Italian Parmesan Herb Chicken and Potatoes in the Slow Cooker

I put this together before church one Sunday morning.  It smelled (and tasted!) fantastic when we got home.  If you have garden fresh tomatoes, they make a wonderful side dish.  A simple tossed salad would be good too.

I don’t have an ingredient picture this time.  I think I was too busy getting ready for church, cooking as fast as I could.  I forgot to snap the photo.

I did use frozen chicken tenders and skipped thawing them.  They cooked just fine.  You can also save time by estimating the herb measurements instead of measuring.

Here’s the how-to:  [Read more...]

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Ingredient Spotlight: Fresh Herbs

Do you grow your own herbs?

I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I do like to try to grow herbs.  Right now I only have basil and chives, but in the past we’ve had parsley, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, mint and lavender.

Basil is my favorite to cook with.  I love to walk out to the garden boxes and gather a handful while the pasta boils.  Small pleasure.

Here are a few of my recipes that use fresh herbs:  [Read more...]

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Italian Seasoned Salt Chicken in the Slow Cooker

A few weeks ago I decided to make some flat bread with homemade Italian Seasoning.  That didn’t work out too well on my first try.  I’ll have to play around with it a bit.

But I have been using the Italian Seasoning on all kinds of other foods and it’s been really good.  The seasoning adds lots of flavor to chicken or pasta dishes.  This time, I used it on chicken thighs in the slow cooker.  Here’s what you’ll need:

[Read more...]

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Bowtie Pasta with Italian Sausage and Bell Peppers

There are nights when I stare into my pantry, wondering what I’m going to fix.  On this particular night, the contents of the pantry made me consider making Italian Sausage with Bowties but I didn’t have any stewed tomatoes.  I decided to change the recipe up a bit and came up with this.

Like the original, it’s a cinch to make and quick too.  This one gets an added taste boost from the peppers.  Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

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Meatballs and Spanish Rice

I found this recipe in Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook.  I’ve done a little altering to it though.  First, it calls for brown rice, which I swear I bought, but is nowhere to be found in my pantry.  So I subbed white rice.

The method for making this involves baking the raw meatballs on top of the rice.  Because of this, you’re going to need to use very lean meat or else the dish will be too greasy.  I’ve made it before with ground bison.  This time I used some of the 88 meatballs I made and froze.  I froze some of them raw, specifically to use in this dish.  A quick thaw in the microwave was all they needed.  It sped up the prep work a lot to start with the meatballs already made.

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

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Cheesy Rice and Meatball Skillet Dish

Remember all the 88 meatballs I made and froze?  Some of them were destined for this dish.

This is based on a recipe in an old church cookbook.  I made it according to the recipe the first time (unusual for me to follow a recipe exactly!), which means I used the Velveeta it called for.  Much as we like Velveeta, it was too gooey and sticky for us.

A week later, I gave the recipe a make-over.  I swapped out the Velveeta for Italian blend cheese and added garlic and Italian seasonings.  It’s still a quick stove-top meal, but with much better flavor.

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

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Angel Hair with Red Onion and Black Olives

angel hair with red onion and black olives done

This dish is full of flavor – garlic, red onion, black olives, basil, parsley and Parmesan all in white wine sauce.  It pairs up beautifully with grilled chicken, although the chicken didn’t make it into the photo.

Best of all, it is quick to fix.

Here’s what you’ll need:

[Read more...]

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Ravioli with Red Onion, White Wine, and Asiago

ravioli with red onion, white wine and asiago done

This tasted like something from a good restaurant.  It can be made in the time it takes to boil water and cook the ravioli.

I found the Asiago cheese in the cheese case near the deli.  It was the same price as Parmesan, which can be substituted if you can’t find it.  The label states that Asiago has a “mild and nutty” flavor.

Oh, I’m detecting nuttiness.

Name that movie.

I’m pretty sure Remy and Gusteau would approve of this dish.

[Read more...]

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Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce

Italian sausage pasta sauce done

I used to think that homemade pasta sauce took a long time to make.  That’s the way my Grandma made it and hers was always so good.

But pasta sauce doesn’t have to be an all day deal.  This one only takes about 10 minutes if you already have the Italian sausage browned out.  Add an extra 10 minutes if you need to do that step too.

[Read more...]

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Broccoli Tomato Tortellini Salad

broccoli tomato tortellini salad done

It’s hot outside.  Super hot and humid.

If you’re looking for a cool dinner idea, this is your recipe.

I wish I could say that I had garden fresh tomatoes for this dish, but my plants have yet to decide to really produce tomatoes.  All I have are a few small green maters that taunt and torment me because they haven’t changed in size or color for weeks.

I’m a gardening failure.  But that’s a whole ‘nuther post.  For this dish I used a couple of store bought tomatoes and grape tomatoes (tragic because this is August) and 3 delicious cherry tomatoes from my garden.

[Read more...]

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