Pasta Fagioli!

The executive chef (EC) of my food blog sent me this recipe yesterday. He is a more advanced chef than myself, as he has some years on me, but he is a great contribution to this blog ;-) He's my dad... hee hee! And he is a phenominal chef!

So here is a fantastic winter recipe... Enjoy!!

Pasta Fagioli

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 -3 pieces of Pancetta bacon cut into small pieces
2 cloves garlic
2 cans cannelloni beans
1 qt chicken stock
1 lb ditilini pasta (small tubes)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon Rosemary

1 teaspoon Thyme

1 tablespoon Basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to medium high heat pan. Brown pancetta until crispy.

2. Add garlic and brown - be careful not to burn. If there is a bitter flavor you have burnt the garlic.

3. Rinse and drain beans. Add beans and herbs to pan. Coof for approximately 10 minutes or until beans are softened.

4. Remove 1 cup of beans and purree in a food processor.

5. Return bean purree to mix. Add tomoatoes and chicken stock and let boil.

6. When the soup has reached a boil, turn the burner to a low heat and let simmer for 30 mintues.

7. In a seperate pan, cook pasta per directions. Do not rinse!

8. Add cooked pasta to soup and stir.

9. Add fresh grated Parmesean cheese and Enjoy!

Mangia!!

Banana Walnut Bread!

This morning I saw that my bananas had turned a little too brown to eat, so I thought I would make my dad's favorite...

Banana Walnut Bread!

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick)

2 large eggs

2 large bananas

1 tablespoon milk

2 tablespoons vegitable oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups flour (there is a flour that is better for bread - I would recommend it for this)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 x5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar and butter in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour dissapears. Do Not over mix. If you do the batter will become very thick and stiff. Gently fold Walnuts into batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 1o minutes. Set aside to cool on rack for 15 minutes.

Serve hot with honey butter!

Low Carb, Low Fat Crab Cakes!

Last night was my mom's birthday, and my dad made her these low fat crab cakes. They were phenominal!!! I would suggest you try them, even if you aren't on a diet!

1 pound blue crabmeat
1 tablespoon small diced red bell pepper
1 tablespoon small diced green bell pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon light mayonnaise
2 eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Maryland-style crab seasoning (recommended: Old Bay can also use Creole Seasoning)

1/2 cup bread crumbs (from sliced bread - whole wheat works best)
2 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients, except oil until blended. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

With a tablespoon, carefully spoon poker-chip size mini-cakes into the pan. (The batter will be loose, but once the egg in the mix starts to cook they will hold together fine.)

Cook on 1 side until firm, about 2 minutes, and then flip and cook for about 1 more minute.

Cook in batches as necessary. Serve hot with mustard sauce.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mustard Sauce:

1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chicken Creole!

My bloggy friend Lacey made this recipe last night and it looked awesome!!! She is so creative, by using things from her pantry instead of buying new stuff. Anyway, I'll let her tell you ;-) Thanks again Lacey!

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had leftover Creole Chicken for dinner. Dave and I have been trying to do this new thing for meals called, "hey-let's-use-stuff-that-we-already-have-in-the-pantry-so-we-can-stop-being-wasteful-and-stop-buying-things-that-we-didn't-need". It's a crazy thing to do, right? Well, to start it all off, we have about 10 cans of the tomato variety, from stewed, to diced, to pureed, etc. So what do you get when you plug "chicken" and "diced tomatoes" into allrecipes.com? Chicken Creole!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 stalk celery, sliced thin

1 green bell pepper, minced

2 (16 ounce) cans diced tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 skinless, boneless chicken breastsDirections

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, celery and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (about 4 minutes). Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook this Creole sauce 3 minutes longer, stirring often.

3. Arrange the chicken breasts in an 8 x 11 inch baking dish. Pour the Creole sauce over the chicken.

4. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the chicken is tender and white throughout.

The only ingredients that I needed to buy were the fresh veggies, and some garlic, so I would call this first venture into using things from our pantry pretty successful!I thought it was weird at first that you only cooked the chicken in the oven with the Creole "sauce", and didn't start cooking it beforehand, but after I tasted it, I didn't care how it was cooked. This chicken was so tender and juicy, and cooking in the tomato based Creole sauce gave it such a good flavor. Also, both of the cans of diced tomatoes that I used were pre-flavored, and I think that added a lot to it.

After Dave tasted it, he insisted that we had it to the "rotation" of stuff to make for dinner, even though we really don't have a rotation, per say. When I asked him just now how he liked the chicken, he said, and I quote verbatim,

"It was like having New Orleans klezmer band parading around on my palate."Oooooooook then. But yes, make this chicken. The pictures don't do it justice, but it was delicious, even a second time around.