Chicken Alfredo

I don't only bake but I (attempt) to cook. Some things that I try turn out magnificent! and others... Well, we won't talk about that.

This is one of those times that the meal turned out wonderfully! It may not be calorie conscious but it is delicious. My roommate and I LOVE Olive Garden. In fact, they just put one here in Stillwater and it's right down the street. It's dangerously close to us. She said "Olive Garden" just once today and I instantly craved the carb filled pastas, breadsticks and sauces. I didn't know what went into alfredo sauce so a quick call the the fiance and problem solve. (And might I add that my sauce turned out better than his ever has!)

Select your pasta of choice and cook.

Ingredients for the alfredo sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 milk
hand full of flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used Kraft)
Various spices: parsley, basil, garlic powder, etc to taste

Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter with the milk. When melted, bring it just to a boil and turn the burner down a bit. Add spices and parmesan cheese and stir constantly until it thickens. If the sauce is not thick enough add the flour. Season to taste.
Viola! You are done with your sauce!

I say that it is chicken alfredo because I cooked the chicken simultaneously with it (different pan of course).

For my easy chicken...
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts
Olive oil
Spices

Directions:
In a skillet pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan and then add a little. Defrost your chicken if frozen. Select spices that you have on hand (my favorite go-tos are parsley, garlic powder and oregano. Old Bay is tastey as well with a bit of salt and pepper).
Place defrosted chicken in the skillet, turning over once to coat in olive oil. Lightly season both sides of the chicken.
On medium-low heat, cook the first side of the chicken breast. When it looks as if it has cooked half way through (it should be white on the sides), flip over using a spatula. Let the second side cook through. Add a lid to your skillet to speed up the process a bit. To make sure chicken is done, cut into it and check the middle. If it is still pink, continue cooking.

And there you have it. A delicious Olive Garden inspired meal! Bon Appetit!

Peach Cobbler

I love my grandparents to death, I really do. However, they keep giving me all the surplus fruits and vegetables that they have from their expansive "garden".  The most recent acquisition was about a dozen and half peaches from their still producing peach tree. (They used to have several and several apple trees as well but they died a terrible lightening strike death. Oh, Oklahoma and your crazy weather.) Anyways, they give me these peaches which I'm not the biggest fan of but take them anyways. I figured that my roommate would devour them. Nope.
So here I am with a ton of peaches that I know I won't eat before they go bad. So what do I do? Make dessert. That's the solution to everything, right? The recipe I found was after searching my disorganized recipe pile for a good 15 minutes. This is obviously not my grandma's recipe (even though it's in her handwriting) because she is a very neat pie/cobbler maker and always has to have the formal pie crust. This does not. But it is very, very good. :)

Sorry it's not the prettiest picture

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (divided)
1 cup flour (I used whole wheat but all-purpose is good too!)
1 Tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk (soy or regular)
4 cups fresh peach slices
1 Tbs lemon juice
Ground cinnamon


Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Melt the butter and pour into a 9"x13" pan
Combine 1 cup of sugar, the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in milk until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour your batter into the pan on top of the butter, but don't stir it!!
In a skillet, add peaches, remaining sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Pour in to your pan on top of the batter, again, do not stir!
Sprinkle cinnamon on top to taste.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Let set for 10 minutes before serving.
Serve warm or cool (you can add ice cream too!)

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies (from a box!)

I have always loved red velvet. Not only because it's oh-so-chocolatey but because it's such a deep color of red. Recently, I think that there has been a resurgence of the red velvet craze. Everybody has a new red velvet recipe, every bake shop in the country has at least on variation of the red velvet cupcake and it's their best seller. It's crazy! So, I jumped on the band-wagon myself after years of not making my own red velvet anything. Not to mention these are the cookies my dad requested for father's day :)

I looked all over pinterest for the perfect red velvet cookie. Mostly because I love cookies more than anything. Some were uber complicated (red velvet isn't supposed to be hard!) and others had tons of ingredients. Then I found several that used a cake mix instead of actual chocolate chips or cocoa powder. And from a combination of several websites and my own experimentation comes this delicious cookie. Be warned; the dough is really good!

Ingredients:
1 box of red velvet cake mix
2 Tbs all purpose flour
1/2  cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (about) powder sugar (for rolling the cookies in)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper for an easier time getting the cookies off the sheet as well as an easier clean up.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake mix and the flour, breaking up all of the clumps. Once the clumps are broken apart, add vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract and mix together until smooth. The batter should be fairly thick. Roll small balls (about 1 tbs or 1 inch) in your hand then roll them in the bowl of powder sugar until coated. Place cookie dough 1-2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the center begins to crack and the edges are set.

Once the cookies are done baking, let them rest on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes or until firm enough to transfer to a wire cooling rack. If you are taking these cookies elsewhere, wait until the cookies are completely firm to stack them up in a container or on a plate.

Enjoy!

P.S. This red dough WILL stain anything white that it touches. I suggest wearing an apron just incase. I may or may not be speaking from experience ;)