Lemon Dill Carrots

This was my other side dish contribution to thanksgiving -lemon dilled carrots. This recipe came from a little Barnes and Noble cookbook I bought for $2.98 on the clearance rack years ago. It is small and basic but this book has earned it's keep -I have several recipes I have lifted from it. I had some multicolor carrots that I bought a while back that needed to be used, so this recipe I had always wondered about seemed perfect. 

Adapted from: Barnes & Noble Basics in the Kitchen by Pamela Richards 

Ingredients

6 carrots, sliced on the diagonal

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

1 1/2 table lemon juice

1/2 cup water 

1/2 tbl butter

1tsp dill

Coarse sea salt and pepper to taste

2tsp honey

Recipe

Steam the carrots until tender but firm/crisp. Set aside and keep warm. 

Meanwhile combine the cornstarch and lemon juice in a small pan. Mix until combined and add water. Heat over medium. Keep stirring until mixture thickens slightly. 

Add the remaining ingredients, stirring until he butter is melted. Pour over the carrots, toss to coat, and enjoy. 

These were quick, easy, and delicious. My critic called them A+ :).  Definitely repeatable and I loved using the tricolor carrots  they made it feel fancy!

Bacon and Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts. I remember thinking they were ok when we had them when I was younger, not really liking them, not really disliking them. They were a huge treat for my mom - not exactly something you could force on a meat lover and three kids. She delighted in getting the steam in a bag kind with a butter sauce on special occasions. 

Last year I really discovered how much I love Brussels sprouts. My go to became shredded Brussels sprouts sautéed with a little garlic and pancetta. Launched it was thanksgiving I decided to raise the taste bar and drop the health bar :). 

Ingredients

4 slices of bacon, coarsely chopped

1/2 -1 lb of Brussels sprouts

Balsamic vinegar 

Methods

1. Start cooking the bacon in an oven proof pan. More surface area is better here

2. While the bacon is cooking, prep the sprouts - wash them, rtmove anything undesirable, and cut in half lengthwise. 

3. When the bacon is mostly cooked remove most of the bacon grease from your pan, leaving some drippings for roasting. Add the bacon and Brussels sprouts to the pan, cooking on medium for about 5 minutes. 

4. Here is where it gets fun. Add a splash or three of balsamic vinegar - probably a couple of tablespoons worth - enough to really get the good bits off of the pan  toss to coat and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 400F. I like to use the big pan because it allows me to place the sprouts cut side down for maximum roasting at this point. 

Time to get done delicious roasting going on. 

Final product:

Verdict - Seriously amazing. 3 simple ingredients - who would have thought they could taste so good?  I actually followed slightly different directions, starting out bacon and sprouts together. Because of that I wound up roasting way too long. Even mushy these were amazing. I can't imagine how tasty they will be when they are firm and crunchy with that balsamic carnelization!  Even mushy they got an A rating from my FIL at dinner. Add in a good excuse to use the fancy wedding pans -  what more could a girl want? 

Pumpkin Sones

I remember the first time I even heard of a scone. I was in high school, on a plane to Europe. I had my scone, thought it seemed such a fancy treat, and didn't think about them again for a decade until I discovered owners pasterirs. They always have seemed so exotic - something a regular girl like me could never make on her own. Most of my baking history has been cookies and cakes. However, I'm a sucker for what I believe to be a challenge.   So when I saw one of my favorite food blogs, Our Best Bites, published a pumpkin scone recipe I marked it for Thanksgiving. So Wednesday night since everyone else was traveling rather than going to the Saloon I started my baking!

Ingredients

~Scones~

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbl baking powder

3 tbl brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp pumpkn pie spice

1-2 tsp cinnamon

4 tbl COLD butter

1/4 cup milk

1 tbl vanilla extract

1 egg

2/3 cup canned pumpkin

~Glaze~

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp maple extract or pure maple sugar

2 tbl milk

Methods

Start with combining the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamonin a bowl, mixing well.  

Cut the butter into the bowl and break the butter up into small pieces (I did this by hand), making sure not to over mix the butter.  Chunks are good!

Meanwhile, in another bowl, mix the milk, vanilla, egg, and pumpkin.  

Add the wet to the dry and mix to combine.  I had to add a little extra flour to mine.  Next, dust your work surface with a little extra flour.  Pat the dough into a round, approximately 1 in. thick.  Cut (i used a pizza cutter) into 6-8 pieces.  Seperate them brush with milk and bake for 12-15 minutes at 350F until the scones pass the toothpick test.

Meanwhile, mix glaze and drizzle over the scones as they cool.

So i'm going to admit -- the original recipe called for cream.  But let's be honest, I barely keep milk in the house. Cream is beyond pushing it.  Even without the cream these were awesome.  I ate them for several days, warming them up for a few minutes in the oven and adding butter for consumption of the yum.  David wasn't too impressed, but he had just brushed his teeth.  The only thing I would do differently is I would use the entire glaze rather than only using some.  The glaze did get into the crannies, just like OBB suggested it would.  It gave the exta little bit of sweetness that made these shine.  Now that the guantlet is thrown, I have big plans for more scones this Christmas!  I know my sister is excited.

Daisy was really excited by my cooking, hoping I would drop some pumpkin her way.  I plead the 5th.  

Meaty muffins

Sunday dinner means home cooking. It is cold, windy, and a little snowy so after a long day we went with meatloaf for family dinner. David made a smokey cheeseburger meatloaf and I made Italian meaty produce-filled muffins for myself. 

6 oz beef-pork 50-50 mix

1/2 green onion, coarsely chopped

1/2 small medium onion, coarsely chopped 

1 egg white

1/8 cup breadcrumbs

Spaghetti sauce 

Italian seasoning to taste

Pretty easy stuff - I mixed up all of the ingredients in my melamine bowl. I didn't measure the sauce out, but probably between 1/4 and 1/2 cup. I actually used a little too much - or I just needed a little more breadcrumb binder. I split this up into three spots in my muffin tin and spooned some additional sauce on top. I baked these for about 25 minutes. 

David's meatloaf was good, mine was better. It hit the spot with a salad, peas, and some mashed potatoes. I split the three muffins into two hearty servings and am looking forward to leftovers for lunch. Only thing missing was a little cheese in the mix. 

 

Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Bacon

Everything food cooked with garlic and bacon should be. 

Pasta al' Amatriciana

I almost got the sauce right this time, but put way too mimics heat too it. I think I've got the secret figured out so next time might be the one. 

This was our favorite dish in Italy during our honeymoon, so I will master it. The first secret seems to be pancetta from Penn Mac in the Strip District. Once I master the sauce we will bring in homemade pasta. Yummmmmay. 

Swedish Meatballs

Skinny Swedish meatballs on tap tonight. They were a team effort, although I think david isn't very impressed. :(.  I thought it was decent, filled a comfort food need on a cold wintery day. 

Black-and-blue muffins

It's been a while. Things are chugging away. We've been busy in the workplaces and making the most of our weekends, so not so much blogging. I've been wanting to blog these muffins for months. I found them during a random foray onto Pinterest thanks to Keli. The pin was for a banana chocolate chip muffin, but I have played with it a few ways. The latest incarnation is black and blue-berry muffins. 

Pieces 

2.5 cups old fashioned (slow cook) oats. 

3/4 cup sugar

1 6 oz blackberry Greek yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 pint blueberries (about a cup)

Put together 

Start out with the oats in the food processor and grind into oat flour. Grind as much (or little) as you want. I leave some texture on mine, although pickier eaters can be tricked into oatmeal consumption if the oats are super finely ground. 

Next, conbine the oat flour with the remaining ingredients in a bowl (I like using my stand mixer). At this point I should have added some cinnamon (oops). Place in lined muffin tins - I got 15 medium sized, a dozen works well with the mix. 

Bake at 400 for about 20 min. Cool and enjoy. 

I love these muffins. The original recipe called for plain yogurt, but I enjoy using vanilla or some other flavor that compliments my main fruit component (ie strawberry with bananas, coffee with chocolate chips).   Pretty easy and quick stuff, and supremely healthy. :). Way better than a pop tart! Hopefully my coworkers feel the same when I bring these in. 

Baked Potato Soup

A little something for the fall - and a little something for the healthy side. I based this on the baked potato soup from skinnytaste.com. The idea being to extend the soup with cauliflower, making it a little less starchy carb and a little more good vegetable carb. I enjoyed it and really couldn't taste the cauliflower. David felt otherwise. 

Materials

4-5 small Idaho potatoes (600 g)

1 small head cauliflower

1/2-1 cup milk

Beef stock base

2 green onion 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Methods

I started out chopping up the cauliflower and steaming it. I also chopped and boiled the potatoes. Once the produce was done, I took the cauliflower,  3/4 of the potatoes, the green inion, and added the milk and a little water and blended with the immersion blender until everything was nice and smooth. I threw in the remaining chunks of the potatoes, a little stock base, and water to get the consistency I wanted. Heat a little longer and enjoy! We served it with a little cheese and green onion. A little Bacon would have finished it off perfectly. 

Green Enchilada Sauce

Last week's farmers market found me with a bag of tomatillos asking to be made into something tasty.my first foray into the husked tomatoes....  I remember when I first heard of these magical fruits. I had just moved to Texas. At the time knew tacos and were Mexican and may have just begun to enter the beautiful fried world of the chimi a few months before. We grew up pretty sheltered on that front. Tacos were ground beef, hard shells, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. That was it. So my friend Emily and I went out for Mexican at Chuys. I got to pick my sauce and I was introduced to this amazing thing known as the deluxe tomatillo sauce. Fast forward 12 years and I've still never used a tomatillo. That all changed today. I took the sauce from Our Best Bites and modified it slightly. 

Materials

3/4 lb tomatillos, coarsely chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, minced

6 cloves garlic, chopped

3/4 tsp cumin

1 tbl olive oil

1/4 bunch cilantro

Methods

Started out with the onion and garlic cooking down in the oil in a small pan until translucent to release their fragrance. I added the remaining ingredients and done water and simmered them away. Finally, immersion blend until all texture is gone and it is suitable for consumption. If too liquid, I would have simmered off more water here. 

We used this sauce on chicken and bean enchilladas. It was a little sweet, with no real heat since I didn't put the jalapeño seeds in the sauce.   Still won much approval. We have some leftover to use as salsa later in the week :) I have a feeling I may make a ton more and freeze it!  This could be the gateway to my first canning adventure. 

Dining out

Suds and spuds chips with triple dipping sauces (tomato relish, cheddar sour cream, spicy bacon ranch) and steak salad from the James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy. The beer list was great and the food was good. The atmosphere was really cool- loved the exposed brick and arches. They played the oldies soundtrack of my childhood all night upstairs. Definitely worth a return. 

Balsamic chicken from Penn Brewery. I love some good fresh mozzarella and this hit the spot after a long dat on the trails. Always a favorite spot for us. 

Sorta Caprese Chicken

Last week's impulse grocery buy was a ball of smoked mozzarella. It reminded me of the smoked string cheese I buy at the Mars Cheese Castle when I visit my parents, and tip it tastes just as good!  After I opened the package you could smell the smokiness wafting towards you. 

So this isn't a fancy meal or even real recipe. I took a checked breast and cut it into two servings and just pan fried them with a little oil from my misto and salt and pepper to taste.  Meanwhile, I wilted a bunch of spinach for me and sliced some summer garden tomatoes.  Then I just took the spinach and made a little mound on a backing sheet and covered with my sliced tomatoes. My chicken went over this  whole David's went straight onto the baking sheet. Covered with a couple of slices of mozzarella and broiled! We served this with son ricotta stuffed gnocchi from a local place. 

David was so impressed with my fancy food porn he almost posted it on the book!  I think he even liked the simple and tasty food. 

Grilled salmon with fresh rosemary and garlic

So this was an easy salmon find from skinnytaste.com that we made the other day. 

I took a sprig of rosemary from the garden and a couple of cloves of garlic from the farmers market and chopped them up.  I rinsed off a nice sized salmon portion and patted it dry. Salmon was sales and peppered to taste, followed by topping with the fresh herbs. I drizzled with the juice of half a lemon and David grilled to perfection. 

I enjoyed my portion with some steamed fresh great and yellow beans from the farmers market. Yum! Summer eating at its best. 

Grilled pizza - sausage and pepper

Not the most exciting of recipes, but its been a while since I posted. 

We did the grilled pizza thing for gratuitous food Sunday. Mine was delicious - slices of grilled chicken sausage with chopped up farmers market peppers and slices of tomatoes from our garden topped off with a little pizza blend and some ricotta. It was a nice departure from my normal pizza   marguerite (although I've for some delicious smoked mozzarella that I'm looking forward to using later this week).  We enjoyed with some of Pennsylvania's finest table wine :)

I love pizza and I love summer eating. 

Honey and spice sautéed pork hand tacos

Source:  porkbeinspired.com

So I have a pork problem. I'm not opposed to it. I just find it to be an awkward food. Growing up pork meant shake and bake on thick butterflies chops. Yum. That's a win in my book, even in my 30's. But that's not really my food style anymore. Now I do enjoy pork tenderloin, and hello pulled pork. We buy chips when they go on sale (hello buy one get one!), however the last several times they have seemed to be overlooked and dry. I was flipping through a magazine the other day and saw this recipe. I knew we had pork to use this week so I thought I would give it a try.  

Weather has been pretty rough here today. Like massive flooding shutting down streets. So when I came home I rushed to get dinner started and done before things got bad again. Fail. Meat was marinated but not cooked. I had electric stoves growing up and am never really comfortable but God bless gas. Out electric starter didn't work but a long lighter and the gas got us there. 

Ingredients

1 lb pork thinly sliced into strips (by the time I trimmed away the fat we had 12 oz)

1 tbl olive oil

1 tbl honey

1 tbl soy sauce

1 tbl lemon juice

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chili powder

Methods

Mix the marinade ingredients well and add pork. Stir to coat and let it sit 15 min. Cook on the sautéed pan for a few min until cooked through (or throw on the grill in a grill pan) 

Serve taco style!

I actually ate mine with a bunch of farmers market veggies and a little cheese in classic fajita salad style. Easy. Fast. Tasty. David approved. Win. 

Sorry for the crap pic.... But we still have no power:(

Buffalo chicken enchiladas

Who doesn't live dome Mexican? Or buffalo chicken?  Why not combine them? EmilyBites did and I gave it a try. Turned out on, but I will stick with my normal Mexican. This was a but too much kick for me and really, I like my Mexican a little more traditional or just tex-mex fusiony. Even David thought these were too spicy. 

Adapted from Emilybites.com

materials

12 oz chicken, cooked and shredded  

8 oz can tomato sauce

1/4 cup buffalo sauce 

1/2 T chili powder

1/2 T cumin

1/2 T garlic powder 

1/8 t sugar

3/4 cup triple cheddar

1/4-1/2 cup minced celery

1 T blue cheese dressing 

8 small corn tortillas 

methods

Combine the tomato sauce, buffalo sauce, chili poser, cumin, garlic powder, and sugar. Take 1/2 cup sauce and mix well with chicken, cheese, and blue cheese dressing. At this point I stopped to make David's veggie free enchiladas. For mine I mixed in the celery and completed the enchiladas. Spray with a little oil and bake at 425F for 8-10 min to get crunchy. Then lower the heat to 400, top with the remaining sauce and bake for 18-20 min. 

David added plenty of extra blue cheese dressing to cool his down. Ill be using some yogurt with my leftovers for lunch.  And later this week we will just go back to old fashioned turkey and black bean enchiladas. 

Baked Cod

Nothing super special here. We bought a bunch of cod when it was on sale, but I had no idea what we were going to do with it since frying was out. I found this handy little method of cooking them in Cooking Light. It was pretty quick ad actually turned out crunchy!  I imagine we will use this method again.

Ingredients

2 cod fillets, approx 4 is apiece

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

Black pepper and salt to taste 

2 tbl oil (olive or canola)

Methods

Preheat oven to 450F.

I started out with mixing the panko, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder in a bowl. Next, I rinsed the cod and patted it dry and salted and peppered to taste. Next step - obviously, dip the cod into the egg followed by the breadcrumbs. 

Add the oil to an ovenproof pan on medium/medium-high. Pan fry the cod pieces for about 3 minutes on one side (until brown and crispy). I flipped the fish over and then baked it for about 7-8 minutes in the preheated oven. 

I enjoyed with a sauce made of Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and fresh dill. Definitely the best fake fried fish I've made. 

Chickpea and Tomato Summer Salad

Lets be honest, I have a love affair with beans. It started when I was single and it was me and the baked beans. We were pretty monogamous. Then I got a little older and had some flirty times with the refried beans at Mexican restaurants. Since my vegetarian lent, well lets just say I'm a full on bean slut. I haven't really had a bean I didn't like. 

When it comes to chickpeas though, they always make me think of my mom. Her palate is a little more constrained than mine, however out I the blue when I was in high school she piled some garbanzo beans on her salad and announced that she had always lied them. I had never seen her eat them before that, but they are her bean of choice. So when I was out searching the interweb for recipes and came across this Chickpea and Tomato Salad on Eat Yourself Skinny, I knew I had to give it a try. 

I was able to use cherry tomatoes from the farmers market and basil out of our garden, making this super fresh and delicious. Winning:  Keys - fast, easy, fresh, healthy, tastes.  I enjoyed the combination of the different vinegars and the addition if honey for a smidge of sweetness. I see this being repeated agin this summer, possibly while mom is visiting.  

Ingredients:  

1 large container farmers market tomatoes

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained. 

1 handful fresh garden basil

1 tbl red wine vinegar

1 tbl apple cider vinegar

2 tsp olive oil

1/2. Tbl honey

Salt to taste

Directions 

I started with quartering the tomatoes lengthwise and added them to a bowl with the chickpeas. 

I chopped up the basil fairly finely, and added the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Mix and allow to sit for a while to mellow the ingredients. 

Salmon Tacos

You know how fish tacos left California in like 2001 and started gaining popularity around the country. Yup it's 2013 here, you can do the math. I've had some delicious fish tacos at restaurants, but they were usually battered (not exactly how i roll at home 95% of the time) or just seemed out of reach (i have an inferiority complex with cooking fish). Meanwhile,  we've had a few less than super-successful (but still edible) attempts involving tilapia and pre-packaged taco seasoning.

I pulled this recipe out of a magazine months ago and it go shoved to the bottom of a bunch of recipe cards.  I found it last week while meal planning and thought it had potential. We generally love salmon (yay omega 3 fatty acids!) and buy it whenever it's on sale. The  magazine actually gave guacamole and rice recipes, but I was honed in on the salmon. 

I thought this tasted awesome. I put mine in a hard shell corn taco with a little cheese and some guiltless guac from trader joes that is sitting around needing to be used with a little tomato on the side. I had planned to add some napa cabbage that I have, but totally forgot to take it out and slice. Oops. But back to my point, it was light, I knew it was healthy, and it really hit the spot. David also enjoyed it - giving it approval as another good way to prep salmon. I would eat this without tacos - just prepared as seasoned fish, but I love tacos. It was so easy I for see this being added to the regulars. 

Ingredients (served 2, 2 tacos for each of us)

2 salmon fillets (4 oz apiece)

Olive oil

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp coriander 

1/8 tsp salt

Pinch pepper to taste 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet  with foil. Pat the salmon dry and place skin side down. Spray with a little olive oil to coat surface of the fish. 

2 Mix spices in a small bowl. 

3.  Rub the spice mix on the salmon. Bake for 15 minutes.

4.  Flake cooked fish into large chunks and enjoy on your favorite corn or flour based tortilla product. :)

Cucumber dill salad

This is a simple oldie and goodie.  My sister makes a cucumber dill salad that is yummy. Since its the unofficial start of summer, it called to me to make this super healthy salad to go with our burgers Saturday night. It felt especially fitting since we have dill going to town this summer.  Traditional salads include red onion, but I have mixed feelings on onions, so I don't include them. Likewise i know there are a lot of traditional versions of this with a creamy base, but i prefer the healthy and super tangy version with the vinegar. A little bit goes a long way. I did use this excuse to pull out my mandolin. Every opportunity to use a kitchen gadget is a good opportunity. 

Ingredients

1 English cucumber sliced thinly

3 tbl white vinegar

2 tsp sugar 

2 tbl fresh dill. 

Pepper to taste 

I started out with slicing the cucumber up on the mandolin. 

In a small bowl I mixed up the vinegar, sugar, dill, and pepper.  

Toss the vinegar sauce with the cucumbers and let it soak up the deliciousness. They were even better the second day :)

Blue Cheese and Gingered Pear Quesadillas

Last year I mysteriously started getting Family Circle Magazine. I'm assuming its some sort of marketing ploy to get me to love the magazine and start buying it myself, or someone gifted me and forgot to tell me. This months issue had an interesting recipe at the back. I'm not sure why it jumped out at me, because its way fancy for a 'burgh girl like me and Mr Meat 'n Potatoes. 

We braved it and I deemed it a nice easy success. Meat had his without the pear, which meant more for me :). To make for it I gave him a little extra blue cheese and prosciutto - a fair trade in everyone's eyes. I enjoyed mine on high fiber la tortilla factory tortillas, so it really was just enough. I felt it was light, tasty, and just enough without feeling grossly full (needed after stuffing my face at St Nicks Greek food festival Friday and my friend Jen's birthday Sunday). David wondered who would think to put anything other than beef or chicken with Mexican cheese on a quesadilla, but never says no if it involves prosciutto. I think it's likely we will add this to our rotation.  It's basically a fancy grilled cheese in quesadilla form. Next time I might just place the prosciutto on the tortilla as a whole slice and finely slice the pear instead of dicing and then cover with a blue cheese/lime/ginger mix. 

This may have been my first foray into fresh ginger. Nor sure why I avoided it previously? 

Ingredients

1 pear, diced

1/2 tbl fresh ginger, minced

Juice of a lime

4-5 tbl blue cheese, crumbled

4 slices prosciutto, cut into pieces

4 large tortillas 

 Instructions 

Combine blue cheese, finer, lime juice, and pear. Mix well. 

Put a tortilla on the quesadilla maker or hot pan (may need a spritz of oil). Cover with half of prosciutto and half of the fruit and cheese mixture. Place another tortilla on top and grill. Repeat and enjoy :)

Both the most beautiful picture, but tasty none the less. 

Honey Sesame Chicken

I've been trying to expand our culinary horizons lately.  Last summer I introduced David to Sriracha sauce. It was love at first sight. Lately I've been feeling a little Asian, so I was quite interested in this Honey Sesame Crock Pot Chicken from skinnytaste.com; however, I was not digging the four hours in the crockpot.  Hello, I work outside my home, 4 hours isn't going to work for us.  I refuse to use frozen chicken breasts directly into the crock pot to extend the cook time the way people suggested in the comments - that is just asking for a bacterial disaster that I don't want to induce.  So I changed this up a little based on our likes and dislikes and this is what we ate.  it was a definite win as far as dinner go.  We ate the shredded chicken with pasta - I used orzo to simulate the brown rice that I was really jonesing. I added broccoli slaw to mine with a side of fresh pineapple.  We both really liked this one and I've since made it again.  It had a slight sweetness from the honey, and the Sriracha gives it kick, but its a kick that you don't taste initially.

I even enjoyed the leftovers the next day.  In order to make it a little easier, I've thought about chopping up the chicken prior to cooking and serving the chicken pieces over pasta/rice with plenty of yummy sauce.  I used tomato paste the first time, but didn't feel it was lacking when I didn't have any in the house the second time.  This makes 3 good sized servings for David and I given the typical chicken breast size.

Ingredients:
pepper to taste
2 boneless chicken breasts
3 tbl honey
2 tbl soy sauce
1 tbl tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1.5 tsp Sriracha sauce
1 tbl rice vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbl cornstarch

Instructions:
Mix the honey, soy, tomato paste, garlic, Sriracha, vinegar, about half a cup of water, and sesame oil in a small bowl.

Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a small dutch oven or pot. Pepper to taste and cover with the honey-soy-sesame mix.  Cover tightly and cook on the lowest setting for about an hour.  Check periodically and add water as needed.  Remove the chicken from the dutch oven and shred.  Meanwhile add cornstartch to the pot and mix well.  Keep on low and cook until thickened slightly.  Return chicken to the dutch oven and mix well.  Enjoy! 

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

We are invited to a cookout for my fried Jen's birthday this weekend. By the time I got around to asking what we could bring the savory was pretty full up, so I decided to make these cupcakes I had seen at skinnytaste.com. I wanted to make them at Easter but wound up doing plain chocolate cupcakes with homemade frosting in an effort to please the masses. 

These were pretty easy, and rather tasty if I do say so myself. No verdict from the other half, but he is excited to get his own personal cake shown below and give we a try. 

Ingredients

1 box funfetti cake mix

1 packet kool aid pink lemonade mix

1.5 tbl sugar

1/4 cup applesauce

1 tbl oil

1 cup water. 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 and put liners in muffin tray

Mix water, lemonade mix, and sugar in a small bowl. 

Combine cake mix, lemonade mix, oil, and applesauce and mix well. Place in cupcake liners. Add sprinkles if desired (I used non-perils, and bake for about 22 minutes until fully cooked. Cool and enjoy :)

David's special cake because I love him so much (vomit) and since he is putting up with my work friends two weekends In a row :)