This summer and fall, though I was on an accidental-on-purpose hiatus from posting, I was not on hiatus from cooking. I was, however, dialing back my habit of dramatically over-estimating how many evenings a week I could cook, how long exotic ingredients would keep their freshness or my interest, or how committed I would be to cooking after working a 12-hour day. I started using a lot of ingredients on repeat, mixing and matching them in different variations depending on how whacked out my schedule ended up looking like on any given day. A few of the ingredients I came to rely heavily on were mushrooms, zucchini and yellow squash that were exploding out of my garden at a tremendous clip, chicken breast, and of course, pasta.

If I published every variation of vegetable-y pastas with light cream sauces that I played with last fall, I’m pretty sure you’d think that’s all I ate. (At some point I’ll share some more of them with you, when I actually have more vegetables growing in their prime.) This is one of my favorites that came out of those months, my quick-I-need-dinner-and-what-do-I-have-in-the-fridge-to-piece-it-together season.

What I like most about this meal is the noticeable lack of sauce. There are no swimming noodles here. Really, the liquids that are tossed onto the mushrooms and simmered for a bit are mostly just a vehicle for carrying the earthy, punchy flavor of the mushrooms onto the noodles.

You can also totally make this without chicken if you don’t want it or don’t have any thawed – I consider it a huge success if I’ve actually thawed something in advance. If you need even more time savers or are short on ingredients, you can easily swap the garlic cloves for garlic powder, or the fresh thyme for dried. That’s what dried herbs are there for!

This dish is easy enough that it can be tossed together and modified based on what you have on hand, but it’s also fancy-tasting enough to make for a dinner party. Win-win.

Pasta with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce
Serves 3-4 as a main course

8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
8 oz cavatappi pasta (or other twirly shape)
1 T unsalted butter
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
1 tsp course salt
a few cranks of freshly ground pepper
1/2 c dry white wine
1/2 c heavy cream
1 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese
pasta water as needed

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once you’ve started cooking the mushrooms, add pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente. Reserve at last half a cup of pasta water before draining and set pasta aside, covered, while other ingredients finish cooking.

While the water is heating, heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Salt & pepper chicken breast and sear on each side until cooked through. Once the chicken is done, remove it to a cutting board and slice into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, heat butter in a medium frying pan. Add mushrooms, garlic, thyme, course salt, and freshly ground pepper to the melted butter and toss. Mushrooms should release their juices and cook down quite a bit. Once mushrooms have darkened and look soft, increase heat to medium high to sear the mushrooms a bit, tossing frequently. Reduce heat back to medium and add white wine. Cook for 3-4 minutes until reduced by half, then add the cream. Stirring frequently, allow cream to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese.

Combine pasta, chicken, and mushroom cream sauce in a large pot. Add a bit of the pasta water if it seems too dry. Serve immediately and often!

For the better part of middle and high school, I was usually up in time to make breakfast for my mom and sister while they continued bustling about, getting ready for school. Most days, this breakfast consisted of “tortillas with cheese”, which is just exactly what it sounds like: three flour tortillas, each with a layer of rough slices of cheddar or colby cheese, heated in the microwave for 30 seconds or so before being rolled up in paper towels for a to-go breakfast of champions.

At some point later, upon partaking the joys of quesadillas that popped up on restaurant menus all over the place, I made the connection that I’d been making quesadillas all along (freakishly simple though they were). As with most of my cooking projects, though, I’ve stepped up my game and now make quesadillas not for hurried breakfasts on the go, but for sit-down dinners at home.

And you should too.

I will say one thing though, and don’t freak out: these quesadillas don’t have much cheese.

I know. I know. What sort of monster cuts the cheese so significantly in a dish that is literally NAMED after cheese But I tell you, it’s possible to have a delightful quesadilla that doesn’t have puddles of gooey cheese oozing out the sides and sizzling on your frying pan. Trust me on this.

These quesadillas start out very similar to my Easy Chicken Fajitas. A hearty sprinkle of Fajita Seasoning on half of a chicken breast (seven or eight ounces) will give you enough chicken for two very chicken-y entrees. You can also stretch this to four entrees if you’re okay with less chicken in each tortilla.

Chicken cooks in one pan while peppers and onions cook in another. In all honesty, though, I usually make quesadillas 2-3 days after making a batch of fajitas. It’s a great way to use up the leftover peppers and onions from that recipe and it makes this one even easier!

When the chicken and veggies are cooked, it’s construction time. I use two kinds of cheese: sharp cheddar and monterey jack. I like the contrast of colors, as well as the pungent cheddar against the mild jack. But you can really use whatever varieties make your heart happy. As you can see, you don’t need much: I have no more than two ounces of grated cheese on each. Stacked with chicken, veggies, and salsa, I like just enough cheese to form a glue to keep the sides of the tortilla together.

Quesadillas like to be squished when cooked, rather like a panini, to create a thin but full tortilla that is crispy on the outsides. I don’t have a panini press or a quesadilla maker, but trust me: you don’t need one! I use a heavy pan (in this case, my cast iron skillet) to press down upon the tortilla in a skillet heating on the stove. Not the prettiest technique, but it gets the job done without another one-trick-pony taking up precious cabinet space in my kitchen.

And that’s it! After a few minutes in the pan on each side, chop that sucker up in to quarters and serve with your favorite toppings. I adore these with sour cream, and if I happen to have it handy, with guacamole as well.

This recipe works equally well with ground beef or with steak. You can also be totally happy without any meat whatsoever! Though, in that case, I might actually add more cheese.

Not-So-Cheesy Quesadillas

Serves 2 as a meal, 4-8 as an appetizer

Note: I rarely actually cook the peppers and onions for this dish on their own. Often, I’ll make quesadillas a day or two after a batch of Easy Chicken Fajitas and dice up the peppers and onions leftover from that. Cook smart, folks.

Another Note: You can really put ANYTHING you want in a quesadilla. In the summer, I love cutting the kernels off a cob of corn. You can add green chile, beans, a different meat, no meat, different cheeses, whatever.

8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
1-2 tsp Homemade Fajita Seasoning
2-3 tsp vegetable oil, divided
about 1/2 a green bell pepper, diced
about 1/4 red onion, diced
course salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 oz sharp cheddar cheese
2 oz Monterey jack cheese
3-4 T your favorite chunky salsa
2 burrito-size flour tortillas
sour cream, guacamole, and or salsa for serving

Heat half the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken breast generously with fajita seasoning and, if desired, a bit of salt. Cook until chicken is cooked through, then set aside and dice.

Heat the other half of the oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the peppers and onions and season lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until peppers have softened and are lightly charred. Remove from heat and set aside.

While you construct the quesadillas, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Set another heavy pan or pat next to the stove.

To construct the quesadillas, fold each tortilla in half to form a visual crease. Unfold, then sprinkle the Monterey Jack cheese evenly on one half of each tortilla. Evenly layer on the chicken, peppers and onions, chunky salsa (use as little liquid as possible so it doesn’t squeeze out during cooking), and finish with the cheddar cheese. Fold the top of the tortilla over the filling and press slightly.

Working one at a time, gently place each quesadilla into your hot pan and rest the heavy pot or pan on top. Cook for 4-6 minutes, checking periodically to make sure you don’t burn the tortilla. Once the tortilla is golden-brown and crisp, carefully flip the quesadilla and rest the heavy pot on top of it again. When the second side closely matches the first, remove to a cutting board and cut into four wedges.

Serve immediately with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, or whatever your little heart desires. If you save any for leftovers, I highly recommend re-heating the quesadilla in an oven or toaster oven so avoid the soggy-licious future that awaits it in the microwave.

Like many of you, I assume, I grew up eating chicken at home primarily in the form of boneless-skinless chicken breast. Legs and thighs were treats found mostly on coveted fried chicken platters that showed up at potlucks, or in occasional bucket o’ chicken. And whole chickens Even more rare!

I decided a few years ago that I wanted to try to buy as much of meat from local producers as I could, which is admittedly more expensive than trays of shrink-wrapped meat from the grocery store. For some cuts, it was oppressively expensive: boneless-skinless chicken breast ran anywhere from nine to fifteen dollars a pound (gulp). As a result I began to explore other cuts of meat, and one of my favorites was the whole chicken. Not only does a whole chicken yield a variety of cuts and flavors, but I can split a whole chicken into at least three meals for Brad and I. And I can use the spare parts for stock. Definitely the biggest bang for my buck. Sometimes I choose to break the chicken down for parts while it’s still fresh (using an excellent how-to video that I swear by) and sometimes I choose to cook it whole.  And, for a number of reasons, this is my favorite way to do the latter.

Reason #1: It’s fast. Seriously, from start to finish, this chicken can be ready to eat in an hour. There’s very little prep – no stuffing, to tying of feet, no oiling, and no slow-roasting. This bird cooks HOT for 45-50 minutes. And though the original recipe recommends seasoning at least two days in advance, I’ve never been disappointed in my method of seasoning immediately before cooking.

Reason #2: Very little fuss. Yes, you do have to dry the bird. And I used to find this annoying when I used napkins and paper towels that left behind little flecks of themselves. But after trying a towel one night, I found that the chicken dried more quickly and easily AND there were no flecks. And the towel will survive – nothing a run through the washing machine won’t fix.

Reason #3: Very few ingredients, very few dishes. All you need is a chicken, some salt, and some pepper. There’s plenty of fat, so oil is not really necessary. And though you can easily gussy this bird up with herbs or garlic, I love it just the way it is with the tried and true pair. And for cooking No roaster, no multi-pan sequence, just a frying pan. And a cutting board. But that’s it!

Reason #4: Crazy-awesome flavor and texture. This bird has everything: crisp, golden-brown skin, flavorful meat (both dark and white), and not a bit of dryness anywhere on it. Plus, it lasts all week: I tend to serve the leg quarters and wings the first night and then make each breast into another meal, usually as the feature of fajitas or a topping for pizza.

If you’ve ever shied away from whole chickens because they seem daunting, I urge you to give this method a shot. It’s a simple preparation, but as I find to be more and more often the case, the simplest preparations are the best ones. Buying and cooking whole chickens are a great way to appreciate and enjoy every cut of the bird. Personally, I’m a fan of the thigh… what’s your favorite bit?

Weeknight Roast Chicken
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 roasting chicken, about 3-4 pounds
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Heat an oven-safe roasting pan or skillet (I use a 10-inch frying pan) over medium heat on the stove. Combine the salt and pepper in a small bowel and stir until mixed. Remove and discard the lump of fat that sits just inside the cavity of the chicken. Rinse the chicken thoroughly inside and out, then pat as dry (inside and out) as thoroughly as you can. I prefer to use a tea towel (that then goes straight into the laundry!) as napkins or paper towels tend to leave behind little flecks and don’t get the bird as dry. The drier the bird, the browner and crispier the skin will be.

Rub the chicken all over the outside with the salt and pepper mixture. Tuck the wings under the shoulders. Once the oven has reached 475°F, carefully transfer the chicken breast-side up to the pre-heated frying pan. The chicken should sizzle loudly when you place it in the pan. Place the pan in the oven on a center-rack.

Roast the chicken for 30 minutes, by which point it should be starting to brown nicely. Gently loosen the chicken from the pan (drying the bird and pre-heating the pan should  keep sticking to the minimum) and flip it over so it is breast-side down. Return to the oven and roast for another 20 minutes (10-15 minutes if it’s a very small bird), then flip the chicken back over to re-crisp the breast-side skin.

Remove from the oven and place the chicken on a cutting board. Though your chicken should be well-roasted by this point, you can insert a meat thermometer in the deepest part of the breast to ensure it is at the temperature of your choice. Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before carving into pieces. If you like, you can use the drippings in the pan as the base for a gravy.

The food-focused internet is positively abuzz with recipes for Chinese dumplings, stir fries, and noodles to celebrate the Chinese New Year. It doesn’t seem to matter what I’ve packed to eat for the day: just a few minutes skimming my Google Reader has me craving Chinese food well before lunchtime.

Aside from vegetable-packed stir fries (and an occasional, unbelievably tasty batch of potstickers), I don’t cook a lot of Chinese food at home. Most recipes tend to call for ingredients that I don’t usually have on hand, and it’s soooooo easy to order takeout. But I was recently invited by a fellow blogger, Diana of Appetite for China, to participate in a “Virtual Potluck” to celebrate the New Year and the release of her new cookbook, The Chinese Takeout Cookbook. She posted six sneak-peek recipes from the book on her site. And my only task Make one, adapted it to my own needs, and post! How could I resist?

There have always been two things that I’ve found daunting about making a dish like General Tso’s. The first is the large number of ingredients that I don’t cook with frequently and don’t keep on hand as staples. It turns out, though, that was a ridiculous thing to find daunting. Each and every ingredients was readily available at the grocery store, and I used such tiny amounts that I will be able to make many, many more batches of this meal before I need to buy more.

The other daunting factor was that of deep-frying chicken. If I want to make this meal frequently, I can’t use three cups of oil every time. But I still want the crisp, crunchy shell that makes this dish so appealing.

After a quick soak in marinade, I still battered the chicken in cornstarch, but I found that pan-frying it in a few tablespoons of oil gave me plenty of crisp and plenty of crunch, but without the excess of frying oil. Totally feasible on a week night, on lots of week nights.

As I tasted my first bite of this spicy, tangy meal, I wondered why it took me so long to try it out. I’m guessing it won’t be very long at all before I make it again.

To those of you celebrating the Year of the Snake this week, Happy New Year! To those of you who are not, Happy Homemade Takeout!

General Tso’s Chicken
Adapted from Appetite for China

Serves 2

For the Marinade
1/2 T soy sauce
1/2 T cooking sherry
1 egg white
8 oz skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into one-inch cubes

In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, cooking sherry, and egg white. Cut chicken into one-inch cubes and add to the marinade, mixing well with a fork, and set aside for at least 10 minutes while you prepare the sauce.

For the Sauce
3 T chicken stock
1 T tomato paste
3/4 T soy sauce
3/4 T rice vinegar
1 tsp hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp chili paste
1 tsp vegetable oil
3/4 T sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

Coating and Cooking
about 3/4 c cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4-5 T vegetable oil
1/4 tsp chili flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
sesame seeds for garnish
scallion greens, sliced thinly, for garnish

In a pie plate or other deep plate, mix together corn starch, salt, and black pepper. Scoop chicken out of the marinade and place in the cornstarch, turning and mixing until all pieces are coated. The mixture will be somewhat sticky.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the chicken pieces to the pan. Toss the chicken as it cooks, making sure that all sides of the pieces are crispy. Cook the chicken for 10-15 minutes until golden-brown and crispy. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Pour excess oil out of the pan but do not wipe clean.

Return pan to the heat. Add minced garlic and chili flakes to the pan and toss gently for about 20 seconds. Add sauce to the pan and allow to thicken for about 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and return chicken to the pan. Toss chicken until thoroughly coated.

Serve over a bed of rice, garnished with sesame seeds and scallion greens.

This dish came out of one such rooting. An excess of white rice, leftover almonds from my holiday toffee-making, a can of water chestnuts, and chicken and peas from the freezer, seemingly disparate parts, became something great together as this Almond Chicken. With the addition of a green onion and a bit of sherry and soy sauce, it’s a quick meal that requires only a few minutes of stir-frying and a fluffy bed of rice.

I know that January, for many people, is synonymous with cleansing diets and post-holiday de-cluttering. For me I’ve added in the goal to focus on using up foods from my pantry. My tendency, especially since starting this blog, is never to make the same thing twice so I always have something new to share with you, which sometimes causes me to abandon my dry goods for excesses of fresh produce or obscure ingredients.

This dish, if anything, has reminded me that there’s a lot of good stuff hiding out in my narrow kitchen cabinet. With a little planning and creative thinking those random ends-of-this and half-packs-of-that can come together for a dish that is filling, flavorful, and new.

Almond Chicken
Adapted from Appetite for China

Serves 3-4

3 T canola or vegetable oil
12 oz skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1″ pieces
1 egg white
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
8 oz container sliced water chestnuts, drained
1/2 c frozen or fresh peas
1 scallion, chopped
1 c whole almonds
3 T soy sauce
2 T cooking sherry

Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium heat. Chop chicken into one-inch pieces and combine in a bowl with the egg white, salt, and cornstarch. Mix well with a fork and set aside. Chop the scallion, drain the water chestnuts, and measure out the almonds, peas, soy sauce, and sherry: the meal cooks quickly once you begin.

Dump chicken pieces into the hot oil and sauté until it begins turning golden brown on the outside and the chicken is barely white all the way through. Add water chestnuts and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Add peas, scallion, almonds, soy sauce, and sherry and cook, mixing often, for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve over steamed rice.

I’ve grown tired, lately, of regular pasta sauce. Not of pasta, mind you. I crave that all the time. But these days, every time I sit down to make or order a pasta dish, I try to find something that is not marinara or alfredo.

While traipsing about the internet, I ran across a recipe for chicken marsala, which I’ve eaten at restaurants but never cooked myself. The thick, tangy brown sauce, full of mushrooms and drizzled over chicken, looked wonderfully decadent, and I started wondering how it would taste on pasta. It seemed it might be just the breath of fresh pasta-sauce-air that I was looking for.

For those of you out there who love chicken marsala, you won’t be surprised to hear that this dish starts with a large pile of mushrooms. You can use any variety you like, but I love using creminis. Even though they ultimately get drowned in brown sauce, they’re just so dang pretty when you clean and chop them up, aren’t they?

And the other half of chicken marsala The chicken, of course! Chicken breasts are sliced in half to create thin, fast-cooking filets. I dredged mine in a mixture of flour and parmesan cheese to create a golden-brown, slightly crunchy coating.

With a batch of chicken set aside on the cutting board and mushrooms sautéing away in a frying pan, its time for the most important element of this pasta: the sauce.

I confess: I stood, rather perplexed in the wine section of the grocery store for quite a while. Do I need sweet marsala Dry I ultimately selected one that didn’t specify, and not being an avid wine aficionado, I honestly don’t know what I ended up with. Though, the internet seems to conclude that sweet marsala is the correct wine to use for this sauce. For anyone who wants to know.

Once the sauce has thickened, the pasta has cooked, and the chicken has been chopped, everything is mixed back together in the pasta pot. The result is a surprising and refreshing pasta dish, speckled with mushrooms and crisp bites of chicken. And the best news, perhaps, is that it was VERY fast and very easy, coming together in about 30 minutes from start to finish. How exciting when a dinner experiment turns out as such a delight!

It may be a while yet before marinara makes it back on the menu.

Pasta Marsala
Adapted from Savory Sweet Life

8 oz skinless boneless chicken breasts
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
2 T canola oil
2 T unsalted butter
4 oz cremini or button mushrooms, washed and patted dry
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c marsala wine
1/4 c cooking sherry
1/2 c chicken stock
1/4 c heavy cream, at room temperature
2 tsp cornstarch
1 T water
1/2 pound linguine or other pasta
fresh oregano, chopped to garnish

Split the chicken breast through the middle so that you have thin filets. Sprinkle salt & pepper on both sides of chicken. On a small plate, combine flour and parmesan cheese and mix well with a fork. Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture on both sides, ensuring the chicken is fully-coated.

Heat oil in a large frying pan or sauté pan over medium heat until oil glistens. While the oil is heating, slice the mushrooms and set aside. In addition, bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

Add chicken to the frying pan and cook until the first side is golden-brown. Flip each piece of chicken and cook until chicken is white all the way through and both sides are golden-brown. Remove chicken from the pan to a cutting board. If any oil is still pooling in the pan, soak it up with a paper towel and dispose.

Add butter to the pan and melt. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper and stir well. Sauté for 5-7 minutes until mushrooms are releasing their juices and starting to darken, stirring occasionally. Add marsala, sherry, chicken stock, and cream and stir well. Allow liquid to reduce for 7-8 minutes, stirring often.

While the sauce is reducing, add dry pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente. Once cooked, drain well and return to the pot with a lid until the sauce is done. Use the time while the pasta and sauce are cooking to cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.

Combine the cornstarch and water in a small glass and mix well. Once the liquid on the mushrooms has cooked for 7-8 minutes, add about the cornstarch mixture and stir constantly as the sauce thickens, usually about 2 minutes. If the sauce is still too thin, you can make a little more cornstarch slurry and add it a little bit at a time.

Add chicken, mushrooms, and sauce to the drained pasta and mix well. Serve garnished with chopped oregano.

My, summer has gone quickly, hasn’t it?

While most of my friends sense summer only through the seasonal changes, my university job means the seasons are still distinctively marked by the ends and beginning of semesters. It seems so recent that I was fighting graduation traffic on campus, sending Brad off on an internship, and excitedly making a list of all the recipes, garden projects, canning extravaganzas, and social outings I’d surely have time for in the balmy months of summer.

But here we are, at the beginning of August. Aaaaaaand the list is still really long. Is it possible that it’s longer?

It is. Probably because I keep ignoring the recipes I have on my list to make because I get cravings to make something out of left field. Like this.

I told you a few months ago about the shocking realization that I love turkey salad, so one day when I didn’t feel like cooking but felt like eating something tasty and new, I decided to try a version with chicken, instead. Crunchy little nuts & veggies, chewy golden raisins, and a healthy heap of rosemary make this salad quite a treat.

But most importantly, it’s a quick, filling dinner full of flavor and crunch, for these hot summer evenings when the temperatures are high and the lists are long. School is starting soon – it’s time to get busy and check things off!

Rosemary Cashew Chicken Salad

1 1/2 cooked chicken breast, chopped
3/4 c salted cashews, roughly chopped
1/2 c golden raisins
1/2 c celery, chopped
1/2 c red onion, diced
1/3 c mayonnaise
1 tsp ground rosemary
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dijon mustard (optional)

If you’re starting with raw chicken breast, trim of fat and cook to your liking. I rub black pepper and seasoned salt into mine and pan sear it until cooked through. Once chicken is cooked, allow to cool for 10 minutes before chopping into cubes.

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Adjust seasoning to taste if desired. Serve with crackers or, if you prefer, on a sandwich.

Can we talk about bell peppers?

I don’t particularly care for them. I like a good roasted red pepper cream sauce sloshed over some pasta, I think they are super pretty cut into strips and fanned out on a tray of crudités, but I’m never one to actuallyeatthem from said tray.

I do, however, make an exception when for fajitas. Green bell peppers and red onions snuggle up in a tortilla so nicely with well-seasoned chicken, perhaps some cheese, and a healthy dollop of sour cream. I used to buy those little packets of fajita seasoning, but I found I never used it all in one go. Why accumulate half-used packets of seasoning in the pantry when I could just make my own?

Also, what better time to do a glitzy little photo shoot for my most recent kitchen obsession THESE. My beautiful spice jars. I recently ordered an assortment of jars to make my spice and herb rack the prettiest little thing you’ve ever seen, and I still can’t fully express my delight. I know, I know: spices last longer if they are protected from the light. But my kitchen is a cave for 18 hours a day anyway. Plus, they are sooooo pretty!

Fajita seasoning is pretty straightforward. Most of the spices required are common enough that most of you probably already have them in your kitchen. Plus, it can be used for lots of things. In addition to taco meat, I use mine for taco seasoning and also anytime I want a little extra kick in a batch of roasted vegetables. All you need besides the spices is a little jar of your own.

Once your spice are added, give the jar a good shake and you’re ready to make fajitas!

See how easy Kiss your old fajita seasoning packet days (do you have those?) goodbye!

Then make yourself some excellent Tex Mex for dinner.

Homemade Fajita Seasoning
Adapted from Food.com

4 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in an airtight jar or other small container and shake well.

Easy Chicken Fajitas

Makes enough for 4 medium-sized fajitas

2 T canola oil
8 oz chicken breast
1 T fajita seasoning, use more or less to taste
1 T salsa (your favorite)
1 green bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced into long strips
1 small red onion, sliced into long strips
1 cob of sweet corn
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
four tortillas, approximately 8″ in diameter
cheddar cheese (optional)
salsa (optional)
sour cream (optional)

Trim fat from chicken breast and slice into long, thin strips. On a separate cutting board, de-seed bell pepper and slice into long strips. Peel your onion, slice it into flats, and then cut each flat in two so that the pieces will be half-moon in shape. Separate the layers from one another. Shuck a cob of sweet corn and cut the kernels off of it.

Place two frying pans on the stove and pour 1 T canola into each pan. Heat both pans over medium heat until the oil glistens. To the smaller pan, add your chicken and sprinkle with fajita seasoning. To the other, add the peppers, onions, corn kernels, black pepper, and salt. Cook peppers and onions until peppers have started to softe, tossing frequently. Cook chicken through, adding additional seasoning as desired. As the chicken finishes, I like to add a spoonful of salsa to the pan, toss well, and remove from heat.

While both pans are cooking, grate about 3/4 c cheddar cheese (more or less to taste). To prepare your tortillas, place another frying pan (or sauté pan, anything large enough to hold a tortilla laying flat) over low heat and gently heat tortillas on each side. Cover with a plate until ready to serve.

Construct fajitas as you desire, adding sour cream, salsa, cheese, guacamole, or whatever toppings you prefer.

Remember a week or two ago when I made fresh mozzarella cheese And I said I was gonna tell you what you could do with the 1/2 gallon + of whey that results from the cheesemaking process?

I’m here to fulfill my promise.The promise of pizza.

It’s a lovely thing when completion of one kitchen project leads inexorably to another. What better way to use a pound of fresh mozzarella than to throw the old pizza stone in the oven, pull out the pizza cutter, and have yourself a pizza feast And this pizza crust THIS one uses up the whey from making mozzarella. Some of it. Or if you’re moderately obsessive me, it uses all of the whey.

I’ve used several recipes over the last couple of years for homemade pizza crust. Sometimes thick and fluffy, sometimes thin and crispy, sometimes in that strange place in between. This crust is simple to put together, has a short list of ingredients, and can go from disparate ingredients to rolled-and-ready-for-toppings in less than 30 minutes.

Now maybe your kitchen is different than mine, but whey is not something that I usually just have, you know, lying around. In fact the ONLY time I have it is when I make fresh mozzarella. But fear not! You can still make this yummy crust by swapping in milk. Or, maybe this is even more incentive to take a stab at cheese making.

As I mentioned, this business is FAST. Using rapid-rise yeast helps the process, but it also doesn’t take long to bring the dough to the right consistency. It is not, however, exact. The flour needed has changed slightly every time I make it.

Soon enough, you’ll have lovely, warm, perfect blob of pizza dough.

So the whey. This here blob took up a cup of whey. I had saved over half a gallon from my batch of fresh mozzarella. So again, if you’re like me and want to find a use for all this whey, you have a few options:

a) make a gazillion batches and freeze them for delicious pizzas in the future

b) make a gazillion batches and invite over your friends for the best pizza party since 4th grade

c) make a normal, human size batch for dinner

or

d) all of the above

I went with Option D, as you have likely already deduced  (thanks to Tim and Monica for the party photos!)

But if, perhaps, you are here hoping for a killer-awesome pizza dinner idea, I’ve got you covered.

Whether you make the dough and roll it out immediately, let it raise in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, or thaw out a frozen dough in the fridge while you’re at work, this set of toppings, while not overly innovative, may possibly become one of your favorites. It certainly has for us.

Maybe you’ll be better than me at making perfectly round crusts. I am really. bad. at. this. Which is why I always end up with oblong, misshapen pies. Oh well.

Also! I love pizza cooked on a pizza stone, but I’ve only recently acquired one. And the stone only fits one pizza anyway, and I’m usually cooking two (one for the vacuum I live with, the other for me and future me’s lunch). So! How do you get a nice, crisp crust on the bottom of your pizza without a stone Flip over a couple of cookie sheets, throw some parchment paper on them, and build the pizzas right on top.

Then top, top, top away! Your pizza crust is your creation, a blank canvas awaiting decoration with colors and shapes and flavors, so go forth! This particular pizza benefited from a creamy alfredo sauce, chicken sautéed in garlic and parsley, red onions, spinach, and three zingy cheeses (mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago).

Before you know it, dinner awaits!

Favorite Pizza Crust
Adapted from Ricki Carroll

Makes one 14″ thick-crust pizza, two 12″ thin-crust pizzas, or 4 indy thin-crust pizzas

about 3 c flour
1 package rapid-rise yeast (1 T)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 c very warm whey (heated to 120-130 °F) or milk
2 T olive oil

In a large bowl, use a fork to briskly mix 2 1/2 c flour, yeast (undissolved), and salt. Pour whey into a microwave safe bowl and heat for about 90 seconds or until whey reaches 120-130 °F. Add whey and olive oil to dry ingredients and mix with fork. Once wet ingredients have mostly been absorbed (dough will still be very flour-y and disconnected), dump contents of bowl onto a floured surface.

Knead together for 10-15 minutes and continue to incorporate flour a couple of tablespoons at a time. Once dough is soft and smooth but not overly sticky (it will stick to your fingers just a little, but not the counter), it is ready for the next step, which can be one of three things:

For Immediate Preparation
Place dough on a floured surface and cover with a dry cloth, allowing the dough to rest for 10 minutes.

For Making Dough 2-3 hours in Advance
Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with saran wrap in the refrigerator until you are ready to roll out the dough. Dough will raise as it refrigerates.

For Freezing Dough
Before dough raises, separate into sizes you would want for future meals (for this particular recipe, I separate the dough into two blobs). Place doughs 3-4 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and freeze. Doughs will raise slightly as they begin to cool, but not too much. Allow doughs to freeze for several hours, preferably overnight, until they are frozen solid. Store in large freezer bags. To thaw, place a dough in a medium bowl (larger than the frozen blob) and cover with saran wrap in the refrigerator 8-10 hours before you want to make your pizza.

When you are ready to roll out the dough, preheat oven to 425 °F. After dough has rested (or raised if you’ve held it in the fridge), punch it down, separate if making multiple thin-crust pizzas, and roll out each dough.

Using cookie sheets that have been flipped upside down, lay down a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle generously with corn meal. Place pizza dough on parchment and stretch out if needed. Top as desired.

Bake pizzas for about 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust has browned. For a finishing touch, put the oven on broil and watch VERY CAREFULLY, allowing the pizza to broil for just a minute or two. Use caution: your pizza can go from perfectly browned to burned black in a matter of seconds under the broiler, but the perfectly browned cheese is worth the risk. This is not a time for multi-tasking.

Slice pizza and serve to everyone!

Chicken Spinach Alfredo Pizza
Inspired by pizza places everywhere

2 tsp olive oil
6-8 oz skinless boneless chicken breast
5 cloves garlic
2 T fresh parsley, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1 – 1 1/2 c alfredo sauce (use your favorite or make your own)
2 c fresh spinach leaves
1 c red onions, chopped with layers separated
1 1/2 c mozzarella cheese, grated
1 c asiago cheese, grated
1/2 parmesan cheese, grated

Heat a oil in a  medium frying pan over medium heat. Chop chicken into bite size pieces, mince garlic, and chop parsley. Add chicken and garlic to pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook until meat is nearly cooked through, then add parsley. Cook through and allow chicken to brown slightly. Set aside

Wash spinach, chop onions, and grate cheeses and set aside.

Once you’ve rolled out the pizza dough, spoon alfredo sauce evenly over each dough, leaving about 3/4″ of crust around the edges. Place one or two layers of spinach leaves on the sauce, allowing the leaves to overlap. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of the spinach. Add chicken and onions evenly over the crust(s). Finally, add asiago and parmesan cheeses. Bake as directed in pizza crust recipe above.

For the last couple of weeks, my Google Reader has been buzzing with “game day” recipes. Game day party decorations. And game day craft projects (which seems a bit bizarre, don’t you think?), all in preparation that un-official American holiday: the Super Bowl!

I must confess, (braces for judgement) I’ve never really watched the Super Bowl. Neither of my parents were ever particularly big sports fan, and more often than not, we would go skiing or see a movie on Super Bowl Sunday to take advantage of empty slopes and matinee tickets. In fact, I was in college before I sat down to watch my first Super Bowl work on a paper in the corner at my dorm’s game day party.

But the food, the food! Such a celebratory spread of mind-bendingly delicious snack food I’ve never seen! Wings and ranch and chips and dips and cookies and sodas and crackers and cheeses and and and and… it’s an ode to snacking as much as it is to football. And I’m not a hater. If I could live on chips and salsa, I would totally do it.

But it’s pretty rare to see something green and fresh at a Super Bowl spread. Perhaps a veggie tray, accompanied by an obligatory bucket of dip, obviously. So I have a proposition for you: if you haven’t decided what to bring to your Super Bowl party of choice, make these.

These are warm and savory. These are crunchy and zippy. These are interactive and fun to eat. These are full of nuts and veggies and chicken and wrapped in a crisp leaf of lettuce.

Now wait! Don’t stop reading just because this is iceberg lettuce. I know, I know, iceberg lettuce isn’t winning any foodies’ choice awards these days. But it’s perfect for peeling apart, leaf by leaf, to form crisp shells that stay, cool, crunchy, and fresh despite the addition of the warm and saucy filling. Save the field greens (ha, football joke) for another day. (My god that was bad.)

Double this. Triple this. It will disappear even faster than the wings.

Chicken & Cashew Lettuce Cups
Adapted from Sierra, who adapted it from Real Simple

Serves 8 as an appetizer, 4 as a side, and 2-3 as an entrée

1/2 T canola oil
12 oz boneless skinless chicken, raw (or about 8 oz if using chicken that is already cooked)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T grated ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
16 oz water chestnuts, drained and diced
3 T soy sauce
3 T honey
1/2 c roasted cashews, unsalted
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 head iceberg lettuce

Remove outer layer of lettuce and discard. Working carefully, separate each leaf of lettuce from the head to form several “cups”. Store in the refrigerator until just before serving.

Cube chicken into bite size pieces. Mince garlic, grate ginger, and chop water chestnuts & green onions before you begin cooking. In a small dish, combine soy sauce and honey and mix well.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat until oil shimmers. Add chicken to pan and season with pepper. Cook just until browning begins. Stir in garlic & ginger and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in chestnuts and soy mixture. Stir fry until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat. Add scallions and cashews and toss to mix well. Remove from pan to a serving bowl.

To serve, spoon chicken mixture into lettuce leaves and wrap leaves around mixture, forming a wrap of sorts.