Open Source Cook

So this was a complete improvisation. My original thought was to make my Chicken Rice Skillet, but then I realized that I didn’t have the rice. So this recipe was born. It’s nothing spectacular, but it smells good. I tend to just throw things in when I’m cooking and since I was improving, I threw in some garlic. It helps lower cholesterol and since Jesse’s is up there, I’ve been making a lot of things with garlic these days. The jar of red sauce I used was something I had in the pantry. It happens to be an organic Italian Herb made by Muir Glen, but any kind of sauce will do.

It doesn’t look the greatest, but according to Jesse “It’s not as disgusting as I thought it would be”. The picture is’nt all that great either. I took it off of Ian’s plate, which also happens to be his high chair tray. My dishes are white as well, so I doubt I would have gotten a great picture from that as well. For something coming out of “oh no I don’t have any rice”, it’s not bad. It’s your basic pasta primavera ripoff.

Overall, not a bad dish. One thing I would do different, I served the dish by spooning the sauce over the pasta. Next time, Jesse recommends mixing the pasta in with the sauce before serving.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1-1/4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups water
1 tbsp margarine or butter
1 bag (1 pound) frozen broccoli and corn
1 25.5 oz jar of red sauce
3 cloves of garlic
garlic powder
Medium shell pasta, cooked

Directions:

1. In 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in oil 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink in center.
2. Add water and margarine; heat to boiling. Stir in vegetables, garlic cloves, garlic powder, and sauce. Simmer until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat, cover and let stand about 5 minutes before serving. Spread over shells and enjoy.

I didn’t really play with the spices this time around, but there is definitely room to do so. The only thing I would do different would be to make the meatballs a little smaller. They came out really big and while that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it did make it a little hard to include them with the spaghetti sauce.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 tbsp finely chopped Onions
1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
Salt
Pepper, black
Garlic
1.5 lbs Hamburger
Tomato sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix all ingredients together. Add water if needed. Mixture should be moist but not so that the meatballs fall apart.
3. Shape meatballs to desired size and place in a 8×8 pan. Bake for 30 minutes. When finished, add to spaghetti sauce and simmer at least 20 minutes.

I came up with this recipe when one of Jesse’s co-workers requested food and I found out he liked chocolate and peanut butter. That happens to be one of my all time favorite taste combinations. You want to make my day, give me something that has both chocolate and peanut butter and I will love you for the entire time it takes me to eat it.

I did come across one issues with this cake. Do not get the Super Moist cake from Betty Crocker. As it’s suppose to be, the cake is really moist and tends to be a pain to cut in half. Instead of getting two halves, I ended up with three pieces because the top half broke when I was separating the two.

While this may be one of my recipes, I did swipe the directions for the peanut butter filling. I took it from Cupcake Bakeshop. If you want the filling to be more stiff, than use less milk.

Ingredients:
1 box Cake mix, triple chocolate
1-1/2 container Frosting, triple chocolate
1 (8oz) container Cream cheese
2 cup Peanut butter, creamy
4 cups Sugar, powdered
1 tbsp Vanilla
8 tbsp Milk

Directions:

1. Prepare and bake cake according to box directions. Cool completely.
2. Slice the cake through the middle to end up with two layers. Frost one layer with the peanut butter filling. Place the second layer on top of the peanut butter filling. Frost entire cake with triple chocolate frosting.
3. Peanut Butter filling: Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until combined. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the milk and beat until combined.