Chicken Diane

Ingredients:

1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 large bunch green beans
6 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 shallot, small diced
2 bone-in, with skin chicken breasts
4 oz. light cream
4 Tbs. sherry wine
2 tsp. chicken base (liquid)
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
Olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with tinfoil sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Add chopped potatoes to a medium size pot and pour water until it covers the potatoes. Boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. Drain, place back in the pan and mash while adding half of the cream, salt and pepper. Cover with a lid to keep warm while the chicken is finishing.

While your potatoes are boiling still, heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a pan and heat to medium-high. Add chicken skin side down to brown, cooking for about 5-7 minutes. Flip over and place onto the prepared baking sheet, and bake for 18-20 minutes. Rest the chicken.

To the same pan the chicken browned in, add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add the shallots and cook for another few minutes. Add the sherry, cream, chicken base and Dijon and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes until thicker.

Boil the green beans in a pot for about 3-4 minutes until just cooked and a vibrant green. Drain and season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken on two serving plates. Divide the potatoes in half, and the green beans and place next to the chicken. Top the potatoes with chives. Pour half the sauce on each plate next to the chicken, so you don't make the crispy chicken skin soggy.

Baked Honey Salmon

Ingredients:

2 12oz. salmon fillets
1 Tbs. honey
1 1/2 Tbs. butter
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with foil and spray with non stick cooking spray. Set the butter in a small bowl and let soften. Place a large non stick pan to medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp. olive oil to the pan, season the fillets with salt and pepper, and place the fish flesh side down. Sear 3 minutes, flip, cook 1 minute and then place on the prepared sheet. Bake for 6 minutes.

To the butter, add the honey and mix until smooth. Place a slice of salmon on each plate and divide the butter in half, letting melt on top of both fillets.

Grilled Chicken with Pear and Goat Cheese Salad

Sweet pear, tart cherries and goat cheese, and perfectly grilled chicken. What combination could possibly go better for a summer salad?

Ingredients:
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 Red Pear (Anjou), quartered and thinly sliced
3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. honey
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, fat trimmed
2 Tbs. chopped walnuts
3 oz. spinach (i prefer stems trimmed)
1 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
2 Tbs. dried cherries, chopped
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with non stick cooking spray. Spread out the sliced onion on the prepared sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the balsamic, 1 Tbs. olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. Set aside. Meanwhile, season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Set a grill pan on medium heat. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil (about 1 tsp. each) and place on the grill. Cook for 5 minutes on each side and let rest while gathering the salad ingredients.

In a small skillet, toast the walnuts on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Place the spinach in a bowl and add 1 Tbs. of the balsamic mix; toss together. Divide the spinach onto two serving plates. Top with the sliced pear, chopped walnuts and cherries, and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle with more fo the balsamic dressing. Slice the chicken into strips and place next to the salad. (Serve with a small bowl of the dressing instead of drizzling if you are worried about the spinach wilting.)

Deconstructed Pot Roast

Ingredients:
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 oz. sour cream
2 large carrots, trimmed and chopped
2 sirloin steaks
2 tsp. beef demi-glaze
1 tsp. pot roast seasoning
6 oz. butter
1/2 c. fresh peas
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with non stick cooking spray. Add the potatoes to a medium size bowl, water salted, and boil for 15-18 minutes. Drain and return the potatoes back to the pot. Mash in the sour cream, salt and pepper until smooth. Cover and set aside. Add the carrots to the prepared sheet and bake for 16 minutes. Add the peas and continue to roast 2-3 minutes.

While the potatoes are boiling, and the carrots are roasting, season the steaks with salt and pepper. In a medium size pan on medium-high heat, add 1 tsp. olive oil. Cook 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a plate and let sit. To the same pan, add 1/2 c. water, glaze and seasoning and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and return the steaks back to the pan. Cook for another 1-2 minutes per side. (Add more water if necessary depending on sauce amount.) Remove the steaks from the pan again and let sit. Add the butter to the pan and swirl in the butter.

Place the mashed potatoes on your serving plate and if you wish, top with extra butter and chopped chives. Place the steak next to the potatoes and pour the sauce, divided in half, on top of each steak (after slicing). Serve with a side of the carrots and peas.

S'more Smoothies for 2

Summer days, hot weather, and S'more smoothies!

Ingredients:
1/4 c. marshmallow fluff
2 Tbs. chocolate syrup
1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
8 oz. milk
1 container vanilla yogurt
2 c. ice cubes

Line the rim of two glasses with some of the marshmallow fluff. Roll them in the graham cracker crusts. Add all of the remaining ingredients (including remaining fluff and graham crumbs) to a blender. Blend for about 2 minutes until the ingredients are broken down. Pour into the prepared glasses.

Pork with Mustard Thyme Butter and Roasted Kale and Red Onion Salad

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. butter, room temperature
6 oz. kalettes (or chopped kale)
1 small red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves
3 sprigs of thyme, stemmed
2 boneless pork chops, fat trimmed
2 tsp. course ground mustard
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with non stick cooking spray. Spread the kale and onion in an even layer on the prepared sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

While the kale is cooking, season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to a medium size pan at medium-high heat. Cook for approximately 2-3 minutes on each side. Place the pork chops on a sheet pan and put in the oven for 6-8 minutes until fully cooked. Let rest while getting the plates ready.

In a small bowl, mix the butter, mustard, thyme and 1/4 tsp. pepper together. Add the kale and onion to the plate, pork chops next to the salad, and then top each chop with half of the thyme butter.

Honey Mustard Pork Medallions with Apple Slaw

This recipe is great for a summer dish. All you need is one pan, one bowl, and little prep time. With a sweet honey mustard sauce on quick cooking pork slices, and a side of crunchy coleslaw, this recipe will have you hooked!

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin (small tenderloin of any size)
3-4 Tbs. honey mustard dressing
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1 Apple (Fuji), cored, quartered and thinly sliced
1/4 c. honey roasted peanuts, chopped
4 oz. coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrot)
4 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

In a large mixing bowl, combine the apple, slaw mix, half the vinegar, 2 tsp. olive oil, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Toss everything together and set aside.

Cut the pork tenderloin into 1/2 inch thick round slices. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Preheat a medium size pan to medium-high heat and add 2 tsp. of olive oil and the pork medallions to the pan. Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a plate and rest for 3 minutes.

To the same pan, add the honey mustard dressing, brown sugar, remaining vinegar, and hot sauce and stir. Bring the pan to a boil, reduce, and simmer 1-2 minutes until it reaches a thicker consistency. Add the pork slices back to the sauce in the pan and coat.

Serve the pork slices with a healthy portion of slaw on the side. Drizzle the pork with the sauce from the pan.

Cotton Candy Pop

When my nieces and nephew were up visiting from Texas this past winter, we tried finding things for them to do to keep busy. Since we have been in-between houses in a rental, the kitchen is tiny compared to what I am used to and a really weird layout. Trying to get a meal done with a large quantity of people running around the room gets intense, so this was a perfect way to distract the kids, yet still make them feel like they were being included. Now, you will notice we had orange and blue cotton candy, which of course combine together made a nice shade of brown to which everyone did. I re-made them using just blue raspberry cotton candy for a , let's say, "prettier" version. This is definitely a fun experiment to do with kids!

Ingredients:

Cotton Candy
Sprite (or any clear pop)
Glasses
Straws

This easy recipe involves only two steps. Pour the pop into a glass, and add in cotton candy. When the cotton candy is added it starts fizzing and dissolving, disappearing into the pop and changing the color and taste. Super easy, and fun for kids to combine flavors!

Blueberry Lemon Doughnuts

It is finally Spring! (Well, still only 40-50 degrees here in the U.P. but it is sunny, and I have a sunburn, so it still counts.) Time to bust out one of my favorite "flavors" with pretty much any combination, as long as lemon is involved somewhere. These baked doughnuts pack a lemon punch that of course goes perfectly with blueberries. Every time I think lemon and blueberry, it just screams Springtime to me. And they are baked cake-like doughnuts, so you SORT of feel better eating them....

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 c. veggie oil
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 c. buttermilk
2 3/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. blueberries

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and grease your doughnut pan(s) with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter, oil and sugar together. Add in the eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, buttermilk and whisk again until smooth. Add in the dry ingredients and stir until a thick batter forms. Stir in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the prepared doughnut pan and bake for 7-8 minutes, until the bottom of the doughnuts are a nice golden brown and the top springs back when you lightly press on it. Repeat until you have no more dough left.

Lemon Glaze:

2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. lemon zest
7-8 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)

In a small bowl, combine the lemon glaze ingredients together. Line parchment or wax paper underneath cooling racks and dip each side of the doughnut in the glaze mixture. Place on the rack to cool fully and let the icing dry.

Carrot Cake Cheesecake

I love carrot cake, and I usually hate (for the most part) cheesecake. The combination of the carrot cake and cheesecake works well together because usually you see cream cheese with carrot muffins, cream cheese frosting on carrot cake, so why not cheesecake with carrot cake? This was a big hit at Easter, and if you don't have a large quantity of people that you are serving, it freezes really well. Many recipes that combine a cheesecake with a cake often frost the entire thing. In my opinion, everything is so sweet already that I don't think frosting the whole thing would add anything that would otherwise feel like it was missing. If you needed to decorate it for a birthday or special occasion, however, it would always look nice with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting on just the top of the cake, and a decoration piped out.

Cheesecake Ingredients:

2 blocks (116 oz.) cream cheese
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream, lite

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch springform pan with baking spray with flour, and set aside. In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flour together until smooth. Add in the vanilla and sour cream and stir by hand. Set aside.

Carrot Cake Ingredients:

3/4 c. oil (veggie)
1/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large carrots, grated

In an electric mixer, mix together the oil and sugars together until smooth. Add in the eggs and vanilla and stir to incorporate. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until just combined, and add in the grated carrots.

Spread half of the carrot cake batter in the bottom of the prepared pan. Dollop half of the cheesecake batter on top (do not spread!). Dollop the rest of the carrot cake batter on top of the cheesecake batter. Spread the remaining cheesecake batter on top with a spatula to even the top layer out. Pat down the cheesecake to remove all of the air bubbles.

Bake for 70-75 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the middle slightly springs back when you lightly press down. Let cool in the pan before removing the springform edges and serving.