OT Lazy Cooking with Cat!

[agate]

Those sound delicious. One probably stupid question: How do you know when they are done?

[Catdancer]

Those sound delicious. One probably stupid question: How do you know when they are done?

They should be done in 20 minutes. They will be Brown, and the edges crispy. I usually just lift one out of the pan to check. You'll recognize they're done by how they look, but 20 minutes is pretty accurate.

[Catdancer]

Ah...I see I didn't put the baking time in the original post! My bad!..20 minutes in a 350 oven for the ricotta muffins.

If you don't have a mini muffin pan, you can just scoop up about ,2 tablespoons per piece and place on a greased cookie sheet. Make these small --,the recipe should make about 24. These are 2-bite sized.

I just went back and posted the time to bake.. :) sorry!

[Lazarus]

Hi CatDancer,
The ricotta muffins are in the oven. Mine took 25 minutes...can’t wait to sit down and munch on one with my morning coffee. A perfect start to my Sunday! Thanks.

[agate]

I love ricotta anyway and this sounds like a great way to load up on protein first thing in the morning.

[SuzE-Q]

I've hung onto this recipe for a while, but decided to try it tonight. It was even tastier than I expected. I cooked the chicken earlier in the day and didn't grill the avocado chunks. I also chopped up the tomatoes, onions and cilantro earlier in the day too. I made the dressing earlier as well, so when the pasta was cooked, it was a matter of dumping all the prepared ingredients in with the cooked pasta, then cutting up the avocado lastly to mix in, leaving the tomatoes to add at the very end in order to retain their firmness.

It's called a salad, although I had it warm after dumping everything in with the cooked pasta. I also used bottled lime juice and premade minced garlic to make it even easier.

Very easy and very tasty! I think the avocado was excellent at softening a lime dressing!

CHICKEN, AVOCADO PASTA SALAD

Ingredients:

Pasta of your choice (I like penne or rotini)
cooked, then cubed chicken
2 avocados, pitted and chopped
1/4 tsp each salt & pepper
1 cup cubed roma (or cherry) tomatoes
4 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves

Cumin/Lime Dressing:

1/4 cup lime juice
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp each cumin and salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1) Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water and drain. Place in large bowl (or back in pot on stove to mix with rest of ingredients).

2) (optional to grill) Meanwhile, preheat grill to medium. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Grill (cook) for 6 to 8 minutes per side, until juices run clear. Let rest. Chop into bite size pieces.

3) (optional to grill) Grill avocado for 4 to 5 minutes until warm and lightly charred. Peel and dice.

4) Prepare Cumin/Lime Dressing: Whisk lime juice, shallot, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil together.

5) Toss pasta with chicken, avocado, tomatoes, green onions. Toss with Cumin/Lime Dressing. Top with cilantro leaves.

[Virginia]

SuzeQ, sounds really good.

[agate]

That does sound tasty. I think you were wise not to grill the avocado. I don't think grilling an avocado would improve it but I've never tried grilling one.

[Catdancer]

Kraft makes a lime dressing I use a lot as a marinade for fish. I bet with the addition of a bit of cumin it would work well in this mix. They call it a marinade. It's in the dressings section along with all the other dressings.

[SuzE-Q]

Kraft makes a lime dressing I use a lot as a marinade for fish. I bet with the addition of a big of cumin it would work well in this mix. They call it a marinade. It's in the dressings section along with all the other dressings..

That's even better! I'll have a look for it.

Think I'll add roasted red bell peppers from the jar I have in my fridge next time too. Think it would add even more nutrition and color, but not more time since they're already ready to eat.

Meals is one area where convenience has improved so dramatically from the old tv dinner options. Now, with so many veggies prewashed, presliced and diced, meat precooked, and endless dressings and marinade varieties, we can cook from scratch in so much less time that we don't have to go to processed food anymore to make a good meal for ourselves.

Virginia, agate, this was even better than I thought it was going to be based on the recipe and when I taste tested the dressing after preparing it earlier. It was really yummy and even more delicious all together!

[agate]

Meals is one area where convenience has improved so dramatically from the old tv dinner options.

For those too young to remember, in the beginning there was Swanson's chicken pot pie. At least that's the first TV dinner I remember knowing about, and it had so little chicken in it that you had to be terribly hungry to eat one of those. You might still be fairly hungry after you finished eating it because it was mostly an unappetizing thick sauce or "gravy."

[Jeanie Z]

:) I often pick up a Swanson turkey pot pie. They are the only brand with both a top and bottom crust. Jeanie :)

[agate]

They've probably improved on them considerably since the time when I remember them being a novelty. I'm in favor of a top and bottom crust too.

[Catdancer]

The Marie Callender pot pies are a tremendous improvement over the Swanson pies. Much more meat in them, better tasting all around.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Marie Callendar's do not have bottom crust. Jeanie :)