Ginger Beef Stir Fry

Source for this recipe: Ginger Beef Stir Fry

While I don't have a photo of the finished product, I included one from prepping for this meal because I was proud of myself for making something with so many vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 tsp. cornstarch
¼ cup cold water
3 tbsp. plum sauce (I didn't have this)
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 lb. boneless sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
1 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin
1½ cups small broccoli florets
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
4 green onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp. salted peanuts, chopped (optional)
Rice, for serving
Sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water; whisk until smooth. Stir in the plum sauce, ginger, soy sauce and red pepper flakes. Set aside.

In a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat, cook the steak strips until no longer pink. Remove to a plate and set aside, draining the excess fat from the skillet if necessary. Add the oil to the pan and heat through. Add the red pepper, broccoli and carrot pieces to the skillet and stir fry until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Mix in the green onion and garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the steak pieces to the pan. Add the sauce to the pan, stirring well to coat everything. Cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes more. Stir in the peanuts.

Serve the warm stir fry over rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds for garnish, if desired.

Tortilla Soup

We tried a new recipe this week . . . another one from pioneer woman, I'm obsessed! But another delicious recipe, so she can do no wrong. Eddy was not a huge fan because he does not like chunks of tomato, but he still ate a little.I'm being a little lazy tonight so here is the link.

She did say the best part about the soup was the condiments and they did make the soup. We had the usual sour cream and cheddar cheese, but I also made some pico de gallo and tortilla strips. I just cut up a tortilla and threw the strips in the oven at 375 for 10ish minutes. They are actually quite a nice crunchy little treat.

And my new favorite recipe for pico de gallo Brandt found for his 7th grade CTE class. Just chop up equal parts tomato, red onion, and cucumber. That's right, cucumber. It's my favorite part!

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

I tried a new recipe the other night that is definitely a keeper. Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas from Annie's Eats (link on the right--a food site worth checking out). She actually calls them Benchiladas because it's her husband's favorite dish. Easy to make and adjust for how much you need--I just did a small pan because I was using leftover rotisserie chicken so then I had to fight JP for the leftovers the next day.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz. reduced fat sour cream
8 oz. Ranch salad dressing
flour tortillas (10-15)
jar of salsa (I like to pick up a pint from our favorite Mexican restaurant)
shredded mexican cheese (close to 4 cups)

Directions:
Cook chicken breasts by preferred cooking method until cooked through. Set aside to cool a bit.

While chicken is cooling, mix up the sauce. In a large mixing bowl, combine half of the sour cream and half of the Ranch dressing. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the sour cream and Ranch dressing. Stir both until well combined. Shred or chop the cooked chicken and add to the large mixing bowl. Mix well with sauce.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 9 x 13″ pan (and possibly another, smaller pan if needed). Take one tortilla and top with a little less than 1 tbsp. of the sauce from the small bowl. Spread over the tortilla in an even layer. Add some of the chicken mixture to the center of the tortilla. Top with salsa to taste. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, to taste. Roll up tortilla and place, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining ingredients (usually makes 10-15 enchiladas).

Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (30 for a crispier tortilla). Allow to cool a few minutes before serving.

Snowman Cookies

How cute are these melted snowman sugar cookies? I haven't tried them yet but wanted to share so I don't forget to do something fun like this with the boys this season. Photo and recipe from Truly Custom Cakery.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

I had this tasty treat at a get together early on in November and had to try it out. So delicious and so easy, definitely a keeper. Here is a link to the recipe I used. I did not garnish with mint leaves and had no pumpkin pie spice (all sold out the week before Thanksgiving), but found a recipe online for how to make my own.

Ingredients

• 3 packages (15 tarts each) prebaked frozen mini pastry shells (we used Athens Mini Fillo Shells)
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 2 cups (plus extra for garnish) frozen whipped topping, thawed

• 1 teaspoon (plus extra for garnish) pumpkin pie spice
• 1 (3.4-ounce) package cheesecake-flavor instant pudding and pie filling
• Mint leaves (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Remove the shells from the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the pumpkin, whipped topping, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl, whisking until smooth. Add the pudding mix and whisk until smooth and thick.

3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling into each of the shells (you can also pipe the filling with a pastry bag or a plastic sandwich bag with one corner snipped off), then top the tarts with whipped topping, a sprinkling of the pumpkin pie spice, and a mint leaf, if you like. Makes 45 tarts.

Ranch Chicken

I'm in love with the pioneer woman. Every recipe I've tried I've loved! She knows how to make good man food. This is her recipe for Ranch Chicken or just look below. I made some minor adjustments to fit what I had.

Ingredients

• ½ cups Dijon Mustard (regular mustard is just fine)
  
• ½ cups Honey
• ½ whole (juice Of) Lemon (Or a splash of lemon juice)
  
• ½ teaspoons Paprika
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• Crushed Red Pepper (optional To Taste)
• 6 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (or any part of the chicken, I had some legs)
  
• 1 pound Thick Cut Bacon
• Bacon Grease
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese, to taste
• Canola Oil

Preparation Instructions

To begin, make the marinade. In a large bowl mix together ½ cup Dijon or country/grainy mustard with ½ cup honey, juice of ½ lemon, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon salt and whisk until smooth. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like things a little spicy. Set aside.

Next, rinse the chicken breasts, place between two sheets of waxed paper and pound to around ½ to ¾ inch thick with a mallet. Next, add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 hours. (I used chicken legs so I just had to toss them in the marinade)

While the chicken marinates, fry up some bacon. When finished cooking, reserve ¼ cup of the bacon grease and clean out the skillet.

When the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and pour off excess marinade. Heat half of the reserved bacon grease with an equal quantity of Canola Oil in the clean skillet over medium-high heat. When the grease is nice and hot add two or three pieces of chicken to it. Cook until brownish/blackish, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes per side. Remove chicken to a large baking sheet. If cooking many pieces of chicken, repeat skillet process and remove finished chicken to baking sheet. Place chicken in preheated oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven. (The legs took longer than 10 min.)

Lay a few pieces of bacon over each chicken breast. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the top of the chicken as generously as you like. Return pan to oven for an additional five minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling. Serve immediately.

Really delicious! The marinade was so yummy you don't even need the bacon or cheese.

Taco Bowls

photo via Annie's Eats

Made this easy dinner the other night and wanted to share a different take on one of our go-to meals, tacos. I thought it would also be a good idea to heat up refried beans and make mini tostadas sometime. Basically you just heat up some corn tortillas in the microwave, lightly coat them with oil, and bake them between the cups of an upside-down muffin tin. Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes. Just because this dinner is easy, don't think it's so easy you don't need to double-check the temperature before you start because cooking the tortillas at 325 makes them nice and stale! Just being honest.

Honey Walnut Shrimp

Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Shelly, here is the recipe you've been waiting for.

Candied Walnuts
1 egg white
4 cups walnuts
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk the egg white until it is completely foamy and no liquid remains. Fold in walnuts and brown sugar. Toss gently to coat. Arrange the walnuts on the prepared baking sheet, keeping the individual pieces separate. Bake until the egg white-sugar mixture is cooked through and the nuts are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Loosen the nuts from the pan with a spatula. Set aside on a plate to cool.


The Shrimp
1 egg white
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled

Mix together egg white, cornstarch and salt. Add shrimp and let marinate for 10 minutes.

oil for frying
3 TBS flour
3 TBS cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Heat the oil until very hot. Mix together flour, cornstarch, and water to make a batter. Dip the marinated shrimp one by one in the batter and deep fry for a minute until golden. Set the fried shrimp on a paper towel.

The Sauce
1/2 cup candied walnuts
4 TBS mayonnaise
3 TBS honey
dash of black sesame seeds

Mix together the mayo and honey in the skillet. Add shrimp and walnuts, stirring to coat. Sprinkle a dash of black sesame seeds on top and serve.

Menu Planning

Hayley requested some dinner ideas so here are my meals for the month. I absolutely hated trying to plan meals every week because someone (Brandt) never liked what I picked and thought we had the same things over and over (like spaghetti, which we did, it's my fav and it's easy). So, instead of struggling each and every week and dreading the thought of coming up with ideas I sat down and picked a month worth of meals. This way I can pick all my favorites and still get a variety. It takes a little bit of time at the beginning of the month, but then I'm done and don't have to dread each and every week what to come up with. Now it's fun to see what's for dinner.
*Disclaimer* We never make all the meals in the month and I don't stick to the exact day on the calendar. I plan for the week and we eat what we eat. I'll shift some meals to the next week or just forget about all together.

Cinnamon Twist Bread

Doesn't it look amazing! I still can't believe I actually made this...from scratch!
I found this at The Pioneer Woman, and it does not disappoint.
I don't have time to retype the whole thing, but you can find her tutorial here. She does a much better job explaining everything anyway.
I'm might even try experimenting with making mini loaves, I thought it would be a good neighbor gift for Christmas.

Menu Planning

I'm not the best at planning a weekly menu; more like I plan 2-3 meals at a time and end up grocery shopping more than once a week or eating out more than we should. I'm doing a lot better at trying new things though instead of the same old rotation and when I see something new that interests me, I'll write it on my list and work it into the next week's meal planning. I found a new food site I like with these tips and tricks and that motivated me to plan the next few nights out (kind of random planning meals on a Friday afternoon since weekends aren't the most routine, but it's not as easy for me to shop at the beginning of the week). And since I went to all this effort today, I decided to share my menu to give maybe one of you (at least one of my sisters are reading this, right!?) some ideas!

Friday: Grilled steak, macaroni salad, corn on the cob, zucchini bread
Saturday: soft chicken tacos or tostadas (using this recipe for the chicken, except with my crock pot!), chips and salsa
Sunday: Homemade corn-dogs (recipe to follow), green salad, fruit
Monday: BLC sandwiches (Bacon, lettuce, cucumber since I don't really like tomato), chips & fruit--it's softball night so we need quick and easy
Tuesday: Bow-tie lasagna, salad, bread sticks

...and by then we'll be out of milk and back to the store. I have a few more ideas ready for next week so the planning should go quicker and we'll see how long I can stay organized like this.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe was shared on Good Things Utah which I don't watch, but happened to catch a little bit of one day and they were raving about this dish. I thought it sounded good so I went to their site and printed it out. The instructions are so detailed that you can't mess this up and we loved all the flavors. I used meat pulled from a rotisserie chicken from Costco, which incidentally I do all the time because it's so good and easy...and cheap. I made a couple minor changes, but here's the original recipe.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

•1/3 cup honey
•1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 large limes)
•2 teaspoons to 1 Tablespoon chili powder
•2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
•1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts), cooked and shredded
•12 corn tortillas
•2 cups of Mexican cheese blend, shredded (1 small bag usually is 2 cups)
•1 14-oz can of green enchilada sauce (mild or medium, to your taste)
•1/2 to 3/4 cup of heavy cream
•nonstick cooking spray
•1 Tablespoon of chopped cilantro, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the cooked and shredded chicken in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. In a small bowl, place the honey, lime juice, chili powder and minced garlic or garlic powder. Whisk together thoroughly to combine. Pour this mixture over the chicken and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate while you prepare the tortillas, 30 minutes or up to 1 hour, in the refrigerator.

Heat a large griddle till a drop of water skitters across (about 350 degrees F). Spray the surface with non-stick cooking spray or oil it with a little bit of canola oil in between each round of tortillas. Heat tortillas about 20 seconds on each side till warm and flexible and some golden brown spots have appeared. Remove the tortillas from the griddle and keep them between a couple of paper towels until ready to use.

Spray the sides and bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish lightly with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine the enchilada sauce and the heavy cream. Spread about 1/2 cup of the mixture in the bottom of the oiled baking dish.
Add a large spoonful (about 2 tablespoons) of the chicken mixture to the center of each tortilla in a line. Cover the chicken with a large tablespoon (or big pinch) of cheese, then roll the tortilla up from one side to make a rolled enchilada - it will be more of an over lap on the seam side that rolled tightly. Place the enchilada seam side down in the baking dish starting at one end with the long edge parallel to the longest side of the pan so that you end up with two columns of six enchiladas each.

Repeat with the remaining chicken, cheese and tortillas. You will use about 1 1/2 cups of the cheese for the filling and set the remainder aside for topping the enchiladas in the pan. Add the remaining marinade mixture to the enchilada sauce and cream mixture, if desired. Pour this mixture over the top of all the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake the enchiladas for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly and starting to brown on top. Serve with sour cream, black beans, and rice or a green salad for a great meal.

Serves 4 to 6