Cajun Chicken Pasta

I came up with this dish when trying to re-create the Cajun chicken pasta at Chili's. Cajun seasonings vary a lot by brand, so start with less and experiment until you get enough heat for your taste.

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup white cooking wine

1/4 oil

2 TBS Cajun seasoning (or more or less, depending on the brand and how spicy you like it)

1 lb penne pasta

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

shredded Parmesan cheese

Alfredo Sauce:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups milk

6 oz shredded Parmesan cheese

fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Combine white wine, oil, and seasoning in a bag and add chicken. Marinate several hours or overnight. Grill chicken and cut into strips, set aside.

Prepare the alfredo sauce by melting the butter and cream cheese in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and milk, whisk until smooth. Add cheese and pepper and whisk until cheese is melted.

Cook pasta according to directions, drain. Pour the alfredo sauce over the pasta. Add chicken and toss. Heat through, then stir in tomatoes and sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese.

8-10 servings

Sugar Cookies

I found this cookie recipe online. It's from Kneaders Bakery. I found the icing recipe on allrecipes, but had to change it a bit. You may need to add additional milk or corn syrup to get it to the right consistency. When it dries it stays shiny and bright.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups butter

2 ¼ cups sugar
4 large eggs

1 cup milk
7 ¾ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp lemon extract

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 Tbsp honey
1. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.

2. Add eggs, then milk. Scrape the sides of the bowl often.

3. Stir in remaining ingredients. Dough will be soft and sticky.

4. Place dough on well floured pastry cloth or workspace.

5. Knead in just enough flour to make dough workable. Dough will be very soft. It is best to knead with a rolling motion so you have a smooth surface and you will not get cracks on the tops of your cookies.

6. Gently roll out to 3/8 inch thick.

7. Cut into desired shapes and place on baking sheet lined with parchment.

8. Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes or until just the edges barely start to change colors. Makes approx. 4 dozen.

Sugar cookie icing:

Ingredients
1 cup confectioners' sugar
4 teaspoons milk
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or try lemon or vanilla)
assorted food coloring
Directions
In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup or milk. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

Curried Coconut Chicken

This is a favorite of ours. You can add even more chicken if you're cooking for a lot of people, there's plenty of sauce. We love to eat it with Thai Cucumber Salad. I usually add additional curry paste to this recipe to get it to the spiciness that we like. Curry pastes vary a lot by brand, so try a little at a time if you're not sure.

Ingredients
4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons curry powder

curry paste (optional, I usually add about 1TBS)
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons sugar

Directions
Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
Heat oil and curry powder (and paste, if desired) in a large skillet over medium-high heat for five minutes. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook 5 minute more. Add chicken, tossing lightly to coat with curry oil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.
Pour coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar into the pan, and stir to combine. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes. (Sometimes I let it simmer uncovered for a few hours to let the sauce thicken).

Serve over rice.

Thai Cucumber Salad

This salad is a must when we cook Indian or Thai food, but I like it with anything grilled as well.

3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/4 sugar

1/4 water

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 an onion, chopped

1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

In a small saucepan, heat water, sugar, vinegar, and salt until sugar has dissolved. Cool. Pour over cucumber and onion. Stir in cilantro. Refrigerate. Add peanuts just before serving.

Pesto Chicken

This is so fast and easy. Just make sure to plan ahead enough to leave time for marinating.

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 5 oz. each)
1/2 cup Pesto ( I either use homemade or the kind you find in the refrigerated section)

2 roma tomatoes, sliced (optional)
3/4 cup feta cheese

Directions

Put chicken and pesto in a bag and marinate for several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place chicken on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove from oven; top with tomatoes and cheese. Bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Cook of the Week

All of you that are on facebook already know this, but I have to take every opportunity to spread the news of my fame. After all, it's temporary fame and will be over at the end of the week.
I logged on to allrecipes.com this morning to look for a recipe and happened to notice my picture on the homepage. I was chosen as Cook of the Week. Wow, I'm famous, I thought, I must spread the word. So I facebooked it and now I'm blogging it because I would hate for any of you to miss out on my week of fame. But now the pressure is on. You're all expecting me to post more tasty and visually appealing recipes. But not to fear, I just need a day or two to accept the fact that I am now a famous person, and then I'll be back in the kitchen.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot my speech, so....I couldn't have done it without you, my loyal fans, so thank you. I love you all. I also wanted to thank my mom who wouldn't let me give up after I added too much salt to something-I can't remember what- when I was a kid. And my Dad, who made me eat my peas out of the garbage can after throwing them away. Without him I may have never learned to like peas, and probably would have never learned to cook them. I must also thank my husband because on days that I don't want to cook-I know, hard to believe, but it happens occasionally-he doesn't mind eating Hamburger Helper that's 2 years out of date. I hope I didn't miss anyone. Just know that I love you all and it's YOU, my fans, who made this all possible. Now, I've got to get back to allrecipes to make sure my picture is still there. XXOOxOXo!!

Witch Finger Cookies

The kids had a lot of fun making these. Spencer got real creative making warts and rings for the fingers. A bit labor intensive if you make these yourself, so be sure to let the kids do most the work! Also, these will puff up quite a bit while baking, so make sure to shape them smaller than you want for the finished product.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole almonds* (I blanched mine, see below)
1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel
DIRECTIONS
Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time and roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on an ungreased baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.
Let cool completely.
*To blanch almonds, pour boiling water over the almonds, enough to cover them. Let stand for one minute (don't over do it), then rinse with cold water. Skins should peel right off.