{butternut squash lasagna}

recipe source: Closet Cooking
To continue the butternut squash obsession I'm having I discovered this great sounding recipe from Closet Cooking for a lasagna that needed to be made. Since I had a lot of leftover mix from the butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasties I went ahead and used it in this recipe instead of making a whole new batch of everything. It was just the right amount to make a delicious lasagna. The combination of flavors were fantastic and it went down oh so easily. This has to be one of the best bechamel sauces I've ever made. You could easily leave out the chicken to make this vegetarian.

Recipe and more pics after the jump

{butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasties}

recipe source: The Kitchn
I am currently on a butternut squash kick which works out nicely since it has been in season. Sadly its on its way out, but I have definitely gotten my fill of it this past month beginning with these: butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasty (pronounced: past-ee). I found the original recipe over at The Kitchn and have altered it slightly by adding in some chicken.

Pasties originated in the UK as a food for miners since it was a simple hand held pie usually filled with beef, potatoes, onion and turnips. According to Wikipedia, the miners could easily hold the folded pastry with their dirty hands and eat most of it, discarding the last little bits. The thrown away bits were said to please the knockers, mischievious spirits who were believed to play practical jokes on the miners by stealing their tools. Traditionally, the ingredients are placed inside the pastry dough uncooked and are then steamed inside as it cooks. This recipe is not exactly true to the original as most ingredients are cooked prior to placing inside the pastry.

More after the jump

{buffalo chicken chili}

Whoah mamma this was spicy! Dawn over at Vanilla Sugar posted this recipe and talked about how she had been sick and needed something spicy to open up her sinuses. If this chili didn't do it, I don't know what would. Salsa, spicey bbq sauce and jalepenos...need I say more?

Recipe and pics after the jump

{curried butternut squash, caramelized onion + chicken pizza}

recipe source: Closet Cooking
Amazing. This is one of those cases when I wish I had multiple stomachs. The smooth butteriness of the butternut squash combined with the spice of curry and sweet caramelized onions was devine. I roasted the butternut squash halved, brushed with olive oil, topped with curry at 400ºF for 50 minutes until it was fork tender. Goat cheese is my go-to cheese so I used it instead of gorgonzola. I sliced up one and a half chicken breasts and cooked it in the pan with a chopped garlic clove and a little olive oil. Cilantro is one of those things that if you don't use it almost immediately it goes bad so I didn't have any on hand. I imagine it would have only enhanced the flavors. I brushed the pizza crust with some olive oil and grated parmesan cheese and popped it in the oven. It came out perfect.

More pics after the jump

{superbowl extravaganza part two}

onion ring recipe source: Eating Well
boneless buffalo wing recipe source: Eating Well
For our main superbowl course I used two recipes from Eating Well to create a healthy version of onioin rings and boneless buffalo wings. I only had panko breadcrumbs, but figured they'd work good enough. They didn't coat the onion rings as well as a finer breadcrumb, but it was suffiecient. The buffalo wings were made with boneless skinless chicken breasts. They came out very moist and with plenty of spicy flavor. I used a package to make the ranch dip that was the least healthiest thing on the plate, but helped to cool your tongue. Everything tasted just as good as the unhealthy version but came with much less guilt.

More pics after the jump

{chicken taco chili}

recipe source:: Ginas WW Recipes
This is hands down the best chili we've ever had. The flavor was a perfect combination sweet and spicy. Since the chicken ends up being shredded, I only put in 1.5 pieces of chicken and it turned out to be plenty. There is so much stuff in this chili that it didn't matter if there wasn't as much chicken. It definitely made 10 or more servings and has kept very well in the fridge. We served it over some yellow rice with a little sour cream and grated mozzarella cheese on top. One of the best things about this chili was that it was ridiculously simple and cheap to make since most of the ingredients were canned items. Make this.

More pics after the jump

{spaghetti with sauteed chicken + grape tomatoes}

recipe source:: Ginas WW Recipes
Six cloves of garlic. Need I say more?

The chicken was seasoned with some oregano, basil, cinnamon, salt + pepper. Six cloves of garlic were chopped up and sauteed with the grape tomatoes. I used orecchiette pasta instead of spaghetti noodles and tossed it all together. Topped with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and it took all of 30 minutes to do. It was a very light and delicious dish.

More pics after the jump

{sausage, pepperoni, peppers + onion stromboli}

recipe source:: My Kitchen Addiction
I have to say that this was by far the best stromboli I've ever had. It used chicken sausage, red + green peppers with some onions. I also had some pepperoni that I tossed into the mix. The topping I put on the crust was a little oregano, parsly, basil and freshly grated parmesan cheese. I could have eaten it all by itself! We put a little Trader Joes marinara on top and it was simply heaven.

More pics after the jump

{crock pot santa fe chicken}

recipe source:: Ginas WW Recipes
I am really starting to like cooking with my Grandma's crock pot. This dish took all of about 10 minutes to prep and filled the house with a delicious aroma. Since we didn't have any rice to serve it over we ate it with some tortillas but it is fine on its own. The one teaspoon of cayenne pepper really spiced it up a lot! Next time I'll make sure to add a bit of sour cream on top to help cool our tongues.

More pics after the jump

{parmesan crusted chicken with tomato-basil cream sauce}

recipe source:: Life Ambrosia
Last summer John and I went on a deep sea fishing trip and caught a lot of different fish that are now in our freezer. This dish was originally supposed to be parmesan crusted *insert fish here*.Since we're not big fish eaters I thought I could try this out as a first. Well, neither of us could motivate ourselves to eat the fish so I ended up substituting chicken. It turned out great and we will be making it again sans the fish of course. Peas + a baked potato made the dish complete.

More pics after the jump

{honey kissed crispy chicken}

recipe source:: Life Ambrosia
This dish was originally supposed to be made into a sandwhich, however, I felt it would be perfect on its own. I served it with a side of sweet potatoes with goat cheese + sage.

More pics after the jump

{cheesy chicken + pasta}

recipe source:: Kraft Foods
omg, this was amazing. You really can't go wrong with cheese and salsa. I did add in a half can of black beans to the mix...you can't have mexican without them. The dish was very easy to make and we had plenty of leftovers to enjoy. Unfortunately this dish disappeared before any photos could be taken.