Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango and Coconut Chicken

I have made this Chicken before by simply taking my friend chicken recipe and throwing in some coconut flakes with the flour. It is a big hit with all the Golomski family and an even bigger hit with me.

CoCo for Coconut Chicken!

So I tried a little some new by cooking some rice with water and coconut milk and adding some white sugar as well to make it a sweet dessert. I let it cool after it was soft enough.

bubble bubble toil and trouble!

I garnish it with a few slices of mango and it turn out to be a perfect, hot day treat.


Mangos make everything awesome

Until next time...Cook it up!

Beet and goat cheese

This guys is SO easy and yet so yummy....

All you need is a bit of Goat Cheese, Balsamic Reduction, and a Roasted Beet and you are in heaven.

This is the reason I started to like beets in the first place.

Until next time...Cook it up!

Pickled Onions

So you have a red onion about to turn...what do you do? 

Make pickled onions, of course! 

Not the BEST picture, but dang are they tastey! 

The recipe was super easy:

1 medium red onion, finely sliced

1 cup water

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 TBS honey

2 tsp salt

Let sit for at least 2 hours, then enjoy on samdwiches, salads, and tacos! 

Until next time...Cook it up!

Salad of fruits and yum

It has been humid and hot the last few weeks here in St Louis. Naturally, I decided to make salad for dinner for Husband and I.

We pulled out the grill and skewered some pineapple, red onion, and chicken.

After grilling it to perfection, we allowed it to cool and put it on a bed of spinach with blue berries and raspberry vinaigrette.

Lite and filling

Sorry for the short post as I am busy trying to find a job. Thanks for your understanding y'all!
Until next time...Cook it up!

Quinoa delight!

I have made this dish before several times and it is an excellent meal for when you want to make something ahead of time and not need to reheat it.

Mango Avocado Quinoa 

The recipe is simple. All you need is the following:

Quinoa (1/3 cup raw, or about 2-3 cups cooked)

Cooked Chicken (1 breast, cooked and diced)

Avocado (1, diced)

Mango (1, diced)

Red Onion (1/2, diced)

Cilantro (to taste)

Lime (to taste)

Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

Then you just mix together the first 5 ingredients and add the last 4 to taste. 

Store in the fridge and eat on a picnic with your family!

nomnomnom

eat it all up

Until next time...Cook it up!

Mango BBQ Chicken Quesadillas!

So the mangos at Aldis looked super yummy, thus I bought them!

I made Mango BBQ Chicken Quesadillas and they were excellent! 

A tortilla, some BBQ chicken, cheddar cheese, avocado, and diced mango. 

Put it all together...

Heat to cheesy perfection! Made on Papa G's Wolfgang Puck Panini maker.

A perfect dish for a hot summer day.

Until the next meal...Cook it up!

BFMH: Year Two Round Up Breakfast

06/16/2014 - BFMH: Avocado Chipotle Eggs Benedict
06/23/2014 - BFMH: Egg in a Pepper
06/30/2014 - BFMH: Peas and Eggs: A Spanish Breakfast

07/07/2014 - BFMH: Eggy Tomatoes
07/14/2014 - BFMH: Breakfast for Dinner - Low Carb Carbonara (a la HTFASA)
07/21/2014 - BFMH: Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit
07/28/2014 - BFMH: Comic-Con Breakfast Sweet Quesadilla

08/04/2014 - BFMH: Chewy Chocolate Breakfast Cookies
08/11/2014 - BFMH: Croque Monsieur
08/18/2014 - BFMH: Balsamic Spinach Sandwich
08/25/2014 - BFMH: Onion Ring Eggs

09/02/2014 - BFMH (and Auntie): French Toast Roll Ups
09/08/2014 - BFMH (and Auntie): Truffled Eggs on Toast

09/15/2014 - BFMH (and Auntie): Chocolate Banana Bread
09/22/2014 - BFMH: Stuffed French Toast
09/29/2014 - BFMH: Breakfast Quesadilla

10/06/2014 - BFMH: Tomato and Corn Quiche
10/13/2014 - BFMH: Egg in a Baguette
10/20/2014 - BFMH: Breakfast Tostada
10/27/2014 - BFMH: Brunch Enchiladas

11/03/2014 - BFMH: Breakfast Taquitos
11/10/2014 - BFMH: Sweet Potato Waffles 
11/17/2014 - BFMH: Oatmeal Baked Apples
11/24/2014 - BFMH (and BROTHER): Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

12/01/2014 - BFMH (and BROTHER): Bacon Pancake Dippers
12/08/2014 - BFMH: Turkey Hash
12/15/2014 - BFMH: Cinnamon Toast
12/22/2014 - BFMH: Turkey Quiches
12/29/2014 - BFMH: Baked Egg Cups

01/05/2015 - BFMH: Overnite Oatmeal (Fail)
01/12/2015 - BFMH: Egg and Avocado Breakfast Pita Pizza
01/19/2015 - BFMH: Apple and Cheddar Frittata
01/26/2015 - BFMH: Quick Migas

02/02/2015 - BFMH: Quinoa Muffins
02/10/2015 - BFMH: Fruit Breakfast Quinoa
02/16/2015 - BFMH: Honey Yogurt Waffles
02/23/2015 - BFMH: Ham and Cheddar Rosti

03/02/2015 - BFMH: Sausage, Cheese, and Egg Cups
03/09/2015 - BFMH: Berries and Cream Cheese Monkey Bread
03/16/2015 - BFMH: Asparagus Gruyere Tart
03/23/2015 - BFMH: Tomato and Avo Egg
03/30/2015 - BFMH: Tuscan Baked Egg

04/06/2015 - BFMH: Quinoa Breakfast Scramble
04/13/2015 - BFMH: Quinoa Parfaits
04/24/2015 - BFMH: Italian Breakfast Eggs
04/27/2015 - BFMH: Portabella Eggs

05/04/2015 - BFMH: Breakfast Banana Split
05/11/2015 - BFMH: Scotch Eggs
05/18/2015 - BFMH: Egg Crust Pizza
05/27/2015 - BFMH: Scones

06/01/2015 - BFMH: Strata
06/08/2015 - BFMH: Yogurt Tartlets

Second Year Completed

Here is the Completed First Year

Yogurt Tartlets Recipe

If you have a hard time finding whole wheat pastry flour, feel free to substitute unbleached all-purpose flour. I made six little tarts, but I don't see why you couldn't make one large tart using a 9-inch tart pan. If any of you do this (the larger size), let me know, I just haven't had a chance to test it.

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon butter, coconut oil, or olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons natural cane sugar (optional)
1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I use low-fat here)
1/4 cup maple syrup
zest of one lemon
3 teaspoons fresh ginger juice*
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

crystalized ginger, dried fruit, or fresh fruit/berries for topping

special equipment: 6 small tart (4-inch) pans or I suspect one 9-inch tart pan would be just about right for a single tart.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees, rack in the middle. In a medium bowl combine the flour, oats, and salt. In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the maple syrup and sugar. Now add the flour and oat mixture to the butter and stir well. Cook a couple minutes - just until you get a bit of a toasted smell. Stir in the sesame oil and remove from heat. Divide mixture into six equal portions, and as soon as it is cool enough, quickly press the mixture into (and up the sides) of each of the tart pans using your fingers and/or the base of a glass. Freeze until completely cooled - 5 or 10 minutes.

In the meantime, to make the filling, combine the yogurt, maple syrup, lemon zest and ginger juice in a medium mixing bowl. Taste. Add more ginger juice if you like. Now stir in the eggs until well incorporated.

Fill each tart shell with about 1/4 cup of filling (see photo), don't worry if you have a bit leftover. Bake for about 20 - 23 minutes. The filling should be set, and no longer jiggly. Remove the tarts and let cool for ten minutes. Now refrigerate for a couple hours, and serve topped with chopped crystallized ginger, fresh fruit, or dried fruit.

Makes six 4-inch tartlets.

*Fresh ginger juice: Grate peeled ginger with a micro-plane grater. Press and squeeze the grated ginger against a fine strainer extracting as much juice as possible.

Easy Grillin' Chicken

Husband and I decided that now that we had a grill avaible to us, it was obviously time to do some grilling. We did a basic menu of Italian dressing marinated chicken with pineapple and onion, a grilled Romaine salad, and grilled corn.

Skewers of yum

Close up of Chicken and stuffs

Lightly grilled with a Vinaigrette dressing

Pre Grillin

I was very happy with how the chicken turned out. The magic of the Italian dressing Marinade is that it is SUPER easy and incredibly yummy. It keeps your chicken from drying out and gives it an umph without being BBQ sauce. Thanks to Kendall, Logan, and Kris for teaching me that one.


Until next time...Cook it up!

A Glimpse of Our Second Year of Marriage

In the one year passed, I made an overview of our year as a married couple. I did it again this year!
For our Second Anniversay, Husband gave me a sweater with my spirit animal on it and I gave him robe with his job monogrammed on it. We took a night away in Pittsfield, IL and enjoyed a day poking around Hannibal, MO.

Here is a quick look at our life together!

A Glimpse of Our Second Year of Marriage

Where We Went
Solvang and Santa Barbara for our First Anniversary Weekend
The Moller Cottage and Mackinac Island with Husband's family

Lancaster, PA, Philadelphia, PA, and Washington, DC for a wedding

Phoenix, Arizona to visit our Honeymoon Friends
Drove parts of Route 66 from LA to St Louis
Stayed over at the Grand Canyon

Restaurants We Enjoyed
The Hitching Post II (Solvang, CA)
Duke's (Malibu, CA)
Far Niente (Italian in Glendale!)
Carthay Circle (Disney's California Adveture)
Chili John's (Burbank)
Club 33 (Disneyland)
El Tovar (Grand Canyon, AZ)
Whiskey Cake (Oklahoma City, OK)
Standard Diner (Albuquerque, NM)

Shows We Watched
Flash
Arrow
Agents of Shield
Doctor Who
Psych
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Gotham
Constantine

Things We Saw
The Endeavor
Jurassic Technology Museum
Comikaze 2014
Candle Light Processional at Disneyland 2014
San Diego Comic-Con 2014
Wondercon 2015

Meals At Home
Chili Con Carne (Texas Style Chili)
Chipotle Avocado Eggs Benedict
Fried Green Tomato Caprese
Turkey Cranchiladas
Mashed Potato Waffle Turkey Sandwiches
Beef Wellington
Steak Diane

Sweets Made by Me and Enjoyed by Us
Jammie Dodgers
Cherry Chocolate Chip
Apple Dumplings
Chocolate Mousse
Coconut Bonbons
Apple and Gouda Oatmeal Cookies
Baklava
Irish Coffee Ice Cream

Movies We Watched
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Winter Soldier
The Lego Movie
Fault in Our Stars
The Age of Ultron
Mad Max: Fury Road

Some Firsts
Attended Stan Lee's Comikaze
Cat played through Dragon Age 1&2 on Xbox 360 and Play Station 4

We moved halfway across the country to St Louis
Tried a LA tradition of Tito's Tacos in Culver City
Took Tea at the Huntington Library in Pasadena
Got drinks at the trendy bars The Edison and Perch in Downtown LA
Went camping with Best Friends, the Witmans
Took a Disney Tour and saw the Dream Suite

BFMH: Strata

So we had a big grill day the other day so instead of using English muffins, I am using grilled bread and instead of ham, I am using pork sausage. This dish is LOOSELY based on this recipe I suppose.

English Muffin & Ham Breakfast Strata (adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe)

Cooking Spray

English Muffins

1/2 lb. sliced ham, or Canadian bacon, cut into halves

8 eggs

2 egg whites

2 cups milk

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Prepare 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. In dish, alternately arrange muffin halves and meat, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk, sour cream and pepper until combined. Pour over muffin, ham and cheese layers.  Cover entire dish tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake strata, uncovered, until puffed and set in the center, approximately 60-80 minutes.  If strata begins to brown before puffing up, cover loosely with foil to prevent burning.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

All the In Laws liked this dish. I really enjoyed the easiness of this dish. A great chio e for Christmas Morning of New Year's day. Gotta love the make ahead breakfasts.