Chicken Alfredo Baked Ziti

My plan was to test this recipe last week. But I started bleeding, and to make a long story short, I miscarried towards the end of last week. So today as I experimented and as I'm writing this post, I'm on Percocet. So I apologize if this seems a little off. I'm feeling a little off. Incense and peppermints anyone?

Anyway, this recipe was pretty easy. I made the sauce and I think I added the chicken broth a little too quickly in the process because it took some whisking to get it smooth, but it ended up just fine.

I know it looks like there's just pasta in this bowl, but there was also some shredded chicken in the bottom. And as you can see, I didn't use ziti-I used rotini. Why? Funsies. Any short pasta would be fine.

I decided to mix the sauce with the pasta and chicken in a separate bowl instead of the pan I used to cook the pasta.

Before I put the whole thing in the oven, it looked like this:

After baking, I got this loveliness:

Did I mention the whole thing smelled good? Because it smelled REALLY good. The alfredo sauce alone smelled awesome once it came together. The verdict? Two thumbs up from me and Husband. It's very simple, so you could easily jazz it up with some veggies or some different spices if you wanted to. It also came together surprisingly quicker than I expected, even with making the sauce from scratch. 4 stars, I'm really happy with this one.

Buttermilk Banana Blueberry Bread

When I buy bananas, I like to get them a little more on the green side. One, so that they'll last longer and two, I like them a bit more firm that most people. So, I ended up with overripe bananas on my counter this week and didn't want to just throw them out. With summer fruit abounding, I decided to try this recipe.

I started with butter and sugar in my mixer.

Then mixed in the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.

After that I added my mashed up bananas.

Lastly I added the dry ingredients and mixed it all together.

I mixed in the blueberries by hand so as to not pop them.

I love mini loaf pans. Cute food is so much better.

After baking, I let them cool for a little bit in the pans before turning them onto a cooling rack. I didn't have any trouble getting the loaves out of the pans sprayed with a bit of Pam. While these were good, I feel like the banana bread recipe I usually use is better. You can find that here. So these were a fun change, but I think I'll stick with the recipe I already know and love. 2 stars.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Soft pretzels...I've never met anyone who didn't like them. And I'll try any (well, almost any) recipe that doesn't require a special trip to the grocery store. I had planned on making these earlier this week, but it didn't happen. I was drawn to this recipe because it claimed to be fast and easy and not require a baking soda bath. I learned from my pretzel bowl adventure that baking soda baths often cause pretzels to lose their shape so I didn't really want to do that again.

I started out with yeast, water, sugar, and salt.

Then I added the flour, and with 3 cups it looked like this:

I added about another 3/4 cup of flour to make the dough less sticky. It was very difficult to stir in with just a wooden spoon. The recipe specified using a spoon instead of a mixer, I don't know why. Eventually I gave up and just tried to mix the rest of the flour in by hand.

After kneading the dough, it looked like this:

I decided to try to make 8 pretzels. Shaping them was a bit harder than I expected, but not that hard.

You can tell I got better at shaping them as I went along.

Instead of dunking each pretzel in the egg wash, I decided to just brush them with egg. I didn't have coarse salt, so I just sprinkled on regular table salt. It was a bit hard to tell how much I had gotten on each one and I didn't want to over salt them-I feel like they ended up a bit under salted but oh well.

After baking and going under the broiler, they looked like this:

They puffed up a ton! The picture doesn't show it that well, but they are super fluffy. Are they as good as the ones you get at the mall or baseball games? No. But they're pretty good for how quickly they come together. They're more bready, and it could be because I didn't do the baking soda bath. That's what creates the more....crusty? exterior we're used to. Anyway, I'll probably hang onto the recipe, Husband thought I should and they're really not terrible. But I wouldn't call them a replacement for Auntie Annie's either. I'll give them 3 stars.

Changes

Well, might as well let the cat out of the bag.

Come December, there will be another tiny mouth to feed around here. And since I'm currently in the throws of being either constantly hungry or exhausted or both, I might not be able to try a new recipe every week like I have been previously. Not to mention when I'm pregnant I regain the palate of a 4 year old...But my hope is to get back into the groove more once I get my energy back.

I did try a fruit dip recipe that I brought to Sunday dinner at my in-laws this past week. Here's the link, it was really good and simple. I can see myself making it more throughout the summer because I can't resist fresh raspberries...really almost all summer fruits.

Buttermilk Waffles

Give me breakfast foods any time of day and I'm happy.

And since I've been craving brinner and looking for a good waffle recipe, I made these.

I didn't take pictures of the steps to making the batter as I wasn't sure if I'd end up posting this, but it was all easy. Wet, dry, mix. Add whipped egg whites. This does take a bit more time than usual due to whipping the egg whites, but if you just get them going in a stand mixer while you get all the other ingredients together it should be quicker. I should have done that, but oh well.

Here's the final batter:

It was definitely light and airy. I had to turn my waffle iron up to maximum heat in order to keep them from turning out soggy. I've never been able to get a crisp waffle with our current iron, so I'm starting to wonder if it's part of my problem. These were really tasty though. The recipe says you can use a regular waffle iron or a Belgian waffle iron with this, and I'd like to try it with a bit better of an iron to see if I can get them nice and crispy on the outside. I wouldn't call this a fail though, I'm keeping the recipe to hopefully try again. Taste is the main important factor and these do not disappoint! 3 stars.

Baked Garlic Parmesan Potato Wedges

I'm not entirely sure what persuaded me to try these outside of having all the ingredients on hand and a craving for fries. Specifically Red Robin fries...oh goodness. Somebody take me there ASAP.

Anyway, this was another super simple recipe. Cut up your potatoes, season them, then pop them in the oven.

Mine baked for the full 35 minutes, and I was worried about them being over seasoned. Surprisingly enough, they really weren't over seasoned. They were a little heavy on the garlic, but not awful. Which is saying something from me who hates garlic. I'm coming around to it. Husband thought they were a little heavy on the parmesan as well, but I disagree. So next time I'd probably decrease the garlic powder by half and as for the cheese...I'm not sure. 3 stars.

Mexican Chocolate Brownies with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! AKA excuse to eat Mexican food day! I thought about trying another enchilada recipe today, (I still have one I'm curious about) but ultimately decided I wanted chocolate instead, so these were up.

I admit I don't generally make brownies from scratch, but these weren't hard. I only used 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne as I wasn't sure about the heat.

Here's my melted chocolate, butter, sugar, and salt.

After I added the eggs and vanilla.

This is what it looked like after I added the dry ingredients. This turned out to be a super thick batter.

I pretty much never buy parchment paper, so I just sprayed my pan really well with Pam.

Coming out of the oven, they looked like this.

Without the parchment paper, I let them cool completely in the pan. Making the frosting was easy, and I didn't frost them as thick as the original blogger did.

This frosting is rad. It is SO good. It's like a cinnamon roll without the actual roll. Getting the first brownie out of the pan was difficult, but that's how it always is. I really liked these. At first I found myself wanting a bit more heat, but then it hit me. I don't think I'd increase the cayenne to 1/2 teaspoon, I like the subtlety these had. It's not a smack you in the face kind of heat, it comes on slowly and surprisingly, these weren't overly cinnamon-y. The cinnamon adds a nice warmth. And seriously, I would keep this recipe just for the cinnamon buttercream, but I found myself being pleasantly surprised with the brownies as well. 4 stars, I'm keeping this one. Olé!