Lemon Caper Chicken w/pasta

Ingredients

Lemon-caper sauce
* 1 Tbsp. cold water
* 1 Tbsp. cornstarch or potato flour
* 1 ¼ c. chicken or vegetable broth (one 10 ½-oz. can)
* ¼ c. fresh lemon
* 1 tsp. lemon zest
* ½ tsp. black pepper
* 1 Tbsp. capers

chicken and pasta
* 3 Tbsp. flour
* 1/8 tsp. black pepper
* dash salt
* 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1” strips
* 2 Tbsp olive oil
* 2 c. asparagus, cut in 2” pieces (fresh or canned)
* 2 green onions, cut in 2” inch pieces
* 1 tsp. minced garlic
* 8 oz. angel hair pasta


Directions

1. Begin heating a large pot of water for the pasta.
2. While the water is coming to a boil, prepare the lemon-caper sauce. In a small bowl or 2-cup measure, stir together the water and cornstarch until smooth. Stir in the remaining sauce ingredients; set aside.
3. Combine the flour, pepper, and salt in a shallow bowl. Flour the chicken by lightly pressing both sides of each chicken strip into the flour mixture.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken strips until they are lightly browned but not cooked through, about 2 minutes each side. Remove chicken from the pan, cover and keep warm.
5. Heat remaining oil in the pan. Add the asparagus; if fresh, cook for about 3 minutes. Add the green onions and garlic (immediately if asparagus is canned); cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes.
6. Stir the lemon-caper sauce and pour it into the skillet; cook, stirring, until the sauce becomes clear and thickens slightly, about 2 minute.
7. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the chicken. Cover and cook until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, about 8 minutes.
8. Add pasta to the water when it is boiling, cook until tender; drain well.
9. Serve chicken, vegetables and sauce over hot pasta.

Fresh Corn Salad

5 ears of corn, shucked
2-3 green onions (scallions) finely chopped
1 large handful of grape tomatoes halved
1 large fresh mozzarella ball chopped into pieces (or you can get a package of little "pearls")
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone. Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob.

Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the green onions, tomatoes, mozzarella, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil. Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.

My absolute favorite dish, super easy, delicious, yet high in fat. All my family and friends ask for the recipe and make it quite often. Enjoy!
(I make homemade meals five days a week. I really don't measure anything or follow a recipe very often. So bear with me as I'm estimating as I type.)

Cheesy chicken hashbrown bake
Grease a casserole dish. Approximately 9x13 in size. A little smaller, but deeper works best.
Preheat oven to 375
Mix 1 bag of frozen hashbrowns (about 6 cups) with half a can of french's fried onions. Spread 1 bag of shredded cheddar jack cheese (appx 3 cups, I've used all cheddar quite often too) on top of hashbrowns.
Lay about 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin, on top.
Melt 4T butter and pour over chicken.
Mix one can of cream chicken soup with a little under a cup of milk and pour that over.
Bake uncovered for an hour. Then pour remaining fried onions on top and bake 5 more minutes.
Let it sit for a couple minutes before serving. Delicious!

__________________
Jodie
DH Jim, 27
DS Ethan, 5
DS Benjamin, 11/12/07

Stuffed Shells

DH hates ricotta cheese, so this is a twist on the recipe I normally would make, but it was good!

1 lb ground beef (I use 96% fat free)
1 lb ground pork
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2-2 1/2 cups mozzerella cheese (low fat is ok if you want)
1/4 cup parmasean cheese
2 eggs beaten
1 medium onion chopped
4 garlic cloves chopped
1 box shells cooked and cooled on foil
2 cups of spaghetti sauce (homemade or jarred, your choice)

Start by boiling shells according to directions. Drain and cool on piece of foil. Fry ground beef and pork (I use some EVOO) and add chopped onion and garlic to mixture and cook down a little. In a large bowl mix both cheeses, eggs, bread crumbs and then add meat. Mix all together. Use a baking dish and put a small layer of sauce on bottom. Put approx 2T of mixture into each noodle (obviously depending on the size of noodle you chose) and put into dish. Once done, spoon rest of sauce on top of noodles. Sprinkle more parmasean cheese and/or mozzerella on top if you want. Bake at 350 for approx 45 minutes or until hot and bubbily all the way through.

I thought this was WAY yummy considering I omitted lots of stuff for DH's preference. Sometimes I will add seasoning (Italian, whatever) to my mixture if I think it needs more. DH doesn't like a lot of "gunk" in his food, so it's pretty basic, bu tastes good. Also, I like to put red and white sauce with it. EXTRA yummy if you don't mind the extra calories...

__________________
Melissa







All that I am, all that I ever was,
is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see...

excuse the spelling errors. LOL Parmesan.

__________________
Melissa







All that I am, all that I ever was,
is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see...