Chicken Lo mein

This is a great recipe to get a lot of vegetables in your diet. It's a bit time consuming but its well worth it. You'll find yourself making this again. Also, this recipe makes a lot!

You can adjust any of these measure's of the vegetables to your liking. I know some people favor things more than others. As long as the sauce is on target your good to go!

Things you will need:

2 chicken breasts, cubed

3/4 cup of small broccoli florets

2 grated carrots

1/2 cup of shredded cabage

2 shallots diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup of sliced mushrooms

1 celery sticks thinly sliced

1/2 a box of Angel hair pasta

SAUCE:

1 chicken bouillon cube

1 3/4 cup of warm water

1 T siracha

3 T low sodium soy sauce

1 t chili sauce

1/4 cup oyster sauce 

1/2 t sesame oil

Slurry-(comes last)

2 T cornstarch, 2 T cold water

Start making your sauce. Dissolve chicken bouillon in warm water, then add 5 remaining ingredients in the same bowl. Set aside. Cook pasta according to box directions.

Now get all your ingredients together for the stir fry part. Chop away, grate away, slice away. 

Get your wok on med high heat. Once hot, pour 2 T canola oil then add half your garlic and shallots. saute for 2 minutes then add your chicken and cook through.

Once chicken is cooked through remove and set aside. Now we have a nice coating on the pan of gralic and shallot flavor.

Add 2 T of oil again, make sure wok is still hot. Throw in all your veggies and the other half of garlic and shallots. Cook until veggies are tender. I cover the pan and let them cook for about 5-6 minutes. Stirring a few times.

Once veggies are cooked, add your chicken back in the pan. Then mix a slurry (2 T cornstarch + 2 T cold water) then add to your sauce bowl. Once that is mixed, pour sauce into wok. Bring to a boil for a couple of minutes to thicken.

Then toss your pasta in the sauce and get it all coated. You can use actual Asian lo mein noodles if you like or linguine noodles. I really like Angel hair though :)

Then you can make a quick run to the Chinese restaurant right down the road from you and get some egg rolls and crab ragoons. Because that's the convenience of living in a small town lol :) ENJOY!

Green beans

Today is the 4th of July, Phil and I are off and we decided to grill some steaks :) he did the grilling and I made the sides. And I made some yummy green beans.

So, when I first met Phil I wasn't into cooking. I cooked & baked every once in a while. I didn't hate it, I actually enjoyed it. Until we moved in together I got into cooking and pretty much taught myself along the way. And I must say I'm pretty proud of the cook I have become :) My point is.. I have actually grown a better knowledge over time on food enough to where I can replicate a recipe or specific item and it will taste great or even better. In my opinion. 

When Philip and I first met he liked the canned green beans! (UGH!) It's what he grew up on, and what I grew up on. I secretly hated them but we had no choice but to eat them because that was our vegetable!! I did cook them every once in a while. Over the past few years I have totally tossed all canned veggies and use all fresh vegetables now.. I don't even do steamers anymore because ..ew they are microwaved and the nutrition of the vegetable is killed in that 30 seconds or whatever the time may be. PLEASE don't think I'm a snob LOL We all have our beliefs and ways of doing things. Mine have changed over time. :) 

 

These will be the best green beans you've ever had. They are healthy and have the same texture of the ones from the can! Really soft. AND I know everything that is going in them :) Not some ingredients I cant read off the can!!!

Things you will need:

1 1/2 cup of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 3's

2 cloves of fresh minced garlic

about less then half of a white onion thinly sliced

2 T of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup chicken broth (low sodium)

salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Get all your stuff cut up. 

Saute the onion and garlic until onion is soft on med low heat. Don't burn the garlic.

Place your green beans in the pan then pour your chicken broth. Season with Salt & Pepper

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes on low. The trick is for soft green beans is to simmer for 30 minutes. If you like the crunch of green beans then simmer for about 15-20 minutes or to your taste

And they are done. :) Now you tell me Fresh or Can ?! 

Ranchero Sauce

So my husband works nights and he gets home about 715 in the morning and he's  always ready to go eat Huevos Rancheros at a local Mexican restaurant. Me on the other hand is probably in my deepest sleep about that time, and I don't like eating right when I get up. GOT to have my coffee first :) So... yes I do go with him sometimes or I will make some breakfast but not Huevos Rancheros and not at 7:15... 8 Sounds better!! Maybe even 830 :) Sorry babe! AND I don't know how to make a Ranchero sauce. But my mom and dad came over the other night and brought some fresh tomatoes and jalapenos from their garden and I said what can I make with these... and she said well I can show you how to make some Ranchero sauce! Sweet! - Phil will love this.

 

Things you will need:

1 can whole peeled tomatoes w/juice

1/2 of a white onion, thinly sliced

1-2 jalapeno, seeded. 

2-3 fresh chopped tomatoes

1-2 slices of bacon

1/2 t comino (aka cumin)

salt and pepper to taste

Start off by frying your bacon. I cute two pieces in half. (Yes I know! Bacon in a ranchero sauce..?! It's actually the secret ingredient! It gives a smokey flavor.) Don't judge until you've tried it :D

In the mean time, cut up your onion, tomatoes, and jalapeno. I used two whole jalapenos and it was actually still a mild sauce. If I added the seeds then it would have more heat. So keep that in mind.

Once your bacon is done frying, remove from the pan and leave a little of the bacon grease in the pan to saute the onions next. Saute until very soft about 4 -5 minutes.

Chop your bacon.

Add your tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 minutes until tomatoes begin to soften

Once they have soften, then add your can of whole tomatoes, bacon, and 1/2 cup of water (or less)... cut the whole tomatoes up in the pan with the spatula so its not so chunky. Then add your cumin, salt & pepper then cover & simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add your fresh jalapenos then simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste test to make sure the salt is right. If sauce is to thick just add water and simmer for a few minutes.

I made this the night before I surprised my husband with this BIG breakfast. He was very happy! LOL ...Let me just say that I used all four burners making this breakfast...As you can see I went all out and made everything that comes with the plate when you order from a restaurant. I never use more than one pan to scramble up some eggs in the morning. Unless I'm cooking some gourmet dinner I got the whole stove occupied... It was just a little to much work for 8am! And I'm use to going all out for dinner not breakfast. But he was happy so I was happy :)

Hamburger Steak

 

 I've never made hamburger steak so I decided to give it to a try and I wouldn't change a thing. I had some potatoes I needed to use up and I asked what would go good with a side of mash potatoes. I usually do meatloaf but I wanted something a little different and I didn't have much time to cook before Phil went to work. I managed to take a few pics though :)

Recipe:
1 lb of hamburger meat. (lean)

1/4 cup of plain bread crumbs

1 egg

2 cloves freshly minced garlic

1 T Worcestershire

1 T ketchup

salt and pepper to taste 

1 med white onion thinly sliced

1 cup of thinly sliced mushrooms

Gravy

1 cup of beef broth

2 T flour
1/2 t season salt

I actually doubled the gravy so feel free to do so if you like a lot of gravy. :) I wouldn't double the season salt though. Taste it before you add more.

Using your hands or a spatula, mix all the ingredients and form your patties. Put a dimple in the center of the patty so they cook evenly. Then place in the pan with 1 T of canola oil on med low heat and cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes on each side.

 Once the patties are done remove them from the pan and set aside. Now, place your onions and mushrooms in the same pan and cook for about 5-6 minutes or until onions are caramelized.
Then sprinkle your flour over the onions and mushrooms and give it a toss. Add your beef broth slowly and whisking at the same time to make the gravy. Bring it to a boil then add your patties back in and cover. Simmer on low for about 10-15 minutes.

 -Serve with a nice salad or some green beans. :)

Mahi fish tacos

 

 Well this was an unintentional dinner. But it came out delicious so I must share :) My husband decided yesterday he wanted to go on this diet called Primalburn. This diet is basically NO PROCESSED food. But think a little deeper... this diet says you can't eat anything that doesn't look the way it did when it came out of the ground. WTF?! Ummm first of all I will admit we do eat organic food. Not all, but most things I do try to buy organic. I cook with fresh ingredients and try to stay away from processed food and microwaves. But this diet says no wheat, flour, pasta, dairy.. and so on. So I'm like what the hell am I suppose to cook!? LOL Anywho- Went to the grocery store and bought some Mahi Mahi. One of my favorites! And the point of my story was Phil just wanted some grilled Mahi by itself, and I said I'll eat the processed food for ya! Gonna make some fish tacos for myself!! How bad could some corn tortillas be?! Yea they are processed because corn sure doesn't look like that when it comes out of the ground! LOL- hey they could be flour tortillas!! I don't feel so guilty now. :)

So I was in the mood for some refreshing dip because it has been so got darn HOT here in south Texas. So I decided to make pico de gallo with some mango. And what goes better on some fish tacos?!- Besides Avocado. :)

Recipe for Mango Pico de gallo

3 Roma Tomatoes diced

1/4 cup diced red onion

1-2 T cilantro (can be strong- start off with one T)

1 clove of garlic minced

1 mango diced

half of Serrano pepper

juice of 1 Lime

1/2 t salt

pepper to taste.

Dice your tomatoes and onion. Cut the Serrano lengthwise and removed the seeds. Finely chop one of the halves. Last, finely chop your cilantro and your fresh garlic clove. Toss everything in the bowl and squeeze your lime juice. Add salt and pepper.

Now, for the mango. They can be a little slimy. Here is the best way I have learned to peel and cut a mango.  Hold your mango from one side and slowly run your knife down the sides to remove the skin.

Then when your done you get a naked mango! Notice, the seed in the middle. cut the sides around the seed in the middle. You will know when to stop because it will get be tough

Dice your mango and enjoy a few pieces on a chip like I did.

Toss the mango together with the pico de gallo.

Fish tacos.

2 filets of Mahi Mahi 

Flour for coating

salt and pepper to taste
2 T canola oil

1 Avocado

2 Corn tortillas

Heat a pan on med heat, add oil to hot pan. Season your fish and then coat in flour. Shake off any excess. Cook fish about 3-4 minutes on each side or until flaky. 

Place your fish on your corn tortillas and top off with the mango pico, and fresh avocado slices. Enjoy :)

 

 

Fredericksburg

This weekend was mine and Phil's one year anniversary and we went to Fredericksburg to celebrate. We had a blast! It was our first time there, and the town is so charming. We loved it! Some of our friends joined us the second night to celebrate their anniversary as well. They got married on the same day as us, but they were celebrating their 7 year anniversary. We all had a great time and can't wait to go back.

We stayed at the Angels Above the Creek. Super cute bed in breakfast! Philip picked it and he did a good job :) It was very rustic and had that ranch feel to it. Our kind of style.

 

We got a couple massage the first day there. It was Philip's first massage which he loved! It was really cool because they came out to our room and set their tables up in our room upstairs. I snapped this shot real quick while we were undressing lol and they were down stairs waiting for us. Its not the best picture.

So I know my main purpose for this blog is to post my recipes... and I'm sure your wondering what great food we had?! So the first night we went to this really elegant restaurant called August E's and had some great food. They hand cut all their steaks, fly in fish from all over the world and NOTHING is frozen. They use the freshest ingredients and their menu changes depending what is available. They were so nice and gave great service. This place was very fancy and modern. They had some nice art work displayed by local artists. This place was so fancy that you could not use your cell phones in the dinning room. LOL Soooo I couldn't get any pics of the great dishes. But I snuck two pics :))

So this was my first course that I will Recreate one day because it was so unique and DELICIOUS!

Poached pear stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese and fresh spinach salad with toasted pecans. YUM!!

 

And for our dessert they surprised us with Creme Brulee.:) It was yummy.

Its a Rose =))

So the night went on with our romantic dinner and we went to a local bar after and called it a night. Our friends were coming the next day and couldn't wait to visit the wineries together! Tomorrow awaits...

WE had a BLAST visiting the wineries! We had lunch first at the famous Fredericksburg brewing company. Food was good. Beer...eh I'm not a beer drinker but Philip enjoyed his beer sample. We all went down main street after lunch and then headed to the wineries.

WINERY STOP #1

The first winery we visited was the Becker vineyards. We did wine tasting and a had a little private tour and saw how wine was made. It was really NEAT!

These large tanks do the magic process of fermenting the wine. Converting the sugar into alcohol. A very crucial process.. I promise I'm not going to give you all a lesson on how wine is made. Just wanna show some pictures!! LoL :) And those are all the barrels that hold the wine.

Here are some pics of us. Yes the guys are drunk. Us gals are having a good time :) baby Taylor is chillin!! The lady that gave us the samples probably gave us more than our tickets could get us lol!! She loved us. Well the guys!!

WINERY STOP #2

That was our favorite sparkling wine from this winery. It had hints of almond. It was very delicious! And those grapes were actually the first harvested.

After a long fun day of wine tasting we went and had dinner at the Cabernet Grill. They had Delicious food! -

Philip and I  =)

OK .. LAST Stop before we left Fredericksburg ... LUCKENBACH. LoL!!

So I have never heard of the town but everyone swore we had to stop and get a T-shirt in Luckenback. There is a famous song apparently about this little town. When I say little... I mean it! LOL

This town was like on a 5 acre lot. And that is it. They have a little gift shop that is VERY old and stunk that also has a bar attached in the back LOL. The guys were upset they couldn't have a beer yet  because it was 11am on a SUNDAY. They have concerts out there and a food stand.. and that's about it. It's pretty redneck if you ask me.

This was hilarious. This cat was passed out on the bench outside the little gift shop. 

A little to much to drink last night cat????