Guiltless Alfredo Sauce, no really.

This, also from www.ourbestbites.com is going to blow your mind. Why? Because, with God as my witness, it does not taste light. It tastes every bit as good as any alfredo sauce you've had AND it is done in 15 minutes. Seriously. Oh, and did I mention a 1/4 cup serving is 100 calories? Yes. We ate it last night with pasta and chicken and my amazing breadsticks, see below. Just take my word for it, you won't be sorry.

Ingredients:
2 Cups low fat milk (I used 2%)
3 oz. reduced fat cream cheese (Yes, the low fat cream cheese is called neufantchel. Don't get confused, it is the same thing)
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Cup grated parmesan cheese

What to do:
Put the milk, cream cheese, flour and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Melt and heat the butter in a deep skillet over medium high heat and add garlic. Let it sizzle for 30 seconds to a minute. You don't want it to burn! Then add the milk mixture. Heat that, stirring constantly for 3 minutes or so until it's warm and smooth. Remove from the heat then add the parmesan cheese and stir until it's all melted. Done!

I guarantee you will not know it's light. I hate when people say that because you always do but no, you won't. Evidence of this is that Mike ate 2 helpings and gave me a high five...I'll never tell him.

The Best Breadsticks You Will Ever Eat.

So I've found my new favorite blog site, ourbestbites.com. They have sooo many good recipes and this is one of them. This is actually a recipe for Pizza Dough but you can make breadsticks too and let me tell you. They are amazing. They do take some planning and time but are so worth it. Even Mike, who is not a bread eater, could not get enough of them. According to him they, "are the best breadsticks I've ever eaten in my life." Since I don't have the forethought to take pictures of anything, you can go to ourbestbites and see the pictures which may be helpful. Look under recipes, bread, then Breadsticks (Pizza Dough). Otherwise, here's the description below:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups very warm water (115-130 degrees)
1 Tbsp. yeast (I use the kind specifically made for pizza dough, i seem to have greater success with it)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 Cups flour

What To Do:
In a large bowl, combine yeast, water and sugar. I have a hard time knowing how hot the water needs to be. If you make it too hot, it will kill the yeast, too cool, it won't activate the yeast. Ugh. I don't have a thermometer so I just dip my finger in it and if it's hot enough to wear I wouldn't want to leave my finger in it, that's good. wow, that probably isn't helpful at all. Anyway, let it sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast starts to bubble.

Add the salt and mix well. Next, add 1 1/2 cups of flour. This is where it gets messy. Once that's mixed in real well, add more flour 1/4-1/2 cups at a time until the dough stops sticking to the bowl and your hands. I tried using my dough hook on my kitchenaid, don't bother, just mix it by hand. Messy but easier.

Transfer the dough to a plastic or glass bowl sprayed with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size. My trick here is to heat your oven to 300 degrees or so and just set the bowl on top of it. It helps it rise faster :)

Once risen, take the dough out and roll it out on a floured surfact into a rectangle. I'm bad at this so mine turns into a blob. It's okay. Then cut the dough into 12 strips the short way. yes, I'm dumb and have cut it the long way, it just makes super LONG and skinny breadsticks. Then take two of the strips at a time and twist them together. I mash one end of the strips together and twist.

Lay the twists on a greased cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 more minutes. While they rise, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. This won't take long if you are using my trick because your oven will already be 300 degrees.

Here's my own twist that's different from the other recipe:
make a breadstick topping with the powdery parmesan, garlic salt (I use Lowery's. If you don't own Lowery's garlic salt with parsley go buy some because you will use it on everything. Just do it.) and italian herb seasoning. I don't have a recipe for this because I made it up. Just mix it together with equal parts or whatever you think would taste good. Once the breadsticks have risen, (I feel like this should be an Easter recipe with all the times I've used the word "risen" in this post). Brush with melted butter and your garlic topping. Ourbestbites tells you do it after but I like it baked in.

Then bake for 10-12 minutes until golden on top. Oh my gosh. So good. My new favorite food.

Easiest and Best Pork Chops Ever

I hated pork chops growing up. There was no reason for it as my mom never really made them. I think I just had in my mind that they were gross. Since becoming a "grown up" I have to come to really like them. They are CHEAP and very versatile. A friend of mine, Becky, who gave you Becky's Fried Rice, mentioned this recipe and it sounded so simple, I thought I'd give it a try. As it turns out I LOVE this recipe and Michael couldn't stop talking about them. You don't even need a knife, these babies literally fall apart on their own. If you have a guy that eats a lot, take my word for it and double this recipe. You'll be glad you did.

Ingredients:

A splash of olive oil

Half cup flour, or enough to coat the chops.

4-6 pork chops, I like the thin cut kind but any work and if you use the thin cut kind, you'll probably need 8-10 chops because they cook down pretty small.

1 can Campbell's condensed Chicken and Wild Rice soup, undiluted

Water, optional

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until it just starts to smoke. While it's heating, put the flour in a ziploc bag and add the chops a couple at a time and shake to coat them in flour.

When your oil is hot, brown the chops a few at a time in the skillet, just a couple minutes on each side. You don't want to cook them, just slightly brown them on the outside.

Once browned, put the chops in a slow cooker and pour the can of soup over the top. When I make this again, I think I'll add about a half cup of water or so only because I found we didn't have as much "sauce" as we would have liked. You could also just add another can of soup.

Cook on low in your slow cooker for 4-6 hours (I cooked mine for 8 while I was at work and it was lovely). Serve over rice (see my rice how-to below) or egg noodles. Have you ever had pork chops that you can't even get out of the pot because they fall apart? I have :)

How-To: Cook Rice

So...maybe I am the only person who has issues with rice cooking. I know I've mentioned it before. We don't eat rice enough to justify a rice cooker taking up space in our *TINY* kitchen so I have to do it the old fashioned way which can easily yield gummy, gooey rice paste....until now. A friend of mine used to work at an Asian restaurant and one of the chefs shared this secret with her and it has yet to fail me. So far I've used it with several different types of white rice and always had great success. Here are a few tips on how to get perfect, fluffy, non-sticky rice every time:

1. Cooked rice is double what uncooked rice is. So, 1 cup of uncooked rice will turn into 2 cups cooked.

2. It's generally safe to plan on a 1/2 cup of rice per person if the rice is a side dish or something is being served over it.

3. Some people rinse their rice, others don't. Rinsing removes some of the starch and lessens the chance of it becoming gummy but it also rinses out some of the nutrients. My method of rice cooking doesn't require that your rinse it, so I don't.

4. NOW FOR THE TRICK. Stick your pinky finger out in front of you. Do it now. I'll wait. Okay. See where your first joint is from the tip of your pinky? That's your measuring device. Measure your desired amount of rice in a sauce pan then fill the pan with water until you can stick your pinky in and touch the top of the rice and the water reaches the first joint. To ensure non-sticky rice you can put a splash of vinegar in.

5. Put on the stove top and heat on high until the water starts to boil. Then, and this is important! Stir the rice just once or twice. Not stirring it will cause a layer of rice to stick to the pan's bottom and scorch. Stirring too much will cause gummy rice. Once or twice. Done.

6. Cover, reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. DO NOT TOUCH. After 15 minutes, check on it, if there is still water in the rice, let it sit covered for 5 more minutes. Fluff with fork and voila! Perfect!

7. Variations, depending on what I'm making, I substitute water for coconut milk, or chicken broth and add butter, herbs, or whatever else I feel like depending on the recipe. Happy cooking!