Butter Pecan Cookies

I found the recipe for these here. They are soft and yummy and were fun to make with my kids. My boys dumped the ingredients in the mixing bowl and then smashed the pecans on top of the cookies, I hardly had to do any work. These are a definite repeat!

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups pecan halves

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and egg. Mix until well blended.
2. Slowly add flour and salt and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Roll one inch pieces of dough into balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in flour. Press a pecan into top of dough.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly colored.

Southwestern Tostada Salad

When I tell people that we rarely eat meat, the response is typically the same: "what do you eat then? Salad?"

I get emails asking me to share meatless recipes. So, I am going to start putting a few more on here.

While this is a salad, it is not all we eat. We still have Chinese food, pizza, tacos, spaghetti etc. I usually cut out some or all of the meat called for in a recipe and replace it with beans or grains. I will talk more about that in a later post, though.

For now, here is a really filing and yummy salad, thanks for the recipe Shari. I did cook up ONE chicken breast for this meal. I split it between 4 large salads and had enough left over for 2 more salads. Even my kids devoured this meal. They love all the fresh veggies (especially the sprouts) but the big leafy greens are often hard for them to handle. They cant stick them with their forks and they are too big to put in their mouths sometimes. I dont mind much, as long as they eat the other veggies in their bowls.

Southwestern Tostada Salad

Dressing:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 T honey
1 1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t salt
dash of pepper
combine all ingredients and set aside for about an hour.

Salad:
you can mix and match any of this to your liking. If you like tomatoes, use a lot. If you dont care for onions, omit them. If you want to go totally meatless, omit the chicken.
1 T olive oil
1 - 2 chicken breast, cut into chunks
1/2 t. garlic salt
frozen sweet corn
tomatoes
green onions, thinly sliced
avocados, peeled and chopped
lettuce, or any green blend
red pepper
Monterrey Jack Cheese
3 cups crushed tortilla chips
black beans (1 15 oz can or 2 cups if you cook them yourself)
olives

Heat oil in a skillet and saute chicken until no longer pink. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with garlic salt. Stir in corn and put in refrigerator for about an hour. Cut up other veggies while chicken is cooling.
Toss all ingredients together and top with dressing. You can also top this with sour cream or salsa.

Naan

This naan is delicious! I think I ate 5 pieces of it throughout the day. At dinner, Andy scarfed his down and said "you should make more of this, I could eat it as a snack. Its good" And it is. So soft and tasty. Perfect for scooping up a good hot curry (if I could only find that)

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. Combine yeast mixture, sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise about 1 hour, until doubled

Punch down dough and knead a few times. Pinch off handfuls of dough and roll into balls a little bigger than golf balls and place on a tray to rise. Cover again with a towel.

Pre heat griddle. Roll balls of dough out flat and cook a few minutes on each side. Mine rolled out to be about 8 inches in diameter and I left them a little thick cuz thats how I like them. You could do them thinner if you wanted.

Green Curry Chicken

I was trying to focus the camera on my beautiful bowl of curry when Holden cheezed and said "take a picture of my food mom" So here is his bowl, naan, and green beans. Doesnt really do the dish any justice but its all I got.There are about a million and one recipes out there for curry. I started with this one because it seemed simple, and it was. It came together quickly and had a "3 out of 5 stars" flavor. I was hoping for something more spicy.

14 oz can coconut milk
1 Tbs. green curry paste
2 chicken breasts diced
4 medium red potatoes, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup chicken stock

combine coconut milk and curry paste in sauce pan and simmer. Add chicken breasts and potatoes. Simmer about 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink. Add in chicken stock and peas. Warm thru and serve over Jasmine rice.

This dish was not at all spicy. It had a decent flavor, but was not my favorite. I am going to try another recipe in the future because I want something a little more spicy. If you want something with a mild flavor, this is it!

Serve it with naan, the recipe is here.

Enchiladas

The measurements are not exact here, just put in what you have or like and layer it in a pan with corn tortillas. These are meatless, but you could add ground beef or turkey in if you want.

can tomato sauce
can diced tomatoes
frozen corn
black beans (cooked, about 1 cup)
red beans (cooked, about 1 cup)
pinto beans (cooked, about 1 cup)
onion, finely chopped
garlic, diced
can of green chilies
shredded cheese
corn tortillas

In a pan mix together diced tomatoes, corn, all the beans, onion, garlic, and can of chilies. Warm thru.
dip 6 corn tortillas in tomato sauce and lay in bottom of 9 x 13 pan.
Top with bean mixture
Repeat until you have about 3 layers.
Top with cheese
Bake 350 for about 35 - 40 minutes.
You can also freeze this, dont bake it first. Assemble it, cover it with foil and put it in the freezer.

Serve topped with sour cream, avocados, lettuce and tomato.

Hawaiian BBQ Sauce

My husband and I love to eat at a Hawaiian place whenever we travel to the Phoenix area.  On Saturday night I was so hungry for it that searched and searched the Internet for a copycat recipe.  I ended up finding a recipe for Hawaiian BBQ Sauce that although, not a match was totally yummy!  I didn't have everything that it called for, so I subsituted and it was still a hit with my family.  Here is my version:

2/3 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons ginger, minced*

Add everything to a small saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool.

*I left the ginger out but if you do want to use it don't add it until everything has simmered for 10 minutes and you have removed it from the heat.

I used this sauce on chicken, but you could use it on pretty much anything.  For the chicken, I pounded it pretty thin and seasoned it with a little Lawry's Seasoning Salt, then brushed each side generously with the sauce.  While grilling I continued to baste. 

The result was totally moist, flavorful chicken.  I served mine over rice with steamed veggies.

Strawberry Buttermilk Shortcake

I recently purchased a case of strawberries. We have been getting creative with them, trying to eat them all up.
The other day, Kaleb said "WE LIVE IN A STRAWBERRY FACTORY MOM!"

And he is right. We have been consuming them in extra large amounts for the last few days. But here is the best thing we have made with them:Buttermilk Shortcakes with strawberries and fresh cream. The shortcake was so yummy! We had some left over and I couldnt wait til breakfast so I could inhale one!
My kids got involved and we turned out a pretty yummy dessert

Here is the recipe (I got it here):

Buttermilk Shortcakes

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Rub in butter with your finger tips until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (or pulse a few times in a food processor). Stir in buttermilk and vanilla extract until the dough comes together. Add an additional tablespoon of buttermilk if the dough is slightly dry.
Drop by 1/4 cups (use a measuring cup) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Top these with strawberries that have been sliced and tossed with a little sugar. Some fresh whipped cream rounds it out perfectly.