Penne with Sausage and Escarole

Ingredients

1. 1 pound penne pasta
2. 1 teaspoon olive oil
3. 2 medium onions, cut into small dice (about 2 cups)
4. 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into medium dice (about1 cup)
5. 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for the pasta water
6. 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
7. 1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (or bulk sausage)
8. 2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
9. 1 bunch escarole or mustard greens, rinsed, stemmed, and torn into bite-size pieces (about 8 cups)
10. 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
11. 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the penne and cook until just tender, about 11 minutes. Drain the pasta in a colander, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water, and set aside.
2. While the water is heating and the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a l4-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, bell pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper, and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes. Add the sausage and cook, breaking the pieces up with the back of a wooden spoon, until browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and escarole, and cook for 5 minutes longer.
3. Add the cooked pasta and the reserved cooking water, and stir gently to combine. Simmer just until everything is heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Transfer the mixture to a large serving bowl. Add the cheese and crushed red pepper, and toss to combine. Drizzle with the extra-virgin olive oil, and serve immediately.

OREO Peanut Butter & Pretzel Cookie Balls

OREO Peanut Butter & Pretzel Cookie Balls

Ingredients

1. 30 OREO Cookies, divided
2. 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3. 1/4 cup marshmallow creme
4. 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
5. 3/4 cup coarsely crushed pretzel sticks (about 2 cups sticks)
6. 32 pretzel sticks

 

Instructions

1. CRUSH 16 cookies finely; mix with peanut butter and marshmallow creme until blended.
2. SHAPE into 32 (1-inch) balls. Refrigerate 15 min.
3. MEANWHILE, place chocolate in microwaveable measuring cup or small bowl. Melt in microwave as directed on package. Coarsely crush remaining cookies; mix with crushed pretzels in pie plate.
4. DIP cookie balls in melted chocolate, allowing excess chocolate to drip back into cup. Dip bottoms of balls in crumb mixture; place in waxed paper-lined shallow pan. Insert pretzel stick into top of each ball.
5. REFRIGERATE 30 min. or until firm.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 8 oz packagecCream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating 5 to 7 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears. Add vanilla mixing well. Combine flour and salt, gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Fill a 2-cup, ovenproof measuring cup with water; place in oven with tube pan. This will help keep the cake moist. Bake at 300°F for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Glaze-
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 TBS milk, to consistency

Mix together till desired consistency is reached, but should be thin. Add more milk one teaspoon at a time to get the thinness you want. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Video to make Watermelon Snowcones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_GkjYSvAYs#t=105

Addicting Sweet Garlic Chicken

Sweet Garlic Chicken -


So Easy and Addicting! Make it while you can... they'll outlaw this as a controlled substance soon 

4 Ingredients:

 Chicken, Garlic, Brown Sugar and Olive Oil. (measurements vary on taste - recipe I used is below


Saute the Minced Garlic with the Olive Oil until soft, then remove from heat and stir in the Brown Sugar.


Pour that mix over the Chicken and Bake (uncovered) for 15-20 minutes at 450 

Shrimp Tacos with Grilled Pineapple-Jalapeno Salsa

 
Shrimp Tacos  are such an easy meal to put together. Sometimes they are more fancy than others and other times it’s just the tortilla and shrimp. 

Shrimp tacos always taste better (to me anyways) with a sweet-heat factor. For this recipe I chose pineapple and jalapeno made into a simple salsa. It makes the taco!! I think fresh corn would have been amazing in there as well.

However, I did want a little complexity so I grilled the pineapple to give it that “burnt sugar” flavor, which is always amazing in any dish.

Fresh pineapples can be daunting to slice. I know many people shy away from giving it a try. But friends there is no reason to do that! This OXO Pineapple Slicer is an awesome tool that really works. I always place my pineapple in a bowl, like you see here, to catch all the flavorful juice. It slices beautifully! And the hard core remains in the pineapple. Get one if you can, your summer might not be the same without it. And if you are having a summer luau, don’t even think twice about not having one of these on hand.

 Someone suggested filling the empty pineapple with rum and ice for an adult beverage. Awesome idea. It’s going to happen soon.

I ended up using the juice from the pineapple to marinate my shrimp. They had this sweet flavor and the pineapple juice acts as a tenderizer.

The pineapple was grilled in butter with my grill pan. So delicious and adds a nice flavor to the salsa.

Ingredients

Grilled Pineapple-Jalapeno Salsa

• 1 whole pineapple, cored, grilled in butter and chopped into 3/4" pieces (about 2 cups)
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, deveined and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• juice of one lime
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

Tacos:

• 18 extra large shrimp (prawns), peeled and deveined
• butter
• 1 cup reserved pineapple juice from cutting the pineapple
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 corn tortillas, fried

Directions

• For the salsa, core pineapple, reserving juice, and slice into rings. Grill rings in butter in a grill pan until there are visible marks. Chop into small pieces. Combine pineapple, jalapeno, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.
• For the tacos, marinate shrimp in reserved pineapple juice for 20 minutes. While shrimp is marinating, combine cabbage, sour cream, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Set aside. Grill shrimp in grill pan or on an outdoor grill, basting with butter on the grill, or melting a couple tablespoons in the grill pan. Shrimp will be done once they are opaque in appearance.
• Construct tacos with shrimp (3 in each tortilla) on bottom, cabbage mixture and then salsa on top. Sprinkle with more lime juice if desired.

Use the best quality corn tortillas you can find, it’s worth it!

Basil Spaghetti with Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes

I am always amazed at how a few simple ingredients come together to make a flavorful meal.  Who needs red sauce when you have whole tomatoes covered in blistering cheese…yum.

This meal is perfect for a simple Spring or Summer evening…you won’t be stuck in the kitchen.

The garlic and the pepper round out the flavor and you have a meal your family will love.

Basil Spaghetti with Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes

12 ounces spaghetti
3 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 1-1/2 pounds), each cut into 4 thick slices
3 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the baking sheet
Kosher salt and black pepper
8 ounces mozzarella, grated
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves & more for serving.

Heat broiler.  Cook the pasta according to the package directions; drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, arrange the tomato slices in a single layer on a lightly oiled rimmed baking sheet.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dividing evenly, sprinkle the slices with the mozzarella and Parmesan.  Broil until the cheese is bubbly and golden, 3 to 5 minutes.

In a small saucepan, warm the oil with the garlic and red pepper over medium heat until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the garlic oil, basil, salt and pepper to the pasta and toss to combine.  Serve topped with tomatoes, additional basil and more Parmesan.

Simple and delicious.