Caribbean-Inspired Chicken BBQ

There are a couple perks to getting up at 5am to work out at the gym. Ironically, it has to do with food. The gym is the only place where I get to watch my two favorite cable channels: the Food Network and HGTV. Watching those shows are a huge treat for me. This makes it a tiny, tiny bit easier to force my butt out of bed in the early hours of the day (even after just 5 hours of sleep).

On Monday morning, I was watching Bobby Flay on the Food Network. He was doing a show on Caribbean grilling, which was an awesome coincidence. We had just purchased a new grill and I was itching to use it. I really wanted a yummy grilled chicken recipe but, because we are very low on funds right now, I had to find a recipe that utilized groceries I already had in the house. Perfectly enough, I had everything on hand to make this amazing chicken recipe-- even the very odd and unusual special ingredient: tamarind paste.

I LOVE cultural and ethnic food adventures and I love to try to make things from scratch. You will often find unusual things in my pantry. I have semolina flour left over from the times I made homemade pasta (amazing!). I have garbanzo bean flour left over from some Indian recipe I tried long ago. I have saffron. I have capers. I have mirin. Sake. All kinds of things.

And... lucky, lucky, I have tamarind paste. One of my favorite Indian recipes is tamarind chicken. Tamarind is such an amazingly tart flavor. It's so unique. But I never knew what else to do with it. So, it's been sitting in my cupboard, just waiting for a creative moment.

Well, thank you Bobby Flay! He featured this amazing (seriously, amazing!) BBQ chicken recipe on his show. The key is definitely in the secret sauce. It mixed the tartness of tamarind with the tang of orange juice. The sauce is incredible! He used it for dipping chicken wings, but because I always have some Costco chicken breasts on hand, I used those instead.

This is my version of his recipe....this is seriously a man pleaser!

Caribbean-Inspired Chicken BBQ

Chicken Breasts:

• Two large chicken breasts, pounded flat into uniform thickness between two pieces of parchment paper
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground allspice
• 2 teaspoons ground chili pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

The Secret Sauce:

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup tamarind concentrate/paste (purchase at an Asian food store or online)
• 1-inch piece ginger, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1. After pounding the chicken flat (you can also use wings as Bobby did), brush the chicken with canola oil. Combine the spices and coat the chicken generously on both sides.

2. Grill the chicken on both sides. (Even the spice-rubbed chicken is amazing on its own!).

3. Combine all sauce ingredients except the vinegar in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup of water. Bring the liquid to a boil then reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer until it thickens up (about 15 mins).
Remove from heat and take out the ginger slices. Whisk in the vinegar and keep warm.

Serve the chicken with the sauce poured on top or on the side for dipping.

Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Pasta

I'm easy to please when it comes to lunches during the work week. I will pick something and eat it everyday for several months before I get tired of it. For a whopping 1.5 years, I ate raisin, date, and walnut oatmeal for lunch. Every. Day. I haven't been able to eat it since.

When I got tired of oatmeal, I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Three months later and I started to bring a can of Campbells chicken & wild rice soup. Lately, however, I have discovered the wonderful world of Healthy Choice Iron Chef frozen meals. They are fantastic! 300 calories, 15 grams of protein, and several amazing options to choose from all for less than $2.50. My favorite is the chicken with roasted red pepper alfredo. I bought out the entire downtown Seattle Target (honest, I did!). And when they were gone, I was very sad.

But I'm a very persistent person. And I obsess easily. I wasn't about to let my obsession end with Target's stocking failures. So I found some recipes and made my own. Not quite the same as the frozen meals (yes, they are THAT good) but still amazing. This is the kind of pasta that is so good, you could serve it at a dinner party or just whip it up for Friday family pasta night.

Roasted Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Pasta

3 whole red bell peppers (or buy canned roasted red pepper)
1 diced onion
3 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup whole milk
4 oz. goat cheese
Pre-cooked chicken breasts pieces (or rotisserie chicken)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated parm cheese
1/2 lb. whole weat pasta
olive oil
salt & pepper

1. To roast red peppers, place them on a foil-covered baking sheet in a 450 degree oven and bake until peppers are charred (about 30 mins). Remove from oven and tent with foil to prevent steam from escaping. When the peppers have cooled (at least ten mins later), peel the skin and dice them.

2. Pour olive oil into a pan over medium heat. Cook the onions and garlic until the onions soften. Then add cream and milk and allow mixture to heat up. Add the goat cheese and stir to melt.

3. Pour the mixture into a blender with the red pepper and process until mostly smooth or until the mixture has reached desired texture.

4. Return the sauce to the pan. Add the chicken breast pieces and basil. Add the parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over pasta.

So yum!

Ultimate BBQ Chicken Tacos

Taco night is a big deal. Dinners haven't been the same ever since I stumbled upon a homemade tortilla recipe. Making tortillas from scratch will change your life. Soft, warm, carbolicious tortillas hugging fresh chicken and topped with mountains of fresh produce. Seriously, it's like all the food groups in one meal! Tacos are amazing.

My husband has been asking me to make BBQ chicken tacos for a while. I pretty much scoured the interweb for recipes but none of them had enough ingredients. Most were kind of blah-- bbq sauce, chicken, and cheese. Seriously? Who needs a recipe to make that? I wasn't very inspired.

So, I pulled ALL the recipes together and, with a little tweaking, based upon what I had in my own pantry, created what I like to believe is the Ultimate BBQ Chicken Soft Taco. I don't even like BBQ chicken (gasp!) and I couldn't get enough of these. Initially, I wasn't so confident that sour cream and BBQ sauce would mix. But it turned out to be a winning combo!

Please ignore my hideous food photography.

Chicken
2 large chicken breasts
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground oregano
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Taco "Accessories"
Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
red onions
cilantro
monterrey jack cheese
tomatoes
avocado
sour cream

Last but not least: Homemade tortillas

1. Make the spice rub by mixing all the spices together. Rub generously over the chickent breasts. Bake chicken (covered) in a 350 degree oven until the internal temp reaches 170. When the chicken is done cooking, shred it with two forks and spoon all the juices on top. To me, the shredded chicken is a must. Regular chicken just doesn't have the right texture.

2.Serve the chicken with tortillas and "accessories." My husband liked to spoon and rub sour cream over the tortillas, add the filler, then drizzle the BBQ chicken on top. I omitted the avocado. And gave them to Ryan.

By the way, my one year old loved these- the chicken, tomatoes, and avocado especially. I love that I can put food on his tray and let him feed himself while I eat. I sure haven't missed eating with one hand.

Side note: when I purchased the avocado from the grocery store, the checker asked me what it was! Ha ha. How can you work in a grocery store and NOT know what an avocado is?!?

A Rough Day Ends In Success: With Strozzapreti!

Wednesday was insane. INSANE. First, as we were driving down a busy highway, Jacob swung his car door wide open. I had a mini heart attack before pulling over to reprimand him/stop my heart from jumping out of my chest. Less than two minutes later, we were back on the highway and Jacob was screaming at max capacity that he had to pee right now! No exit in sight, I pulled over to the shoulder once again. I grabbed my empty water bottle and held it out for Jacob to pee in (we've done this before...). Unfortunately, he missed.

Pee.

All.

Over.

My.

Arm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After I freaked out and nearly shriveled out of my clothing, we made a quick (ha, yeah right!) stop at the grocery store to grab something. As soon as we walked into the store, a horrible smell radiated from Ryan's butt. I went to change him and discovered that he had filled his diaper, his onesie, and his pants with brown, soupy poop. Ryan was stripped to a shirt and diaper for the rest of the trip. And the poopy pants, which I SWORE I threw onto the floor of my car, have gone missing. This means they will likely show up somewhere very unpleasant at a very inconvenient time...after marinating for a week, of course.

After that (and much more), I probably had a great excuse to pull out a frozen pizza for dinner. But, no. I'm certifiably insane. And cooking is my therapy. After the chaotic, random, and uncontrollable events of a busy kid-full day, nothing is more therapeutic than to pull together an organized and predictable list of ingredients and follow a clear set of step-by-step instructions. On top of that, cooking is such a fun, creative process. Oh yeah, and the end result is edible (duh!)!

When we got home, I was so excited to make dinner. Earlier that day I had run across what appeared to be a simple and easy homemade pasta recipe. I've made gnocchi, linguine, and ravioli from scratch and, while they were all delicious, they were so much work! This recipe for sprozzapreti, on the other hand, was super easy and only required two ingredients (for the pasta anyway, then add your own favorite sauce)! Just like my favorite recipe for homemade tortillas, this is going to be a new go-to recipe.

Strozzapreti

(seen with my new favorite dish: gruyere chicken)
(p.s. forgive the poor quality, phone-camera photo)

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs

Pour the flour into a bowl. Crack the eggs into the center. Mix thoroughly with your hand until the ingredients are combined and form a ball. Add flour if necessary so that the dough is not too sticky. However, do not add so much flour that the dough becomes stiff.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out onto a floured surface as thin as possible.  Cut the dough into strips about one inch wide. Take one strip at a time and roll the strips between your palms as if making play-do snakes. Roll them just enough to make the snake shape so that they have a fun texture but do not roll them so much that they become too smooth (honestly, you can roll them as much as you like, but the funkier the texture, the better the pasta can pick up your pasta sauce). Pinch the strips into small pieces (don't worry about being exact) and set aside.

Cook the strozzapreti in a large pot of boiling salted water for a couple minutes. You want the pasta to be tender and slightly chewy, but cooked through. When it's the desired amount of tenderness, drain the water. Add pasta sauce and serve!

Best Sick Day Ever!

Sickness is here! I knew the sickness was inevitable as one by one my coworkers, friends, and family fell captive. So far, I'm the only one in the family who has been hit and it hasn't actually been that bad. Congestion, foggy head, and sore throat. I rarely ever get sick, so I guess I was long overdue. As long as I'm not puking, I'm a happy sick person.

Last night was day two of the sickness and I fought it off with a nice long spin class. I may be crazy, but it has always been my own personal philosophy that sweat and exercise is the best thing for your body when you get sick. When I ran competatively in college, this always seemed to be true and it has worked for me ever since.

After a full night of tossing and turning, plugging my nostrils with tissue paper, and trying to sooth my burning throat, I woke to my 5:25 a.m. alarm as I imagine a swamp person would arise from well...a swamp. I was groggy, my head felt like it was full of mud, and I looked pretty awful. I immediately hit snooze and didn't think twice about trying to make it to work. Since today was my husband's turn to wake, feed, dress the kids and drop them off at his sister's house, I fell right back to sleep for four glorious more hours.

I finally woke up at 10 a.m. and made the obligatory call in to work. I had a couple work projects on my plate and I got those out of the way first thing. After that, the day WAS MINE! First, I lounged on the couch with tea and caught up on Pinterest and Facebook and some of my favorite blogs. Then I tidied the house, but only just enough to feel accomplished.

Then I went to the craft store. Not because I needed to buy anything. I went to the store solely because I had the rare luxury of driving somewhere without having to pack a diaper bag, strap and unstrap two kids into their carseats, and drag three different bags around with me. Although my husband and I pretty much split kid duty right down the middle, when we both have chores or errands to run, it's always expected that I will have the kids with me. I don't really mind it-- in fact, sometimes I prefer it. But when I'm running to the gym, the grocery store, AND the bank, it would be nice if my husband would take at least ONE of them with him on his ten minute hardware store trip.

Anyway, my point is that it has been so long since the last time I went on an errand alone. In fact, I honestly cannot remember the last time. So today, being able to peruse casually and aimlessly down the aisles of the craftstore with no agenda or care in the world (aside from trying not to sneeze or cough on anyone), was so freaking amazing.

On the drive home, I got to listen to Dori Monson, my favorite news radio show host (did I just say that? I'm such a nerd). His show is during the middle of the day so I rarely get to listen to him. I used to have a major voice/brain crush on him. Then I spoiled everything by looking up his website and finding his headshot. A lot of people love NPR. I personally can't stand it. Luckily we have a local news radio station that is simply fantastic. The hosts each have different perspectives and political leanings and it's amazing how they can cover the same top five stories and present totally different news. I NEVER listen to music in the car anymore (unless T-Swift comes out with a new album). I'm a total news radio addict. I have no idea how I survived on a daily basis before "Ring My Bell" with Rachel Belle.

Because I'm missing the piece of DNA that tells people to veg on the couch, I came home and finished a painting that I started six months ago (I painted over book pages. Sorry "Hundred Years of Solitude" you were way too boring to earn a permanent spot on my bookshelf):

Then I started and finished another painting. My camera didn't pick up the background colors very well. I really liked the background. I kind of think I ruined it by adding the branch silhouette. It's definitely NOT my favorite painting.

I always hate my own art and that is why most of my work lives at my parents' house where they, in typical parent fashion, display it prominently and without objectivity and for the entire world to see.  I nearly die each time I go to their house and see all my HORRIBLE middle school paintings hanging proudly in their living room and dining room. I made them promise to tell visitors that they found the paintings at Goodwill.

I also made this star:

It was so fun and so easy. Right now, as I type, I am planning a star take-over of all the walls in my house.

In between all my projects, I drank six cups of tea (current favorite is black chai tea with hazelnut creamer and three packs of splenda = death by sweetness). I had a gigantic bowl of chicken noodle soup. When the kids came home, we played, I gave them baths, we cuddled, and then I wisked them off to bed.

Finally, at 10:00 p.m. when I realized that all I had eaten all day was my bowl of soup (one good thing about being sick is total loss of appetite and then being able to make up all the missed calories the next day), I sat on the couch and had a nice big helping of my delicious "whatever is in the fridge" pasta. I made it two days ago when our pantry was bare and we were desperately waiting for payday. It turned out really well and is going to be my new go-to pasta dish. I'm thinking you can use whatever kind of cheese you happen to have on hand.

"Whatever" Pasta

2 cups milk
3 Tbs butter
3Tbs flour
1 tsp salt
Dash of nutmeg
1 tsp lemon juice
2 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

First I made bechemel saude by melting butter in a pan over medium heat. I added flour, stirring it in, and cooking it for another minute or two. I slowly added the milk and brough the mixute to a simmer. Then I melted the cheese into the mixture, and added salt, nutmeg, and lemon juice. At the very end, add in the chicken pieces. Serve over penne (or any) pasta.

I'm rounding out my fantastic sick day with a seventh cup of chai tea, and soaking in the peacefullness of a silent, sleepy house. I absolutely love being the last person to go to sleep.

Pierogi!

I tried to come up with an illiteration for this post but there is a shortage of fun "p" adjectives. All I got was "Peerless" but that brought back PTSD flashbacks from contracts class (anyone recall the Peerless ship case?).

I do not have a Polish bone in my body...But I dated a Polish man once. He was legit. Fresh-off-the-boat Polish. One time, he picked me up for a surprise date, took me to Dunkin Donuts, and (when I told him I was not hungry) he spent nearly 15 minutes trying to force me to shove glazed donuts down my throat. Then I broke up with him....on his birthday. I think there is a specially-designated level of hell for people who do that sort of thing.

Anyway, for the short period of time that I dated this Polish guy, I spent a lot of time learning about Polish culture.  The whole "Polish sausage" thing is SO not a stereotype. I ate dinner with his parents three times. Each time I ate with them, the main dish was Polish sausage. I'm pretty sure that's the only thing they ever ate. The side dish was always pierogi. Not homemade-like-your-Polish-grandma-makes pierogi. These were frozen-from-the-grocery-store pierogi. But they were so, so good.

Fast forward several years (and a couple boyfriends) later, I was craving pierogi. I stumbled upon a recipe (I can't remember where from) and decided to make my own. Imagine for a moment, the creamiest and richest bite of mashed potato, mixed with melted cheese, rolled up into dough, and fried in butter. Yes! Yum!

My picky husband totally loves these!

Potato & Cheese Pierogi

Dough

4 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup warm water

Filling

3 potatoes, cooked, drained, and mashed
2 tbspoons butter
3 ounces cream cheese (or to taste)
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or to taste)

1/2 tsp salt

1. To make the dough, measure flour into a bowl. Add salt and stir to combime. Make a hole in the center of the flour and add the eggs and sour cream. Stir to combine. Add water gradually until mixture forms a ball. Knead dough, separate into three pieces, and let rest for ten minutes.

2. Take your mashed potatoes and add the cheeses and salt. Stir to combine.

3. Roll out dough, one piece at a time, to 1/8 thickness. Take a cup with an opening of about 3 inches in diameter and cut out rounds. Spoon as much filling as you can into the round, fold in half, and pinch the ends closed. Make sure the ends are tightly closed so that filling does not escape during cooking.

4. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. In batches, drop pierogi into water and let cook for several minutes. When pierogi rise to the top of the water, let cook an additional minute then remove to a plate.

You could totally stop here. BUT why do that when you have the option to pan fry the pierogi in butter!?! If you DO stop here, you should serve the pierogies by topping with sour cream and onions that hav been carmelized in butter.

5. Heat large sauce pan over medium heat. Melt butter in pan. When hot, add pierogi (again, in batches). Cook until browned on both sides then remove to a plate. Serve with sour cream!

Savory Mushroom Bread Pudding

To celebrate our friend's wedding the other year, we visited a winery in Osooyoos, Canada. When the waiter appeared at our table to ask if we were ready to order, my two-year-old Jacob loudly exclaimed to him, "we want the duck!" Jacob didn't sit at the table for much longer and I remember chasing him around the mini bell tower amidst freezing gusts of wind.

 

Somehow, I eventually wrangled him back to the table for just long enough to scarf down my meal. I don't even remember the main course. My meal was completely overshadowed by an incredible mushroom bread pudding.

When we got back to Washington, I was determined to recreate the dish. I reviewed several recipes but none of them looked just right. So I combined some of them to create a close-enough rendition. I thought of this recipe today because it's the perfect dish for Thanksgiving. It's got the texture of everyone's beloved stuffing, but it's so much richer. If you don't mention the mushrooms, I'm sure you can even get the kids to try it!

Mushroom Bread Pudding

1 loaf french bread

1 lb cremini mushrooms, diced

1/4 cup finely chopped shallot

3 Tbs butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups half and half

4 eggs

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper

 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

 

2. Slice bread into cubes. Place on baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 7-10 minutes until slighty crunchy or golden brown. (or you can use stale bread)

 

3. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.

 

4. Add mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook until most of the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated. This usually takes about 10-15 minutes.

 

5. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Remove from heat.

 

6. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add half-and-half and mix to combine. Then season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in mushrooms and bread cubes and mix until well coated.

 

7. Place everything into a buttered baking dish. Cook for 30-40 minutes, until firm to the touch.

Apple Pork Chops With Hard Cider

I played around in the kitchen today. The results were delicious. I combined a bunch of things that I love into one dish: pork chops, bacon(!), apples, and hard apple cider(!). The dish is not novel or genius, in fact, I'm pretty sure it's been done in many variations. But pork chops can be tricky because they dry out and lose flavor so easily. I finally mastered how to cook them!

And seriously, how can you go wrong with any dish that has both bacon AND alcohol?

So, based on my experience, here's the deal with juicy pork chops: (1) You have to buy bone-in chops. The bones are annoying to cut around and take away valuable meat space BUT that's the key to juiciness! (2) Sprinkle the chops with salt and let them warm to room temperature before you cook them. (3) If you're pan-frying the pork, make sure the pan is super hot first. (4) Don't overcook. The USDA recently lowered the required internal temperature of pork to 145 degrees. When it reaches this temp, it's done! (5) Wrap pork in bacon!

Ok, honestly, I don't know if the bacon really does anything. But it's delicious.

Apple Pork Chops With Hard Cider

2-4 bone-in pork chops (unless the chops are huge, one hungry person will probably want two chops)
8-12 bacon slices
1/2 cup sliced onions
1 apple, sliced thin
2 Tbs butter
12 oz bottle of hard apple cider (you can also use regular apple cider)
2 tsp worchestershire sauce
Salt & pepper

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Make sure pan is SUPER hot before you add the pork so that bacon will cook all the way.

2. Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper. Wrap each chop with 2-3 slices of bacon, depending on size of chop. Secure bacon with toothpicks.

3. Place pork chops in hot pan. Cook 4 minutes each side, until bacon is brown and pork chops reach an internal temperature of 145. Remove pork from pan and set aside.

4. Wipe out the pan and add the butter. When the butter has melted add in the onions and the apple slices and cook until the onions are dark brown and carmelized.

5. Add one bottle of hard apple cider and lower the temperature slightly. Add the worchestershire sauce. Let the hard apple cider reduce for about 3-5 minutes, then add the pork chops into the pan. Cook for a couple minutes, until the pork chops are nice and hot once again.

The hard apple cider sauce was probably my favorite part. Although the meat, wrapped in more meat, was also pretty good.

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Tacos

A former co-worker recommended a healthy South Beach Diet recipe to me. And before you ask, no she wasn't kindly insinuating that I needed to cut back on desserts. Wait....was she? Anyway...

The recipe sat in my cupboard, untouched, for almost a month. It intrigued me, but I kept passing it up for tried-and-true family favorites. After a long spell of non-inspiration in the kitchen, I decided this recipe was just what I needed to break my funk. Except, it didn't just break my funk. It shattered it! As I started prepping, I decided to do an overhaul on the original recipe. I changed it from a salad to a taco. Yes, while the rest of the world is obsessed with turning every recipe into a paleo-friendly version of itself, you can always count on me to do just the opposite.

A touch of carbs, a smackling of dairy products, and VOILA! Pistachio Crusted Chicken Tacos! Honestly, the reason I went with a taco is because we are all addicted to homemade flour tortillas (best tortillas ever!). I turned the salad "dressing" into a taco sauce. I think that sauce was my favorite part.

 

(Forgive me, I know you aren't supposed to put white food on a white plate. But aside from some plastic dinosaur tablewayre, these IKEA plates are all I have).

 

Here's the recipe-- my version, that is. I absolutely LOVE pistachios. I'm lucky any pistachios made it into this meal because I was eating them like crazy.

 

Tacos

1/2 cup pistachios, shelled and finely food processed

2-4 Skinless chicken breasts (Use 2 breast for two people- this will give you leftovers)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 cup sweet onions, diced

Diced tomatoes

Shredded cheese (moterrey jack, swiss, mozzarella, or even pepper jack)

Cilantro

Salt and pepper

Don't forget homemade flour tortillas!

 

Dressing/Sauce

1 Tbsp diced sweet onion

1 large avocado, pitted and peeled (I just used 3 Tbsp of guacamole)

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp lime juice

1 Tbsp water

 

Preheat oven to 375

 

1. Mix the processed nuts with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. My nuts were already salted so I skipped the salt here. Press the chicken breasts into the nut mixture, being sure to coat as well as possible. (I cut my chicken breasts in half but it's probably not necessary, I just wanted more nut coating).

 

2. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the breasts, 2 minutes per side. Then place them in the oven until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees. (I love my meat thermometer!). When they cool a little, slice them into long pieces.

 

3. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in skillet. Add diced onions and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cool until the onion is browned.

 

4. To make the sauce, in a food processor, process the avocado (guacamole), white onions, olive oil, lime juice, and water until well mixed.  

 

5. Make your homemade tortillas.

 

6.  Assemble by placing cilantro, cheese, onions, tomatoes, and chicken in a tortillas. Dribble the sauce on top and enjoy!

 

If you wanted to avoid the carbs, you could always eat this in a lettuce wrap instead of a tortilla. Nevermind, forget I said that, homemade tortillas are just way too good to pass us!

Make Your Own Bagels

A couple people have asked about my bagel recipe. Here it is! I don't remember where I got it. I think it was just a random website I found during a google search rather than Cooking Light or Cook's Illustrated, my usual go-to places. 

Pretty easy. The hardest part is waiting for the dough to rise!

Dough

4 cups bread flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water

Topping (for Pizza Bagel)

Pasta sauce
Mini pepperonis
Mozarella or monterrey jack cheese
or anything else your heart desires!

1. Dissolve yeast in water about 5 minutes/until bubbly or frothy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix to form a ball of dough. It's suppose to feel stiff.

2. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until smooth. Separate into 8 balls and let rest for 20 minutes.

3. Roll balls into a long snake. This only works for me if I rub the dough between both hands rather than a hand and a floured surface. Wrap the snake-like dough around your hand bringing and pressing the ends together. While the dough is still wrapped around your hands and with the end peices in your palm, roll the peices together (the same as you would roll the dough to make the snake-shape). If this makes absolutely no sense, then try this quick video.

4. Let the dough rest for another 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 and set a large pot of water to boil.

5. Boil each bagel (I did two at a time) in the boiling water, one minute on each side.

6. Place the bagels on a greased baking sheet and top with your toppings of choice.

7. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

Then...YUM! Carb alert!

-Ahhh-mazing BBQ Chicken

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated- my favorite cooking mag.

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts, cut into large bite size pieces
1 teaspoon course salt
2 slices of bacon
2 Tablespoons paprika
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of sugar
BBQ sauce (we love Baby Ray's)
Skewers (If you are going to use wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes)

1. Rub course salt over the chicken pieces. Cover the chicken pieces and refrigerate for at least an hour. 

2. Cut the bacon into large pieces. In food processor, process the bacon until it forms a paste.

3. Combine the paprika and sugar in a bowl and add the bacon paste.

4. Take the chicken out of the fridge and rub the paprika/bacon mix into the chicken pieces really well. My bacon paste didn't rub so well but I coated the chicken as best as I could. Then skewer the chicken. I took the pieces of paste that kept falling off the chicken and stuck it between the chicken pieces on the skewer.

5. Heat up your grill. When it's really hot, add the skewers. Cook for 5-7 minutes on one side and brush with BBQ sauce. Flip the skewers over, brush other side with bbq sauce, and cook 5-7 minutes longer.

SO FREAKING GOOD. And I'm not even a huge bacon fan....

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Prep time: 40 min (including rise time)Cook time: 20 min

I will NEVER buy tortillas ever again. Homemade tortillas are so delicious, easy, AND can be made from things you already have in your pantry. They are well worth the work and they blow grocery store tortillas out of the water!

This recipe makes 12 tasty tortillas, which is more than enough for my family. Since this dough can be refrigerated overnight, you can cook half the tortillas right away and keep the other half of the dough refrigerated for the next night.

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Quesadilla with chicken, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, and chopped basil

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cups vegetable oil

1 cup hot water

1. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder with a whisk. Add the oil and mix with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.

2. Add a cup of hot water to the flour mixture and and combine until a ball is formed.

3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes or refrigerate it overnight.

4. Divide the dough into 12 balls and roll out one at a time on a floured surface. Keep the unused dough covered to prevent it from drying out. Brush off excess flour and cook the tortillas in a hot, ungreased skillet over medium-high heat. Turn the tortilla when the tortilla puffs up and blisters form.

5. Serve tortillas warm or keep them under a damp towel in a warm oven until ready to serve.

These make great quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, tacos OR eat them by themselves!

Drunken Chicken, Monsoon Style

Last weekend, we ate at Monsoon, a delicious Vietnamese restaurant in Seattle. All the dishes we tried were great. But my absolute favorite was the most popular dish on their menu- drunken chicken. It was so good that it's all I've thought about this past week. I wondered if I could recreate it- or at least come slightly close.

Apparently, there are many versions of drunken chicken. At least this is what I discovered from my google searching. The traditional Chinese dish is marinated overnight in a rice wine sauce and served cold. There is also a version in which the chicken is coated in a beer batter. But I was craving the drunken chicken that I had at Monsoon. It was an american take on the Chinese version. The chicken was deep fried and served with a rice wine sauce.

To make the dish, I started with a traditional Chinese recipe that I found and changed it up a bit. I took the rice wine marinade (an internet source told me I could use dry sherry instead of rice wine) tinkered just a little bit, and reduced it into a yummy sauce. Then I fried the chicken pieces (the Chiense version calls for poaching the chicken) and drizzled the sauce on top.

My first try didn't work so well. But my second try did! The result was fantastic. Of course, it's not JUST like the restaurant (which I HIGHLY recommend) but it's close, at least according to my memory.

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 cups sherry
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp juice from one ginger
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp sugar
Cooked rice
Green onions for garnish

1. First tackle the sauce so that the alcohol has enough time to burn off. To get the juice out of the ginger, peel the ginger and shred it. Take the shavings and squeeze them over a bowl. Fresh ginger is pretty juicy! Be careful not to stick to the 1.5 teaspoons of ginger and not use too much. Fresh ginger has a very potent flavor, which I learned the hard way.

2. Combine the sherry, water, soy sauce, ginger, salt and sugar in a pot over medium heat. Bring it to a boil then turn the heat down to let it simmer. Simmer until the alcohol burns off- you have to keep tasting it to know for sure when it's done. It should eventually be sweet with a taste of ginger. The sauce won't really thicken but it tastes fantastic anyway! If I recall correctly, the restaurant's sauce wasn't very thick either.

3. Beat your eggs into a large bowl. Add the cornstarch and whisk until it all combines. The mixture should be thick enough to stick to the chicken.

4. Dip chicken pieces into the coating and drop them into a deep fryer (or you can pan fry them over the stove but you will have to turn them over halfway through).

4. When chicken pieces are golden brown, remove from fryer and let them cool on a stack of paper towels. Place the chicken on a dish and drizzle the sauce on top. Serve over rice and garnish with green onions!

Thai Chicken Skewers

This recipe originated from one I found on Pinterest.  It's pretty simple, though I did make a couple tweaks to the original- adding ginger, combining both soy and fish sauce, and skewering it (faster cook times and more kid friendly). Next time, I'm going to add lime juice to the marinade and/or drizzled over the final product (I heart limes!) and see how that works.

And here it is...delicious chicken in 4 easy steps!

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
1 tsp minced ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs sesame oil
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1. Combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, fish oil, sesame oil and cilantro in a large bowl or ziplock bag.

2. Cut the chicken breast into large chunks (1-2 inches).

3. Place chicken into the bowl of marinade and let it sit for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerater.

4. Heat a grill and skewer the chicken pieces. Grill for about 15 minutes (depending on how hot the grill is and how big your chicken pieces are), turning half way through.

Voila!

P.S. Kids love eating food on sticks!