Pesto Pesto Pesto !!!!!

Pestos for paninis or pasta....you choose!

Ok so we went to Italy less than a year ago and when we returned, in the spring, I planted my garden.  But this year I added a great deal of garlic and basil.  Why?  Because I was taught how to make my own pestos and let me tell you, speaking from a culinary stance, it changed the way I eat and the way I cook.  

You cannot be worried about calories when you are cooking with this glorious, clean, beautiful, tiny dish.  Small amounts of it will add flavor you will not believe!  Add it to a sandwich or cook your favorite pasta and when it's hot toss in a few tablespoons to coat.  Each tablespoon will be about 75 calories only because of the olive oil.  Pesto originated in northern Italy  and they use ingredients known to their region; garlic, basil, and pine nuts topped off with olive oil and shaken vigorously to combine. Any combination you choose is wonderful, so lets talk about what some pestos have in them:  

you basic ingredients will almost always be

garlic, fresh basil, and about a teaspoon of sea salt.  

Other items you may use are

olives, pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes, chili peppers, onion and of course olive oil. 

Here is what I made today:  

I used 2 cloves of garlic, a hand full of basil, 1/4 up of sun dried tomatoes, 1/5 cup of pine nuts

I know you can put it in a food processor or chopper, but it is recommended by Italian chefs to chop it by hand

When complete with chopping add it to a jar with a lid, cover with extra virgin olive oil and shake

As always on my blog I say, cook to YOUR TASTE.  If you like more garlic add it, if you like less basil, don't use it.

Add I teaspoon of sea salt and shake one more time

Refrigerate and enjoy when needed! 

This is a picture I took from a market in Florence and below is a beautiful pasta display in a window in San Gimignano

  

Ahhh Italhy...I can't even be sarcastic about it

Spicy Chicken and Shrimp Penne

Put your water on to boil and cook your penne as directed!

As you may have noticed if you follow my blog at all, I cook by taste and not much by measurements.  So I will do my best to add those here as it is necessary for this dish.  Take 1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or 8 sun dried tomatoes, 3-4 chopped green onions, 3 cloves of chopped garlic, and place in a sauce pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground pepper, and 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of red pepper depending on how spicy you want it.

Once you have sauted the veggies, add a 12 oz can of evaporated milk and the above secret ingredient, Santa Fe Blend Philadelphia cooking cream.  Blend constantly until the cream is melted over a medium low heat.

 

It should look like this!  YUMMY.  Next, you want to add 2 cups of Mexican Style shredded cheese and not until it is melted do you add your meat.

I cheated, (sarcasm note:  and I feel so guilty about it) I added a bag of precooked chicken breasts and diced it up after the cheese was melted and BEFORE the sauce began to thicken.

I also bought precooked shrimp for my seafood loving boys and they added it accordingly to the final dish.

When the sauce begins to thicken, turn it off and get ready to serve over your penne pasta and a beautiful salad.

It NEVER fails, every time I plate a meal and want to take a picture for blog, some BOY takes it and begins to eat.  So you will have to just take my word for it, this is a beautiful and colorful dish!

Crispy Chicken with Creamy Italian Sauce and Bowtie Pasta

A new product from Kraft (thanks jamiecooksitup) 

Ingredients:  3 large chicken breasts,  5 C corn flakes,    3/4 C flour,   1/2 t salt,  1/2 cup milk,    6 T olive oil,  1   12 oz package bow-tie pasta

Ingredients for Sauce: 

1   10 oz container Philadelphia Cooking Cream (Italian Cheese and Herb Flavor), 2 cans cream of chicken soup,    1 C chicken broth,    1/2 C milk 

Instructions: crush the cornflakes into crumbs, add the salt to the flour.  Put your chicken in a zip lock baggie and pound to thin.  (it will cook throughout more evenly)  Put your milk in a bowl,  and your flour on a plate, & cornflakes on a plate.

Take the chicken you just beat, that felt good didn't it?, dip it in the milk...then the flour...then the milk...then the corn flakes.  When all are coated, heat your oil to medium and place the chicken in your pan to cook.

Brown both sides, then cover and reduce heat. When completely cooked place it on a pan in the oven to keep warm. Bring your water to boil and cook the pasta while you create your sauce.  Sauce is made by combining, with a whisk, your cooking cream, broth, cream of chicken soup, and milk together at a med heat.  Sarcasm Note:  If you place your pasta in boiling water at the moment you start your sauce they will be ready  at the same time.  But is organization and perfection what you really want?

Drain pasta, cover with sauce, slice chicken and place on sauce.  Serve or eat it all by yourself....just sayin....