Asian Meatballs

I found this recipe on Pinterest a few weeks ago and it peaked my interest, so I thought I would give it a shot! I love meatballs, however normally I serve them smothered in spaghetti sauce with noodles. This is like a 'summer' version of a meatball. And it is DELICIOUS! I served ours with a side of asparagus and fried rice and it was a wonderful summer meal!

Asian Meatballs

2 lbs ground chicken (or turkey)

1 tbsp minced ginger

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 cloves garlic

3 green onions, chopped finely

Preheat oven to 375'

Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.

Scoop into medium sized balls, then place onto a tinfoil lined cookie sheet.

Bake for approx. 25 minutes, or until cooked through.

ENJOY!

Mediterranean Chicken

This meal was DELICIOUS!! I remember being forced strongly encouraged to eat cooked spinach when I was a child and I thought it was the most awful thing EVER! I'm not exactly sure when I out grew that sentiment, however I am glad I did! Especially because the cooked spinach that goes with this chicken dish is AMAZING! This meal was quick, easy, and pretty healthy as well!  A perfect score in my books!

Mediterranean Chicken

What you need:

3-4 chicken breast (boneless/skinless)

1 bag fresh baby spinach

1 small basket 'grape' tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese 

In a large bowl combine;chicken, tomatoes, spinach, and oil.

Toss to coat everything with the oil.

In a separate smaller bowl combine; garlic,Italian seasoning, oregano and salt.

Sprinkle this mixture over the chicken/spinach mixture, coating well.

Arrange the chicken and spinach mixture in a single layer on a foil lined baking dish.

Bake at 450' for 22 minutes.

Remove from oven, and sprinkle with feta cheese.

Serve and ENJOY!

Soooo...

I was right in the middle of preparing this meal a few weeks ago and the bowl was sitting on the counter ready to be put in the pan and into the oven. Damian had just gotten home from work and looked at the bowl of food, and then very concerned and confused asked me 'Why did you put RAW chicken in the salad?!' Ha ha! I had to explain to him that, no, I was not trying to poison him and that I would in fact, be cooking all of that together! Nothing like a raw chicken salad?! ha ha! Ick!

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday!!

So I'm doing something NEW and FUN today! I am linking up with one of my favourite bloggers, Andrea at 'Momfessionals', for a series called Friday Favourites!

 Here are few things making my list this week...

*My RED cast iron dutch oven*

I am LOVING my new dutch oven that I got for Christmas from my parents!! I made some spaghetti sauce this week, and I think it tasted even better because it was made in my new pot! Ha ha!

*Cousin Love*

On Sunday we celebrated my Grandma's 80th Birthday with the whole family! Now that Sophia is getting a little bit older, I LOVE seeing her interact and 'play' with her cousins!! I think these two are going to be buddies!! 

Maryn and Sophia

*Carrots*

Carrots?! Ha ha...yes you read that correctly! Sooo...a little bit of background on how carrots became one of my favourites this week...Damian text me on Monday when I was out grocery shopping, telling me that one of the guys at work told him about THE BEST CARROTS EVER!! And my response was; ummm what?! Carrots are carrots!!. WELL apparently not, because Damian and this guy had a FULL lengthy conversation about these dang carrots. He then informed me that you can only get them from one SPECIAL grocery store! Soooo I was totally intrigued!! Sophia and I made a quick stop at this store on the way home to find these carrots. And when we found them, there was this BIG pink sign in front of them. NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN A LIMIT ON CARROTS!!! I honestly laughed out loud when I saw that!! And thought, sheesh, these carrots MUST be THAT good! Well people...I am here to report that these carrots ARE THAT GOOD!! They taste like 'straight from Grandmas garden' carrots...and that is a treat when its' the dead of winter here!! YUM!!

*Notebooks*

I LOVE cute notebooks and have a TON of them! I picked this one up from Homesense a few weeks ago and have been using it for my New Years Resolution goals. 

Believe in your #selfie 

*The Weather*

It has been unseasonably WARM here for the past few days and it has been WONDERFUL!! Usually it is -30 in January with 5 feet of snow on the ground!! We have been trying to take full advantage of the warm weather and have been going for a family walk every night after dinner. Fingers crossed the warm weather lasts for a few more weeks!

*Cranberry Chicken*

This is one of our favourite dinners and 'go to' meals in our house. 

And what makes it even better is that it is easy peasy to make!!
We had it for dinner last night and it was delish like usual!

Put 6-8 chicken thighs in a baking dish. In a separate bowl, mix together; 1/2 cup Catalina salad dressing, 1 pouch dry onion soup mix, and 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce. Pour over the chicken. Bake at 375'F for 50 minutes. Serve with rice. ENJOY!! 

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I am a total creature of habit. If I find something I like to eat at a particular restaurant, I will without fail, order it every.single.time! I am NOT an adventurous eater AT ALL. Despite my husbands encouraging!! And almost every meal I make/eat has the main ingredient of chicken. Which became a slight problem for my first 3 months of pregnancy with Sophia, as I could not even look at chicken, let alone EAT IT! Thank goodness that that was just a preggo phase that disappeared after my first trimester! One of my favourite 'go to' restaurants is Joey's, and they make the BEST lettuce wraps! Whether I am out for lunch, dinner, or just a snack, I am ordering the lettuce wraps. Since having Sophia we haven't been eating out as often, thus I was majorly missing my beloved lettuce wraps!! After looking at a bunch of recipes and a little bit of trial and error, I think I created my own tasty version of the lettuce wrap! We have had them twice in the last three weeks! ha! Give them a try! I don't think you will be disappointed! 

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

What you need:

2 tbsp olive oil

3 boneless chicken breasts, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 white onion, diced

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1/2 cup water chestnuts, diced

2 handfuls chinese noodles

1/4 cup peanuts

salt/pepper to taste

1 head of lettuce (I used romaine)

Heat olive oil in frying pan.

Add chicken, cook until no longer pink.

Add garlic, onion, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine venegar, and ginger.

Cook until onions are translusent.

Add in water chestnuts, peanuts, and salt/pepper.

Remove from heat and add chinese noodles.

Scoop into lettuce and ENJOY!

Salad Time!

Most people that know me, know that I DO NOT have a green thumb at.all!! I have always had good intentions with plants and flowers...but within in a few days they always seem to be extremely...dead! ha! This summer I decided that I would try and change that!! Soooo my Mom helped me plant some lettuce! And it was my job to try to keep it alive for the whole summer! And I am here to report that I DID IT!! We had delicious homegrown lettuce the entire summer. It was so nice to just hop onto my deck and pick fresh lettuce for dinner each night. And because we all of a sudden had an abundance of lettuce (that stuff grows FAST) I found myself trying to 'recreate' a boring old salad each night. Now salads are pretty easy...and you don't really need a 'recipe'! However I thought I would share some of the salad creations we came up with this summer, just in case someone is looking for some SALAD INSPIRATION! 

My beautiful lettuce!! Ha! Look how ALIVE it is!! Go me!!

Freshly picked lettuce!

Yummy salad ingredients!

Ingredients:

Romain lettuce

cucumber

celery

gala apple

raisins

feta cheese

chopped walnuts

grilled chicken

Ingredients:

romaine lettuce

grape tomatoes

cucumber

avocado

shredded cheese

crumbled tortilla chips

ground turkey (prepared with taco seasoning)

Ingredients:

arugula 

romaine lettuce

celery

cucumber

avocado

feta cheese

mandarin oranges

grilled shrimp 

Now go eat some salad!! 

And if you have any GREAT salad ideas, I would love to hear them!!

ENJOY!

Are you feeling hangry?!

Today I am sharing an easy peasy, healthy 'weeknight' meal. I consider any meal that can be made and to the table in 30ish minutes a 'weeknight' meal. And this is very important to me because when I get home from school at around 5:00 I need to eat STAT! 

Or I get a little 'hangry' as my husband puts it...ha ha 

I seriously need this pillow!!

Anywho...back to my 'weeknight' recipe...

Teriyaki Chicken Thighs & Greek Quinoa Salad 

What you need:

1/2 cup Asian Sesame Dressing (I used Kraft)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp minced ginger root

2 tbsp honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

6-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs 

Preheat oven to 350'

Whisk together the first 5 ingredients.

Pour over chicken in a plastic bag, turning evenly to coat.

Pour chicken and sauce into a glass baking dish.

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. 

ENJOY! 

Whisk all the ingredients together!

Throw it into a bag and mix!

Into a glass baking dish, and bake!

What you need:

1 cup quinoa, uncooked

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup cucumber, chopped

1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed

1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped 

1/2 cup greek salad dressing (fresh or store bought)

Bring water and quinoa to boil over high heat,cover. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. 

Cool quinoa in the fridge while your chopping your veggies.

Prep all your veggies and the feta cheese into bite sized pieces.
Combine the cooled quinoa, veggies, feta, and greek dressing. Mix thoroughly.
ENJOY! 

Prepare quinoa!

Chop the veggies and feta cheese!

Combine Quinoa, veggies and
 greek dressing!

And there you have it!

 A quick, easy, and healthy dinner in 30 minutes! 

No excuses to get 'hangry' now... ;) 

What's for dinner? - Balsamic Chicken

I love chicken. I love balsamic vinegar. I love quick. I love easy. 

So when I came across this recipe I knew it would be something that I would LOVE. And I was right! This chicken dish was super easy to make and tasted delish! It was a prefect weeknight meal!! 

Balsamic Chicken

What you need:

4 Chicken breast

5 cloves garlic

1 cup fresh basil

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 water

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 small can sliced black olives

1 cup grape tomatoes

1/2 cup red onion 

Preheat over to 375'. 

Brown the chicken breast in a pan, with about 1 tbsp olive oil.

In a blender place the garlic, basil, olive oil, and water. Blend well.

Place the browned chicken in a baking dish and cover with the basil mixture. 

Top with the mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and black olives. 

Bake for 35 minutes.

ENJOY!

** I am thinking next time I make this dish I will try adding some feta cheese on top! YUM!*

Brown chicken in olive oil

Prepare mushrooms, onions, tomatoes
and olives.

Blend the basil, garlic,
balsamic vinegar and water.

Cover browned chicken with basil mixture.

Top the chicken with all of the
veggies and bake!

Served with rice! YUM!!