Carolyn's Lemon Chicken & Rice (Danny's Favorite)

Next to pizza, this is probably my husband's favorite food. This recipe comes from his mother, Carolyn, who is an amazing cook. When we got married, of course I had to find out how to make this dish. And while I could never make it exactly the way she does, I've gotten the thumbs up from my husband that my attempts are delicious as well. This is good news, because I don't think Danny could have survived without his favorite meal!

Carolyn's Lemon Chicken & Rice

Ingredients (for two or three people):

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup lemon juice 

1/2 T chicken bouillon or 2 cubes chicken bouillon dissolved in 1 1/2 cups water

1/2 t. dried basil

1 T. cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water

enough cooked rice for whoever is coming to dinner

Directions:

1. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and lightly brown on the stove.

2. Take the chicken out of the pan.

3. Add about 1/2 cup lemon juice to the pan.

4. Add chicken bouillon mixture as well.

5. Then add dried basil and let the pan simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes I add other spices as well, if I am feeling creative, but basil is the one spice that goes perfectly. *Taste your sauce after simmering. If it has a weak lemon taste, you need to reduce it more (or add more lemon juice if you don't want to wait). It should have a strong lemon flavor.*

6. Stir while adding the cornstarch thickening mixture to the pan, and let the sauce thicken a bit.

7. Add your chicken back to the sauce, and it's ready to eat!

8.Serve over rice and enjoy! 

I've also made this dish in the crockpot by simply adding all the ingredients except the cornstarch and letting it cook until the chicken is done. Then I add the cornstarch in with the sauce and the chicken. It's not as good as the stovetop version, but it worked.

Husband's Reaction: Oh, he always licks his plate clean with this lemon chicken. The sauce is his favorite part. He could drink it plain, which is kinda gross, but that's how much he loves it. Thanks to his mom for sharing her recipe so I can make it for him whenever he wants!

We Cooked the Catfish.

So, the catfish was cooked and eaten the day after it was caught, but I just have not gotten around to posting about it...until today!!! Be excited. I know you are wanna know how to cook catfish. It's so popular and all.

Nobody does food better than the Food Network, so I copied one of their recipes. It was pretty good. This could probably be used with any fish. If you're only making one or two, make far less of the seasoning and dredging mixture. Even for the 4 catfish fillets this recipe calls for, I would cut it in half. There was a lot of seasoning.

I chose a recipe for fried fish because I wasn't sure if catfish tasted good or not. I figured as long as it was fried, it would taste great! It was. But the fish underneath the batter wasn't half bad either, so next time I think I'll skip the frying (remember how healthy I'm trying to be? Right).

And now I give you my second attempt at cooking fish ever.....CATFISH!

Pan Fried Catfish with Lemon and Garlic

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2005

Show: Emeril LiveEpisode: Deep Fried Southern

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/pan-fried-catfish-with-lemon-and-garlic-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 4 (6 to 6 1/2- ounce) catfish fillets
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Essence or other seasoning salt, recipe follows
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley leaves, plus chopped parsley forgarnish
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup all- purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

Place the catfish in a shallow bowl or baking dish. Season the fillets with 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of the Essence. Add the lemon juice, parsley, and garlic. Turn the catfish several times to coat evenly. Allow mixture to stand at room temperature for up to 10 minutes.

Combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, and the remaining Essence in a shallow bowl. Remove the catfish from the marinade and dredge in the cornmeal mixture, coating evenly.

Heat the oil in a large, deep, cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the catfish, in batches, and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Remove catfish from the skillet with a slotted spatula and drain on paper-towels. Season with salt and serve immediately with additional parsley and lemon wedges.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

HUSBAND'S REACTION: He approved. His favorite part? No bones to worry about! I think we might be trying some more catfish in the future.

He's so cool, you can trust his opinion. :)

Trying to Be Healthy/Oriental Chicken & Cabbage Salad

I don't think I'm an unhealthy person. In fact, I'm not. I've always been fairly healthy. But I married a man who is always wanting to "try to be healthier" so I guess that's been on my mind lately. We even bought some pedometers a little while ago to see how much walking we did in  a day. Did you know that to be considered "active" you should be taking 10,000 steps a day? I only met this goal once in the few weeks we were tracking ourselves, and I was tired at the end of that day! Guess I'd better "step it up" huh? :)

Yes, it's clipped to my pajamas. At the end of  this day I only had 7587 steps...and that was pretty good for me!

Going healthy seems to be an emerging theme in the food world. On the Food Network now they always have the one person on the Next Food Network Star or similar competitions who is the "healthy food promoter" contestant. I don't think any of these people have won yet, but someday soon they probably will. Which is good! It certainly wouldn't hurt America to eat healthier and feel healthier.

Summer seems to be the easiest time for healthy living for me. Fresh produce helps out a lot. Good weather and excuses to exercise (going on hikes, picnics, parks, walks, bike rides, swimming, etc) present themselves more often than in the winter. Last night my husband persuaded me to go on a walk. He brought along his frisbee (one of his favorite things) and we passed it back and forth a bit. And it was just a little thing, and we only walked a mile, and we only walked, which isn't very fancy or hard core, but it made me feel the tiniest bit healthier. 

I looked back over my recipes about a month ago to judge how healthy my recipes have been. I'm going to try to do better to put up delicious AND healthy recipes in the future. 

I guess I'll start out kind of cliche and go with a salad. This salad has sugar in it, but other than that it's pretty healthy. Good enough for MY blog at least! I recently made this salad for the closing social my group of school counseling program friends had. It's easy and impressive. When my mom first started making it, everyone would ask her for the recipe and it became a tradition for her to bring it to all the family and church gatherings. I think it's time to bring it back!

I didn't remember to take a picture of my salad, but this is basically how it looks. Good, huh?

Oriental Chicken & Cabbage Salad

2 cups diced or shredded chicken 

4 cups shredded cabbage

1 package Raman Noodles (or 2 if you're feeling crunchy :) )

4 green onions

Optional: 1/2 cup slivered almonds or water chestnuts

Chop everything up and add to a bowl. If you're taking this dish to an event, don't add the dressing until just before you get there. You don't want the Ramon Noodles to get soggy or the cabbage to get wilted from the dressing.

Dressing:

2 T. sesame seeds

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup salad oil

2 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

Season packet from noodles

Whisk or shake or stir it all together and pour on the salad just before serving. The dressing is my favorite part!

See, it's easy!

Husband's Reaction: He doesn't remember, but I made a simpler version of this salad for him while we were dating. He didn't like it then. I think it was just cabbage, dressing, and noodles, so that's understandable. But when I made it a few weeks ago he told me it was really good. He especially liked the chicken, which is no surprise. . . my husband thinks adding chicken to most dishes is the best thing to do!

Lemon Chicken with Hollandaise Sauce

What can I say? It's a Monday. Finals are coming. And finding a job is not the funnest activity. End of story. But when life gives you lemons, what do you do? Make lemon chicken with hollandaise sauce, of course!!! 

Lemon Chicken with Hollandaise Sauce

No real recipe for this one.  Buy a hollandaise sauce mix at the grocery store and make it that way. . . sooo much easier than making it from scratch, and better too (in my mind).  Put a little lemon juice in the sauce to brighten it up.  Bake or grill some chicken, and pour the sauce on top. If you're on a fancy date or something, throw a lemon slice on top. Done! This idea was stolen from working at a wedding reception center for 7 years or so. We got to try the meals we served at wedding luncheons, and this one was always my favorite. 

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken from Erica

Salsa Chicken from Erica's blog, Messerly Moments.

This girl's blog is so much fun to keep up on. She posts way more than recipes, inspires me to try to keep up on my blog better, and seems to always be having a party of one kind or another. Her blog inspired me to try this Salsa Chicken recipe a while ago, and I finally got around to it yesterday. So easy and yummy. Try it.

3 frozen chicken breasts
1 can drained diced tomatoes, corn, and black beans
1/2 diced onion
any seasonings you like (I used salt, pepper, taco seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, red pepper flakes, and chili powder)

Cook in crock pot on low for 8 hours, sprinkle cheese over top and serve with sour cream and tortilla chips!

Of course, I didn't follow the recipe exactly (do I ever?) and added some green onion and lots of spices. I served mine with rice and no sour cream (cuz we were out). I also used thawed chicken thighs and cooked mine on high for 3 hours and then low for one hour. It worked!

The next day I made a salad out of the leftover salsa mixture (the chicken was sadly all gone), rice, lettuce, and tortilla chip crumbs. It was a nice little lunch and a good way to use up the leftovers!

Husband's Reaction: He started dancing in his chair! How embarrassing, sweetie. :)

Crock Pot Chicken Tostadas

This recipe kind of comes from a crockpot cookbook I have...but I changed it so much you wouldn't recognize it. So! I'm just putting my own version in here.

This chicken can be used in regular tacos too. Or over rice. Or any other way you use shredded chicken. It's good because it tastes a little citrus-y and taco-y. MMMmmm.

My husband's friend showed up for dinner, so he got to be in the picture too.

1/2 medium onion (chopped)
1 small can diced green chilies
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 packet Taco Seasoning
1/8 cup lemon (or lime) juice + 1/2 cup water (just eyeball it and mix them in your 1/4 cup measuring cup)
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Dash Paprika
Dash Chili Powder

1-Combine chopped onion, green chilies, and garlic in bottom of crock pot.
2-Lay chicken breasts on top.
3-Pour water/lemon juice mixture over chicken.
4-Sprinkle Taco Seasoning, Paprika, and Chili powder over chicken.

Set crock pot on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-2 1/2 hours.

When done, remove chicken from liquid. Use 2 forks to shred chicken. Use a slotted spoon or strainer to get the onion and chilies out of the liquid. Add to the chicken. Add about 1/4-1/2 cup of the liquid to the chicken to give it some flavor and keep it moist.

Your meat is ready!

Now, gather the rest of the ingredients you want to use on your tostadas. We had tostadas, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, and avocado slices. Pile on your favorite ingredients (including the wonderful chicken you just made, of course) and eat!

There's the chicken poking out at the bottom! See it???? Yes.

Husband's Reaction: "This is a dream meal."
Husband's Friend's Reaction: "You can write on your blog that I just said 'so good!' every two minutes."

Zupas Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

I found this on Pinterest, and the recipe came from this blog:
http://crowleyparty.blogspot.com/2011/06/wisconsin-cauliflower-soup-zupas.html

Zupa's Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup (with variations by me)

2 tablespoons margarine or butter (1/4 stick)

1 medium onion, chopped (yep, I didn't have any of this, so I left it out and added some onion salt...totally not the same, but it ended up ok)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 spoon salt (I think this means "teaspoon")

2 cups milk

1 can (13 3/4 to 14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth (I used bouillon cubes, two of them, dissolved in 2 cups of boiling water) 

1 head (2 1/2 pounds) cauliflower, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used a bag of frozen cauliflower)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (haha I used yellow mustard, but almost left it out completely)

1 cup Sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup Pepper Jack cheese (none at our house, so I used mozzarella and then added pepper to the soup until it tasted good to me)

In 4-quart saucepan, melt margarine or butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and salt; cook 2minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually stir in milk, chicken broth, and 1 1/2 cups water; add cauliflower and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. In blender (with center part of blender cover removed to allow steam to escape), blend cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth. Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted and smooth. Garnish soup with remaining cheese to serve. 

This was really so easy. I followed the recipe almost exactly (except with my substitutions), and it turned out great! My husband always orders this soup at Zupas, so I made it for him. He said the real kind is a little thicker (maybe I added more water with the bouillon than I should have), and more yellow. But he said the taste was almost exact! 

We ate it with rolls, because that's my favorite way to have any kind of soup.

Husband's Reaction: He was very appreciative that I made soup on a cold, snowy day. When I asked if this was a recipe I should repeat again, he said yes. When I told him it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he said no, he still said yes. I thought it turned out great! I'm making this the next time I have to bring soup to a social gathering.

Fiesta Salsa Shredded Chicken Tacos

Fiesta Salsa Shredded Chicken Tacos
This little gem of a recipe came from here.

This is so so so easy!

The linked recipe includes a slow-cooker version, which is the one I am going to share. But if you want to cook your chicken a different way, nobody is stopping you!!!

3 Ingredients:


Cooked Shredded Chicken
Salsa
Taco Seasoning


Put raw, skinless, boneless chicken into your slow cooker, cook on low for 4-6 hours until fork tender, shred the chicken with 2 forks, sprinkle with taco seasoning (I just sprinkled until the top was covered, do as much or little as you desire), pour salsa on and mix in to moisten, and it's ready to eat. Be careful not to overcook the chicken, or will turn into mush.


Then add them to tortillas or taco shells and pile on the cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, whatever you love on tacos!


Here are my pictures that I almost forgot to take (my husband is the lovely hand model):

And here is one from "The Yummy Life"---the blog that originally posted this delicious recipe:

. . . If only my pictures would turn out looking that dreamy.

Husband's Reaction: "This gets an A+ on the healthy scale!" With New Year's resolutions and everything my husband is really into being healthy right now. Well, he always kind of is, but it's more potent at the moment. Don't worry, he also liked how they tasted. . . he had three before we ran out of taco meat.

Home-style Chicken & Biscuits From Back of Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup Label

Home-style Chicken & Biscuits
This recipe is so easy, especially if you buy pre-prepared biscuits for the top. 

Prep: 5 min

Bake: 30 min

Makes: 4 servings

1 can (10 ¾ oz) Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup

¼ cup milk

¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ tsp ground black pepper

1 bag (16 oz) frozen vegetables (whatever you like or a combination. . . can use less)

2 cups cubed cooked chicken (or, I used canned chicken in college when my mom gave me a ton of it from Costco)

10 biscuits for top (I usually make them homemade, but this last time I used the ones in the can that pops open)

Stir soup, milk, cheese, and black pepper in 13x9x2’’ shallow baking dish.  Stir in vegetables and chicken.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Stir.

Top with biscuits.  Bake for 15 minutes more or until biscuits are golden.

Husband's Reaction: He LOVED it. I was a little surprised, because it's just a casserole, but he even liked the leftovers we had the next day, and that's saying something.

Chicken & Cream Cheese Roll Ups

I totally LOVE these! Best dinner ever.

adapted from the recipe here: http://jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/chicken-roll-ups.html

• 1 pkg cream cheese (8oz)
• 1 pkg crescent rolls (6 ct)
• 2 shredded cooked chicken breasts
• 1 C grated chedder cheese or whatever cheese you have around
• Spices: salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, basil. 
• Olive oil to brush on top

Combine chicken, cheeses, and spices to taste. Spoon onto crescents. Put lots of filling in, but make sure you can still roll them up. Try not to let the filling spill out the sides, but if it does it's ok. Brush tops with olive oil and sprinkle garlic salt and paprika. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until slightly brown on outside. They are better when they are not as brown as the ones pictured above.

My husband isn't home yet, so I can't give you his reaction. But this is what I texted him:

"Dude, I just made the best dinner ever! It's so so good!"

If that doesn't make you want to try this recipe, I don't know what will. Do it.

Italian Chicken and Potatoes from Nikki S.

Italian Chicken and Potatoes


I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet! It's one of the easiest to make, and one of my favorites to eat. I've made it probably 3 times since I started this blog, but I just never got around to taking a picture of the finished product so I could post it. Well, today's the day!


I got this recipe from a Young Women's activity where we swapped favorite recipes and put them into books. This one came from Nikki S. (she's married now, so I guess she's Nikki C. now). I don't know if she even remembers bringing this recipe, but I've used it so many times. So, thank you, Nikki, for sharing!

4-6 red potatoes

4 chicken tenders or as much chicken as desired, cut into strips

1/3 cup parmesan cheese-grated

1 Tb Italian seasoning

1 bottle Italian dressing

In a casserole dish place cut potatoes and chicken.  Sprinkle Italian seasoning and dressing over mixture.   Spread cheese across the top.  Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.  (Brown potatoes can be used, but will need to be cooked longer).

I usually use half a bottle of Italian dressing and add a little water to keep the dish moist. I also don't usually cover it while it cooks, but this can make it more brown on top than you might like. It's better with red potatoes, but the brown ones work too. I usually just cut them into smaller pieces. 


This recipe is simple and can be altered to feed fewer or more people. You could even use different seasonings, make your own dressing to pour on top, etc. I've said it before, but I LOVE recipes that are easy to mix up and make your own. This one is definitely that way!


*Can also be made in the crock pot. Just dump it all in and cook as long as your crock pot needs to get the chicken all the way cooked.


Husband's Reaction: HE LICKED HIS PLATE CLEAN!!! . . AND THEN HE LICKED MINE TOO! haha silly husband.

Family Goulash (I call it "Deliciousness on a Plate")

Family Goulash

So, I'm having a little trouble with the word "goulash." It sounds disgusting to me. And this dish is far from that. I tried to come up with a better name for it, and all that kept coming into my head was the word "delicious," so that explains the title up there. You can call this meal whatever you like, but you MUST make it. It's too easy and yummy not to.

Ingredients: 

1 lb. Lean ground beef

1/2 cup sliced onion

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 cup water

1/2 cup ketchup

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

2 t. brown sugar

2 t. paprika

1 t. salt

1/2 t. dry mustard

dash ground black pepper

1 T. cornstarch or flour blended with 2 T. water

6 cups American Beauty Extra Wide Egg Noodles, uncooked (can you tell where this recipe came from?)

Directions:

In large skillet, brown beef; drain. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion is tender.

Combine water, ketchup, Worcestershire, brown sugar, paprika, salt, mustard, and pepper; stir into meat mixture. 

Cover; simmer 15 minutes.

Add cornstarch and water to meat mixture. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until sauce thickens and begins to boil.

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. 

Serve goulash (shudder at the word) over hot cooked noodles. Makes 4 servings.

Husband's reaction: This is very good. Thanks, honey. (He sounds way more polite in writing than he is in real life sometimes).

I was surprised  by how much I enjoyed this. I substituted a little onion powder for the onion (I didn't have one on hand) and some barbecue sauce for the Worcestershire sauce. I used cornstarch in the second to last ingredient. And I can see how this recipe could work with many other substitutions: different noodles, no mustard, more salt and pepper to taste, different spices if you're feeling adventurous, etc. I love recipes like that, and this one is a keeper!

Halloween Pizza

 We tried making a jack-o-lantern pizza like Papa Murphey's does. It ended up looking more like a hippie man once we added the olives, but that's ok. He was delicious!

Happy Halloween!

Potato Chip Chicken Nuggets

Potato Chip Chicken Fingers--From Lisa Summers' mother, Betty

1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast---adjust amount depending on how many mouths you must feed

5 to 6 oz. potato chips (plain, sour cream and onion, barbecue, or sour cream---I used plain)

1 egg

2 Tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut chicken into finger-size pieces. Fill a large sealable plastic bag with potato chips and mash with wooden spoon. . . or your fist if you're feeling feisty.

In small bowl, whisk egg and milk. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then put in bag of potato chip crumbs. Shake to cover chicken. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once during cooking time. Serve with barbecue sauce or honey mustard. (or fry sauce: ketchup, mayo, and Worcestershire sauce mixture)

Husband's Reaction: "Nobody has ever made chicken nuggets for me that weren't frozen."
Me: "That's how you know that I love you more than anyone else, right?"
Husband: "Yes."

We had chicken nuggets, baked french fries, and mango slices for lunch. . . . like 2 months ago! I'm just barely posting it now, because I have not had time or energy to cook many new things lately. Plus, the heat makes it almost unbearable to even think about turning on our oven. Here is what our thermostat looked like two days ago around 7'o'clock p.m.:

I refuse to cook in such conditions! :) Don't worry, we cooled it down...eventually.

This recipe is a winner; it's easy, tastes good, fun, and Danny said it was way better than going out to eat and seemed to feel good that it was *a little* healthier than the fast food versions of the same meal.

Pizza Fondue with Breadstick Bites

Yes, of course we got a fondue pot for our wedding. No, of course we had not used it yet. . . until tonight! We broke out the fondue pot and whipped up some pizza fondue! It was fun, fairly easy, and (best of all) I already had all the ingredients in the apartment! We didn't have much on hand to dip in the cheese sauce, so we used zucchini bits (one zucchini plant in our garden and it seems like we eat it every day!) and I made some little breadsticks too. So fun!

Pizza Fondue- from http://fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody.blogspot.com/2010/04/pizza-fondue.html


Enough for 4 people as their meal
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce (use our favorite kind)
3 cups mozzarella
1 cup cheddar
1 cup parmesan
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup white wine (I used plain old water)
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

In a medium sized pot, saute the garlic and olive oil over medium/high heat for about 30 seconds. Add the white wine and marinara sauce. Once the mixture starts to boil (about 3 minutes), reduce the heat to medium.

In a large bowl mix the cheese and cornstarch. Add the cheese to the marinara mix. Stir over medium heat until all the cheese is melted and smooth (about 5 minutes). Add the fresh basil. 

Pour into your fondue pot and start dipping.

AND WHAT WILL YOU DIP IN THAT DELICIOUS CHEESY GOODNESS????


I made little breadstick bites that were really awesome, using a recipe from http://www.grouprecipes.com/71559/pizza-dough-or-bread-sticks.html.

This was before they were cooked. I didn't get an "after" picture of just the breadsticks.

Pizza or Breadstick Dough

Ingredients

---

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon (1 package) active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (or vegetable oil)shopping list
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder, optional

• How to make it

  ---

  • Put the warm water and sugar in a mixing bowl, stir to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle yeast onto the water. Let sit for a 5-10 minutes.
  • In a separate bowl, combine together the flour, salt and garlic powder.
  • Stir the oil into the yeast and water. Stir in about 1/2 of the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the other 1/2 of the flour and then turn out onto a floured counter and knead for 6-8 minutes until you have a smooth and elastic dough; add flour a little at a time, if necessary.
  • Cover and let rest on the counter for 10-15 minutes.
  • For Pizza Crust: Oil two pizza pans and sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide the dough in half . Pat and stretch the dough out until will fir your pan. Place on the pan and finish stretching with your fingertips until it fills the pan. Pinch a bit of a thicker edge. If dough is resistant to stretching, let rest for a few minutes and then continue stretching.
  • Par-Bake for about 10 minutes at 425*F. Top with sauce and toppings of your choice. If desired, brush the edge with garlic butter. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until cheese melts and just starts to get golden brown.
  • For Bread Sticks: Roll dough into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Cut into desired number of strips. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter (you can add more garlic to the butter) and sprinkle lightly with salt. Allow rise for about 20 minutes,
  • Bake in a 425*F oven for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
  • For leftovers, re-heat in the oven (350*F) wrapped in foil for about 5 minutes or place in the toaster oven for a quick reheat.
  Husband's Reaction: "Mmmmmm! You can write that on your blog: 'Husband's reaction: Mmmmmm!!!'"

Pasta with Fresh Spinach

Pasta with Fresh Spinach

*recipe adapted from the recipe "Elbows with Fresh Spinach"

Ingredients:

8 ounces pasta
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
10 ounces spinach (fresh or frozen)*
4 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes (or a few regular tomatoes cut up)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

*I could not figure out how much 10 oz of spinach would be. I looked it up online, and it said about 6 cups of fresh spinach leaves would be about 10 oz. But I really don't know. I used 3 cups of fresh spinach picked from our garden, and I think that was about the right amount. Normally, you'd probably just use frozen anyway. But! If you ever need to get rid of fresh spinach that you don't know what to do with, this recipe is great!

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté garlic in olive oil for 3 minutes.
3. If using fresh spinach, coarsely chop. If using frozen spinach, thaw and drain. Place spinach in sauté pan and cook until wilted, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Toss spinach with tomatoes and hot pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Nutrition information per serving (1/6 of recipe): 193 calories; 8 g protein; 10 g digestible carbohydrates; 7 g fat; 1 g saturated fat; 3 mg cholesterol; 111 mg sodium; 4 g total dietary fiber.

This recipe was so easy and simple...and it tasted really great. It tasted healthy, because it was! But it was a delicious-fresh-summer-lite kind of healthy...not a boring-no fun-diet kind of healthy. Really.

Husband's reaction: I honestly don't remember. It was a few days ago. But he liked it. I told him he needs to start giving more creative reactions. He usually says, "This is really good, honey." or "This is good." or "I like it." Yeah, boring. :)

Thai Noodles with Chicken and Broccoli

Thai Noodles with Chicken and Broccoli

*I found this recipe on a family food blog made by an old roommate's family. I hope they don't mind if I put it up on here too.

Sauce:
3 Tbls soy sauce
1 Tbls sesame seed oil ( I didn't have any on hand, so I used regular oil. I know, not cool, but it worked).
3 Tbls peanutbutter
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsp chili paste ( Note from roommate's mother: I am not sure what this is so I put 3/4tsp chili powder. So, that's what I did too).
2 Tbls vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
Wisk above ingredients together and set aside.

Noodles:
8 oz spaghetti noodles 
4 cups broccoli florets
2 carrots sliced diagonally
Boil the noodles in large pot of water for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and carrots cook an additional 3 mintues. Drain.

Chicken:
1 Tbls sesame seed oil
1 Tbls minced ginger root (I used ginger powder)
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 lb chicken breast sliced in thin strips
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander (use as garnish)
Stir fry chicken garlic ginger until chicken is no longer pink. Add the above sauce to the chicken and simmer covered for 5-10 minutes. Toss with the noodles and vegetables. Garnish with the coriander (I didn't have any coriander, so I left that out).

My old roommate's mother put this note at the end of the recipe: This is a recipe from Carolyn Mackay who we meet here in Moscow. I was surprised how easy and fast this was and I thought it would be something children may like.


This was so much better than I thought it would be! I could smell all the spices, and I was worried it would be too strong. But I tasted it and was pleasantly surprised! It was really great! Often when I cook, I have no appetite by the time the meal is done. My food always tastes okay to me, but it's hard after cooking it to love it. . . this dish I loved!


Husband's Reaction: