Deviled Chicks

Miss Linda turned 30 this weekend, so I thought I would bring a "seasonal" app....how cute are these guys ?!  Figured I would post, so everyone has something fun to bring to Easter next weekend :)  They were a HIT!!

Ingredients:
1 recipe of Deviled Eggs
Black olives, diced - for the eyes :)
1 carrot, diced - for the beak :)

Orange Chicken with Snow Peas

This was eh....I thought I would LOVE it cause I'm a sucker for orange chicken from Pei Wei....but I wasn't impressed.  I would  much rather have Thai Chicken with Jasmine Rice - but thought I would post this recipe in case others wanted to try it out :)

Serves 4-6: OBB cookbook

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger or bottled minced ginger
1 /12 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup orange juice
1/2 cup orange marmalade
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 oz fresh snow peas, trimmed of the string
Hot white rice for serving
Sesame seeds

Heat veggie oil in a large skillet or wok set to medium heat.  Add minced garlic and ginger and saute for 30 seconds.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and add to pan.  Stir-fry until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

While chicken is cooking, whisk together cornstarch and orange juice in a bowl.  Whisk in marmalade, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and red pepper flakes and set aside.

Add snow peas to chicken and cook for about 1 minute.  Add sauce to pan and increase heat if needed to bring to a simmer.  Cook for about 3-4 minutes or until sauce is thickened.  Serve over white rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

Bacon-Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Skewers

Dinner tonight was courtesy of my hubby - and YUMMY!!  Even though he had a little fight with the skewers and the grill - these turned out amazing!!  We had this with Lime Cilantro Rice - perfect pair with this meal!  Super good!!

Makes 8-10 skewers or 24-30 Appetizers:  OBB Cookbook

Ingredients:
8 oz bacon (not thick-sliced)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
16 oz can pineapple chunks
1 recipe Teriyaki Sauce

Cut the bacon into thirds.  Count how many pieces you have and then keep that in mind when cutting up the chicken breasts.

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces; you'll want roughly as many pieces of chicken as you have of bacon.

Drain the pineapple and place in a bowl.  Set up a workstation with skewers, chicken, bacon, and pineapple - plus a shallow dish or heavy-duty zip lock plastic bag for marinating the skewers.

Wrap a piece of bacon around a piece of chicken and secure with a toothpick.  If making larger skewers, thread the meat all the way to the bottom.  Top with a chunk of pineapple.  For skewers, repeat twice so there are three pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken on the skewer.  Repeat with remaining chicken, bacon, and pineapple.

Reserve 1/2 cup of Teriyaki sauce and pour the remaining sauce over the chicken.  Marinate for 4-8 hours.

If you choose to cook these on the grill, preheat the grill to medium-high heat (about 400).  Place skewers on grill and baste with reserve teriyaki sauce.  Cook for 7 minutes, turn, baste, and cook for another 7 minutes.

To cook these in the oven - preheat oven to 300 and place on foil-lined baking sheet.  Cook for 20 minutes, turning and basting once.

Spaghetti with Bacon, Brussels Sprouts and Artichokes

We needed something speedy tonight - and this was it!  Ross had been craving spaghetti - so I found this recipe...however, when he found out that the spaghetti I was talking about didn't have meat - he wasn't very happy...hehe.  BUT he LOVED it!!  SO :p  - don't need meat to make spaghetti great :)

Servings: 2 entrees, 4 sides

Ingredients:
1/2 lb spaghetti
4 slices thick sliced pepper bacon
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 lb brussels sprouts
6 1/2 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
salt, to taste

Bring large pot of water to boil. Salt water and add in pasta. Cook to al dente, drain and set aside.

In the mean time, in a deep skillet, cook bacon slices to your liking. Drain on paper towels. Pour off excess bacon grease leaving 2 tablespoons. {If your bacon didn’t give off enough grease, make up the difference in olive oil.} Saute onions, garlic, brussels sprouts and salt until tender, about 5 minutes.

Chop bacon slices into smaller pieces. Stir in artichoke hearts, bacon, hot pasta and cheese. Toss together, taste and adjust seasonings. If you find the dish is on the dry side, stir in some reserved pasta water or heavy cream.

Secret Message Egg

I went to my parents house last week for dinner, and I was going around looking at all the Easter decorations they have...and I got an idea!  We used to blow out eggs and decorate them - it was an inexpensive and fun craft to do....so I figured I would try it again.  While I was making them - I thought it would be cute to put little messages in them....how fun!!  Now Ross gets to hunt around our house for the next 2 weeks trying to find all the secret message eggs :)

Supplies:

Raw eggs

Needle / Hard boiled Egg Cooker

Syringe

Paper / Pen

Poke two holes in a raw egg - I used my hard boiled egg cooker to create the holes - but  a needle or nail would work too.  Put a smaller hole on one size - just one prick....and then on the bigger end double the size of the hole (this is where the egg will be blown out - and the message will go in.)

Then insert the syringe filled with air into the bigger side (be careful cause the pressure can break the egg really easily...) - and slowly release the air into the egg....this will cause the yolk to come out the same hole.  I kept doing this until nothing was coming out.

Then I filled the syringe with water - and put it on top of the smaller hole on top of the egg - and pushed.....as you do this, the yolk (yellow part) will start pouring out from the bigger hole.  I did this until it was water...

Then I stuck the eggs into the microwave for 10 seconds to dry them out....again, be careful - too long could crack them.

Write up your message - roll it tight, and insert it into the big hole.

I just wrote some stuff on the outside of the egg, but you could decorate them too!  Then I hid them around our house for Ross to find :)

To get the message - just crack it open!  Easter fun :)

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup

Ahhhh so good!!  This was super filling - it's really rich with the syrup and the choc chips, but it's super good!!  I don't like pancakes - yeah, again - I'm weird!  But we had the nieces sleepover last night, so thought they would like these....and turns out - I do too!!  (as long as PB is in the syrup!)  Super yummy!!  We had a lot of leftovers though cause it's really filling!!

14-15 4-6″ pancakes (using 1/4 C batter measure) : OBB

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk (1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar in a 1 1/2 cup measuring cup and then fill the remainder with milk.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large or extra large egg
2 small-med ripe bananas
6 tablespoons mini chocolate chips (or reg. chips roughly chopped - we just used a meat tenderizer to smash them up - worked pretty good!) tossed with 2 teaspoon flour
Cooking Spray or butter for pan
1 cup  100% real maple syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter


Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together. In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, eggs, oil, and vanilla and whisk well. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until moistened and combined. Place bananas in a bowl and roughly mash with a fork. Fold into batter. Add the chocolate chips that have been tossed with flour and stir.

For syrup, heat peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add maple syrup and gently whisk to combine. Heat in the microwave for another 30 seconds, whisk, and then set aside.

Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet to medium heat. Coat pan with little butter and then pour on pancake batter. Use1/4 cup batter for large pancakes (4-6″). Wait until bubbles form and edges are set and then flip.
Reheat syrup if necessary and pour over warm pancakes.

Freezer Instructions: Let cooked pancakes cool to room temperature. Place in a single layer in the freezer until frozen and then place pancakes in a zip lock bag or airtight container. Reheat in a microwave or toaster until heated through.

Parmesan & Ham Pasta

Had the nieces over for their xmas gift sleepover - so we thought we would make up a yummy meal from their "Kids Cookbook".  It is cute - it has steps that kids can help with and teaches them about measurements and stuff.  It was fun - and it was really good!  We added some extra yummy's, so try it out - really quick!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

 3/4 lb bow tie pasta
1 1/2 cup cooked ham
1 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 white onion
1/2 green pepper
shredded Parmesan cheese
Fresh parsley, cut

Boil pasta - when almost done, add the frozen peas for 1 minute.  Then drain both and set aside.

Heat heavy cream, onion, green pepper, salt / pepper in a sauce pan.  When starts to boil - add the cooked noodles / ham.  Mix until warm - then top with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Then eat it up!!