Lime Chicken Soft Tacos

I am going to have a few "Guest Foodie Bloggers" on in the next few weeks. First up, MY SISTER BRITTANY. She is one of those people who has immaculate taste in everything - furniture, home decor, food, clothing - everything you can think of! Her true calling is as a BAKER. Since I don't bake much, I'll have to beg her to submit a few of her go to dessert recipes soon.

This is a recipe my sister found on allrecipes.com recipe and picture submitted by Marissa Wright
Lime Chicken Soft Tacos
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - cubed
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
10 (6 inch) flour tortillas
1 tomato, diced
*1/4 cup shredded lettuce
*1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
*1/4 cup salsa

Saute chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for about 20 minutes. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for an extra 10 minutes.
Heat an iron skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve lime chicken mixture in warm tortillas topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese and salsa.

*My sister served these up with slices of avocado, fresh cilantro and feta. Cotija cheese would also be delish on these! Thanks B!

**I'll make sure to post a picture of my own as soon as I can!

Food Finds III

Another round of food finds! This'll be short and sweet.

First up - not really a 'food find' per se - parmesan cheese - the real deal. A hunk of it. I've been using fresh parm for a couple years now and you just can't beat it. Use your cheese slicer to shave a few pieces on any salad - or if you really want to pump up the flavor - use your vegetable slicer for a nice thick piece...

Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Granola Thins - perfect snack - soooooper delish...

Provincio Black Pepper & Blue Cheese Panne (Bread). I have to tell you that I DO NOT like Blue cheese. It's a bit too pungent for me - but this bread is perfect. It doesn't taste like Blue Cheese - but the cheese adds a richness and a depth of flavor that is hard to describe.

I find this every once in a while at Costco - when they have it I usually get 3 loaves - one to eat soon and 2 to freeze - it really is that good...

Share your food finds!

Sweet Broccoli Salad

I posted this recipe originally 2 1/2 years ago - but recently went to look it up and couldn't find it. So, I'm re-posting it. If you have a hard time getting your kids to eat broccoli - have them try this salad - the dressing, cheese and bacon are all kid pleasers!


Sweet Broccoli Salad
3 large Broccoli heads
1 lb Bacon, crumbled
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1 c Cheddar cheese, small cubes

Dressing
1/2 c Sugar
1 1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 Apple Cider Vinegar
1 small purple onion, diced

Combine salad dressing components. Refrigerate for 30 - 1 hour - this dressing needs time for all the flavors to meld. *If you or your kids aren't big on onions - don't add them to the dressing - just add them straight to the salad.

Cut the broccoli down into bite sized pieces. Toss with bacon, cheese and dressing - add sunflower seeds just before serving.

You can make this up to 24 hours in advance - the longer it sits the better it gets!

Layered Jicama Salad

This recipe is probably older than I am - but that just goes to show that it's tried and true - and well loved.

I wanted to make a salad that I hadn't made in a while and this one fit the bill - my kids don't remember ever having it and they RAVED. My husband and I haven't had it for a while either and we both wondered why I don't make this all the time...


Layered Jicama Salad
1 head Romaine lettuce - shredded
1 large cucumber, peeled and but into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 c celery, diced
1 medium jicama, peeled and shredded (about 2 cups)
1 small red onion, diced *I used green onions today
1 1/2 c frozen peas (run under cool water)
2 8 oz cans sliced water chestnuts, diced
1 c bacon, crumbled
2 tomatoes on the vine, diced
1/2 c parmesan cheese

Dressing
Mayonnaise
3 T Sugar
3 T Season All

Layer lettuce, cucumber, celery, jicama, onion, peas and water chestnuts.

Spread a layer of mayonnaise on top of the water chestnuts. Sprinkle with Season All and sugar. Remember you are seasoning A LOT of veg in this dish - so don't hesitate with the components of the dressing.

Chill for at least an hour. Top with bacon, tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Serve!

*I love the look of this salad in my trifle dish. You can use any bowl, or even a casserole dish to assemble this.

Feta Stuffed Burgers

Oh yeah baby - these were so delicious! They are made with only 4 ingredients and a grill - you've gotta make em this weekend!
Feta Stuffed Burgers
2 lbs ground beef (I prefer 80/20)
Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper
4 T crumbled Feta
1/4 - 1/3 c worcestershire sauce

Put ground beef into a large bowl, add worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with your hands well. Pat out the meat into one large patty at the bottom of the bowl. Score it into 4 pieces (a little trick I learned from Rachael Ray - that way you get even sized burgers). Or 8 pieces - depending on how big you want your burgers. For these - I made 4 patties - but these were honkin'. I ended up splitting mine.

Pat out each portion into a thin patty. Use an overfull Tbsp of Feta for the big burgers or an overfull tsp for the small burgers. Squeeze the Feta in your fist making it one compacted piece. Set the Feta in the middle of half of the patties. Top Feta with a second patty and crimp the edges of the two patties together making one cohesive burger.

Grill on Medium-High heat for 7 minutes a side for the big burgers or 5 minutes a side for the small burgers.

Top with your fav burger toppings!!

Chive Butter

One of my favorite ways to make a simple ingredient like butter and turn it into a craveable must have component. Couldn't be easier.
Chive Butter
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 c diced chives (as small or as large as you want them)
1 t salt

Combine all ingredients using a spatula (or spoon) gently until incorporated. Serve on baguettes, sour dough toasts, veggies, grilled ciabatta, or Perfect Fingerling Potatoes.

Perfect Fingerling Potatoes

Sounds fancy shcmancy doesn't it? It's so easy you'll be amazed. I love to use fingerling potatoes to mix it up a bit. First, I love the way they look - the purple ones are my favorite. I wish I would've taken a picture of the inside of one of the purple potatoes - they are a brilliant amethyst color - breath taking.

I also love to use fingerling potatoes b/c you don't have to peel them or cut them and they cook really fast b/c of their size. I got this recipe from Alton Brown several years ago - he hasn't let me down yet! Give 'em a try!Perfect Fingerling Potatoes
4.5 quarts cold water
2 lbs fingerling potatoes
salt

Rinse all potatoes and add to a large (6 qt.) stock pot. Fill 3/4 of the way with water. Salt the water and turn the heat on to high. Bring to a boil and then cook for about 25 - 30 minutes - until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove from the pot to a cooling rack and let stand for 5 - 7 minutes. Serve with Chive Butter.

Mediterranean Salad

My husband has been craving a Mediterranean/Greek salad for weeks. I can honestly say that I've never ordered a Med/Greek salad at a restaurant - ever. My husband, however, used to get a Med/Greek salad from a famous Mediterranean Market in our home town on a weekly basis.

A tall order to fill. Especially since (as I said) I've never actually had said salad. I'll have to say - I did a pretty good job - even my husband said he liked my salad more than the famous deli he used to order from (he may be a little biased or just trying to butter me up)...

Mediterranean Salad
3 c Romaine Lettuce
1 orange bell pepper, bite sized
1 yellow bell pepper, bite sized
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 c grape tomatoes
1 English cucumber, halved and deseeded w a spoon
Peppercini's
Kalamata Olives
Feta, crumbled
Artichoke hearts

Arrange ingredients to your liking!

I tried to make 2 different recipes I found for Greek salad dressing - and neither of them tasted good. So, I ran to the store and bought Girard's Greek Feta Vinaigrette - it was great!