Grilled Chicken Tzatziki

 I'm always looking for new way to make chicken and this sounded tasty and it combined yogurt with chicken for protein packed dinner!


Grilled Chicken Tzatziki-shared from Style At Home
Marinade:
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp fresh lemon juice+2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp hot sauce
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
pinch of salt
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast

Place all ingredients except chicken in a zip top bag. Mix together until well combined. Add in chicken and cover completely with mixture. Squeeze air out, seal, and allow to marinate for up to 4 hours.

You can then go on to grill the chicken until no longer pink. I cooked it in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 mins and then turned the broiler on for 5 mins to get the charcoal look!

Let chicken rest for about 5 mins and then slice. Serve as is. OR I took a pita, and spread on some hummus, topped it with some lettuce, and then the chicken and wrapped it up.


**This chicken was SO moist and flavorful! It was the best chicken I've had in a long time. I loved the kick the hot sauce added and the citrus tang. Definitely will be made again! YUM! Even the leftovers were still moist and flavorful!

Caramel Apple Cake with Apple Cider Frosting

 We had a few friends and family over this weekend for lunch. One of the guy's birthday was the following day so I told him I'd make a cake. I thought this sounded like the perfect fall birthday cake!

Caramel Apple Cake with Apple Cider Frosting-shared from A Hint Of Honey
Cake:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour(used white whole wheat)
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup caramel sauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.

Whisk dry ingredients together except sugar. In another large mixing bowl combine sugar, oil, applesauce, caramel, and vanilla, beat until well combined.Add eggs in one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with buttermilk, and continue to mix until well combined.

Pour batter into cake pans and bake until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes and then gently remove cake from pan. Let cool completely.

Apple Cider Frosting:
about 6 cups powdered sugar*
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup apple cider
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

*the original recipe called for 7 1/2-8 cups sugar, but I found at 6 it was plenty sweet enough

Place all ingredients in mixer and beat until light and fluffy.

Place cake on cake plate and trim if needed. Place about 1 cup of sugar on top and spread out. Lay second layer on top and frost cake with remaining frosting. Allow frosting to set before serving!


**This cake was PHENOMENAL!! It was moist and not to sweet. The frosting had a nice cinnamon taste to it and added a nice touch to the cake. Everyone loved it!

Menu Plan...on Wednesday

I know it's a few days late...but here is this week's menu!

I don't really have anything planned as far as baking or breakfast this week. Nothing new anyway..but I'd love some high protein breakfast ideas as I'm getting into a slump...I usually have eggs or greek yogurt and well I need some more variety!

Dinner:
-Creamy Chicken Marsala Pasta
-Black Bean Taquitos
-Sloppy Johnnies
-Thai Beef with Chilis and Coconut Rice
-Peanut Satay Pork Chops

Tasty Tuesday

Cranberry Orange Ginger Bread-Sweet As Sugar Cookies
Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili-GIna's Skinny Recipes
THick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies-Teacher Turned Mommy
Cake Filled Peanut Butter Cups-Vanilla Sugar
Mexican Beer Slow Cooker Chicken-Creatively Domestic
Biscoff Cookie Dough Dip-Mo'Betta
Asiago Garlic Rolls-Frugal Antics of a Harried Housewife
Breakfast Meatballs-Budget Gourmet Mom
Sausage and Spinach Gnocci Toss-apples to zucchini

Cake Batter Waffles

 I think this will definitely be a new tradition in our house for birthdays!! I meant to get a vanilla cake mix because K doesn't like chocolate in the morning...but then I remembered it was MY birthday and not his, and I LOVE chocolate cake! This is quite simple to make and delicious!

Cake Batter Waffles-found on pinterest
cake mix
extra ingredients needed found on cake mix box(i did use applesauce instead of oil)
Toppings: homemade whipped cream, ice cream, sprinkles(we had whipped cream)

Preheat waffle maker. Make cake mix as directed on package.  Laddle onto hot griddle and cook according to waffle maker's directions.

Serve waffles with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream and sprinkled with some festive sprinkles!

**These were delicious and I loved how easy they were! They also made for a fun birthday breakfast! Next time I may try a homemade batter, I was just trying to keep it low key!

Menu Plan Monday

Over the weekend was my birthday and to celebrate I made some cake batter waffles...delicious and easy! We also went out for Thai with my aunt also tasty!

Breakfast:
-Cake Batter Waffles
-Greek Yogurt and Granola
-Egg McMuffins


Dinner:
-Balsamic Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin, veggies
-Zuppa Toscana Soup
-Chicken Tzitaki Wraps with homemade flat bread
-Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

I am hosting a lunch on Sunday but I'm having a hard time deciding what to serve with ham...we have a family coming who is vegetarian, so what do you suggest I serve with it?I need something with protein in it, I plan to do a creamy quinoa dish, along with mashed potatoes, and some veggies, perhaps a salad, but want a hot dish as well!

Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps

 (picture courtesy of Vancouver Observer)

I was looking for unique cookies to send to the church bake sale and also needed a way to use up some apples!

Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps-shared from Vancouver Observer
2 cups unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp molasses
5 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch ground cloves
1 tsp grated nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
4 cups flour(I used white whole wheat)
2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
4 apples
1/2 cup coarse

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream butter until it's light colored and easily forms peaks. Add the molasses, sugars, spices, grated ginger, and vanilla, whip until fully blended.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt together. Add to the butter mixture in 3 batches, on low speed until fully blended.

Roll dough into 2-3 tbsp size ball and flatten them on parchment lined cookie sheets.(I used a small glass, dipped in sugar) Slice apple thinly and place on top of the cookie, sprinkle with coarse sugar to cover apple. Bake for 12-15 mins until golden brown.

**The cookies were nice and crispy and flavorful. The ginger was almost to potent for me, but it was very ginger snap like. The dough was very dry and I'm thinking it was because I used white whole wheat flour, but the dryness did work with the cookie, they just were not easy to roll. The boys liked them...just not the apple part on top, but they were eating the apple chips I made!

Cottage Cheese Waffles

 I recently met with a health coach to help tweak my diet in hopes that it will help me to loose weight. Her answer to me was that I needed to eat more protein! While I eat pretty healthy I wasn't eating enough protein so she uped it...a lot! Something I'm really struggling with but I'm still working on it! I of course LOVE waffles and pancakes and still want to enjoy these with my family for Saturday morning breakfast. I went looking for high protein recipes and found this one...of course it was originally for pancakes, so after talking to my friend Hallee she helped me convert it for waffles.

Thanks for the new waffle maker by the way mom!

Cottage Cheese Waffles-Whole Foods
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp oil
4 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese(I used the whipped kind)
1/2 cup milk
vanilla extract(I think I used 1-2 tsp)

Preheat waffler. Spray with oil if needed.
Whisk together wet ingredients. Stir together dry ingredients and fold them into the wet ones. Scoop batter onto waffle plates and cook according to waffle maker directions.

**These are a VERY moist waffle so after the first one came out I cooked them a bit longer. This allowed them to be crispy on the outside and moist and fluffy on the inside. The boys ate them and love them. They had NO clue there was "cheese" in them. We liked the flavor as well and I was glad I added in some vanilla otherwise they'd be very plain tasting.

Chocolate Coconut Protein Shake

As much as I WANTED to walk to Dunkin' Donuts today for another pumpkin spice iced coffee.....I didn't. Instead I made this, I'm sure my health coach will like this choice MUCH better than the coffee!

Chocolate Coconut Protein Shake-
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp special dark cocoa powder
1 frozen banana
1 packet stevia(more to taste)
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup milk
ice(maybe 1/2 cup?)

Place all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

**This was pretty thick and delicious! My boys LOVED it. The coconut didn't get quite as small or blended as I would have liked but my coconut pieces started out bigger.

Tasty Tuesday

Smores Whoopie Pies- Sweet Pea's Kitchen
Peanut Pretzel Granola Bars-How Sweet It Is
Cranberry Chicken Crescents-$5 Dinners
Oreo Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookies-Making Memories
Raspberry Cream Muffins-Let's Dish

Menu Plan Monday

Breakfast:
-Granola...yes, I still need to make more!
-Sausage Egg McMuffins
-eggs, fruit
*sorry breakfast is quite boring here lately....

Baking:
-Cookies....just need to decide what kind!

Dinner:
-Curried Beef, Mixed Veggies, Mashed potatoes
-Salisbury Steak, cauliflower
-Crispy Honey Lime Tilapia
-Crispy CHicken Rice Burritos
-Maple Pork Tenderloin

It's also my birthday on Saturday so chances are I'll make myself a cake! Plus I get to have yummy thai food with my aunt as well! YUM!

Apple Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

 I was looking for something to make with my 20 lbs of apples we picked a couple weeks ago. I also needed something for a bake sale at church so I went with these.

Apple Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes-
Dough:
2 cups milk
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
6 1/2 cups flour(I used white whole wheat)
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, room temperature

FIlling:
1/4  cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 cups finely chopped apples

Heat milk to 110 degrees. Add yeast and sugar to a bowl and pour in the milk stir to dissolve. Add salt and two cups of flour and beat for two minutes. Beat in eggs and butter. Stir in the remaining flour half a cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 2 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Place in a warm place and allow to rise for 40 mins or until dough is doubled. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

Once dough has risen, roll out into 1/4 inch thick. Spread dough with melted butter. Mix filling ingredients together and spread over the top of the dough. Starting with the long end first, roll up dough jelly roll style.  Cut into 1 inch strips.  Take strip and fold in half to form the letter c and place into the cupcake pan.(This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes, I made 12 and put the extras in another pan like traditional cinnamon rolls), cover and allow to rise for another 40 mins. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook rolls for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

Once rolls have cooled, mix glaze together and drizzle over rolls. Eat and enjoy!

**These were really tasty and a fun twist on the traditional cinnamon roll. They were also really cute in the cupcake tin. Next time I might use less sugar in the filling and make sure you mix the filling RIGHT before you are ready to put it on the dough, otherwise it makes a big mess!

Menu Plan

I have this problem...I don't seem to EVER plan out weekend meals. So then the weekend comes and I get stuck like I did tonight with NOTHING to make despite my fridge and freezer being full!

I also was having a debacle with my cake pops for 3 days...first the cake didn't cook right so I had to make a new one, then 3 bags of chocolate seized on me...sigh they finally got done but they were NOT fun to get there! I blame it on the weather! So this in turn...we ended up with some delicious pumpkin waffles for dinner...not on the plan but they worked and they were delicious as well!

Breakfast/baking:
-eggs
-oatmeal
-greek yogurt, fruit, granola(which I need to make more of)
-pumpkin (walnut) waffles

Dinner:
-Chicken Burgers on flax roll up, apple cranberry barley
-Chicken and Dumplings
-Stuffed Peppers
-Sweet Potato and Chick Pea Burgers 
-Pot Roast, Carrots, Mashed Potatoes
-Baked Potato Soup
-Chicken Pot Pie(if I get my pastry cutter back from a friend!)