Pesto Chicken Pasta

Pesto Chicken Pasta

Last night I prepared a super quick and easy Pesto Chicken Pasta.  I had 20 minutes to throw it together and get it in the fridge before heading to Brock's soccer practice.  It made dinner a breeze when we got back from soccer.  All I had to do was heat it up and serve.  Here's how it's done...

Ingredients

Fresh or Pre-made Pesto (mine was on sale for $1 at Kroger...the fresh kind)

4 small and thin chicken breast, thawed and sliced into bite-size pieces

milk or half and half, to thin it out a bit

12 oz. Pasta noodles

salt/pepper

garlic powder

Italian seasoning

EVOO

Directions

First, thaw and cut your chicken.  Add 1 TBS EVOO to a skillet and cook chicken until no longer pink inside.  I added a dash of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning just to add flavor to the chicken.  Meanwhile, boil water for your pasta.  When the water reaches it's boiling point, add several TBS of salt.  This is the only seasoning your pasta will get so unless you want flavorless pasta, add salt generously. Once pasta is cooked and drained, add pesto and stir well.  I didn't measure how much milk I added but it was just enough to moisten the dish.  Finally, add your cooked chicken to the pasta and stir.  We added Parmesan cheese at the table. That's it, super easy and delicious!!!

Enjoy

God Bless,

Allie

P.S. I am craving PB cookies...I'm about to head to the kitchen, give into my craving, and bake some!

I'll post the recipe asap!



Crock-Pot Vegetarian Lasagna

 Crock-Pot Vegetarian Lasagna

I came across this recipe as I was searching for freezer meals last week and have been wanting to try it ever since.  It was pretty simple to put together and I'm loving that it is cooking while I do other things. The crock-pot is awesome!

Ingredients

1 large egg

 16 oz. part skim ricotta...I substituted cottage cheese

5 oz (or so) baby spinach, coarsely chopped

3 large or 4 small portobello mushroom caps, halved and thinly sliced

1 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced

28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (hunts)

28 oz. can diced tomatoes (hunts)

 3-5 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning

pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)

15 whole-wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked

3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided

Prep.

*Combine egg, ricotta OR cottage cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and zucchini in a large bowl.

* Combine crushed and diced tomatoes and their juice, garlic, italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper in a medium bowl.

* Generously coat your crock-pot with cooking spray.  Spread 1 1/2 cups of the tomato mixture in the crock-pot.  Arrange 5 noodles over the sauce, overlapping them slightly and breaking into pieces to cover as much of the sauce as possible.  Spread half of the cottage cheese/veggie mixture over the noodles and firmly pat down, then spoon on 1 1/2 cups sauce and sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella. Repeat the layering one more time, starting with noodles.  top with a third layer of noodles. Evenly spread the remaining tomato sauce over the noodles. Set aside the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella in the fridge.

* Put the lid on the crock-pot and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4 hours.  Turn off cooker, sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on the lasagna, cover and let stand for 10 minutes to melt cheese.

Tips and Notes:

The dark gills found on the underside of a portobello mushroom cap are edible, but can turn an dish an unappealing gray color.  If you like, gently scrape the gills off with a spoon.

Enjoy

God bless, Allie

Happy Valentine's - Pasta & Cross-Training

Happy Valentines Day

My hubs is so sweet to me! I woke up to a delicious breakfast, a box of chocolates, a card, and the Braking Dawn movie!

He knows me so well!  

bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and coffee!

notice the title on the card...To MY Queen!!! Oh yeah!

I wore my running shoes and work out clothes to breakfast so I would have no excuse an hour after I finished eating to hit the gym. 

Here's what I accomplished:

Feb 14, 2012

I rode the bike hard for 20 minutes on hills.  I covered 6 miles. 

weights: arms, abs, legs

I finished up hitting the stair climber for 5 minutes on level 7.  I climbed 380 stairs! Whew, that is one tough machine to conquer!

Notes: I felt good and strong today. Was worn out when I left!  Yippee! That means progress!

I found this website today.  It explains how important stretching is for runners.

Check it out here!

ready to hit the gym

When I got home I had a little less that an hour to prepare lunch and eat before the hubs had to go to work.  Here's what I made!

 Penne Pasta with Spinach and Bacon

Ingredients:

12 oz. Penne Pasta

1 Tbsp. EVOO - extra virgin olive oil

6 slices pre-cooked bacon (I used leftovers from this morning's bfast)

5 or so cloves fresh minced garlic

2 14 oz. cans Hunt's diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning

1 bag fresh spinach

1 tsp. crushed red peppers (optional)

salt/pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning ( a mix of basil, oregano, parsley)

Chopped bacon...resist the urge to eat it all now!

 beautiful fresh spinach

 Spices and EVOO

Directions:

Place a large pot with water on the stove and turn heat on high.  Add salt generously to the water.  Otherwise your pasta will taste like nothing! Once boiling, cook your pasta.  Don't overcook! Follow cooking instructions on package.  Meanwhile, heat EVOO in a large saucepan and sautee' your chopped garlic for 2 minutes.  Add cooked and chopped bacon to the garlic.  Sautee' another couple of minutes.  Be careful not to burn the garlic!  Add 2 cans of tomatoes, crushed red, salt/pepper, onion powder, and Italian seasoning.  Mix well. Let simmer while pasta is cooking.  When you have 2-3 minutes left in pasta cooking time, add spinach to the tomato mixture and stir well. Drain pasta and transfer to tomato mixture.  Let simmer another minute or until heated through and well Incorporated.  That's all there is to it.  I served it with garlic toast :)  garnish with a little Parmesan. Enjoy!!!

Here it is! Penne Pasta with Spinach and Bacon!

Sorry for the blurry pictures! Next time I'll pull out my Cannon and use it instead of my iPhone!

Birthday Time!!!

I have been working out and cooking, I PROMISE! It's just that my birthday was Saturday, and well, I've been busy celebrating and eating everyone else's cooking =)  I do have 2 new recipes to share!!!

I had a fantastic 29th birthday - definitely a great way to kick off my last year in my 20's - goodness, that's not fun to type!!! My celebration officially started Friday when Daniel had the day off.  I went to the gym that morning and worked my legs, abs, and did the stair climber.  It was a good workout and a great way to begin the day.  I let Daniel sleep in until 9ish because he had been working on his truck most of the week and he was up until 7am, yes alllllll night long, Wednesday night.  I figured I'd be a nice wife and let him catch up on some much needed snooze time.  Plus, he wasn't feeling all that great. Probably due to the lack of sleep during the week.  After lunch we went to the Arlington park and after we'd been there less than 5 minutes we were approached by several different people who informed us that there were two prison escapees just down the road. UMMMM, OK - so we promptly left!!! We decided to head to Shelby Farms and just hang out.  The weather was gorgeous and we wanted to be outside!  Once we got there we realized we weren't exactly in the best walking shoes so we decided to rent a paddle boat! What fun that was - the kids LOVED it and so did D and I.  We were on the water an hour and enjoyed every minute! I love spending time doing fun activities with my family. 

boat time!!!

the girls were chillin'

how cute are they??

Next on my birthday agenda was to get my very first tattoo!!! Yes, I did!!! I have been wanting one for so long but just couldn't decide what to get and where.  Plus, I always worried what everyone would think.  I finally decided that I can't worry about what others think - so, I went for it!  I searched and searched for the perfect design.  I knew I wanted something small and I wanted it to mean something special to me.  After hours of looking around I decided to go with a Chinese symbol.  I always wanted to incorporate my kids names in the tattoo somehow but wasn't sure how to do it.  The symbol I got means "mom".  I got it on my right wrist and it's black.  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  I went to Trilogy here in town and they were great.  I was super nervous and they made me feel so comfortable and at ease.  Getting the tattoo was about a 15 minute process and when I say process, I mean painful process!!! The tattoo artist said it wouldn't hurt too badly but just be an annoying feeling.  Well, I highly disagree - it was painful! But, again, so worth it in the end!!! I may even do it again one day =) Here are some pics!!!

my new addition!

isn't it cute??!!

I am sporting my new workout clothes from Target! love that store!!!

Saturday, my actual birthday, was amazing!!! D and I slept in until 10:30!!!  We ate lunch at Mellow Mushroom - my favorite pizza joint EVER!  We did a little shopping and hanging out outside.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect! It was in the high 60s and sunny.  Seriously perfect weather.  I really wanted to run on my day, so we ran home and changed clothes. I was going to be running outside and have been wanting to get a water bottle that I could take while running.  I found one at Dick's that goes around my waist like a belt.  It even has a little zipper area for my key and whatever else I may need on my run.  So, I filled the water bottle up and wiped it down with a baby wipe (can you blame me...I mean I didn't go home and I had no other way to wash it) - Daniel made fun of me =) I'm a bit of a germ - a - phoebe! I decided that I wanted to run at Shelby farms and run the 5k trail.  It is a bit hilly and challenging, but it was one of the best runs I've ever had! I don't know if it was the amazing weather or just the fact that it was my special day.  It was amazing! I ran it in a little under 30 minutes!

my run!

I had a fantastic 29th birthday - looking forward to the big 30 next year!!!

I have a recipe for y'all that I got from my hubby.  His family would eat this meal fairly often.  It's super easy and delicious. 

We call it - MEAT PIE -

Here's how it's done -

Ingredients:

* 1 pound ground beef
* A1
* Worchestire sauce
* salt/pepper
* garlic powder
* onion powder
* about 6 potatoes
* cream cheese
* milk or heavy cream
* butter

Directions:

Take your ground beef and place it in an 8 1/2 x 11 baking dish.  Add a good splash of A1 and worchestire.  Also add 1-2 tsp. of garlic powder and onion powder.  Mix well with your hands.  Add salt and pepper (again, I don't measure - I'm so sorry - I really will try better!!!) I would say a dash of salt and also a dash of pepper.  You can always add more once it's on your plate.  Pop that in a 350 degree oven for 20ish minutes. Just watch it and when the meat is cooked through, pull it out.  I usually don't drain all the grease off the meat after it's baked. It dries out if you do. I may drain a little bit if it's overwhelmingly greasy, so just use your better judgement on this one.  Meanwhile, begin your mashed potatoes.  Peel and dice your potatoes.  Add to boiling water and cook until fork easily slides through.  Drain potatoes and add about 1/2 a stick of butter.  Also add 1/4 block of cream cheese and your milk or cream to the desired consistency.  Add a dash of salt and pepper.  Once potatoes and meat are done, spoon potatoes on top of meat.  Spread evenly and bake for another 10 minutes or until bubbly.  Serve with a veggie of your choice or salad! It's yummie!!!

Sorry, I don't have pics for this one.

2 NEW recipes and a good run!

I have 2 new recipes for y'all today. 
Last night I prepared what I'm gonna call Chicken and Egg Burritos.

They are delicious, easy and kid friendly.  I wasn't sure what to make for dinner last night and I have made similar burritos before just with out the chicken.  Usually they are more of a breakfast food, but with the chicken, sour cream, and A1 - I think it classifies as a dinner meal.

Ingredients:

*     1/2 pound of chicken
*     Evoo
*     5 eggs (I made 3 burritos)
*     about a cup of shredded monterey jack or cheddar cheese ( I used monterey jack )
*     salt and pepper to taste
*     flour tortillas
*     sour cream and A1 added as toppings - the A1 may sound strange, but it seriously makes it delish!

How it's made:

First, you crack your eggs and add them to a warm skillet.  Meanwhile, add about 1 tablespoon of Evoo to skillet and add chicken.  Cook chicken thoroughly - season to taste with salt and pepper.  Shred the cheese and add half to the eggs. I use a whisk when I make eggs - it seems to work nicely.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Once eggs are cooked, spread evenly over tortilla. Top with other half of the cheese, sour cream and A1.  Enjoy!

chicken cooking in EVOO and salt and pepper

eggs mixed with cheese and a little salt and pepper

OK, so I had some down time while things were cookin' =)

very quick and easy dinner burrito - I forgot to take a picture with the sour cream and A1 but I'm sure you can use your imagination =)

Now for another fantastic dish! This seriously tops my "favorites" list - it is truly something special!  It is power packed with flavor! Here it is...

Fantastic Pesto Chicken Pasta

Ingredients for the Marinade:

1&1/4 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons dried basil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

Ingredients for everything else:

1 (16 ounce) package dried penne pasta

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 large onion, diced

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 (8 ounce) jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced

1 jar Classico Pesto Sauce

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

salt to taste

1. In a bowl, stir together chicken broth, dried basil, oregano, and minced garlic. Stir in chicken pieces.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook until just al dente, about 11 minutes. Drain & Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, and sprinkle with sugar. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts, and cook about 3 minutes. Stir in chicken and marinade. Stir in 1/2 cup chicken broth. Simmer chicken pieces, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
4. Add pasta and pesto to the skillet. Stir in cream, and cook until the sauce is thickened. Adjust salt and freshly ground pepper to taste, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

Today in the gym was fantastic.  I ran 3.30 miles in 32 minutes!!! It consistantly feels pretty good and I'm feeling stronger and stronger.  Yay!  My knee and ankles were tight and hurting a little bit the first half mile, but as the run progressed they felt great.  After my run I did some ab work. 

To post or not to post...

So, I made a new dish yesterday and I'm going to be honest - it wasn't my favorite. It was good - just not awesome! I've gone back and forth trying to decide if I should post it on here, but since this is a blog about my journey in the kitchen - I thought I should. After all, there are mountains and valleys in every journey. All this being said - I'm SUPER picky when it comes to food. I've been told I have extra high standards. My husband really enjoyed this dish and the kids ate it pretty well. So, you'll have to decide for yourselves - If you make it PLEASE tell me about it!

Taco Pasta Shells

Ingredients:

*     18 jumbo pasta shells (the kind you use for stuffed shells)

*     TB. butter

*     1 lb. ground beef

*     2 tsp. chili powder

*     1/4 tsp. salt

*     3 oz. cream cheese

*     1 cup of your favorite taco sauce or salsa (I skipped this step bc I didn't have either...I think mine would have been WAY better had I added this!!!

*     1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

*     1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

*     1.5 cups crushed tortilla chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Cook the pasta shells according to package directions. Drain and gently toss with the butter and set aside.  In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef.  Break into crumbles and drain well. Return to the pan on low heat, season with chili powder and salt, stir well.  Stir in the cream cheese. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Fill the shells with the beef mixture and arrange in an ungreased 9x13 backing dish.  Spoon the taco sauce/salsa over the shells. Cover and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover, top with cheese and crushed tortilla chips.  Bake for 15 minutes more.

filling the pasta shells

shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese

final product - we had Spanish rice as a side and I topped each shell with sour cream and tomatoes

I didn't realize it had been since Monday that I blogged.  It's been a busy week and time has gotten away from me. 

Overall my workouts have been a little lighter this week.  I've been having a pain in my left knee for the past several workouts so I'm trying to go easy on it.  Hopefully it won't turn into anything serious.  I have a bad habit of popping just about every bone in my body and my knees are no exception. I know this is a terrible thing to do and I'm trying to stop.  I have a feeling the pain in my knee is caused by my popping it - shameful!!! It's so hard to break bad habits, but this is one I've got to stop! 

Tuesday in the gym was arms and abs day.  After weights I did the stair climber.

Today was leg day.  I had pain again in my knee so I did light weights. After working my legs I walked a fast pace on the 'mill for 10 minutes and incline 15 (highest it goes). It seriously feels like you are climbing a mountain. You just better hold on or you will fall off! I laugh everytime I think about that.  I would just die - haha!

Blessings & Love,

Allie

Keep Going -

In the gym -

Today I woke up feeling a little under the weather, but determined to workout anyway.  This crazy change in the weather is throwing my body off, I guess.  Once I began to workout, I started to feel better and was glad I got out of my warm bed.  I started off working my abs.  There are 4 different machines and I did 3 to 4 sets of 20 reps each. After that we decided to try PLANKS - watch this video and give them a try! They really work!!!

We also did a side plank and alternated sides. Then it was hard cardio for 5 minutes. I know 5 minutes isn't a long time, but since there are 3 cardio days a week, we only do a little cardio on alternate days.  So, I hopped on the "mill" and bumped up the speed very quickly. I ran most of the time at 6.5 mph and the last minute and a half at 7.5 mph.  Total distance covered was .78 miles. It was a hard and fast 5 minutes.  After cardio, it was time to workout my arms.  There are 6 machines and I rotate through them 4 sets each.  We also try to save 5 to 10 minutes at the end of the workout for stretching. 

Today was a zoo day with friends!!! We had a great time and walked several miles ( a little extra cardio for the day =) We were there about 3 and a half hours!

                                              Becca, Brock, Emma, and Nate


In the Kitchen -

Tonight I prepared Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo - YUMMIE!!!

Ingredients -

• 1 pound diced chicken
• 1 jar Bertolli Garlic Alfredo sauce
• 1 to 2 tsp. italian seasoning
• 11/2 cups of frozen broccoli
• fettucini noodles
• salt and pepper to taste
• parmasan cheese

Directions -

1. Dice chicken and heat 1 tablespoon of EVOO in a sauce pan
2. Add chicken to EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and cook through
3. Add alfredo sauce, italian seasoning, and salt and pepper
4. Cook noodles and add frozen broccoli the last 2 minutes of cooking time. *Don't overcook the pasta!!!
5. Drain noodles and broccoli and add to the sauce
6. Sprinkle with parmasan cheese

                                                                     The sauce

                                                               The finished meal

I served our Alfredo with a delicious salad & Ken's light italian dressing. Very tasty dish and the kids LOVED it and ate every bite!!!