.garlic thyme chicken pasta with cream sauce.

I feel that lately we've had a lot of mexican and asian style food in our house the past couple of weeks. I adore pasta, but pasta is no good for my insulin resistent body so I have been trying to not fix/eat it much.

This is a quick dish to make and relatively easy. If I had to give it a star rating, I would give it a 2. From start to finish, it'll take about 45 minutes to make and is super duper delicious.

1. Begin by taking chicken thighs and season with salt and pepper. I used thighs because we like dark meat, but you could use chicken breasts, legs, or whatever your favorite part is.


2. Heat a skillet over medium to medium high heat. When hot, add about 2-3 Tbsp olive oil. You don't need a lot because the fat from the thighs will cook down and add to the pan.


3. Placing the thighs in the pan, skin side down, fry for about 4 minutes per side. We want to sear the chicken so that it will retain all that juicy goodness. When you flip the chicken over, toss in some fresh thyme and crushed garlic cloves to the pan. Spoon the rendered fat over the chicken for a minute then let sear on the other side 4 minutes.


4. Remove from the pan and put in a baking dish. Spoon a little fat over the top, and make sure you put those garlic cloves and thyme on top of each piece of chicken. Pop in a 350* oven to finish cooking through.


5. While the chicken cooks in the oven, begin cooking the pasta. I used linguine, but you can use spaghetti or fettuccine. Linguine takes approx 10 minutes to al dente. When done, dump into a colander and shake off the excess water. Return to the pan.


6. While the pasta is boiling, make the cream sauce. We're going to use the pan we seared the chicken in. Heat the pan back up over medium heat and add a Tablespoon (or two) of olive oil. You'll probably need to dump out the chicken fat first. When the olive oil is heated, saute 1-2 shallots, minced and 2 cloves garlic, minced. Saute for 30 seconds to release the fragrance. You don't want the shallots and garlic to burn so make sure you keep an eye on it. Add 3/4 c. chicken stock and 3/4 c. white wine to deglaze the pan. (Deglaze means to bring up all those delicious cooked bits of chicken that are stuck to the bottom of the pan from the searing) Let reduce just a little bit.


7. Add 1 cup heavy cream, some fresh thyme leaves, a small handful of chopped parsley, and some grated asiago cheese. Stir well and remove the pan from the burner. Taste the sauce. You shouldn't need to add any salt because the cheese is salty. If you want to add some pepper, do so now.


8. Pour over the pasta and toss. Plate the pasta and put a thigh or two on top. Spoon a little bit of that fat that's in the baking dish on top of the chicken and if you want to make it pretty like my picture, put a sprig of thyme and a piece of garlic on top.


9. Enjoy! I served this dish with some roasted asparagus. It paired perfectly with the chicken and pasta.

.bang bang shrimp.

Have you ever had one of those nights when you just don't want to cook? This was one of those nights but I knew my husband would kill me if I suggested take out (again), plus he was working late and would be hungry when he got home.

I didn't want to slave for hours, nor did I have that kind of time, so I checked the pantry, freezers and fridge and found some ingredients I knew would work well together. The wonderful thing about this recipe, is that it is QUICK! You can have this made in 30 minutes - no joke.

Here's the list of ingredients I used:

• Shrimp


• Garlic


• Gingerroot (not dried ginger you use in baking)


• Red bell pepper


• Green onion


• Cilantro


• Chili oil


• Oil


• Red pepper flakes


• Coconut milk


• Fish sauce


• Soy sauce


• Sugar

How to prepare:

While the shrimp are thawing in the water, put 2 cups rice in a medium pot with 3 1/2 cups water. Cover with a lid and put on to boil. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and set the timer for 20 minutes.

Once the shrimp are thawed, drain well and pat dry with paper towels. The shrimp I use are not small but not huge. I also buy deveined shrimp that have the shell on, but for this recipe, I took off all the shells except for the tail because I just like how it looks. ;)

-Mince 2 cloves garlic and grate 1 tsp fresh gingerroot.

-Slice up one red bell pepper

-Slice 1 1/2 bunches of green onion on the diagonal (slicing on the diagonal makes it look fancy!)

-Roughly chop some cilantro

Heat a skillet or a wok. I use a wok but use what you have. When hot, add 2-3 Tbsp oil and a couple shakes of chili oil. I went a little too crazy with the chili oil which resulted in a pretty spicy dish, so I'm warning you, if you don't want this too hot, use just a little oil, or omit it altogether.

Add the ginger and garlic and saute for 30 seconds to release their fragrance. Add the red bell pepper and saute for a couple minutes. Then add the green onion, shrimp, and a shake or two of red pepper flakes. Saute until the shrimp start going from translucent to opaque. This doesn't take very long and we want to take care not to overcook the shrimp. Overcooked shrimp = tough and chewy = UNDESIRABLE!

When the shrimp are halfway cooked through, add 1/2 can of coconut milk, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, and a handful of chopped cilantro. Cook for another couple minutes until the shrimp are finished.

By this point, the rice should be done. Spoon rice into a bowl and then scoop shrimp, veggies, and sauce over the rice.

A wonderfully fragrant, sweet and spicy dish that is sure to satisfy any craving for Thai/Indonesian food. And the great thing about this dish is that it's not only delicious, but it's easy and quick to make! You can't beat that. Enjoy!

Alright...

I know I've been missing in action but you didn't need to send Chuck Norris after me with his wicked ninja skills..

So... Happy day after the 4th, everyone! I'd like to tell you I was really busy and that's what kept me away, but to be honest, I was suffering major burn out. Felt like I didn't need to have a food blog anymore because everyone and their DOG seems to have a food blog right now and I didn't feel I had anything special happening here.

Thank you to those of you who have contacted me begging me to come back. Your words and well wishes meant a lot (they still do) and here I am, ready to fight the good food fight. If you're a fan of this blog, let me know! It really keeps me motivated when I know there are people out there reading, making my recipes, and ENJOYING them!

Before I share a couple new recipes, I want to give you some breaking news: I'm moving my blog. The layout of Creating Post it Notes is boring me and I'm looking for something a little better. It's not going to happen overnight but within the next few weeks, I'll be moving my recipes to my new home. A whole new facelift and I can't wait to get it up and running.


For our 4th of July, Jim, the girls, and I went to West Point Military Academy to enjoy the festivities. I packed a picnic dinner of BBQ Chicken Salad, homemade bread, fruit salsa w/ cinnamon tortilla chips, watermelon slushes, and for dessert? Peach cobbler in jars for easy transportation. De-LICIOUS!

BBQ CHICKEN SALAD

This salad is so quick and easy to make. I normally grill up chicken and cut up, but I was running short on time and used Tyson Chicken Strips, slathered them with BBQ sauce, and baked them in the oven.

Here's a list of ingredients I use:

• Iceberg and red leaf lettuces (you can use any kind you want)


• Shredded cheese


• Grated carrots


• Roasted corn, cut from the cob


• Red onion, sliced


• Cucumber, peeled and sliced


• Bacon (chopped into bits)


• Black beans, drained and rinsed


• Tomato, diced


• BBQ Chicken, chopped up

For the dressing, I made ranch dressing (from the packet *gasp*) and added a little BBQ sauce (use whatever kind you like), cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. So quick and easy, but so delicious.

Did I mention I made peach cobbler in Ball jars???? These were *perfect* for our picnic. Baked in individual jars so all I had to do was pass them around and we were good to go. See how good these look?

Maybe a little closer????

And just a little closer. I am going to make these for my next big BBQ but I'm going to use the short Ball jars. Guests can stop on by and pick one up, maybe put a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top and walk away. It can't get more perfect than that.

And to finish this post - WATERMELON SLUSHES!!!! This drink is perfect on a warm summer night. Or if you had a party and have a lot of watermelon leftover and you don't want it to go to waste... use it for this drink!

Take a watermelon and chop up the center flesh. Put it in a blender and puree. Mix in a couple tablespoons of sugar. I didn't add very much because watermelon is already super sweet and I don't like sickeningly sweet drinks.

Pour the puree in a 9x13 pan and put in the freezer. Stir every hour or every two hours until you have the perfect watermelon slush. Spoon into glasses and pour ginger ale on top. Garnish with a sprig of mint. *OR* if you're looking for something a little more grown up, you can add vodka, tequila, or rum - whichever poison you prefer.

My watermelon lover was all over this drink. Enjoy!

.boston cream cupcakes.

Earlier last month, the girls and I surprised my husband with a trip to Boston for his birthday. It's only a 3 hour drive from here and while I've been once, I didn't get to do any sightseeing because I was there for work. We had the greatest time seeing all the sites. We went to the New England Aquarium, walked the Freedom Trail, shopped at the Farmer's Market, saw street performers, and ate lots of lobster. It was a fabulous vacation!

Since taking that trip, I have had a hankering for Boston Cream Pie, but I wanted to change it up a bit and make it a cupcake instead of a cake (it really is a cake even though they call it a pie). Boston Cream Pie is really a yellow butter cake filled with pastry cream, then topped with chocolate ganache. So delicious. So decadent. So fattening (but it's okay to indulge every now and then!).

You want to start by making your pastry cream.

2 cups Milk

1 tsp vanilla

5 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 Tbsp butter

pinch of salt

In a saucepan put 1 3/4 cups milk and sugar. Bring to boiling point but do not let boil; set aside. In a bowl, mix together the yolks, the remaining milk, and the flour and salt; mix well. While whisking, temper the yolks by slowly pouring the hot milk into the egg/flour/milk mixture. You don't need to add all the hot milk. About 3/4 cup.

Pour the tempered yolks/milk back into the saucepan and put over medium high heat.

Whisk constantly until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and add

the butter and vanilla.

Put the saucepan in a ice bath to cool down the pastry cream. Make sure you stir this occasionally as it cools so it doesn't form a skin on the surface.

**NOTE: Pastry Cream can be made a day or two ahead of time and kept in the fridge in an airtight container.

How we want to make the cupcakes. If you're in a hurry, you can use a boxed yellow cake mix. I prefer cake from scratch. Here's the recipe I used:

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating well between each addition. Mix in the vanilla, salt, and baking powder.

Alternating, add the milk and flour until well mixed.

Fill each cupcake mold 3/4 the way up. Put in a preheated 350* F oven for about 20 minutes.

The tops should be slightly domed and lightly golden. Remove from the oven when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the muffin pan and cool on a wire rack.

When the cupcakes are cooled, use a knife and cut out the center top of each cupcake. Spoon in a small dollop of pastry cream (I used a mounded teaspoonful).

Top with chocolate ganache (recipe) and put in the fridge to set.

This recipe made 1 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

Grilling Class

The past few months, I've been teaching cooking classes here in my home to a dozen or so ladies from church and their friends. It has been so much fun doing these classes and I think everyone that have attended has learned at least one thing they could take home and make for their own families. So rewarding.

Last week, I had a grilling class and thought I would share with you, dear readers, what we did.

First, I went over grill maintenance and how to work both a gas grill and charcoal grill. If you have no idea what you're doing or if you're afraid of the grill, DON'T BE!!!! It's such a wonderful way to cook your food!

Some important tips!

• Never use your grill against the house. Pull the grill away from the wall because in the extremely rare case that it blows up (LOL!) or you get a fireball, you won't burn your house down. Gosh.. if you were afraid to use your grill before, I bet you just wet your pants. Seriously... I don't think I've ever heard of a BBQ grill blowing up before so let's not worry about that.
• Never use your grill inside your home. It's dangerous. Don't ever do it.
• Always keep your propane tank (if you use a gas grill) turned OFF when it's not in use. Do this for a couple reasons: 1) If you have kids they could fiddle with the knobs and drain your tank; and 2) they could fiddle with the tank and some poor sucker goes outside to have a cigarette and it's Uncle Lewis from Christmas Vacation all over again. Kaboom. No bueno people.. no bueno.
• If you've got food crud stuck to the grates that won't come off with a grill brush, remove them and place on the grass. Spray with oven cleaner, let sit for an hour or so and then wipe with paper towels. Wash well and voila.. they'll look brand new!
• If you need to GREASE your grates to keep food from sticking, NEVER EVER apply that to your grill when it's on and hot. Spray before you start the BBQ and please people.. don't ever spray PAM directly into a hot, burning bbq grill.
• If you use a charcoal grill, never spray charcoal fluid directly onto flame. It's not a smart idea and you might wind up in the burn ward of your local hospital if you do. In fact, use the Match Light briquettes by Kingsford. They've already been soaked in fluid and they're awesome. Just stack, light, and forget!

So now that I've completely scared you, let's talk versatility of grill cooking. You can cook ANYTHING on a grill with reason. You can grill vegetables, bread, meat, pizzas, fruit, cake! The ideas are limitless.

If you let the man in your life grill, that's fine. My husband does the majority of the bbq'ing in our house. But when he was going out to sea all the time, I learned how to do it and am pretty dang good at being the Grill Mistress (if I do say so myself). If I hadn't learned, I wouldn't have ever eaten grilled food during those long deployments.

Now we're ready to grill. For my class, I threw on a thick ribeye steak that had been seasoned with McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning. Make sure you let the meat sit out on your counter for about 30 minutes or so. You'll get the best results if the meat is room temp. Also, it's important when cooking meat on the grill to have a good hot grill. This sears the outside and keeps all that juice and flavor inside. No one likes dried out meat, right? Grill for 3-4 minutes on one side, then flip. Keep doing this until your steak is cooked to your desired doneness.

For a great steak topping, I highly suggest my Mushroom, Onion, and Blue Cheese bake.

While the steak was cooking, I put a vegetable rack on the grill to keep my veggies from falling through the grates. You can pick up these vented pieces of sheet metal at Lowes where you can find the BBQ items for about $5.00. I had vegetables all prepped to make my Grilled Italian Sausage and Veggie Panini. The ladies really loved this sandwich!



I grilled extra vegetables, including some spears of asparagus to make a grilled pasta salad. No recipe, just grill up vegetables that are in season! I used zucchini, red onion, asparagus, red bell pepper, and portabello mushroom. When they're cooked, remove from the grill and add roughly chop. Toss together with some baby spinach, some cooked ravioli (I used one of those small packages in the deli section), a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and some salt and pepper. If you want a little more flavor, grill up some garlic (leave the cloves in the husk and rub with olive oil) and add that in. The perfect summer salad and low on fat. Grilling the vegetables gives them a whole new flavor and it's amazing!

Alright.. next up was a flatbread sandwich. I grilled some fresh ears of corn (3) and cut the corn away from the cob. The flatbread sandwich was really my Santa Fe Chicken Salad with Corn and Black Bean Salsa on grilled bread. For the dough, I made up a batch of pizza dough, let rise once, then divided, rolled out, brushed with olive oil and popped on the grill. Let bake about 2-3 minutes on each side, then remove. I grilled the chicken along with the steak and when it was done, diced it up and put some pieces on the flatbread, some lettuce, the salsa, and then drizzled lightly with the Southwest Ranch dressing. Fold the bread over, slice and eat! So so delicious!

After cleaning the grill grates with a wire brush, I started on the dessert part of the class. Earlier in the day, I pre-made some Raspberry Coulis (coo-lee) and had it in a little squeezy bottle. I thawed a Sara Lee frozen pound cake and cut it into thick slices. I also had peaches sliced in half and removed the pit. Brush the peaches with 3 Tbsp melted butter mixed with 1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar and pop on the grill. The peaches will take about 6-8 minutes to grill. Turn them every 2 minutes to grill all around. While those cook up, put the pound cake on the grill. Yep, you heard me! Put them on the grill! Let them toast on each side then remove.

To plate, drizzle some coulis on the plate, put a slice of pound cake down in the center, place a peach half on top of the cake, then repeat with another slice of pound cake and peach. Top with whipped cream or some sweetened mascarpone cheese. Drizzle with a little more coulis and add a sprig of mint for prettiness!

That was the class. Now that you know what you can do on your BBQ grill, go forth and create!

Before you leave, tell me what your favorite food on the grill is. I'd love to hear from you!

.roasted garlic hummus with fresh pita.

A few years ago, while we were stationed in Georgia, I surprised my husband to a trip to Savannah for his birthday. While we were in Savannah, we ate dinner at this little pizza place called The Mellow Mushroom and for the first time in my life, I had hummus. I had no idea what hummus was, but the waitress recommended it and we said, "Why not!" Let me just say my eyes were opened to a whole new world of food.

Since that time, I've had hummus multiple times. I've had good hummus. I've had bad hummus. I've had dill hummus. I've had roasted red pepper hummus. One thing I think we can all agree on (all you hummus lovers out there) is nothing compares to good, homemade hummus. (Did I say hummus enough times in that paragraph???)

The other night, an online friend mentioned The Mellow Mushroom and I immediately started craving a batch of roasted garlic hummus with FRESH pita. Now you could buy that store bought, I'm dry as bark, pita bread, but I'm telling you, once you have fresh, there ain't no goin' back! If you take the time to make pita yourself, you will love yourself forever and so will your family. It's easy easy easy. You can find the recipe here (you'll have to scroll past the souvlaki recipe) and if you make a double batch, you can wrap them in a freezer ziploc and have them ready anytime you want.

Now for the actual hummus recipe!

• Begin by roasting your garlic. Take a bulb of garlic and chop off the top. Put it on a piece of foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, then wrap it up nice and tight. Pop in a 375* oven for 45 minutes. Roasted garlic is AMAZING!!! It mellows out the sharp pungency and almost makes the garlic sweet in flavor. Really delicious stuff. When it's done roasting, remove from the foil and let cool. When it's cool, just squeeze out each clove from the skin and put in a bowl. You can keep this in your fridge for up to a week. It's great in sauces and in homemade bread! For this recipe, you can use the whole shebang if you want, but I used 1 Tablespoon. Put it in a blender.
• Add to the blender: Two 15.5 oz cans garbanzo beans, drained, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 Tbsp tahini, and a little sea salt.
• Blitz for a minute.
• Turn off and use a rubber spatula to move things around.
• Turn the blender back on and slowly drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil. You'll have to keep turning the blender off and mixing by hand with the spatula. You don't want to add too much oil because the hummus will become runny. Keep doing this until the beans are completely pureed and the hummus is a smooth, yet thick, texture.
• Transfer to a bowl and stir in a small handful of chopped cilantro. Taste and re-season with salt if it's needed.

Hummus will keep very well in the fridge for quite awhile, but I doubt it'll last that long, it's that good.

So go and eat hummus my friends! It's good for you and it's YUMMY!!!!

.apple fritters.

It's almost harvest time here in the Hudson Valley of New York. We moved to a new house in April and it's located smack dab in the middle of about a hundred apple and pear orchards, and vineyards. It's just beautiful here!

One of the bonuses of living in this location, is that we can get apples from any of our neighbors whenever we want, fresh picked from the tree. Yesterday, my daughter found some perfect apples that had fallen from the tree, so we got them for free! Can't beat that price! I thought those granny smiths would make some amazing apple fritters.

These fritters are out of this worldwhen fresh from the fryer. Maybe you should make some for your family today? (or for yourself if you don't want to share :) ) You know they'll love you for it!

I used 2 granny smith apples. Peel and dice. Try to keep the apple pieces uniform in size, otherwise you'll have overcooked and undercooked apples.

In a bowl, mix together:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon




To the dry ingredients, add 1 egg and enough milk to form a thick batter (think thicker than pancakes). Stir in the apples. Heat some oil in a pot to 325*. We don't want to have the oil too hot because the fritters will brown too quickly and the apples won't have enough time to cook. Carefully (CAREFULLY) drop in large spoonfuls of batter into the oil. Don't overcrowd the pot. When they're nice and brown on one side, roll them over so the otherside can cook.

When they're done, carefully pull from the oil and place on paper towels to drain. Once drained, and cooled slightly, sprinkle with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.

Best served with a glass of milk, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This recipe makes about 1 1/2 dozen. Bon appetit!