Cheesy Broccoli Chicken

Why oh why did a choose a stovetop meal when both my kids are sick and want to be held? It was a pain in the butt to cook while wearing one kid and telling another that he can't have a snack because its sooooo close to dinner (shocker: he didn't eat dinner anyway). It was worth it, but it would have been even more worth it if I had made it during naptime and just....nuked it for dinner.

P.S. Wade has croup and it is the strangest. His voicebox is inflamed so his breathing is raspy and loud, his voice is deep, and when he coughs it sounds like a seal looking for a snack. youtube it! At night it gets worse. It's like he tried to turn into a merman, got close, but at the end of the day just managed a seal.

The above picture is Steven's plate. My rice days are over.

Cheesy Broccoli Chicken

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

• olive oil about 2 tablespoons, divided
• 3 medium chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces or 1.5 pounds if you want to adapt with other chicken parts*
• 2 heads of broccoli, cut in bite sized pieces
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup milk, warmed (I microwaved it for a bit)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
• rice, cook it with the leftover chicken broth**

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet (I used a wok like thing) over medium high heat. Add chicken bites and season with salt and pepper. Cook until done about 8 minutes, stirring and flipping occasionally. Remove to a large bowl.

In the same large skillet heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and toss in the broccoli and season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender for about 6 minutes, if you like it crunchier cook it less. Remove to the same large bowl as the chicken.

In the same large skillet...melt the butter and add the garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add the flour and whisk your heart out, it will look very dry.  Slowly (super slowly) whisk in the chicken broth and milk. Pour a little, whisk until combined, then pour a little more. It should be smooth, no clumps. Season with salt and pepper and bring to simmer.  Once it has thickened up add the cheddar cheese and whisk until everything is smooth. Remove from heat and add in the cooked chicken and broccoli. Mix until evenly coated and serve with rice.

*tip: I buy frozen chicken breasts from costco and they are the easiest to cut when they are 50% done thawing. I hate sawing at raw meat but if its partially frozen a sharp knife will cut right through. 

**tip: I freeze my chicken broth in 2 cups containers so I made my rice (1 cup dry rice) with the left over chicken broth (1 1/2 cup + 1/2 cup water)  brings the flavors through the whole dish....not that I get to eat rice...

Leftover/freezability: I think the leftovers are going to be fantastic. Even better if you get to mix rice in.  Maybe not so much for the freezer, I think the cheese sauce would get weird. 

Thai Beef Salad

So I'm still trying to be good and although this isn't 100% low carb its a lot better than the pizza I had for lunch.  Mega fail. And God I love food. 

The last time I made this Thai Beef Salad I made a double batch of the marinade and meat and just froze it uncooked in a gallon size zip lock bag.  So today I defrosted the beef all day and while Steven grilled it I cut up the vegetables.  This tasted even better than the original, probably because it marinated all day. Definitely not because we did this on a tiny foreman grill. 

Side story! This salad reminds us of a place we used to go to before we had kids that was BYOW. We went back with only kid and a bottle of wine in tow and it was no longer bring your own wine.  They looked at us like we were crazy and said we could open our bottle for a $25 corking fee. Thanks but no thanks. 

NEXT TIME: I need to make a frozen batch of dressing because I definitely forgot and had to whip it up last minute with half of the ingredients. 

Chicken Tikka Masala

Bad blogger! But sometimes life brings diets and diets are taco salad on repeat and tuna with black beans and tears. This diet ended when the momofuku version of this sweet and salty pork was served in lettuce wraps to start off Kim's wedding weekend. Then it was a sushi and donut frenzy to the finish line.

But now I'm back with high hopes that limiting myself to just a 'spoonful' of rice served with chicken tikka masala will keep the el-bees off.

Coincidentally the first time I had Indian food was visiting Kim at Bowdoin. I'm sure I lied and told her I ate Indian food all the time. But that's the benefit of loving everything food related. You can lie. For a complete Bowdoin experience turn your A/C down to like 33 degrees and listen to Vampire Weekend.

Chicken Tikka Masala
Adapted from Damn Delicious

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 chicken breast, cut into 1 inch chunks
• salt and pepper
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the skillet. Once the chicken starts to brown add the onion and garlic. Cook until the chicken is cooked through.

Add the tomato paste, ginger, garam masala, chili powder, and turmeric. Stir until well combined and everything is orange-ish.

Stir in diced tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add heavy cream and lemon juice. Cook for one more minute.

Serve on rice with cilantro on top.

Spam and Pineapple Fried Rice

Whipped up this number again and even with all of my failed short cuts, it didn't disappoint.  It was also Wade's first spam! That's a milestone, right? He approved...and then drank lots of water.  Perhaps the reduced sodium can next time.

Potential shortcuts:

For this batch, I used canned pineapple instead of fresh. I thought it was lacking in pineapple flavor. Steven was wolfing it down too fast to notice.  

I also tried to cook the spam and onions together and it burnt my onions, not bad enough to effect the taste but it would be easier to cook the onions separately. 

And lastly I didn't think I had enough 'old' rice so I cooked a new batch, spread it on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer for, well, far too long. It got weird. Fresh rice would have been better than frozen rice.

Spam and Pineapple Fried Rice

Cowboy Cookies

Hide your choking hazards, electric cords, and puppy dog tails - Wade is crawling.  We got this boy baptized this weekend so we had to plenty of family in time to eat all the cookies I accidentally made.

Both boys were napping (!) and I told myself to exercise but found myself checking to see if I had all of the cowboy cookie ingredients. And I didn't....but I had most of them. So I went for it. Making cookies, not exercising. 

I was definitely in a rush and didn't look at anything but the ingredient list but this made 3 and 1/2 dozen of the biggest cookies I have ever made. The dough was overflowing my stand mixer. You use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop it. Holy cow! Thank God my father in law ate about a dozen of these in a 24 hour visit. 

Cowboy Cookies

3 1/2 dozen large cookies

Adapted from New York Times

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (this is when I should of realized how much cookie I was making)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 sticks butter, room temperature (I use salted butter because the more the better)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups unsweetened flake coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans (about 8 ounces)

Preheat however many ovens you have to 350F.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.

In a stand mixer cream butter at medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Then add the vanilla.

Change the speed to 'stir' or 'low' and push in the flour mixture until combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips, oats, coconut, and pecan.

Drop 1/4 cup of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet 3 inches apart on a silicone baking mat (or parchment paper). This was like 6 cookies per medium baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or when the edges are lightly browned.  Remove cookies to a rack to cool.

Sausage Red Beans and Rice

Do the excess herbs make it look like I'm trying too hard? Well I am because this is a repeat recipe and one of Steven's favorites.  I had to make it again for the freezer test. Results are in frozen is great for a work lunch or even a family dinner but if you are going to have guests over make it fresh. Unless they just show up, then they get family dinner quality. Ya know, still good but maybe no garnish.

I used this on sale sausage and it was delish. I prefer non-flavored sausage for this dish, I'll add my own garlic thank you.

Red Beans and Rice

Greek Chicken Salad

A whiny threenager because Frozen keeps freezing, an overtired babe strapped to you, a little of this, a little of that and viola - dinner.  Its that easy.

P.S. Please note the new page of not-inclusive-just-our-favs Recipes (it took forever).

Greek Chicken Salad

• basic baked chicken seasoned with oregano, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.
• romaine lettuce
• red onion
• kalamata olives
• feta
• any vinaigrette dressing I used store bought bc I'm lazy
• I also included: avocado, grilled corn (leftover but delicious), and radishes. I used some pita chips for some crunch. If I had cherry tomatoes and a cucumber I would have thrown those in too.

Combine! I always start my making salads early in the afternoon because they take forever with all the chopping and the longer it sits out the more stuff I can scrounge up to add. Plus I'm a firm believer in a room temperature salad and sneaking bites along the way.