Creamy Lemon Pasta With Chicken (or Chicken-Style Pieces)

This dish is a perfect subtle creamy lemon pasta with chicken (or chicken-style pieces for a veggie-friendly version).  Despite the dark/grim background of the photo (it was dark by the time dinner was finished), creamy lemon pasta with chicken is actually a perfect spring or summer dish.  Feel free to omit the chicken, and make it as a side dish for your main.  Lemon goes well with fish right?  Does pasta go with fish?  So many questions.

Questions aside, this dish has become a household favorite, and has been made many times since that photo was taken.

Note: Plan ahead, as chicken needs to be cooked and have time to soak up the lemon juice.

You will need:
250 grams of Farfalle (bow-tie) pasta
3 medium chicken breasts fully cooked (preferably baked) and thinly sliced
2 tsp garlic powder (divided in half)
1 tsp ground black pepper
12 oz. (350ml) hot water
  with two dissolved chicken stock cubes
1 cup (approx 235ml) heavy cream
2 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
A further 1/2 cup lemon juice for marinading
1 large sealed plastic bag
Parsley or lemon for garnish if desired

1. In a plastic bag, add COOKED chicken, 1 tsp garlic powder, pepper, and 1/2 cup lemon juice.  Press as much air out of the bag as possible, and seal.  Store in fridge for 2 hours.

2. Prepare pasta either before/after/simultaneously, depending on whether you wish to reheat sauce.

3. In a large saucepan, heat oil and stir flour into oil to create a roux.

4. Add in hot water/chicken stock and stir until thickened and smooth.

5. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice followed by the heavy cream.

6. Stir in remaining 1 tsp garlic powder.

7. Remove from heat and add chicken.  Do this by cutting a small hole in the corner of the bag and squeeze out the juice. Add chicken to the pan.

8. Heat thoroughly, stirring constantly so cream does not scorch.

9. Either add pasta and stir, or pour over prepared pasta and serve.

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Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

I threw this recipe together SO quickly for a (Christmas) family get-together a while ago.  These are quite quick to make and use easily found ingredients.  They taste amazing, making it hard to just eat one even though you know that amount of cheesecake cannot be good for you!

You will need:
18 cupcake wrappers
18 oreos (peanut butter, mint, double stuffed, chocolate any flavor is amazing)
+6 oreos for crushing (24 total oreos)
16 oz. (approx 450g) of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs


1. Line cupcake tray and place 1 oreo at the bottom of each.

2. Place 6 oreos in a food processor and crush (or do so by hand in a large plastic bag).

3. Beat room-temperature cream cheese until smooth.

4. Beat in sugar, vanilla, and eggs.







5. Fold in oreo crumbs.

6. Divide mixture amongst the 18 holders.

7. Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 18-22 minutes.

8. Chill cheesecakes before serving.

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Pumpkin Spice Milkshakes

This is my attempt at re-creating Culver's pumpkin concrete shakes that I used to get on vacation with my family at this time of year in Wisconsin.  Pretty much the only difference was the more drinkable consistency.  But if I'm honest, I always found fighting with 'concreteness' of a concrete shake to be a bit frustrating anyways.  If you prefer a ridiculously thick shake, all you need to do is reduce the amount of milk to your preference.  Simples!

You will need:
1/2 cup milk (fat-free is fine)
2 cups vanilla ice cream
Approximately 1/3 cup pumpkin
1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
 *Go easy on the nutmeg and cloves, as unless you are working with very very finely ground high quality spices or it will affect the texture

Yield: 2 small or 1 large milkshake

There are two options for mixing this.  Either throw all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Or, combine in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.  This method works fine, and is the way I went since I do not currently have access to a blender.

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Spicy Sausage and Tomato Penne

Spicy sausage and tomato penne is the perfect dish when you are in need of some easy comfort food!  It honestly took me longer to do the dishes than to make the food.  I can only imagine how easy this would be if I had a dish washer...  A girl can dream!

220g/≈8oz penne pasta
250g/≈9oz white mushrooms
570g/ 20oz tomato spaghetti/bolognese sauce (spicy, if possible/to taste)
Pinch of onion powder
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of salt
8 thick-cut pork sausages
  *I feel like 6 brats may be a good substitute
You will need a large pot or deep frying pan

1. Cook penne according to package instructions.  This can be done on another burner while working on the sauce to save time,

2. In a large pot or deep frying pan, brown and thoroughly cook sausages.

3. Remove sausages from pan, but retain the fat/juices.  Allow sausages to cool slightly.

4. In the mean time, prepare and cut mushrooms into medium-large slices.

5. Fry mushrooms in the sausage fat/juices.  Remove mushrooms from the pan and set aside in a container to keep warm.  Discard any extra fat.

6. Slice sausages into coins when they are no longer too hot to touch.  This may be done while mushrooms are frying if you can multi-task.

7. Once the mushrooms have been removed from the pan, return the sausage coins to the pan and heat until you hear sizzling.

8. Add the tomato sauce to the pan over the sausages.  If you dislike bits in your sauce, you may wish to run in through a strainer like I did.

9. Add a pinch of onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

10. Stir and allow sauce to simmer on a very low heat, with the aim of the sausage juices and flavors mixing into the tomato sauce.

11. Serve sauce over penne.  Top with mushrooms.  Ta da!

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