Flaky, Garlic Toasted Spaghetti Cups

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good. That's how I would describe the recipe that I saw on Jenny's Blog, Picky Palate. I just knew I had to try it. Her recipes don't disappoint. It is definitely a new twist on an old standby. The hardest part was unrolling the dough. Actually I take that back...finding a glass that was big enough to make the dough circles for the cups. I ended up using an oversize coffee mug and it worked perfectly. It was a 30 minute meal from start to finish which I totally love. Don't be surprised if you see me making this recipe again...heck, I may try and impress my MIL with it.

Flaky Garlic Toasted Spaghetti Cups
3 Pillsbury refrigerated pie dough, thawed

¼ Cup olive oil, for brushing

½ teaspoon garlic salt

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ Cup diced white onion

½ Cup diced red bell pepper

1 lb lean ground beef

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic salt
26 oz favorite pasta sauce, homemade or store bought
1 lb whole spaghetti
½ Cup Fresh grated parmesan cheese

12 Fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out pie dough rounds to an even thinness. Using a 3 inch wide bowl or cup, press 12 round circles of dough. You may need to roll out remaining dough to make more circles. Lightly brush each side of the dough rounds with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Press gently into the bottom and sides of 12 muffin tins, that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack.

Place oil into a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, sauté onion and bell pepper until slightly softened, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in beef, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Cook until browned and crumbled. Stir in pasta sauce and reduce heat to low to simmer.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

To assemble, using tongs, place a small amount of noodles into the bottom of the crusts. Top with a heaping spoonful of pasta sauce. Top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and basil leaves if desired.

Makes 12 spaghetti cups, you’ll have more spaghetti left over.

Menu Plan Monday

Last week was slow for my culinary skills. This week could be worse. I've got a great week all planned out -- some are the recipes from last week that I never got to and some are new. Wish me luck.

Sunday: Spaghetti Cups
Monday: Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Tuesday: Barbecue Chicken Pita Pizza

Wednesday: Taco Bake

Thursday: Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Friday: No dinner, working

Saturday: Makeup, Leftovers or Dinner Out

For other great ideas on meals that bloggers are making this week, stop by I'm an Organizing Junkie.

What, When and How to Freeze

As I tread deeper and deeper into the world of baking and cooking, I am learning a lot of new things. I have learned that meal planning is a great idea, takes the stress off of me, and it's okay that I don't always stick to it. I learned that some of the best recipes only have a few ingredients and are incredibly easy to make. I have learned that I need to read the recipe and do it exactly as it says to avoid a disaster. And most importantly, I have learned there is a blogosphere of amazing women who love to hang out in their kitchen, are incredibly supportive and best of all, they post their amazing recipes for me to try.

One of the most exciting things that I have learned is that you can freeze almost everything. Yes, almost everything. Call me a newbie, but here is some of the stuff that I learned you can freeze:
* eggs
* milk
* butter
* marshmallows
* onions
* strawberries
* brown sugar
* ricotta cheese
* herbs
* and, much, much, more.

So, the best part is that I am going to share all of this new found knowledge with ya'll. North Dakota State (never visited ND) developed this fantastic food freezing guide that is awesome. It's 40 pages long and I have it bookmarked because I haven't gotten around to printing it yet. Use it, love it, enjoy it.

And, if anyone thinks it is as great as I do, will you come back and leave me some comment-love. I always enjoy reading them, but most importantly, I love knowing that people are stopping by my blog.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

I heart garlic. So, imagine my delight when I found a recipe that uses 40 cloves. Woo Wee. It was really easy to make and delicious. I was in a hurry which isn't good for this recipe. Peeling 40 cloves of garlic ain't something you can do in seconds. There are a lot of variations out there, but I used one from the Food Network. Sorry, that there aren't any pictures...I did mention that I was in a hurry when I was making this, right?

Hurry + hunger = no pictures (I completely forgot).

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
40 unpeeled cloves of garlic ( 3 heads)
3 1/2 pound chicken
Salt and pepper
Softened butter
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Lemon juice, to taste
Chopped parsley, for garnish

In a saucepan blanch garlic cloves in boiling water to cover for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and peel. Sprinkle chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Rub outside of chicken with butter and truss. Spread a flameproof baking dish with softened butter and arrange the chicken on 1 side. Roast in lower third of a preheated 425 degree for 10 minutes. Turn and roast, on the other side, basting, for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375, turn breast side up and add garlic. Roast for 20 minutes more, or until juices run clear. Transfer chicken to platter stand for 5 minutes, remove truss strings. Transfer garlic to platter. Keep warm covered.

Add 1/2 cup wine to pan and deglaze. Pour into saucepan and reduce to 2 tablespoons. Add 1 cup chicken stock and reduce to 1/2 cup. Remove pan from heat and swirl in tablespoons softened unsalted butter and add lemon juice to taste. Garnish with parsley.

No Dorie This Week!

I just couldn't do it this week. I know when to take a break and this week is that break. I promise to be back next week for Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters. I mean c'mon, who doesn't love peanut butter. So, forgive me for being a slacker but stop by Food Family and Fun for the recipe. Wanna see those that actually made the Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte? Visit the TWD blog roll.

Menu Plan Monday

I will do better...I will do better... I will do better. That's my mantra this week for menu planning. Unfortunately, despite my best intentions, life gets in the way. I am looking forward to the recipes I have in my rotation -- some are tried and true and some are new to the recipe box. Here is what I have planned (notice I gave myself some wiggle room to flake out).

Sunday: Crispy Yogurt Chicken

Monday: Celebrating Five Year Anniversary

Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Wednesday: Pulled Pork

Thursday: Spaghetti Cups

Friday: Steak

Saturday: Dinner Out

For other great ideas on meals that bloggers are making this week, stop by I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Crispy Yogurt Chicken

The Pioneer Woman is amazing. I haven't tried a recipe of hers that I don't like. That's the case with Crispy Yogurt Chicken. It has been in my reader for a while and it seems like every food blog out there has already tried it. So, tonight was the night that our taste buds had the opportunity to determine for ourselves if it was all that. My friends, it was. So moist, so crispy, so delicious. It took me five minutes to make it and ya'll know how much I love anything that's easy to make. My only hint: cook it a little longer than an hour to achieve extra crispy delight.

Crispy Yogurt Chicken

1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
2 cups plain, unflavored yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
Parsley
1 lemon juice
Kosher Salt
Butter
1 ½ cups Panko bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350. Coat baking dish with butter. Combine the yogurt, garlic, and parsley in a bowl; mix well. Add the lemon juice.

Rinse the chicken, and salt it well. Pour Panko breadcrumbs into a second bowl and season with salt. Dip chicken into yogurt and coat it well. Place chicken in bread crumbs and roll around to coat thoroughly. Place in the baking dish.

Place a slice of butter over the large part of the chicken so the bread crumbs don't get dry. Cover in foil. Bake for 1 hour, removing foil for the last 15 minutes so the chicken gets brown and crispy.

TS Fay + Day Off = Granola Grabbers

TS Fay gave me a perfect opportunity to finally make the Granola Grabbers. You know, those grabbers that I actually should have posted on Tuesday. Yep, call me a slacker, but at least I made them.

A word about Fay: she is one mean gal. I had to be at work for a few hours today and when I finally headed home the weather was horrible and I had detour after detour. There is so much to this story -- hubby being at work for 12+ hours, my grandmother's house flooding and then every access point to my house closed...I don't even have the energy to type about it. I just walked in about a hour ago and can't wait to crawl into bed. Unfortunately, it's not over...more rain bands, more flooding, more everything. Sigh.

Now, back to the granola grabbers that I actually made Friday...I followed the instructions and they were flat, flat, flat. Then I got smart and put them in mini muffin tins.

I think they are really yummy. A little greasy -- no clue why, but still very good. This recipe will definitely be made again. Heck, I have a whole bottle of wheat germ -- took me forever to find it in the grocery story -- and it was a bigger bottle than I expected. You guessed it -- I am going to look for more recipes with wheat germ so that I can use the big ole jar before it expires in 2009.

Anyway, yum yum grabbers. Go check out the recipe over at Michelle's Bad Girl Baking and check out what others thinks over at Tuesday's With Dorie.

Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss

When you see a recipe on three different blogs, you know it must be good. That's the case with Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss. It was everywhere -- Melissa, Lauren and Brooke (fellow Nestie's) all raved about it. So because I am no dummy, I had to try it. Let me tell you -- I made it in 20 minutes flat which was a good thing since I walked in 30 minutes past my normal arrival time. I thought it was good (I added too much lemon, so a tad bit tangy) and I think if my husband was in a better mood, he might have enjoyed it more. That's another story (didn't bother to call him to mention I was running late, he was having a horrible day, combined with a toddler who was having tantrums... you get the idea). Anyway, I'm gonna try and wow him again with it since I consider it a keeper.

Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 1/3 pounds chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup chicken broth or stock
3 tablespoons capers, drained

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 pound penne rigate pasta, cooked to al dente
Chopped or snipped chives, for garnish

Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of EVOO and the chicken to the pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken until lightly golden all over, about 5-6 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return the skillet to the heat.

Reduce heat to medium. Add another tablespoon EVOO and one tablespoon butter, the garlic and shallots to the skillet. Sauté garlic and shallots three minutes. Add flour and cook two minutes. Whisk in wine and reduce liquid one minute. Whisk lemon juice and broth into sauce. Stir in capers and parsley. When the liquid comes to a bubble, add remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter to the sauce to give it a little shine.

Add chicken back to the pan and heat through, 1-2 minutes. Toss hot pasta with chicken and sauce and serve. Adjust salt and pepper, to your taste. Top with fresh snipped chives.

No Granola Grabbers...Yet

I'm running behind. I was out of town this weekend which is my normal Tuesdays with Dorie Baking session. I'm gonna get to it...hopefully tomorrow. I still have to go to the grocery store and get all the goodies. But everyone seems to enjoy them, so I am looking forward to making them.

To see what they look like make sure you check out the Michelle over at Bad Girl Baking who picked the week's stellar recipe.

Sorry to be a slacker...Wednesday feels like a good day.