Chicken Tettrazini and Banana Bread

Chicken Tettrazini! I'm so super excited for this one. It's SO super delicious and the perfect comfort food.

Back when I was a kid it was an easy casserole for our Mom to make and I remember it fondly. I, of course, have changed the original recipe to my liking since I'm such a stubborn and picky eater.

Chicken Tettrazini
1 or 2 chicken breasts (you can also use turkey breasts, but I find it to be too dry)
1 can of cream of chicken soup (I use the 98% fat free kind)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package of frozen peas (I LOVE Bird's Eye super sweet peas)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (must be sharp)
1 package of cooked spaghetti noodles (I actually prefer capallini. It's just a touch thinner than spaghetti.)
Assorted spices

Preheat oven to 350. While preparing the pasta, in a saucepan, add in about a 1/2 inch of water, crushed pepper, garlic powder and pepper. Cube the raw chicken and add to the simmering water. Cook until the outsides are no longer pink and strain out the remaining water.
In a large (and I mean large) bowl, mix in all other ingredients starting with the liquids first, then adding the cheese and peas, then chicken, then add the cooked pasta.
Pour contents into a large greased casserole dish and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, until bubbly.

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My husband just loves banana bread. Every time my sister comes by, he'll say, "So when are you making me some more banana bread?" So finally I decided I had to figure out how the hell to bake it.

My first attempt was a few weeks ago. He said it was ... good, but not Carly's. Ouch. So I tried again. I pulled this recipe out of my head, so thank GOD I wrote it down. Because he loved it.

Banana Bread:
1 cup white unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons flax seed
3/4 buttermilk (I use the powder and reconstitute it. It's MUCH healthier. And it keeps longer than fresh.)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs (I used 1/2 cup egg beaters)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
6 super-duper over ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, mix bananas into a pudding like consistency. Add in flax seed, eggs, butter, baking powder, butter milk, salt and brown sugar. Mix for 3 minutes on high. Reduce speed to the slowest setting and add flour.
Pour into greased bread pan and set timer for 1 hour and 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Make this, make this now!

My mom turned me on to this great website called A Year of Slow Cooking (located at the right of the blog) and I printed off several recipes to try. Today we tried Applesauce Chicken. Lord was it delicious. I changed a few things, as per my normal. Here's how you make it:


Applesauce Chicken
--4 frozen chicken breast halves or thighs (I used 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
--1 1/2 cups of applesauce
--1 T dried onion flakes, or 1 yellow onion, chopped finely
--1 T apple cider vinegar
--1/4 tsp cinnamon
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--2 cloves garlic, minced
--1 or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

Put the frozen chicken pieces into your crockpot. Add the onion (if you are using the dried onion, wait and add it to the applesauce). In a bowl, mix the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, and spices together. Pour on top of the chicken. Add sweet potatoes.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4.


I added the sweet potato. The original recipe also calls for red pepper flakes that I omitted because I'm sure Claire and Luca wouldn't appreciate it. The sweet potato in it was delicious (says the person who HATES sweet potatoes.)


I again, put some in the food processor and added some water and grinded it up for Luca. He loved it, Claire loved it. This dish was delicious. 

M&M cookies and baby food

My grandpa's favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. He would always send us Valentines and candy every year. I'm guessing I'm getting too old, because he sent the Valentines and candy to my kids. Either way, it's still a benefit for me, because, darn, Luca's too young to eat M&M's.

I make cookies every week from scratch. I buy the giant bag of chocolate chips, butter, egg beaters... all from Sam's Club and that lasts me about a month or two for supplies. However, I hadn't bought chocolate chips in a while and I knew I was running low. Not to mention, those damn M&Ms were sitting on the counter, taunting me. So what did I do? I substituted them in my cookie recipe.

Note: I am the WORST when it comes to measuring. So sometimes I'm guestimating. I apologize.

Chocolate Chip/M&M Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup egg beaters
1 cup no sugar added applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp baking soda
a dash of salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
as many M&Ms or chocolate chips as you prefer

In a mixer, combine all the wet ingredients and mix on high for a minute until well blended. Add brown sugar, flax seed, baking soda, and salt while mixer is on low. If using a table top mixer, add flour slowly until well blended. If using a hand mixer, I'd recommend mixing flour in by hand for less mess. Then add M&Ms or chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. It makes about 3 dozen.

(If you like sweeter cookies, add a tbsp or two of white sugar. I don't usually do this, but I have, and it still tastes good. Also, I add applesauce to my recipe even though I use butter, because flax seed can be drying and the applesauce keeps it soft.)

Here's my philosophy: I'm going to bake cookies. I always do. But instead of just using chocolate chips and then eating those M&Ms in a different sitting, I mixed them and saved myself the torment. Is it a good philosophy? Probably not. But it works for me.

For dinner I made Chicken Tetrazzini.

2 chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
2 cans of cream of chicken soup (I get the 98% fat free kind)
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
garlic powder (add to taste)
2 tbsp ground flax seed (yes, I like my flax seed)
package of frozen peas
whole wheat spaghetti, boiled

Mix all contents in a bowl then place in a greased casserole dish at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

Then, for Luca (since I make all of his baby food from scratch) I took the cooked end product, stuck it in my handy food processor and blended it up nice and fine. I also added some water to make it smooth.

Luca's thought on the food? He loved it. Cleaned the bowl clean and looked for more. I guess I know what he's having for lunch tomorrow!

My only regret is that I didn't do this for Claire. Not only am I saving money by not buying baby food, but I know exactly what is going into the food I make him. Plus, he gets to know my cooking at an early age so hopefully he will skip the finicky I-hate-all-food phase that Claire hit...

Happy baking and cooking!