Paprika Chicken Stroganoff

Oh yum. This wasn't a super "in your face, punch you with flavor" kind of dish. It was warm and inviting with a subtle paprika flavor if you really tried to focus on that. Plus egg noodles...delightful!

Paprika Chicken Stroganoff
Serves 4-6

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chicken thighs or a combination of both, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon sweet paprika or regular paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed
1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
8 ounces white button mushrooms or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup plain yogurt, creme fraiche, or sour cream
Hot, cooked egg noodles, for serving (about 12 ounces to 1 pound)
Fresh, chopped parsley for garnish

In a medium bowl or shallow pie plate, toss the cubed chicken with the paprika, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the flour on top of the chicken and toss to coat.

Heat the olive oil in a large 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until rippling and hot. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook until golden brown on each side, tossing occasionally, about 5 minutes. The chicken will finish cooking fully a bit later so it doesn’t need to be cooked all the way through. Scrape the chicken onto a plate and set aside.

Add another teaspoon of oil to the pan, if needed, and stir in the onions and mushrooms. Saute the mixture, stirring occasionally and scraping up the browned bits from the chicken, until the onion is translucent and the onions and mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, until fragrant.

Pour in about 1/4 cup of the chicken broth and deglaze the pan by scraping up any bits from the bottom. Stir in the tomato paste, whisking to combine. Add the rest of the chicken broth and the bay leaf, stirring well.

Add the chicken back into the skillet and simmer the mixture over medium-low to medium heat, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce thickens slightly, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the yogurt (or creme fraiche or sour cream) and cook for about 2-3 minutes longer. If you would like the sauce to be a bit thicker, make a cornstarch slurry by mixing 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1-2 tablespoons cold water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the simmering mixture in the skillet, whisking quickly to combine. Let the mixture simmer for 2-3 minutes until thickened. Serve over hot noodles and garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Greek Pastitsio (Casserole Style)

Photo Credit to melskitchencafe.com

If you're wondering what a pastitsio is (like I was...) look here for the answer! Noodles, cheese, white sauce...how is that going wrong? This was oh so delicious. Lots of compliments from my hubby and father-in-law. As always...followed with bread and jam of course!

Photo credit to melskitchencafe.com

Delicious Greek Pastitsio {Casserole-Style}

Makes 9x13 pan12 ounces penne pasta
1 pound ground turkey or ground sirloin
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (from about 1 large onion)
1 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1 teaspoon pepper
5 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 ounces light cream cheese
2 cups milk, 1% of skim work great
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes,drained
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheee
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Coat a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Preheat the broiler.
In a large pot of lightly salted, boiling water, cook the penne pasta according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, heat a large 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add beef or turkey to the pan with the diced onions and 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring to break up the meat into small pieces, until the meat is cooked through. Drain excess grease from the meat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, another minute or so. Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture, stirring to combine, and cook for 1-2 minutes over medium heat. Add the cream cheese in pieces, scattering it over the meat. Let it melt into the meat and stir to combine. Whisk or stir in the milk, nutmeg, 3/4 teaspoon salt and tomatoes. Stir to combine well and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook 5-6 minutes until the mixture is slightly thickened and is thoroughly heated through.
Stir in the pasta and spoon the pasta mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the pasta and broil for about 3-5 minutes (watching carefully so it doesn’t burn!). Remove from the oven and sprinkle with parsley. Let it stand fora bout 5 minutes before serving.

{Note: I think I'll add a little more nutmeg next time to kick it up a notch}

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Fresh Fruit Bruschetta with Orange-Honey Cream

Yay! A delicious fruit appetizer that I LOVE. It took one or two to get used to the flavor, but I'm now addicted. I ate them three days straight! I'm contemplating trying to make it lime-honey cream next time...but we'll see (I've had this thing with lime lately). Try these at home sometime (so you can eat as many as you want without sharing!)

Fresh Fruit Bruschetta with Orange-Honey Cream

1 baguette or similar-sized French bread loaf
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1-1/2 C diced strawberries (about 10 medium strawberries)
1 C finely diced mango (about 1 medium mango)
1 C finely diced kiwi (about 3 kiwi)

1/2 C Sour Cream (I recommend full fat)
3 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice bread into 1/2 inch slices. Place in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Use a pastry brush to brush each piece with melted butter. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle evenly over bread slices. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are toasted. Set aside to cool.

While bread is toasting, combine Breakstone’s Sour Cream, honey, and orange zest. Stir to combine and place in the fridge.

Combine strawberries, mango, and kiwi and stir gently to combine. When bread is cooled, place about 1 Tbsp. of fruit mixture on top of each toasted bread slice and drizzle with sweet sour cream mixture. If needed, thin sour cream sauce with 1/2-1 tsp orange juice. Garnish with mint leaves if desired. Serve immediately. {I actually recommend waiting a few minutes to soak the bread a little...that's just if you don't want super crunchy bread.}

Recipe Source: Our Best Bites

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

Half of the reason I make any recipes that I make is because of pinterest. Thank you for making my life more fun...and making me fatter.
This one was actually pretty healthy. I guess "pretty healthy" is kind of relative, but I didn't feel super guilty eating this...so thats a good sign. I must say it was pretty delicious for "pretty healthy"!

Photo credit to dandydishes.blogspot.com

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

Serves 6
1 medium spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons butter
1 small yellow onion, cut in half and very thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more if you like it spicy
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
½ cup sour cream
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove the seeds. Place in a covered dish with a ¼ inch of water and microwave for 10 -12 minutes. In a medium sized skillet over medium heat, add the butter, onions, red pepper and thyme and cook until the onions are slightly brown in color. Salt and pepper to taste.

Using a fork, scrape the insides of the squash and transfer to a small bowl. Combine the squash, onions, sour cream and half the cheese together and mix well. Transfer the mixture to a buttered baking dish and top with remaining cheese.

Place into a 375º for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Recipe Source: Dandy Dishes

Note: I'm planning on adding more spice next time. Maybe herbs...definitely salt and pepper at least.

Fluffy Honey Butter

Now I realize I have previously posted a honey butter recipe. That one has marshmallow creme, is dense and oh so delish. This one is equally delicious, just different, so I had to document it. It uses powdered sugar which makes is lighter and fluffy. So, it will just depend on the mood I'm in which one I make for scones...

Photo Credit to ourbestbites.com

Honey Butter
2 sticks real butter, (close to room temp- works best when slightly chilled still.)
2/3 cup honey
¾ cup powdered sugar

(If your butter is too soft, you’ll end up with a gooey mess, so I just leave it out on the counter for about 20 minutes or so before beating and it turns out nice and fluffy)

Just place it all in a bowl and beat with an electric hand-mixer for 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed. Serve at room temp.

Recipe Source: Our Best Bites

Garlic White Wine Cream Sauce

My dad asked for a white wine garlic cream sauce. I found this one...and it was delicious! I still can't decide if I'm a fan of the wine taste, but the sauce was awesome!

Photo Credit to Mary Winecoff

Garlic White Wine Cream Sauce
Serves 6-8
2 onion, diced
8 garlic cloves, crushed
40 small mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 chicken stock cube, undiluted
2 cups white wine {or cooking wine, the fake stuff}
4 cups heavy cream
2 to taste olive oil, to fry

Fry the onion, garlic and mushrooms in a little olive oil. Do not fry them long enough to change their color.
Add the wine and simmer for about 5 minutes until the wine has largely soaked in.
Crumble in the stock cube.
Add the cream.
Reduce the heat to slowly bring to the boil and leave to simmer and thicken- this should take 5-10 minutes.
If it does not thicken enough, add a little more chicken stock cube and simmer a bit longer.
{We added some pasta and squash/zucchini/green pepper...so delish! Also, I would half this recipe if you were cooking for a family of 4, because it's thin, it goes a long way.}

Recipe Source: Food.com

Baked Oatmeal

Oh. My. Yummy. This is the best oatmeal I've ever had! It's more like a thick cookie than oatmeal, but still pretty healthy...so why complain? Everyone should try this asap. Like now. Shoo.

Baked Oatmeal

Serves 8
3 cups oats (not quick-cooking)
3/4 cup brown sugar1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup Craisins (or other dried fruit)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted (you can substitute applesauce for 1/4 c. of the butter if you want)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and Craisins. In a smaller bowl, mis together the milk, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and whisk to combine. Pour into a deep 9″ pie plate or an 8×8″ or 9×9″ baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve immediately with a splash of warmed milk.

Recipe Source: Our Best Bites