pasta with pistachio cream sauce...

I LOVE pistachios. they are so delicious and addicting. If you set a bowl of pistachios in front of me I will eat them all in one setting. So, when I came across a recipe for pasta with a pistachio pesto sauce I knew that I had to try it! You can find the recipe I worked off of at the Pinch My Salt blog. 

ingredients...

8 oz. of pasta - I used whole grain penne pasta because it was what I had in my pantry at the time...

1/4 cup of ground pistachios 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

directions...

put approximately 1/2 cup of shelled, unsalted pistachios in a food processor and grind

in the mean time, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the pasta, boil until soft.

while pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a small saucepan. 

add the pistachios and stir until coated

add the heavy cream and stir until pistachios are evenly incorporated

add the parmesan cheese and stir until melted.

drain pasta and put back into pot, stir in pistachio sauce, and serve!

This pasta was very tasty, and so unique! It was unlike any other pasta I've made. If you like pistachios you will like this recipe!

suggested pairings: steamed broccoli and garlic bread

-holly  

apricot whiskey glazed ribs...

Its football season!! This means its tailgating time! There is not much better than football, friends, and barbeques. It’s a wonderful time. This week Tech’s game was not a home game so me and Jon watched the game at home on our couch. That day he asked me what I was planning on making for dinner, and if we had any “football watching food.” Luckily for him I had a rack of ribs sitting in the fridge. I would have loved to season these up and have Jon throw them on the grill, but because we are currently in an apartment we do not have a grill. So I had to settle on cooking these in the oven, but they still turned out tender and tasty!

 Ingredients…
1 rack of spare pork ribs
3 tbsp apricot jelly
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp tomato paste
5 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp sherry
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp whiskey

 Directions…

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 
2. Combine jelly, water, tomato paste, ketchup, sherry, sugar, and whiskey in small sauce pan. Bring to boil and stir until well combined. 
3. Brush the glaze onto both sides of your rack of ribs, place ribs in a large baking dish, and place in the oven. 
4. Bake for 2-3 hours or until meat is cooked through, basting the ribs with the apricot whiskey sauce every 30 minutes. 
5. When fully cooked, cut the ribs, brush on the remaining sauce, and serve.

Suggested pairings: your favorite “football fixins!” Throw the food pyramid out the window for one night and forget about a balanced meal. Pair this with you favorite chips and dip, or sweet potato fries. Whatever you think when you think football. Then, fill up your plate, get yourself a drink, and enjoy the game!!

 -holly

brown sugar balsamic glazed pork loin...

It has been a long tiresome week so far… on Monday night our sweet little puppy child was sick and on two separate occasions in the middle of the night we had to get up to tend to her. And then, on Tuesday night there was a major thunderstorm that woke me up multiple times. I know that we desperately need the rain here in west Texas, and I am very thankful for it, but I need my sleep or I get cranky, emotional, and unpleasant to deal with. Normally I love coming home from work to cook a nice meal, but on Wednesday all I wanted to do was lay down. I was just too exhausted to even think about putting a meal together. And it is times like these that the crockpot is my best friend. I had been wanting to try this crockpot brown sugar balsamic glazed pork loin recipe for a while, so I figured now would be the perfect time!

Almost all crockpot meals are easy, dump it in and forget about it meals, but this was one of the easiest and most delicious recipes I have tried! It took me less than 5 minutes to prepare the pork and put it in the crockpot to cook all day, and then after work it took me 5 minutes to put the glaze together. And it came out so tender and flavorful. The glaze is absolutely wonderful and would be great on chicken too! The original recipe suggested moving the pork over to a frying pan to caramelize the glaze, while I am sure that is delicious I chose to forgo this step (because I was too tired and lazy to do even that!) and it was still great! Also, one pork loin is way more than me and my husband can eat on our own, but Jon pointed out that this would make a great sandwich, so we have lunch already figured out for today! Double win!

My suggested pairings: steamed vegetable medley (I used one of those microwave steam-able bags, which are great for lazy days such as this!), and a dinner roll.

Enjoy!

-holly

jalapeno kettle chip crusted chicken/ spicy jalapeno ranch dip...

I must be having some serious spicy cravings this week, because almost every meal I have chosen has had a kick to it! I saw this recipe on Pinterest and I knew that I just had to try it! Jalapeno Kettle chips are one of my favorites! I would have never thought to use them to bread my chicken, but I am so glad that Tina, over at My Life as a Mrs. was smart enough to think of it! I followed her recipe for the chicken exactly as it was. The only thing I made minor changes to was the Jalapeno ranch dip. To see Tina's full chicken recipe you can go here!

I have my own jalapeno ranch dip recipe that I perfected a long time ago. It is very similar to the one Tina has on her blog, but a few small additions make all the difference in the world...What's my secret? Pickle juice! weird, I know! But for years I would try to make my own ranch because I am not a fan of the bottled ranch you by at grocery stores. My favorite ranch is from Chili's. I love to dip their chips in it! Once again, weird, I know! But don't knock it till you try it. Anyways, I cannot even tell you how many copy cat recipes I looked up trying to get my homemade ranch to taste like Chili's ranch. But it was never quite right, there was always something off about it. Finally, one day I came across a post that suggested putting 1-2 table spoons of dill pickle juice in your ranch. I tried it, and sure enough, it worked! So now anytime I make any form of ranch dip I put in some pickle juice!

Here is my jalapeno ranch recipe...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayo (use real mayo, not miracle whip, this was another mistake I made for months when trying to perfect my ranch recipe)

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup jalapenos, canned

2 tsp. jalapeno juice

1 tbsp. dill pickle juice

1/2 pkg. dry ranch mix

pinch of fresh cilantro

dash of cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth and well blended

2. chill in refrigerator over night, and serve.

suggested pairings for the chicken: steamed broccoli in a cheese sauce, roasted potatoes

enjoy!

-holly

enchilada chicken spaghetti...

Tonight I decided to be true to my roots and whip up a quick and easy tex-mex dinner! I found a recipe on Pinterest for a chicken spaghetti recipe that used Rotel. I was intrigued... So I took the recipe and adapted it some to make what I am calling enchilada chicken spaghetti. to view the original recipe you can go to Just a Pinch Recipes. Here my version of the meal:

Ingredients:

1 can of shredded, cooked chicken breast. (you can cook and shred the chicken yourself if you prefer)

1/2 of a 13 oz. pkg. of spaghetti (I used whole wheat spaghetti)

1 can Rotel (I used the "hot" Rotel but you can use original or mild)

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. of Velveeta (about 1/4 of the block)

2 tbs. butter

3-4 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup sour cream

chili powder

ground cayenne pepper 

garlic salt

Directions:

1. cook the pasta until soft, drain and set aside

2. In the same pot, melt butter and saute the green onions for about 2-3 minutes

3. add in can of rotel, can of cream of chicken soup, chicken and spaghetti and mix well

4. cut the velveeta into small cubes and slowly stir into the spaghetti until fully melted

5. stir in sour cream

6. add chili powder, cayenne pepper, and garlic salt to taste. (I do not want to give you exact measurements here, because its best to slowly add until you find the amount that tastes best to you. I like mine really spicy so I added more of the chili powder and cayenne pepper than most people would probably want - including my husband! oops!)

7. serve and enjoy!

(this recipe feeds 2-3 people)

my suggested pairings: corn, tortilla chips, and margaritas!

enjoy!

-holly