Chicken Satay Wraps

This recipe came from my friend, Carrie Childs. I like to make these for picnics or to take on the go to sporting events. Add some veggie sticks, and this makes an awesome and easy dinner.

Chicken Satay Wraps

2 Tblsp. olive oil

2 Tblsp. creamy peanut butter

2 green onions, chopped

1 tsp. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 cups sliced cooked chicken

1 cup cole slaw mix or shredded cabbage

4 tortillas or flavored wraps, warmed

In large bowl, whisk oil, peanut butter, onions, soy sauce, and pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cole slaw mix over each tortilla; top with chicken mixture. Roll up tightly.

Pie!

Heather says we should get back to posting more on this blog, so I decided to take her up on it.

Every year for Thanksgiving, I volunteer to make pies- peach, pecan, berry, coconut cream, pumpkin, apple, chocolate- everything. I love to make pie. The main reason I love to make pie is because I don't like to eat it. However, several years ago my dieting neighbor brought over a pie that she claimed came from a Weight Watchers cookbook, and I fell in love. My seven year-old even made this one all by himself this year.

Key Lime Pie

1 8 oz. container fat free Cool Whip

1 3 oz. pkg. sugar-free lime Jello

2 Yoplait fat-free key lime pie yogurts

1 reduced fat graham cracker crust

Mix the Cool Whip and the Jello together. Stir in yogurt. Put mixture in crust, cover and freeze.

Hot Chili Cheese Dip (From Taste of Home magazine)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. vegetable oil

2 cans chili without beans

2 cups salsa

2 pkgs (3 oz each) cream cheese, cubed

2 cans (2 1/4 oz. each) sliced olives, drained

Tortilla chips

In a skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Transfer to a slow cooler. Stir in the chili, salsa, cream cheese, and olives. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Stir before serving with tortilla chips.

(I used store bought green salsa, and I used plain old chili with beans.) This was so good that we forgot it was an appetizer and only had the dip for dinner.

Creamy Garlic Pasta Sauce

This is one of my favorite pasta sauces. It is incredibly easy to make, and has just enough cream to give it great flavor, but not so much that it makes you feel like you need to eat an entire plate of salad to repent for it. My family loves it on penne pasta. I've been sneaking in whole wheat pasta enough so that last time I made this recipe, I used whole wheat by itself, and no one noticed.

1 can (28 oz.) whole tomatoes

1 envelope Good Seasons Garlic Italian salad dressing mix

2 tsp. OR 2 cubes beef bouillon

1/2 c. heavy cream

Cook tomatoes, salad dressing mix, and bouillon in saucepan on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring to crush tomatoes. Whisk in cream. Cook on low heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly. Add 1 lb. cooked chicken OR cooked, cleaned shrimp. (Optional: Add 1/4- 1/2 c. vodka to sauce just before serving.)

If you can't find garlic flavored Italian dressing mix, just use regular mix and add 1 tsp. garlic powder. This sauce also freezes well!

Never Fail Sugar Cookies

   It has been a while since we've posted any recipes. I haven't been cooking much lately because I got a new job teaching dance, and my husband is working out of town. I have been baking cookies for a bake sale to help my dance students raise money to go to competition. This is the best sugar cookie recipe I have ever tried, and I have tried at least 30 of them. None of them tasted quite right, and I couldn't get them right tweaking the recipes. Usually tweaking recipes is my forte....ha ha. This one is great because there are only 6 ingredients!
*My recipe calls for Butter, but Kristin Mabb (Who gave me the recipe) likes to use Margarine.

1 cup Butter (2 sticks) room temperature
3 1/2 cups Flour, plus more for rolling dough
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla

Cream Together Butter and Sugar. Add Eggs and Vanilla. Stir in Flour and Baking Powder.
Roll out to 1/4" and cut using cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 for 10-15 minutes.
**the original recipe said to bake for 8-10 minutes, but mine are never done. I think it may have to do with elevation, because in Cedar they were always done in 10 minutes.

Savory Lentil Soup

Heather asked me for this recipe so I thought I would post it here so others can use it as well. It's a good, healthy but hearty soup that, for some reason, I really like to have in the spring.

In a large Crock Pot (or other slow cooker) combine:

—3 cans vegetable, chicken, or beef stock (or any combination thereof)
—about 3/4 bag of lentils.
—about 3 stocks of chopped celery (with leaves!)
—3-4 chopped carrots
—3 crushed and diced cloves of garlic
—several sprigs of parsley, chopped

Once I have all the ingredients I check to see the ratio of stock to ingredients is. You might need to add more water. Remember that the lentils soak up quite a bit of water. If I add more than a few cups of water then I'll drop in a bit of chicken bullion. Next add spices:

—fresh ground or restaurant style black pepper
—Italian seasonings
—dash of dill weed
—savory
—no salt seasoning (we have some from Big Lots that was cheap and good) or you can add some onion powder and whatever else catches your fancy.
—other seasonings that you like

!!IMPORTANT!!
Don't add salt until the soup has been cooking for several hours. Probably around 3/4 of the way through the cooking process. Salt blocks the water from entering the lentils and they will not soak up enough of the water. Nobody want's crunchy lentil soup.

I usually let the soup cook for at least five hours. This is a flavorful soup but to be quite honest it's not the prettiest looking food in the world so it may not be all that kid friendly.

***EDIT***
I forgot to mention that it's best not to use the lentil soup packages (with alphabet soup in it). The alphabet noodles take less time to cook so they are totally mushy by the time the lentils are done. You can probably experiment with different types of lentils. I've even mixed them with split peas before.

What the heck do you do with kale?

Well... I have no idea, but I threw it in with some asparagus and it was good! Most of all I thought it looked really good so I took a picture of it and thought I would share since kale is not all that common.

This was winter kale that I got in a bountiful basket. If I can remember correctly I added a generous amount of olive oil, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Then, of course, a bit of fresh ground black pepper. After it had cooked part way through I drizzled honey and added sliced almonds. I found that the kale that was directly on the pan longer was better. It can be tough but when it sat against the pan it became more crispy than tough. Overall it was a pretty healthy dish and was tasty. My conclusion is that it was good but it could be better.

Related Blogs

My friend, Christina, shared some other blogs with me about food, so I thought I would pass them along:

http://www.tastespotting.com

http://www.smittenkitchen.com

http://www.stephanieskitchen.com

http://picky-palate.com

Spicy Roasted Potatoes

Once, a long time ago, I attempted to make French fries on the stove. To make a long story short, I ended up having to get a new stove because the old one was no longer in working condition. That was about eight years ago, and I haven't deep-fried anything since then. Unfortunately, though, I am a Southern girl at heart, and fried food is still the fifth food group. So when I get a crazy craving for something fried, I just go visit the South (it's cheaper than a kitchen remodel). However, I have learned how to get around frying, and my family's hands-down favorite way to eat potatoes is when I roast them. And luckily for them, Grandma gets us a 50-lb. bag of Russet potatoes every fall fresh from Idaho.

This is how I make roast potatoes:
Coat a cookie sheet with vegetable oil- about 2 Tablespoons. Dice several potatoes and spread them on top of the oil. Coat the potatoes with Tony Chachere's seasoning. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 50-60 minutes, stirring about every 20 minutes. They are done when they are crispy.

And this brings me to two of the most important rules in my kitchen:

1. Don't fry anything

2. When in doubt about how to season anything, coat it with Tony Chachere's seasoning.

http://www.tonychachere.com/

Lesa's Bread

My friend makes the best bread in the world. I think she is one of the few people in the world left who doesn't buy bread at all. I'm typing this while I sit in my kitchen watching her making dinner rolls, hoagie rolls, loaves of bread, and now she says she's going to make something heavenly that involves braided dough with cream cheese and pie filling. And not just any pie filling either- it's her home-canned pie filling. So, this is her bread recipe using a Bosch mixer.

10 1/2 c. flour- any combination of white, wheat, or different types of grain flours

1/2 c. sugar- this can be reduced down to 1/3 cup

3 Tblsp. instant yeast

1 Tblsp. salt (add more salt if you are using a high ratio of wheat flour)

3 Tblsp. soy lecithin (don't measure it- just pour it in

4 c. hot water

Add all the ingredients right into the mixing bowl. Begin mixing, and make sure the dough has a playdough-like consistency. Add more flour or water as needed. Turn on the mixer and let it knead for 5 minutes. Quickly shape into rolls or loaves, place in buttered pans, brush with melted butter, and let it rise for 25 minutes. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

Rosemary Chicken Bake

This is so unbelievably easy, cheap, and delicious. It's like Dinner-for-Dummies easy!

I make this for two(with some leftovers), so you might need to double it. I also like to occasionally add seasonal vegetables along with the potatoes.

~4 Chicken Legs/Thighs/Whatever you can find. I get the cheap cuts because it tastes great either way.
~4 potatoes, cubed
~1 cup chicken stock
~1/8 tsp Rosemary
~Black Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Place cubed potatoes in the bottom of a deep casserole dish. Add Chicken Stock and Pepper. Place Chicken on top and sprinkle the Rosemary on the Chicken. Bake for 40-50 minutes. The chicken juices drip down and flavor the potatoes, and the Rosemary saturates the chicken meat.
Enjoy!
             ~Heather

Lemon Poppyseed Bread

This is one of my favorite recipes ever! I got it from my sister, Kelly, several years ago. It usually doesn't last long enough to even cool off from the oven completely. I made some this morning, and luckily enough, I just snagged a piece and it reminded me to write this blog. (I actually took a picture this time!)

Lemon cake mix (not Duncan Hines)

1/3 cup oil or applesauce

1/2 cup flour

2-3 Tblsp. poppyseeds

Small box of lemon instant pudding

1/4 cup water

4 eggs

Mix all ingredients together and put into two small or one large greased loaf pan. Bake 30-40 minutes at 375. Remove bread from pans and drizzle glaze over it.

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tblsp. lemon juice

Here's a hint: if you use poppyseeds very much at all, you will save yourself a lot of money if you get them in bulk from a health food store rather than buying tiny containers from the grocery store. For that matter, any time you use large quantities of any herb, it's probably a much better deal to buy them in bulk.