Birthday Cones

I made these ice cream cone cupcakes the other night for a friends birthday. They turned out super cute and are super easy to make! All you need is any boxed cake mix. Make the cake mix per the directions on the box and fill the cones with 1/4 cup batter. Bake @ 350 for 25-30 mins. Let cook & decorate with frosting and sprinkles! Word or warning these should be served fairly soon but if you decide to bake ahead of time DO NOT cover the cones, they will get soggy.









Thanks for stopping by,

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Carmela's Chicken Rigatoni

This recipe comes from the Cookbook American's Most Wanted Recipes. It is a recipe from the Macaroni Grill called Carmela's Chicken Rigatoni. It is the best pasta recipe ever! It is so delicious it is one of my favorite dishes to make. It does take awhile to cook about 2 hours start to finish but it is well worth the time spent!

What you need:
1 large onion
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp butter
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 package chicken breasts
2 tsp fresh basil
3/4 cup Marsala wine
2 cups heavy cream
1 pound rigatoni pasta, cooked
Opitional: Parmesan cheese


Slice the onion into thin strips and saute in 1 tbsp of each butter & olive oil. Saute the onions on low heat until they are dark brown and almost mushy. This part takes at least an hour to do so start the onions first giving yourself plenty of time.



In a serperate skillet heat 1 tbsp butter and 3 tbsp olive oil together and add the mushrooms (sliced), chicken pieces (cut in chunks), basil (chopped) and the carmelized onion. Saute until chicken is cooked through.



Remove the contents from the pan and place in a bowl. Deglaze the pan with the Marsala wine and let simmer for about a minute before returning the chicken mixture to the pan. Add the heavy cream bring to a boil before turning down the heat. Let simmer until sauce has slightly thickened. You can season with salt & pepper if you'd like.



Add the cooked rigatoni to the chicken mixture, stir to combine all the ingredients. Serve and garnish with parmesan cheese if you'd like. This dish will easily feed a family of 4.



I did slightly modify the original recipe but I find this works well!


Enjoy!

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Dinner Italian Style

So recently I have been loving Buddy Valastro from the Cake Boss, I absolutely love his show and was so excited to see he has a new show called the Kitchen Boss. I watch his show everyday when I get home. He has so many good recipes that he cooks. All of his recipes on the show are Italian which we LOVE Italian food especially PASTA! Here is one of the recipes I made the other night and it was delicious!

First I made Rigatoni alla Vodka (don't worry there is actually no Vodka in this recipe) You can see the recipe here


Next I made Chicken Parmesan for Tony. I used lots of fresh cheese, and the other thing I liked is it is not breaded, he loved it! This recipe was from Giada De Laurentis from the Food Network. You can view that recipe here.



This was easy to make not to mention delicious! So the next time you are thinking of what to make for dinner, try one of these recipes!

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