Why are there 3 chicken breasts in a package when I only need 2 ??? The story of Creamy Chicken Pasta

So I have given myself the nickname of the "Leftover Queen". And the Leftover Queen strikes again! All too often I wait until about 6:30pm, when I am starving, to try and decide what to make for dinner. Going to the store sounds like a giant feat. But I am hungry. And don't want take out. What do I do?!?!

Answer: Use whatever you have in your fridge and pantry and come up with something magical! I'd say my "experiments" have about a 80% success rate. This one was a success.

Last week we made some chicken one night for dinner. I don't know where you all buy your chicken from, but riddle me this: why are there 3 chicken breasts to a package??? How many people do you know that cook for 3 adults? I know approximately ZERO. Most people I know, without children or with children under the age of 10, cook for 2 adults. Maybe 4 adults if having people over for dinner. So then you either have a leftover chicken breast, OR you have to buy another package, and then you have 2 leftover chicken breasts. So what do I do? Cook all three chicken breasts, eat 2, and leave one in the fridge for whatever random creation I can come up with for it.

And don't even get me started on ground turkey. 1.25lbs??? What the h-ll and I supposed to do with the leftover 0.25lbs (since most recipes call for 1 lb)??? Someone failed business school as far as I am concerned. Or the business people and the cooks are not communicating very well. 0.25lbs? C'mon. That's one burger. Stupid. At least make your packages 1.5 lbs if you are going over the industry standard of 1 lb!

So, anyway, last week, I happen to have a leftover chicken breast and 0.25lbs ground turkey, both in my fridge about to expire the next day. Interesting situation when trying to come up with dinner plans. So I improvised, and came up with a pasta that turned out to be delicious! It just so happened that my pantry had pasta noodles, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, and some random ingredients in fridge, which all led to a surprisingly good pasta.

Seriously, don't worry about your "experiments" not turning out. They won't all the time. And when they don't, you will end up laughing about it. But you have to try. What's the worst thing that could happen? You fail and you get take-out. Big deal. You were probably contemplating take-out anyway if you are resorting to "experimentation" in the kitchen.

Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 5
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 4
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 4


Creamy Chicken and Turkey Pasta for Two
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
0.25lbs ground turkey, cooked (or ground beef)
Spaghetti noodles, cooked (or whatever pasta you have will work)
1 can diced, stewed, or crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 slices yellow or sweet onion, chopped
1 TBL honey, (or sugar or crush pineapple)
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp dried basil
3 TBL cream cheese
Salt/Pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Cook enough pasta for 2 people in boiling water. In small saute pan, warm up (or cook) shredded chicken and ground turkey. In large saute/frying pan, saute garlic and onion in olive oil until soft. Add drained can of tomatoes and can of tomato sauce, honey, salt/pepper to taste, oregano, and basil. Stir and taste often, adjust seasonings to taste. After sauce has simmered for 15-20 min, add cream cheese one tablespoon at a time, stirring in to make creamy. Continue until have creaminess desired. Stir in shredded chicken and ground meat to sauce. Serve over pasta and top with a little sprinkled crushed red pepper.

Optional veggies to add to sauce (do so at time of sauteing garlic and onion): chopped green peppers, sliced mushrooms, sliced zucchini, whatever you have in fridge.


This is not fancy. But it was pretty dang good. AND you feel good about yourself at the end of the day because you didn't let the one random chicken breast go to waste. If you are making chicken earlier that week, just cook all 3 breasts at once, eat your 2, then the 3rd could be for this and then it's already cooked, cutting down on your cooking time.

* Although I never condone buying jarred spaghetti sauce instead of making your own, if you happen to have some Prego, you can skip making the sauce and simply warm it up in a pot, add the chicken and cream cheese and call it a night. Bingo. Bango. Cream Sauce.

Not gonna lie: not my strongest of cooking efforts on this one. But I hate wasting food. Especially uncooked food. So don't be surprised if you see more "leftover" recipes.

Football Weekend Chili

So I have been slacking on the blogging. Mostly because I have been slacking on the cooking. Bad, Abby! Bad!

The good news is we went to the Michigan vs. Notre Dame football game this past weekend at Notre Dame. The even better news is the good guys won! That place is pretty cool, by the way. I've never been to an away Michigan game for a huge rivalry and it was awesome. And I am happy to report that the Notre Dame fans are a classy group. Unlike those in the state next to them.

Being at my first football game of the season got me in the mood for fall. Not really fall weather, since we live in Southern California, but fall food. Like tailgating food! I immediately had a craving for chili.

Now, I'm sue some of you are crazy about chili and have your own "award-winning" recipe from a chili cook-off or something blah blah blah. I'm trying to win awards here. This is just a damn good, simple, not-too-spicy-but-has-some-kick, chili! I have constantly tried twists and turns but this is the recipe I like the best so far. Try it out, and then tweek it with whatever goodies you like.

And PLEASE don't give me the whole "well, I don't like beans" bologna. First of all, if you don't like beans, you don't like chili. Second of all, if you refuse to accept my "First of all", then switch out beans for cooked ditalini or elbow pasta and more veggies or something and quit your complaining. You can figure it out. You're a big boy.

Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): well when I eat it, a 10 due to the shredded cheese mountain I put on top
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): pretty long, but that's what slow cookers are for. I give it a 3-4 on prep time.
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 1 (any rookie would have a hard time screwing this up)

Chili
2 lbs ground beef or ground round
1 46oz can tomato juice
1 29oz can tomato sauce
1 15oz can kidney beans
1 15oz can pinto beans
1.5 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp cumin
1/4 cup chili powder
Chopped onions for topping (optional)
Shredded cheddar cheese for topping (optional)
Sour Cream for topping (optional)

Brown meat in skillet. Then put all ingredients above in slow cooker. Set to desired cook time (4, 6, 8 or 10 hours) OR cook on low anywhere from 8-10 hours, or on high from 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onions, and/or sour cream (optional).

This sh-- is so good!!! And so easy. I mean....brown meat?! That's all you have to do?! C'mon. Don't be a wuss. I like to make it at night, and then cook it on low over-night. Just make sure if you do, that your crock-pot/slow cooker is big enough to not boil over once thing thing gets rockin' (I speak from experience on this one....it's a mess to clean up).

* Disclaimer: should you actually want to make this for a tailgate, make sure to consider 2 things: 1) where are you going to put crock-pot in your car so that it won't spill over while driving? and 2) how are you going to keep it hot at the tailgate? Maybe your tailgates are fancier than mine but we didn't have an outlet. Made for lukewarm to semi-cold chili during the winter tailgates. YUM!

Carne Asada and Leftover Breakfast Casserole

We went down to Mexico this past Labor Day weekend. And successfully came back with all of our heads. I was super worried about going down, and did hours of research on the internet. But thankfully, we had an amazing trip with no problems. We went to Las Gaviotas, which is a housing community in between Ensenada and Rosarito in the Mexican state of Baja California Norte.

We rented a 3 bedroom house, about 3 rows up the hill from the ocean (about a 3 minute walk to beach area), for $159 a night! It was awesome. We brought all of our own food, and pretty much didn't leave the gated community the whole time. It was super fun and very relaxing.

As we were cooking one of our meals, we started talking about how people often don't know what to do with leftovers. I happen to be the queen of leftovers. I love them, and love coming up with new ideas of what to turn last night's dinner into. For dinner that night, we were having carne asada and chicken tacos, with sides of black beans, refried beans, and guacamole.

Before I get into the leftovers, I have to mention a new place I heard about: El Toro Gourmet Meats. Apparently, it's a full-on meat market with amazing cuts of meat AND pre-marinated meats. They are famous for their carne asada, and I have to say after trying it this weekend, it lived up to the hype. The chicken was amazing too. I am a meat snob (my next blog will be named "No Rubber Meat for Me, Please"). Both the chicken and carne were super lean and tender. I will be going there often.

So anyway, if I have to put a recipe on here for tacos, I will kill myself. C'mon people: meat, tortillas, toppings. Not difficult.

BUT, the leftovers for this were something I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with. So many options. So little time.


Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 1 or 6 (copious amounts of cheese optional, but recommended)
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 1
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 1

Taco Night Leftovers Breakfast Casserole
Leftovers from taco night (beans, meat, toppings)
Eggs
Jalapenos
Hot Sauce

Scramble eggs or egg whites. While eggs are cooking, arrange in a bowl leftover meat, beans, cheese, chopped onion, chopped jalapeno. In saute pan or microwave, heat meat mixture up until meat hot and cheese melted. On plate, put meat mixture, then scrambled eggs, top with cilantro, salsa, and hot sauce. OPTIONAL: take everything on plate, and put into tortilla for breakfast burrito.

This doesn't sound all that amazing, as I read it, but trust me, it was a delicious Mexican breakfast. And healthy too. If you don't go overboard on the cheese that is. But I don't know how to do that. You could even make this casserole into nacho toppings on tortilla chips! So many options. So little time. 

Guinness

We are getting a puppy! I am SOOOO excited. She is a Maltese and Shih-Tzu mix (both are good for James, since he has allergies). We have decided to name her Guinness (appropriately) and she is only 6 weeks old right now, so we can't pick her up until next week. I can't wait! I've already ordered her 2 University of Michigan food dishes, a little Michigan bandanna to wear on game-days, and a giant towel for her to play on that says "Guinness". (Random side note: I have been searching for other pet-type things from the Guinness webstore, and they have NONE. It's very strange to me.)

Anyway, I want everyone to meet her. Even though she has nothing to do with food. Except to Filipinos, according to my in-laws, who I have instructed to not even come close to considering her food when they baby-sit. Joking. Kind of.

My mom's reaction was the best: "She's really cute. But that's not much of a video. She isn't really doing anything." Ha! What is supposed to do?! She's a newborn. And she was wet from a bath, freezing, and very very sleepy. I happen to think she's great. And that the video is great. So take that!

Corn on the Cob From the Fair.....BUTTER

I heard a rumor that this was the last year that "they" were going to have the OC Fair??? Please tell me it isn't true! Not only is it the only time that I eat whatever I want for entire evening, but we have seen some amazing concerts there too. Last year we saw Ziggy Marley, year before was Steve Miller Band, year before Pato Banton. I really hope they don't get rid of both the fair and the concert arena. Sad.

I love fair food. Most of it. Some of it is just flat out weird. Like chocolate covered bacon. Or fried butter. My stomach is churning just thinking about it. James ate fried Oreos this year and told me they were delicious, but that sounds awful to me as well. I did, however, eat a fried White Castle once. It was delicious. And then awful. I do LOVE the BBQ at the fair too. But if there is one fair food that takes the cake for me.....it's the CORN!

I don't know what it is about this corn that is oh so delicious. But I have a few ideas I would like to put to the test. A) It's grilled in the husk. I have yet to master this task. B) It's dunked in a bucket of hot hot butter. I feel like I can rub enough butter on mine to get the same effect. C) There is a table of condiments and toppings to put on. I, too, can have these condiments.


Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 1 or 2 (optional cheese)
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 2
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 2

Hot-Buttered Grilled Corn
4 ears of corn
1 stick of butter
Salt/Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Salt
Parmesan Cheese
Tinfoil

Pre-heat grill. Shuck corn and place in a piece of tinfoil that is large enough to wrap around corn and seal tight. On the inside of each sheet of tinfoil, smear large amounts of butter. Then season the butter with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic salt, and Parmesan cheese (also could use mayo, lemon pepper, cajun, etc.). Then wrap tinfoil around corn so that all the toppings are corn-side in. Make sure tinfoil is sealed closed or at least over-lapped some, so that butter doesn't spill out when melted. Place corn on grill and grill for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked through.  

So let's be honest, I have no idea how long to cook corn. It feels like about 20-30 minutes when I do it. But one thing I learned: start the corn early, before anything else. It will stay super super hot in the tinfoil long after you take it off the grill, so you can't really make it too early.

I'm sure there are other ways to grill corn. I'm sure they are good. But this is the way I do it because I like the toppings and butter to be sealed in with the corn. And I like grilled corn. And aside from having a bucket of butter on the stove that I can dip my corn in, this is a pretty decent alternate without killing our arteries TOO much. Ha!