Ginger Chicken

Well it's been a million years since I posted here hasn't it? I wish I could give a good excuse, but I can't really, so let's move on.

Speaking of moving, I've moved across town--new apartment, new roommate, aiming for a new outlook on life. Same appetite as before, so really need to be cooking more. And the new (to me) kitchen finally gives me the opportunity to use my "kitchen stuff" (a lot of it was in boxes in storage before).

So let's cook! But before we cook, we (read: me) have to find recipes, because I'm unfortunately not one of those people who can just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and have it come out great. I need ingredients and measurements because I don't really know what to do otherwise. Oh well. Can't win them all.

I recently subscribed to Food & Wine magazine on my Kindle, and read the September issue on a recent plane ride. Several things jumped out at me, one being this ginger chicken recipe by pop up restaurant Rice Paper Scissors in San Francisco. I wanted to christen my new purple Le Creuset and I happened to have leftover white rice from a Chinese take-out order, so it sounded like the perfect thing to make.


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Pasta for Dummies - Rose Sauce

Remember when I had you put two jars of sauce in a pot and heat them up? Remember that? Yeah, well we're going to do that again.

Behold! Super easy rose sauce! It is called rose sauce because we mix a red sauce with white sauce, which in color wheel land would equal a pink sauce...but in real life it's actually rather orange.


We'll start with our two jars of sauce!

Since I wasn't sure how it would turn out, I didn't use the entire jars. However, the proportions would be right I think. I didn't use equal parts of each sauce, but I used equal parts of the jars. As in, I used 2/3 of the jar of alfredo sauce, and 2/3 of the jar of spaghetti sauce, so using the entire jar of each would work out as well. Alfredo sauce tends to come in slightly smaller jars than spaghetti sauces so I think in most cases these proportions would be right. Although you could just mix the two until you get the color you want.

You're aiming for this color, I guess.


If you're really cool you can wear a tomato themed apron while you do this.


Now for chicken slices! (I had the chicken breasts marinating in Italian salad dressing)


Multitasking! I'm cooking a whole wheat shell pasta for this experiment.


I plated it on a blue plate because orange and blue are complementary colors and I like to prove to my mother that I am using my art degree.


I think it came out pretty yummy. I don't think it's as great as the alfredo/pesto mix, but it's still pretty good. At least it gives you something different to do. I actually think I might mix the rest of the sauce together and make a lasagna with it.

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Pasta for Dummies - Pesto Alfredo

If you have an aversion to using pre-packaged sauces in jars, you may skip to another post.

If you want a super yummy meal that is also super easy, and did I mention super yummy? Then stay right here.

And you too can have some of this Pesto-Alfredo Chicken pasta for yourself.


An online acquaintance posted the recipe and said "make this, it'll taste like you spent hours in the kitchen".

Original recipe:
*dry pasta, any kind
*1 cup store bought pesto sauce
*1 ½ cup Alfredo sauce
*sun-dried tomatoes
*fresh cilantro
*1 cup cooked, chopped chicken breast

1. Cook pasta according to instructions.
2. Combined Alfredo sauce, pesto sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, cilantro, chicken breast. Heat and serve.

Simple enough, right? But wait, it gets better. I made it EASIER.

I omitted the sun-dried tomatoes (I'm not really into tomatoes) and the cilantro (because I didn't go to the store). I didn't even measure my sauces, I just used a jar of alfredo sauce and about 3/4 of a jar of pesto because the amounts in them were about right. (Pesto is strong, so you may decide 1/2 the jar is enough for you).

My alfredo was actually the "roasted garlic" flavor, which may have possibly improved upon this almost un-improvable meal.

OH MY GOD ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?!?! YOU EMPTY TWO JARS INTO A POT AND YOU HEAT THEM UP. HOW MUCH BETTER CAN THIS GET??

I happened to have chicken already marinating in vidalia onion dressing. I almost always have random ziplocs of chicken marinating...I keep them in the freezer, and then take them out a day or two before I want to eat them. my usual marinade is italian salad dressing, but vidalia onion sometimes wins out. So I just grilled the chicken on my George Foreman and it was AMAZING (I'm sure cooking it in a pan would have been great too).

And I cooked some penne. And then I put it all together and I ate it. Sooooo gooooooood.


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Chicken & Sausage with Gravy

Ingredients: chicken (seasoned with Tony's), sausage, onion, and garlic (and chicken broth, but that's not in the picture)


Brown the chicken


Cook the sausage


And by "cook" I mean "burn"


Rebrown the chicken with all the sausage juice


Add onion


Cook them bitches down down down!


Don't forget the garlic!


Add broth to cover, then simmah...for like half an hour or something


Serve over rice...yum yum


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Pita Bread Pizzas

I've perfected my Chicken Alfredo Pita Bread Pizzas, and come up with a BBQ Chicken version.



You just need chicken, pitas, alfredo sauce and pesto sauce (or bbq sauce), and shredded cheese. I also added bacon.

Cube some chicken


fry some bacon


lay out some pitas


cook the chicken (in the bacon grease if you're feeling unhealthy)


I use sauce out of a jar...alfredo sauce and pesto sauce mixed, and then straight bbq sauce.


Add the chicken (I don't normally have this much chicken on them, but the breasts I cooked were big, so just whatever your preferences is)


I'll use whatever shredded cheese I have around. This time I had a six-blend Italian mix, and I also used some cheddar for the bbq chicken ones.


Crumble your bacon


And sprinkle


Then it's just 10 minutes in the oven at 400 (you're mainly just melting the cheese).


And they reheat pretty well, so I make extras to take for lunch.


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