Friday, February 21, 2014

Summer Come Quickly!


Tessa and I are tired of being cooped up inside during this cold winter so we decided to make summer come to us! :)

Asian Chicken & Garlic Noodles



This is a great and simple Asian noodle recipe that can be easily adjusted to be vegetarian or not nearly as spicy.  If you haven't cooked with oyster sauce before... your life is about to change. It has such a great flavor for stir fry and Asian noodle dishes.
  • Diced Chicken
  • Sliced Mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup diced green onions
  • 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
  • 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce
  • 6 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 tablespoons of coconut oil for frying
  • 6 crushed cloves of garlic
  • Angel hair pasta
  • 5 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 3 teaspoons of soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
Marinate the chicken for an hour in some extra soy and oyster sauce and season with salt and pepper. Throw the coconut oil on the skillet and brown the chicken with the marinating liquid until brown. Toss in mushrooms and garlic until cooked. Set aside.

Cook your noodles separately and set those aside when finished.

For the sauce, combine the butter, oyster sauce, soy sauce, green onions, brown sugar, red pepper flakes and adobo sauce until thick. Add a layer to your noodles and enjoy!

Christina

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Snow Days!

 
If it's going to be cold, it might as well snow.
Especially when your better half works in education and still gets adult snow days. ;)

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Baby Feet


Is there anything cuter?  I wish she could just stay small forever. Tessa Jean melts my heart! I must say though, these cute little feet kick pretty darn hard. I keep my distance.

Chipotle BBQ Chicken Pizza



Being a Midwest girl, I love my BBQ. BUT I also love adding some spice to all my sweet things as well. As with a lot of my recipes you can modify them to make them more or less complex. For this one I did not make my own crust (I know, I know, it's Sunday and I'm lazy.) But I did make my own BBQ sauce which you obviously don't have to do.

  • 1 Premade thin crust (Or be adventurous and make your own.)
  • 1/2 Cup of brown sugar
  • 1/4 Cup of Ketchup
  • 2 Tablespoons of Worsh Sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons of Adobo Sauce
  • 1 Diced Adobo Chipotle Pepper
  • 1/4 Cup of Rum (Oh yeeeeah)
  • Garlic Pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
  • 1/2 Cup of Diced, Cooked, Seasoned Chicken
  • 1/4 Cup Sliced Red Onion
  • 1 1/2 Cups of Mozzarella Cheese Grated

Preheat oven to 400.

For the BBQ Sauce combine the worsh, ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, peppers, dry mustard, and adobo sauce over a medium low skillet for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Spread a thin layer of BBQ over the crust. Top with chicken, red onions, and then the cheese.

Cook in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is nice and charred at the top.

Enjoy!

C

Friday, January 24, 2014

Burger Bar




Okay. The Burger Bar was a success. How do I know this?  My husband closed his eyes and did not utter a word during dinner except a few groans.

The Cast of Characters includes but is not limited to:

  • Sliced Avocados
  • Diced Serrano Peppers
  • Caramelized Onions
  • Mushrooms
  • Your Choice of Cheese (I used Munster, the hubby used Crumbled Blue)
  • Bacon Chunks (Yes I said chunks, we don't do bits in the Parisse household!)
  • Roasted Head of Garlic
  • Chipotle Mayo (You can buy it but I made my own.)
  • A Pound of Ground Beef
  • An Egg
  • Parmesan
  • Garlic Pepper (I don't ever use regular pepper if you haven't noticed.)
  • Salt
If you want the exact details of what I did then keep reading, but honestly you can pretty much mix and match all your favorite burger toppings on your own.

BURGERS: Toss the ground beef with an egg and some parmesan to hold it together. Form it into patties and make a thumb print in the center to ensure even cooking. Then heat up your skillet to medium high (I don't have a grill. Yes, I know, it's ridiculous.)  Throw a tablespoon of butter on the grill and cook the patties on each side with some garlic pepper and salt for 4 minutes for medium well.

CHIPOTLE MAYO: If you're interested in making the chipotle mayo, simply mix about 6 tablespoons on mayo with 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce.

ROASTED GARLIC: To roast your garlic head, slice off the top of the head and place in an oven safe dish. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Once it's cooled you can literally just squeeze out the cloves. Since learning how easy this is I now add garlic to everything. Pasta, Sandwiches, Burgers, Ice Cream... yadda yadda.

BACON: You can cook your bacon however your heart desires, but I stick mine in a cold oven, turn it to 375 for 20 minutes and then do it all over again because I ate it all.

CARAMELIZED ONIONS: To caramelize the onions, slice them into strips and cook over medium high heat for about 8 minutes with some butter. Stir the suckers constantly though or they will burn.

If you spent a lot of money on clothes this week like I did, make this for your man. It really will ease his pain.

Christina

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

 
Leave it to me to somehow make a pizza more unhealthy than it already is. But let me tell you, you won't regret it and won't have any leftovers to clean up either.
 
  • 1 Pre Made Thin Pizza Crust
  • 4 to 5 Chicken Strips
  • 1/2 Cup of Butter
  • 1/2 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
  • 1/2 Cup of Flour
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/4 Cup Milk
  • Salt
  • Garlic Pepper
  • 1/2 Stalk of Celery Chopped
  • 1/2 cup of Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
  • 1/2 Cup of Frank's Red Hot Sauce
  • 1/4 Cup Minced Red Onion
  • 1 1/2 Cups of Shredded Motz Cheese
 
Start by heating the skillet to medium high and melting the butter. Whisp the egg and milk together in a bowl. Place the flour in another bowl, and the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in another.
 
Dip the chicken in each bowl in that order until coated. Then toss it into the skillet until crispy and cooked. Chop the chicken into small chunks.
 
Preheat the oven to 400 and spread and blue cheese dressing onto the crust.
 
Next place the celery, red onions and chicken onto the pizza. 
 
Layer the pizza with the cheese on top and drizzle the hot sauce on top of the cheese. 
 
Bake in the preheated over for about 15 minutes and try not to drool too much. ;)
 
Christina