Thai Coconut Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

Thai Coconut Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

We live in a college football town. Once the college football season starts, during every home game the city gets a little crazy. Everyone literally bleeds green and white. This past Saturday I had forgotten it was a game day until we pulled into the drive thru and the person in front of us had painted themselves green. Yeah, it's that kind of city. Everywhere I went - the bank, grocery store you name it everyone was wearing green. Our state is divided. There are two big schools, Marshall and WVU (West Virginia University). Since there are no professional teams in our state, college teams reign king. While both schools have a large alumni base, most of the fans of both teams never went to school at either university. Somehow though they feel a connection to their football teams and get very adamant that their team is the best during games. According to my husband twitter gets a little crazy with back and forths between fans. So for Saturdays during the season we are a Marshall town through and through. Football season means lots of chili and game day foods, but with 95 degree days we are still enjoying food that sticks to the ribs a little less. I am a little behind on posts, so the recipe I am sharing tonight I actually made a few weeks back. I tried a new recipe for Thai Coconut Chicken with Pineapple Salsa from the April 2012 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

B'nai Shalom Synagogue Huntington, WV

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First, since I have never actually seen a fresh Thai chili at any store in my area, I substituted a jalapeno. I left the seeds in since my kids weren't going to be eating the dish. For the oil I used peanut oil, I love cooking at high temps with peanut oil, it's great. The recipe states that the dish turns out brothy, but I found that it didn't make as much broth as the photo in the magazine showed. It was still enough for three servings, but not like the soup shown in the photo.

B'nai Shalom Synagogue Front Steps Huntington, WV

My husband and I were big fans of this recipe. The flavors from the fish sauce and ginger were delicious and the spicy kick from the jalapeno was perfect. I liked that the broth was slightly sweet and savory, while the salsa was a little on the spicy side. They worked perfectly together and the flavors played off of each other nicely.

For the recipe go to Thai Coconut Chicken with Pineapple Salsa.

Slow Cooker Asian Five Spice Meatballs

Slow Cooker Asian Five Spice Meatballs

It's the second week of school and I am already sick. I woke up this morning with a nasty cold, which only got worse as the day went on. My oldest had to miss school today as well. I love how I'm not sick all summer and then as soon as my oldest goes back to school, bam. I also am not a fan of the fact that I always getter sicker than anyone else in the house. My kids are sick for a couple of days, I get pneumonia, strep throat, you name it. Plus it's never a little bit of pneumonia, it's a hospital stay, or weeks of strep throat that doesn't want to go away. I seem not to be able to do anything part way, it's all or nothing. When I'm not feeling my best, I rely on my slow cooker. Slow cooker meals take little prep and are great when I don't have the time or energy to make a big involving meal. Tonight I tried a new recipe for Asian Five Spice Meatballs from Family Circle magazine.

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This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 6 hours and 20 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I used gluten free bread crumbs. I did not have low sodium soy sauce on hand, so I just used the regular that I already had. Veal is very hard to find near me, so I substituted ground Angus beef. I used 1/2 pound 93 percent lean beef, 1/2 pound ground Angus and a 1/2 ground pork. In total I ended up with 13 meatballs.

Memorial Fountain Front View Marshall University Huntington, WV

Changing recipes to gluten free can always be hit or miss. This recipe turned out perfectly. The meatballs stayed moist and the flavor was delicious. Since there wasn't enough sauce after the meatballs were done I made my own. I used 3/4 part grape jelly and 1/4 part sriracha. It had a nice spicy sweet flavor and was perfect to drizzle on top of the meatballs. Plus it pays tribute to West Virginia, since grape and hot pepper jelly with meatballs is an appetizer staple.

For the recipe go to Asian Five Spice Meatballs. (registration required)

Slow Cooker Asian Five Spice Meatballs

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A flavorful slow cooker recipe for Asian Style Meatballs made with 5 spice powder. Only 20 minutes of active time.

Preparation Time: 0h, 20m

Cooking Time: 6h, 0m

Total Time: 6h, 20m

Yield: Serves 6

Asian Style Chicken and Rice Recipe

Asian Style Chicken and Rice

I have two boys and each of them has their own unique food habits. My youngest loves cheese while my oldest has decided that he is currently not eating any. The youngest loves spicy foods, my oldest hates them. They can both agree on a few foods. Rice and chicken are two of their favorite foods. They will literally eat plain rice out of the fridge as a snack. I like rice as much as the next person, but they take it to a whole new level. Since they can be hit or miss with so many other foods I try to make chicken at least once a week and rice is always a popular side dish. This week I tried a new recipe for Asian Style Chicken and Rice from Everyday Food magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. This recipe was very straight forward so I only made a few changes. First the sliced shiitake mushrooms that I could find and purchase were 5 ounces. So instead of using the remainder in another recipe I just added all 5 ounces. Since I added more mushrooms I found that my total cooking time was increased by approximately 5 minutes. Also make sure to trim the extra fat from your chicken thighs or your rice will end up greasy. Finally, I made my own chicken stock which I do not salt. This allows me to control the amount of sodium in my recipes.

While the title of this recipe is Asian style, the recipe resembled Southern style chicken and rice. The ginger added flavor, without making the dish taste overly Asian inspired. This would be a recipe that people that like traditional American cooking would enjoy and not even notice the ginger. That being said my family liked this recipe, especially my two boys. The rice turned out perfect and the chicken was very moist.

For the recipe go to Asian Style Chicken and Rice.

Recipe for Pesto Pork with Polenta

Scallion-Basil Pesto with Pork Tenderloin, Spinach and Polenta

I can't believe how quickly this year is already going by. My oldest is done with school next month and will be in second grade next year. There are days when I fell overwhelmed and under appreciated staying at home and then I realize how quickly my kids are growing-up and how much I love spending so much time with them as they grow. As my kids are getting older they are also beginning to eat a lot more. Since both of my kids are boys I don't even want to think about how much food they will be consuming as teenagers. Plus they are close enough in age that they will both be eating my entire refrigerator at about the same time. Keeping snacks readily available and doubling recipes has become a must in my household. One meal that is always a favorite in my house is pork. It doesn't matter how I prepare it, my two boys absolutely love it. Last week I tried a new recipe for Pesto Pork with Polenta from the April 2012 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to this recipe. First to prepare the polenta I sliced it into 1/2 inch thick slices, brushed both sides with olive oil and seared the slices on my indoor electric grill until they had nice grill marks. As I've stated many times before you really need to temp pork. The recipe is 100 percent correct about pulling out the pork at 145 degrees. While resting the pork will cook another 5 degrees. Not letting pork rest or cooking it past 145 degrees will result in tough and overcooked meat. I found that I had to add very little salt to the pesto since Worcestershire sauce is high in salt.

I really like that this recipe is a complete meal. The polenta and spinach make great sides to the pork and the polenta ended up being the most popular part of the dish with my two sons. The pesto has a really nice flavor with an umami undertone from the Worcestershire sauce. In addition to the pork the pesto would also work nicely with fish dish due to its citrus taste.

For the recipe go to Pesto Pork with Polenta.

Easy 30 MInute Orecchiette with Scallions and Pistachio Pesto

Gluten Free Orecchiette with Scallions and Pistachio Pesto

Spring has definitely arrived in my kitchen. While the weather in my area is stuck in winter I have been making an effort to start using spring vegetables in my recipes. There is something about making spring foods that always puts me in a better mood and makes me think ahead to the warmer months. My mother-in-law brought me down 2 pounds of ramps which I will be cleaning and posting about in the next couple of days. Spring onions are always a sure sign that the weather will be turning warmer soon. Pesto is a food that I make a lot of in the spring. There are so many flavor combinations that can be created and it is great on pasta, chicken or beef. Since my two boys are both in stages where they love pasta (and little else some days) I have been making most of my pesto to serve with pasta. Last week I tried  new recipe for Orecchiette with Scallions and Pistachio Pesto from Food and Wine magazine.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 6 servings. Since I eat gluten free I used gluten free orecchiette for this recipe. The recipe was very straight forward and I didn't make many changes. I did find that I had to add a significant amount of salt to the pesto in order for the flavors to come through. This was in addition to adding salted pistachios. Pesto can seem bland when not salted properly. I am a bit salt phobic, except when it comes to pesto. It really does need the taste of the salt in order for the other flavors to shine.

I had never tried gluten free orecchiette before. I sort of wish that I hadn't. There are a number of great gluten free pastas. I love brown rice ziti and spaghetti, however the orecchiette pretty much fell apart. With regular pasta this recipe would be delicious though and a great way to add a vegetarian menu option to your weekly meal plan. The pesto part of the recipe would also be delicious with chicken or fish if you are looking for a meat option.

For the recipe go to Orecchiette with Scallions and Pistachio Pesto.

Stir-Fried Sweet-and-Sour Chicken

I miss living in an area with a vast number of restaurants. Growing-up there were restaurants on almost every block and pretty much every type of food you can think of was available. Now I live in a college town with tons of pizza and fast food. I am happy that one of the local pizza places now has gluten free pizza, so at least I can eat at one of the places in town. Since our dining out options are limited I have learned to make most dishes from scratch. The great thing is that many dishes are easy to replicate at home and taste just as good if not better than those available at restaurants. One of my favorite dishes to make at home is sweet and sour chicken. It is so much cheaper and you can modify the amount of fat. Last night I tried a new recipe for Stir-Fried Sweet-and-Sour Chicken from Everyday Food magazine, which with only 20 minutes of total time looked perfect for a busy weeknight meal.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Instead of cutting the ginger into matchsticks I chose to finely grate it. My two boys aren't fans of ginger when it is made into matchsticks so this modification insured that they would actually eat the dish. I did make a few more changes. I chose to use a whole Serrano instead of a half and I used closer to a half of a pineapple instead of a 1/4. Finally, I served the dish over brown rice instead of white since we rarely eat white rice. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My oldest son really enjoyed the pineapple in this dish. I was happy that pineapple is inexpensive currently and the recipe took very little time to prepare. My husband thought the recipe was fine, but was very simple in taste. He would have preferred if the dish had more flavors other than ginger and apricot. At the table my husband and I added crushed red pepper to our servings and this helped to add more dimension to the recipe.

For the recipe go to Stir-Fried Sweet-and-Sour Chicken.

Creamy Turnip Soup

I love soup. There is something very comforting about sitting down with a nice hot bowl of great homemade soup. Growing-up my mother made a ton of soup. As I have talked about before we never had a lot of money so my mother did the most with what we had. We were always getting garden vegetables from friends and my mother would make delicious soup from them. While most kids would turn up their noises at turnips and parsnips, I feel in love with these root vegetables. My mother could turn a hated vegetable into something spectacular. A basic great soup is something to be savored. I am lucky that my two boys will pretty much try any type of food I put in front of them. I started giving them all the foods that my husband and I eat when they were still toddlers so they have never had a fear of new foods. I think this is an important way to teach your kids not to be afraid of trying new foods and new experiences in general. Recently I tried a new recipe for Creamy Turnip Soup from the December issue of Eating Well magazine, which looked like a great winter soup.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes a total time of 45 minutes, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. The turnips sold at my grocery store don't have the greens attached so I followed the suggestion in the recipe and used spinach. I found that when I tried to use my immersion blender on this soup the turnips were not soft enough. They needed to either by sliced much thinner or cooked longer than the time suggested. I let my turnips cook ten minutes more and then used my blender to puree the soup fully. This methods worked much better. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I loved how creamy this soup turned out. The salad topping was the best part of the recipe. It allowed the soup to be less bitter and bring out the flavor of the turnips. Make sure to fully salt the soup at the end. It needed a good amount of salt to taste correct. If you want to make this soup vegetarian you could substitute the chicken stock for vegetable stock. I frequently substitute broths in recipes especially if I am cooking for vegetarian/vegan friends and family.

For the recipe go to Creamy Turnip Soup.

Autumn Root Vegetable Chili

I have made so many sweet potatoes dishes in the last month. This is my favorite time of the year and sweet potatoes are one of my favorite fall foods. I was fortunate enough to receive a substantial amount of yams and sweet potatoes from a friend's garden. I think in total I ended up with over 20 pounds of vegetables. Thanks to this bounty of fall harvest I was able to prepare a large amount of my Thanksgiving dishes without having to spend much of anything at the grocery store. Even before I was given all the free garden goodness I had already been making a ton of sweet potato recipes. One of my favorite ways to utilize sweet potatoes is to use them in chili. My whole family loves chili and sweet potatoes give it an additional flavor and is full of vitamins. Recently I tried a new recipe for Autumn Root Vegetable Chili from the November issue of Family Circle magazine which looked like the perfect fall vegetarian meal.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes 33 minutes of cooking time, 25 minutes of prep and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. This recipe is a little bit prep intensive. Since the majority of ingredients are vegetables there is a lot of peeling and cutting. One way I save time on prep is to cut all the vegetables either in the morning or on the night before. That way I only have a half an hour of cooking at dinner time. The recipe suggests a cooking time of 25 minutes. However, I felt that the sweet potatoes weren't as soft as I wanted them after that amount of cooking time, so I cooked the chili an additional 10-15 minutes. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I love the color on this dish. It would be a great meal to serve to guests since on the plate it looks very fall like. The flavor was mild enough that my two kids liked it, while well rounded enough that my husband and I enjoyed it. If you prefer spicier chili I would recommend increasing the chili powder to up to a teaspoon. I always adjust the amounts of spices to suit my family's needs.

For the recipe go to Autumn Root Vegetable Chili. (registration required)

Kung Pao Chicken

I can't believe how quickly my kids are growing-up! My youngest is turning four in just a couple of weeks and is definitely starting to assert his independence. Right now he is having a long debate with me about the reasons that he needs to have jam with a piece of gluten free bread. I must admit that the kid has a lot of willpower. With my children growing older I seem to have less and less time to spend on pretty much anything. Instead of getting my shower first thing in the morning like I used to, I am lucky to have one before going to bed. My time is more and more limited which means that I am relying on recipes that take little prep and cook time, especially on busy weekdays. That doesn't mean that I don't still love involving and delicious recipes, it just means that they are once a week instead of everyday. It also doesn't imply that I have given-up on big flavors and great food. There are some great recipes that take little time to make, but turn out as well as recipes that take three times as long. Recently, I tried a new recipe for Kung Pao Chicken from the October issue of the Food Network Magazine, which with 25 minutes of total time looked perfect for my active and busy household.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes a total of 25 minutes, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Instead of using frozen stir-fry vegetables I chose to use fresh vegetables. The flavor of fresh vegetables is much better and I could control the exact type used. Since I don't eat gluten and most cheaper soy sauce has gluten as a main ingredient I used gluten free soy sauce instead. When I first stopped eating gluten I had no idea how many things use wheat as an ingredient, I've learned to be very vigilant with my label reading. Instead of chicken breast, I used chicken thighs. I prefer chicken thighs for flavor, they really are worth the extra amount of fat. Since I used fresh vegetables my total cooking time was increased. I let my dish cook for an additional 5 minutes after adding the sauce. Finally, I added a pinch of crushed red pepper to enhance the flavors. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys really loved this recipe. I like that it took less than a half an hour start to finish. The fact that the recipe has 41 grams of protein is another great selling point. My two boys are both in growth spurts so high protein meals are essential. This recipe doesn't have traditional Kung Pao Chicken flavors, but would be a good dish for people that want a more mellow stir-fry. I would suggest increasing the ginger slightly if you want to add a larger flavor punch in addition to the addition of crushed red pepper. If you are expecting leftovers I would double this recipe. The dish made exactly enough for my family of four. If I made this recipe again I would double it to have lunch the next day.

For the recipe go to Kung Pao Chicken.

Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili

This has been a long day. My youngest woke-up at 4 am this morning with a cough and insisted on mommy getting up so he could play in the living room. Of course an hour later he was sound asleep while I was drinking coffee since I knew there would be no way that I could go back to bed. These are the type of days that I absolutely love my slowcooker. There is nothing better than throwing together a recipe in the morning in a few quick steps and having a great meal ready in the evening. When I first started learning to cook in my crockpot I was the queen of mistakes. I filled it too full, I never seared the meat, and I either added too much or too little liquid. Now that my husband and I have been married for almost ten years I have learned that my crockpot can be a great time saver. It can also make horrible cuts of meat into delicious meals. The trick with the slowcooker is to find a great recipe and cook it for a long time at a low heat. Last week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili from the September issue of Family Circle magazine, which promised 15 minutes of prep and 33 grams of protein per serving.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 10 1/2 hours of slowcooking and makes 8 servings. Instead of using a beef brisket, which can be very expensive I substituted a chuck roast. The chuck roast was half the price of the beef brisket. I no longer serve white rice, so I chose to serve this recipe over brown rice. I forgot to actually buy limes, so I did not serve the finished recipe with lime wedges. The recipe doesn't state to sear the chuck roast before adding it to the crockpot. However, I always sear my meat since it in keeps the moisture and flavor.I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I really like that this recipe has so many beans. The beans make a great addition to the beef and the flavor blend well together. This recipe does take longer than a lot of slowcooker recipes, but the results really are delicious. The long amount of time really is worth the effort. Overall, a great crockpot recipe that would be delicious in the cooler weather coming soon.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili.

Pinto and Rice Burgers

When I turned 14 I decided I was a vegetarian. Having grown up in Seattle I was surrounded by vegetarians and vegans and I thought it was natural for me to become a vegetarian myself. My dad was a huge meat eater, but my mom was great about buying me ingredients to make my own meals. It was during these years that I learned to read and create cookbook recipes and modify ingredients to make dishes vegetarian. I stayed a vegetarian until I was in my mid-twenties. When I moved to West Virginia to attend graduate school I added meat back into my diet. Then I met my husband, who is obsessed with pork. My two boys have followed suit and definitely enjoy meat in their diets. While I do love meat, I also try to have at least 1-2 dinners a week that are vegetarian or vegan and our lunches 99 percent of the time contain no meat. With one of the highest levels of childhood obesity in my state I am determined to keep my kids from following this statistic. Veggie burgers are a household favorite so I was excited when the June issue of Everyday Food had a recipe for Pinto and Rice Burgers, which looked very easy and delicious.

This recipe has 10 ingredients, plus toppings. It takes 15 minutes of prep and cook time and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. For the toppings I used cucumbers, avocado, mayo and mustard. I found that the burgers took much longer than the 3 minutes per side suggested by the recipe. I prefer that my veggies burgers have a nice brown crunchy exterior so I let my burgers cook approximately five minutes per side. The bunches of scallion available in my area are huge so instead of an entire bunch I used five large scallions in total. Finally I ended up with 6 burgers in total, my family prefers larger burgers so I made mine slightly larger than the recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Everyone in my family loved this recipe! The burger was not dry as many other veggie burger recipes can be and the avocado topping was absolutely perfect. The cilantro added great flavor, without the burger tasting too much like cilantro. The beans, cilantro, scallions and beans blended together perfectly and the burgers browned very nicely in the olive oil. I was very impressed by this recipe and will definitely make it again in the future.

This recipe is currently not available online, but can be found in the June issue of Everyday Food Magazine. Here is a link to another Rice and Pinto Bean Burger recipe.

Chicken-Peanut Stir-Fry

Stir-Fry is one of my favorite dishes to prepare. Growing up in Seattle I was lucky to be surrounded by numerous restaurants and an entire international district full of delicious food. Best of all were all the ethnic grocery stores that were literally everywhere. I never had problems finding any ingredients and was fortunate to have friends moms teach me to make dishes that were far from my comfort zone. These were the foundations for my love of cooking. I tried just about every type of recipe that I had someone that could teach me to prepare and would spend hours looking through the various groceries stores for ingredients that I had never heard of. Some ingredients I loved and some not as much. An example is gooey duck, I have tried it more than once and still can't get a taste for it. One of my friends from back home though insists that it can be delicious. When I moved to West Virgina I was in for a shock. There was one international market in my area and a small Lebanese market. A couple of years ago the international market closed so I am down to one store to discover hard to find ingredients. I have also discovered how generous my friends and family are back home. Numerous times I have received care packages filled with ingredients not available in my area. I have also successfully converted my in-laws to branch past the food that they were used to eating and discover how great new foods can be. I was pleased to discover that the June issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Chicken-Peanut Stir-Fry, which looked delicious and easy to prepare.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had to go to multiple grocery stores to find all the ingredients. Nappa cabbage can be hit or miss to find in my area and I picked a week when it was sparse. Luckily I was able to find it at the third store I tried. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients. Instead of basmati rice I used the jasmine rice I already had in my cupboard. My chicken took longer to cook than the time suggested by the recipe. I think that I might have cut my chicken slightly larger than suggested and hence why it took longer to cook. Finally, the bunch of scallions that I bought was very big so instead of using the whole bunch I used four scallions in total. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys loved this recipe and ate their whole servings. I love that the recipe has 35 grams of protein per serving and is lower in sodium than most stir-fry recipes. Since the soy sauce and peanuts were salted I found that I didn't have to add additional salt, which was a pleasant change of pace. This recipe states that it makes 4 servings and it makes exactly that amount. There was just enough for my family to eat for one meal with no leftovers. If you are serving more than four people or want leftovers I would suggest doubling the recipe. Overall an easy Stir-fry recipe that even people that have never made stir-fry before would be comfortable preparing.

For the recipe go to Chicken-Peanut Stir-Fry.

Sweet and Spicy Greek Meatballs

There is something about the smell of cinnamon that I find intriguing. It is one of my favorite spices to cook and bake with both for the great flavor and the delicious smell. However, since I have two currently very picky young boys they can be hit or miss with eating dishes heavy on the cinnamon. If a dish is sweet such as raisin bread or coffee cake, they love cinnamon, but meat dishes can be another story entirely. The last time I made cabbage rolls they told me that they were spicy (as in a strong cinnamon taste), so I stopped making dishes with large amounts of cinnamon. In the last couple of months though, I have been politely encouraging my sons to broaden their bacon oriented horizons to new foods. I really don't know how they stay in the 5th percentile for weight since they are always eating, thank you to my dad for his great genetics! I was happy to find a recipe for Sweet and Spicy Greek Meatballs in a recent issue of Redbook Magazine, which looked full of flavor from a number of spices including cinnamon.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 18 minutes of cooking time and makes 4-6 servings. I did make a few ingredient modifications. Thanks to my kids helping my memory I completely forgot to buy parsley, so I left it out of the recipe completely. Additionally, I still haven't bought more oregano so I substituted Italian seasoning (I will actually buy oregano one of these days, I promise!). For the meat I chose to buy lamb and grind it myself. Grinding your own meat is very easy and the texture and taste is so much better than pre-ground. The cooking times in this recipe were pretty spot on and I followed the instructions as written. I ended up with 15 meatballs total.

My husband and oldest son really enjoyed this recipe. I was worried that my sons would turn up their noses at this dish since it uses a large amount of spice, but my 6-year-old ate his entire serving. I thought that the mint flavor was a little strong. I think if I make this recipe again I would reduce the amount of mint to a teaspoon and a half. As written the tablespoon of mint made the meatballs a little strong on the mint taste. I thought that the meatballs tasted like the inside of a cabbage roll, which I love. It was nice to try a different type of meatball other than the regular pork and beef varieties. Overall, a dish full of flavor and only takes a little over a half an hour to prepare. 

For the recipe go to Sweet and Spicy Meatballs.

Family Circle Chinese Hacked Pork

You may have noticed a theme lately, crock-pot recipes. My schedule the last couple of months has been crazy. My youngest son is giving new meaning to being a hard to deal with three-year-old. I love him, but he is a handful to say the least. Plus, the fighting between my two boys has risen to new levels. Needless to say mommy has had a lot less time for meal prep and my crock-pot has made my life much easier. It is normally calmer in the morning, some days I even get a little time to myself to enjoy my coffee before the chaos of the day begins. Since my mornings are easier, I love being able to prep dinner and throw it in the slow-cooker until it's time to eat. So I hope everyone loves crock-pot recipes, since I have been making a lot of them in the last couple of months and there will more than likely be many more to come. The April issue of Family Circle magazine had a delicious looking recipe for Chinese Hacked Pork combining Chinese five spice and pork.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 10 minutes of prep and 6 hours of cooking time and makes 6 servings. I had to make a few modifications to the ingredients due to availability and taste preferences. I was unable to find wide lo mein noodles, so I substituted the chow mein noodles which I was able to find at my local grocery store. Additionally, I chose to leave out the steamed snow peas, I found them unnecessary, and I used homemade chicken broth and regular, instead of low-sodium soy sauce. Since I don't salt my chicken stock I thought the salt from the regular soy sauce was necessary. Finally, I forgot to add the scallions at dinner time, so we ate the dish without. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I really liked this recipe. The flavor was great and the leftovers heated up well both with the noodles and on a bun as a sandwich. My husband especially enjoyed this recipe and ate the majority of the leftovers. The Chinese five spice creates a nice flavor to the dish without being overpowering. Best of all the recipe has 39 grams of protein and only 8 grams of fat, so great for someone on a high-protein diet. This will be a crock-pot recipe that I will use again.

For the recipe go to Chinese Hacked Pork.

Womans Day Seared Tilapia with Pineapple and Cucumber Relish

My oldest son loves fish. Any time that I prepare a fish dish he eagerly eats his serving and then goes around begging for more. I love how easy fish is to prepare and it's a great solution for a busy weeknight meal. Growing up my mom only prepared salmon, which I love, but after moving out on my own I taught myself to appreciate a larger variety of fish. Currently I try to prepare at least one fish dish every week or two. I would prepare fish even more if it was less expensive and I could get my meat eating husband to be convinced that bacon isn't its own food group. As I was looking through the January issue of Woman's Day Magazine I came across a recipe for Seared Tilapia with Pineapple and Cucumber Relish, which looked easy and full of protein.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I actually had to go to multiple stores in order to find non-farm raised tilapia, but I was finally able to find some. I had no problems finding any of the other ingredients and made no modifications. I chose to seed the jalapeno since my five and three-year-old were eating it and they are hit or miss with eating spicy foods. In order for the fish to not stick I used slightly more oil than suggested by the recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Fish recipes are great weeknight meals. They save time and are always popular with my children. This recipe has 40 grams of protein and 9 grams of fat per serving and took less than a half an hour to prepare. The relish was delicious, my husband added rice wine vinegar to his dish and thought that it enhanced the flavor even more. Overall, a healthy and easy fish recipe.

For the recipe go to Seared Tilapia with Pineapple and Cucumber Relish.

Food and Wine Bacon-Scallion Biscuits with Sorghum Butter

Bacon is a big deal in my household. The males in my household love bacon, and when I say love, I mean love. If I want a positive reaction to my baking or cooking I just add bacon and it will be guaranteed to be a hit. Growing up my family was a sausage family. We ate links and patties almost every Sunday morning breakfast. When my husband and I first got married it took some adjusting for me to get used to cooking with bacon grease and not burning bacon in general. I have come along way since then and I now make dishes using bacon frequently. The November issue of Food and Wine magazine had a recipe for Bacon-Scallion Biscuits with Sorghum Butter, which looked like a great way to appease my bacon loving household.

This recipe has 9 ingredients for the biscuits and 2 for the butter. The total time is one hour, with 30 minutes being active, and it makes approximately 18 biscuits. I chose to use maple syrup instead of ordering sorghum butter. I'm a big believer in using the ingredients that you already own/have. The remainder of the ingredients were basic and I either already had in my pantry or were easily available at my local supermarket. My family prefers thick-cut bacon, so that was the type I used for this recipe. One major modification I made to the original recipe was the cooking time. West Virginians make a lot of biscuits and I have never kept my biscuits in for 25 minutes. I bake my biscuits for 10-15 minutes, 20 at the most and turn the baking sheet halfway through. If I had kept my biscuits in the full 25 minutes, the bottoms would have been way too brown for my family's tastes. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

As expected this was a very popular recipe in my family. I made half of the biscuits with a dinner recipe and kept the other half of the dough for fresh biscuits for breakfast the next day. The maple butter was absolutely delicious on the biscuits as well as waffles I made later in the week. My favorite part of this recipe is that it works well as both a dinner side or a breakfast food. Overall, a very versatile recipe, full of bacon and delicious.

For the recipe go to Bacon-Scallion Biscuits with Sorghum Butter.

Martha Stewart Living Herb and Scallion Rice

I have a soft spot in my heart for rice. I absolutely love rice, as an ingredient or a side dish, however it's prepared I adore it. Now I know that nutritionally I should be eating more brown rice and putting away the white, but try as hard as I may I just can't find the taste for brown rice. I try to eat healthy, but white rice is one area I wont compromise, I would rather sacrifice in other areas. However, the white rice that I make I try to add fresh ingredients and vegetables to in order to make the recipes and dishes as healthy as possible. Recently, Martha Stewart Living magazine had a recipe for Herb and Scallion Rice using fresh herbs and garlic, which looked simple and delicious.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It makes a total of 4 servings and takes approximately 50 minutes to prepare. The ingredients are basic and I had no problems finding any of them at my local grocery store. The only modification I made to this recipe was to substitute olive oil for the vegetable oil and use my food processor to blend the ingredients, instead of the blender suggested by the recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I absolutely loved this recipe. The finished rice has a beautiful green color and tasted delicious. There are many variations this recipe could be modified to using different spices and fresh herbs and is a great base recipe. The best part is that it only takes a couple minutes more than making plain white rice and turns out great. Overall, this recipe is very easy and makes a light, flavorful rice dish.

For the recipe go to Herb and Scallion Rice.

Bon Appetit Cilantro-Scallion Bread

I do a lot of baking every week. Between the two loafs of bread, the sweets and the baked goods I make, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Luckily, baking is one of my favorite activities and I it provides me with a sense of calm. For me, I find the absolute most relaxing thing to bake is bread. The kneading and working of the dough lets my mind wander and if anything is bothering me I can take it out during the punch down. I especially love seeing the fruits of my labor in the finished product. A nice loaf of baked bread, is beautiful to look at. The July issue of Bon Appetit magazine had a recipe for Cilantro-Scallion Bread, which on paper looked like a great new bread recipe.

This recipe has 11 ingredients and takes approximately 2 hours to prep and bake. I had to modify the recipe slightly due to the lack of availability of black sesame seeds. When there was a ethnic market in my area I was easily able to find this ingredient and more, but now that it has closed I am limited to the grocery and super stores. Due to the fact that I was unable to find black sesame seeds I left them out of the recipe completely. I do not believe that the modification of the ingredients effected the final taste. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was very impressed by how these breads turned out. They were beautiful to look at, and tasted equally delicious. I was most impressed by how easily they heated up the next day and still had a great flavor. My two boys loved this recipe and ate 6 of the 12 breads between the two of them. This is definitely a recipe I will use again.

For the recipe go to Bon Appetit Cilantro-Scallion Bread.