Pizza Pasta

I can't remember where I saw this recipe - I am so bad at that. This recipe was very good - very family friendly. My sons favorite food is pizza. His least loved food group is protein. This dish combines the flavors he loves with the protein he really needs.
Pizza Pasta
8 ounces rotini pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
4 ounces sliced pepperoni sausage
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef with onion until beef is brown. Drain. Combine beef mixture with spaghetti sauce, pepperoni and cooked pasta and pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with mozzarella.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and golden.

*I had ground sausage (already cooked) in my fridge - so I added that as well.

This is a great 'inspiration' recipe. You can add whatever protein you want, as well as additional veggies if you'd like.

Cafe Rio Chicken

I added this picture 10/9/09 after making it again - I should've taken the pic with the final product (salad) but I didn't - just so you could see the basic ingredient and its potential in SO many dishes!!
Cafe Rio is one of my favorite Mexican joints. I have been making Cafe Rio Pork forever - it's one of our favorites - so when I saw this recipe for their chicken - I had to make it.

Saturday, I had a lot of errands to run and knew I would run out of time for dinner. So, I threw everything in the crock pot and went to run errands. When I got home, Sweetness and friends were in the garage brainstorming on one of our current projects. I walked into the house and this whiff of deliciousness filled the garage - lots of yummy noises and questions about what I was cooking... I went in and out of the garage several times (unloading groceries) and by the time I was done unloading, they had all planned a BBQ at our house b/c they couldn't resist! I had their mouths watering...

Everyone gobbled it up (kids included!) The adults had it as a salad and the kids had this as burritos or quesadillas. Yum. Super versitile - so impressive and the crock pot does all the work!I saw this recipe on 365 Days of Crock Pot Recipes.

Café Rio Chicken
5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thawed
8 oz Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
3 cloves minced garlic
Mix all ingredients except the chicken in a bowl. Place chicken on bottom of a greased crockpot. Pour mixture in bowl over the top of chicken. Cook on high 5-7 hours. Shred chicken with a fork and reserve juice to pour over chicken when serving.

**As far as crock pot cooking goes, I like the marinade to cover the protein. With this recipe, I doubled the marinade/dressing so that the chicken would be covered. IT WAS GOOOOOD.

***I just remembered - I got this recipe from 365 Days Of Crock Pot Cooking (see our sidebar)

White Bread

I came across this recipe for basic White Bread a couple of years ago - I can't remember where. Anyway, since we moved from SLC to New Mexico - my kids constantly complain about the lack of white bread choices available. (In SLC - my kids fav white bread was Granny Sycamore's - I'm still looking for something comparable to that - if you have a recipe - I'd love to try it!)

In the meantime - this one keeps the kiddos happy...

White Bread
6 cups flour, more or less, divided
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 cups very warm water, about 120°
2 tablespoons softened butter

In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Beating at low speed, add the water and butter. Continue beating at high speed for 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour and beat 4 minutes longer. Stir in 3 cups flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes,, or until dough is smooth and elastic, adding a little more flour as necessary.

Place dough in a large buttered bowl, turning to butter top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for about 1 hour in a warm place, free of drafts.

Punch dough down; knead until smooth. Cut dough in half, cover with the mixing bowl, and let stand for 15 minutes longer. Roll each half into a 12x9-inch rectangle. Starting with the narrow edge, roll up, turning ends under to make loaves to fit pans. Place rolls seam side down in greased loaf pans, 9x5x3-inches. Cover pans with clean towel and let rise in warm place until double, about 45 minutes.

Bake loaves at 400° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped with fingers. Remove from pans to racks; brush with butter for a soft, more flavorful crust, if desired.
Makes 2 loaves.

Home Made Bagels!

This recipe deserves a Ferriss Beuller style "OOOOhhh Yeahhhh"

**I made these bagels again (b/c my picky eater ate them all in 3 days!) but this time I made them with BREAD FLOUR - as the recipe calls for - holy moly did that make a difference! Also, instead of spraying the baking sheet with Pam, I drizzled it with olive oil! You have to make these - for the love of Pete - make them right now!

In less than 90 minutes - I'm not lyin' folks! It's true. I have had the biggest craving for bagels lately - since (as I mention all the time) we live in the boonies. There just isn't a decent bagel place around - and that bread with a hole in the middle of it that they sell at the grocery stores - just doesn't cut it.

I searched online for an 'easy bagel recipe' and this is what I found - this awesome guy used to own a bagel shop - so he knows what he is talking about - and as far as sharing his knowledge (and 2am wake up call for who knows how many years) I think he rocks!!!

My pictures show my 4 year old - yes 4 year old - helping with the bagels - this is how easy this is!!
Rolling them out (like snakes) then smooshing them under your hand... See how imperfect they are? That's why they call it home made - made with love - by a Mama and her 4 year old daughter...

Boiling them here. Don't freak out if yours sink to the bottom - mine did. I let them sink to the bottom and about 20 seconds later scooped them off the bottom - then they floated and all is well...

Homemade bagel recipe
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
Pre heat your oven to 425.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant rolling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.
After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.
Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!
You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

My hubs called me mid bageldrum - he asked what I was doing and when I told him he said "aren't bagels super tempermental and super difficult?" Well, yes, from everything I have heard - but not this recipe - believe me! If my 4 year old can do it - so can you:)

I called my hubs when they were done - just to brag (b/c I can with him, it's all good) he asked what 'kind' I made. I made plain this time b/c I honestly didn't know what to expect - this weekend, I'll get crazy. He also asked me to save him one - since he won't be home until Fri eve - I apologized in advanced and told him that our 6 year old (who eats like a bird and is the pickiest eater in the universe) ate 2 of them in a row - I had one, my 4 year old had one (she had to taste the fruits of her labor!) and my 18 month old snarfed one down. They'll be gone tomorrow. Luckily, they are so easy to make and they are made from stuff I already have on hand - these will take a permanent spot in my baking repertoir.

Mahogany Chicken

My cute friend Jenny gave me this recipe. She made it as the directions say except that she used bone in chicken legs - not 'wings' as specified. Her 3 boys couldn't get enough of them! I was over at her house while her hubs and 2 sons were eating dinner and with all the yummy sounds, I asked her for this recipe. She did it the right way and served it with a little sauce on the side. This recipe is intended for chicken wings - next time I have wings, I will definitely try this marinade on them. I didn't have any on hand and I thought this sounded delish (right up my hubs alley) and as I have said I try to cater to him when he is in town (he has been travelling A TON lately and will be out of town all week this coming week - so - I'm a sucker)
I served this with one of our family fav's Roasted Carrots , if you haven't tried roasted carrots or roasted squash - you are missing out! Your kids will LOVE these veggies - and I can guarantee they won't be feeding them to the dog!

Since I wouldn't be baking the chicken in it's juices in the oven (hubs prefers grilled chicken) so I used boneless skinless chicken breasts and marinated them overnight in this sauce. It turned out very good - I can't wait to try this with wings! I think doing the sauce on the side as well (like Jenny did) is key - super delicious!

Mahogany Chicken
3 pounds chicken wings, split and tips discarded
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons chile sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Place chicken in a shallow, medium dish. In a medium bowl, mix soy sauce, honey, molasses, chile sauce, ground ginger and garlic. Pour the mixture over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate approximately 1 hour, turning occasionally.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large baking dish, arrange chicken in a single layer. Bake in the preheated oven approximately 50 minutes, brushing with remaining soy sauce mixture often and turning once, until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Yum. Nice and sticky, a little sweet and full of flavor - with the option of even more flavor if you add the sauce on the side.

Stuffed Peppers

Challenge completed successfully! This is my 3rd and final recipe with ground beef and onion for the week.
Stuffed Peppers
1 1/4 pounds ground beef (I also added ground sausage b/c that is how I roll)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
6 red bell peppers (I used green)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the ground beef, and cook until brown and crumbly. Pour off excess grease, then stir in garlic, onion, and tomatoes. Cook and stir until the onions soften just a bit, about 3 minutes. Stir the cheese into the mixture, and set aside.
Cut the tops off of the peppers, and remove the veins and seeds. Fill each pepper with the ground beef mixture and pour in some of the chicken broth. Place into the cups of a muffin tin, and replace the tops. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes.

*I served this with Green Chili Cornbread - with a twist. I cheated. I used my favorite dry cornbread mix then just added green chilis, cheddar cheese and creamed corn. Yum.

Creamed Corn

I needed creamed corn for this recipe. I have never even eaten creamed corn, but it sounded like a critical ingredient, so I looked it up online and found this recipe on Simply Recipes and it proved to be just that, simple and easy - and good.

Creamed Corn
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter
2 cans of sweet corn or 8 ears corn, husks and silk removed
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large saucepan, melt 1 Tbsp of the butter on medium heat. Add the chopped onions and cook 2 to 3 minutes until translucent.
Add the corn to the onions and butter in the saucepan. Add 2/3 a cup of water and the remaining 1 Tbsp of butter. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat and cover. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the corn is tender.
Add the sugar, nutmeg, and cream to the corn. Cook, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Ground Beef and Ricotta Pie

On with the challenge... I compiled a family recipe book 2 years ago. I asked everyone in my family to contribute if they'd like. I got this recipe (stemming from that request) from my sister in laws Mother, Eleanor. Eleanor is a fantastic, gourmet cook. Anytime I see her I get to feast on her creations - and they are always so wonderful. This is one of her top 5.

I really like this. It's hard to think outside of the box with ground beef - but this is a good alternative to hambergers or Mexican food. I also love that it has so many veggies into it!

2T EVOO

1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
14 oz can diced tomatos
2 T Worcestershire
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
2 c Ricotta
1 T oregano
1/3 c Mozzarella

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. heat large non-stick skillet over high heat. add oil onion and garlic and cook 1 minute. Add carrot and celery and cook 3-4 minutes. add meat, breaeking up and lumps with wooden spoon and cook 8-10 minutes or until browned. Add tomatoes, Wsauce, salt andpepper and simmer for 15 minutes or until the mix is thickened. Spoon mixture into an 8x8 casserole dish. Mix ricotta, mozzarella and oregano together and spoon over meat mixture. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is golden.

*The original recipe adds 2 eggs to the cheese mixture - but I left it out because my kids have egg allergies.

Buffalo Wings - 2 ways

We made wings 2 different ways for a tappas event this weekend. We made buffalo wings with Honey Chipotle Using the recipe here - These were my favorite - yummy - see by the time I realized that I should take a picture - there were only 2 left!!
We made these with the Hot Sauce I made the other day - they were good too:)

You can use both of these 'sauces/dressings' for pretty much any protein - yeah baby.

Yummy Gummy In Your Tummy

I made home made Gummy candy today - check my blog to see how to make them - they are super easy and fun!
www.viettiview.blogspot.com

Home Made Hot Sauce

I have a cayenne plant in my back yard that is on fire - pun totally intended. When we planted the garden - my husband insisted we plant cayenne and jalapeno peppers. Now that they are ready to pick - I had no idea what to do with the cayennes - especially that many of them!
I decided to make hot sauce. It was really easy and the hot sauce turned out great - and I am not a hot sauce kinda girl. I found the recipe here.

Home Made Hot Sauce
1 or two handfuls of cayenne peppers
Apple cider vinegar
Tomato paste
Lemon juice (optional)
Kosher or Sea Salt

Remove stems and caps from peppers and chop into 1 inch lengths
Place into a saucepan and add enough vinegar to just cover the peppers
Simmer covered for 30 minutes, until the peppers are extremely tender
Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Place peppers and vinegar into a food processor and process until smooth (I LOVE my immersion blender!!)
Taste on a starchy carb (corn chip, bread, rice) or a cucumber slice
Add salt to taste
Add tomato paste for sweetness as well as to temper the heat to your desired taste
Add lemon juice if desired

Tomorrow at the store, I'm going to pick up some buffalo wings - and we'll whip us up some hot sauce n' wings!! Stay tuned...

*I am chicken, so I added 1/2 can of tomato paste before tasting it. I ended up using the whole can of tomato paste and about 1 T of lemon juice. It has good heat - but isn't scorching hot.
**Have a glass of cold milk nearby just in case. If you are like me - you'll need it. It has been scientifically proven that milk is the best thing to curb heat:)

Quick Meat Loaf and Mashers

My husband has been out of town since Monday. He travels a lot - but every once in a while he will call on short notice to say he'll be home for dinner:) I love that. I didn't expect him home until tomorrow night. When the phone rang at 5:00pm he said "hey - I am going from one end of the state to the other - so I am going to come home for dinner (it's on his way) - any chance you can make meatloaf and roasted garlic mashers for me? I'll be home in 30 minutes - and I can only stay 1 hour before heading out again" Hmmmm... I really wanted to make him what he wanted but my meatloaf and roasted garlic mashers take an hour to make.

I figured I could do it in half an hour if I made a few adjustments - basically just cutting the cooking time in half. I made the same recipes I always do (except for the roasted garlic of course). I'll let you in on my 'quick method' after I list the recipes.

I got this meatloaf recipe from my hubs Mom - who doesn't cook much - and who didn't give me measurements so bear with me.

Grandma's Meatloaf (modified slightly)

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

3 squirts mustard (I use yellow and I know how vague 'squirt' is but you can do it)

3 squirts ketchup

1/2 pack of saltine crackers (crumble them in your hands)

Salt

Pepper

Onion salt (I use chopped onions b/c I am an onion FREAK!)

Garlic Powder

Worcestershire sauce

2 eggs (which I eliminate b/c of the egg allergies in my house)

All seasonings are to taste. Mix all ingredients together, form into a 9x13 pan. bake at 350 degrees for 45 min - 1 hour.

*Quick method. Recipe above - divide into 6. I use a Texas sized muffin pan - spray with Pam then put the 6 portions in the 6 muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Roasted Garlic Mashers

Potatoes (any kind you like)

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)

Salt

Pepper

3 heads of roasted garlic

Milk

Peel and cut potatoes. Boil until fork tender. Drain potatoes and add all other ingredients and blend with your hand mixer until it's the consistency you like.

*Quickify - I used small red potatoes washed them, but didn't peel them. I quartered them (so they would cook faster) then followed the rest of the directions and instead of roasted garlic I used garlic powder. Start to finish 25 minutes.

Sweet Potato Fries

I made these the other night (shown with the Key lime Chicken). These are really easy and delicious! This served 5 of us (including 1 baby) and I went back for seconds!
Slice 2 large sweet potatoes into steak fry size. Cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 - 3o minutes. Salt right out of the oven - to bring out the sweetness.

I also made Brown sugar butter as a dip. Softened butter, brown sugar - mix:) You could also make butter and cinnamon sugar too! Yummmm

Key Lime Chicken

This recipe was featured on the front page of All Recipes submitted by Tina B.
Key Lime Chicken
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
In a shallow container, blend soy sauce, honey, vegetable oil, lime juice, and garlic. Place chicken breast halves into the mixture, and turn to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes.
Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Discard marinade, and grill chicken 6 to 8 minutes on each side, until juices run clear.

Comments and Feedback

Krystal and I started this blog to share our ideas with eachother - and it's taken on a life of it's own. I have made all the food I post - and thought it was good enough to post. But since we all have different tastes and preferences - give us feedback! All comments are welcome - the good, bad and the ugly.

I will try to give better feed back as well:)

Eggs Benedict

I am going to try to be better about posting pictures with my posts - it is so helpful to know what it's supposed to look like and whether or not you want to eat it... I'll try...

On to the food... My hubs has been out of town for the last 2 weeks M-F so on the weekends, I've been trying to cater to his tastes. His favorite breakfast is Eggs Benedict. I've NEVER made it before. Poached eggs are totally intimidating (or so I thought). But, with my little theme lately - I gave it a shot - and totally used 'cheats' to help me through my first try.
Eggs Benedict

Canadian Bacon (store bought)

Hollandaise Sauce (bought a dry packet)

Eggs

White Vinegar

English Muffins

3 pans!!! I know - but it was leaps and bounds easier than I thought it would be. Follow the tutorial for poached eggs (below). Follow directions on the Hollandaise package. Put the Canadian bacon in a skillet and heat them up. Put your English muffins in the toaster then butter them lightly.

Assembly: English muffin, Canadian Bacon, Poached Egg, Hollandaise Sauce - delicious!

I found this tutorial on Poached Eggs here. Following these steps - I was amazed that I successfully poached 2 eggs to perfection my first try.

Perfect Poached Eggs Tutorial
Use a sauce epan that is at least 3-inches deep so there is enough water to cover the eggs, and they do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Also make sure your pan is wide enough to hold all the eggs you will be poaching. You don't want them to stick together. Working with the eggs one by one, break or crack each egg onto a saucer, ramekin, small cups, or bowls. Place all cups of eggs so that they are convenient to the stove.

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer before cooking. Add a couple of teaspoons of white vinegar (this will help the egg stay together).

Slip eggs carefully into slowly simmering water by lowering the lip of each egg cup 1/2-inch below the surface of the water. Let the eggs flow out. Don't put too many in the pot at one time. Immediately cover with a lid and turn off the heat. Don't disturb the egg once you have put it in the water!

Set a timer for exactly 3 minutes for medium-firm yolks. Adjust the time up or down for runnier or firmer yolks. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, depending on firmness desired. You can test for softness/firmness by lifting an egg on a spoon and gently pressing a finger on the yolk.

Remove from water with slotted spoon. Remove each egg in succession after they have each cooked for the doneness you want. Lift each perfectly poached egg from the water with a slotted spoon, but hold it over the skillet briefly to let any water clinging to the egg drain off. Drain well before serving.

Ranch and Bacon Pasta

We had friends over for a BBQ last night - we decided to have people over at the last minute. I decided to make my cheater kid friendly pasta. I call it a 'cheater' because it comes from a box - then I just throw in a few fresh ingredients to up the yum factor... 1 Box of Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad Ranch & Bacon pasta 1 box of cherry tomatoes Cubed cheddar cheese Bacon Crumbles Cook pasta and make dressing according to package directions. Throw in all other ingredients - mix well and chill for at least an hour before serving. *I do this with all the Suddenly Salad varieties. They have another one we really like "Creamy Italian" to this one I add mozzerella chunks, diced pepperoni and cherry tomatoes. Mmmmm.

Emily's Super Easy Skillet Bread

Don’t ask me how I found this blog. I don’t remember – but I found it – it’s called Food for Thought

This looked worth trying...

Emily’s Super Easy Skillet Bread
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2-4 T. butter
optional mix ins: cheese, bacon bits, green chilis, cornmeal, taco seasoning...use your imagination

Stir together the dry ingredients, then stir in the milk until a smooth batter forms. Place an oven proof skillet in the oven while it's heating up and put the butter in. Once the butter is nicely melted and bubbly, pour the batter into the skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown. You may either slice it into wedges to serve, or simply tear off hunks.

For this mornings breakfast, we divided the batter in half and made 2 small skillets. Skillet #1 we added bacon and cheddar. Skillet #2 we added bacon, cheddar and green chilis.

I thought this recipe looked similar to the No Time For Breakfast recipe I posted last week. The batter came out like a biscuit. But the skillet bread turned out a lot more moist - I think because of the milk - and the butter added that extra layer of complimentary flavor.

When I made breakfast biscuits again - this is the recipe I'll use - hands down!

We loved them both! The kids loved them too – and all of my kids could eat this delicious breakfast because the recipe does not have eggsJ We will definitely make these again! I want to try one with green chilis, cheese and taco seasoning for a savory dinner bread… yum!

Chipotle Grilled Chicken

Hubs has been on a ‘chipotle’ kick lately. When he is in town – I try to make dinners extra special and cater to his preferences. I found this recipe on AllRecipes – they give you the option to type in any ingredients you want – any ingredients you don’t want and even use ‘key’ words. I searched ‘chipotle’ ‘chicken’ and used the key word ‘grilled’ and I ffound this at the top of the list.

I used this exact recipe for 2 bs chicken breasts. On the other 2 bscb – I did this recipe except that I left the chipotle out (was worried that it may be too spicy for the kiddos). I tried both with and without chipotle. Without was okay – the kids liked it. With Chipotle was very good. The chipotle didn’t add any heat (I hate when the heat/spice overpowers all the other ingredients) what it did was add another layer of flavor – I kept commenting on that. So even if you don’t like spicy food – try this – and just don’t baste the chicken while grilling.

Chipotle Grilled Chicken
Marinade:
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I actually used Tabasco brand Chipotle sauce – a few good dabs will do ya)
2 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt to taste

Chicken (original recipe calls for drumsticks – but as I said – I used bscb)

Place the chipotle peppers, garlic, cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper, cumin, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, honey, vinegar, and olive oil into a blender. Puree until no pieces of garlic remain. Pour 1/4 of the marinade into a small dish and set aside. Rub a pinch of kosher salt into each chicken drumstick and place into a resealable plastic bag. Pour in the marinade, shake, and seal. Marinade at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate. Remove the chicken from the marinade and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade.
Cook the chicken legs on the preheated grill until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 8 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Once the legs are completely cooked, baste well with the remaining marinade, cover the grill, and cook and additional 2 minutes per side to glaze.

*I used this strictly as a marinade – we didn’t use it to baste the chicken while grilling.

Croutons

I have made croutons a few times - and not been totally happy with any that I've made... until today. What made the difference? THE BREAD! This is so easy it's crazy. I had some ciabatta that was going to go bad soon (I bought the bag of individual sized ciabatta rolls from Costco - but any ciabatta loaf will do).

Ciabatta bread

EVOO

Fresh cracked pepper

Kosher salt

Garlic powder

Cut the bread into 1"cubes(ish). I got a large bowl out and put all the spices in with the EVOO and mixed it around a bit. Then I threw the bread in (right before I was ready to put them in the oven) and tossed them in the dressing (with my hands) then put them on my baking pan (covered with aluminum for easy cleaning). Bake them at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes - or until they satisfy your personal crunch factor.

You can store them in an air tight container for up to 1 week.

Margaret Rose's Pasta Creation

My kids love to cook with me. Once or twice a month I will have each of them cook dinner for us. It has been really great for their self confidence and it has helped them be a little more independent. Something really easy - like my Chicken Tacos or my Mexican Lasagna or my Spinach Lasagna.

Anyway... I had my hands full this afternoon when she asked for lunch. I suggested she try to make something herself (I'm thinking 2 slices of bread with cheese in the middle). That is not what she was thinking. She held the refridgerator door open for a while hemming and hawing. Then she started retrieving ingredients. She moved a chair up to the island and starting creating. When she took her first bite - she said "Oh. My. Gooosh. This. Is. Good." and then asked if I would share her first 'creation recipe' on my Food Blog. So - this is just a proud Mama and excited 4 year old post. I didn't try it - so???

Margaret Rose's Pasta Creation
Cooked pasta (I always have this on hand for quick snacks or meals)
Bacon crumbles
Shredded cheddar (again - always have)
Diced cucumber (again...)
Ranch dressing

Mix it up, serve cold. You'll have to let me know if you try it - and what you think.

No Time For Breakfast Biscuits

As I stated in the previous post - I never watch day time tv - but this was the same day (cleaning - tv on in the background) - so forgive me.

Rachel Ray said they had a pot luck at her studio - and this was the fav of the day.

No Time For Breakfast Biscuits – Rachel Ray
1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 strips bacon, chopped
5 eggs, divided
Salt and ground black pepper
2 1/4 cups baking mix, such as Bisquick
1 cup milk for mix
1 cups shredded yellow cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Place a medium skillet over medium-high heat with 1 turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon. Add the bacon to the pan and cook until golden brown and crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
Beat 4 eggs in a small mixing bowl. Add the eggs to the pan that the bacon was cooked in, season with salt and pepper, and scramble them lightly. Transfer the eggs to a plate and reserve.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the baking mix, milk and remaining egg to make the batter. Gently stir in the crispy bacon, reserved scrambled eggs and shredded cheese.
Deposit dollops of the batter onto a greased baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.

I made these for breakfast this morning. When I make these again - I think I will add a little more milk - the biscuits were a tad dry. We just added butter to them to help with the moist factor.

* See my newer post on Emily's Super Easy Skillet Bread it blows this recipe out of the water!