Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo (Lightened Up)

After a week off from blogging, I'm back! I can't promise that I will be posting quite as frequently as I used to, but I'm definitely not going to fall off the face of the Earth, either. There's been a lot of cooking going on around here, but for some reason when it comes time to post about the latest dishes I've made, I find myself highly unmotivated. I've decided that I should only blog when I really want to, rather than holding myself to a stricter schedule that sometimes becomes more of a hassle than a joy. I started blogging because I knew I would enjoy it, and I would like to continue to enjoy it. As soon as it becomes just another chore, I think it's a bit pointless to force myself to do it, you know?

But I came here today to talk about Fettuccine Alfredo, so that's what I'm going to do! I am pretty enamored with Fettuccine Alfredo, but I try to eat healthy more often than not, so that pretty much takes one of my favorite pasta dishes off the menu. I have tried countless times to recreate this creamy, decadent meal in my home kitchen, except I always try to lighten it up as much as possible. It's not as easy as it sounds.

Most often, the texture is just not right. Sometimes it turns out way too dry, and not nearly creamy enough. Sometimes the texture is right, but it doesn't seem as cheesy as I would like. A good homemade, healthier Fettuccine Alfredo is nearly impossible to achieve.

Thanks to Cooking Light, I think I have come pretty close. First of all, the addition of shrimp is genius. It bulks up the meal with lean protein so you can have a smaller portion and still be satisfied. Using a really good-quality Parmesan or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is key here, too. You want that flavor to shine, so it had better be good. I used half and half, which is not as luxurious as heavy cream. Just a little bit doesn't set you back too far in the fat department, but it gives the dish that creaminess that's so essential. Finally, the secret weapon here is reduced-fat cream cheese. This, combined with a bit of reserved pasta cooking liquid, allows you to reach the desired consistency. There is one slight catch: you need to serve and eat this dish right away. If it sits too long, it can get a bit gluey and lose the creamy texture. If this does happen, just refresh it with a bit more hot water. This meal was the best kind for me; it fit within my nutritional requirements, but it totally tasted like cheat food!

Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo
adapted from Cooking Light
makes 8 servings

Ingredients
3/4 lb. (12 ounces) fettuccine
1 lb. peeled and deveined medium shrimp
2 green onions, chopped (I subbed in a shallot)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. olive oil
3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup half-and-half
6 Tbsp. (1 1/2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Directions
1. Cook the pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4-1/2 cup cooking liquid. Combine shrimp, onions, and garlic in a small bowl.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil; swirl to coat. Add shrimp mixture, and saute for 4 minutes or until shrimp are done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

3. Reduce heat to medium. Add reserved cooking liquid, Parmigiano-Reggiano, half-and-half, cream cheese, and pepper to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until cheeses melt.

4. Combine pasta, cheese mixture, and shrimp mixture. Toss well to combine. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

Meatless Mondays: Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Vegetables

I'm excited to tell you about this week's Meatless Mondays dish, because it was such cheesy, comforting goodness. After finding myself with a healthy supply of zucchini, summer squash, and various cheeses, it seemed only natural that this recipe would pop into my head. After searching briefly through one of my Giada De Laurentiis cookbooks, I found it: Baked Pasta with Roasted Vegetables.

There's really nothing I can hate about this dish. It's pasta, so right there I'm in love. Next, throw in a nice assortment of roasted veggies. Awesome. Then, you mix it all together with some marinara sauce, thawed frozen peas, and, best of all, four different types of cheese. Uh, yum! You pour it all into a big baking dish, then top it with yet another type of cheese, and bake it until the whole thing turns brown and bubbly and melty. Ahhh.

This was wonderful. What else can I really say? If you like baked pasta dishes, I highly recommend throwing in some roasted veggies for a delightfully healthy twist on the old fave. The five types of cheese just make it more interesting and even more delicious. I liked the peas in there, too. It was a nice pop of texture every time you bit down on one. I made it a bit differently than Giada did; it's got less oil in the veggie-roasting part, and I thought it was totally unnecessary to add chunks of butter to the top of the casserole before baking it, like she did. I wrote the recipe as I made it down below.

Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Vegetables
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Pasta
makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch strips
2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 summer squash, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced into 1-inch strips
1-2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. dried Italian herb blend or herbes de Provence
1 lb. rigatoni pasta
3 cups marinara sauce, homemade or store bought
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup gouda cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Muenster cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup Camembert cheese, crumbled or chopped
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. On a baking sheet (I lined mine with nonstick aluminum foil), toss the bell peppers, zucchini, squash, and onion with the olive oil, 1/2 tsp. of the salt, 1/4 tsp. of the pepper, and the herbs. Bake until tender, about 15 minutes.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook for about 8 minutes; you don't want to cook it fully since it will be cooked later in the oven. Drain.

3. In a large bowl, combine the pasta with the roasted vegetables, marinara sauce, all the cheeses except the Parmesan, the peas, and the remaining salt and pepper. Gently mix using a wooden spoon until all the pasta is coated with sauce and the ingredients are combined.

4. Pour the pasta into a greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Top with the Parmesan cheese. Bake until the top is golden and the cheese melts, about 25 minutes. Allow the pasta to rest for 5 or so minutes before serving.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Blue Cheese

I absolutely love barbecue chicken pizza, and when I saw that there was a rendition of it in a recent issue of Cooking Light, I couldn't resist giving it a try. This was a version that I had never seen before, because instead of being smothered in lots and lots of gooey cheese, this one just has a fair sprinkling of blue cheese. I happened to have a bit of fancy schmancy blue cheese that needed to be used up, so I seized the opportunity.



I did change the veggies on the pie slightly, as the recipe called for yellow pepper and plum tomatoes but I had none at the time. Instead, I used the recommended red onion, plus some scallions for a bit of green. Rather than using tomatoes, I combined the barbecue sauce with some pizza sauce so we would still get both flavors. I used a pizza crust that I had made a long time ago and frozen. I figured if I don't remember how long ago I made it, it had better come out and get used up!

We loved this pizza. It was a fantastic balance of sweet (from the barbecue sauce and red onion) and savory (from the pizza sauce and chicken). Plus, the blue cheese was a nice, assertive kind, so it really shone through despite the fact that I didn't use all that much of it. For a pizza that came from the pages of a healthy eating magazine, it really delivered!

Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Blue Cheese
adapted from Cooking Light
makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1 (8-ounce) prebaked pizza crust, preferably whole wheat
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup pizza sauce or marinara sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded, cooked boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Place pizza crust on a baking sheet. Combine the barbecue sauce with the pizza sauce, then spread it evenly over the pizza crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border.

2. Top evenly with the chicken, red onion, scallions, and blue cheese. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crust is crisp. Cut into 8 wedges and serve.

CEIMB: Chicken Sate with Asian Noodle-Vegetable Salad

It's been two weeks, so it's time for another great Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe! As it turns out, this week's selections mark three great new recipes for the price of one. Danica of Danica's Daily chose for us to make Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce and a Soba Noodle-Vegetable Salad. I was actually quick shocked to discover that I hadn't made any of these dishes yet. Well, I was going to fix that for sure!



First off, we have the Chicken Sate. It's a simple enough recipe. Take your chicken pieces, coat them in a yummy marinade, then thread the pieces onto bamboo skewers and grill until cooked through. A sprinkle of basil (and chopped peanuts, which I didn't use) goes on top, and then you can dip your chicken sticks in the Spicy Peanut Sauce.

The chicken turned out juicy, succulent, and flavorful. It almost didn't need any dipping sauce....almost. The sauce is addictive stuff! I love anything that contains peanut butter, so I knew I would be a fan. However, Ellie adds a couple unique touches to her version of peanut sauce, such as a small amount of curry paste, which make this particular dip unforgettable. It's just spicy enough, just sweet enough, and just tangy enough to be, in my book, perfect. Yum.

The Noodle-Vegetable Salad is great, too, although I did like the chicken and peanut sauce better. For my salad, I chose to use a combination of some skinny brown rice vermicelli that I had left over from a soup I made long ago, and some wide Asian noodles. The latter noodles were similar to a fettuccine noodle, so I thought the two contrasting cuts of pasta would be fun. And it was fun, but a bit confusing. In the future I will definitely stick to just one type of noodle! The salad was very delicious. It was fresh from the chopped herbs, crunchy from the red bell pepper and carrot, and zingy from the Asian dressing. The dressing was the best part of this recipe, no doubt. I will be using this dressing in other salads! I did not follow the directions to the letter here. Ellie says to present the salad in lettuce cups, made from Bibb lettuce leaves. I didn't have any nice lettuce to use for this, so I just served up the salad as is. In my opinion, it worked out just fine.

Thanks to Danica for the excellent picks! Together, it all made for a fantastic Asian meal that my family truly enjoyed. To see if the other CEIMBistas loved it too, check out the blogroll, here. For the Chicken and Peanut Sauce recipes, click over to Food Network's site, here. The Noodle Salad recipe is over there also; click here.

Poblano Pesto Potato Salad

Well, I made another potato salad. It seems to be my new thing. I love a potato salad, or at least I love them as long as they don't contain mayo. I don't do mayo. But fortunately for me, there are still plenty of creative things one can do with potatoes.



I had a couple of leftover poblano peppers to use up, and I thought I was being very clever when I decided that they would taste fabulous as a pesto sauce. However, it turns out that I was not the first person to think of this. A quick Google search revealed that another blogger had made a sauce just like the one I thought I had dreamed up. Using their basic recipe as a guide, I made my own with a couple of different ingredients, such as fresh cilantro and marcona almonds. I especially love the marcona almonds in there; they have such a nice flavor, and they're already roasted and salted. That means I can use less oil and salt in the pesto; score!

I divided the batch of pesto in half, and used one half to make a simple potato salad. It was delicious! Just the thing for July 4th. The other half is awaiting its use in my fridge; I'm thinking about just using it as a pasta sauce. It's very scrumptious; it would be good as a sauce for meat or shrimp, as well. Heck, you could even use it to top your tacos or fajitas; the poblanos and cilantro give it a Mexican kinda flair.




Poblano Pesto
adapted from The Food Medic
makes about 1 1/2 cups pesto

Ingredients
2 large poblano peppers, blackened over an open flame or under the broiler, with the skin, seeds, and stems removed
1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves (you can include stems)
1/2 cup marcona almonds
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon, juiced
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
1. In a food processor, combine the almonds and garlic. Pulse until the almonds have been finely chopped. Add the poblanos, the cilantro, and the lemon juice. Process until the greens have been blended and the mixture resembles a coarse sauce. Slowly stream in the olive oil while the processor is running, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle in salt and pepper, to taste, and then pulse the food processor again until the mixture is uniform.

2. To make Poblano Pesto Potato Salad, simply mix half the pesto sauce with 1 lb. to 1 1/2 lbs. small Yukon gold potatoes that have been quartered and cooked in simmering water until fork tender (about 12 minutes). Store in the fridge until chilled, then serve. The other half of the pesto sauce can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for at least a week.

CEIMB: Chicken Pepian

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly was another one of my picks! That's one cool thing about being in a blogging group that is a bit on the smaller side; you get to pick the recipe a whole lot more often! I chose to make Chicken Pepian, which I have seen Ellie make at least twice or three times now on her cooking show. I have drooled over this one for far too long; it was time to finally prepare it myself!

These beautiful green gems above are fresh tomatillos, which I absolutely love working with. They are a descendant of the gooseberry (or so I am told by Rachael Ray!), and they kinda sorta taste like a cross between a tomato and a citrus fruit. It's hard to explain, so if you've never tried them and are intrigued, I definitely suggest that you give them a try. We really love them! The tomatillos are used as the base for a yummy green sauce that is first prepared and then used to top boneless, skinless chicken breasts in this dish.

I do have to apologize to my fellow CEIMB-istas for this one, because I didn't realize just how many steps were involved with this recipe until I read through it just before prepping my grocery list. Though the steps are all pretty simple, there are a lot of them and they do take a bit of time. I am happy to say that I think it was worth it, though!

For the actual preparation, I decided to deviate from Ellie's method a bit. Call it laziness, or call it creativity; it was really a little bit of both! I broiled my onions and garlic along with my tomatillos and poblano pepper; it saved me a step in which you sauteed the onion and garlic in a pan. Then, instead of pounding out chicken breasts, I used chicken tenderloins, which of course are much smaller cuts. I put my tenderloins in a Dutch oven, poured all the pepian sauce over top of them, and then baked the whole dish in the oven for about an hour at 350 degrees. I thought the low and slow method would keep the meat moist, and would also ensure that the sauce was bubbly and simmered enough (especially since I had prepared the sauce one day ahead and it was cold from the fridge).

Then, in one final burst of ingenuity, I decided to serve them up two different ways. The first night we ate this, I placed a pile of stone ground tortilla chips beside the chicken and let everyone choose whether they wanted to just eat the chicken straight up, or use the chips to scoop it all up. Either way, you couldn't lose, because this was very, very scrumptious! The second night, I used the chicken and the sauce as a filling for some wraps, and that was super delicious as well.

This sauce was reminiscent of a pesto, since it utilized leafy green herbs, roasted veggies, and pumpkin seeds. However, the flavor was decidedly Southwestern, and there was the barest hint of heat from the poblano and jalapeno. It was nice and zesty, but not overpowering. I'd love to see how this would taste tossed with some pasta, though!

I've provided the full recipe, the way Ellie intended it. You can try it her way or mine; I can only vouch for my method. I'm glad I chose this; it got some very enthusiastic thumbs-up at my house! If you'd like to check out the CEIMB blogroll, click here. Thanks to everybody who cooked with me this week!

Chicken Pepian
adapted from Food Network
makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients
1 lb. fresh tomatillos
1 large poblano pepper (2.5-3 oz.), seeded and chopped into four pieces
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1/2 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds
5 whole peppercorns
2 whole allspice
1/2 tsp. whole cumin seeds
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped, fresh cilantro leaves (plus 1/4 cup more for garnish)
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 medium (2-inch) jalapeno pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
4 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
Lime wedges

Directions
1. Preheat the broiler. Remove papery outer skins from tomatillos, then rinse with warm water to remove some of their natural stickiness. Pat dry, then cut into quarters. Toss tomatillos and the poblano with 2 tsp. of the oil, place on a baking sheet, and broil until charred, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

2. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add pumpkin seeds, peppercorns, allspice, and cumin, and toast until pumpkin seeds are fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.

3. In the same saute pan, heat 2 tsp. of the oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

4. Place the tomatillos, the poblano, the onions, garlic, 1 cup cilantro, chicken broth, jalapeno pepper, pumpkin seeds, spices, and the salt in a food processor (or blender) and process on high until totally smooth, about 30 seconds.

5. Heat the remaining 2 tsp. oil in a skillet and cook the chicken until browned on both sides and nearly cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Add pepian sauce to the skillet, covering the chicken pieces. Bring to a simmer and cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Serve chicken topped with the sauce and garnished with cilantro and lime wedges.

CEIMB: Roasted Tomato and Almond Pesto Pasta

I am thrilled to be able to present you with this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe, because Ellie Krieger herself has chosen it for us! That's right. Somehow Ellie managed to find out about our little blogging group, and she kindly offered to share with us a new dish that she has come up with. Needless to say, we jumped on it and it was placed on the rotation for this week.

The dish, Whole Grain Spaghetti with Roasted Tomato and Almond Pesto (or whole grain rotini, which is what I used), is definitely one of Ellie's best, at least in our opinion! Not only is it packed with flavor and nutrition, but it's absolutely, uniquely delicious and so very easy to make! As you are boiling some water for pasta, you can easily assemble the pesto sauce. It starts out with some toasted almonds and a clove of garlic, which are chopped finely in a food processor.

Meanwhile, you slow-roast about 6 tomatoes in the oven (Ellie also presents the option of using a can of diced, fire-roasted tomatoes), which makes the tomatoes' flavor concentrate and become tangy-sweet. Sooo, sooo good. After they have roasted, into the food processor they go, along with some fresh basil, red wine vinegar, and crushed red pepper flakes.

You blend in some olive oil, then add salt to taste. What I could not get over at this point was how creamy the sauce became. I suppose if I had not processed the ingredients too much, I could have had a chunkier pesto, but I happen to like it the way it turned out. It wasn't completely smooth; there were still little nut pieces and basil flecks, which gave the sauce a great texture. Finally, you throw in some Parmesan cheese and gently pulse to combine. That's it for the sauce.

I was about 97% faithful to the original recipe. I did use rotini instead of spaghetti, and I also reduced the olive oil by 1 Tbsp. (I used 2 instead of the recommended 3) and bumped up the red wine vinegar from 1 tsp. to 4 tsp. I do like things tart, and this made it slightly more so. Finally, I served the pasta on a bed of fresh spinach, just to plump up the bowls a bit. Overall, we absolutely loved, loved, loved this dish! Even my son, who routinely gives me trouble at dinnertime, inhaled this and declared it "really good!" That's a huge compliment from him!

So, Ellie, if you're reading this, thanks so much for this wonderful recipe! I can hardly wait to make it again (and again). And if you have any other new recipes lying around that you want us to try, please don't hesitate to share! I hope the other ladies in the group had as much fun making, and eating, this as I did! You can find this recipe on our main CEIMB site, here. That's also where you will find the blogroll, so do stop by if you get a chance!

CEIMB Rewind: Portobello Lasagna Rollups with Easy Tomato Sauce

This week's Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe is going to be a rewind. Peggy from Pantry Revisited chose Tuna Noodle Casserole, which I am still not quite brave enough to attempt just yet. I don't know; there's just something about tuna that just repels me. Any time I try to eat it (usually after years of not eating it) I still feel the same way, so I just don't see that changing anytime soon. I'm sorry, Peggy! I'll make sure to cook along with you next time!

So, I wound up making Portobello Lasagna Rollups with Easy Tomato Sauce, which the group originally made all the way back in mid-November of 2008. I was not yet a member back then (in fact, that same week in November was the week before I gave birth to my second son), and honestly if I had the choice of making this two years ago I probably would have declined. Mushrooms are fine for me now, but they definitely have not always been my friend. I've come around on the mushroom thing in recent months, so I've been wanting to find ways to incorporate them into more dinners since my husband is such a fan of them.

Although you do have to set aside some time to prepare these lasagna rolls, they are very simple to prepare. The easy tomato sauce is just that; easy! It comes together in no time, with very little effort. After cooking lasagna noodles until just al dente, you lay them out flat and fill them with a mixture of vegetables (mushrooms, spinach) and cheese (ricotta, mozzarella) and some of the tomato sauce. You repeat this with all of the noodles, then you roll them up so that the filling remains inside. You place them in a baking dish, standing up, and top with even more cheese and sauce. They bake until bubbly and golden, and that's it!

Reviews were kinda mixed on this one. They tasted just fine, and the concept is a great one. It's lasagna without the labor intensive prep work! However, they did seem a bit lackluster; a bit more flavor, or perhaps some spice, would have helped greatly. My hubby threw a bunch of salt on his; I try to steer away from doing that, so I just settled for some crushed red pepper on top. Still, I would make this again. I think it would be great with some lean ground turkey or turkey sausage in the filling!

For this full recipe, click on over to Food Network's website, here. And to see how the CEIMBers liked the Tuna Noodle Casserole, check out the blogroll, here.

CEIMB: Aromatic Pork Stew with Butternut Squash

It's time for Craving Ellie in My Belly again, and this one is really a treat. Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table chose the Aromatic Beef Stew with Butternut Squash, from Ellie's So Easy cookbook. Although I do not eat beef, I knew that it would be simple enough to sub in pork for the beef. I do that quite frequently, and I always have good results. This stew is an interesting spin on an old standby. Ellie takes beef and browns it up briefly before removing it and setting it aside. Then, onions are cooked up with a bit of ginger and garlic, and then tomato sauce, broth, butternut squash, and a medley of warm spices are added into the pot. The beef goes back in, and then you let everything simmer away until the squash is nice and tender and the meat is fully cooked through. The stew is served on a bed of couscous and then garnished with chopped almonds and parsley (I didn't have parsley, though).

Because I had a ton of stuff to do the day I made this, I decided to brush the dust off the slow cooker and make the stew in there. It came together just perfectly. I browned my pork in a skillet, then briefly cooked the onions and garlic in its juices. I transferred everything to the slow cooker, along with the other stew ingredients, and turned the power on to the low setting. About 5 hours later, I had the most fragrant and tasty dinner! All I had to do was cook up some couscous and I was golden. I went with Israeli couscous for this (the big, pearl-shaped couscous) and mixed half white, half whole wheat. I loved this! It was warming, satisfying, and absolutely essential on the rainy evening we ate it.

Best of all, I realized just how much I like butternut squash! I haven't really worked with it much, and now I wonder why. I thought it was a great alternative to plain old potatoes in the stew, and it really enhanced the whole exotic feel of the dish.

Thank you, Kayte! I am so grateful to you for choosing this. Often when looking through Ellie's cookbooks, I just skip right past the beef dishes since I do not cook or eat it. Now I realize I should be giving them a second glance, because if I am able to substitute other proteins in place of the beef, I can find hidden gem recipes such as this one! If you'd like the full recipe, check it out over here. And for the CEIMB blogroll, click on over here.

Chicken in Pumpkin-Ancho Mole Sauce

I try to post and talk about a lot of main dishes that are easy, quick, and flavorful. I'm all about things being simple; after all, the time I get to spend in the kitchen without a child clinging to my leg is precious little! But, I have to say that every now and again, I really, really enjoy being able to prepare a meal that took a long time to make. There's just something about all that time invested in the dish that makes it taste so much better. The flavors get to develop so much more fully, and the meat (if you're using meat, that is) just becomes so much more tender and tasty.

I saw Sunny Anderson making this Chicken in Pumpkin-Ancho Mole Sauce on TV one afternoon, and right away I knew that this meal was going to be the very next lazy-day meal that I was going to make. It just seemed so perfect for us: chicken brined in warm spices, then bathed in a thick, hearty sauce made from pumpkin seeds, reconstituted dried peppers, roasted veggies, and fresh herbs. The whole shebang is then baked in a Dutch oven for about an hour, and when it's all said and done the meat just falls right off the bone. The meat is then shredded and placed back in the sauce for another little bath. The mixture is folded into a corn tortilla, along with some fresh veggies, and then it's ready to be devoured. Oh, bliss.

This was the first time I had ever brined anything. I have always wanted to try it, so I was excited about the whole experience. It's definitely easy; it just takes some planning ahead. I had to boil the brining liquid and then allow it to completely cool (so as not to cook the chicken prematurely) before putting the chicken in there for a swim. I actually did all this the day before I was going to cook it, since Sunny says you can do this up to 24 hours ahead of time. I'm not quite sure what it would have tasted like had I not done this, but I can tell you that the meat was unbelievably moist and delicious this way. I highly, highly recommend brining for the whole 24 hours. The spices are present in the final product; you can taste the cinnamon and the cloves there along with the flavors in the sauce. They are a perfect marriage.

The sauce, dubbed a "mole" by Sunny even though one traditionally associates the word mole with the inclusion of chocolate in a sauce, is completely free of the ingredient. Sunny points out in the episode that mole simply means "sauce," so that doesn't necessarily mean you have to add chocolate. She prefers it this way. The sauce is plenty rich without the chocolate, but I would like to know what this would taste like if I were to add just a bit next time..



As is, the sauce is thick and full-bodied, thanks to the heft of the pumpkin seeds and the meaty reconstituted peppers. Sunny only used ancho chilies; I used a combination of ancho and guajillo. Guajillo is twice as spicy as ancho, but is still considered to be more smoky then hot. I also used 2 jalapenos in there, as directed, and found the sauce to be pretty darn spicy. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but I just thought I'd throw that disclaimer on there! It's not for the faint of heart. The cilantro adds brightness, and the roasted veggies make the sauce taste fresh. I was absolutely in love with the sauce. It was so complex, and it just worked so well as a condiment on this twist on a taco. I am quickly becoming obsessed with this idea of a seed- or nut-based sauce (pesto, anyone?) that you can slow-roast your meat in and then shred it back into. The possibilities....oh, they boggle my mind. But for now, I have this exquisite mole.

Chicken in Pumpkin-Ancho Mole Sauce
adapted from Sunny Anderson
serves 6-8

Ingredients
8 cups water, divided
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 bay leaf
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. whole cloves
6 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (Sunny used breasts)
3 ancho chiles (dried poblano peppers)
2 guajillo chiles
2 large jalapenos, halved
1 large onion, quartered
3 Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
4 whole garlic cloves
1 tsp. whole cumin seeds
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds (Sunny used 1 cup)
1 large bunch cilantro leaves
16 corn tortillas, kept warm
2 limes, cut into 8 wedges
2-3 cups fresh spinach leaves, shredded
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, combine 6 cups water with kosher salt, sugar, bay leaf, cinnamon, black peppercorns, and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring gently. Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer to a large bowl, add the chicken, and refrigerate, covered, at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Bring the remaining 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. In a medium heatproof bowl, add the ancho and guajillo chiles and cover with the boiling water. Weigh down with a plate so the peppers remain underwater and let them soak for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the stems when the peppers have softened.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. On a sheet tray toss the jalapenos, onion, Roma tomatoes, cloves of garlic, and cumin seeds with 2 Tbsp. oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast until nicely caramelized with good color, 25 to 30 minutes. Add the pumpkin seeds to a dry, hot skillet on high heat. Stir often, until the pumpkin seeds are golden and begin to pop. Transfer to a food processor along with the roasted vegetables. Add the soaked chiles, about 2 Tbsp. of chili soaking liquid, the cilantro leaves, and the remaining 2 Tbsp. olive oil to the processor. Puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if necessary.

4. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator, blot dry with paper towels, and place in a large Dutch oven. Pour the mole sauce over top of the chicken, cover Dutch oven with a lid, and place in the 400 degree oven until the chicken is cooked through, 55 to 60 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and transfer chicken to a cutting board to cool. When it is cool to the touch, shred the chicken and add it back to the sauce. Spoon the mole into corn tortillas and serve with lime wedges, shredded spinach, red onion, and radishes.

CEIMB: Four Cheese Baked Penne (Or Three Cheese Baked Rigatoni!)

This week's much-anticipated Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was Four Cheese Baked Penne, chosen by Lindsey of 71 Cookbooks. I have been waiting for this one. We are big baked pasta eaters here at my house. It's basically my go-to meal, one of the first things I learned how to cook, and one of my childhood comfort foods. I figured I was going to be in for a big treat.

Of course, it seems I never follow one of Ellie's recipes exactly, and this one was no different. Instead of using all four of the cheeses Ellie did, I omitted the cottage cheese and made up the difference by using extra ricotta. I had rigatoni on hand, not penne, so that was the pasta I used. Otherwise, I did follow the recipe just as written. I also decided to make the salad that accompanies the pasta in her cookbook, but I did not use romaine hearts as she indicates. Instead, I made a spinach salad with all the other ingredients in her recipe.

I have to be honest. I wasn't totally blown away by this meal. I did really enjoy it, but the pasta dish definitely needed a little something extra. I think for me, I like the baked pasta to be saucier, as in tomato sauce. When I usually make it, it has about twice the tomato sauce and I normally use enough crushed red pepper flakes to give it a bit of a kick. However, I wanted to follow Ellie's method because 1) I'm always up for trying something her way, because her way is probably healthier, and 2) if I had followed my instincts and added more sauce, it would have ended up being my version of baked pasta and not Ellie's anymore! Oh well. I'm glad I know for sure now that I like it the tried and true way.

As for the spinach salad, it was tasty. I felt like the dressing, which was simply lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper, and oregano, was a bit too acidic. I made the same salad the next evening with the pasta leftovers, except with white balsamic vinegar in place of the lemon juice. What a difference that made! We loved the balsamic version, probably because it was slightly sweeter and far less tart. I really did love how the salty kalamata olives offset the sweet red onions so nicely. It was a pleasant surprise.

Thanks to Lindsey for choosing this dish! If you'd like the full recipe, it's on Food Network's site, here. The blogroll for the CEIMB can be found here.

CEIMB Rewind: Turkey Meatballs with Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce

This week I decided to do a recipe rewind, and go back in time to late April, 2009, before I was a part of Craving Ellie in My Belly. This week's actual recipe pick was Ellie's Baked Beans with Ham, but I had to opt out this time. For one, I have been nursing a flu bug or something that has knocked me out a bit, so I haven't been cooking a whole lot these past few days. Even if I was feeling top notch, though, I'm not sure I would have made this. I've never been a fan of baked beans; maybe Ellie's version would have converted me though! If everybody's reviews of this are good, I may have to revisit it another week.



For now, however, I'm going to tell you about Ellie's Turkey Meatballs with Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce, from her book The Food You Crave. I've actually made this meal twice now, but when I made it most recently I finally photographed it so I could blog about it.

This is a wonderful interpretation of spaghetti and meatballs. I mean, sometimes when you make a healthier version of an old classic, you find yourself wanting for more. But not with this recipe. The meatballs are incredibly moist, thanks in part to the grated carrot and chopped onion inside. The veggies create that needed moisture, since ground turkey can be sort of dry otherwise. The sauce is classic but has a great spicy twist, thanks to some chipotle peppers for that awesome heat. The whole-wheat spaghetti is a great pairing with the sauce and the meatballs; hearty, and stands up to the strong flavors.

The first time I made this dish, which was over a year ago, my husband took the leftovers into work the next day. One of his coworkers tried some and demanded the recipe. When Andy told me this, I realized that this particular coworker had asked for at least 3 or 4 of Ellie's recipes before this. So, we ended up buying him her first cookbook for his next birthday. I just thought all of you CEIMBers would appreciate hearing that I had converted yet another Ellie fan to our ranks!

I hope everybody enjoyed the Baked Beans with Ham this week, and thanks to Danica of Danica's Daily for hosting.

To see the full recipe for the Turkey Meatballs and Sauce, click here.