World's Best Chicken????

The caption on Pinterest said this is the World's Best Chicken....  not sure I agree, but it was pretty good.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

The World’s Best Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt & pepper
Rosemary

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together mustard, syrup, and vinegar.  Place chicken breasts into 9×13 greased baking dish. Season with salt & pepper. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. Make sure each breast is fully coated. No need to marinate.  Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.  (Line your pan with foil to keep clean up easy!)  

Ina's Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

When the episode of Food Network Magazine with this on the cover came, I knew I would be making it for dinner that week.  Ina's Easy Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese Croutons

Ina Garten has been one of my favorite chefs a long time now.  The soup was delicious but I didn't love the grilled cheese on the panini press.  All of the cheese got pressed out.  They weren't oooey and goooey like I love.  Otherwise, great recipe.

Grilled Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce

One of our new favorite Salmon recipes.  Grilled Salmon with Lemon-Dill Sauce

Pumpkin Rice Crispy Treats

For our Halloween lunch at work, I promised a co-worker who follows me on Pinterest that I would make these.  They were a huge hit and very easy.

I pinned the post from Grin & Bake It

My tray of pumpkins

3 Tbsp. butter
5 cups Rice Krispies
1 bag (8 oz.) Kraft Pumpkin Marshmallows
Tootsie Roll
Orange or Red and Yellow Food Coloring
A can of green icing

Melt butter in a large saucepan.  Add marshmallows and stir until melted.  Remove from heat.  Add a few drops of food coloring and stir to combine.  Add rice krispies and stir thoroughly until coated.  Let sit 3-5 minutes.

Waiting for the mixture to cool enough to from balls.

 
To make pumpkins:  spray hands with Pam cooking spray and form the mixture into balls.  Insert a tootsie roll that your husband unpeeled for you into the ball and press mixture against it so that it sits firmly in place.  Once firm, use the appropriate tip to pipe icing for the stem.

NOLA

In September, B and I took a long weekend trip to New Orleans.  It was lots of fun, but UNGODLY hot and insanely humid.  We crammed a ton of things into 4 days.  If you are interested in our itinerary, I would be happy to email it to you!

Here are some of the highlights:

Checking out the Cemetery on our city tour our first afternoon.

Our first NOLA dinner at Deanie's Seafood:  A take on their famous BBQ Shrimp Pasta.

B had Crawfish Etouffee.  He loved it!

B's breakfast at The Ruby Slipper:  The Louisianan Omelet

My breakfast:  Eggs Blackstone

Transport Ships at the Naval Base.

These dudes can make it across the Atlantic fully loaded in 6 days.  It was interesting to see how they are loaded.

Algiers Ferry

At the Aquarium

On the Ghost and Vampire tour:  do you see what we see on the left?

My view for most of the trip....

B's first Oyster on the Half Shell.

On our Airboat Swamp Tour

One of the many gators we met.  They love marshmallows.

Finally made it to Cafe DuMonde.  

It was so very worth the wait.

Our last dinner in NOLA -  Coops Place - a little hole in the wall, but don't overlook this gem.

B's dinner at Coops:  Rabbit and Sausage Jambalaya

My dinner:  Red Fish Meuniere - AMAZING!

The family tomb of Marie LaVoie  VooDoo Queen of New Orleans

We stayed at the Sheraton on Canal.  It was a great location and we snagged one of the newly renovated rooms on the 40th floor.  We had a great view!

We could have dove right in to the pool.  But it was FREEZING.  Not even remotely refreshing.

Our last lunch.  I finally got my Shrimp & Grits.  Not my favorite, wish I would have tried it somewhere else.

B's Oyster Po-Boy.  Our favorite PoBoys on the trip were at our first lunch at Mena's Place.  Skip all the other PoBoy hotspots and go here.

Sad B.  His last bite of PoBoy.

Homemade Laundry Soap

For the past year or so, I've been making my own laundry soap.  Since I like it so much I thought I would post about it...

I use Frugally Green's recipe and it always turns out great!  Here's what to do:

1/3 bar Naptha soap, found by the laundry soaps at WalMart 

 1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

1/2  cupArm & Hammer Washing Soda NOT Baking Soda

At least a 2 gallon bucket to mix everything in

1)  Grate the 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha and toss it in a pot with 6 cups of water.  Heat on low until the soap melts but do not boil stir often.  Once the soap is melted add the 1/2 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax and 1/2 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.  Continue stirring until the mixture is almost thick as honey.  Remove from the heat.

These are the containers I use.  I can fit 2 and a half batches in each, and I can fit 2 batches in my pot.  I have three of these in rotation and will make 3 double batches once I have two empty.  This lasts a really long time.

2)  Add the soap to your bucket along with 4 cups hot water and stir thoroughly. Then add a gallon of water plus 6 cups and stir some more.  Let it sit over night.

3)  In the morning, you will have a lovely gelatinous glob in your bucket.  You may have globs of goo or it could be more watery.  It all depends on the weather, your water, or a million other things and it will work just fine no matter how it looks.  Promise...  You can use an immersion blender or a slotted spoon to mix it up if you want and put it in a cute container with a spigot.  I just use the cup off the last container of All that I bought and scoop it out.  1/2 cup per load.  I go with a bit for for things like towels or larger loads.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think :)

Discovering Skinny Taste

I recently discovered Skinny Taste.  Wow, is that addicting.  Just about as addicting as Pinterest.  Not long ago, we made the Carrot Ginger Soup.  It was delicious.  And please bear with me.  I got a new laptop from my hubby for Christmas and in the transfer, I can't find all of my pictures, this one included...  Some of it is because of Windows 8 which I am getting used too and some of it is finding everything that was transferred.



I highly recommend that you give it a try.

Jaguar...

Good byes are hard.  It's been a rough couple of weeks as we recently had to say good bye to a much loved furry family member.  Jaguar, Jag, Jiggy, Jiggy Jaguar, J- Diggity.  Thirteen years of memories, snuggles, and love with my travel companion.  We buried him by the barn at my parents house with a catnip bush.  It was the hardest decision I have EVER had to make.

In the last 3 weeks, he had deteriorated very quickly and I knew I had to do it.  It was a seriously tough few days.  Now that I'm home, I find myself looking for him in his favorite spots; the overstuffed chair where his bed and blanket were, the sunny bay window, the stack of blankets by the couch.  It takes my breath away when it hits me that he isn't there.  Only one food bowl now, and Rueger is sticking to me like glue. At this very moment, he is pressed up against my leg.   He has been chattering up a storm and doesn't let me too far out of his sight.  He watched me the whole time I was in the kitchen yesterday, sat in the corner like a sentry.  I think he's missing his brother too.

We miss you Jaggy Boy.

Technical Diffiulties

I am experiencing some technical difficulties uploading photos...  I have a bunch of blogs written and ready to go, just missing photos.  Please bear with me while I work this out.  I hope to be back soon, with photos.

Honey Chicken

I found this recipe for Honey Sesame Chicken on Pinterest.  It tastes just like PF Chang/Pei Wei Honey Chicken.  I served it with fried rice.  My hubby went nuts.

Ingredients:

12 oz. chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

1 Tbsp. light soy sauce

1 Tbsp. cooking wine

1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Sauce:

1 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce

2 Tbsp. ketchup ( I used a little more)

1-2 Tbsp honey ( I used a little more)

1 Tbsp. oyster sauce

2 Tbsp. light soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

Marinate chicken in soy sauce, wine, sesame oil and sugar for about an hour.  Mix flour and cornstarch and place in a large zip-lock bag.  Drain chicken and add to flour mixture.  Shake gently to coat.  Fry in 350* oil  until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.

To make sauce, mix chili sauce, ketchup, honey, oyster sauce and soy sauce and water in a  medium sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, then let simmer until sauce begins to thicken.  Toss with chicken pieces and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.  

Yields 4 servings

Ham & Cheese Sliders

I made these for dinner a while back and we devoured almost the entire pan.  Link here for Ham and Cheese Sliders.

Ingredients:

24 good white dinner rolls ( King's Hawiian are good too)

24 pieces good honey ham

24 pieces Swiss cheese

1/3 cup mayo

1/3 cup miracle whip

Poppy Seed Sauce:

1 Tbsp. poppy seeds (or sesame seeds in my case)

1 1/2 Tbsp. yellow mustard

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 Tbsp. minced onion

1/2 tsp.  Worchestershire sauce

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo and miracle whip and spread on both sides of each roll.  Layer one slice of ham and one slice of cheese inside each roll.  Place them tightly in a baking dish.  

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients.  Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches.  You don't have to use all of the sauce, just be sure to cover the tops.  Let sit 10 minutes or until the butter slightly sets.  Cover with foil and bake 350* for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Uncover and cook for an additional 2 minutes until tops are slightly browned and crispy.  Serve warm.

Note:  Sandwiches can be assembled up to a day ahead of time and stored in the fridge.  Add sauce 10 minutes before ready to bake.

These are also great for a crowd.  My mom served them for lunch a few weekends later when the whole family was around.    On my batch, I didn't have any poppy seeds to I substituted sesame seeds.  We really enjoyed the end result.  

Mediterranean Salad with Penne, Artichokes and Sundried Tomatoes

This is my go to lunch.  A box of pasta and I am good for the week!  Mediterranean Salad with Penne, Artichokes and Sun-dried Tomatoes from Everyday Food #49, Page 101. This is also great to take to a picnic or pot-luck or to put grilled chicken on for dinner.  I usually double the dressing.

Ingredients:

coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup penne pasta
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil packed), thinly sliced lengthwise
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustart
1 head Romaine lettuce torn into bite size pieces
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, (water-packed), drained and quartered
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Directions:

1.  In a large pan of salted water, cook pasta until 1 minute short of al dente, add sun-dried tomatoes and cook until tender and pasta is al dente, 1 minute more.  Drain pasta and tomatoes, rinse under cold water, drain again.  Transfer to a large bowl.

2.  Make dressing.  In a large bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard and 1 Tbsp. water.  Season with salt and pepper.

3.  Add pasta and tomatoes, romaine, beans, artichoke hearts and feta.  Toss until combined and serve immediately.

Stuffed Zucchini

We had a monster zucchini from my in-laws garden.  I would recommend using smaller zucchini's to cut down on cooking time as these were in the oven over an hour....

I washed the zucchini, cut the ends off and cored it.  I then sprinkled Italian Seasoning over both halves (zucchini can be a little bland....)

I browned a pound of ground turkey with a diced onion and seasoned with more Italian seasoning.  I then added seasoned diced tomatoes and a few large scoops of browned rice and let it simmer.  It was still lacking so I grabbed a pint of seasoned stewed tomatoes that mom and I canned last fall from the pantry.  I would adjust this a bit depending on how much zucchini I'm cooking.  We usually cook about 3 smaller zucchini.

As you can see, these are loaded down!  




















A 375* oven for 35-45 min should do the trick.  Once the zucchini are cooked through (pliable when squeezed with tongs) add mozzarella cheese and return to oven (or broiler) until melted and/or browned.

We always have enough for leftovers.  I have even taken in enough to share with my co-workers the next day.  I've considered trying these on the grill...  hmmmm.   Enjoy!

Ribbed Baby Sweater

This was a quick and easy knit for a co-worker to give to her cousin's new baby.  I used 2 skeins on Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Seaspray on the Ribbed Baby Sweater  (6-9 month size).  The leaf motif was a cute addition and I love the collar.

The hat is the Magic Coffee Baby Hat and took around 1/3 of the third skein.  The little boy has a full head of dark hair and it will look so cute on him.