Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce Recipe

Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce

My oldest has two weeks of school left. To say that he is ready to be done would be understatement. Getting him to be motivated to actually go to the bus in the morning has not been easy. He has also been very food picky. It might have a lot to do with the fact that he lost his first tooth this week and the new tooth coming in his been causing him discomfort. Due to all the activity in our household I have been trying to make quick and easy meals. Earlier this week I tried a new recipe for Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce from the May 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

Gluten Free Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. Since I eat gluten free, but the rest of my family does not, I made two versions of this recipe. For the tomato mixture I used kalamata olives, unrinsed capers (we prefer the taste of the salt) and roma tomatoes. I divided the mixture between the regular spaghetti for my family and gluten free spiral pasta for me. Make sure to serve the dish soon after you add the mozzarella, if you wait it will melt and turn into a big cheese clump.

The flavors in this recipe are great. My two boys loved the olives and capers and dividing the tomato mixture worked out well. Not rinsing the capers gave the pasta a nice salty flavor, which I really liked. The sauce would work with variety of pasta types in case you aren't a fan of spaghetti or bucatini.

For the recipe go to Bucatini with Olive Caper Sauce.

Recipe For Chicken Salad with Capers

Chicken Salad with Capers on Rye Bread

When my husband and I were first married I struggled with leftovers. We would forget to eat them or I just re-heated everything in the microwave. I never really thought past the actual food as it was. Then after having kids I realized that I needed to start using leftovers in a more efficient way. With two boys if I serve the exact same dish two days in a row they groan or refuse to eat it. However, if I reinvent it into a new dish they embrace it wholeheartedly. So I have learned to make multiple meals from one recipe. Today I made chicken salad with capers from the leftovers of the Roasted Chicken with Parsley Caper Pesto from last week.

I made two versions of the chicken salad. For the first sandwich pictured above I made rye bread sandwiches. Here are the ingredients I used:

• 3 cups leftover chicken
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 2 dill half spears, chopped
• a small pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• a pinch of paprika
• enough mayo to make desired consistency
• 1/2 of a small gala apple, chopped
• small squirt of dijon mustard

Chicken Salad with Capers on Gluten Free Bread

For the gluten free sandwich shown above I followed the same recipe with the addition of dill seeds. The dill seeds really did help to bring out the flavor of the salad.

My husband and oldest son enjoyed their sandwiches with arugula. I had mine with just the chicken salad. Overall this was a great way to use a recipe to make two separate meals.

Here is the link to the post for the Roasted Chicken. 

Recipe for Chicken Breasts with Parsley Caper Pesto and Ramp Oven Roasted Potatoes

Chicken Breasts with Parsley Caper Pesto and Ramp Oven Roasted Potatoes

Easter is next weekend and I haven't even begun to plan anything. The last month has been all over the place with me having strep and now both of my boys have a stomach virus. Easter planning has taken a back seat. More than likely we are going to keep things low key and have Easter at our house with just my family. It will be nice since I host a lot of holidays and I tend to stress myself out. My boys are insisting on ham (I voted for lamb) and I will more than likely make roasted potatoes with ramp pesto, my mother-in-laws homemade roll recipe and some sort of vegetable. That is as far as I got this morning and more than likely it will stay pretty much the same. I do intend to dye Easter eggs sometime this week with food dyes (red cabbage, turmeric, onions, beets). Using food is really easy and I prefer it to store bought dyes. Luckily the Easter bunny has been ahead of schedule and already purchased everything for my boy's baskets. With Easter coming up and spring break being last week I have been making easy meals with minimal prep. Last week I tried a new recipe for Chicken Breasts with Parsley-Caper Pesto from the Everyday Food insert of Martha Stewart Living magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. I takes 55 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to this recipe. First I used fingerling potatoes instead of small reds. I also added whole young ramps to the olive oil and potatoes before roasting. Additionally I added a small amount of ramps to the pesto to add flavor. The recipe states to rinse the capers, I chose to skip this step. My husband and I enjoy the salty taste of capers so I left the capers unrinsed for flavor. Finally since my breasts were so large it cook a lot longer than the 35 minutes stated in the recipe. I took the potatoes out at that time stated in the recipe and let the breast cook for an additional 30 minutes until they hit temp.

My husband and I were skeptical of this recipe. Neither of us are big fans of chicken breasts, we both prefer thighs. Previous recipes I have tried using chicken breasts have been dry, but this recipe turned out tender and juicy. The pesto really helped to keep the moisture in the kitchen and adding the ramps created a nice flavor. Since the breasts I used were so large I also had enough leftovers for chicken salad the next day.

For the recipe go to Chicken Breasts with Parsley-Caper Pesto.

Bucatini with Red Clam Sauce and Hot Pepper

Pasta is a stable in our house. My two kids could literally eat pasta three times a day and be completely happy. I like that pasta is easy to make and the flavors can easily be changed to make a completely different dish. I haven't always felt that way, in my middle twenties I got very burned out on pasta. During college I pretty much lived on coffee and pasta. I would make a huge pasta recipe on Sunday and eat it for dinner the entire week. You can imagine that I got very tired of pasta by the time I graduated. Due to this burnout I refused to make any pasta dishes the first three years my husband and I were married. Then after my oldest son started eating solid foods I discovered what a great thing pasta is with kids. Suddenly in less than thirty minutes I could get a tasty and nutritious dinner on the table with little effort. Now that my boys are three and six I make pasta approximately once a week and I was intrigued when a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living had a recipe for Bucatini with Red Clam Sauce and Hot Pepper, which looked easy and full of flavor.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of total time and makes 4 servings. I did have to make a few modifications to the ingredient list. I was unable to find bucatini at my local grocery store so I substituted fettuccine instead. Additionally the day that I made this pasta recipe I discovered that I had ran out of dried oregano so I used Italian seasoning instead. I followed the remainder of the ingredients as written. The last step of the recipe I changed significantly. Instead of adding 1 cup of pasta water at the end of the cooking time, I chose not to add the pasta water at all. Instead I let the tomato sauce cook down almost completely letting the pasta be completely coated. Finally, I added a very large pinch of  red-pepper flakes since my family loves spicy foods.

My six-year-old who is normally very picky about any dish with even a hint of spice loved this recipe. He ate his whole serving and then moved on to stealing off his brother's plate. I really enjoyed that this recipe had clams, but didn't taste overly fishy. Both my husband and I found that the clam taste was delicious and added a great flavor to the recipe. Overall, an easy and flavorful new pasta recipe.

For the recipe go to Bucatini with Red Clam Sauce and Hot Pepper.

Bon Appetit Crispy Cauliflower with Capers, Raisins, and Breadcrumbs

I figured when my oldest son started kindergarten this fall I would have a lot more time during the day to bake, clean and prep dinner. It turned out I was wrong. As soon as my son gets on the bus for school my youngest turns into a one child force of destruction, that mommy spends the rest of the day cleaning up after. By the time my oldest gets home from kindergarten, I am worn out and still have dinner to try to prep while my two sons tear through the cupboard looking for snacks. I have become adept at getting a main dish on the table by the time my husband gets home at 4, but a side dish has proved more problematic. To alleviate the dinner time stress I have been looking for side dishes which are quick and easy, and I was pleased when I saw a recipe for Crispy Cauliflower with Capers, Raisins, and Breadcrumbs in the November issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes approximately an hour of prep and cooking, with 15 minutes being active, and makes 8-10 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I chose to leave out the anchovy paste since I was cooking for my two children and they can be finicky. The recipe states to use one head of cauliflower, but I found that was not enough and two would be more effective. I used homemade chicken stock, which I make without salt so I had to add more salt than if I had bought the store bought variety. I prepped most of the recipe in the morning saving me a significant amount of time at dinner. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The breadcrumb mixture is this recipe has a great taste and I have used it again as a pasta topping. The cauliflower came out crisp and delicious, with the capers adding a nice slightly salty touch. The fact that most of this recipe can be prepped in the morning is great for a weekday meal, saving a great deal of time in the evening during dinner prep. Overall, a great way to get a vegetable side dish on the table without a lot of work.

For the recipe go to Crispy Cauliflower with Capers, Raisins, and Breadcrumbs.

Redbook Lemon-Caper Chicken

Growing up I remember eating a lot of chicken. My mother was a great cook, but when it came to chicken it was either fried or oven baked and not much else. When I got married to my husband I was lacking in the chicken recipe department and mostly made oven baked chicken with store bought BBQ sauce. My pan fried chicken was downright horrible and it took me many years before it became anywhere near great. Luckily today I have a variety of chicken dishes that I prefer and chicken is one of my children's favorite foods. Recently, Redbook magazine had a recipe for Lemon-Caper Chicken, which looked delicious and easy for a busy weeknight meal.

This recipe has 11 ingredients (plus 4 additional for the master chicken recipe). The total time is approximately 10 minutes of prep and 8 minutes of cooking time. The recipe makes four servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store, and many I already had in my fridge and pantry. I am not a fan of chicken breast. I have tried many times to make it with tons of different recipes and I just don't have the taste for it even though it's healthier. Instead, I substitute thighs, which I did in this recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The sauce for this chicken was delicious. At first my two sons turned their noses up at the sauce, but after tasting the dish, ate their whole servings. My five-year-old was particularly fond of the capers and tried picking them off his brother's plate. I loved how easy this recipe was and how I had dinner done in less than twenty minutes. Overall, a great, fast weeknight meal.

For the recipe got to Lemon-Caper Chicken.