Ginger Chicken

I got this recipe from one of the other food blogs I read, Pimp My Dinner. It really was easy and pretty tasty so I thought I would share.

Chicken Breast (I used 3 skinless boneless breasts cut up into pieces)

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup orange juice

1 T. green onions, chopped

1 T. grated ginger

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. honey

1 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

Mix together all ingredients and let marinate with chicken for 1 hour. Cook chicken in skillet. {about half way through cooking I dumped in extra marinade and let it thicken into a sauce, this was great over the chicken and rice.} Serve chicken over rice. This marinade is really simple and you could cook the chicken many ways, even grilling would be great. It has a simple yet flavorful taste. I didn't have any green onions so I left those out, but this is a great go-to meal when you don't have a lot in the pantry!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

These really are great enchiladas. I love that they are a little different than the standard enchilada, a little spicy with a little sweet and we really liked them.

3/4 cup honey
lime juice (1-2 limes)
1 T. chili pwd.
1/2 tsp. garlic pwd.
1 tsp. cumin
1 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded
8-10 flour tortillas
monterey jack cheese, shredded

Sauce:
16 oz. green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream

Mix the first five ingredients and toss wiht the shredded chicken and let marinate for atleast 1/2 hour. {I just put those five ingredients with the cooked chicken in a Ziploc bag in the fridge in the morning and let it sit all day}. Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and shredded cheese. Put tortillas in pan and cover with sauce and remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until brown and crispy on top.

To make sauce: mix the remaining enchilada sauce with cream and any leftover marinade. I took a few liberties with the sauce. First, I didn't have any heavy cream, so I used 1/2 cup cream of chicken soup and 1/2 cup regular milk. That seemed to work, but really anything that will thicken up the sauce is good. Also, I didn't have any leftover marinade-my chicken sucked up all the yummy goodness, so I just added about 1 T. of honey and 1 T. lime juice to the sauce.

Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

It is always fun to change things up a bit for breakfast and these muffins are delicious. I did make one change to the original recipe found at http://www.allrecipes.com, I changed the glaze to be more of a frosting because you just can't have too much sugar :). I just added powder sugar until it was the right consistency, but this would be just as good with the regular glaze. This also can be made in loaf pans.

3 eggs
2 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/8 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons butter, melted

Beat together the eggs, 2 1/2 cups white sugar and vegetable oil. Add in milk, salt, baking powder, poppy seeds, vanilla, almond flavoring, and flour. Mix well. Bake in paper lined muffin cups (filled 3/4 full or 3 small greased loaf pans) at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15-20 minutes for muffins and 50-60 minutes for loaves. The tops should be browned and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Remove muffins as soon as you can while still warm/hot and dunk tops into glaze. Turn right side up and cool on a cookie rack. With loaves just pour the glaze evenly over the three loaves while still in pans. Let cool to a warm temp. and remove from pans. Yes, it is a little messy but it is really good.

To Make Glaze: In a saucepan over low heat, combine 3/4 cup sugar, orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring and 2 teaspoons melted butter. Warm in pan until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over loaf pans or dunk muffin tops into glaze when cooled to room temperature. (Omit the glaze altogether if you don't like the mess.)

Tiny Spicy Chicken

This recipe is a family favorite (even my brother Matt who is the pickiest eater in the world will eat it). It's almost like the real deal at a Chinese Restaurant!




3 lbs. chicken
2-4 eggs
cornstarch
garlic salt

Sauce:
2-3 tsp. chili sauce/sambal oelek (*see picture below*)
1 1 /2 cup sugar
3/4 cup ketchup
3 tsp. soy sauce
3/4 cup chicken broth
6 T. brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
dash of salt

Cut up the chicken into bite size pieces and sprinkle with garlic salt and let it set for 30 minutes. Dip the chicken pieces into the eggs and then cornstarch. Brown chicken in oil, but don't cook all the way. Put in 9x13 pan. Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over the chicken. Bake at 350 form 45-1 hour. Stir chicken at least twice while cooking. Serve with rice.


This is the sambal oelek, found in the Asian isle in most grocery stores. It my opinion, it is critical to creating a great sauce for this recipe. You can use as much or little as you like depending on how spicy you like it.

No Bake Double Good Dessert

I'm pretty sure this is the recipe that a friend brought over for lunch today. It's really, really good. I enjoyed the peanut butter, I even think that doing it mint flavor (replacing the peanut butter with cream cheese, adding mint extract and a few drops of green food coloring) instead of peanut butter would be good too. If it's not the recipe my friend used, I'll post the real recipe when I find it.

20 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Press crushed cookies into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan, reserving a few for decoration. In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar. Stir in the peanut butter until well blended, then fold in the whipped topping. Spread over the crushed cookie base, sprinkle the remaining cookie chunks on top, and freeze for 1 to 2 hours. Thaw 10 to 15 minutes before cutting and serving. From allrecipes.com

Better Than Sex Cake

For a dessert to earn that name, it's got to be made of chocolate, but this was pretty good. My husband sure enjoyed it. I combined two recipes from allrecipes.com to get this version.

1 (18.25) lemon cake mix
1 can Mountain Dew
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple
3/4 c. sugar
2 pkgs. vanilla pudding (would probably be good with white chocolate or lemon pudding too)
3 c. milk
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
3/4 c. flaked coconut
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Prepare cake in 13x9 in pan replacing the water with Mountain Dew.

While the cake is baking, combine pineapple with juice and 3/4 cup sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes until thick and syrupy, stirring occasionally. Pierce top of hot cake with fork at 1 inch intervals. Pour pineapple mixture over cake. Cool completely.

Beat pudding mix with milk until smooth. Spread pudding over cooled cake.
Whip cream until slightly thickened. Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla, and whip until soft peaks form. Spread over top of cake. Chill cake for 24 hours. Sprinkle with coconut and pecans just before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

To toast coconut, place coconut on a cookie sheet at bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Repeat with pecans, if desired.