Rice Krispies Treats House

Instead of a Gingerbread House...got the recipe from Rachel Ray and we made it at work with the clients. This was our team's house, which I thought came out good (considering mental health consumers are making it). It was fun, and I recommend that you make smaller houses, and/or use cardboard as supports (the rice krispie treats are heavy), that is why ours was the only roof that did not cave in...we put cardboard underneath it. Here is the recipe:

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/dessert-recipes/marshmallow-treat-gingerbread-house-recipe/article.html

Snickerdoodles

I am doing a cookie exchange at work, and figured I would make my fave cookie, snickerdoodles.... The original recipe is Mrs. Sigg's snickerdoodles from http://www.allrecipes.com/:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mrs-Siggs-Snickerdoodles/Detail.aspx

The only changes I made were I increased the white sugar to 3 T and ground cinnamon to 3 tsp at the end to roll the cookies in. These were the best snickerdoodles, so soft and yummy!!!!

"unfried" zucchini

Courtesy of Dori at the Foodie Fashionista Blog:

http://foodiefashionista.blogspot.com/2007/08/fried-zucchini-chips.html

These came out great!!!!! So yummy and I think they would be good also with Horseradish sauce.

Creamy Alfredo and Mushroom Pasta

I used an old CL recipe for the alfredo sauce (below), sauteed mushrooms and added them and Smart Taste Pasta by ronzoni (extra fiber and calcium), put in baking dish and baked with some asiago cheese on top and drizzled a teeny little bit of truffle oil on top with lots of cracked black pepper. It was yum! Such good comfort food.

Cooking Light Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

1 Tbsp butter

2 small cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp flour

1 1/3 C skim milk

2 T low fat cream cheese

1 C grated parmesan cheese

salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

2 C uncooked pasta (I used Smart Taste corkscrews)

Boil pasta according to directions, drain, set aside. Melt butter over med. Cook garlic for about 1 minute and add flour and whisk, cook until slightly browned (about a minute or so). Add milk slowly, keep whisking constantly and cook about 8 minutes (until thickened). Add cream cheese and whisk to melt, cook 2 minutes. Add Parmesan cheese and whisk until melted. Turn off heat. Taste and add salt and pepper. Pour over pasta.

Sauteed Mushrooms

1 container baby bella sliced mushrooms

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/4 C dry sherry

lots of pepper and a little bit of salt (couple of shakes)

cook garlic over med in olive oil for about a minute and add mushrooms, stir and add sherry, salt and pepper. stir occasionally and cook until all liquid is gone. Take off heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put pasta and alfredo sauce in casserole dish and mix in some of the mushrooms. Sprinkle more mushrooms over top and sprinkle some shredded asiago cheese over top. Cracked black pepper and cover and bake for about 10-15 minutes. Once you dish it out drizzle a teensy little bit of truffle oil over top and mix in. When I say teeny, like a drop or two. Otherwise it can overwhelm your dish.

lemon garlic chicken

Marinade:

2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

zest of 1 lemon

1/4 c olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Marinate 4 thin sliced chicken breasts in this marinade for about an hour (I use a ziploc bag). Then heat a teeny little bit of olive oil over med heat and saute chicken breasts (take out of bag, discard rest of marinade), for about 5 or 6 minutes on each side. I served with roasted rosemary potatoes. It was so good!!!! Comment please!

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

serves 2

3 red skinned potatoes, cubed (NOT peeled)

Olive oil (enough to coat)

salt to taste

Pepper to taste

garlic powder (couple of shakes)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine potatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper and garlic powder. Put in casserole dish (uncovered) and cook about 45 minutes.