In honor of the first day of October, which is when it really starts feeling like fall to me, I thought I would share one of our favorite crockpot chili / soup / stew recipes (not that this qualifies as all three, just that I tend to lump the three together in my mind). This is about one of the easiest things to make, and it is ridiculously good! Whip up a batch tonight, and thank your lucky stars that we are back into the crunchy loveliness that is fall!
What You'll Need:
1 1/4 lb frozen chicken breast (i used tenders)
2 cans great northern beans, drained
1 can white corn, drained (or half a bag of frozen corn)
1 can heart healthy cream of chicken soup
14 oz lower-sodium chicken broth
1 packet taco seasoning (i personally prefer hot & spicy)
4 1/2 oz can diced green chiles
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
Cheese for topping!'
What You'll Do:
Spray the sides and bottom of your crock pot
Place your chicken in the bottom of pot
Pour beans and corn on top of chicken
In a medium bowl, combine soup, broth, taco seasoning, and chiles
Pour soup mixture on top of chicken/beans/corn
Cook on high for 5 hours, or low for 8 hours
Once cooked through, shred chicken with two forks (should fall apart pretty easily)
Add sour cream and mix thoroughly
Serve hot topped with cheese! Additional topping suggestions: sliced avocado, cilantro (if you can get over the stinky feet smell - hate cilantro!), salsa
I buy a lot of bananas. Sometimes they all get eaten (yay!). Sometimes I cut them up and freeze the ones that are starting to brown to later use in smoothies. And sometimes, like last week, they have not all been eaten and I have too many bananas already in the freezer, so I decide to make banana bread. I absolutely love banana bread, and so does the hubs, and it is so incredibly easy to make! This is a nice treat to have for a snack, post-dinner, or even breakfast!
What You'll Need:
3 - 5 bananas (I use 5, which seems to make the bread extremely moist, but 3 will work if that is all you happen to have on hand!)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
Optional mix-ins: chocolate chips, walnut pieces, pecan pieces, 1/4 cup of peanut butter!
What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 5 x 10 bread loaf pan with Pam.
Mash bananas (I used the paddle attachment on my Kitchenaid, but you could easily use a potato masher to do this).
Either by hand, or with your mixer, add melted butter to mashed bananas.
Add sugar, egg, and vanilla to mashed banana mixture and incorporate well.
Add baking soda, salt, and flour, and mix well. If you have any optional mix-ins you want to add, go ahead and mix these in now.
Pour mixture into bread pan.
Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until bread is golden brown and center is set.
Remove from oven, cool on wire rack, and slice to serve.
Enjoy!
Note: You can also sub the bananas for another fruit, like strawberries! I honestly couldn't tell you which I like better, they are both so good! If you use strawberries, I used almost a whole container of fresh strawberries (I had probably eaten like 4 of them beforehand). I did everything the same, except that I mashed the strawberries up by hand before putting everything in my Kitchenaid (strawberries don't really mash like bananas with the paddle attachment :)
Left: Strawberry Bread Right: Banana Bread with Peanut Butter!
Last week, Harris mentioned that he was going to be going into work super early for at least the next week or so, and, being the nice guy he is, thought it would be easier on me if I came up with something he could make for himself in the morning versus me getting up at like 4am to make breakfast for him. While I miss having that time with him first thing in the morning, I also really like not waking up at 4am! I wanted to make sure he got a little bit of everything he needs in the morning (without having to pre-make a bunch of eggs which would inevitably become rubbery after a day or so), and that would be really quick and easy for him to heat up. Enter the breakfast burrito! Probably my favorite fast food breakfast of all time is the Whataburger breakfast taquito (which is really a burrito to me) with egg, sausage, and cheese. I did some perusing of various frozen homemade breakfast burrito recipes to see if there was anything special I needed to do, and came up with a great recipe, which has got to be a healthier variation of the Whataburger version! This would be a perfect thing to whip up on Sunday (they only take about 30 minutes), and then have breakfast ready for the whole week!
What You'll Need: Note: I made 15 burritos, so that is what this recipe makes, but you can easily modify to make more or less!
15 flour tortillas
1 1/2 dozen eggs (you need about 1 1/4 eggs per burrito, in case you modify!)
Splash of milk
Salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper
1 package Jimmy Dean turkey sausage (you could easily substitute pork sausage, bacon, or turkey bacon here)
Shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
Saran wrap (side note: I abhor plastic wrap, but I have recently learned that it is moderately less offensive if you buy brand name Saran wrap versus off-brand plastic wrap. Just an observation.)
Gallon ziploc bag
What You'll Do:
Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
Crack all of your eggs in a large bowl. Break the yolks and scramble with a wire whisk. Add a splash of milk (for fluffiness). Add salt, pepper, and cayenne, to taste.
Pour eggs into heated skillet and let sit for a minute before beginning to scramble. Scramble until eggs are almost done (you can leave just a little runny because they will cook more when you reheat the burritos, or you can cook until all the way done and then they will be extra done when you reheat. Personal preference all the way!).
Create an assembly line of tortillas on your countertop.
Add a spoonful of eggs to each tortilla.
Add a spoonful of turkey sausage (Jimmy Dean turkey sausage is pre-cooked, so no need to warm up before you assemble the burritos since they are just going in the freezer!).
Sprinkle with as little or as much cheese as you desire.
Fold in the ends of your tortilla, and then roll your burrito. Place on Saran wrap, and wrap securely. Place individually wrapper burritos in ziploc bag, and then in the freezer.
To reheat, remove burrito from Saran wrap, place on microwave-safe plate, and heat for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
Spaghetti squash has been something I have been wanting to cook for a good while now, but, until this past week, I could not find it in the store! I was delighted to find on in my local produce section this past weekend, and was eager to try out a recipe. When I cut into the squash, I discovered it reminded me of a pumpkin (perhaps why I could not find it in the store before now?). I was really excited about this, and was so happy with how it turned out! I felt like I had a huge bowl of pasta, but really I had a huge bowl of veggies. Plus, 1/2 cup of spaghetti squash has like 21 calories - amazing! I served our spaghetti squash with leftover marinara sauce from our Sunday pizza making, and also prepared some chicken parmesan to go with it. You could serve it with any sauce really - olive oil with salt, pepper, and parmesan, or a garlic sauce, or really whatever floats your boat! All in all it was delicious! Also, I should note, I was very surprised by how much "spaghetti" one squash yields. It is definitely enough for about 6 servings, if not more.
What You'll Need:
Spaghetti squash
Olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Marinara sauce, or sauce of your choosing
What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cut spaghetti squash in half
Remove seeds
Place squash open side down on baking sheet, and roast for about 45 minutes
Remove squash from oven, and allow to cool completely (about 15 minutes)
Completely shred the insides of the squash with a fork (as soon as you begin to shred a part of it, you will see how totally easy this is)
Scrape all of the "noodles" into a large bowl
Lightly drizzle with olive oil, season with salt & pepper
I could eat eggs almost any time - I love them scrambled, fried, poached; as omelets, frittatas, quiche, pretty much any way you can come up with (except hard boiled, yeck). Harris is also a pretty big fan of eggs, and we, like most people, do enjoy having breakfast for dinner every once and awhile. This is one of my favorite breakfast for dinner recipes, just because I feel like it is a little bit different, and also incorporates a lot of flavors. A lot of this recipe is "guesstimates" in terms of ingredient amounts - I usually just eyeball it, so do keep that in mind.
What You'll Need: Makes about 24 mini frittatas
1 carton Egg Beaters
1/2 container deli turkey, chopped
1/2 bunch of asparagus, steamed
Goat cheese (or any other kind of cheese you prefer)
salt & pepper to taste
What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Pour egg beaters into large bowl. Season with salt & pepper. Give a good whisk.
Chop deli turkey and asparagus into small-ish pieces (don't you love the precision here?)
Spray muffin pan with Pam
Use a measuring cup to pour eggs into muffin pans (only fill about 1/3 of the way at first)
Top eggs with several pieces of turkey, asparagus, and cheese
Fill remainder of cups with egg
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until middle is set, and edges are slightly browned
My dear friend, Michelle, asked the other day for me to put up a cheesecake recipe. Now, while my waist line certainly does not want a cheesecake in the house right now, I was happy to oblige in at least sharing a recipe, and am proud to present you with my favorite cheesecake recipe of all time. Yes, you heard me right: of all time. This is a really simple recipe, and can be prepared in either a traditional springform pan, or just in a pie dish. For the sake of simplicity (ahem, Michelle prefers her recipes simple, yes?), I will share the pie dish version, but please let me know if you would like help with the springform version. This is an old recipe from a cheesecake cookbook my grandparents gave me when I was like 10 years old (obviously me and cheesecakes go wayyyy back).
What You'll Need - Graham Cracker Crust
12 graham crackers
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
7 tbsp butter, melted
What You'll Do - Graham Cracker Crust
Pulse graham crackers in a food processor, until they become a fine dust. Add in sugar and salt and pulse to combine.
Add in butter, pulse to combine, scraping down sides as needed, until a fine meal forms.
Dump the graham cracker mixture into a 9-inch pie pan sprayed with Pam. I use my fingers to press down, but you use whatever works best for you. Make sure to leave a little edge!
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven, and set aside.
What You'll Need - Cheesecake Filling
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup prepared cookie dough, divided (I typically use the pre-made stuff here - a roll is more than enough - but feel free to make your own too!)
What You'll Do - Cheesecake Filling
Preheat oven to 350
Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, and mix until well incorporated. Drop 1/2 cup of cookie dough by level teaspoonfuls into batter and gently fold to incorporate.
Pour into your graham cracker crust. Top, by teaspoonfuls, with remaining cookie dough.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or until center is almost set (should be a nice golden color)
Cool, and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Enjoy!
I should also note that you can obviously use a pre-made graham cracker crust here, but I am morally opposed to that, so don't tell me if you do. Obviously, kidding (but not really).
Prior to last week, we had never tried gnocchi before. Now, let me be real with you here for a hot minute - 1. I really wasn't too terribly sure what gnocchi actually is, and 2. I was also incredibly not sure on the proper pronunciation. You know kind of like that whole quinoa debacle that happened a couple years ago (the one where where people were saying key-no-ah, or the like, you know, that one). At any rate, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and found a recipe on Pinterest (duh) that combined gnocchi with marinara sauce, cheese, and chicken. Seemed like a no-brainer except the person who wrote the recipe didn't do such a hot job of giving amounts, or even listing all the needed ingredients, so I took the basic premise, and concocted this little gem. I think we were both pleasantly surprised! It's really very easy, and comes together quickly. It makes plenty for several meals too, which is a bonus!
What You'll Need:
1 package gnocchi (I used the sweet potato version)
2 chicken breasts
1 package steamfresh asparagus (or fresh asparagus, but I like the short cut sometimes)
16 oz marinara sauce (homemade or jar)
8 oz ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
5 slices mozzarella cheese
What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350
Place chicken breasts in a small baking dish sprayed with pam. Drizzle olive oil over chicken, sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic seasoning on each piece of chicken. Roast for 25 minutes. After chicken is cooked, cut into bit-size pieces.
Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to boil. Add gnocchi, and cook for 2 - 3 minutes, or until gnocchi rises to top of pot. Drain, rinse, set aside
Steam asparagus. Cut asparagus into pieces. Set aside.
Combine marinara sauce and ricotta in medium bowl.
Spray A 9x9 baking dish with pam. Spread 1/4 cup of sauce mixture on bottom.
Add gnocchi, then asparagus, then chicken to baking dish.
Top with sauce mixture, then Parmesan, then slices of mozzarella.
Broil for 4-5 minutes, or until mozzarella is browned on top.
I thought it was about time I shared a sweet treats recipe with you guys. I learned to bake way before I learned to cook anything. As a child, I would sit in my Nana's kitchen, and "help" her bake cookies, cakes, pies, anything you can think of. Every holiday, starting when I was a pre-teen maybe, I was responsible for all the desserts at our house (my Mom abhors baking - I'm not trying to be pretentious I promise, hate just wasn't a strong enough word. I think she may have an honest to goodness fear of flour or something), so days before Christmas you could find me in the kitchen baking up the likes of chocolate chocolate chip cookies, pecan pies, and more. I have really started to love making things from scratch - when I made Morgan's graduation desserts, everything from the cake mix to the cookie dough to the frosting was from scratch - it was so much fun, and so delicious! However, if you know anything about making it from scratch, it usually takes a good bit more time than a boxed mix to get from "mmm I could really use a cookie" to "wow this cookie is delicious!". This cookie recipe can have you from zero to cookie in no time, plus, it is the perfect base for a variety of mix-ins. Yesterday was the first time I tried chocolate chips and toffee, but we have done butterfinger bits many times, and I would imagine peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, raisins, coconut, whatever your heart's desire would be just as great. These are perfectly chewy, soft and delicious cookies!
What You'll Need:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 bag chocolate chips + 1/2 bag toffee bits (or substitute your favorite mix-ins)
What You'll Do:
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and set aside.
Combine sugar and butter until well mixed. Mix in egg.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix until well incorporated.
Stir in chocolate chips & toffee (or other mix-ins).
Drop by slightly rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet.
***At this point, you can either proceed to the next stop, or (and this is my personal recommendation for the absolute perfect cookie), take your balls of cookie dough, place in a ziplock bag. Place the ziplock bag in the freezer for 1 hour. The cookies bake just fine without this step, but I think they turn out even better if you freeze them first. You can also keep them in the freezer for weeks, so if you just want a cookie or two at a time, this is the perfect solution!***
For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I have been bringing out the crockpot more frequently here lately. I usually reserve my crockpot cooking for the fall and winter times, which, really, makes absolutely no sense because crockpots keep your kitchen from getting overheated, which, really makes them perfect for the summer months, but whatever. Most of my crockpot recipes are soups and stews and the like, so here we are back to fall and winter times. What a difficult conundrum.
Chicken Salsa, however, is a great crockpot recipe for pretty much anytime of the year. I purposely did not take a picture of this because it is not a pretty recipe, but it is terribly yummy, which totally makes up for appearances, yes? I told my coworker friend, David R. (isn't it like first grade again when you have to identify someone by their last initial because someone else in the class has their name?) that I would put this recipe up on the blog for him, so here you are, David!
What You'll Need:
4 frozen chicken breasts
1 jar of your favorite salsa (I personally loooove Tostito's restaurant style salsa)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
8 oz cream cheese (I usually go with 1/3 reduced fat variety)
What You'll Do:
Spray inside of crockpot. Place chicken breasts in bottom of crockpot. Pour beans and corn over chicken. Cook on low for 6 hours, or high for 4 hours.
When chicken is cooked through, shred chicken with two forks. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes - 1 hour to allow chicken to absorb juices and flavors.
Cut cream cheese into large chunks, and mix in until well incorporated. Cook an additional 30 minutes
Serve over rice (Harris' preference) or in a tortilla (mine)
Folks. I concocted this recipe all on my own! Here's the story: yesterday I realized I was very limited in what was around the house for cooking. While I adore going to the grocery store (this makes me weird, yes), I was morally opposed to going to the grocery store on a Friday afternoon for ingredients for one meal, and then turning around and going back for my weekly shopping this morning. Moral opposition is a really hard thing to overcome, you know. So, I rifled, I pillaged, I dug, and I decided that whole wheat pasta, asparagus, and turkey bacon would naturally go together very well, but that I would certainly need some sauce to bind it all together. I have never attempted a homemade sauce before (Harris always makes our homemade red sauce - it's one of his specialties). So, I used the powers of Google to determine what the makings of a basic white sauce would be. I didn't have all the needed ingredients, surprise, surprise, so I improvised, and came up with something I (and the hubby) found pretty tasty! Yay!
What You'll Need:
Bunch of asparagus
1/2 pack turkey bacon
3/4 box whole wheat pasta (I had penne, but use whatever, you know)
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup cheese (Parmesan is probably the best option, but I had extra sharp cheddar, and it worked fine!)
2 cups milk (I used skim - you could also use whole milk, heavy cream, so on and so forth)
salt & pepper, to taste
What You'll Do:
Snap ends off asparagus, and blanch in boiling, salted water for 3 minutes. Drain, rinse with cool water, and set aside.
Prepare turkey bacon (I baked mine in the oven, but feel free to fry, microwave, what have you). Chop turkey bacon into small-ish pieces
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter.
Saute garlic in butter for 2 minutes.
Whisk in flour and milk. Stir continuously until well incorporated.
Back in my college days, when I was really just learning to cook for myself, and poor Harris was subject to things that were sometimes good, and sometimes not so, I found the recipe for Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole. Don't get me wrong, this is still a good recipe to have in your repertoire - it's easy, cheap, and has good things in it! When I found this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I would have to give it a try! It felt like a more grown-up version of that beloved college recipe, quinoa instead of rice. Not only do we love quinoa in this house (can you tell, yet?), but it packs so much fiber and protein per punch that I knew it would only enhance the nutrient value of a classic, tried, and true dish!
I totally forgot to take pictures on this one, but trust me and try it out!
What You'll Need:
3/4 cup Quinoa
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
10 oz Cream of Broccoli soup
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. milk
1 1/2 cups shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese, plus 1/2 cup for topping
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt (I use the garlic and wine seasoning from the Melting Pot - ah-mazing!)
1/4 tsp Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cups cooked diced chicken, chopped
parmesan cheese and crushed tortilla chips for topping
What You'll Do:
Combine the quinoa and broth in a medium pan, and cook according to package directions, until quinoa is light and fluffy, and liquid has been absorbed. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a casserole dish with nonstick spray.
In a large bow, mix together soup, yogurt, milk, 1 1/2 cups cheese, sugar, and spices. Stir in quinoa, broccoli, and chicken.
Place mixture into baking dish.
Top with remaining cheese, parmesan, and crushed tortilla chips.
Can I just tell you one more time that we really love Asian food? Would you be okay with that? Okay, good, glad we got that out of the way because we do really love Asian food! Fried rice is one of those amazing vices on the menus at most Chinese and Japanese hibachi restaurants. You know you probably shouldn't love it, but, alas, love it you do. I found this recipe on the Pinterest (seriously - who among you does not just love the Pinterest?), and knew this love of fried rice combined with a newishfound love of quinoa would be a potent combination for our taste buds on one fine day. I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe, and was absolutely amazed at how much it tasted like the real, restaurant version thing! Oh quinoa, you beautiful, versatile, little grain, you!
Disclaimer: I found the recipe for this pie here, but it did not have the nifty name, which, every time I say it, gets the song stuck in my head, and, in turn, makes me think of Practical Magic. If this isn't a win-win-win, I don't know what is!
Now, for the good stuff! I always forget how freaking good a homemade graham cracker crust is until I have reason to make one. Hear me, hear me: stop buying pre-packaged graham cracker crusts. They are one of the simplest things in the world to make, and they are so.freaking.good! As with any pie recipe, there are several steps involved, but really, this comes together very quickly, and pretty easily, in my opinion. It's a nice twist on a couple classics, and a perfect summer dessert, if you ask me. If you try it out, please let me know what you think!
What You'll Need - Crust:
12 graham crackers
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
7 tbsp butter, melted
What You'll Do - Crust:
Pulse graham crackers in a food processor, until they become a fine dust. Add in sugar and salt and pulse to combine.
Add in butter, pulse to combine, scraping down sides as needed, until a fine meal forms.
Dump the graham cracker mixture into a 9-inch pie pan sprayed with Pam. I use my fingers to press down, but you use whatever works best for you. Make sure to leave a little edge!
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven, and set aside.
What You'll Need - Pie Filling:
1-14 oz can sweetened, condensed milk
1-13.5 oz can unsweetened coconut milk (not lite!)
7 egg yolks
1/2 cup key lime juice
What You'll Do - Pie Filling:
In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth.
Pour into the prepared pie crust, and bake about 35 minutes, or until set, but still a little wobbly.
Let cool completely at room temperature (at least 2 hours), and then refrigerate 3 hours to overnight.
Top with lime whipped cream (below), toasted coconut, and serve cold!
What You'll Need - Lime Whipped Cream:
3 cups heavy whipping cream
6 tbsp sugar
5 - 6 key limes, or equivalent juice from bottle (I could not find key limes, nor did I know how much juice they produce, so I eyeballed and taste-tested my way through this)
What You'll Do - Lime Whipped Cream:
In a large bowl, combine ingredients. Stir together, and adjust flavor with juice and sugar, as needed.
Using an electric mixer (I recommend a hand mixer, all you fellow Kitchenaid stand mixer folks), beat on high for 2 minutes, or until peaks form. Spread onto pie.
Easy peasy, limey-squeezy. Too much, I know, but I couldn't resist! For your toasted coconut, just grab a bag of shredded coconut, spread on a cookie sheet, and broil for a few minutes until browned. Toss around to make sure all the coconut evenly browns, but couldn't be simpler!
We love the Mexican food in this house! Well, the Mexican food, and the Thai food, and the Indian food, and the Pizza food...well, you get it. At any rate, we really do love the Mexican food, and I have been on a mission for veggies, veggies, veggies in our lives, so when I stumbled upon this here recipe, I pinned away and mentally told myself to remember put the ingredients on my grocery list (spoiler alert: I remembered!). As always, I made some modifications (mostly in the form of being toooooootally lazy and not making my own enchilada sauce). This was so yummy, like ridiculously yummy, especially if you are like me and absolutely adore zucchini...you do, don't you? Okay, good! I apologize in advance - things were happening so quickly, I failed in some of my picture taking, and it smelled so good when I took it out of the oven, I totally forgot to take a final pic. Trust me, though, it turned out pretty and oh so yummy!
What You'll Need:
4 medium zucchini
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic (or two big heaping spoonfuls if, like yours truly, you buy the jarred garlic)
3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I like to cook mine in the crockpot and then shred)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp chicken broth
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can enchilada sauce
shredded cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
What You'll Do:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Begin boiling a large pot of water.
Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Using a scooper, melon baller, or small spoon, scoop out the flesh to about 1/4 inch thick.
Chop the scooped flesh, and set aside.
Drop zucchini in boiling water. Blanch for 1-2 minutes, and remove from water. Set aside.
In a large pan, heat oil. Add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent.
Add zucchini, salt and pepper. Cook about 4 minutes.
Add spices, broth, and tomato paste. Cook another 3 minutes.
Add cooked, shredded chicken. Cook 3 minutes.
Place 1/4 cup enchilada sauce in bottom of casserole dish.
Fill each zucchini boat with chicken mixture. Place in casserole dish.
Top each boat with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese.
Harris' favorite kind of birthday cake is layered yellow cake with chocolate frosting. While it is a classic, and something I usually make on his birthday, I wanted to try something new, and incorporate some of his other favorite things into birthday treats this year. Hands down, that hubs loves peanut butter and chocolate, particularly in the form of Reese cups. I found this recipe while perusing Pinterest, but I wanted to half it, since it called for enough for two separate cheesecakes. However, I ended up exiting out of the recipe a couple times while making it (I need to update my Pinterest app!), and so some things were halved, and others were not, and I made a few other modifications. Regardless, it was a glorious, marvelous concoction of peanut buttery chocolate goodness. I recommend a tall glass of milk with this one!
Preheat oven to 350, and grease a 9" springform pan with butter (I both sprayed with Pam, and greased, but you probably don't have to do that)
For the crust, stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl (I used my Kitchenaid for all of this). Add egg, stir until well blended. Stir in cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; blend well. Spread in prepared pan.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until brownie is just almost done (I cooked mine as the original recipe suggested, and thought the brownie got almost "too done" throughout the process)
Immediately after removing the brownie from the oven, sprinkle milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and peanut butter cups over brownie surface (cover the whole thing).
Turn oven down to 325.
For the cheesecake filling, beat cream cheese with mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Add sugar, peanut butter, and cream. Mix until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour on top of chips and cups on brownie crust.
Double wrap springform pan with aluminum foil to prevent water seeping in. Place springform pan in a larger baking pan. Pour hot water into the larger pan so that the water comes up 1 inch on the sides of the springform pan.
Bake at 325 1 to 1-1/2 hours, or until firm and lightly browned
Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack for one hour
Run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan somewhat
***At this point, the original recipe calls for it to be refrigerated for at least 4 hours before decorating, I skipped this step due to lack of time, but you can do that if you so choose!***
For topping, bring whipping cream to boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Stir continuously until melted and smooth. At this point, you can drizzle over the top, serve with individual slices, or, as I did, use as a ganache on top. Decorate with mini reese cups. I then refrigerated overnight.
Don't be alarmed, it really is not as complicated as it sounds, and it is truly worth the effort you put in!
I did not do a good job of taking photos between steps this time, so here is what I have!
As you may have figured out by now, we really, really love Asian and Indian food (although, Indian is definitely a new found love!). Thai food, especially, has definitely been one of my very favorites for many years now - probably since the days of Cha De Thai in Boone (any other Boonites out there remember that little gem?). I stumbled across this recipe when making my grocery list for the week, and trying to find a good vegetarian Thai dish. I made some modifications, and volia! - a new dish to add to the rotation! We tend to like things spicier than most, and this was nowhere near spicy enough for us, even with the addition of the red pepper flakes, so I just caution you to judge your taste preferences wisely!
What You'll Need:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons (or more) minced garlic (I use more because we really like garlic!)
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1-13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 cup lentils
2 - 3 cups water
1 zucchini, cut into half moons
1-10z can baby corn, drained
Salt, to taste
Red Pepper (crushed or flakes), to taste
What You'll Do:
Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until onion is translucent.
Add curry paste, and cook another minute.
Add coconut milk, water, lentils, salt, and red pepper. Stir to combine.
Cook 30 minutes, adding additional water as needed.
Add zucchini and baby corn. Stir to combine.
Cook additional 10 - 15 minutes, or until lentils are soft.
We love smoothies here in Casa de Ligon! I have whipped up several varities, and we definitely love the yumminess of green smoothies, as well as the awesome nutrients we get from them. I happened to stumble upon this little concoction one day when I just started tossing things in the blender. Lo and behold, a masterpiece was born!
What You'll Need:
1 big handful spinach
1 banana, peeled
1/2 small - medium avocado, peeled and pitted
1/2 Anjou pear, cored (I have tried several varieties of pear, but Anjou is my personal favorite)
1/2 cup vanilla low fat yogurt
1/2 cup V8 fusion strawberry banana (or I just started using Tropicana Farm Stand)
What You'll Do:
Blend everything together in your blender.
Enjoy!
Please to enjoy Lucy's photo bomb in the background!
We really love zucchini in this house, so when I found out several months ago that zucchini is an awesome substitute for pasta in our favorite pasta dishes, I was thrilled! We have made plenty of zucchini "pasta" dishes over the past year, but this was my first attempt at a zucchini lasagna. I adapted it from this recipe over at Skinnytaste.
What You'll Need:
Pasta Sauce (the Skinnytaste recipe includes a pasta sauce, but we used Harris' homemade marinara sauce - my personal favorite sauce in the world, and vegetarian)
3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick
15 oz part-skim ricotta
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350.
Prepare your pasta sauce
Slice your zucchini into noodle-like strips. I personally use a vegetable peeler for my "noodles", and this works well!
Lightly salt the zucchini, and set aside for 10 minutes (this helps to absorb some of the water from the zucchini). After 10 minutes, blot with paper towel.
On a gas grill, or grill pan, cook each of your "noodles" for 1-2 minutes per side.
In a medium bowl, mix together ricotta and Parmesan cheeses and egg.
Spray a 9 x 13 dish, and spread some of your sauce on the bottom.
Top with zucchini noodles, then ricotta mixture, and then mozzarella. Repeat until all of the noodles and ricotta mixture are used up.
Top with sauce and more mozzarella.Cover in foil.
Bake for 45 minutes; uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Sorry that the last two pics are sideways - they were very uncooperative in changing positions!
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