I Am Chef

I love food. Love it. But for me, the best part isn't just eating, it's the cooking too. I'd say I'm a pretty darn good chef too. So today, was my day of cooking (these happen frequently in the summer).

It started off with breakfast. Nothing too fancy shmancy, just my  Banana Chai Shake, peanut butter raisin toast, grapes and raspberries, a glass of cranberry juice, and of course, my vitamins. It fueled me for my busy day in the kitchen!

For dinner, I chose to make Cajun Chicken Pasta. It's something I've been wanting to make for months and I finally got to today. :) The recipe is so simple and the result is delicious.

 Cajun Chicken Pasta:

1 box of linguine

1 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup broccoli

1 cup asparagus, chopped

3 chicken breasts, sliced 

 1 pint heavy cream

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp cajun seasoning

2 tsp cajun seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper

half a lemon

1. Chop up vegetables to desired size. Slice chicken and place in Ziploc baggie. Add 2 tbsp cajun seasoning to bag and shake, coating chicken.

2. Boil linguine until soft. 

3. In a large, separate pan, melt butter and then cook chicken. Then, add chopped veggies and sauté. 

4. Add cream and 2 tsp cajun seasoning and other spices. Squeeze in juice of lemon. Mix thoroughly. 

5. Add strained pasta and stir until cream, vegetables, chicken, and pasta are evenly combined.

6. Serve with bread and devour!

What's great about this recipe is it can totally be adapted to whatever you want! add more/less veggies, chicken, etc. Also, seasonings can be increased/decreased to taste. 

Of course, I had to make dessert too. :) I decided to make the theme of the meal Louisiana- style. I made beignets. So easy.

 Beignets:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

vegetable oil

powdered sugar [for topping]

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in mixer until well-blended.

2. Add milk, butter, and egg and mix until well-blended

3. Heat [about 2 inches of] oil in medium saucepan on medium heat. [You may want to test oil with small drops of dough before starting. you want to see tiny bubbles fizzing around dough.] 

4. Add dough by the spoonful to the hot oil and cook for about 2 minutes, rotating in oil to make sure they get cooked on all sides

5. Let cool on paper towels, roll in topping, and let cool on wax paper

6. Chow down and devour these suckers.

To go with them, I made homemade vanilla sauce. It goes great on pancakes, cupcakes, fruit, anything really!

 Vanilla Sauce:

2 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla
   

1. Mix cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. 

2. Whisk together milk and egg thoroughly, and gradually stir in. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, till mixture comes to a boil. (Don’t be tempted to turn up the heat; if it gets hot too fast, the egg will cook. And scrambled eggs in vanilla sauce would be bad. Really, really bad.) 

3. Boil for at least 1 minute, still stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. 

4. Serve warm or chilled.

Overall, I probably gained about five pounds from everything but we have tons of leftovers and my family loved all of it. :) 

xo

Hannah