Pork Chop Marinade

Love this marinade from my mom.  It's easy and all ingredients that I would normally have in my kitchen.  

This pork marinade smells yummy and my kids eat it.  

Lately Baby Boy has been not eating his vegetables.  It's super frustrating.  I am super lucky and pretty much never went through this with Baby Girl.  I am hoping it's just a phase that he will grow out of.  I just keep offering the food and hopefully he will decide to eat it again.  

Pork Chop Marinade 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Directions:

1. Marinade for 4 to 24 hours.  
2. Fry pork chops or grill.  
3. Serve with rice. Enjoy!

If you don't have white pepper just substitute with black pepper.  No big deal.  

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO

Baked Chicken Sweet Chili Soy Sauce

I have been craving Asian food and chicken.  I am not sure why.  But I totally have been wanting to make this dish.  

This is super easy to make.  Even the kids liked it.  

Baked Chicken Sweet Chili Soy Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 stock green onions

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Mix ingredients to make sauce.  Chop green onions and leave on side for garnish.
• Bake chicken wing side up for 25 mins.
• Flip wings and bake again for 25 mins.
• Take out of the oven.  Drizzle sauce over chicken and sprinkle green onions.

This sauce is super yummy.  The whole house smells amazing with this sauce too.  This sauce can totally be used for like pot stickers too.  

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO

Cilantro Lime Chicken Marinade

Trying to survive and eat healthy with two kids.  El Husbee and I are trying to eat healthy and teach out kids to eat healthy.  For the most part the kids love food prep.  Which is good for us as long as we keep up with it.  I got this marinade recipe from a friend and have slightly changed it to adapt my family needs.  My family seems to love it. 

I have been using this marinade on chicken thigh.  So far so good. 

I do however leave the grilling to El Husbee. 


Cilantro Lime Chicken
Marinade:

• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as my family!


Keep on cooking!

Shrimp Stir Fry

Baby Girl is now 15 months old.  I have lost the pregnancy weight.  However, I am still working on the TTC weight gain.  I have been trying to start 2016 right and meal prep.  January was not that successful at all.  February is not too bad.  I have been trying to use Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration for meal ideas. 

This meal was a hit in my house.  El Husbee and Baby Girl ate it.



Stir fry shrimp with vegetables.  I also tried making rice with frozen vegetables.  It's okay.  I mean not my first choice.  But I am trying to get in as many vegetables as possible. 

Shrimp and Vegetables

1lb shrimp

1lb mushroom

1 onion, small

1 red bell pepper

1lb broccoli

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1.  Rinse and clean shrimp. 

2.  chop up all vegetables

3.  Heat up pan with oil and garlic. 

4.  Once you smell the aroma of garlic put in onions. 

5.  Once the onions are tender put in shrimp.  Cook until pink shows.

6.  Toss in mushroom, red bell pepper, and broccoli.  Put lid on pan.  Cook until broccoli is green. 

Keep cooking my friends!

XOXO

Penne with Chicken, Broccoli, and Sundried Tomatoes

Most of the time when I don't know what to make for dinner I resort to making pasta.

El Hubby:  What's for dinner?
Me:  I don't know.  Pasta?
El Hubby:  I don't really feel like pasta
Me:  Well I don't feel like making dinner.
El Hubby:  Pasta sounds good.

Okay okay this exact conversation did not happen but some sort of it has happened.  I would say "poor husband" but the likelihood of me not feeding his is usually quite small.

Pasta has been on my brain ever since I say my cousin in Taiwan post her Facebook about eating pasta.  Ever since then I have had pasta on the brain.  I wanted something simple to make.  Of course I had not gone to the grocery store in days.  So I went through my stack of "recipes to try" and luckily found this.  And luckily I had all the ingredients.  Oh at least I made it work.
  

Penne with Chicken, Broccoli, and Sundried Tomatoes
Adapted from Smells Like Home

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb chicken, boneless, skinless, trimmed, sliced thin
1 onion, small
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
8 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bottle Alfredo sauce
salt and pepper
1 lb broccoli, florets only
12 oz penne pasta

Directions:
1.  Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat until just smoking.  Salt and pepper chicken.  Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned but not fully cooked, about 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl.
2.  Lower the heat to medium and add 1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil to the skillet.  When the olive oil is shimmering add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the sun dried tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3.  Stir in a bottle of Alfredo sauce.  
4.  Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Add broccoli in 3 minutes before pasta is done.  Drain pasta and broccoli.  Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining. 
5.  Add the chicken to the sauce.  Cook chicken until done, about 2 minutes. 
6.  Add pasta and broccoli to sauce.  Toss to combine.  Stir in pasta water until you get desired consistency in sauce. 
7.  Serve hot!

This pasta came out amazing.  It is for sure going into the recipe binder.  Oh and let me tell you, the leftovers were even better.

I don't know about other pet owners but I talk to my pup.  This is her face when I talk to her.  Most of the time I think she thinks I am crazy.  Which I am.  Crazy in love with my fur baby.

Get ready for spring and fruits and baking with those fruits!

XOXO

Garlic Shrimp Pasta

Most nights it's a real struggle for me to come up with what to make for dinner.  I start dreading about dinner as soon as I come back to the office from lunch.  I go as far as asking my co workers what they plan on making for dinner.   Then there is always the dreaded text from El Hubby "what's for dinner".  Some times I just want to text back "poo".  Actually sometimes I do.

I literally threw this together and it was a pretty big hit in my house.  You can probably substitute chicken instead of shrimp or hey go all out and just add some chicken to the shrimp.  You can also probably pretty much use any kind of pasta.  Of course this absent minded wife only hand bow tie pasta so that's what I used.  I am sure you could substitute asparagus for broccoli.  You get the idea. 

Garlic Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, with tails removed
1 lb bow tie pasta
broccoli
8 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
Italian seasoning
black pepper
red pepper flakes
salt

Directions:
1.  Boil pasta in water according to package directions.  Add broccoli at last 2 minutes of cook time.  Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water for use at a later time.  Drain pasta.
2.  In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add shrimp and cook until they are a little pink.  Add garlic and cook 5-7 minutes.  Add olive oil and continue to cook shrimp until they are pink.
3.  Add pasta and broccoli to the skillet, season with Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, black pepper and salt.  Add enough of the saved pasta water until the mixture is not dry but not simmering in liquid (start by adding 1/4 of a cup and work your way up from there).
4.  Keep tossing all the ingredients around in the skillet until it is well combined and hot.

This will definitely be filed under "make when you have no idea what to make" recipes.

This face brings a smile to my face.  How do you stay mad at a face like that?  

Get those allergy pills read, spring is coming!

XOXO 

Oven Roasted Red Potatoes

The best starch is potatoes. I don't know anyone that doesn't like potatoes. It's a staple ingredient in a house. So many ways you can make it.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds red potatoes scrubbed and dried
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl mix the oil, garlic, and rosemary. Add the potatoes and toss well. Transfer the potatoes to a shallow baking pan and roast until potatoes are tender when tested with a fork. Serve hot.

This recipe is super easy and a hit.

XOXO