Spicy Chicken Tortilla Roll-Ups

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can Ro-tel diced tomatoes, drained
12 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tsp ancho chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt (I like Lawry's)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
6 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
6-8 large flour tortillas

Season the chicken breasts with salt, half of the cumin, and 1 tsp of the chili powder. Add chicken to a skillet and add about 1 cup of water. Cover and cook on med-high heat until cooked through. Add more water if necessary. Once the chicken is cooked, cool slightly and shred with 2 forks.

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, drained tomatoes, cheese, remaining spices, garlic, cilantro and scallions. Mix together until well-incorporated. Add cooled chicken and stir together.
Lay out tortillas and divide mixture evenly in the center of each. Spread into a thin layer leaving the edges clean. Roll each tortilla tightly. Do not fold in the ends like you would with a burrito but leave them free. Use a sharp knife to cut into 1" thick slices and transfer to a serving platter. (The end pieces will likely unroll a little so just eat the extras). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lime and Coconut Chicken

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tbsp oil
• zest of 1 lime
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• pinch cayenne
• 1 small fresh hot chili, such as Thai or Serrano, minced (optional)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Fresh limes, cut into wedges

1. Trim fat from chicken breasts.  Starting on thick side of the breasts slice the chicken breasts almost in half, then open each like a book.
2. Place each open breast between two pieces of plastic wrap, wax paper or inside a large, open, Ziploc bag.
3. Using a small heavy pan, bottle or smooth meat mallet lightly pound out each breast into even thickness.
4. Mix all remaining ingredients except fresh cilantro and limes.
5. Add chicken and marinade to a large bowl or ziploc bag and chill in the refrigerator for up to two hours.
6. Your chicken doesn’t take long to cook so you can use this time to get your dishes prepped and ready.
7. Once you are ready to cook the chicken, remove each breast from the marinade.
8. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil continuously for at least 2 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn.
9. In a heavy skillet or grill pan, heat a splash of oil over high heat.
10. Cook the chicken in batches to prevent over crowding the pan.
11. Place the breasts in the hot pan and cook without turning for a couple minutes
12. Flip the breasts over and cook until the other side is golden, it shouldn’t take long depending on the thickness of your chicken.
13. Place cooked breasts on a plate in a warm oven or under foil while cooking the remaining chicken.
14. Sprinkle with fresh lime juice and cilantro. Serve with sauce on the side.

If you typically have these ingredients on hand this is a quick, cheap main dish to throw together.  It would be delicious on the grill or as kabobs as well.

Perfect Pizza Crust and Roasted Garlic Chicken Pesto Pizza

• 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
• 1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups water, at room temp
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plug more for dusting
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• Cornmeal
• olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing bowl

Directions:

1. Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes.Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.
2. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook.Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.
3. To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.
4. Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal. Top as desired. Slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.

Recipe: Roasted Garlic Chicken Pesto Pizza Adapted from Annies Eats

Ingredients:

• 1 perfect pizza crust (recipe above)
• 1/2 cup prepared pesto (store bough or homemade)
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked
• Mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. To roast the garlic: Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Remove garlic gloves and smash with a fork.
2. Spread roasted garlic over pizza dough. Do this to taste. I used almost the whole (small) bulb, but I LOVE roasted garlic.
3. Spread the pesto on the pizza.
4. Add the sliced, cooked chicken.
5. Sprinkle with mozzarella.
6. Top with fresh grated parmesan.
7. Bake on preheated pizza stone for 8 - 12 minutes.

Avocado & Goat Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Avocado & Goat Cheese Grilled Cheese
Makes 2 sandwiches

4 slices wheat bread
1/4 cup pesto
4 slices mozzarella
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/4 goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoon olive oil

Spread pesto over bread and layer with mozzarella, spinach, avocado, and goat cheese.

Top with remaining bread slice and press to seal. Transfer to skillet and brown each side in olive oil over medium heat. Slice and serve.

Tropical Martini

TROPICAL MARTINI
The Cheesecake Factory Recipe

2 ounces vodka
2 ounces passion fruit juice
1 ounce mango juice
1 ounce pineapple juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup (recipe follows)
splash grenadine 

Garnish: 
sugar for rim
whole strawberry
pineapple slice 

Chill a martini glass by filling it with ice and water. Add ingredients into a shaker, with ice, and shake well.
Remove ice and water from martini glass, then moisten half of the rim of the glass and dip it into sugar.
Strain drink into the glass, add a strawberry and pineapple slice to the sugared side of the rim.

Simple Syrup:
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
Stir ingredients together until sugar is completely dissolved. Place in covered container and refrigerate.



TYPHOON PUNCH

3 parts Stolichnaya raspberry vodka
1 part passion fruit juice
1 part pineapple juice
1 part orange juice

Shake over ice, strain into in a hurricane glass with ice, garnish with a chunk of pineapple, a half-wheel of orange, and a cherry.



GEORGIA PEACH

2 ounces Skyy vodka
1 ounce peach liqueur
1/2 cup peach slices  (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup crushed ice
1/4 cup red raspberries (fresh or frozen)
fresh mint, to garnish


Combine the vodka, peach liqueur, peaches, and ice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add the raspberries and blend briefly, until berries are broken but not completely blended in to the drink. Pour into two balloon glasses and garnish with fresh mint.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins Yield 12 muffins

Cream Cheese Filling
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar

Whip together cream cheese and sugar very well. We’ve done this with a fork, a hand mixer, and a food processor – anything works. When it is all combined, pop it back in the fridge to stay cold while you prep the rest of the muffins. Having this mixture as cool as possible will prevent the cream from melting away too much during baking. The results in the picture were created with the cream mixture left at room temperature, though, so don’t worry too much about this cooling step!

Muffins
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
Our own version of “Pumpkin Pie Spices”; feel free to ad lib a little based on what you have on hand. Nothing is essential other than the cinnamon.
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves

Mix the sugar, oil, pumpkin, and eggs together very well in a large mixing bowl. Then plop the flour, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spices on top of this blended wet mixture. Stir well to incorporate and fully mix everything together. Line muffin tins with paper cups, or lightly oil them. Spoon about 1-2 Tablespoons of batter into the bottom of each muffin. We used a regular dinner spoon – heaping – to do this. Make sure this batter is spread thinly and evenly across the bottom of each muffin tin. I whacked mine flat on the counter a few times to accomplish this.
Next, distribute a spoonful (approx 1 Tablespoon) of the cream cheese filling in each. Finally, evenly distribute the remainder of the batter over the top of the cream cheese. Approx 2-3 Tablespoons each is what we came out with. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Let cool before you eat them, unless you are ready to deal with molten cream cheese!

Eggnog French Toast

Ingredients
3 large Safest Choice eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups eggnog
 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon light rum
1 loaf of day old challah bread, sliced into 1 inch slices
Butter, powdered sugar and syrup for serving

Directions
1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together Safest Choice eggs, eggnog, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and rum.
2. Heat a lightly greased skillet or cast iron skillet over the stove
3. Dip slices one at a time into the egg mixture making sure the mixture soaks into the bread.
 4. Fry the bread slices on each side until golden brown. Remove French toast to a plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve hot with butter and syrup.

 

Banana Bread

Ingredients:
 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons of Mexican vanilla extract
1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup of sour cream

Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease an 8-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.
In a medium bowl combine bananas, egg, vanilla extract, butter and sour cream until blended.
Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes or until the cake tester/toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy!
 

Lion Hair!

Lion hair, rawr!

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake Edition -
-1 package yellow cake mix
-2 packages fat free, sugar free vanilla pudding
-1 can diet soda (I used Safeway brand Refresh Black Cherry Sparkling Water with no calories, no sodium, etc)
-Package Strawberries, sliced thinly
-Fat Free Cool Whip -Sugar Free Strawberry Preserves

1. Mix yellow cake mix with diet soda until its the same consistency of cake batter (don't use the oil, eggs, etc as the box directs). Cook as specified on the box.
2. Mix the pudding mix with Skim milk to keep it fat free!
3. Mix sliced strawberries with Strawberry Preserves
4. Layer in deep pan or deep bowl. Cake - pudding - strawberries - cool whip - cake - pudding - strawberries - cool whip - until you're all out. You can make it pretty by putting a few strawberries on top of the cool whip :)

 ENJOY! Nom Nom Nom

Horseraddish Salmon

Low calorie dish, perfect for people watching their diet Ingredients 1 English (seedless) cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/4-inch-thick half-moons 2 tablespoon(s) distilled white vinegar 2 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh dill 2 tablespoon(s) olive oil 1/2 cup(s) panko (coarse bread crumbs) 2 tablespoon(s) prepared horseradish, drained 4 (5 to 6 ounces each) skinless, boneless salmon fillets 6 ounce(s) baby spinach Directions Preheat oven to 475°F. Line large cookie sheet with foil. In large bowl, toss cucumber, vinegar, 1 tablespoon dill, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper. In small bowl, combine panko, horseradish, and remaining dill and oil. Sprinkle salmon with 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper; place on cookie sheet, smooth side up. Press panko mixture evenly on top of fillets. Bake salmon 8 minutes or until golden brown on top and opaque throughout. Toss spinach with cucumber mixture in bowl; serve with salmon.

Jack Skellington Cupcakes

Came across this awesome cup cake picture online. Looks Yummy!

Egg Crepes

Egg Crepes I am a complete sucker for any recipe that does something out of the ordinary with eggs…

Biscuit Bread Pudding

Yummy!

Hipster sky

Hello december

WHoa

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Cute couple

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If only i could photoshop like this....!

Hmm

Any comments?

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How i wish i could pull this look off!!!

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Vintage Look

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