Chipotle Chicken Pasta Minus the Chipotle

So years back, when I was still a freshman and sophomore, jobless, and living off of my parents money, we used to go to Cheesecake Factory.  One of my favorite dishes on their menu was the Chipotle Chicken Pasta--  penne pasta with some amazing kinda creamy spicy sauce, chicken, peppers and onions.  Naturally, you can see why I liked it.  So sometime about two years ago, when I was no longer living off my parents salary, I decided to try to make it at home.  I had no idea what was in it but knew a thing or two about flavors and decided to just wing it.  Needless to say, I put absolutely no chipotle in it.  So I'm sure you must be saying, "well then there's no possible way you've made a replica of chipotle chicken pasta that tastes anything similar to the original!"  False.  I have.  I've made a cheaper, just as yummy version while craftily avoiding the annoyance and cost of chipotle peppers.

This past time, I made a much bigger batch than I have in the past.  I wouldn't ever recommend making as much as I did, so I'm going to provide you with the recipe for a normal person amount.  This is the ultimate spicy comfort food.  Enjoy: chipotle chicken pasta, minus the chipotle, plus the pepperjack cheese!

what you need...

1 lb penne pasta

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 large yellow onion, diced

15 oz can tomato sauce (I use hunts)

8 oz block pepperjack cheese, grated

4 pieces thing sliced chicken breast (about 1/3 - 1/2 lb chicken)

Crushed red pepper

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil for cooking

what you need to do...

1  Cook pasta as directed on box.  If you are doing this ahead of time, strain and set aside tossed with a bit of oil to prevent sticking.  Otherwise, this can be done simultaneously with the rest of the preparation.

2  In a medium sauce pan, combine yellow peppers, red peppers, and onion and cook over medium high heat until aromatic and color begins to leave peppers.  Be sure to stir the mixture often to ensure even cooking.

3  Once the peppers are done cooking, add the tomato sauce, 1 tbs crushed red pepper, and a dash of salt and pepper to the vegetable mixture and stir.  Cover to avoid splattering and allow the mixture to continue to cook over medium heat.  (note: if you do not like thing particularly spicy, adjust the crushed red pepper amounts).  When chicken is cooking during step 4, stir in 8 oz grated pepperjack cheese and reduce heat to low.  Stir constantly.  Sauce should begin to thicken as cheese melts in and will look like a creamy red sauce.

4  In a medium-large pan, heat a tbs olive oil.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook in oil over medium heat until cooked through.  Strain chicken on paper towel and cut into cubes on cutting board.

5  Combine all ingredients in a large pot with the pasta and stir well to evenly distribute the sauce.  Serve as is or topped with crushed red pepper, or a sprinkle of pepperjack cheese!

Deck the Halls with Bottles of Rum

It's that time of year again... That time where we all tear through our presents and then sit depressed at the fact that we have, not only 364 more days until Christmas, but also 3 more months of unbearable cold.  Somewhere around January 15th I give up and search for cheap tickets to Puerto Rico.  I do this daily for about five weeks, while intermittently scrolling through my pictures of the gorgeous beaches and crying.  Some might say this is self destructive.  No, in fact.  I see the glass as half full and instead consider this reaching towards my goal of a better future.  A future where it's 80 degrees on Christmas.  A future where I bathe in the ocean with a Medallia in hand on New Years.  A scarfless, jacketless future where adults laugh and children play carelessly.

But because this dream is highly unattainable on my current fiances and with my current educational standing.  So instead, I've decided to bring a little bit of Puerto Rico to Boston.  No, unfortunately not the warm, beautiful, sunny, beachy part, although it has been quite refreshingly not freezing thus far this year.  Instead, I decided to make the drink first introduced to me in Puerto Rico that continues to impress me with each sip.  It is by far one of the most refreshing, light drinks one could wish for.  The Mojito--it is simply seltzer, lime, sugar, mint and, of course, rum because absolutely everything in Puerto Rico (including cereal), has rum in it.

Because these were for a holiday party, I wanted to try to make them festive.  A coworker suggested adding cranberries as a garnish.  I emphasize garnish here because, despite my efforts to make this point clear to my friends, the cranberries and mint in this drink were not take as a representation of holly but instead, a salad.  So like I said, garnish.


Also, I don't really measure when I make these.  I'm going to try to provide you with measurements here but chances are yours might be a little different.  There's nothing I can do about this.  I just don't measure.

what you need...
8-10 oz Seltzer (plain, unflavored)
1/3 a lime (or less if you prefer it less limey)
~12 fresh mint leaves
1.5 oz simple syrup (I home make this but you can find this is a liquor store, also add more for sweeter)
3 oz silver rum (important that the rum is not spiced)
Whole cranberries (to garnish)
Ice

what you need to do...
1  In a tall glass, combine simple syrup, juice from lime, and mint leaves and muddle.  This is a term, for those of you who are unfamiliar, that means to use a blunt tool to firmly mash the ingredients together.  There are muddlers for this, however the back of a wooden spoon will work just fine.  Do this for about 2 minutes, or until all of the mint appears fairly bruised.  This is an important step, without it, you won't get the flavor of the mint at all.  The mint will stay in the drink as continued flavor so a straw will be helpful.
2  Add seltzer and rum and mix well.  Garnish with lime wedges and cranberries and add ice.  Play around with this a little bit.  The first time it may be a bit funky, but the more you make it the better it will taste.  You just have to figure out the perfect mixing for you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Perfect Breakfast. You're Welcome.

It has become more than apparent that there will never be a shortage of things I am able to create with kielbasa.  Quite by accident, we found ourselves with more Kielbasa than we imagined being able to conquer. Needless to say, we've nearly conquered it.  Being on our slow food kick, it seemed more than obvious that we needed to find a way to move through all that kielbasa that we already had.  But eating four links of kielbasa is indeed quite difficult if you stick to the basics.  So we thought a bit outside the box and may have stumbled upon the best, cheap breakfast humanly possible: Sunnyside Hash.  Potato, kielbasa and onion hash served under a sunny side egg with a garnish of Siracha sauce.  Potatoes are cheap.  Onions are cheap.  Eggs are manageably cheap.  And we already had kielbasa and Siracha Sauce.  So essentially this meal took a grand total of three dollars to create.

This meal will get you ready to kick any day's ass.  Hangover beware-- one plate of this and you're about to feel better than ever.  Hungry yet?  I would hope so.

what you need...
(serves two)
1 potato
1/2 link of kielbasa
1 medium onion
2 egg
Siracha sauce (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for sauteing

what you need to do...
1  Chop the onion, potato and kielbasa.  The potato and kielbasa should be cut into similar sized cubes. 
2  Combine onion, potato, kielbasa, olive oil, salt and pepper in medium skillet and cook over medium high heat, covered.  You will need to stir constantly to avoid burning and you're going to need some help from my long lost friend patience.  Turning up the heat will not cook the potatoes through faster.  No, sadly I've learned that instead, this method will burn everything.  Then you will have burnt, hard potatoes and you're morning will be off to a rough start.  Keep the skillet covered while cooking, stir often to avoid uneven cooking, and if you notice it starting to char, do the obvious right thing and turn down the heat.  The hash will be done when the potatoes are soft enough that the spoon is able to easily cut through them.
3  When hash is about finished, prepare the eggs sunny side up.  I'm not gunna explain this.  If you don't know how to do it, you'll need to cover them and never turn them.  That's all.  If you'd prefer, once over easy will suffice.  Basically, when the yolk oozes into the hash, it's gunna be orgasmic so try to make that happen.  If you don't like you're eggs with a runny yolk, make them absolutely any way you would like.  Literally, anything will work.  We just like runny yolks here.
4  Serve egg over the hash, topped with pepper, and garnished with Siracha sauce.  Breakfast perfection.  You're welcome.

The Slowest Food You've Seen Thus Far

So it turns out that cooking fancy things costs money.  And although I pretend, it turns out that I am not actually wealthy enough to fund this exquisite blog on a daily basis.  So this week, we decided to get down to business and take the slow food challenge.

The slow food challenge is a movement we learned about at the Boston Local Food festival.  Essentially, the main idea involves trying to create nightly meals using ingredients you have on hand and fresh local ingredients for 5 dollars or less.  The idea is that you can create nutritious, fresh meals for the same price as a fast food value meal.  We said, screw fresh local ingredients (mainly because Shaw's is closer), and got to work figuring out how to feed ourselves for 5 dollars each night.

Night number one: grab a jar of Culinary Circle Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce, some real cheap veggies, and  throw together an impromptu pasta dish.  This turned out absolutely fantastic, despite how disorganized this adventure began.

what you need...
1 jar of Culinary Circle Sun-dried Tomato Alfredo Sauce
1/2 box of Fettuccine (cooked as directed on the box)
A big 'ole bundle of broccoli
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and Pepper
Oregano
Olive Oil

what you're gunna need to do...
1  In a medium skillet, combine broccoli, tomato and onion with olive oil.  Saute over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.  Add the jar of tomato sauce, reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer.  Stir often to avoid burning.
2  Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and mix until the pasta is coated evenly.  Season with pepper and oregano and take it to your face.