Paula Deen's Goulash - Delish!

 

If this isn’t comfort food then I don’t know what is! Paula Deen can cook! People might want to make fun of her for her love of butter and saying y’all, but Y’ALL, that woman has some mighty fine recipes! And believe it or not, they don’t all contain a stick of butter. This one doesn’t and I made a little healthier version by using ground turkey instead of beef. You can use which ever floats your boat.  The name “goulash” doesn’t sound very appealing, but you can get passed that like I did. I ran across this recipe while I was looking for something else and the picture stopped me in my tracks. It looked so delicious….and boy was it ever! As I started reading the recipe I may have started drooling a little bit. I love every ingredient in this recipe, how could I not try it? Clearly that was going to be impossible. The day I found the recipe, I made it. My husband just keep saying, “this is so good”, “this is really good”, “this is so flavorful”.  Well he’s right. This recipe is so delicious and full of so much flavor. Now we are a bit of sissy’s on the hot sauce category so I backed ours down a bit. I read the reviews and a lot of people said it was too hot for them. You could start with 1 Tablespoon and add a little more after it cooks and you can taste it. Remember, you can add hot sauce as you go, but you can’t take it out. This makes such a huge recipe, I’d hate for you to ruin it all by making it too hot…..season with caution. Now let’s get started on this bad boy so you can make it tonight too!

 

Ingredients:

·         1 tablespoon olive oil

·         2 lbs lean ground beef or ground turkey

·         1 large Vidalia onion, chopped

·         1 red bell pepper, chopped

·         4 cloves garlic, chopped

·         3 cups water

·         1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce

·         2 (14.5 oz) cans fire roasted tomatoes

·         2 teaspoons dried basil

·         2 teaspoons dried oregano

·         3 tablespoons Paula Deen Hot Sauce – I cut this back to 1 tablespoon

·         1 teaspoon garlic powder

·         2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked)

·         kosher salt, to taste

·         black pepper, to taste

·         parsely, to taste

 

Directions:

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the beef, and brown for 10 minutes, breaking up with the back of your wooden spoon as you stir. Add the onion and bell pepper and continue to cook, while stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes.

 

Add all the remaining ingredients, except the macaroni, and cover with a lid, and simmer for 20 minutes. At this point I started second guessing my pot choice. Not so sure 3 cups of water and pasta will fit in here. Hmmmm.....what to do???

 

Stir in the macaroni, cover with the lid, and simmer for another 30 minutes. Let's pretend you don't notice that I had to get my husband to help me pour everything into a larger pot.

 

Let mixture stand for 20 minutes before serving. Try to be patient. This is a good time to make some cheddar biscuits or garlic bread. You definitely need bread with this comfort meal. Garnish with parsley.

 

Come on, how delicious is this looking??

Enjoy one bowl, then go back for seconds…..like we did. I hope y’all enjoy this as much as we did. I think you will.
 

Spaghetti Squash

Trying to eat a little healthier? Well, aren’t we all. I like to eat healthier, but I don’t like to really know I’m eating healthy. Surprise me! I want the food to still taste delicious and feel like I haven’t missed a thing. That’s probably what we all want. Well look no further, this little hidden gem, spaghetti squash is just the trick. We’ve been using it for years instead of pasta. It’s great as your main dish covered with a meat sauce, or great as a side tossed with some olive oil, parmesan cheese or even pesto. So many great things you can do with spaghetti squash. Since I was very excited when I discovered this little treasure, I hope you will be too. I’m just going to help you cook it correctly, and then you can get crazy with your toppings. All you need is a spaghetti squash to get started. Below is a picture of one in case you have no idea what to look for in the grocery store.

 

Can you tell how I knew this was a spaghetti squash???

Now the easy method for cooking spaghetti squash is to steam it, which is my preferred method. You can also bake it for about 45 minutes, but I prefer to microwave it for about 7 minutes. Take your spaghetti squash and cut it down the middle. They are thick, so get a big knife and be careful!

 

 

Now that you have it cut open, let’s clean the seeds out. The easies way is to just get a spoon and scoop out all the seeds and guts that are in the center. If you have a grapefruit spoon, that’s the perfect tool for this.

 

Voila!

 

Okay, it’s all clean and we are ready to steam it. My microwave steamer isn’t large enough to accommodate a squash this size so I just used a corning ware dish and covered with the glass lid. You don’t need an actual steamer to get this done. So many easy work arounds. Now, put about 1/2 inch of water in the pot you are using as a steamer, place the squash cut side down, cover and microwave for about 7 minutes. A squash this size is about 7 minutes, adjust the cook time for one larger or smaller. When you take the squash out, flip it over and test with a fork to see if it is soft. If it still feels hard, put it back in for another minute.

 

Once you are certain it’s done, let’s start making spaghetti! It’s magical! You just need a fork and your best scraping skills. The squash will be hot so you might want to use a hot pad to hold it. Grip the squash and start scraping with the fork. Little strands will come loose and you’ll be making spaghetti. Wasn’t the fun and easy?

 

I served mine with a little marinara sauce topped with basil. Like I said, there are so many ways to serve this. Next time, I’m serving with a little pesto. Let me know your creative ways of serving spaghetti squash.  Enjoy!

Easy Fettuccini Alfredo

I’m so excited! I made Fettuccini Alfredo! Yep, you heard me right! Are you proud too?  You really should be. You have to remember, I wasn’t always a good cook. This is all still fairly new to me so I get really excited when I make something yummy. Forgive me while I brag. What’s even more exciting is that this is such a quick and easy recipe. I had no idea Alfredo sauce could be so easy. My husband loves Fettuccini Alfredo but doesn’t order it often because it’s a pretty decadent dish. What’s so great about this recipe is that it’s a lower calorie version but no flavor is lost here. The sauce was creamy and bursting with flavor. I chopped up a grilled chicken breast and added it to the sauce to make a full meal. It would be great with shrimp too. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Here’s what you need to get started:

Ingredients:

·         1 tablespoon butter

·         2 garlic cloves, minced

·         1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

·         1⅓ cups 1 percent low-fat milk

·         1¼ cups (5 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

·         2 tablespoons ⅓-less-fat cream cheese (easy measure is about 1 inch of cube)

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         4 cups hot cooked fettuccine (8 ounces uncooked pasta). I used whole wheat pasta.

·         2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

·         cracked black pepper 

Directions:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.

Add 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, cream cheese, and salt, stirring with a whisk until cheeses melt.

Toss sauce with hot pasta. This is when I also added my chopped grilled chicken.


Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley. As you can see, I was running low on fresh parsley. The plant is dying away for the winter, but  I had a little to garnish with. Add fresh black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.

Easy One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta

 

Okay, everyone has been posting this easy one pot recipe on Facebook and pinning it on Pinterest so I HAD to try it. I had to do it for my readers. We needed to see what was so great about this and if it was as easy as it looked. Well, I’m here to tell you....it was all those things! Super easy and pretty darn tasty too. It’s awesome that everything goes in one pot, even the uncooked pasta. What an genius idea! It’s so awesome,  I have to share it with you guys. This is perfect for a quick meal after a long day at work. Throw in some chicken or shrimp and you really have a great meal. Here’s what you need to make this yummy dish.

 

Ingredients:

12	ounces pasta (I used thin spaghetti because I like it best)
1	can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid ( I used Italian style)
1	large sweet onion, cut in julienne strips
4	cloves garlic, thinly sliced
½	teaspoon red pepper flakes
2	teaspoons dried oregano leaves
2	large sprigs basil (about 10 leaves), chopped
4½	cups vegetable or chicken broth (I used about 1 cup of white wine and the rest homemade chicken broth for better flavor). Can also use water.
2	tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
	Parmesan or feta cheese for garnish (or whatever cheese tickles your fancy) Directions: Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, in a large stock pot. Pour in vegetable or chicken broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil. Cover pot and bring to a boil. How easy is that? Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper , stirring pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot. Serve garnished with Feta or Parmesan cheese and maybe a fresh sprig of basil. Everything is better with feta, right??

Creamy Garlic Pasta w/Shrimp

 

As you may know, I love carbs! Did I mention that I love carbs, especially in the form of pasta and bread?! They are so delicious! I found this recipe on Pinterest a while ago and finally got around to making it. I find so many great recipes on Pinterest. One day I’ll get around to making all of them......maybe.  I was very pleased when I finally made this recipe, and so was my husband. This pasta dish gives a great punch of flavor.  Full of cheese and garlic. What could be bad about that, right? I added shrimp to the recipe to make it a more filling dinner. So now you’ve got garlic, cheese and shrimp. What a great combination. My mouth is watering, let’s get started with this recipe:

 

Ingredients:

 10-20 frozen shrimp, whatever suits your needs

2 tbsp butter
¼  tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 cups chicken stock (homemade if you have it)
½ lb angel hair pasta (I used whole wheat)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
¾ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

In a pot, bring the olive oil to medium-low heat. Add the garlic and stir, allowing it to cook for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the butter until melted.

 

Add the salt, pepper and chicken stock. Raise the heat to high and let it come to a boil. 

Once it is at a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook for as long as the box’s directions indicate. Reduce the stove to medium heat, add shrimp, and mix in the parmesan until completely melted. I used frozen shrimp so I just thawed and stirred into hot mixture. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream and parsley. Serve immediately.

Adding the fresh parsley at the end makes the presentation lovely and gives it a nice freshness. I definitely recommend trying this dish.

Italian Chicken & Pasta Bake

You might have noticed that I love pasta with red sauces. I love them both dearly! I can't live without my carbs! When my friend, Paula Deen, tweeted me this recipe, I had to give it a try. It sounded like a chicken lasagna, but without the fuss of lasagna noodles, which caught my attention. Who doesn't love lasagna, right? If you don't, something must be wrong with you! It wouldn't be a Paula Deen recipe without butter, but I substituted olive oil and will do so in the recipe below. I made this for dinner tonight and we both loved it! We both went back for seconds and I think David went back for thirds, but don't tell him I told you that. Let's get cooking....

Ingredients:

3 T olive oil
 1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 (16-ounce) package bow tie pasta, cooked according to package directions and kept warm. I used tri-color because they were pretty.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a very large skillet, add olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes or until onion is tender.

Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Stir in milk, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce; cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Stir in chicken, 3 cups cheese, salt, pepper, and sugar. Stir in pasta. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish; sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  This made a very large casserole! We'll be having left-overs tomorrow.

Doesn't that look like a yummy dinner? It was! Be sure to serve with some nice crusty bread. Delish. Enjoy!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

Are you in need of a quick and easy and flavorful meal?? Pinterest to the rescue! I love Pinterest so much. There's no way I'll ever be able to make everything I've pinned, but it's fun to work through as many recipes as possible. I've had this one pinned for a while and I couldn't wait to make it. David loves cilantro so I knew he'd love this one. I didn't think I liked cilantro too much, but I was wrong! This was really delicious in this dish and oh so flavorful! The cilantro just gives it that extra flavor punch! Cilantro plus lime equals Delish! If you have about 5-10 minutes to spare, you have time to make this awesome meal! Now let's get started:

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 lb shrimp, shelled and deviened
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime
• salt and pepper 

Directions:

Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat. I like to use my iron skillet. It just makes everything better and reminds me of my parents and grand parents. Add oil to the pan, when hot add the shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. When the shrimp is cooked on one side, about 2 minutes, turn over and add garlic. I used frozen shrimp and just warmed them in the oil with garlic. Sauté another minute or two until shrimp is cooked, careful not to overcook. No one wants tough shrimp!

Sorry it's blurry, but you get the idea...saute' shrimp w/garlic.

Remove from heat. Squeeze lime juice all over shrimp and toss with cilantro. Serve hot.

I was so excited to use my new citrus juicer! It works great!

This is such a beautifully flavorful dish! And such a low calorie treat! Next time, I'm going to add another lime and a little more olive oil and serve it over pasta. The sauce this created was so fresh and tasty. It would be awesome over some angel hair pasta so a drop isn't wasted. I served it with rice so that helped collect some flavors too.  Give that a try this time!

Chicken Florentine Pasta

Who knew I’d be posting so many recipes that contained spinach?? If you ask my parents, they sure wouldn’t think it would be me. I was such a picky eater and never tried anything new. Now I love all veggies....once you cook them. Don’t try to serve me raw veggies. I’ll break out in a rash! ;-)  Now I love sautéed spinach, I especially love it wilted in pasta. Yum-my! Throw in some cooked tomatoes and then you’re in business. That is such a yummy combination! Look at that photo, how beautiful is that??

I just happened to be browsing my girlfriend, Ree’s (aka The Pioneer Woman), blog the other day and found this delicious recipe. It had all of my favorite ingredients....Pasta (#1), tomatoes, spinach and cheese. Ree used parmesan cheese, but I changed it up to feta because there is nothing better than pasta with tomatoes and feta. That perks up my taste buds! One of my all time favorites!

This is an easy dish to make, yet it is so full of flavor and so good for you too. Again, I shock myself when I post healthy recipes. I’m practically a licensed nutritionist and a chef.

Get ready for one of your new favorite recipes too....

Ingredients:

• 1 pound rotini (or you could use penne)
• 4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 3/4 cups Dry White Wine
• 3/4 cups Low-sodium Broth, More If Needed
• 1 bag Baby Spinach
• 2 cups Grape Tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• Feta for garnish (or shaved parmesan)

Instructions:

Cook pasta according to package directions in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside.

Cut chicken breasts into chunks and sprinkle on salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken chunks in a single layer and do not stir for a minute or two in order to allow the chicken to brown on the first side. Turn the chicken and brown on the other side. Cook until done, then remove chicken from the skillet.

Turn heat to medium. Add garlic and quickly stir to avoid burning. After about 30 seconds, pour in wine and broth, stirring to deglaze the pan. Allow the liquid to bubble up, then continue cooking until it's reduced by at least half (most of the surface of the liquid should be bubbling at this point.)

Add tomatoes and let cook a couple of minutes to soften.

At this point I like to smash the tomatoes with a fork a little so the juices are added to the sauce. Add spinach, chicken, and cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to combine. The spinach will wilt as you toss everything. Turn heat off.

Help, I'm wilting......

Dish up in a nice giant bowl. This is so delicious, you’ll want to make sure you have a large enough bowl. If you have fresh basil, garnish with a few chopped leaves. I love feta cheese so I garnish with feta as well. Okay, it’s a little more than a garnish, it’s a heaping helping of feta. Toss the feta in the bowl, it mixes with the sauce and makes a delicious creamy sauce. If you don’t love feta, toss with parmesan shavings. No matter what, garnish with some type of cheese!

Now, do your best to just eat one serving....I lost on that! And I might have added more feta after I took this photo.

Dawn's Awesome Marinara Sauce

That's right, I named this DAWN'S Awesome Marinara Sauce because it's MY recipe. I wrote it. Are you impressed? Well, I am! Wait, does this make me a cookbook author now?? I think it does. Remind me to add that to my resume' later.

Okay, one of the many things that I love is pasta with red sauce! I love it, I can’t get enough of it, but I had never made it from scratch until recently. The jar was always my friend. I know, I should be ashamed, but I’m not! My husband’s Aunt Joanne makes the best homemade sauce. When she comes down for a visit she and her sister, Sue (my mother-in-law) cook lots of sauce and jar it with her delicious meat balls so we all have lots in the freezer. Well, since Aunt Joanne can’t come down all the time and for some reason she hasn’t tried to ship this to me, I’ve had to come up with my own recipe. I’ve tried one of Rachel Ray’s recipes and tried to recreate Aunt Joanne’s but it just hasn’t been perfect. So I got in the kitchen and kept adding things until I thought it tasted perfected and here’s what I came up with. I’ll have to admit, it’s pretty darn good sauce. I’m still mastering it so don’t be surprised if this recipe changes from time to time.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped finely

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock

3 Tablespoon tomato paste

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 Tablespoon dried basil
I Tablespoon dried or fresh parsley (if using fresh, add a little more)

1/4 c (plus) fresh chopped basil
1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cans (28 oz each) crushed tomatoes

Grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions

Add olive oil to pot or dutch oven, heat and sauté onion for 3-5 minutes. When onions have softened add garlic and continue to sauté for another minute or so.

Deglaze with white wine or chicken stock. After most of the liquid has absorbed, add 3 T of tomato paste (the tube is the best invention ever), red pepper flakes, salt and all dried herbs. 

Best invention ever!

Stir and add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and bay leaves. Put lid on and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. If you have an hour to spare, go for it because they just gives the flavors more time to marry and become even more delicious. Right before the sauce is finished, add the fresh basil, stir in sauce, but save a little for garnish. I think the sauce tastes brighter if you throw in some fresh basil at the end, but don't worry if you don't have it. It is still going to be delicious!

Now let's simmer for an hour or so.

Now I don't usually just serve the sauce, I need some meat in there somewhere. Luckily I had a few of my special meatballs in the freezer so I added those to the sauce while it simmered for an hour. I'll write that recipe another day. You can also add ground beef or turkey, but one of our favorites is to add Italian sausage links. Yummers!

Doesn't it look delicious after it's simmered for over an hour??

Serve the way you like it best over pasta and enjoy!