Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken

You know a meal is good when the entire family doesn't speak because it takes away from their chewing time, lol. I tried this recipe a while back and my husband was almost ready to lick the sauce off his plate!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

One bowl cake recipes are super easy to make, almost fail proof and less dishes! Sounds like a winner to me anytime! This recipe comes from a church cookbook and it's my go to recipe when I need something quick and easy. I abhor cake from a box, for many reasons. Depending on what I need this for, I'll either bake it in a 10x13 cake pan or in cupcake liners.



Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

This is a great weeknight meal when you know you won't have a lot of time to prepare dinner! The taste is light and refreshing and can be used in tacos or served over rice. The original post for this recipe can be found here: Blog Link We like to have this with rice, corn and a side salad.

Who doesn't love a bowl of fresh homemade salsa with chips on a cool fall day?! My 8 year old daughter eats salsa like it's dessert, lol. I made this recipe with only two changes, I'll post them at the end. I didn't have enough paste (I really didn't want to run to the store, again!) and none of the stores had fresh chili peppers. But this recipe is definitely a keeper, it's not sweet but not too vinegary either.



Greek Orzo Salad

I love Greek food, it has a fresh taste and healthy too! My kids are still learning to like some of the foods but I can usually give them a small spoonful as long as I don't list the ingredients, lol.

Chicken Wraps with a Southwest Sauce

This was a recipe that I stumbled across a few summers ago and it's turned into a regular meal during the grilling months! The chicken gets marinated for a few hours which makes all the difference!  The original recipe served the chicken on an onion roll with the sauce but I found the bread to be a little overpowering, so we make a wrap out of it instead.

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Broccoli Pasta Salad

Over the weekend we had pizza and salad again, so good! This time I attempted a BBQ chicken pizza and the broccoli salad, both were a success!

Excuse the blurry photo!

Broccoli Pasta Salad

2 cups uncooked pasta of choice (cook according to box directions)

3 broccoli heads, cut into small florets

1/4 cup chopped green onion

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup sugar

1/4-1/4 cup Italian dressing

salt to taste

Sunflower seeds (optional)

Raisins (optional)

Mix all ingredients together, adjusting to your preferences.

Pizza Hut pizza

Admit it, sometimes you get a hankering for some seriously greasy pizza! And I don't think there is any pizza greasier than Pizza Hut's pizza, lol.

I've been meaning to try this recipe for a while already, I hate frozen pizza and sometimes it's hard to order one when you know you can make it so much cheaper at home! So off I went in search of this recipe, although you don't have to search too hard since one quick google search shown tons of results. I did change it just a smidge since I use traditional yeast vs the instant. So I'll post how I did it.

Fried Chicken, Redneck style

As the post title indicates, it's time to get your redneck on, lol. This chicken is so simple to make and it's one of my favourites. But don't expect to see this served at a nice dinner.

Apple Dapple Cake

This is the cake that almost wasn't, simply because we almost ate it before I could snap a shot of it! I had a few friends over for coffee and this was served, and then the kids got home from school and more was served. And then the following morning as I stared at the last piece I realized I better get the camera out!

This cake reminds me of fall, and it's perfect with a cup of coffee on a cold day.

Fluffy French Toast

A breakfast favourite in our home is french toast topped with fresh fruit and whipped cream. So good! I found this recipe on All Recipes with tons of great reviews so it seemed like a no brainer to try it. And we were not disappointed. The recipe uses flour which helps to make them super fluffy.

Mexican Rice

This is one of our newly discovered favourite rice recipes! It smells so fragrant while cooking, my husband always knows we're having something Mexican if he walks in the door to this smell.  The recipe was found on All Recipes with great reviews!

Wonton Tacos

This recipe is very similar to the wonton tacos you can get at Applebees. Theirs is under the appetizer section but we make lots at home and have these as our meal, delicious!

I had trouble frying them the first time, I hadn't left them open enough to get the fillings in and once they cool down, they're crispy so they fell apart on me. The second time, I fried them flat just until the wrapper dough bubbled and then I folded them and help them open with a spoon and fried until it was golden, flipped it over and fried until the other side was golden. It's really just trial and error.

Crispy Flautas

One of my favourite cuisines would have to be Mexican food! Probably because almost everything is fried and everything tastes better fried, right?! I've been wanting to try making flautas for quite some time already and yesterday seemed like a good day to do it.

Problem was, I couldn't find the recipe that I wanted, not that I knew what I wanted, lol. I knew I wanted one with the green chile sauce to cover them with because that's what I've had in Mexican restaurants. And the chicken filling was made differently too in every recipe. So I figured I might as well try them with my chicken enchilada sauce and filling and see how it tasted. And it was a huge hit in our home. I don't think my husband wants me to share just how many he ate.

Belizian Stew Chicken with Rice n Beans

There is something about eating Belizian cuisine, it has to be in Belize to taste right. Sounds strange doesn't it? You can make the same dish here in Canada but I think it needs the salty ocean water nearby for it to taste perfect!

This is a dish that is popular in Belize and you will find it in just about every restaurant in the country. I was born there and spent the first few years of my life living there but moved when I was young. But this is a dish that kind of follows you where ever you go, lol.  You will typically get this served with creamy coleslaw or potato salad, sometimes both.

For those of you that are not familiar with Recado, it's a paste made out of achiote seeds, you should be able to find it in any Mexican import store. It's brick red in colour and is like a thick paste. You dissolve it in hot water before adding to your pot. If you're lucky (like I was) and can get some that was made by one of the Natives you're in for the best stuff.

Crispy Chicken Wraps

I'm sure all of us can relate to those days where you want something simple for dinner but your brain isn't helping you out. I had one of those days today as the dinner hour grew near. But I remembered seeing a recipe for these simple wraps over at "Heat Oven to 350" and decided they would be on the menu today. I added a few seasonings just based on other wrap recipes and they were a hit. And super easy to make which is always a plus!

Pizza Rolls

When you have three kids in school lunches can become somewhat of a challenge. Two of them love ham sandwiches, one takes a mouse size bite out of them. They can't have PB&J, so the one sometimes has just a jam sandwich, which the other two hate. See where I'm going with this?! By the end of the school year I'm ready for a break!

So in my search for options, I stumbled upon this idea and the kids loved the idea. So last night I let the dough rise while we ate dinner and quickly finished them afterwards. They were super easy to make, the cutting/shredding was the most work. My kids like their pizza fairly plain so I didn't add more than the cheese and ham but the sky's the limit!

The dough recipe is actually one that claims to be Pizza Hut's recipe and I thought it came pretty close. I used the same recipe for bread sticks and they were good, I over baked them or I'd post a picture. Another day. I used my kitchen aid to make the dough which made it even easier, I hate getting my hands covered in dough.

Pineapple Sheet Cake

We were at a family get together last weekend and we had potluck for lunch, and what's better at a potluck than the table of desserts! I stumbled upon this recipe a few years ago from an old church cookbook and have since added it to my collection of family favourites.

I always found the cake to be just a little on the thin side when it was baked so I doubled it by half. I was a little nervous as it started to rise in the oven but it fell just shy of turning into a dirty oven disaster! I use the aluminum 12x17 cookie sheets with the 1" sides.

                 

Cinnamon Rolls

I have a love/hate relationship with cinnamon rolls. I love the taste, but hate how quickly they lose their soft ooey gooeyness. If I leave them out overnight often they are already on the stale side. So I  was quite delighted when I tried this recipe and they stayed super soft and delicious even when left on the counter overnight!

This is a fairly large recipe but I like to bake them in smaller pans and freeze them, that way I can take out just small amounts for the family.

Chicken Enchiladas

In our home enchiladas is a regular staple, it's one of those meals that everyone enjoys which is always reason to make it again! I only recently tried making chicken enchiladas instead of the usual beef. We really enjoyed the chicken version, I actually haven't even made the beef version since.

One thing I do to make enchiladas a LITTLE healthier is to not fry the tortillas in oil. But frying them makes them taste better so instead I lightly brush both sides with oil and than let each side get hot in my cast iron pan. They really do taste fried but with a lot less calories! I also use a rotisserie chicken because it saves on so much time and still tastes great!