sandr077

So, I am taking a brief break from Meatless Monday as I need to get re-inspired.  In the meantime I thought I would embark on another "theme".   Let's call this "Mustard Monday" as I take on the Great Mustard Challenge!   This challenge came out of a recent activity.  Last weekend I cleaned out the fridge... like really cleaned it out.  I took everything out and scrubbed all the shelves.  I organized the items and put things back in a neat and organized fashion.  In doing all this I realized that I had 9... yes, NINE jars/bottles of mustard.  Mostly all different kinds (although a few of the same)... dijon, honey mustard, yellow, golden, German, etc.  You name it... I have it!  So, we need to use up some of this mustard so I am going to focus on recipes that use mustard, hence the Great Mustard Challenge!   This week I bring you Curried Honey Mustard Chicken !  Ingredients 1/3 cup butter, melted 1/3 cup honey 1/4 cup Dijon-styl...

I cooked lentils for the first time... exciting! Right?  Since working full time and having a baby... cooking anything intensive is out of the question.  One thing that I have found really helpful is to make something in a larger quantity that we can eat 2 or even three nights.  Quinoa is easy for this- which I have talked about before.  I wanted to find another option apart from Quinoa (which I love) which is fairly easy to cook, reheats well and is good for you. We ate these lentils with a pork chop one night and with my weekly roast chicken another night.  They are tasty and hearty.  The husband enjoyed the lentils... but still prefers quinoa. Here is the recipe I used.  It is an Emeril recipe from the Food Network website. Ingredients 1/4 pound bacon, diced 1/4 cup small diced  celery  (I left this out as I don't like celery) 1/4 cup small diced  onion 1/4 cup small diced  carrot  (bought the baby carrots in a bag and just...

Okay, since being back at work and having a baby- time is limited!  VERY limited.  Dinner does not happen unless it is easy and unless it is planned.  As I mentioned before one thing that I do that works brillantly is that I roast a chicken every Sunday.  My favorite recipe is this one.  Roasting a chicken is great because you get two meals out of it.  The night after we roast the chicken I use the rest of the meat and put it in pasta.  I often put in in pasta with fresh pesto that I have stored in our freezer.  I got this idea from my co-worker LE who said her mom always makes her fresh pesto. For those of you that have tuned out thinking it is too difficult.  Making pesto is the easiest thing ever.  Seriously, it is!  You just need a food processor and before you know it... voila!    I make a ton and  freeze it in small plastic containers (portion sized for one meal) and throw them in the freezer.   If you don'...

So, it is Friday... so it is another recipe!  I have been trying to eat healthy and would like to be healthier!  Earlier this week I cooked quinoa for the first time.   What is quinoa?  As per Wikipedia....Quinoa (say KEEN-wah) is the wonder grain: high in protein, gluten-free, easy to digest, and quick to cook. It is fairly easy to cook, but I think what makes it really good is what you add to it!  Here the recipe I went with, basically adapted from a Food Network recipe .    I ngredients 1 cup  quinoa , rinsed well  (must get a very fine mesh strainer to clean/rinse the quinoa) 1/4 cup pine nuts 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley (I did not have any, so did not include.) 1/4 cup golden raisins 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice Kosher salt  and freshly ground pepper 1 3/4 cups chicken stock 1/2 onion, chopped (this was my addition to recipe.  It added a lot of flavor.) Opt...

Since on maternity leave, I have felt that I need to accomplish one thing each day that is semi-creative in order to maintain my sanity.  Now, I have VERY little time and must be practical in my creative endeavor.  So, creative and practical (we have to eat) has focused on cooking.  I mean really easy cooking.  I have been digging deep in my search for recipes.  What types of things do I want to cook these days?  I want easy recipes that take like 15 minutes to put together that I can make with one hand if I need to! :)     This recipe for "Chicken Packets" qualified.  I remembered seeing a recipe for Chicken Packets somewhere and googled around settling on this one from the blog Kevin and Amanda .  I know I know I do need to take better photos, but hey I am a busy mom! :)  Ingredients: 2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (I bought a rotisserie chicken) 1 (3 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened 2 tbsp milk 2 pkgs refrigerated crescent rolls 2 ...