Basil Chicken Hash

This dish was dinner tonight. I found this recipe on the Food Network's website under the Barefoot Contessa recipes. It looked really good and I had almost everything for this meal. Plus there were potatoes, chicken, and cheese involved (naturally I was on board.) So I worked on the recipe tonight added to the original by using the yellow zucchini and red pepper I picked up at the farmer's market this weekend and a green pepper from my garden. It was surprisingly easy to make (a bit time consuming) and tasted good too. I have decided when I make this again to take a page out of Robin Miller's book and cook the chicken and potatoes in advanced and probably get the veggies cut up in advanced too (like on a Sunday afternoon), then I would only have to brown the Potatoes, caramelized the onions and veggies, and heat the chicken through.

The Yellow zucchini was probably my favorite (aside from potatoes - which is the ultimate favorite food of mine.) It was sweeter than a green zucchini.

So that was a success.

I did have a minor disaster tonight in the kitchen while cooking. I burned my thumb pulled the chicken out of the oven. I hate when that happens (which is too often for my husband's liking).

The Battle Wound

My next post might be my first major failure to report. I am experimenting with truffles (not the mushrooms, but the desserts) and I am trying out White Truffles with Bailey's Irish cream in them. I don't know that they are going to turn out well.

Tuna, Noodles, and Peas...

My dad used to make this dish for us any time my mom wasn't home. Mainly because she doesn't like the smell of tuna. It always caused arguments to break out because I hated peas growing up and didn't want them to touch my pasta or tuna sauce. Now as you can see, I like peas. I occasionally throw in a can of peas and carrots with my mac and cheese for some extra veggies (don't we all need more veggies in our diet?)

The other argument that ensued was over plain or ripple chips. Mainly this was between dad and the kids. Us kids loved ripple chips, because let's face it they are stronger than plain chips. Dad liked regular Old Dutch potato chips.

This brings me to my next topic dealing with TN&P (as I am now referring to it). We do NOT use forks for this dish. We use the potato chips as scoops. Or if you are crazy like my dad you crush up the chips and mush them in with the mixture. I find this is not the best idea though if you like more crunch because the chips tend to get mushy and soggy if the tuna white sauce is too runny.



Here I am demonstrating the proper use of the "utensils" for this meal.

No Bake Cookies

I tried making some no bake cookies tonight. I got the recipe from my sister, Tia, who just attended a summer themed recipe exchange party. They were pretty simple to make. However I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal. My husband likes them!