Honey Chicken

This is a dish I have actually made a couple times before, but it had been a while. A while as in, I think this was one of the first recipes I tried out from Pinterest.

The original recipe came from "MMM...CAFE". She offers a crock pot and an oven version on her website. I have always done the oven version so that is what I am sharing with you here.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound chicken (of your choice) A pound works just fine.
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp chopped onion (or 1/2 Tbsp onion flakes)
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes I skip this part.

Directions:

• Dice chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper
• Place in 8x8 dish
• Pour sauce over chicken and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.

I served mine over brown rice with a side of Edamame, which is like crack for me. It's a good mix of savory and sweet and good for leftovers.

Note: I didn't get this recipe from a Fibro cookbook, but I am tagging it as a Fibro recipe because it has a lot of the same ingredients that most of the Fibro recipes use. 

Happy 4th of July!

It's been a while since I've done any crafting. What better time than to get into the spirit of it with a quick, inexpensive, 4th of July project?!

I got the idea from a pin that lined to this blog, which provided no instructions on how to do it, but it looked easy enough.

Supplies:

• Medium Mason Jar
• Mini flag ($1 at Michaels)
• Hemp or string of some sort. 

Directions:

Hold the flag in  place on the jar, wrap string artistically around the jar and flag. Tie off the string.(I'm sure if you wanted to do it more permanently, you could mod podge the flag down and maybe dip the string in mod podge before you wrapped it.)

I got some flameless candles and I had one real candle. I tried both to see which I like better. I liked the real candle, for sure, but if I decide to put these outside, I will stick with the flameless candles.

Flameless on the left, real on the right,

Pre-candles. They're even cute without candles!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Keep your pets inside where they're safe and leave lights and TVs on to try and muffle the sound of the fireworks!

In other news - HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY to my first born nephew. If I had time, I would dig up some baby pics of him, but he's lucky. He gets this one of us from about two years ago before his high school graduation.

Chicken N Broccoli Stir Fry

I'm not sure I have shared with you that K has Fibromyalgia. It's a crappy disease to have and one of the things that is supposed to help it is the things you eat. K recently had a pretty gnarly flare up so we have been trying to do things a little different. This recipe is one of those things. I got it out of a book called, "The Fibromyalgia Cookbook." Clever name, I know.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cut into strips
• 1 head broccoli - cut into bite size pieces
• 2 carrots - cut into strips
• 1 large onion - cut into large slices
• 1  teaspoon sesame oil (optional because I didn't use it.)

Directions:

• Combine the soy sauce, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of chicken broth in a medium bowl. Add chicken to the broth mixture. I let this kind of marinate while I cut my veggies.
• Cook the chicken in a large nonstick skillet with the broth mixture for 5 minutes.
• Remove chicken with slotted spoon, leaving the liquid in the skillet.
• Add the broccoli, carrots, onion, and remaining broth. Cover and cook for 4 minutes.
• Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with oil and serve.

I served mine over brown rice. The flavor was good, but I would have liked more sauce and the sauce to coat the chicken and veggies more. The only other thing I would do different is more broccoli! Otherwise it was a tasty dish, and healthy!

 

Ravioli Bake

I got this recipe from a pin on Pinterest, of course. It comes from Tasty Kitchen.

This recipe is - by far - the most delicious easy recipe I have come across!!

Ingredients

• 1 bag (25 Oz. Bag) Frozen Ravioli
• 1 jar (26 Oz. Jar) Marinara Sauce (I used a 24oz and it was fine, but you can supplement the two missing ounces with tomato sauce if you wish.)
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese, For Sprinkling

   

Directions

• Heat oven to 400°F. Spray bottom and sides of a 9×13 rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.  
• Spread 3/4 cup of the pasta sauce in baking dish. Arrange half of the frozen ravioli in a single layer over the sauce; top with half of the remaining pasta sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese.
• Repeat layers once, starting with ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes longer or until bubbly and hot in the center. 
• Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.   
   

 For having such limited ingredients, it really was good! And not having to boil the ravioli first is an added bonus! Yum, people. Just yum.

Comfort Food Casserole

I have actually made this dish several times, but was nervous to blog it before now. Why would I be nervous to blog something? Well, because this dish is delicious. K loves it, I love it, the sister-in-law even loves it. But you see, there's this one ingredient in it that I thought if K found out about it, she wouldn't eat it anymore. LOL Assuming she reads my blog, I didn't want to share the recipe. I finally had to come clean the other day because she offered to make the dish. I wasn't about to turn down an offer for her to cook, so I came clean. We wont mention that she never got around to cooking it. Haha!

I got the recipe from Food.com

Ingredients:

• 3 cups idaho potatoes, peeled, boiled and cut into cubes when cool, approx. 1 lb
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 lb Velveeta cheese, diced <~ This is the ingredient I didn't want K to find out about. LOL
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 lb skinless smoked sausage (Eckrich is my favorite brand)
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika <~ I skip this part.

Directions:

1. Cut skinless smoked sausage in half, lengthwise, and then chop into 1/2 inch "half moon" cuts. Cook in a frying pan for about 15 minutes, turning frequently to SLIGHTLY brown.
2. Meanwhile, put cooked & diced potatoes in 2 quart casserole. Add cooked meat and give it a gentle 
3. Mix all remaining ingredients (except for shredded cheddar cheese & the paprika) in a saucepan over medium heat until warm, melted and smooth. (Use a whisk and stir constantly.).
4. Pour white/cheese sauce over potatoes and meat. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top, and then sprinkle paprika evenly over the top.
5. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 35-45 minutes (watch, until golden brown on top).

NOTE: You can substitute: 1/2 lb. hot dogs, sliced into 1/2-inch slices OR 1/2 lb. ham diced into 1/2-inch dices OR 12 oz. can of Spam diced into 1/2-inch dices, instead of the smoked sausage.

Healthy? Not so much. Delicious? Abso-freaking-lutely! Good as leftovers and freezes well if you're into that sort of thing.