Green Smoothies.

our new late night treat is green smoothies.  so far i have found two variations that we enjoy (well, dallin only enjoys the chocolate one).

1-
handful of spinach
ground flax seeds
1 banana (frozen)
chocolate almond milk

2-
handful of spinach
ground flax seeds
1 banana (frozen)
blueberries, strawberries, raspberries (or whatever you want)
vanilla almond milk





put everything in blender, blend and enjoy.  (i use a magic bullet, and i've heard the spinach doesn't blend in a regular blender- so keep that in mind)

shredded wheat bars

because, lets face it-- who doesn't need a healthy treat idea?

3 cups (crushed) shredded wheat
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut-butter (crunchy is better)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
raisons (or semi-sweet chocolate chips if you're a choco-holic like me)

mix honey, peanut-butter, and brown sugar.  melt in microwave for 1- 1.5 minutes. blend well.  add shredded wheat and mix until coated evenly.  add chocolate chips or raisons and mix again.  press into a greased 8-inch baking dish.  cool in refrigerator.  cut into square bars and enjoy.

BBQ Pasta

We aren't huge fans of marinara sauce in our home, so this pasta is perfect! Especially because my husband is obsessed with BBQ sauce.  (We once had a debate about if it was normal (and in my case, HUMANE) to eat BBQ sauce on pot-stickers. Unfortunately I think I lost that battle after taking a poll on facebook, but I'm still sticking to the fact that it's absolutely disgusting and a major insult to the asian culture!) ANYWAY!  This pasta is good!  It sounds a little iffy- I know, but just trust me on this one.  The smell of it cooking in the oven is quite divine as well!

26oz Marinara sauce (I'm pretty sure mine was 24oz)
1.5- 2.5 BBQ sauce (I used slightly more)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. Penne Pasta (I used 70% wheat pasta, 30% white)
shredded mozzarella cheese
chicken

Cook and shred chicken.  Combine Marinara and BBQ sauce, and then the minced garlic.  Add cooked noodles, and then the shredded chicken.  Pour into 9x13 baking dish and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20minutes.

cleaning chicken

i hate chicken. i mean, i HATE touching, cleaning, dealing with uncooked chicken, period!  my sisters are all kind of freaked out by raw chicken, and therefore, i have developed quite a phobia of it myself.  unfortunately, we eat chicken at least twice a week, if not more.  we figured out a chicken solution shortly after we were married.  it makes cooking dinner for me 10x easier, and it makes my husband 10x happier that he doesn't have to clean the chicken for me every time!

whenever we buy chicken, we buy it in bulk.  my husband will clean all the chicken and cut it into about 3 ounce pieces.  we then put two- four pieces of the cleaned chicken in a freezer zip-lock bag.  then you throw it all in the freezer! whenever i need chicken for a meal, all i have to do it pull a bag out of the freezer and put it either directly into a baking dish, or directly into a frying pan.  it dramatically minimizes the amount of raw chicken i have to touch!  it also cuts down prep time for dinner in half! (okay maybe not half, but a lot!)

and ta-da!
it works perfect for us!

Caramel Brownies

1 pkg. german chocolate cake
1/2 c. margarine
1 can of canned (evaporated) milk
1 pkg. caramel squares
1 8oz. pack milk chocolate chips (i used more.. of course)

Mix cake, margarine, 1/2 can milk.  Put half of the cake batter into a 9x13 greased and floured pan.  Cook for 6 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, melt caramel with 1/3 c. milk.  (cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly) Set to "cool" (just for a short while)

Sprinkle chocolate chips and caramel over the "cooked" portion of the cake.  Spoon the remainder of the cake batter on top by heaping teaspoons.  (the batter is quite thick)  Cook for 18 more minutes.  Allow time to cool before eating.

*I think they taste best the next day after they have had time to cool in the refrigerator. (make sure to cut them before refrigerating though)

Chicken "Nuggets"

2 cups of bite-size shredded wheat cereal (crushed to 1 cup)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1 Tbs. honey
2 tsp. prepared mustard
chicken- cut into bite-size pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine cereal, parmesan cheese, salt, paprika, and garlic powder.  In a separate dish combine mayo, honey and mustard.  Stir chicken into mayo mixture and then roll in cereal mixture- coat evenly.  Place in shallow baking dish and bake for 15-20minutes.  (ours took 30min because i did bigger pieces of chicken)

Pulkokee

Yeah... I'm not sure how to pronounce the name of this meal either, BUT it is absolutely divine.  It's definitely one of my top 5 favorite meals.  My sister in-law gave my mom this recipe, and now I have possession of it!  It's REALLY easy to make, which makes it all the better!

1 lb. beef, cut in thin strips (we use top sirloin steak)
4 T. brown sugar
2 T. sesame oil
6 T. soy sauce
crushed red pepper (however much you would like- we used 1/4 T)
1 green onion (or not..)
1 glove minced garlic
4 T. sesame seeds
1 T. flour

Add beef, brown sugar, sesame oil, and soy sauce and mix well in large frying pan.  Add remainder of ingredients and mix again.  Let the mixture stand for 15 minutes.  Fry in pan on medium to medium-high heat until meat is brown and cooked through.  Add 1/2- 1 cup of water and mix.  Cover and simmer on low heat until tender. (about 20- 30 minutes)  Serve over rice.