Spicy Broccoli and Chicken Pasta

Our go-to pasta. The simple garlic butter sauce with a kick goes with any combination of veggies and meat, so substitute with whatever you have on hand!

Ingredients:
1 pound penne pasta (we like Barilla Protein Penne)
2 heads broccoli, trimmed to florets (about 2-3 cups)
2-3 chicken breasts diced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, grated
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally. After 5 minutes, add the broccoli florets to the pasta and stir and cook for another 4 minutes. Drain pasta and broccoli, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.

In a medium skillet cook the diced chicken with a drizzle of olive oil and garlic salt.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli, pasta, chicken, salt and pepper and toss. Add some of the reserved pasta water, if necessary, to make a light sauce. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with Parmesan.

Bracht's Brownies

This is my go-to brownie recipe. They are on the fudgy side! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 stick butter

2c. sugar

2t. vanilla

4 eggs

1 1/2c. flour

1/2c. cocoa

1/2t. baking powder

1/4t. salt

1 1/2c. chocolate chips

Directions:

Melt butter in microwave safe bowl. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and add to wet mixture. Add chocolate chips. Spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350.

Enjoy!

Granny's Goulash

There is nothing fancy about this meal, but it's good and both my men love it!

Add as little or as much of each ingredient as you'd like!

Ingredients:

medium onion, chopped

1lb ground beef

1 14oz can of diced tomatoes

6oz of tomato paste

6oz of water

1 T of Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

ketchup

shredded cheese

1lb of cooked macaroni

Directions:

Saute the onion until translucent, then add the ground beef and cook until brown. Add the diced tomatoes, paste, water, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Once that is mixed together add the ketchup, I usually start with about 1/4c. and adjust until I like the way it tastes. Add the macaroni and mix together. Top with shredded cheese and cover until the cheese melts.

That's it!!

Thai Chicken Pizza

This is one of our Rachael Ray FAVES (though I think our recipe has evolved slightly from her original)!

Thankfully I actually watched the show where she made this pizza and saw how easy it was, because just seeing the long ingredient list would have been enough to keep me from attempting what turned out to be a Wonderful Treat! This is the perfect pizza if you are looking for something totally different- it’s sweet, spicy, savory, fresh and full of flavor! It you are feeling adventurous give it a try, I’ve found it to be quite the crowd pleaser!

Ingredients:

(for pizza)

1 pizza dough

½ cup duck sauce

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 cups shredded monterey jack or provolone cheese

½ red bell pepper thinly sliced

(for chicken)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 rounded teaspoon peanut butter

2 teaspoons hot sauce

2 teaspoons steak season (montreal steak seasoning- or another that you like)

½ pound thinly sliced chicken (about 4 breast cutlets)

(cucumber garnish- after pizza comes out of the oven)

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar

¼ seedless cucumber peeled and cut into matchsticks

( garnish- after pizza comes out of the oven)

1 cup bean sprouts

4 scallions chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Form pizza crust on pizza pan or cookie sheet. Top with duck sauce - spread it around like you would pizza sauce. Sprinkle the pizza with some crushed red pepper flakes then top with cheese and peppers. Bake until golden and bubbly, 15 to 17 minutes.

Preheat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Combine vegetable oil, soy sauce and peanut butter with hot sauce and grill seasoning. Use the microwave to loosen up peanut butter if it is too cold to blend into sauce, 10 seconds ought to do it. Add thinly sliced chicken and coat evenly with mixture. Let stand 10 minutes then pan fry chicken until cooked through.

While chicken cooks, mix honey and vinegar and add the cucumber. Turn to coat evenly.

Top the hot, cooked pizza with chicken, scallions, and sprouts. Drain cucumbers and scatter over the pizza. Enjoy!

Poppyseed chicken casserole

This recipe makes enough to feed an army! The first time I made it I didn't realize just how much it makes and ended up freezing some. Despite the cream and sour cream it was still great defrosted.

Not exactly health food, but it sure is good!

I hope to put up a picture soon.

Ingredients:

4 boxes Rice a Roni Long Grain and Wild Rice

5 cups cooked chicken, cubed or shredded

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cups cream

2 cups sour cream

2 or 3 tubes Ritz crackers, crushed

3 T butter

Poppy seeds

Directions:

Cook the rice according to package direction and spread in an 11x15 pan. Mix the cream of chicken soup, cream and sour cream together. Place chicken on top of rice and pour sauce on evenly. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Crush the Ritz medium fine and mix with butter. Spread Ritz crackers over casserole. **Bake on lower rack** uncovered one hour at 350 degrees.

You can make this ahead of time and place in the fridge - you'll just need to bake it longer. Don't put the crackers on until just before baking.

Hayes Family Pizza Night!

Pizza night is a weekly thing around here and has been for the last 4 years or so. We're always looking for new ways to make the crust and new toppings. We usually have a simple green chile and turkey pepperoni pizza and them something else like a Philly Cheese Steak pizza or maybe BBQ Chicken (my husband's favorite!). For now I will share our crust recipe and then later add now we make the toppings for our specialty pies.

The recipe below can be split in half for two smaller pies or used for one larger pie. You can use half wheat and half white if you'd like. I often add ground flax or wheat germ for an added nutritional boost. You can also substitute garlic salt for regular salt and add in whichever herbs you like.

Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 packet yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons

1 cup warm water

Sprinkle of sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil

2 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Add yeast to the warm water and sprinkle with sugar. Allow the yeast to activate for a few minutes.

Mix together 1 cup of flour with the salt. Once the yeast has activated, add to the flour and mix. Add the rest of the flour little by little until you have a nice dough. It may not take all of the flour!!

Roll out the dough and place on a greased pizza sheet. (At this point you can roll the edges out a bit thinner and then add cheese to the outside of the crust. Roll the crust over and seal with water. Now you have a cheesy crust! Yum! I will then add some butter, garlic salt and Parmesan cheese to the crust just before baking.) Prick wholes with a fork in the dough. Allow the dough to rise for 15-30 minutes.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Add your toppings and then cook for another 15 minutes or until your cheese is melted.

Enjoy!