5 Spice Chicken

I made this tonight, and it was great, Cory loved it.

3 lb chicken breasts
1/4 c Soy Sauce
1 tsp garlic powder (or two crushed cloves)
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 tbs honey
1/8 C. Olive oil
1/8 C. Sesame oil
2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice (can be bought at any grocery store)
1 tbs Sherry (cooking sherry can be bought at grocery stores)

Mix all ingredients besides chicken as a marinade. Add chicken to sauce and marinade at least one hour, or over night. Grill chicken or bake at 375 for 40 minutes (I like to butterfly my chicken and cook it for a shorter period of time. If you butterfly it, just cook for 30-35 minutes in the sauce).

Serve with rice and veggies.

Spinach bars

I made this for dinner last night and the kids downed it! Spinach and all, I couldn't believe it. They loved it, and Cory loved it. I think it is a keeper. Here is the recipe from Allrecipes. I made a few changes. I used fresh spinach that I chopped, a little extra garlic, and half the butter. I also think next time I'll do half regular cheese and half fat free cheese to cut the calories. Anyway, it was a really yummy dish, for breakfast or breakfast for dinner!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Melt butter in a 9x13 inch baking dish while the oven preheats.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, salt, pepper, baking powder and garlic until well blended. Add the mushrooms, spinach and cheese, and stir to blend evenly. Tip the baking dish to coat with melted butter, then pour the spinach mixture into the pan.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm and golden. Cut into bars, and serve warm.

Teriyaki Salmon with Apricot Jalapeno Glaze

I have made this several times and it is delicious!!

Teriyaki Salmon

Teriyaki Sauce (2+ Cups)

Ginger (1 tsp)

Brown Mustard (2 TBS)

Minced Garlic (1 or 2 TBS)

Brown Sugar (1/4 Cup)

I just eyeball it and make enough to cover the salmon in a baking dish. Cover Salmon with sauce and cook at 375 for about 20 min or until no longer translucent.

Apricot-Jalapeno Glaze

2 TBS Oil

2 Jalapenos cut into rings (Take out seeds unless you like it really spicy)

1 TBS Mince Garlic

1/2 cup White Wine

3 TBS Whole-Grain Mustard

1 cup Apricot Preserves

In a small pan heat oil.

When hot, add Jalapenos and saute until caramelized

Add Garlic and before it begins to brown, deglaze with white wine.

Next, add mustard and apricot preserves and bring to a simmer.

Simmer over low heat for 20 min.

Spread over your Salmon and Enjoy!

V-Day Cupcakes!

I am making these today for my family, they looked so fun! But I'm not going to use a box cake (yuck). I'm going to make my own white cake mix. Happy Valentines Day everyone!

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 egg whites
• 8 drops red food coloring
• 2 drops raspberry candy oil

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a standard muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
2. Beat the cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and egg whites together on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium for 2 minutes, until smooth. Fill cupcake liners 1/3 full with white batter; set aside.
3. Stir 4 drops of red food coloring into the remaining bowl of batter to make the batter pink, stir in the raspberry oil. Pour 1/3 of pink batter into a resealable plastic bag and set aside.
4. Mix more food coloring into the remaining bowl of pink batter until it is an orange/red color and pour the batter into a resealable plastic bag. Cut a corner off the bag, stick the open tip into the center of each cup of white batter and squeeze in about two tablespoons of red batter.
5. Cut the corner off the bag with the pink batter, stick the open tip into the center of the red batter and squeeze about 1 tablespoon pink batter into each cup.
6. Bake the layered cupcakes in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Chicken Oraganato!

I made this the other night, and both kids cleaned their plates. I used organic, boneless/skinless chicken thighs from Costco, but I have also used chicken breasts to make it as well. Super yummy :) It is also good to make it earlier in the day, and let the spices flavor it during the day. And then right before you stick it in the oven for dinner, pour the olive oil and lemon juice mixture over it. Sometimes I like to prepare dinner early, and then in the evening, all I have to do is stick it in the oven.

• 7 chicken thighs
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Wash chicken well and pat dry. Mix oregano with salt and pepper to taste. Rub well over all of the chicken pieces. Put chicken in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Whisk the oil with the lemon juice and drizzle half over the chicken. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces and drizzle with the remaining oil/lemon mixture. Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm, cold or at room temperature!