Chicken Broccoli & Mushroom Stir-fry

B had a dinner thing and I got to have my favorite two veggies! Broccoli and Mushrooms!!!! I had a friend make this for me when I had my baby this last summer and it was DELICOUS! She served it over savory steel cut oats which makes this different but SO incredibly awesome! You could also serve over rice if you'd like. I love the super moist texture. I found this one via Pinterest. It's from http://natashaskitchen.com.

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into ¾" pieces ( I do less more like 1 breast)
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ½ Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated (*could also do 1/4 tsp dried ginger but fresh makes this good)
• 2 medium garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil (I used extra light olive oil), divided
• 1¼ lb broccoli (about 6 cups broccoli florets)
• 1 small onion, sliced
• ¾ lb (12 oz) white button mushrooms, sliced (I just got what was cheap)

Instructions

1. Trim chicken breast of any excess fat and pat dry with paper towels. In a medium bowl, toss chicken breast with ¼ cup flour until evenly coated. Remove chicken to a plate (leave remaining flour in the bowl - you'll use it for the sauce)
2. To make the sauce: in the bowl with remaining flour, add 1 cup chicken stock, ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup soy sauce, ½ Tbsp grated ginger, 2 cloves grated garlic and 2 tsp sesame oil (if using) and stir until smooth. Set aside.
3. Heat a wok or large heavy-bottomed skillet on medium high heat and add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Once oil is hot, add chicken pieces and spread out evenly. Let chicken sit for a minute before stirring, then stir fry 5 minutes or until browned. Remove chicken from heat and set aside.
4. Add another 1 Tbsp of oil to the pan. Once oil is hot, add small broccoli florets, onions and sliced mushrooms to the pan and stir-fry 4 minutes, or until mushrooms are softened and broccoli is crisp-tender.
5. Stir the sauce again then pour it your hot vegetables. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Simmer 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened then toss in chicken and cook another 30 seconds or until heated through. Season to taste with salt if needed and serve over hot rice.

Strawberry Cheesecake Streusel Muffins

Went out on a limb and tried these delicious muffins. They are SO sinful and very tasty fresh. I liked them reheated but they're best eaten fresh. I found this one via Pinterest. From The Recipe Critic.

Strawberry Cheesecake Streusel Muffins

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups strawberries cut into small pieces (I used partially thawed ones)

Cream Cheese Filling

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp beaten egg 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Streusel

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp butter

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.  If you don’t use cupcake liners, make sure to grease the pan so they will come out easily.

2.  In a mixing bowl for the muffin batter, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl, beat the milk, oil, egg and sugar.  Stir the dry ingredients in the milk mixture gently but do not overmix.  The batter should be slightly lumpy.

3.  For the cheesecake mixture beat the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.

4.  For the topping, mix together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon.  With a fork blend in the butter until it looks like coarse sand.

4.  Scoop a tablespoon of the muffin batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Sprinkle a few pieces of strawberries and then add about 1/2 tablespoon of the cheesecake mixture.  Sprinkle some of the streusel topping on the cheesecake filling, followed by another layer of the muffin batter.  Add a few pieces of strawberries on the top and lastly sprinkle with the cinnamon streusel.  

6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool into the pan for 5 minutes and transfer them to a wire rack.

Recipe Adapted from Joans Food Wanderings

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Beef Stew over Mashed Potatoes

2 TBSP olive oil

1/2 lb-1lb stew meat

4 large carrots peeled and chopped

1 onion diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt sand pepper to taste 

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp rosemary 

1-2 bay leaves

2 cups beef broth

2 TBSP butter, softened 

2 TBSP flour

Heaping 1/3 cup frozen peas

Mashed potatoes

In large pot brown meat in olive oil. Throw in onion, garlic and spices. Cook 5 minutes. Deglaze pan with beef broth. Cover and simmer 2-4 hours (or cook in crock pot). When ready to serve take out bay leaf. In a small bowl cream butter and flour together. Stir butter mixture into stew and add peas during last 5 minutes. Serve over hot mashed potatoes. 

Serves 4

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked rice

1 cup chopped, cooked meat (either ham, or chicken, or shrimp)

2/3 cup frozen peas

2 chopped carrots diced fine
3 stalks celery diced fine

1 onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

2 eggs 

3 TBSP sesame oil

1/3 cup soy sauce (add more to taste)
1/4 cup oyster sauce (add more to taste)

1. Prepare rice. For me it's the rice cooker. And prepare meat.

2. Heat canola oil in a large skillet (just 1-2 tbsp). Sauté onion until transparent with carrots and celery. 

3. Add garlic, and peas and cook until tender.

4. Crack eggs into pan and scramble.

5. Add meat, rice and sauce ingredients. Stir until heated through. 

We love this with pot stickers!

Perfect Bread

I have never considered myself a baker. Pretty much due to the fact that I've never been able to make that perfect load of bread. You know; the one fresh out of a 1950s housewives kitchen. Beautiful golden crust, soft and tender on the inside, sweet like cream and a hint of salt? Yep. That one. I told a friend I can't bake bread and she gave me this recipe for bread in a jar. I've never been crazy impressed by many anything out of a jar but I had to give this a shot. She says it's no fail. Well I did and this bread is TO DIE FOR! Like you're going to want to eat this for dessert...and probably use it as your pillow too. This will be my go to recipe. I think there's a lot of leeway with it so modify as you like but this is how I love it. Makes one loaf of perfection. 

Put in a jar (if giving away) if not, put in big Pyrex bowl

3 cups flour (I use bread flour and the last 1/4 cup whole wheat)

3 TBSP. Sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. yeast

Add these ingredients to your dry mix:

1 1/8 cup warm water (I added a bit more till it was coming together smoothly ~1/3 cup)

2 TBSP. Oil or 1 1/2 TBSP butter (I used  canola oil)

Preheat oven to 170. When it beeps shut it off. Combine the dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl (I used a big Pyrex). Add the water and oil or butter. I used the dough hooks on my hand kitchen aid and mixed well. About 5-10 minutes or until you get bored. Watch here that it comes together as a nice, smooth ball of dough. Take dough out of bowl and spray bowl. Place dough back in bowl and place in warm oven. Let rise until doubled in size (about an hour). Mix again for 2-5 minutes. Shape into loaf and place into greased loaf pan. Let rise until pan is full. Remove from oven and heat oven to 350. (My oven runs hot so I did 340.) Place in hot oven and bake for about 30 minutes. I took mine out about 6 minutes early and it was perfect. Should be lightly golden on top and make a hollow sound when tapped. Let cool slightly and remove from pan. Slice and enjoy. Yuuuummmmm! 

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

I saw this in Pinterest and was really intrigued. Pizza with less guilt?! Yes! I was discussing this recipe with my mother-in-law last night. I totally thought the recipe was on here but I couldn't find it. So sorry for the delay...its here now and you will be so glad you tried this. As we were talking about the pizza properties of it I realized this really is more of a casserole and not really a pick it up pizza. This has all the really yumminess of pizza without the pick it up quality. So its not really a crusty friend but it does nicely when you want less guilt. The post promises you will want to "eat the whole thing." I really enjoyed her post I think my favorite was holy Zac Efron :).  Where promised this definitely delivered!  We LOVED this recipe. It was pretty easy, though my mil pointed out she used a salad spinner to drain it which is GENIUS! I'm stealing it! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 11/10

I should also note that I created a onion/pepper topping that is YUMMY! I start with one large onion sliced and a small handful of sliced peppers (I have them pre-frozen from when they go on sale). I heat up a little bit of olive oil in a skillet and throw the peppers and onions in there and sauté until they're nice and caramelized. At the very end I add just a smidgen of balsamic vinegar and place them on my pizza. SO good!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups grated zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt + pepper, to taste
2 eggs
1-2 cups grated mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used the cheaper stuff)

(or I just use the Kroger brand pizza cheese and go by my preference of how much guilt I want)

3/4 cup pizza sauce
any desired pizza toppings: pepperoni, sausage crumbles, olives, peppers, onions, etc.

DIRECTIONS:

Grate zucchini and measure out 4 cups. Sprinkle salt over zucchini and let sit for 10 minutes. Ring out zucchini to remove any excess water. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 9x13 glass dish with non stick cooking spray and set aside. Mix drained zucchini with pepper, eggs, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and spread evenly into prepared baking dish. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with pizza sauce, remaining cheeses and any desired pizza toppings. Bake 15 more minutes and remove. Cool 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

via laurenslatest.com

Orange & Cranberry Oatmeal

We tried an oatmeal packet from Target recently that is cranberry orange. It's really tasty but I love the texture of homemade oatmeal. Found this recipe on food.com and was thrilled with how yummy it is. Very yummy, vibrant winter flavors. The mandarins seem like they'd be odd but they are pleasant bursts of orange. And compliment the chewy cranberries and bit of cinnamon. I added extra cranberries and didn't think it needed any more sweetening. 10/10

Ingredients:

2 cups water

4 Tbsp. Orange juice concentrate

1 1/4 cup quick cooking oats

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 (11 oz) can mandarins drained

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 cup chopped almonds (optional)

Directions:

1. In large saucepan bring water a and orange juice concentrate to a boil.

2. Stir in the oats and return to a low boil for 2 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and add cranberries, mandarins, brown sugar, cinnamon annd chopped nuts.