sweet and sour chicken

I have not made this in forever, and I forgot how much I love it. I got this from my Mom, who has been making it forever, so who knows where its from. And it is easy. I promise.

ingredients:

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3 chicken breasts, cut in strips

1 bell pepper, cut in slices (I prefer red or orange)

1 onion, cut in slices (I prefer red onion)

sliced green onions (about 2 will do)

1 can of pineapple chunks (or obviously fresh pineapple is amazing)

1 cup pineapple juice (if I am buying the pineapple chunks, I get the kind in pineapple juice, which usually is exactly 1 cup)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons corn starch

Rice (I use brown rice, it tastes great with this meal)

directions:

cook chicken in skillet with olive oil, about 10 minutes or until cooked. Add sliced green peppers & onions, cook until barely cooked, about 5 minutes.

(can I add just a tip. This may seem obvious, but I know the dinner hour is always hectic, with crying and needy kids, so when I have any time earlier in the day..say while the baby is taking an afternoon nap, I always like to start dinner. In this case, I sliced up all the veggies and the chicken ahead of time and just put back in the fridge. That way this meal was very easy to prepare when the time came)

Meanwhile, combine pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, and corn starch. Add to skillet and bring to a boil (sauce will thicken). Before serving, add pineapple chunks. Serve over rice.

Succulent Steak and Hasselback Potatoes

Another recipe from My Kitchen Cafe that we made for dinner tonight. The steak marinade was SUPER yummy and I even forgot to marinade it overnight and with only marinading for 5 hours, it was still so good. The potatoes were good, but a little bit dry. I read later in the comments section that someone drizzled melted butter over them instead of putting pats of butter between the slices and I think that would make them so much better. Other than that, super easy and good. And of course, the picture is courtesy of My Kitchen Cafe too.

Brian’s Awesome Steak Marinade
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup pineapple juice
3 garlic cloves crushed or finely minced

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and use as marinade. If marinading steaks, I marinade the meat overnight (about 12-14 hours) before grilling.

Hasselback Potatoes
as seen on Norah’s blog (adapted slightly)

5-6 medium baking potatoes
4 garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic pressed or finely minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425. Put the potato on a cutting board, flat side down. Start from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through, making thin slices.

Arrange the potatoes on a baking sheet and sprinkle the garlic in between the slits. Scatter some butter on top of each potato (it doesn’t have to be exact – I just pinched off pieces of butter and put them on top of the potato and in random slices). Then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle some salt and freshly ground black pepper over the potoates.

Bake the potatoes for about one hour or until the potatoes turn crispy and the flesh is soft.

salmon tacos

I got this recipe for salmon tacos from Shade Clothing's "Your Life in Shade" blog (picture courtesy of their blog as well). I love salmon. I love tacos. I love fish tacos. And my kids like salmon, so I really wanted to make this. It was super easy, just a bit time consuming preparing all the extras. My kids ate salmon and cheese roll-ups (even Drew, AMAZING). Wade liked it, but said they were too "fishy," but he doesn't eat onions and peppers, so his were probably more on the fishy side. He really liked it with the rice vinegar drizzled on top. I also made some black beans as well. Here's the recipe:

Salmon filet

Whole garlic cloves

Olive Oil

Blackened seasoning

Corn or flour tortillas

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and chunked

1 onion, sliced lengthwise

1 green pepper, sliced lengthwise {i used a yellow and red}

1 tomato, chopped

Mozarella cheese, grated

Seasoned rice vinegar

Place salmon fillet on cookie sheet and top with whole garlic cloves. Season salmon with salt, pepper, and blackened seasoning. Drizzle olive oil over salmon and garlic. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until fish flakes when tested with a fork.

In a saucepan, sauté onion and green pepper in a little bit of olive oil until vegetables are soft enough to eat but not limp.

Layer salmon chunks, garlic, avocado, grilled onion and pepper, tomatoes and cheese into tortilla shell. Lightly sprinkle seasoned rice vinegar over taco and enjoy!

open-faced southwest sandwiches

sorry about the small picture. i stole the photo and recipe from my friend nancy's blog. i've made this bunches of times and it's super good. for my kids, i usually just do turkey and cheese and last night i just warmed theirs in the microwave because they often complain about "crunchiness."

1 large loaf french bread, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1/2 cup olives chopped (opt)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup chopped green onions
3/4 to 1 pound turkey , thinly sliced deli style
2 medium roma tomatoes, sliced
2 large avocados, sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, colby jack)

Place sliced bread on ungreased cookie sheet. (Line the sheet with foil to make melted cheese easier to clean up). In a bowl combine olives, spices, mayonnaise, sour cream and onions. Spread half of the mixture (about 1 tablespoon on each slice) on bread slices. Put turkey, then sliced tomatoes on bread. Top with rest of mayo mixture. Add a slice of avocado then shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until heated through.

{i've never used olives. wade would probably love it if i did. i just always forget. and the picture is before it's baked. super yummy.}

Spinach and Feta Pasta

(Recipe and Picture courtesy of Our Best Bites) I did take a picture, but was in a hurry and realized later that my picture looked terrible.

This was really quick and pretty good. My kids ate it ALL (and that is saying a lot)..although I had to pick out the spinach for them. Matt wasn't a huge fan, but he isn't a fan of tomatoes or spinach, so I wasn't surprised.

Ingredients:

8 oz. Penne pasta (that's 1/2 a 16 oz. box. Don't use ziti--you want the ridges on the penne to "grip" the sauce) I actually used a little bit more pasta because I wanted to get a higher pasta ratio.
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (This seemed a little much. I used 1 and a half 14 oz cans)
3 c. fresh spinach (you don't even have to chop it! Could life get any better??)
1 onion, finely chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

A handful of fresh mushrooms, chopped
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste

I also added in some shredded chicken that I had left over from my pitas, to give a bit more substance. Glad I did.

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add pasta. Cook according to package directions. In the meantime, heat a little olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and mushrooms and cook until tender. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add tomatoes, heat through, and then add drained pasta and crumbled feta (and shredded chicken). Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat through and serve.

chicken pitas

so I love chicken pitas. And while these ones continue to be my favorite to make for dinner, I make these for lunch quite often. Fast and easy and delicious. However, I did make these for dinner last night since I hadn't been to the grocery store yet. This isn't so much a recipe....just an idea. They are healthy and delicious.

Ingredients:

Shredded Chicken (I like to cook some chicken in the crockpot in the beginning of the week, cook with chicken broth so doesn't dry out, and shred and season with salt and pepper, so I can enjoy these pitas all week)

Any veggies - included but not limited to - bell peppers, greens, tomatoes

avocado (not pictured because I was out, but usually a staple)

feta cheese (although shredded monterrey jack tastes great too)

vinaigrette dressing - my personal fave (sorry Utah peeps) is Trader Joe's Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola dressing. It really makes the pitas and it is surprisingly low on calories.

I like to drizzle the dressing on the shredded chicken, top with veggies, drizzle more dressing, and top with avocado slices and cheese.

Tender Pork Chops with Caramelized Apples and Onions

so i'm finally getting back to cooking. actually i made the feta chicken last week and it was sooo yummy. but last night i made these pork chops with caramalized apples and onions. they were so easy and so good. i even got a raving review from wade, which is kind of rare. i made these after church, which is a good option since it takes three hours to bake in the oven. otherwise it was actually a super easy and simple recipe. and obviously, i stole the recipe and photo from my kitchen cafe.

4 bone-in pork loin chops (at least 1/2-inch thick) {i used 6 pork chops}
2-3 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced about 1/4-inch thick
1-2 yellow onions, sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

{with 6 pork chops, i used 2 1/2 apples and almost an entire large onion. i used a pampered chef 9x13 pan since it's a little bigger and then filled it up as much as i wanted with apples and onions. i probably also used closer to 1/2 cup of brown sugar.}

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Place the onion slices in an even layer over the bottom of the dish. Top the onion slices with the apples. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the apples and onions. Season the pork chops generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Arrange the pork chops in a single layer on top of the apples and onions. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake in the preheated oven for three hours. Do not open the oven and lift the foil – the pork chops, apples and onions need to be tightly covered the whole time to work their magic (and not dry out).

{seriously, this was so easy and so good}

Serve each pork chop with Parmesan smashed potatoes and topped with the apples and onions.

Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Melanie, a reader of MKC

Parmesan and Garlic Smashed Potatoes

5 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, rinsed and diced
2 teaspoons salt

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons butter
¾ cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
4-5 cloves roasted garlic (trim the pointy end off a head of garlic, place sprout-side down on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil, fold sides of foil up to enclose the garlic completely and cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the garlic is tender; the cloves squeeze right out of their skins when they are ready)

In a large pot, place the potatoes and cover with water (by at least two inches). Add the salt. Bring to a boil, and cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and return to the hot pot. Begin mashing the potatoes. Add the butter and mash in to the potatoes. Add the milk, cheese, roasted garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Mash until the potatoes are smooth. Serve immediately.

{i used regular russet potatoes and didn't have any fresh garlic cloves, so i just added minced garlic, but i'm guessing that the roasted garlic would've made the potatoes super yummy.}

Feta Chicken Bake and Mediterranean Salad

This was fast, easy, light and healthy.

Feta Chicken Bake

Ingredients:
5 chicken tenders (I just cut up 3 chicken breasts)
1 Lemon
Feta Cheese (we use reduced fat)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Oregano leaves, to taste

Directions:
Place chicken in square baking dish. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 the lemon over chicken. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano. Top with Feta Cheese. Squeeze the rest of the lemon juice on top
Place in 450 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.

Mediterranean Salad

I have made this LOTS. I love just having it in the fridge to eat with lunch or as a snack. I don't really even do any measurements anymore, just toss in ingredients as I see fit, but here you go:

combine:
1 cucumber sliced {lots more if you're me.}
1 tomato sliced (I like to cut in half grape tomatoes, but thats what i usually have on hand)
1/4 c feta cheese {again, lots more if you're me.}
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 c GOOD olive oil {there is a difference.}
1 T lemon pepper seasoning
pepper & kosher (or sea) salt {um LOTS & LOTS if you're me} to taste.

source: Just Cook Already