Beef and Broccoli
A teriyaki marinated beef that makes a sauce so yummy it shall be forever known as the meal that got MY husband to eat all his broccoli! ha ha Simple, quick and delicious. Serve with brown or white rice. The sesame seeds on the broccoli are optional, I had them so I used them. Enjoy!
Beef and Broccoli
1 lb Beef Stew meat
2 tbsp Teriyaki Marinade
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt and pepepr each
1 tbsp oil (I use coconut, but olive, veg or canola would work!)
2 cups beef broth
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup cold water
1 Bunch Broccoli, chopped and blanched (boiled in water till ALMOST done than thrown in an ice bath)
1 tsp toasted seaseme seeds
2 cups brown or white rice
1. Marinade beef in teriyaki, worchestshire, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper for 1- 4 hours
2. Add oil to non-stick skillet, cook beef 2 min on each side.
3. Mix cornstarch with 1/2 cup cold water till dissolved.
4. Add Beef broth and cornstarch/water mix to beef and simmer for 10 minutes until thick, salt to taste.
5. Serve beef and sauce over rice and broccoli, enjoy!
Dinner THEN lunch:Teriyaki Chicken with Pineapple Fried Rice AND Teriyaki Chicken Salad
Dinner that becomes lunch! I love meals like this. I always have the BEST intentions for my leftovers, but the dog gets to eat them far more often than I’d like to admit. That’s why this meal was great. I just made the whole package of chicken (far too much for our small family) so I had lots of yummy leftovers for the accompanying Chicken Salad recipe the next day.
Now I must say, chicken has become something that’s not really loved in this house as of late. I think too many roast chickens and lemon chicken are to blame for boring my sweet husband. Every time I mention making it anymore I get a groan. But with this recipe chicken made a triumphant return in our house! I bought this Teriyaki marinade a while back cuz it looked yummy. Just a moderately priced one next to the soy sauce, nothing special. I haven’t used it much yet. but I thought it would be a nice compliment to another recipe I’ve been thinking of trying out for a while… Pineapple Fried Rice. Let me just say, both recipes, SO, SO good! It was nice to hear my boys cheer at the dinner table again, and all while eating resonably healthy, yay!
Enjoy!
Teriyaki Chicken
3 or 4 large chicken breasts (skin/bone removed) chopped into cubes 3 tbsp teriyaki marinade 2 tsp worichestshire sauce 1/4 tsp garlic salt 1/4 tsp onion powder 1tbsp Coconut oil (or any oil of your choice, I just like coconut)
1 red bell pepper cut up
1. In a large plastic baggie combine chicken and all the ingredients except the bell pepper. 2. Seal bag and shake to combine. Refridgerate 1 to 4 hours. Longer the better. 3. You can either put chicken on soaked skewers and grill or do what I did and add a little oil to a wok and cook. 4. If you grill put on the bell pepper with the chicken but if you cook in wok like me I just added them at the very end so I didn’t overcook them.
Pineapple Fried Rice
2 cups White or Brown Rice (I used white because I was out of brown, it’s up to you!) 2-3 tsp soy sauce 1 egg scrambled 1/4 cup pineapple cut small 1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped 2 green onions chopped 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (divided)
1. In a wok (or pan) add 1 tbsp oil, add rice and stir, be careful it will stick easily if your not using a good pan or enough oil! 2. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add soy sauce and egg, cook 1 more minute and remove from heat. 3. I like to dump that in my serving dish then go back to the stove and add the last 1/2 tbsp oil and the pineapple. Heat pineapple until it starts to get a little brown on some edges. 4. Add pineapple, onion and cilantro to rice, stir and serve!
Teriyaki Chicken Salad
Leftover Teriyaki chicken and bell peppers – diced up into small peices 2-3 tbsp mayo or miracle whip juice of 1/2 lime 2-3 tsp chopped cilantro 1 yellow bell pepper diced 1 1/2 stalks celery w/tops diced 1/2 onion diced 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper (fresh ground if you have it)
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until combine. Cover and chill. I like to chill for at least 30min (an hour is better) before serving, it just tastes better the longer you let all the flavors come together : ) Serve on buns, bread, tortilla, a slice of lettuce or just eat it up with a fork! I liked this one, Enjoy!
My Light Italian Turkey Meatloaf
In the past year or so our family has started to cut back on the amount of red meat we eat in a week. I try to keep it to only twice a week, but there are times when it’s much more than that. For this reason I’m constantly searching for healthy recipes with alternatives like ground turkey or chicken. The boys are big fans of my Turkey Meatballs, but they are time consuming to make. So this week when I got out the ground turkey I decided to try something different. This is basically the same ingredients are my turkey meatballs, but instead I made it into a meatloaf, topped it with spaghetti sauce and baked it for an hour. I love this recipe because it full of tons of fresh herbs (Basil & Parsley) and there is little filler (ie. breadcrumbs or oatmeal) like you find in most meat-loafs, this also helps to keep the calories down. Also my use of one egg white as opposed to the 2 or 3 whole eggs many meatloaf recipes call for makes a huge difference when it comes to calories.
So how was it? There were rave reviews around here, including my almost 4 year old proclaiming that “This is awesome meat mom!” lol Which is high praise from my salad loving boy, who I swear would be a vegetarian if he could.
One last thing I should mention, you will notice I used onion powder and garlic salt in place of the real thing, this is just because my boys aren’t onion fans and this way I get the flavor without the whiny, “there’s a onion in my food” gripes.
Enjoy!
Light Italian Turkey Meatloaf
1 lb or 1 package ground Turkey
1 egg white
1/4 cup Seasoned Italian Breadcrumbs
3/4 tsp garlic salt
3/4 tsp onion powder
3 heaping tbsp finely chopped fresh Parsley
2 heaping tbsp finely chopped fresh Basil
1/4 tsp black Pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, until combined.
3. Form into a log and place into a greased (I used 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil) baking pan
4. Cover with 1/4 cup speghetti sauce
5. Bake 1 hour covered with foil, uncover bake 10 more minutes.
6. Slice, top with extra sauce and enjoy!
“Light” Lemon-Earl Grey Squares
From my Cooking Light Magazine. These are super easy and delicious! I love the addition of the Earl Grey, which also happens to be my favorite tea. Definitely not completely low fat, but lighter than the normal lemon square recipe with a ton of flavor, enjoy!
“Light” Lemon-Earl Grey Squares
Crust
Cooking spray 1 1/14 c flour 1/3 c powdered sugar 1 Earl Grey Tea bag 1/8 tsp salt 8 tbsp butter
Filling 1/4 c fresh lemon juice 1 Earl Grey Tea bag 1 c granulated sugar 2 tbsp all purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp grated lemon peel 3 large eggs
1 tbsp powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350degrees
For Crust:
Line a 8-in square pan with foil and spray w/cooking spray
Mix flour, powdered sugar, salt and 1 tsp tea leaves from Earl Grey tea bag.
Cut butter into mixture until it resemeble coarse meal.
Press crust into bottom of pan and bake at 350 for 19 minutes or lightly browned.
For Filling:
Microwave juice for 30seconds and then add 1 Earl Grey tea bag. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes.
Squeeze juice out of the bag into a bowl and add remaining juice, add peel and eggs and mix to combine
Seperately mix sugar, flour and baking powder together, then add to juice mixture.
Remove crust from oven and pour filling over hot crust. Bake at 350 for 23 minutes or until set.
Let cool, remove foil from pan, spinkle with powdered sugar, cut into 16 squares and enjoy!
Source: May 2012, Cooking Light Magazine
Crock pot Chicken Parmesan Penne
After a long break, due to the fact that nearly everything made with sick when I was pregnant with my baby girl, I’m back to cooking! Yay!!!!
I’ve been working on Crockpot recipes, mostly because life has gotten so much busier around here and covience is key.
My first experiment was Crockpot Chicken Parmesan Penne. I wasn’t sure how this would work out, but it ended up being amazing! The chicken was so tender and full of flavor, and it was so easy to do. Very little prep work at all. Most imporatly it passed the test of my boys, and that’s all that really matters around here, Enjoy!
Crockpot Chicken Parmesean Penne
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 t Italian Seasoning
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
1 beaten egg Cooking spray
1 jar favorite tomato pasta sauce
2 2/3 cups uncooked penne pasta
1. Spray crockpot with cooking spray.
2. In small bowl, beat egg. In separate bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
3. Dip chicken into egg, then coat evenly with bread crumb mixture; place in cooker.
4. Spread pasta sauce evenly over chicken.
5. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 5 to 6 hours.
6. Sprinkle Italian cheese blend over top. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 10 minutes longer.
7. Meanwhile, cook and drain pasta as directed on package. Serve chicken with pasta.
More to come, and soon!! : )
Chocolate Nutella Sugar Cookies
Just in time for Valentines Day! I love love to decorate Sugar cookies, royal icing is an art I’m dying to master. BUT I don’t like sugar cookies that much. They’re too sweet and just, well, sugary. So I wanted to try to make a cookie that I would enjoy eating as much as I enjoy decorating. I took my basic sugar cookie recipe and added two of my favorite things, chocolate and Nutella, an Ta-Da! Success!
These cookies, look fabulous, smell unbelivable and taste out of this world! If your a Nutella fan like me, odds are you’ll already have all the ingredients on hand already, just in time to whip up some for the one’s you love!
Chocolate Nutella Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter (softened at room temperature)
1/4 cup Nutella
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 egg, lightly beaten (egg should be at room temperature)
3 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Sift together all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt.
3. Cut in butter and blend with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
4. With a fork, stir in lightly beaten egg, vanilla, milk and Nutella. Blend well with fork, then your hands to ensure thorough blending.
5. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes.
6. Place on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sugar or leave plain for decorating with icing.
7. Bake for 6 – 7 minutes, or until lightly brown.
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies
After taking the past few months off, I’m back! As you may or may not know, I’m back working full time. I have a great new job I LOVE as the Marketing Director for the largest commercial real estate company in New Mexico. It’s my ideal job, but a crazy busy one as well. Sooo, needless to say my cooking sort of took the back-burner.
I missed it terribly, but it takes ALOT of time to be a successful food blogger: time to research, time to screw up, time to clean up messes and time to start over. Well I’ve been on the job almost 3 months now and I finally think I’ve got life and the craziness of being a full time working wife and mom, under control.
So here we go, this first recipe is…
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies:
Just in time for Valentines Day!
These are decadent and beautiful, perfect if you’re looking to make something extra special for the one you love, but don’t have a TON of time. I’m obsessed with the combo of chocolate and cream cheese and these brownies hit the spot! I couldn’t walk away. Normally I take the easy way out and do not make my brownies from scratch, but this recipe was the exception. And let me just say, one of my next efforts might be perfecting the homemade brownie. These brownies turned out PERFECT, thick, not too cakey, just right.
Easy to make and gorgeous presentation, this is definitely an instant classic.
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies
1/2 cup Butter
2 oz. Chocolate Chopped
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 tsp Red Food Color
2/3 cup Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 8×8 or 9×9 inch pan. Line with Parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper as well.
3. In a small microwavable bowl melt chocolate and 1/2 cup butter.
4. While chocolate is melting, in a large bowl, mix Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla and Red food coloring.
5. Add Chocolate and Butter mixture 1/2 at a time, stirring after each addition, so the eggs do not get cooked.
6. Add the Flour and Salt to the mixture and stir till just combined.
7. Pour into parchment lined pan.
8. In a medium bowl Combine, Cream Cheese, 1/2 cup Sugar, 1 Egg and 1/2 tsp Vanilla, and stir well.
9. Pour Cream Cheese mixture on top of Brownie mixture in the pan.
10. Swirl Cream Cheese mixture with a butter knife.
11. Bake 35 – 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
12. Cool, Slice and Enjoy!
Pretty Pumpkin Ginger Snaps
I wanted to make a cookie that I could cover in beautiful Royal Icing, but that wouldn’t be overly sweet. I decided Gingersnaps would be PERFECT and I was right, the spicy gingersnaps and the super sweet icing makes for the ideal cookie combination.
I also discovered the key to a good Gingersnap cookie when researching this recipe, Black Pepper. I know it sounds nuts to add black pepper to your cookies, but TRUST me, that’s what adds that spicy “snap” to the gingersnaps.
Gingersnaps
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups Flour
2 tsp ground Ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 tsp ground Cloves
1 tsp ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Butter
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1 Egg
1/3 cup Dark Molasses
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and both sugars.
2. Add in Egg, Vanilla and Molasses and mix completely.
3. In a seperate bowl sift together, Flour, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg, Baking Powder and Pepper.
4. Slowly add Dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, until just combined.
5. Form dough into a ball, place in bowl, cover and refridgerate at least 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. On a floured surface roll out dough as thin as you can get it, cut into shapes, move to a parchament lined baking sheet.
8. Bake 8-10 minutes or until slightly browned – NOTE: I under cooked my first batch, you want to make sure the cookies get brown on all edges and most of the middle, this gives you a perfect crispy gingersnap.
9. Cool and Enjoy Plain or Decorate with Royal Icing – Recipe Below.
Royal Icing
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
5 tbsp. water
Delicious Dinners – Easy Baked Ziti
Five Reasons why you should make this for dinner…
1. This recipe requires little effort, has few ingredients, but tastes impressive.
2. It tastes like a sloppier version of Lasagna.
3. It’s just as good the next day for lunch.
4. It would be a great dish to bring to a friend’s.
5. My toddler cleaned his plate - kid approved is ALWAYS a bonus for me.
Easy Baked Ziti
Ingredients:
1 lb Cooked Ziti noodles
1 1/2 lb Cooked Ground Beef
3 1/2 cups Tomato Sauce (or 1 jar if you need a shortcut, I make a quick homemade sauce but either would work)
1 cup Ricotta Cheese
2 cups Low-Fat Shredded Mozzarlla Cheese
1. Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees
2. In a large casssarole Mix together meat, sauce and 1 cup of the Mozzerella cheese.
3. Add Ricotta in spoonfuls and mix in.
4. Spinkle with remaining Mozzerella cheese on top.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.
Ghostly Sugar Cookies
Just in time for Halloween, I’m posting a couple cookies this week.
First up are my Lemon Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies. In the festive shape of ghosts of course.
I decided this year I was going to perfect my icing techniques. I decided ghosts was a good place to start. Only two colors and one is white, so it cut down on the work. I’ve tried using Royal Icing before but never quite got it right. This time I nailed it.
After some SERIOUS cookie research I discovered that perfect sugar cookies take 4 important factors: Meringue powder, Consistency, Time and Patience.
I’ll start with the Meranigue Powder. This is the KEY to the icing hardening correctly and giving you that classic look. You can find it at any store that sells cake decorating supplies. I found it at Hobby Lobby It was only a couple dollars and the can should last me through MANY cookies to come.
Next Consistency. I don’t mean you need to be consistent, I’m talking about the icing. You need to get it JUST right or the out lines will bleed and the filling won’t fill. For me I worked carefully adding a TINY bit of water to my sugar at a time, making sure I stirred completely to keep the consistency as desired. For the Outline you want a thicker consistency that will hold it’s shape. When you do the inside flooding, you want your icing to be very thin – or run off the back of a spoon.
As far as time and patience go, you really have to be a patient person with a steady hand, and these can’t be made in a rush. To make them look amazing you pretty much have to decorate in 3 Steps, allowing 2 hours dry time between steps.
You start, of course, by baking them and allow them to COMPLETELY cool.
Step one – Outline ALL the cookies in whatever color you will be filling in,
Allow the outlines to dry at least one hour, two is better.
Step Two – Thin out your icing so that it runs down the back of a spoon. Add a small amount to the center of each cookie and use tooth picks to draw the icing to all the edges until the cookie is completely filled in. Make sure to pop any bubbles with your toothpick.
Allow the filling to cool at least TWO hours.
Step Three – Add the detail with black icing, simple dots for eyes and mouth.
Allow to dry at least two hours.
Then you can put them in cute bags and hand them out to impressed friends and loved ones!
Not only did these cookies look good, but they tasted fabulous!
I also got my first opportunity to bake cookies with my two year old son. I got a few pictures of us baking:
Here are the recipes for the cookies and icing I used:
Lemon Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg
2½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Zest of half a lemon (or a whole lemon, if you love lemon)
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and confectioners’ sugar until smooth and fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg, vanilla, vanilla bean, and lemon zest.
3. Next mix in the flour and salt until just incorporated.
4. Form the dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1-2 hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
6. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and roll out the dough on a floured surface to ¼ inch thickness.
7. Cut with cookie cutters and carefully transfer to baking sheet.
8. Bake 8-10 minutes, until fully cooked but not AT ALL browned.
9. Allow to cool completely. Decorate as desired.
Royal Icing
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
5 tbsp. water
Source: Adapted from Annie’s Eat’s Sugar cookies