Green and Pink

Happy St. Patty's Day.  

Spring is on the way and it's sent me into a little health kick.  I've been reading 100 Days of Real Food and it has inspired me to clean up our food choices.  I'd love to stop everything, empty our pantry/fridge and totally revamp our kitchen but I realize that this change will need to be a gradual one.  It is going to take some time to switch up my shopping list and learn some new recipes.  This morning I made some poached eggs and whole wheat biscuits.   Shamrock shapes and a little honey for dipping were my way of selling it to the girls.  They were a hit and I will surely make them again.

Yesterday we celebrated St. Patricks Day with friends and their new baby girl.  It was a great party.

I made this sweater for her a few weeks ago and whipped up a little hat Friday night to go with it.  I love the color and softness of the yarn and the pattern is just perfect to keep little ones cozy but not too hot.  Thanks Erin for helping with the pictures.

Pattern details on Ravelry.

Food Review

I have all my cookbooks in storage so I have turned to Pinterest for new ideas.  Over the past few weeks I've tried a dozen or so, everything from breakfasts to desserts.  One or two were just okay but overall they have been very tasty.

I won't review each one but here are my top favorite three.

#1 Skinny Taste's Whole Wheat Pancakes (source)

These pancakes are SO good.  I've already made them 4 times.  Now I'm at the point where I make multiple batches at a time.  I make one for that morning and put together 2 extra bags of dry mix to keep on hand so I don't have to pull all the ingredient out again.  The girls love these so they go fast.

#2 Iowa Girl Eat's Green Monster Spinach Smoothie (source)

Here is another recipe that has already been made on a regular basis.  Almond milk is new to me but I was curious and decided to give it a try.  It's too sweet to drink on it's own but really adds a creaminess to the smoothie.  These are very filling and there is honestly not even a hint of spinach taste.

#3 Clookbook's Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (source)

I love spicy foods.  I'm not a fan of chicken wings but I do their flavor.  This recipe is simple, fast and delicious.  I usually have all the ingredient on hand so now I have a new go to meal when I don't feel like making a quesidilla.

Runner up Closet Cooking's Jalapeño Popper Grill Cheese Sandwich (source)

I made this sandwich for Jeff for Father's Day.  They require a little more work and have more calories then I should consume on a regular basis but they are perfect for causal celebrations like game days.  I think they'd make good appetizers if cut into smaller stripes.  If you like Jalapeño poppers you must try these.

I've been trying to pin food that I intend to make, not just because it's pretty.  My goal is to try 80% of my pins by the end of the summer.  The dessert board is gonna be tough.  I guess I'll need to plan more get togethers with friends.

Click the links below to go directly to my boards.

breakfast
breads
picnic
snacks
appetizers
salads
sides
dinners
drinks
deserts
party food

Do you have a favorite recipe to share?

5 Minute Buffalo Blue Cheese Salad

Here is what I made myself for lunch yesterday.  YUM.  The secret to this quick salad is having the ingredients prepped, well I guess that is true of every salad now isn't it.

Seriously though, I keep cooked chicken (shredded, cubed and sliced) in my freezer in portion sizes then I just pull them out and defrost when needed.  I love finding new ways to use them.  I think this Buffalo Chicken is my new favorite.  I started lunch today with this Buffalo Chicken Sandwich in mind but I made a few changes and adapted it into a salad.  So easy.  Super fast.  Lets get started.

Ingredients
1 cup cooked diced chicken
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp butter
1 tbs hot sauce
2 cups lettuce
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
Blue cheese dressing (optional)

Makes 1 entree salad or two side salads

I started with a good amount of chicken because it is so delicious.  Use more or less, with any of the ingredients, to suit your taste.

Heat oil in a pan on med-high heat.  Add chicken and coat with cayenne pepper and paprika.  Heat 1-2 minutes until warm.

Add butter and hot sauce.  Once the butter has melted toss to coat the chicken and set aside.

Fill a bowl with your lettuce, I used a pre washed mix of baby greens.  Add the chicken and top with blue cheese.  If you wanted to add dressing go right ahead but I found this salad so tasty it wasn't really needed.

The blue cheese kind of melts on the warm chicken making it smooth and creamy.  You could also add diced celery for a little crunch but I didn't have any on hand.

Let The Picnicking Begin!

 I've decided to picnic this summer like it is my job.

The girls and I have set a goal of having at least 15 picnics this summer but I hope to exceed that.  After spending the morning drooling over sandwiches on Pinterest I had to start immediately.  We threw some cheese and crackers in a bag, made a batch of lemonade and grabbed the keys.

Being new to the area I headed to the one spot I knew, Clear Creek.  85 degrees and a clear blue sky.  Ahhhhh.

Before diving into lunch we popped into the library across the street to get some library cards and check out some books.  Reading by the water, yes please.  I could not have planned a more perfect picnic.

The food was simple (cheese & crackers, almonds, yogurt, bananas and cookies) but we were in the mood for easy.  We'll save fancy picnicking for another day.

We stayed for several hours of dipping feet in cold water, reading and playing backgammon.  Good times.  One picnic down and fourteen more to go.

Dinner Fail

Several years ago I wanted to boost up my cooking skills so I set a goal to add one new favorite dinner recipe per month.  I was pretty good about sticking to it and after one year I ended up with 10 awesome recipes.  I still use most of these on a regular basis.

There are a few guidelines.  Easy.  Healthy.  Delicious.

One of my favorite winter meals is lentil soup with warm bread and an arugula salad.  I always buy canned soup but when I saw this recipe for mushroom and lentil soup in Everyday magazine I decided to make my own.

Easy.  Yes.  Very few ingredients but I had to make a few substitutions.  I could not find red lentils so I substituted green.  I also had no fresh thyme so I used dry.

Healthy.  Yes.  I love finding new meals that are vegetable based.

Delicious.  No.  The lentils did not get soft enough even after 1 hour of cooking (the recipe said 25 minutes).  I bet this would have been better if I let it simmer all day.  Instead of trying it again I think I'll do some keep my eyes out for another recipe.

It is such a bummer when you make a mess in the kitchen and have nothing to show for it.  They can't all be winners though.

Do you have any good soup recipes to share?

Soooooft Chocolate Chip Cookies

When it comes to sweets chocolate chip cookies are at the top of my list.  The softer and gooier the better.  Last weekend the girls and I were baking cookies and I realized I did not have the devil's food cake mix needed for a recipe so I substituted yellow cake mix.  The result: my new favorite cookie.

Sooooft Chocolate Chip Cookies
 (adapted from Betty Crocker's Double-Chocolate Chip Cookies)

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 Cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat half of the dry cake mix, the butter, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl on medium speed until smooth (or mix with a spoon).  Stir in remaining cake mix and chocolate chips.  Drop teaspoon sized cookies on a ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack.  Makes between 3-4 dozen.

Introducing - My Freezer

 I'm changing my strategy of meal planning, shopping and cooking.  It all revolves around this.

Our new little freezer. (Our kitchen freezer is tall, narrow and hard to open.  Good but not very functional)

Isn't she cute.  I think I'll name her Judy.  After doing a little research I opted for the Sunpentown Compact Freezer (from here).  It is 3.0 cu ft freezer which is small enough to fit in our pantry/closet.  I love that is has four removable baskets instead of shelves.

Why am I excited about a freezer you ask?  Let me show you.

Currently the top baskets holds approximately 15 bags of pre-cooked chicken ready for lunch/dinner.  What makes me extra happy about this basket is that I payed about $20 for all that meat.  I'm not one of those extreme shoppers but I do like to take advantage of a good deal.  A few posts ago I wrote about the chicken sale at my grocery store ($1.77 @ Sunflower Market).  Here is what I do with it.

Chicken grosses me out by the way so if I only have to prepare it once that is another bonus. 

 I took three packages and marinated them in Italian dressing from Costco (less than $4 for the gallon).  I think 1 gallon would probably make about 4 batches like this.  And yes, I actually finished that whole container of dressing.

The other package of chicken goes into the crock pot.  I fill it with water and add seasoning.  For this batch I added about a teaspoon of salt, garlic powder, onion powder and a half teaspoon of pepper and red pepper flakes.  This is one of those things you can add what ever you have on hand.

Prep work: 15 minutes

I let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator while the crock pot works it's magic.  I cooked the chicken on high for 5 hours (low 8-9) then I grilled the marinated chicken and let the crock pot chicken cool.

Cook time: 5 hours crockpot/45 minues (grilled chicken)

Finally when it was all cooked and cooled I chopped, shredded and bagged into meal sized amounts.  This will very per family size but most recipes I use call for 1-2 cups cooked chicken which is roughly 1/2 quart sized bag.  I shred the chicken from the crock pot (4 bags) chop 2/3 of the grilled (8 bags) slice 1/3 grilled (3 bags).

Cut and package and clean up = 1.5 hours (not fun but I'm done for awhile)

So now my little freezer is stocked with 15 dinners that are half way started.  I'll be posting how I use these bags of chicken in the freezer meals button on the left (or click here).

Sorry for the super boring post about freezers and chicken.  To make up for it here is a cool tutorial I found on Pinterest. (click on the photo)

Now go make chicken and some cute garland.