Swanky Pasta with Summer Squash

Okay friends! This is awesome! Totally combined these things on a whim and we love it...knock out flavor!

2 TBS olive oil
1/2 Summer squash, sliced
1/2 tsp ground ginger dash of crushed red pepper (a little goes a long way)
1/2 cup white cooking wine (add salt if you use table white)
2-3 TBS of cream cheese
1/4 cup marinara sauce
4 leaves of fresh basil chopped
Farfalle Pasta
2-3 red potatoes, baked and cut into bite-size pieces

Saute the squash in the oil with spices for just a few minutes, add cooking wine, marinara, and cream cheese and half of the basil and bring to a boil. Turn to low, toss with cooked pasta and potatoes. Remove from heat, dish up and top with remaining fresh basil. YUM!

*This makes a great side dish, or vegetarian main dish. You could easily add a meat of choice at the beginning with the squash and it would be fantastic.

Susan's Nashville Fruit Tea

So...we love Baja Burrito for many things, but one of Susan's favorite reasons is the fiesta-in-your mouth that is their fabulous fruit tea. She found a pretty good recipe for a knock off version and added her own two cents. Enjoy!


Prep Time: 20 mins. | Steep Time: 3 hours | Servings: Makes 2 gallons | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

24 regular tea bags, 8 mint tea bags (enough to make 2 gallons)
6 cups boiling water
2 cups sugar
1 (48-ounce) can pineapple juice
1 (12-ounce) can frozen orange juice
1 (12-ounce) can frozen lemonade or use The basic lemonade recipe below

Basic lemonade:

Combine 1 cup boiling water and 1 cup sugar
Add 1 cup lemon juice
Add enough water to fill 2 quart pitcher


Directions:

Place tea bags in bowl or pitcher. Pour boiling water over tea bags. Add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Let tea bags steep in sugar water several hours or overnight. discard tea bags. Pour tea into a large bowl. Add juices, stirring well. Pour equal amounts into two one-gallon jugs. Add water to each to fill jug. Refrigerate. Shake well before serving

Notes:

16 cups = a gallon 6 cups = 1.5 quarts

Susan's Creamed White Wine Lemon Chicken

Just hosted dinner club at our place for about a dozen friends and this was the recipie of choice! Susan has made this once before, combining a few recipes, and well...tweaking the whole thing to make it even more awesome. It was time to write it down!

Susan's Creamed White Wine Lemon Chicken

Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Servings: 12 | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

Sauté:

2 tbsp butter
1/4 c white or sherry cooking wine
3 packages of white or baby Bella mushrooms, cut in half
2 shallots or 1/2 medium onion chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian pizza pasta grinder spice mix (Aldi has a great one)
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cute into 1 inch strips
1/8 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped

Cream sauce:

2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups white cooking wine
1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp butter


Directions:

Begin with the sauté:

1. Melt butter in large skillet; add wine, mushrooms, shallots, salt, and Italian spices. Allow to heat to a low boil. Sauté until mushrooms are just cooked. Remove mushrooms from skillet and keep warm (I use my crock pot). Don't crowd the mushrooms. Do not rinse skillet.

2. Sauté chicken in same skillet, Adding wine if necessary. Cook until outside of chicken is white. Remove from skillet, keep warm with mushrooms. Pour out any excess liquid, but do not wash pot.

Next prepare cream sauce:

1. Bring heavy cream, white wine, and lemon juice and butter to a boil in the same skillet.

2. Add chicken back in to finish cooking.

3. Remove chicken again, and keep warm. Add flour in slowly, in small amounts. Do not add too much, as the mixture will thicken after being taken off the heat.

4. Combine chicken and mushrooms. Mix and heat through. When using the crock pot to warm, just pour sauce over mushrooms and chicken and stir.

Serve over your choice of pasta. Top with freshly chopped Italian parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Sour Cream/Vanilla Yogurt Coffee Cake & Glaze

This is a yummy dessert/breakfast
(however you choose to eat it!)





Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together thoroughly in medium bowl:

1 1/2 C flour
1 C Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 Salt

Beat well in large bowl:

1 C light sour cream OR 1 C vanilla yogurt
2 eggs

Add dry mixture to wet until just mixed...don't over mix! Spread in greased 9X9 square pan. Top with streusel (mixture of 1/3 C sugar, 2 Tbs flour, 2 Tbs butter, adding cinnamon after the first three)

Bake 25 minutes and let cool.

For optional glaze:

Melt 2 Tbs of butter on skillet. Remove from heat and add 1 Tsp. Vanilla and 2 Tbs Heavy Cream. Stir until even. Mix in 1/3 to 1/2 C of powdered sugar until smooth.
Drizzle over cake and enjoy!

Hawaiian Meatballs a la Russell

So you may have had these under the name Waikiki meatballs from Betty Crocker, which is where I first had them thanks to my mom, but Ryan and I of course did our thing again and tadaa! Hawaiian Meatballs a la Russell! (This feeds a lot by the way)



Sauce:
6 TBS. Cornstarch
1 1/2 C Brown Sugar (go for the dark...it's better)
2 cans (20 oz.) Chunk Pineapple in JUICE (not syrup or your in for a sugar overload!!!)
*be prepared to drain the pineapple while KEEPING the juice
1 C vinegar
3 TBS. Soy Sauce

Meatballs:
2 1/2 - 3 Lbs Ground Beef or Turkey
1 C cracker crumbs (seasoned bread crumbs work well)
2/3 c minced onion
2 eggs
3 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/3 C milk

How to make it mouth-wateringly wonderful:

Begin with the sauce by thoroughly mixing the corn starch and brown sugar. Stir in the reserved Pineapple juice, vinegar, and soy sauce until smooth. Pour into medium sauce pan, cook over medium until sauce thickens and boils. Allow to boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour into crock pot (set on low or warm). Add Pineapple to sauce and let warm through.

Next mix all ingredients for the meatballs in medium to large bowl (a potato masher works great if you want to avoid the mess). Shape into balls about 1.5 inches in diameter. Cook in large skillet in olive oil over medium heat until done. Add finished meatballs to the crock pot (may need to do this in two batches if your skillet isn't big enough). Let all heat through.

Serve warm over rice! Enjoy!!!

Apricot Chicken Ala Susan and Ryan

This is for those of you who go to restaurants and end up thinking "I could totally make that!" Yep, I thought so too. And, was actually decently successful!

2-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (try something fun like rosemary infused!!)
2 teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 teaspoon of pre-minced garlic, or 1 clove of freshly minced garlic
2 Teaspoons or so of My faithful Pizza/Pasta Seasoning Grinder from ALDI!
1/4 C Apricot Preserves
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Fresh Rosemary sprig (I grow mine on the porch, but you can pick this up at Kroger).
1/2 cup of fresh baby carrots
Salt to taste
Spaghetti Pasta

Heat oil in the skillet on medium high, along with vinegar, garlic, and ALDI seasoning. Add chicken and allow to cook on both sides until white. Add Apricot Preserves, Brown Sugar, and Fresh rosemary (cut into fine pieces). I bet adding 1/4 cup of your favorite white cooking wine would be good too! When sauce has warmed and mixed well, add carrots and let simmer on low until chicken is no longer pink in center and carrots are tender. Add salt to taste and serve over spaghetti.

This is great with a side of steamed asparagus or fresh cut green beans or sauteed in olive oil and the same pizza/pasta ALDI grinder seasoning.

ENJOY!!! And points to the person who can guess what restaurant knock-off this is:)

Susan's Kickin' Habanero Salsa & Susan's Pineapple Salsa

Another late night craving led to another late night fiesta-in-our-mouths! We found that jalapeno peppers just weren't cutting it anymore, and that the flavor in a habanero pepper is a perfect change. Ryan, being the Texan in the relationship, likes his salsa with some kick. Susan's Michigan tastebuds are working overtime and adjusting, but they still prefer the milder Pineapple version more. Thank you to Kellie Russell, Ryan's mom for turning us onto habanero with our memorable cream-corn experience last Christmas!

8 roma tomatoes
1/2 medium to large sweet onion
3 limes
1/4 to 1/3 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 small to medium habanero pepper

For Susan's Kickin' Habanero salsa:

Chop up all ingredients to desired size for chunky salsa, and mix well. For finer salsa, puree inredients in a blender. Be sure that when cuttung the habanero you cover your hands with plastic bags or the like to avoid touching the juice. It will definitely burn if you don't. Dice the habanero pepper well so that no one bite has a large chunk of the pepper.

For Susan's Pineapple Salsa:

All ingredients listed above
1 can crushed pineapple in it's own juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Prepare salsa as normal. Mix 1 part salsa with 1 part crushed pineapple. Add sugar to sweeten a little.


Enjoy!