Pesto Chicken with Tomato and Mozza

I was looking for things to do with the recent pesto recipe I made and I got an idea from this recipe on Skinnytaste. I like to cook healthy, but I also prefer breaded chicken over unbreaded, so I  whipped up my own version! Turned out great!

2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup pesto
2/3 cup shredded mozza cheese
4 slices of tomato
2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle of oregano
1 egg, well beaten

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Mix together the panko breadcrumbs, parm cheese, salt, pepper and oregano in a shallow dish.

Coat the chicken breast in egg and dip in the panko breadcrumb mixture coating well on all sides. Lay on baking sheet.

Bake chicken for about 30 - 35 minutes or until no longer pink inside.

Take chicken out of the oven, quickly drop 2 tbsp of pesto on each chicken breast, top with 2 slices of tomato and 1/3 cup shredded mozza. Then pop back into the oven for another 5 minutes.

Easy as that!!! Serve up alongside your favorite veggies or pasta.

Enjoy!

Butter Tarts

This is a really quick easy recipe for very yummy butter tarts.. nice and gooey!

24 frozen tart shells
1 can low fat sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 egg, well beaten
Pinch of cinnamon
2/3 cup golden raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Arrange tart shells on baking sheets and let thaw for 10 minutes.

Whisk together all ingredients aside from raisins and pour into tart shells. Drop raisins into the butter tart mixture in each tart shell (I do it this way because the raisins seem to sink to the bottom and don't pour as evenly if you stir them right into the batter).

Bake for 18 minutes or until middle is set and pastry is golden.

Enjoy!!



Source: Adapted from Eagle Brand Foods

Presto! It's Pesto!!

First of all, I have to say my husband would like to take credit for the title of this blog post! Haha!

I got a food processor for Christmas which I was VERY excited about. So I promptly whipped up this easy pesto recipe! I swapped out the traditional pine nuts for hazelnuts (I was feeling Christmassy) and it turned out great! You can use any type of nut you like though.

2 cups of fresh basil leaves (packed)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup hazelnuts
3 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper

|*If you're using a larger nut like I did with the hazelnuts, you'll want to put the nuts in first and pulse a few times to get them into a bit smaller pieces before adding in your basil leaves.

Start by combining the nuts and basil leaves in the food processor and pulse a few times. Add in the garlic and pulse again.

Run the food processor on low, while slowly adding in the olive oil in a constant stream. Add in the parmesan cheese and pulse until blended. Add in a bit of salt and pepper for taste, pulse a few times more and ta-da! You are done!!!

Coat a pasta noodle of your choice with your pesto or add it to pizza or chicken or bread, etc. Get creative and enjoy!!

Prosciutto and Provolone Wrapped Asparagus

We had some prosciutto wrapped asparagus this summer at a friends house when we went over there for dinner and it was delicious! We were browsing at the Italian market and I decided to make this dish, but added a twist of my own, provolone cheese!!

This turned out amazing.. it was a great little appetizer, perfect prelude to a nice pasta dinner! If you've had prosciutto before you know it can be very salty. I've included a bit of salt to the coating I gave my asparagus, but I love salt, so if you don't like it as salty just eliminate it from the asparagus coating.

12 Asparagus stalks
12 pieces of thinly sliced provolone cheese
12 pieces of thinly sliced prosciutto
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
A dash of salt
A dash of oregano

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Start by putting the asparagus into a large bowl and drizzle it with EVOO. Add in a dash of oregano and a dash of salt (since prosciutto is already very salty, you can eliminate this salt if you don't like it that salty). Make sure the asparagus is very well coated.

Wrap each stalk of asparagus with one piece of provolone cheese, then wrap a piece of prosciutto around the asparagus and provolone.

Lay on a baking sheet side by side and bake for about 15 minutes in the oven. Let sit for a minute or 2 before transferring to a tray and serving.

Enjoy!!

Taco Pierogies

Ever have leftover taco meat that you don't know what to do with? I'd always find after a taco night we'd always have leftover taco meat but no more shells.

I decided to use some of our leftover taco meat with pierogies one night and it turned out fantastic!! It was super quick and easy to make.

This recipe only makes 2 servings. If you want it to feed more, you'll have to make more taco meat instead of using leftovers like I do.

Taco meat (about 1 cup)
12 cheese and potato pierogies
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup guacamole

Boil the pierogies as per normal cooking instructions and drain.

Heat up the taco meat in a skillet over medium heat. Add in the sour cream and pierogies, stir together and let the mixture heat up for a couple minutes.

Serve up 6 pierogies in each serving and top with 1/4 cup of salsa and a 1/4 cup of guacamole.

Enjoy!