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Crispy Cheddar Chicken

Crispy Cheddar Chicken
I have a simple dinner recipe for you today. Simple and easy and tasty and smile provoking…an all around treasure. I love it when smiles are provoked. Heck. Speaking of my children…the other day we were watching a cooking show on The Food Network and one of my kids said… “Hey Mom, you like to cook. Why don’t you be the cooker on that show?” “I’m pretty sure The Food Network frowns upon cookers who use cream of chicken soup. Especially since just last week three of the trial recipes I made for this little ol blog crashed and burned in failure. Cross your fingers that real cream and I can become friends soon. I hear from the good folks on The Food Network that it’s a mighty fine ingredient. Now. Should you feel embarrassed about cooking with Are you the cooking she-rah for your family or what? Do make food that provokes a smile? Do your family members occasionally say things like… “You are The Bomb, Mom. We cream of chicken soup lovin’ ladies have to stick together. 1. 2. 3. 4. then the cheese. 5. Related:  Comfort Food Recipes

Green Papaya Salad Recipe Any visitor to Thailand will have come across this fantastic, fresh, hot and spicy dish made from green (unripe) papayas. It's hard to replicate the exact flavours here but this combination comes quite close. Always use very unripe papaya, never the ripe orange kind. Ingredients: 1 large green papaya, peeled, deseeded (or, if unavailable, 1 unripe mango, stone removed, or 1 very firm cucumber, deseeded)5 garlic cloves3 red chilies, finely chopped (or to taste)Large pinch of salt1 tsp dried shrimp or shrimp paste1 tbsp fish sauceJuice of 2 limes1 tbsp sugar4 cherry tomatoes, cut into very small segments3 heaped tbsp beansprouts4 tbsp crushed peanuts Instructions: Step 1: Shred the papaya (or mango or cucumber) into long, thin matchsticks. Step 2: Using a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic, chilies and salt. Step 3: Transfer to a bowl and stir in the rest of the ingredients, reserving some of the peanuts to sprinkle on top before serving. See more recipes from Natasha Edwards.

Crock Pot Chicken Chili Con Queso | iFOODreal How was your long weekend? Mine was extremely busy with painting our house’s trim, entertaining and kids. But it was great and the weather helped.:) Amongst all the cooking I got done during the weekend, was this fragrant, creamy and cheesy Crock Pot Chicken Chili Con Queso – a hybrid of chicken chili and famous Tex Mex cheesy dip known as Chile Con Queso. Just to make sure we are on the same page, this recipe is not a dip. But rather an easy and clean main course meal that is perfect for back to school/work hectic days. It is truly set-n-forget type of meal with no pre-cooking required. I love making hybrid meals especially when it comes to Tex Mex and Southern cuisine. I brought the chili to a poolside party this past weekend and everyone loved it! So, you could serve chili on its own for a low carb version or on top of brown rice to make a complete meal. I used organic Colby Jack Cheese slices from Costco. Canned food contains salt as a preservative. Crock Pot Chicken Chili Con Queso

Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper Dip Not that I think you are dense or anything, but I am just going to say it right off the bat: you need to turn on your oven to make this. If that turns you away, so be it, but all I can do is offer my promise that turning on your oven to make this is so worth it. Any other time of the year, I wouldn't need to give this disclaimer, but I feel like everyone is sweltering lately. Even living here in San Diego where we supposedly have a 'mild' climate, it is HOT. (I finally broke down and bought my first fan! Please don't make fun of me that I didn't have a fan before.) This dip tops my list of summer favorites because it is easy, healthy, and very quick and inexpensive to make. My sister also asked me the right way to cut an onion and other veggies, and I felt like a proud teacher with a star pupil as she sliced and diced like a pro. So here is just how easy this recipe is: You slice up the veggies... Give them a good coating of high quality extra virgin olive oil...

Houseboat Eats: Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Apples My cousin Kathryn called last week looking for Thanksgiving ideas, so this post is for her. I’ll be making these sprouts next Thursday, along with this pie. When I made this last night, we ate it warm, but for thanksgiving I will prepare it a couple hours before dinner and serve it as a room temperature salad (if only because next week there will be 10 people vying for very limited stove space and trying to get a hot dish to the table is a fast way to create a lot of anxiety – I think right around crunch time, I’ll step out of the kitchen with a glass of wine and leave the hot dishes to others). Because the leaves are removed (tedious but character building) from their small head and cooked only briefly, they maintain their shape without getting limp or soggy and are a bit more like a fresh salad than cooked greens. Talley hasn’t always liked the brussels sprout dishes I’ve prepared, neither have I for that matter, but this one we both really liked.

Extra-Crispy Spicy Fried Chicken with “Delta” Sauce I have spent my whole life avoiding Popeyes Fried Chicken. I’ve heard that its Southern locations are excellent, but here in the Northeast, Popeyes appears in the news strictly along with the words, “shots fired” or, “human shield.” The branch location with which I am most familiar is in New Haven, CT, and it seems to exist in one, long perpetual armed robbery, broken up only from time-to-time by employees adding vials of crack to $50 three-piece boxes before passing them through the window. I certainly never visited, and Popeyes simply did not exist on my fried chicken radar. Until, that is, I found myself in an airport down South during a 40 minute layover. The mashed potatoes were pretty standard-issue fast food stuff, and the biscuit was only remarkable due to the perfect butter-stained ring it left on my napkin. Popeyes has just one location in Maine, in the Kennebunk Service Plaza right off Interstate 95. Extra-Crispy Spicy Fried Chicken with Popeye Ingredients For the chicken:

BBQ Chicken Dip I’ve… been holding out on you. And no, I’m not talking about my grey’s anatomy thoughts on twitter or how it’s Bloomingdale’s friends and family sale through Monday or how crushed potato chips on top of boxed macaroni and cheese is seriously a thing (thanks for giving me that terrible habit 20 years ago Dad), or how this scarf slash blanket slash vest is the most amazing piece of clothing you will ever own. No. I’m talking about this dip. And maybe it’s not that big of a deal, and maybe I’ve been living under a rock all this time by secluding us from this dip with barbecue sauce, but then a reader sent me this recipe right before Labor day and… I freaked out. I follow the same rule with this dip as I do with the others: if I’m making it just for us or for a small crowd and want to keep things light, it’s totally fine to use lighter cream cheese and lighter cheddar and MAYBE (ugh) skip the butter roasted chicken. Now add it to your list of football food and go wild. Print Save BBQ Chicken Dip

Gyoza We have a very prolific zucchini plant this year. At first, we were hesitant to pick them, not wanting to waste our precious few gems without careful consideration of how they’d be used. Somewhere along the way though, Beryl discovered that if you pick them, it only encourages the plant to produce more veggies. And so now we’re swimming in gorgeous and delicious zucchini. We also had some ground pork from our pig half that we had thawed and needed to use. It’s really hard to explain how to wrap these buggers, so I highly suggest that you seek out a video on youtube demonstrating the technique such as the one I’ve posted below. You can either steam these or pan fry them. Tagged as: Dumplings, Recipe

DIY Sriracha a.k.a. Rooster Sauce Impress your Chili Head friends by busting out a bottle of this DIY Sriracha Chile Sauce! Sriracha as we know it today has been popularized by Huy Fong Foods and their big red "rooster" bottle (complete with a giant rooster logo and bright green cap, making it easy to identify in your fridge). But the sauce has a rich history and is named after a coastal city in central Thailand's Chonburi Province "Si Racha". Here is a version you can make in your own kitchen. It's not as spicy as the Huy Fong version, but it gives you major street cred -- especially if you bust out these swing-top stopper bottles with hand-carved chili-pepper stamp. This sauce has a great, addicting flavor -- hot, sweet and garlicky -- and just like the real "Rooster Sauce", it tastes awesome on just about anything. (recipe adapted from The Sriracha Cookbook by Randy Clemens) Ingredients: **Gloves** 1 3/4 pounds Fresno Chili Peppers, Red Jalapenos or Red Serrano ( I used Fresno) 3 Thai Chili Peppers 1 tbsp light brown sugar

Kroppkakor - potato dumplings Another traditional Swedish dish! It can't be made during the summer, when there's only new potatoes - they won't hold together, and will just become a gluey mass. (Trust me, I know this from first-hand experience. It's slightly different depending on where in the country you are but I grew up with my grandmother's version, and those kroppkakor were always white - made from mashed boiled potatoes. Kroppkakor From Stora Kokboken ("The big cookbook", a Swedish classic) 8-10 large potatoes (750g-1 kg)1 egg yolk150-200 ml floursalt For the filling: 100 g bacon or pancetta (ideally salted, but unsmoked, pork.) 100 g smoked ham1-2 tbsp minced yellow onion1/2 tbsp butter1/2-1 tsp allspice Peel the potatoes and cut into smaller pieces. Cut the bacon and the ham into small dice. Mix together the riced potatoes, the flour and the egg yolk, and a bit of salt. Roll each piece into a round, and make a hole with your thumb. Boil the dumplings in plenty of boiling, salted water, a few at a time.

quinoa salad with black beans, avocado and cumin-lime dressing — Eating for England This is my kind of salad. I’ve written before about how awesome grain salads are as a go-to lunch option in the warmer months. I like big batches of things. Usually my grain salads lean towards Mediterranean flavours but this one has a Mexican spin. Make this up on a Sunday afternoon and eat it through the week for lunches, you know, when it’s 100F (38C) outside (really, Minneapolis?). Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Avocado and Cumin-Lime Dressing serves 4-6 Ingredients 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed1 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil1 3/4 cup water1 can black beans, drained and rinsed1 avocado, chopped into chunkshandful cherry tomatoes, quartered1/2 red onion, diced1 small clove garlic, minced1 red bell pepper, chopped into chunkssmall handful cilantro, diced1 limes, juiced1/2 tsp cumin1/2 tbsp olive oilsalt, to taste Directions Warm the olive/coconut oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Tagged as: Gluten-Free, Grains, Salad, Vegan, Vegetarian

3 Healthy Alternatives to Mashed Potatoes Who doesn’t love mashed potatoes? They’re creamy, buttery, and oh-so-delicious. They’re also usually loaded with milk, butter, and cheese. Ingredients: - 2 heads celery root - 4 tablespoons olive oil - ¾ cup skim milk - 10-15 sage leaves - salt and pepper, to taste Instructions: 1. Don’t be intimidated by this knobby root vegetable. Boil for 25-30 minutes, or until fork tender. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Spoon the mash into a bowl, and top with some fried sage leaves. Ingredients: - 1 large head cauliflower - ¼ cup Parmesan cheese - ¼ cup skim milk - 1 garlic clove - 2 teaspoons chives - 3 tablespoons olive oil - salt and pepper, to taste Instructions: 1. Chop the cauliflower, and boil for 6-8 minutes. Add chives, one clove of peeled garlic, and blend. Spoon the mash into a bowl, and top with a handful of chopped chives. Ingredients: - ½ pound parsnips - 2 carrots, peeled - 3 tablespoons olive oil - 1 tablespoon thyme - salt and pepper, to taste

Dula Notes » Michigan Pasties: I had my first pasty when I was a young teen and my friend, Janelle, asked me to babysit with her for the weekend. She usually invited me when she was babysitting for the doctor with the big house or the “hot tub people” as we liked to call the family with the hot tub. This time we’d be at the doctor’s house and she was bringing pasties her Dad made along for dinner. Special Northern Michigan pies and hanging out with my friend sounded like a great Friday night. We had fun playing with the two kids and immaturely laughed at the human body pictures that were everywhere. We were very excited when it was time to heat the pasties for dinner. For the longest time I had really terrible thoughts when thinking about the pasty. Pasties dates back as early as 13th century England and there is evidence that Jane Seymour made one for Henry the VIII! Wondering how they came to Northern Michigan? I love these pasties just the way they are; a tender butter crust and a flavorful filling.

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