Italian Pie

So once again, I saw a new recipe & have to try it. It was great, definitely a keeper in my book. I ended up just buying stuff for this recipe at the store. I found out it is around $4 per serving. Put it will a little side salad & some bread & presto, you have dinner. It was quick to make to, which is always a plus in my book.

Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 (10-oz) box frozen chopped spinach
6 slices salami (1 1/2 oz)
1 1/4 lb ground meatloaf blend (beef/pork)
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/4 cup diced pimientos, drained
1/4 cup turkey (or regular) pepperoni (1 oz)
1 (13.75-oz) jar bruschetta spread
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)
2 cups shredded Italian-blend cheese
1 ready-to-bake rolled pie crust


Preheat large sauté pan on medium-high 2–3 minutes. Add ground meat and Italian seasoning; brown 5–7 minutes, stirring to crumble meat, or until no pink remains. Drain spinach thoroughly by pressing firmly against colander.
Stir pimientos, pepperoni, salami, spinach, and bruschetta spread into meat. Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside 1–2 minutes to cool.
Stir in eggs and cheese, then transfer to a 9x13-inch baking dish. Unroll pie crust over meat mixture. (Stretch dough to fit or use extra dough that overlaps sides to cover extra space at each end of the baking dish; press edges together on each end.) Trim and seal or crimp edges.
Cut two small slits in center of crust. Bake in a 425 degree oven 25–30 minutes or until mixture is bubbly and crust is golden. Serve.

French White Burgundy Chicken and Egg Noodles

I saw this recipe on the food network. It looked so yummy. Well...it was! The chicken was so tender. I did however have a few problems with this recipe. First was I could not find a french Burgundy wine. So, I substituted a Chardonnay for it instead. I thought I had egg noodles in the pantry, but I did not, so I ended up with penne noodles instead. I could not find frozen pearl onions, so I chopped up a few (3) medium sized onions instead. I have to admit I did not add the nutmeg nor the flat leaf parsley.

Note- the only reason you chop the bacon is so that it cooks faster. You just need the bacon grease, which in my opinion adds a lot of flavor.

Serves 6

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 slices good quality bacon, chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
2 pounds chicken tenders, cut into 1 1/2 to 2-inch pieces
Salt and pepper
1/2 pound button mushrooms, quartered
3 ribs celery from the heart of the stalk and leafy tops, chopped
1 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, 4 to 5 sprigs
4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 cups white French burgundy wine, 1/3 bottle
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups frozen pearl onions
1 pound extra-wide egg noodles
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
A handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat with extra-virgin olive oil. Add bacon and cook until crisp, about 5 minutes, remove with slotted spoon.

Heat a pot of water to boil for egg noodles.

While bacon crisps, scatter 1/2 cup flour on a shallow dish. Season the chopped chicken with salt and pepper and add to flour. Toss the chicken to coat and shake off the excess as you add it to the hot bacon drippings. Lightly brown the chicken about 3 minutes on each side then remove. Add mushrooms to the pan and add the celery, carrots and parsnips as you chop them Season with salt, pepper and thyme. Cook vegetables 5 to 6 minutes to tenderize them. Scoot vegetables off to the sides of the pan forming a well. Add 2 tablespoons butter to the well and melt them whisk in 2 tablespoons flour. Whisk wine into roux, shake pan to combine then stir in stock. Add chicken back to the pan and stir in the onions. Simmer the chicken 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning.

Salt water for egg noodles. Add noodles and cook to al dente. Drain noodles and return to hot pot. Add 2 tablespoons butter to noodles and toss to melt. Season noodles with nutmeg, salt and pepper, to taste, and garnish with parsley.

Cheese and chocolate tunnel cake

So, I saw this recipe & I had to try it. Even though I don't like chocolate cake. I know I'm weird. It was so simple & easy to make & tasted delicious. I served with with whip cream & vanilla ice cream.

1 cake mix, two-layer chocolate with pudding (plus eggs & water that is called for on the box)
1/3 c butter
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp butter, melted
2 oz semi-sweet chocolate
2 tsp corn syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake mix according to package directions, substituting butter for oil; reserve 1 cup of batter.
Pour remaining batter into a 12 cup greased and floured fluted tube pan.
Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing well at medium speed on an electric mixer until well blended; blend in eggs, one at a time.
Pour over batter in the pan; spoon reserved batter over cream cheese mixture and bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes; remove to a wire rack.

Combine melted butter, chocolate and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until chocolate is melted.
Pour over cooled cake.

Note- due to the fact that there is dairy in the cake. If you are serving the cake that day, I would think it is ok to leave out. However, I would refrigerated any leftovers.