Pasta Stackup with Chicken Sausage

Get a load of this hot mess:

This is what happened when we attempted the Pasta Stackup with Chicken Sausage recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. No you're right, it's not terrible, but now take a peek at how it's supposed to look. So plump and whimsical and fresh, isn't it? And ours? Not so much.

On the bright side, it does taste good, and they're right, it did only take the advertised 25 minutes to prepare, but we're left wondering where in those 4 simple steps we managed to go wrong. (Personally, I think it's the tomatoes we bought.)

We'd recommend this dish with a couple of caveats:

• Instead of slicing the sausage lengthwise in half, consider thirds or quarters instead. The results will be more easily stackable and less wobbly.
• Make sure that everyone you're preparing this for will be present and ready to eat when it comes time to serve. If your family runs on varied work and school schedules and you're planning to make up a plate for someone to enjoy later, you may uncover it to find it a little...wilty.

Good evening, fellow aspiring chefs! It’s Monday, which, if you’re like us, signifies a full, busy day capped off by a lazy night as we catch up on our favorite Sunday night programming.

With that in mind, we’ve selected a recipe marketed by Cooking Light Magazine as quick-to-prepare: Walnut and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken. Their test kitchen claims just 30 minutes start to finish – let’s see how we did.

Given the quantity of ingredients, you might think this dish is complex; in fact, it’s very straightforward. The prep work requires a little fine chopping, but nothing your food processor can’t handle in seconds. Furthermore, the chopped items (walnuts and rosemary) are going to the same place at the same time, so you can just toss them in and process them together if you want to save a step.

The chicken is wonderfully flavorful and the buttermilk and Dijon mixture keeps things nice and moist. Overall, we liked this dish, and – bonus! – it took exactly 30 minutes to execute, but we have a few suggestions for anyone trying it at home:

1. Use chicken tenders. If they’re readily available at your grocery store, nab them. It makes for thinner pieces that, to us, work better on salads.
2. Make extra breading. We followed the directions exactly and ran out too soon! Maybe it was due to the aforementioned chicken tenders and their additional surface area, but by the time we realized our error, our hands were too coated in raw chicken to make more.
3. Skip the recommended DIY dressing. The garlic and olive oil accompaniment recommended in the June 2010 issue is good, but not worth the extra fuss of peeling garlic. (Seriously, can anyone do that without making a huge, sticky mess?) Toss your greens with a bottled garlic-infused olive oil, or just use your favorite dressing instead. We won't tell!
4. Add some extra elements. The finished product was good on its own, but after a few bites we threw some halved red grapes and sunflower seeds on top to add a little more oomph.

With those few tweaks, this one might have to go in our standard rotation!

Yuppie Test Kitchen Redux

Hi, friends...it's been a while, hasn't it? Due to some trying events in our personal and professional lives, we've been MIA for a while. But...we're back, baby!

Beginning next week, the Yuppie Test Kitchen will be back in action, with fun new recipes and a preview into our new monthly supper club!

Stay tuned....