JenMy nearly 13-year-old daughter, Jade, has been asking for weeks when she could make a special dinner for my husband using a recipe she found in a cookbook called “America’s Most Wanted Recipes: Kids Menu”. It’s not a kids’ cookbook – the recipes are just based on kids’ favorite foods from restaurants. The recipe she chose is for California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken Pizza (you should be able to preview the recipe using the hyperlink, on pages 67-68). My husband loves food in general, but it’s well known in our household that he’s a big fan of BBQ chicken pizza!! BBQ anything, really. Jade is pretty good in the kitchen and was able to make this recipe with minimal help. The only reason for assistance was to speed her along. Since the dough is made from scratch, the whole recipe takes a while from start to finish. Also, rather than setting aside half the dough for future use, we doubled the other ingredients to made two pizzas. More pizza = better, right?! This pizza turned out SO good. Way better than any other BBQ chicken pizza I’ve thrown together in the past. It was a battle to get my hands on any of the leftovers the next day because everyone wanted to take it in their lunches!! I also learned a couple things: 1) making pizza dough isn’t very hard (my first time buying yeast too!!), and 2) the texture on the bottom of pizza crust at restaurants is just cornmeal. I feel so enlightened. :) I could see myself making this recipe several times a year. I want to eat it again just writing about it. Yummmmmmmmmmm :) Jen AmyWho doesn't love barbeque? Maybe Commies don't. I don't know any so I am unable to ask. Readers if you have knowledge about whether or not Communists love barbeque please enlighten me. There are those that grill the meat then use the barbeque sauce as a dip or some such nonsense. I call these people weirdos. I didn't feel compelled to go all out because I am fully aware that I would have myself sick on too much barbeque. I found a super easy Rachael Ray recipe that I altered slightly. I omitted water chestnuts, though I do love them I wasn't feeling it this time out. I used Mandarin oranges and being unable to find shitake mushrooms I used regular white mushrooms. I couple this with a broccoli slaw and all was right with the world. So here's the link for Rachael Ray's Chinese Barbecued Chicken Lettuce Wraps Ain't nothing wrong with this delectable dish! NikitaThis past week Nikita and family hiked down the Grand Canyon and back up again That was just one of 3 big falls we saw. To get to the bottom, you had too climb down small caves and rock climb down wet chains, then 3 sets of wooden ladders. GeorgiaMine really doesn't need a button to go to the recipe this week. When Jen said BBQ I already knew what I was going to make because just a few short days before the husband and I visited his favorite place the KP International market where we happened to find a bottle of Korean BBQ Sauce. All I did was throw a hunk of meat from the freezer (turns out it was beef) into the crockpot and poured a heavy dose of the Korean BBQ over top and cooked on low for 8 hours. 8 hours later we had perfect pulled Korean beef bbq. Served on top of the little bread rounds. Pizza, Chinese, Korean and waterfalls. Jen's daughter Jade in the kitchen with her. What a fantastic week we had.
Until next week when asparagus is on the menu. Jen, Amy, Nikita and Georgia
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GeorgiaSo this week was my choice and I chose Low-Carb. I did for a couple of reasons. The first is the husband and I try to low-carb it as much as we can during the week. Weekends are a completely different story. The second reason is I am always looking for new and different things to make. I ended up making spaghetti squash with homemade spaghetti sauce. I love veggies so this was a lame excuse to add more to my life. As for the spaghetti sauce. Roasting your veggies first. WOW!! what a difference. Very simple to make and oh so yummy.. JenI got stuck on kabobs as my low-carb meal after seeing the picture Georgia sent. MUST.HAVE.KABOBS. Lol. My hubby wasn’t available to grill on the day that I planned to make them, so into the oven they went. I did make some with pineapple instead of tomatoes per my husband’s request, negating the low-carb idea, but whatever. The ingredients are fairly obvious from the picture. The steak was cut into pieces and marinated for 24 hours beforehand. And the skewers were soaked in warm water for about 10 minutes before loading them up. Easy and delicious. It was a fun dinner to make with my daughters. My 4-year-old stood on a chair and handed pieces of green peppers and onions to my older daughter and myself to load up. Cooking, and quality time. :) Jen AmyYears ago (before I was diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic) I had been given a low carb cookbook. I wasn't trying to lose weight, I just wanted to eat healthier. I guess I was getting a head start. Anyway, there was a recipe that stuck in my head and I would make from time to time over the years. It's so easy and takes very little time that you'd just have to be straight up lazy to not make it. As I recall, the original recipe required a whole chicken but I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Chicken and Cauliflower (Recipe origin has been forgotten) NikitaThis week, we all ate low-carb meals, and I elevated the challenge to eat four low-carb meals; however, this Bruschetta Grilled Chicken Zoodle Bowl from whitneybond.com was the best of them all! I'm craving it now by just writing about it. The chicken marinades in a simple balsamic vinaigrette that I made mixing olive oil & balsamic vinegar with S&P. Matt, our mighty grill master, cooked the chicken thighs to perfection. It was served over spiraled zucchini. I recently bought a Spiralizer for $13 (great investment), and it turns your veggies into spirals or long noodles. But the best part of this dish is the bruschetta topping. Sweet tomatoes with spicy red onion and loads of garlic and basil. All the best parts of bruschetta without the bread. We've eaten this meal twice in two weeks, and my spidey senses tell me it's coming again. Great pick Aunt GA! It balanced all the calories I devoured from last Saturday's Crepe Cake and this week's Sunday Bake! Check it out. As always these ladies amaze me. I LOVE how we have a challenge and manage to almost always make something different.
This we was low-carb, next week Jen has thrown down the BBQ sauce challenge. Georgia, Jen, Amy and Nikita NikitaDoes anyone know the correct way to say "Crepe?" I was mistaken several times at work over the last week when people thought they heard I was making "crap." LOL! This creation I made was far from crap - that's for sure! Over the years, I've seen different Crepe Cake recipes on Completely Delicious via Pintrest. The concept was interesting to me, so I just had to try it. Pictured is a Lemon Mascarpone Crepe Cake. Yes, you need to use mascarpone and not cream cheese to get the creamy - not too rich - flavor. The cake is topped with candied lemon peels, and each layer is alternating with homemade lemon curd and the whipped mascarpone cream. This cake is dense, so don't think for a second that you will get a fluffy, moist, baked cake. BUT it makes for a fun breakfast. YOLO, right? Every week, these Saturday Bites' challenges surprise me when I discover how easy it is to make something I used to only see in bakeries or restaurants. Enjoy the recipe! GeorgiaCrepes.. Oh so yummy.. So.. One very good piece of advice I can give about making crepes. Non-stick pan Thankfully they tasted MUCH better then they looked. I made a yummy dessert crepe. Okay.. Actually the crepe is mostly the same regardless of savory or sweet. I opted for sweet. Blueberry lemon curd with fresh whipped cream and they were oh so yummy. Note the super cute dessert plate. Courtesy of my great grandmother and the depression. JenHey look! I made a crepe! Cherry pie filling. It’s been a crazy week, that’s all you’re getting from me this time. :) AmyThis is kind of funny because a few weeks ago I was scanning one of my favorite cookbooks and found a crepe recipe that I had planned on trying at a later date. The time is now! Sarah Leah Chase's Cold-Weather Cooking is one of my essential cookbooks. It was first published in 1990 and I'm not certain if it's still in print. I use it from around Labor Day through Easter. I have my stand by's such as Columbus Day pasta and her bacon guacamole. Ms. Chase was a well known caterer in New England (I believe), so presentation is important. However, I simplify some of the recipes by omitting some of the flourishes. As is the case with these crepes. I found it unnecessary to tie the crepes off with chives. I will share the recipe as it is written if you so desire the flourishes. Cornmeal Crepes with Chevre and Hot Pepper Jelly Serve with grilled sausage alongside. What a fun challenge Nikita has us do this week.
While my crepes turned out meh. It looks like Amy and Nikita's were perfect. Food has the magical power to bring people together, Nikita, Georgia, Jen and Amy AmyA friend and I have this routine in which we go to the laundromat on the Sunday after pay day. Rather than change things up, we went to the laundromat on Easter Sunday. By the way, if you ever need time to yourself on Easter Sunday I recommend a laundromat. I decided that we could still enjoy a small Easter dinner at the laundromat. It's about the food and the company. The location is irrelevant. The Menu Muffin Tin Potatoes Gratin Light Strawberry-Spinach Salad Carrot Honey Loaf (the recipe for this will be posted on tomorrow's bake) Muffin Tin Potatoes Gratin From allrecipes To this I added chopped smoked ham. This may make a great dish for leftover ham. Bonus recipe: Light Strawberry-Spinach Salad From Taste of Home I am most pleased with this wee feast. NikitaYou may think you see a muffin here, but that is definitely NOT a muffin. On Easter morning, we went hiking up South Mountain to this hut on the top of the hill. It was an early start, and I knew we would not have time for breakfast before our hike. The night before, I made Baked Oatmeal. No flour because that's what makes a muffin a "muffin", right? This tasted like cooked oatmeal in the shape of a muffin. I used different toppings to change it up a little. This one pictured had little chocolate chips, but my favorite topping was blueberries. They were sweet and tangy which complimented the "quakerness" of the oatmeal. It calls for brown sugar and spices, so they are not really sweet (at least not as sweet as my Sunday Bakery submission for tomorrow). Give it a try when you need something on-the-go and full of fiber! GeorgiaNon-muffin muffin's. I can honestly say that when I think of muffins I think of breakfast or even brunch. So I was thrilled when I saw that the other ladies took the muffin tin to a whole new level by making something completely different. As for me.. I still went with breakfast. I made bacon egg and cheese with a (non) crusty grits base JenNon-muffin muffins! I found a recipe online for this week’s challenge using several things I already had on hand: Potato Topped Mini Meatloaves. Not sure that I have ever made meatloaf for my husband, despite him supposedly suggesting meatloaf many years ago. I don’t remember the conversation, but apparently I said I don’t make meatloaf. Lol The recipe calls for foil baking cups, but it worked fine with just cooking spray right in the pan - they came out easily with a big spoon. And the mess washed off the pan with hardly any effort. Conclusion: this recipe is a keeper!! Delicious. Although, piping on mashed potatoes seems a little silly. I will probably just cook meatloaf muffins then top with a plop of potatoes when I serve it. I also made breakfast for tomorrow morning at the same time. Omelets. In a muffin pan. Non-muffin muffins, two meals in a row! Hopefully they taste good. :) Jen Recipe: Muffins.. But not your mama's muffins.. How fun was this week coming up with new ways to use your muffin tins.
Until next week when Nikita has us all making crepes. Amy, Nikita, Georgia and Jen |
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