Sesame Chicken

I haven't posted in a while...life got crazy. I made this last week and it was so easy and so yummy I just had to share. Parker loved it so much that he was asking to have it again the next night after he took his first bite. The "sesame" part was a bit of an exaggeration because I doubled the sauce ingredients and I rant out of sesame seeds. Kevin asked me to make it again this week. I think this time I'll toss the sesame seeds in after the sauce has started to thicken so it doesn't get lost in the sauce and then sprinkle a little extra on top of each serving. I'm also making more for leftovers for lunch! I loved this recipe in part because I had all the sauce ingredients and if I didn't, I substituted with ingredients I already had on hand.

                                 

Gather it:
CHICKEN
1.5 lbs chicken (I used boneless skinless thighs); cut in 1" pieces
1 egg
2 Tbsp flour
Salt and pepper
~ 2 Tbsp vegetable oil for frying

SAUCE
4 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
4 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
4 cloves of garlic (we love garlic)
3 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp water

Make it:
1) In a large bowl whisk flour, salt and pepper (I eyeballed this) and eggs together. Place chicken in bowl and coat with egg mixture.

2) Over medium high heat, heat vegetable oil in a large skillet. Cook chicken, stirring occasionally to brown all sides and cooked through.

3) While chicken is cooking, combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl except for the sesame seeds.

4) Pour sauce mixture over the cooked chicken. Combine and toss the chicken to coat in the sauce, which will start to thicken. Turn off heat and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Serve with rice and top with a little more sesame seeds and scallions! Enjoy!!!

Eggplant Rounds

So we have been without a stove for exactly 1 week. It all started last Sunday...we came home from doing a big grocery shopping day and Kevin was going to make our favorite Filipino dish. We had grand plans to make this yummy eggplant dish and lasagna with eggplant...so needless to say I had a lot of eggplant in my crisper drawer. The stove broke while Kevin was making dinner! We went out  Sunday night and had to buy a new stove, unfortunately it wasn't available to be delivered until yesterday. Our stove and oven are two separate pieces, which means more expensive. We don't use our oven that much so we decided to forego that expense right now until I get my bonus. Kevin was going to install it yesterday (Home Depot doesn't do installation and Kevin knows a little bit about electrical stuff since he works in the field), but the wires are all messed/mixed up and he didn't feel comfortable working on it so now we have someone coming to look at it. Needless to say, it has been an expensive week!

I decided to make this eggplant dish to use up some of the eggplant. I didn't know what I was doing, but decided to just "wing it" bc I was tired of eating quick easy meals. It took much longer to make since I didn't have a stove or oven and had to use a TOASTER OVEN! I had to make it in batches, but it turned out so yummy! I'm definitely going to have to try this in a "real" oven next time!

Gather it:
1 large eggplant, cut into 1.5" rounds
Olive oil, about 7 Tbsp
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp dried parsley
Mozzarella cheese
Pasta sauce

Make it:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, mix together olive oil, garlic, and herbs in a small plate. Dip 1 side of eggplant into mixture and place on foil lined baking sheet, oil side down.

2) Spoon small amount of herb mixture on top of eggplant and spread throughout top of eggplant. Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes. Flip to other side and bake another 3 minutes.

3) Top with pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese. I only had a block and didn't feel like shredding it. Def would have been easier with pre-shredded cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and lightly browned (I like slightly burnt cheese).

4) Enjoy with pasta and red sauce...which we did not since we couldn't cook pasta. Next time, next time!

Chicken with Tomato & Mushroom Sauce

I've been craving pasta and this recipe totally hit the spot. I've made fresh tomato sauces before, but this time I decided to add mushrooms since I had some leftover from another dish that I made. This dish was so easy and yummy...fits my requirements when I cook!

                                      

Gather it:
3 large tomatoes, diced (about 3 cups)
Mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
Large handful of fresh basil, sliced into ribbons
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp butter
4 chicken breasts
1 lb of pasta

Make it:
1) In a large pan, heat up about 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Meanwhile season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. If the breasts are thick you can pound them a little bit to thin them out and cook faster.

2) In a large pot, boil water for pasta. Cook pasta according to the directions on the box.

3) Place chicken breasts in hot oil and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Flip to other side and cook for another 4-5 minutes or until cooked through. I had to cook mine in two batches because the breasts were fairly large. Place all 4 breasts on a plate and allow to rest.

4) In the same pan, place mushrooms and allow to soften for about 5 minutes.

5) Add tomatoes, cook 5 minutes. Add garlic, butter, and basil (reserve a small amount for garnish). Season with more salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Make sure to scrape up all the yummy goodness on e bottom of the pan from the chicken!

6) In a large bowl, place pasta in bottom of bowl, top with sauce, then chicken. Add more sauce on top of chicken and garnish with basil.

It was delish! The kids loved it...even the whole wheat spaghetti. Kevin's not a fan of whole wheat pasta, but the meal really needed pasta that you have to twirl! He ended up loving it too! Kevin and I added a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to our bowls. Next time I'm going to get a wedge of Parmesan and grate some on top to help finish the dish off.

Moroccan Spiced Fish

A couple of weeks ago Kevin and I went to BJ's Brewhouse and I ordered a Moroccan Spiced Salmon. It was easily one of the best fish I've ever had! The spice had a rich, earthy taste that reminded me a little bit of curry. Kevin's not a fan of curry, but he also really liked my dish! I finished my meal and wanted to place a to go order! Lol I decided to try and find a copy cat recipe. I couldn't find one, but after searching for Moroccan spices, I found a spice that I thought might have been used on the fish I had. I decided to try William-Sonoma's Ras El Hanout because of the bright red color of the spice, which reminded me of the fish I had at BJ's. McCormick's also makes Ras El Hanout, which I more readily available, but I was already at Williams-Sonoma for something else.

We bought steelhead trout instead of salmon and it was delicious!!! It didn't have as much of the flavor of the spice like at the restaurant so I think next time I will rub the spice on and let it sit and marinate for about 1 hour or longer instead of just of 15 minutes. I may also play with some sort of sauce like the one at BJ's. Here's my version:

Gather it:
2 filets of fish (I would pick sturdier fish like salmon or steelhead instead of something like tilapia)
2 Tbsp of Ras El Hanout
1Tbsp of olive oil

Make it:
1) Put 1 Tbsp of Ras El Hanout and rub into the fish (preferably doing this at least an hour before hand and refrigerating for deeper flavor).

2) Heat 1Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and swirl to coat bottom of a large frying pan.

3) Depending on the thickness of your fish, fry one side for 5-6 minutes and the second side for another 5 minutes. My filets were thick and it took this long to cook through. 

We had ours with couscous, just my favorite boxed kind in the pasta/rice section at Publix. I mixed  in some sliced green onions and few twists of the pepper grinder. I can't wait to experiment with this new spice!!!

Stir Fried Spicy Eggplant

I made this dish last night after trying it out at PF Chang's on Friday during a girls night out with some of my sorority sisters. I normally get their Almond and Cashew Chicken or Orange Peel chicken or beef, but I had ordered some crispy green beans (I must look for a recipe b/c this was delicious!) to go with our wine while we sat at the bar and waited for the other girls to arrive. Then Lauren ordered some edamame after we got seated at our table and waited for a couple more girls to arrive so I wasn't that hungry when it was time to order our entrees. Lauren and I sometimes order 2 different entrees and then split it...that's what we did Friday night. I shared my eggplant dish and I had some of her Kung Pao Chicken. Both were delicious!

I decided to find a copy cat recipe and found this recipe. The picture looked like the dish I had so I decided to try it. I had to make a trip at the Asian Market to buy a couple things I didn't have like chili paste and ground bean sauce. It took forever because I didn't have any idea what I was looking for and the lady just pointed to the Siracha when I asked for chili paste. I was looking for something that actually said chili paste and not just a hot sauce type of condiment. Thankfully my mom brought oyster sauce with her the last time she was down so I didn't have to look for it. I knew I had sesame oil already at home, but wasn't sure how much I had left so I just grabbed it since I found it fairly easily. 20 minutes later, Avery and I found our 2 "mystery" ingredients!

This dish was so good and despite all the ingredients and more steps than I normally like, it was fairly easy to make...and fast too! Kevin said he really liked this dish, but wants some sort of protein to go with it. I think I'm going to mix in some stir fried chicken or beef next time. I think it will go great with the sauce!

I made a few tiny changes to the recipe. Here's my version:

Gather it:
2 large eggplants, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
3 tsp garlic, minced (you can do less, the recipe calls for 1 tsp, but we love garlic)
1/2 Tbsp corn starch, mixed w/ 1 Tbsp water to make a paste
1/2 cup vegetable oil, halved

Gather it for the Spicy Sauce:
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp soy auce
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp chili paste (the original recipe called for 1 tsp, but mine wasn't that spicy)
1/2 tp ground bean sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Make it:
1) Combine all Spicy Sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.

2) In a wok, heat 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil over high heat. Stir fry half of the eggplant for 4-5 minutes until tender. Remove eggplant and drain on a plate with paper towels.

3) Add remaining vegetable oil and repeat #2. Two eggplants seem like a lot, but they shrink a lot! I was originally only going to do 1 eggplant, but then I realized it wouldn't be enough for Kevin and me so I decided to do both eggplants.

4) After cooking eggplants, remove all but ~1/2 tsp of oil from wok. Stir fry your garlic for about 5 seconds over high heat then add the spicy sauce.

5) Reduce heat and let sauce simmer for about 20 seconds. Add all of the eggplant and simmer for another 20 seconds.

6) Stir in cornstarch paste a little bit at a time until your sauce is to your desire consistency. I used 2 spoonfuls (regular sized dinner spoon). Serve immediately over a bed of rice.

I decided to take Avery with me to the Asian Market after she woke up from her nap...she was excited to go

I'm 100% Filipino, but was so lost at the store! 

Both my ingredients were in the same aisle and on the same side, but it still took me 20 minutes to find them!

Avery found Hello Kitty cookies! She started liking Hello Kitty when I bought her an FSU shirt w/ HK on it and then she got sparkly HK tennis shoes from her cousin. Funny enough there was a lady wearing a HK costume at the mall earlier that day doing a promo for a store. She kept yelling "Hello Kitty!" for about 10 minutes and yet wouldn't go anywhere near her. 

Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed With Quinoa and Feta

Earlier this week I pinned a bunch of quinoa recipes and one of them was a squash stuffed with quinoa and blue cheese (I think). I decided to make it last minute this morning while the kids played outside. I searched my pinboards for the recipe and couldn't find it. What board did I pin it to??? I do this all the time..."lose" pins. I would have spent some time looking for it, but Avery was starting to lose it and throw tantrums so I figured I needed to head out and get my ingredients before she melted any further. I figured I would just "wing it" and hope it turned out ok. I decided to just go to the nearest produce stand since I needed to get a bunch of produce since I was going to be making this other quinoa recipe for lunches this week for work. With that said I wouldn't have any blue cheese so I figured I would sub feta, which I had a bunch of. This turned out pretty good and it was really easy to make. Even the hubby who is not a fan of squash or quinoa for that matter (but he's trying to eat healthier) said it was "pretty good". I think next time though I'm going to try using butternut squash to add some color. The acorn squash and the quinoa are basically the same color and you can't really see the squash very well.

Gather it:

3 small acorn squash

1.5 cups cooked quinoa

1/4 cup of red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup of yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup of feta cheese (we like feta so you can certainly use a little less if you like)

olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Make it:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and boil 3/4 cup of quinoa with 1.5 cups of water in a small sauce pan with a lid. Once it starts to boil, simmer for 12 minutes until the water is gone and the quinoa has puffed up and has little "white tails". Mine typically still has a little it of water in the pot after 12 minutes, but I just turn the burner off, fluff the quinoa, replace the lid and leave it on the burner. Allow to cool.

2) Wash the acorn squash. Cut in half lengthwise and rub a small amount of olive oil. Place cut side up on a baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes.

3) Scoop out the flesh of the squash while it is still hot so it will be easy to scoop out. Be careful not to tear the skin - it will be somewhat soft from baking. Place the squash shells back in the oven to help crisp out the skin while you do the next stop.

4) Mix together the scooped out squash, quinoa, bell peppers, feta, and salt and pepper. 

5) Place mixture into squash shell. I piled mine up and ended up not using one of the shells. Place back in oven and bake for another 10-15 min. 

I can't wait to have this for leftover lunch!!!

Can't beat $0.79 each for red and yellow peppers at the produce stand! It's normally over $1 at Publix. I spent just under $10 and got a bunch of produce!

Southwest Quinoa Salad w/ Spinach

It's after midnight and I just finished making and devouring this salad. I do feel a little bit guilty for eating so late, but in my defense it was a healthy salad and I just couldn't help myself. I was text messaging all night with a friend whose mother has to go on an unprocessed diet and was having to eat a lot of brown rice. I suggested trying out quinoa and shared with her my tropical quinoa granola recipe and fried quinoa (think fried rice) recipe. The more we talked about food, the hungrier I got. Then I went to the kitchen to take a picture of the bag of quinoa I use so she could see what it looked like and before I knew it I was scooping some out to cook. I had no idea what I would add to it since we haven't gone to the grocery store since last week! After some rummaging, I had a pile of ingredients and started to chop my veggies and cook the quinoa. Then my heart fell as I realized I didn't have any lemons for my dressing (I was going to make a simple lemon/olive oil dressing). But a bottle of white wine vinegar that was tucked way back in the corner of my cabinet saved the day. As I cooked, I kept sending my friend pics and she will now be making this tomorrow since she also has all the ingredients. You probably do too!!! It's so easy and yummy!

Note: 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa will make about 1 cup of cooked quinoa. Those tiny little things expand quite a bit! 

Grab it:

FOR THE SALAD:

1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

4-5 stalks of scallions, sliced

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced

spinach leaves

2 large handfuls of frozen corn (I did not defrost it, see #2 below)

half of a tomato, seeded and diced (I would prefer grape tomatoes, but I was lucky to even have a tomato on hand!)

salt and pepper, to taste

FOR THE DRESSING:

white wine vinegar

olive oil

Make it:

1) Cook the quinoa: boil 1/2 cup quinoa with 1 cup of water in a small sauce pan with a lid. Once it starts to boil, simmer for 10-12 minutes until the water is all gone and the quinoa has puffed up and has little "white tails". 

2) Allow the quinoa to cool. If you are making this last minute, spread the hot quinoa on a plate and toss the frozen corn with it - it will cool the quinoa down quickly and the heat from the quinoa will defrost the corn. I'm so smart! lol

3) Combine all the salad ingredients except for the spinach in a large bowl. 

4) I didn't measure the amount of vinegar and oil I used, but used a rough 1:2 ratio of vinegar to oil.  If I had to guess, I used about 3 Tbsp of white wine vinegar and 6 Tbsp of olive oil. Whisk (or in my case I used a fork) together until mixed well then drizzle over salad and toss salad.

5) Place spinach leaves on a plate and top with salad mixture. Enjoy...and try not to eat the rest of the salad.

this was the whole dish...it made a lot! I'm sure nobody will miss the midnight snack I had when it's time for lunch tomorrow (or rather today!)

*** UPDATE *** I had every intention of adding feta cheese to this dish last night, but I got totally caught up with trying to find a replacement for the lemon for the dressing that I totally forgot. So today for lunch I topped my salad off with some feta. It was delicious, light and yet very filling!!! Oh, and my girlfriend made hers this morning and she kept texting me and saying she can't stop eating it! lol

Shrimp Boil

I have been wanting to do a shrimp boil forever, but have just never done it...until today. Truthfully, I got the final push from my neighbor who did it last weekend. I went over to her house to drop off a large chunk of Parker's bday cake (more on that later) and cookie party favors for her two kiddos since they couldn't make it to the party. We chatted for a bit and she told me that she had made shrimp boil and that it was really good and easy. I didn't really research a recipe...kinda just did my own thing. I figured, how hard can it be??? It turns out not at all. Sooo easy and sooo delicious!

Gather it:
Raw shrimp (I used frozen since my grocer store's "fresh" counter had a sign that said previously frozen and it was more expensive. I got the large sized and already deveined shrimp, 30-35 count).
1 pkg of beef kielbasa (already cooked), cut into large chunks
2 ears of fresh corn, cut into thirds
6 large red potatoes, quartered
1 fresh lemon, quartered
1/2 cup Old Bay seasoning
1 bottle of beer (hubby happened to have a bottle of Yueng Ling so that's what I used)
Make it:
1. In a large pot, boil water (I used our pasta pot and filled it 3/4) and beer with Old Bay seasoning. Add potatoes once it comes to a rolling boil and cook for about 8 min until almost done.

2. Add corn and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add kielsbasa and squeeze lemons and then add the peel to the pot. Cook for another 4 minutes.

4. Lower heat to a simmer and add shrimp. Boil until pink and cooked through.

And that's it! Kevin and the kids were swimming while I was cooking and they were not ready to come inside yet so I brought dinner out and sat by the pool, large white Christmas lights on around the pool cage, Bob Marley playing in the background, sipping wine (beer in Kevin's case), and watching the kids jump in the pool, run up to us and ask for a bite. It was easy clean up since Kevin and I just ate straight from the platter and used a paper plate for the shrimp peel and corn cob.

Mini Sliders

Kevin ran errands while the kids napped and I worked at home. He decided to go ahead and do our grocery shopping and planned dinners for the week as well. Yeah, I think he's pretty amazing too. When he got home he told me he was going to make mini sliders for dinner...similar to what we had at our friend Mike and Sarah's house a couple of weeks ago. These were so yummy and so easy (of course it was...I just handed him bottles of herbs/seasonings and watched. lol).



Gather it:
1 lb of ground beef
3 mozarella cheese sticks, cut into about 1/2" pieces (I suggested using Baby Belle cheese, but the chef vetoed my idea...still think it would have been delicious)
white onions, diced
1 whole egg
garlic powder
black pepper
dried parsley flakes

Toppings/bread:
Hawaiian rolls
sliced cheddar cheese
sliced tomatoes
lettuce

Make it:
1) Combine all ingredients in bowl except for the cheeses, toppings, and bread and mix together.

2) Make a small patty, place 1/2" piece of mozzarella , and top with another small patty and press both patties together to seal cheese in the middle.

3) Grill patties to desired doneness and top w/ sliced cheese and allow it to melt on the patty.

4) Cut Hawaiian rolls in half horizontally and place patty on bred, top with tomatoes and lettuce and gobble it up!

We served ours with macaroni and cheese (what else?!?) and fruit. For dessert Parker and I made funfetti cupcakes (without icing). We had lots so we shared some with our neighbors b/c let's face it...we don't need to eat all those cupcakes especially after all the cake we I ate from Avery's bday.

Wedge Salad

I don't know about you, but I've never been a huge fan of iceberg lettuce...that is until I had a wedge salad. I've had wedge salads before, but for some reason my taste bud changed the weekend of my 5th wedding anniversary. All the restaurants we went to had a wedge salad and for some reason each one just drew my eye!

Yesterday afternoon I asked Kevin to go to Publix after work to get some ingredients to make a wedge salad. I JUST HAD TO HAVE A WEDGE SALAD FOR DINNER!!! Thankfully he indulged my craving and had it all pretty much prepared by the time I got home from work. Have I said before that I have the most amazing husband??? My stomach was growling during the drive home and my mouth was literally watering at the thought of that first bite. Crazy? Yeah probably!

The kids had already eaten, but my kids like to eat off my plate, especially Avery. She kept asking for "more sah-wee". I would only give her small pieces of lettuce with a little dressing. One time I snuck a little piece of bacon and her eyes lit up as if I had just given her chocolate! lol Parker will occasionally eat salad too, but he didn't want a bite of mine. Is it bad that I was a little relieved since I already had to share my plate with Avery? lol Anyway here's the deliciously mouth watering wedge salad recipe:

Gather it:
1 head of iceberg lettuce, quartered (you can cut it in smaller wedges, but this was dinner so we had bigger portions)
tomatoes, diced and seeded
red onion, diced
bacon, cooked and crumbled
blue cheese crumbles
hard boiled eggs
blue cheese dressing
freshly ground pepper

Make it:
1) Hard boil eggs and fry bacon. Allow both to cool. You can place eggs in an icewater bath to cool faster. Meanwhile cut and dice everything else.

2) Place lettuce wedge on plate and top with everything else.

The Friday before our anniversary we went to Mitchell's Fish Market for drinks and then the wedge salad literally called out my name...I think the dressing was homemade and I was tempted to ask if I could buy a bottle of it!

This was our actual anniversary dinner at Island Way. I was only going to get sushi, but again the wedge salad just kept saying: "pick me! pick me!". It was good, but I think they decided to add the bacon drippings too and def slathered on the dressing, which wasn't homemade and not as good as Mitchell's. Regardless, it was still delicious.

Typing this all up makes me want another wedge salad...at 8:15 am...lol



Crockpot Beef Stew

I threw this meal together before work yesterday...in the 10 minutes I had to chop and dice everything. It was so easy and I got a text from Kevin while I was still at work saying that it was really good. Both kids gobbled it up too! I made a large meal out of it so that we could have leftovers and dinner tonight too since I knew it would be crazy hectic tonight.

Gather it:
2 lbs of cubed beef stew (or you can cube up your own large hunk of meat)
4 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
4 large red potatoes, quartered
1 medium sweet potato, quartered
4 celery stalks, large half moons
32 oz carton of chicken stock (beef probably would have been better, but I didn't have any)
dried parsley
freshly cracked black pepper

Make it:
1) Place all veggies, parsley, and black pepper in crockpot and cover with stock.

2) Place beef on top of veggies.

3) Cook on low for 8 hours.

We ate it with rice and it was delicious. Make sure to scoop up some of the broth to go over the rice...YUMMY! Oh and Kevin and I added a bit of salt and more black pepper to our dishes.

Note: Next time I will add onions and garlic, but I'm all out. Also, the sweet potatoes cooked a lot faster than the other veggies so next time I'm going to cut it into larger chunks since it kind of fell apart.

Chicken Taco Salad

I had nothing to do with this meal...it was all the hubby. When I get home from work the kids are usually already bathe and in their pajamas and I just spend time with them before they head off to bed. Well my wonderful hubby fixed this up while I was busy racing Lightnight McQueen in my left hand and holding Goodnight Moon on my right hand and ready while Avery sat on my lap. This dinner takes me back to when I was little and my mom and I used to make taco salads for dinner. I have not had a homemade taco salad in forever! Super easy...of course it was...I didn't do anything! lol



Gather it:
flour tortillas
rotisserrie chicken, shredded
yellow rice, cooked according to package directions
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large tomato, diced and seeded
1 small red onion, diced
fresh cilantro,
shredded cheddar cheese
lime wedge

Make it:
1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Arrange tortilla in an oven safe bowl that is deep enough to create a "bowl" for your stuffing. Bake  until edges are golden brown and crispy...let's ignore the burn section of my tortilla bowl!

2. Scoop a little bit of everything into tortilla bowl and squeeze lemon juice over everything.

Hubby also used his special sauce...a must try!!!

Simply Maize

I'm typically not a breakfast person. It's just not a meal I eat regularly (cue phone call from my mom so she can lecture her 32 year old daughter on why breakfast is the most important meal of the day). The only time I ever ate breakfast regularly was when I was pregnant with both kids...and that was b/c I HAD TO eat to feed my babies. Plus I also got extremely nauseous if I even got the tiniest bit hungry so I tried to avoid that feeling at all costs.

Buuuuut, this morning I had the yummiest cereal...EVER! Publix had some BOGO cereals on Sunday so I was trying to find something for the kids. I try to buy cereal only if it is BOGO b/c have you looked at cereal prices lately? I mean $5 for a small box? Plus they usually have a high sugar content and have a bunch of ingredients that I can't pronounce. I mean even Honey Nut Cheerios have a lot of sugar. Ok, so what I think is high might not be high to you - I suppose it's all relative. And don't get me wrong the kids eat that stuff once in a while...in fact they just polished off a box of Pops (talk about crazy high sugar!). I had decided I wasn't going to buy any cereal, but as I pushed my cart down the aisle I saw a bunch of Kashi cereals that were 2 for $5. I looked at the sugar content: 6g!!! Woo hoo!!! I grabbed a box of the Simply Maize and looked at the ingredients: organic whole grain corn, organic evaporated cane juice, salt, and organic molasses. Okaaay I can pronounce the ingredients...and it's organic! I was a bit worried about how they'd taste, but I threw 2 of them in my cart and promptly forgot about them until this morning. I had about 15 min of quiet time this morning so I decided to eat a bowl of cereal and read a book. This cereal is like a cross between a rice krispy and a corn flake...I'll call it a puffed corn flake. It has the perfect amount of sweetness. This was so yummy that I actually chose to have it for dinner tonight too! lol

Have you tried this yummy goodness? What's your favorite cereal?

Creamy Cheesy Pasta

I've been craving pasta and Publix sealed my fate when I saw that pasta and cheese were on sale! I was originally going to make this with grilled chicken, but then I saw crab meat...and I've been craving some since Valentine's Day (which I still haven't posted about...slacker!!!). This was a pretty cheap and fairly easy dish to make! Everyone liked it and Kevin and I have some yummy leftovers for lunch!

Gather it:
1 lb of pasta (whatever shape you want)
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp of butter
1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan and pecorino romano cheeses
broccoli florets (I used frozen since the fresh wasn't looking too good at Publix)
crab meat
1 small onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
dried parsley

Make it:
1. Cook pasta according to directions on the box.

2. In another pan with high sides (not a sauté pan), combine cream, butter, salt, pepper, onions, garlic, and parsley. Cook over medium heat until onion and garlic are softened and cream starts to bubble and thicken a bit.

3. During the last 5 min of cooking the pasta, add the broccoli to thaw it out. Once thawed. Drain pasta and broccoli and add to cream mixture. Turn the heat off.

4. Add the cheese to the pasta and cream mixture and toss together. Add the crab to the mixture and gently toss together so the crab doesn't fall apart.

I topped mine with a little extra cheese b/c I love me some cheese.

Cheeseburger Pasta

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and def wanted to try it. I can't believe I'm about to admit this on a public blog, but I LOVE Hamburger Helper. There...I said it! I was first introduced to this delicious concoction by some friends right after college. I've been hooked since. We don't eat it often b/c it's not all that good for you...like at all! So I was pretty excited when I found this recipe...it tastes so much better! Plus, I already had all the ingredients so I didn't have to buy anything! I did have to alter the recipe a little bit b/c 1 cup of macaroni (well penne in our case) wasn't going to feed my family of four. My hubby and kids can eat a lot and we like leftovers for lunch the next day. There's quite a few more steps than my usual recipes, but they are all super easy!

Here's my version:

Gather it:
1 lb ground turkey
3 cups of penne
4 cups of chicken broth (this is a little less than two 14.5 oz cans of broth)
1 can of Rotel (tomatoes with green chilies)
1 pkg of taco seasoning mix
1 small white onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced

Cheese Sauce:
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
1.5 cups of milk
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Make it:
1. Brown turkey. The original recipe says to drain it, but I'm lazy so I just turn the heat up on high to cook off the excess liquid. Mine's not really fatty since I use turkey and not beef so it's just mostly water. I also throw the onion and garlic while the liquid cooks off.

2. Add taco mix, broth, penne, and Rotel. Mix together and bring back to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Allow pasta to cook through.

3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter and whisk flour in 1 Tbsp at a time to make a rue. Cook for a few minutes.

4. Whisk milk in slowly and bring to a boil. Keep whisking until smooth and thick.

5. Remove from heat and whisk cheese in a little at a time until melted.

6. Pour cheese sauce over the pasta and mix together. FYI my pasta mixture had a lot of liquid until I mixed the cheese sauce in and allowed it to sit for a few minutes then it thickened up nicely.

Add salt and pepper to taste. I didn't add it to the overall dish b/c I figured there was already plenty of salt from the taco mix and I wasn't sure how spicy the Rotel would make the dish and the kids are going to be eating it too. FYI it wasn't spicy at all so I added a sprinkle of pepper and salt to my dish. The kids got theirs as is. They absolutely loved it!!! Yay!!!

You can tell they were really concentrating on their dinner! lol Kevin said both kids were so quiet and just really concentrating on eating.  

Both also asked for seconds. Here's Avery eating seconds...and was a hot mess!

Here's the original recipe.

Crockpot Chicken Pesto

I found this recipe on Pinterest (surprise!) and wasn't sure if Kevin would like it, but it looked so easy and yummy that I just had to try it. I had it cooking all day and I was still at work when Kevin and the kids had dinner. Kevin told me that it was really good and both kids ate everything on their plate and Avery had seconds. I think she might be going through a growth spurt b/c when I fixed myself a plate, she kept coming to me and saying "bite, bite". Little girl ate about 1/4 of my meal!

Gather it:
8 chicken thighs
1 packet of Ranch dressing mix
7 oz jar of pesto
1 cup of chicken broth (original recipe calls 1/2 cup, but we like a little sauce over our rice)
pepper, to taste

Make it:
1. Mix ranch, pesto, and broth together in crockpot.

2. Add chicken. Flip it to cover both sides or spoon pesto mixture over chicken.

3. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

As with most crockpot meals that I do, it's easy and yummy! You must try it!

Here's the original recipe.

Impromptu Dinner Date

Both the kids have been crazy this past week. I needed to get out of the house and Avery's crazy antics so I was relieved to go out and run an errand. I took Parker to the eye doctor to get the lenses on his glasses replaced. He's had a huge scratch on them for a few weeks and they have to be specially ordered so it took a little a while. Parker's current glasses are starting to get too small - they are typically for ages 3-6 years old so we also looked at some new frames. We just got his glasses April 2012 when he was 2.5 years old! They fit around his head, but the actual frames where the lenses go are starting to look small for his face...his face must have grown quite a bit! We tried the next size up for ages 5-8 and they fit perfect, but the lady helping us suggested going to a size 3 (age 8-11) since he outgrew his current ones pretty fast. His glasses aren't cheap and I really wasn't expecting to have to buy a completely new pair less than a year later. All are the same price, regardless of size so I'm going to consider it. His glasses still fit for now so we will re-evaluate in a couple of months.

these are the size 3...as you can see they are big, but they are a bit out of shape too since they are the trials and get abused a bit by the kids (err...even my kid flung them onto the counter top)

After the eye place, I decided to take him out to dinner since we were pretty close my favorite Cuban restaurant. Parker and I had a wonderful time at dinner and it was so great spending some alone time with him. I admit I was jealous of his boys day out with Kevin on Sunday!

waiting for our yummy dinner! Parker's funny...he saw my head tilted so he tilted his too. he does this when I'm taking his picture and I tell him to smile and I for some reason also smile big and tilt my head...

Parker and I drew for a little bit while waiting for our dinner to arrive...crazy kiddo actually pointed to the big TV they restaurant had and loudly exclaims: "My turn!". 

I usually get one of 3 things: Masitas de Puerco (pictured above; it's fried pork) with beans and rice, and maduros (fried plantains); Arroz Con Pollo (yellow rice with chicken), or Pan Con Queso y Tomate (bread with cheese and tomato). Regardless what I get I HAVE to have the white sauce - pictured on the right. This sauce is THE MOST DELICIOUS DIP...E.V.E.R!!!! Kevin actually has been able to replicate it and we use it when we make Masitas de Puerco at home to our homemade tacos. I got the Masitas de Puerco and got Parker the Arroz Con Pollo. Parker loves this dish and ate quite a bit. He and Avery had it for leftovers for lunch and gobbled it all up! I was very tempted to to order a flan to go, but I had just bought a large batch of oatmeal cookies from Costco (I LOVE oatmeal cookies and this is what happens when you go shopping hungry!) and besides my mom had just emailed me her recipe for flan and I swear I'm going to attempt it one day. Problem is Kevin won't touch the stuff and my kids have texture issues and I doubt they'd eat it. Ok, great...now I'm really craving flan...

Fried Rice...errr Fried Quinoa

One day after making Tropical Quinoa Granola I decided to make something else with it...this time I wanted to try fried rice. I pinned a recipe, but didn't even look at it. I just used my own Fried Rice recipe and substituted quinoa for the rice. This recipe changes a little bit each time I make it - it all depends on what I have on hand. I used chicken adobo again b/c my mom made a huge batch when she visited this past weekend, but I've used the other half of the steak the kids didn't eat, some grilled chicken, and shrimp all at once. It just depends on how much meat I want to use or have on hand. It's a great way to use up leftovers. We cap out at eating leftovers once...after that we throw it away even though it's still good. Re-using the leftovers in fried rice makes it seem like we're not eating the same thing for the third time.

The kiddos ate this all up and didn't even bat an eyelash at the new texture. Kevin's response: "It's different, but it's good." lol

My quinoa turned out a little mushy b/c I did not let it cool completely b/c I had some hungry kids to feed. Cool your quinoa COMPLETELY. If you have time to do it earlier in the day or the night before and throw it in the fridge then even better. 

Gather it:

- 1.5 cups cooked (and cooled off) quinoa (it doesn't sound like much, but holy moly, we've got a lot of leftovers!)

- 1.5-2 cups of chicken adobo 

- 1 medium white onion, diced

- 5 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 red bell pepper, diced

- frozen peas

- frozen corn

- dried parsley

- freshly ground pepper (to taste - I didn't use much since the Adobo had a lot of pepper in it already)

- soy sauce, to taste (I didn't use much since I used the sauce from the Adobo)

- about 1.5 Tbsp oil 

- about 2-3 Tbsp butter 

Make it:

1. Heat oil in a wok or a large skillet under medium/high heat. Saute onion until slightly softened. Add garlic - do not let it brown.

2. Add quinoa and red bell pepper and toss it in oil, onion, and garlic. Add butter. Let it "fry" for about 5 minutes - stirring every now and then to evenly fry the mixture.

3. Add frozen peas, corn and meat and let it warm through. Then add parsley, pepper, and soy sauce. Stir everything together.

English Muffin Pizza

Parker LOVES pizza! It is his favorite food! He's not picky either. He will eat pepperoni, sausage, veggies, plain cheese...whatever I put in front of him. Kevin and I used to buy Bagel Bites, but my kids are big eaters! Parker can eat 8-9 of those in one sitting and Avery can eat about 4 so one big box is gone in one sitting! I decided to make a healthier version when I started to stay home with the kids. It's super easy and the kids gobbled it up! I mix the toppings up depending on what I have on hand, but the kids aren't picky when it comes to their pizza. Now that Parker is older, he gets to help me make the pizzas...which of course means Avery wants to "help" too. It gets a little messy with cheese and herbs everywhere, but the kids have fun. Not that they don't already love pizza, but they tend to eat more of whatever we are having if they help make it...even if it's just to shake the dried parsley container (hence the reason why I have parsley on A LOT of our meals!).

Gather it:
English muffins, sliced in half
pizza sauce (pasta sauce will work too if that's all you have on hand)
pepperoni (regular or mini - the kids LOVE the mini)
yellow bell peppers, diced
shredded mozzarella cheese
Italian herb seasoning

Make it:
1. Set oven to broil. Place English muffins on a pizza stone (or baking sheet) and broil for a few minutes to allow it to crisp up a bit. If you like a soft "crust" you can omit this step. Watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.

2. Put sauce on top of muffins then the cheese. Sprinkle herbs on top of cheese then add pepperoni (and other toppings of your choice). Sometimes I add a little bit of extra cheese on top of the toppings so that they "glue" together and don't just slide off.

3. Place back in oven and broil until cheese is melted. I like a few little brown "burnt" spots on my cheese. Again, watch it carefully so it doesn't burn.

Easy and yummy!!!

This was last summer when Parker wasn't 3 yet and yep Parker had a whole English muffin pizza! 

I told Parker as I was tucking him in bed last night that if he has a good day at school we would make pizzas for lunch today - his eyes lit up and got excited. I also told him  he had to stay in bed and no getting out...guess what...he stayed in bed! lol

Parker wanted to know if he could eat the pepperoni instead of putting it on the pizza. lol he ate a handful before any others made it on the pizza. FYI the pot holders are there to protect their little hands/arms from burns. 

taking big bites of his pizza

Parker shoving a large piece in his mouth while Avery contemplates what to eat first.