Saturday, March 24, 2012

This didn't work the first time...not sure if it will this time

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce

Photo: Karry Hosford

Chicken Souvlaki features the fresh-tasting combination of lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil that is so prevalent in Greek cuisine. Serve it alongside a Greek salad of chunked tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and feta cheese. Tzatziki is a traditional Greek yogurt-based sauce flavored with lemon, garlic, and crisp cucumbers. (Try more Greek Recipes).

Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 2 skewers and about 1/4 cup tzatziki sauce)
Recipe from Cooking Light

Nutritional Information

Amount per serving
  • Calories: 219
  • Calories from fat: 19%
  • Fat: 4.7g
  • Saturated fat: 1.3g
  • Monounsaturated fat: 2.3g
  • Polyunsaturated fat: 0.6g
  • Protein: 30.9g
  • Carbohydrate: 12.3g
  • Fiber: 2.4g
  • Cholesterol: 69mg
  • Iron: 1.4mg
  • Sodium: 705mg
  • Calcium: 161mg
$ 9 ingredients on sale for ZIP 22701
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Ingredients

  • Souvlaki:
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice $
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil $
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt $
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces $
  • 1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices $
  • Cooking spray
  • Tzatziki Sauce:
  • 1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded $
  • 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt $
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice $
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt $
  • 1 garlic clove, minced

Preparation

  1. To prepare souvlaki, combine the first 5 ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag; seal and shake to combine. Add chicken to bag; seal and shake to coat. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for 30 minutes, turning once.
  2. Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Thread the chicken and zucchini, alternately onto each of 4 (8-inch) skewers.
  3. Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add skewers; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done, turning once.
  4. To prepare tzatziki sauce, combine cucumber, yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 garlic clove, stirring well. Serve the tzatziki sauce with souvlaki.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

This was not as good as it looks...

Sweet and Spicy Honey Grilled Shrimp

2-2 1/2 lb. raw, shelled, de-veined shrimp; raw shrimp are blue or grey, not pink. Get Tiger Shrimp if you can find them. Oh, and that “vein”? It’s not actually a vein. It’s poop. Don’t let the Euphamism Police trick you.
1 Tbsp. minced or pressed garlic
1/4 c. minced fresh ginger
1/4 c. hot chili garlic paste
1/2 c. sweet chili garlic paste
1 c. honey
1 c. fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
1 c. canola oil

Rinse shrimp in cold water and place in a large Ziploc bag. Combine garlic, ginger, both chili pastes, honey, lime juice, salt, pepper, and oil in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly. Set aside 1 c. of the marinade. Pour remaining mixture over shrimp and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours.

When ready to cook, thread shrimp onto skewers. If using bamboo skewers, soak in water for at least 1/2 hour before skewering anything. Preheat outdoor grill. This really should be done outside because they get VERY smokey! When grill is hot, reduce heat to low and quickly place all skewers over the heat. Brush with reserved marinade. When they’ve cooked for 1 1/2-2 minutes,quickly flip them over and brush or drizzle with remaining marinade. Cook for another 1 1/2-2 minutes, or until opaque and pink.Shrimp cook extremely quickly and you don’t want to overcook them, but these are pretty forgiving if you do.

Remove skewers from grill and remove shrimp from skewers. Pile them on a big ol’ platter, drizzle with any remaining reserved marinade, and squeeze the juice from a lime all over them. Toss to distribute the deliciousness. You could serve this with:

Lime Cilantro Rice with Pineapple
Sweet and Savory Coconut Rice
Caramelized Green Beans
Mango-Steak Salad (minus the steak…or with the steak! Surf and turf, baby!)


I want to start our by saying, that I am pretty sure that seafood as well as spicy food is the cause of my hives, but I have YET to be tested. Any ways, after taking my allergy pill, I was so looking forward to eating this. I even made Hubby make rice. However, it really wasn't as flavorful as I thought that it might be. This was a miss.

On another note, how many of you reading this blog drink soda, and a lot of it? Have any of you ever tried to give it up? This is my third time giving it up (the first was a bust because at school that was almost always what they had to offer at the dinning places, and if I am going to waste my meal plan on a drink it might as well have been a soda). The second time was for my wedding, and on the day of my wedding I was craving a Dr. Pepper so bad, it was all I could think about. So this is the third time. And this time I really determined that I will not go back. It is so bad for you. Think about what you are doing to your teeth as well as your kidneys. Right now I'm not even craving them. The hardest times to not want a soda is while I'm at work. I am surrounded by soda. And it is cold, and it is right there. But I tend to go for the water, even though I am craving Tea. Tea is my weakness. I cannot give it up. And so please wish me luck as I continue my journey of not drinking any soda.


Now try that darn recipe, and tell me if you like it!!! <3

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

What is this????

In my experience...it is never a good thing when someone says..."What is this??" However last night proved that sometimes it is okay to answer that question. I love all the season's for different reasons, Fall is my favorite, but I don't hate the rest! I really like spring, when everything starts to grow, I have a feeling that this year, we are going to go straight into summer. So planets might not make it, LOL. Anyways!! I love Squash, and Zucchini!!!! Last night I wanted to make sure that I got a recipe in, even though work had me drained. So I made Zucchini Cakes!!! Which inspired the comment "What is this?"

The process is not something short when you are making these, and if you don't get them good and crispy on the outside, they are not super good on the inside. Also, squeeze as much of the water out of the zucchini as you can, veggies naturally contain a lot of water, which is why if you don't water your plants they don't grow. Any how, after grating the zucchini for what felt like for ever, and the mixing it all together, and frying them, Hubby comes home, and speaks the famous comment above. After he tastes one with the dip he is hooked, and I hope that you will too. I made the dip all on my own, so ill add that as recipe numba 2!!!

Zucchini Cakes

2 Zucchinis
1 Cup of baking mix (separate recipe)
1/2 medium onion, diced small
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup canola oil (I added a little bit at the end, they soak up oil)
1/2 cup sour cream, for serving (I used it in my recipe, not this one)
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley leaves (I used them in my recipe, not this one)

Grate Zucchini and put in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze (the Hell) well to remove the excess water. In a large bowl combine the zucchini, baking mix, onion, eggs, and garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well to thoroughly combine. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Using 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop 6 to 8 portions (I did 3 at a time) of mixture in the skillet. Fry on both sides until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from the skillet and drain on a paper towel. In a small bowl mix together sour cream and parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange zucchini cakes on serving platter and serve with sour cream.

What Hubby Calls
Tzatziki sauce, I call sour cream dip (you be the judge).

1/2 cup of sour cream
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoonful of dill (a little more if you really like dill, eyeball it as Rachael Ray Says)
1/2 teaspoonful of garlic salt
1 teaspoonful of mustard (eyeball it)

Mix together and enjoy with zucchini!

The baking Mix:
6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons of salt
3/4 cup shortening

in a large bowl combine flour baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry knife or fork until mixture is well blended.

Try it out and let me know what you think <3

Monday, March 12, 2012

Cooking and Birthday's and Working late...

Let me start out by saying...I hate working late!!!!!! I don't know if I have ever really liked it from the time that I started working at wally world. Now that I am older (yea I know, not that old) working late screws with everything. First, I have to find a sitter for my dogs. It usually isn't that hard, and yes they can stay home in the day time, but at night in my house alone they get into trouble. They usually either stay with my mom and dad or they stay with granny and pappy. Second, my sleep is easily disturbed. I usually don't get home until 1am. Then I have to take a shower, because that will make me tired, but it doesn't. Then it is about 2am, and I am laying down, then I have to be at work the next day at 9am, facter in that I get up two hours before i have to be there and that leaves me sleeping from about 230am (if I fall asleep) to about 7am. Then I can't get that normal sleep pattern back until about two or three days after, when I will have to close again. Third, I make dinner for hubby. That is my thing to do. And so I have to usually think of something that he will like to eat, around noon time. Leave it in the fridge and hope that it comes out good, though I normally do not get to taste it. Yea, I hate, Hate, HATE, working late.

On a much better note it is Jake's 7th birthday.
There is another rant that goes with it...here it is...I am so tired of people telling me that dogs are not our "Kids." I don't say the eff word, but that is really what I want to tell you non-believers. First of all I would never ever tell you that the kid that you may have adopted is not your child. So telling me that just because I didn't birth my dog that they are not my kids, is a crappy excuse. And another thing, just because you have kids does not make you and expert. No one is writing a book about how great of a mom you are. So don't criticize me for the fact that i have fur-babies and not human-babies. Lastly, I went to school to learn about kids/babies. Although, I didn't finish I had many classes on it, and even spent a ton of time for kids. I read books (which many parents do when they have kids), I have even had a cpr class (though some time ago and I need a refresh). Stop acting like you are god, just cause you have one. My dogs are my kids, and when Hubby and I are ready we will add human-babies to our mix. So Happy Birthday to my son, that I adopted when I was 19. Thank you for making my world happy, thank you for being in my family, and making us laugh and cry because of who you are!!!!

On to cooking!! (what a long blog)
I have four recipes that I am going to try this week, One I am determined to do tomorrow!! But let me talk about two things that I have made recently. I LOVE homemade pizza, MORE than take out pizza. I'm not sure if it saves calories, but I think that it tastes so much better. Plus you make it how you want it, and you don't have to pay extra for toppings.
Today, for Hubby's dinner which I will never get to try cause I am sure that he will eat it all, I made my version of Green Bean Casserole. GBC (green bean casserole) is my favorite thing to eat on any holiday. Oh my so yummy. And it is something that is really very simple to make when you think about it. Any casserole is, because all you are doing is throwing things together to make it taste good. If you have made a casserole you should, it's not to hard.

GRB:
About a pound of chicken
1 can of green beans (I like the french cut)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 box of chicken (0r cornbread) stove top stuffing
1/2cup of cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons of french fried onions (those things in the can, hahaha)
Pepper (to taste)
Soy sauce (you add as much or little as you like)

In a small frying pan, fry up the chicken use no oil, because you want the juice to add to your dish.

While that is done open and drain your green beans. Also open up your cream of mushroom soup(coms).
In a glass dish spread out the coms, and then layer beans, stuffing, and chicken. When you get to the top sprinkle the cheese, and onions. then add soy sauce as little as much as you like. (Make sure that you chicken is cooked all the way through, cause you are basically heating up the dish, not cooking it in the oven). Bake at about 375, depending on your oven for 25-30 minutes, and enjoy.

So let me know if you try this, or give me a recipe for something that you make. I am really interested in what you do!!!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sorry It's been so long, I've missed you!

BTW: Happy March!!! I love March, It's the time where you can get a ton of snow, or a pretty spring day. It is also the month of my pupper boy's birthday (3/12/05) and my HUBBY's birthday (03/21)!

Now onto food and such. I have been pretty busy, and haven't made many new recipes. To be honest, I haven't made any new recipes. But I got a nice surprise on Sunday when I came home. Hubby made dinner for me :D!!! He made beef stroganoff, rice, cheesy potatoes, and I made corn. He doesn't usually do that, he is not the cooking one. He will grill every so often but he doesn't cook. (any mom's that are reading this, if you have a son, you should share kitchen time with him. It's not girly, everyone has to eat. But guys need to learn some cooking too, or even a love for it. They will have wives one day that will really appreciate this!!!)

Yesterday, I made dinner after work. Working seven days straight, I was really in the mood to chill and cook. Although I really couldn't decide what I wanted to eat. I really just wanted a pizza!!! But decided that I could do better than a pizza. I have one of those new craft kits. It's like shake and bake, but it is in the refrigerator section. The suggested meat on the package was chicken, but I have other plans for the chicken that I have so I used pork chops instead. OMG it was so good. I highly recommended the Parmesan rosemary one. It smells up the entire house, but oh my it is so tasty. The down side...there is a little more in the package than will be used with the meat, so you can just refrigerate that for another time. So tonight I am going to try and make a recipe, considering I haven't in some time. Happy Eats. Try something new and tell me about it :D