Side of beans, please

At our house veggies were never the star of the meal.  Well, that has changed.  My husband and I have made the decision to be healthier, and with that means we must eat our fruits and veggies!  But that doesn't mean we are shoving the sweets out the door fully.  It just means will make a better effort to eat more fruits and veggies than sugar.

I thought I would share this recipe with you seeing how your garden will soon be giving you plenty of bounty.  I sure hope you planted green beans for this recipe, if not don't fret, you can always stop by your local farm stand and grab some!

Wait?!  I thought I said we were eating healthy?  Why do I see brown on those greens?   Well a girl has to get her protein and it might as well be from bacon.  I said we were making an effort to be healthy, not giving up good food!

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

recipe adapted from Taste of Home

8-10 slices of Bacon

1 pound fresh green beans

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 Clove garlic pressed or chopped garlic in a jar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly spray pan with cooking oil.  Clean and cut off the ends(unless you like the ends) of green beans.  In a small sauce pan melt butter on med/low heat.  Add brown sugar and garlic.  While those flavors are mixing, pick out the green beans and put them in groups of 8-10.  Wrap the grouping with a slice of bacon, if it is thick sliced only use half a slice.  Put it in baking dish, seam down.  When you have all your green bean bunches  in your pan then you baste the beans with your butter mixture.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Take foil off and bake for additional 10 minutes.

ONE HIT WONDER

Oh my....I am "one of those".

One of those people who think they can blog , do it once and vanish to never be heard from again.

Well I am here to change that!  I don't want to be a one hit wonder.  I think I have it in me to be more than just that.  I am going to stop using the excuse of having lost my camera cord and that no one wants to see pictures I have taken with my iPod.  I mean this blog is not called "Champion Photographer Bakes".  So for now we have to agree that photos from my iPod are acceptable.  Ok?    At least until I convince my husband that a nice camera is a  wise investment.  And I am not going to hold my breath on that one so thank goodness we came to this agreement!

Ok so enough about my forgetfulness on where I place things and on to something much better!

Summer is coming and if you are like me you hate to heat up the house with the oven.   But a hot house could be better than eating grilled chicken for the 5th time in 6 days.  I mean you could just sit outside all night after you cook.  How about a little compromise?  Cook the chicken on the grill and then add something to it to make it stand out from the past five nights.  Sounds easy enough right?  Well it is!


How about Mango Salsa Grilled Chicken?  I know I know it may take a bit of convincing...it did in my house!

Mango Salsa

1 ripe Mango

1 Tomato

1 Onion (Vadilla is pictured above but I often use red onion for more color)

1 clove garlic

It is as simple as chopping up the amount of ingredients that you want.  I try and make it all even so if I do a half cup of chopped Mango then I follow suit for the onion and the tomato.(this is one of those preference recipes.  You can have what ever ratio of ingredients you want)    I then press one clove garlic and mix it in.

I try to cut these up in the morning and let the flavors marinade together throughout the day, but if you are just as forgetful as I am, not worries.  I have made it while I am cooking the chicken as well. 

So cook your chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts on the grill.  Take them off and plate them up.  Then add your salsa on top of the chicken.  Easy and fast!

This is a very versatile recipe.  Not having chicken tonight?  No worries.  It is Taco Tuesday after all.  What?  Your sick of the same ol' beef taco.  How about using ground turkey or chicken and instead of topping it with cheese and lettuce...how about using this salsa?  This salsa is a favorite taco topping in this house and shhh don't tell my kids they are getting in an extra serving of fruit.  

What's for Dinner??

I remember as a teenager it was a big joke between my sister and I that our mother would ask us "What's for dinner?" before we left the house for school in the morning.  Boy did we think she was nuts!  I always remember telling her how am I supposed to know when I haven't even had breakfast yet?!

Well.... guess what?!?!  I have found myself asking my husband when I talk to him in the morning, "So, what do you want for dinner tonight?"  I would even bet my last key lime chocolate square(don't judge, they are good! And right now I only have one left SO it's big ante ok?  ok) IF he was home at the same time I got up in the morning, that would be the first thing I would say.  I mean I guess the first thing I should say is "good morning" but I bet it would very quickly be followed by THE question.  

So...what are you having for dinner tonight?

What's that?  You don't know?  Well...Here is an idea for you.

Crunchy Honey Chicken  (serves 4 or 5)

1 pound  chicken breasts 

1 to 2 Large egg whites

Cornstarch

1 cup broccoli florets

1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced

3/4 cup of sugar snap peas 

1 clove garlic, minced

3 T olive oil

1 T soy sauce

1/4 cup honey

salt and pepper to taste

       Prepare and slice all veggies.  

(Lets pretend you see pea pods in the picture ;) I forgot to get them that day.  Also this is a double batch)

In a bowl, add the egg whites (lightly beaten) and then add the cornstarch to a sandwich bag.(you could also put cornstarch in a separate bowl)  Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add garlic and veggies with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, until softened.  Remove from skillet and set aside in a bowl.

       If using chicken breasts pound the chicken and then cut  into 1-inch pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Heat the same skillet over medium-high heat and add remaining olive oil.(2T)  Dip chicken pieces into egg whites and then place in bag in cornstarch.  Give it a shake.(You will want to do this in batches)  Add to the skillet and let brown for a couple of minutes, then flip.  Continue with remaining chicken pieces, and do so in batches if needed.  Once chicken is cooked, add veggies back in the skillet.  Add honey and soy sauce.  Thoroughly mix to combine.  Taste and season with salt, pepper, additional honey or soy sauce.  

         (again we are pretending you see snap peas.  The good thing about this recipe is you can interchange veggies.  I forgot pea pods so I increased the broccoli and pepper.  I bet carrots would be great in here as well)

 I like to serve this over rice but you could choose a pasta as well. 

This recipe has been kid tested...and Approved!

Let the fun begin!

Everyone has to start somewhere....here is the begining! 

Ok so I am going to do it!  I. am. going. to. jump. off the ledge and start a post.  

See you don't understand, I have been staring at this blank screen for weeks wondering what was "cool" enough to write.  I have done lots of things these past couple of weeks/months that I could share, however I never remember to take pictures!  UGh!  Who wants to read about something and NOT be able to see the masterpiece??  NOT me.  So here I am back at square one.   

Ok thats a lie.  I am at "square two".  What?!  There is no "square two"?  Well there is now! (cause I said so)  How do you get to square two you ask?  Well...I made these yummy cupcakes yesterday and of course I have zippo for pictures of the before and during BUT I do have pictures of the final product!  

I promise to do better with the whole picture part.


SO here they are:   Banana cupcakes filled with Caramel and frosted with Peanut Butter frosting (wow that is a long name)  Maybe we should refer to them as BC & PB?

Cupcake recipe from Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella.
Banana Cupcakes
Makes 18-22
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs to the creamed mixture and beat well. Add the bananas and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add all the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix until completely integrated.
5. Add the milk and vanilla. Mix for 1 minute on medium speed.
6. Fill cupcake liners one-half to three-quarters full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.
MY NOTES: It took 2 1/2 bananas to get 1 cup mashed. I got 21 cupcakes. My first batch was done at 19 minutes and my second was done at 21.After they cooled, I dug out the center, and filled them with a store bought caramel sauce I had picked up from the King Arthur Flour store.

Finally I made the frosting. I was looking around webland to find "the perfect peanut butter frosting",  well I didn't find anything that got me excited so I took the knowledge of all the recipes I read and went to create.  
Here is what I came up with:

Peanut Butter Frosting.

1 stick of butter
1 cup of peanut butter
2 cups of powdered sugar
5 tablespoons of heavy cream

I creamed the butter and pb together.  mixed in 1 cup of  powdered sugar at a time and then at the end added the cream and blended til fluffy.


There you have it.