Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

25 Jan

This meal was inspired by an episode of Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals on TV one Saturday morning.  While it’s a little disappointing that cartoons don’t dominate weekend basic cable TV anymore, my kids and I love that there are a couple of cooking shows on to watch since we don’t have full cable TV and the Food Network.  He did the chicken over a pesto pasta with green beans, but I had gotten a lot of cherry tomatoes from Market on the Move, so I decided to make the chicken with green beans and cherry tomatoes.  The rice I cooked separately as a side, but the chicken, green beans, and cherry tomatoes are all cooked  in 1 skillet on the stove top.  This did take more than the 15 minute version from the TV show, but not much more.  We all really enjoyed it, and will be making it again!

Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

 

Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin or cut in half through the thickness
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
Olive oil

How to make it:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic, stir and cook until soft and translucent.

Season chicken with fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Add chicken to the skillet and cook for a few minutes on each side to brown both sides.

Stir in chicken broth, green beans, and cherry tomatoes.  Cover and cook 15-20 minutes, or until green beans are soft and chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes, if desired.

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Eggplant Lasagna

24 Jan

I’ve always wanted to try Eggplant Lasagna, but just hadn’t gotten to it.  After we got eggplant at a recent Market on the Move event, I decided it was time to try it.  Now, I have made Moussaka, so I know how to prepare the eggplant.  Then, I decided to take my favorite Lasagna recipe from Daily Cynema, use the meat sauce and cheese filling, subbing the roast eggplant in place of the noodles. We did a row of 4 slices of eggplant for each layer.  I didn’t get a real good picture showing how the eggplant looked, but you can almost see how in the 2 pictures here.

My older daughter enjoyed working on this with me, and we all enjoyed eating it!Layering the Eggplant Lasagna Eggplant Lasagna

Eggplant Lasagna

What you need:

2 large eggplants, sliced lengthwise into 1/2″ slices, outer peel removed, if desired
Salt
Olive oil
1 pound ground beef**
1 small onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
1 large jar (45 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 egg
1 15 oz container ricotta or cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon oregano

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set on paper towels for 15-20 minutes to let them drain.  Pat tops with a paper towel.  Spray or brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil and lay in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes, flip slices over and bake for another 10 minutes, until they are tender and slightly brown.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown the ground beef over medium heat.  Add the onion and bell pepper, and continue to cook until soft.  Pour in all but 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg.  Mix in ricotta or cottage cheese, spinach, 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella, 4 tablespoons of the grated Parmesan, and the oregano.

In a small bowl, mix the reserved 1 cup of spaghetti sauce with the remaining 1 cup shredded mozzarella and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan.

Pour 1/3 of the meat sauce into a 13 x 9 baking dish.  Put down 1 layer of the roasted eggplant.  Next, spread 1/2 of the cheese/spinach mixture over the eggplant.  Then, spread the next 1/3 of the meat sauce.  Lay down another layer of roasted eggplant.  Spread the other 1/2 of the cheese/spinach mixture over the eggplant, then the last 1/3 of the meat mixture.  Lay down the final layer of roasted eggplant.  Spread the sauce and cheese mixture over this final layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 – 40 minutes, or until bubbly.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Slice and serve.

**Note: If you would like to make this meatless, use diced mushrooms or zucchini/yellow squash in place of the ground beef.

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Honey Orange Baked Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans

23 Jan

I’m not sure how, but I had a lot of sweet potatoes.  I think I forgotten I had some and just kept getting more.  Anyway, I have made chicken and roast potatoes many times, but just with russet or gold potatoes, not with sweet potatoes.  To somewhat match the sweetness of the potatoes, I decided to make a honey orange sauce to pour over the chicken.  I baked it all together in a pan with green beans, and was very happy with the result!

Honey Orange Baked Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans

Honey Orange Baked Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 pound green beans
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup honey
Juice of 1 orange (about 1/3 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 425 F.

In a small bowl, whisk together honey, orange juice, olive oil, and Italian seasoning blend.

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a roasting pan.  Add sweet potatoes, green beans, and onions to the pan.  Pour half of the sauce over sweet potatoes, green beans, and onion.  Toss to coat evenly.

Place chicken breasts on top.  Pour remaining sauce over chicken.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until chicken reaches a temperature of 165 F.

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Easy Appetizers

21 Jan

My sister and I made some yummy, easy appetizers for New Year’s Eve.  The nice thing about these is that one uses crescent rolls and the other uses biscuits, which tend to be on sale fairly often.

Bacon Cheese Pinwheels and Mozzarella Bites

Bacon-Cheddar Pinwheels

What you need:

1 can crescent rolls
4 slices bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Open can of dough, unroll, and press into a large rectangle.  Sprinkle bacon and cheddar evenly over the dough.  Roll the dough from one side, and pinch the edge to close.  Cut the roll into about 16 pieces, placing each piece on a baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-17 minutes, or until golden brown.

Mozzarella Bites

What you need:

1 can Grands biscuits
2-3 mozzarella cheese snack sticks
Olive oil
Garlic salt
Oregano
Grated Parmesan cheese

How to make them:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut each Grands biscuit in half and cut each mozzarella cheese snack stick into 1-inch sections.  Press each biscuit piece into a circle, and place a section of cheese on each circle.  Pull up sides of the biscuit around the cheese, and press to close.  Place the sealed side of each biscuit down on a baking sheet.  Brush the tops with olive oil, and sprinkle with the seasonings and grated Parmesan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Un-Stuffed Peppers

18 Jan

I really enjoy Stuffed Peppers, but no one else in my house really likes them.  I think it’s the texture of the peppers after they are cooked that is the problem.  So, at today’s Market on the Move produce event, we got red bell peppers and cherry tomatoes.  Since the “Unstuffed” Cabbage Rolls went over well a while back, I decided that the same could be done for Stuffed Peppers, with a few modifications.  We all really enjoyed this, and I know I will make it again.  It really came together quickly too, which makes it nice for nights you don’t have a lot of time.  I don’t normally have cheese on my Stuffed Peppers, but it was a nice addition to this version tonight.

Un-Stuffed Peppers

Un-stuffed Peppers

What you need:

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, diced
2 bell peppers, diced
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used the Mexican blend shredded cheese)

How to make it:

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef.  Add onions and bell pepper, and cook until they have softened.  Stir in diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, basil, oregano, salt, and ground black pepper.  Turn heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir in rice and tomato sauce, and continue to cook a few more minutes.  Turn off heat, and sprinkle cheese over the mixture in the skillet.

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Baklava Two Ways

2 Jan

I am surprised that I haven’t ever posted this recipe!  Most likely because I haven’t made it in a while.  I really enjoy baklava, but like Spanakopita and Tiropita, it’s somewhat time-consuming to make having to butter all the phyllo dough.  In the end, though, all the work is so worth it!  For New Year’s Day, my sister and I decided we wanted a Greek feast for dinner, and we spent 3 hours prepping tiropita, pastitsio, and dolmathes.  We had a roll of phyllo dough left, so we decided to make a dessert to take to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for dinner tonight.  I thought of baklava, but the nuts are pretty expensive to get already chopped.  So, then I thought about the Biscoff Cookie Truffles my sister had made last week, which were absolutely amazing, and thought that the Biscoff cookies and Biscoff spread would make a great filling instead of the traditional nut filling.  Turns out that I’m not the only to have the idea of Biscoff Baklava, but we made a few changes because I was worried that version would be way to sweet and over seasoned.  The Biscoff cookies and spread are already so flavorful on their own, they don’t need anything else, as evidenced by the truffles we’d just made.  It turned out amazing, and I will share how we made it and include the traditional baklava filling and the Biscoff filling.

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Baklava

What you need:

1 roll 9″ x 14″ phyllo dough (usually in your grocery’s freezer section)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

Traditional baklava filling:
4 cups (1 lb) coarsely ground walnuts
2 cups (1/2 lb) coarsely ground almonds
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 Tbsp melted butter

Alternate Biscoff baklava filling:
1 8.8 oz package Biscoff cookies
1/2 of a 14 oz jar of Biscoff spread
4 oz cream cheese

Syrup:
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 c. water
2 c. sugar
1 cinnamon stick

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Traditional baklava filling:
Combine the ingredients for the filling.  Brush bottom and sides of 13″ X 9″ pan with melted butter. Lay phyllo dough in bottom of pan, generously brushing with butter.  Repeat this process, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, using half the dough in your roll. Pour filling over phyllo dough and spread evenly. Continue again with layers of phyllo dough, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, until you have used the remaining dough.

Alternate Biscoff filling:
Place Biscoff cookies in a large zipper bag and crush into fine pieces using a rolling pin.  In a small saucepan, heat Biscoff spread and cream cheese over low heat.  Stir continuously until mixed together and easier to spread.  Brush bottom and sides of 13″ X 9″ pan with melted butter. Lay phyllo dough in bottom of pan, generously brushing with butter.  Repeat this process, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, using half the dough in your roll. Carefully spread the Biscoff spread and cream cheese mixture over the phyllo dough.  Next, evenly pour the crushed Biscoff cookies over the spread.  Continue again with layers of phyllo dough, brushing each sheet of dough with butter, until you have used the remaining dough.

Score through top layers of the pastry with a sharp knife. Pour remaining butter over. Bake for 40 minutes on the bottom oven rack or until pastry is golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and cool for 5 minutes.

Biscoff Baklava

I forgot to get a picture before we started serving it, but this gives you an idea of one way to make the cuts.

Combine all syrup ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes or until it reaches 225 F on a candy thermometer. Remove cinnamon stick and allow to cool.

Pour cooled syrup over hot pastry. Allow to stand for at least 3 hours or overnight. (Note: I like to put mine in the fridge overnight, then bring to room temperature before served.)

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Suave Family Beauty Products

2 Jan

Recently, I received an Influenster Vox Box with 3 Suave Family Beauty products.  We received:

Suave Family Products from Influenster

– Suave Moroccan Infusion Deep Conditioning Shine Mask for me
– Suave Kids Apple Detangling Spray for my kids
– Suave Men Active Sport body wash for my husband

I have naturally curly hair that tends to be really dry.  In addition to shampoos and conditioners, I usually do treatments to me hair to keep it shiny and healthy.  I hadn’t heard of the Suave Moroccan Infusion products until I received this box, so I was excited to try something new.  It’s very easy to use.  After shampooing hair, you put this conditioner on and leave it in for 3-5 minutes, then rinse it out.  This is done in place of your regular conditioner 1-2 times a week.  I really liked it for my hair, and this will be a great addition to my hair care routine in the future.

The detangling spray I have actually used for about 6 years on both my children.  They don’t have very curly hair like mine, but there is some curl and wave to it, especially when it’s wet.  We love this spray to help get the tangles out while combing their hair.  Plus, the apple scent makes their hair smell nice too, complimenting the Suave shampoo/conditioner products we also use in various scents.

The active sport body wash was perfect for my husband.  His occupation has him on the go quite a bit, plus on his time off, he spends a lot of time at the gym.  This has a nice “manly” scent, and helps keep him smelling nice.

These products can be found at many major retailers, including Walmart, Target, Walgreens, and CVS.

Disclaimer: I received a box with 3 Suave Family Beauty products complimentary from Influenster and Suave Beauty for testing purposes.  All opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.

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My Current Favorite Apps for Organization

29 Dec

I have to confess, I’m getting rather forgetful.  I think it’s a combination of getting older and having a lot going on with 2 kids, their school, and all their activities.  Plus, I have some daily medications to take that I was taking at random times or not at all.  So, this year I found 2 apps for my smart phone that have really helped me, and thought I would share.

Cozi Family Calendar

On my previous phone, I used to keep all my appointments and places to be on the basic calendar app on my phone.  In March, I upgraded to a new phone, and I didn’t like the calendar on it as much.  Plus, my husband was always asking what was going on and couldn’t remember what I had told him.  So, I came across the Cozi Family Calendar & Lists app.  You set up your account with the name for your calendar and a shared family password.  This allows family members access to the calendar from the web sign-in or by downloading the app on their smart phone.  Next, you set up family members and assign each family member a color.  You can also enter their e-mail address (if applicable) so they can receive reminders by e-mail if they don’t have the smart phone app.  Then, you add events to the calendar.  For each event, you can put what the event is, where it is located, select which family members need to attend, select if it’s a repeating event, add a start and end time, and then set a reminder.  If the family member has the app on their phone, the reminder will be a notification sent to their phone.  If they do not have the app, the reminder will be an e-mail.  Finally, you can add notes.  For example, if your event is a potluck, you can add a note to remind you to bring the dish you need.

The shared calendar is really all I use it for now.  You can also create to-do lists and grocery lists, but I haven’t tried that yet.  There is now also an option to import information from Google Calendars.  Additionally, you can upgrade to Cozi Gold to gain more functionality for $29.99/year.  At this point, I’m just using the free version and really happy with what I can do with it now.

MediSafe Meds & Pill Reminder

I first found this app earlier this year when my younger daughter had to take a dose of antibiotics.  You know, the kind that is 3 times a day for 10 days.  I lose track of time, forget what time each does is supposed to be, so I wanted to find an app to help remind me of all that.  This app can do that, plus I found out that it was great to set up a reminder for my daily medications, plus more.

First, you set up yourself as a user, and anyone else you want to track meds for.  In my case, I made a profile for myself and for each of my 2 daughters.  You can set up the other users as Med-Friends with their phone number, so they are notified for your meds or you are notified for their meds, or as an internal profile, if they don’t have a smart phone to use the app.

Then, you can set up the medications.  First, you can decide if it’s scheduled med or an as needed med.  I have daily medications, so those are scheduled meds.  For my daughter’s antibiotic, I set that up as a scheduled med as well for the number of days she needed to take it.  For the scheduled meds, you also set what time of day it needs to be taken, and it will create a notification on your phone.  When it is time, there is a notification the pops up and you can select Snooze (if you can’t get to the medication right away), Take (if you are taking it right then), or Skip (if you decide you don’t need it that day).  If you do nothing, it will continue to remind you every half hour until you Take or Skip it.  It records this, and if you want you can also export this data to Microsoft Excel to give a record to a medical provider or for your own reference.

For as needed medications, I add things like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, inhalers.  You set it up with the dosage that is needed, which is nice for the kids so I’m not squinting at the bottle trying to decide how much to give them.  Then, when you need to take it, you can tap on the Med Cabinet button on the main screen so the time is recorded.  This is great because I usually forget the time I take a dose and then don’t know when it’s ok to take the next dose.

Another nice feature is that when you set up a med, you can set it to help show what the medication looks like.  There are different shapes and colors for pills.  Also, there is a drop shape for liquid meds, syringe for injectable meds, and an inhaler shape for inhalers.  Colors can be chosen for those as well, i.e. a blue inhaler or purple liquid.

This has really been nice to have the reminders, annoying as they are at times, but I know that I’m taking my meds more reliably now.  Plus, I can better record what and when I give meds to my kids, which is nice.  I’ve tried writing it down to track, but then I lose track of the paper.  I almost always have my phone with me, so it’s just as easy to have it all on the phone right now.

 

So, these are my 2 favorite apps to help with my organization right now.  What are your favorite apps to help you with organization or daily life?

 

Disclaimer:  I did not receive any compensation or benefit for writing my review and thoughts on these apps.  This is based solely on my opinion and usage.  I wanted to share how they have benefited me and hope they may help someone else as well.

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Snowball Swirl Cookies Recipe

26 Dec

My sister usually has 1 or 2 new cookie recipes she finds each year, and this is one from this year.  She and my older daughter made these together.   They came together really easily, and have a short ingredient list, which is great for little hands and short attention spans!

Here is how they turned out for us:

Snowball Swirl Cookies

 

Note: I didn’t get this picture taken until after we’d had a few….or maybe a lot!  They were that good.  Reminded me of a shortbread cookie, with white chocolate chips and sprinkles added in.

Original post with recipe here: Snowball Swirl Cookies Recipe | In Katrina’s Kitchen.

What you need:

1 1/2 cups softened butter (3 sticks)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2-1 cup sprinkles in colors of your choice
How to make it:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Beat butter and sugar with mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add in vanilla, mix well. Add in salt and flour, a little at a time, mixing until well combined. Dough will be thick.
Fold in the chocolate chips and sprinkles.
Using a small cookie scoop, drop cookie dough onto cookie sheets, leaving about 2″ between each cookie.
Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until just starting to lightly brown.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheets for at least 10 minutes.
Store in airtight containers.

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Baked Cheeseburger Spinach Macaroni

26 Dec

I came up with this on a night that my older daughter wanted Spinach Bacon Shells and Cheese.  I didn’t have any bacon thawed, but I did have ground beef thawed, so I made the shells and the cheese sauce like in that recipe, and then seasoned ground beef like I did for the Bacon Cheeseburger Soup I made recently.  She and I were both happy with the results!

Baked Cheeseburger Spinach MacaroniBaked Cheeseburger Spinach Macaroni

What you need:

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup diced red or yellow onion
1 cup beef broth
3 cups whole grain medium shells, uncooked
2 cups fresh spinach, slightly chopped
2 Tbsp. flour
1-2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, if needed
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
 
How to make it:
 
Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
 
In a large skillet, mix together ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, and pepper.  Brown meat over medium high heat.  Stir in diced onion, and cook until soft.  Pour in beef broth and reduce heat to low to simmer while you work on the other parts.
 
Cook shells as directed on package, adding spinach in to cook for the last minute.  Drain.  Return to pot.
 
In another large skillet, melt 1-2 Tbsp butter or margarine.  Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk.  Bring to boil, stirring constantly; cook 3 to 5 minutes,  or until thickened.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and the Parmesan cheese; cook and stir until melted.
 
Pour ground beef mixture and cheese mixture over shells and spinach in the large pot; mix well.  Pour into a greased 2-1/2 qt casserole.  Top with the remaining shredded cheddar cheese.
 
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until it is bubbling and the cheese on top is melted.

 

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