Quarantine Baking: Chocolate Cherry Blondies

It feels like we’re on day 649 of quarantine, and I have no idea what day or month it is. Everyday just seems to blend into one reoccurring day. Like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, I am living the same day over and over, the only difference is time is passing. While it feels like it should still be March, half the year has passed. How is it July already?

Well now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, how are y’all handling our current predicament? 

Me and my boys, the hubs included, are getting lots of bonding time so there have been lots of board games and a little too much tv. The other day Emmett mentioned that he wanted to take a cooking class and I jumped at the opportunity to take him up on this. We knew we wanted something sweet with basic ingredients that was simple enough that an 8 year old could make it. I searched Pinterest and came across this recipe from Averie Cooks for Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars. Her recipe was easy to throw together and the outcome is delicious. I added pecans and definitely recommend doing so if you have any on hand. This is a great base recipe so you could add any in number of things such as shredded coconut or any nuts you prefer. I used fresh cherries and think they work best as frozen may result in a soggier blondie. Emmett favorite part was shooting the pits out of the cherries using this pitter.

 

CHOCOLATE CHERRY BLONDIES

      Ingredients

• 
  

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, optional
  • 3/4 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 cup, cherries, pitted and halved (fresh is recommended)
  • Instructions
    Preheat oven to 350F. Prep an 8-by-8-inch pan (or loaf pan, mine is 5-by-8-inch) with nonstick cooking spray. 
    Stir melted butter and brown sugar until well combined. Add egg and vanilla to sugar butter mixture and stir until well combined.  
    Next, add in the flour and salt, stir until just combined. It will be thick like cookie dough. 
    Fold in chocolate chips, cherries, and pecans into batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until edges begin to slightly pull away from sides of pan and center.  
  
  
  While it may be very difficult to wait, allow bars to cool before slicing. Store in an airtight container.
•  
  
  
  These blondies are delicious on their own, but serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla icecream a la mode to really take them to the next level. 
  
  
  
  
  Let me know if you make these and what you think. I hope you all stay healthy and enjoy this time with your family. While it may seem stressful, we are building memories with our kids that they will treasure for a lifetime. They won’t care about the shows they watched but they will remember the experiences you created and time spent together. 

Delicious Smoked Grilled Chicken

I don't know why it's so hard for me wrap my head around three day weekends, especially when I don't have to go work on Monday. All day it's felt like Monday, but, of course, it's Tuesday. I guess that's not a bad thing... only three more work days in this week after today. 

I hope you all had a productive and fun Labor Day weekend. I sure did. I got in lots of quality time with the family and got a home project checked off my list that I'll be sharing with you soon. Here's a hint... it's something our guest will appreciate. 

Today I wanted to share one of the easiest, most flavorful chicken recipes ever. If you haven't noticed the trend yet, my recipes are all about making the most of what limited time I have to prepare food and creating a dish that can be used in a variety of ways, and this one is no different. 

We eat lots of chicken breast. It's affordable, lean, and very versatile but it can also be dry, bland, and tough if not prepared right. This recipe is taken for several different ones that I've combined to make this juicy, flavorful grilled chicken. My mother-in-law introduced me to the idea of brining chicken breasts, while Pierce added his own flare by smoking it. The outcome is a smokey, tender chicken recipe you can eat as a main course or chop up for chicken salad or add to a wrap. I used leftovers to make my favorite chicken salad recipe found here. 

Smoked Grilled Chicken

• 4 pounds of chicken breasts (boneless or bone-in, your preference but allow additional cooking time for bone-in)
• 10 cups of water
• 1/4 cup of salt
• 1/4 cup of white vinegar
• wood chips (I used hickory) soaked in water

On your stovetop in a large pot over medium heat, combine 3 cups of water with all the salt. Heat until the salt is dissolved stirring occasionally. Remove from heat when dissolved. Add the rest of the water and all the vinegar. When mixture is room temperature add the chicken breasts.  Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. The longer you marinade the chicken the saltier it will be. You can marinade for as little as 2 hours but wouldn't recommend marinading for more than 6 hours. 

Soak wood chips in water for several hours prior to grilling. 

When ready for the grill, pour off the salt and vinegar water from the chicken. Place breasts onto preheated grill. I prefer charcoal but use what you've got. Flip occasionally. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chicken breasts. Cook until the internal temperature of chicken reaches 165℉. 

Smoking the chicken is optional but adds a nice flavor. If you want to smoke it, pour water off of soaked wood chips and add to the charcoals in the last 5 minutes of grilling. You can go longer but you don't want it too smokey that you can't eat it. If you're using a gas grill, place wood chips in a smoker box and place on grill rack and close the lid for the last five minutes. Flip at least once. 

When chicken is cooked thoroughly, remove from grill and let rest for at least five minutes before serving to allow time for the juices settle. 

Enjoy!

Every time I serve this chicken I get so many compliments. I grilled this on Saturday and served it with corn on the cob, tomato cucumber salad, and buttered baguette. It was fabulous. Pierce made himself several sandwiches with the leftovers and on Monday I used what was left make chicken salad. I love how many meals I can make off this one recipe. 

It looks like the southeast may be in for another hurricane, so stay safe out there. 

Easy Spanakopita Bites

This weekend our neighbors hosted a Memorial Day party which was so much fun. One of my favorite things about where we live are our neighbors. I grew up seeing neighborhoods like this on tv but never imaged I would live in one. You can go next door if you need an extra cup of sugar or hang out for hours while the kids play and run from one neighbor's yard to the next. It's pretty fabulous and it makes me so happy that we are able to give this to Emmett and Oliver.
So back to the party. When we host these get togethers, everyone brings a dish. I like to bring something outside of the predicable chips and dip, but also easy to prepare and easy to eat. I wanted a finger food that would be good hot but also taste just as yummy when it cooled off. I decided to go with spanakopita but with a twist by making it as an easy to prepare bite size appetizer. This is not your traditional spanakopita (Greek spinach pie for those not familiar with it) but an inspired bite size appetizer. You whip up the filling, fill the mini fillo shells, bake, and enjoy. Let me warn you, these little nuggets of deliciousness will go fast. My husband ate four before we were even out the door! The saltiness of the cheese and the buttery, flakey shell are so indulgent and delicious. These little appetizers are definitely a winner that I'll have to make again.

Easy Spanakopita Bites

Ingredients

• 3 trays of mini fillo shells
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 green onion, chopped
• 1 egg
• 10 ounces of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 6 ounces of crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded parmesan
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chopped garlic

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. Heat butter in a small pan on medium heat. Add onion and green onion. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. 
3. While onions are cooking, in mixing bowl mix together egg, cheeses, salt, pepper, and garlic. 
4. Add cooked onions to mixture.
5. Spoon mixture into mini fillo shells and arrange onto a baking sheet.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is cooked through. 

After filling and ready for the oven.

After baking the shells should be a nice golden brown.

The perfect little nugget of spanakopita goodness. 

SaveSave

Fresh Homemade Salsa Recipe

Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo, everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful start to the weekend, and if you're like me, I celebrated Cinco de Mayo by eating and drinking a little too much. I love Mexican food, so any excuse to eat it and I'm there.
We went to our neighbors. I brough the tacos and fixings which included delicious fresh salsa. I make pico de gallo all the time to throw on top of salad or eat as a dip. I delicious, healthy, and one of my favs. I didn't have the time for all the chopping required for pico de gallo so I decides to use the same base ingredients, but throw it into the food processor to whip up a fresh salsa... muy delicioso!

I'm also working on perfecting a light margarita. I love a good margarita but I find all the pre-made mixes too sugary or artificial tasting. Not to mention they are loaded with calories from all the sugar. I made some good steps towards what I think will be the perfect light margarita and once I have it perfected I will share it. For now I thought I'd share the freshest, easiest salsa recipe. This recipe uses a food processor. If you prefer a chunky salsa (more like a pico de gallo), use the same ingredients but chop by hand rather than using the food processor. Either way, this recipe is a winner!

Fresh Homemade Salsa

• 6 roma tomatoes
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 large or 2 small jalapeños
• 1 medium red onion
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp light agave nectar

Rinse all produce. Quarter the jalapeño and onion. Place in the food processor and pulse until roughly minced. Quarter the tomatoes and place them along with all additional ingredients into the food processor. Pulse until chopped to the consistency you prefer. I prefer chunky over soup so I don't pulse the final ingredients for very long. I add the jalapeño and onion first because I don't mind if they are minced finer than the tomatoes plus they don't have liquid like the tomatoes. You want to pulse all the ingredients until they are chopped but not pulverized. The salsa should still be a little chunky. You can always add or reduce the jalapeños. If I'm going for a medium salsa, I use a large jalapeño and remove half the seeds. Perfecto!

So give this recipe a try, I have a feeling it will become a staple like it has for me. It's a great healthy dip not to mention you can throw it onto salads, tacos, and wraps to add favor without the guilt. 

If you have any tips for my light margarita recipe, send them on. It's still a work in progress and I can use all the help I can get. Thanks!

 

Tomato, Feta, & Orzo Salad

A few posts back I talked about how to carve up a pork loin to make several meals. Well I thought I’d share one of the recipes I made to go with one of the cooked pork loins. Although the weather is cool right now, this salad is the perfect addition to springtime meals. It goes great with grilled meat and veggies. 

Tomato, Feta, and Orzo Salad

Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp honey

1/3 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Salad:

10 ounces orzo pasta

6 cups chicken broth

3 roma tomatoes, diced

4 tbsp green onion, sliced thin

3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1 cup baby spinach, chopped

1 cup feta cheese

Directions:

Mix together all of the vinaigrette ingredients and set aside. Cook the orzo in the chicken broth as directed or until tender. Drain well but do not rinse. Let cool to room temperature. I added a little of the prepared vinaigrette to the orzo as it cooled to keep it from sticking together. Once cooled, add the orzo to the other salad ingredients and toss. Mix in vinegraette. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed. Salad can be served immediately or you can refrigerate to allow the ingredients to marry together. 

Note: you can add slivered almonds or pine nuts for an added crunch. Recipe source is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe with a few slight modifications. 

This lovely salad went together wonderfully with my grilled pork loin which I prepared using this recipe. I served the meat and salad along with sautéed barbecue corn, which is so easy. The kids love anything barbecue flavored. 

A couple other suggestions of menu pairings for this salad:

Marinaded Chicken Kabobs

Best Garlic Bread

Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Fresh Peach Pound Cake

Enjoy! This is a winner. I can't wait to try it again this spring with these other recipes.

Eat on the Cheap- Butchering a Pork Loin

Hope you're all adapting well to daylight savings time... someone forgot to inform my boys so we up nice and early but we will be going to bed early too.
I hate losing that hour but it will be nice to have a little longer daylight in the evenings.

Today I thought I'd share one of my favorite ways to save money on food. With my boys getting bigger they are slowly starting to eat me out of house and home so I figure I better get used to making the most of grocery budget. When it comes to meat, a pork loin gives you a lot of bang for your buck especially if you are willing to put a little time into butchering your own. I've found the best deals at warehouse clubs and I got this one at Costco for $1.79/lb. You can usually find them there for between $1.50 and $2 a pound. The one below is just over 7 pounds.

On the back it has instructions on how to butcher this bad boy. A pork loin is a rib portion with bone and tender loin removed leaving the center loin and rib. There will be a layer of fat and "silverskin", which is the tough, stringy membrane. 

After I remove the packaging I rinse the loin off and place it onto my cutting board on a large sheet of freezer paper. You can choose to cut the loin into all chops, several loins, or whatever mix you prefer. For this one I decided I wanted a little variety so I could use it for different meals. We don't eat a ton of meat with each meal so figured I could do stir fry meat, 2 pork loin roasts, and pork chops. 

To begin, I removed most of the fat and what I could of the silverskin. Off of my 7.25lb loin, the fat and silverskin removed were about a quarter of a pound, so there isn't too much waste. I tossed mine but you could cook it up to make a flavorful stock. 

Next, off of the rib end (left side in the picture below), I cut off a pound which I then sliced thinly so I can use it for stir fry. Working from the left, I cut off a 1.75 pound section for a pork loin roast. Then I cut eleven 3/4" pork chops. I cut chops until I had enough left at the end for another 1.75 pork loin roast. 

stir fry meat // loin roast // pork chops // loin roast

I separated everything into meal portions and put it into freezer bags. I split the pork chops up so I would have enough for two meals. So here are the number, the pork loin costs $13 and from it I got stir fry meat, 2 pork loin roasts, and eleven pork chops. With each meal making roughly 6 servings, that comes to about $.43 per serving. That's a pretty good deal for meat that will make a variety of meals.

Everything all bagged up

Don't be afraid to try this. It may seem intimidating at first but if I can do it, so can you. Give it a go and let me know how it goes. 

............................................................................................................

I never make pork stir fry but since I have the meat I thought I'd give it a try. I found this recipe through Pinterest for Easy Garlic and Ginger Glazed Sticky Pork. The recipe was easy and delicious. I will definitely be making a pork stir fry again. The meat was tender and flavorful, and the glaze was just the right amount of sweet with heat. I served it with jasmine rice and steamed broccoli. This recipe was a winner!