1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Montreal Steak seasoning
1/2 pound penne pasta
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chicken broth
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 to 1 tsp salt & pepper (to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded

Rinse chicken breasts in cold water. Layer between sheets of wax paper and pound to even thickness. Season both sides with Montreal Steak seasoning. Preheat grill for medium high heat, lightly oil grate, and grill chicken breasts on medium high heat for 6-8 mins each side. OR heat 2 tbsp butter & 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter and olive oil is nice and hot, add chicken breasts and cook 5 mins each side. Set chicken aside to cool. In a large pot, boil water with 1 tbsp salt. Add 1/2 lb penne pasta noodles and boil according to package directions. Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is tender, but do not let the garlic turn brown (about 3-5 mins). Add the chicken broth to the pan and allow to reduce by half. Meanwhile, slice chicken. Once the broth has reduced, stir in tomato sauce. Add the heavy cream and stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat to low. Chop the parsley and basil, add to sauce and mix well. Drain pasta and add to sauce. Stir well to coat. Serve pasta on plates, top with sliced chicken.

Enjoy!

Sorry for not posting...we had a horrible 2 weeks without a computer in which I felt as if I were living in the dark ages.** Shiver.** May I never experience that again.

I chose something quick to upate this poor, sad blog with. I will put more thought into something later today...somethihng original. But for now, enjoy this. The original

recipe comes from my friend from here (again). I love these a lot. I know you will too.

for scones:

2 c flour

1/4 c sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c unsalted butter , cold and cut into pieces

1/2 c dried cherries

zest of 2 lemons

2/3 c buttermilk

glaze for scones:

juice of 1 and a half lemons

1 cup of powdered sugar

If you do this right, you should come up with 12 scones.

Mix dry ingredients in food processor. Add diced butter and pulse until butter is the size of peas. Add lemon zest and cherries and pulse 2 or 3 more times. Add buttermilk all at once and process until dough comes together.

**I use a buttermilk powder instead of buttermilk. If you have that, use 2 1/2 tablespoons of powder and then 2/3 cup of water. Add the powder with the dry ingredients and then add the water instead of the milk.**

Pat dough on a floured surface into a circle that is about 7-10 inches around and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut the circle in half and then cut into triangles. Don't use a shape cutter. It's okay for scones to have that random look.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and drip the lemon glaze onto the cooled scones. I mix the glaze in a 1 cup liquid measuring cup and then pour it right out from that onto the scone.

These would be yummy for a friend brunch, or as a dessert.

Enjoy!

You can experiment with lots of combinations, which make this recipe super versatile!!

A wonderful neighbor of mine from our Idaho days knocked on our door one day asking me for a baking dish. A few hours later, she brought it back with a cooked homemade chicken pot pie in it. My life was changed. The following recipe is a variation I have come up with, but I must give credit to a friend for giving me the idea to start with. She has a GREAT cooking blog, Nan's Recipe Spot that is worth checking out.

HOMEMADE CHICKEN POT PIE
2 cups carrots (cut up small)

3 cups potatoes (cut up small)
2 cup peas
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup wheat** flour
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey
pie Crust ( to follow)

Cook carrots and potatoes and drain, and then set aside.


Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat until melted. Saute onion in the butter until it is slightly brown {NOT BURNT!}

and then add flour, salt, and pepper. It is SO important to saute the onion first, so that you don't have slimy onions in your pie. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly until mixture is combined. It will be clumpy. Remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Whisk together until its a gravy-like consistency. Be patient with this part-it can take a few minutes to turn the chunks and liquid into a gravy! KEEP WHISKING! Once the grave state has been achieved, Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Stir in chicken and vegetables.
Make Crust!

Chicken Pot Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups wheat** flour
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 TBS white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 lg egg, at room temperature***
1/4 cup cold water
2 tsp dry Rosemary
2 tsp dry Thyme

Heat oven to 400.

I throw all the dry ingredients, including the herbs, into my food processor and then pulse a few times. Then I add the egg and vinegar. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the mixture is crumb-y. Add the cold water and pulse until the mixture pulls together. Pour out onto a floured surface (I love using my cutting board for this.) and knead until it all comes together. Form into a flat dish.

Place inside a ziploc bag and keep in the fridge for an hour, to harden a little. When it's time, roll 2/3 of pastry to fit into an ungreased pan. Pour chicken mixture into pastry lined pan. Roll remaining pastry to fit top of filling. Turn edges over and cut slits in top. Use leftovers to cut shapes and place on the top of the pie, if you like that kind of thing.

I did with this one, and the kids kept fighting over the apple pieces when it was cooked....
Bake about 35 minutes or until golden brown, and you can see the gravy bubbling up!




**You can either use white flour, or a mixture of white and wheat flours. I grind my own wheat, and do it on the finest so that I have a light wheat flour that doesn't feel heavy or dense like most wheat flours do when not combined with white flour.
***If you forget to think ahead of time and pull your egg out early enough to be at room temp by the time you need to use it, set egg in a bowl and pour warm water over it. Let this set for 5 minutes, and then you have a speedy room temperature egg!

I have a friend who has a blog with her sister, (yum) and she is doing a giveaway! Go here to sign up!

I love The Barefoot Contessa. I love to read her cookbooks, and I love to cook her recipes and then eat the food.
I own one of her cookbooks, and in it is a recipe for Homemade Granola Bars.
I made them. And my kids hated them sooo bad, that I swore I would never make them again.
Well, sometime between then and tonight, I tried it again, and instead of using the mix as a bar, I crumbled it up and used it as granola! SO SO SO SO GOOD! I use it plain as a cereal, or I use it atop greek yogurt-which I love. I changed a few things here and there, so the recipe below is simply an adaptation of Ina Garten's original recipe, which you can find here.

2 1/2 cups oatmeal-I love it when I have old fashioned oatmeal around to use for this, but I usually don't, since we use quick oats all the time. Either works, however.
1 cup loosely packed coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
3/4 toasted wheat germ {It comes toasted from most stores}
3 TBS unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt {table salt will work}
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries

You can also add in dates, raisins, etc. according to your tastes.

I love to drink my breakfast. I came up with this delicious shake after trying different variations over time, and I have it many times a week.


What you need:
Carnation Instant Breakfast drink Mix, the No sugar added kind. CHOCOLATE*
1 small banana (frozen is way better-makes the shake more icy and cold)
1/2 cup oatmeal-I use the quick cook kind
7 ice cubes
1 cup Almond Milk**

Combine milk, oatmeal, drink mix, and banana in blender, and pulse until the oatmeal and banana have been cut up small. A banana chunk surprise in the middle of this shake will ruin it for you and make you gag quicker than anything. So make sure it is smooth. Then add your ice cubes. Pulse on your quick pulse for a few times, then turn to highest speed and blend until it has cut up your ice. The tip to this is to make sure you still have icy-ness in it, so it doesn't turn into a watery shake. When it has the consistency you want, pour it in a tall glass and drink that baby up!


*I love when they came out with this kind, because it cut the calories down by 80!
**You can use your choice of milk, but I recently discovered that I LOVE the taste of Almond Milk, and it has 20 less calories than fat free milk!
If you make it this way, you have yourself a breakfast at 330 Calories. When I am NOT training for a half marathon, these calories for a breakfast are a little bit more indulgent than I like. But if you are getting yourself a good workout in that day, than this is a good start to your day.