Surf and Turf (sort of): Pepperoni Beef Balachi and Penne Pesto Scallops

So here is another Giant Eagle buy. I was over on the East side visiting with my cousin and her husband on the way back I stopped at the new Giant Eagle overlooking Valley View. The store is in a new shopping strip that looks like it will have some nice places there once everything gets opened. So anyway, back to the food. I was walking through the butcher area and some other people were buying some of the Balachi. This drew my attention to the meat and since it looked really good I got one myself. Also, just behind me, they had the bay scallops on sale. Originally I didn't plan on having both of these the same night, but I forgot that I had a work dinner last night and I had cook the balachi tonight. So anyway, I made both.

The balachi only needed to be baked. It went into a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes and it was done. For the scallops I first cooked them in some olive oil with salt and pepper until they started to turn translucent. Then I added about a half cup of store bought pesto and a whole lot of frozen and fresh basil to the pan. I let everything cook together until the penne was done. The penne then went into the pan with the scallops and everything was tossed together.

From start to finish the meal took about 30 minutes. If I had been trying hard, I could have definitely had it done in under 30. Rachel Ray might just be in for a little competition.

Bacon Wrapped Turkey Medallion and Pan Cooked Potatoes

The main piece of this dish is the bacon wrapped turkey medallion. I picked these up at Sam's Club a while back because they looked pretty good and were reasonably priced. This is actually my second attempt to cook one of the medallions. The first attempt went quite badly since I did not thaw the medallion before cooking. Now, don't start yelling at me for not thawing the thing, I was certain that I should have; however, the package stated on how quick cooking they were and it never mentioned the need for thawing. Before I cooked the first one, I looked all over the bag and never saw the word thaw, so I took a chance and followed the directions instead of going with my gut feeling. Needless to say, the first one was burnt on the outside and frozen within.

So for the second try, I let the medallion thaw in the fridge while I was at work. They come individually wrapped so it is easy to make one at a time. They give a couple different cooking options and I opted for pan cooking. All I had to do was put a little oil in the pan and put it over medium high heat, add the medallion and cook for about 8 minutes on each side, the drop down the heat until the temperature probe pops out. Yup, you read it right, these little medallions come with little pop up timers like a full sized turkey.

When the turkey was almost done (well browned on both sides but the timer hadn't popped out), I added some red skin potatoes to the pan. I seasoned them with salt and pepper and dill (I believe, its one of the fresh herbs on my windowsill).

This time, the meal was quite good. The turkey was really moist and the potatoes were good too. I don't remember the price off hand, but I think the medallions ended up being less than a dollar each and for that price, its a real bargain.

Bordeaux Wine Steak and Grilled Corn on the Cob

So one might think that the most important part of this post would be the steak, WRONG!! (to quote Lex Luthor). Its all about the grilled corn on the cob.

The steak was purchased from Giant Eagle. Giant Eagle has slightly redeemed itself from the seafood incident last month with this marinated steak. It wasn't too expensive and had a great taste. It was pretty tender too.

But like I said, the important thing is the corn. The grilled corn is a technique that I learned from my Dad (I don't know where he got it from, but prior to his cooking corn this way, we always boiled it). The flavor of the grilled corn is far better than that of boiled.

To grill corn, you first need to soak the ears (husk and all). Just take the whole thing of corn and submerge it in water for at least 30 minutes. The husk will soak up the water and then as the corn boils, it will steam it from the inside. Once fully soaked, put the corn (still in the husk) on a preheated medium flame grill (if you are using charcoal, I guess just try to get a steady heat, not searing though). Let the corn cook for about 15-20 minutes then turn it over and continue cooking for another 15 minutes. Once the time is up, remove the corn from the grill and let it cool for a few minutes.

Now, here is where the beauty of grilling corn in the husk comes out. Once the corn is cool enough to touch, peal off most of the husk until only one or two leaves remain. Then break off the stem end (it should crack off pretty easily) and then just pull on the fibers at the other end. If you did everything right, when you pull the fibers the rest of the husk and all the fibers should come right out.

And there you have it, fully cooked, grilled corn on the cob. And although a little hot on your hands, shucking the corn couldn't be easier.

Chicken Tenders (Take 2)

Somethings taste better reheated after sitting in the refrigerator overnight (chili, lasagna, etc.) but who would have thought that chicken tenders also fit into that category. On Sunday night I caught an episode of Ham on the Street on Food Network. The subject of this episode was guilty pleasures. Among the deep fried brownie (and everything else you can think of) and the twinkie tiramisu type dish, the host showed off a recipe for healthier chicken tenders.

They looked good on the tv and seemed really simple so I gave them a try. The secret to making them healthier than normal chicken tenders was that these are not fried. Instead you are to dip the chicken strips into a spiced light mayo and then into panko bread crumbs (panko are the type used for tempura, also known as Japanese bread crumbs). You then bake the strips at 350C until done.

When first baked the tenders had great flavor and were fully cooked (but not dry inside) but they were not that crunchy. They just didn't get all that browned on the outside. I was afraid to leave them in the oven longer because I didn't want them to dry out. So I ate a few that night and put the rest in the refrigerator.

Then last night, I cranked up the toaster oven to about 400 C and laid the chicken tenders out on the mini baking sheet. I baked them in the toaster over for about 15 minutes. At this point they were getting browned and crispy. What was great was that they still had the same flavor as the night before and were still moist inside. I think dipping the strips in the mayo helped them stay moist.

The recipe that was shown on the show used curry powder, salt, and pepper for the spices in the mayo. I used worchester sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I think the spices are really where you can get creative and try different combinations. If you don't go overboard with any one spice, you should get tastey chicken tenders when you are done.

Shrimp and Scallop Skewers

I apologize again for the lack of a picture. I was all set to take a picture of the skewers on the grill last night and quickly realized that I left my digital camera at work. If I pick more of these up, I will take a picture later.

I was at Giant Eagle the other night and while looking at the frozen shrimp section saw a package of shrimp and scallop skewers. They had 3 varieties, a plain version, a garlic/butter version, and a garlic and spice (I think) version. After looking at the nutritional stats, I picked up a bag of the plain variety. The other ones were not all that bad, but they were pretty high in sodium. I think the pack was on sale for $4.99 (but that could be the regular price, I'm not 100% sure). In the pack, there were 5 skewers which they say are 2.5 servings. From the size of the shrimp and scallops, I think 2 skewers would work as a serving.

The package had a few different cooking options, but the quickest and I think easiest of the 3 was to grill them. I had let them thaw during the day and they were ready to go by dinner. Since it was just shrimp and scallops, they took no time to cook on the grill. I think the package said 2 minutes per side.

They had a really good taste. The scallops were still tender and the shrimp was cooked perfectly. I could have used these to make a fancy plated meal, but I just pulled everything off the skewers and chowed down. These aren't bad for the price. I'm sure that I could get the shrimp and bay scallops from the fish counter and put them on my own skewers for less money, but for the convenience (and since I was only making 5 skewers), these are a great.

If you see them at the grocery store, give them a try. If you try one of the other varieties, let me know what you think of them.

Trader Joe's Cranberry Almond Stuffed Chicken Breast

I took the easy way out last night and made this for dinner. Both the chicken breast and the green beans came out of the freezer. I picked up the stuffed chicken breast a few weeks ago at Trader Joe's for $2.99. If I had tried to make this from scratch I probably could have made it for less, but since I'm just cooking for myself, this is easier and more economical. The chicken with the stuffing is vacuum sealed then frozen so it looks like it would keep for a while in the freezer.

Once thawed, I cooked the chicken in the toaster oven for about 45 minutes. I used a digital thermometer to make sure that the internal temperature was over 165 F before taking it out. The package says that the chicken should only take about 25 minutes in an oven, so I think the extra time was a result of using the toaster oven and that the inside of the stuffing probably wasn't fully thawed. The green beans went directly from a box in the freezer to a bowl in the microwave. 5 minutes later, they were done.

I was a bit worried about how the chicken would turn out since I had to cook it longer than the package said, but it was still very moist. The stuffing had great flavor and was seasoned very well.

For its simplicity alone I would buy another of these stuffed chicken breasts. It had great flavor, is actually not that bad for you, and was easy to prepare. If you're out at Trader Joe's, give it a try sometime (but you might want to let it thaw in the fridge for a day, instead of doing the one hour quick thaw that is suggested on the package).

Black Bean Lime Chili

I got this recipe from the Food Network Website. Here is the link if you are interested in making it yourself.

This is a really quick and easy soup to put together. For the most part I followed the recipe but instead of chopping the onion and peppers by hand I used my food processor. For me, that worked great since I'm not a big fan of chunks of onion or pepper and the processor really diced them up fine. Just like the chicken salad I posted previously, this chili used canned breast meat chicken. For the time saving aspect, its well worth the price. From beginning to end, including taking time to cut the vegies and such, this dish took less than 30 minutes.

One word of caution however, I would not use as much cilantro and lime juice as the recipe recommends. I like both, but in the quantity called for the chili ended up tasting too much lime and cilantro (they both really overpowered the other flavors).

Chicken-Avocado Salad Pita

So here's another short and simple meal. It took less than 5 minutes from start to finish.

I wanted a way to get some high protein and healthy fats into a quick and easy sandwich and this is what I came up with. For this particular batch I used "chicken in a can" (which isn't all that bad) and some fresh avocado. To be honest, the avocado could be a little fresher (it was still pretty firm) but it worked. I mixed up the chicken and avocado with some mayonnaise and some salt and pepper and put it all in a pita.

That sandwich tasted pretty good but I thought that I could probably make it better. For the second try I used grilled chicken breast which I cut up into small chunks and a fresher avocado. I also put some fresh spinach on the sandwich. This was a major improvement (but it does take extra time to cook the chicken, unless you have leftovers which you can use). Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the second batch.

I recommend everyone to try this even if they think that they don't like avocado. I used to think that I hated avocado but I recently realized that I hated bad guacamole, not avocado. So, just give it a try!

Bacon Onion and Cheese Torte

This morning I was watching Food Network and Giada was making a Pancetta and Parmesan Torte. While I was watching I thought that I should make something similar and use my new torte dish that I got for my birthday.

Originally I was going to try to make the same torte which Giada had made, but once I got to the grocery store and saw that I would have to buy much larger portions of pancetta and parmesan then I needed, I opted to go with bacon and a blend of italian cheeses. I also decided to add a sauted onion and some garlic to the other ingredients of parsley, salt, pepper, and cream. For the cream, I wanted to make this a little healthier so I used 1/2 cup of half and half (in place of the 2/3 cup heavy cream) and 1/2 cup skim milk (in place of the 1/2 cup whole milk).

The trick to making this torte super easy is that the base is a store bought pie crust. In a smaller sized torte pan the crust would have come up to the top edge, but my dish is pretty big and the pie crust just fit. Everything worked out alright since the amount of filling was also meant for a smaller dish so it wasn't too thick either.

Even with the reduction of fat in the liquids, the torte came out perfectly. The flavors are all very mild and blend well together. I cooked the onions and garlic over very low heat for about 10 minutes and that really took away their bite. I'm usually not a fan of onions but these came out very soft and slightly sweet.

I think this would also work really well in an individual size, served with a salad, or even smaller sized as an appetizer. I'll be keeping this recipe on file.

Shrimp with Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Chive

Its time I got back to preparing dishes of a healthier sort. Today I present Shrimp with Broccoli and Cauliflower in a lemon-butter Chive sauce.

The simplicity of this meal is that the vegetables and the sauce come packaged together. Bird's Eye recently introduced a new line of frozen vegetables called The Herb Garden Collection. If you click on that link you can find out about other varieties. I've tried them all but for the green beans and the mushrooms and liked every variety. Each box of vegies comes with a little packet of seasoning that adds great flavor to the vegetables. Its suggested that you cook the vegetables in the microwave (they tend to take about 6 minutes) and then add the seasonings at the end.

For my dish I quickly thawed precooked, frozen, deveined shrimp (which I pulled the tails off) and added them to the vegetables in their last minute of being microwaved. I did this to just get a little warmth to the shrimp. All that was left was to mix it all together with the seasoning packet. To finish off the plate I cut a slice of whole wheat bread into wedges which I ended up using to make little shrimp sandwiches of a sort.

I'm not sure about the nutritional stats right now, but I know that this was a healthy mix of protein, carbs, and a little fat; and best of all, it tasted great. By the way, I made a larger portion than would be normal. I used 1 box of vegetables and about 27 shrimp which split in half would be enough for two to share (I would probably serve with some brown rice on the side instead of the bread in that case).

Birthday Party = Lots of Food

Saturday, April 1st, was my 25th birthday and my uncle's 55th. To celebrate I invited the whole family up to my house. The plan for the party was a casual get together with lots of good food and good drinks. I think I succeeded.



The food plan was to have a wide variety of appetizers. There were simple snacks like chips and vegetables (with homemade dips) and then slightly more elaborate hot foods. The vegetables were all purchased fresh from the West Side Market on Friday morning and I washed, cut, blanched (the ones that required it), and arranged them all. The hot foods consisted of skewered chicken (with either a Thai peanut sauce or an Italian basalmic sauce), mini hamburgers, sausage cheese balls, savory parmesan bites, and mini-new potato bites. A few of the foods have links to the Kraft Foods website where I got a lot of my inspiration. The plan for the vegie tray was in my America's Test Kitchen cookbook (which is highly recommended!) and the skewered chicken and mini-burgers were my own creations.



Everyone really liked the mini-burgers and they were the first food to run out. To make the burgers I used an 80/20 beef to which I added some French onion soup mix and some bacon fat (the bacon was required for the potato bites and bacon fat adds a lot of flavor so I figured why not splurge). I cooked the small burgers on the griddle until they were mostly done then placed each patty on a brown-and-serve roll that had been cut in half and topped with colby cheese. The burgers were then tossed into the oven to finish cooking and let the buns brown up. The end result was some really tasty little burgers.



The chicken was fairly simple too. I cut up breast meat into strips and marinated them in either the peanut sauce or the balsamic sauce. The peanut sauce had peanut butter, peanut oil, water, ginger, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and a few other spices. The balsamic sauce was a combination of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, water, salt, pepper, rosemary, and spices. Both batches of chicken marinated overnight. In an ideal case I would have grilled the chicken but since I was making a lot and didn't have the time to stand by the grill I baked the skewered chicken. Everyone seemed to really enjoy these too.



There was a wide variety of drinks for the party but the one that stood out the most was a new rum by Bacardi. It called Ciclon and is infused with Agave Tequila and Lime. When I saw it at the store it looked interesting so I picked up the bottle. And as it turns out, it tastes really good. I thought it was best mixed with a lemon lime soda but my dad preferred it as a shot. He was encouraging others to give it a try too.

And I almost forgot to mention the cake. As I continue to master my skills at cake baking I made this cake. The whole cake was iced in buttercream icing and then I colored a bit of the icing blue for decoration. The border around the cake came out looking nice but my hand writing with icing needs major work. One evening I should put together a small batch of icing and just practice writing. But, back to the cake; the cake is half chocolate and half vanilla and was filled with vanilla pudding (the cooked variety, not instant). The pan I used was an 11x14" pan which I think is a half-sheet size. Everyone enjoyed it and many went back for seconds (or thirds).

By the end of the evening very little food (and Ciclon) remained. There was one piece of the parmesan bites and some vegetables left as well as some cake. I was wore out, but it was worth it. I think everyone had a fun time and that was my goal.

Is this Chili better??

I had a comment from Rob about the last chili that I presented here. He said that it looked too much like spaghetti sauce and not enough like chili. So, here is another batch that really looks like chili. I didn't do anything special to it and there are only 4 ingredients (minus spices). I browned some ground turkey with a lot of spices and then added it to light kidney beans, dark kidney beans, and diced tomatoes in the crock pot. Its been cooking for most of the day and smells great.

On another note, I wanted to make a comment on how easy it is to make your own chip dip. I had some company over this past weekend and I had planned on making grilled sandwiches and then just snacking on some chips. When I was asked for dip I knew that I didn't have any in the fridge so I whipped some up with sour cream and spices. I took about a cup of sour cream and added onion powder, salt, pepper, and Greek spice mix. I just mixed that all together and let it sit for a little bit and that's it. Instant chip dip.

Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

It was a pretty hectic weekend so I didn't get a chance to go to the grocery store until Monday night. While shopping I was also thinking about what would be good for dinner and I got a craving for lasagna. So along with my other groceries, I picked up some noodles and cheese (ricotta and shredded cheeses) and I assumed that I had all the other necessary ingredients at home. When I got home I realized that I the only meat I had was frozen chicken tenders (I thought that I had some ground beef or turkey or something) and I also saw that there was a bag of spinach in the bottom of the refrigerator so I decided to go with it and make Chicken/Spinach Lasagna.

I began by wilting the spinach in a frying pan. Once that was taken care of, I cut up the chicken tenders and cooked those in the same pan with a little oil until the chicken was starting to brown. In the meantime I started hard cooking a couple eggs. When the chicken was done I added a jar of vodka sauce (its basically a marinara with cream), some canned crushed tomatoes, and the spinach back into the pan and let everything warm the whole way though. I also added a raw egg to the ricotta cheese.

Since the lasagna noodles were the "no-boil" type, I was now ready to go to assemble the dish. I layered the sauce, noodles, ricotta, chopped egg, and cheeses about 3 times until I reached the top of the baking dish. I then topped it all with some more cheese and covered the dish with foil and put it in the over. It baked for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees and it was smelling really tastey. I then removed the foil and turned on the broiler to get the cheese to brown quickly. It only took a couple minutes under the broiler to get nice and brown.

And that was it. Its been really good. I made this lasagna Monday night and it has been lunch and dinner since then. Since I'm the only one eating it, I think it will last until tomorrow night. One of the best things about the leftovers is that it seems to taste even better each day since all the flavors have time to meld together. Yum!

Pork in Barbecue-Wine Sauce

Sorry that there is no picture for this one; I made it this past weekend at my parent's house. Since Sunday was going to be a very hectic day I decided that slow cooker cooking would be the best way to go to get dinner started. I looked through their freezer and found some pork "steaks" and then went looking for a cooking liquid. One thing I've learned about slow cooking is that beef (beef with a good amount of fat on it) cooks well without much extra liquid but that pork needs a cooking liquid (otherwise its very dry and there is no flavor).

While looking the cabinets the only thing I could find that looked like it would work okay was barbecue sauce. I'm not a big fan of the sauce myself so I came up with a way to water it down and add more flavor (wine!). My original thought was to use a dry red wine but all that was available in the house were sweet whites and a semi-dry chardonnay. Since the chardonnay was the driest wine in the house and also the least expensive bottle I opted to use that. So into the slow cooker went a small can of tomato sauce, about 3/4 ths of a bottle of barbecue sauce, a half bottle of chardonnay, some salt, pepper, and cinnamon (it adds another hint of flavor) and a bit of water (maybe a half cup). I wisked that all together and put in the pork. The meat cooked for about 7 hours on low and when it was done it was nice and tender and full of flavor. It a slight barbecue taste and was slightly sweet. It was quite different than what we were used to.

Everyone liked it well and its something that I will keep to make again. I think next time I would rather use a dry red wine so maybe I will try that sometime soon. I'll be sure to post a picture next time too.

Super Simple Pot Roast

Alright, I want to start by saying that the picture does not do this meal justice. I just wanted to get that out there.

So I'm calling this Super Simple Pot Roast since the amount of effort required to put this together is close to nill. For the cookware you'll only need a slow cooker and a frying pan and some tongs or a big fork to flip the roast and transfer it to the slow cooker. The ingredients for this dish are: a roast (I just bought what was on sale, mine was about 2.5 lbs in size, make sure that you don't buy a roast bigger than your slow cooker), a bag of frozen stew vegetables (the one I got had potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions), and some salt and pepper. Yea, that's it, 4 ingredients since the vegies all come together in a bag (which only costs a $1 at the grocery store). It's a budget friendly meal too.

To put it all together first put the vegies in the bottom of the slow cooker and turn the thing on (either high or low depending on how long you have for the meal to cook, if you are going to let it cook all day, use low, if you want it ready in about 4 hours, use high). After you have the vegies in the cooker, put your frying pan on the stove and get it nice and hot. Your going to be searing the sides of the roast. Open the roast and salt and pepper one side. Once the pan is hot, put the seasoned side down in the pan and season the top side. Don't touch the roast for at least a few minutes. If you try to pull the roast away from the pan too soon it will stick to the pan, you'll know when its ready to be turned when it is easy to flip. Once flipped, brown the other side for a few minutes. Once the roast is browned (depending on the shape of your roast you might want to do all 4 sides, might was pretty flat so I just did the top and bottom) transfer it to the slow cooker. Put the lid on the cooker and let everything cook down.

As the roast cooks its juices will drip down in the vegetables giving them great flavor.

Hours later..... your roast is done and ready to eat. If you like your vegetables a little more firm then I would suggest adding more fresh (not frozen) vegies to the slow cooker about an hour to an hour and a half before you plan to eat. That give plenty of time for the vegetables to get tender but not too soft.

Crock-Pot Chili w/ Venison

Earlier this week I was chatting with my friend Rob about the benefits of slow-cooking. From this conversation I got a craving for some chili. And since my Dad had given me a couple small venison steaks and since I've never used it in chili before I decided to give it a try.

I used my usual technique of first browning the meat in a sauce pan and then adding it and all the other ingredients to the crock pot (along with spices). My typical mix is some beans, corn, and tomatoes but you can add other ingredients based off your liking (and most importantly, what's in your pantry). So I got everything in the slow cooker and left for work. When I came home this evening I was greeted to the smell of delicious chili.

To go along with my meal (since I was out of crackers) I made a little pasta. While cooking the pasta I remembered that this past weekend I picked up some frozen fresh basil at Trader Joes. They have these little ice cube tray looking things with a teaspoon of chopped herbs per cube. I think there are 3 different herbs to choose from. Since the pack of 20 little cubes was less than $2 I added it to the cart. So tonight I took out one of the cubes and added it to the cooked pasta; it thawed instantly. I then spooned some chili on top of the pasta along with a little cheese and my meal was made.

I like how the chili turned out but what really made the meal was the basil on the pasta. It added so much flavor and really balanced out well with the spiciness of the chili. As for the venison, there was a slightly different flavor than the usual beef chili, but really, if you didn't know it was venison, it would be hard to tell.

Meatloaf and Fingerling Potatoes

This isn't my Grandma's meatloaf nor is it my Mother's (which are both really really good), but it turned out alright. I used a combination of meats (veal, pork, and beef) which is something that neither of them do but I've seen done on television. The flavor is good, but not quite what I consider real meatloaf. I really need to pay more attention when my mom makes her's and see if there is something that mine is missing. Oh, and yes, the meatloaf is small. Since its just me I made a small one so I wouldn't have to eat it for the rest of the week.

I've seen these potatoes around before but never tried them. I baked them with some olive oil, garlic, and kosher salt. I got the potatoes at the West Side Market which I went to this past Saturday. I really need to keep going there and trying new things. This was only my second time to the market and I didn't go with a plan of what to buy so I was pretty overwhelmed. I only ended up buying some sourdough bread, kosher salt, and the potatoes. Next time I will buy more.

Homemade Fettucini with Spinach/Broccoli Sauce

After seeing my posts about the periogis, my brother decided to get me a manual pasta roller for Christmas. This week I opened it up and tried to make some fresh pasta. The first attempt was on Tuesday night but what I didn't take into account was the fact that the first batch would have to sacrificed to clean out the machine (removing oils and such). Last night I decided I would give it another try.

The dough is one of the most simple things ever. Its just one cup of flour to one egg with some water to get it to come together. The dough is pretty dry and just barely sticks together at the beginning but after working it through the rollers a bunch of times it came together to a really workable consistency.

Since I was all out of jar pasta sauce (and all the fixings to make homemade) I decided to try something new. I found a can of cream of broccoli soup in the cabinet and thought that it mixed with milk, spinach, and garlic might be good. In the end, it was alright, but the condensed soup was too salty for my tastes. I tried some of the pasta without the sauce and it was excellent.

I'm going to have to make more soon.

Christmas Eve (almost) Dinner

Each year my family gets together with my Aunt and Uncle for a Christmas dinner. We usually try to have the dinner on Christmas Eve, but due to their work schedules, we celebrated the day before Christmas Eve.

The dinner this year was excellent. The menu was salad with a raspberry vinaigrette, standing rib roast, a potato casserole, roasted winter vegetables, and bread. And plenty of wine. My aunt prepared most of the meal with my brother contributing the potato casserole and I contributed the roasted winter vegetables. Everything was delicious (especially the rib roast).

The roasted vegetables included butternut squash, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and yams. They were baked in an italian dressing and parmesan cheese. I was slightly disappointed with them since even after a long bake some of the vegetables were still rather hard (the carrots mostly). The vegetable flavor was really good, but I would have been happier had they been easier to eat.

For dessert we had my Aunt's famous rum cake. As a neat fact, she said that she has been making this same cake for the last 30 years as an anniversary tradition for her and my uncle. I really enjoyed this dessert, but everyone says that my already being slightly intoxicated led me to like it even more. I recorded the recipe into my cell phone as a voice memo (which I still need to copy down). When the right occasion calls for it, I will try my hand at the rum cake.

Popcorn Chicken Bites

I've been wanting to make these for a while now. I saw Rachel Ray make them on her 30 Minute Meals show and I thought I should give them a try. Who would have thought that you can make popcorn chicken bites with just chicken and instant pancake mix. Yes, you read correctly, the only ingredients were chicken and pancake mix (oh, and some water). I'm not a fan of the "just add water" mixes since the pancakes are typically really bland; however, this is a great use for the instant batter.

Like I said earlier, its just two ingredients. First heat your oil (you want a decent sized pan so the chicken has room to cook). Then you mix the pancake powder with water (a little less than you would with pancakes since you want the batter sort of thick) in a bowl and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Toss the chicken in the batter and coat it evenly. Then in small batches fry the chicken bites. They take a few minutes to cook.

To complete the meal I paired the chicken bites with some curly fries. It isn't the healthiest of meals, but it was tasty (and simple!). Mine was about a 15 minute meal! Yum!