Chicken Kale Grain Bowl with Sun Dried Tomato Sauce

Grain bowls have been taking over my feeds lately so I decided to dip my toe into the world of quinoa and kale.  I don't know how much of a "recipe" this needs to be, but I'll type one up for you and you decide how much of it you want to follow.

Chicken Kale Grain Bowls
From Pinch of Yum

Ingredients
For marinade
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

For the bowls
2 cups baby kale, if you use regular kale just chop it and marinate it a little longer
2 cups cooked grain of your choice (I found this fun rice/quinoa blend)
1 avocado
sesame seeds or red pepper flakes
sliced almonds
maybe some feta cheese if the mood should strike you

For the sauce
16 oz jar of sun dried tomatoes, drained
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil

1. Mix up that marinade in a measuring cup. Give half of it to the kale and half to the chicken. The chicken should marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours. The baby kale can go for the same time, if you have regular kale feel free to marinate it all night.
2. Cook your chicken however you desire.  I sauteed it on the stove.
3. Blend that sauce or food process it, all the ingredients just dump 'em in.
4. Cook your grain according to package directions.  Take 1/2 cup of the sauce and stir it in.
5. Assemble the bowls! Top the grains with all that good stuff you just whipped up.

This was totally delicious and it really was fun to assemble it all in the end.

No Mayo Broccoli Salad

It's a summer bbq side dish that doesn't have mayonnaise in it!  If this delights you as much as it delighted me, keep reading.

Hi, my name is KTC and I refuse to eat mayo in any shape or form.  Here is a broccoli salad that is actually good for you- no mayo, no bacon- and it's delicious!

That's me blending the dressing up.  Feel free to use a blender or a food processor, I find the immersion blender easiest to clean. 

Mix and match the vegetables/nuts/dried fruit you'd like to include.  I got a cole slaw mix, almonds, and craisins to go along with the broccoli and scallions.

Broccoli Salad

Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces

3 scallions, sliced

1 cup cabbage

1/2 cup almonds, sliced

1/2 cup craisins

2/3 cup orange juice

2 tbsp miso paste* (no miso? just double up on the nut butter and add some salt)

2 tbsp nut butter of your choice (I used peanut)

1 shallot, chopped

2 tbsp canola oil

1. Get all your salad ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Put orange juice, miso paste, nut butter, shallot, and canola oil in blending mechanism of your choice.  I used the immersion blender because it is the simplest to clean in this non-dishwasher household.

3. Pour that luscious salad dressing over your anxiously awaiting ingredients and toss. 

I cannot wait to make this again for a larger audience!  It will be the perfect addition to your next event this summer.

Carrot Soup

 It is officially winter. That means it's soup season!  This carrot soup comes together in a flash so it's great for a weeknight.

Carrot Soup 

From 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp red curry paste

2 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 can coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup water, to cover

lemon or lime juice, for serving

1 cup chopped toasted almonds, for serving

1. In a large pot melt butter over medium high.  Cook onion until translucent. Stir in curry paste, then carrots and cook a minute or 2. Add in coconut milk, salt, and water. Add more water to cover if necessary.

2. Simmer until carrots are tender, 10-15 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to blend soup until it's silky smooth. Serve with a squeeze of lemon/lime juice and a sprinkle of toasted almonds.

Super simple soup for any night of the week.

Christmas Cookie Party

It cookie time folks! This is my second year hosting a cookie swap party.  The first was back in 2012 and can be seen here.

I decided to make treasure cookies.  They have all the ingredients of a magic square in cookie form.

Treasure Cookies

From Cookies and Cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham crackers, crushed
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cup flaked coconut
2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Toss it all into a big bowl and mix it up.  Sorry, I just can be bothered with that whole separate bowl for dry and wet ingredients.
3. Scoop tablespoons of dough onto prepared pan leaving and inch or two for the cookies to spread. Bake 9-11 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
4.  Allow cookies to cool 3-4 minutes on the pan before removing them to a cooling rack.
5. Eat them all!!

So excited to use some new bake-ware!

Treasure cookies stay soft and chewy even days later.

Those are gingersnaps covered with marshmallow fluff, caramel, and pecans!

These are snowball cookies made with ground peanuts and filled with chocolate chips and peanut butter cups!

These are chocolate cookies filled with crushed peppermint and chocolate ganache!

Another successful evening of nonstop eating. I hope to do it all over again next year!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Baklava is a terribly labor intensive item to bake.  Someday I might be ready to devote an entire day to making it, but for now this shortcut recipe was the prefect substitute.

This recipe uses store bought filo cups to cut prep time immensely, Sunny Anderson knows what she's doing.

The only little change I made to this recipe was eliminating the almonds; I just used walnuts and pistachios.

I almost left out the lemon zest, but do NOT leave it out.  It brings the flavors to a whole nother level.

These were quite well received  and fairly simple to make. I highly recommend trying this recipe out.