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.