July 6, 2011- Baja Citrus Chicken

If you've read my  blog for a while, you know that we use Grill Mates marinade seasoning packets frequently.  The packaging for each variety lists two or three proteins that the flavors will work best with.  I usually don't sway from that list.  But, tonight I decided to try the Baja Citrus marinade on chicken tenderloins.  It was pretty good.  I don't prefer it to some of the other flavors, but it was just fine.  I marinated the chicken for two hours before broiling it.  I made a salad of butter lettuce, sliced strawberries, glazed walnuts, and poppy seed dressing for our side.  It is such a great summer salad. 

June 15, 2011- Strawberry Shortcake

I took Katie in to see the doctor today, and he said we have a nasty, highly contagious upper respiratory virus.  He prescribed sleep, fluids, and Tylenol.  It will eventually go away.  Ugh...I hate waiting!  

Well, the low-carb diet has been on hold while we struggle to feel better.  Good-for-us food hasn't sounded appealing at all. When I told Ben that I didn't want to eat what I originally planned to fix for dinner, he said that strawberry shortcake sounded good to him.  I just happened to have strawberries and whipped cream and decided to make it happen. So, yes, we had strawberry shortcake for dinner.

My mom suggested using Bisquick for the shortcake.  I had exactly the 2 1/3 cups of Bisquick the recipe called for.  Katie didn't care for the whipped cream and only ate part of her shortcake, but she loved the strawberries.  She is definitely a fruit lover.  It was a delicious dinner/dessert:)

Saturday, 4/23/2011

Ben is leaving tomorrow afternoon for a week long business trip to The Netherlands.  Since we aren't expecting to have much time between when church concludes and when he needs to leave for the airport, we had our big family Easter meal today instead.  My grandparents, brother, niece, and my brother's friend, Adam, joined us at my parent's house for the meal.  My dad baked a delicious ham.  We grilled asparagus tossed in a sherry-bacon vinaigrette.  There was a potato salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, and beets passed around the table too.  For dessert, we had an angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  Ben and I had ham, asparagus, strawberries, and whipped cream for our meal.  It was hard to pass on the carb filled potatoes and rolls, but we did it and were quite satisfied.

My mom made these most adorable bunny place cards.  We placed a Reese's peanut butter egg in each one.  That will be the only chocolate I have this weekend. 

Friday, 3/25/2011

We had dinner at our neighbor's house tonight.  For those of you who know stories about some of our neighbors, these are nice, normal neighbors, not the crazy, weird, or scary neighbors.  Anyway, they made delicious bbq chicken, corn on the cob, biscuits, and salad for the meal.  Our other neighbors brought drinks and we brought dessert.  It was a fun evening.

I followed a recipe that came out of the April 2007 Sunset magazine.  It was my first time making this dish.  I know it isn't polite to test out recipes on unsuspecting neighbors, but since I had all of the ingredients, I decided to risk it.  Thankfully, it was a success:)  Everyone liked it except for Katie.  She was the first one to get her dish, and she quickly passed it on to Ben.  She tried it again later on, but disliked it enough to gag and spit it out in my hand.  Ah, the joys of being a mom.  Here's the recipe.

STRAWBERRY CLAFOUTI

As easy to make as a pancake, this classic French dessert from the Limousin region involves pouring a simple batter over fresh fruit (typically cherries) and baking until puffed and golden brown. The fruit rises to the top, leaving a soft layer whose texture falls somewhere between custard and cake.

Prep and Cook Time: 1 1/4 hours.

Ingredients:
1/2  tablespoon  butter
8  ounces  strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
2  teaspoons  cornstarch
3  eggs
1  cup  milk
2/3  cup  flour
1/4  cup  granulated sugar
1 1/2  teaspoons  vanilla
1/4  teaspoon  salt
Powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 2-qt. baking or gratin dish with the butter. Toss strawberry halves with cornstarch until evenly coated, then arrange berries, cut side down, in bottom of dish and set aside.

2. In a blender, whirl eggs, milk, flour, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt 15 seconds. Pour batter over strawberries.

3. Bake until puffed, golden brown, and set in the center, about 50 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Friday, 2/18/2011

Katie had left over couscous, sugar snap peas, and chicken for dinner tonight.  Ben and I had a chicken salad.  I took a Strawberry Fields Fresh Express salad and added chopped chicken that I braised in chicken stock earlier.  I seasoned the chicken with a sage and lemon seasoning salt.  The salad kit came with spinach leaves, dried sweet strawberries, toasted sliced almonds and strawberry vinaigrette dressing.  Although a salad for a main dish is never completely satisfying to us, this one was pretty good.  

Wednesday, 9/29/2010

Tonight we dined on left over pork chops.  I thought we were going to have enough for three meals, but we chopped some up for Katie and will only have enough for two and a half meals.  No, she didn't eat any of the pork we gave her, but she touched it enough that we won't be saving it for later. 

I made a green salad to go with the pork chops.  It included mixed greens, strawberries, and glazed walnuts tossed in poppy seed dressing.  Ben liked it enough to have a second, small helping.  Katie enjoyed her strawberries too. 

Saturday, 8/14/2010

Happy Wedding Day Kelsey & Jarred! 

As I mentioned yesterday, we are down in Oregon for the wedding of Ben's cousin's step-daughter.  Kelsey and Jarred were married on her parent's property in Mulino, right by a river.  It was a beautiful setting for a beautiful wedding ceremony.  The only downside was that it was really hot at 4pm for the wedding.  Half of the seats at the ceremony were in direct sunlight.  Thankfully, the programs doubled as fans and sun shades. Katie was a trooper and hung out with Jennifer and Spencer for the wedding and most of the reception.  I should say that they were troopers too:) 

The reception was just up the road on Jarred's grandma's property.  The food was excellent!  They served a large fruit salad, pasta salad, watermelon, baked beans, caesar salad, grilled salmon, chicken, and ribs.  The salmon and ribs were notably the best parts of the meal.  The caterer had a hard time keeping the trays full of those two dishes.  They also had decorated heart sugar cookies and chocolate dipped strawberries on the buffet table.  It was nice to have a little sweetness before the cake was cut. 

Monday, 7/19/2010

Tonight I revamped the strawberry, chicken, spinach salad I made in June. It was much better!

This time I used chicken tenderloins, seasoned with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, and sprayed with olive oil. The oil kept them from sticking to the grill. They were cooked on direct medium heat until cooked through. I think having more flavor in the chicken was the key to making the salad taste better.

I also opted for mixed greens instead of only spinach tonight. It made the salad more interesting in texture and appearance. I still finished the salad with sliced strawberries, candied walnuts, poppyseed dressing, and a parmesan crisp on the side. We poured a little dressing on Katie's tray and let her dip chicken and strawberry pieces into it. She likes to dip her food.

On a side note, Katie only asked for a cookie a couple times today. Thankfully, she did not resort to a tantrum when she was denied:)

Tuesday, 6/22/2010

I've been hearing radio advertisements for a new, seasonal salad being offered at Panera Bread this summer. I attempted to make it at home tonight with pretty good success!

STRAWBERRY, CHICKEN, SPINACH SALAD

Ingredients:

1 can chicken broth

1 lb. cooked, thinly sliced chicken breast

baby spinach

strawberries

candied walnuts

poppyseed dressing

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Poach the chicken in chicken broth on medium heat until cooked through. Remove chicken from the broth, cool, and slice into thin strips.
In a bowl, combine baby spinach, cut strawberries, candied walnuts, cooled slices of chicken, and toss with poppyseed dressing.

Parmesan cheese crisps:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Make 3" circles of grated parmesan, piled a little. Cook for 5 minutes. Let cool and serve with salad.

I didn't measure out exactly how much spinach, strawberries, or walnuts I used. Mix it however you want to:) I didn't toss the chicken in with the salad dressing tonight, but would do that the next time. It was a nice, light summer salad. Definitely worth making again. Katie ate some plain chicken and strawberries for her dinner.

Monday, 5/17/2010

We finished off our left over grilled chicken breasts tonight. I fixed a spinach, strawberry, and pear salad, with a balsamic vinaigrette. Katie was a super fan of strawberries today. She had some with each meal. Nothing more to share about this meal:)

Thursday, 5/13/2010

I was late getting dinner ready tonight, but that's ok. While we were waiting for the oven to preheat, Katie insisted on going outside to show her daddy the flowers in the front yard. She spent about 45 minutes out there with me this afternoon. I was dead-heading pansies and weeding while she chatted at the neighbors, hollared at the dogs down the street, picked up dirt and rocks (some of which she handed to me and some she ate), and practiced standing up on her own. Until just this week, she has preferred to crawl to something that she can pull herself up on. It was fun to see her practicing this new skill on the soft grass. Good choice Katie!

Anyway, back to dinner. We baked beer battered halibut tonight. Since we had a fruit salad last night, we decided to use up the remaining iceberg lettuce for salads. Ben went with blue cheese, while I went with Italian dressing. Too bad, we didn't have any more bacon to crumble on top. I cut up two strawberries for Katie, but that was not enough. She wanted more, more, more! I'm going to have to get more berries for her before next week's shopping trip.