Yummy Recipe Wednesday! (Creamy Italian Bow Ties)

Hello again my friendly foodies and welcome to another Yummy Recipe Wednesday! Today I bring you an amazing, flavorful, Italian pasta dish that I’m certain you will get requests for again and again. This is a pretty simple dish to make despite the moderate amount of ingredients it takes. On that note, if you can’t find diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano for some reason, you can just use a can of regular diced tomatoes and then add a little basil and oregano to the dish. Also, I added a note below the ingredients but I wanted to point out that if you do use low fat milk you will need to add a Tbsp of flour to thicken the mixture a bit. Oh yeah, I almost forgot this one important thing…. for the love of all that is good please don’t use the powder, pizza-style, parmesan on this dish. Besides those couple notes, this is a pretty straight forward recipe for a dish that will likely become a part of your regular dinner rotations. This dish also holds up well in a slow cooker so you could easily take this to a pot-luck. You could also possibly make this whole dish in the slow cooker after you brown the sausage and soften the onions but I haven’t tried doing that yet so if you do, you do so at your own risk. As always, feel free to leave comments below and be sure to follow @RecipeBlogger on Twitter if you aren’t already so you don’t miss a single new post.

Creamy Italian Bow Ties

• 1 (12 oz) pkg Bow Tie Pasta
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 lb Ground Italian Sausage
• 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 cup Diced Onion
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup Butter or Margarine, melted and cooled
• 3/4 cup Whole Milk*
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 1 (14.5 oz) can Diced Basil Garlic and Oregano Tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• Freshly Grated or Shredded Parmesan Cheese
• Minced Fresh Parsley, as garnish

*If you use low-fat milk, add a Tbsp of flour to the butter/milk mixture in step 4 to thicken.

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook the pasta in the boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente, then drain and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat; cook the sausage and pepper flakes until the sausage is evenly brown.
3. Add the onion and garlic to the sausage and cook until onion is tender; drain off any excess grease that remains in the pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cooled butter with the milk until well combined and add it to the pan along with the sour cream, tomatoes, and salt; simmer the mixture until it thickens, about 8 to 10 minutes.
5. Stir cooked pasta into sauce and heat through; sprinkle with grated parmesan and garnish with parsley.

Yummy Recipe Wednesday! (Egg Drop Soup)

Hello again friends and food lovers. Welcome to another edition of Yummy Recipe Wednesday. As you may or may not be aware, tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and although I am not Chinese myself I wanted to post a Chinese recipe today in recognition of their holiday and their delicious food. Egg Drop Soup is a very simple dish that’s not too complex in flavors but still manages to be delicious and is great on cold nights. There’s really not much to say about this soup except that if you’ve never had Egg Drop Soup from a Chinese restaurant you should definitely give this a try. Even if you have had Egg Drop Soup from a Chinese restaurant you should still give this a try because personally I think it’s better than any that I’ve had from the take-out places. With a good portion of the US covered in snow right now, it’s a great time to enjoy this warm, delicious comfort food with your family and loved ones. As always, feel free to post comments below and be sure to follow @RecipeBlogger on Twitter if you aren’t already so you don’t miss a single new post.

Egg Drop Soup

• 6 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp Water
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar
• 2 Green Onions, minced
• 3 Eggs, beaten

1. Heat the chicken broth in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Mix the cornstarch with the water and stir it into the chicken broth.
3. Add the soy sauce, vinegar, and 1/2 the green onions to the pan; turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a rolling boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.
4. Gradually pour the beaten eggs into the hot soup while gently stirring so that the egg swirls and cooks immediately; garnish with the remaining green onions and serve hot.

Yummy Recipe Wednesday! (Mashed Potato Puffs)

Welcome everyone to another edition of Yummy Recipe Wednesday. Today I bring you a great recipe for using up any leftover mashed potatoes that you might have in the fridge. Combined with the rest of the ingredients and baked in a cupcake pan (circle or square) these puffs turn out slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. You definitely won’t have any leftovers after you make these. Of course, if you don’t have any leftover mashed potatoes you can always just make new mashed potatoes to use. I actually enjoy these puffs so much that I might just make these instead of regular mashed potatoes from now on. There’s so much potential for variations with these that you can mix it up and have different puffs with every meal. Give these a try for yourself and let me know in the comments below what variations, or ideas for variations, that you’ve come up with. As always, be sure to follow @RecipeBlogger on Twitter if you aren’t already so you don’t miss a single new post.

Mashed Potato Puffs

• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 cup Sour Cream
• 1 cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 2 Tbsp Grated Parmesan
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Chives
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup Crumbled Bacon, to taste
• 3 cups Mashed Potatoes, fresh or leftover
• Salt and Black Pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (204 degree C); butter the wells of a nonstick cupcake pan.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and then add the sour cream and whisk to combine.
3. Mix in both cheeses, the chives, and the bacon until combined.
4. Season the mashed potatoes with salt and pepper, if needed, and then add them to the bowl and mix well to combine.
5. Spoon the mashed potato mixture into the cupcake pan, filling the wells to just below the top.
6. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until they pull away from the sides of the wells and are golden brown.
7. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes in the pan; turn them out onto a platter and serve with a little sour cream.

Yummy Recipe Wednesday! (Bang Bang Chicken)

Hello again friendly food fanatics and welcome to another Yummy Recipe Wednesday. Today I’m going a little Asian-inspired with a dish that’s so amazing you’ve just got to try it. I came across this Bang Bang Chicken recipe recently and when I saw the pictures I just knew I had to try it and once I did I wished I had doubled the recipe. It was just that good. On a side note, for those that have had Bang Bang Chicken from The Cheesecake Factory, this is not the same thing. Their Bang Bang Chicken is a Thai dish with curry, peanut, and other Thai flavors while this is more like a Chinese dish with crispy chicken and sauce. I definitely recommend that you use the Panko bread crumbs that this recipe calls for. You can find Panko in the Asian section of your local grocery store. Panko is a lighter breading, tastes better, and requires less oil to fry in than normal bread crumbs or chicken breading so it’s even a bit healthier for you. Words really can’t describe how good this dish is so I don’t think I’m even going to try. I think the pictures do a better job than words can and my mouth is watering just looking at these pictures while I post this. Give this recipe a try for yourself and let me know in the comments below what you thought. As always, be sure to follow @RecipeBlogger on Twitter if you aren’t already so you don’t miss a single new post.

Bang Bang Chicken

For The Chicken

• 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil, as needed
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Cornstarch
• 1 large Egg
• 1 Tbsp Hot Sauce
• Kosher Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
• 1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

For The Sauce

• 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 2 tsp Frank's Hot Sauce

1. To make the sauce, whisk together the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey and Frank's Hot Sauce in a small bowl; set aside.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, flour, cornstarch, egg, hot sauce, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
4. One at a time, dip the chicken into the buttermilk mixture and then dredge in the Panko bread crumbs, pressing to coat.
5. In batches, add the chicken to the skillet and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes; transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
6. Serve hot chicken immediately, drizzled with the sweet chili mayo sauce.