Quick Fix Dinner

Tonight I just threw something together, some Maui turkey burgers with whiskey BBQ sauce served with sauteed carrots and salad.

Nothing special, just the frozen seasoned turkey burgers cooked with pineapples and onions on the good ol' George Foreman grill. About 2 minutes before they are done I add some of the BBQ sauce on the burgers. Toast up some Potato Rolls and smear some of the sauce on either side, add a slice of swiss chesse and some leafy lettuce and then put the burger (pineapple and all) on the bun.

Tossed the salad with a little store-bought basalmic vinaigrette.

The carrots were done by slicing them in large pieces and then sauteing them with 1 T of butter and 2 T of Seasoned Rive Wine Vinegar and some salt and pepper. Cook until tender and serve warm.

The only thing that required a little more effort (but certainly not much) was the BBQ sauce:

No-Molasses Whiskey BBQ Sauce

This is a go to BBQ sauce for me, because I usually have all the ingredients on hand, it's not super thick and it's good on almost anything.

This makes quite a bit but it keeps on hand for a long time.

1 cup Ketchup

1 cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar

1/2 cup Jack Daniels (or whatever other on hand whiskey)

2 T Red Wine Vinegar

1 T Worchestire Sauce

1 T Frank's Red Hot

1 T Soy Sauce

Combine all ingredients over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Lunchtime!

Today is GRRRRRRREAT! Nothing to do but sit around, watch tv, play with Christmas toys, and cook....love it! And so, for lunch we had "Chicky Nuggets" (that's what my little one calls them, and I find it too cute for words), Garlic Potato "Chips" and Baby Spinach, Strawberry and Pea Salad. I love taking a deep fried comfort food favorite like chicken nuggets and french fries and finding a healthier alternative. Here are the recipes...

“Chicky Nuggets!”

I use frozen chicken breasts and defrost them when I want to use them, they are super moist and they keep a long time.

2 large frozen chicken breasts defrosted and cut into chunks

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup buttermilk pancake mix

½ cup crushed Rice Chex

½ cup crushed Wheat Chex

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Pepper

1 tsp Chili Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Pat the chicken chunks dry.

Put the heavy cream in a shallow bowl, the flour, salt, pepper and chili powder in another shallow bowl, and the crushed cereal in another.

Dip the chicken chunks in the cream, then the flour mixture, then the cereal, and place on a baking sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and chicken cooked through.

Bump up oven temperature to 500 degrees for the last 5 minutes to crisp up the crust.

Let cool slightly and serve with Honey Mustard Dressing.

Honey Mustard Dressing

1 tablespoon fresh raw local honey

1 tablespoon Yellow Mustard

1 ½ tablespoons Mayonnaise

½ teaspoon dried Oregano

Dash of Salt

Dash of Pepper

Mix all ingredients together until well blended.

Garlic Potato “Chips”

These “chips” are a bit of a cross between a French fry and a potato chip.

2 Small-Medium Potatoes

Water

¾ tablespoon Extra virgin Olive Oil

½ tablespoon Minced Garlic

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the potatoes into thin round slices (you can leave the skin on or off for this (I like to leave it on). Place the slices in a bowl and cover with water, let soak approximately 20 minutes to pull out the starch in the potatoes (otherwise they will not crisp up).

Once they have soaked pat them dry and place on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and distribute the minced garlic evenly over the potatoes, toss all of this with the salt and pepper, then drizzle with the vinegar.

Bake for 30-45 minutes until lightly browned.

Baby Spinach, Strawberry, and Pea Salad

Baby Spinach

Sliced Strawberries

Frozen Peas, Defrosted

Feta Cheese

Lemon Juice

Poppyseed Dressing

Layer the spinach, strawberries, peas, and feta, drizzle with lemon juice and poppyseed dressing.

Needed a little baked love...

This morning my little one woke me up kind of insane early, especially after all of the Christmas festivities and wedding stuff I was excited to sleep in for a while, but no such luck. And so, we needed some baked goodness to get us going....I noticed we had some bananas and some heavy cream that were about to turn so I put them to use.

Cranberry Walnut Banana Bread

1 ¼ cups Sugar

½ cup butter or margarine (softened)

3-4 ripe Bananas (mashed)

2 eggs

½ cup Heavy Cream

1 tsp Vanilla

2 ½ cups Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt (or omit and use Salted butter)

1 cup chopped Walnuts

¾ cup Dried Cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I use a 9x5 pan because I like having little squares rather than slices, seems to last longer, but you can also use two loaf pans. Grease the bottom only of whatever pan you use.

With a mixer, blend the sugar and butter. Then add the bananas, eggs, cream and vanilla until well blended. Then stir with a spoon (do not use mixer for this part) in the flour, baking soda, salt, walnuts and cranberries.

Bake the 9inch pan for 1 hour and 15 minutes and the two loaves for 1 hour, or until you insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.

Congratulations!

CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. and Mrs. Heinze! My bestie Bethany married her sweetheart yesterday (and I did her wedding flowers), it was beautiful and I could not be happier for them. :)

Coming soon...

One of my best friends (Bethany) is getting married! And I am in charge of the bachelorette party cake...things should get interesting.

Pork Chop Experiment....Success!

When I got home from helping Santa today I put this experiment to task. I reheated the chops by putting them in a small roaster dish with about a cup of the liquid from cooking them in the crock pot and most of the onions from the cooking too. Set the oven at about 400 degrees. Cooked them for about 15 minutes, or until warmed through.

In the meantime I made the gravy, I did this by taking the rest of the cooking liquid and blending it until smooth in the blender. Then I made a roux to add the blended liquid to. I wisked in the bleded liquid to the roux and then let it heat through stirring often, so it does not get lumpy.

I served the pork chops with mashed sweet potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts and a fresh salad with my favorite homemade honey mustard vinaigrette with dried cranberries and walnuts.

Fave Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

2 parts Yellow Mustard (ballpark style is what I like but it is also good with Dijon, or Spicy Brown for an added kick)

1 part local Honey

1 part Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar

1 part Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Stir all together until well blended and toss with favorite greens and goodies.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I use frozen brussel sprouts to speed the process up.

Put frozen brussel sprouts in bowl with about a tablespoon of water. Put in microwave for about 5 minutes, or until heated through.

When brussel sprouts are heated through cut in half and place on a small cookie sheet.

Toss brussel sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Put in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Ah, the joys of taking care of your grandmother...

Turns out my grandmother needed some toting around today so I turned the crock to warm and left, the chops were smelling AMAZING though! Will return to them tomorrow, will reheat them by baking them in about a cup of their juices from cooking, and will use the other juices to make a gravy (this part of the recipe to be added) then will make some side dishes. I am thinking some sort of roasted brussel sprout and potatoes with garlic and a fresh herb salad with a mustard vinaigrette...tune in!

Crock Pot Pork Chop Experiment

This morning I concocted a new recipe, it is as follows:

Crockpot Pork Chops

2 lbs pork chops (about 4)

2 small onions roughly chopped large

1 apple cored and roughly chopped large

4 cloves of garlic

1 bottle Black Butte Porter

1 c BBQ sauce

¼ c Red Wine Vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Ground Cinnamon

Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Add all other ingredients to crock pot stir. Add seasoned pork chops. Stir to coat with liquid. Set to Low for 8 hours. Serve with Sauerkraut and apple sauce and fried potatoes.

More to come...we will see how it turns out!