Belgian Waffles

Because homemade waffles were a staple growing up, I've found that I"m pretty picky about my waffles!  For light, fluffy, Belgian waffles, this recipe is the best!

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 beaten egg yolks
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites- stiffly beaten


Directions:
Sift together dry ingredients.

Combine egg yolks and milk; stir into dry ingredients. Stir in oil.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in egg whites-- don't overmix.

Bake in preheated Belgian waffle baker.

Makes about 4 large waffles.

Thai Chicken Pizza

Homemade pizza is a favorite in our house but we usually stick to pepperoni, supreme, or BBQ chicken.  As I am a Thai food aficionado, I thought I would try a Thai Chicken Pizza-- it quickly became a new favorite! I've seen many different recipes, so here is my combination: 
 
Ingredients: 
*1 large pizza crust (find recipe here)
3 heaping Tbs. chunky peanut butter
2 tsp. rice vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 Tbs. chopped green onion
4 Chicken tenders
1-2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tbs. olive oil
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
3/4 cup Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions:
In food processor or blender, combine peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, oil, red pepper flakes, ginger, honey and sesame oil. Set aside.

Season chicken with salt and cayenne pepper and saute in olive oil until no longer pink.
Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and coat with 2 tablespoons of the peanut sauce.
Spread peanut sauce over the surface of your homemade pizza crust.
Scatter chicken pieces over top and sprinkle with green onions. Sprinkle with cheeses.
Bake in 500°F oven for 6-8 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with shredded carrot and cilantro (and bean sprouts if desired).

If you like this recipe you may like:

Barbeque Chicken Pizza

Garlic Knots

Wheat Pizza Crust

Noodles in Thai Peanut Sauce

Jeff and I often like to make up what we call "Lo Mein" dishes for dinner. I usually just throw together some random ingredients to make an asian sauce, we grill some chicken, cook spaghetti noodles, throw in some vegetables, and voila!

I came across this recipe the other day, which was very similar to our creations, but the peanut sauce sounded delicious. We made it last night and it was scrumptious!
Here is my adapted version. (P.S. It tastes even better the next day)

Ingredients:
4 chicken tenders, cut into thin strips
vegetable oil (to sauté)
1 Tbsp Sriracha hot sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
3 shakes soy sauce
salt and pepper (to taste)
½ pkg linguine noodles
*peanut sauce (see below)
peanuts
Veggies- Use whatever kind you like or have on hand. We used broccoli, onion, carrot, celery and green pepper because that’s what we had in the fridge!

Peanut Sauce: (adapted from "Our Best Bites”)
1 c. chicken broth
6 Tbsp. (heaping) creamy peanut butter
2-4 tsp. Sriracha 
3 Tbsp. honey
6 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. of cornstarch
3 Tbsp. fresh minced ginger
4-5 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

Combine chicken broth, peanut butter, chili sauce, honey, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until sauce becomes smooth and well blended.

Directions:
In a large skillet, sauté the chicken in oil, Sriracha, lime, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, salt & pepper. While chicken is cooking, prepare the linguine and make the peanut sauce. After the chicken is cooked, remove from the skillet and wrap in foil to keep warm. Re-oil the skillet- add vegetables and sauté. Add the chicken, cover, and reduce heat. Drain noodles and toss with a little olive oil (to keep the noodles from drying out and sticking together). Add the noodles and sauce to the skillet with the vegetables and toss until everything is well coated with sauce. Garnish with peanuts and limes.

Simple Sushi Rolls

Anyone who knows Liz and I, knows that we LOVE Sushi! We were craving it while at our parent's house the other night, but we only had shrimp, so we decided to make some California rolls. If you're not crazy about sushi this is a good roll to start with. It's super easy to make and pretty yummy!

Yields 4 sushi rolls:

Ingredients:
1 medium Carrot
1 Cuccumber
1 small bunch of Cilantro
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
1/2 Mango
1 Avocado
1 pckg of raw, frozen Shrimp
1 pkg of dark green Nori (seaweed for sushi)
1 bamboo rolling mat
(Bamboo mats and Nori are very cheap and can be bought at World Market or a local Asian market.)


Sushi Rice:
2 cups water
1 cup short-grain. sticky rice

Directions:
Cook the rice in a rice cooker for best results.
When the rice is finished, put it in a bowl and mix in about 1/4 cup of Rice wine vinegar.
Let the rice sit in the refrigerator until cool.

Meanwhile cut the carrots, cucumber, mango, bell peppers, and avacado in long, thin slices.

Unthaw the shrimp. It's best to unthaw them in an ice bath (bowl of water with ice cubes) to keep them crisp and fresh. Add 1 Tb. olive oil to a skillet on medium heat. Place the shrimp on skewers. Lightly saute the shrimp in the skillet until pink.
Then place the shrimp on a baking sheet and season with ssalt and pepper and any other seasonings you like. We used cajun seasing but garlic is also yummy.

Bake them in 350F oven for about 5 minutes.

Cut each Nori (seaweed) sheet in half. (Half of a Nori sheet makes one sushi roll).

Cover a bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Place the seaweed horizontal on the edge of a bamboo mat (on the edge closest to you). 

Scoop a spoonful of rice into your hands and roll it into a tight ball. Then smash the rice onto the seaweed. Repeat until the seaweed is covered with about 1/4 inch of rice.

Place the veggies, mango, shrimp and cilantro across the center of the rice.

Tightly roll the sushi until the ends meet.

Cut into rolls with a sharp knife, being careful not to tear the seaweed.

Traditional California rolls are made with the rice on the outside. To do this, put the rice on the seaweed the same way, but before adding veggies and shrimp, flip the seaweed so that the rice is laying against the bamboo mat and the seaweed is face up. Then add the veggies on top of the green seaweed and roll with the rice on the outside.
Add avocado to the top by simply slicing very thin pieces and sticking them on!

Serve with ginger and soy sauce.

Guiltless Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

This recipe doesn't use heavy cream or cream cheese like typical recipes, but tastes just as great!

Alfredo Sauce:
2 Tbs. Butter
2 cup Milk
2 Tbs. Flour
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (or 1/4 Parmesan, 1/4 mozzarella)
2-3 cloves Garlic (minced)
1/4 tsp. pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
Grilled Chicken

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook until bubbly (about 1 minute). Gradually add milk, pepper and nutmeg while stirring. Cook over medium heat, stirring well until thickened. **Add more flour to thicken or milk to thin the sauce.

Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Add grilled chicken.

Pour sauce over fettuccine noodles. Garnish with fresh parsley

Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is one of those comfort foods that the boys, in particular, really love. There are many ways to make it, be we prefer traditional baking, with no extra frying or butter in between.


Ingredients:
4 boneless Chicken Breasts
Salt and Pepper
sliced Swiss Cheese
sliced Ham
1 cup Bread Crumbs
1 Tb. paprika
Egg Wash-- (beat 1 egg + 1 Tbs. water)

Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup,
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbs. lemon juice

Directions:
Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. 
Dip chicken breasts in egg wash. 

Place 1 cheese slice and 1 ham slice on top of each breast. Roll and secure with a toothpick. 

Place breadcrumbs and paprika and shallow bowl. Roll each chicken breast in breadcrumb mixture.

Place in greased baking dish. Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Remove from oven and place 1/2 cheese slice on top of each breast. Return to oven until cheese has melted (3-5 min.)  
Add a spoonful of sauce to the top of each chicken breast. Enjoy!  
 

Our Tips:

• Don't use sandwich meat ham.
• Some people like to add a small pat of butter to the top of each breast before baking. (Not really sure why you'd want those extra calories as it tastes just fine without).
• Sometimes it's easier to cut the chicken breast in half, rather than pounding it with a rolling pin. Just be careful not to cut the breast all the way through. Then place the ham and cheese in the middle of the breast.
• Provolone cheese is a yummy substitution for those who don't like Swiss.

Nothing Bundt Cake-Copycat recipe

My Aunt made this recipe at a recent family party and it was delicious! It is a knock off of the Nothing Bundt Cake cakes, and she found the original recipe here. I first made this for a Fourth of July party so I added a little Fourth of July ball (made out of tissue paper) to it so it really looked just like a Nothing Bundt Cake!

Click here for a tutorial on frosting and decorating this cake!

Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 pkg. devils food cake
1 small pkg. instant chocolate pudding
1 c. sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. oil
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

For the frosting:
1 (8 ounce) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/2-2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
For the cake:
Mix first six ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Pour into a greased bunt cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min. Let cool in pan for 20 min. For the frosting:
Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the powdered sugar