Laura's Kitchen

When I mase this soup the other day, I was just throwing in whatever sounded good to me and it was actually smelling pretty good. Then my mom came in and said "oh that smells yummy" then she opened the lid. "what is it?" she asked me. It struck me that I had no idea as to what I was making so I answered "manna". So here it is.
1 lb beef stew meat
4+ cu water
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bell pepper
Pasta of your choice (preferably macaroni or something of that size)
1-2 T oregano
1 pinch chile pepper flakes
1 T curry
Salt and pepper to taste
Feta Cheese
Cover meat with water, add salt and bring to a boil. Let simmer until meat is pretty much done or until ab out an hour until serving time. Put in remaining ingredients except for the cheese and let simmer until pasta is soft. Add chees just before you are ready to serve. stir it in and then serve and enjoy!

3 cloves garlic, grated
1 T sesame oil
Juice from 1/2 lemon
3 green onions, chopped
1 lb round steak
2 heads broccoli, chopped into spears
2 carrots cut into rounds
1/2 head cabbage, chopped
1/2 cu sesame seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pkg rice noddles or regular pasta
1 pinch Chile pepper flakes
1/2 peanut sauce

Heat oil over medium heat. Grate in garlic and add meat. Brown meat then add onions and lemon juice. Cover and let cook until beef is almost done, stirring every once and a while.
In a large pot, bring salted water t a boil. If using regular pasta, cook it as you normally would. If using rice pasta follow the directions on the package. If the directions are all in Thai as they were on my package do the following: when water boils add pasta then add a cup of cold water when it comes back up to a boil. Repeat twice, drain pasta.
When beef s almost done, add vegetables, pepper flakes and sesame seats. cover and wait until the broccoli turns bright green. At this point you can do one of two thing. Either put the sir fry and noodles into serving bowl and toss with peanut sauce or add pasta to vegetables and toss. Serve and Enjoy!

Pumpkin soup is a nice fall dish. It's warm and creamy and best of all very low fat. Here's my take on a fall classic.

3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cu. chicken or veggie broth
1 28 oz can pumpkin puree
1 apple diced (optional)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 generous pinch Chile pepper flakes
1-2 T oregano
1 t fresh ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Let simmer until you are ready to serve. You can sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top if you want to. Serve and enjoy!

3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
2 Sweet bell peppers, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 cu olives
1 handful cilantro
1/2 cu plain tomato sauce
1 t Chile powder
1 t paprika
1 t Cayenne pepper
a pinch red peeper flakes
1/2 t salt
juice of one lime
18 corn tortillas
1 cu shredded cheese
1 Avocado

In a pan over medium heat saute onions and garlic in 1 T olive oil. Add chicken. Salt, cover and cook all the way through. When Chicken is done, put in a food processor one at a time with cilantro and chop. Stream in lime juice. Set mixture aside.
In a small bowl, mix sauce and spices together. Spoon a little bit of sauce into a 9 x 13 pan. Spread it around. This will act as a glue for the tortillas. Lay 6 of the cor tortillas on the bottom of the pan. Spoon some more sauce and the onions from the chicken. Spread and add chicken and veggies. Sprinkle some cheese on top. Repeat until you run out of filling.
Bake for 15 min at 350 F or until cheese bubbles. Chop up Avocado and put on top of the melted cheese. Serve and enjoy!

Fall's here and apples are in season! there are so many things to make with them, but I thought I might step out of the box a little with this one. You can also use pork instead of chicken. I would recommend that you broil the pork however.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 onion diced
3 cloves garlic grated
1 1/2- 2 T olive oil
1/2 cu. app;e cider
2 Apples sliced thinly
1 T oregano
A dash of nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 pinch red pepper flakes
3 lb potatoes of your choice
1/2 cu. milk
salt and garlic powder to taste
In a skillet heat oil over medium heat and add garlic and onions. Stir and add chicken. Cook until half done and add apple cider, apples and seasonings. Cover and let simmer until chicken is done.
Meanwhile, cut potatoes into chunks and cover with water. salt and cook over medium high heat until fork tender. Drain and mash with milk and garlic. Ad more salt if needed.
Serve chicken over mashed potatoes and enjoy!

For all you Italian lovers here's a recipe that I just made. I got thae Gnochi recipe from the link I attached. I would have written it here but the website I linked explains the process much better than I could.

Pesto:
1 cu. Basil
1 cu. Parsley
4 cloves Garlic
1 Cu Hazelnuts, toasted
8 oz Parmesan Cheese
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper
Cherry tomatoes
A batch of Gnochi http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/how-to-make-gnocchi-like-an-italian-grandmother-recipe.html
Place first five ingrediewnts in the bowl of a food prcessr fitted with a chopping blade. Pluse until finely chopped strean in olive oil until a smoothe paste forms. Salt and pepper to taste. Put some of the pesto on the bottom of your serving bowl. Add in Gnochi as it gets done. Put the tomatoes on the remaining pesto and pour ot over the finnished gnochi. Serve and enjoy!

1/3 cu butter
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 medium size onion chopped
3 Boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 lb sugar peas
2 T lemon juice
1/4 cu chicken broth
3 sprigs fresh oregano
3 sprigs fresh lemon thyme
4+ leaves sage
Pasta

Heat butter in a deep skillet until melted. Add onions and garlic and saute for a couple min until onion is soft. Add in chicken and brown.Add broth, herbs and lemon juice. Cook chicken.
Meanwhile in a pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain.
When Chicken is almost done, add in peas and cook until they turn bright green. Toss with pasta and enjoy!
Variation
Use Salmon instead of Chicken or white wine instead of chicken broth.

One of my favs of the summer is tomatoes. This is not because I adore the tomato itself. In fact I don't like raw tomatoes for fresh eating, but I LOVE fresh tomato sauce with homemade pasta!!The pasta recipe is from my sister's cookbook but the sauce is all mine. Check it out :)
Pasta:
2 cu. flour
1 T olive oil
3 eggs
Sauce:
6-8 Roma Tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 T olive oil
1 pinch nutmeg
1 t Chile pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

For Pasta:
Make a well in the middle of the flour and add egg and oil. gradually fold into flour and kneed until smooth and elastic. cut in half and flatten. Feed through a pasta maker until almost transparent. You may have to dust dough with flour every once and a while. If you need to, cut the rolled out dough in half so t is easier to work with. When it is thin enough, feed the dough through the angel hair setting. lay on the counter and let dry for at least an hour. When you are ready cook pasta boil water with salt and a little olive oil. Put the pasta in and cook. Fresh pasta takes only 30+ sec to cook so keep an eye on it. The pasta with become more white and transparent in appearance.
For Sauce:
Put the tomatoes in a glass Pyrex dish. drizzle with olive oil and add garlic. Toss until tomatoes are well coated. Bake in the oven at 500 until skins break and tomatoes are tender. Remove skins and place the garlic and tomatoes in a serving bowl. Smash until desired consistency is reached. Add the spices and seasonings. Add pasta and toss until well mixed. Serve and enjoy!

1/2 cucumber , sliced
1/2 a chicken breast cooked and refrigerated
3-4 cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
1/4 cu plain yogurt
eyeball the following:
oregano
chili powder
nutmeg (not too much)
pickle juice
Mix together yogurt, spices and pickle juice. pour over chicken and cucumbers. stir and enjoy.
Serves: 1
This can also make a good wrap or sandwitch!

I love to cook and bake. There's nothing like creating a yummy meal and watching others enjoy it. The problem is, not too many people outside of my family get to try out my culinary experiments. although they are my most valued critics, I enjoy getting another view on my recipes. I will be posting my creations on this blog for you guys to try out and give me feedback on.
I also love trying out recipes from other people so I might also send out a call for different recipes from you the readers.
So to Start this all out, I though I would share with you a recipe I recently created.
Peanut Broccoli Chicken
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into bit-sized chunks
1 Onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, grated
1ish T sesame or Olive Oil
1 head Broccoli, cut into spears
1/4 cu peanuts
Whole Wheat Spaghetti noodles
sauce:
1/4 cu Peanut Butter
1+ T Thia Peanut Sauce
1+ T Hoisen Sauce
3/4 mug starchy cooking liquid from pasta

It a skillet over medium, heat oil and add grated garlic and chopped onion. saute until wilted and add chicken. Cook until mostly done and add broccoli. Cover and let cook until broccoli is bright green. Add peanuts and remove from heat.
Meanwhile in a large pot bring water to a boil. salt and add pasta. Cook until Al Dente. Drain.
While broccoli is cooking, in a serving bowl whisk all the sauce ingredients together except liquid. Whisk in Starchy cooking liquid.
When pasta and chicken are done and them to the sauce stir and serve.