Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all are having a wonderful time with your family and/or friends. I know we will be! Have a great day (I'll be back Sunday with the recipe post.)

Banana Bread (made with instant pudding)

I had to share with you all about the delicious recipe for banana bread I wrote over at FrugalFamilyTable.com - seriously you gotta check it out!

Menu: Nov 14-20

Due to my two year old needing his mommy (and me not being on top of things enough to have this written before he got up from his nap - I blame pinterest... I found a great collection of quotes I HAD to look at!). I'm just leaving you with the menu today so I can give him the time and reassurance he needs to not walk around with sad outbursts.

Menu: 

Monday: Parmesan Crusted Pork (loin) Chops, Pumpkin-Pear Soup (won last week's poll and will be posted this week), & Broiled Vegetables.

 Tuesday: Thai Chicken Cabbage

Wednesday: Sweet Potato/Coconut Thai Curried Soup

Thursday: Had a Thanksgiving Dinner with my family (due to my brothers work schedule.) I made Twice-Baked Potatoes.

Friday: Frozen Pizza

Saturday: We had our Housewarming Party! 

(Some of the food included: Spinach, Artichoke & Bacon dip, Fresh Salsa, Black Bean & Corn Salsa, Coconut, Carrot and apple muffins, Mini-Apple Pies, Triple Chocolate Zucchini Brownie Cupcakes, & Chicken Salad Sliders.)

Sunday: Chicken fingers, green salad & leftover Sweet Potato/Coconut Thai Curried Soup

Vote for the recipe you want to see posted next week. This week will be Pumpkin Pear Soup.

Thai Chicken Coconut Curry Soup

Do you know what I love about fall? Comfort food. It abounds everywhere. I love home-made soups, rolls, roasted veggies, etc. Fall is just great like that, we get to celebrate in the harvest of so many different types of produce. When I think comfort food, I NEVER think about ethinic food, and especially not food from Thailand. Delicious - yes, comfort food - NO. However, when my husband and I were eating this soup, that was the only way to describe it! Thai Comfort Food. Absolutely delicious. Strangely comforting. Definitely satisfying. Seriously, you have go to try it! And when you do, bring any leftovers to my house - I really want more of this stuff...

Thai Chicken Coconut Curry Soup

recipe from: mommiecooks.com (with a few adaptations)

 In a pan large enough to hold soup (mine holds about a gallon-ish), pour in 1 Tbsp sesame oil and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Unless it is a non-stick pan, then only use the 1 Tbsp sesame oil. Let it get hot over Medium-high heat.

 Add to the pan 1 chicken breast (~1/2 lb) cut into cubes and seasoned with salt and pepper.

 Cook until no longer pink. (The camera and the steam were having issues on this day... okay they have issues whenever they're around each other!) Towards the end of cooking, toss in 2 cloves garlic, minced and 1/2 Tbsp minced ginger.

 Hello. I love this stuff! Coconut Milk - seriously you gotta have it!

 If you haven't used coconut milk in a while and you're like me, you'll try to use the tool that only cuts a slit into each side... mistake - coconut milk has this heavy cream that won't come out that way! So be sure to open the can all the way.

 Dump coconut milk into the pan. Oh, also add 4 cups (1 quart) of chicken broth to the pan.

 You'll also need some Green Curry Paste. 1-1/2 Tbsp to be exact. Unless you want to add more or less - then it's all up to you!

 

 Make sure to stir it well to get it incorporated.

 Time for a leek. Cut it in half (helps to rinse it anyway) and then into small slices.

 Ready for a little heat - also chop up one jalapeno.

 Now for some cabbage - about 1/4 to 1/3 of a head.

 Sliced - semi-thinly.

 Toss them all into the pan.

 Stir to combine.

 Let it warm up the veggies while you slice up about 4 ounces of mushrooms.

 Then toss those into the pan.

 You'll also want a handful of cilantro leaves.

 Chop them up a bit - should be about 1/4 cup.

 Toss them in.

 Let simmer for about 5 minutes.

 My mouth is watering... this is seriously great soup!

 These are cooking chow mein noodles (who knew they weren't just the crunchy ones? You can actually buy them like pasta - in the Asian Foods section of the grocery store.) However, I would suggest using rice noodles if you can find them (and they aren't 3x as expensive - seriously that's why I'm using the chow mein noodles!) You can also use rice (tried it with leftovers) but the noodles work better.

 Place the cooked noodles (chow mein or rice noodles) in the bottom of a bowl.

 Top with soup.

Enjoy!

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Menu: Nov 7-13

There are few things in life more comforting or satisfying than having your two year old child sit on your lap and give you hugs. As I'm typing this, that is where my son is. Just being content sitting on mommy's lap and leaning his head on my chest. (Okay, with occasional movements and readjustments as well as looking around.) However, it is moments like these that are meant to be savored, cherished. They will pass by all too quickly and he'll reach a stage when spending time with mommy is not something he'll want to do.  But for now I can just enjoy the little moments that make each day happy (and try to ignore the times he decides to turn off the computer - either by pushing the button or unplugging the power strip... or various other things that my 2.5 year old loves to get into!) 

Here's the menu:

Monday: Thai Chicken Curry Soup - leftovers (this won last week's poll so will be posted on Thursday)

Tuesday: Stuffed Cabbage

Wednesday: Stuffed Cabbage

Thursday: Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Friday: Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Saturday: Stuffed Bread (I made some with lunchmeat and a long one with steamed broccoli and cheddar cheese.)

Sunday: Parmesan Crusted Pork (loin) Chops and Pumpkin-Pear Soup

Vote for the recipe you want to see next week. This week I'll be posting - Thai Chicken Curry Soup.

Chicken Stuffed Anaheim Peppers

I have a confession to make... it's not Thursday. It's Saturday. Wait, you already knew that. Well that's not really the confession. The confession is that I was having a hard time getting the motivation to post this... I enjoyed eating the dish and I didn't mind taking the photos. But editing and writing about all these pictures seemed a bit daunting. That's my confession. Although I finally just decided to finish editing them (yesterday) and just sit down and write about them (today). So sorry it is later than usual, but I consider it a victory none the less. I actually did it! I did not however, proof-read (which I try to always do), I'm hitting post as soon as I'm finished typing. Please feel free to ask me for any clarification that may be needed (sorry in advance.)

This post has a lot of pictures... because this meal had a lot of parts - although you can skip making the Mole Sauce if you want to... It would make the process not quite as intense. I tried to break them up into the individual steps though...

Chicken Stuffed Anaheim Peppers

Recipe inspiration from here.

Pepper Prep:

First, you'll need the peppers - I used Anaheim because that's what I had. You can use bell peppers as well. (I actually used left over filling and stuffed into jalapenos and wrapped in bacon - delicious!)

Chop the tops off the Anaheim peppers. You can also do this with bell peppers, depending on the shape - usually I just cut mine in half down the center...

Carefully remove the membranes and the seeds without cutting through the pepper. A little trickier on the curvy ones, but it doesn't have to be perfect.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and place the peppers into it. Boil for 3 minutes.

Get a bowl of ice-cold water ready...

Remove the pepper from the boiling water - I used the handle of a wooden spoon to remove the pepper.

It also helps drain some of the water out. However, you can also use tongs.

Place pepper into cold water. Let cool for a minute. Drain and set aside.

Chicken Prep:

Sprinkle a mixture of 2 Tbsp Chili Powder and 2 tsp smoked paprika onto 2 chicken breasts.

Pan fry them over medium to medium high heat.

Remove and let rest for 10 minutes.

Then shred into large chunks. Set aside.

Mole Sauce: 

-Interesting tidbit, Mole isn't a specific sauce, there are many, many different types of Mole. Also did you know chocolate helps tame the heat?

 You'll need 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup).

Cook in 1 Tbsp oil (I prefer Olive but you can choose whatever you want.) Cook until the onions are tender and become translucent. Translucent, that would be a great spelling bee word. 

While the onions a cooking, combine:

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon,

1 tsp cumin,

1 tsp oregano (dried of course) - mix to combine.

Also prepare 1/8 cup of minced (or finely grated) garlic.

Once the onion is translucent, dump the seasonings and garlic in.

Stir to coat all onion.

Then you'll need 1/4 cup chili powder,

and 3 Tbsp flour.

Stir them in and cook for 1 minute.

You'll also need 4 cups chicken broth.

Pour the broth in while whisking.

Continue whisking until everything in incorporated.

Bring to a boil, lower heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Stirring frequently.

Who doesn't love chocolate? This is 1 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate.

Grate, cut or shred the chocolate into small pieces.

Add the chocolate to the pan, and stir into the sauce.

Looking good. Now on to the...

Filling:

You'll need 1 cup cheddar cheese and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. You'll also need 8 oz of softened cream cheese.

Toss in about 1/3 to 1/2 cup cilantro.

Add the chicken. Mix.

Add 1/2 cup of the sauce.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that this doesn't look very appetizing... although it totally tastes delicious! (And I don't know about you, but I'd rather have ugly food that tastes great than beautiful food that is disgusting.)

Stuffing:

Okay, now the fun part - stuffing those peppers! I put a spoonful of filling in the top and then used a chopstick to push it down into the bottom. If you don't have chopsticks just laying around, the handle of a wooden spoon would probably work - that is if you have the long, skinny round ones!

All stuffed.

Place onto cookie sheet.

Place 5-6 inches below a hi-temp broiler (about 450+) for 4 minutes, flip over and cook another 4 minutes. 

Alternatively you could place all the peppers in a casserole dish and cover with some sauce and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It would be more forgiving (mess wise) this way but also take more time... your choice.

Place on a plate and spoon some sauce over it.

Enjoy!

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