Shish-Ka-Bobs

My mom used to make this growing up, and it was one of my favorites.  I just loved grilled pineapple!

Shish-Ka-Bobs

¼ c. soy sauce

¼ c. cider vinegar

2 T. honey

2 T. vegetable oil

2 green onions, minced

4 chicken breasts, cubed

1 pineapple, cubed

1-2 green peppers, cut into squares

1 white or yellow onion, cut into squares

Combine soy sauce, cider vinegar, honey, oil and green onions in a large bowl.  Marinade four chicken breasts, cut up or whole.  Marinate for four hours or longer.  Skewer with green pepper, onion and pineapple.  Grill.

I do these on my stove top grill.  You could also do them in the oven if you need to!  They are so tender and wonderful! I served it with a jamaican-y rice with peas and watermelon slices.  Quick and easy!

For the rice: I simply took some leftover white steamed rice from lunch, melted some butter in the skillet and added 1/2 t. cumin seeds, or thereabout.  I let them sizzle, then added about 1 t. of jamaican curry powder (that I had brought from the states, yes, sorry, but it's mostly turmeric and a few other spices...).  I threw in some frozen peas and the white rice and stirred it up, little salt and pepper.  Done!

Cajun Shrimp Pasta

If you don't like shrimp or can't find it or don't trust it, you can just use blackened chicken instead!

Cajun Shrimp Pasta

½ c. chopped red peppers

½ c. chopped green peppers

½ c. chopped purple sweet onion

2 T. butter

1 packs of frozen jumbo prawn, thawed and patted dry

1 T. flour

1 t. Garlic powder

1/2 t. Black pepper

1/2 t.Seasoning salt

1 t.Creole Seasoning

1 1/4 c. cream

1 1/4 c. milk

250-300 grams pasta (spaghetti or fettuccine)

Chop the peppers and onions into large pieces.  Fry the peppers and onions in butter til almost tender. Sprinkle cajun seasoning/Tony Chachere's/or seasoning salt over the shrimp, on both sides, coating it pretty well.  Add the shrimp and cook for about 5 minutes.   

Cook pasta according to package directions. 

Stir the spoonful of flour into the shrimp and add the milk and cream.  Season to taste with pepper, garlic, seasoning salt, and creole seasoning.  Let the sauce simmer gently for about five more minutes till thickened.  Serve sauce over pasta.   

Mango Coconut Muffins

I'm loving mango season! :) Can ya tell?  When I made these, I'm pretty sure I added some regular milk at the end, maybe 1/4 c. to make the batter the right consistency. But I can't remember exactly.  Do what you think is best!

Mango Coconut Muffins

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. fine salt

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 c. butter, softened

2/3 c. sugar, plus more for topping

2 large eggs

1/2 c. coconut milk (1 juice box size box)

2 mangos, chopped into small bits

1/2 c. sweetened shredded coconut, plus more as the batter needs

1/2 c. slivered/chopped almonds (optional)

Brush muffin tin with butter.  Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl and set aside. 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Fold the flour in 3 parts into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk in two parts, until just combined.  Fold in mango, coconut, and almonds if using.  Do not overmix.  Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin and sprinkle tops with sugar.  Baked about 25 minutes.  Cool muffins in pan on a rack.  Serve warm.  This made 11 regular size muffins. 

Mango Chicken

It's Mango season!  I'll be trying to come up with lots of different recipes to share using mangos in the next few months.  Here's one we love that's quick and delicious!

Mango Chicken

4 Chicken breasts, cubed

1 red pepper, coarsely chopped

1 yellow pepper, coarsely chopped

1 mango, cubed

1 c. pineapple bits 

1 c. Orange juice

1 T. cornstarch

Hot Sauce

Tony’s

Rice

Chicken bullion

In a large skillet, cook sliced chicken and peppers.  Add Tony’s to taste.  Whip together juice, hot sauce, and some flour or cornstarch and pour over chicken and peppers. Cook on a low heat until it’s a gravy like consistency.  Add fruit to skillet. Serve over rice.

How to Slice a Mango (and Kitchen Gadget Must-Have)

I never bought mangos before moving to South Asia. But here, we eat them weekly, sometimes daily.  A friend from the US sent me this mango slicer, and I'm tellin' ya, it's worth the $15. : )

 It was always hard to find the pit when I was trying to slice the sides off with a knife.  This thing, it doesn't matter the size of the mango, the bulk of it, or anything.  It just slices right down the sides of the pit in no time.  I. love. it.

So, I learned how to remove the flesh of the mango from a Slice! bill board.  No joke!  When we first arrived, we had lunch with some field veterans who sliced their mangos in half, like around the "waist" of the mango, popped the top half off the pit and ate it with a spoon out of the skin.  I thought there surely had to be a different way to do it, but always struggled to slice the flesh out.  Then I saw the Slice!  bill board with the cubes cut into it, like so:

 and inverted, like so:

From here, you just slide your knife under each cube to cut it out.  Easy, easy.  I'm sure everyone knows this already, or has their own method, but since I was sharing the mango slicer, I though, why not? : )

Deep Dish Barbecue Chicken Pizza

One of our favorites. :)

2 1/2 t. yeast

1 t. sugar

1 c. warm water (100-110 degree F)

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. cornmeal/makka atta/corn dalia

1/2 t. salt

1 T. olive oil

1 recipe Pizza Hut pizza sauce (it's right here)

1/2 c. barbecue sauce of your choice

2 chicken breasts

1 ball Amul mozzarella cheese

1/2-2/3 block of Brittania cheddar cheese

Jalapenos (optional)

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

For the dough:

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in a measuring cup.  Let the yeast proof. Meanwhile, spoon the flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife.  Place flour, makka atta and salt in a food processor, pulse 2 times or until blended.  With processor on, slowly add the yeast mixture and 1 T. oil through the chute.  Process until a ball forms, and let it knead in the machine for one more minute.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead lightly four to five times.  (You can do it all by hand if you want too).  Put the dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray, and turn it to coat the top.  Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place (in the microwave with a cup of warm water?) for 45 minutes, it should double in size.  

Now, make the sauce, chop the onion, cook the chicken, shred the cheeses.

When it's doubled, punch dough down with one good blow.  Let it rest five minutes.  Prepare 2 9 inch cake pans by coating them with butter and sprinkling some sooji (semolina) around the bottom and sides.  Divide dough in half.  Shape dough into a ball and then press into a disc with your palm.  It should be about six inches wide and an inch or so thick?  Place the dough in the prepared pans and smoosh it to the edges and up the sides, making the base even.  

For the sauce: 

Make the pizza hut pizza sauce.  Mix it with 1/2 c. barbecue sauce.  Voila. 

Toppings: 

Rub chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Grill or saute in a bit of olive oil or butter until cooked through.  Shred, chop, or slice.  However you like it.  (We usually shred it). 

Combine the shredded mozzarella and shredded cheddar and mix it well. 

Spread the sauce evenly between the two pizzas.  Sprinkle with some chopped onion.  Divide the chicken between the pizzas.  Add half the cheese to each pizza.  Top with jalapenos if you want.  (Makes it taste a bit like Schlotzsky's!!)  Bake at 245 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 190 and bake another 10 minutes.  

Some notes: I have always used makka atta for this, but recently ran across "corn dalia" at a store.  It is in the jar on the right in the photo below.  The middle jar is makka atta.  The jar on the left in the picture below is corn dalia that I "mixee-eed" for a few minutes to get it finer.  The corn dalia just looked like dried corn kernels that had been pounded and broken up a bit. I thought if I put it in the processor I could get it to be more like actual corn meal.  It did get finer, and I tried it in the dough, but it was still too chunky, and the bits were too hard.  I either need to let it go longer, or not use it.  

Also, this does make two pizzas, so I usually do one barbecue chicken pizza and another one that's just cheese for the kids. I alter the sauce a bit , using less barbecue sauce and half the pizza hut sauce recipe for our pizza, and the other half for the kids cheese pizza. 

Apple Barbecue Chicken

I have a new commitment to try to post more quick and easy recipes for dinner... because I need to work on trimming my meal prep time and because I know most of us love quick, simple meals that taste great.  Here's one we tried this week and all really liked!  Nothing fancy, just simple and good (and fast!)

4 chicken breast halves, boneless

1/2 t. pepper

1 T. olive oil

2/3 c. chunky applesauce

2/3 c. spicy BBQ sauce

2 T. brown sugar

1 t. chili powder

Sprinkle chicken with pepper.  In a large skillet, brown chicken in oil on both sides.  In a small bowl., combine the remaining ingredients.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook 7-10 minutes longer. 

I served this with garlicky brown rice (recipe in next post), and buttered peas. I think it would be better with steamed broccoli, but I didn't get to the market that day, so frozen peas it was! :) 
*borrowed my from my friend Terra's blog: Barefoot con Terra

Garlicky Brown Rice

1 T. olive oil
1 c. uncooked brown rice
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 c. water
2 c. chicken broth
1/4 t. salt
1/8 c. thinly sliced green onions (optional)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add rice, and saute one minute.  Add garlic and saute 2 minutes.  Stir in water, broth, and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and cook over medium low heat until liquid is absorbed.  (About 30 minutes?)  Fluff with a fork and top with green onions.  4-5 servings.  

Kitchen Gadget Must-Have: Garlic Peeler

I can't remember how I first learned about this little doo-dad, but I can't live without it now.  I lost mine in our move, and have been without one for several months. My sister in law just brought me a new one, and I'm so thankful to have it back!  You must go over to Pampered Chef and get one, it will save you so much time! And save your fingers from smelling like garlic for days!

You put your garlic cloves, just plucked off the bulb, inside, give it a couple good rolls, and your garlic comes out sans their papery, sticky, smelly skin! A-mazing.

Pampered Chef Garlic Peeler here!

Chocolate Pudding

Here's a microwave pudding recipe from DebbieM!

Quick Chocolate pudding (for the microwave) (from Allrecipes)

1/2 c. castor sugar/bura

1/3 c. cocoa powder

3 T. cornstarch

2 c. milk

2 t. vanilla extract

1 T. butter

Chopped chocolate bar (optional)

In a microwave safe bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch.  Whisk in milk a little at a time so the mixture does not have any dry lumps.  

Place in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high.  Stir, then cook at 1 minutes intervals (important!), stirring between cooking times for 2-4 minutes, or until shiny and thick.  Stir in vanilla and butter.  If you want a little more richness, add a chopped chocolate bar. 

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming, and chill in the refrigerator.  Or, if you like warm pudding, eat it right away!  4 servings.

Whole Wheat Banana Waffles

Whole Wheat Banana Waffles

These are very filling, and very good.  My family loves them, and we have them about once a week since we have strawberries in our city.  The bananas in the batter will make these waffles a little on the darker side.

1 ½ c. whole wheat flour

½ c. all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 eggs

1 ½ c. milk

¼ c. applesauce (I make my own by peeling and chopping an apple, then place it in a pan and cover the bottom with water.  Let it boil, then simmer til the liquid is evaporated.  Mash with fork.)

3 Tbsp. sugar

1Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ripe bananas, mashed

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Mix all other ingredients in separate bowl.  Mix wet ingredients into dry just until incorporated.

Cook waffles according to waffle iron instructions.  Top with fresh fruit, syrup, peanut butter, powdered sugar…we’ve done it all.

My waffle iron makes two square waffles at a time, and this recipe will make 10-12 waffle squares.  The best thing is you can freeze leftovers and then pop them in the toaster when you want one.