Friday, August 31, 2012

August Roundup!

Mr. Lawyer thought he was so special because I made him this grilled turkey and cheddar cheese sandwich with smokey honey mustard on special bread. But really, I was just cleaning out the fridge.
I was home alone one night and bought some frozen pierogies. Yum yum.
 So the Budweiser horses just kind of wandered by our street. The beer is crap but the horses and puppies were cute!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

A Chicken Hit!

This one was a hit! I love that it is a straight forward fix it and forget it meal. The sauce was amazing and I loved the taste of it before I cooked it. I bet it would be delicious on a stir fry too. The only thing I had to alter was the chicken, I used regular chicken thighs and halved the recipe. Delicious!
Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken
(Pinterest find! From Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen)
Ingredients:
12 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 3 pounds)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
6 tablespoons cider vinegar
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger (I threw in some fresh ginger too)
3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 1/2 teaspoons cold water
Hot cooked long grain rice
Directions:
1. Place chicken in a 4 qt. slow cooker.  In a large bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, cider vinegar, ginger, garlic and pepper. Pour over chicken. 
2.  Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken to a serving platter; keep warm. 
3. Skim fat from cooking liquid. Place liquid in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into liquid and stir until sauce is thickend. 
4. Serve with chicken and rice.

Super Sweet Potatoes

Mr. Lawyer liked this recipe but it didn't do it for me. I thought it was too cinnamon-y sweet and the entire time I just wanted it to be butternut squash. Oh well, at least someone got their veggies!
Butter and Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes
(Pinterest find! From For the Love of Cooking)
Ingredients:
3 Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size cubes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
Sea salt, to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Melt butter and add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, oil, and salt.
3. Put potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle butter mixture over it. Toss to coat. 
4. Bake for 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Garlic Breath!

This pasta was something. It was so soft and velvety. Amazing. Of course that's because it contains half a cup of olive oil and six tablespoons of butter but it was worth it. I'm sure you could get away with cutting back on some of the oil and butter. It was a nice change from sauce straight out of the jar: different taste, different texture, even better as left overs! I used a roasted veggie sauce and would definitely double the mushrooms next time. I loved the garlic flavor but it's not a date night recipe!
Garlic Mushroom Pasta
(Pinterest find! From Country Cleaver)
Ingredients:
9 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 pound dried pasta
6 tablespoons butter
15 ounce jar of sauce
8 ounces baby portabella mushrooms, sliced (I would double this!)
Directions:
1. Combine olive oil and garlic in a medium pot. Bring to a boil then turn to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Cook pasta
3. Add a little bit of olive oil to a skillet and cook mushrooms.
4. Combine pasta and mushrooms in the same pot.
5. Add butter to garlic oil and stir to melt. Stir in pasta sauce and mix well.
6. Add garlic sauce to mushroom pasta and toss to coat!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Cheesy Bread!

Let's talk about our marvelous appetizer night. This was my favorite recipe. Of course I'm a sucker for bread and cheese. I ate the leftovers two days later and it was still delicious. I made my own pesto using this recipe. This recipe was easy, requires minimal ingredients (especially if you buy pre-made pesto), and was a huge hit! KEEPER!
Cheesy Pesto Pull-Apart Bread

(Pinterest find! From Jamie Cooks It Up)
Ingredients:
1 large crusty loaf of bread
1 cup basil pesto
2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Directions:
1. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray. Set one large crusty loaf of bread in the center.
2. Slice the bread carefully, without cutting all the way to the bottom of the loaf. Then slice it going the other direction so that you have lots of little 1 inch squares all over the top of the loaf.
3. Using a butter knife, spread pesto inside the loaf along every sliced part of the bread.
4. Pull the slices apart and push a bit of shredded mozzarella cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese into all the cracks.
5. Wrap the bread up in the aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Uncover the bread and allow it remain in the oven until the cheese is melted and a bit golden in color.
6. Take the bread out of the oven and let it cool just a bit before serving.

Shrimp Toast!

Mrs. T and I planned an appetizer night for the boys and it was (mostly) a success. I was drawn to this recipe on pinterest because the picture looked amazing. The original recipe was fried in oil which I wasn't a fan of (although I'm sure it tasted 10x better) so I found another recipe that broiled the shrimp toasts and cooked them that way. This recipe has potential. I liked it but I felt that it was lacking a little something....some zip or pop of flavor. I will keep experimenting with shrimp toasts! (that is if the price of shrimp goes down...)
Spicy Shrimp Toast
(Pinterest find! Adapted from forkspoonbacon.com)
Ingredients:
½ inch piece ginger, peeled
2 garlic cloves
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup water chestnuts
1 egg white
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 loaf sourdough bread, cut into 1 inch squares
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Directions:
1. Put garlic and ginger in a food processor and pulse.
2. Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining shrimp paste ingredient, pulse until you get a paste.
3. Cut up bread and place on cookie sheet. Broil for a couple minutes to toast.
4. Spread 1 tablespoon of shrimp mixture on each toast, sprinkle with sesame seeds and broil for 5 minutes or until toasted.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

An Italian Dinner

I've taken another kitchen break! All week I've been eating my healthy Rainbow Salad for lunch (and once for dinner!). It's been a great way to get back on track and detox...or prepare for another weekend of Shore Eating! One night Mr. Lawyer made his famous Spicy Chicken Cacciatore and we ate leftovers for a bit. He use to make it a lot in grad school, one of his dishes that won me over! It's a crock pot meal so it's super easy and super torturous when you stay home all day and can smell it cooking away. The recipe is HERE!
We set up our dinner stations: get your pasta, bread, chicken and some fancy Italian wine!
I forgot to take a picture before I started to dig in. Whoops!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Rainbows!

I was pleasantly surprised by this slaw/salad thing. I wanted something super healthy in order to detox from this past weeks yummy and unhealthy food binging....and how many klondike bars can you eat at the lake? Um...a lot. Anyway, this salad was fresh and earthy tasting. It got a spicy zip from the curly parsley and dressing. The pears give it a weird soft crunch that compliments the crunchier crunches of the cabbage and beets. I liked it. Weird. The rainbow color doesn't last long because the beets do stain everything so if you're going for presentation don't stir it up until the last minute. It also makes a ton so be prepared.
Since it is so healthy and full of ruffage make sure you keep the scented candles out!
Some of the shredded things.
All mixed up!
 mmmm healthy lunch.
Shredded Rainbow Salad
(From Everyday Food by Jamie Oliver)
Ingredients:
2 raw beets, trimmed, scrubbed, and quartered
1/4 red cabbage, quartered
2 large carrots, scrubbed and trimmed
1/4 white cabbage, quartered
2 pears, stems removed and quartered
1 cup walnuts halves, roughly bashed (I omitted this)
2 handfuls fresh curly parsley
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 teaspoons mustard
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
Hot sauce, to taste
Directions:
1. Put a coarse grater attachment into a food processor and push ingredients through in the following order (to stop the beets from staining everything): beets, red cabbage, carrots, white cabbage, and pears. If your food processor is small, do it in batches.
2. Turn vegetables out onto a platter so you get a pile of rainbow colors. Mix mayo, mustard, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.
3. Add walnuts and herbs and toss everything together until well mixed. Drizzle with dressing.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Lake Love!

This is where I have been all week.
Heaven.
I also picked four pounds of blueberries with my munchkins. 
Anybody have any good blueberry recipes?
I also received some super fresh eggs from W's chickens. Guess I need to make a frittata or quiche this weekend! Or bake a lot.


Sunday, August 5, 2012

July Round Up!

Golabkis for breakfast! The best way to start your day.
Remember those Butter Schnitzel? We made some leftover sandwiches with them.
 I threw the leftover Butter Schnitzel Mushrooms into some pasta with some frozen peas served up with a side of turkey and cheese rolls.
 Holy Vanilla Pudding Cookies! I made a double batch for our camp counselor bbq. They were a hit.
Camp food! Roasting corn and making some s'mores.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Olympic Party!

We are such cool people that we had an Olympic Watching Party (actually, 2!) this week. Jackie decked out their house out with Olympic themed streamers, table clothes and a homemade medal counter. I dressed the part with a shirt and medal courtesy of summer camp and brought an Olympic themed treat: Fruit Pizza. Gold medals all around! The chocolate shortbread is much more enjoyable than vanilla and the sweet frosting is the perfect compliment to both the shortbread and fruit. My favorite was the strawberry section. We had a ton of leftover fruit which made for some amazing breakfast fruit salad. I think there needs to be more themed parties in my life.
Olympic Rings Fruit Pizza
(Pinterest, from A Taste of Home)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups whipped topping
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh blackberries
1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, drained
1 large kiwifruit, peeled and chopped
Directions:
1. In a bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugars. Beat in the egg, melted chocolate and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Place waxed paper over a 15-in. x 10-in. baking sheet without sides. Shape dough into a flattened rectangle and place on prepared baking sheet. Cover dough with waxed paper; roll dough to within 1/4 in. of edges of baking sheet. Remove top sheet of waxed paper; invert dough onto another greased baking sheet. Remove remaining waxed paper.
3. Using a 4-1/2-in. diameter plate or bowl and a knife, trace three touching circles along a long side of the dough. Trace two more circles centered below and overlapping upper circles by 1 in. Cut around outer edges of the rings; remove dough around rings and use to make cookies if desired. Bake rings at 350° for 14-16 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
4. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add whipped topping; mix well. Transfer cooled crust to a serving platter. Spread with frosting. On top rings, from left to right, place blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. Place pineapple and kiwi on lower rings. Store in the refrigerator.