Garlic Grits Casserole!

My friend, Becky, sent me a picture on my phone this morning, it was a picture of Garlic Grits Casserole! She said it was one of her favorites! First thing that caught my eye was that she was using some pampered chef stone ware!! 2nd it looked really good! And she sent me a picture of the recipe which sounded great and i love the fact that the Author of the cook book had a little story with the recipe! so I replied to Becky and asked what cook book was she using because i was already in love! I was not surprised when she sent back of a picture of the cover and it was Trisha Yearwood! I will be purchasing it soon! It looks like an amazing cook book!!
Ansley, my daughter, and I are the only ones in my house that eat grits however my motto is- don't dis it until you try it, EVEN if you've had it before, it could totally taste different the next time!! My biggest HOUSE rule is we don't say foods are gross! Even if my husband doesn't like something he puts it on his plate so the kids never really know and they'll give it a try!! So my point is that everyone in my house will be trying this soon! (Read Trisha's little story above the recipe! I love it! She's so right!!) enjoy the pictures that Becky sent to me!! Oh and ps- that piece of stoneware isn't available anymore but this recipe should fit beautifully into pampered chefs deep dish pie plate!!! Also a stoneware product!!

Chicken Pesto Pasta with Veggies!!

I had two different recipes in front of me tonight- one sounded great but called for flour and I didn't really want that and the other called for tons of cheese and cream! All that I love but I was trying make my pasta semi-healthy yet super tastey! While cooking my middle child, Justus, whose four came out of his bedroom talking about how good it all smelled from his room and he couldn't wait to eat! It was a huge hit!! And SO SO easy! So here's the recipe! (Pictures below!!)

-1 box of chicken stock
-1 box of linguini pasta (or whatever you prefer 12-16 oz)
-3-4 chicken breast
-1/4 cup of (EVOO) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-2 table spoons of lemon pepper seasoning
-5 cloves of garlic
-a few spoonfuls of capers
-2 medium carrots peeled with julienne peeler and cut into 1 inch strips (or 1/2 cup of match stick style carrots)
-2cups of broccoli florets (I used frozen and trimmed them up)
-1/2 cup of frozen peas
-1 medium red bell pepper or 5 mini bell peppers chopped length wise and cut into 1 inch strips (I used mini and they were yellow, orange, and red)
1/2 cup of pesto!

Ok here's what to do

Using the The Deep Covered Baker
-Break pasta in 1/2 and put in baker
-pour in stock
-add 1tablespoon of lemon pepper seasoning
-mince 3 cloves of the garlic in the baker
Now put it in the microwave for 14 minutes (you may check it 1/2 way thru and stir a little)

While that's in the microwave cook the chicken- I used my favorite grill pan from pampered chef!
-Pour oil in the pan
-Mince 2 cloves of garlic into the pan
-Place the chicken in the pan
-Sprinkle a tablespoon of lemon pepper on the chicken
-Top with a few spoonfuls of capers
-Cook on medium/high heat flip after 7 minutes

Now the pasta should be close to getting thru-
-Once it's out of the microwave add all the veggies (carrots, broccoli, peas, and peppers)
-Stir and pop back in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes!
Once chicken is cooked-
-cut the chicken up
-Return the chicken to the pan
-Pour all contents of the pan (chicken oil, garlic, capers) into the baker!!
-now add the pesto!
-Stir and enjoy!

*note if you're avoiding carbs- steam up lots of veggies in the micro steamer (add garlic and lemon pepper and a little olive oil once steamed)
Then top with the chicken!!


(One more note- The pasta ends up soaking up tons of the broth- I do not drain it at all! The leftover starchy broth will help "marry" all the flavors together!!)

Pasta with Ceci

Rachel Rays pasta with Ceci! That's what was for dinner tonight and it was so good! Everyone had seconds and we have leftovers! (I may add a bunch of beans to the leftovers for some soup!)

Today I was watching Rachel Ray (she's one of my most favorite people to watch cook! I would love to go to her show!!)
On the show she cooked pasta with Ceci! (Che-chi) Or as I know Ceci as chick peas and garbanzo beans! Growing up I loved loved loved these little peas!! And I've had a dry bag of them for a while now waiting to figure out what to do with them.. So I was ecstatic when I watched her show!
I didn't take a ton of pictures and I'm not going to post directions- instead I will just add her link to the recipe! This wasn't a "quick" recipe but wasn't bad either! I just had to soak the peas and instead of the meat she suggest - I did bacon (I cooked this in the oven first on my large bar pan! 425 degrees- lay bacon on large bar pan and cook 20-30 minutes depending on crispness you want!) I will be making this again! (Oh and Dustin and the kids had fresh grated Parmesan cheese, I didn't and it was still good! You could leave out the bacon and use vegetable stock and make it vegetarian!)
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/pasta-ceci/

Dustin decided to cook tonight (& he did the dishes!!)

Dustin, my husband, decided to cook tonight!! I love when he cooks (its nice to sit back and watch). I have noticed over time that 9x out of 10 he will cook everything together (in one pan/pot) (well he doesn't like some foods mixed- but some he does it weird :) ) - I have came to the conclusion that this is because it doesn't create as big of a mess as it does when I cook! Seriously- he barely had any dirty dishes! He likes using our 12 inch skillet because it cleans up so well and holds a ton of food in it! Well, I don't know what to even call his creation- all i know is that it was good and the kids ate it all up! serves 5! here's the ingredients

One bag of frozen mixed veggies (he used asparagus mix)
1/2 chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 cups of chicken broth
A little Italian herbs pampered chef seasoning
3 uncooked chicken breast diced up
Penne pasta (like 1/2 box 8 oz)
2 cups of water

Pasta sauce of choice
Parmesan cheese if desired

Directions
- put veggies, onions , garlic and broth and seasoning in large skillet (mines the executive 12 inch from pampered chef)
- let cook for 5-10 minutes until nice and hot
-add chicken stir and cover with lid checking and stirring occasionally
-once chicken is cooked (turns white) add pasta and 2 cups of water (to cover pasta) cook for additional 12 minutes (he let it boil for the 12 minutes)

Now use something to drain it and put it on the plate add sauce cheese etc! We used the scoop and drain from pampered chef!

BBQ Pork in the Deep Covered Baker

Typically I use chicken breast for this- however this evening I was out of chicken and had boneless pork chops that needed to be cooked.. So my mind started turning and I REALLY wanted to cook something in my DCB (deep covered baker) so I decided to do BBQ pork.. Not ever doing this before, I pulled out my trusty meat thermometer to make sure it would be done! And I wanted to see if the pork chops cooked as well as the chicken! (My kids loved loved loved it!!!)
-3 boneless pork chops- mine were very thick.
-1/2 onion chopped (tonight I had some already chopped and frozen so I jut pulled them out and de-thawed them!)
-few tablespoons of olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of the baker)
- 2 tablespoons of the pampered chefs Smokey BBQ rub
- a little of the pampered chefs Crushed Pepper corn and Garlic
-2 cloves of garlic (you will mince this)

Sauce-
-1 cup of ketchup
-1/4 cup of brown sugar
-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
-2 tablespoons of smokey barbecue rub
Mix all together!
Directions FOR BBQ
-put oil in DCB
-put chopped onions in DCB
-put pork chops in DCB
-sprinkle smokey BBQ rub and crushed peppercorn and garlic on chops
-mince garlic on chops
-flip the chops a few times and run the seasoning in
-pop in microwave for about 12-17 minutes (if you have a thermometer then check temp and its ready when it reaches 160 degrees !
-once done drain any extra liquid (I didn't do this and had to try afterwards)
-now chop with salad choppers
-pour sauce over meat and mix up!

Stuff! (however that onion got put back up since I realized I already had some chopped in the freezer!)



Oil and Onions

Pork Chops (next time I will trim the fat with some kitchen shears but it wasnt bad)

Seasoned, flipped a few times and garlic (then flip a few more times)

Ready for the Microwave!

SAUCE!! ketchup!

Brown sugar in our mini measure all!

Smokey BBQ Rub!

Apple Cider Vin. I LOVE this little measure for measuring small amounts of liquid

Mix it up!

handy dandy meat thermometer! It has a recommended temp chart on the cover!

160! Perfect! be sure to check more than one! (and put it in the middle!) drain that extra liquid out!

Chop with Salad Choppers (this is SO much better than it looks!)

add the sauce

he would not be happy if he knew I took this! But I had to prove that it is good!!!