Chicken Meatballs with Peanut Sauce

I love meatballs!  Doesn’t really matter what kind of meat it is, I just love meatballs.  Unfortunately my husband doesn’t share my passion for balls of meat.  Not really sure why, what is not to love.   I sneak them in sometimes, trying different versions hoping to find one that does it for him.  Most are Italian based, and maybe that is where I went wrong.  I have tried a couple Mexican versions, but they have turned out bland.  So when I saw this Asian version in Everyday with Rachael Ray I was excited!  Why didn’t I think of this sooner?   Needless to say, Racheal came through for me on this one.  He liked them, and he said he would like it if I made them again!!  I will change the sauce next time,  but the ball itself was perfect! 

These were written with a Sweet Peanut Sauce, which is what I made.  It was good, but next time I am going to do a Spicy Peanut Sauce.  I was hoping that my son would eat these as well, and like the sauce, so I didn’t want to spice it up the first time.  Next time, I will do some of each. 

Chicken  Meatballs with a Sweet Peanut Sauce

Recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray

Printable Recipe

1 pound ground chicken

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

¼ cup dried breadcrumbs

¼ cup grated onion

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

2 Tbls Canola Oil

¼ cup peanut butter

2 Tbls Soy Sauce

3 Tbls Sugar

2 Tbls Sesame Oil

Chopped Peanuts for garnish

Mix chicken, cilantro, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, salt and pepper.  Roll into about 1 inch balls.  Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Cook the meatballs until they are cooked through, about 10 minutes.  

 

While they are cooking, you can make the sauce.  Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl.  Microwave for few seconds to get it warm.  Stir together. 

 

Toss the meatballs with half of the sauce, reserving the other ½ for dipping.  Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts. 

Serve on toothpicks with the remaining sauce!  

 This recipe is also on Taste and Tell's Saturday with Rachael Ray Series

Barbeque Ribs

Memorial Day is all about grilling right?  So we spent the weekend using our grill as much as we could!  Brats, hot dogs, chicken, ribs, potatoes - pretty much every meal!  It was great to get out of the "kitchen" and be outside!

Ribs have to be one our favorites, and have been for awhile.  But they are a special treat - we probably only make them once or twice a year.  Our son used to love them.  When he was 2 and thought they were the best.  But for the last couple years he wouldn't touch them.  With his new found love of pork chops, I figured I could get these past him.  I started by just cutting some meat off the bone and let him eat it like that - fail.  Then I turned him on to the novelty of getting dirty and being able to eat it straight from the bone - success!  Should have known, 6 year old boy = messy!  He must have eaten a whole 1/2 rack of ribs that way.  Proud moment for Daddy!

We have been making this recipe for years.  I got it off one of those imitation of a restaurant sites.  It is supposed to be how Tony Roma's does their Blue Ridge Smokey Ribs.

This recipe is also linked on  It's a Keeper Thursday

Barbeque Ribs
Printable Recipe

2 Full racks of Baby Back Ribs

Sauce:
1 cup Ketchup
1 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Molasses
1 1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 rounded tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder

Combine everything in a sauce pan over high heat.  Whisk until smooth.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes or until nice and thick.



Place Ribs in foil - baste with plenty of sauce.



Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours.



Remove from foil and smother with more sauce.  Grill on hot grill for 2 to 4 minutes per side.  Just to caramelize the sauce. You can serve with more sauce on the side if you like it saucy!



Really should have taken a picture of how messy Tyler got, but instead I leave you with the aftermath.

 This recipe is also on “Get Grillin’ with Family Fresh Cooking and Cookin’ Canuck, sponsored by Ile de France Cheese, Rösle, Emile Henry, Rouxbe and ManPans.”

Chicken Skewers

Preview

It is the last day of school for my little boy today!  He is officially done with Kindergarten.  I don't know how we got here so quickly!  Only 9 short months ago he could barely read a few words, and now he is reading chapter books, he wants to walk to the bus stop alone, and just get dropped off by the door.  So bitter sweet to see him grow up and become so much more independent. 

Ok, sorry!  Proud Mom.  I will move on to the food now!

Memorial Day weekend is here!  It is practically the grilling holiday of the country.  So after you take a second to remember what Memorial Day is all about, and all the people who have fought so we can grill to our hearts content on this day, consider something other than a burger.  Oh don't get me wrong, I love a good burger!  But I do like to change it up as well.  These chicken skewers are a great alternative.  1.  They are healthy  2.  They have an avocado dipping sauce (did you read that right?  AVOCADO!)  3.  They are super quick and easy.  We had these the other night, and they were a hit all around.  My son doesn't like avocado (I know, I really need to do something about him), so he dipped his in ranch. 


Chicken Skewers with Cool Avocado Sauce
Printable Recipe
Adapted from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup lime juice
1 Tbls balsamic vinegar
2 tsp minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Sauce
1 avocado
1-2 Tbls sour cream
1 Tbls minced cilantro
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp lime zest
1/4 tsp salt

Pound chicken to about 1/4 in thick, and cute into 1 inch strips.  Combine the lime juice, vinegar, chipotle and salt in a ziploc bag.  Add chicken, and squish it around to coat.  Marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

To make the sauce halve the avocado and remove the pit.  Using a fork mash the avocado.  Stir in the sour cream and cilantro.  Once well combined add the zest, salt, and squeeze in the juice from half a lime.   Refrigerate until serving.



Thread the chicken onto skewers.  If you are using wooden skewers, make sure they are soaked first.  This prevents them from burning, and from splinters getting into your meat.  Discard the marinade.  Grill covered over medium heat for 4-6 minutes on each side until no longer pink. 



Serve with the sauce.  Enjoy!

Baked Wontons and a Bonus!

I mentioned before that I got a few cookbooks for Mother’s Day.  On like page 2, I saw a recipe for crispy baked wontons.  It was a must!  They looked great, and they were healthy.   This was the first on my long list of must try’s from this Taste of Home, Healthy Cooking cookbook. 

Once I had all the ingredients, I set to work.  These are a little labor intensive.  Any time you have mini filled things, you know it is going to take awhile.  But I was prepared, after all, they were wontons!  I am pretty sure this is a very Americanized version, but we enjoyed them.  They made the coveted, Will Make Again list.  They would work well as party appetizers, but we weren’t going  to wait for a party to try them.  And they were perfect.  You could easily freeze some instead of baking them all right away.  And when you have leftover Wonton wrappers, be sure to try Dessert Wontons! 

Crispy Baked Wontons

From Taste of Home Healthy Cooking

Printable Recipe

½ lb ground pork

½ lb pound ground turkey

1 small onion chopped

1 can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped

1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

¼ cup egg substitute

1 ½ tsp ground ginger

1 pkg wonton wrappers

In a large skillet cook the pork, turkey, and onion until the meat is cooked through.  Drain.  In a large bowl mix together the meat, water chestnuts, soy sauce, egg substitute and ginger.  Now if you don’t have egg substitute you could just use 1 regular egg.  Or even leave it out.  I am not sure it did much.  I ended up with a soup at the bottom of my meat,.  So next time, I am going to put the soy sauce in with the meat during the last few minutes of cooking, and just leave the egg out. 

Then comes the wrapping.   It is kind of hard to explain, so check out the pictures for the examples.  Lay one wrapper down at an angle.  Put in about 2 tsp of filling.  You have to play around with the amount to make it work for you.  Too much, and they don’t fold up well.   Moisten all the edges with water.  

Fold over the 2 sides.  

Starting at the bottom roll up to seal.  This isn’t how the book described, so you can mess around and see what works for you. 

 Place all the wontons on a lined baking sheet.  Spray them with cooking spray and bake at 400 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes.  I turned on the broiler the last minute to get them more brown and crispy.  

Serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce for dipping.  My super picky 6 year old even ate a couple (he dipped his in ranch)!  Huge success!

Bonus!!

What to do with the other ½ pound of turkey and pork – turn into a burger! 

I just mixed the pork and turkey with about 2 Tbls of Onion Soup Mix and 1 Tbls Ranch Dressing mix (great combo for beef burgers as well). 

 

 Form into patties.  

Grill for about 7 minutes per side, and top as you would a normal beef hamburger – they were very juicy and yummy!

 

Have a great week! 

Herb Grilled Pork Tenderloin

I had my Margarita Cake picture accepted by Tastespotting yesterday!  I feel like I won the lottery.  I can't even tell you how many more hits I got on my site because of that yesterday.  AMAZING!  I may have had 8 declined, but 1 got through!  Maybe they just felt sorry for me, who knows :)  I now have a book on photography, so hopefully that will help me learn more!  Stay tuned to see if you notice a difference.  It won't be for a few days though, I still have a few posts to write with not great pictures.  But the food is good, so hopefully you will over look it!

I got a couple of new cookbooks for Mother's Day, so I have been trying a few new recipes out of them this week.  This one was a winner!  It is a healthy, low calorie, pork tenderloin that is full of flavor.  I have never grilled a pork tenderloin before.  I think the trick is to make sure you don't have the grill on too high, because it does take awhile to cook, and you don't want to burn it.  It did give it a whole different flavor than baking it, like I normally do.  I am sure this would be just as good if you wanted bake it though. 


Herb Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Adapted from Taste of Home Heatlhy Cooking
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup chicken stock
3 Tbls Lemon juice
3 Tbls reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 Tbls honey
1 Tbls Canola Oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 1/2 tsp minced fresh sage (1 1/2 tsp dried sage)
1 Tbls minced fresh thyme (1 tsp dried thyme)
1 Bay leaf
1 Pork tenderloin (approx 1 pound)

Combine everything but the meat together.  Mix well.  Pour 3/4 cup of the marinade into a ziploc bag, add the pork.  Squish around so all the pork is covered.  Marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours.  Cover and save the remaining marinade to baste the meat while grilling.

Coat the grill rack with cooking spray.  Grill pork, covered, over a med-hot temperature for 25-40 minutes.  Baste the meat occasionally with the reserved marinade.  The pork is done when a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.  Remove from grill, and let stand for a couple minutes before you slice.   Enjoy!

Chicken Vindaloo

It has been a busy day around here, volunteering at my son's school, grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, laundry, I almost didn't fit in writing about our Indian dinner last night. 

Indian food is relatively new to me.  I grew up in a pretty conservative food household.  Cashew Chicken was considered adventurous for Chinese food.  Indian, Thai, Japanese - unheard of.  We did live in the midwest, so coming across those type of restaurants would have been difficult, and it just wasn't something my Mom had any interested in cooking.  In her defense, even if she would have wanted to try it, I think my dad would have revolted.  He has gotten better as I have gotten older, but still when he goes to a Chinese buffet, he mainly goes for the fried shrimp.



So being that Indian food is new to me, I have had some hit or misses in the past.  Then my husband ordered Kitchens of India from Amazon for me to try.  I must say, I almost NEVER cook from a box or mix, but these are amazing!  Super simple, but really really good.  Then I saw Rachael Ray make this Chicken Vindaloo on her show, and I thought why not?  I will try it.  It was good, but very similar to the stuff in the mix.  I told my husband after dinner that even though it was more work than the other stuff, I am still proud that I was able to make from scratch something that tasted as good as the mix.  The mix is made in India, and it claims to be authentic - so I am going to believe that it is!



I pretty much followed her recipe exactly.  So instead of typing it all out again, I will just  link you to it.  The one change I did make was leaving out the Cardamom.  It was almost $7 for the bottle, and since you only needed 1/4 tsp, I couldn't justify buying it.  This was the first recipe I have ever seen it in, so I don't see myself going through the whole bottle of it.

 Serve with some Naan bread for a delicious meal!  (Naan recipe to follow in a different post, so stay tuned)  If you are a fan of Rachael Ray recipes you should check out Taste and Tell.  She has a great "Saturday's with Rachael Ray" series that is full of great recipes!

Pokey Sticks

If you went to a big college town in the midwest (Madison, Iowa City), you probably know what Gumby's Pizza is.  And you have probably had Pokey Sticks a time or two in your day.  Do you remember how good they were?  Oh my goodness, they were like pure heaven with dough and cheese.  Well, now that I am out of college, and don't live near Gumby's, I had to figure out a way to fill the void.  My husband is very grateful that I have! 

Now....If you have never had these, they are a meal.  They could be described as cheesy breadsticks, but they aren't just an appetizer.  Both of our parents had heard us talk about these, but didn't get it.  So finally we made them when they were around.  I think they finally go it, full meal, not just breadsticks!  Think of it as pizza, with different sauce, just cheese, in stick form :)  Dip in Ranch (I have not duplicated Gumby's Ranch, much to my husbands disappointment), or pizza sauce, and you have yourself a delicious, cheesy, buttery, meal.  This has come to be somewhat of a tradition in our house.  Sunday nights...Pokey Sticks and Amazing Race.  Pretty good combination :)  We even have a designated plate that is the "Pokey Stick plate".  If my son sees it in the dishwasher, he gets upset that we may have had Pokey Sticks without him!


Pokey Sticks
Inspiration from Gumby's Pizza
Printable Recipe

Dough
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbls Rapid Rise Yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup Hot water (115 degrees)
1 Tbls Canola oil

Topping
2 Tbls Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1 cup Mozeralla Cheese

Mix together the dry ingredients for the dough.  Combine the water and oil, and mix into the dough.  Mix until it forms a ball.  Turn onto floured surface and knead for about 2-3 minutes.  Just until it is no longer sticky.  Put into a bowl sprayed with non-stick spray and let rise for 20-25 minutes, until it looks like this:



While the dough is rising mix together the cheese, and seasonings in a small bowl.  Now, margarine is not usually written into recipes, usually it is butter.  But for some reason I think margarine tastes more authentic in this.  Use whatever you want, but I buy the stick margarine just for Pokey Sticks.  Melt the margarine, and mix in the seasonings.



Spread the dough out onto a prepared baking sheet.  I like to grease it, and then sprinkle with corn meal so the dough doesn't get to soggy.  I just use my fingers to get the dough into about a 12 in circle.  Spread the margarine mixture around the entire surface, and top cheese. 



Bake at 450 degrees, for 12-14 minutes.  Now, when they come out, you have to make sure to cut them correctly :)  Cut once across the middle, and then cut opposite that way, to make little sticks. 

Chicken Burrito Pizza

In case you missed it, Cinco De Mayo was yesterday!  In honor of this holiday I decided to try a recipe that caught my eye in Shape magazine.  I love all things Mexican - chips and salsa, guacamole, enchiladas, tacos, the rice, fajitas....pretty much all of it.  I think I could eat it everyday, and be a happy girl!  There is a big debate in our house about taco pizza.  Is it pizza?  Is it Mexican?  What is it?  My husband prefers to just ignore it and claim it is neither and not eat it.  I on the other hand like it a lot.  I do not claim that it is real pizza, because really if I want pizza I was the greasy, cheesy, pepperoni goodness - not lettuce.  So I put it in a different category all together.  But I don't get it often.  Then I saw this recipe for Chicken Burrito Pizza and I said too bad for him, I was making it!  No lettuce, so he can't complain, right?  It wasn't his favorite, but I didn't expect it to be.  I on the other hand thought it was great!!  I am so excited for the leftovers for lunch today!

I have a tried and true pizza crust recipe, but decided to try Shape's recipe for crust.  It was good, I might have to use it in the future sometime.  They didn't have a calorie count for the crust alone, just for a whole slice of pizza.  A slice of pizza with both of the toppings is only 107 calories.  I had more than once slice, for sure - but if I can feel half way decent about eating Mexican I am ecstatic!  They called for lowfat cheese, which I didn't use, and I am sure I put more chicken on the pizza then they called for.  But that is the beauty of making your own food, right?

Printable Recipe

Pizza Dough

1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
6 Tbls cold water

Combine the dry ingredients.  Create a well in the middle and add the water.  Using your hands to gently combine the dough until it comes together (this can take a couple minutes, it is kind of dry).  You can either then knead the dough for 10 minutes or until firm and smooth, or you can put it in your electric mixer.  Use the paddle attachment, set on the lowest speed for about 10 minutes.  Cover with a dish towel, let it rest for 5 minutes.



Roll the dough out to form a 11 inch circle.  Place it on a metal pizza pan with small holes in it.  Let rest again for 45 minutes before you add the toppings.



Chicken Burrito Pizza
Adapted from Shape

For the Pizza
Salsa (2 Tbls - 1/4 cup)
Pizza Crust
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 chicken breast, grilled and diced
4 Tbls black beans (I didn't use these)
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion


For the Pico De Gallo
1 large tomato, diced
1 small green chili, diced
1 Tbls chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbls red onion, diced
Salt


For the Guacamole
1 large avocado
3 Tbls red onion, diced
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
Salt and Pepper to taste
Juice from 1/2 of lime

While the dough is resting work on the pico de gallo and the guacamole.

Pico de Gallo - combine tomato, chili, cilantro and onion in small bowl.  Season with salt.  I squeezed a little lime juice on it as well.  Set aside.



Guacamole - Halve an avocado, remove the pit, and scoop out the flesh onto a plate.  Using a fork, mash the avocado.  Mix in the onion and seasonings.  Squeeze in the lime juice.  I always taste test, and adjust the seasonings.  I really depends on the avocado how much salt and other seasonings you need.  So start light, taste and add more if you want.  I usually add in tomato with my guacamole, but because this was using pico de gallo as well, I left them out.



Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Spread salsa over the prepared dough.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Top with the chicken, black beans and onions.  Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are golden brown.

Slice pizza and top slice with a spoonful of guacamole and pico de gallo.  Enjoy!!

Char Siu Pork Roast

 I had printed this recipe from Cooking Light a LONG time ago, and really really wanted to try it.  I finally got around to it.  I hate it when your expectations are so high, and it just doesn't live up to it.  I love Asian flavors, and pork - so I thought this would be great.  And it kind of was.  The flavor on the pork was really good, but serving it the way they suggested just wasn't good.  Basically you marinate pork in a sauce, then use the slow cooker to cook the meat.  Then you shred the meat and serve over rice.  Sounded good in theory.  But just shredded pork over rice?  Not so much.  I think that marinating the meat is great.  Then I think instead of using the slow cooker, you could use it in a stir fry with veggies to serve over rice.  Or if you want to shred it, maybe on a bun as a different style pork sandwich?  The pork was really good, don't get me wrong.  But the dish needs help!  Maybe you can make this better, and share it with me :)  Sorry for the lack of pictures on this one, I was in a hurry when I was getting it ready.


Char Siu Pork Roast
From Cooking Light
Printable Recipe

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce 
1/4 cup hoisin sauce 
3 tablespoons ketchup 
3 tablespoons honey 
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic 
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger 
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil 
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder 
1 pounds Pork Tenderloin
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Combine first 8 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add pork to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator at least 2 hours, turning occasionally.

Place pork and marinade in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.

 Remove pork from slow cooker using a slotted spoon; place on a cutting board or work surface. Cover with aluminum foil; keep warm.  Add broth to sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Shred pork with 2 forks; serve with sauce.