Filed under
Main Dish
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vegetarian
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by
Miranda
on
2:35 AM
This is one of my favorite vegetarian meals. It's easy, healthy and cheap. It's from More with Less.
Soak overnight:
2 c. dry pigeon peas, pinto beans or kidney beans.
6 c. water
1 T. salt
Bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer just until tender - usually this is a few hours for me. Drain beans, reserving liquid. Heat in a large skillet:
2 T. oil or butter
Add:
1 clove garlic, crushed (we like 3-4 cloves)
2 green onions
1 large tomato (I use 3 medium)
1 T. lime juice
1/8 t. cloves
1 T. chopped parsley
1/4. pepper
drained beans.
Saute about 5 minutes.
Add:
2 c. rice
4 c. reserved beans liquid (add more water as necessary)
Bring all to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 20-25 minutes without stirring. I almost always add more salt and pepper before serving.
Filed under
Meat Main Dish
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by
Miranda
on
3:53 AM
I started making this when Phin was a baby. My sister and sis in law both love this too. It reminds me of life together with them. It's a great standby for family dinner AND Asians LOVE this!!! It's an easy meal to please people coming over when you live where I do!
Honey Curry Chicken
1-2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a shallow baking dish, arrange chicken pieces. In a separate bowl, combine butter, honey, mustard, salt and curry powder. Pour over chicken pieces and bake 30 minutes, or until chicken is done. Baste several times during cooking.
Serve over hot rice.
The sauce on this chicken is SO good. I usually double the sauce to make sure I have plenty for pouring over the rice or broccoli.
Filed under
,
by
Miranda
on
3:46 AM
*I used my blender for these.
2 cups almonds
1/4 cup flax seeds, chia seeds or pumpkin seeds (ground in a coffee grinder or blender)
1/2 cup dried prunes, dates or raisins (we used prunes!)
½ cup shredded coconut
½ cup unsalted peanut butter
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup coconut oil or butter (melted)
1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey (we used honey!)
2-3 teaspoons vanilla extract
a few squares dark chocolate, less than half a bar needed for thin layer
(optional) – I melted about 1/4 bag of chocolate chips in a small saucepan for the topping
Place almonds, flax meal/seeds, dried fruit, shredded coconut, almond/peanut butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse briefly for about 10 seconds.In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil over very low heat. Remove coconut oil/butter from stove, stir sweeteners and vanilla into oil. Add coconut oil or butter mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste. Press mixture into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring continuously. Spread melted chocolate over bars; return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens. Remove from refrigerator, cut into bars and serve. Makes about 12-15 bars. Store in refrigerator or freeze for later enjoyment!
Filed under
Dessert
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by
Miranda
on
3:37 AM
My husband has a sweet tooth and has voted these my best cookies. Sprinkling with salt at the end sounds odd but it's tasty (your preference).
Chocolate Chip Cookies:
2 cups +2 T unbleached flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
coarse salt for sprinkling
Mix together the dry ingredients; next mix sugar and butter together; beat in egg, yolk, vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until combined. Stir in chips.
Roll golf ball size dough and place 2 inches apart. Cook 12-15 minutes @ 325 degrees
Pull the cookies out of the oven and sprinkle tops with any coarse salt.
Filed under
Dessert
,
by
Miranda
on
3:30 AM
Got the recipe HERE for this little gem. This was the first pie crust I made that turned out incredible - sweet and a tad salty, texture was flaky and it wasn't incredibly difficult for me (which for me is saying a lot because I've had many pie crust failed attempts).... I made an apple pie this time but quiche is on next week's menu with this.
* I have no food processor so I mixed this by hand and it was fine*
2 & 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus extra for counter
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. shortening, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
6-8 Tbsp. ice water
Put 1/2 cup of water in the freezer to be used in a few minutes.
Combine flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Sprinkle shortening over the top and proces until it looks like sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter and pulse 10 times. Mixture should resemble coarse crumbs. DON'T OVERPULSE. Better to need to mix more than to over mix.
Sprinkle 6 Tbsp of ice water over the mixture, and press the dough together with a rubber spatula. If the dough is still not coming together, add ice water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until it can be mixed.
Divide the dough into 2 portions, pressing each portion into a flat 4-inch disc. Cover each disc with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Remove dough & roll to fit into pie plate.
Can freeze dough up to 2 months at this point.
Filed under
Meat Main Dish
,
by
Miranda
on
3:20 AM
I got this recipe from a good friend. I've tried a few chicken tender recipes and I keep going back to this one. I am sure this would work for nuggets too but I always love tenders.
Marinate your chicken breast/tender pieces in 1 cup of buttermilk and 1 egg (anywhere between 1 hour and overnight). I like to use the big chicken breasts and cut them up. That way they’re still pretty thick and don’t get dried out while frying.
Dry Coating:
1c. Flour
1c. Dry bread crumbs
2tsp garlic powder
1tsp salt
1tsp Emeril’s original essence (or another seasoning you like - cajun, etc.)
1tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
Dump ingredients for coating in plastic bag and mix. Add chicken pieces and coat. (I double-dip them, return them to the buttermilk mixture and then back in the dry coating. It makes them so crispy and the coating stays on while you fry them.)
Fry chicken in about a 1/2 c. of oil in a flat-bottomed skillet until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Enjoy!
Filed under
drinks
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by
Miranda
on
1:03 AM
I have always enjoyed sweet tea at family gatherings and of course at Bojangles & ChikfilA. But I never made it at home, I was lazy. Seeing as we DON'T have anything even close to the formerly mentioned fast food places (which I'm sure has helped my waistline!), I have to make it if I want it. I'm loving this tea. It's my post-homeschool-after lunch-before language treat. My Mother in Law makes the best so here's her recipe (taken from
THIS blog we both love)...
Mama Ray, do you know how much I miss your tea and watching you loving on us by waltzing around your kitchen? :) Just in case you don't, I'm re-naming this recipe after you...
Mama Ray's Sweet Tea:
2 Cups water
7 tea bags (or 3 family size)
1 Cup sugar (this is negotiable, I usually use 3/4 c. just so my blood sugar don't raise the roof)
Gallon Pitcher
Fill small pot with 2 cups water, bring it to a boil. Turn off heat and pour in sugar, mixing until dissolved. Take your tea bag tabs off and tie strings together to make it easy to grab out when steeping is done. Add tea bags and steep for 5-10 minutes. Scoop out tea bags and discard. Pour tea into gallon (or other) pitcher and fill rest of the way with water. Serve over ice!
*p.s. I am sure many of you have a go to sweet tea recipe - so simple and such a staple - but I didn't, so if you need one, here it is *
