Spaghetti Squash on Portabello "Plate"

1- spaghetti squash- follow instructions to make (oven or microwave; my instructions came stickered on)
5-6 portabello caps, stems and gills scrapped out
asiago cheese (eyeball, and reserve some for topping)
EVOO
S&P (salt & pepper)

While the spaghetti squash is roasting in the oven (325° for 1 hour), work on the mushroom caps. With a spoon, carefully take out the gills and stem. When you're done, it would look kinda like a bowl. Season with S&P, EVOO, (I included garlic powder and italian seasonings, optional) and place them on a cookie sheet. When the squash is in the oven for 35 minutes, you can place in the mushrooms to bake for remaining 25 minutes.

When oven time is almost up, grate asiago cheese. After the squash and mushrooms are out and the squash is easier to handle when cool down enough, using a fork, scrap the spaghetti into amedium size bowl. Once the squash is done, season with S&P, EVOO, and asiago cheese, stir till mix well. Then pile the spaghetti squash mixture on top of the mushrooms (still on their cookie sheet) and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Switch the oven from Bake to Broil and for 5 minutes at the maximum, place the squash/mushrooms in till slightly golden brown on top. When out, sprinkle more cheese if desire and help yourself!

If you don't like squash spaghetti or can't find it, then regular/whole wheat spaghetti will do, just as long as it's long and make it look like a bird's nest. You can use asiago, parm, romano, or pecorino cheese

My Food Nicknames

I would like to take a moment to say that I have my own food terms, 2 be exact. Sometimes it's just easier to write and usually these two items I've misspelled often in the past.

Parmesean cheese- Parm.
Mozzarella cheese- Mozz.

Grilled Chicken & Veggie Pasta

Ingredients:
-1 lb broccoli florets
-2 red bell peppers, chopped bite size
-2 cups of mascapone cheese, room temptature
-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 lb bowtie pasta (or any short kind)
-extra virgin olive oil, eyeball
-less than a cup of white wine or chicken broth
-parmesean cheese
-about a lb of boneless chicken breasts, cutlets or butterfly the breasts
-grill seasonings for chicken
-poultry seasoning

Method:
If you have chicken breasts, butterfly them so they can cook faster. Marinade them for about 30 minutes with grill seasonings, salt, pepper, and EVOO. Meanwhile, start heating up your grill for the chicken and start prepping the vegetables. Boil water for the pasta. Heat a saute pan in medium with EVOO and chop garlic, let cook for a minute before adding in the red peppers. After about 5 minutes, turn the heat up to medium-high, add the white wine or broth and the broccoli (season each layer with salt & pepper). Cover and let steam for a few minutes.

When the grill is hot and the chicken is good to go, start grilling for about 5-7 minutes before flipping to grill the other side for the same amount of time. Take the chicken off the grill, cover them with foil on plate to keep them warm and let rest.

When the broccoli is tender but still have a crunch, add the mascapone cheese, stirring until melted into a sauce. If it's too thick, mm. add some reserved pasta water. Add the eyeballed grated parmesean cheese.

Drain the pasta when al dente and add in with the cheesy veggie mixture. Still well and transfer to a serving bowl. Slice the waiting chicken and scatter them around the top. If there's juices on the chicken plate, include in the pasta! Sprinkle more parmesean cheese on the top and serve.

Dressed Mushrooms

I recently threw a birthday party and served a veggie platter. I had an empty section on the platter so I put some of my mushrooms I had used to make Linda McCartney's phyllo wrapped mushrooms to fill in the empty space. While Linda simply used extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, I added my own touches. The mushrooms itself was a success, my Aunt loved them!
You can use these marinated mushrooms for anything: by itself as appetizer, snack- dip them in ranch or blue cheese dressing, sliced them, cook them with pasta, risotto, or by itself as a side dish.

I don't measure, I did by eyeballing it.

-white button and cremini mushrooms
-extra virgin olive oil
-salt & pepper
-garlic powder
-italian seasonings

Asparagus & Sundried Tomato Pasta

1 pound Asparagus
1 jar of sundried tomatoes (preferably packed in olive oil to use on stove)
1 cup (1 container) mascapone cheese, room temptature
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 pound of pasta (any would do)

olive oil (extra virgin, vegetable oil will work too)- if you can't get the jar but got only a bag of sundried tomotoes

Fill the large pot of water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, salt the water and put the pasta in until al dente; save some of that starchy liquid just in case you need it to thin out the sauce!

While the water is getting hot and the pasta is cooking, in a saute pan, use the sundried-tomato olive oil (if not available then just simply use EVOO) and butter over medium heat. Chop the garlic and put in the pan, let it cook for a minute or two. Be careful not to burn!

Chop the asparagus about an inch, bite size, and put in the hot pan- season with salt and pepper

Drain the sundried tomatoes; if necessary chop them to bite size, put them in the hot pan with the asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Stir and let heat through

Add mascapone cheese to the hot veggies, stirring it around as it melts. Add heavy cream to help thin out the sauce. Use your saved pasta water to help thin it more if not to your liking.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss it with the creamy vegetable mixture. Serve.

Chicken with Carrot-Butter-Tarragon Sauce

Ingredients

-4 Chicken breasts (boneless thin cut filets preferred)

-shredded carrots or 2 large carrots, grated

-Salt & Pepper to season and taste

-shallots (optional)

-2 tablespoons tarragon

-butter

-olive oil

-1 teaspoon ginger (optional)

Method

Heat up olive oil once around the pan and butter (small cut) into a skillet on medium heat until melted. Meanwhile season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. When butter is melted and oil is hot, place the chicken in the skillet until golden brown on both sides for about 5-10 minutes (depending on chicken). When chicken is done, place them on the plate and cover them with aluminum foil to keep them warm.

Sauce

In the same skillet, do not clean- keep the flavor of the chicken. Add more butter (a couple of cuts, depending on your taste as it is a major part of the sauce). When melted, add the shallots (optional) until they are soften for about 5 minutes; then add the shredded carrots and let it cook for about 5 more minutes until golden brown, soft yet still with a crunch. Season with salt and pepper. Add tarragon and stir well for about 2-3 minutes so all the flavor could blend together. Optional: add about a teaspoon of ginger to the hot pan.

To serve- you may add the chicken to the pan putting the carrot-butter sauce on top or place the chicken on a serving place and pour the carrot-butter sauce on top.

Side Ideas

-Stuffing

-Cottage Cheese

-Rice infused in chicken broth