Luscious Lemon Chicken Pasta

 Do you have a favorite Italian Restaurant that serves mouthwatering pasta dishes for exorbitant prices?  This pasta could easily be on their menu but making it at home is just as good and not expensive at all!  My only regret is that you can't taste this from the picture.  You know like the scratch and sniff stickers they used to have?  I wish you could smell and taste this because it is so full of flavor.  Let's get started!

 Round up the marinade ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (olive or vegetable)
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoon Cajun seasoning
Juice of one fresh squeezed lemon (1-2 Tblspn. bottled)
2 Tablespoons minced dried parsley
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 chicken breasts (20 oz) cut into 1" chunks

Mix marinade ingredients in a zip lock bag and then add chicken pieces.  Marinade in the refrigerator for 3 to 12 hours. 

 Prepare Sauce Ingredients in a small bowl:

2 Tablespoons oil (Olive or vegetable)
Zest from one large lemon ( make sure to use only the yellow part, the white
                                        part is very bitter)
Juice from 2 lemons (about 2 Tblspns. bottled)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used 2 Tblspns. dried)
salt and pepper to taste

Add 3/4 lb of angel hair pasta or linguine to boiling water and cook 7 to 10 minutes until done.   Add marinade and chicken pieces to a large skillet and cook on medium high until chicken is white and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Drain cooked pasta and put in a large bowl.  Add lemon juice parsley mixture to pasta tossing gently until well blended. 

Add Chicken from skillet to pasta and toss till combined.  Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.  Serve immediately.  Yield 6 servings

This recipe was adapted from a wonderful cook, Mel from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and you can visit her blog here.  This recipe was seen on Mandy's Recipe Box,Jam Hands,Make ahead Meals for Busy Moms,The Recipe Critic, Nap Time Creations,Pint Sized Baker,

p.s. Comments are very welcome!
p.p.s. When people comment it makes my whole day happy! 
p.p.s.s. Thanks for your visit!

Samoas To Die For!!!

Heaven knows I've tasted a lot of cookies in my life.  Some I like and some I like more.  I meet very few cookies I don't like.  In fact cookie monster is a not so very distant relative of mine.  But.... I can honestly say these cookies are so good you may cry when you eat one.  They may be just a little addictive so you may want to be sure to have lots of people around in a party or something to eat them to save you from yourself.  If you like the Girl Scout version you are going to LOVE these!  

Cookie Center

1 cup Butter (softened)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tblspn. Milk (optional)
1/2 tsp. Vanilla

 Begin by creaming the butter and sugar together for one to two minutes until it changes to a light color and is fluffy.

 Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and then add it slowly to the butter mixture until well blended.  Add vanilla and then only add milk if the dough won't come together in a ball.  Mine did not need any at all.

Gather dough in a ball and divide into two.  Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.  Then remove and work a little with your hands until it is pliable enough to roll out. 

 Lightly flour the counter surface and roll to about 1/8" thickness.  I like to use two new paint sticks under the rolling pin to make sure it is very even. 

 Cut out your cookies with a 1 1/2" to 2" circle and about a 1" inner circle.  Any cutters will do but it was nice to do it in one step with my doughnut cutter.

 Place them on a cookie sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper and cook at 350 for 10 to 12 min. until the bottom of the cookies are a very light golden brown.  Cool slightly on the pan and then remove to a cooling rack to finish.

Topping

3 cups shredded sweetened coconut 
15 ounces carmel (individually wrapped store brand is fine)
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tblspn. milk
1 1/3 to 2 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips ( I used Costco- Kirkland Brand and they were excellent!)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place coconut evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet.   Toast for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to ensure even browning.  Watch carefully because it browns quickly and could burn.  Cool on baking sheet stirring if browning continues.  Set aside.

 Place caramel in a large microwave- safe bowl with milk and salt.  Cook on high for 3-4 min. stopping  and stirring every minute to melt carmels.  When smooth, fold in coconut.  When mixture is very warm it will spread easily on the top of the cookies and it will stick to the cookies without any problem.  If it cools too much it will come off.  If this occurs, reheat the mixture in the microwave a little until it is soft and sticks well again.  Using the tip of your butter knife, take a teaspoon at a time and stick it on the top of the cookie. Moving around the circle quickly with small amounts of topping will work better than trying to push it around and spread it out. 

 Set cookies on a rack for the topping to cool and set up.  Meanwhile, place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 30- 45 second increments until it is melted and smooth. 

 Holding a cookie, dip the bottom into the chocolate. Using a metal spatula scrap the extra chocolate off leaving a smooth even covering on the bottom of about 1/8" inch.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper.  Then when all the cookies finished place remaining chocolate into a small ziplock bag and cut a tiny corner off.  Use this to place lines of chocolate across the cookies.

 Let cookies cool until completely set.  (You can put them in the fridge to hurry this process for 15 minutes but leaving them longer may make the chocolate turn white.)  This recipe made 28-2" cookies.

 These are as wonderful as they look!  

This recipe was adapted from Just a Taste and Orson Gygi's Blog.  
It was seen on The Recipe Critic,Chef in Training,Buns in my oven and Mandy's Recipe Box.

Mom's Homemade Chicken Soup mmm...

     Even though spring is close by we are still having cold weather and even snow the last couple of days.   It is still a very good time for some comforting homemade soup! I have many memories of my mom making this to take to sick neighbors and family.  Every time we get a cold you can bet a pan of this will show up at our house from mom!  This really does have magical healing qualities and is so delicious!  

     This is one of the few recipes that I usually just make--no recipe needed.  I know it so well that I can just add ingredients until it looks "right".  But if you are like me in almost every other instance I have to have a recipe with real amounts or something always seems a little bit off.   So I  measured as I cooked and wrote it all down for you! 

Mom's Chicken Soup

For a 6 quart pot (8-10 servings)

Place in a pot and bring to a boil:
5 lbs. bone in chicken (I use 5 legs and 5 thighs, the dark meat has more flavor but any pieces will be fine).
2 small or 1 med. onion chopped into 1" pieces.
2 tsps. salt
Water to cover chicken 

Boil slowly for 45 min. to 1 hour.  Remove chicken to a plate to cool.  
Meanwhile, peel and slice
 3 cups carrots
 1celery rib. 

 Then peel and dice 
2 med. to large potatoes and add to boiling broth.

By this time meat should be cool enough to handle.  Remove and discard skin and bones. Pull meat apart and break into 1" - 2" pieces.  This made about 5 cups of meat.

Put meat back into pot of broth.  Let vegetables boil for about 10 minutes (the carrots add a beautiful color and flavor to this soup so don't skimp on them!) then add 1 to 2 cups large wide egg noodles and let boil for 10 minutes more.  (Mom makes her own noodles and they are fabulous but I have yet to learn the art so I buy mine!)  
Add more hot water to replace the amount that has boiled off and then a little more to make the soup the consistency (thick or thin) that you want it.  I added in all about 7 cups more water. 

Bring again to a boil.  Now you need to slowly add more salt to taste.  I added about 1 and 1/2 more tablespoons.  Add a teaspoon at a time and taste.  

To thicken soup:

In a small bowl or cup add:
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup flour (or cornstarch)
Mix with a wisk until blended.  

To avoid getting lumps in your soup, remove some of the hot juice (1/4 cup) and mix with the water and flour mixture.  Mix and then add another 1/4 cup of hot liquid. Mix and then pour all of this into the soup and stir until combined.

.  Boil for 1 minute.

The soup is finished now but you can also add dumplings if you would like.  This is my recipe that I have used for years from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.  This is sooooo much better than the box mix kind and really quite fast to make.  Pleeeease use it ok?  (I feel so much better now).

Dumplings:  

3 Tblspns. shortening  

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

3/4 teas. salt

3/4 cup milk

 

Cut shortening into flour, baking powder, and salt until mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Stir in milk.  Drop dough by spoonfuls onto hot meat or vegetables in boiling stew (do not drop directly into liquid).  Cook uncovered 10 minutes Cover and cook 10 minutes longer.

Is that beautiful or what??

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As my mom always says: "This'll cure what ails ya!"  (just kidding mom,  I'm in trouble now...)

This recipe also appears on Mandy's Recipe Box   ,The Recipe Critic
Not Just a Housewife, Chef in Training Link up parties!