Tag: 4th of july

Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables with Bulgar Wheat

I love roasted vegetables. The are the most delicious slightly charred and seasoned lightly with kosher salt. You can make them in the oven as stated in this recipe or in a skillet over medium-high heat. I usually use Bulgar wheat for breakfast cereal sort 

Broccoli Feta and Cherry Tomato Salad

My mom was queen of the pasta salad. Not the kind smothered with dressings or dripping with sauce. Rather simply flavored with a smidgen of salad dressing. Enough to give a little flavor. I learned how to basically clean out the frige and turn odds and 

Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken

When I was 16 turning 17 my best friend’s family invited me to join them on a cross country trip. Equipped with R.E.M’s “Out of Time” album and C&C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat”, we made our way to Texas to visit Beverly’s Friends the Robinson’s, New Mexico to visit her Aunt, a site seeing trip to the Grand Canyon, up to Utah to pick up my friend’s older sister, back through Arizona to visit another relative or friend (I can’t remember) and finally headed back to Florida. The man we stopped off to visit in Arizona was married to a sweet woman from Korea. We were treated to an endless pot of rice and her homemade sweet and sour sauce. The first thing I noticed was the sauce was not red it was clear. She said that is how it is supposed to be. Whenever I order sweet and sour chicken I always remember the bowl of clear sauce.

Five ingredients is all it takes to make this simple sweet and sour chicken. I usually use precooked left over baked chicken from the night before which cuts the cooking time in half adding the chicken after the sauce has simmered on the stove for 15 minutes.

Source:
6 pieces of chicken
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8oz) can pineapple chunks with juice, undrained
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp dry mustard

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, pineapple, soy sauce, and dry mustard. Place the chicken pieces in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake 60 minutes, turning the chicken halfway through. Bake until the juices run clear. To serve spoon the sauce over the chicken.

Variations:
Replace chicken pieces with chicken breasts. The cooking time will be less.
Simmer chicken in a skillet on the stove.
Grill the chicken and pineapple slices. Use the sauce to marinate the chicken in and brush on during grilling.

Cucumber Salad with Dill Yogurt

A friend of mine from Houston Texas introduced me to the pleasures of cucumber salad. She was obsessed with cucumbers and red onions in vinegar. We ate bowl fulls to curb our hunger. I am the only one in the house who will eat this 

Italian Steak and Bread Salad

I enjoy making my own croutons, because they have more flavor than the store-bought kind. It is also another way of using up day-old bread or the crust cut off of the kids sandwiches. I changed the original recipe up a bit mostly because I 

Chicken Cordon Blue Panini

Last year, I snagged a grill/panini press for a phenomenal $40.00. We have not pulled it out for a few months. I was surprised to hear Mason request a grilled sandwich for lunch a week ago. Since then, we have been heating up ham and turkey sandwiches everyday now. The adults, however, have had a little more fun with our panini sandwiches. I wanted to try using a couple of items I typically have on hand; english muffins and feta cheese. Feta and blue cheese are usually interchangeable and proved to be a nice substitute. Pair it up with some homemade sweet potato chips.

4 Soft sandwich rolls
1 1/3 cups chopped white meat rotisserie chicken
4 deli slices ham
3/4 cup crumbled clue cheese
1/2 cup ranch dressing

Preheat panini press. Place the roll bottoms on a work surface and top with the chicken and ham.
In a small bowl, mix the cheese and ranch dressing and spread on the roll top. Sandwich the two together and place in the panini press. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Serve with cut veggie sticks.

Variations:
Replace ham with crumbled bacon.
Use feta or Gorgonzola cheese.