Sunday, October 28, 2012

Game Day Bites

I have my dear friend Shayla to thank for this amazing recipe.

I have altered the original recipe just a little. With today's FULL game schedule & a hurricane on the way I am thinking I will be cooking a lot today while we still have power. :) This will be on the menu.

Crispy Chicken Bites

What you will need: 
1 lb. chicken breast cutlets
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard, Honey mustard of Saracha hot sauce (this all depends on your taste, I am going to do Dijon and Saracha today:)
Black pepper
11/2 c. Panko bread crumbs (I used whole wheat Panko)

Preheat oven to 450.
Pour Panko crumbs onto large plate for dipping.

In mixing bowl combine mustard or hot sauce with a teaspoon of pepper.
Once chicken is cut into thick strips coat chicken with mixture. (enough that bread crumbs will adhere)
Press coated chicken into breadcrumbs. Coat both sides and place in lightly greased baking dish.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until juices run clear.

Dipping sauce:
Balsamic Vinegar
or greek yogurt (again depending on the flavor that you are going for)
I used the balsamic glaze for the Dijon version the other night and it was amazing!

For the balsamic glaze place 1 tsp pepper & 1/2c. balsamic vinegar in sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce until syrupy.
Place in small dipping bowl & enjoy! 

(I will be using greek yogurt and a little lime juice for todays spicy bites.)

** Lilly loved the Dijon version. Also, for those of you that do not like Dijon all that much rest assured it does not have a strong flavor in this recipe. Ryan is not a huge fan but did not even know it was one of the main ingredients. They cleared their plates. ;) 




Friday, October 26, 2012

Picture updates :)


We were beyond blessed to have my little sister and her husband come out for a little visit this last weekend! Thanks to having and extra camera around we got a few shots.

One last stop for some ice cream before they all close up for the winter.
Who doesn't love a boat load of sprinkles on top of some choco ice? ;)



Glad we got to the beach Monday since this flipping hurricane will put it out of commission for the next week. 



 Lilly had SO MUCH fun with her Auntie Cassie and Uncle Joey!




 Thank you Cass and Joseph for an awesome visit. We miss you already...and Lilly insists on seeing Macie soon!!! ;)





The Friday dance!

Happy Friday everyone!!!
Yet again, I have had issues blogging this week. Since Blogger updated the interface I have not been a happy camper. It has been difficult to maneuver the html tab.
Anyways...
I hope you have all had a good week and for those of you struggling with stuff right now I pray you find peace.
There is a lot going on for a lot of people this week so I wanted to post some lighter things to bring you into a restful weekend.


Amen!




Now this looks like the perfect hideout for me. Tea and a good book needed:




There is nothing more comforting than knowing that you have someone by your side...
I love you all and we shall chat next week. :)

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Vegan Choco Ice Cream!!

I have been on the hunt for the perfect homemade vegan ice cream recipe for quite some time.
Most of them were just too banana-ie since the made ingredient that adds the substance to the ice cream rather than using cows milk and cream is banana.
I have never been a HUGE fan of bananas so this has been tough.
All of this until I found this recipe and Lilly & I decided to give it a whirl.

There are three recipes on this page. We did the first one, it was chocolate & it was amazing!

If you find yourself craving a little ice cream one of these nights give it a try!! :)

You will need:

An ice cream maker (literally takes 10-minutes once you turn it on)
1.5 c. Almond milk
2 (heaping) Tbs cocoa
2 bananas
1 tsp. sugar (I used stevia)

Huge hit in our house!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Horse love.

We went to the last horse race of the season at Monmouth Part weekend before last.
Lilly had a BLAST. 
Here are a few pictures from the occasion. It was not until the pictures were uploaded that I realized that I managed to capture a pice of trash on the lawn that is really ruining the shot. Ah well!
There will be more pictures of Lilly since I just got myself a new smart phone that takes pretty great pictures. YAY!!

Thoughts crossing Lillys mind here: (very serious)
"Come on horsies!!!! My Daddy bet a few bucks on the one with the pink socks b/c she was cute. Lets moooveee!"


Did not win but they were fun to watch anyway. (Wish mommy would have gotten the food off of my teeth before taking this shot!)


Saturday, October 13, 2012

Quinoa & Black Bean Lettuce Wraps

These were positively delicious!
Quinoa & Black Bean Lettuce Wraps

(Bob, this post is for you:)
 I know I have kinda been on overload with the posts over the last few days. Consider it catch up.
These went over with the adults with a little Siracha & sans the lettuce with the kiddos.
Overall a huge hit!

Now, go and put this one on the menu plan for this week!





Honestly, this here Siracha (aka cock sauce...sorry, had to) is a STAPLE in our home! You can add this beautiful sauce to anything that needs a little fire.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Sprouted.

I am going to (thanks to a few requests) post some healthy food stuff on the old blog.
We try to eat as clean as we can and getting a three-year-old to do that is no small task.

One of Lilly's favorite things to eat are sprouts.
We sprout lentils around here.
She likes them probably because she gets to watch the process and then picks them apart to eat.
Its just too much fun. :)

You will need:
* Bell Jar (any will jar will do) - needs to be at least 
* Rubber band or jelly jar lid
* cheese cloth
* lentils

Here is how we do it:
1. Drop about 1/2 cup lentils (or any bean you may want to sprout) into the jar.
2. Fill jar half way with water, making sure the sprouts have a few inches of water covering them. They will expand.
3. Cover jar opening with cheese cloth and fasten with either the jelly jar ring or a hefty rubber band. This is how you will fill the jar with water and rinse the sprouts for the next few days.
4. Place in dark place overnight.
5. Next morning make yourself a cute reminder sticky note saying "rinse sprouts" and place somewhere in the kitchen that you will see it at least twice a day.
6. Rinse the sprouts a few times with water. Make sure all of the water is out & place jar on its side in cool dark place.
* You will rinse the sprouts 2x daily until they have "popped"




Once they have popped rinse once more, place into a container & refrigerate. I keep a paper towl in the container to absorb the access moisture and avoid mold. :)



Get the kiddos involved. Its fun. 

A few health benefits of sprouted foods are:
Rich source of proteins, folate, iron
Vitamins! The vitamin density for some sprouted beans increase from 100% to 2000% after several days of sprouting. Awesome!
 Antioxidants! (substances that prevent the damage to your bodies cells and repairs existing damage that has been done to those cells.)
Sprouts are alkalizing
Great for digestion
Calorie free

Happy Fall!!!

I sincerely apologize for my complete lack of blogging over the last few months!!!
Been in a funk; ya know?

While I was away Fall swooped in with a vengeance!
Lilly & I did our annual apple & pumpkin picking yesterday and plan on doing some fall decorating around the house today. Funness!!

Any special plans for you this fall??