pork chops.  And as an added bonus, it tastes great as a salsa with tortilla chips!

 

 

Chicken:

Coat a bone-in cut up chicken with olive oil, paprika, thyme and salt and pepper. The amounts aren't important,just make sure you have enough salt to flavor the chicken.  It will be a bright reddish-orange mixture.  Grill on medium high until juices run clear.

Peach Sauce:

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 small cans tomato sauce

2 Tbsp. molasses

1Tbsp. white vinegar

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 large cans of peaches in syrup

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp. thyme

olive oil

salt and pepper

In a large skillet or heavy pot soften onion celery and bell pepper in olive oil over medium heat.  Season with thyme, salt and pepper.  Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, molasses and Worcestershire sauce.  Taste. (It should taste a bit like BBQ sauce.   Like it sweeter?  Add more brown sugar.  Like it more tangy?  Add more Worcestershire or a splash of extra vinegar.) Season with salt and pepper. Let sauce bubble for a couple minutes over medium heat.

With a food processor, blender or immersion blender puree the sauce.  Add can of peaches, with syrup and puree again.  Pour back in pot.

Add bay leaves and simmer for 5 minutes.  Taste and season.  Serve over chicken!

Dessert was one of those afterthoughts that came about with whatever we had in the house at the time.  After a quick internet search, we came up with Fruit Nachos! 

 

Here's how we made them!

Fruit Nachos:
2 cups fresh or frozen fruit, thawed and chopped
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tub whipped topping, like Cool Whip
1 individual serving of yogurt, any flavor is fine
honey
chocolate (white, milk or dark)
flour tortillas
melted butter
2 more Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

For the fruit topping:
Mix fruit and sugar.  Allow to macerate.

For the whipped topping:
Mix whipped topping and yogurt.  Add honey to taste.

For the chips:
Cut each tortilla into 8 equal sections.  Mix butte with cinnamon and sugar.  Spread butter mixture over tortillas on both sides.  Place in a single layer on cookie sheets and bake at 400° until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Place chips on a platter, top with yogurt mixture and fruit.  Shave chocolate over the top.  Serve and enjoy!