Pasta with Vodka Sauce

One of the simplest, quickest, and most delicious sauces is Vodka Sauce.  Most of the ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already!

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons butter
3 oz pancetta
pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup vodka
1 35 ounce can plum tomatoes
1/4 cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 pound short cut pasta

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Putting a lid on it will help it boil faster.  Once it boils, toss in a few tablespoons of salt.  Pour in the pasta.  I used mezzi rigatoni but any short cut is perfectly fine. Follow the box for how long to cook for.  Once cooked, strain the water off and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat up the butter.  Finely chop the garlic and put it into the butter.  Stir around for 2 minutes to heat the garlic, but not brown it.  Chop up the pancetta and put it into the garlic and butter along with the crushed red pepper flakes.  Continue to move all of the ingredients around the pan so nothing burns.

After the pancetta has begun to brown, which should take about 4-5 minutes, pour in the vodka and scrape everything off the bottom of the pan with your spoon.

Allow the alcohol to cook out of the mixture for about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile put the tomatoes in a blender and puree until smooth.  Pour this into the pan.  Allow to cook for another 5 minutes. Now you can pour in the cream and parmesan cheese.  Cook everything together for another 5 minutes.

Add in your pasta and toss together for another 1-2 minutes until the sauce completely coats the pasta.  Serve hot and enjoy!

*Justine's Tip*- Cook your pasta 1-2 minutes less than the packaged directions and finish cooking it in your sauce. Pin It Now!

Cheesecake Brownie Hearts

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a great idea to make brownies in heart shaped pans.  They sell them in almost any grocery or party store.  I even saw them in a drug store the other day.  I found the silicone ones which are great for easy removal, but a metal one will work just as well.  If you can't find them then a regular muffin tin works just as well or a brownie pan.

Ingredients:
Brownies:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetend cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cheesecake topping:
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Well grease whatever pan you are using, especially if it is a metal pan.

In one bowl mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Beat in one egg at a time until fully combined.  Carefully beat in the flour, cocoa powder and salt until combined.

This batter made about 12 hearts, which would be the equivalent of 12 muffin tins or one 9 x 9 in baking dish.  Distribute batter evenly between every muffin cup.

In a separate bowl beat together the cream cheese, egg, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Drop about a tablespoon onto each muffin cup.  Using a knife, swirl the cream cheese into the brownie.

Bake for 19-21 minutes or until cheesecake sets up on top.  Cool for an hour.  Gently remove from pan.  Serve and enjoy!

*Justine's Tip*- after greasing your pan, put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.  This creates a barrier so the food will not stick!

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Breakfast Potatoes

Ingredients:
4 russet potatoes
1 bell pepper
2 yellow onions
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:
Put the potatoes into a pot of water that has been seasoned with salt.  Allow to cook on high heat for 15 minutes.

Finely chop the peppers and thinnly slice the onions.  Saute in a large skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil.  Cook until soft. Should take as long as it takes for the potatoes to cook.

Once the potatoes are finished cooking, take them out of the water and slice into thin pieces or make small dices.  Put another tablespoon of oil with the vegetables and toss in all of the potatoes. Toss with a little salt and pepper. Press down so that everything is in an even layer in the pan.  Allow to brown for 5-7 minutes.  Then flip over small sections of the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes on the other side.  Serve and enjoy!

*Justine's Tip*- Save leftover potatoes and mix with lightly beaten eggs.  Brown everything in a skillet until the eggs are fully cooked! Pin It Now!

Mini Frittatas

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup frozen spinach
1 yellow onion
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup goat cheese
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heavily grease 8 muffin tins.

Finely chop the onion and bell pepper.  Saute in the vegetable oil over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and soft.

After microwaving the frozen spinach, squeeze out all of the water.  Beat the eggs and milk together until light and fluffy.  Add the onions, peppers, and spinach and mix together until everything is evenly distributed.

Pour mixture into each muffin tin.  Top each with a few crumbles of goat cheese.  Bake in the oven for 14-16 minutes or until they puff up and are lightly brown.  Allow to cool for 2 minutes.  Run a butter knife around the edges and gently lift out.  Serve and enjoy!

*Justine's Tip- Freeze your muffin tins after they have been greased to further aid in removal of the eggs.  Freezing it allows the oil or butter to become solid and therefore form a hard barrier. Pin It Now!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Raspberry Syrup

Ingredients:
Pancakes:
1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup chocolate chips

Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl until well combined.  Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, and melted butter.  Mix until smooth.

Heat a griddle over medium heat and lightly grease it with cooking spray or oil.  Pour pancake batter using 1/4 measurement in the pan.  Top each with about a tablespoon of chocolate chips.  Brown on both sides.  It should take 2-3 minutes per side.

For the syrup, mix together the cornstarch and sugar in a sauce pan.  Pour in the water and raspberries.  Whisk over high heat for 5 minutes until sauce thickens.  Serve warm with pancakes and enjoy!

*Justine's Tip: Make a mini pancake in your pan first to test how hot your pan is.  This way you don't waste much pancake batter with burnt pancakes!

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Chicken and Avocado BLT

Note: 1 Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 slices of any crusty bread (I used my Olive Oil and Rosemary Bread)

1/4 cup shredded chicken (about 1/2 chicken breast)

1/4 of an avocado

2 slices of bacon

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1/8 cup mixed greens

2 tomato slices

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  On a foil lined baking sheet place your bacon slices.  Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on how crispy you like your bacon.  

You can either buy pre-cooked chicken, but I just grilled mine in a pan for 7 minutes on each side with a little salt and pepper.  

Cut a quarter of an avocado into small cubes.  Spread the mayonnaise on both sides of the bread.  Top with the mixed greens, tomato, chicken, and avocado.  Once the bacon is ready, pat off with paper towels to absorb grease and put on top of avocado.  Serve and enjoy!

*Justine's Tip*- When freezing bacon, don't freeze it in the package.  Lay it out on a baking sheet in a single layer, cover with aluminum foil, and freeze until hard.  Once all of the bacon is frozen, remove from the sheet and place in a zip top bag.  Now you can take 1 or 2 pieces out at a time without having the trouble of separating them!

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Tortellini in Brodo

One of the quickest, easiest, and most delicious soups I have ever tried.  My brother had this in a restaurant and I immediately fell in love with it!

Ingredients:
1 8 oz package cheese or beef tortellini
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
3 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon parsley

Directions:
Chop up the onion and crush the garlic clove.  Heat the bottom of a sauce pan or stock pot with the oil over medium heat.  Toss in the onion and the garlic clove.  Saute until the onions become soft and the garlic clove turns light brown.  This should take about 5-7 minutes.  Add in the chicken broth and boil for 10 minutes.

Once boiled, remove the garlic clove.  You can also strain out the onions if you don't like the texture of them by running it through a strainer.

Keeping the broth on high heat, stir in the tortellini.  Allow to boil according to packaged directions.  My tortellini took about 5 minutes.  Once cooked, toss in the parsley, stir, and enjoy!

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