Recaito Spiced Fajitas

Michael saw recaito spiced chicken on Food Versus Man and was obsessed with trying it out.  Since we had peppers we decided to make fajitas with chicken marinated in recaito for two days.  The result was so good, tender and different from anything I've tried.  We served the fajitas with recaito spiced rice.  You just add as much of the recaito as you like, taste as you go.  I really love that my kitchen experiments are spreading to my whole family.  Now if we see something that sounds good we make it!

Recaito Recipe Modifications

• Our usual produce market did not have culantro so we used all cilantro as the recipe directed

Recaito Ingredients

1 medium Spanish onion, cut into big chunks
8 garlic cloves, peeled
6 ajies dulces, hot peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into chunks or 1 cubanelle pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into chunks
4 leaves culantro (if you can't find culantro, increase the amount of cilantro by half)
1 cup packed fresh cilantro, stems and all, coarsely chopped

Fajita Ingredients

recaito marinated boneless skinless chicken breasts, marinate chicken in recaito for 8 hrs to 2 days

1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 small white onion
sharp cheddar cheese shredded
tortillas
salsa, sour cream, avocado, hot sauce - to top if desired

Fajita Recipe

1. Grill chicken until done.  Do not overcook, you want it tender!
2. While chicken is grilling saute onion and peppers over medium heat in oil until they soften some and onions are slightly brown.  Stir occasionally
3. Cut chicken after letting it sit for a few minutes.  This will retain those juices and keep it more moist.
4. Heat tortillas according to package directions.  Top with chicken, peppers, onions, cheese and other desired toppings.  Eat and enjoy!

Recaito Recipe

This recipe comes Food.com

Click Here for Recipe

BBQ Chicken Burgers

I know we have been making allot of burgers but really it's that time of year and they are so easy and quick.  This one is a chicken burger recommended my our friend Stephanie and it is so yummy!  We used BBQ sauce from City BBQ and that made it even better.  Served with simple balsamic glazed asparagus and smashed sweet potatoes.  My only regret is we went up to the lake and I left two burgers behind, hate to waste food especially when it's so good.

Recipe Modifications

• Cooked the onions until they turned a nice brown color
• Added some fresh pepper

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Oil, divided
1 Small Onion, diced
1 lb. Ground Chicken Breast
2 Tbsp BBQ Sauce (your favorite), plus additional for serving
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
4 Jack or Mozzarella Cheese Slices
Burger Buns

Easy Side Recipes
Asparagus

1. Cook Asparagus over Medium heat in olive oil
2. Add tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, dash of sea salt and dash of fresh ground pepper
3. Cook until desired softness, 5- 10 minutes.  Turn often

Smashed Sweet Potatoes

1. Microwave or bake sweet potatoes until soft
2. Cut lengthwise and scoop potatoes out
3. Add 1/4 to 1/2 tablespoon of butter, depends on number of potatoes
4. Add dash of nutmeg.  Mash and serve 

Burger Recipe

This recipe comes from Weelicious.  Healthy creative recipes that once you try you'll be hooked!

Click Here for Recipe

Easy Taco Night

My family loves tacos and they are so easy and fast to make that we have them often.  We never eat all the tortillas so for lunch we have leftover cheese and tortillas to make quesadillas with.  Throw on any leftover meat or veggies you have from other meals.  The girls love them, and I love that food isn't wasted.  I am a bit of a lazy taco maker and wasn't even sure this qualified as a real recipe.  But just in case anyone out there never makes them at home, look at how easy this is!  We usually serve with spanish rice or corn bread and corn.  If the avocados are ripe I'll make a side of avacados smashed with lime and fresh salsa too.

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons taco seasoning

1-1.5 lbs ground turkey

1/2 - 1 cup tomato chopped

1 cup shredded lettuce

Sour Cream to taste

Hot Sauce to taste

Sharp Cheddar to taste

Multigrain Tortillas (Giant Eagle brand are actually quite tasty)

Recipe

1. Chop tomatoes and shred lettuce
2. Brown the Turkey over medium heat and Drain
3. Return to heat and add Seasoning and 1/4 cup of water, mix until water has reduced a few minutes.  Remove from heat
4. Heat tortillas according to package instructions
5. Let everyone make their own taco to taste!  I like mine topped with meat, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce, lettuce and tomato.

Banana Muffins with Streusel Topping

You may notice allot of banana recipes on this blog.  We eat these regularly and sometimes don't eat those bananas fast enough so they become very ripe, especially with the heat wave we have been having!  Now since the girls and I enjoy baking and trying out new recipes this is rarely a problem.  A quick search and a few minutes later we are off creating some new treat.  My friend Stephanie posted a really cute picture of her girls streuseling muffins and that was the inspiration.  These are so good!  They have enough spice to make the muffin part flavorful, but the topping is really what makes you grab that second muffin.  Toasting the walnuts and eating warm out of the oven are must do steps.  You could even serve these as dessert with a scoop of ice-cream and drizzle of carmel.

Recipe Modifications

• Used pasteurized egg product
• Used salted butter, I was out of unsalted
• Used skim milk, recipe still turned out amazing
• Used 2 and a half bananas 
• Cooked recommended 25 minutes but may try 22 minutes next time.  New pan cooks fast!

Ingredients

Streusel

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted

1/4 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tbsp. flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces

Muffin

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp.baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp.freshly grated nutmeg

2 medium mashed ripe bananas

1 large egg

1/2 cup half-n-half or whole milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Recipe

This recipe comes Genesis of a Cook blog.  The first I have tried but after this one I'll be trying more! 

Click Here for Recipe

Turkey Burgers and Special Sauce with Asian Twist

As you may of guessed from my blog I am not red meat eater.  I eat poultry and fish and find that there is so much variety in the foods I can make and eat.  Michael is a red meat eater so for burgers he usually opts for a angus beef or some other beef variety.  But I have to say he really liked this recipe having left-over burgers two nights in a row as a late night snack!  I think it will be hard to be happy with the frozen pre-made burgers after trying all these great recipes.  The ginger in the burger and sauce give it a unique flavor that's sure to please even your picky red meat burger eaters and it's from Cooking Light so you know it's not horrible for you ;-)

Recipe Modifications

• Used 1.5 lbs of ground turkey, one of the packs from Costco.  I never get the super-lean meat you want a little fat
• 1/4 + 1/8 cup of green onion
• 3 large garlic cloves
• Added 1 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp orange juice
• 3 tsp ginger
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Froze the burgers on a cookie sheet for two hours prior to cooking.  Wait until they really have time to cook before flipping.  You'll see the sides start to brown.  Cooked over medium heat on outside grill and did not spray with cooking spray
• The special sauce made way more than we needed.  I'd half the recipe next time.  Added 1 1/2 tsp of ginger to the sauce instead of 1/2 tsp

Ingredients

Burgers

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 pound ground turkey breast

Cooking spray

1/2 cup Special Sauce

4 (1 1/2-ounce) whole wheat hamburger buns

4 curly leaf lettuce leaves

Special Sauce

3/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

Recipe

These recipes come from my favorite source Cooking Light. Not diet food, but food that is conscious of health without losing any flavor. Food for life! 

Click Here for Recipe for Burgers

Click Here for Recipe for Special Sauce

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Last spring we went to the Butterfly House with Michael's parents and the girls.  We stopped at a hole in the wall place.  Kind of reminded me of a vfw hall only smaller.  Turns out they had the best fresh strawberry pie that I've ever tasted.  So I searched for a recipe that I could make and this one is perfect and so easy to make!  I never knew that you could make a pie that tastes fresh, cool, sweet and home-made with so little effort.  It was the perfect treat for the day I made it since we had to pull the girls out of the pool after only 15 minutes of playing when a sudden thunder storm hit.  For an almost 2 and almost 4 year old it was the end of the world, until they had the pie that is ;-)

Recipe Modifications

• Used refrigerated pie crust that you put in your own pan and bake
• Used 2/3 cup of sugar instead of 3/4, if berries are really sweet I'd use 1/2 cup
• Didn't add mint
• Topped with homemade vanilla whipped cream
• Didn't measure the strawberries, just sliced until they filled the pie crust to the top

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup water

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry gelatin

4 cups sliced fresh strawberries

fresh mint

Recipe

This recipe allrecipes.com and was featured in Taste of Home

Click Here for Recipe