Chicken and Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

 I love pasta dishes.  Something just hearty and soul warming about them and this week, I was feeling pasta-ish!  The cayenne pepper in this one puts a whole other meaning to soul-warming too!  Measure down if you aren't up for spicey.  Little one and I had Grandpa over for this family dinner meal and Grandpa's poor lips were on fire he said.  This coming from someone that doesn't touch mexican food and thinks Big Red gum is "too spicey to enjoy".  Not too credible if you ask me.  We love him, but he's a little tender in the taste buds.

"I Love" Chicken Schnitzle

This has been a good week.  Lizzie is showing progress on the potty, her big girl underwear came in the mail (they are Adorable on!)  and we've had lots of rain - to wash away all this nasty overwhelming yellow pollen!  Also, I've been working hard to be consciously grateful for all things I love thanks to an inspiring book my Aunt Laney gave me called "The Secret the Power" by Rhonda Byrne.  There are lots of lessons to be taken from this book, but this is just one I'm concentrating on now.  And I'm happy to report, it does make one more happy feeling to accentuate the positive (Johhnny Mercer was on to something) and be consciously grateful of people/sitatuions/events/things you encounter daily.  It is challenging, to be conscious of your thoughts and steer them into positive directions when they tend to linger (more like lurk) towards the negative.  Its only human nature, but we do need to take control more often than not.
Anyway - with the help of my new read, I'm working to mentally acknowledge things that I love and make this a daily practice.  My sweet lizzie and my amazingly helpful husband who is so tender and loving with our little girl and with me - are at the top of my list among some very trivial things like "icecream..... anytime" and "stormy nights which lead to excellent slumber".

Another recipe with Ketchup?!? Turkey Meatloaf!

Here I sit, with my cream cheese bagel and lemon water, typing my post much sooner than I got the last post out and might I mention......I'm doing this post amazing and much needed yoga session with my dear friend Joan.  I hestitated leaving the house with Lizzie since we are on our 5th day on the Potty Train

* note the very proud pottier with her potty stickers and FIRST EVER marshmellow PEEP! 

not to mention the dark dreary day it is, but I (and baby) needed this time for our bodies....and Lizzie needed a little outing.  Also, Lizzie had what I politely call, potty success, before we left the house so I was feeling confident on the way out of the door and as expected......amazing on the way back in.  Win-Win.  I've digressed, so let me get back to our dinner from Tuesday night. 

Swiss Chard and Sweet Pea Manicotti

I have had this recipe for over 9 months now and just haven't felt quite inspired enough to make it.  However, after a few relaxing days in warm sunny Puerto Rico last week followed by a blustery cold snap back to reality, this manicotti dish felt oh so appropriate!  Not to mention, I am ready to jump back in the kitchen after having a full week off from cooking!  Sure was a pleasure/vacation in and of itself, not having to cook!  Don't get me wrong, I do love to cook, but anyone who does it for a family, knows that its not just a matter of throwing something edible into the microwave 15 minutes before the hungry mouths start crying!  "Cooking" actually is the final product of a sequence of many small events.   First comes the menu planning, then the grocery list, then the actual grocery shopping, followed by unloading the groceries and organizing the refrigerator (yes - this is an important step - you gotta see whatcha' got - and throw away what is sprouting legs and eyes and is about to talk back to you!)  Then as the week progresses, you are thawing, prepping, washing, chopping, marinating, and then of course, the actual cooking.  This is an art form I'll have you know!  One I love, but one I always will  welcome a small vacation from.  We never eat out and I mean NEVER, so this Puerto Rican vacation was all kinds of a vacation for me!

Pasta with Spinach, Tomatoes and Cannelini Beans

So, truth be told, I'm still not feeling up to snuff these days and once 4 pm rolls around, firing up the stove and cooking dinner seems to turn my stomach just a bit.  But, this recipe is one of our old stanbys.  One of Brad's and my mom's too.  It is oh so easy and healthy!  You can add whatever you like to it, we just always have beans, tomatos and spinach on hand.  Actually, we have a healthy bounty of spinach in our garden this fall/winter - so spinach is always plentiful.  That is, if lizzie hasn't picked all the leaves and eaten them straight from the garden!  

Pizza Pockets

Wow, I feel I've neglected our blog...and so soon.  I apologize.   I've been a little under the weather with a cold that hung on for over 26 days and well.....(guess this would be an official announcement) with this new little one on the way my appetite has been severly under the weather.  With all this said, cooking just hasn't doable.  With all the aromas that are a product of cooking, I would have spent more time in the Loo than in the kitchen had I even tried to attempt it.  And lets be honest, cereal is yummy!  Brad was a trooper, cooking what frozen left overs we had stockpiled and improvising other nights, he kept himself and Lizzie satisfied.  But, I'm back to it now and am sure Brad is glad to hand the kitchen back over. And what did I get back into the groove with?  Pizza Pockets - one of our go-to recips for weekly dinners.  I always have homemade pizza dough in the fridge and the other ingredients are staples in our household.  If I don't have arugula, or can't seem to find it on its own (vs. mixed with radicchio and frisee) I use baby spinach.  These pizza pockets are fun, easy and very good with many meats.  I used Italian chicken this time around, although the recipe calls for Italian ground Turkey.  But if you really want to know what i use most frequently, its ground italian venison which makes the ultimate healthy organic and lean pizza pocket.  And this meal, comes with a side of dipping marinara and what kiddo doesn't like to dip their dinner?!?!  This recipe feeds 3 adults so double if making for more or if you want leftovers.  They can easily be reheated in the toaster oven! 

Chicken Paprikash over Spaetzles

I decided to share my Great Grandma's Chicken Paprikash and Spaetzle recipe this week!  Absolutely Autumn worthy!  Hearty with a sour cream base and aromatic with paprika - 2.5 Tbs worth, and last but certainly 1st on my list, very Eastern European.  And hey, I'd be up for a trip to the Czheck Republic right about now - wouldn't you? 

Lizze, my enthusiastic kitchen accomplice, was ready at the helm on this one.  She watched me wash and pan my two 3.5 lb organic chickens with onions, carrots, celery, and garlic cloves.  We started with the roasting of the chickens on Monday.  The recipe below does not include this step, you can totally roast or boil the chicken the day of, but I'm funny about wanting to make my own broth and wanting to skim ALL the fat off and skimming fat is much easier after a nights rest in the refrigerator.

Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Penne Pasta (Brown Sugar Cookies)

We've had a string of autumn like mornings and days and hey, its butternut squash season so I'm going to take full advantage with this Butternut Squash and goat cheese Penne Pasta.  This is one veggie I don't prepare unless it's in season and it is one of my favorites!  (I'm sure we will get to soups at some point again and I'll share a butternut squash and blue crab soup recipe ) 

A neighbor has a mother load of butternut squash and this is a recipe, note to self, that I have gotta share with her too!  And it is so easy too!  The oven does all the work plus a pot of boiling pasta water - what's easier than that?!?!

Vedure al Forno with Grilled Buttermilk Chicken

So, the temps have changed by about 15 degrees and Meghan and I have decided to bring in the new autumn season with one pot dishes.  Move over Sandwichs and bring in the hearty, earthy, feel good dishes of Autumn!  Although, this week, I cheated a little.  I was anxious to try the Vegetable al Forno recipe I found, using the last of the summer season's Farmer's Market zuchinni, but added the delicious Buttermilk Grilled Chicken to round out the meal and make it more hearty and filling.  ( the only adaptaptation I made to the chicken recipe was that I used only thigh/leg quarters) Brad and I had sampled the chicken recipe before and it has officially made it into the Old Standby's of my recipe box.  That is the most moist grilled chicken we have ever had - guess that is due to the sublime powers of a buttermilk bath!  The Vegetable al Forno was no disappointment either, but I'm not sure you can ever go wrong with that much cheese?  Fontina, Mozarella, Peccorino Romano, ooey cheesy goodness!  I will admit however, that the breadcrumbs are on top of each layer of this three layer dish which seemed a little strange.  I assume they were there to add a thickness to the sauce although they didn't quite cook up like I would have wanted.  (still seemed a little raw)  It is important to mention though that the second day around, after reheating in the toaster oven on 350 for about 20 minutes, this dish was even better, including those lower breadcrumb layers.