The easiest comfort food you will ever make! If you can boil a pot of water, you can make this!
Broccoli and Orzo
1 cup Orzo
1 1/2 cups Broccoli florets
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Tablespoon Butter
1/4-1/2 cup Milk
Pinch of Paprika
Dash of Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon prepared Mustard
S&P to taste
Cook orzo as directed on package.
During last 3-4 minutes of cook time for the pasta, throw in your broccoli florets and continue cooking.
Drain pasta and broccoli and return to the pot.
Add cheese, butter, milk to desired consistency, paprika, garlic powder, mustard, salt and pepper; stir well.
*16 oz Linguini pasta
reserve some of the pasta water to help make your Peanut Butter Sauce
3-4 cloves Garlic
1 Tbsp grated Ginger (1 teaspoon Ginger Powder, if you must)
2/3 cup Peanut Butter (I won’t judge here: Creamy, Crunchy, Natural, up to you!)
*4 Tbsp Soy Sauce or Tamari
1/3 – 2/3 cup Pasta water to stir into Peanut Butter Sauce, thinning to desired consistency
1 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
1 – 2 Tbsp Sriracha – How hot can you go?
1 – 2 Tbsp Honey or Maple Syrup (honestly, I go with Maple Syrup most of the time because the Honey prefers to crystallize ’round here!
Stir in Veg:
Julienne whatever veg you prefer and have on hand!
Carrots, Peppers, Peas, Red Onion, Cabbage, Radish, or totally shortcut and throw in a bag of prepared Coleslaw!
1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes, optional
2 teaspoons Chili Sauce, optional
Instructions
Bring large pot of salted water to a boil and cook noodles for about 10 minutes. Start checking them at 8 though, cooking just until al dente.
Drain and set aside.
Finely mince garlic, grate ginger.
In medium size mixing bowl whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, sriracha, maple syrup and 1/3 cup pasta water. Add more water if needed and to your desired consistency.
Taste and adjust seasonings, soy sauce and sriracha.
Pour sauce over prepared noodles and stir to thoroughly coat.
Stir in julienned vegetables, coating evenly with the peanut sauce.
Serve with crushed Peanuts, chopped Green Onion, Pea Sprouts, Cilantro
*Make it gluten free: Sub in GF Pasta and GF Soy Sauce
Just about every time I go to stay with Michael and Hayley I get a request to make Mac&Chz! I wrote the recipe out on a bit of paper and tucked it under something I knew would not likely be used before I got back…there was the recipe! But now, for safe keeping, I am going to add it here!
Hayley’s Mac&Chz 12 oz (24oz) Pasta of your choice: elbow, penne, cavatappi
1/2c (1c) cButter
2/3c (1 1/3c) Flour
1 1/2 (3) litres Milk
400 g (800g) Cheddar Cheese, grated
170g (340g) Strong Cheese, grated – Gruyere, Swiss, Asiago, Parmesan
1 tsp (2tsp) Salt
1/2 tsp (1 tsp) Chili Powder
1 Tbsp (2Tbsp) Djon Mustard
1/2 tsp (1tsp) Garlic Powder
Preheat oven to 350F
Lightly spray 9×13 casserole(s) with Veg oil spray; set aside.
12 oz (24 oz) Pasta noodles of your choice
Cook pasta according to package directions.
When cooked to desired doneness, drain and set aside.
In pot used to cook pasta, melt butter over med-low heat, whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.
Add a bit of the milk and whisk until no lumps remain; add a bit more milk, whisking until no lumps remain; add a bit more milk, whisking in until no lumps remain and heat bubbles begin to form before adding more milk, whisking until no lumps remain and cook until those little heat bubbles appear on the surface of the mixture.
Add remaining milk, and stir frequently until mixture thickens and starts to bubble on top.
(you are going to want to stir quite a bit ensuring the mixture does not stick or start to burn)
Remove from heat and season with djon mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper, chili powder stirring until well combined.
Begin to add cheeses, a handful at a time, whisking until completely melted before adding more. Continue until all of the cheese has been melted into the sauce. If the sauce becomes too cold to melt the cheese, place it over low heat but only briefly, to continue melting the cheese.
Overheating the sauce can cause it to break and become grainy.
Add cooked and drained pasta to the pot with the cheese sauce and stir to combine.
Pour into prepared casserole(s), top with second amount of grated cheese and season with a sprinkle of chili powder, salt and pepper.
Bake in preheated 350F oven for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.
I have been making Chicken (Turkey) a la King for as long as I can remember! I usually serve it with pasta though I have heard you can also serve it over toast or on a bed of rice.
Over at Betty Crocker they show a lovely pic of Chicken a la King served on a wedge of toasted French Bread, and I have to say, it looks pretty amazing! I may have to try that next time!
Chicken a la King
1/2 cup Butter
1 small Onion, diced
1/2 cup Flour
1 small Green Pepper, chopped
3 oz Fresh Mushrooms, sliced – Optional
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1 1/2 cups Milk
1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock
2 cups diced, Cooked Chicken or Turkey
3 cups cooked hot Pasta or cooked hot Rice or Toasted French Bread Slices
Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add diced onion and sauté for about 4 minutes, until onion is translucent.
Add flour, salt and pepper – cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until bubbly.
Stir in half the milk and bring it back to a boil, stirring constantly; add remaining milk, stir constantly.
Add chicken stock, half at a time, returning mixture to a boil before the next addition of liquid, stirring constantly.
Boil and stir for 1 minute.
Stir in chopped green pepper, mushrooms – if using, chopped chicken or turkey – reduce heat and cook until heated through, stirring as needed.
So you are trying to eat healthier, you make the most of each of your produce purchases, right? What about the greens on those fresh carrots you just bought? Did you know you could make yummy pesto out of them? Doesn’t taste all that different from a pesto made with fresh parsley!
I had two bunches of carrots in the fridge, noticed the greens were beginning to look a little less than optimum which meant I needed to use them up fast. I googled, “what to do with carrot greens” and came up with a long list to choose from. I wanted super simple and this recipe from Culinate fit the bill to the T. I put a pot of water on to boil for some linguini and by the time it was ready, the pesto was done.
Admittedly, I did not know how my husband would respond to this dish. He was raised a super meat eater and I think in his mind, green stuff is, well, weird. He has come leaps and bounds over the past 15 years but I was thinking that this recipe might be a bit of a stretch. I placed his serving of Carrot Top Pesto and Linguini in front of him, watched his face closely…slight raising of eyebrows, he asked, “What’s this? It smells very P-cheesy”…took a tentative bite and smiled. (Dear husband is NOT a fan of Parmesan Cheese, but it is a vital ingredient in this recipe, in my opinion) Whew! I didn’t tell him straight away just what it was that he was eating. He is pretty trusting that most everything I cook is pretty delish. After he had really tucked into the meal I told him what it was and he was amazed!
Wow your family tonight with this super easy Carrot Top Pesto and Linguini.
Carrot Top Pesto and Linguini
1 cup (20 grams) lightly packed Carrot Leaves, stems removed, rinsed
6 Tablespoons (90 ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic
1/2 teaspoon Salt
*3 Tablespoons Pine Nuts, toasted
1/4 cup (30grams) freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
Put a large pot of water on to boil for linguini.
Cook according to package directions and drain.
While the linguini is cooking, combine carrot leaves, olive oil, garlic and salt in a food processor until finely minced.
Add nuts *(I didn’t have any pine nuts on hand and used chopped walnuts instead; it was a gamble but it worked) and Pulse until finely chopped.
Pour prepared linguini into a mixing bowl, add pesto and parmesan cheese; stir well to combine.
Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of hot chili flakes.
Serves 4
Welcome to my Kitchen where the most important ingredient is Love.
