Orange Chinese Chicken

We LOVED this recipe.  Not only did we love it but the girls loved it too.  Annika is our pickiest eater and she was eating the green onions off of it telling us she liked the "green things".

We followed this recipe exact and didn't make any adjustments at all.  While it could be spicy if you add more Sriracha we felt the 1 teaspoon was plenty of spice for the girls.  We each added a tiny bit more to our bowls.  The flavor of the Sriracha is perfect with the sweetness from the orange zest and juice!

Please click here for the recipe.  It's really delicious!

Shrimp Scampi with Roasted Peppers and Spinach

This is by far our favorite Publix Apron dish. Not only did we love it but both of the girls loved it and ate their entire helping without fighting at all!

 For the Publix Apron version please click here, I did make a few slight adjustments.

Shrimp Scampi with Roasted Peppers and Spinch


Ingredients:
12 ounces of peeled/deveined shrimp
2 cups of spinach leaves
4 cloves of garlic
1 ounce of shredded parmesan cheese
1 ounce of shredded asigo cheese
1 cup roasted red peppers
1/2 cup of chicken stock
8 ounces of linguine pasta
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (we each added more to our own plates)
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Cook pasta per package directions
2. Heat a large frying pan on medium with olive oil.  Slice garlic into thin pieces and cook in oil until edges turn golden
3. Add peppers, shrimp, pepper flakes and salt to olive oil.  Cook about a minute.
4. Add chicken stock and cook until shrimp have turned pink.
5. Reduce heat to low and stir in butter and spinach.  Allow spinach to wilt.
6. Add in cheese and pasta.  Toss until cheese melts.

Beef Stew

One of the first cookbooks I ever received as a gift was Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics.  I must have been around 18 year olds and I was lucky that I was even able to boil water!  I couldn't make anything.

Fast forward 12 or so years and I love cooking and baking just about anything.  This cookbook was collecting dust and I had only made 1 other recipe out of it in the 12 years I owned it.

Josh wanted beef stew so I made the recipe a few times for him.  Since then we've adjusted the recipe and improved it.

Beef Stew


Ingredients:
1 pound of boneless beef tip or round roast cut up into slightly larger than bite sized pieces
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3 cups of water plus an additional 1 1/2 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste
3 medium carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
4 medium red potatoes cut into large bite sized pieces
1 green pepper cut in strips with seeds and membrane removed
3 stalks of celery cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small white onion cut into strips
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 cup of cold water
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1. In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat 1 minute, add the beef and cook about 10 minutes.  Stir a few times during cooking make sure that beef is evenly browned on all sides.

2. Add 3 cups of water to pot and salt and pepper to taste.  Heat until boiling and then reduce heat so that mixture is boiling gently.  Cover with lid and cook for 1 1/2 hours.  Beef will be tender.

3. Add carrots, potatoes, green pepper, celery, onion and bay leaf to beef mixture.  Stir well and add the additional 1 1/2 cups of water.  Cover and cook an additional 45 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

4. Make sure to remove the bay leaf.

5. In a small mason jar shake the cold water and flour until combined.  Stir into stew and heat over high heat.  Continue stirring and boiling until the stew is thick.

Orange Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted to make something different for breakfast one morning and decided to replace the milk in this recipe with orange juice!

They turned out great, the frosting was a bit runny but other than that they were perfect!

Orange Cinnamon Rolls


Ingredients:

dough:
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of white whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of orange juice
2 tablespoons of sugar

filling:
1/3 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of melted butter-set aside

frosting:
1 stick of butter, softened
3 cups of powdered sugar
6 tablespoons of orange juice

1. In a small bowl mix the filling ingredients (except butter) and set aside
2. In a medium bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with fork.
3. Pour melted butter and orange juice over flour mixture and mix well to form a dough.
4. Knead dough and press into a 10 X 5 rectangle that is about 1/8th of an inch think.
5. Spread dough with melted butter (that was set aside for the filling) and sprinkle filling on top.  Do not get too close to the edges.
6. Roll dough up and cut into 8 pieces.  To do this evenly I cut the roll in half, then cut each of those halves into half again and then cut each of those halves into half again!
7. Spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray and place rolls in pan.  It is okay if they touch, we used an 8 X 8 pan.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes.
9. While baking beat together frosting ingredients and spread on warm rolls.

Ginger-Tomato Salmon with Coconut Rice

We sometimes grocery shop at Publix. It's actually the only grocery store in our area.

They always have really good samples and recipes and this was one that Josh got to try that he loved. It's ginger-tomato salmon with coconut jasmine rice and if you want to see the original recipe click the link.

 I made a change and didn't buy the ginger spice paste. We are not at all a fan of ginger and I was afraid the taste would be overwhelming. I only added some ground ginger instead. I also just used normal white rice since we didn't have any jasmine rice. We were surprised that the girls actually really enjoyed this dish too! They both love salmon but I was afraid the coconut rice would be a little "weird" for them but they both ate it!

 Ginger-Tomato Salmon with Coconut Rice


 Ingredients for fish: 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 cup of chicken stock 1 cup of coconut milk
4 medium sized fillets of salmon (our salmon had the skin still on one side)
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14.5 ounce) can of petite diced tomatoes (we didn't drain our can)

 For rice: 1 cup of white rice
1 1/4 cups of chicken stock
3/4 cup of coconut milk
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of diced green onion
salt to taste

 1. Start cooking rice first since it takes longer than the fish to cook. Add chicken stock, coconut milk, and olive oil to a medium saucepan.
 2. Bring to boil and add rice, stir, reduce heat to low and cover pot. Let simmer for 18-20 minutes until liquid is absorbed.
3. Once rice is simmering add the garlic, ground ginger, chicken stock, and coconut milk to a large saute pan and heat over medium-high heat for 3 minutes.
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper over salmon and then add fish to saute pan along with the can of diced tomatoes. 5. Cook fish 8-10 minutes, during this time we decided to turn our fish over in the pan once to make sure it was cooking evenly. Keep checking the salmon to be sure you are not overcooking it.
6. Once rice is done fluff with fork and add 1/4 cup of green onions and stir.
7. Serve rice on a plate with salmon on top, use some of the sauce from the salmon to cover the rice too.

After I took a picture of my plate the girls told me to take pictures of their plates too.  They ate their meal with a side of watermelon.

For both of them I chopped up their salmon and served it over their rice.

Healthier Brownies

I found this recipe on Pinterest for 65 Calorie Whole Wheat Pumpkin Brownies and thought I make a few changes to it. We don't use Stevia and the original recipes does. I'm always trying to find a good "treat" for us especially if it involves chocoalte and the word "healthy"!

 It was a huge success, both girls loved these brownies!  You can serve them straight out of the oven or store them in the fridge and eat them cold.  They actually seem to be better out of the fridge cold!  I also couldn't taste any hint of pumpkin in these at all.

Healthier Brownies


Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of maple syrup (I only used this because I ran out of vanilla)
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/3 cup of hot water
1 cup of whole wheat flour
6 ounces of plain greek yogurt
1 cup of pumpkin puree
3/4 cup of honey
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips (if you leave these out the brownies will be sugar free!)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. With mixer beat eggs, syrup, yogurt and pumpkin until well combined.
3. Add in honey and mix, set aside.
4. In a small seperate bowl mix cocoa and water together until they look like frosting.  If the mixature is too dry add a little more water.
5. Add the cocoa mixture, baking soad and flour together with everything else you set aside.
6. Stir in chocolate chips, save a few to sprinkle over top the brownies.
7. Grease a 8 X 8 pan (we used coconut oil spray).
8. Pour in batter and sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top.
9. Bake 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of brownies.

Enjoy!!

As you can see these are very thick, cake-like brownies!  

Alfredo Whole Wheat Pasta with Mushrooms

In an effort to clean up our diet a little I usually serve whole wheat pasta.  I usually get some sort of complaint that it tastes "healthy" but not this time!

Well, using heavy cream isn't exactly "healthy" but at least it's whole wheat pasta, right?

I adapted the Alfredo Sauce Recipe from Allrecipes.com

These are the cheeses I used.  I bought aged asiago cheese and parmesan cheese.  In order to shred them I cut both cheeses into cubes and tossed them into my food processor.  I used the "pulse" function on the food processor until there were no more chunks of cheese left, only small shredded pieces.

Alfredo Whole Wheat Pasta with Mushrooms


Ingredients:
13 ounces of whole wheat pasta
1/4 cup of butter
1 cup of heavy cream
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 cup of shredded asiago cheese
1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups of slices baby bella mushrooms
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Directions:
1. Cook pasta per packaged directions.
2. In separate pan heat the 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 clove of garlic over medium-high heat for about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add in mushrooms and sauteed until cooked, about 5 minutes.
4. In a small pot melt butter over medium-low heat.
5. Add cream and simmer 5 minutes.
6. Add garlic and cheeses and whisk until cheese is melted and alfredo sauce is smooth.
7. Combine cooked pasta, mushrooms and alfredo sauce and stir well to evenly coat.

Lemon Butter Cookies

We made this cookies right after Christmas.  I was tired of plain shortbread and especially tired of anything rich, like our Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, which we had a ton of!

These are very similar to shortbread but with the added lemon extract it gives them a different taste!

Everything you need, super simple:

Processing the flour and butter:

Adding sugar and extract:

The girls trying to help me wrap up the dough:

Roll dough and chill:

Ready for the oven:

Lemon Butter Cookies


Ingredients:

 2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup of butter, room temperature
1 cup of powder sugar
2 teaspoons of lemon extract

 Directions:

1. In a food processer mix flour and butter until it looks like large crumbs
2. Add sugar and lemon extract to food process and continue to process until a dough forms
3. Remove dough from food processer and knead by hand a few times
4. Roll dough into a log and wrap in plastic wrap
5. Chill 1 hour in fridge
6. Remove from fridge and slice dough into 1/4 inch slices
7. Place cookies on parchment lined cookie sheet (we had to use 2 cookie sheets)
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes