Pasta Bake with Green Beans

I made this a while ago (I'm a little backlogged on these recipes--been busy job hunting and getting a part time job since my real job hunt hasn't been going anywhere). It was very easy and very delicious. The original recipe was double this one and also had a bit of wine in it, but I thought it was just as flavorful without. For the vegetables, I used celery, broccoli, carrots, and an orange bell pepper. It may not have met the exact measurements of the recipe, but so long as you have the cooking times down it's a very flexible recipe! I served the pasta bake with some store bought garlic bread and the green beans (recipe below). The beans were a bit spicy so I'd probably limit the pepper flakes next time!

Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Bake
Recipe adapted by me from Lisa's Dinnertime Dish

2 cups assorted vegetables
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 box whole wheat penne pasta, cooked for 7 minutes (you still want it to have a bite)
1.25 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 cups marinara sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Chop vegetables into bite size pieces.  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread on a baking sheet.  Roast in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until softened and starting to caramelize.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

While veggies are roasting, cut up chicken into 1 inch chunks and season with salt and pepper.  Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add chicken and cook until starting to brown (you don’t want to cook the chicken through at this point).  Pour wine over chicken, bring to a boil and reduce for about 2 minutes.  Stir in marinara sauce.

In a large bowl, combine pasta, roasted veggies and chicken mixture.  Transfer mixture to either one large 9×9 baking dish, coated with cooking spray or two smaller baking dishes.  Sprinkle cheeses over the top.

If baking right away, cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and pasta is heated through.  If you froze one of the pans, defrost before baking and you may have to add an additional 5-10 minutes to the cooking time.


Green Beans with Lemon and Garlic
Recipe from foodnetwork.com

2 pounds green beans, ends trimmed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blanch green beans in a large stock pot of well salted boiling water until bright green in color and tender crisp, roughly 2 minutes. Drain and shock in a bowl of ice water to stop from cooking.

Heat a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and the butter. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the beans and continue to saute until coated in the butter and heated through, about 5 minutes. Add lemon zest and season with salt and pepper.

Cajun Shrimp and Rice

This was easy and delicious! You can use either cooked or uncooked shrimp--I accidentally used the precooked shrimp in my mom's freezer because I didn't see any uncooked shrimp but it worked fine and the recipe didn't overcook the shrimp. I made this while my mom was out of town a few weeks ago because she doesn't like seafood.

Cajun Shrimp and Rice
Recipe adapted by PheNOMenal from The Food Network Magazine

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and pepper
4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups COOKED white rice
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Lemon wedges

Heat the butter, olive oil, and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat for about a minute. Add the Cajun seasoning (or spices) and shrimp and cook, stirring constantly, for another minute. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the tomatoes and green onions to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add the rice and 1/4 cup water and continue to cook until the rice is warmed through and the shrimp are opaque, about 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

If I'm making another vanilla buttercream in my life, it's going to be this frosting. SO. SO good. The cupcakes were great too--the frosting and cupcakes went perfectly together. It tastes best on the first day (after you refrigerate it the frosting hardens a bit) but is still delicious no matter what! A great alternative to storebought funfetti!

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
Recipe from Annie's Eats

1 cup whole milk, divided
6 large egg whites
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
2¾ cups cake flour, sifted
1½ cups sugar
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
12 tbsp. (¾ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup multi-colored sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine ¼ cup of the whole milk, egg whites, vanilla and almond extracts.  Whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix briefly on low speed to combine, about 30 seconds.  Add in the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles wet sand, about 30 seconds.  Mix in the remaining ¾ cup of milk, then increase the speed to medium and beat for about 90 seconds more.  With the mixture on low speed, add the egg white mixture in three additions, mixing for about 20 seconds after each addition.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Gently fold in the sprinkles with a spatula.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about two-thirds of the way full.  Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.  Let cool in the pan briefly, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Prepare the vanilla buttercream.  Add the buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip.  Frost as desired.  Garnish with additional sprinkles.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Recipe from Annie's Eats

1½ cups plus 2 tbsp. (3 sticks plus 2 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (optional)
2 tbsp. heavy cream
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar to the bowl and mix on medium-low speed just until incorporated. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod (if using) into the bowl and add in the salt. Continue to beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Mix in the heavy cream and vanilla on low speed just until incorporated. Increase the mixer speed and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed, about 4-5 minutes.

Cake Batter Blondies

Easy but a little too sweet for me and more cakey and soft than brownie/blondie-ish, but I wanted to make them so I got an opportunity a little over half a month ago. I brought these with me to San Francisco when visiting my boyfriend, so hopefully he liked them but I'm not sure. They're a good quick thing to bake but I think I'd keep searching for a better recipe--or at least find a way to make it denser, maybe with less milk or something.

Cake Batter Blondies
Recipe by Girl Meets Life, found on Sally's Baking Addition

1 box yellow cake mix
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1/3 -1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sprinkles
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add the milk slowly. You want to cake batter to be as dense & thick as possible. Mix in the sprinkles and white chocolate chips.  Pour into 8 x 8 baking pan, sprinkle a few more sprinkles on top, and bake for 28-30 minutes until edges are just turning brown. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes so the center sets, before cutting into squares.

*The blondies will look like they are not fully done because the center will be quite gooey, but that’s what you want! After about 30 minutes of cooling, they will be easy to cut using a serrated knife.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread

I'd been wanting to make these for a while and finally got a chance to. Very easy although a little time consuming to make, and very delicious with tea or even alone! I made them for the people working on our roof--probably wasn't the ideal thing to serve them, since they probably would have been fine with big simple chocolate chip cookies, but I really wanted to make these!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours
Found on Use Real Butter

1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 tbsp boiling water
8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped OR 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Dissolve espresso powder in boiling water. Set aside to cool to tepid.

Beat butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in vanilla and espresso, then reduce mixer speed to low and add flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate or chips with a sturdy rubber spatula.

Using the spatula, transfer dough to a gallon-size zip-loc bag. Put bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point (I didn’t do that either – I bake one sheet at a time). The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack. If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

If you're looking for something to make for breakfast--for guests, family, work, yourself--look no further. Please, stop looking and just try this recipe. It's really, really good, and really, really easy. I've always wanted to try making coffee cake and I finally did it! I didn't eat it with coffee--you don't have to--but it's a delicious cake and was perfectly dense and just...great. I'm not sure what coffee cake is supposed to taste like, actually, but I think it should taste like this one. My older brother liked it a lot, too--and he's a coffee lover and usually doesn't care for most of the things I make--so I'm definitely liking this recipe.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Recipe adapted by The Baker Chick from King Arthur's Flour

Streusel topping
2/3 cups granulated sugar
pinch of  salt (if you use unsalted butter)
3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
1 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (for color not for taste- you can leave it out if you want.)

Cake
3/4 cup butter softened
1 teaspoon salt (1 ¼ teaspoons if you use unsalted butter)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt. (regular yogurt would also be ok.)
1 1/4 cups milk (anything from skim to whole)
3 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.

Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring till well combined. Set the topping aside.

Make the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set it aside.

To make the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk till well combined. You don't need to whisk out all the lumps.

Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/yogurt mixture, beating gently to combine.

Pour/spread half the batter (about 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges. If you're using two 9" round pans, spread 1 1/3 cups batter in each pan.

Sprinkle the filling evenly atop the batter.

Gently spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.

Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.

Bake the cake until it's a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the 9" x 13" pan, 50 to 55 minutes for the 9" round pans. When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve cake right from the pan.

Note: If you wanna make this ahead of time for a brunch or something just cover it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Bake as directed, but you may need to add 5 mins extra or so since the batter will be cold!

Cajun Fries with Guacamole

I served these alongside the meatball subs I posted last week. They were alright but not as crispy as I thought they'd be--and I definitely made them spicy so I'm glad there was guacamole to cool them down! This was the first guacamole recipe I've tried. It was pretty good, but I think I like my mom's recipe better so will probably have to ask her for it if I'm going to make guacamole again. I want to try making Cajun fries again but I'll have to figure out how to make them crispier! It may be that I boiled them a little longer than they were supposed to be boiled for.

Cajun Fries
Recipe adapted from Sneaky Lemon
Cajun Spice Mix from AllRecipes

3-4 large potatoes
salt and pepper

Cajun Spice mix:
2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cut potatoes into sticks about 1/2cm thick and boil for 2-3 minutes.

Drain the water off the potatoes and add a knob of butter, cajun spice mix, salt and pepper to the pan with the potatoes and toss till well coated.

Pop them out onto an oven tray and bake on 375F for approx 25 minutes or until golden brown (tossing every 10 minutes).

When they are done sprinkle liberally with salt and serve.

Guacamole
Recipe from the Food Network


3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

Chicken Meatball Subs

This recipe says it'll make about 4, but I had 5 people to serve so I doubled the recipe and probably didn't have to. These could easily be frozen and used later as meatballs. Altogether it was pretty good--I decided I don't so much like meatball subs because of the calorie count, but the chicken meatballs by themselves were delicious and I'd probably make them again. I made these a while ago--probably over a month ago--so you can see I'm a little behind on posting these recipes! They cooked up very easily although it was a time consuming project. I served these subs with some cajun fries which I'll post the recipe for soon.

Chicken Meatball Sub Sandwiches
Recipe adapted from BevCooks

1 pound ground chicken
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups baby spinach, finely chopped (it’s 2 cups BEFORE the chopping)
1 Tbs. tomato paste (obviously that’s not a full Tbs. up there. I ran out.)
1 egg
3/4 cup panko (or breadcrumbs)
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 (28 oz) can San Marzano tomatoes, pureed in a food processor
6 basil leaves, roughly torn
1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
1 loaf bread (ie ciabatta, french rolls..), cut into 4 equal sizes and sliced lengthwise
4 slices provolone cheese
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

In a bowl, combine the chicken, onion, garlic, spinach, tomato paste, panko, egg and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Using your hands, get everything all combined. Then form little balls out of the mixture.

At this point you can stick them in the fridge, covered for as long as you need to. Or if you’re famished, let’s proceed.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high. Add the meatballs and brown all over, about 8 minutes total.

Pour the pureed tomatoes over the meatballs, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 40 minutes, cooking the meatballs all the way through. The sauce will reduce just a tad as well. At the very end, toss in the torn basil and parsley. Go ahead and season with a pinch of salt and pepper too.

Flip on the broiler and slide the bread in for about a minute. Then place 4 balls with the marinara on the bottom half, followed by a slice of provolone cheese. Stick back under the broiler until the cheese melts and starts to bubble, maybe 2 minutes. Keep an eye on it!

Serve with more basil, if desired.

Individual Tiramisu

On Father's Day I asked my dad what his favorite desserts were. One of his top favorites was Tiramisu, so a few days later I made this for dessert. I like the idea of having individual desserts, and didn't want to use raw eggs, so when I found this recipe I knew I had to try it. It was a very easy tiramisu recipe--I do want to try making a large sized tiramisu with raw eggs to see how they compare, though--and super dense and creamy and delicious.

One fun fact about people here back home: I went to Safeway to find the ladyfingers (didn't want to make them from scratch since I was already cooking a dinner I'd never tried before), and everyone was so much nicer than I'm used to. I was walking around and people just asked if I needed help and were super happy about giving me help, and even when multiple people had to be asked to find the ladyfingers, everyone was very sweet. Even at checkout the lady and bagging-boy were so friendly. So not used to that, but it was a good change from the usual grumpiness back where I went to college!

Individual Tiramisu
Recipe (slightly adapted by me) from Foodiebride

Soaking Syrup
1/2 cup strongly-brewed coffee or espresso
1 Tbsp sugar

Filling
8 oz reduced-fat cream cheese
8 oz mascarpone
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp strongly-brewed coffee or espresso
2 Tbsp milk

Assembly
6 5/6-oz clear cups
24 ladyfingers, purchased or homemade
1 oz semisweet chocolate, grated

In a small bowl, mix espresso and sugar, stirring until the sugar has disolved. Set aside to cool.

With your mixer, cream the mascaropone, cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar on medium-high for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. The mixture should feel smooth (not gritty) when rubbed between your fingers.

Remove half of the mascarpone mixture and transfer it to a smaller bowl.

Add 2 Tbsp of espresso and mix well.

Add 2 Tbsp milk to the remaining filling and mix (this is just to thin the filling, the type of milk - whole, skim, etc - does not matter) well.

Trim the ladyfingers so that they come just below the top rim of the cups. Reserve the excess pieces. (The trimmed ends of the cookie are "the bottoms," the rounded uncut ends are "the top.")

Working with one ladyfinger and one serving at a time, quickly dunk the top half of the cookie into the soaking syrup and place in the plastic cup coffee-end (top) up.

Repeat with 3 more lady fingers, arranging them around the cup (if your ladyfingers are thin, you might need to use more than 4).

Place one of the reserved trimmed ends of the cookies into the bottom, followed by a spoonful of the espresso filling, the plain filling, and top with more ladyfinger pieces (when you run out of trimmed pieces, tear additional ladyfingers into small pieces to fit the next layer). Repeat 2 more times to fill the cup.

Sprinkle grated chocolate over the top.

Repeat the process for the remaining servings.

Loosely cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Greek Spinach Salad

Okay, my parents have made it clear to me that if this were real "Greek Salad", it wouldn't have spinach. But I think it tasted great anyway--Greek styled spinach salad, I don't know, whatever. Tasted good and went well with the chicken gyros I made for dinner that night! Half a red onion is kind of a lot, so you can add as much as you want for color, but if you're not a huge red onion fan feel free to limit the amount.

Greek Spinach Salad
Recipe from The Curvy Carrot

5 ounces fresh spinach leaves
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons shallot, minced (1 medium shallot)
1 teaspoon garlic, minced (1 clove)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Pinch granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly or as desired
2 teaspoons capers
1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced
1 small tomato, sliced

In a sauté pan over medium heat, combine the oil, garlic, oregano, and sugar and season as desired with salt and pepper, stirring frequently, until the shallot is softened, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the lemon juice to the sauté pan and lightly stir to combine (the mixture will look slightly separated).

Place the spinach in a separate large bowl, and slowly pour the hot dressing over the spinach and toss to coat thoroughly.

Add the feta, red onion, capers, tomato, and kalamata olives and toss lightly to combine.  Serve immediately.

Chicken Gyros

This recipe is so yummy! They would make great chicken burgers, too. I will definitely make this again--the minted yogurt sauce was delish, too.

I made this for dinner one night with Greek Salad (and individual tirimisu for dessert!) that I'll post later. I've never broiled anything but it turned out perfect! Making it with ground chicken worked like a charm--you could get all those delicious spices and herbs in there and it tasted a lot better than just marinated chicken inside a gyro.

Chicken Patties with Mint Yogurt Sauce
Recipe adapted by Very Culinary from Emeril Lagasse
Serves 4 in pita pockets

1 pound ground chicken
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pita pockets, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and cucumbers, for serving
Minted yogurt sauce, for serving

Minted Yogurt Sauce
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Coarse salt and ground pepper

For the yogurt sauce: in a small bowl, stir together yogurt, mint, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until the chicken patties are done.

Heat broiler, with rack in highest position. In a large bowl, combine chicken, egg whites, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, garlic, salt, and spices and mix until well blended. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Divide chicken mixture into 8 equal portions and place on sheet. Shape each into round or oval patties and use your hand to flatten slightly. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over patties.

Broil until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook until cooked through, about 4 minutes more. Serve in pita pockets with the Mint Yogurt sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, if desired.

Lychee Sorbet

 I finally decided to try out my mom's ice cream maker and she suggested a lychee sorbet recipe. This one is super simple--just two ingredients and it'd probably be fine if you didn't use the lime! My ice cream maker finished this super fast, and I think using 2 cans of lychees would have been a little better for the mixing. This also got really cold really fast and when trying to scoop it, it was mostly ice shavings. It was still great though! Looking forward to playing more with the ice cream maker!

Lychee Sorbet
Recipe adapted by me from Uncomplicated Recipes

1 can of Lychee
Juice of 1 lime

Strain lychees, saving the syrup.

Set 8 lychees aside. Place the remaining lychees in the blender with 1/2 cup of the syrup. Blend until pureed.

Mix the blend with the remaining syrup and qqueeze the lime juice into the mix.

Follow instructions on your ice cream maker. Chop up the 8 remaining lychees and add them to the ice cream maker when it is almost complete.

Garlic Bread

These were supposed to be garlic knots, but the dough was way too sticky. It worked out fine anyway but I'd definitely make the buns a lot smaller next time! They were really good and pretty easy--absolutely delicious when warm. If you want to take extra time to make your own dinner rolls, I think this is a great choice (make sure you're using good yeast, I'm so glad I didn't have a problem this time but I've had so much trouble with old yeast from crappy minimarts!). Again, make these smaller if you're just doing lumps--and the recipe suggests tying them in knots but you definitely don't need to!

Garlic Buns
Recipe from Culinary Adventures in the Kitchen

For the dough:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
1¼ tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup milk
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp lukewarm water
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp Italian seasoning

For the glaze:
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp Italian seasoning

Dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the dry ingredients. Add the olive oil, milk, water, minced garlic, and Italian seasoning.  Mix until ingredients have formed a dough. Knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a 10-inch long rope and tie into a knot.

Take the end lying underneath the knot and bring it over the top, tucking it into the center.

Take the end lying over the knot and tuck it underneath and into the center.

Transfer shaped rolls to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 45 minutes, until puffy.

Glaze: finely mince the garlic. Mix the garlic with the melted butter, olive oil, and Italian seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Brush the glaze onto the shaped rolls.

Bake until set and lightly browned, about 15-18 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken

This was a great recipe, and pretty easy! I made it with salad (my mom picked some lettuce from her lettuce plant and then added a light dressing and other veggies--really simple, but cool that she's growing lettuce!) and a delicious-when-warm garlic-y bread that I'll post the recipe for in a few days. I didn't have any issue with the super-hot oven or the baking time for the chicken.

Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken
Recipe from skinnytaste

2 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 jalapeños, chopped (remove seeds for milder)
3 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
4 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar jack (Sargento)
2 tbsp chopped scallions
8 thin sliced skinless chicken breast cutlets, 3 oz each
1/2 cup Italian seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 1/2 juicy limes, juice of
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and fresh pepper
olive oil non-stick spray

Wash and dry chicken cutlets, season with salt and pepper.  Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.

Combine cream cheese, cheddar, scallions, jalapeño and bacon crumbles in a medium bowl.

Lay chicken cutlets on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one, secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent the cheese from oozing out.

Place breadcrumbs in a bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Dip chicken in lime-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down on a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray the top of the chicken with oil spray.

Bake 22-25 minutes, serve immediately.

Mexican Sweet Corn Salad

I made this salad at home to accompany the Salsa Chicken I've made before, along with some Mexican rice.  It made a lot! It tastes good, but feel free to add or subtract vegetables or appropriate herbs--my mom added cilantro and it tasted great.

Mexican Sweet Corn Salad
Recipe From Expat Recipe


4 cups frozen corn, thawed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 large seeded and chopped tomato
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1/3 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Thaw frozen corn or boil fresh corn for 8 minutes in lightly salted water, cool with cold water and cut corn kernels from cob.

Place corn, onion, green and red bell peppers, tomato, garlic, basil, olive oil, lime juice in bowl.

Toss until completely combined.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Want more spicy? Add 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

Banana Pudding

Look delicious? I think this is one of the best things I've made. I cheated with the whipped cream and used store-bought, but next time I'd definitely whip my own because I realized nothing beats homemade whipped cream. I also bought Nilla Wafers for this. The original recipe said I could make 8 small servings or 4 large. I put the pudding into 6-oz glasses and it made 4. I think next time I'd add ,more bananas and maybe a center layer, but it was fine the way it was, too. Definitely try this if you get a change! Homemade pudding is delicious!

Banana Pudding Parfaits

Adapted by Me from Annie's Eats

Yield: 4 servings

1/6 cup all-purpose flour

3/8 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

1 1/2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature, divided

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-2 ripe bananas, sliced

Vanilla wafers (mini if you make parfaits)

For the topping:

whipped cream

In a medium saucepan, combine the flour, sugar, and salt.  Whisk in the egg yolk, then the milk. Place the saucepan over medium heat. Add in 1 tablespoons of the butter. Cook, whisking frequently, until the mixture bubbles and thickens significantly. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of butter.

Layer individual serving dishes (4-5 oz) with vanilla wafers and banana slices.  Fill each dish with some of the pudding until all pudding is gone, nearly to the top of the serving dishes. Crush up several vanilla wafers and layer it on top, finishing with another layer of banana slices as desired. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill until well set, at least 2-3 hours.

Garnish with whipped cream and additional vanilla wafers.