#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

# 6 - Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken

What it's supposed to look like.

Original Source: Becoming Betty

I surprisingly had everything in my kitchen for this, so I decided to give it a try and make dinner easy and quick. (Quick meaning prep work, not actual cook time since this is a crock pot recipe so yeah, takes at least 4 hours to cook.) Since it was a last minute decision my pictures aren't so cute! But the meal is delish regardless. Served it over rice so I doubled the sauce recipe because my guys like the extra juice to flavor the rice. 

**Below is recipe as Becoming Betty instructed, not doubled.

What you need:

• 1 TB cornstarch
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 pkg chicken tenders, frozen or thawed

Combine in a pot all ingredients except chicken. Stir over medium heat until thickened.

Pour sauce over chicken in crock pot. (Lump of frozen chicken tenders is appealing, no?)

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or if you're in a hurry like I was, cook on high for 3-4 hours instead.

This was so simple and really tasty. Adults and teens all liked it and it was fast and cheap enough that I'm sure I'll make it often.

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

Heather