Angel Hair Pasta with Creamy Clam Sauce

This recipe is by "Nanners" from recipezaar.com--I found it today, changed it a bit, and it was delicious! I've never made a cream sauce from scratch (sad, I know!), and this was so easy that I had to share. Sorry the photo isn't the best, but you get the idea. Add some rosemary bread and veggies and you have a yummy meal. Enjoy! :)

Weeknight Pasta With Clam Sauce
Recipe #111506 35 min 15 min prep

Ingredients:
8 ounces uncooked angel hair pasta
2 (6 1/2 ounce) cans minced clams
1 T butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces Monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
parmesan cheese
fresh ground pepper

Directions:
1-Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
2-While pasta cooks, drain the clams and reserve 3/4C of the clam liquid.
3-Melt butter over medium heat in skillet.
4-Add garlic to butter and sautee 1-2 minutes- do not brown.
5-Add cream and clam liquid.
6-Bring to a boil, stirring often.
7-Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8-Add the clams and parsley till clams are heated.
9-Turn off heat and add Monterey Jack cheese and pasta and toss well.
10-Serve hot and season with parmesan and fresh ground pepper if desired.

Roasted Chicken

I'm so excited to be a part of this group! I love cooking and baking and I love new recipes so I'm excited to be a part. Thanks for having me.

This week Smith's had really cheap whole chicken's ($0.59/lb which made them about $3-4 a piece) and so I decided it was time for me to roast my first chicken. I'm sure that some of you are pros at this but it was a first for me and it was delicious.

Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken
1-2 Tbsp melted butter or olive oil
salt and pepper
your favorite seasonings

1.Preheat the oven to 450F.
2.Remove insides and neck from chicken and place in roasting pan (or a cookie sheet lined with tin foil because I don't have a roasting pan)
3.Brush chicken with melted butter or olive oil.
4.Season with salt and pepper and your other favorite seasonings. I used some tarragon, poultry seasoning, and season salt. Lemon pepper or straight BBQ sauce brushed all over would be delicious too.
5.Reduce heat to 350F and cook 20 minutes per pound of chicken. The thigh meat should read about 180F on a thermometer when it's done.
6.Carve it up like a turkey and enjoy!

I also have an extra bonus for this post. If you haven't seen this site it's incredible. Everything in the picture below (except the doilie and wrappers) is made from cake. The box and everything. It's truly amazing! I don't know how she does it. How easy would this be to replicate Nancy?

Chicken & Spinach Manicotti

I told myself to remember to take a picture of the finished product as I was making this and then wouldn't you know it? I forgot! But it was yummy...and pretty.

Saute:
2 T. butter
1/4 c. onion
1/4 c. mushrooms (I always prefer fresh to canned and then I throw the extras in a green salad.)

Add & simmer 5 minutes:
1 c. cooked spinach (I used almost a whole bag of fresh spinach instead and let it wilt. The rest I put in the salad.)
2 c. cooked white chicken - cut in small pieces
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
salt & pepper

After cooled, add:
3/4 c. ricotta cheese
2 T. cream

Boil a package of manicotti noodles until almost cooked thoroughly. (I went one minute below recommended cooking time on the package.) Stuff manicotti with filling. Pour 1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Add stuffed manicotti. Cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Santa Fe Soup with Melted Cheese--Crockpot

From the "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook"

Santa Fe Soup with Melted Cheese
Makes 8 servings

1 lb. Velveeta Cheese, cubed
1 lb. ground beef, browned & drained
15 ¼ - oz. can corn, undrained
15 – oz. can kidney beans, undrained
14 ½ - oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies
14 ½ - oz. can stewed tomatoes
2 Tbsp. dry taco seasoning
Corn chips or soft tortillas

1. Combine all ingredients except chips or tortillas in slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on High 3 hours.
3. Serve with corn chips as a side or dip soft tortillas in individual servings in soup bowls.

Easy Bacon & Cheese Quiche

1 lb. bacon cooked and crumbled
1 c. shredded Swiss cheese
1/3 c. green onions chopped
2 c. milk
1 c. Bisquick
4 eggs
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper

Lightly grease pie plate or 9 x 9 cake pan.
Sprinkle bacon, cheese, onions on plate.
The remaining ingredients blend up (mix thoroughly) and pour over the other things.
Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees until knife inserted comes clean.When I use my 9 x 9 stoneware it usually takes 40 minutes to bake, not 30. I also at times put foil around the edges to cover it so that it doesn't get too brown.

Avocado Salsa

This comes from Ashlee's sister, Lindsay. She made it for us last summer when we were all out visiting my parents at the same time. It is delicious! She didn't really have a name for it, so I gave it one.

Avocado Salsa

2-3 Large tomatoes, diced
1-2 Ripe Avocados, peeled and diced
Keep the pits of the avocados and add in the salsa to keep them fresh.
1 can of white corn, drained
1 can of black beans, drained
1 - 0.7 oz. package Good Seasons Italian dressing mix, prepare as directions indicate

Combine all ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips. Refrigerate any remaining salsa.

I also added a little bit of chopped up fresh cilantro this time and it was yummy too.
It tastes a lot better the second day...of course, but who can wait that long???!

I used this salsa on my taco salad--just used chips, taco meat, the salsa, and then a bit of cheese on top and it was sooooooooooooo delicious!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

This recipe comes to us from Betty Crocker. Originally it is a double chocolate chip recipe, that calls for only 1 c. of chocolate chips. However, our family prefers it with peanut butter chips.

1 pkg. Chocolate cake mix
½ c. butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
½ c. chopped nuts (optional)
1 c. peanut butter chips (actually I use the entire bag)

Preheat oven to 350º.

• Beat half the dry cake mix, the butter, vanilla, and eggs in large bowl on medium speed until smooth, or mix with spoon.
• Stir in remaining cake mix, the nuts and chocolate chips.
• Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are set (centers will be soft).
• Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Yields about 5 dozen (Maybe if you really do teaspoonfuls, but we never have that many.)

Sorry for no picture this time around. We ate them all before I actually thought of it.