Cheesy Butternut Squash with Chicken Casserole

Let the Fall Festivities start! Today will be the start of Pumpkin season for us. :3 Hope my human will create something for me soon...

Cheesy Butternut Squash with Chicken Casserole (Recipe)

•  3 1/2 cups Butternut Squash, cubed
  
• 1 chicken breast, chopped
• 8 oz. corkscrew macaroni
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 oz. sliced portabella mushroom
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced (angled slices looks better)
• 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded Vermont Sharp Cheddar cheese (white)
• 1/2 cup shredded Havarti cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 3 slices of bacon, fully cooked and crumbled
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375°F, lightly coat a 2 quart rectangular baking dish with cooking spray
2. In a medium microwave safe bowl combine squash and 2 tablespoon of water; cover with plastic wrap (saran wrap). Microwave for 4 minutes, take it out and mix it up a bit, microwave for another 3 minutes. Once it's tender, mash the squash.
3. Cook pasta, according to box instructions and drain afterwards.
4. Use a pot on medium-high heat to brown the chicken in the meantime.
5. Once it's completely browned, remove from pot.
6. Melt butter, add mushroom and sliced onions. Make sure you save at least 2 tablespoon of green onions for later.
7. After mushrooms are cooked, slowly sprinkle in the flour to create a roux/ rue. Salt and pepper it to your discretion.
8. Add milk and cook until thickened. Remove from heat immediately.
9. Fold in squash, chicken and then pasta to combine.
10. Transfer half of the pasta mixture into the baking dish, add half of your mixture of cheeses on top. Followed by the remaining pasta and cheeses. Top with crumbled bacon.
11. Cook for 15 minutes, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and add the remaining  scallions.

Enjoy!

Coffee Addiction: Starbucks Iced Caramel Macchiato

Gooood Afternoon Everyone! Today's Tuesday and we still have quite a few more days before the week is over...Since I can't magically make coffee appear in front of you right now, how about we talk about coffee instead? For all of you caramel lovers, Starbucks connoisseurs, and coffee addicts....I present to you Starbucks' Ice Caramel Macchiato.

Iced Caramel Macchiato (Recipe)

• 1 Pt Glass
• 2 Pumps (or 2 Tablespoon) Vanilla syrup
• 2 Shots of Espresso
• Caramel Sauce
• Milk
• Ice

1. In a pint glass, put in two pumps (or tablespoon) of Vanilla syrup.
2. Tilt your glass in a 30 degree angle and pour milk in slowly until it's a little bit more than half of your glass. (You do not want to simply pour it in while the glass is upright completely, since the syrup and milk will blend in and wouldn't look as if it's layered. )
3. Fill your glass up with ice.
4. Make your espresso in a separate cup and pour it on top of the ice SLOWLY so it "floats" on the top layer.
5. Drizzle Caramel sauce on top and around (clockwise), so it slowly stains the sides of the glass.

Note: For Caramel sauce, use a spoon (about 2  tablespoon) and slowly drizzle it. If you have a squeeze bottle, use that to drizzle, 1 round to make the "checkered" look and 2 rounds (clockwise) for the staining effect.

ENJOY! 

My human likes the taste of coffee more hence, the milk is less in this image. : )

Not Enough Chili

It's Chilly today! Just kidding....not yet at least...but my human did make some yummy chili.... (;___;) Too bad I wasn't allowed to eat it.....

Sometimes when my human is in the mood for some delicious cornbread she craves for chili to go with it. Ahhh.....must be her time of the month. *clonk* (;____;) I'm sorry I deserved that.

Not Enough Chili (Recipe)

This recipe is for 6 servings!

• 1 lb ground beef (ground turkey would work as well for you healthy humans)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 can (14.5 oz) dice tomatoes (you can get the ones with chilies in it too)
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 can (14.5 oz) pinto beans (drain)
• 1 can (14.5 oz) corn (drain)
• 1 can beer (12 oz.) (or bottle-preferably something dark like Porters)
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons oregano leaves
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1. In a dutch oven (or large pot) brown 1 lb of ground meat with the mince garlic. Add onions once most of the meat are not pink anymore.
2. Add can of tomato, pinto beans, corns, beef broth, beer, chili powder, brown sugar, cumin, paprika, oregano, cocoa, and hot sauce. Mix well.
3. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered , for 1 hour.
4. In a small bowl,stir in flour and some of the chili liquid. Mix well until there are no clumps.
5. Stir into chili and cook, covered, for an additional 10 minutes.
6. Once complete, take servings out and add some sour cream and cheese on top. Enjoy.

 Jalapeno Cornbread (Recipe)

This recipe is for
2 Boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 Jalapeno Pepper, minced
1 Can (14.5 oz) corn (drained)

Simply follow the directions on the Jiffy box, before you pop it in the oven, mix in the Jalapeno and corn as well.
Enjoy.

My Birthday with a Banana Nana Butter Treat!

Today is my Birthday! I turn two today. I thought for sure my silly human forgot about me...but I guess I was wrong. :)

She took me out today to my favorite store, PetsMart! I had a great time there, smelling everything and everywhere...even under the shelves! Can't leave that part out...you never know, you might find something good down there sometimes.

Then the nice cashier guy gave me a treat. I should come here every day.

When we got home, my owner gave me my favorite rawhide...Dentley's Peanut Flavored Rolls. <3
For dinner I had a really good meal...Blue Buffalo Blue's Stew Irish Lamb Stew with rice!

Of course you can never forget dessert! My human made something very special for me from scratch. She calls it, " Banana Nana Butter Treat"! It's an ice desert and very healthy. Definitely made my day.

Banana Nana Butter Treat             

Serves 5

1 Chicken Breast
2 Qt Water (8 cups)
1 Small Banana (or 1/2 regular size Banana)
2 Tablespoon NATURAL Peanut Butter**
5 Ramekins (or small bowls)

**Please get Natural Peanut Butter without any additional additives in it like salt or sugar. Regular ones won't be good for your puppies.

1. Boil the water in a pot. Put in the chicken breast and cook fully.
2. Remove the chicken and use for some other meal (like Chicken noodle soup or Chicken Salad).
3. Take 1 Cup of the chicken stock and put in a blender and let it COOL. You don't want to cook the banana and peanut butter.
4. Once cool, put in the banana and peanut butter and mix it in the blending machine.
5. Distribute the liquid in the five bowls evenly.
6. Refrigerate it until it becomes ice. Serve it to your puppy!

For the remaining of the chicken stock, you can just put it in a container and freeze it so you can make some more later on. Remember this is a treat for your dogs, DO NOT substitute this as a meal and feed them with it regularly.

A Brand New Day. A Brand New Blog.

Hello Everyone. The name's K. Not Kay or Kei. Just K. I am a sesame Shiba Inu and I act like a cat a LOT. This is a simple blog that will feature recipes that my human creates. You'll also see images of me now and then....with my experiences in Florida and Chicago. Where will I go next?!