Chicken Pasta Primavera:
I had a bunch of seasonal summer veggies on hand and wanted to make something fresh and tasty with pasta. Here's the saute of vegetables. The skillet includes zucchini, button mushrooms, onion, garlic, a yellow tomato, and roasted bell peppers from a jar.
Here's the finished dish. The vegetable saute was combined with grilled chicken breast. I tossed the pasta with a little chicken broth for flavor and sauce, mixed the whole mess together, and topped it with some freshly grated Parm.
Chicken Noodle Soup:
I don't have a recipe for chicken soup, and I never have. I just boil bone-in chicken pieces with a couple of breasts in a big stockpot of water with various amounts of dried spices, including poultry seasoning, granulated garlic, onion powder, celery salt, whole peppercorns, and a bay leaf. After the chicken is cooked, I strain the broth and de-bone the chicken pieces and chop the breasts.
I add the meat back to the broth, along with diced onions, carrots, and celery. I usually also toss in a couple of chicken bouillon cubes for extra flavor. Bring to a boil and add half a bag (about 6 oz.) of wide egg noodles.
When the noodles are cooked, I toss in a palmful each of chopped fresh Italian parsley and snipped fresh chives. It's awesome as leftovers, too.
Cheesecake with Cherry Topping:
I use Tyler Florence's recipe for the "ultimate" cheesecake. The secret to a crack-free cheesecake is slow mixing, and not over-mixing. It's baked in a water bath for 45 minutes, and removed while the center is still jiggly.
I flatly refuse to put canned, artificially red, cherry-flavored goop on top of my homemade cheesecake, so I threw together some cherry topping. It's super easy. Dump a bag of frozen tart cherries into a sauce pan with about half a cup of water, a little over 1 cup of sugar, a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch, and a dash of vanilla. Mix well and cook until bubbly. Chill.
