Kale and Quinoa

I believe a few posts back I mentioned the Kale kick we've been on lately. Once I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. It was a huge success!

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Kale


• 1 cup Quinoa


• 2 cups water


• 1 lemon, zested and juiced


• 1 tablespoon chives


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese


• 1-2 chicken breasts


• salt and pepper
  

Start off by chopping your kale into about 1 inch pieces.

Bring the water to a boil. Add the Quinoa, cover, and lower the heat to simmering. Simmer for 10 minutes.

While the Quinoa is cooking, zest the lemon in a large bowl and add half of the lemon juice. Add in the parmesan cheese, chives, and olive oil.

Season and cook the chicken into bite sized pieces. By the way, this is totally optional. The recipe I saw did not have any meat in it...

Back to the Quinoa. Once it's simmered for 10 minutes, top with the Kale, recover, and simmer another 5 minutes. Now turn off the heat and let steam for an additional 5 minutes. Once it's done, the Kale should be a beautiful bright green like below, and all the water should be absorbed.

Fluff the Quinoa / Kale pot mixture together, add to the serving bowl where you made the lemon mixture, add the chicken, and toss together. Squeeze the remaining half of the lemon over top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

Lingerie Cookies

I made these cookies for my friend's bachelorette party. I love making sugar cookies - especially for a fun occasion like this!

You can find my recipe for the cookies here.

A taste of Scotland

Hello long lost friends! There's a reason I haven't posted lately, I promise....we've been on our vacation in Scotland!! It was absolutely incredible to say the least.

This is our first full week back at home, and it's been so crazy getting caught up with work that I have not cooked anything too exciting this week. Nothing blog worthy at least. :)
Just so you know I'm alive and well, I thought I'd share pictures of what we ate while traveling around Scotland.

Can you guess what this dish is? It's Haggis, Nips, and Tatties. Tatties = mased potatoes and Nips = turnips. For those of you who don't know what "Haggis" is, I'll let you google that one. Needless to say, this was Danny's meal, not mine. He is more adventorous than I, and ordered traditional Scottish food pretty much every meal.
Complete opposite of Danny's Scottish meal, here's what I had: Grilled Chicken Sandwich. It was delish!

Here's a snapshot of a traditional Scottish breakfast that was served at every B&B we stayed at. Grilled tomatoes, eggs, and bacon. This is the small version. :)

Oooooo, now this was incredible. This is Bruschetta we ordered for an appetizer one meal. Those two slices were gone in a flash!

Danny's Fish & Chips. He was lovin' the Fish & Chips over there. He ordered it about 3 or 4 different times.

Again, a chicken sandwich for me :)

Another big traditional Scottish breakfast...

Believe it or not, this is the only meal Danny did not order Scottish food. I think it was the only place we went that didn't have Scottish food believe it or not. Cajun Chicken Sandwich at what was supposedly Prince William's favorite pub while he was at school in St. Andrews :)

And here's my Chicken Quesadilla. Note to self, do not order Quesadillas in Scotland :)

Quick snack from The Fudge Shop. Amazing!

Here's a hamburger I had in Edinburgh. Another note to self....hamburgers in Scotland are not the same as our burgers here in Texas. To be honest, I'm still not quite sure if this was beef...

Again - Haggis, Nips, and Tatties ate by Mr. Kenyon.

Ham and Chicken sandwich ordered by yours truely. Mrs. America over here.

Alas, more Fish & Chips!

Anybody hungry?

Sauteed Lemon Kale

Have you ever had Kale? I hadn't up until this past week. Lately, I've been hearing all about it. It's the new 'thang apparently. This leafy green is jammed pack with tons of vitamins, anti-oxidants, cancer protectants, and all sorts of other stuff that's great for you! You can read up on it here.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Kale


• 1/2 chopped yellow onion


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 1 lemon

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add the chopped onion. Saute a few minutes until golden brown.

Remove the kale leaves from the stalks and add to your pan.

Cover and cook on medium until the kale has reduced by about half. 10 minutes or so.

Once the Kale has cooked down, cut 1 lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the pan.

Now your Kale should look like this. Dark green and a little charred. This was actually pretty tasty. Danny and I both loved it, and you can't beat all the nutrients this has. He has requested this be a regular side dish. Yes, my husband, is requesting KALE!

Try some for yourself this week and see what you think!

Friday Surprise

I was thrilled (to say the least) to wake up this morning to an email from Kim over at Little Rays of Sunshine informing me she featured my S'more Brownies on her blog! Remember these things?! The concoction I whipped up at midnight because I had no other ingredients on hand? Ok, so maybe it wasn't exactly midnight, but it was sure close enough. Anyways, it makes the story sound better so we're stickin' with it.

I want to extend a big THANKS to Kim for kicking off my Friday with a great start!

Head on over to her blog and check her out! She's got an adorable family and always has fun, creative ideas! Like these dipped rice krispie treats for Easter. How fun is that?!

Happy Friday everyone!

Chicken Ranch Pasta

My dear college roommate, Tara, and I used to cook this dish together all the time. Well, something similar to this anyways. I'm pretty sure we just made it up one night...which is exactly what I did here. The other day she asked me to put this recipe on my blog because she couldn't quite remember it. Truth be told, I couldn't quite remember it either! So here's my best shot at it, Tara :)

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (or 4 strips, whatever you have)


• 2 cups pasta


• 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning


• 1 can italian diced tomatoes


• 1 1/2 cup broccoli


• grated Parmesan Cheese


• garlic, to taste


• salt and pepper, to taste

Season the chicken with about half of the ranch packet. Or, if you're like me, and have the big 'ol daddy of seasoning, use about a tablespoon or so. Generously cover the chicken.

Heat up a drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet and brown the chicken. Once the chicken has cooked for a couple minutes, add the broccoli to the skillet. I had frozen broccoli on hand, so that's what I used here. Start boiling the water for your pasta.

Once the chicken is done (about 4-5 minutes per side), cut into bite size pieces. Throw in the other half of the ranch seasoning packet, as well as a little garlic and salt and pepper to your liking.

Add the can of diced tomatoes.

Ok, I do remember we used spaghetti back when we cooked this in college...unfortunately I was all out of spaghetti noodles and only had shells on hand. Sometimes you just gotta make do :)
Shells are just as good. Heck, any type of pasta will work! Whatever's in your pantry!

Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and add to your serving bowl.

Now, add in the entire skillet of the yummy chicken/tomato/broccoli concoction.

Top with grated parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley.

What do you think Tara? Close enough? I know; the broccoli and tomatoes are a new addition (I think), but I figured it could use a little more color. And healthiness. ;)

Pulled Pork with a Kick

Being from Texas, I've never had much to do with Pulled Pork. When Texans eat BBQ, it's beef brisket. No questions asked. End of story. It was only after I imported my husband from Georgia that I realized brisket is not the only BBQ out there. In his opinion, pulled pork = BBQ. Don't even get me started on Brunswick stew. Never even heard of the stuff until I met him. I've still yet to see this infamous dish in any restaurant in Texas, however in my husband's words, "no bbq meal is complete without brunswick stew." It's still up for debate in our household.

Let's get back to business. I don't know if I'd call this a "bbq" recipe or not. Whatever you want to classify it as, it is absolutely delicious! I can not wait to make this again. Who wants to come visit so I can cook this again?? One pulled pork for just the two of us is a little much. It'd feed us for an entire week. On second thought, that's not such a bad idea...

Here's all you need:

• 1 Pork Shoulder / Boston Butt (however they're labeled in your grocery store) anywhere from 4-7 lbs


• 1 tablespoon ground Cumin


• 1 tablespoon garlic powder


• 1 tablespoon onion powder


• 1 tablespoon chili powder


• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper


• 1 tablespoon black pepper


• 1 tablespoon salt


• 1 tablespoon paprika


• 1/2 cup brown sugar


• 1 cup beef broth

Start out by mixing all the dry ingredients in a bowl. This is your rub.
Cover your entire piece of pork with the rub mix. Top, bottom, sides...get it all over! Sit the pork fat side up in a crock pot, and if you have extra seasoning left over just pour it in.

Pour the 1 cup of beef broth over the pork.

Cook on low until the inside of the pork reaches 200 degrees. You should be able to pull it apart with 2 forks very easily. A good estimate of time is about 1.5 hours per lb.

This is the best, no-fail pulled pork recipe I've tried. Back off a tad on the measurements when making the rub if you don't like a little spice, because this definitely has it! On second thought, forget I said that. This is the most flavorful pork I've ever had. Go for it baby!