chicken broccoli cashew.

we had dinner at a friends house over a year ago and she made this delicious recipe.

i was so bummed i wasn't able to find the exact recipe.. but this one was the closest i could get.

on black friday i got an awesome new rice cooker! i was so excited to get it at such a great price [$9.99 after mail-in-rebate] - and there was a funny story along with it..

i was with my sister-in-law and all they had left were displays. well i picked up one of the displays - made sure it had all the parts and snagged it. it even had a bar code!

another lady grabbed the other display.

shortly after we got in line to buy our goodies and a customer service lady interrupted the other lady with the other rice cooker. she informed her that she couldn't purchase the rice cooker without the box so she went to the back room to check for boxes.

i was already in the process of purchasing mine - and the gentlemen said well if this bar code sticker works, i'll ring you up.

he rang me up and the lady came back empty handed. no boxes means no sale.

but mine was already paid for. my sister-in-law quickly purchased her items and we left so quickly she almost forgot her receipt!

well... i was so excited to get my rice cooker that i forgot i had nothing to mail in for the rebate! no upc label.. :(

but that's okay.. i still love the rice cooker! and now just have to use it more to get my money worth ;)

chicken broccoli cashew.

found: pinterest

time: 20 minutes! the rice takes 20 minutes to cook and i prepared everything else in the meantime

makes: 4 servings

1 cup uncooked white rice [you can use brown rice as well]

3 tbs. soy sauce

2 tsp. grated ginger root

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp sesame oil [optional]

1 lb chicken cut into 1" cubes

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

1 tbs vegetable oil

3 cups broccoli

2 green onions [optional]

1 cup cashews

1. cook rice as directed - my rice cooker knows how long to do it and does it for me! it's wonderful!
2. mix soy sauce, ginger root, sugar and sesame oil.
3. marinate raw chicken in mixture for at least 15 minutes [you could do this earlier in the day and have it marinate all day too]
4. in a small bowl combine the 1/4 cup chicken broth and cornstarch until cornstarch is dissolved.
5. in a skillet, heat vegetable oil on high heat and cook chicken [save your marinade!] until no longer pink in the center
6. add in broccoli and remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth. cover and cook for 1 minute
7. add in onions and cashews
8. stir in reserved marinade into cornstarch mixture and add into skillet.
9. cook everything for another 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce thickens
10. serve over your rice of choice!

source

i could get used to this...

so.. a couple weeks ago i shared how i [won a chef].

well, that evening rolled around and she came.

she brought all her own food.

she cooked.

and

cleaned.

i will admit.. i was almost tempted to leave all those dirty dishes in our sink for her to do.

they pile up so quick... this is the story of a household without a dishwasher!

ah.. another thing that i have on my list of must have's when we buy our first home.

along with a double sink for [this] reason.

and a two stall garage.

i digress.. 

juiciest chicken i've ever had on the stove. and so much flavor! all she put on there was a little of lawry's salt and i was worried about not having my garlic... have i ever told you how much we use garlic?

every.

meal.

i couldn't believe how much flavor these babies had! the broccoli was amazing! AND she cooked with no water! i tried this in my own pan a couple evenings after.. mine got a little burnt, so i'm still trying to figure out just how she did it.

look at that chicken! i can't believe it's completely cooked all the way through.. and she didn't even check it once! i'm amazed.

she had such a sweet british accent and told us lots of jokes.

a dessert... cooked on the stove top...? i know.. i couldn't believe it myself. and it was super tasty! there was none left over by the time we were done.

 

so not only did this really happen. and the fact that it really was free..

i have more amazing news!

i ordered her again!

for free!

 

stay tuned for meal number 2..

 

a personal chef???

did i tell you that i get my own personal chef tonight?  and no - it's not my husband. it's a professional! do you realize what this means... no need to even think or worry about what dinner is going to be. no need to figure out what foods to buy. no need to prepare a meal. no need to cook the meal. no need to clean up after the meal. all we have to do is eat it. and provide ourselves with a bottle glass of wine to enjoy while someone else does all the work. woah. is this too good to be true??

honey pecan salmon salad.

my uncle caught salmon and gave it to us. well there was a lot and for those people who don't know.. fish doesn't stay good very long if it's fresh. you either have to eat it or freeze it. well the last thing we needed to do was put more stuff in our freezer so we end up forgetting about it and then it gets freezer burnt.

i made sure we made a couple different meals out of it while it was fresh to eat it up quickly.

here is one of the tasty meals we made [and just for the record.. i am NOT a fan of honey... but i really enjoyed this] i put it on a salad and it was delicious! the tomatoes and some of the lettuce are from our garden too!! it's so fun to use the fresh veggies we've been growing :)

honey pecan salmon
found: pinterest [cuisine board]
makes: 4 servings
time: at least 35 minutes [depends on how long you marinate the fish]

1/4 cup honey
4 tsp finely chopped pecans
1 tbs soy sauce
24oz. fresh salmon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

1. preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. combine the honey, soy sauce and pecans in a gallon zip lock bag.
3. sprinkle salt and pepper on salmon and add to the bag.
4. let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes [i did for an hour to get more flavor]
5. once done marinating, place salmon into an oven safe dish. make sure to leave some of the marinate to put on while it's baking.
6. bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the pink is gone in the middle. half way through, add the rest of the marinate on the fish and finish baking.
7. while it's baking, prepare your salad or pasta - whatever you would like to enjoy it with! :)

come link up and enjoy awsome recipes! :)

as last time, the same requests are there this time :)

to link up, please make sure you link the post back or take a button and use it on your post.

please follow my blog.

visit other recipes too! :)

thanks!

<center> <a href="hthttp://onefourthreeblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/honey-pecan-salmon-salad.html"><img border="0" src=" http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o631/one43blog/menumondaybutton.png"/></a></center>

coffee ice cube drink.

another weekend come and gone. wow - lots of stuff this week ahead. lots of fun stuff!

until then..

here is probably the simplest, and i truly mean simplest recipe [i don't even know if you could call it that..] there is out there!

i have made coffee ice cubes before.. i saw it at a coffee shop one time and thought, brilliant! no more watered down iced coffee! i've been doing it ever since. well then this wonderful peach came along on pinterest and i just had to try it!

coffee ice cube drink

found: on my [refreshments board] on pinterest

makes: 4 drinks

time: 24-48 hours for ice cubes to freeze, 5 minutes to prepare drink

2 ingredients friends..

coffee ice cubes

vanilla flavored almond milk*

do these steps days before:

1. take your left over coffee from the day, instead of dumping it down the drain.. pour it into ice cube trays

2. put them in the freezer and let them freeze

do this when preparing the drink:

3. take the coffee ice cubes and put in glass

4. pour some cold vanilla flavored almond milk on top.

5. stir and enjoy!

seriously... one easy easy easy drink that is so so so delicious!

*you can use soy milk, coconut milk, flavors or original... no matter what you use, it will be good!

goulash.

so i'm not doing the link up today.. i had one crazy, busy weekend and didn't get this prepared ahead of time. next monday we'll link up again! it was awesome meeting new people and getting new recipe ideas!!

goulash. pronounced goo-la-sh.

this was one of my most favorite meals my mom made when i was a kiddo. lately i've been craving it myself and wanted to introduce it to my husband!

this is so easy for anyone to make too

goulash
found: momma
makes: a lot! i'm not sure.. but i KNOW i will have left overs! :)
time: 30 minutes

1lb. cooked hamburg or turkey burger
one big white onion
one big green pepper
one 32oz. can of canned tomatoes
3/4 box of elbow macaroni noodles
2 garlic cloves
garlic salt
pepper

1. in a pot, bring water to a boil and add pasta
2. cut up the green pepper and onion
3. in a pan, sauté the pepper and onion with chopped garlic cloves
4. add in the the raw hamburg and cook three ingredients together
5. once hamburg is thoroughly cooked add in the canned tomatoes
6. drain pasta and add to pan
7. combine all together, serve and enjoy!

easy enough - huh?

have a wonderful monday!

MENU monday. link up!

happy monday everyone!

i am SO excited to do this new link up! i am totally new to it.. so i hope i'm doing it right. :) if not.. someone please tell me so i can get it fixed a-sap.

i decided to do this link-up after wonderful feedback that others would link up and enjoy it too!

here is my heart behind it..

i love love love sharing new recipes with you. and i figured - i LOVE getting other peoples recipes too. but sometimes hard get recipes from other blogs and remember which blogs i found them at when the time comes to make them. well, with this fun link up - we will have every one's recipes in one location AND we can refer back to them even months later! :) also - everything i make isn't something everyone else is always interested in.. sometimes there are people with food allergies, others that are vegetarians, or vegans.. so different recipes will be helpful for different people. fun stuff huh? AND we can do this all while meeting new wonderful people! i'm excited!

the other great thing about this is for meal planning [shout out to all my organized planner people out there! woot woot!!!]. how fun is it to be able to have lots of new recipes so we can start meal planning and prepare those grocery lists of the items we'll need.

syncing my meal planning and grocery shopping is one thing i've started doing since married and let me tell you - it's glorious! i never end up screwed in the middle of a craving to make something and not have the correct ingredients on hand. and it helps me out because mr. b can see what we're having each day and start prepping some of it before i get home! [let's give that another woot woot!!]

alright, alright - enough blabbering. come link up your recipes, share the link up with others and let's start cooking! :)

ps.. i'm still deciding if i will do a link up each week or every other week.. feel free to share your opinions :) [i will still have my MENU monday. each monday even if there isn't a link up]

here is my MENU monday recipe. i'm excited to see yours too! :)

cold italian pasta salad

found: made up as i went from memory of classic recipe

makes: 2 lbs

time: 20 minutes

1 green pepper

1 small red onion

1 cucumber

3 green onions

1 package of grape tomatoes

1 can of black olives sliced

1 box of cooked rigatoni pasta

3/4 bottle of italian dressing [you could make this homemade too, but i didn't have time :)]

1 cup pepperoni [you can use more you less depending on how you like it :)]

1 cup parmesan cheese and romano cheese combined.

1. put a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. once boiling, add in pasta.

2. cut up the green pepper, red onion, cucumber, pepperoni, green onions and tomatoes into pieces. put all in a large bowl.

3. drain the black olives and add to the bowl.

4. drain pasta and put into bowl. mix everything together.

5. put italian dressing and cheese in bowl and mix everything together

6. cool in refrigerator before serving.

before you link up - i have a few requests

- please follow my blog

- link up your just your blog post, not your entire blog.

- make sure you grab a button or link back to this post so if people are coming from your blog they can see everyone else's link up's here too.

i am also considering have co-hosts at some point! if you're interested, email me for more info at onefourthreeblog[at]gmail[dot]com.!

<center><a href="hthttp://onefourthreeblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/menu-monday-link-up.html"><img border="0" src=" http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o631/one43blog/menumondaybutton.png"/></a></center>

basil lemon chicken

woo! what a weekend! i had a blast on my little mini vaca with some of my bestest friends - but i'll save all of that for tomorrow. :)

i went for another new recipe tonight - one i actually found on pinterest this afternoon while i was waiting for an appointment. i did have to make one slight adjustment, but it still turned out great!!

i found basil lime chicken and marked it for dinner tonight. then i got home and realized it said lime, not lemon. well i didn't have any limes around the house, but i sure did have some lemons. so when life hands you lemons.. make basil lemon chicken instead :)

here is your recipe!

basil lemon chicken

found: on my [cuisine] pinterest board

makes: 4 servings

time: 1 hour and 30 minutes [30 minutes for prep and cook, 1 hour to marinate]

3 lbs fresh boneless chicken breast

2 lemons zested and juiced [1 1/2 for marinate, 1/2 for topping]

3 tbs olive oil [for marinate]

3 tbs dijon mustard

3 tbs worcestershire sauce

3 tbs soy sauce

6 green onions [3 for marinate, 3 for topping]

4 fresh chopped garlic cloves [2 for marinate, 2 for topping]

2 tbs chopped basil

1/4 cup olive oil [for topping]

salt and pepper for taste

1. in a bowl small, zest your [one and a half] lemons and juice them.

2. add in [two] fresh chopped garlic, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, dijon mustard, and [three tbs] olive oil.

3. add in [three] chopped green onion along with salt and pepper

4. place chicken in zip lock bag with marinate. let sit for 1 hour or longer if preferred.

5. once your marinated chicken is finished, place chicken on grill.

6. while chicken is grilling, combine the remaining lemon juice and zest, fresh garlic, olive oil, green onions and basil.

7. pour topping over chicken.

8. serve and enjoy!

so mr. b totally loved this and we are eager to try it again but with lime. the lemon is definitely delicious too! we will be sure to have it again too! it's always a bonus when a 'twisted' recipe turns out good!

one other thing i want to ask..

i am considering doing a MENU monday. link up! maybe like twice a month, once a month or every monday? what do you think about it? is it something you all would be interested in? i am just really interested to continue sharing my recipes that i have or find, but i also love finding other recipes you all have tried and really enjoy! :) i have NO idea how to host a link up.. but i'm totally willing to try if we want to share recipes! :)

have a wonderful evening and we'll see you all tomorrow!

grilled chicken caesar salad

happy monday!

what a full weekend this weekend - it was LOTS of fun! we celebrated my cousin who is going to be a gorgeous bride on august 4 with a fun but [hot] bridal shower. and then mr. b and i had some amazing friends that we love dearly over to hang out, cook out, and laugh lots with! we always enjoy our time with this couple. they are genuine and we love their passion and heart for ministry! they share a lot of the same vision as we do, AND they are lots of fun! so that was my saturday and sunday was pretty lazy for me. i had a horrible headache.. so i napped for a while and then relaxed.

so this isn't really a recipe.. but more of a meal that mr. b blessed me with. i got home from work late and he prepared a chicken caesar salad for me. it was delicious! he grilled up the meat outside [it was so moist and flavorful], used fresh lettuce from our garden. our tomatoes are still too small to use, some of them were ripe - but i got too excited and just ate them plain and they were delicious!

here's how he made it.. and what he used

grilled chicken that was seasoned and grilled to perfection

fresh lettuce from our garden

tomatoes

red onion

fresh parmesan and romano cheese

caesar dressing

mmmmm so good!

on a side note.. did you know caesar dressing is so unhealthy? did you know that the dressing alone is worse than a chesseburger from micky d's or bk?! so horrible.. but i love it soo much!

mr. b also paired up this salad along with some asparagus grilled on the grill, bread and a glass of wine. mmmmmmm double good!

i hope you had a good monday :)

vinaigrette.

how was your weekend?

ours was very relaxing! it was so busy with the holiday right between two weekends so it was so enjoyable to relax in pools all weekend. and i didn't get burned this time! ;) it's about time huh? my in-laws have a pool - it's so awesome to relax in and the water was 86 degrees! talk about perfection!! as if their pool wasn't enough.. yesterday we headed over to my boss' house and we had a pool party over there too! unfortunately i don't have any photos because everyone was having water gun, water balloon and hose soaking fun. i didn't dare bring my camera around that.. so i forfeited capturing the fun so i could join in :) definitely worth it too!

now it's on to the week. i can't even think beyond today for what i have going on this week.. i honestly didn't even know what i wanted to share for today's MENU monday either until ohh like.. 15 minutes ago.

so here you are! don't you just love a great salad every now and then?? well i don't have a salad recipe to share.. but i do have one dang good dressing that goes with just about any salad! yes.. i said just about any salad!

it's so super easy and has a burst of flavor! you can even change flavors too!

here is the recipe

vinaigrette

found: my momma!

makes: a lot! it keeps well if you want to use it later too :)

time: 5 minutes

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

sugar

garlic scapes

lemon*

as you see.. i don't have measuring amounts for these ingredients.. it's really based on how you like it to taste.. i would recommend more oil than vinegar because it can get pretty tangy.

*you can use lemon, orange, lime.. any fruit that you can get juice from!

surprisingly there is an order on how to make it too.. 

1. pour oil into microwave safe cup

2. cut up garlic scapes and place in oil. [i've been cooking a lot with these and they are so amazing! i got them from the farmer's market and they bring so much flavor to your meals! - AND they're organic!]

3. place cup into microwave for about 10 seconds. [this step helps bring out the garlic flavoring into the oils]

4. pour in balsamic vinegar. you can even use a fruit [like peach] vinegar and it's really really good too!

5. add in sugar [approx. 1-2 spoon fulls; again depending on how sweet or tangy you like it]

6. squeeze in lemon or orange into the combination.

7. mix everything well and pour over your salad!

i promise it will bring awesome flavor!! it's a great homemade balsamic vinaigrette with some sass! :)

this is the oil and garlic scapes. garlic scapes are like a combination of fresh garlic and chives [definitely the best of both worlds!]

this is the peach vinegar. we have an amazing store downtown that has hundreds of vinegars and oils you can try and they are all so wonderful!!

i like sugar! :) i like it nice and sweet with some tang - and then it's not as hard on my poor tongue.

mix real well and there you go!

i hope this dressing will help spice up your next salad! :)

enjoy your monday evening friends!

- jennifer.