Pad Thai

 

Ingredients:

12 oz Rice Noodles

4 chicken breast or the equivalent in chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces

1 can bean sprouts, drained

4 eggs

oil for wok, toasted sesame oil is preferred but any oil will work

2 c broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

2 c cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces

1 basket of mushrooms, sliced

 * you could also add other veggies, chop into bite size pieces (carrots, snow peas, bok choy)

    Garnish:

    4 green onions, sliced

    1 c peanuts, chopped 

    1 bunch of cilantro, stems removed and chopped

    1 large lime, cut into wedges

    additional soy sauce, siracha and/or oyster sauce or fish sauce

    Sauce Ingredients:

    1/2 c soy sauce

    2 Tbsp sriracha, more if you want it spicier

    1/4 c fresh lime juice

    1/4 c oil

    1/4 c packed brown sugar, more if you put too much sriracha in (ha!)

You could make this a vegetarian dish, a seafood dish, a chicken dish, a beef dish, or any sort of combination.  I like to do veggies, chicken and shrimp.

Start by prepping all of my ingredients, washing, chopping/slicing, and mixing up the sauce. 

Combine all of the sauce ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until brown sugar has dissolved. Keep the whisk handy as you will want to whisk again before adding it in, towards the very end of the recipe.

Prep lime wedges, cilantro and green onions, and peanuts.  Save these for garnishing your individual plate.

Add a small amount of oil to a wok.  Add mushrooms.  Stir fry the mushrooms for 2-3 minuets, then set aside in a bowl or plate.  

Add a bit more of oil and add in broccoli and cauliflower.  Stir fry until cauliflower get a little browned, about 3-5 minuets.  Then set aside with the mushrooms.

Prepare noodles as directed on package in a medium size pot. Once they have reached the desired tenderness, drain and rinse in cold water.

While noodles are cooking, add a small amount of oil to wok, adding chicken.  Stir fry the chicken, cut a piece in half to confirm the center is no longer pink.  Once there is no pink, add the chicken to the veggie mixture. 

Add a small amount of oil to the wok and scramble the eggs.

Once eggs are scrambled, add bean sprouts, chicken, veggies back into the wok and give a good toss to combine.  Add in noodles and sauce, tossing again to combine.  Once everything is added, let cook for about 5 minuets to heat everything together, tossing now and then to make sure things do not stick to the wok bottom.

Once everything has been heated, serve!

Don't forget to add your garnishes to your individual plate, adding more sauces if you want it more spicier or more salty!

Buffalo Wild Wing Parmesan Garlic Chicken Pasta

Ingredients:
1 Bottle Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic Sauce

1 Bottle Half & Half

1 Block of Cream Cheese

1 Bag of Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 Box of Farfalle Pasta

3-4 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts or the equivalent in Chicken Tenders

Black Pepper, measure with your heart

Slap Ya Mama Seasoning, measure with your heart

Lining your crockpot with a plastic liner saves on clean up with this recipe and highly recommended.

Add Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic sauce to your crockpot.

Add a small amount of Half & Half to the same bottle and add cover back on.  Shake to get as much of the sauce out of the bottle, adding to the crockpot.  Then fill the bottle with Half & Half and add to the crockpot.

Give the sauce a stir.

Cut chicken breast or tenders into bite size pieces, and also chop up the brick of cream cheese into pieces.

Add Slap Ya Mama and Pepper to the chicken.  

Add the parmesan cheese to the crockpot along with the cream cheese and give it a stir.

Add the seasoned chicken to the crockpot and give it yet another stir, making sure that all of the chicken is coded with the sauce.

Cook on low for 5 hours, or 2 hours on high, stirring occasionally.  Make sure to get allllll the way to the bottom and around allllll the edges or you may end up with some scorched sauce.

At the 5-hour or 2-hour mark, take out a piece of chicken and test to make sure there is no pink center.  Once there is no pink in a cut piece of chicken, boil your water and make pasta as directed on the box.  

Once your pasta is done to your preferred tenderness, drain.  Add pasta to crockpot and stir. 

Once combined, turn crockpot off and serve.  I served ours with a side of steamed broccoli.

This dish has sooooo much flavor and was instantly put on the "must make again" list.  Next time I may also sauté some button mushrooms to add to your individual bowl and make some oven rolls.

Note: You can purchase the BBW sauce at any location, but I've also found it recently at my local Menards for way cheaper.  I've also heard that it can be found at Target, and for those of you in Wisconsin that they have it at Woodman's.  

Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

3/4 cup uncooked wild rice blend

1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 small onion)

1 cup diced carrots (2 medium)

1 cup diced celery (3 ribs)

7 Tbsp butter, diced, divided

1 large garlic clove, minced (1 1/2 tsp)

4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 tsp of each of the following dried seasonings: thyme, marjoram, sage and rosemary (or 1 tsp fresh, minced of any)

Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts halves (I used frozen boneless/skinless tenders)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup heavy cream (or half and half - not shown in photo - woops fail!)

1 tsp lemon zest

In medium pot, prepare rice according to directions listed on package. Meanwhile, chop carrots, onion and celery.

Halfway through the rice cooking, in a large stock pot, melt 1 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery and saute 4 minutes, add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.

Add chicken broth, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Increase heat to medium-high, add chicken and bring mixture to a boil.

Cover stock pot with lid, reduce to medium-low heat and allow mixture to simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 12 - 16 minutes (rotating chicken to opposite side once during cooking for thicker chicken breasts - if they don't fully immerse in broth).

Remove chicken and set aside on cutting board to cool 5 minutes then shred into small bite size pieces. 

Leave soup covered over warm heat.

Meanwhile in a separate medium saucepan, melt remaining 6 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook 1 1/2 minutes, whisking constantly.

It will get thick! Then while whisking vigorously, slowly pour milk into butter/flour mixture. Whisk in heavy cream. Cook mixture, stirring constantly until it thickens again. It takes some time but does eventually thicken - just keep stirring or you'll scorch the bottom portion!

Add milk mixture to soup mixture in pot along with cooked rice, add in chicken and lemon zest. And stir. 

 

Serve with a crusty bread or in a pinch saltine crackers. Add more salt or pepper to taste.

Thanks for passing the recipe onto me Jaime J!

Sausage Egg Bake

Ingredients:

1 pound package pork breakfast sausage

1 (8-ounce) tube refrigerated crescent rolls

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

6 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Cook sausage in a pan, crumbling it with a wooden spoon. Drain.

Unroll crescent roll dough into pan, spinch all of the seams.

Sprinkle the cooked sausage and cheeses onto the crescent roll. Make sure to get even coverage so that each bite has all ingredients! 

Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour over sausage and cheese.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

I like to serve with a quick fresh fruit salad for breakfast.