Category — Italian Recipes

 The other night I made crockpot lasagna for dinner (who knew you could cook lasagna in a crockpot?!) and threw this breadstick dough in the bread machine on the timer.  Unfortunately, as dinner time approached, I got hung up at the doctor’s office with Lilly and gave Bob a call. 

“Hey, it looks like I’m going to be here for a long while.  I guess I’ll stop and buy us some breadsticks from Spaghetti Express since I won’t be home in time to get the homemade ones on the table on time.”

“I can do that!  Is there directions somewhere?  I can make them!  Let me do it!  I want to help!!”

Thinking to myself.  Well Hell.  What’s the worst that can happen here?  If he fails I stop at the spaghetti joint, or if he succeeds we have cheap, and hopefully edible, breadsticks.  Come on Angie.  Live on the edge, it’s unlikely he can burn down the kitchen making breadsticks.  Besides.  He wants to help.  You must encourage such behaviors.

“Yeah!  O.k. the recipe is on my desk.  You’ll need to use the pastry board behind the sink.  And you might as well take some pictures.”

5 minutes later . . . my cell phone rings.

“Hiya Babe, what’s up?”

“Sh!t.  What the frick am I supposed to do with this gooey stuff - it’s all over my hands and I THINK THIS WAS A BAD IDEA.  Frick, frick, frick.”

“Did you flour the pasty board?”

“Er.  Uh, no, IT DOESN’T SAY TO DO THAT.  What does that even mean?”

Somehow, Bob figured out how to make these work.  I know, because they were yum-tastic.  The kids and I were all over these!  They put “Spaghetti Express” to shame.  Now, I’m going to turn things over to Bob, since he did the bulk of the work.  All I did was toss the stuff in the bread machine, set the timer, and offer morale support via phone.  Oh.  And eat them.  Yeah.  I did that, too. 

If you run into trouble I’d be glad to offer you morale support as well.  Just shoot me an email.  I think you’ll have better luck though, because I’ve written “on a floured surface” into the directions.  And like I said, live on the edge.  Now, here’s Bob . . .

The Elephant and the 3 Blind Men

You all know the parable of the elephant and the 3 blind men, right?  Maybe not. I’ll repeat it here, just to be safe.

You see, there were these 3 blind men and an elephant. A fourth man (I don’t know if he was sighted or not; I do know he was a troublemaker) asked, “Tell me what an elephant is like, gentlemen?”

“An elephant is large and cylindrical, like a tree.”

“No,” the second blind man spoke up. “an elephant is long, like a snake, with a hairy head.”

“You’ve both lost it.  An elephant is neither of those.  An elephant is somewhere in the middle, wet, and hangs down from the trees.”

The first man was, of course, hanging on to the elephant’s leg; the second man, the elephant’s tail, and the third the elephant’s trunk.  You see, human beings often interpret events from their own limited perspectives.

Anyways, I think Angie Pangie might have incorrectly interpreted that event, and given you the wrong impression.  In fact, her little tale is completely inaccurate.

I didn’t say the stuff was gooey.

I said it was sticky.

So, anyways, the  real directions for these are down below.  But, if you’re curious, here’s how I made them:

Take the dough that Angie Pangie mixed up in the bread machine.
Put the dough on the cutting board thingy.

Panic.  Call Angie Pangie for advice.
Scrape dough into a bowl.

Dump flour out on cutting board.

Brush all the extra flour off the cutting board into the sink.
Roll out the dough into a 10 x 12 inch rectangle.

Use a meat cleaver to cut the dough into 12-inch long strips around half an inch wide.
Realize you don’t have enough breadsticks for your family and cut those all in half.
Twist each of the strips. This is harder than it sounds, by the way.

Forget about the strips for half an hour or so, purely by accident.
Set the oven at 375 and set the timer for 15 minutes.
Open the empty oven.  Look around to see if anyone noticed you forgot to put the breadsticks in.
Put the breadsticks in, and let ‘em cook for 15 minutes.
As Angie walks through the door, look panicked.
Beg her to do the thingy with the butter, and the garlic salt, and whatnot.

Here’s the recipe:

Breadsticks

Adapted from Recipezaar

1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
3 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
Garlic salt
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Mix dough using your favorite method- bread machine, mixer or by hand.
You can allow these to rise and punch them down once before you roll them out, if you desire, but it is not necessary.
Roll out into a 10×12 inch rectangle on a floured surface. 
Use a butter knife, or a pastry cutter, and cut into strips about 3/4 inch wide.
Give each strip a twist and place on a greased cookie sheet.
Let rise for at least 20 minutes.
Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes.
Brush with butter and sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese.

Remember when I waxed poetic about The Olive Garden’s Venetian Apricot Chicken?  I know I remember because, well, Apricot Chicken has become one of my favorites.  I can’t seem to get enough.  Especially when I cover it in Roma tomatoes and . . . oh goodness.  Hang on.  O.k., I’m back, I had to just run in the kitchen and whip up a batch.  Not really.  I’m just kidding.  I don’t have time for that right now, silly.

Speaking of not having time . . . a few days back I was in a time crunch; I needed dinner at the normal time and I knew we were going to fly in the door about 15 minutes before that and needed to leave again 12.2 minutes after dinner was on the table.  Don’t ya just love life in the fast lane?  Sounds like a crockpot kind of day to me. 

Thanks to my latest obsession with Apricot Chicken, I decided to get adventurous and try to make it in the crockpot.  There’s always peanut butter if it doesn’t turn out (apologies to my homies with nut allergies).  Plus, I had this super sad looking basil in the fridge and it really needed to be used up, because in a matter of hours it was going to be beyond use.  And that would be a shame! 

It took a little switching it up to make the recipe work, but the results were amazing.  And, at the risk of boring the crapola out of you all with the same recipe, I’m posting it here since this version is a lot more user friendly.

I will admit, I overcooked it.  My crockpot doesn’t cook super hot, but my Mother-In-Law’s crockpot apparently does, and I was using her crockpot since I confiscated it (it’s got a nifty lid with a strap thingy-ma-jigger and I really needed that strap).  I left the chicken on low for 7 hours, in a very hot crockpot, and it easily would have been ready in 5 hours.  It was still very tasty, but you’ll want to watch your time for optimus turnus-outis.  (That’s Angie-speak for “don’t let it burn or it might taste bad.”)

I served it along side some pasta tossed with pesto and some garlic bread.  Holy Chickens!  Good stuff!!

Crockpot Apricot Chicken

2 pounds boneless chicken breast, frozen
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh basil, cut into small pieces
1 cup apricot preserves
1 cup water
2 teaspoons chicken base or bouillon

12 ounces (about 3 large) roma tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon italian seasoning

Place chicken breasts into crockpot.
Combine garlic powder, salt, and black pepper and sprinkle over the top of the chicken.

In a small bowl, combine basil, apricot preserves, water, and chicken base and pour over the chicken.

Arrange tomatoes over the top of the chicken, sprinkle chopped garlic over the tomatoes, and sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and italian seasoning over the tomatoes.

Cook on low heat 5-7 hours, or until chicken is done.

 Crockpot Apricot Chicken

2 pounds boneless chicken breast, frozen
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh basil, cut into small pieces
1 cup apricot preserves
1 cup water
2 teaspoons chicken base or bouillon

12 ounces (about 3 large) roma tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon italian seasoning

Place chicken breasts into crockpot.
Combine garlic powder, salt, and black pepper and sprinkle over the top of the chicken.
In a small bowl, combine basil, apricot preserves, water, and chicken base and pour over the chicken.
Arrange tomatoes over the top of the chicken, sprinkle chopped garlic over the tomatoes, and sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and italian seasoning over the tomatoes.
Cook on low heat 5-7 hours, or until chicken is done.

[Saturday Sides is a weekly feature I run to help you combat the side dish blahs.  Check here every Saturday to see what’s new and different you can add to your dinner table.  Or, you can subscribe here so that you never miss a Saturday Side Recipe.]

Happy Weekend Everyone!  Whirlwind week here in the Pangie’s household, we’re seeing spring break come to an end and with that - the beginning of weather that truly looks like spring.  That means fresh home-grown produce is just around the corner!!  Are you as excited as I am?  I didn’t think so, not many people get as excited about food as I do.  Ah well, that’s o.k., I’m used to being misunderstood.

So, today’s vegetable side dish comes from Menus for Moms.  I’ve been subscribing to Menus for Moms for close to a year now, and I have to tell you, I’m a huge fan.  Menus for Moms offers, among other things, a weekly menu plan for dinner that includes sides and desserts.  They include the grocery list, the recipes, all of it . . . and it’s all food that regular everyday people eat.  It simplifies dinner in every way.  Well, anyhow, Seasoned Green Beans was adapted from their menus and my entire family loves them.

Shoot.  O.k., scratch that.  Lilly hates green beans.  But, don’t let that stop you, because Lilly doesn’t eat anything good.  This kid doesn’t even like pizza.  Or hot dogs.  Or chicken nuggets, or soup, or ravioli, or - well you see??  You can’t rely on Lilly for these things.  Besides the rest of my family loves these.

This recipe uses Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix.  You’ll find it in the salad dressing aisle, next to where they keep the powdered Ranch Dressing.

Seasoned Green Beans
Adapted from Menus for Moms

1 pound fresh green beans, ends snapped (I buy 1 1/4 pound so that after snappng them I actually have a pound left)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2-3 teaspoons Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix

Wash and rinse the green beans well.

Blanche the green beans by plunging them into boiling water for about 5 minutes.

The goal here is not to cook the green beans, but to bring out the bright green color (see the difference?) and to soften them, just a tad.  Crunchy green beans are good, but raw green beans . . . well, not so much.

Remove the beans from the boiling water and immediately run under very cold water, or dip them into very cold water.  Now we are stopping the cooking process by cooling them off immediately.  No mushy veggies allowed!!

Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat.  Combining the two fat sources adds flavor and raises the temperature that the butter will burn.  Burnt butter tastes bad.  See my awful scratched up pan?  That’s how I roll.  (Dear Mom,  Michigan’s great.  I love it here.  Send new cookware.  Love, Angie.  Just kidding, Mom.)

Add cooled green beans and sprinkle 2 or 3 teaspoons of seasoning over the beans and toss.

My kids like these a little less intense than Hubby and I do.  You can actually add quite a bit of seasoning and still be safe, but if you’re cooking for kids you might want to cut back a bit (start with 2 teaspoons).

Heat thru and serve.  These will burn, so watch them carefully!!

Seasoned Green Beans
Adapted from Menus for Moms

1 1/4 pound fresh green beans, ends snapped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2-3 teaspoons Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix

Wash and rinse the green beans well.
Blanche the green beans by plunging them into boiling water for about 5 minutes.
Remove the beans from the boiling water and immediately run under very cold water, or dip them into very cold water.
Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat.
Add cooled green beans and sprinkle 2 or 3 teaspoons of seasoning over the beans and toss.
Heat thru and serve.