Pasta Caprese

In honor of the birth of Giada's baby girl, Jade Marie De Laurentiis Thompson, I decided to make this pasta from my Giada cookbook. Okay that's a lie, my aunt called me and told me I had to try this recipe, it was quick, easy and delicious - three words that are music to my ears.

I love most of Giada's recipes, in fact, I think I've said this before, she's my favorite Food Network chef. Yes her voice drives me insane and her shirts seem to keep getting lower and lower, but hey, she's cute, so I can't blame her. Her recipes are always fresh and light - two more words that are music to my ears.

So when I told Brian I was making pasta and sauce on a Tuesday night, the little rat thought I was whipping up a real sauce with meatballs. Um excuse me, that would take me hours. I think I spoil him. So when I'm chopping up the fresh cherry tomatoes, he got nervous. Actually the exact phrase was "I'm scared, is there any left over chicken from last night?" As you know Brian will remove tomatoes from any dish that touches his plate. If you've ever watched him, it's almost like surgery. With a precise steady hand he removes things such as tomatoes, artichokes, olives, onions, etc. I do get mad he wrecks my masterpiece, but as I've said before, I get all the scraps so I consider myself lucky.

About 20 minutes later we were both sitting down and enjoying the FANTASTIC meal. And guess what, Brian loved it! He did pick out the chunkier tomatoes but he did manage to eat a few and he surprised himself by actually enjoying it. I recommend this recipe for a quick week night meal or even for a large crowd. This will definitely be added to the dinner rotation. Next time I make it, I'll use less oil because I don't think it needed that much. I might add even more tomatoes and perhaps some chicken. Brian will love it even more if it's topped with a pile of meat - he's so meat and potatoes!

Ingredients:

1 pound fusilli pasta (I used rigitoni - just make sure it's a hearty pasta the sauce will stick to)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic minced

3 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered (about 1 1/2 pints)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, torn 8 ounces

fresh mozzarella, diced (about 1 1/4 cups)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta into a large bowl and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

In a medium skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. As the tomatoes cook and soften, smash them with a fork. Continue to cook until the tomatoes make a chunky style sauce, about 4 minutes. Transfer the tomato sauce to the bowl with the pasta. Toss to combine. Add the basil leaves and mozzarella. Stir to combine. Add the reserved pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, until the pasta is moist. Serve.

I think I'll make this the next time the Corey's come over for dinner. Shout out to Danielle Corey who is a member of the C6. Don't ask me where she's from because I never remember if it's England, Wyoming, Oklahoma or North Carolina. Now she currently resides in Malden with her husband David and two cats, Ralphie and Rufus that she adores despite the fact that they've already destroyed her new furniture. She's absolutely crazy but that's why we love her....

(D - feel better now?)

Asparagus Risotto

This has been an interesting week to say the least. I'm rarely speechless but this week I am. When you think you know someone and the suddenly find out you really just never know what goes on behind closed doors, it rocks you to your core. So before you start worrying about me, it's not the husband or any of our family members thank goodness. I'll leave it there....

So what I have been able to do this week is eat. Usually when life gets a little chaotic, food becomes my best friend. Sad, I know, but I'd venture to say a lot of people deal with this same problem. If anyone knows me, I've got an obsessive behavior. I made this asparagus risotto on Monday night and I've been dreaming about it ever since. If I had any left overs, I was going to bring it to cooking club on Tuesday, but I was selfish and wanted to hoard the leftovers in the back of the fridge all for myself. It was that good. I found the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, http://www.elise.com/. I made one change, only because I didn't have shallots on hand, but other than that followed the recipe. It was a creamy delicious meal that just felt good going down. Very comforting.

Although I will warn you, risotto is not the easiest meal to make. It's not a meal you can make while trying to multi task. You must constantly stir to make sure the rice doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. And there's no real measurement for how much chicken stock to use. You just have to keep tasting the risotto to make sure the consistency is right. If there's to much stock or it's overcooked, it can become a startchy bowl of mush. It's supposed to be a little firm to the bite. Even though this is a little more work that regular rice, it's completely worth it and you'll be happy you tried it. You might even become obsessed like me.

Ingredients:

1 pound asparagus
3 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots (i used yellow onion since I didn't have any shallots)
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (or 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1/4 cup water)
About 3 1/2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock for vegetarian option), can substitute some of the asparagus cooking water for stock
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

1. Prepare the asparagus by breaking off discarding the tough ends (about the last inch of the spear). Cut into 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces (tips longer, base shorter). If your asparagus are especially large, cut into even smaller (bite-size) pieces. Bring a saucepan with a quart of water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus pieces for 2 minutes. At the end of two minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove the asparagus pieces to an ice water bath to shock the asparagus into a vibrant green color and to stop the cooking. Drain from the ice water bath and set aside.

2. In a 3 or 4 quart saucepan, heat 3 Tbsp butter on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for a few minutes until translucent. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring until nicely coated.

3. While the shallots are cooking, bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan.

4. Add the wine. Slowly stir, allowing the rice to absorb the wine. Once the wine is almost completely absorbed, add 1/2 cup of stock to the rice. Continue to stir until the liquid is almost completely absorbed, adding more stock in 1/2 cup increments. Stir often to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Gently stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining 1 teaspoon butter, and the asparagus. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Asparagus

Again, apologies for the lack of posts but recently life and a lack of appetite has been getting in the way of cooking! Not much new to report here - most of you may know that Brian's niece was recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Prayers and positive energy would be appreciated. She's such a trooper and I'm amazed at her strength and courage.

This is a quick and easy recipe that one of the SSCC gals (shout out to Jenn) passed on to me! It's one of our favorites!

1 bunch fresh asparagus
butter
salt
pepper

Melt butter in a fry pan. Add asparagus, season with fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Fry to desired crispness (or keep it soft, depending on your taste). Serve immediately

Mexican Sausage Wontons

These little bites of heaven are in high demand. This recipe was given to me by Brian's sister and I've passed it on to many more people as someone is always asking me for this recipe. Watch out though, they are very filling. When I made them for SSCC, we were literally in a food coma by the end of the night because we ate so many of them.

Ingredients:

1 package of regular Jimmy Dean Sausage

1 8oz bottle of Hidden Valley Light Ranch

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup of pickled jalenpenos, diced

1 package of wonton wrappers (usually found in the produce section near the tofu and packaged veggies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray non stick cooking spray in a muffin pan. Insert wrappen into muffin pan so they form cups. Bake for 5-6 minutes and then remove the wrappers from the pan onto a baking tray. Continue until all wrappers are cooked.

Fry the sausage in a frying pan, breaking it apart with a spatula. Cook until no longer pink. Drain sausage (I usually let it sit on a paper towel for a good 10 minutes to adsorb more of the grease).

Combine cooked sausage, ranch and cheese in a bowl. Fill the wrappers with the mixture and place a small piece of jalepeno on top. I don't put jalenpenos on a couple for those who don't like them. Cook them for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbling. If you are brining to a party, just prepare the filled wontons and cook them before you are going to serve them as they are best right out of the oven.

Chicken Piccata

I struggle with posting some of my recipes because when I cook it's usually a little of this and a little of that. I rarely measure anything unless I'm making it for the first time. So when I made chicken piccata the other night I made an effort to watch how much of each ingredient I was using. This recipe was passed on to me by my mother. It's absolutely delicious but the way she makes it clogs your arteries just looking at it. So I've scaled back on the butter and oil a bit, however, it's still not considered "light" by any means!

This recipe is great for dinner parties as well. If I make it in advance I'll use cut up chicken breasts instead of cutlets and I'll reserve the sauce until I'm about to serve it so it does not get dry. I serve it over penne or ziti.

Ingredients:
1 package of chicken cutlets, washed and patted dry
1/3 cup of flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup lemon (usually two lemons)
1/2 cup of white cooking wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp capers (optional)
1 tsp butter

Wash and pat dry the chicken cutlets. Mix flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Dredge chicken in the flour and shake off excess flour. Heat oil in pan. Put cutlets in pan and sautee until brown, about 4 minutes each side. If you don't have a pan big enough to fry all the cutlets at once, fry them in batches. Place cooked cutlets on a cooling rack (prevents them from getting soggy) or a plate.

Add a little more oil to pan and sautee garlic until lightly brown. Pour in chicken broth and scrap up the brown bits from the pan with a fork. Add wine and lemon and bring to a boil. Add parsley and capers. Let sauce simmer for 1-2 minutes or until thickens. If you want to thicken sauce more wisk in cornstarch a teaspoon at a time. Add the butter. Simmer for another 3 minutes or until butter is melted.

Plate the cutlets over rice or pasta and spoon sauce over.

The House Salad

I make a salad pretty much every night of the week not because I don't know what else to make but because I love salads. But not any type of salad, I love my salad, or should I say my Nana's salad. And it's so simple and fresh. I'm kind of a snob when it comes to salad, I don't do bottled dressings and I don't like salad from a bag. I mean I'll eat it if someone else is serving it but I can taste the difference. My salad spinner gets more use than any other tool in my kitchen - although my microplane grater is a close second. There are a couple basics about salad.

1) Don't reach for the bagged lettuce - sure it will save you some time but you'll definitely sacrfice in flavor. My favorite lettuce is red leaf, romaine being my second choice. The only lettuce I'll buy bagged is spinach. And you'll never see a head of iceburg lettuce in my house!

2) Toss those bottled salad dressing - I hate pretty much any bottled salad dressing. I normally just use red wine vinegar and olive oil, or at least start with this as a base and build from there by adding shallots, garlic, lemon, etc.

3) Red onions - I don't eat red onions and neither does Brian. But they're essential to the flavor of the salad. Once my salad is washed, I'll put the lettuce in the bowl with a couple slivers of red onions and let it sit for a couple minutes before I dress the salad!

4) Sea salt - not regular salt, not kosher salt, SEA salt is a must. Not much, just a little to give it that extra flavor. I have been known to use Crazy Janes salt, which is basically sea salt with additional herbs.

5) Toppings - typically the O'Neil house salad has one topping, FETA CHEESE. When Brian is not looking I'll put goat cheese in there instead to spice it up. But really there are tons of things you can add to this salad - my favorties being avacados and home made croutons.

6) The bowl - it really does matter what bowl you serve your salad in. It might sound crazy but my salad tastes different depending on what bowl I use. The typical salad bowl I use is shallow, which allows the dressing to be evenly distributed, instead of all running to the bottom of the bowl.

I warned you I was a salad snob.

Ziti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella and Prosciutto

All I have to say is YUM! This has to be one of my favorite Giada dishes for a couple of reasons. 1) It's light - there are no heavy sauces, not a lot of oil and you can even scale back on the prosciutto if you really want to (although I never do!) 2) It's quick - I can throw this nice meal together during the week without spending hours slaving over a hot stove 3) It's pretty - if you're entertaining, people will definitely like the looks of this meal and probably even ask you for the recipe. And come on...who the heck doesn't like asparagus, smoked mozzarella and prosciutto?

Ingredients:
Salt
8 ounces dried ziti or other tubular pasta
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
3 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, diced (about 1/2 cup)
3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut crosswise into strips
3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ziti and cook for 7 minutes, stirring often. Add the asparagus and cook until the pasta is tender but still firm to the bite, and the asparagus is crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain the pasta and asparagus, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over a medium flame. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add the pasta, asparagus, 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and the 1 cup of reserved cooking liquid, and toss to coat. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the mozzarella, prosciutto, and basil and toss to combine. Season with more salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the pasta to shallow bowls and serve.

*Note - you can use regular mozzarella but I highly recommend buying smoked if you can. It can be found with all the imported cheese in the deli section of your grocery store.

The Good, Bad and the Ugly...Oh and the Artichoke Dip too!

The Good:

Saturday I had some girlfriends over to celebrate my 31st b-day. We iniciated a new rule this year, we'd throw in $20 each and buy the person one bigger gift instead of 5 smaller gifts. We'd also go out for dinner and do something fun like we've always been doing. So for my b-day I asked for a karaoke machine...kinda half kidding and half serious. I had asked Brian for one but he wouldn't cave, and now I understand why (I've been singing to him non stop since Saturday night.)

They got me pretty good though. Brian started out this week by saying the girls weren't getting me a karaoke machine and he'd buy one for me. I wasn't totally convinced of this. Then on Thursday he said the one I wanted was too much money and they couldn't swing it. I think at one point I suggested he give them some money to help defray the costs, but I digress. Lots of expensive things are going on with my friends - closing on houses, upcoming weddings, etc. so the money thing made sense.

Fast forward to Saturday night. My spirits were already down (wait until you read "the Bad") but I knew my time with the girls was going to be the pick me up I needed (still not believing what Brian was saying). So then Cicco walks in the pizza and a box. A smaller box. Definitely not a box that a karaoke machine would come in. I guess, from what my friends say, my face dropped (and this doesn't surprise me because I have a hard time faking emotions) because I was like...CRAP Brian was right, oh no I already pretty much announced on the blog that my friends were giving me a great present, etc. Then during dinner Rocco says "did we tell her yet that she's not getting her present?" I cut her off right there and announce that Brian had already told me the news, no big deal, I understand yadda yadda yadda. They tell me I got something, just on a smaller scale. I was thinking okay, maybe it's just a microphone or a gift certificate. So anyways, we go on with eating and chatting and finally, present time comes. I start opening the smaller present. Everyone is looking at me saying,"what do you think it is?" I open the box and it's empty! Nothing but tissue paper! Then behind the door DC and Brock roll out this HUGE box and I realize I've been punk'd! Finally, my karaoke machine. From there the fun began.

The Bad:

So rewind to Saturday day. I woke up around 9:30 and start dusting, sweeping, laundry, etc. to prepare for my guests. Around 3:30, I hop in the shower. After, I ask Brian to go down and get the laundry. He opens the basement door and yells some four letter words. There's water in the basement. There's actually a small kiddie pool in our basement. So we get the towels and mop out and start cleaning it up. Brian decides to wash the towels that we just used to wipe up the water. We go on about our business, I guess thinking it was a fluke and it wouldn't happen again. About 2 minutes left on the spin cycle, Brian opens the door to the basement and yells some four letter words. There's water in the basement...AGAIN. I still had to go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for my artichoke dip so he said he'd clean it up. So I leave for the grocery store. When I get back, the shower is running, and I assumed Brian was in there taking a shower so I start talking to him but there's no answer. From the basement, Brian yells, SHUT OFF THE WATER. So you're probably asking yourself,"how long is it going to take them to figure out they've got a problem?" The answer - a couple times. So Brian HAS to take a shower. So I stay down in the basement while he takes the fastest shower in his life (Brian's usually in the shower for a good 20 minutes.) Sure enough...more water. For shits and giggles, I ask him to flush the toilet. Then the mother load....it's like a fountain of water spewing from the pipe. Thank goodness we had a really BIG bucket. We stop...and think...we've got a problem.

Brian then goes on to tell me I'll have to cancel my party. Fat chance mister...I'm getting this karaoke machine come hell or high water (literally)! So we call the town to see if they can make an emergency house call. I call and leave a message for someone to call me back. Well no one ever does until noon the next day when we figured out the answering service took down the wrong number! I could kill her. We called a couple times and she blamed the town, saying "they must have turned off their pagers." So needless to say, everyone still came over, no one peed and we used paper plates. IMO, the party was still a success.

The Ugly:

What the heck happened to the Patriots? You know - that team that was supposed to go undefeated, 19-0? They did not play on Sunday. I don't know who those men in tight pants were out there but that sure wasn't our beloved Brady. I won't act like I know (or give) to hoots about football. I like the Superbowl for the commercials, half time performances and most of all the food. But I have to say this game kept my attention, I was on the edge of my seat, and could not believe what I was seeing. When the Giants scored the final touchdown, our house went silent, for what seemed like hours. A house filled with about 10 people and you could hear a pin drop. We were, and still are, in disbelief.

and the Artichoke Dip:

And if you are still with me - on to the reason why I blog, the food! I've tasted a lot of artichoke dips in my day and I have to say this is probably the best - well besides the one at Cottonwoods. But it's definitely a close second. Try it and let me know if you like it as much as I do!

The Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

pepper to taste

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a small baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach (do not squeeze all of the water out of spinach and artichokes or else the dip will be dry.) Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

And some pictures for those who are interested.

Enchiladas Verdes

If you know me, you know that I love Mexican food. I think my first words were "green limes and no beans extra rice." I could eat it morning, noon and night, and I'm pretty sure most Texans feel the same way. I'm convinced that I was a Juanita in my former life. We eat Mexican food so much Brian's dad thinks that our kids are going to be born with a sombrero and a mustache.

But it's hard to find good Mexican, or shall I say, Tex-Mex, in Boston. Nearly impossible. We live up the street from what I thought was fairly decent Mexican restaurant, Mexico Lindo, but when we took my dad there during his visit to Boston, he snubbed his nose at it. I've searched high and low and it's the best I can come up with. So I'm trying to recreate my favorites at home. It's not the same but it'll have to do until my next trip to H-town.

Here's an enchiladas verdes recipe that's become a favorite in our household. When I want to go all out, I make the verdes sauce from scratch. If you don't have the time, you can buy green sauce in the supermarket (La Victoria is my favorite brand). If you forgo the homemade sauce, this is a relatively quick and easy recipe, not to mention good for crowds.

The homemade verdes sauce calls for tomatillos and serrano chiles. I've included a picture for those who don't eat, sleep and dream Mexican food.

Ingredients:

1 pound of chicken breast
1.5 cups of light sour cream
½ cup of thinly sliced scallions
¼ cup of minced fresh cilantro
½ of a white onion
3 cups of chicken broth
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of garlic powder
2 garlic gloves minced
8 flour tortillas
1 cup of cheddar cheese

Verdes Sauce

2-4 serrano chiles (depending on how hot you want it)
1 pound of tomatillos, husks removed
¼ cup of minced cilantro
¼ cup of chopped white onions
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
½ teaspoon salt or to taste

To make the enchiladas:
Sprinkle chicken with salt. Place chicken in a skillet with the garlic and half of a sliced white onion. Pour in 3 cups of chicken broth or enough to cover the chicken. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink inside. Let chicken cool a little and shred with your hands. Put shredded chicken in a bowl with the sour cream, scallions, cilantro, ½ cup of shredded cheese, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. Mix. Spray a baking pan with non stick cooking spray. Put two-three spoon fulls of chicken mix in a tortilla. Roll and place in the pan seam side down. I spread a little extra sour cream on each enchilada. Top with verdes sauce and cheese. Bake covered in a 350 degrees pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Last 5 minutes remove foil and back uncovered. I used another recipe to base this from but really I made this up so you can add anything you want to it.

Verdes Sauce:
Place chiles in a sauce pan with three cups of water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatillos, cover, and continue to simmer for an additional 8 minutes. The tomatillos should be cooked through but not falling apart. Remove chiles and tomatillos from pot and reserve the cooking liquid. Allow chiles and tomatillos to cool then move the stems and seeds from the chiles and cut into small pieces. Place chiles, tomatillos, cilantro, and the onions in the bowl of a blender and blend for about 30 seconds. The sauce should be well blended but still retain some texture. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the content of the blender and ½ cup of the reserved tomatillo cooking liquid and simmer for about 10 minutes. The sauce should firmly coat a spoon. Add the salt and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and reserve. This makes about 2 cups.

Arriba arriba!

Pan-Seared Chicken with Artichokes and Pasta

I have to say this is one of my favorite dishes to eat and make. It's fairly easy and it's great if you're having a dinner party. However, Brian hates it. He destroys this dish by picking out the artichokes, olives and tomatoes. It makes me cringe when I see him doing this, although he does give me all his scraps.

When I make this dish I use my huge anodized calphalon pan because I'm able to fit everything in there. If you don't have a pan this size (and once I figure out how to write html, I'll include a link to the picture of the pan) just sear the chicken in a pan and then mix everything together in the pot you use to boil your pasta.

Oh and by the way...this is another SSCC recipe. Shout out to Sue, who I believe got this from a Cooking Light magazine. I make some changes to the recipe which I've noted below.

1 large jar marinated artichoke heart quarters, undrained
about 1 ½ lbs chicken (I use chicken breast but the orginal recipe called for thighs)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup sliced green onions
½ cup dry white wine
4 cups cooked cavatappi or fusilli (I use the whole box)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp chopped pitted kalamata olives
2 tbsp grated fresh parmesan cheese

Drain artichokes reserving marinade.

Dredge chicken in small amount of flour, salt and pepper. In a large skillet cook chicken in olive oil until done and slightly browned. (This is a one pan meal, so the larger the pan the better). Add garlic and onions. Sauté about one minute. Stir in reserved artichoke marinade and wine, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir in artichokes, pasta, olives and tomatoes. Cook a few more minutes until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Man, it's ass biting cold here in Boston! For all my fans in other states I envy you right now. Sure it might be cold but I can guarantee you that it's not 10 below with the wind chill. Yes, you heard me right, 10 flippin' below zero! My Nana is coming home from California this weekend and it looks like she's bringing the warm weather with her. On Sunday, it's supposed to be close to 60 degrees. I'm not getting too excited because it's only the beginning of January and we have another 4-5 months before we can hang up our winter jackets. I often ask myself, why the hell I live up here!

But in the mean time, I'll make some of this hot buffalo chicken dip to warm up my insides. This recipe was given to me by a friend of the SSCC (South Shore Cooking Club) and every time I've made it at least 2 people ask me for the recipe. It doesn't look great but it sure does taste good.

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breast - boneless skinless
1 8 oz. block cream cheese softened
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup ranch dressing
1/2 bottle of Franks Red hot (approx. use to taste)

Cook chicken either by baking or boiling and let cool. Shred by hand. Mix in remaining ingredients together. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Yes, it's that simple. I serve with the Tostitos Gold chips which are strong enough to dual with this dip.

The Best Darn Oven Roasted Taters

So I'm not sure how long this blog is going to last. Rewind to last night. I rush home from work anxious to start whipping up dinner so I can snap some pictures to post to the blog. All is well except from our outside deck Brian peers into our kitchen window to catch me taking pictures of potatoes. Not only does he scare the bejesus out of me, I feel sheepishly embarrassed because he's caught me red handed and looks at me like "why the eff are you taking pictures of potatoes." Now mind you, I casually mentioned this new hobby to him on the train ride home a couple days ago. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a good idea, but did not say much, which is normal for him. I guess he did not realize that pictures would come along with the recipes I posted. So after he caught me I continued to snap away, feeling more comfortable with what I was doing. Dinner was ready but I still wasn't satisfied with the potatoes shots. I'm still getting the hang of this and trying to figure out my new camera. I could feel him rolling his eyes and getting impatient, so I figured I should probably quit while I was ahead, therefore this picture will have to do.

So here's the recipes for my favorite oven roasted potatoes:

Ingredients:
6-8 red potatoes cut in cubes
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tbs of Italian seasoning
1 tsp of kosher salt
3 cloves of garlic minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, seasoning, salt and minced garlic. Toss the cubed potatoes in the dressing. Spray non stick spray on a baking sheet. With a slated spoon, spoon potatoes evenly on the baking sheet. Cook for about 40 minutes or until they are golden brown. Put cooked potatoes back into the mixing bowl with the reserved dressing and toss.

Enjoy!