Rachel Ray - Pork loin with wine sauce and pasta

I made my first dinner from the Rachel Ray's Look + Cook book. The book is awesome because not only does it give the main part of the dish, it provides you will the whole meal!! Sides and everything :)

The first dish I made was pork tenderloin medallions with marsala sauce & pasta.

It was really yummy!!! I pretty much followed the recipe exactly as written, except I used Pork loins from Costco. If you have bought them before, you know they are really thick!! I pounded them down with a potato masher between to sheets of wax paper! And it worked fine!! It took a little longer to cook, but other than that still great!

I also used a white wine I had in the fridge instead of marsala.

I recommend you give this recipe a try :)

Greek Pasta Salad

Like I have said before, we love salads in the summer!! No A/C means lots of BBQ's with salads!! This is another super easy salad that goes over well. I made it for a pot luck dinner when my uncle came to visit from New Brunswick.

Ingredients:
- Package of egg noodles
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cucumber, peeled, sliced and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 small bottle of Kraft Greek Feta & Oregano salad dressing

Directions:
1. Cook noodles as directed on package, drain and cool
2. Mix in remaining ingredients (except dressing) and store in fridge
3. When you are ready to serve salad, mix in dressing

Honey Garlic Stir-Fry: An Original :)

We had leftover meat and veggies from our Shish Kabobs, so my husband wanted me to make a stir-fry. The thing is he doesn’t really like rice, and he doesn’t love stir-fry! (LOL) He wanted me to change it up a bit, and use noodles instead of rice. I love trying new recipes (or creating them). So this is an original! I will try my best to give you accurate measurements!! I really enjoyed it, it was very different from anything else I have made, however the next time I make it I want to try and make it spicier. This one was pretty sweet. Enjoy!

Not the best picture...it is our lunch! I forgot to get a picture of dinner :)

Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1 cup diced chicken breast

- 1 cup diced steak

- 1 cup mushrooms (whole or sliced or both!)

- 1 pepper, chopped

- 1 onion, chopped

- ½ jar VH Honey Garlic Sauce

- 2 tbsp soy sauce

- Egg noodles

Directions:

1.    In a large skillet, fry both the chicken and beef in oil

2.    When half cooked, remove excess fat/oil and add veggies

3.    Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat

4.    Add Honey Garlic sauce and soy sauce and simmer for 10 minutes

5.    Meanwhile, cook noodles and drain

6.    Dish out noodles and top with stir-fry mixture

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

Well apparently I didn’t get around to doing my second Christmas baking post. Sorry! I honestly just ran out of time!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday!! We sure did. It was our first Christmas as a married couple, and let me tell you it was very busy!! But awesome nonetheless.

Last night I made one of my favourite pasta dishes. Chicken Alfredo.

Ingredients:

-          2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

-          1 onion, chopped

-          1 red pepper, chopped

-          2 gloves of garlic, minced

-          1 cup of freshly sliced mushrooms

-          2 cups frozen broccoli pieces

-          1 jar of Classico Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce

-          ½ cup milk

-          Noodles (I like bowties, but you can use whatever)

Directions:

1. Cook chicken in a large frying pan
2. Once partially cooked, add onion, red pepper, garlic, mushrooms and broccoli
3. Cook on medium for approximately 10 minutes, until broccoli is cooked
4. Meanwhile cook noodles
5. Add the Classico Alfredo Sauce and milk to chicken mixture
6. Simmer for 10 minutes
7. Serve noodles covered in Alfredo sauce. Top with parmesan and fresh pepper

I hope everyone has a good New Years!! I really hope 2011 is as good as 2010 was to us!!

Simple Lasagna

I love a good lasagna!! Today being another snowy day I decided to make my famous lasagna and garlic bread. I love when my husband walks through the door and smiles when he sees what I have made for dinner. Today was one of those days! This is a very basic lasagna recipe, but so delicious!!

Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef
- Montreal Steak Spice and Seasoning Salt to taste
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
- Tub (500g) of 1% cottage cheese
- 1 can of Hunt's® Thick & Rich Spicy Red Pepper & Chilies Premium Pasta Sauce
- 1 cup (at least!) of shredded cheese (Cheddar, Mozzarella or Marble)
- 12 oven ready lasagna noodles
- 1/2 cup water

Directions:
1. Brown ground beef and remove excess fat
2. Add spices, pepper, onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook for approximately 5 minutes
3. Mix cottage cheese, pasta sauce and beef/vegetables
4. Make 3 layers (in a deep dish) of: 4 lasagna noodles side by side, topped with 1/3 of beef mixture and 1/3 cheese
5. Poor water around edges of dish
6. Cover with foil and bake for 40min at 375 degrees, remove foil and bake for an additional 15min
7. Remove from oven and allow lasagna to sit for 15 minutes before serving

Mrs. Cochrane

Good Old Mac & Cheese

We love a good homemade macaroni and cheese! I have tried a few recipes, but nothing compares to this one! It is a mixture of a few recipes, but we absolutely love it!!  

 

Made by my wonderful husband :)

Ingredients:

- 8oz bag of your favourite noodles (I use small shells and I eyeball it - I use what I think we will need)
- 2 cups of milk (I use 1%, but to make it creamier you can mix half and half with milk)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1.5 cups of cheese (I usually use more! And I use whatever I have on hand. Last time was a mixture of cheddar, Romano and parmesan. It was the best I have made!)
- Optional: Buttered breadcrumbs (process approximately 4 slices of bread, and add 2 tbsp butter)

Direction:

1. Cook noodles
2. As noodles are cooking, heat milk in a saucepan, whisk in butter, salt/pepper and flour until thickened.
3. Add 3/4 of cheese and stir continuously.
4. Once noodles are done, I mixed them with cheese sauce (to ensure they are completely covered)
5. Put in casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 40min.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!! =)

On a side note: Last night we got TONS of snow!!! Saturday morning we had green grass, and today I woke up to this...

Now, I know I should have my lawn furniture away, but apparently I was too lazy, and now it is too late!! Hopefully I will be able to put it in the shed this weekend!

Have a good Monday everyone!! What’s on your menu tonight? We are having ribs!!

Mrs. Cochrane