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!

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.

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.

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.

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!
                                    

Cheesy Taco Pasta

One of the foods that does not enter our home is Hamburger Helper, I know we have tons of food that is just as bad but hey, we all have our line that we don't cross, lol. It's one of those meals that just seems silly to pay extra for when you still have to fry up some beef, you probably have pasta in the kitchen anyway so all you need are some spices. But sometimes you find yourself in a time crunch or life gets in the way and you need something that's easy. This reminds me a lot of a Hamburger Helper type of meal.

And by making this yourself you control how much of everything (especially the sodium) you're putting in! This recipe comes from a fellow blogger; Lauren's Latest and was a hit in our home. It's not a gourmet meal but some days you're just happy to have something on the table that everyone eats. We had this with garlic bread and salad which was a nice compliment.

Thai Chicken

This is a meal that we have come to love in our home! It’s relatively simple to make and tastes awesome. This recipe is something that I compiled after reading various Thai chicken recipes, a lot of them are served with pasta but I love this served with stuffed potatoes or just plain garlic mashed potatoes.

In this recipe I used Epicure’s Thai seasoning but I’m sure you could get away without it, I had it in the cupboard and figured why not.

Crowd-Pleasing Taco Salad

Wow, I haven't posted to this blog in such a long time, I had to try multiple passwords before got the right one, lol. But I think building a home and having your camera die on you are pretty good excuses and now both problems have been resolved.

I saw this recipe from Taste of Home on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it! I'm always up for trying new versions of our family favourites and this one was a keeper. I did make a few minor changes to suit our family's preferences. I actually prefer this recipe to my other one but my husband said he still likes both, but since I'm the cook...

Honey Dijon Chicken and Roasted Garlic Broccoli

This recipe is so simple to make but makes a great low key lunch. I always think that if I have a protein that I need to have a starch as well. It was nice to just stick to the chicken and broccoli. It helps too that broccoli is about the one vegetable that all my kids eat a little bit of.

Pork Stir Fry

This recipe had been saved in my favourites for a long time already and I decided that I better make it already! And we were not sorry, my kids gobbled this up and asked if I would make it again for dinner. My 7 year old daughter asked if I would give her the recipe when she's a mommy so she can make it for her kids, lol. I think she liked it! And it's quite easy to make, which in my books always makes it a plus.

Tropical Pork Chops

Sunday dinner rolled around and I wasn't sure what to make. A quick search on All Receips and 30 minutes later we had this, and it was good! I cut the pork into strips instead of leaving them whole, and I didn't have any pineapple tidbits in the house but it was still a great meal.

General Tso's Chicken

What a treat this dinner was! I was in the mood for something different compared our usual menu the other day and this recipe came to mind. It's actually quite easy to make and delivers on the taste! Next time I make this I will use less ginger, I might even eliminate it since I'm not a huge fan of ginger. But it was still great the way it was!

Butter Chicken

My husband and I really enjoy Indian flavors. I've just recently started making it from scratch at home and it is not really that difficult. The recipes might not be exactly authentic but they are still really good. I first saw this recipe on Pioneer Woman's website and was redirected to the tasty Kitchen for the recipe. It is really simple to make and oh so delicious. At first I was a little intimidated at how much cream is in there (you can sub it out with half and half or light cream) but I didn't want to comprimise on flavour. I've realized that, yes, I want to eat better but I also want to use whole ingredients to get the best flavour. Moderation is key. Enjoy good food just not too much and watch how often you make the rich ones.

Butter Chicken

4 pieces Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut Into Bite Sized Pieces)
5 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoons Black Pepper
½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
¼ teaspoons Ground Coriander
¼ teaspoons Cumin
¼ teaspoons Cardamom
1 whole Lime, Juiced
1 whole Onion, Diced
¼ cups Butter
1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Tomato Sauce
1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes
1 pint Whipping Cream
1 bunch Chopped Cilantro, to taste
2 cups Basmati Rice (or However Much You Want)

Preparation InstructionsCombine first 9 ingredients and marinate overnight.

Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Add marinated chicken and cook about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. Add the whipping cream (You can use light cream or half-and-half also) and cilantro just before serving over Basmati rice.

If you don't want it too spicy cut back on the cayenne pepper.