Cooking Adventures

Since being abroad I have had to take up a lot more home cooking. I never thought I was a bad cook, I just didn't do it often. I didn't think I had cooking creativity. At first, being here I realized there is so much you need to cook things. The basics will only do for so long. But then tonight I took the basics to another level!! I made my own little pasta dish with some ingredients I discovered are good for many purposes.

-Pasta
-Steak
-Spinach
-Cherry Tomatoes
-Mushrooms
-Cheese
-Tomato sauce

That's all it took! A handful of ingredients I already had on hand. I cooked the steak, spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes on the stove in some oil. Placed all that on the pasta with a bit of sauce and a dash of cheese on top! Waa-Laa a main course meal for one! The ingredients are good for you and its not a frozen pizza! I may be a little too pleased for creating a pasta dish, but this was my best quick pull together of fresh ingredients. Normally all my veggies go bad before I use them up. I can only eat sandwiches so many times too. Pasta noodles never go bad but they can be dull. I spiced up my cooking and it tastes delicious!! As pleased as I am, I am still taking recipe! Well eat on!

Bruschetta Chicken and Pasta Recipe

I haven't done much cooking or baking lately, so the other night I told Mark I wanted to cook us dinner. I found a delicious sounding Chicken Bruschetta recipe in a magazine.

Ingredients-
-1 can Diced tomatoes (we used Italian marinated ones)
-3/4 cup shredded Italian blend cheese (we added a bunch more on top our chicken)
-1/4 cup chopped basil (I didn't measure, I just sprinkled all I wanted)
- 5 Small boneless chicken breasts  (I used just 2 since there was only 2 of us!)
-1 can tomato sauce
-1 tsp minced garlic
-Since there was going to be a lot of extra sauce we decided to cook up some noodles to add with our chicken.
Instructions-
-Mix cheese, diced tomatoes, and basil together in a bowl and mix.
- Put the sauce into a skillet with the garlic. Bring to a boil.
-Add chicken and top it with the tomato mix.
-Cover skillet and simmer for about 15-20 mins. Depending on how thick the chicken is.
-Cook your choice of noodles.
-Mix your noodles and chicken and sauce and Enjoy!

  We both loved this dinner! I think it will become one of our regular dinners. It was so easy, fast, and yummy!!!! We both really like Italian food so this was a perfect dish for us to try.

Stuffed Shells Recipe! YUM!

For Marks birthday this weekend I decided to make him his favorite dish, stuffed shells! I was a little nervous because his mom cooks this for him almost every birthday. Also I am not exactly known for being a great cook (normally Mark does all the cooking). Luckily it turned out fabulous!

What you will need:

• Shell noodles (I used smaller ones but any size will be fine)
• 32 oz of Ricotta cheese
• 2 Packages of Italian cheese
• Portabella Mushrooms
• Any kind of Pasta Sauce 
• 2 beaten Eggs

How to prepare:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cook the shells till they are al dente (about 9-10 mins depending on shell size)
• While shells are cooking, mix ricotta, eggs, and one bag cheese together in a bowl

•  Add half the can of sauce into the baking pan (a large baking pan 9x13 or bigger)
• Add mushrooms into the pan also

• When noodles are done drain them and run some cool water over them to cool them off.

•  Use a large spoon to stuff the shells with the cheese mix and out them in the pan
• Once all the noodles are stuffed poor the rest of the sauce and cheese on top

• cook for about 45-60 mins
• Enjoy!

Bonus Meal!
For Breakfast today I made Mark Omelets! SoYuumy! I used out left over cheese, mushrooms, and eggs!