Asian Chicken Salad

One of favorite dinner salads. It is quick, easy and light on the waistline. I usually dress the salad in another bowl so the salad will stay fresh the next day. Here is the website. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/asian-chicken-salad-recipe/index.html

"Mama Bread"

"Mama Bread", a photo by Leann1977 on Flickr.

I was inspired to make bread again. Obviously, it didn't last long. Of course, I used the Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I never half this recipe because I don't want to have to do the very little math that requires, so I still have enough dough left in the fridge for two more loaves. When S is asking W if he wants a bite he always refers to it as Mama Bread, so the name has stuck.

Confetti Chili

Maybe my healthy chili will cancel out the donuts I made earlier. This recipe is from "The Food You Crave", by Ellie Krieger. She is the resident health expert for the Food Network

Donuts

I realize that donuts are not health food by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes a cinnamon sugar donut just sounds good for breakfast. The process took a little longer than I thought. Unfortunately, it is pretty easy to fry food if you have a dutch oven. I was going to try the Pioneer Woman recipe but it required overnight rising. So this recipe is from the website allrecipes.com. I do not think I will be opening a donut shop anytime soon.

Peach/Blueberry Slump

Peach/Blueberry Slump, a photo by balistica on Flickr.

I had heard about the book Rustic Fruit Desserts and asked for it for Christmas this year. I finally got around to making something from it a few days ago. I wanted to make a pie but didn't have time to let one bake, so I found this recipe that you cook on the stove top. A bit like cobbler, but the dough is more...fluffy. The recipe calls for peaches only, but I didn't have enough so I used blueberries too. I added a bit more sugar to make up for the tartness of the berries and it was pretty good.

I didn't know how to tell it was done, and in the end I overcooked it. The top still looked unbaked and wet when I peeked under the lid. But of course it was going to look slightly wet - you cook it with the lid on! It still tasted great and was a nice and pretty fast cooked fruit dessert.

An Easy Sunday Lunch

On Sunday, S and W came home from 24 hours of camping. Now, that may not seem like a long trip, but if you are camping with a 2-year-old it is an eternity! So, I wanted to have a nice, but easy lunch ready for the boys after they showered--they had to shower before they could eat.

What started as a black bean soup turned into black beans and rice. It was so quick and easy. I didn't use meat, but it would be good with ground beef or turkey, too. And, best part is I just made it up on the fly!



Here's what I did:
Chopped 4 carrots, 3 celery stalks, and the bottom half of a bunch of green onions. Saute until slightly tender. Add 2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed, 1 can of Rotel, 1 can of diced green chiles, and chicken stock. I had 3/4 of a box in the fridge, so that's what I added. I threw in some taco seasoning, cumin, and chile powder, but I have not idea how much. Once this came to a boil, I added a cup of white rice (this is the point at which it was no longer soup). I reduced the heat and covered for 20 minutes. I served it in bowls with topped with green onions, cheese, and some sour cream. In the fall, I will add more chicken stock and less rice to make it more like soup.

Very good, but mostly it was easy!

On a side note, I'm either going to have to move the food to better light or figure out how to use the good camera because my pictures are terrible! I'll work on that.

Migas

So, I have never used a recipe to make migas before. I usually just throw in some salsa (whatever I have on hand), crushed tortilla chips, and some cheese. S always likes them, so I never felt like I needed to follow a recipe. But, I am giving everything in The Pioneer Woman Cooks a try, so I followed her recipe for migas.


I didn't have any tomatoes on hand because I used them all for the Tomato Basil Pizza. But, I did have some leftover pico de gallo. Like a crazy woman, I picked out all the tomatoes so I could add them at the correct time according to the recipe. Dumb! because you add them in such quick succession.

Before tomatoes (I didn't get them ALL out):


After tomatoes:


Eggs, tortillas, and cheese added to the veggies:


Plated with half a banana and the bacon I cooked:


Overall it was a pretty good recipe but, I probably won't make it again. There's really no need to fry the tortillas yourself if you have a bag of chips on hand. Yes, the chips make it a little saltier, but I just don't add any extra salt. Migas are supposed to be easy enough to make even if you are hungover, in my opinion, and salsa, cheese, chips, and eggs is just so much easier than this recipe.

Banana Bread

banana bread, a photo by Leann1977 on Flickr.

On Saturday morning I used our remaining bananas to make banana bread using the Joy of Baking recipe.

I used full fat yogurt because that was all I had in the fridge. And, since I ran out of vanilla extract, I had to use almond extract. It definitely gave it a little something extra that I really liked. I sent it with S and W on their camp out, but fortunately most of it made back home so I get to eat more!

Grapefruit Champagne Sorbet

Grapefruit Champagne Sorbet, a photo by balistica on Flickr.

This recipe came from the book The Perfect Scoop. I received some grapefruits for Christmas and wasn't able to finish them all up - so I juiced them and froze the juice. I had just enough to make this. It was really, really good and so refreshing. This book is full of recipes - can't wait to try more!

Pizza

Pizza, a photo by balistica on Flickr.

At the risk of this blog turning into a pizza one, I'm posting about dinner last night. I used the Classic Pizza Dough from the book Pizza, Grill It, Bake It, Love it!. We made tomato sauce from tomato puree mixed with some oregano and sage (I think?), layered mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, sliced jalapenos and thinly sliced potatoes. Cooked at 450 for 17 minutes. The dough was pretty unassuming, but good. It cooked well. We have just enough left over for our lunch today. I also made grapefruit/champagne sorbet, but that will be another post when I take photos.

Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercreme Icing

So, I realized that the eggs were on their last leg and about to go bad. Some people may make omelets, quiches, something remotely healthy. No, I make cupcakes.

Tomato Basil Pizza

Tomato Basil Pizza, a photo by smatac on Flickr.

What was it Jess, last year, when you gave me The Pioneer Woman Cooks? Well, I finally got around to opening it up a few weeks ago, and it is a great book! I have made so many great meals from those pages.

Last week I made PW's pizza dough. I thought I would use it right away, but I had to freeze it. So, last night I thawed out a batch and made PW Tomato Basil Pizza. I made the pesto version. But, I did add some fresh basil from our garden once it was out of the oven. I didn't take pictures along the way, but I did get a shot before I sliced it up and served it. It was pretty good, I must admit.