Broccoli Chicken Dijon

Here’s a recipe I think we’re going to try out on Monday night. Looks good – and it’s South Beach Phase 1,2 & 3 acceptable.

Broccoli Chicken Dijon

1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp. lite soy sauce
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cups broccoli florets
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
2 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard

MIX chicken broth and soy sauce; set aside.
HEAT oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add broccoli and garlic; cook and stir until crisp-tender. Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm.
ADD chicken to skillet; cook and stir 3 to 4 min. or until cooked through. Add broth mixture; mix well. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in mustard until well blended. Return broccoli mixture to skillet; mix lightly. Cook until heated through, stirring

Cream Soda


Jonathan measures out the special sweatner
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

From our kitchen to yours…

Well the Cream Soda is now tucked away in our secret brewery, AKA pantry. We have to wait and see if it’s any good.
It takes 24-48 hours to brew/ferment, depending on how fast acting the yeast is.
We’ll let you know how it turns out.

Here’s the recipe we used:

1 cup of sugar
4 tbps of vanilla – we used 4.5-5 tbps to cover any yeast flavor
4 small pinches of yeast (about 1/4 tsp)
pour the ingredients into a 2 liter bottle
fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake until the ingredients have dissolved
screw the tap on tightly
leave the bottle to sit and ferment for 24-48 hours (or until the bottle feels hard when squeezed)
open and enjoy

Quick and easy “Creame Puffs”

Laurie just pulled these out of the oven and they are simply amazing.
I think she got the recipe from her mom.
You’ll need a can or two of crescent rolls, a bag of marshmallows, miniature snickers, powdered sugar, butter, milk, vanilla extract and Laurie’s “secret ingredient.”
She claims you don’t need it. I’m not sure. You may have to experiment.
To make, simply cut the snickers in 1/2. Wrap them (or a big-sized marshmallow) individually with the crescent rolls. Make a little ball and place it in a greased muffin pan.
Bake in the oven for the amount required for the crescent rolls.

For the topping/frosting/glaze…
Mix:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbps melted butter
2 tbps milk
add vanilla extract as desired
and Laurie’s secret ingredient
Mix it all together until it makes a glaze/topping/frosting.
Once the puffs are out of the oven, cover them with glaze. Let cool for a very, very short time and then enjoy.

As an added bonus, they go great with HEB Wild Red soda.

Coming up later tonight…. Homemade Cream Soda… unless someone can rush over some root beer extract.

Thai Curried Shrimp with Mushrooms

This is a recipe that I probably won’t be fixing for Laurie and I anytime soon. But it’s an old one and a good one that I loved as a bachelor.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon stir-fry flavored or vegetable oil
12 oz. fresh white mushrooms, quartered (about 4 cups)
4 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced (about 11/2 cups)
2 cups fresh broccoli florettes
1/2 cup green onions, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 can (15 oz) unsweetened coconut milk
14 oz. frozen peeled shrimp (uncooked)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Directions:
In a large wok or skillet heat oil until hot. Add white and shiitake mushrooms; stir-fry until just softened, about 2 minutes. Add broccoli; stir-fry until nearly crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add green onions and curry powder; cook stirring frequently, until curry is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in coconut milk, shrimp, salt and red pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Serve over hot cooked rice, if desired.

Spinach Rollups

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted any recipes and they’re starting to stack up.
Laurie and I have had some really good food over the last few weeks since our honeymoon.
It’s been fun coming home, cooking a meal and enjoying it together. We tried these Spinach Rollups last week and I really enjoyed them but she wasn’t a huge fan. I think the spinach, sour cream and bacon turned her off.
The sour cream blended with the mayo quite well and it wasn’t very noticeable to me but she noticed it and the bacon – which was quite strong.
I made them up pretty quickly and took the majority of them to our friends at the hospital and they all enjoyed them, although Jose’s mother said, “¿Dónde está la carne?”
Good point I said. So next time I try this out I might replace the bacon with chicken strips or chopped chicken and see how it goes.
Here’s the quick and easy recipe:

Ingredients:
9 Burrito Size Flour Tortillas – i used regular size tortillas and used 20 or so
1 (10 oz.) pkg. chopped Spinach thawed and well-drained
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 (8 oz.) container Sour Cream
1 bunch Scallions or Green Onions chopped
1 (1 oz.) pkg. Ranch Dressing mix
1 (3 oz.) jar Bacon Bits

Directions:
Combine spinach, mayonnaise, sour cream, green onions, dressing and bacon bits; spread in tortillas. Roll up jelly roll fashion; wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 4 to 6 hours. Cut into 1/2 inch-thick slices. (I cut the wraps in half rather than into slices)

Fruit Salad

Smiley and Shari had everyone over after church yesterday to hang out and enjoy burgers and hot dogs. We had a great time and I found a “new” fruit salad recipe to mix up to take to the event.
I’ll try and type it up from memory. I doubled the recipe and we had about half left over. The original said it was enough for 6 servings.

2 cups of diced apples (i used semi-tart green ones)
2 cups of grapes (i used seedless red grapes from H.E.B)
1 can of mandarin oranges
1 cup of crushed/broken pecans
1 tbsp of lemon juice (i used apple juice instead)
2 cup of whipped cream
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of mini-marshmallows

The lemon juice is likely used to help preserve the apples but we were out of lemons and such so I just added a little apple juice to add flavor instead.
Mix the whipped cream and sugar together and then pour it over the fruits and nuts and mix it all together. Serve immediately or refrigerate before serving.