#17 -Ryker's Christmas Kabobs

In honor of Avon's Christmas Blog, we welcome you to try Ryker's Christmas Kabobs. He made these for Kyana in Bedeviled, book 2 of the Dark Breed Novels. Hope you enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!

Sable

These are so simple and quick to make. 

First, marinate beef, pork, or chicken in your favorite seasonings. Salt, pepper, garlic, a dash or two or Worcestershire, and some Cajun spice works nicely.

Next, season up some peppers, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes--or pick your favorite veggies. There are no wrong choices here. This can be whatever is to your liking. (Note, I used button cap mushrooms and precooked them in a cup of water, two beef bouillon cups, sea salt and a clove of garlic. Bring them to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for one hour).

Skewer up the kabobs

              and toss them on a low grill.

Serve with Orzo or rice, a warm crescent roll and a glass of wine and you have a meal fit for a Goddess!

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Laura

#16 - Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Original Source: C&C Marriage Factory

I've been wanting to make this for a couple of days, but sadly, our grocery store didn't have any pork tender loin... until this morning :D Threw it in the crock pot while we did our Saturday thang, and voila, dinner.

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Winner! The meat was so tender it was melt-in-your-mouth great. I didn't get the nice dark crust that the picture above shows, but that's okay. It was great without it. I did take a couple of pictures of the process, but everything I managed to capture looked um, unappealing. Only the final product was worth anything and the one from C&C Marriage Factory was way better so I'm leaving it at that. Seriously, try this one. Few ingredients, just a few minutes of time. It's well worth it.

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

#15 The Best Marinade EVER!

I realize there's been a lot of time that's passed since the last recipe was posted. It's not that I've not been cooking. After hosting Thanksgiving, I had over 20 recipes to post alone! But, though I took pictures as I cooked, I failed to take pictures of the final products :(

That in mind... I'm going to share a GREAT marinade recipe here with no pics... a treat that is useable on virtually any meat. Our favorite? Boneless ribs. But it works on chicken, steak, and is probably even good on veggies, though I haven't tried it.

Ready? You don't even need paper and pen. It's THAT EASY.

Mix equal parts white vinegar and soy sauce. Cover whatever it is you're cooking for at least at hour (I usually do it overnight).... and cook. It's that easy!

Once you'll taste it, you'll hopefully forgive the long gap between recipes! A family member gave this recipe to me and I've been using it for over ten years! It's that good.

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

#14 - Chicken Scarpariello

Original Source: Foodandwine.com

(Above) How it turned out.

What you'll need:

8 small boneless, skinless chicken wings (I used 12)

salt and pepper

All purpose flour for dusting

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

8 garlic cloves, cut in half length-wise and gently crushed

4 large Rosemary sprigs, cut into 2 inch pieces

2 cups chicken broth

2 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP butter

1/2 cup roasted peppers (jarred)

What to do: 

1) Spread chicken out on a cookie sheet or something large. Season with salt and pepper, then dust with flour.

2) In a large pan, heat oil till shimmering. Add chicken and cook on high heat (not too high, as I burned a piece following that direction. Just a little under the highest is fine) for about 10 minutes, turning once at the 5 minute mark until brown and crispy on each side.

3) add rosemary and garlic and cook about 3 minutes, or until garlic is slightly browned. (I recommend turning the heat down before doing this step. A couple of pieces of garlic turned black and I had to start this bit over)

4)add stock to skillet and cook on high heat, scraping up brown bits, until reduced by half - about 5 minutes. Add butter and lemon juice and stir until mixed.

5) return chicken and any juices that accumulated to skillet.

6) add peppers and turn chicken until coated in sauce. Cook about 3 minutes, moving/flipping chicken to keep it covered. Transfer to platter and serve.

I served mine on a plate of orzo with a side of fresh, crisp green beans. Turned out lovely. It was a hit with everyone (except the teen daughter who wasn't home to try it, poor kid). This will definitely be on my favorite list.

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

#13 - Zucchini Fries

Original Source: Our Best Bites

I made a pot roast for dinner, which usually comes with a side of mashed potatoes, some rolls, gravy and green beans in our house. But, since I'm trying to make healthier choices, I went on a hunt for other sides to serve with the roast. So I chose the quinoa mac n' cheese I'd fixed before (this time adding a bit of left over yellow rice to the mix and changing the cheese to sharp cheddar which every seemed to like a lot more). And while I know "fries" aren't generally a go-to food for roast dinners, I found this recipe and it looked so yummy, I decided to give it ago.

Here's what you'll need:

2 medium sized zucchinis

2 eggs

parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup)

1/2 cup panko Italian bread crumbs (I had Panko, but they weren't Italian, so I did half Panko, half regular Italian bread crumbs)

What to do:

The original source has great pictures of the step by step process, and you might want to check them out since mine were a last thought before I even considered posting here.

1) slice ends off zucchinis, then cut in half

2) cut each half into quarters

3) and cut each quarter into halves again

4) in a shallow bowl, beat eggs together, and in another shallow bowl, combine bread crumbs & parmesan cheese

5) Preheat oven to 425 degrees

6) line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with no-stick spray

7) dip a few slices of zucchini into eggs, then ON A SEPARATE PLATE OR BOWL, sprinkle some of your bread mixture onto each slice and place on cookie sheet. The original source rightly warned about rolling the egg-covered slices into the main bread mix. It makes the crumbs clump and it becomes impossible to stick.

8) bake for 10-15 minutes or until crumbs are brown.

serve with dipping sauce of choice. We used ranch dressing, but honestly, I thought it was better without it.

Final thoughts:

I will DEFINITELY make these more often. My husband got seconds and my daughter ate the heck out of them. The only person it didn't impress was my 14 year old son, but if it passed the 16 year old vegetable hater daughter test... it's a win!

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

#12 - REESE'S Peanut Butter Bark

Today's recipe was so easy, I'm just going to post the pictures I took and link to actual recipe because I don't know how REESE'S would feel with me copying theirs here!

Regardless, it was simple and OH SO YUMMY! A great holiday gift idea!

All you need: 

• 2 packages (4 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar, broken into pieces
• 1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 
  
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts or toasted almonds, coarsely chopped (I skipped adding nuts to mine!)


• FOR INSTRUCTIONS: GO HERE!

Melt

Dollop

Dollop some more

Swirl and chill.

Break it up!

It really is that easy!

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

#11 - Bacon Egg Cups

What it was supposed to look like:

Original Source: Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body

Confession time: This meal was actually cooked by my husband, not me. That already gives it an unfair advantage, but I'll try to remain fair :)

Breakfast is my husband's domain, as we really only experience on the weekends and I rarely eat it, so I let him take this one over.

What you'll need for 12 cups (muffins?):

• 12 slices of bacon
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whip everything except bacon together with a fork.

Spray 12 muffin pans (holes?) with non stick spray.

Wrap each piece of bacon inside each muffin tin.

Fill each muffin tin 3/4 of the way full with egg mixture.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until eggs don't jiggle.

Use a knife to scoop them out, serve immediately.

Each cup is about 100 calories so I'm taking it upon myself to categorize it as healthy too! (Only because of the high protein, low cal!)

The verdict:

On the website, the author posted that readers had commented about partially cooking the bacon in advance. I'd recommend that. The only real downside to this recipe was that the bacon was a little chewy and "clear" in parts. A crunchier bite might make this one a total winner. For 100 calories a pop, I'm totally willing to try it again! Especially if he's the one cooking it!

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

# 10 -Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

What it was supposed to look like:

Original Source : Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour

First, let me say, I had mixed feelings about attempting this one. I, personally, LOVE a good casserole. But my family. . . eh, they're a little less than joyous whenever I attempt one. But this one had all the makings of something I had to try, and I don't mind making them suffer a little whenever possible, so I gave it a go!

What you need:

• 3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I used 2 packages of raw chicken tenders and think I got extra chicken. Recommend this. Cooks more quickly and quicker to shred.)
• 2 cans of cream of chicken soup (I used 99% fat free, which was perfectly fine)
• 1 cup mayo
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup colby and monterey jack shredded cheese
• 1 bag frozen broccoli, chopped (I used florets instead)
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook the chicken and shred it if you haven't already. Cooking the broccoli is optional. Original recipe doesn't call for it, but I like my broccoli soft so I let it cook for about 10 minutes before adding it to the mix.

Mix together all ingredients, then pour into a greased baking dish. Cook at 375 for 30 minutes until bubbly. NOTE: I cooked mine for about 20 minutes and added more cheese to the top to cook for the remaining 10. If you love cheese like I do, I highly recommend this. You could also top with crushed Ritz crackers and drizzle with butter if you'd like to try a variation on topping!

Serve over rice! (My daughter hates rice, so she skipped this part. Her meal looked a little more soupy than the rest of ours, but... well, I'll tell you in a minute how she felt about that.)

I forgot to take a picture of the final result :( Just trust me. It looked FAB!

THE RESULTS:

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!

My non-casserole enthusiast family even loved it! Even my daughter whose meal was a little soupier than ours. It's going in the favorites file and I can guarantee it's going in my Potluck file too!

Side note: I'm thinking this might be an amazing topper for Baked Potatoes when looking for something to do with the leftovers! Or even for night one.

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

#9 - Orange Pepper Chicken (an Original by Heather)

Original source... ME!

From time to time I concoct my own recipe that I fall in love with. This Orange Pepper chicken is one of them. The marinade alone is worth keeping, but I love the whole shebang! 

Ingredients:

• 3-4 chicken  boneless, skinless chicken breasts. (If they're particularly thick, I cut them in half to thin them up. Or, you can use chicken tenders or fillets. Anything works. In fact, I'd bet this would be great for fish or shrimp too.)
• 1 bell pepper, cut into strips, or diced if you prefer.
• 1 orange (large) -- Cut into halves, then cut one half into another half. So basically, you have one half of an orange plus 2 quarters.
• vinegar (about 1 -2 TB, depending on how much you like vinegar.) 
• 4 TB olive oil - divided
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

• Throw chicken, 1/2 the bell pepper, 2 TB olive oil and the vinegar into a bag or some other container for marination. Squeeze the HALF orange into the bag (juice only, though a little pulp is good too). 
• Add salt and pepper to taste. Shake bag or mix contents, then let sit for at least an hour. I've done this over night and it's perfect, but an hour gets the job done, too.

Note: If you used a baggie for marinating, you can beat the crud out of it with a hammer or rolling pin or whatever to tenderize it and flatten out the breasts before removing from the bag.

 At this point, you should still have some of the oil to use, 2 orange quarters and half the bell pepper.

1. put remaining oil into pan, get hot, then toss in contents of marinade/chicken. Try to make sure the chicken is flat on the pan and the peppers etc are on top for even chicken cooking.
2. Throw on the remaining peppers.
3. Take ONE quarter orange and squeeze the juice onto the chicken.
4. Peel the other quarter orange and cut into small chunks, and place on top of chicken and peppers

NOTE: Sometimes the oranges come out a bit bitter after being cooked. I think it depends on the orange you use. If you're unsure how yours will taste, I recommend cutting into large chunks that you can easily pick out before biting into it.

•  Let the chicken cook for 3-5 minutes before flipping (you can check underneath to see if the cooking side is nice and brown). Flip ONCE, readjust peppers and oranges so they're on top again, and let the other side of each breast cook until brown or no longer pink inside.

 Serve and enjoy!

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather

#8 - Butterfly Cupcakes

What we're (almost) making today

Butterfly Banana Cupcakes

Girl Child decided that it had been raining for way too long and it was time to go to Mom's house and cook.  I completely agreed with her and we made something really fun and tasty, too. Since the weather was bad and streets were flooded, we had to improvise and use items in the house, instead of making them from scratch. Not as tasty or pretty as these little cuties, but Girl Child completely enjoyed it and we had a blast making them.

What we used:
Since this was improvised, we had:
a box of Duncan Heinze chocolate cake mix
1 can cream cheese frosting
assorted candies for decorations

1. Mix according to package directions and fill lined cupcake tins 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Let cool.

2. Once completely cooled, cut the tops off the muffins, then cut the tops in half. To help prevent some of the crumbles, we placed the cupcakes in the freezer for ten minutes.

3. Frost the bottoms of the muffins, then the tops, arranging them on the cupcakes, cut edges out.







4. Decorate the butterflies with gumdrops, licorice, and candies.

What ours looked like:

What I'd do differently:


Well, for starters, I'd really like to make these from scratch. And, since I love banana, I really want to try them they way they were meant to be made.

Even though they came from a box, these were tasty and cute, and Girl Child really enjoyed the baking experience. Next time though, I'll watch the weather closer and make sure everything's on hand to make these right.

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Laura

#7- Quinoa Mac N' Cheese

What it's supposed to look like

Original Source: Around the Table

I've been hearing a lot about Quinoa but have to admit, had no clue what the heck it was. But the above picture grabbed my interest. It looked a tiny bit like cheese grits, a personal favorite, but is pretty darn healthy (especially if you use a more healthful cheese.)

So I took a crack at it. Here are my efforts:

What you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cup quinoa (rinsed and drained)
• veggies of your choice (optional -- I opted for none because I figured I had enough of a challenge getting the kids to eat the quinoa without adding green stuff to it)
• good pinch of salt
• a few grinds of seasoning salt
• 2 minced cloves of garlic
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup soy milk or non fat milk (I used 1 %, but have seen others use almond milk for this)
• 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated... plus more for topping
• topping, optional - panko bread crumbs or red pepper flakes ( I had neither of these on hand so I used regular bread crumbs instead. Worked fine, though I imagine Panko is better, since it simply is better on everything.)

What to do:

• If you're using veggies, saute them first
• cook quinoa to package directions
• preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a 13X9 in casserole dish with nonstick spray
• whisk together milk and eggs in a large bowl
• to the quinoa, add the salt, garlic, seasoning salt
• add quinoa mixture to egg mixture
• fold in cheese well and let cheese melt a bit (pic below)

• transfer to baking dish and apply crumbs or crushed red pepper bits

• Bake 30-35 minutes until crumbs are brown

The finished product:

Final thoughts:
Me: Love love loved it! Would totally eat this instead of grits, even if it's not as creamy.
Teens: Meh. My son thought it tasted like broccoli. He wasn't completely wrong. My daughter didn't say much and ate more than he did, but pretty sure he didn't love it.
Husband: Thought it was okay. Said he'd eat it again but don't think he fell in love like I did.

I will definitely be looking for more Quinoa recipes! It's pricey but really good!

That's it! Have a great meal and express your saucy side!

Heather