Olive Garden's Capellini Pomodoro

I found this delicious spaghetti recipe that reminds me of my favorite dish at Olive Garden - Capellini Pomodoro. It's a Rachel Ray recipe. Very flavorful! If you use dried basil flakes and jarred crushed garlic and omit the cheese, it's a great food storage recipe too!

Spaghetti all' Elsa

Recipe courtesy Elsa Scuderi and Rachael Ray

You may think you know how to make spaghetti with sausage, peppers, and onions but my momma has a few twists that makes hers better than yours or maybe even your mama's - strong words, but just taste!

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 20 min Level: Easy Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1 pound Italian imported dried spaghetti
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 3 turns of the pan
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup chicken stock or white wine, eyeball it
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (14-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
  
• Several leaves basil, torn or chopped, a handful
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add pasta. Cook to al dente, with a bite to it.

Heat a medium sauce pot over medium-low heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and red pepper and let them cook 5 minutes, garlic will be soft and light golden. Remove garlic. Add stock or wine and stir 30 seconds, add tomatoes and combine. Season the sauce with salt, to taste, then stir basil in and reduce heat to low.

When pasta is cooked, turn off the heat, drain the pasta then add it back to the still-hot, deep pot. Add butter to spaghetti and toss to melt and coat. Add half the red sauce and all of the cheese, work in a handful at a time as you toss to combine. To serve, use tongs or a meat fork to swirl the pasta into buttery, cheesy mounds to pile onto each plate. Top each portion with spoonfuls of remaining sauce. Whoa, Mama!

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

I got this recipe off a blog and immediately made it and was not disappointed! In fact, we've made it a tradition to make on Conference Saturday. So good!

Cinnamon Rolls
Made with pudding – yummy!

1/2 cup warm water
2 packages dry yeast

Bloom the yeast with the sugar in the warm water, waiting for froth and bubbles.

1/2 cup instant vanilla pudding powder
1/2 cup melted butter
2 lightly beaten eggs
5-6 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, with a wire whip, mix the pudding powder with the water until well combined and smooth. Add the butter, eggs and salt, whisk to combine well.

Add the bloomed yeast/sugar/water mixture and combine well.

Add flour, one cup at a time, until the dough comes together, and is still soft, but not sticky. Knead until smooth. It will feel like fat baby thighs.

Let rise in a warm, covered and lightly oiled bowl until doubled in size. About 2 hours.

Punch down, and knead again.

With a rolling pin and a lightly floured board, roll out the dough to a 34 x 22 inch rectangle. Keep moving the dough as you roll, to keep from sticking to the board.

1 cup melted butter
2 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon

Melt the butter and pour the whole cup on your rolled out rectangle of dough. (I told you only a few times a year!) In a separate bowl, combine with your impeccably clean hands, the sugar and cinnamon, then cover the butter-drenched dough rectangle in an even and delectable layer of cinnamon sugar.

Starting at the 22 inch side, roll the entire thing into a nice, long cinnamon tube. Seal the edge with a little bit of water on a pastry brush or your fingers.

With a serrated knife, (or even better, a piece of thread or dental floss) cut the log into 2 inch segments, and carefully move your giant cinnamon treasures to a glass pan. Put no more than 8 in a large glass Pyrex casserole dish. (I actually put 6 in a pan - 8 was too crowded!) Do not crowd them- they will rise almost double. Whatever baking dish you use, deeper sides give the rolls a softer exterior = better.

Cover in a warm place and let them rise again until fat and happy- about two hours.

Bake at 350* for 15-18 minutes. Really, only that long. Do not over-bake. You want them to be soft, yet set, in the middle. The house will smell divine.

Icing:

8 oz. softened cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp cream

Whip all ingredients together and smear on top of still warm rolls.

Mini Peanut Butter Cups

I thought it would be fun to try some mini peanut butter cups. Previously I had made these Reese's Peanut Butter Bars from Our Best Bites. I was truly amazed that they tasted exactly like the peanut butter filling of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. (I'm pretty sure the graham crackers are the trick.) So it's been on my mind to try out my own mini pb cups.  There are several techniques to creating the mini cups, and I tried a few methods before finding one that worked the best for me. Here's how I made them:

First prepare the bottom chocolate layer of pb cups:

Ingredients:
melting milk chocolate wafers
squeeze bottle (like for condiments, with a narrow tip)
mini paper cups

Fill clean squeeze bottle halfway with chocolate wafers. Microwave at half power for 1 minute. Shake & squeeze, then microwave 1 minute again. Repeat until chocolate is smooth and melted. As you work with the chocolate, you'll notice it becoming thicker and harder to smooth overtime. Just re-melt as needed.



Holding several paper cups (to give more stability to the cups), squeeze chocolate around the sides of top cup and into the bottom. I started with one ring of chocolate just under the cup's top edge, so the chocolate could drip down the sides to the bottom., then another ring just below it. Then I zig-zagged chocolate along the bottom. To fill in the mini-holes, I used a toothpick to spread the chocolate, coating the paper cup. (I found if I used more chocolate to fill in the holes, there ended up being too much chocolate.) Then to smooth it all out, I shook it a little and dropped it (from about a 6 inch height).

To ensure the chocolate cups dried in a round, shape, I put the wet chocolate lined cups into a mini-muffin tin.

Second prepare the filling:

While the chocolate sides/bottoms are setting up (which happens very quickly) you can make the peanut butter filling.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
1 lb (3 1/2 C) powdered sugar
1 1/2 C creamy peanut butter
1 C (2 sticks) real butter, melted

Mix thoroughly. This makes enough to fill a 9 x 13 pan, so unless you want a lot of pb cups, you may want to half the filling recipe. (I ended up using half the filling to make the before-mentioned Peanut Butter Bars in a smaller casserole dish; then I cut out fun shapes with cookie cutters.) Anyway...

Shape small discs (mini pb cup sized) from the filling. Press into hardened chocolate shells. Don't worry about the pb filling being completely smooth--the chocolate on top will fill in any dips.

Third, cover the filling with a chocolate layer:

Remelt/smooth the chocolate. Zig-zag your final layer on top of peanut butter filling. Spread chocolate by gently shaking/tilting pb cup. To smooth, again drop pb cub onto counter. Let dry.

Big Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thanks Jessica for sharing this copycat recipe (made by My Baking Addiction) of the famous Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies. According to the New York Times, their cookies are "[p]ossibly the largest, most divine chocolate chip cookies in Manhattan." Now that's a pretty good recommendation! Here's the recipe:

Big Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Parsley, Sage, Desserts & Line Drives

Ingredients:
2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon table or fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
add in 1 cup of walnuts if you fancy them

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mix in vanilla and beat until well incorporated.
2. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips/chunks and nuts.
3. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients.
4. Weigh out the dough into 4 ounce portions and gently roll into a ball. (I got ten 4 ounce cookies out of this dough).
5. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven 15-20 minutes depending on how gooey and rawish you like the interior, until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. I baked mine for 16 minutes, which seemed to be perfect in my oven.
6. Let cool on rack and store what you don’t immediately eat in an airtight container.

Notes:
-These are best eaten on the day they are made (ESPECIALLY warm out of the oven – like most chocolate chip cookies).
-To freshen them after a few days (if they last that long), give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
- I did not attempt to make these smaller than 4 ounces. I am sure they will be equally as amazing, you’ll just have to play with the baking time.

Olive Garden Chicken Scampi

Thank you Melissa Cass for sharing this recipe for Chicken Scampi!

Olive Garden Chicken Scampi 

Scampi sauce
3 T butter
2 T minced white onion
¼ c minced garlic
1 ½ c cooking wine
½ tsp salt
½ tsp Italian seasoning
¼ - ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp minced fresh parsley
1 c heavy cream

5 to 6 quarts water
16 oz angel hair pasta
4 T olive oil
12 chicken tenderloins
½ c all-purpose flour
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite-size strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into bite-size strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into bite-size strips
1 chopped onion
1 tsp dried parsley

Make scampi sauce by melting butter in a preheated pan over medium/low heat. Add 2 T minced onion and sauté for 2 to 4 minutes or until the onion begins to brown. If the butter begins to burn, turn down the heat. When the onion is beginning to brown, add the minced garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds. Don’t let the garlic burn. After about 30 seconds add the wine, salt, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and black pepper, and bring mixture to a simmer. Simmer for approximately 15 to 18 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half. Add parsley and heavy cream and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Do not let the mixture reach a boil.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add the angel hair pasta and cook for about 4 minutes or until pasta is al dente, or mostly tender with just a slight toughness. Drain the pasta in a colander or sieve when done, then hit it with some cold water to prevent sticking and to keep it from cooking further.

Preheat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken tenderloins, then coat each one in the flour that has been measured into a large bowl. Cook the tenderloins for 3 to 5 minutes on one side or until golden brown.

When the chicken is brown on one side, flip each of the pieces, and move them to the side of the pan, then add the peppers and red onions to the center of the skillet. Continue cooking the chicken and vegetables for 4 to 6 minutes or until the chicken is browned and the veggies are beginning to brown on the edges.

Pour the scampi sauce over the chicken and other ingredients. Add pasta, then toss everything a bit and continue to cook for a couple minutes or until the pasta is heated through.

When serving on a plate, sprinkle each plate with about ½ tsp of fresh parsley and serve it up with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

Cincinnati Chili

A great recipe with super tips from Sara Richins, who makes a mean Cincinnati Chili:
 
Here is a Cincinnati Chili Recipe that has become our family's preferred variety of Cincy chili because of its hearty texture and robust flavor.  (Recipe originally posted here along with some of the history of Cincinnati style chili)  Once you have the many spices on hand, the recipe is pretty inexpensive to make.  I have never made it exactly as the recipe states.  Here are some of the alterations I make as well as a few tips:

*I only use half an onion in the recipe, and if I'm in the mood, I use the other half as a topping.
*I also add a bay leaf or two while the chili simmers.  No need to simmer so long, however.  It simmers long enough during the 15-20 minutes it takes to get a pot of water to boil and the pasta to cook.
*I put the half cup of water in when I'm browning the beef since this chili is traditionally boiled.  Seems an easy compromise.  If you prefer a finer texture, visit this recipe and view some of the comments at the bottom of the page.  This alternate recipe uses significantly less spices if you're looking for a milder flavor.
*I've never purchased allspice and just substitute pumpkin pie spice.  One of these days. . .  Some other recipes also use a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves.  I've never tried that.
*I just use regular vinegar since it's what I have.
*I usually use ground turkey instead of beef.  It makes it a bit healthier and cheaper, and we actually preferred the flavor with this recipe!
*This is a bit spicier than the restaurant chilis in my opinion.  The cayenne pepper is the main culprit and can be adjusted to your preference.  (My husband accidentally doubled the cayenne pepper once, and our noses were running throughout the meal. . .)

Cincinnati Chili

1 large onion chopped
1  pound extra-lean ground beef
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red (cayenne) pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa or 1/2 ounce grated unsweetened chocolate
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 (16-ounce) package uncooked dried spaghetti pasta
Toppings (see below)
Optional seasonings: bay leaf, cloves

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, saute onion, ground beef, garlic, and chili powder until ground beef is slightly cooked. Add allspice, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, unsweetened cocoa or chocolate, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, and water. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 1 1/2 hours. Remove from heat.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions and transfer onto individual serving plates (small oval plates are traditional).

Ladle chili over spaghetti and serve with toppings of your choice. Oyster crackers are served in a separate container on the side.

Toppings:
Oyster Crackers
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Chopped Onion
Kidney Beans (16-ounce) can

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Homemade Chocolate-Thin Mint Cookies

A recipe shared by Sara Richins for Valentine's Day, but which leads nicely into our copycat meeting coming up!

Recipe found at http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/01/04/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-thin-mints/

Homemade Chocolate-Thin Mint Cookies
Cocoa Wafer Cookies
3 T. butter
1 egg white
1/4 c. brown sugar
pinch of Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/2 c. flour (plus 1/4 c.)
2 drops pure peppermint oil
Combine all ingredients together. Add flour as needed, until dough is roll-able and not sticky at all. Roll verrrry thin. Cut into desired shapes. Bake at 325 for 4-7 minutes, or until cookies have firmed and browned slightly around edges. Remove from oven and cool.
*
Peppermint Buttercream Layer
2 c. powdered sugar
4 T. melted butter
2-3 drops pure peppermint oil
1/2 tsp. heavy whipping cream
Mix together until it becomes thick and easy to roll with a rolling pin. Roll until about 1/4″ thick. Cut into desired shape. Place atop cooled cookies. Place cookies into melted chocolate CANDIQUIK, spoon chocolate atop until fully covered. Allow to dry on a piece of parchment paper. Makes about 30 cookies.