Chicken Pesto Pasta

Pesto is such a versatile ingredient. You can use it on sadwiches, pastas, sauces, and many other things. The best part about it, is pesto makes any meal taste like you took hours to prepare it. Here's a short and quick recipe for a pesto meal, that if you have the pesto pre-made, can be whipped up in 15 minutes.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
1 box pasta
Basil pesto (I buy mine at Costco)
Parmesan cheese to top (optional)

Directions:

Boil the pasta in a medium sauce pan. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into strips and fry with some olive oil.

When the pasta is finished and the chicken is cooked through, mix the pasta, chicken, and pesto together. You can easily eye how much pesto you'll need. Put a little pesto in and mix. If needed, add more.

You can serve the pasta with some sourdough bread, and a vegetable to make a complete meal.

Roma Tomatoes and Pasta with a Cream Cheese Sauce

Roma tomatoes and pasta is one of my most favorite recipes. I love anything with pasta in it, and adding tomatoes and cheese makes it heavenly. I also favor this meal because I can whip it out in 15 minutes or less. If you cook something enough you will become so good at it that you won't have to hang over the cook book anymore. When you've perfected a recipe you can usually cut the time it takes to prepare in half.

Anyways, here's the recipe for a very easy, and simple pasta dish:

Oven: 400 | Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 box of farfalle (or bow tie) pasta

4 roma tomatoes diced
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. basil flakes
1 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1, 8 oz box of cream cheese
1 C. milk
1/4 C. freshly grated parmesan cheese.

2 chicken breasts cut into strips

Bring a medium size sauce pan full of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook about 5-6 minutes until aldante. You want this pasta to be more on the firm side because it will soften in the oven.

While the pasta is cooking heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the tomatoes and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the basil, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste (usually about 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper). Let simmer for 5 minutes until most (but not all) of the moisture is gone.

While the tomatoes are cooking, in a blender or food processor, blend the cream cheese, milk, and parmesan. You want it to the consistency of a a melted Wendy's frosty. If it is too thick add more milk. If it is too thin add more cream cheese.

If you'd like to add chicken you can stir fry the strips in a little bit of olive oil with salt and pepper.

Put the pasta in a casserole dish. Cover with cream cheese sauce. Mix half of the tomatoes in with the pasta and use the other half to top the pasta. Sprinkle dish with basil and Parmesan.

Cook in the oven for 8 minutes or until the top just starts to dry out.

Chicken Quesadillas

This is one of my most favorite meals. These quesadillas are tasty and pretty easy to make. They don't require a lot of spices, and you can use the leftovers for quite a few days. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 C. rice
2 C. water
1 tsp. salt

2 large chicken breasts
1 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. chile powder
2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (Optional. Add more or less depending on how spicy you like it.)
salt and pepper to taste

shredded cheddar cheese
flour tortillas
salsa (optional)

Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add the salt and the rice. Let the rice simmer covered for about 20 minutes or until it has absorbed all the water and is soft to eat.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Add chicken and cook stirring often. Once chicken is cooked all the way through add chile powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Fry for about 2 minutes until spices are fragrant.

Top tortialls with rice, chicken, cheese. Cook quesadilla on a skillet. Add salsa if desired.

How to Cut an Onion

Chopping onions can be hard. They make you cry so you can't see, and sometimes it takes a long time to chop it into lots of small finite pieces.

I found this video the other day that does a great job demonstrating how to correctly chop an onion. Once you do it this way you'll never go back.

Broccoli Quesadillas

I love these broccoli quesadillas. Not only because they taste great, but also because they are so easy to make. Anytime I'm short on time but need to eat something, this is a great go-to. They're healthy, tasty, and quick. Whenever I make these I use uncooked tortillas. They can be found at most any grocery store. These tortillas are delicious. Once I started using them I couldn't go back to the pre-cooked. They taste fresher and better than any tortillas I've had (unless you're using homemade). They have corn, flour, and whole-wheat flour tortillas that come in this style. I've used the whole-wheat and although it would give you the necessary grains the tortilla didn't taste nearly as good, and they all stuck together and ripped when pulled apart, so I spent a lot of time pinching them back together. I would recommend the usual white flour for this recipe.

Ingredients:

Uncooked tortillas

Mozzarella cheese

Broccoli

Spinach

Directions:

Prepare your tortilla with the mozzarella on the bottom. Add the broccoli and spinach. Cook on a non-stick skillet. Serve while hot.

Basmati Rice

Basmati Rice goes perfectly with the Indian curry in the post before. There are so many ways that you can prepare it that you'll never get bored either. You can cook rice in water (and only water) just fine. It will come out tasting just like rice. But, you can also cook rice in various (easy) ways that will make it taste much, much better than if you had done water alone. Here is what I recommend for basmati rice:

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. butter
1/4 C. finely chopped onions
1 C. basmati rice
1 1/2 C. chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

In a sauce pan with a lid, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the onions and saute until translucent or soft.

Add the rice and cook stirring for about 30 seconds. Add the broth, zest, bay leaf, Tabasco sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.

Simmer over low heat covered for 17 minutes. Be careful that it doesn't boil over. Uncover, remove bay leaf. Add remaining butter and stir until melted. Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka Masala

I'll be honest, this recipe is more complex than any of my other ones. It will probably require a couple of new items at the grocery store, and it will take time. But, it is so delicious that it's worth it. Also, it's one of those meals that you get better and quicker at making the more you do it. If you want to impress somebody, make an Indian curry. It looks, smells, and tastes beautifully. So, here's the how:

Time prep: 45 minutes | Time cook: 45 minutes | Serves 4 easily

Ingredients

Marinade:
1 cup plain yogurt, whisked until smooth
3 tablespoons Ginger-Garlic Paste, recipe follows (or 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger and 3 cloves garlic put through a garlic press or finely minced)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, poked with a fork, and cut into large bite-sized chunks

Sauce:
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup Ginger-Garlic Paste, recipe follows (or 6 cloves garlic and 2-inch thumb ginger minced)
2 serrano peppers, minced (seeds removed if you don't want it spicy)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons paprika
8 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 to 2 cups water
Oil, for grilling
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
1/2 cup heavy cream
Minced fresh cilantro, for garnish
Cooked rice (I like to use basmati)

Naan or pita bread butter and warmed in a frying pan.

Directions

For the marinade: In a large bowl, mix together the marinade ingredients. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Marinate at least 30 minutes, or in the refrigerator up to overnight.

For the sauce: When you're ready to make the curry, place a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add the Ginger-Garlic Paste and serrano peppers. Sauté until lightly browned around the edges. Add the tomato paste and cook until the tomato has darkened in color, about 3 minutes. Add the garam masala and the paprika and sauté for about 1 minute to draw out their flavors.

Add the tomatoes, salt, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cook until thickened, about 20 minutes. You may need more water depending on how much liquid the tomatoes give off.

Meanwhile, fire up your grill (if you don't have a grill you can just fry it in a frying pan). When it is nice and hot, lightly brush it with oil. Place the chicken on the grill, shaking off some of the excess marinade. Cook until it's charred, about 2 minutes on each side. (Don't worry that the chicken will still be a little uncooked, it finishes cooking in the sauce).

Pour the sauce into a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender, and process until smooth. Pour back into the skillet and bring back up to a boil. Add the chicken and fenugreek leaves, if using. Take the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the cream and stir through. Garnish with minced fresh cilantro, and serve over rice, with naan, or a crusty piece of bread!

Ginger-Garlic Paste:
Throw the garlic, ginger, and canola oil in a mini-food processor and let it go until it forms a semi-smooth paste. There will still be tiny little pieces in there, but overall, it should resemble a paste.

You can save any that you have left over in a jar. IT should keep for about 2 weeks.