Aromatic Black Beans & Rice

Oh boy did this smell awesome. The spices in the recipe are an incredible combination! And I have to say that Brian is pretty reserved when it comes to dinner compliments. With this dish he said, "Marisa. This is very good." Normally it's a nonchalant, "It's good," or "It's okay."And my kids ate it up! 

Hooray!

Recipe Source: My Kitchen Cafe

*Serves 4-6

4 teaspoons olive oil
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 (16-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4-5 cups hot, cooked white or brown rice

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, onion and garlic and saute, stirring often, for about 15 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft and tender. Stir in the beans, tomatoes, chicken broth, thyme, bay leaf, oregano and water; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. If the mixture becomes too thick, add a tablespoon or two of hot water to thin to desired consistency.

Stir in the fresh cilantro and season with salt and pepper; discard the bay leaf. Serve over the hot rice.

Apple Crisp

One of my friends just asked me for a good apple recipe. This is my favorite thing to make in the autumn time, so I am sharing it because Marisa said I could. ;)

Apple Crisp

4 medium cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup butter (softened)
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 375. Grease bottom and sides of a square pan, (8x8x2) with shortening.

2. Spread apples in the pan. Mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle over apples.

3. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

*I use about a cup of sugar and a full stick of butter, but that is why I will never be skinny. I have also been able to make this work when I only had 2 apples. (For a Sunday dessert when I couldn't go shopping.)

Orange Chicken

A very tasty meal! We served this with brown rice and asparagus. I did not use a whole 2 pounds of chicken. I thought that was quite a lot of meat. I think I probably used about 3/4 of a lb. for the 4 of us (2 adults and a pittance from 2 kids).

Recipe source:  My Kitchen Cafe

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2″ cubes
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons oil or butter

1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons green onion
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Heat oven to 350. In a shallow dish combine the flour, garlic powder and pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in flour mixture and coat evenly.

Pour oil (or melt butter and pour) in a shallow baking dish, large enough to accommodate chicken in a single layer. Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine water, fresh orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, orange zest and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes. Then stir in brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and green onion and let it come to a boil. Combine cornstarch with water and let it dissolve and add it to the sauce until thickened.

After chicken has baked the 30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour 1/2 sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 30 to 40 minutes basting frequently.

Serve chicken over rice with extra sauce on the side.

Ritz Chicken Fingers

My kids don't eat meat. I mean, rather, they won't. But, this, they ate right up. A miracle, folks.

Recipe source: Cooking on Clover Lane. (I love this woman's blog.)

1 roll of Ritz crackers, crushed
1 cup of mayo
1 tsp. dried mustard
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (or one container...you know what I'm talking about...usually about 1# and 1/2.)
Smoosh the crackers and set in one bowl.
Mix the next 3 ingredients together and set in another.
Cut up chicken in strips or nuggets.
Coat chicken in mayo mixture. (I usually get lazy and just dump all the chicken in the mayo bowl and mix up good.)
Then coat chicken piece by piece in Ritz crackers...be generous...this is the best part.
Set on a WELL OILED cookie sheet. (About 2 TBS.)
Bake for 20 minutes at 350 or till done.

Katie's Kid-Friendly Pad Thai

Uh, so this is my new favorite meal. It is so delicious. And I was excited that it's vegetarian. I first had this at a good friend's baby shower-potluck.

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb tofu, diced (or shrimp)

2 Tbsp tamari (increase this slightly)

1/3 C peanut butter (decrease this slightly)

1/4 C honey

1/8-1/4 C water

1 1/2 tsp brown rice vinegar (increase this slightly)

1 large sweet red pepper, finely diced

1 small-medium zucchini, finely diced

1/4 C peanuts, coarsely chopped

1/2 lb dry linguine, cooked

optional: chives, lime juice

Saute tofu, with salt and pepper to taste, in sesame oil until brown.  Add garlic towards the end.  (~10 minutes)  Mix tamari, peanut butter, honey, and vinegar.  Add water to thin.  Pour 1/2 of the sauce in pan with tofu, add vegetables and cook 3-5 minutes.  Add to cooked pasta, toss, and add rest of sauce and chopped peanuts.  Sprinkle with chives and fresh lime juice.

Salsa

First time I had this, my family and I finished hiking up to and touring Timp Caves (Utah). We were ultra hungry and this hit the spot. Comes from my older sister Janna.

-1 can corn niblets (there is also seasoned corn niblets which is good too)
-1 can black beans (you could add any other type of beans if you want too. I sometimes I add pinto beans)
-2 to 3 diced avocados (adding some lemon juice helps them from turning brown)
-2 to 3 diced tomatoes
 
Drain liquid from corn and beans and mix in a bowl. Dice up avocados and tomatoes and add to the corn and beans. Season with garlic salt and pepper and mix all together. You could serve them with chips or I use this recipe for tostadas. I put a small corn tortilla in the oven on broil until it is lightly brown on both sides, cool for 1 min and then add salsa mix on top of the tortilla and add feta cheese, rancho cheese or mozzarella. Serve up & Enjoy!

Savory Spiral Rolls

I made these a couple weeks ago. They were so delicious! We all decided that we would most definitely make them again. I found them on Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog. Go here to see the recipe! I also used her french bread recipe for the rolls.

Pistachio Salad

Another favorite, it's found on the Jell-O brand of Instant Pistachio pudding, but I use the knock-off brand and it tastes just as good:

1 small box instant pistachio pudding
1 jar crushed pineapple
1 1/2 C cool whip (ish)
1 C mini-marshmallows
1/2 C finely chopped nuts - pistachios work well, but you can use anything

Mix pudding with crushed pineapple (don't drain the juice). Add the marshmallows and nuts and then the cool whip. Make sure it's mixed well, then cover and chill.

Potato Salad

I know, I know. Everyone has a recipe for potato salad. And truthfully I grew up never eating it because I thought it was gross. But when I was asked to bring some to a bbq, I just sort of...winged it. And it turned out so good that there is only about one helping left from a huge bowl full!

Typically I do one big potato or two small ones per adult there, + 1 small one per child.
Eggs, relish, spices, etc. are all in proportion to the potatoes, so...I'll put down what I did here and you can increase/decrease accordingly.

8 small potatoes, boiled till you can stick a fork in them, but they're not so soft you could mash them, then chilled
~8 - 10 boiled eggs, then chilled
sweet relish
small onion, minced
sweet relish
mayo or miracle whip
salt and pepper
garlic powder (optional)

After you've skinned the potatoes, slice them into small bite size pieces. Peel the eggs and put the yolks in a bowl and chop up the whites, putting them in with the potatoes. Mince the onion and add.
Mash the yolks, adding enough mayo to make a soft mush. Add sweet relish - I used to big forkfuls, but it's really how much you would like to add. Add salt and pepper to taste, and garlic powder if you want. Stir it all together then mix it in with the potato/egg mixture. Cover and chill.

Vanilla Bean Slush

Okay, so I know this blog is for dinners, but I was pretty proud of figuring the recipe out on my own. This is actually a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino, but since there is no coffee I have renamed it. It is based on the Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. (Again, no coffee. My brother in law introduced me to them when trying to find something that was not coffee I would enjoy at Starbucks.)

Vanilla Bean Slush

2 c. milk

2 c. ice

2 scoops vanilla bean ice cream

2 Tbs. vanilla creamer

Put it all in a blender and blend.

This makes enough for each member of my family of 5 to have about 8 ounces. When I made it again it had too much ice, so I may mess with that. Also, we use 1% milk, and low-fat ice cream. Our whole family enjoys it.