Pinterest Fail: World's Best Chicken

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/198791771025142713/

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ cup Dijon mustard
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon red wine or apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper
fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Place chicken breasts into 9×13 greased baking dish. Pierce with tines of fork all over. Sprinkle with salt; set aside for 30 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix together mustard, syrup, vinegar, and pepper.
Pour mustard mixture over chicken. Make sure each breast is coated well.
Bake uncovered for about 30-40 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 165°F. For a more caramelized crust, leave chicken in longer or place under the broiler for a minute or two.

Tried this for dinner tonight. BLECK! The mustard was far too overpowering and the dressing just fell right off the chicken. Not a fan and will not make this recipe again.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Like most people right now, I'm fully embracing fall and getting my pumpkin fix in. Yesterday I hit up Pinterest for some pumpkin sweet recipes. I came across this one and was pretty excited. I hardy ever make cookies but I knew I had to try this one. So I ran to the commissary and picked up the pumpkin and shortening (everything else I always have on hand).

INGREDIENTS

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree I used it from the can. Just make sure its NOT the pumpkin PIE filling

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

 chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Cream shortening, sugar, and pumpkin.

Add egg and mix well.

Add sifted dry ingredients and mix.

Mix in desired amount of chocolate chips.

Drop from spoon onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

So, these cookies are amazing! Really moist and soft. I cooked mine for 11 minutes and it was perfect. I thought I made enough for my husband to take to work for the people he works with, but he had almost half of them gone last night. Overall, I highly recommend you try these cookies but prepare for them to not last long. :D 

Random Tip August 8th

My brother, Dylan, actually taught me this trick. If you place a wooden spoon over a boiling pot, it'll keep it from boiling over. 

Which is great to know, because I always boil the water over when I make mashed potatoes and then my stove gets all nasty. 

Here's why: The bubbles formed by boiling water are filled with steam, so if anything colder than the steam (ie <100°C) touches a bubble the steam will immediately condense and the bubble will collapse. But it has to been a wooden spoon because a metal spoon will heat up and make this worthless. 

You're welcome

Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

This was the first time I made this recipe and like the others, it was one I found online. I've never had cashew chicken before so I don't really have anything to compare it to. It was cheap and more importantly, real easy. But here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp canola oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp ketchup

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup cashews

Directions:

Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Add cashews and stir. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.

If you want like sauce and want to have some to pour over the chicken and the rice, double the sauce ingredients.

I shredded the chicken and put it then added the cashews. It was good. A lot of different flavors going on. The family loved it and it was added to the "can cook again" list. I recommend this recipe to y'all. Enjoy!

The chicken after it was browned 

The sauce

Chicken with sauce

Random Tip for August 6

Avocados 


I am slightly addicted to avocados. I LOVE guacamole, avocado and egg salad, or just eating it plain with a little salt and pepper. They are so healthy for you too. Plus, Layla feels the same I do about them, so I'm always buying some.

But it's a huge bummer when I go to buy some and they are all rock hard. But wait! I have a trick for that!


Place the avocados in a brown paper bag (you know, like a lunch sack) and fold it up. traps the ethylene gas they produce and helps them to ripen. If it' firm, it'll take about 3-6 days for the avocado to become ripe. If you want to speed it up even more, place a tomato, banana or apple in the bag with it. They produce more ethylene gas and will speed it up. Doing this will reduce wait time to a day to three. 


You're welcome!

Beef and Broccoli

This dinner is quickly becoming my favorite. I've always loved beef and broccoli but didn't think I'd ever be able to make it. That was before I found this recipe.

First, marinate the meat:

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp water

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 lbs flank steak, sliced into thin strips

1. Whisk together the baking soda, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and 

vegetable oil in a large bowl. Toss the steak with the marinade to coat. Cover 

and refrigerate at least 1 hour, then proceed below.

1/2 c low-sodium soy sauce (Do NOT use regular. The final product will be way too 

salty)

2 tbsp brown sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp sherry

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2 heads broccoli, crowns only

1. In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, flour and sherry 

until smooth. Set aside.

2. In a large wok or saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over high 

heat until shimmering. Add broccoli and saute 5 minutes, stirring often. (DON'T WALK AWAY! It'll burn fast.) Transfer 

broccoli to a plate.

3. Reduce heat to medium-high. Carefully add the remaining tablespoon of oil to 

the hot pan. Add the marinated meat and half of the sauce mixture and saute for 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until the meat is cooked through and no longer pink. Stir in the broccoli and remaining sauce. Saute 3 minutes more. Serve.

I bought a wok from WalMart for like $5. Great buy! I haven't used it for anything else yet but I plan on making stir fry here soon. 

I make some white rice with it and serve the beef and broccoli over that. Soooo good! It is real easy to make and doesn't take long at all. I would say it serves 4 or so. We both have big servings with leftovers for one. I've cooked this twice now and neither time used flank steak. I just used whatever was cheap and thin then cut it into the strips. Like I said, I love this! I think it's better then anything I've got at a restaurant and much cheaper. 

Enjoy!

My awesome wok

 The broccoli cooking

 The sauce

 The marinated meat going into the wok

 Mixing the broccoli in

 The final product!!

Random Tip for August 5th

Peanut Butter.

Not only is it yummy, but it is amazing at removing residue. I try to save all our glass jars and nothing is more annoying then that sticky glue left after you peel the label off. Well, rub a little peanut butter over the glue, give it about 30 seconds, and wipe it off (I use a paper towel). You might have to apply one more layer if it was real sticky. But guaranteed, it'll take it all off.

I also used this last weekend. My passenger side window needs a new window regulator, which means my window won't stay up right now. The window place taped it up with some heavy duty tape. I had to replace it yesterday and after peeling all the old stuff off, it was a sticky mess. Put a good amount of peanut butter, and it was all clean again.

I've also used it to remove tar off Brett's Benz. We hit construction and he had quite a bit of tar on the back fender. Little peanut butter and that stuff was gone. No damage to the paint job and no harsh chemicals.

Best, Easy Crockpot Peach Cobbler

Last weekend, we went up to Ogden to the Farmer's Market. I love Farmer's Markets and love buying local produce. Among other things, I bought a small basket of peaches with the intent to try my hand at a peach cobbler (my favorite dessert).

I've been using my slow cooker a lot lately because they are possibly the best kitchen appliance. No heating up the oven, no slaving over dinner. Just throw it all in the slow cooker and forget about it. So I hit Pinterest and found this recipe for a slow cooker peach cobbler.

Ingredients

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

5-6 cups fresh or frozen peach slices

1 1/2 cups *self-rising flour

1 1/2 cups water or milk

1 cup sugar

*1 1/2 cup self-rising flour = 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. First, melt butter in slow cooker on HIGH while preparing other ingredients.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, and water (or milk) until well blended.
3. Add peach slices to melted butter.
4. Pour flour mixture over top. DO NOT STIR.
5. Cook 4-6 hours on HIGH.

I probably ate a whole peach by the time I was done nibbling. Anyways. I started it about 4:00 and planned on eating it after Layla went to bed because she's a little piggy.

But here are my thoughts. Cooking it on high, the edges burned. Bad. I had to scoop around the edges to avoid the black nasty stuff. I would suggest cooking it on low for longer. Or skipping the crockpot and trying the oven instead.

Overall, it was good. The crust was softer then I normally like but it was still very good. I highly recommend sticking to fresh peaches.

I'd been bugging Brett about eating some of it because he told me he doesn't like peach cobbler. He asked me for a bite and by bedtime, he had ate a big bowl of it. So I consider it a huge win. Especially after he said, "you're on my mom's level for desserts." That was a big pat on the back.

I've got about half of it left and can't wait to dig in again when Layla goes down for her nap. :D 

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking this out!

I love trying new recipes, most of which I find online. My husband is really picky and I'm lactose intolerant but I always find a way to make it work. Luckily, Layla loves just about everything!

I recently switched most of my cleaning products to homemade, all natural products. I'm always trying little tricks around the house to make my life a little easier.

I guess you could say I'm a "crunchy" parent. We DO not practice "cry it out", Layla has been breastfed since the beginning and is going strong, I love to wear her whenever I can, and try to limit her sugar/processed food intake. We do use disposable diapers and vaccinate.

I'll do lots of Pinterest reviews, product reviews, and much more. Please let me know if there is anything you'd like to see more of and I love to hear from you! If you try something and love it, let me know. If you try it and hate it, let me know too!